The Border

His uniform glittering in the beginning half of twilight, the Premier of police enforcement stood tall and relaxed in a room draped in gold-lined, red fabric that felt invitingly warm as the sun set. Small swirls of dust followed the officer stepping dutifully onward.
"Sir, we've got a problem. People are starting to break curfew."
"Problem? Why should we care? Just let them get themselves killed, no skin off our noses." The Premier scratched a scab on the back of his hand, watching his surroundings.
"Only problem is, they're not getting killed. Whole communities are growing under our noses in the dark. It's not killing them off."
"I see. We're still protecting everyone, am I right?"
"Yes, but if this spreads... Surely you understand the situation."
"Naturally. Send out troops to enforce curfew every night. Anyone caught breaking it is to be shot on sight. No acceptations. Understood?"
"That's a bit steep, sir. Our oath..."
"Do you understand the magnitude of this situation?"
"Yes sir."

****

"I don't know, man, it sometimes seems like there's something else out there."
"You mean like another?"
"Not really, like something... else... like something that's not like they're saying." Instinctively he sensed another presence near the corner-booth and looked around. Nobody.
"How do you mean?" The charismatic boy with the long brown hair seemed supremely unconcerned as he chipped away at his nachos.
"I don't know, maybe something more like us. Something that makes more sense."
"How does this not make sense?"
"Well it does." Now he was being careful "But I just mean something that's a little easier to get, ya know?"
"Yea," The dark-haired boy knew his friend didn't, but it was close enough. Now it was up to him to figure it out.

----

Party-text conversation on June 16th:
Loreto 9:47: "Hey where's Mouse at?"
Tim 9:47: "I don't know."
Garrett 9:48: "I think he said he was going to be busy."
Gaby joined party 9:48
Tim 9:48: "Hey Gaby, do you know where Mouse is at?"
Gaby 9:49: "He told me he was going to break curfew."
Loreto 9:49: "That's not good."
Tim 9:49: "But he's smarter than that."
Garrett 9:50: "Even so, we should all pray for him. Now."

----

The apartment complex door creaked open to swallow light into the pitch black beyond. Through the shadowy sliver poked a light face, peering up and down the dimly lit street. Seeing no patrols he exited the safety of the doorway and led three others into the night. A light blue shirt fluttered in the cool summer breeze as a thick shawl, denim jacket and white wool housecoat glided behind. These refugees were now homeless, and that made them illegal.

----

Staying underground in the city was dangerous, but out in the countryside there were no buildings to run in to hide, and those soldiers didn't have any restrictions when it came to refugees. Besides, if they all left, how would anyone stand a change at escaping? These hidden outposts of criminals were their first step to walking.
Will stopped trying to reason with the way things were. It all came back to the same thing. He was in a sewer with three other half-marked men (all wanted for leaving their allocated housing) and the gate needed watching. Holding a lead pipe from a dead line along the far wall, the young blond stood at the metal grate, watching the musky passage beyond as military vehicles grinded distantly overhead, darkly pounding on several meters of stone.
In the corner a small shortwave radio hooked up to a buried cable near by muttered out transmissions clearer than those above. As usual, the starved refugee felt sick to his stomach. If I can make it to the countryside, or even further than that, I could plant all the food I wanted.

----

Two guards stood at a lit corner, conversing over cigarettes as one leaned against the lamp post. Down the street in an alleyway, a group of dissidents silently conversed on a course of action. The dark-haired lad leading the escape seemed to make up an unhappy mind and set his face resolutely towards the man-hole cover several meters away from all cover.
In the darkness he dashed out into the inky asphalt river, flattened himself next to the passage and began to work in the stiff air pierced by the nearby laughter. Soon he'd eased the cover from its nest and beckoned to his companions. An old lady hobbled as low as she could and he helped her out of sight. Next a factory-hardened man still with many useful years left expertly slipped into the abyss. Finally a little girl made her way across but the soldiers sensed a light in the darkness.
Shouts. The girl doubled back in surprise and fear. Shots. The boy slid into the hole and pulled the cover near. Shaft. He fell down as what little light above was extinguished by heavy, engineered steel.

