In Due Time

It’s now one o’clock and Adela's heart feels like it’s pounding faster with each step Xander descends. Every time he leaves she's always anxious until he finally returns. Thinking back to how it was before the virus broke out. When they would walk through the park and laugh at the drizzle that came out of nowhere. And then they would dance and play in the puddles like kids. Not a care in the world. The glimpse of the sun shine coming in from the opened door sent a warm feeling through her body. She hasn’t felt the sunlight in 2 years. Not since they pushed the chip on everyone. She refused to get it and was fired from her job. Without the chip no businesses were allowed to hire you. So then you couldn’t pay your bills and were kicked out of your homes. A lot of places closed down and were overrun by looters which quickly made the city become a war zone and now it looks like a desolate abandoned town. There’s guards on almost every street. The grocery stores are chip access only and guarded with armed security. Between the burnt down buildings and the glass covered streets, there’s not much left out there. Only the unchipped people brave enough to leave their now man made homes and scavenge for food and water are surviving these days. The government also shut off the power and water supply to all homes with people who are not legally chipped so they quickly became worn down and abandoned as well. Each passing minute that Xander is gone her chest gets tighter. If someone asks to scan Xander’s chip and realize he doesn’t have a legal one he will go to the compound. Once you are in the compound, they assign you to a work detail. This is where you eat, sleep, work and live. No longer allowed to access the “free world”. Only until the virus is detained, of course. This is apparently for “our own safety” and they even market it to people as a vacation if you no longer want to live in “fear and filth.” This is what happened to my mother, Edita. Promised a clean virus free environment and 3 warm meals a day she walked into the compound herself. Once they realized she wasn’t chipped she was treated like a prisoner from there on out. There’s no escaping and you must work to get the food promised to you. She thought she was going to get help. Now they take advantage of her age and are physically working her to death so they no longer have to house and feed her. Making room for younger , harder workers. Weve been trying to get to her for the last 8 months , with no luck. Paige is one of our friends who is chipped and allowed to move about freely, from work and home. She works in the compound as the cook. But she feeds us the evidence of the situations going on in the compound. The last photo Paige sent was my mother tied to a chair, skinny and almost lifeless. Her frail body sliding down as she can clearly , barely hold herself up. The bright red markings around her wrist and ankles from the tight ropes looked painful enough. Her eyes closed and head held in shame broke my heart. I know she’s praying for me to come. I have to answer those prayers. “Where’s Xander? He should definitely be back by now.” She says out loud as the set begins to peak behind the building in front of hers. Realizing she hasn’t eaten all day she grabs the loaf of bread Xander snatched off the bread truck last week. The mold has now started to sprout. She carelessly rips the moldy piece off and stares at the door knob as she takes each bite. Her temples aching with worry. “Everything is ok.” She repeats this more times than she remembers just trying to convince herself nothing is wrong. Her eyes grow heavy around 6pm as the sun has already set. “Xander is never gone after dark.” He will be here soon, she thinks as she suddenly falls asleep. As soon as Xander stepped outside this morning he knew something was different. The quietness of the city was “too quiet”, even for how many people were left. There was always someone or something making noise. He thought this was odd but after the photo Paige left for them he knew he had to try his hardest today and not let anything get in his way. Normally he will go to the north side of the compound where they were able to start digging a hole in the wall hidden behind a bunch of vines and brush. The wall was about 4 foot thick and pure concrete so the progress was slow. This wasn’t going to work today. He had to do something quicker. Xander uses the subway tunnels and sewers to get to the south side of the compound without being seen. By the time he reaches the south side it’s already been 2 hours. He should’ve told Adela his plan but he knows she would’ve talked him out of it. So here he is. Alone with no back up plan. In the face of the enemy. He knows he will be taken in. He knows he will be assigned to a work detail after probably being tortured to give up the others. He realized the quickest way in is to be welcomed in. Now he can focus on how to get them out. Sure, Adela can handle herself, or he hopes so anyway. “I’m going to get your mother out of here”, he says quietly to himself. He wipes the sweat off his brow and forces each foot in front of the other as he enters the huge French doors of the compound. “Here we go”, he gulps. Adela startles awake. Her heart immediately pounding as she realized Xander didn’t make it home last night. She jumps up and runs back from the two still habitable rooms. No sign of Xander. She goes to the window where they leave things to exchange with Paige. No new notes or photos. No new information. She grips the photo of her mother in her hands. The tears slide down her face as she realizes she’s alone. The terrors of being alone out here are scary enough for her to walk into the compound herself. She hasn’t been outside in 2 years. She wouldn’t know where to start or what to do. She knows the sewers and tunnels have to be used so your not seen. But what places can you still find food? That’s always been Xander’s role. And he’s always found a way. Her stomach rumbles. She pulls on her gloves and beanie. Her ripped jacket no longer zips up but will do the job. She steps onto the landing of the stairs. An intense feeling pours over her. The creak of the first step scares her since she hasn’t been down these steps since the day they walked up them. Her hand stays on the knob for a few minutes. Taking in the warmth of the handle and processing what will be on the other side. Her ears perk. Instincts kick in. Someone is out there. With her back up against the wall her eyes dart to something for protection. She probably should have thought of this before. She shouldn’t go out into the unknown without protection. A broken piece of glass catches her eye as the sun glistens against it. It’s short enough to fit in a pocket and large enough to do some damage. She bends down and crawls over to the glass, careful not to make any noise. She turns around and sees the handle wiggle. “This one is locked” someone shouts. “Bust it ..” before she hears the last word two big bangs land against the door. Adela runs back up the stairs. The back room has fell in from an unmaintained roof. She pushes the hanging tarps to the side and climbs up the caved in wall and onto the decaying roof. They must have caught Xander and he gave me up. “Why would he tell them where I am?” She says out loud. She crawls to the front side of the building to see if they are gone. She sees two compound patrols by a black van. One man exits the building and yells “clear!” Watching as they move down the block. One building at a time. It’s the third building down they pull someone out. Another woman. I’ve seen her before. Her name is Jillian. She used to own the bakery everyone loved on the next block over. “We got her” , “alright good job boys let’s get back”. She focuses on the first sentence. “We got her?” She backs away from the side of the building and down the fire escape. She has to jump down to the trash can underneath. A good 6 or 7 foot drop. She lets the men drive away before she makes the leap so they don’t hear her. It’s 1 o’ clock now. Adela sets out to find some food and also now some shelter. Xander opens his swollen eyes as much as he can. After giving himself up he was rechipped and beaten badly. Gashes on his nose. Legs too weak to stand on. His hair had been pulled out. Cigarettes burned into his body. He was even waterboarded for information. He didn’t give her up though. He would never put her in danger. He said he was on his own. Of course they didn’t believe him. No one is crazy enough to stay out there alone they would tell him again and again. But he was crazy enough to walk in here. They laid him in a cell and left food and water the first night and next morning. Guards come by so often to check his progress. He assumes once they find him well enough he will be assigned to his job. Then he can start his mission. He will find Edita and get back to Adela. He will get them a permit somehow and they will finally leave this place together. He doesn’t know how or when but he knows it will happen. It’s getting late now. He wonders if Adela realizes what he’s done or if she thinks he just got caught. “She knows I wouldn’t be that stupid. I hope she understands. I’m going to fix this. I’m going to figure it out. In due time.”