Entering the new earth could prove to be harder than expected for Alina and her family.
As the new earth guards dressed head to toe in white utilitarian gear stand behind the fence of the airport. And the old earth gang members, under Joseph's orders, in black and brown rough clothes and carrying guns, stand outside the fence.
Alina, standing in line at the charity stall by the airport, sees the old earth gang drag a few guys away from the airport as they try to slip inside the airport. The new earth guards laugh and point at them as they say-
“Let them come to the good side”
And as Alina walks away an airplane takes off vertically behind her. She turns and looks at it rising, gripping the boxes of medicine hard in her hands.
Alina walks in a little crowded road on an uneven ground past rundown houses and old broken cars and enters a building in the middle of the bazaar.
She climbs the stairs, pleased to be back home, and enters the old apartment and places the medicine on the table. Waiting for her are her mother, Mona, is cooking breakfast in silence and her brother, Drake, is by the window in the kitchen watching the street all frustrated.
And only her sister Lilliana meets her playful energy. Lilliana is sitting on the table. Where Alina sits facing her, ready to purge what the day brought. It is not everyday that Alina leaves the day and those few minutes in the weeks hold a lot of ups and down emotions.
“Drop everything! Leave everything behind!” said Alina Sarcastically imitating what those fancy new earth guards in their white uniforms were yelling at everyone boarding the planes. “If they would let me get my stuff to the new earth I would go” Alina added
Mona takes the medicine.
“Yeah that's the reason why you’re not going to the new earth” said Lilliana
The girls proceeded to imagine how gorgeous the new earth is. Saying it was nice must be an understatement.
“They say their blue skies are impeccable and always blue and it never rains. One of the guards from the inside told me” said Drake making Mona drop the medicine boxes.
“Again! Don’t even mention it around them! Those ruthless gangs will not hesitate to lock you up to stop you from going” said Mona
“There’s no other option. When they’re gone everything will be gone. The food and-” Drake Picks and raises the pack of medicine from the table. “-and the medicines!” he added before he slams the pack on the table. “We've been living off their charities for as long as I can remember”
“There is still time. They’ll let us go eventually” said Alina
“No they won’t!” said Lilliana
And she is right, ever since the population became less than two million they’ve gone haywired with their grip on the people of Long Ridder city. Everyone is leaving, no one wants to stay in the old earth.
“I mean like have you ever heard of someone leaving the new earth!” said Lilliana
“Why would they!” said Drake
“Actually there is a rumor that someone returned from the new earth a long time ago” said Alina
Lilliana and Drake were speechless, and as curious as to know who it was they were more curious to know how Alina learned of this. Seeing she never leaves the house.
“The group” said Alina “the boys and girls that roam the bazaar and the city, trying to sneak into the new earth, they’re so flashy the old earth gangs just keep catching them. One of them is so chatty, his name is Jeremy, he talks and talks and talks..”
“We need to join them” said Drake cutting Alina off
“Yeah we will all join them including mom, i’m pretty sure her motorcycle license is still valid, right mom?” said Alina sarcastically.
Embarrassed and powerless, Drake is down realizing how non inclusive his plan is and that even if he can run and jump the fence his fifty-five year old mother couldn’t. And it’s either all of us there or all here. Mona is devastated seeing that her kids risk staying behind for her sake but the three immediately reassure her that home is wherever Mom is.
But as far as entering the new earth, Alina and her siblings are not so worried for at the moment the new earth is still parked here.
Lilliana had a great plan that included her home-bound sister Alina,
“I don't know why I had to come with you?” said Alina
“I don't wanna die alone” said Lilliana
“Die on your own, I am going home.” said Alina, she turns to go back before Lilliana grabs her arm and pulls her close to her side.
“Look, we're sisters, we live together or we die together”
“And yet you hid your cookies yesterday so I won’t have some”
“Well, I’m your older sister, obey what I say”
“I don't want to obey you in …” said Alina before whispering “flirting with the old earth gang to sneak us into the new earth”
“Desperate time calls for desperate measures”
“These aren’t desperate measures, these are disgusting measures”
“They walk in pairs. I can't have one and leave the other one lonely”
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“God forbid”
Lilliana spots a stall that sells cute tops.
“Wait wait wait.” said Lilliana before walking towards the stall leaving Alina behind.
“What happened to the plan?” yelled Alina
“Later!”
“Seriously..clothes..what for? The world is ending” said Alina who spots to her side a stall selling earrings and necklaces. And despite what she just said she heads straight to it.
As the girls were busy shopping, the group Alina talked about earlier, consisting of men and women, on a quest to slip into the new earth, entered the bazaar. Their try in stealthiness is failing miserably as they become quite memorable and all eyes are on them.
Among them are five young mens Jeremy, Zack, Charles, Derek and Rudy.
Unbeknownst to the groups, a set of eyes and feets are following them, members of the old earth gang keeping the piece. A group member, feeling watched, turns suddenly, catching a glimpse of the followers. The old earth gang don’t hesitate, it is their chance to catch the group they ran towards.
But the group scatters all over the busy bazaar like ants. Well, most of them at least, but not Jeremy. A man in his late twenties, turns and stands his ground to face the gang members and is the first to launch. He lands a punch on one of the gang members,
“Trying to ambush us ha suckers” said Jeremy
“We’re leaving” the group members kept yelling to their mates as the gang try to catch them.
