“After spending a career getting rid of beasts, it feels weird leading them towards the city.”
“I don’t really give a damn how it feels, Pride. I just need to know that it’s all ready.”
“Everything on my end is in position. Set and ready to go at precisely 2am tonight.”
“Precisely 2am?”
“Wrath’s idea. It’s right in the middle of shift change. The sluggishness of the change means the guards might take a bit longer to notice and when they do there will likely be twice as many available to respond.”
“Is it really any good then? I’m taking on a lot of risk here. If there isn’t enough damage, then how can I recoup enough return on my investment?”
“We are all taking risks, Gluttony, not just you. Besides, the extra guards are a good thing. We want limited damage and casualties. This provides the best chance of that.”
----------------------------------------
“Good morning,” said a suspiciously cheerful voice from 6 inches above Lucas’ face.
Lucas woke immediately but kept his eyes shut in the hope he could return to the dream he’d been having. It was one of Lucas’ favorites, where he was standing atop a mountain on a clear sunny day with what seemed like half the world spread out before him.
That might seem like a lame dream, but Lucas had never summited a mountain before. He’d never heard the faint rustle of the wind blowing through the forest or smelled the fresh salty air of the ocean. Lucas, like the vast majority of the residents of Manhattan, had never left the city in which he’d grown up, had never seen anything of the outside world.
“COME ON. RISE AND SHINE,” said Lucas’ little sister, Hayley, as she pulled back the curtain of the nearby window.
A cascade of light flooded the room rendering all further attempts at sleep pointless. Lucas’ eyes snapped open and his back groaned as it lifted him upright.
“Now, why did you go and do that?” Lucas complained.
“I’m waking you up. You need to get moving,” said Hayley matter-of-factly. “I don’t see why you’re complaining. You do this to me all the time.”
“So, now we get to the real reason,” said Lucas, looking over to the digital clock on his nightstand to confirm his suspicions. “Usually I have to wake you up because you slept through your alarm, but mine isn’t set to go off for another five minutes.”
“I don’t see how that matters,” said Hayley in a falsely sweet, high-pitched voice.
Lucas pulled himself out of bed and walked towards the door. Past it was a hallway and, more relevantly, a bathroom.
“Really, Hayley. When are you going to grow up and stop such childish antics? You’re twelve,” said Lucas.
“I don’t know. I guess you’ll have to wait at least a little bit longer,” said Hayley. She pushed Lucas aside, slamming him against the hallway wall as she rushed past and into the bathroom. It was the only bathroom in their family’s small apartment, so Lucas would have to wait.
“You know that if you continue behaving this childishly I might do the same,” Lucas threatened.
“Really, and what is that supposed to mean?” Hayley asked.
“It means… It means that I’ll tattle on you to Mom,” said Lucas.
“Yeah right,” Hayley replied, getting in the final word before she slammed the bathroom door shut.
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Lucas sighed and let things go at that. Hayley was right; it wasn’t worth doing anything. Still, even with being up a bit earlier than he’d intended, Lucas didn’t waste any time. To Lucas, time was a most precious commodity. Rather than wait for the bathroom, Lucas proceeded to the kitchen where he microwaved some water and added it to a dried packet of Quaker Oats. He was almost finished with his breakfast when the front door to the apartment opened.
“Hi, Mom,” said Lucas. “Long night?”
“No, tonight was surprisingly quiet even for a Wednesday. I think it might have to do with Fourth of July weekend. Everyone’s saving their frivolity for then,” said Lucas’ mother, Leticia. “I see that you got an even earlier start than normal.”
“Hayley’s doing,” said Lucas.
“Do I need to have a word with her?” Leticia asked.
“No,” said Lucas, waving it off. “I don’t mind getting into work a bit early.”
This much was true, but even if this weren’t the case, Lucas wouldn’t bother his mother over it. She had enough burdens to get on with. She worked most nights, while Lucas spent his days working in the mines. Because of this, it was rare for both of them to be home and most of their meetings were like this one, brief moments where one was rushing to get out while the other was exhausted and just getting in after a long shift.
