Burning Red

The stupidity of humans fascinated Briar. With almost everybody else dead, she had time to ponder it. The cost of jealousy is not one to be overlooked. Briar was sifting through the old rubbish dump, trying to find anything she could sell to make a profit for her family, the putrid smell constantly wafting into her face. This activity had become a daily necessity, however, she just wished she could become accustomed to the smell, every day the smell seemed to get worse. As she rummaged, she saw a faint glow out of the corner of her eye. As she gazed upon the item, a scowl grew on her face. It was a locket. A fearful sight in these times. One single gold heart locket had meant the end for approximately 7 billion people.

Many old ones feared the sight of seeing jewellery, the same way they dreaded seeing three ravens. It was a sign of imminent doom, the sign of death. However not only had Briar found jewellery, but she had also found a locket. Even her sister, sworn off superstition, would have flinched at the sight of her discovery.

World leaders were supposed to be the rulers of nations, the protectors, the peacekeepers. If only. However, 50 years ago all that had changed. After John F Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev stopped the horrors of what would have been the Cuban missiles, everyone thought that was the end of mass world destruction threats. Oh boy, what was coming next was worse. As Briar’s history books had repeatedly mentioned, on a fateful morning in 2120 American President Ingrit Woods discovered an inscribed locket, stating, ‘Claire Dunam, you are brighter than all of the stars in the galaxy’. Problem was, President Woods found this token of love, in her husbands’ bag. Briar always felt sorry for the President, Briar understood burning anger.

The second, more fearful problem, was that Duchess Claire Dunam was the wife of the Duke of Wales. Briar believed the Duchess was stupid to cheat on a Duke with the husband of another powerful world leader. This created a chain of events, that finished with the destruction of more than one continent. As Briar looked down on the locket, she considered how strong President Woods would have been to approach her husband with proof of infidelity. He flipped the blame on her and as quickly as he was given the opportunity, he fled the United States of America to see his lover. However, President Woods was a very witty and clever woman, her sadness at the betrayal moved quickly to anger.

When the Duke of Wales received a call from his fellow world leader detailing his wife’s affair, his response was, unexpected. He completely skipped denial and immediately embraced anger, but his rage was not directed at Duchess Claire or the man with who she cheated, Zayan. It was aimed directly at the President. He berated her, blaming President Woods for his wife’s adultery and in his anger, brought up all his issues with her and America as a country. While history hadn’t recollected whether the Duke regretted his actions, Briar hoped he had otherwise she had no respect for this dead man. The Duke’s quick-fire anger sparked the back and forth fighting between the two world leaders. His attacks were returned by America in full force. Before a week had even passed, the countries’ issues had rapidly increased, so much so, that there were full-on war threats. By Wednesday of the second week since the phone call, nukes had been positioned to face both countries. While it was recorded that other world leaders had tried to step in, there was too much burning red hot anger.

History had never recovered the truth regarding which country sent the first missile, but it took just under an hour once fired for the first missile to land. The result was catastrophic, the end of civilisation and what was known as society. For Briar’s whole life, she had been continuously reminded about their little Oceania Island's luck, Their Island was home to the entire population of Earth, a little under 1 million people.

A familiar low fear-inducing and recognisable tone started beeping. Briar, like most humans, knew she had 10 minutes left before her oxygen levels would run out. While their Island was safe from fires, missiles, and war, it was not safe from pollution. Their air was toxic. They had to wear oxygen masks to survive. It did not take long for the little remaining Government to discover the oxygen issue, and in fear of history repeating itself, they used it to their advantage.

Oxygen masks were quickly distributed but the Government controlled how much air you had. When the control was first announced to the public, their reasoning was ‘a precaution to prevent a future uprising’. While most people thought it was unethical and the masks were weaponised, society had no choice. It was either abide by Government rules or die. However, at least they were kind enough to allow children under 16 unlimited oxygen. Briar now 18, had spent years leading up to her 16th, dreading the day.

