Chapter 10. Seashore view
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"This has to have been left for some reason.." Devin starts to reason, as my eyes are plastered to the screen, scanning the list of names that seems to be never ending. Words blur together at a point as the piercing pain has returned to my temples-- great.
I edge my finger on the mouse's cursor, gliding it down until the screen blips out and fades to black. The imprinted image of a white box pops up and reads 'This file has been terminated, please dismiss error 204'. It only allows a few seconds to read the sentence before the fan gives out and the monitor whines down to a plain black screen.
"What the fuck?" Tom curses beside me.
"Shit!" He punches his fists to the desk, the vibration radiating through my palm still resting on the mouse. "There goes the possibility of searching that." His fists shoves the desk back causing the table to lift up and slam back down with a thud.
I twist to face Tom. His palm is pushed to his eyes, dragging it down to the gray patchy beard as he begins to pace with his other handheld tight to his hip. Stopping dead in his tracks he turns to us, showing the blank expression he has plastered. Reflecting the sheer turmoil that is raking through his mind. And I can't help but connect with his expression, feeling the same way myself.
"We'll figure this out later, I gotta give out duties." His words come out shaky, as I notice his eyes reach for answers to the questions left in the room.
I don't have the moments I need to gather a response before Tom makes his way to the doorframe and steps out without a second glance. The slight gray to his hair grows in hue as he steps through the shadow.
"I know this was said already, but what the fuck?" Devin breaths softly.
"Let's go." I stand from the chair and Devin reaches for me in reaction. His hard grip wraps around my arm to steady me as a shiver goes down my spine at the connection.
"I'm okay," Assuring him, connecting with his eyes beside me. There is a glint to them as he releases his grip. Regret is laced in my heart but I push past the emotions as I know they are not my own... but yet I still feel the twinge in my subconscious wanting to reach out to him.
Getting over my residual dizzy spell we step into the hallway and make our way to the crowded room. There are Liberties milling about, bringing in large bags of goods from the local markets.
Each move and every other week they are sent out to the markets to get relief packs that are a combination of food items and living essentials. They were known to be given out for Veterans back before the split in territory. And as the nation has morphed and the Veterans have banded together in camps the markets have kept it going for us. Whether they know they are standing against their nation or not they keep it to themselves.
I've wondered what it would be like to live out there, with the rest of the population. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
My eye catches Blake stepping through the stairwell that leads to our sleeping corridors, pressing his way towards Tom huddled around a group in a corner of the room. Camp members begin to file in seconds later gathering for the afternoon meeting.
"So, duties... What's that?" Devin asks next to me, as I lean against the wall aligned with the hallway door we stepped through. Lily's familiar blonde head bounces down the steps, followed by the newest pick-up Maria, pacing patiently behind her. Lilly finds my eyes and gives a small smile and a wave; I lift my hand in return.
"Daily tasks they assign. Everyone gets something to do, keeps us busy. They randomly assign them if you don't already have some type of experience. Like ones with nursing experience can do infirmary work, though it's pretty dull. Not that it isn't worth the pay. It's about 10 silver a day, which is better than the ones we're assigned. Duties are only 8 silver a day." I say, nonchalantly.
Devin is facing the side of me; I'm not looking at him but in my peripheral vision I see him tilt his head in question. "Silver?" The confusion dances on his tongue.
"Yeah, that's something that most places recognize as money. Deflation hit a while ago, since then Federal Silver is what is mainly used." He nods slowly, taking in the information I give him. I see glimpses of the dollar in my mind's eye.
"What was it over there?" I ask, our eyes meeting.
His shoulders go up. "Just the regular ol' dollar." His lips move into a small smirk and I can't help but return, I'm not sure why this banter warrants this reaction—but I float with it.
Tom's beaming voice draws me away from his eyes. "I don't have much to say at this moment other than the lists of duties are written out for everyone. Get them and do them accordingly, daylight is getting thinner so people going to the markets are to do it before sunset. Don't forget to report to a guard for a headcount before and after you leave. Have a nice afternoon everyone." His tone lingers on irritation as he dismisses the masses and steps down from the podium. The Liberties file in a row parallel to the podium with papers held tight in their hands. Bodies begin to file inline in front of each of them to receive their slip of duty for the week.
