CHAPTER TWO
The two large men grabbed me by each arm and pulled me up onto my feet. Walking towards the open fields, away from the woods, I stole one glance back towards the depths of the darkness, searching in the black for a hundred people who seemed to have vanished, only to be met with disappointment. I wondered what was waiting for me back at camp. Smith said he was taking me to see Leslie, the director of the reality TV show that had brought us to Circadia. The same man who had come to visit shortly after Earth’s demise, and had taken over our planet. He had left millions of people on Earth to die in exchange for money, and he didn’t seem to care. Yet, here I was, being dragged to be in his audience. The man I hated the most.
Leslie was the Director of ‘Grow.’ During one of Earth’s darkest moments, there was a crowdfunding effort to send a reality TV show to the new world that had entered into our orbit led by him. Quickly finding the funding to visit Earth’s new neighbor, we were led to believe science was at the heart of the mission. We quickly realized soon after though, Circadia’s colonists—us—were only sent to the new planet to make Leslie money. We were ill prepared and ill informed. That didn’t stop them from using us as a refugee camp when Earth’s nuclear powers collided, and it didn’t stop them from charging people billions of dollars for a ticket to Circadia to escape their fate on Earth. Leslie was an evil, manipulative person, and he had stolen away everything I loved.
Smith led the way through the dark fields towards the light of the camp. Lit by the power we created, I could see camp was much more empty than usual. My heart sank a little, knowing that it was my friends that were missing from the picture. Each step I took broke my heart.
When we approached the camp, Smith dashed forward to speak with Leslie alone. The men holding me stopped just out of hearing range of the conversation. I did my best to watch their lips, trying to determine each word, to no avail. They caught me watching them intently, and the conversation stopped abruptly. When Smith returned, he winked at me, then told the men to take me to the gathering area. I fought their efforts to bring me forward, but it was useless. Moving about twenty feet to the left and around a few huts, we reached the dusty area known to be the gathering area.
They shoved me down to the ground and my wrists caught most of the force. I looked down at my stinging hands to see blood meddling with the dirt and tiny specks of rock from the Earth. Tears pricked at my eyes, but I quickly shunned away any feelings I was emoting. I didn’t want them to see any weakness. Even if the only emotions I was capable of feeling at the moment was anger and weakness. Powerless, maybe. Standing on either side of me, they didn’t make a move, just stood ready. Smith took a seat on the ground near me, also waiting. The group was quiet, but I heard footsteps swooshing through the grass towards the gathering place. When I looked up, I saw boots crushing the flower weed underneath them, and following up the boots, I saw Leslie’s smile gleaming back at me.
His blonde comb-over was now a mess from the recent debacle, but his clothes looked clean and pressed. Even on Circadia where most of us made use of very little and lived simple lives, Leslie was living high on the hog. Lavish housing, unlimited food, and a lack of labor had treated him well. He actually looked comfortable in his skin, in contrast to the rest of our skeleton-like bodies.
“Aella, I’m so glad we found you,” he said. “Out of all the talent we have acquired in the short amount of time we have had control, I am most excited to have you on board. I mean, you treated me so well when I first got here, right?”
I remembered driving my fist into his face over and over. Just the thought gave me some relief, but not enough. What I wouldn’t do to punch your stupid face in right now, I thought. I wished I had never stopped hitting him before, and wouldn’t have, had I known what was going to happen.
He continued on with the voice he so much loved to hear. “I gave all of this to you. To all of you, and this is how you repay me.”
“Why couldn’t you have been happy with your fair share? You could have lived in harmony with us, why kill Idris?” I could feel my eyes bulging out of my head as I spoke. I tried to keep a steady tone, but it was impossible. My voice came out crackly and hoarse. I was letting my emotions get the best of me. Once I was waiting for a reply, I took a deep breath to calm myself.
His words sounded more like a growl as they left his lips. “My fair share is more than yours, and don’t you ever forget it. I worked tooth and nail to get you here, do you understand that? This is mine! This is all mine.” He took a moment to calm himself and took a deep breath. “As for Idris, the man was trying to cause trouble with his superiors.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means he was trying to tell me what I could and couldn’t do on my planet. He needed to be taught a lesson, and when he wouldn’t take it, I made an example of him,” he said.
“This is not your planet, Leslie, and all you did was make a martyr out of him. People loved Idris. You’ll pay for what you’ve done here, I promise you,” I said.
Not a
