Jason
It's raining.
Normally, rain puts me in a good mood, something Lili could never understand about me. Today, though, the rain just seems to make life miserable.
We've been walking around for ages, and I feel like we don't really have a purpose in mind. Eventually, we find ourselves gathered in the space between two stores, a side street that seems like little more than an alleyway. Katerina, Rose, and I sit with our backs against the wall of the nearest building. Lili and Theo are talking about some scientific theory, as if we're in class instead of cowering in an alley.
Shemik and Emilio are carrying out a debate of some sort, though I can't understand the language they're speaking in.
"Do you know what they're talking about?" I ask Katerina, who rolls her eyes at me as though I just asked her the most Moronic question on the planet.
"No idea. I don't speak Polish." Katerina sighs, "Do I look like an aligist to you?"
Catching my curious expression, she looks more annoyed by the second.
"An aligist understands every language there is. I guess that is what you would call Emilio, though he can speak and understand them."
Katerina looks bored as she wraps a piece of her hair around a finger.
I wonder if she's afraid at all, if she has plans to disappear in the middle of the night and leave just like Dimitri.
It wouldn't really surprise me.
Shemik and Emilio finish their conversation. Emilio surveys the rest of us, then gestures for Theo and Lili to come with him. The three of them disappear around the side of a building, and I wonder where they're going.
Katerina sighs.
"I wanted to go on patrol." She complains, walking away from Rose and I to sit at the opposite end of the alley.
Shemik sits with her back to us, shoulders slumped. I wish I had her talent right now; I'd really like to know what she's thinking.
Rose taps my shoulder, and I jump. Glancing to her, I smile at her apologetic look.
"It's fine." I murmur, "You didn't really scare me. What's up?"
Rose takes my right hand, the closer one to her, and turns it so the palm is facing up. With her left index finger, she starts tracing a shape on my hand.
It takes me a few seconds to realize she's spelling a series of words.
We will be here a while. Let's ask each other questions.
It takes her a while to complete her sentence, and I can't help smiling at the frown of concentration on her face.
"What country are you from?" I ask out of curiosity.
She continues tracing the letters on my palm.
S-w-e-d-e-n.
"Sweden?" I can't hide my surprise. I know a bit too much about that country.
Four European countries have been completely wiped off the map thanks to a number of well-planned nuclear bombings, and Sweden is-- was-- one of them.
YOU ARE READING
2050: The Beginning of the End
Science Fiction-Highest rank: #24 in science fiction- ... I close my eyes again, wishing not for the first time that I could confess all my worries to an adult and have them tell me they know it'll be okay. Those days are gone, though. I have to be strong, have to...
