Escape To Survive

by Ryan Gawley

The bike’s left side mirror exploded in a shower of broken glass as a hail of gunfire from an Enforcer’s pistol shot past Sam and Lucy as they sped into the Elite sector through the southern perimeter wall.

  Knowing time was of the essence they had to get to Kathy as quickly as possible and couldn’t afford to get stopped at the outer city barriers. They had waited by the roadside concealed in a shallow ditch with the bike leaned over on its side until an empty supply lorry rolled up to the barrier from inside the city. It would return to port without an escort since its valuable cargo of merchandise for the Elite stores had been delivered.

  As the lone guard casually strolled from his hut and inspected the driver’s papers Sam righted the bike and pushed it silently onto the tarmac. When Lucy was on board with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist Sam started the bike and slowly advanced to the gate. Neither the guard nor truck driver heard the approaching bike over the sound of the lorry’s large diesel engine echoing in the concrete gateway.

  The guard entered his hut again to activate the barrier allowing the lorry to move out and Sam seized the opportunity he had been hoping for. Quickly dropping a couple of gears with his left foot he twisted his right wrist back, sharply grabbing a handful of throttle and felt the surge of power as the old bike leapt forward. The heavy cruiser with rider and pillion would win no races but was fast enough. As the lorry cleared the gateway the driver looked ahead to see the motorcycle speeding straight toward him. Sam held his nerve and waited until the last second to see which direction the driver would swerve then leaned the bike hard to the opposite side before correcting course, just narrowly avoiding the tail of the long vehicle as he raced toward the descending barrier. Sam leaned forward until his chin rested on the speedometer and Lucy pulled herself tight into his back, turning her head sideways to stay as flat as possible and watched as the underside of the barrier dropped just inches from her face as they barely cleared the gate.

  The guard was taken completely by surprise and took a moment to react but then raced out of his hut, pistol drawn and stood in a wide stance firing multiple rounds toward the speeding intruders. As the bike thundered closer to the city’s edge the Enforcer’s best shot tore through the side mirror but neither rider nor pillion was hit. The guard was forced to cease fire as stray shots now were skimming off buildings ahead of the moving target, something permissible in the Dreg sector but the accidental shooting of an Elite resident would mean the his own execution. As Sam and Lucy disappeared into the city streets the guard ran back to report the incident, cursing himself for leaving his radio on his desk. It didn’t matter anyway since all additional Enforcer squads had been detailed to sector barrier defences or to frontline duty in the developing chaos of the Dreg sectors.

  Sam gunned the bike through tree lined residential streets, confidently passing the occasional luxury car as the occupants stared incredulously at the speeding machine tearing loudly through their neighbourhood, some lifting phones to dial for emergency services that would not come, others clutching their children back from the road or waving a fist in protest at this outrage.

  Constantly scanning the road and occasionally checking the remaining mirror Sam felt sure now that they weren’t being pursued so after zigzagging through several streets he eased back on the throttle and slowed to a comfortable forty miles per hour, the exhaust quieting to a low rumble. He spotted an alleyway between two rows of impressively maintained townhouses and killed the engine completely allowing the bike to roll silently from the street into the alley where he coasted as far as he could under momentum and pulled the bike to a stop behind the cover of the cleanest dumpster he had ever seen.

  Still straddling the bike he leaned the over on the kickstand and took off his gloves setting them on the fuel tank in front of him. Lucy still tightly gripped her arms around his waist.

  ‘Are you alright Lucy? Were you hit? Lucy?’

  He held her hands and gently teased them apart then dismounted and turned to help Lucy climb down from the rear of the bike. Long strands of dark hair fell across her face as she removed the helmet and he carefully brushed them aside looking into her wild eyes as she spoke.

  ‘I was really scared Sam, I thought we were going to crash or get shot or maybe both. I’m okay though, really, I’m okay. I just need a minute.’

  ‘Okay,’ he replied and allowed himself a moment now to gather himself and leaned against the wall to rest as his heart rate slowed again.