As we line up I think to myself I would hate to have to be a part of the communications team. Hand writing each person's list of duties, and having to do that each week. My mind grows tired at just the thought.
I step up to Austin—one of the many guards, and he reads the top paper to me. "Ooo, dinner dish duty. You're favorite!" His green eyes light with sarcasm, as he raises a brow. The wrinkles form on his forehead from the stretch in skin, you can see though it is not from age but from stress. Molded by the lifestyle.
"You really know how to please a girl." I take the paper from him and fold it into my pocket, stepping past the line as Devin follows.
"Do I need one?" He asks.
"Nah, not till next week. Count your blessings though, you don't want to get bathrooms." I chuckle to him, weaving through a crowd of people disbursing.
"I'm planning on scouting out the territory, seeing what's around," I shout over my shoulder to him, as we enter through the arch of the crowded stairwell. Following the natural stream of people going up them, I don't glance behind me as I assume he is following my heels.
Reaching the top step and entering our room it holds Blake and Allison sitting on the small cot one of them uses. Both of their attentions raise to us, dropping the conversation they were engaged in. The light blue light above shines on their faces as they look up at us.
"Sorry, I was just getting my stuff." I apologize for the interruption as I put my hands up in defense, stepping farther into the room for my satchel sat on the floor next to my cot. Their uncomfortable energy follows me and fills the room, leaving a moment of silence behind it.
"You're fine, we were just getting up to leave ourselves," Blake says.
Facing away from them to pick up my bag, the shadow of Blakes silhouette casts itself on the floor between my feet. I turn to see Allison's confused brow that's shaded by her kinked curls fixed on Blake, the look is only set on him for a few seconds and then fades from her eyes.
"Oh, yeah. I completely forgot you had post duty to get to." She says, taking his hand and stepping around Devin positioned in the doorframe.
I scoff under my breath at our interaction... Why would you pick a room you'd be uncomfortable in? I think to myself.
"Ooookay," Devin draws out the o, obviously stiff in stature. My lips move into a smile for him, and I adjust the strap on my shoulder as the weight of the bag weighs down my shirt.
"I tend to ignore them, they're a bit awkward.." I shrug it off, not caring to dig any deeper into the back story of our history. Sliding around Devin to the hallway I take the steps down to the bottom.
"I've noticed that." He responds with a rugged laugh. There is a strong comfort to the image of the way his lips curl up and it holds me as my feet hit each step.
* * * * *
We wander through the empty alleyways, passing half fallen buildings with their rubbled remains scattered on the pathway that we walk along. My feet glide against the pebbles, kicking up waves of dust plumes as I try to distract my mind from the silence we've traveled in.
Coming into a clearing the buildings open up and I begin to hear the rush of waves crash on the shore. Slivers of the setting sun shines through the clouds, lighting them with pink and purple streaks.
Devin breaks our silence. "How's it been growing up here?" He starts. "You've learned a lot about me in the past day, but I hardly know a thing about you..." I see him turn to look at me, but I avoid the connection. His energy is something that I've yet to sort through, the affection that the other me had for him slips through the cracks every so often making it hard to feel comfortable around him.
"Uhhh," I start, folding my arms against my chest and an uncomfortable smile stretches across my lips. The warm leather of my bag strap presses into my forearm. "I would say I don't know anything different but... I guess that would be a lie." Laughing off the stiffness of my answer, Devin chuckles alongside me.
A faint smell of seawater and fish wafts in from the shore as the alleyway ends onto a rundown beach, coming to the end of the city's limits. I step up onto a fallen building's concrete slab, balancing on the once held walls of the structure. The thin cinder block is just enough width for my boots to walk along one foot in front of the other, and I can hear bits of gravel trickle down the side of it. The building ends onto a sandy hill that drops down to the waves below.
