Chaos Walking Childhood One Shots

Ben - Escape to New World

I should consider myself lucky that I live where I do.
Earth is a dying planet, people're killing each other every day and night, and the air is nearly impossible to breathe in when the filtration systems in town break down.
(Which happens more often than you'd think.)
Even though I've spent my whole life on this broken planet with dangers around every corner and illness in every sad excuse for a town, somehow I've survived.
Me, just a man, without much to call my own.
I've got Cillian, the strongest man I know. He ain't much of a heart throb, but he's my best friend and I'd be a liar if I told you that he wasn't worth every ounce of energy I spend keeping him close to me.
I've got Jenny, the kindest woman on the entire planet.
(And I really consider myself lucky for that one.)
She's a bit younger than us, but she's always stuck by Cillian and I since we all grew up in the same town, especially after all of our parents died and left us to care for each other.
Also, town is a generous term. It's really more of a camp, at this point.
But there's plenty of food and water, and even though the buildings are kinda falling apart, the air is almost always being cleaned and we've all got enough heart to stay alive.
And when we don't, Jenny's got enough heart to keep the rest of us going.
The newest addition to our little family is Jenny's boyfriend, a handsome man called Hewitt, and when Jenny works herself to a stress, he's always there to keep her down to earth.
So I respect him for that.
Anyways, like I said, I've got my family and I've got the fixings to stay alive, and that's why I'm lucky to live where I do.
Even so, when the opportunity to start anew revealed itself, I was immediately convinced that that's where we needed to go.

"Be honest, Ben," Jenny whispers to me one night at dinner, "whaddya think of this New World thing everyone's talking about?"
Cillian and Mr. Hewitt haven't joined us yet, and I can tell Jenny's not sure if she can ask them about it just yet.
"I think it's bloody brilliant," I say just as quiet. "As much as I've been tryin' not to admit it, Earth ain't really going nowhere anytime soon and if we don't do anything to fix our situation, then the world's gonna kill us before we can even try to get help."
"Exactly. We've survived this long for a reason, Ben. Imagine getting to start over in a new place with a clear sky, green grass, and food growing right outside your house. Imagine having a house instead of a broken building shared by God knows who else. A house with no strangers coming in and out for no reason, a house with just you and yer family."
And I do imagine it. I imagine a comfortable bed where I don't need to keep a gas mask handy, I imagine a sunrise over a clear sky instead of this dirty haze, I imagine kids running around and playing and never knowing the horrors of listening to gunfire in the night.
(And praying that they didn't just lose someone that they knew-)
"I hope y'all aren't talking about that New World nonsense," Cillian says as he sits across from us.
"As a matter of fact," Jenny says, crossing her arms and giving him a look.
"There ain't no one in the world who's got the brains to build a spaceship, let alone fly it to a new planet. We'd die before we got there."
"Did you even read the paper?" She asks. "They'd put us to sleep the whole time. Even if we did die on the way, it ain't like we'd know the difference."
"So you'd be okay with dying on the way?"
"I'd much rather die trying to do something with my life than I would getting shot in the night."
"Please, you ain't never been shot at." Cillian starts to eat like this could be any normal conversation.
"No, but I've woken up to the 'toxic air' sirens," Jenny continues. "I've fallen asleep with a gas mask on. We all know someone who's suffocated in their sleep, both parents and children. You really want to go like that? This world ain't gonna protect us forever, Cillian."
"Course not," Cillian rolls his eyes. "You'll either die here or there or on the way. What difference does it make?"
"There's a difference," I finally cut in. Cillian gives me a funny look.
"So yer in on this too?" He asks.
"I think I am," I nod. "What if we do die here? What would we have possibly done for ourselves that makes our lives worth living?"
"Ain't you supposed to be the hopeful one?" Mr. Hewitt asks, sitting down next to Cillian. And I know he's just trying to relieve the tension, but he's absolutely right.
"This is what makes me hopeful," I say. "If we die on the way, then we die on the way. At least then we would have died trying."
"Amen," Jenny smacks the table.
Cillian makes to interrupt me too, but I don't let him.
"And then imagine dying on a new planet, dying of natural causes instead of sickness or murder, and living a simple life where you don't gotta do nothing but take care of you and yer own. Imagine living that life."
"Imagine starting a family," Jenny adds, looking at no one in particular. Her boyfriend looks up though as she continues. "Imagine raising a child in a world where nothing can hurt it."
"There ain't no such thing as a pain-free world," Cillian interrupts, and Mr. Hewitt looks back down, disappointed.
"There ain't no such thing as surviving on this world," Jenny says. "I will never raise a child in a place where war is normal. That ain't the way to live."
"You wouldn't even try?" Mr. Hewitt adds, softly. She looks at him for a moment, then takes a deep breath.
"No. I'm convinced."
Everyone's quiet after that.