  They had made it into the city in one piece. Finding Kathy and getting out again would be another matter but Sam wasn’t about to quit now, not when they’d come so far.

  ‘I think we’ll have to abandon the bike,’ said Sam. ‘I hate to have to leave her so soon, I’d not realised how much I missed riding.’ The thought of leaving his bike was like cutting off an arm, such is the way a motorcycle becomes a part of you.

  ‘And I thought you’d miss me the most,’ said Lucy jokingly.

  ‘You know what I mean. Besides, it draws too much attention and we’ll not be able to take Kathy on the bike anyway.’

  He sat for one last time in the saddle but didn’t start the engine, just laid his hands on the grips and then patted the fuel tank as if saying goodbye to a loyal but lame horse that had to be mercifully put down.

  Sam pocketed the keys as a keepsake and they left the bike concealed behind the dumpster, prepared themselves and then ventured out of the alley into the streets of the Elite sector in Raven City.

  ‘Look, you can see the masts on top of Kathy’s building,’ said Lucy easily identifying the tallest building among the high rise structures as the one in which she had risked everything to contact her sister several days earlier.

  As they made their way toward Henderson’s tower Sam couldn’t help but notice the facade of riches was crumbling here too although not yet in the advanced state of decay endured by the Dreg sector inhabitants. He had heard stories of the opulence and excess of the Elites from those Dreg workers in service jobs in the Elite sectors in Rook City but had not set foot in the Elite sectors in person. Now that he was here he could see the standard of living was far in excess of anything he had ever known but all the same, the cracks were beginning to appear.

  As they passed by boutique shops and exclusive bars and cafes the everyday Elite residents looked scornfully at the two scruffy, downtrodden Dregs walking through their streets but none reacted in such a way as to cause Sam or Lucy any concern. Most Dreg workers were uniformed in some fashion or another whether dressed for serving, maintenance or cleaning and were rarely seen on the street except for when bussed to their jobs early each morning and returned to exit at the sector barrier in late evening. Sam and Lucy stood out all the more in their torn, dirty clothing but it seemed no one wanted to engage with them as though it might somehow lead to contamination.

  The ever watchful eye of security cameras seemed to follow their movements, the feeling that they would be stopped and arrested at any moment never left them. At one point a convoy of three Enforcer patrol wagons sped up behind them, sirens blaring but all continued in the direction of the sector gates much to the couple’s relief.

  Turning a corner their attention was immediately drawn to the pulsing blue lights from a blockade of patrol wagons lined up several hundred metres to their right. They had entered a long street a few blocks from one of the main sector barrier gates and could see that the Enforcers were attempting to reinforce the barricade with their vehicles.

  Quickly the pair crossed the road and stood briefly behind a gathering crowd who were excitedly speculating on the unfolding drama.

  ‘I heard the Dregs are protesting against unemployment,’ said a young man in a fine tailored blue suit to his female colleague as he sipped coffee from a large mug on which was printed the words “The Boss Of Me”.

  ‘No,’ replied another man who stood in front but turned to respond. ‘Keith from accounts heard from his wife that the Dreg’s are being rounded up to be taken to work camps,
that’s why they’re rioting.’

  ‘Well, it’ll help to clean up that awful side of our city. Just so long as some are kept to pour the coffee and mop the floor,’ said the female colleague and all three laughed heartily.

  Sam and Lucy looked at each other silently acknowledging their disgust and discomfort.

  Just then a volley of shots rang out and the crowd gasped as one and shrank back but relaxed as they heard a reassuringly authoritative voice boom into the well of silence which had followed.

  ‘Disperse immediately! You will not be warned a second time. Return to your homes and await instruction.’

  An Enforcer squad commander was using a loudspeaker to address the unruly crowd on the Dreg side of the barricade. A roar of voices rose up followed by a hail of bottles, stones and various other projectiles and people could be seen scaling the barrier fences beyond the row of armoured vehicles. More warning shots were fired into the air as Enforcers standing tall on the front of their patrol wagons began clubbing anyone who attempted to breach the barrier fence. Shots were fired into the seething crowd now and screams were heard over the roar of angry voices but still the stones and bottles flew and people continued to try to push up and over the steel wall. The gathering of spectating Elites grew as more office workers descended from their glass towers to brace the cold air and witness the drama unfold, watching with interest from a safe distance as if it were nothing more than a celebratory firework display, confident the authorities would protect them.

