6:00 Hours: A Dystopian Novel (13 page)

Regardless of the names and adjectives Max used when describing Berkon, we aren’t bad. We aren’t horrible people. We’re peaceful. We take care of the land, the water, the air. Incest is strictly forbidden and the punishment for such a thing is high. We’ve got a town doctor who showed us pictures and informed us of the dangers that came with bedding a close relative. Needless to say, we were afraid of the thought and we’re a people driven by fear.

Our town is small, with a mere 150 families and counting. People are always coming here, looking for a cleanse or running away from something. When I say ‘coming’ here, it’s not to be taken in the literal sense. Many people don’t know about us and according to granddad, there’s someone, or a group of
someones
recruiting. How this is done, I have no idea. It’s also one of the things Max’s box of knowledge isn’t certain of. His mom might have known about us or heard about us from his dad, who passed away shortly before she showed up in our town. A sad story he says little about. I never ask, never pry.

Max is usually free with giving information and so I figured that when he’s closed off about something, it’s better not to pry. He’ll tell me what he wants me to know, and he’ll answer the questions he’s comfortable with. The ones that get a shrug or a ‘not now, Pearl,’ are the ones I bury and never bring up again. Though I must say, the story of his dad is one I find intriguing. It wouldn’t teach me more about the world outside of Berkon, but it would teach me more about the world inside Max’s head.

Everyone in town is convinced that we’ll start popping out babies pretty soon. I’m eighteen, as is he and people in Berkon aren’t like people in the city when it comes to age. Eighteen is a very appropriate age to bring a child into the world. And there’s nothing Berkon loves more than a newborn. A reason to throw a party, gather round, sing songs. The mothers get to be celebrities for a while and the dads earn a badge of honor. We don’t worry about college or any of that stuff. Sure, we can get internships in the different areas in town and learn a trade or two. Soap making or sewing, baking or dentistry. The clever ones are usually encouraged to assist Dr. Lynn in the clinic and learn about the human body. Apparently he’s not a real doctor- according to the rest of the world and a piece of paper. But in Berkon, he’s all we’ve got and he’s pretty darn good at what he does. He’s the one who pulls the babies out of their mommies too. Unlucky for him, he won’t be pulling one out of me, not anytime soon. Sure, I’ve got a massive crush on Max and each time I’m around him, my belly does weird things, like it’s opened the door to an army of fairies and they just won’t stop dancing around.

I’ve wanted to kiss him, so many times and lots of times, he looked at me like he wanted to kiss me too. But that’s all that’s ever happened, weird stares, uneasy feelings and then a punch in the shoulder or a joke to break the ice. We’re eighteen. Eighteen! If it were any other boy in town, I don’t think I would be intimidated, but Maximillian Brown, isn’t just any guy in town. He’s a rebel, a rebel who makes my head think weird thoughts and my heart beat irregularly.

Two years is how long we’ve been dancing around a relationship. Sometimes I think he’s not interested; that he sees me as a friend and nothing more. I don’t want this to be true, but I’m not brave enough to risk our friendship in search of something more. I’m not ready to lose the only person who can teach me about the real world and so, if he doesn’t make a move, neither will I.

Max met me at our spot, a little hill overlooking the corn field. It’s the first place we snuck away to and the place we kept returning to. No one ever comes out here. We have no reason to worry about eyes or ears, waiting to report us. I can just listen to him, unrestricted. Lay my head back on the grass and imagine that clouds are playing out the scenes he speaks of.

‘It’s almost time,’ Max said, slapping a hand against my hip. ‘Are you nervous? I bet you are. You just act like you’re all brave and stuff, but you’re really just a big ball of nerves.’

‘Whatever. Honestly though, I wouldn’t say I’m nervous. Excited, but not nervous. I’m gonna need your help though, with some girly things.’

‘I already told you, you don’t need to worry about what you wear. Trust me, we’ve got lots of weirdos in Birmingham, you’ll fit right in.’

‘I’m not weird, ‘I protested. ‘Plus, I’ll have you know, right now you’re on my territory and I for damn sure can get a bunch of Berkon’s fittest hunks to roll you around this corn field if you mess with me.’

‘Don’t have to tell me twice,’ he chuckled, turning his hand up in a surrender. 'But seriously, are you still up for it?’

‘Yeah. I am. Though I gotta say, I’m not sure I’m up for the shit I’ll be in when we get back.’

‘What are they gonna do- lock us in a room and throw away the keys?’

‘No, but still, I’m not used to getting in trouble.’

‘You’re eighteen years old, they ain’t got no control ova what ya do and what ya don’t do. We could run away to the city together and never come back.’

‘You wouldn’t do that,’ I said grimly. 

