Fragments

Then

It's hot; the heat seems to weigh down on the back of my neck and at the top of my head. My skin is shiny with sweat and is disgustingly sticky, like someone had coated every square centimetre of it with melted ice-cream.

I've tried to keep out the unpleasant tropical midday sun by drawing the curtains shut; it only seemed to trap the heat already inside. The air is warm and still. With every breath I take, it settles at the bottom of my lungs like sediment.

The TV is playing, but I'm not quite listening. The noise washes over my ears as I stare blankly at the screen. Minutes trickle by; hours go even slower. Everything and everyone turns lazy in the afternoons. That's why the building's quiet - people are either asleep or doing something as equally mind-numbing as I am.

I take the square of cardboard I've kept beside me and fan myself with it. As I cool down, the heat-induced haze in my head clears. I blink a few times and try to concentrate on whatever's showing on television.

The one o'clock news is on. There are reports about Inhabitant activity in the areas outside of the Safe Zone - parts of Australia, the whole of America and the United Kingdom. They show grainy, shaky footage of humans walking through desolated cities, humans walking through razed fields, humans walking through beaches littered with the bone carcasses of soldiers and the metal ones of war machines.

Humans.

I shake my head. Why did I say humans?

They're not. That's what they - the United Forces - have said about these unblinking, black-eyed creatures who look like us and talk like us and maybe think like us as well. We've named them Inhabitants. We don't know what they are - just something inhuman, is what we've been told.

I switch channels and click through. There's a cartoon showing - something called the Inhabitant Buster - and a cooking show going on. Nothing interesting.

I switch the channel once more and come across a long run of back-to-back advertisements. They're mostly for Adelphus Industries - perhaps the only mega-corporation left functioning after the Fragmentation pandemic - and United Forces-made propaganda videos.

There are ads for the chips Adelphus Industries sell - Get yours today with a hundred percent United Forces Government rebate! - and for their personal chip scanners. I think it's pointless - it's illegal to not have one.

I have a chip - the government requires each and everyone of us born after the pandemic to have one implanted. Those who were born before were herded into makeshift medic centres. The chips for them were implanted there.

I finger the bump where the scar from the implantation is. I press it harder.

I can still feel a dull ache.

I look up. The Adelphus Industries advertisements have finished their run - now the propaganda videos are playing. It's mostly just shooting here, running there, screaming here, waving United Forces flags victoriously here and there.

They've managed to make genocide look heroic.

I crush the thought. How sympathetic I sound.

How traitorous.

I look away, as if the United Forces could read my mind if only I had watched their video.

Suddenly the door crashes open.

"Don't watch that stuff. It'll turn your brain to mush."

For a second I really am afraid, but when I turn towards the door I see my mother silhouetted by the jaundiced evening light. She points towards the TV with a smile on her face.

The propaganda video is over; a soap opera has taken its place. I didn't notice the transition.

"Oh." I point the remote towards the TV, wanting to switch it off.

"No!"

"What?" My arm hovers straight, still pointing towards the TV.

"You - " Mom says with a little laugh. "- don't watch. I, however, will watch whatever I want."

I smile in response and set the remote on the couch.

"You're home early today."

"There was only one District to go through." Mom's a Chip Technician - it's her job to check chips and install them. She sets her handbag on the side table next to the door. "How was school?"

"Fine."

"Boring?" She kisses me on the head. When she withdraws I see her still smiling.

"It was fine." I stand up from the couch. "Do you want something to eat?"

"No. I ate on my way home." She sits next to me and pulls me down to join her before putting her feet up on my lap. I laugh and start to massage them.

"So what's this about?" She gestures towards the TV. The words 'A Second Chance' scroll though the screen in flowery script.

"I thought I wasn't allowed to watch."

"Well, you are now."

I shrug. Mom picks up the government sanctioned and printed TV guide from the coffee table and flips through, looking for today's episode of A Second Chance's summary.

"So?" I say. The show's starting. None of us is watching.

"I can't find it." She drops the guide back on the coffee table and leans back, her eyes at half-mast as she watches the show with disinterest.

I join her. It's mindless, really; ninety minutes of pure rubbish. Then the show ends, and the ads come back on. We watch them too.

I almost nod off when suddenly Mom exclaims - "Isn't that the Adelphus boy?"

My eyes snap open. A still image of a handsome boy - a young man, actually - takes up all of the screen. A banner unfurls at the bottom, just beneath the photo, stating -

The United Forces and the Safe Zone Confederation would like to extend our sincere condolences to the Adelphus family on the death of Julian Adelphus, the youngest son of Daniel and Maria Adelphus, and beloved brother to Octavia Adelphus. Rest in peace. The United Forces and the Confederation mourns the death of a prodigy.

"Who's he?"

"A genius, that's who. Half of Adelphus Industries' newer products were invented solely by him. Don't you know him?"

"Oh. Yes, I do." I think of all the girls at school, screaming at the slightest mention of his name. I can see why - he has eyes in a green found only in the most precious of emeralds. His skin is flawless, a perfect porcelain-like surface, even from close up.

"Well, it's a pity."

"I guess so." The image disappears from the screen, and another still shot takes its place. This time, it's a photo of a young girl, maybe five or six. She's clutching a bear with its button eyes dangling from its face. A soldier stands over her, pointing off into the distance, but she's not looking there. She stares straight ahead, out of the screen and into the audience, her blue eyes striking amidst the dark hues of a decimated city. Below her are the words United Forces and a symbol - a globe surrounded by a wreath of olive branches, interwoven with brutal daggers.

The image zooms in, until only her eyes fill the screen. Each eye has a word; together, they read Saving Humanity.

Another United Forces ad.

Then the irises turn a flat, dead black.

Mom turns away. I almost scream.

The words Save Us appear on each eye.