THE MOTHER SIEGE: A DYSTOPIAN THRILLER

Chapter 13: THE MOTHER SIEGE: A DYSTOPIAN THRILLER

Copyright (c) 2013 Phyllis Zimbler Miller

All rights reserved.

            Julie tried to resist as the man pushed her towards her movicle that he had coupled to his own movicle.

            He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I am taking you to safety.  You see the militia checking identity cards?  Your card is fake and you will be taken into custody if they find out.”

            Just as she was about to stomp on the man’s foot, she stopped.  Was her identity card fake because her mother had registered her as not a live birth?

            She hesitated, then motioned for the man to lean down so she could whisper back into his ear.  “Who are you?”

            “I’m your father.”

            Julie felt as if she were spinning on a merry-go-round.  The man had remained with his face close to hers.  “How can you be my father?” she whispered.  “No one my age has a father.”

            He motioned to the coupled movicles.  “Let’s leave here and then, when we get somewhere safe and we’re out of the movicles, I’ll explain.”

            Behind her Julie could see the militia stopping people.  She had no choice but to trust the man.

                                                                   ***

            In the park Natalie took deep breaths to calm her fear.  She managed to show her identity card to the militia without betraying her anxiety, and she saw Jonah and Jessica show their own cards.

            But where was Julie?

            Natalie forced herself to walk rather than run towards Jonah and Jessica.  When she reached them, she looked her question.

            Both children shook their heads.

            Maybe Julie was waiting at their movicles.  Natalie led the other two there.

            One movicle was missing.  Someone had taken it.  Could Julie risk driving it herself by putting it on automatic? 

            Natalie held a finger to her mouth and waved the other two into their movicle units.  They needed to return home and see if that was what Julie had done.

                                                                  ***

            Harold parked the movicles near Natalie’s building and gestured Julie to get out.  He uncoupled the two movicles and left his Twitterverse earpiece and his personal comm unit in his movicle.  He indicated Julie should leave her personal comm unit in her movicle.

            Then he led her to a bench and motioned for her to sit down.  Glancing around to check that no one was near them, he once again whispered in her ear.

            “I was in medical school with your mother.  I have loved her since then, but my brother – the man you know as William the Conqueror – outlawed marriage.  And I didn’t want a relationship not sanctioned by marriage.”

            Julie said nothing.  He thought perhaps she might not understand what he meant. 

            “Perhaps you know that immediately after the Upheaval the Provisional Government replaced ObamaCare – the healthcare program implemented in the second term of President Obama – with RationalCare.”  While Julie nodded her head, Harold thought about how RationedCare was a much more apt term for what had been instituted.