Oakland 3000

When Nzinga opened her eyes, she was still in the cell Baka had thrown her in. A sliver of light peeped in from the missed spot on the blacked-out window. It was just enough for Nzinga to see the dried blood on her left hand. The blood had streamed between the cracks of her fingers and settled into the fine lines of her skin.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot up the side of her face and settled at the top of her head. She remembered her fall and the sudden darkness that had enveloped her when Baka had thrown her in the cell three nights prior.

Three nights ago, Baka and his crew had seized the remaining supply of Xeniconium the Xeniconic tribe had given her and Dominic before their journey back to Earth. Nzinga cursed herself silently. It was her own naivety that had landed them at odds with Baka. It was her who gave Baka and his crew a portion, which they had used to overthrow the last State camp in Oakland. He had done so brutally and without thought. The Xeniconium blast had destroyed ¾ of Oakland and drove the remaining elite out of the hills and into the flatlands, where they were captured at checkpoints. Baka and his crew transported the elite to the Ghosttown camp, which was rumored to be an entrance only camp.

Those who survived the blast were scalded, disfigured, and left to fend for themselves as Baka claimed that their sacrifice was for the greater good of his plans. He refused to acknowledge the pleas of the survivors who begged him to give orders to his troops to distribute resources from his camp. He ignored the bloodcurdling screams of the mothers who gathered at the gates of his camp as their babies seized in their arms from the pain of the infected boils the Xeniconium blast had caused. The only instance Baka addressed the survivors was to publicly execute prisoners caught trying to break into the food and water reserves, despite their constant surveillance. It only took two executions for the survivors to understand that Baka’s concerns were in his own self-interest. The survivors soon began to fight and revolt among each other, quickly dividing themselves based on allegiances formed.

Nzinga had not seen Dominic since the night Baka and his crew stormed their warehouse and demanded they overturn the Xeniconium to him. When they refused, Baka began to torture Dominic until Nzinga couldn’t take it anymore. She cried out the code to the safe and Baka ceased his relentless pummeling. Nzinga still remembered how Dominic’s voice cracked as he screamed out, “No!” when she repeated the code for one of Baka’s men. He had mouthed, “Why?” as Nzinga locked eyes with him.

She had looked away in shame. She had crushed the very person she had spent the last 900 years loving in a single moment. They rode to Baka’s camp in silence; Nzinga could not bring herself to say anything. She had decided that working with Baka was the best use for the Xeniconium. She was the one who had fallen for his conniving ways despite Dominic’s uneasiness. She had been the one who revealed the true power of the element. It had been all her and there wasn’t much that needed to be said.

Once they reached Baka’s camp, his men snatched them from the back of the van and covered their faces. She heard blows and a thud then Dominic groaned in pain.

“Stop! You’re hurting him!” Nzinga screamed, trying to break away from the men holding her. They only tightened their grip.

Nzinga squirmed and jerked, refusing to go down without a fight. It was no use; they were much stronger than her, but she continued thrashing frantically.

She kicked and bucked until she felt a strong presence next to her. She instantly knew it was Baka. His brooding energy always overpowered her own and made her nauseous in the process.

“Settle down now,” he said, removing her face cover.

Nzinga lunged forward and all she felt was an electric current zap through her entire body. She froze in place as the electricity moved through her and lifted her into the air. She watched her feet dangle below her as the trees began to look like shrubbery. Baka grinned manically as he powered down the electric restraints, one of the many weapons he recovered from the State camp’s rubbish. There was a five second pause and she began to free-fall back towards the ground. Nzinga came crashing down to Earth with an audible thud. The fall winded her and she lay on her back gasping for a breath of air as Baka and his men laughed like hyenas. There was a shooting pain on her temple, and she reached up to touch it. When she pulled back her hand, she saw the blood.

Baka instructed the men who had restrained her earlier to get her to her feet. She stood on shaky legs; they could barely hold her weight through the pain. She took a step forward with the men toward a stone building. Her head throbbed with every step and she felt the warm blood drip down her neck.

There were two of Baka’s men standing guard at the stone building. Baka grunted as they approached, and they opened the wooden door. Baka slung her inside with all his strength and she felt the skin on her arm tear across the cement floor. Baka spat at her before closing the door, leaving her in the darkness. She heard the wooden plank clatter back into place, sealing her inside.

That was three nights ago, and no one had been back to check on her. No one had brought her food or water. She had designated one corner as her bathroom. It was so hot and stuffy in the cell; Nzinga decided to strip down in hopes of cooling herself down… she had little relief in a room with still air.

Nzinga felt a tickle on her neck and she instinctually reached up to swat away a bug. Instead, her fingers met with the thin chain that held her gold, heart shaped locket. A family heirloom that once belonged to her great-great-great grandmother, Nzinga was initiated into this mother-daughter tradition on her 16th birthday.

