THE PERFECT CITY (WIP)

PROLOGUE

June 29th, 2034

It was hot, and Arturo's battered clothes did little to protect him from the sun's harmful rays. He called out to Mayra: "Are we almost there?" She nodded. Arturo was worried. They were already almost out of Roboré, farther than he had ever traveled. They climbed over the rubble left over from the latest uprising, bits of street signs and buildings strewn about the street.

The two kids were hungry, and the Gobierno had once again limited the number of ration cards per capita. "Mayra, come on, let's go back," Arturo pleaded. She simply shook her head. Sometimes he hated that she couldn't speak. It made things so much more complicated.

Suddenly, Mayra stopped and pointed towards a seemingly abandoned apartment building across the street. One step inside showed otherwise. Arturo was astounded. It was filled with people, but what truly surprised him was the fact that they all seemed healthy and clean. As if they didn't have a care in the world. It was unlike any place he had ever seen.

There had to be someone running it, someone in charge. Arturo looked around the room, scanning for someone of authority. He found no one. "Hello! And who might you youngsters be?" a cheery voice said suddenly. It turned out the authority had found him. "Well, I'm Mrs. Alamilla. I run this thing. If you're looking for shelter, or a hot meal, this is the place." Arturo finally realized where the voice was coming from. It was a plump, short woman who seemed pleased with herself. Arturo grinned. This had to be the best day of his life.

Mrs. Alamilla managed to get them each a bowl of soup and a blanket. "Do you have parents?" she asked. Mayra shook her head. "This one doesn't talk much, huh?" Mrs. Alamilla said jokingly. Mayra looked down. "She can't. Chem bomb," Arturo replied quickly. Mrs. Alamilla's face fell. Attempting to break the silence, Arturo noted that there was a television in the corner. He had never seen one.

A piercing sound erupted from outside the building. It was a high shriek, an alarm of some kind. Mayra had her hands over her ears, silently screaming. Arturo' bowl fell from his hand and shattered on the concrete floor. Mrs. Alamilla started for the exit, with him following. Mayra stayed inside, bawling.

Arturo saw little children covering their eyes, crying. Mrs. Alamilla was staring at the sky. He glanced upwards, seeing nothing. A sound even greater than the siren-if that was possible-pounded his eardrums. Suddenly, huge black planes appeared, seemingly out of thin air. The sky was full of them. They seemed to excrete little black dots, which raced towards the ground. One struck a nearby building, reducing it to rubble.

Mrs. Alamilla pulled Arturo into the building. She led Mayra and him downstairs, into a bunker of some sort. "We have a bomb shelter, in case terrorists targeted this building." she explained. She tried to get as many people in the shelter as possible, but had to stop somewhere. Around 10 of the residents managed to get in before the sealed the doors. "Protect the kids," she said firmly. They shielded Arturo and Mayra with their bodies.

The world above them shook for about a minute. When it stopped, they climbed out of their shelter and into the devastation above. The apartment building that had been their home was gone. The ground was covered with chunks of concrete and flesh. The town that they had known was gone.

"Maybe there are other survivors," someone said timidly. They all agreed, and set out on a makeshift search-and-rescue mission. Suddenly, they heard voices. It was impossible to hear what they were saying, but it seemed like two males conversing. As they grew nearer, the group started to worry. The voices didn't seem confused or worried at all. Mrs. Alamilla instructed them all to get out of sight. They crouched behind a narrow wall of concrete while she walked towards the voices. "Hello, I'm Mrs. Ala-," she was interrupted by a flurry of gunshots. One of the people behind the wall looked over and screamed. Arturo looked over too, seeing two male soldiers rushing towards the screaming. They had no intention of helping them.

"Run. Run as fast as you can. Now," Arturo said firmly to Mayra. She nodded, a sad look on her face. She sprinted away from them, the sounds of gunshots and screaming floating towards her. She climbed to the top of a pile of rubble, and looked back at her town one last time.

The world Mayra had known her entire decade of life was destroyed.She saw her barrio in the distance. Her home was covered by debris. But only one thing mattered. She was alive.