AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I remember seeing these cars sometimes when they would drive along the abandoned, cracked roads of Beast Eye to patrol us. I have never been in one, not consciously, but being inside it makes me think of the gang joking about stealing one someday and going for a spin.
As soon as we are inside the car, the doors slam shut, and Albert instructs the car to drive. “Seatbelt,” he says assertively.
“Seatbelt?” I ask.
He sighs, “See the long rope thing next to you, by the door.” I look to my right and sure enough, I see a long black rope with a silver buckle attached to it. “Just pull that around yourself and buckle the silver thing into the red thing at the bottom of your seat on the other side.” I digest all that he has said and follow his instructions.
After a few tries, I hear a satisfying click and the seatbelt contracts tightly around me. I squirm to get out of it, the pressure of the strap against my chest makes me think of the straps back at Calveron. Is this a trap? Is he going to lock me up here and take me somewhere to kill me?
As soon as Albert sees me struggling, he laughs wickedly, “it’s meant to be like that.”
“It’s meant to strangle me?” I yell, pulling the strap as far from me as possible. “What game are you playing?”
“I’m keeping you alive, is that so wrong?” He responds, eyes focused on the road.
“So where are we going?” I ask after a few moments of silence.
“Don’t make me regret taking you with me,” he answers, “I don’t want to answer questions that I don’t care about.”
“But I just want to know where we are going to find them?”
“And I just want you to be quiet so I can focus on making a plan to get my son out,” he raises his voice, and yet his posture still hasn’t changed. His eyes are still trained on the long strip of road ahead of us.
“Why don’t you say your plans out loud?” I suggest. I don’t even know why I’m trying with him. I don’t care about his plans, the only reason I am here is because this could be my one chance of escape.
“WILL YOU SHUT UP, EMERSON?” He turns his eyes off the road to glare at me. In doing so, we begin to swerve off the road and onto the dirt. Albert’s eyes are so full of darkness that he doesn’t even realise that he is far from the road until I yell at him to stop.
For some reason he listens to me.
“What are you doing?” I ask him angrily. “Do you want to get us both killed?”
“Emerson, you should do better to remember who you are talking to. I don’t-”
“Does it look like I care about that?” I interrupt him. I don’t care who he is, I have no respect for him and therefore, I will say what I like to him. Respect has to be earned, and he has done nothing to prove that he is worthy of respect. “Right now, we need to focus on Jasper.”
He glares at me, and I can tell from one look that he is thinking of a thousand different ways that he is going to make me pay for my disrespect. But I don’t care. That is not the most important thing right now.
Albert sits in silence, taking deep breaths to calm himself. I take this opportunity to look around me and wonder how likely my chances for escape are.
The surroundings are desert-like with rubble and the occasional wheel or stack of bricks. The long-term effects of deforestation and the Great War had made sure of an ugly landscape for the generations afterwards.
To the left are the flat, run-down houses that make up Beast Eye, my home. It is so close that I can almost hear the laughter of the gang as they play some stupid game; taste the tinned beans that I would repeatedly have to eat; smell the constant reek of the sewage; sense the heated black rubber of the old playground that I would watch the kids play on.
I can go. Jump out the door and sprint as fast as I can. It looks not too far of a run and by the time that Albert notices I am gone, he won’t be able to catch up. He has bigger issues right now than running after me.
I so desperately want to follow through with that plan.
To the right of the road, there are the skyscrapers and the rich mansions of the civilised suburbs. They overpower my view, and I am stuck looking at the size of them compared to Beast Eye. The difference in lifestyle, all because people are different.
Diversity separates nations. The Great War proved that. And although they said it would get better, the aftermath has only caused more pain and suffering.
As if Albert can read my thoughts, I hear a clicking sound. “Stop thinking about it Emerson. There is no way that I am letting you escape again.”
“And yet, you let Jasper slip through your fingers so easily.” It’s cold, even for me. But some twisted part of me enjoys watching his internal struggle as I say the words.
He takes a few more deep breaths, sadly not taking my bait, and starts to drive again.
We make a sharp right and head into the direction of the Civilised. “How are we going to go into the city without the people realising something is wrong?” I indicate to the sirens that he has turned on and the flashing red lights.