----

"We're here with prisoners." A truck's back opened up, a dark plague spilling from it into the courtyard already scarred.
"Take them over there."
"Roger."
"Please! I'm just trying to find my daughter! She ran out earlier! You have to understand! Please!"
"Corporal: line them up."
"Yes sir."
"You can't just kill us!"
"Come on, show me your face you coward!"
"Please! My daughter!"
"Fuck you! Tot! Tot!"
"Kill these traitors, soldier."

----

"Welcome to the underground railroad."
"Who're you?"
"William. That's all you need to know."
"Thanks Will, any ideas on getting out of the city?"
"Well since there's only three of you I think you'll be fine taking the main route. Through there." The smuggler pointed across the space to a poorly-lit passage with burning red bulbs.
"Thanks. You take care."
"Likewise."

----

Outside the city, in the consuming night lit only by the faint highlight of the star-filled sky, rested a field where its ancestors had placed it eons ago. In its center sat a rectangular structure, a tall radio tower extending far above its rooftop and golden squares glowing across the still grass from a white wall stained red night after night.
Inside figures walked about, speaking in unheard voices as some left, boarded vehicles, and buzzed off into the routine unknown. All the while rifles clinked and clanked with impatience, itching to bite into the tranquil stillness of the night.

----

A bearded man in glasses and robes looked up at the doorway as a small group of people appeared from the tunnels. Behind him a blue exit shut, putting an end to the flooding draft sucking light from the steel room.
"Hello! Glad to see you've made it." He said cheerfully, rolling up some bed mats and placing them against the wall of the shed. From the nearby desk a woman with frizzy blond hair waved, one ear in a headset attached to the radio brightly lit by a hanging work lamp. The Latino shook the man's hand.
"Thanks, are we in the countryside yet?"
"No," the man said, his eyebrows meeting and face emphasizing the last sound "you're not there yet; it's that way."
"What's there?" The older man of the group asked.
"Through that door there's the factory, inside there's more people if you want to stay, but if you really want to keep going they'll show you the way on."
"And what about that blue door?"
"Well, young man, I wouldn't chance it myself, but there was just a group of people saying something about going somewhere 'One better than the countryside' who just left through there." The boy got a feeling he didn't understand but recognized and said swiftly to his companions
"You guys go on, take care of each other. I'm going to catch up with them." He ran to the exit but paused after opening it. He looked back. "Thanks comrade!"
"Sure thing, sonny!"

----

On the light side of the moon a small trio of figures trudged forward, brushing through concealing grass they towered above. A smaller figure dashed up behind them. All paused as he caught his breath. One came over and procured a black hoodie, placing it over a blue shirt. The four pressed on.
"So..."
"Hm?"
"Where're you all headed?"
"You mean you don't know?" A woman asked, dropping her backpack in the small circle the sitting travelers formed.
"Well, I've heard the rumors..."
"Listen son, we're going someplace great. That's all you need to know." The speaker took a piece of bread from his pocket and offered it to the newcomer.
"You mean the outside?" He accepted it. The original members all nodded. "You know how to get there?" The buzz-cut Brit responded to this.
"Not quite, but we figure this is the only way untried so it's worth a shot."
Crack. The night flashed with lighting that slashed through the tranquil air. Lions roared through the grass, their headlights searching ravenously as the remaining trio leapt to their feet and ran. More gunfire and two fell, the man dropping and rolling to a stop. The remaining boy fell and saw as he pushed himself up. The bread-bearer was stretched awkwardly straight with is jacket's hood covering his face, invisibly turned towards the sole survivor.
Soldiers surrounded him, buzzing about like agitated locusts.

