The Untouchables

Chapter Twelve: Lynn

We walked through the forest, going straight east for a little over an hour, surrounded by trees and greenery. Every so often, a squirrel would scurry across the tree canopy, or a bird would take off from its tree branch, and fly up into the sky. It felt fantastic to be able to walk somewhere without the worry of being shot, or harassed.

Everything felt undisturbed. The bushes weren't brown and trodden down, the trees weren't crushed, and life seemed like it was everywhere. Incredibly different from what we were told back home.

"This is drastically different from what we were told this place looked like." I spoke out into the open air.

Sage turned his head to look at me as I spoke. "What do you mean? What did you think this looked like?"

I gestured to everything surrounding us as we walked. "We were told that everything beyond the initial tree line surrounding our sector was just a desolate wasteland. I know that's how it is beyond the walls of the Harvest Sector out west, but, I guess everyone just assumed that nothing existed unless you lived inside one of the little towns."

He just shrugged. "We were told that the Fishing Sector was a dirty, smelly, gray, little harbor, only catching rotten clams and limp sardines."

"Oh that's not how it was at all." I corrected. "Sure, some areas were worse than others, but all of the homes were painted bright, warm colors, the air smelled like fresh laundry every morning, and we held frequent gatherings in the square."

"What about the uniforms?"

"What about them?"

He nodded up and down at my outfit. "Aren't those similar to the uniforms you were required to wear for work? Or was that different too?"

I hadn't even thought about how similar they looked. "I mean, I guess a little bit." I admitted a little quieter. "There's a few similarities, but for the most part they're different."

In my work uniform, it was heavy, hot, and depressing, but now in my new outfit, I could move swiftly through the bushes. It was lightweight, dark, and breathable. I felt like I could run as far, and as fast through the forest as I could ever want. and it made me feel like I was blending in with the forest, despite my wings being big and bulky. I felt unstoppable.

Free.

The only downside was there wasn't anything to cover my wings, but I could live with that.

"How much farther?" I asked Sage. There weren't any roads out here, or any obvious landmarks, so there were no indications of how far you were going.

"Not too much farther." He answered.

I was about to ask another question, when I was interrupted by a trumpet fanfare, not too far away from where we stood.

Confused, we stopped and looked at each other, and silently decided to run to see what the commotion was.

We flew through the woods, sprinting to the source of the continuous noise, and we broke out of the dense tree line into somebody's large, rectangular backyard.

Hoping they weren't at home, we walked past their chain-link fences, through their backyard, and climbed up onto their roof to observe what was happening in the street that could be possibly making all of that noise.

It was a parade.

A colorless, dreary, parade.

We had these kinds of parades back home too. Once a month, all of the Rangers in the sector, and the kids in the Junior Rangers program would march in tight rows in a parade, carrying the flag of Atoma, wooden rifles, and crossbows.