Chapter 1: The Element of Life - 1.1

Chapter 1: The Element of Life

1.1

09/07/2009

I’m glad I joined the military. It adds some interest to the mundane life I live here. Plus, the uniforms are sick. Being able to wear camo and carry a gun around at least makes me feel good about myself–like I’m doing something with my life. I’m technically still a student in secondary school, but our city prioritizes the safety of the people (or so they say), so my duties as a soldier come first. That’s a good thing, because I have no interest in anything they teach at school. I once had aspirations, but now, I simply live on, and the days pass by without change.

I live in the military housing that’s provided to soldiers who have nowhere else to go. The barracks are entirely constructed of pine boards, and I don’t think they’ve been renovated in the last thirty years. The walls are cracked and dusty, with spider webs found in plenty around the corners and edges of rooms.

A hallway runs down the middle of our building, and the rooms are on either side, each one containing only a bed and the bare minimum amount of space for a desk or dresser. My bed is no more than an elevated wood platform with a thick blanket for a mattress. I also have a blanket that’s supposed to actually function as a blanket, but it’s far too thin to provide any warmth.

Did they really need to be so stingy about it? Needless to say, I’m fighting for my life on the cold nights we have here.

My room also has a single square window, positioned on the opposite side of the door, which happens to be a blank slab of wood. There isn’t a lock or anything, but it’s not like I have a need for one. I’m also privileged enough to live under the light of a single lightbulb positioned directly above the door frame. It gives off only a dull glow and flickers every once in a while, but it’s enough.

The only real complaint I have is the damn floor. If I don’t stand up with the utmost caution, I’m guaranteed to get a thick splinter in the sole of my foot every single time I get out of bed. Would it really be that difficult to sand the floors?

On the other side of the door, there’s a long, thin hallway that leads to the common area, which is all the way at the end of the building. It has a bathroom and kitchen, but there’s also room to relax and socialize, which many of the soldiers spend their free time doing.

Personally, I keep to myself. Ever since I arrived in Hoodsdale, I can’t remember having a conversation that wasn’t awkward. I’m sure the issues stem from my past, and, although I know that most of the guys here are trustworthy, I just have this feeling that I can never shake.

I should make it clear that not every soldier is housed here, as many of them have their own apartments in the main part of the city. Our city, Hoodsdale, is structured so that the government buildings, including those for school and military, are on the north, the apartment buildings are on south, and all the stores and whatnot are in the middle. The city doesn’t take up a very large area, so everything is densely packed, and the whole thing has sort of a downtown vibe.

With a population of around sixty thousand, the city isn’t small, but it’s small enough that you’re able to walk wherever you want to go–of course, we don’t have much of a choice as there’s no public transportation and nobody has their own cars, although there are buses to shuttle kids from their apartments to school and back.

There are things to do in the city, and people do them. I don’t have any friends, so I spend my time gazing out my window, looking at the horizon with an empty mind. I’ve gotten quite good at it, and there’s no better way to deal with the shadows and headaches of the past than to just sit there and feel it all as raw sensations, not letting a single thought get into my head.

I lifted my hands in front of my face and looked at the smooth skin that used to be riddled with ugly scars. The element of healing that the government had provided me with had erased every last one of them.

Well, except for one. Turning my left hand over, I exposed my palm and the thick white band that ran across it. It was the single visible sign of my past that remained, but the element had only healed physical harm.

– – – – –

The narrow streets of Hoodsdale were flanked by tightly packed buildings, which looked like a hodgepodge of pine wood that had been hammered together overnight. You could even find crooked metal pipes out in the open, sometimes leading nowhere as they crawled over the misshapen stores like vines. Whoever was building them must not have had enough time to properly bury them in the ground. Or maybe the designers had drawn the blueprints with an abstract collage in mind.

Regardless of the reason, the shortish buildings (they would likely collapse had they been built any taller) sprawled with the dense shopping atmosphere of any proper downtown. Among the collection of both government-run stores and farmers-market style vendors, the buzzing hordes migrated.

