Fractured Promises

I’m heading to the park to see my family. Cars line the sidewalk daring anyone to spend the rest of their night doing little but drive around in circles begging for an open spot. Trees scatter about the landscape casting their shadows on the ground. I drive further ahead towards a darkened area around the corner. A reward glistens at the edge of my sight, a sizeable gap large enough for two vehicles.

I slide into the spot then get out. Before locking and casting aside my care, I double back my neck and notice I could have Parker closer to the curber. I get back in and drive forward, then, once I’m sufficiently far from the curb, I drive backwards to re-adjust where I can park. The moment I turn the wheels to ease in, a food truck pull up next to me. It’s husky frame glaring at me as it takes up both my spots. Frustration seized my lungs. I drive forward around another corner into a deserted area and park with less care than before.

So much time wasted on the simplist task of parking. Now the steps between me and the door had increased beyond what I could count to. I start running towards the apartments. If I hurry fast enough there may be fun waiting for me, something engaging perhaps.

An orange flash scatters across the sky. Waves of crimson colors consume the dark clouds turning them into hues of grays and oranges. A molten fireball breaks the clouds. Ash and smoke pour through the atmosphere following the feisty ball towards the planet. Smaller clusters break off from the main, scattering across a greater sky. I stare in horror at the coming crafts. I muffle a beating cry. Flares strafe the sky. Red mingles with the fiery glow above creating panic in me.

The sounds of metal clashing and vibrating pull me back together. The planet is shutting down. Apartments one by one close up, slipping into the gaps with a heavy rumble. Only the sheddings of unnecessary jewelry remained. I strafe the boiling landscape to find our section, but between the hefty wind carrying burning leaves in the air and the ground swiftly locking up its hatches, landscape icons are either askew in darkness or the surface shelters them. I roughly guess a direction instinctively and start running towards it. A metallic screech tears through the my ears. It’s talons claw my insides leaving me in jagged silence. I look around to see one of the buildings halting halfway in the grounds.

Grass and dirt swiftly burn away, revealing the metal gates that slip open for the building to be let through. It seems as though the building’s gears are broken underneath halting the process. I wonder what would happen if the stasis-gas enters through the cracks in the surface. The answer comes swiftly, driving a blade into my skin and carving its words into my memory, when the metal gates pop loose from their stable, slicing the apartment in half. A permanent cut-off, those below are safe, any above the metal are left behind. Those in between…

An entire section of building comes crashing to the ground in front of me sending smoke and balls of fire onto every pathway. I panic at the disparity but remember why I came. With little planning, I rush into a standing building and make my way to the bottom floor, hoping it’s the right one. I open the front door to find everyone huddling in the corner. Their bodies a bundle of black folds through the smoke. One of them breaks off from the mass and waves at me. Before I speak, the cluster completes the process of transforming individuals into full functioning bodies. Everyone is safe for the moment. I breathe in then motion for everyone to start evacuating.

We huddled together and started running towards outside. At the stairwell, two hazy beings covered in black soot stood in front of us blocking the way. Dad pinned us against the wall making space for the creatures to walk through. We bent our heads as low as it took for us not to see their formless bodies. As they passed, the flames muted into hushed tones. My senses lost track of everything. I strained to force my arms against the wall. My skin wanted to leave my body and follow the beings. This was the closest I had been to one since my growth in the pod. The stories seemed true. Their bodies consumed all matter within a small radius.

Once the last being had left us to wither away, we continued on just to find ourselves trapped behind even more of our captors.

On the main floor, we checked ourselves to see if we were in one piece. A foreign being ,unlike those before, came upon us. Its garbs were tightly formed leaving it likened to ourselves. “Would you like some food?”

I stared on the metal sheet in his hands. Gold lines flowed with a mesmerizing glow. This was one of the new variant types of lasting food. Told to last much longer than any period. “Sorry, but the metallic taste will stay in your mouth for some time, no matter the form you make it.” I pulled out my savings to check my balance. 4. I only had four. I quickly apologized to Them behind the cloth. “How you like I do you 2 for each.” I quickly agreed to the terms, thrilled for a little something at our destination.

Outside, only one fire breathed life; a ravaging, all consuming life-force taller than any building around. To find our way back to the car was a must, but everything had changed so dramatically. Roads were continuing to fold inside themselves with loud metallic creaks, forming bottomless pits for the unfortunate and careless to fall in. Buildings were continuing to shut down and go under. In each direction, this world was closing its doors. safely guarding its makers from an impending stasis.

We ran in a direction I thought was right, down a path lined with a thick brick wall. We looked around continuously but nothing was near. I ran down another path that again looked right but felt so wrong. In my head, we were snaking around useless landmarks to get to the car. The long long way around. I screamed out in frustration. I looked at the empty space in front of us. Even though it had only been a few short minutes, the fires and closures changed the environment to foreign degrees. Only a few mandatory roads remained left standing but everything around them had been closed up leaving sheer drop-offs. We ran along a road I thought would take us to the car, then switched to another that would take us, then switched to another. Nothing was working. “We need to get to the city. It’s not working, I can’t find the car.”

