Democracy vs Corporatocracy

Chapter Fifteen: The North Village

March 15th 2042

One year had passed since Marcus ran away from the terrible home he had lived in and established the Freedom Democracy League. The F.D.L had grown quite a bit since it's founding. There were now over 100 members of the F.D.L and things were going smoothly. A small village had been set up around the Freedom Nest, the village was largely self sufficient and more kids were recruited each month. Marcus walked out the Old North Church into the "North Village" as it was being called. There were kids all over the village, doing their daily routines. The kids would wake up, have bread for breakfast, be taught academics by Eivor and Rachel(Who had taught themselves with the education books left behind in the abandoned High School), harvest food from the gardens, build up the village buildings and practice their skills at the obstacle course. Mary Hortus was Ryan Armis's cousin from Texas. She ran away because her step-father tried to force her to marry the son of a rich Corporate executive. She didn't even know the guy and didn't even like him. But Mary's step-father didn't care about how she felt, he just cared about the money! Mary was African American, like Ryan and spoke with a deep southern accent. Mary had learnt how to grow food crops from her mother. One kid on a roof pulled some wheat out of the garden patch, looked at Mary and asked "Are you still mad at your mom?" Mary had just placed an apple in her basket when the kid asked that. She looked at him with sad eyes and said "No, she was in a real bad situation and couldn't get out of it. I just hope that she's doing alright". The two kids got back to harvesting the crops. Marcus walked through the village and looked at the buildings they had rebuilt. The kids had removed the overgrown plant life and filled in many of the holes with bricks and fillings. They had a good supply from the abandoned construction site, but knew that it wouldn't last forever. They would have to learn how to make their own bricks, aside from knowing how to use rifles, harvest crops, make bread and clean their clothing, the kids knew nothing about making bricks.

Marcus looked around the village and saw all they had done. The League had refurbished the abandoned buildings and the kids now lived under blue skies and clear sun. The kids had gardens on top of the buildings, where they grew their food and processed it into hearty meals. It was hard, but the kids got by. They had all been without adult supervision for quite a long time, which was the reason why Sam had fallen of a building and broke his leg a couple of months earlier. Rachel was barely able to position it back in it's proper place, on top of that, Sam had broken a bone and had to walk with a cane. Marcus walked into another building and went upstairs to the roof. Inside each room was 5-10 kids, making tools for maintaining their homes and finishing tests given to them by Eivor. Marcus walked up the stairs and arrived at the roof. Marcus looked around and saw all the other buildings. Many of the buildings had gardens on top, others were being used for parkour training. The kids would jump over obstacles and try to jump to other buildings. The League had set up nets that stretched across the buildings in case any of them didn't make it. Marcus looked over to a group of kids on a neighbouring building and saw a fourteen year old boy try to make the jump. The boy ran across the roof and tried to jump to the neighbouring one. He almost made it, but fell into the safety net. High Councillor of Military Operations Ryan Armis was teaching them. Ryan looked down at the recruit and said "Run faster next time and build up some more momentum". "Sir, yes sir" said Private Carl. Carl crawled towards a window on the training building and climbed through it. Carl walked through the room that the window was in, walked out the door and into the hallway. Carl then walked up the stairs and opened the door to the roof. Carl ran faster this time and jumped much higher. Carl finally landed on the neighbouring roof and the other kids applauded him. Ryan smiled and said proudly "Now the rest o you do the same". Marcus then shouted over to Ryan and said "The meetings in ten minutes".

Ten minutes later, the High Council of the Freedom Democracy League was assembled on the roof of the building. Marcus Libertad, Eivor Conditor, Ryan Armis, Samuel Religio and Rachel Medicus were all gathered around a circular table Marcus had set up. Samuel sat down and placed his crutch next to the chair. Marcus was a bit worried and asked "How's the leg doing Sam?" Samuel rubbed his leg and said "It's getting better, Wesley still thinks it's fine". The rest of the High Council moaned. Wesley was a seven year old who led the "Lost Boys". The Lost Boys were a small group of half a dozen kids who thought that Boston was Neverland. The High Council had made a statement in which they declared that the Freedom Democracy League would go on a full blown offensive once they were all adults, but Wesley and six other kids opposed that. They believed that Boston was the Neverland from the storybooks and that they would never grow up. The Lost Boys opposed the High Councils plan to liberate the rest of the country from Corpo rule and wished for the kids to stay in Boston forever. Wesley had clearly gone insane and kept on ranting about how 'bad' adults were. Lilly, one of the top supporters of the F.D.L, constantly tried to convince him overwise. Wesley had grown up in an orphanage with mean caretakers and his only comfort was the story of Peter Pan. Wesley had been in Boston for three months, but hadn't been there when they were building the village. As Marcus thought of this, he remembered an argument between Lilly and Wesley by the green statue, in which Wesley argued that "Neverland gives us everything we need without any adults to tell us what to do or knock us around. You're all stupid if you want to give that up." Lilly  sternly replied "I was here back when we were still building the village, I was when we were all sleeping in the Freedom Nest, I was here before we had the farms, the bridges and the safety nets. I was here when all we had to eat was fish and wild apples. When did you get here, huh?" Wesley smugly replied "Three months ago". Lilly then said "Yeah, after we knew what we were doing, I was also here when High Councillor Religio slipped of a building and broke his leg. This place didn't fix it, it'll be weeks until his leg gets better!" Lilly finished with "We're not living in some stupid storybook Wesley! This place isn't Neverland".

As Marcus thought back to that argument, Ryan calmly said "I was just as childish at that age, give the rascal time and he'll grow out of it". Eivor worriedly said "I hope so, I care about him just as much as everyone else here". Marcus then said "We've found out MegaCorp's next operation thanks to the Providence newspapers, take a look". Marcus placed a map of a forest in Vermont and said "There is a Conversion Therapy camp located in these woods, there's a dozen and a half kids there and they are being tortured by homophobic conversion therapists everyday". Marcus bought out a file and revealed photos of the awful crimes the children were victims of. Boys were being forced to fight each other in an effort to make them more manly. If they didn't punch hard enough, the 'therapists' would punch them themselves. Kids were being forced to vomit at photos of kids the same gender as them and being fed only two meals a day. The girls were forced to learn how to be 'proper women' and would spend a night in the cellar if they did one thing wrong. Eivor clenched her fist and angrily said "There is nothing wrong with being gay, it's perfectly normal!" Samuel agreed and said "I also don't like how those four evil people are using religion as an excuse". Marcus was not surprised that Samuel said that. Samuel was very opposed to exploitation of religion after all. Marcus said to the council "MegaCorp has recently endorsed the camp to as part of a money deal with the Republican Party and will be expanding it. If we can destroy the camp, MegaCorp won't be able to purchase it". Ryan said with certainty "We've gotta hurry then before the number o kids being tortured goes into the hundreds". Eivor lightly banned a hammer on the table and said "I propose we attack True Directions, burn it to the ground and bring the kids here". Marcus stood up and said "All those who vote on an attack, raise a hand". The entire High Council unanimously voted yes and Marcus said "We attack in two days, get the bus and the Molotovs ready, time for those kids to have a fresh start in Boston".