‘Yeah, leaving momma behind, I wouldn’t do that. It just sucks, you know, that they’re not open to visits and all. She loves it here and I get that. Life back home, after dad, it sucked. She ran herself into a panic and it seems like she’s found at least a little bit of peace ever since we came to Berkon. I wouldn’t mind her staying here.
I
just don’t want to stay here.’

‘They used to do the visiting thing but I guess they got scared that more and more randomers would find out where we are and some of them could be horrible people.’

‘I don’t get why anyone would come looking for this place to begin with. What are they gonna steal- a bunch of corn? Honestly, I think everyone here’s just paranoid for no reason. I get that they want their own little controlled environment but a little freedom wouldn’t hurt nobody. Ya know? Give the men some real beer. Give the women a bottle ah bubbly. Buy the babies some skittles. I dunno. But life like this is just…’

‘Skittles.’

‘Candy. Pretty damn good, oh god I just made my belly jealous.’

I sat up and Max brushed a few loose pieces of grass from my back. ‘You know,’ I reached a hand out to him, ‘it’s not that bad here.’

He pulled himself up and now it was my turn to pluck away debris from his shirt sleeve. ‘It’s not bad here,’ he echoed. ‘Just…’

‘Boring sometimes. But everywhere is boring sometimes. Once you’ve done everything in the city then the city gets boring too.’

‘There are some things that never get boring,’ he said, running a curled finger over my cheek. ‘Like skydiving or riding roller coasters. Plus, there’s always something new. And when you run out of things, then there’s people. Don’t like em, move to a different country. Get bored, learn a new language then move back.’

‘I guess. Just… sometimes I like the calm. I like, just, sitting here and watching the sun. Feeling the breeze on my back and breathing it all the way in without worrying that…’

‘You’re right,’ Max cut in. ‘It’s a nice place to unwind, to I dunno, sorta take a break from the fast life. But it’s not for the young, at least not for people like us. And I really don’t think it’s fair for them to lock us in here like a bunch of apes.’

‘If we really want to leave, we can. There are no rules about it, you know that.’

‘But there are rules about getting back in and my mom. I can’t just leave her here. I can’t
not
see her again but I also can’t not see the city again.’

‘And I can’t only know
this
for my entire life.’

I rested my head on Max’s shoulder and watched the wind sway the emerald green leaves all the way to the right, giving them only a few seconds to stand upright before sending them bowing again. This, Max had said to me quite often, was something the city didn’t know; something I’d miss if I ever decided to run away and stay away or if I got banned.

Something he’d miss too.

We both watched, in silence, for a few more minutes, as nature worked on the small piece of land at our feet, as the sky played a movie starring stratus and cumulus clouds. Different shapes, different sizes. Different scenes to be imagined. I was excited, to leave with Max, regardless of the consequences.

My grandfather had enough influence in Berkon to make sure that I wasn’t banned for life. And my family, we’d been here for a while, three generations, that’s what we’d given to Berkon. Of course, they wouldn’t be happy that I left, even if only for a few days. But they’d be happy to see me come back. Provided, they weren’t completely oblivious to our wrong doings. There was indeed the chance that things would go wholly according to plan. We’d hike for miles, hitch a ride and be there and back without anyone even really knowing we were gone. There were many things they could assume. One: that we were playing hide and seek- too old for that. Two: that Max and I were hiding out to make babies- they’d love that one. Three: that we were busy watching the stars- did that often enough. Four: The truth.

Sneaking past control wasn’t hard. Max and I had tried it out enough times to have it down to a T. One or two lazy guards, sitting out front, knowing that nothing has ever happened here and that nothing ever will; we could get past without having him bat an eye in our directions. Through the bushes, gathering a couple scratches along the way, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle. The hard part would be finding someone to pick us up. Someone we could trust.

Regardless of how much Max beautified the city, bad things still happened there. It might not have looked like the ‘back alley,’ Max insisted that we got shown when I was thirteen years old, but he couldn’t dispute the fact that serial killers and rapists roamed the streets. I’d read about it in the newspapers that are used to ‘control’ us and I know those things aren’t made up. We don’t print anything here in Berkon and I doubt they’d put that much effort into anything. After all, each story we’d been told, was one we happily slurped up, if only because we needed to find something more intriguing than the mundaneness of our lives.

I nudged a heavy breathing Max. ‘We should get back.’

His head sprung off my shoulder, and he looked at me, his mouth dropped and his eyes confused. ‘Damn it. I really just fell asleep. Shit.’

‘Yeah, well that’s what happens when you do farm work the entire day.’

‘But it’s just shortly after noon, no? I promised mom I’d help out with the canning tonight. She’s got a portion of tomatoes that needs to be bottled up.’

‘Yeah, I’ve got some things to take care of myself. Wanna meet up later?’

‘Nah. I think I’m gonna call it a night after I help her out.’

I was disappointed but didn’t let on as much. ‘Yeah. You do look tired, bags underneath your eyes and all.’

Max laughed.

Prepper Mortality is available on Amazon.