She clutched the locket tightly. It held the Xeniconium bulb Dominic had placed there for safekeeping. Dominic said it was the safest place after their first meeting with Baka. The Xeniconium held its most potency in bulb form and it was also her key to escaping the sweltering cell and rescuing Dominic.

Nzinga tapped the panel on the inside of her right forearm. A digital dashboard revealed itself and she activated the locate feature. If Dominic’s panel had not been destroyed, she would be able to find wherever Baka had taken Dominic. She held her breath as the signal wavered.

The dashboard was a parting gift from the Xeniconic tribe. They had warned Nzinga and Dominic that Earth had changed since they had departed in 2100. Nzinga and Dominic had spent the last 900 years in the Xeniconic galaxy, and their memories of Earth were nostalgic at best. Amanita, their Xeniconic host, made them promise to have their dashboards installed before returning to Earth. Nzinga hadn’t needed to use hers until now.

Nzinga moved closer to the blacked-out window and the signal grew stronger. After a few beats, the signal finally locked in on Dominic’s and translated coordinates to Nzinga’s dashboard. She exhaled in relief. Dominic was alive and the dashboard indicated that he was only a few yards away. She tinkered with the locater’s map and saw that his pin was moving towards her. Nzinga heard the shuffling of feet outside of the door and stiffened against the wall. The door suddenly flew open and the bright light flooded inside the small cell. Nzinga’s eyes watered as they adjusted to the abrupt light change. She folded her arms behind her back, touching the inside of her forearm again to shut down the dashboard. Nzinga squinted as she looked towards the door. Dominic’s bruised and swollen face came into focus and tears began to well in her eyes. She wanted to rush over to him and let his tired body fall into hers. Instead, she stood still.

Dominic took a step forward into the cell and then another. His legs felt like sandbags as he mustered up just enough strength to move his body. He took one more step before he collapsed in the doorway. The man slammed the door causing Nzinga to shudder. Nzinga dropped to her knees. Her cotton bra and underwear stuck to her skin, damp with her sweat. She felt around in the darkness until she touched Dominic’s fingers. Reflexively, Dominic weakly curled his fingers around hers.

“Dominic, I am so—” Nzinga began to speak.

Dominic interrupted her. “Do you still have your locket?”

“Yes,” she responded.

“Good.” That was all he said.

There was a silence between them. Both parties felt the energy between them and Nzinga knew that he knew how sorry she was.

“That locket is our only way out, Nzinga,” Dominic said.

“I know.” Nzinga also knew the Xeniconium bulb’s chance of killing them both. Dominic knew as well, but he had much less of a problem with acts of self-sacrifice. They moved to their feet.

Before he even asked, Nzinga already knew the question: “Are you ready?”

Nzinga exhaled and squeezed his hand. She reached up to her chest and touched the locket. She let her fingers trace the outline before she slipped her fingernail in between the crack of the two halves. She pursed her lips and opened the locket.

The room was instantly illuminated in blue light before the stone walls around them crumbled. She felt the familiar gust of wind blow her curly hair wildly. She and Dominic had gone through extensive immunity training in the Xeniconic galaxy to be able to withstand prolonged exposure to the element. The bulb however was unstable in its form and their training was diminished to a game of chance.

The blue light brightened into a white light, indicating that the bulb had reached its peak potency. The winds around them swirled menacingly. Nzinga could see no further than the stone rubbish that surrounded them. She looked up at the sky, a looming sepia color. The locket began to feel hot against her chest then suddenly it felt like it had melted into her skin and its matter began to flow through her.

As quickly as the bulb’s force had radiated from the locket, it began to retreat to its source. Nzinga screamed in agony as she braced herself. She gritted her teeth as she felt herself being pushed back. Her knees buckled and fell in the dirt. Dominic still held onto her hand falling to his knees too. She tried to turn her head to look at him. Barely moving her head an inch, she could see Dominic ‘s hair had turned white. The Xeniconium had begun to deplete them. Nzinga lifted her hand against the force to no avail; it felt like there had been a 100-ton weight glued to it. She wriggled her fingers that held Dominic’s hand. Dominic began lifting his hand with hers. She used his resistance and pulled her body so it was facing his. In a split second, Dominic was able to cup his hands over the locket and in the same movement, Nzinga was able to clasp the locket shut.

The force ceased abruptly, and an eerie, deafening silence ensued. The dust settled after a few moments. They stood up and looked around.

Baka’s entire camp had been flattened and they saw nothing but flat piles of debris for miles.

Dominic’s eyes met Nzinga’s. Hers were stunned with a look that seemed to answer Dominic’s question.

They were now the last humans on Earth.