The Red Stars (on hold)

Eli and Drew--Part I

AN: This story was originally written for a children's literature class I took last year. The assignment was to rewrite a fairy tale. I chose Little Red Riding Hood. As you can see, it kind of changed...a lot. I hope you enjoy! 

It was a smoggy day in Gravity City. Of course, every day in this sector of Gravity City is smoggy. The combination of the smoke from the factories and the fog rising from Lake Lona was always enough to blot out the sun. It looked like it was going to rain, so I was the only person on the streets. Here, the acid rain was killer.

On my motorcycle, stolen from one of the various heaps of garbage outside of the poorer subsectors, I rode, zipping through the cramped, maze-like roads of Gravity City. There were other vehicles out, but they were the sort with four wheels and covers, the expensive kind. The occupants didn't need to worry about acid rain.

I was tempting fate, riding out here without a helmet when it looked rainy. My only protection was the hood of my jacket, and even that would be burned through by the rain. It didn't much matter to me. Out here, on days like this, the Wulves couldn't see you. Days when there were people about, you could be sure that the Wulves were watching, logging every person's movements throughout the city. But on days like this, there was a chance no one would see you. That's what I was hoping as I drove to the Red Stars' hideout.

Driving though Gravity City was always breath-taking. Most of the buildings were enormous, reaching past the murky grey-green clouds. Entire cities occupied the skyscrapers, housing everything from the people to the stores to even schools and parks. Living in them got more expensive as you went up. If you lived above the smog and clouds, you even saw sunlight. I would never have enough money to live above the clouds, so sunlight was an unattainable dream to me and billions of other people.

Still, even in its awful smoginess, Gravity City was beautiful. Lights were always on to expel the darkness, from the huge screens that adorned the sides of buildings to the lights on inside the buildings.

I took a deep breath, trying not to choke. Gravity City was awful, with its smog and billions of poor. But it was also beautiful.

I zippers into an underground parking lot, stopping my motorcycle near the entrance. I was lucky I got there so quickly; it had begun to rain, and already I could hear the hissing of the acid burning anything left out in the open.

Taking my key with me, I slung it on the necklace I wore, letting the small metal chip lie flat against my chest.

Pulling my hood off, I walked to the elevators, pushing the button to go up. While I waited, I looked at myself in the reflection of the doors, my hands shoved in the pockets of my jacket.

I was scowling, as usual, though most of my hair covered it. I wore my hair low over my eyes, and it halfway covered my mouth, which hid how I usually felt. It also helped hiding from the facial-recognition software the Wulves used to know where you were at all times.

The elevator dinged, taking me out of my thoughts. As the doors opened, I stepped inside, looking over the buttons before pressing the one marked 'G'. Out of habit, I jumped a few inches as the elevator began moving, letting out a laugh as the brief feeling of weightlessness filled me. Crackling, outdated elevator music played softly, while I hummed along. I'd been in there enough times that I knew the song by heart.

The Red Stars' hideout used to be a casino, but now it was mostly just a place for us to gather. I'm pretty sure that no one, not even the Wulves, owned it, so all of us weren't just organized squatters. Still, the hideout was the closest place to home I'd ever had.

As the elevator stopped, I waited for the doors to open before I stepped out into the lobby of the hideout. I took a deep breath again, smelling cigarette smoke, cologne, and burning plastic. Home.