Survive [Mad Max: Fury Road]

Chapter Nineteen

"I'd say it was your manifest destiny not to."

-Capable

In my sleep, I overheard words being exchanged from Furiosa to Max. I tried and tried to wake myself, but consciousness evaded me like sleep used to. Their words filtered into my mind, influencing my dreams, twisting them into something beautiful, and something tragic. I had not dreamed since I fell asleep in the rig, only when Furiosa and Max began to speak did anything bubble up and form images in my mind. They formed like a kaleidoscope in my head, multiple frames of twisted and distorted imagery of what was being said.

"How do you know this place even exists?" Max asked; my head formed all types of places. The labyrinth I lived in once upon a time, the Citadel, a place of shelter from the sunshine. What kind of place was Furiosa taking us to?

"I was born there." She replied.

Birth.

My mind went to Ira; her pinched face showing disgust towards me. The way she would glance around me as if I weren't there. It was not only me whom she treated that way, but it was more direct and obvious with me. My stubbornness, my hatred for the life I lived, she did not share such feelings. The women all around me did, however, and I was glad Ira had not been there long enough to taint them, to make them believe they were living normal lives in the Citadel. My mind drifted to her face when the blood soaked her white fabric skirt; the death of a baby that could have been, and the death of a mother.

"So why'd you leave?"

Leave.

I left.

I ran for my life, I feared for my life. I still feared for my life, but it was easier to accept death now. Now that I was free, I would die free. I would not die of a disease or of having too much trauma done to my body from forced pregnancy. Leave. Why would Furiosa leave? A place of safety? A place with water? With food? What was this place?

"I was taken as a child –stolen."

Stolen.

I was stolen. The memories fleeted across my mind, dancing, threatening to disappear. I was too young when I was stolen to remember. I was taken at such a youthful time, my mind was easily bent and altered to think I was born in the Citadel. Where was I from? All the questions of my previous life, whether it was better or worse than the Citadel or how it was now, bounced around in my head but I knew that there would be no answers. That time had long since passed, and I would never know where I was from. It didn't matter, really, as long as I knew who I was today, and who I was going to be tomorrow.

"You done this before?"

"Many times." Furiosa replied, and I began to stir. "Now that I drive a war rig, this is the best shot I'll ever have."

"And then?" Max's voice was different from the last time I had seen him in my life. He sounded as if there was nothing left, nothing he could do to change the world. But he was wrong, he could still change my world, our world.

"They're looking for hope."

"What about you?"

"Redemption." Furiosa confirmed.

My eyes opened at that, and I felt a strange urge to pretend that I was still asleep as to show them that I was not listening in on their conversation. However, they were chatting within the cab of a war rig, and not a lot went unnoticed by the others. I had a right to know where we were going, and now that I knew Max didn't know either, I felt less unincluded from the situation. I yawned, catching the attention of Max and waking The Dag. Her eyes widened with that crazy look which I suspected came from living in the Citadel. I wondered if she had been touched by Immortan Joe already, or if she had been spared the horror.

It was almost late in the evening already, and I wondered how long I had slept. The sun had been blinding when we were in the canyon, so I presumed it would be shortly after dusk by now. Even though my world was chaos again, I had slept longer and better than I had in so many years. There had been the odd night where I went to sleep so exhausted that I slept almost ten hours, but those days were rare, and usually came hand in hand with a wound of some sort. Feeling at ease, I sat up straight and the other women glanced at me briefly. I had yet to learn their names, other than Capable, but I hadn't found the right time to ask. As I glanced at the blackness ahead of us, I decided now was a good a time as any.

"What do I call you? All of you?" I asked.

"Cheedo the Fragile, over there." The blonde with wild eyes said. "I'm The Dag, and this here's Toast the Knowing."

They were not easy names to forget. Most of the woman brought to the Citadel were stripped of their origin including their names. It was Immortan Joe's way of making them less willing to fight back. At such a young age, when your identity was stripped from your being and you were thrown into a world of faux bliss, you often forgot where you came from or who you were. Furiosa had been spared the gore of the Breeder world, but that did not mean she had easy. I did not know her story, but very few women stood where she stood when in the Citadel, and I shuddered to think about the battles she fought to get there. Was it all for us? The Breeders? Or had she done it for her own survival?

It mattered not.

The rig began to swerve violently and I had to slam my hand against the driver's seat to stop myself from falling flat on my face. I was unprepared for the situation, and it was only then that I noticed Max was driving. Glancing out at the muddy terrain ahead of us, I knew that it would not take long for such a heavy vehicle to sink into the soft mud. We had already gotten stuck in the sand a few times, and mud was far more difficult to get out of. I missed my bike, but it had been damaged in the Canyon race and I lost it when I opted to jump on the rig. Still, my bike would have sunk into the mud as well, only it would have been easier to get out. As we sunk in, the rig groaning as Max revved twice to see if he could use the force of the rig to get out, we all got out just as we had with the sand. We had to work together to get the rig unstuck at maximum speed. Though Immortan's fleet would also get stuck, they had lighter vehicles, and would not be far behind us. Being nighttime, we would see headlights before were saw them, which was something to cling to at least.

We grabbed large slats of metal and slid them under the tires while Max fired up the rig, pulling it free after some struggle. As he barrelled down the muddy terrain, we all ran to catch up, but I knew that there was hardly any point in getting comfortable, as there would only be more of this throughout the night. Sand or mud, the rig would get stuck over and over again. I thought about unhitching the trailers, at least that way we would be lighter and less likely to get stuck. But it had essentials for survival, especially if we had much further to go before we arrived at this Green Place that Furiosa had talked about.

It was not long before the Rig sunk in again, this time deeper than before. We all rushed out, even Max, and began to put the slates underneath the tires. This time, we could see headlights. They were gaining on us, and we were going to get caught. My heart pounded as I reached to feel for my pistol. It was almost empty, and my shotgun only had two shots left. I cursed as I dropped to my knees and slid the metal under the tires. The rig lurched and I realized that everyone who was with us was outside of the rig. Who the hell was driving it? Furiosa began to scream at the person in the driver's seat, but Capable calmed us, "He's trying to help!"

The war boy.

I questioned it at first, but then remembered that it was him who had saved me from falling to my death earlier in the canyon. The War Boy, almost glowing white in the moonlight, pointed out the window, "We just need to get over that hill, we can attach the winch to that thing over there."

"He means the tree." Capable said.

We all glanced at each other; another alliance had been made, things were looking up. But the ominous headlights coming our way made us pressed for time. We had to move, and we had to move now.