“You really shouldn’t be working so hard. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you set out a bit early every morning or that you return a bit late. Don’t think I don’t understand what that means,” said Leticia.
Many would think Lucas was using the time for other activities, but Lucas’ mother knew the truth.
Harlem Mining Co. had two earning options for its workers. The first paid an hourly wage, where so long as they kept up a decent pace, workers could retain their employment. The second had workers earn based on the volume and quality of ore mined.
Most chose the first option. However, by selecting the second option, Lucas was able to earn ever so slightly more than he would have with an hourly wage at the cost of having to work twice as hard as most everyone else. This didn’t bother Lucas so much. He was still young and strong, he still felt immortal.
“It’s too late,” said Lucas. “This is the way I’m doing it and I’ve been working hard at it, saving up for months. I’m not turning back now.”
“So this is still about you wanting to be a hunter,” said Leticia. “I told you sweetie. I know money is tight, but there are better ways. I’m sure we could find some more places we could cut back or....”
“No Mom, this has nothing to do with money. You know that I’ve wanted to be a hunter since before we lost Dad. I want to go out. I want to be able to see the world. The real world, just like our ancestors were able to,” said Lucas.
This was a lie, but the best sort of one, with enough truth that it even convinced the one telling it. Lucas truly wanted to see the outside world, it literally occupied all his dreams, but Lucas wasn’t a fool. He knew hunters were paid exceptionally well. Well enough that he could move his mother and sister out of this dump, well enough that his mom could retire and enjoy whatever time she had left and enough that his sister could get a proper education. But to become a hunter, Lucas first needed to acquire all the equipment he’d need, which would take no small sum.
“I just think you should ease back a bit on the work. You’re messing up your sequencing scores,” said Leticia.
“It’s not that big of a deal. I have plenty of time before that becomes a problem,” said Lucas.
“I know it seems like that, but trust me, when you get older you’ll regret it,” said Leticia.
“I’m done now,” Hayley yelled from down the hall.
“Go ahead. We can talk more about this another time,” said Leticia.
“Ok, later Mom,” Lucas agreed.
The tension in the air quickly eased. Despite the dispute, both Lucas and his mother knew each was only acting that way because they were worried for each other, because they cared for each other.
Lucas turned towards the hallway. “About time, I was starting to think you fell in.”
“Hey.”
“What? It’s not like it would have been the first time.”
Lucas’ mother headed in towards her bedroom while Lucas quickly shoveled the last two bites of oatmeal into his mouth before depositing an empty bowl in the sink and heading for the bathroom.
Lucas washed up and was out of the apartment in less than ten minutes. His family was but one of several hundred that occupied the overcrowded building. In particular, they lived on the thirty-seventh floor, so after Lucas pressed the down button to summon the elevator, he had moment to gaze out a nearby window.
The city of Manhattan lay sprawled out before him in all of its glory. The lowest, nearest portion of his view was occupied by a thousand resolute grey skyscrapers, pointing up at the heavens as if defying the laws of gravity. Meanwhile, the top of his view was filled by an endless clear blue sky. In between the two, separating the city from everything beyond was an iridescent metal wall so reflective in the morning sun that Lucas had to squint to be able to see anything.
To most people, the wall and its siblings in other cities stood as silent, ever-present guardians protecting the last vestiges of humanity from the horrors of the outside world. But Lucas saw the wall for what it really was, a cage. Lucas longed for what was beyond the wall, the blue and white swirls of ocean waves crashing onto the shore, fields of green stretching as far as the eye could see, virtually all the sights Lucas had only ever seen in old holovids from before the wall was put up.
Lucas stared out at the scene for two minutes until the elevator came, letting the view harden his resolve as he did every morning. Lucas would get out of this cage. He would see what lied beyond the walls. He would become a hunter.