Bird Of The Fight

Sum up my life? It's been quite a ride, but you'll be happy to know that I'm doing fine now. I've lived in Montana since I was born, and plan to do so for the foreseeable future. I was born into a rich family that inherited everything from my deceased grandparents. My parents loved me and we did everything together.

Then the Asteroid Belt exploded. Some say it was because humanity was getting what it deserved. Scientists believed it was because Mars' gravity suddenly became too large. Nonetheless, the meteors completely annihilated the red planet and the remaining asteroids and chunks of Mars crashed into Earth on July 21st, 2020. I lost everything: my family, my house, my personal belongings. Nothing remained except the clothes I wore that day and the few bills I had forgotten to take out of my pants. I was 21 at the time.

After the Belt erupted, I went to a shelter for children who lost their family in the incident. I knew I wasn't a child since I had just gotten out of college, but I had nowhere left to turn to. I had no money to check into a hotel and all my family members were either dead or missing.

But I'm glad I went into the shelter. That's where I found him. He was tall, muscular, brunet, with rusty eyes, and looked about my age. I first saw him when he was handing out small portions of food to the younger orphans. I watched him from a table at the far end of the lobby from that day on.

Eventually, he took notice of my spying and then we started talking, and later started dating. His name was Mich Readman and he soon became my fiancé. Shortly after we got engaged, we had earned enough money together to leave the shelter and move into a small apartment in downtown.

I lost everything again about a month before I was to become a married woman.

The memory is too painful so I'll skip to my trial. It felt like it lasted for hours. But finally the jury had made its decision.

"Kari Ambers is found guilty for the murder of Mich Readman. She will serve life without parole in National Seiza," the judge declared, smacking his gavel on his bench.

My eyes shot open at the sound of the prison's name. I had heard too many rumors of what goes on in National Seiza. Because of its thick steel walls, National Seiza was one the only prisons still standing after the Asteroid Belt exploded. I wasn't surprised when I heard I would do my time within its walls but it was still not the sentence I wanted to hear.

My first day at the prison was one I would never forget. Despite all the rumors, I knew nothing about how the system worked. All the prisoners that were on the bus with me clamped off in chains and shackles. We were all still in our clothes that we were wearing when we were sentenced, mine being a purple tank top and black yoga pants.

The large front gate of National Seiza creaked open and all 20 of us shuffled in, our chains dragging at out tired feet. Every other criminal was looking into the tracks that the convict in front of them had made, but I was gathering my surroundings, seeing if the rumors of this place were true.

In the distance, I saw a group of muscular men wearing black pants and gold shirts. As we got closer to the chain link fence that separated us from them, I noticed a yellow arrow tattooed to one of the men's forehead. An identical arrow was located on another man's arm.

Then our chains rattled to the floor. I looked down at my wrists that were now free. There was a commotion in front of me as a young man was pulled from the crowd and shoved into an old-styled wooden chair. A tall male with slicked hair and glasses stood over the chair, flipping through page after page. He began to pace back and forth. Finally stopping, he declared, "Taurus."