It Was of Ash

Ch. 7: Headlong Flight.

Dexter knocking on the door and a camera shot out of the wall and up to his face. He flinched and moved back a little, only to compose himself as if it didn’t even happen. He put his suave face on and held up his identification number. The camera looked at it for a while as the nuclear winds pushed the ashy dirt around in circles around the magnificent dome.

The Garden is a large dome that reaches far into the atmosphere so that the people inside can see the blue sky for what it once was, blue and full of clouds. The Garden can be compared to the size of Texas if Texas were 3 times the size of itself. It takes up a lot of land and a lot of people were hoping it’d keep expanding, but it never happens. The grass is always green and the water is always clear, there are animals and birds that fly around and eat the worms from the ground, all organically grown of course. The Garden is a carbon copy of Earth before the war, they even have Twinkies. Everyone inside is rich and happy because they don’t live in the Wastes, where you have to fight basically everything to get a bottle of radiated water. The food is all organically grown and the water is recycled to death. Everything inside is expensive and nothing ever leaves unless it’s a Fleshy from one of the five districts.

Seeing as The Garden is full of rich, snobby people, only Humans are allowed rights. All Fleshies are servants and have absolutely no rights. They serve happily and willingly to all of the Humans who often treat them like animals with rabies. Fleshies don’t care though; they’re all programmed to not have feelings to be hurt. Dragon Alley Fleshies are programmed to be just like the humans, so undercover operations are easier to operate, yet we’re still a little off. We don’t react correctly at times, but as long as we can pass as human it doesn’t really matter, right? The Humans mass produce Fleshies so there are enough to be shot on shooting ranges and enough to clean their toilets and cook their kids’ dinner and drive them to work in the morning and back at night. Hell, some people even have their Fleshies go to work for them. All they have to do is pop the USB cord into their heads and download the information into their brains and shoo them away for the day.

“Welcome back Mr. Cloud.” The speaker said boredly. “Would you like your servant to carry you in?” it asked.

“No, I can walk.” Dexter smiled and pushed the clear green button to open the door and walked in, I walked in behind and pushed the light blue button on the wall.

There was the sound of air being sucked out of the little tunnel and then the sound of fresh air coming through the vents. “Welcome to the Garden.” A nice woman’s voice greeted us. “Here in The Garden, you may live comfortably with our organic food and fresh water! Our servants will provide you with all you need, whether it is serves’ or…serves’. Once you are inside you are given ten thousand dollars as a start to your new life! You get a complimentary home and pool; your job will be given to you in the matter of 2 to 3 business days.

“The Garden has a plethora of fun activities for children and adults. There is an expanded Disney World inside, along with a new nightclub for singles! There will be a cruise in ten minutes for homosexuals and another for kids in an hour! Bon voyage! Long John Silver’s will be serving a table for ten in three minutes. Welcome!”

“God that thing is so annoying.” Dexter said pulling off his gas mask and smiling at me.

“Not as annoying as you.” I mumbled.

“That was uncalled for!”

“If it’s an insult towards you, it’s always called for.” I rolled my eyes and opened the door to The Garden.

Something was different, everything was…colorless. Everything inside was the same as outside. Someone set off a nuclear bomb in The Garden.

“Impossible.” Dexter barely whispered. He stepped forward onto a skull; it disintegrated under is large boot. “It’s…supposed to be here…” he said. I was just as surprised as he was, I just didn’t show it.