Of course, the farmers markets weren’t actually selling crops because there was no such thing as a private farm, but they did sell an assortment of different street foods, jewelry, and other accessories.

As the late summer sun rose and began to bake the dry, cracked sidewalks, civilians bustled out like ants leaving their nests. There was a particular rumor going around, and gossiping was sure to be the city’s activity of the day.

Two middle aged women joined each other, walking side-by-side as they navigated through the busy shopping district. They were dressed in bright colors that didn’t quite match and wore eccentric assortments of earrings and necklaces, which clinked obnoxiously with every step–they had no doubt just finished another round through the jewelry vendors. If you were looking for somewhere to have your horoscope read, these two would be a good place to start.

“Did you hear?” the first one whispered–although it was really more of a hiss. “You must have. About the big news?”

The other woman’s eyes bulged. “So that’s why everyone is sooo excited today?? I’ve hardly heard a thing, and I’ve just been dying to ask someone about it.”

“Ohhh, yes,” was the first one’s suspenseful response. “You won’t be able to believe it…”

“Come onnnn, pleease tell me!” the other said in desperation.

The first leaned in close. “The Mayor’s sending soldiers straight to Mt. Hood. Practically the whooole army.”

The other woman gasped, her earrings rattling with the sudden intake of breath. “Are you kidding me?? I thought Cindy said Mt. Hood was unclimbable! Forests so thick that you’ll get lost a half mile in–not to mention the snow from above… what on earth are they thinking?”

“They found ‘em. The rebels,” the first said with a giddy smile, unable to contain her excitement and hissing even louder. “It has to be true.”

Her partner drew a shaky breath. “Oh… my god. Of course. The bounties have gotten so high, haven’t they? The government must be just aching to find them, and now they’ve got their chance.”

“Exactly. And they’re putting it all on the line to smoke ‘em out.”

The two were so wrapped up in their conversation that they mindlessly pushed their way through a heavy wooden door.

The atmosphere in the shop’s interior was heavy, so heavy that it required more effort to simply move around, and it reeked of cigarette smoke and roasted beans. Apart from the colorful birds’ animated exchange, dead silence. Hairy, thick-necked men, who stood around tall pinewood tables, stared down the newcomers like wolves eyeing their prey.

“But there’s still something fishy–something I just don’t get,” the first woman continued. “There must be hundreds of those rebels up there, and here’s the deal: if they’re all spread out, it’ll be impossible to find ‘em. Only one answer, they must’ve grouped up, all together. What if… what if they formed a camp? Or even started a city of their own?

The other woman snorted, although her eyes showed a flicker of fear. “That can’t be. They’re all crackheads who can’t put two and two together, so how could they build anything? I mean, really, they probably spend their time fighting with sticks.”

The first woman’s voice finally dropped to an actual whisper. “But you’ve heard the things people say, haven’t you? The rebels aren’t just out there to hide. They’re actually biding their time, waiting…”

“You ladies lost?”

A growl of a voice rattled the floorboards, and the colorful women looked up to see the hairiest man of all standing behind a counter as he wiped down a mug with a rag that looked like a tissue underneath his meaty fingers.

The sign over the door read, ‘Men’s Coffee and More’. It was the same shop they’d been watching the entrance to just the day before, giggling from a safe distance as tanky men went in and out.

The weight of every eye in the room bored through them in just the same way that claws cut through prey.

“Ah! Oh–uh, no, bye!”

The women scrambled back out to the light of day and dashed down the street as quickly as they could in their heavy, clattering outfits.

Once they’d put a crowd of people between themselves and the danger, they broke into a fit of nervous giggling. As far as they were concerned, they’d just eluded the snatches of death, and they had one more story to tell because of it.

– – – – –

We’d been scheduled for an especially important mission: rebel hunting. I couldn’t imagine why the government was so concerned about rebels, but ever since the Blackpool Incident, any news of people rebelling was met with an unnecessary amount of panic.