“You're staying put right here…We need all the nice boys and girls to stay here” said one of the old earth gang member
“Too bad but you're losing this nice guy to the new earth” said Jeremy before a metal ball came flying from someplace else hitting a gang member. And a second ball and third. Three metal balls, one for each gang following, and all three of the guards fall to the ground.
“He is surely not nice” said Jeremy
“Shut up… Standing doing nothing” said Zack with a smug appearance, he is a natural leader, and bluntly honest man.
“I wanted to fight fair” Jeremy said, sad that he didn’t get to throw some blows
“No time for fair…Charles… Derek… Rudy, move it we’re leaving!…come on Jeremy” said Zack.
He leads the five boys group away. But it wasn’t long as more old earth gangs surrounded them again.
As People gathered to watch the commotion, Lilliana’s stall was closer to the conflict area and as uninterested as she was of these daily conflicts and fights in the bazaar, the clothes today were less appealing and so she drops the clothes and moves closer to the crowd.
Alina’s stall on the other hand was a little further, she can still see the conflict but she couldn’t be bothered as she was in her own battle holding a necklace up,
“Crystal! What crystal! This plastic from the pile of garbage!” said Alina
“No, this is a gem from the garbage pile. Fifty dollars and I am being generous” said the seller.
“Aha so it is from the trash pile. Three dollars. And I am taking the earrings too”
“Let me wrap them for you.”
Alina has won her battle, she looks back at the ongoing fights,
“Gee they’re sure going at it today more than usual” thought Alina.
Over at the fights, the five boys from the group have been divided successfully by the old earth gang and Jeremy and a gang member have each other by the collar but Jeremy tosses him down,
“Give it up already” said the fallen Gang member
“Get lost!” said Jeremy “The final airplanes leaves tomorrow” added Jeremy louder
“ZIP IT!”
Chatting sounds are increasing among the crowd. Did they hear right?
Mad, the gang member punches Jeremy to the ground, Jeremy gets up and launches bent over and lands a low punch right in the gang member abdomen, throwing him to the ground.
The clash continues. Before the gang member gets up Jeremy faces the people in the commotion,
“Listen up! These airplanes are the last ones coming. The new earth will leave and we’ll be left behind” said Jeremy making the crowd get louder. “The new earth will leave tomorrow” muffled as the crowd got louder
“What are you doing?” said Zack panicked from afar in the middle of his fight with a gang member.
“They have the right to know.”
“This will just make our escape harder”
A gang member, now more mad, launches at Jeremy. Jermey blocks the punches while backing away, near Alina’s stall, who still is paying no heed to what is happening around her.
The gang member pushes Jermey. Jermey falls on his head near Alina’s stall.
Surprised, seeing Jeremy on the ground,
“Hi chatty!” said Alina
“Hi!!” said Jeremy excited to see her again, before the gang member chockles him
Startled and mad, Alina isn't sure what to do. She looks around and sees everyone distracted in their own fights. Grabs the jewelry bag from the table and slyly sneaks behind the gang member and hits him hard on his head.
“No scratch! Could it be a real gem? Maybe it was worth more than 3 dollars” said Alina, looking at the contents of her bag.
The gang member drops. Jermey grabs him by the neck, pins him to the ground, and punches him continuously.
Alina has a sudden realization. She looks at the direction of Lilliana’s stall. The stall is empty.
She scans everywhere and everyone.
As The group runs, Lilliana spots one of them and walks in that direction to know what he said about the last flights. But the old earth gangs tackle everyone.
Alina sees Lilliana walking into the commotion and runs towards her.
Jeremy pauses from punching, looks at Alina running. He punches more. Gets up and runs after her.
Crowded, Alina moves slowly keeping an eye on Lilliana, calling her name. Begging her to stop. But all of a sudden Alina loses sight of her sister. Frantic, she walks faster in the same direction.
People keep bumping into her moving in the opposite direction away from the fight area. As the crowd cleared a bit she saw many old earth gang members moving her way grabbing every young person.
A gang member spots and walks towards her and she runs away, can she negotiate with him? Will he believe her that she wasn’t with the group? Did he see her hit the gang member that was strangling Jeremy?
With fear Alina grew sluggish and her knees were shaking, this isn’t like her she doesn’t disobey rules.
All of a sudden a gang member appeared in front of her. She froze up. She couldn’t move no matter how loud she yelled “run!” in her head over and over.
The word was so loud repeating but it wasn’t louder than the motorcycle engine sound that came from the alleyway to her side. A man covering his face with a bandana yells at Alina to ride on. She does so and rides away.
“Ah.. thanks” said Alina who is still shaking, unsettled from what happened.
The man removes the bandana and it is Jeremy,
“Consider it payback” said Jeremy in a goofy way
“Chatty guy!”
“You know..the name is Jeremy” said Jeremy a little serious but not a lot, to not sound mean.
Alina apologizes before wondering where they are heading to, but wondering time is not yet as they are still being followed and Alina has noticed them.
Jermey floored the ride, passing the garbage piles area and entering the storage blocks area.