Smoke from a fire rises high into the sky from somewhere in the city. A band of Razie’s thugs storm past through the puddles outside the ruined facade of complex 17D, their echoing laughs reverberating between the walls. Inside, a man sits; flinching at the shadows of the thugs, dancing along the walls as they pass.
‘How’d it all come to this?’ he thinks to himself. ‘Just a week ago I was safe inside the inner wall, now look at me, disheveled, broken and alone.’
His formerly pristine suit, which was the symbol of his pride and status, hangs threadbare from a makeshift clothing line in the corner of the room. Soon the final ‘Heat-Tech: Chem kit’ that he managed to grab with him before being thrown out from the Cloud District will run out and he will be at the mercy of the elements for the first time in ages.
“No... No I will not give in that easily.” He begins out loud while slowly standing up “They may have thrown me out, but they are gravely mistaken if they believe that I, Gilbert Brisk the Third, would give in so easily!” He exclaims proudly, before promptly throwing himself to the ground for cover as he hears; “Oi, you boys, wa’s that?” from the outside. Luckily those who heard his proclamation of defiance seem to be more than happy to return to whatever they were doing. So he stands once more after staying still for a while, brushes himself off, and continues, in a hushed tone, “I will live one”.
The man, Gilbert, is dressed in a dirty torn dress shirt as well as a pair of blood-stained jeans.. His brown frazzled hair was, luckily, freshly cut in before his exile and his bright blue eyes shine with a newly found, fierce, determination.
Gilbert put away his belongings into the duffle bag which he’d used so long ago while roaming the streets of the city as a young lad. Then he set off, back out into the streets. (Of course going through the back door, as he’s all too scared of the main road.)
***
Though it would seem he was walking aimlessly through the smog covered streets and alleyways, Gilbert, in fact, had a plan. It’d been a while since he last walked down these passages, but he still knew them like the back of his hand, keeping to the safest paths to walk at this time of day with a clear goal in mind. With a plan he once thought too ludicrous for even him, but now remained as his only option.
The streets, especially those walked by Gilbert, were covered in trash, trinkets from the old world, other knick knacks and the like. At one point Gilbert would collect these. He had clung to them andlay up at night imagining what sort of purposes they used to serve, in the old world. Later, in the Cloud district, he’d read about them in the Grand library, only to find that their actual purposes were much less extravagant. Upon this discovery, he threw them all away.
***
Not far behind Gilbert followed another in his trail. The footprints left behind in the dusty streets were more than enough for Shia, Razie’s right hand (wo)man, to follow. Along with her were three men, other thugs from Razie’s gang: the Lightning Marauders, marked by the bolt shaped scar on their bald heads. Shia drew her knives. “He’s heading for the outer wall… Why is that coward going there?” she said to the other three and they disappeared into the shadows of the alley.
***
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
A robotic voice rang out from the speakers set out strategically across the city: “CAUTION: SUNDOWN IN 20 MINUTES. RETURN TO YOUR HOMES” The sun, of course, hadn’t been seen by the inhabitants of the city for decades, but the automatic reminder still helped them all keep track of the time of day in the sun’s absence. At this time Gilbert had just managed to reach his goal: The outer wall. Looking up at the gigantic wall, continuing upwards far into the air where it disappeared into the far reaches of the smog. He grinned to himself at the sight of it, realising the insanity of what he was about to try.
Just as he set down his bag and started to stretch his body (he wanted to at least be limber before this crazed attempt that may well cost him his life) a voice rung out behind him. “I don’t know what you’re trying at here Gilbert, but you better stop.”
Gilbert spun around to find Shia standing there, joined by the three other thugs. With a smile he said: “Now, whatever do you mean miss Shia? I’m just here for some light exercise.”
“Some ‘light exercise’, eh?” Shia sounded unamused. “Well, somehow I doubt that. I know you Gilbert, and I know that you’re no fool. Soon the sun will go down and we both know what happens here at sun down. Whatever you have planned will not save you from that.”
“Well, we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we miss Shia? But we still have some time before that. What does Razie want with me?” Gilbert questioned while continuing his stretches.
“That is for me to know and for you to find out, now either you come with me willingly or” Shia raised the knives at her side “I’ll have to do this the hard way”.
“I don’t think I will, I’m afraid” Gilbert said, feigning sadness. “However, I’d advise that you leave, about... well, now actually.” As he said this, behind him, tons of hatches slid open in the outer wall from which massive combat drones emerged.
“CAUTION: THE SUN HAS GONE DOWN. CURFEW IS NOW IN ENACTMENT. ANY CITIZEN OUTSIDE THEIR HOMES WILL BE EXECUTED ON SITE.” The booming robotic voice echoed throughout the city. Flashlights shone from the drones down upon the people present, blinding the thugs who were standing facing the drones, giving Gilbert a moment. And a moment was all he needed.
“RETURN TO YOUR HOMES OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE” The drones exclaimed. Gilbert, however, did not listen. He broke out into a sprint towards the drones rather than away from them. “YOU HAVE GOT FIVE SECONDS; FIVE… FOUR…” They began counting down. Gilbert, though inwardly terrified, did not budge. He ran towards the closest drone and jumped.
Gilbert flew through the air for what felt like ages, but as evident from the drones counting, were mere seconds. In the air he grabbed onto the drone that he ran to and managed to grab a hold just as the others opened fire. The shots managed to rip a hole in the drone, to which it erected a blue tinted force field around itself which blocked the remaining attacks, both from hitting the drone and Gilbert. “SHELL COMPROMISED: HEADING FOR REPAIRS” The drone then said, and started flying upwards.
“Yes! Yes!!!” Gilbert screamed out in celebration. Down on the ground he could see the lifeless, unmoving bodies of Shia and her ‘friends’. “I actually did it, I’m going to get out!” Gilbert continued to himself. The drone continued up through the smog of the city, which, eventually, dispersed and along with it the wall ended. Before him spread a seemingly infinite, sprawling landscape, nothing like the confined streets of the city below. The sky was covered with glittering lights… Stars. Gilbert had of course read of them, but he could never imagine ever actually seeing them, nor that they would be so beautiful. The ground beneath was covered in a forest of, honest to god, living trees, as nature had reclaimed the abandoned world.
“I.. I did it” Gilbert said in disbelief, “I, Gilbert Bisk the Third, did it! I got out, a thing deemed impossible, I. DID. IT!!!” He screamed out at the top of his lungs. The sound of his voice echoed out into the distance, not like the echo of the city, rather an echo signifying space, one signifying freedom.
And so the drone flew away from the city, headed for the factory. A place where no man had been for hundreds of years. And along with it, clinging for dear life, went Gilbert Brisk: The man who escaped.