Alternate: 300 years into the future

Chapter 9

I found myself facing a somewhat dystopian landscape - I don't even know if I should call it Dystopian - I always recognise that word as a negative. This place? It was absolutely beautiful.
The sun was larger than usual, and by usual I mean 2016 usual, and it shone on my face brightly.
The trees, there was something nice and welcoming about them.
Surrounding buildings were colourful - glowing pink, blue, purple, yellow; all lit up as if it was night - which contrasted to the Tymo building which was plain black.
The sky even seemed like it was alive, it had some sort of aura that caused it to be highlighted as a brighter colour.
I continued to look around in awe when both Nyla and Queno stood on either side as me.
"I feel like I haven't been out in years. This feels perfect." Queno exclaimed, looking around the same as I did.
"Come on. We can't just stand here. Zion's gonna check up on us in about two hours - we need to use this time to do something." Nyla snapped the both of us out of our daydreams and Queno nodded her head in agreement.
"You're right. I just can't believe how exciting this is." Queno grinned (you know, again) and they both stared at me waiting for an answer.
"What if Zion finds out? I mean, aren't there cameras out here? And what if someone from Malis gets us - he would be so mad, and what about if -"
"Jeez, Alyssa. We've got everything covered. The cameras out here are off and nobody from Malis will find us, okay? Don't worry." Nyla reassured me and Queno put her hand on my shoulder.
"You know, It's Zion. He's not even that strict. He probably wouldn't care anyway. Well, he wouldn't care with us - he's still mad at you. -"
"Shut up, Queno." Nyla interrupted. "We've wasted about five minutes already - five minutes that could've been used doing something fun."
"Well, you're the leader, Nyla. What are we going to do?"
"We're gonna go into the city."
Nyla started walking left next to Queno and I skipped behind them to catch up.
"Are we not in the city now?" I asked.
"Of course not. Putting our HQ in the middle of the city? Exposed to all those people? Come on, Alyssa. Even you should know that's kinda stupid." Queno laughed at my question and I shrugged, still walking.
"Didn't know. And did you guys build this place yourself? How did you think of being in some sort of army base.. thingy?" I interrogated.
"Zion did - not us." Nyla joined our discussion.
"Zion found us all while we were in trouble, at separate times - obviously - and helped us. Gave us jobs. Shelter. Food. He's our leader, Alyssa."
I let the thought sink in. "So.. how did he think of it?"
"He never told us the full story, but he said he lost people close to him because of Malis. Before Dolly. So he wanted to convince people that Malis was bad - and alot agreed with him, but alot of people didn't. Kind of like a political party debate." Queno spoke.
My mind wavered for a moment. Zion's had a hard life.
"God, enough about Zion. Can you guys speed up? We're wasting time." Nyla yelled back at the two of us.
I wanted to ask Queno more about Zion, but I didn't want Nyla to be mad at me - so I left it at that.
Maybe I'll be able to find out more about Zion later. His whole existence is like a problem to solve. I know he's got so many secrets and mysteries - I just haven't found out yet.
It probably wouldn't've been a good idea to piss him off while I'm trying to get to know him, but I'm only here temporarily - so what does it matter?

*

"Nyla, my legs are killing me. Can we take a break - please?" Queno begged Nyla as we climbed up a hill.
"Your legs wouldn't hurt if you did cardio training with me on weekdays. Suck it up, Queno." Nyla commented.
My feet were aching too. God, seriously? None of this feels real. Just a few days ago I was in New York - attending school, in a long term relationship with my boyfriend, and now I'm three hundred years into the future with these two weird army -like 'non human' people climbing up some hill to cross over and get to a city.
"We're almost there." Nyla had hope in her voice.
I had not idea why she thought this whole adventure thing was so great. I mean, at first it seemed fun - but now I feel like she's looking for a distraction due to the fact that she just lost someone close to her.
Dr Phil, am I right?
Nyla stood up straight on the top of the hill and looked down amazed.
"We're here." she grinned from ear to ear.
I climbed up on top, almost falling over, and looked down.
2316? What a strange year.
People looked.. different.
I know, it's weird that I'm only noticing a difference because I've travelled through time or whatever. But I swear, things have changed.
Everyone was dressed as if they belonged to some military based - everyone was dressed like how they were dressed like at Tymo.
Except they all wore a kind of bright, luminous blue colour. Some people,male or female which I can't really decide, wore the same colour in dresses, or silver dresses or bright, blinding white dresses.
And with those big boots that wore worn on the moon.
And the cars were strange -not flying car technology or whatever, but bright self driving cars with sliding doors and auto - destination.
This all felt as if we were in the world that Disney taught us about in Wall-E - except without the morbid obesity.
Queno and Nyla both grinned at the landscape, and I couldn't help but feel frightened.
I'm starting to think I shouldn't have let them convince me into coming here.

*

Sorry for taking so long to update! I swear, I'll try to write at least twice a week. Anyways, this wasn't one of my best chapter (again) but coming up is a really great Rising Action kind of chapter.
Thanks so much for reading ! I've also recently published "A collection of Poetry" which, by the title, is just a couple of poems that I've written.
Thanks for reading!
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