Same Planet but Different Worlds

Chapter 6 Men's Compound

Flynn's POV

The chill that flows with the air and over my cheeks as I get ready for the long night, lets me know that the winter will be coming soon enough.. Too soon for my liking. I like being cool, I don't like being frozen, there is a difference. Especially in this compound, where it has been getting harder and harder to find wood to burn because everything is so green. The moisture doesn't escape anything around here, I don't know if that is how it is in other parts of the world, but it is well known and quite adjusted to here for the most part.

I hear my comrade besides me clearing his throat, letting me know that he is ready and waiting for me to hurry up getting ready. I understand why he is rushing, because we all love having the chance to get away from here to get a breath of fresh air, not filled with the stench of men's body odor and the reluctant smell of death that plagues this place like a blanket always covering it in this smell. It is a pleasant little pleasure that we all get to look forward to, if we have the chance to be the perimeter or hunting men. Which we are both are at the moment.

I slip the strap of my assigned gun over my shoulder as I look over at Roy, my assigned perimeter partner. He fixes his hat as we adjust our vests given to protect us from the supposed outsiders. We normally see more wild animals than anything else, but every now and then we will see a man or two, nothing else.. So not much to worry about around here, we run the area. It's pretty boring going out there. Well, besides the happiness our lungs and noses feel taking in the fresh air, but whether the want to do this is there or not, you have no choice in the matter.

Everyone has to do this work at some point, so if you choose not to, or you don't put in the effort needed to sufficiently help around the compound, then you will be automatically assigned to one of the other jobs that really is awful to have. I mean come on, no one wants to clean up the trash or defecating facilities. But depending how bad the resistance is, like if you're not doing anything to help out but expecting all the same rewards such as food and water, then you will have to have a 'special talk' with our main leader, which is something you never want to be part of... I would take the awful clean-up duties over talking with him anytime of day.

So I never object when they give me these jobs, which happens quite often since apparently most men don't want them, because going out from the compound ends up being the most strenuous and dangerous job there really is at the moment, since there is not much for combat anymore these days. It's hard for the older and younger men to accept since you leave the comfort we have at the compound to walk all day, with the strong possibility of finding something dangerous, like a human or wildlife. But I would rather be doing any of that then stuck at the compound.

So I won't ever complain, and as far as I understand, Roy feels the same as I do. So we accept every job given to us outside the compound, whether it is a short task or even day-long ones. So here I am once again accepting another task while acting like this isn't that bad of a life to live, which for me is a lie. Maybe a small one, but still a lie. Especially since I do know for a fact that my life could be so much worse for me in this harsh world.

I also know that I am not the only one who wants something more to this mundane world we live in. But there isn't anything else, which makes life hard to wake up on the next day, especially when there is no motivation to do so. This life that consists of barely making it by with nothing more to helping make us happy, seems to be getting real old.. but this is the life that many have lived before us and probably the same life of many after us, since it seems to be all that we know.. and since there is nothing else out there, what else are we supposed to do? Just die? Maybe.. but that won't be happening for me today.

I go out every single day hoping to just see something different, something exciting, while considering running away at the first chance given. I never do it because I have no idea where I would ever go, but at the same time, that's kind of the exciting part when imagining leaving this place. I just want to go and never look back. Who knows if those thoughts will ever become more to me than just dreams that have been cultivated in my mind while allowed to pop up whenever there is a downtime.

I let out a deep breath as we turn to leave the exit of the shelter. We will be headed to the coordinates given to relieve the men who have been working all day thus far on the border patrol.. It's getting close to night fall, and we will be on this shift until the light of day comes. But before we can exit the area, we are called to by another one of our comrades. I can hear his scratchy voice from a mile away, he always sounds as if something is caught within his throat. Norton, the man who is always at the side of our leader.. he would call himself an assistant, but he is just the leader's little puppy dog.

Norton does anything and everything that the leader commands him to without question, which is annoying for us who are on the receiving end of the madness. But as long as you cooperate, then there is normally nothing to worry about.. but when you see Norton coming, you know this is going to be an annoying conversation that will be demanding and could result with anything bad that the leader sees fit.

