THE RUINS

Chapter 2: The Crooked Man

The year was now 2027, the month, December. Although, the months never meant much to the people of New America, as they hadn't experienced Christmas, Easter, Halloween or any other holiday in 10 whole years. This was their life, it was all most of them had ever known. Working hard, eating barely anything. The only action that a select group had taken was to set up a secret committee which held meetings once every week in a bar in a rundown village. They mostly just talked about the days when they would be free and finally have control. They dreamt of the day when New America would be a socialist community, instead of being run by a totalitarian dictator. However, for now that's all they were, dreams. Until that day came, they were slaves to the world which they had come to know.

Tonight was one of those meetings. The man who usually led the meetings was a man named Joseph, a priest who preached to the people about God bringing them to salvation, he believed that Albert's evil ways would come back to cause his demise. Almost everyone was happy to believe him except one, who went by the name Travis, who while he did seem loyal to the cause of rebellion, dismissed anything Joseph said about religion as he believed, if Christianity was true, they would not be in the state they were in. The committee consisted of Joseph, his partner Sarah who controlled electricity in the town. Robert, a wise old man who was very grouchy and was known to make cynical remarks, Travis a known trouble maker, Harry a young rebel who didn't remember much of how the world used to be and Rebecca, who took care of farming in the town, the meeting, as always, started with the singing of the old national anthem. The singing of this had been banned in Albert's world in favour of "The New National Anthem" which only included words of praise to Albert. After the old anthem was sung, it was announced that Rebecca was pregnant with her husband Mark. The meeting then took a strange turn, when Joseph announced that he would not be taking this meeting and may very well not take the following meetings. Instead he passed on to a complete stranger.

The man was small and muscle bound, with a large messy tuft of blonde hair on his head. He declared himself as Monty and he simply described himself as a traveller who had been on his own for some time before he found the group he was currently with, before he met the man who saved him from starving to death. He announced that he wasn't there to take the meeting either, but he was there to introduce them to the man who would save them and lead them to the day they had dreamt of for years. He never mentioned a name but walked off stage and, almost as if on cue, a tall man walked out from the shadows. The people at the meeting knew that he was not from around here. He had a thick Southern accent, thicker than anyone else there. The sides of his head were completely shaved with long, black, slicked back hair on the top. From far away he would have looked handsome, but on closer inspection, he was unusually skinny, almost as if he was a walking skeleton with a thin layer of pale skin stretched over his crooked bones. He had a rather nasty burn mark on the corner of his face and his hands and legs looked almost broken. For this, the people donned him the name "The Crooked Man". He wore a leather jacket, black skinny jeans, a black denim vest and a white shirt.

He said that he had come today because word had gotten around of the deplorable conditions that the people were living in. He had come to try and inspire the people to rebel and he had prepared a speech for the people. A speech which he had been inspired by his father to give to people in need. He said that all he wanted was to help people. The speech went like this:

"My people, the poor, unfairly treated citizens of the land which has been named "New America", I am here to help you. I know my appearance may make me seem like I am a man unhinged. I assure you, however. You need not fear me for I am of a similar mindset to you. I have witnessed firsthand the cruelty that you poor people have experienced at the hands of the man who calls himself the saviour. Without realising that he is the man causing your peoples peril. I am a man who has experienced cruelty, I have been hurt and betrayed, but I have learned to stand up for myself. I am here to tell you that you do not need to take this torment. My associate Monty and I, are here to help you. To lead you to that precious day when you will be free. Now i know many of you will be thinking that if one man leads you to rebellion then society may return to the way it was, a totalitarian dictatorship but I promise that we will be a socialist union. Everyone will have a say. We have one world, one life and a combined purpose, revolution!

Everyone is powerful! Everyone is equal!"

Ever since that speech, the people worked hard to live up to the crooked man's expectations. To their amazement it was easier than they had expected. With the help of The crooked man and his accomplice Monty, they set up an army. In a few months, they were ready to go to war with the man who calls himself the saviour.