Anarchy on Earth

~29~

My eyes fluttered open to a soft light. I looked out the window of UCIA to see a brilliant blue sky, with no clouds. From my position on the cot, I couldn't see the ground. Only the sky. And I was cool with that.

Everyone in the cafeteria, (the number amounts to about 70) were crowded around the windows, looking at the destruction of their beloved city. I looked over at my group, who all still sat on their cots, doing various things to pass the time.  Miranda and Griffin were talking away, as Jordan read my Steven Queen book- wait...

TK was drawing a map of Union City. Or, what WAS Union City. Now it wasn't Union City anymore. Now it was rubble. I guess he was trying to get it down before it faded away forever. TK had a thing for maps. It was strange.

"Give me back my book." I said, swiping the huge book back from Jordan.

She grinned, and I couldn't help smiling. It was hilarious. Stealing books in the apocalypse. Who would have thought.

"He loved you, you know." I said, sitting back down on the cot.

She looked at the ground. "I know." She paused, and looked up. "I didn't love him back though... I'm still a lesbian."

"Yeah, I'm aware." I said, laughing quietly.

She hesitated for a moment, but then shook her head.

"I cared about him, you know? He was cool. Mysterious too. I can't say that I loved him like he did to me, but I can say that he meant a lot to me... Sounds corny huh?"

"A little. You only knew each other for a couple days."

She nodded. After thinking for a little bit, she asked, "Do you think we'll be split up?"

The thought hadn't crossed my mind. We had spent so much time together, trying to survive, to get here, and all that. I hadn't thought about what would happen if we were separated. How would we keep going without one of us or more? 

TK had the book smarts.

I had the logic, and street smarts. (and a bit of book smarts)

 Griffin had the muscle.

Miranda had the precision, and the attitude.

Jordan was... she was... THE BALLAST, yeah that was it. The sick, spine-crushing, unexpected ballast.

I didn't know what I would do without them... Well, there was no time for ill thoughts at that moment. There was a guy in a suit walking down the hallway with ten soldiers behind him armed with huge guns.  Not heading for us, but just patrolling the area.

***

"Hey!" Someone yelled in a particularly annoying manner.

TK looked up from his map. I looked in the direction of the voice. 

"Where'd you guys find those clothes? The dumpster out back?" 

It was a kid, with a shock of floppy blonde hair in front of him. As thought, he was wearing a turtleneck sweater, and chinos. He had a group of snickering friends around him. I know those kind of people. Jordan had killed those kinds of people. I had enjoyed watching Jordan kill those kinds of people. 

"No." I said, simply, and then continued reading.

He left me alone for a couple seconds, and then called out again.

"You sure? Cause it looks to me like you- nah, ALL of you poor S.O.B's down with you are homeless!"

I was up in a second, and strode towards him in two strides. I wasn't angry... not yet anyway. Nonetheless, he stepped back. I guess he was freaked out by the now dark scar cutting across the side of my eye, or the rough complexion that now studded all of our faces, streaked with soot, grime, and blood.

"Except we're all homeless now, you see?" I said, very calmly. The guy raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"Do you want to look outside? I bet you, all of you in this room are from The Docks, the High Living District or Riverside South. You didn't have to go anywhere. You were buffered by the river. A natural disease barrier. When the word came, you simply came here, whining about how not all of the food is 'quality' and how you miss your king sized bed. Well now, it doesn't matter. There is no homeless, or rich, or poor. Because all of that, blew up at midnight today with  24 missiles, and a ton of HIT's."

The guy looked out the window at the carnage, and whimpered a little.

"Yeah. Didn't see that, now did you? Too busy picking on us." I said, quietly. The guy was starting to step back. "Your TV's, all your little Mpads, and Mpods. All your money, and cars, and... i dunno, friggin' helicopters are gone. Blown to smithereens. "

At this point, Griffin, Miranda, Jordan, and TK were at my side.

"You? You don't have a home. Maybe you will soon, but for now, you don't. I DO have a home though. It's not with my rich house and $7,000 in allowance money in my piggie bank, it's with the people I'm with. Get it through your head. Realize people... people like us, have been eaten alive by the things out there. But you wouldn't know about that, would you? Your too rich for that."

The kids stood there speechless, as I, the 16 year old who is about a foot shorter than this guy, stood in front of richie rich and spoke. The kid finally regained his bearings, and snarled at me. 

"Screw you, dirtbag." He growled, shoving me away from him. I moved back maybe a foot, and I didn't flinch.

The expression on his face changed a little. Mine didn't. Cold. Hard. Stare.

"Look at this kid." He laughed to his friends. "He think he's tough. Watch this."

The guy came in, and pulled his fist back for a punch. It all came in slow motion to me. He was slow. I took one step back, and he clumsily missed. He staggered forward a little bit.

Well... peace didn't work.

I pulled out my sword, and flung it around in my hands a little bit.

Everyone in the cafeteria froze. Spectators on the windows turned. The idiot's friends stopped their snickering. Random people were staring. Some where fainting.

The guy was downright terrified.

"We've been through more in the past 20 days than you have in a lifetime. I suggest you and your friends to please stop the immaturity. Thank you sir, have a nice day." I said, before grimacing, and sheathing the sword.

The kids melted back into the crowd, and chatter continued.

Just as we were heading back to our cots, a loud noise rang out.

"The TV's!" Someone shouted.

I snapped my head to the big row of TV's that were once used to entertain rowdy toddlers. Now, every one had the face of a guy, the same guy who I had seen patrolling the halls earlier with the soldiers. It was live too. From some office. Suddenly, the doors to the cafeteria were filled with the armed guards.

"Hello survivors, refugees and fighters." The guy said, his voice amplified through a stereo system set up all around the room. "I have some information regarding the current state of our nation, if you will please listen intently.