I groan out to myself as Roy does the same. The both of us know what this means as we wait for Norton to make his way to us. He is running at full speed, making this look urgent, but it never normally is. He gets to us, stopping instantly erupting dust from the disturbed dirt under his feet as his hands planted on top of his knees while he tries to gain some air into his lungs.

He pants in front of us as we stare down at him before looking at one another just to silently roll our eyes. The annoyance is clear on our faces as we just give him a moment, but getting even more annoyed with every second that passes without explanation of why he was stopping us. "What do you need, Norton? We need to get started on our trek for our shift or the guys are going to be mad at us for being late." I spat as he puts his pointer finger up in the air to tell us to give him a second, but we don't have a second to spare for him.

We turn to walk away as he blurts out. "Octavious, needs to see you." he continues to pant as I let out an annoyed tone. "Ok.. we will see him after the shift." I declare before turning away from him again, but I can only get one step in before he spats, "He wants to see you RIGHT NOW.. he says it's important and.. You know his word is law." He declares this through the panting. "Fine, but if the men are mad at us for being late, I am blaming it on you." I snap before turning on my heels to head towards the leader's dwelling place.

Our shift is about to start, and you never want to be late for that as long as leader Octavious has anything to say about it. So, hopefully he will have an understanding of our circumstances since he is the one causing us to be late at the moment. But he is a brutal leader, which has kept most alive, but not all. The unlucky men who have gotten on the wrong side of things when it comes to Octavious have received a type of wrath you wouldn't wish on your worst enemies.

He is more than willing to kill you and throw you to the side if you're not willing to work with the group the way that he wants you to. He is more than willing to earn more meat and space without people who won't work for him. I have seen it far too many times to ever question for a second that he won't throw me to the wolves and use any last bit of uneaten meat as bait for more game to kill, just for the men of our clan.

Even with the mass amounts of people disobeying the leader and being killed off, we still somehow climb in numbers. It must be because of the mating pit that was supposedly built to hold the wild females in. They don't do anything of significance, except just to wait to be used by the men who have earned a female, by doing something amazing in return for that 'luxury'. Or that's at least what they tell you, but we all know that men regularly go into the pit to f*#k the females as they please. The females are some of the only motivation to live for in this sh*tty world that we have.

The men know that there isn't enough women for all of us to have our own match, which is hard for someone like me who is lonely every single day with only the friendships of my comrades to get me by. I do understand that some men feel the same as me, just wanting a female companion to talk with, to hold, to be able to treat each other as equals while only having the one.. I don't want many females, I just want the one that would be willing to have me as I am.

But the sad part about that ideal is that it is not realistic. The women on this planet don't have a thought in their heads, let alone have sentimental feelings about anything, even men. It's hard to know that I won't have a partner until my last days, because I heard from some of the elders that partners used to be a way of life. They chose one another, loved one another, and worked together to get through the darkness together like some sort of family.

I don't know why that conversation with them struck my mind so incredibly hard, but it did. After hearing them talk about the relationships that used to be cherished with men and women, that's all I can ever think about. They also conversed about the fact that it was incredibly hard to maintain and very unrealistic standards on both sides of the relationship, which inevitably ended most relationships. But that doesn't bother me. That sounds like a challenge for something great to come out of it, if you're willing to work hard for it.

I have always been one to step up to a challenge and not back away from it. So hearing that most people couldn't make these relationships work because they didn't want to 'work for it' makes me mad. I know that I would work for it without hesitation if I had the opportunity. But we know that is not a possible way of life and that thought alone breaks my heart, because I won't ever be able to get that idea of having someone of my own to cherish and work with until our last day, being something amazing and probably unforgettable to have.

I can't get my mind away from it, so I just tend to sulk and think about what it must have been like to have such an opportunity many many years ago. But most of the elders talk of not having the relationship as a blessing, that it was not worth the hassle at all and that I should be grateful for the time we were born into.. but I'm not. I feel this nagging deep within me telling me that I am truly missing out on something great. But we cannot control when we are brought into this world, no matter how badly I would love to go back into time just to experience something as interesting as that.