Adventure in the concrete city

I was in my small studio apartment getting ready to leave to meet my friend. The tv was on playing Friends only to be interrupted by breaking news. Caption read “They came and destroyed our homes. They are killing everyone in their path”. The connection broke immediately after.

Only a moment later I felt the earthquake. I thought I had more time than I did, truly hadn’t registered what was happening. I run and hid in the bathroom; it was the only room with a lock, felt the safest place to be. I stayed put while I heard them break the front door and destroy my home, I think there were two of them. They did not come near the bathroom, unsure as to why. When they moved on, I went out to see the whole city empty and their guards everywhere burning whatever was left. I can’t stay here, I thought to myself. It wouldn’t be long until the fire would spread where I am.

The city is like an island, surrounded by the sea and packed with concrete apartment buildings. There is a canal that goes through the city and a forest on the North side of it. The forest submerges halfway into the sea for 12h daily because of the tide.

I had get out of there. My only chance of survival was to pretend I am dead, they seem to kill anyone left alive. Going through the canal seemed the safest way forward but even that would be dangerous. My plan was to pretend that I am "just" a body floating, that should not raise any suspicion. I imagine there will be plenty of bodies in my way, all I have to do is blend in. There was no time to waste so I fell to the sea. It was so hard resisting to swim, thankfully the current was taking me the right way.

And so, I started floating towards the centre of this concrete city. It felt strangely familiar, as if I was going through a canal in this area of Athens, Exarcheia; only I know there are no canals there. I felt the guards gaze digging on my back like daggers. The guards thought it was strange but didn’t really seem to mind. I had my face submerged into the water, my eyes open and was holding my breath letting the current take me out of there. So far, so good.

My plan was working great until I got to a metal structure. That wasn’t in my plan, how did this get here? There were a few of these structures around the city at the canal crossroads that cleaned leaves and plastic bottles. I had a guard on my right looking at me and wondering how I got in there. Luckily, they weren’t given instructions on what to do with the bodies in the water, he also didn’t seem like he wanted to get his hands wet which worked to my benefit. The minute he turned around I took a deep breath and hoped for the best as I dived 2-3 meters down. While being at the bottom of the river I went to the left where there was this turning mechanism, it was blocked by what seemed to be an old heart-shaped locket. I swiftly detangle it and put it in my pocket, this could be the last bit of humanity I get to see for a while. My brain is starting to tell me that I need to breathe, my body is tense, I can’t stay down much longer. I manage to synch with the turning mechanism and go through it. My heart is beating fast, what if the guard saw me? I continue my way down the canal, It shouldn’t be long until I am out of the centre.

Suddenly, I get an urge to get out of the river and hide. A guard saw me. Fuck! How could I be so reckless! I approach, he has a gun and a female prisoner. I thought they weren’t keeping any of those but if they didn’t I would already be dead; no complaints here. There is no point in running, he would shoot. With my hands in the air and approaching, I tell him that they’ll need all the females he can get to repopulate the earth. Cliche, I know, but I would use any argument to not get shot, wouldn’t you? It worked and just like that I start flirting with him and touching his shoulder. Everyone knows that the shoulder is one on the 7 erogenous zones, at least in this messed up universe. It takes me a while but now I am sitting on top of him, fully dressed (how did my clothes get dry?), have him between my legs just as I reach for his gun that he carelessly left on the floor next to him. What an idiot. I take the gun and start getting away, I didn’t kill him. I left the other woman there to fend for herself, I don’t know why. I think she would have got me killed.

I am not entirely sure where I am going but certainly getting further away from here. I find more guards on my way and they all give me their guns without much of a fight. Why? How is it this easy? Now I have three. I hear the guards sending my location for backup, it seems that they don’t want to kill me but capture me. Not sure what’s worse. As I am running away, I try to shoot some guards that are after me, but I can’t as I don’t know how to take off the gun security. They don’t teach you that in school. I take a guard hostage in the hopes of him telling me. To my surprise he did without hesitation, is this a trap? Apparently, it’s a voice activated gun. The gun needed a code word. I don’t know what language; it wasn’t from earth.

It’s so weird seeing the city so empty. Can’t believe I am still here and alive. I told the guard to take me back to the canal. I thought that way I could get back in the water so the bullets would be easier to miss. I am a good swimmer; I’ll be safe there. He didn’t know which way it was. Useless guard. I disabled all his communications, but the rest of the guards could still track us somehow.

I think we are a couple of blocks away from the canal by this point. So, I quickly get rid of the guard and take a chance as I am going through a Turkish delight shop. The river was right on the other side of the shop, the guards too. I run out of the shop jumping as high and as fast as I can. While I am in the air it feels like time is slowing down and I am filled with uncertainty, will I make it? I can feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins. Relief, I dive into the river. I am saved, I think to myself. Almost out of the city now, leaving the canal. I can see the forest, the sun is rising. No one is following me. The river to the forest splits so I take a right and then a left. There was no water going through the forest because of the tide. That’s where they got me. Nowhere to go, nowhere to run. My only hope now is to offer to train and work for them.