  ‘Come on, we need to go,’ whispered Sam as he gently pulled Lucy through the crowd and along an adjacent street. ‘What the hell is happening? I know things are bad back in Rook but people throwing themselves at the Enforcers, that’s something else. What could have made people so desperate?’

  ‘I don’t know Sam. When I was trying to get out to meet you, people were scared. There were patrol wagons racing around and a lot of people running in the opposite direction. Of course that happens sometimes but this was different, it was something more, you know?’

  ‘Let’s just keep going. Once we have Kathy we can get the hell out of here and never come back. Whatever’s happening it won’t matter to us anymore.’

  ‘You can’t say that Sam, it does matter, what happens to those people I mean.’

  ‘Look Lucy, I feel bad for them, I do but we can’t help them. We’ve barely made it this far ourselves but we’ve got our plan to try and make a life somewhere else, it’s up to them to do the same if they want it badly enough. Sitting around complaining about Central Control cutting jobs or cutting rations or about the lower quality crap for sale on the black market these days, what kind of life is that anyway? It’s no life held behind fences and walls, hiding from gangs or the government. Whatever lays ahead for us is better than waiting for someone else to come and save us from ourselves.’

  They walked on in silence for a while noting the blurring distinction between older residential and newer office buildings until they were now in the main business district of the Elite sector and had to crane their necks to see the tops of the towers high above them. Sam was thankful the Enforcers seemed to be more concerned with the disturbance at the sector gate than with any reports of two Dreg workers walking alone through the Elite sector.

  ‘Kathy’s building is just a couple of streets along now,’ said Lucy.

  ‘Great, there’s just the small matter of getting past the guards and leaving again with Kathy,’ said Sam feeling increasing anxious about their chances.

  Lucy stopped and turned to Sam, taking his hand and holding it between both of hers.

  ‘I was thinking about that and I have an idea but I’ll have to go in alone.’

  ‘No Lucy, I can’t let you go in there by yourself, what if something happens, how would I even know you were in danger? I have to go with you,’ said Sam. He knew she could look after herself but the thought of leaving her to attempt the most dangerous part of Kathy’s rescue alone sickened him.

  ‘Sam, it’s the only way. You’ll never get past the guards and even trying to would make them more suspicious. We’d likely both be arrested on the spot. They’re all the more cautious here since Victor Henderson is the penthouse resident.’

  ‘Well, what makes you think you’ll have any more luck than I will?’ asked Sam.

  ‘I have my feminine charm; even in my army boots and combat jacket I think I could wrap them around my little finger, or don’t you think I’m pretty?’ she said with a wry smile.

  ‘Come on, quit messing with me, you’re gorgeous but seriously, you can’t just walk in there by smiling at the guards.’

  ‘I know, but I also have this,’ and she reached into her inside jacket pocket and winked as she took out her ID badge from Harper’s cleaning crew which gave her authorization to work in many of the Elite buildings, including Henderson’s.

  ‘Clever but still risky, what if they don’t accept it?’

  ‘They should but we have to wait a little while.’ She drew back the rolled cuff of her army jacket and checked a delicate silver watch. ‘It’s too early yet but in less than an hour from now my old boss is due to start work here, unless he’s changed routine in the past few days but his customers like to see the girls regularly.’

  ‘What do you mean, see the girls? What kind of cleaning company is he running? And you worked for this guy?’ Sam teased her.

  ‘Yeah, well, luckily nothing happened and I burned my bridges when I left that job.’

  They walked closer to Henderson’s building and darted into a delivery area at the rear of another office tower which gave them a view across the street to the entrance of the underground car park where Kathy would be waiting.

