The Last Martians

Young Friends in the City Part 6

Annamaria was very excited when news of the games reached Outpost Bravo. The eighteen-year-old was desperate for adventure. Evelyn and her female soldiers had arrived at Outpost Bravo a week after her eighteenth birthday to arrest Andrew Jones. When Evelyn had left with fifty of her soldiers, Annamaria had begged her to take her with. The romance of fighting in a revolution had been all the young women could think about. But the older women had told her to stay and help rebuild the outpost. This had devastated the young raven-haired woman. But now nobody could take her chance for adventure away from her, well almost nobody. The invite was for any woman over the age of eighteen. She qualified, and nothing else mattered, not even her lack of fighting experience. Although she trained as a mixed martial arts fighter and competed in youth tournaments, these limited strikes to the body. The thought of being in an all-out fight in front of a huge crowd scared her slightly. But it also excited her. She wanted to test her skills against women from the south and from Dome City. She wanted to experience the emotions of being in a fight with a woman who wanted to beat in her face. But mostly, she wanted to experience city life.

There was only one woman she needed to convince, her grandmother, Kathryn. Annamaria inherited her adventurous streak from her grandmother. The old woman had raised her from the age of six, after her mother, Portia, had died on a fun weekend in Dome City. Kathryn had told Portia to enjoy her life more. She had convinced her to leave Annamaria with her for a weekend and to go have fun with her friends. Portia had never returned. One of her friends had gotten into a spat with a woman at a bar. Things had gotten physical and the women had gone outside to settle their argument with their fists. Portia had been watching the fight when things had quickly escalated. Suddenly, more women had joined the fray. In the confusion of a mass brawl, somebody had hit her with a metal bar from behind, knocking her out cold. She had never regained consciousness. After that, Kathryn had been very strict with, and protective of her granddaughter.

Annamaria did not have to say anything. Her grandmother was aware of the games. She looked at Annamaria with sad eyes when she entered the kitchen where Kathryn was busy preparing lunch.

'Promise me you will come back. I cannot lose you as well. You were the only thing keeping me alive after your mother's death.'

'I promise to be careful.'

The old woman pulled her granddaughter closer and hugged her with tears in her eyes. She had always known this day would come, and had promised herself she would allow her granddaughter to experience life when she was old enough. But now she feared she had not prepared the young woman well enough to face the world on her own.

Dome City was even more magnificent than Annamaria had imagined. The main dome dominated the skyline, while the thousands of domes surrounding it, formed beautiful designs. Some were arranged in geometrical shapes, while others formed trees or animals. She stood on one of the hills surrounding Dome City for a while, admiring the view, before she rushed to catch up with her party. Only six women travelled from Outpost Bravo to the games. The rest were either too young or too old to fight. The hundred soldiers also had to stay behind. Most of them were eager to fight in the games, but Evelyn had sent orders for them to keep the peace in Outpost Bravo. When Annamaria caught up with her travel companions, she threw her arm around her best friend Melanie's shoulders.

'I cannot believe we are here.'

'Where do you get the energy from? Aren't you tired like the rest of us? It's been a long journey.'

Although the Martians transported goods with vehicles, they had travelled by foot since the day they had settled on Mars. This was another rule implemented to ensure muscle development to fight the effects of the lower gravity on the red planet.