Paradisum

The wail of sirens and the hum of the drones hovering overhead made Helena run with more urgency. Her hair was flapping behind her as she sprinted blindly through the ruined remnants of the high-rise building, the crunch of glass and showers of dust accompanying her frantic footfalls. The rhythmic pounding of her dogged pursuers kept Helena moving forwards, even though her chest burned with the intensity of a thousand suns and she was becoming increasingly dizzy as fatigue began to set in. It was just pure adrenalin and instinct she had honed over a lifetime of living on the fridge of society that kept her going now.

Helena could hear the footsteps of her pursuers chasing her down. She flung a hand out to the side, catching hold of a door containing fragments of glass stuck into aged timbers as she skidded around a corner. A violent jolt of pain shot up her arm and her synapses were aflame. She was vaguely aware of the thin rivulets of blood dripping from her hand, leaving a bright crimson trail for the thugs of Chancellor Walden to follow. Her lungs felt as if they were about to burst as she sprinted blindly through another door that was hanging forlornly on rusted hinges.

Helena raced into the night and out into a world that she was all too familiar with. Everything around her was grey and decayed; the remnants of a world baptized in the glow of atomic fire and the ghostly aftermath that followed. The buildings that had survived utter devastation had been left to rot to their foundations and Helena found herself in one of the few that had yet to topple. In the center of this ruined hellscape was a monstrously huge crater, testament to the destructive fury of nuclear war and the untold suffering and death it had caused.

Countless thoughts raced through Helena’s mind as she darted through the remains of an office. The roof had long ago decayed and rotted away, leaving this section of the building open to the elements. Directly ahead of her stood another structure, separated by a narrow alley. As Helena continued to sprint on jelly legs, she could hear the men who chased her like bloodhounds on the hunt and her options were waning rapidly. Abruptly, Helena made a split-second decision as she worked her legs faster and harder. She bunched her legs and hurled herself into the air with bated breath, the rush of wind whipping by her as she plummeted with terrifying momentum. A deafening crash followed as Helena careened through a window, the tinkling of glass falling around her as she ducked expertly into a forward roll, mitigating the impact of her sudden drop. She could still hear the faint hum of the drones in pursuit as she lurched back to her feet and charged headlong into the darkness.

Abruptly, a hand emerged from the gloom and dragged the fleeing woman into a side room. Helena let out a panicked screech before a hand was firmly clamped over her mouth, silencing her protestations in a matter of moments. Her eyes bulged in alarm for a second before the features of her captor came into view in the dim haze and she breathed an internal sigh of relief as the man released her and held a finger up to his lips. Helena nodded in response as the two of them retreated into the darkness and hid behind what was left of a desk. Outside their hiding place, the two of them could bear the faint buzzing and whirring of the drones that circled the building as the hunt continued.

“What are you doing here?” Helena asked in a terse whisper.

“Saving your sorry hide,” the newcomer replied.

“I didn’t need saving!” Helena exclaimed, her voice dangerously loud. The man at her side shot her a stern expression of warning as she held up her hands by way of an apology. “I didn’t need your help Michael,” Helena continued in an injured tone.

“Clearly I was mistaken to come to your aid then,” Michael responded with a grim set expression. “Those men chasing you merely wanted to reward you for your hard work in hacking their network and stealing sensitive information, I suppose?” he asked sarcastically.

“Very funny.”

“I thought so,” the man at Helena’s side shot back. “Now, keep it down. Unless you want to see what it’s like inside one of Chancellor Walden’s holiday camps.”

Helena opened her mouth to respond but distant shouting made her fall into a deathly silence. The seconds dragged by painfully as they sunk low under the desk and prayed that they would remain undiscovered. Helena moved a hand slightly and she felt the touch of cold metal brush her arm. Looking down, she saw her necklace; a heart shaped locket. It was the sole possession that she had managed to hold onto since childhood. Helena felt a twisted knot of barely suppressed emotion welling up inside her as she looked at the trinket. The locket contained a photograph of her parents before they had been dragged off into one of Chancellor Walden’s notorious detention centers; never to be seen again.