The Government used oxygen to incentivise anything. When they wanted to raise the population, any woman who got pregnant would get unlimited oxygen for 4 years and their child would get unlimited oxygen till they were 18. Around 20 years ago did it let slip to the public that the Government did not have a limited oxygen supply. However, no one thought an uprising could happen when the Government control everyone’s outside oxygen. Well, it turns out people wanted freedom from their oppressive society so badly, an uprising occurred anyway. The government cut of the oxygen to over 2,000 people, including Briar’s father and older brother. It was easy to tell, that Briar was not the Government’s number one fan. She did do as expected, she searched through rubbish dumps and ocean waste to try and find anything that she could sell or use for parts. While many islanders did not want to associate with Briar, everyone knew that she was the best mechanic, and she was invaluable.

At least, Briar had always viewed herself as invaluable but was not so sure after the rangers approached her. The rangers also get alerted when someone got their ten-minute alarm, alerting them to find an indoor space, where oxygen was provided freely. Their job was to find people running out and make sure they got back inside before it was too late. The brunette had not realised that she had grabbed the previously found locket and was holding it in her non-dominant hand. Most of the younger rangers and habitants of the island would not have cared too much if they saw Briar holding a locket, but the problem was the ranger was an old one. Most old ones were either alive before the destruction happened or were raised with strict believes and superstitions pushed onto them by other old ones. Ing was no exception, he was the most intense of the rangers.

When Ing grabbed her hand, Briar was frozen. She felt fear wash over her as she could not predict Ing’s future decision. His voice was deep and accusatory as he looked down at her, “Briar Valchonz, why do you have this forbidden item, are you trying to invoke fear, or be just like your father?”. Briar felt personally insulted, she and everyone else was too underprepared to take on the government and the death of her friends and family members, just proved this motion. This man was the perfect example of what the Government wanted its citizens to be, fearful and submissive to them.

Briar attempted to keep the angry undertone out of her words as she responded, “No sir, I just found it while looking for parts. I was planning on handing it over to the proper authorities, but I got distracted by my oxygen warning.” Sadly, there was not a single flicker of understanding on Ing’s face and Briar was already mentally preparing herself for the worst.

“Trying to outsmart a ranger, girl?” He replied, gripping onto her arm tighter, “Well, let’s see how clever you feel once I personally make sure you don’t see the outside again for a year.” Briar held back any outburst that she so desperately wanted to release, as she considered the consequences of her actions. Her mother had already lost one child, Briar didn’t think she could handle losing another and Briar was bringing in a good income for the family. If she wasn’t working, their family would suffer greatly. Briar responded with a simple nod of recognition to Ing and allowed herself to be dragged away.

He muttered insults at her as they walked, but Briar was not paying him too much attention, she was busy working on her case. In these times, it was guilty until proven innocent, always blaming the victim. Ing led her to the nearest courthouse, she was hoping that they would get there soon as possible, as her oxygen time was soon to be out. Briar always believed she was too stubborn to die by the Government’s control.

Ing pushed her into the first available cell, and he hurried off. Briar thought she would be left alone for a significant time, but she was wrong as Ing quickly returned. His habitual haughty smirk sent shivers down her spine, “Guess what girl, Vorn is the judge today.” As if Briar’s luck could get any worse. Vorn was the most bias, sexist and ableist judge on the island, and of course, he would be hers. Any hope that Briar had of getting fair treatment and trial was completely gone now. She was royally screwed.

Briar was pulled out of her cell not so long after. Vorn was a terrible person and a punctual one. When Briar was on the stand, providing her account of what happened as accurately as possible, she could not help but look over at Vorn and Ing’s face. Briar knew her efforts were futile, and her sentence proved this. She was to spend the next two years with only 30 minutes of oxygen a day, due to proven conspiracy against the Government. Hereby screwing herself and her entire family, but this was just stupidity in the new world.