Taste of Melanin

Opposition

Alternate reality

Nia Fox straightened her spine after strapping the heavy bulletproof vest to her torso. Her kinky hair had already been braided into two braids across her scalp so she was prepared to leave.

The gear on her body felt familiar and the weight from its protective measures seemed to disappear the longer she wore it. Her body settled in the large vehicle as she rechecked the glock attached to her waist.

Pulling down the overgrown driveway, she watched over her shoulders as she backed from her home onto the dilapidated streets. Her truck roared to life as she took off down the street, the numerous patches of grass growing through the cracks of the road reminding her of how terrible things had gotten.

Since the fall of the democracy, the United States fell into the hands of the military. The military's trillion dollar budget allowed them unquestioned control which quickly caused millions to suffer.

Famine was widespread, infrastructure crumbled, and people began turning against one another. As suspected, the military saw the conflict and began instigating the violence. Each time you left your house you saw the outcome of that violence.

Almost every building had broken windows, burnt outsides, and empty insides. Nia had luckily survived that 5 year stint before becoming the face of a revolution. She was tired of seeing the victims fight amongst each other. It was the military's fault the country had fallen into such disarray, now they needed to fix it or be overthrown.

Nia pulled her semi-auto into her lap as she approached the city. The city was where the military and its partners had taken root. Using the back roads, she began heading to the discussed meeting point for her group.

As she pulled into the large parking garage, she ditched her truck at the bottom before heading up on foot. Once at the top, she headed to the elevator and pressed the ring button. The loud ring echoed through the parking garage and suddenly 20 others appeared.

"Morning, Fox." James called first followed by the others sending similar sentiments.

"Good morning, everyone." Nia scanned her eyes over the crowd. This group was one she'd been training for the last 12 weeks- today would be their first introduction to the city.

"Where's Camille?" She spoke as she noticed the redhead missing. Silence met her ears as the others contemplated telling her.

"She, uh, she met her predestined." James finally spoke up, an awkward scratch to his head.

Nia rolled her eyes at the statement. It was common to meet your predestined around the age of 18, that is somehow who you'll love forever. Nia hated the reality. At nearly 32 she was happy to have never found her own.

"Whatever. Come on."

They trekked on foot for the next 3 hours before finally arriving near the city lines. There was a large fence around the city that was heavily guarded 24/7 by both foot and car patrols.

Heading to the south end, they made sure to maintain formation for minimal detection. Nia had done this nearly 200 times yet something always seemed to go awry so she kept her eyes peeled.

They quickly scaled the fence two at a time using their pulley system. Nia was last to go, her hand still clutching her weapon as she was sling shot up the fence and over the other side. They kept low, their feet light, as they moved behind buildings.

"Team one head east. Team two west. Meet back up north in 2 hours- no exceptions. You will be left behind." Nia stressed as she eyed each one of them.