In the stillness, Helena felt her mind drifting back to better days and distant memories. All the while, she held the locket in her hand and she found herself unconsciously clutching it close to her chest as if it were a shield against the bitter cruelties of the world. Time passed agonizingly slowly as they continued to hide with bated breath. The silence was pervasive as they listened with pricked ears, trying to register any sign of movement.

Cautiously, Helena poked a head up and looked out. Everything was still and quiet as she cast her eyes about this way and that. She caught a glimpse of a blue haze in the distance and she immediately knew what it signified. The light shot up into the heavens and their source was the towering monoliths and skyscrapers of the city of New London. The city had been erected a decade or more after the bombs had fallen; funded by the elite that had secreted themselves away in bunkers under the remains of the old city. Their wealth in the old world had been used to create the new and now they enjoyed privilege and power; just as long as they dared not to question the despotic Chancellor.

“Almost hypnotic, isn’t it?” Michael asked behind her, rising to his feet and speaking at a normal volume.

“Yes, it is,” Helena concurred absentmindedly. “Are you not afraid of being caught?” Helena asked, noting his casual posture.

“Not now. We have given Walden’s dogs the slip. It doesn’t take much intelligence or imagination to be a hired thug and even less to shoot unarmed civilians.”

“Indeed.” Helena said simply.

“Not much of a conversationalist, are you?”

“Not after we narrowly avoided capture, no.”

“And whose fault was that?”

“Excuse me?” Helena questioned with a hard edge to her voice. “I didn’t ask you to come to the rescue. Everything was going fine.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Michael rebuked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Helena,” Michael retorted. “You snuck off on your own to hack into the Paradisum network of New London against the express wishes of the rest of us and, for what? Retribution?”

“Yes!” Helena exclaimed. “Yes, I did! That man who calls himself Chancellor rules our lives from his ivory tower and every day he profits from the misery of the people he oppresses. Every day he murders more people with the stroke of a pen and he is never held accountable. And that man murdered my parents. It is our duty to resist and fight back. Every act of resistance brings us one step closer to overthrowing him.”

“At the cost of exposing the rest of us?” Michael asked, his face a reddened mask of barely contained fury. “When we let you join the nomads, we only required one thing from you. And that was, that you do nothing to compromise our safety.”

“Safety means nothing if you’re always living in fear. Don’t you see that?”

“Of course I see it. I’m not blind Helena. But the rest of us are not revolutionaries.”

“Then maybe it’s time I went on my own path,” Helena said resolutely.

“And then what? You go off to fight everyone in Walden’s regime all by yourself?”

“If that’s what it takes, yes.”

“You’re being stupid and petulant,” Michael admonished.

“I’m done talking about this. If you haven’t got the stomach to fight, I’ll continue alone.”

“Helena, wait,” Michael pled.

Helena turned on her heel and swept from the room, her feet scraping on the floor. In the gloom, Michael could see a look of thunder adorning the features of his counterpart and he knew he had crossed a line. He opened his mouth to try to reason with her but Helena stomped out of the room in marshal fashion and he thought better of it. Now, all he could do was follow in her wake and hope against hope that he could somehow bridge the gulf that had formed between them. Helena clenched her fists as Michael’s words replayed in the forefront of her mind. Anger began welling up inside her, threatening to boil over as she clattered her way through the ruined structure. In a few short moments, the two Nomads were standing on the precipice of the aging building, looking out across the scarred landscape with New London glinting in the distance.

“Helena, I’m…” Michael began, “I’m sorry.”

“Forget about it,” she huffed in response, holding the heart shaped locket close to her chest. There was a pregnant pause as the two of them looked out into the night. “Let’s just get out of here.” Helena said, wiping a single tear from her cheek as she tucked the locket under the folds of her shirt. She set off once more, heading into an uncertain future.