“What about the planes? We can use the planes to get there.”

“I can’t fly one.”

“I roughly know how”

As one, the family picked up a direction. This time I was the follower. I reached out for someone to grab but only air answered my plea.

We ended up in a paved area parked with planes that had yet to be claimed. Ahead, the primary drop-off engulfed my limited vision. There were no more roads or buildings ahead, not even organic life. Only the trenches below painted a scene indicating potential existence. This was where we were headed.

We got on a plane and started to take off. Three more meteors burst through the atmosphere, this time much closer. The frozen gas would soon be here, thicker than any water.

As the drop-off closed in on us, so too did the expanse of darkness. Its invitation, an expansion of its body, consumed my thoughts until the plummet-sickening drop came . The nose fell first, taking both my head and breath along with it. I no longer could feel the seat beneath me. With all my strength I clamped my eyes shut and curled into a tiny ball. Every surface with my reach I pushed against to pin myself to the seat. With one wrong move, my limbs could be cut off, or worse, I could get caught in something, pulled out of my seat, struggling to cling on as my body was ripped apart by two opposing forces. How did I live through this last time?

Once we leveled off, my sight cleared slightly and I was no longer screaming. We were near the core of the planet. I looked around. Dark tunnels, lit with a warm glow, closed in on us, ready to guide us home. We flew into the central one and followed its belly for a distance only to be spat out and swallowed by a new tunnel. After hours of ins and outs, we finally entered the vast expansion that eclipsed the closest planets. I lost my breath at the sight. I was shown countless pictures. Told countless stories. But it was still bigger than I could have anticipated. So big in fact, I couldn’t see the end in either direction, only shadows. Just shadows. Emptiness and eternal falling.

I threw up. Down the dark pit, the liquid blob dissipated into darkness.

Ahead, a burly wall grumbled. It’s ancient parts shuddered in resistance as it slowly crawled to a close. If memory served me tonight, the wall was the first true marvel designed during the construction of the planet. It was mandatory to have a safe haven installed to protect us from the gas during the harvest times. If we came an hour later we would have been welcomed by a cold face and a death sentence.

Past the wall, was a water world, with enough space to fit most of the planet’s aquatic species. It’s gray expanse loomed with an eerie silence. The size of a small planet, the world managed all life, ensuring each species had the required accommodation. Silhouettes of vast and small size creep-ed in and out of the murky depths. Somewhere inside, most likely in a separate environment, was the newest creation. One that has been rumored to push water away from itself as it swims.

We pattered off towards the human accommodation. My eyes closed shut from exhaustion. Forcing them to stay open no longer worked, and my body was tired from lurking up my breakfast. We were safe anyway. At least for the time.

I woke up in a white room. Bright lights bore into my skin, digging through muscle, making every joint twitch. I tried rolling onto my side, but was held in a tight grip. A thin sheet clung to my sweaty body. It was disgusting but it could be dealt with later and nobody was coming around to sniff the sheets. I let out a deep sigh then flung my legs out of bed followed by the rest of my limbs. A change of cloth would be beneficial to my state of grogginess.

I walked into a room filled with thirty or so people clad in the same clothes. Discussions ran amok. Exchanges of expression showed a little about the thoughts between friends and peers.

“We need to think about long term.”

“How about killing people?”

There was a wave of cheer across the room.

“Alright we need participants.”

I kept my hand down. I didn’t feel like getting pushed on the ground for a joke. Half or so raised their hands and formed groups with their new, enthusiastic friends.

Two brothers, I recognized, bounced onto their toes. Fumes of exceptional vigor clung to their smiles. Their attire was different from everyone else’s. Custom-made cloths resembling a mix of king and clown. Their tops were vests layered upon by other vests with each decorated in gold buttons that looked to serve no real purpose. Their pants were of equal fashion; shiny reds reflected the light, accentuating the wrinkles.

I spotted a small group who kept their hands down and inched closer to them. They seemed to have a steady mind. My body mashed up beside theirs. One less way to stand out.

The initiator of the discussion clapped his hands. His stature grand in hight as he called everyone to quiet down.

“Alright knives out. Remember! Clean kills. No medical trips.”

My body stiffened up. “Wait this is real?!!!!” I glanced at the person beside me, wondering what their expression was.

“Yes. We talked about it and these dummies decided it was a great idea. Control the population.”

Outside, the wall would be closed by now. The thick black stasis-gas would have consumed every crevice its tentacles could find. We would just have to wait it out. Only a few weeks or so. Just until they captured what they came for.