DIVIDE

~Chapter 5~

Date: 28/10/2364. Time: 16:25pm.

I wake up with a start, drenched in a cold sweat. A bone-rattling scrape of metal on metal echoes through the air-train, and I (much like everyone who surrounds me) cringe as it penetrates my eardrum and vibrates through my skull. With a jolt, the air train sways a little before grinding to a halt.

In my confusion, I turn to look at Nate, who is looking perplexed after having also just woken up. Roughly six hours ago, I finally gave in and allowed him to listen to some rather soppy love ballads on my song chip, and while I found it unbearably tedious pretending to enjoy his somewhat dubious taste in music, seeing the product of those few hours has really payed off.

Hair dishevelled beyond decency, he wipes a trail of drool from his chin and retrieves the two earbuds, which somewhere in the process became buried in a half-empty bag of crisps that he had brought along for the journey. He looks at me apologetically while I giggle uncontrollably despite the circumstances. The train has not yet begun moving again. The other passengers glare at us, as if it's against some kind of protocol to display positive emotions in times such as these.

The fat driver reappears. His beady black eyes take in the girl who he maltreated earlier today. Her shoulder pain has apparently worn off enough that she can glare back with a steely glint in her eye, all the while sticking up her middle finger in his direction. Her injured arm hangs limply by her side, bone jutting out unnaturally and threatening to pierce the delicate skin that the black spaghetti-strap tank top she is wearing exposes. He flinches in return, as if he's the one in pain, and not every one of us sat before him, emotional pain if not physical.

"We have just pulled into the station of Sector One."

Excited chatter fills the air. Sector One of Inferno is like the infamous youth town of the province, where every new transfer lives until they gain a position in the Force. This is the town of parties that last for days, the town of overwhelming contrast that befuddles the mind and senses, the town of outrageous and extravagant fashion, the town whose eccentric culture seems to burst from its very seams.

I turn to Nate with wide eyes. He frowns.

I think back to waving goodbye to my mother this morning, which already feels like several eternities ago. If she could see me now, embracing the beginnings of my new life with gusto, she'd be proud. My heart sinks as it hits home that I'll never see her again. I imagine what she's doing now, feeling guilty that I hadn't even thought about her once over the course of the journey here.

The door slides open, and I stand up so quickly that my vision goes blurry, just for a second. Everyone else follows. I heave my pack through the door. It's as if I've got some kind of subconscious aim to be the first person off the train. The evening air hits my face and I slowly take in my surroundings, the outskirts of Sector 1.

I have seen grainy black and white photographs of it in the newspaper, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw within seconds of stumbling out of that air train.

Crumbling shells of ancient buildings stand before me, hollowed monoliths that rise into the red sky. Some have gaping holes that go right through adjacent walls, so concentrated, narrow beams of the fading sunlight shine on us like spotlights. Music I've never heard before colours the air. I peer into the buildings; even from a distance, I am able to watch dark figures partying, socialising, kissing and fighting through the honeycombed brickwork. Threadbare sheets flutter in the breeze in an attempt to patch over some of the worst states of disrepair. The most notable thing is that on each block of apartments, enormous windmill-like structures revolve and sparkle. I recognise them from a newspaper article I read not long before my transfer. These are solar-orbits, a fascinatingly ingenious creation that produce energy through both solar and wind power, for each individual building in the sector. Two years ago, Halo cut off all of Inferno's power and demolished each power-station, "for the good of the people". This is their comeback.