----

"Psst. Hey, girl, what's your name."
"None of your business."
"Don't tell me you've given up hope, eh?"
"Shut up Paul, are you drunk or something?"
"Yea, at least let us spend our last fucking minutes in peace!"
"Hey! Guard! Help me out here! These shackles make jerking off difficult! Can that be my last request? Aren't you supposed to give me a last request?!"
"Shut up!"
"Just kill him now for us, we'll all feel better!"
"Yeah, just put two in his head and you won't hear a peep from us!"
"Guys..." an older man said in a firm tone as the Latina chained to the wall next to the target of their ridicule looked down, crying. The prisoners fell silent.
"Psst. Little girl. I can help you. I can help all of us."
"Don't talk to me about faith."
"No, I'm serious, I can." The rambunctious man was whispering quickly. "You know the outside? It exists, I've been there! The border--that's how you get through. I know where it is, not far from here. There's a patch of trees nearby, just go towards it. On the other side there's two sticks--one's pointing at the fence. Run at the jacket stuck in the metal and you'll find the hole!"
"Shut up in there, fucking refugees!"
The annoying one started cackling as he pulled on his restraints like a child. I don't get paid enough for this job, the guard thought.

----

Wrists cuffed in front of the driver he was sitting behind, a boy in a blue shirt under a black hoodie rode in on the back of a four-wheeled chariot. A horizon was appearing in the distance, just barely noticeable from the corner of the eye but impossible to focus on. The building he was being led into had a wall that was too dark to be intentional and a tower too tall to be efficient. A helicopter thudded closer to the day.
He was taken through a few rooms and into the basement, where the welcome sight of other tortured souls met him in the dark.
----

"Alright, everybody up!"
"Private, unlock them."
"Where're we going."
"Shut up!"
"Don't worry guys, I've got a plan."
"Yea, don't worry about him, he's just messed up. Guess there was some truth to what they were saying."
"Don't worry about it. Take them outside. They'll see the light of day." The sky was turning blue but there was no sun to be hinted of. Stars were harder to see but the landscape, buried under constant tire treads and marching paths, stole the breath.
"Take my hand."
"What's your name?"
"Felecia."
"I'm Mouse. Don't leave me."
"I-I wont. Don't leave me, Mouse."
"I'll stay with you."
"Stand against the wall!"
"Squad ready!"
"Don't worry guys!"

----

A single figure contorted and then uncoiled like a spring, then fell under concentrated fire. An all but unnoticed black object sailed into the air, barely visible against the still dark sky. An explosion illuminated the dozens of guardians standing about and the tower above and below it buckled. The soldiers scattered along with the prisoners, running anywhere there was no black mass blocking them.
Gunfire exploded and then vanished in the crescendo as the tower crashed down on the building, reducing it to rubble while loyal men fired upon the fleeing refugees. The only pair flew across the field hand in hand, the girl in jeans directing their path towards a clump of trees surrounded by flat prairie.
Roaring, steel horses fired up and took pursuit. Gaining, the troops opened fire in short sprays of hot lead. Sprinting, the couple flew past the first trunks. Slowing, the chasers bounced off roots. Panting, the girl said "The border". Twitching, a trigger pulled. Tearing, bullets pierced her young body. Falling, the boy stopped her.
Too late. He touched his lips, looking in horror down at the sadly calm face of a loved comrade. He looked up at their intended path to see a gap in the trees clear as the day approaching. Beyond was a white figure, billowing in the wind. Something gripped his body and he let his friend down.

----

A boy exploded from the tree line, two small vehicles hot on his tail. A helicopter banked and gunfire rained through the billowing wind, tossing a black hoodie about. The boy charged with just barely a lead on his pursuers, almost reaching out to the white jacket on the fence ahead, its arms tied to the chain-links to either side, inviting him on. He threw himself across the last meters, hot rubber bearing down on his heels, and launched at the steel barrier, thinking only of the girl.