In fact, there were tons of rumors going around about how the rebels were evil and plotting to attack the city, but I had a hunch that the government intentionally circulated those rumors. Honestly, they’d get so worked up about people “rebelling” that it surprised me we didn’t have these sorts of missions more often.

All the soldiers had had a meeting that morning to discuss what our plans were and who would be doing what, and we were now eating lunch. There were around a thousand soldiers in Hoodsdale, so anything involving all of us was generally done outdoors.

As per usual, we were gathered in the large clearing that was specifically reserved for military purposes, and I found a small patch of grass to sit down in. Most of the ground in the area was dirt because any living plants had been mindlessly stomped to death.

Having been dry the previous few days, dust was getting kicked up everywhere as all the other soldiers ambled through the clearing. I waved my hand in front of my face, making a fruitless effort to avoid inhaling the thick fog.

I was one of the youngest guys, and I usually ate alone. Besides, I really only knew a few of the others, and I wasn’t interested in pretending to be friends with anyone. Despite this, I saw a lone figure approaching me.

No longer caring about what other people thought, I openly stared at him, trying to identify who it was. As he got closer, I thought I recognized something about his face.

Oh, him, I thought. What was his name again?

It was some kid who went to school with me, one of only a few other school-aged kids that were in the military. I could picture him in the school cafeteria, surrounded by a bunch of other tall guys with messy hair, or perhaps a group of cute girls. He must have been a cool kid, although it was hard to keep up with the social hierarchy as I wasn’t a part of it.

He raised his hand in greeting and cracked a wide, practiced smile as he walked up to me. “Yo, Jelani! Haven’t seen you in a while, man!”

How does he know my name?

“Hey, you hear about the defectors?” he continued in a voice that wasn’t quite quiet enough. “Those soldiers who rebelled, I hear they’re planning a coup. They want to break in–take power.”

As the dust settled, his perfectly manicured sandy hair glowed in the sunlight.

I looked at him, wondering how I should respond. It would be weird for me to be silent for too long, so I went ahead and spoke.

“That’s hard to believe. They probably just wanted some fresh air, y’know? It kinda feels like we’re all caged animals inside these walls, so can you really blame them?” I tried to talk in cool kid language so that we could understand each other.

He took a step back. His smile faded a little, and he raised his hand, pointing a finger at me. “Woah, Jelani, watch what you’re saying. Don’t tell me… you’re the one organizing it all?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see if anyone could have heard what he’d just said. I wished I could tell him to shut up.

If the wrong person heard that out of context, things might never be the same for me. Although, as I looked at the young soldier who’d walked up out of the blue to start bothering me, I wondered if it was already happening.

“Yeah, that’s right,” I said sarcastically, deciding it would be the best way to avoid any scrutiny. “I’m the leader. And you know what our first objective is? To get soldiers some better housing.”

He let out a bark-like laugh. “Yikes! You’re lucky I’m such a nice guy, ‘cause most people would go straight to the captain if they heard that.” He flashed a wide smile and patted me heavily on the shoulder as he walked away.

– – – – –

BREAKING NEWS

This Saturday, the Hoodsdale military will be sending the majority of its forces, in the form of five companies of around 150 soldiers, into the forests surrounding Mt. Hood. Through helicopter surveillance, the government has reason to believe they have pinpointed the locations of a number of rebels, and soldiers will surround the designated areas with the intention of either capturing or eliminating the criminals. This will be the largest anti-rebel operation ever, even taking into account the histories of all nine cities.

When asked why such a large operation is being carried out, Mayor Johnson stated that, “Lately, the criminals known as ‘rebels' have become an increasingly large issue, especially here in Hoodsdale. They are the single largest threat to the peace we’ve worked so hard to create. They evidently have evil intentions, so it is imperative that we take action before they can. That being said, we must also attack the issue at its root cause. Everyone can contribute as we work hard to bring back the prosperity that humanity deserves, so I encourage you all to keep an eye out for suspicious individuals. The last thing we need is more of our own people turning against us when we already face so many other hardships that demand our full attention.”