Day 317, 2121

Day 317. It’s almost been a year since the 4th world war ended. The population now creeping into the hundreds. People are beaten and starved, living as if already dead- shadows of their former selves. The sun seeped through the midst of the rain, but they were cold and still, left lifeless and gathering dust. 100 desperate souls, 100 pale and limp bodies, waiting. Fed only to survive, not enough to flourish. A continuous genocide; but no marks or scars left, only angels of death and their humanity slipping away.

The year is 2121. The people of Giza gathered in the square. A man dressed in red stood tall. Blood, anguish, dominance. A locket was draped across his neck. A heart-shaped locket, that glistened in the sun which seeped through that midst of unhappiness. The mourning sky, showered onto the frail, barren soil, almost as desolate as the people stood above it. The first rain many have seen their entire lives- a rain of rebirth.

The people of Giza had survived on food made in laboratories, where they were prohibited from exploring. The man commanded the people to ignore the rain, to ignore any possibility of change, a possibility of a better life. Thus killing their hope, but giving birth to infinity pools of curiosity.

Aeryn, a young boy, but a mountain of strength, carried his sister to the pile of rubble, many have to call home. Trapped inside concrete walls decorated with barbed wires, like a prison. Damned to a suffocating society of conformity and pain. The pools manifested into oceans inside him. The rain should have meant change, the end of the pain, and a glimpse of faith. A future of sustainability and fortune. He gently placed his baby sister in the arms of his sick mother; too weak to care for herself, too poor for anyone to care about her. The baby began to fall asleep, and he went to find his friend.

Aeryn met his friend at the bell tower in the square. Young and inquisitive, they looked beyond the barbed wire and beyond the pyramids, where the men with red suits settled. Where the people weren’t starved or forgotten, but immersed in the unfamiliar feeling of pure happiness. The rain came to an end, clearer than ever, the pyramids stood in front of them. The two boys walked to the edge of the city, towards the walls and wires that confined them. The ground below was almost marsh-like and delicate. The day the boys were engulfed in curiosity.

Aeryn began to dig the soil and a hole structured like a tunnel slowly formed under the wall. The two boys crawled until they reached the other side, the side where they could be free. They kicked soil back into the hole, with the hopes of not leaving any marks, any evidence that they had left. The boys trudged towards the pyramids, whilst persistent feelings of terror rose inside. Taller than the man in red, the pyramids were before them.

There was an eerie, humming sound that emerged from the pyramids. The brave boys continued towards them. The only time anyone had seen electricity or any power was from pictures and damaged remains of the lives lived before the war. In front of them, a little further than the pyramids was a city. The city they had longed for. It was alive with lights that echo the stars. It had a rhythm and a beat, the heart of the metropolis. A city that was never silent, never sad, but a city filled with evil and sinful men in red.

The sun began to set above the city, and they, now astonished but betrayed, ran towards home. The hardened soil was impenetrable; they’re finally free. The boys, now afraid, sat in disbelief with their backs against the wall.

Aeryn urged his friend to get up and explore more. They would never find a way home sitting hopelessly. The boys returned to the foot of the pyramid. Staring more intensely, they noticed ancient engravings replaced with newer engravings on the surface. They followed the engravings round to the side of the pyramid. There were cracks and faults which stretched across it. Aeryn opened the crack with his fingers and the wall crumbled, allowing light to seep through. Before allowing his friend to notice the light, he forcefully kicked the wall and it crumbled into a pile of mess below them.

The boys stared at each other, as if looking for confirmation that what they had discovered was real. They climbed through the cavity they created in the ancient limestone wall, into a long stone corridor with flickering lights shining above. A bright tunnel of hope, in the twilight darkness. Aeryn grabbed his friend, pulling him towards the door at the end of the corridor. They plunged into it, hoping it would open but it stood, static. There was a sign on the door which read “Electricity chamber 1”. The boys had discovered the key to the lives the red men dwelled in. The life they yearned for.

The pyramids were being used as a limitless energy source. They could concentrate and conduct energy, and were intertwined with the orbit of the planet and the equator. Transmitting energy to the heart of the city, but not their city. The strange symbols scribed into the walls were too cryptic for the boys to grasp, but they understood they were left behind the walls and wires to suffer, fuelling an uncanny rage.

The boys left the chamber door and walked ominously, back towards the entrance. Aeryn’s friend nudged him gently, after seeing another door. He moved, silently, towards it. His face plastered against it, soft voices could be heard. He alarmingly receded. Aeryn placed his head flat on the wall, trying to overhear the conversation. The soft voices remained soft voices. The door, which required a key-card to access, began to emit a loud, inescapable alarm. In a panic, the boys scurried back to the cavity they had forced into the wall.

15 seconds. The amount of time it took the young boys to be surrounded. Scarier than the men in red suits, men armed with weapons that could kill masses, aimed at them. They were only boys. Now beaten, bruised and unconscious, they were dragged back into the pyramid. Leaving harsh abrasions on their soft skin.

When they awoke, their broken bodies were forced up, onto their feet. Stood tall before them, the man in red, with the heart-shaped locket that once glistened in the sun. They stood feebly, in a modern white room, filled with test tubes and advanced machinery. Aeryn, the boy strong as mountains, was almost paralysed with fear. The man in red circled them. The gang of armed men were instructed to vacate the room, leaving the boys alone. The man drew a long needle from his suit pocket.

The needle was loaded with a dangerous, transparent liquid. The boys shuffled back from the man, but he grabbed their shoulders. One after the other, they were injected with this serum, and as their bodies weakened, they dropped closer to the floor. Aeryn cried “You’re hurting me”. The poison, which targeted the temporal lobe, made the host more aggressive, more emotionally indifferent to others; like a social poison. It programmed anyone injected to lose all memory, killing the little humanity they had left.

Their bodies laid on the cold floor, abandoned like corpses rotting and pecked by flocks of crows.