Company

F O U R

James
.    .     .

The wind whistles past me, ruffling my hair. The sun is just starting to reach across the sky with its hazy, yellow fingers, daylight spreading like dye on fabric, turning the sky blue above the ever present ash cloud. I was sprinting ten minutes ago, and I'm sprinting now. I'm supposed to get there at sunrise, after all. Catch them as they're waking up. I'm already running late.

The sorry bunch of Outsiders, all smug and proud in they're little  rebellion against the Company's. As if any one of the Droids actually gives a damn. I still wish I was out there with them. I've never actually met an Outsider, and I think their rebellion is petty and stupid, but they still have freedom. They don't flinch at the sight of a razor whip. They don't have to walk with their heads down as the droids walk past. I don't have to do this either, because of my "father", but I watch the Mubbers do this. I watch them suffer. The Outsiders have freedom, and for that reason, I wish I could join them.

The humans inside the city are slaves, tortured into obedience since the day they're born, only to be murdered before their time actually comes.

I let out a sigh, never slowing my pace. Sweat glistens on my forehead, trickling down into my eyes, only for me to wipe it away, over and over again. My blaster scratches at my back with every step, not painful, but annoying. No time to fix it now, I'm already running late. My mind wanders back to before I left. I was running through the Mubs and I overheard only part of a conversation between a man and a woman.

"... you sure Jackie?" I heard the man say, and I stopped because of the name.

"I'm sure. 17 days after her 17th birthday. That's what Peter told me, that's today." The woman- Jackie- said.

"If they catch you, you'll be killed."

"17 years David. 17 years and not once have I seen my daughter."  Her Daughter. 17 years old. Jackie. Oh Hell.

I never got to hear the man respond to her because I was already sprinting away and through the giant metal doors that keep everyone inside that prison. Now, two miles away from the Mubs and Jackie, as I watch the ruins rise up on the horizon, skeletal towers of thousand year old metal and stone, I'm left alone with my thoughts. I already checked the database to see if that was the same Jackie D1 told me about. There are 975 Mubbers in the Company. 528 of them are female. 397 of the females are old enough to be the mother of a 17 year old kid, and 75 go by the name Jackie. Of those 75 women, only one has the last name Kingston. And that woman lives in the same Mub I heard the conversation from.

I guess I'm looking for a girl.

The sun is slowly inching its way up into the sky. It's past sunrise, I left too late, but if I get there within the next fifteen minutes, I should be on time. I can't worry about what Jackie was talking about now, I'll do it once I get her daughter back to the Company. Right now, I need to get to the Outsiders in fourteen minutes. I smirk. I'll make it seven.

Seven minutes later I'm at the center of the old ruins of Belli civitas. Im panting, sweaty, and exhausted, but I did it. Now I just need to find the Outsiders. I head deeper into the ruins, staying in the early morning shadows, climbing over crumbling cement and rusted pipes. Ash kicks up with every step I take, sending dust particles spiraling in and out of the light.

I step onto a concrete slab, titled up at an angle. I put all my weight into my step, expecting to push off of concrete, but my leg just falls to the ground, sending me sprawling into the dirt. I hurry to my knees, spitting and coughing.