I scoff a bit. "But, you get used to it. Things change day by day and with each move we've all gotten numb. To be quite honest with you it feels almost like...it's not real?" My sentence ends in a question because I am still so unsure of these unlocked memories I hold and all the emotions tied to them. Let alone the questions it leaves for the reality I live in. Rocking forward on the unsteady block I jump off and the sand kicks up into my shoes from the hard land.
"I get that." Is all Devin responds with, as I continue. Not allowing the silence to follow.
"The Syndicates' hidden reign over the masses has been the start to all of this, why we live the way we do. It's forced people like us to hide away from any affiliated authoritarian power, to minimize the chance of being taken. And the little governing forces we have left have yet to recognize it as a problem at all, they chalk it all up to anarchists dropping off the grid due to our country being split into territories." My rant goes longer than anticipated as we steep down the hill onto the shore, our heels push into the sand to avoid the slide.
A rickety pier is embedded into the shore and extends off into the ocean. We step up onto it and the wooden planks creak under our weight as a light mist coats my cheeks from the waves crashing beneath us. I continue down my ramble of history.
"My whole life has honestly just been a struggle to stay safe, so much of the world's history I don't know.. I haven't really asked the question and there isn't any type of school we have for this. I took everything at face value.. Until now." Taking in a sharp inhale the taste of saltwater dances on my tongue. I stare off into the endless waves crashing into the pillars that hold us up. The tides speak well to my constant battle, being pulled in and then thrown back.
"The kidnappings started only a few years before my mother left... I've heard it started slowly but as our government began implementing patrols and watchmen into each territory it began to spread like wildfire. Since the wars, and even before that we had camps like this, although they were mainly made up of veterans." I leave out the tidbits Tom informed me of yesterday. Even though Devin knows very little of the world around and the politics of the camps it's still safest to keep it to myself.
"Our world is like a poorly stitched jacket, that keeps no one living here warm." I glance over at Devin, noticing how little his facial expression has phased. Glazing my eyes out behind him, we walk slowly ahead to the end of the pier. A bird's wings flap in the distance catching my attention, I follow its body to the grayed city line where it perches on the tallest standing structure it finds.
"How did it all get like this? Everything's all fucked up." His words strike a cord, as I turn back towards him.
I shake my head at his question, but also at my lack of awareness of the very world I live in. "I couldn't tell you, I haven't been let in on a lot of what's happened to our civilization. The most I've known is this, the run... I know that kidnappings of people like us were being done all across the nation. Those with gifts were at danger as that was the only known link between the kidnappings." I bend my knees and perch myself up on the edge of the dock. A wave crashes below us and the strength of the current splashes water up onto my ankles creating a wet ring on my jean pants. .
"I am still shell shocked at how little I know about what's happened to our world. It's never been a question to ask to be quite honest, the most our camp leaders have informed us over the years is their assumption there is a high level organization that has been kidnapping citizens. We call them the Syndicate. Anymore than that and I couldn't tell ya."
As we sit on the edge of the pier looking out across the effortless blue my legs swing in the sway of the wind, my words lacing in between the gusts of the waves.
Devin's demeanor shifts beside me as he takes in a sharp breath of air. "Wow..." He starts.
Even through the mid summer heat I feel a slight chill run over my spine. Devin sits close to me, with his tattered green scrubs ever so slightly pushed against my thigh. I have to consciously think to move my leg over so that I am no longer in contact with him, as his energy seeps into my being and feeds a dragon that needs to be starved out.
"I've lived a sheltered life compared to you all..." His tone teeters on apologetic. He doesn't glance at me, instead looks down in the waves below his feet. I see in my peripheral vision him lean in a bit closer to the nothingness below.
"It's okay." Is all I seem to say before the sound of the shore takes me away.
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A/N: Wheeeewww Let me tell YA there is so much more tension to build between Devin and Thia, but how are you liking them so far?? 🤔
Do you ship them?!
But like always, thank you for sticking around to the end of the chapter and to even be here reading this note is AMAZING and you deserve to have a BEAUTIFUL DAY!! ❣️💕💞💓💗