  ‘I hope she’s okay. She must be terrified,’ said Lucy worrying about her younger sister and feeling increasingly nervous about meeting her face to face for the first time. The waiting had been so hard during these past days but now they were so close time seemed to slow even further.

  ‘What if she’s not there Sam? I didn’t want to think about it but what if she wasn’t able to get out? I can’t leave her behind Sam, I can’t.’

  ‘Hey, come on now, she’ll be there,’ said Sam pulling Lucy into a hug which always reassured her, whatever the situation. ‘If she’s anything like her big sister, she’ll have made it, believe me.’

  ‘I love you Sam.’

  ‘I love you too Lucy.’

  They waited and watched as Lucy checked the time every few minutes expecting the hands to have swept further around the dial than they had done. The usual time Harper and his crew would have arrived had passed and there was still no sign of him. Lucy was feeling despondent and Sam fought the urge to comfort her as he knew it would have the opposite effect when she was agitated like this.

  Several more minutes had passed when a tatty old van screeched around the corner and pulled to a sharp halt in front of the red and white pole blocking vehicle access to the car park below.

  ‘That’s him, that’s him, see I knew he’d be here,’ Lucy said squeezing Sam’s hand excitedly. Sam bit his tongue, now wasn’t the time to jibe at her.

  ‘Okay, take my jacket,’ she said and took the ID card from her pocket before handing the jacket to Sam. Glancing nervously from around the corner at the guard hut and up and down the street she worked quickly, pulling her hair back into a neat pony tail and wrapping it up into a neater bun secured with a hairclip from her pocket. She tucked her black low cut t-shirt into the waist of her leggings and arranged it so it pulled tight accentuating her figure.

  ‘How do I look?’ she asked.

  ‘Beautiful as always,’ said Sam reaching to hold her head in his hands and kissing her softly. ‘Be careful Lucy, I’ll be here. I won’t go anywhere but if you’re not out in twenty minutes I’m coming in after you.’

  ‘Trust me,’ she said smiling but Sam could sense how nervous she felt.

  She clutched her ID card, kissed Sam quickly for luck and ran across the street. The guards ha
d returned to their hut and hadn’t seen her but she kept running hard toward them stopping only when she crossed in front of the entrance barrier.

  She held her ID out for one of the guards, a lower ranking Enforcer, to inspect. As she stood breathing heavily from the sprint the guard turned to his partner and passed the ID card to the more senior man.

  ‘Sorry for running up like this, I’m late for work. I missed the van at the sector barrier this morning and just made it here now. Has Mr. Harper arrived yet?’ she paused and looked up to the senior guard with big doleful eyes. ‘I’m in so much trouble.’

  ‘Your ID checks out okay but you don’t look like you’re dressed for work, who let you through to the Elite sector without approved escort and where’s your uniform?’ asked the junior officer keen to show his superior he was paying attention.

  ‘Oh, one of the other nice men at the gate let me pass if I promised to come straight here. I’ll be able to borrow some spare clothes from the other girls, they always bring a change. You know we like to look nice for the customers,’ she said shyly but seductively and looked up again to the senior guard who had begun to blush.

  ‘Well, I don’t see that there’s any reason for concern here,’ said the older guard addressing his subordinate. ‘Now then, Lucy,’ he said checking her ID badge again to confirm her name before handing it back to her with a smile. ‘It’s your lucky day, Mr. Harper and the other girls just arrived a few minutes ago. They’ve gone up to the executive suites already but I’m sure you could slip in. Go on now but don’t make a habit of it.’

  Lucy nearly hugged him, just for effect but decided against it and instead grabbed his hand and held it while thanking him. ‘Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. You’re so kind; you don’t know what it means to me.’

  The junior officer appeared jealous and the senior guard blushed again. Lucy walked off down the concrete ramp into the gloom of the dimly lit parking area, turning half way and rippled her fingers in a wave and flashed a smile at the two guards who realised they’d be caught watching her arse as she left. Sufficiently embarrassed for one day the senior guard ushered his partner into their guard hut as Lucy carried on to the lower level.