1

The night is dark. A gentle breeze sways the dead leaves that cover the unevenly scorched grass. The evening stars hide their presence behind the scattered clouds. A sickle moon raises its ominous arc over the still tableau, casting a glimmer of light on the quasi-total darkness.

A woman’s scream rips through the silence like a razorblade. The bloodcurdling cry becomes louder and transforms into a guttural howl devoid of humanity. As the growl rises, the earth starts to shake. Sounds of broken glass and cracking wood add themselves to the chaotic chorus that the growl initiated.

The barely discernible words of a man echo out in the once peaceful night:

“In the chest! In the chest! Cover it!”

The rumbling intensifies. The ferocious tremors, the growl and the scream all seem to be multiplying and converging into a painful dissonance. As the arrhythmic quake reaches its climax, the grey landscape is splattered with bright crimson blood that drowns out all else.

2

KA-BLAM

The boy had fallen off his bed. His terror was slowly replaced by the understanding that it was all a dream, nothing more than a nightmare. His eyes had not yet adjusted to the dimness of his room but his heartbeat seemed to slow back down to normal. Exhaling a sigh of relief, he closed his eyes and wiped his sweat drenched hair off his forehead. He suddenly realized that he was soaked and quickly stood up and looked at his bed sheets and at his pyjama pants. His heart started to race again.

No…no, no, no, no it can’t be! I couldn’t have…it’s been years since I’ve wet the bed he thought while examining the wet cloth closely. Even though he couldn’t see well, he was carefully feeling for dampness and pooling on his bed.

Oh good…it’s just sweat…nothing to worry about. Just had the same old nightmare and an embarrassing fall!

That last thought appeared to have awoken the pain from the fall; he started to rub his elbows and this time, he looked for scrapes but found nothing more than a small bruise on his left forearm.

He lied down on the floor, the cool stonework soothed his aching back and elbows. At that point, he didn’t remember exactly what the dream was about, all he knew was that this nightmare had awoken him many times in the past and this time, his reaction was relatively mild.

The room was silent except for the sound of his deep breaths; he was still calming down. He looked around his room, searching for a clock. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the low light, he saw that it was barely 6:00 am.

He climbed back into bed knowing full well that he would not be able to sleep any time soon but certain that if his mother were to walk in and see him on the floor, she would have a fit and start telling him that he would catch a cold. Just thinking about it made him smirk.

The boy removed the damp pieces of clothing and stuffed them under his pillow.

Might as well just lie here and waste time, it’s a Saturday after all he thought as he slipped under the covers.

3

A few of hours later, the boy was surprised to find that he had managed to doze off quite easily. In years past that would not have happened.

He sat up and stood in front of his mirror. His wavy hair was ruffled but not in an unattractive fashion. His pale skin seemed to contrast with his very dark hair, but his bright blue eyes livened up his pallid complexion. He lifted his thin arms over his head, interlocked his fingers and stretched his whole body. His deep yawn was drowned out by the sounds of dry twigs cracking that his joints were producing. He moved in closer to the mirror while scratching his bare chest.

Don’t need to shower right now I guess; besides it’s my day off, he concluded after considering his reflection. The boy swiftly stepped out of his current underwear and slipped on a clean pair of boxers from his bottom drawer. After giving his armpits a quick sniff, he applied some deodorant to hide the effects of his night sweats. He then started rummaging through his drawers to find appropriate clothing for the day’s activities. As he finished buttoning his favorite pair of blue jeans he was thinking about how silent the house was.

The two floor bungalow was usually quiet since it only housed the boy, his parents and his dog but on this day, there seemed to be no life in it.

After pulling away the curtains, he saw the day was overcast, but a wayward ray of light shone into his room reflecting off one of his wall plaques, making it seem like the heavens were declaring that to be a very important trophy. He came closer to it and read the glowing inscription:

SILVERSHADE CITY SCHOOL

1st Place Survival Skills Competition

Damian Pearl

As he read the plaque, memories of the day he won it started playing in his mind.

That was a very top day…thought Damian as he straightened the award.

The main reason he had won it was because he had been conditioned by his overprotective mother to always be ready for anything; such was her mantra. Those 15 years of training had paid off in the form of that prize. He brushed those memories aside and finished putting on a red cotton t-shirt while stepping out of the bedroom and walking down the stairs. Still looking for either his parents or his faithful companion, he entered the kitchen and noticed the message that was left for him on the kitchen information chalkboard:

Hi sweetie,

Your dad and I had to go fill out some paperwork at the City Hall. New arrivals, you know how it is.

Hope to be back after lunch.

Have fun with your friends!

P.S.: Mr. Paw was getting restless so we let him out.

Love: Mom and dad

xoxoxo

Well that explains the quietness…he thought.

The line about the friends annoyed him a bit. The only friend he needed was Mr. Paw; his pet Labrador. He was the only one that seemed to get him; really understand him.

As if replying to his thoughts, there came a scratching at the kitchen door. Damian opened it and in came Mr. Paw, happily wagging his tail and panting gleefully. When he reached his master, he held out his right paw and Damian took it in his hand and started stroking the dog’s short black fur.

4

Mr. Paw was still chewing on some of his dog food just as Damian finished placing his plates in the sink. He was full and ready to enjoy the start of the weekend.

Most of the time, when Saturday came around, Damian spent the day fishing with his father, or playing with his dog, even venturing outside the city limits to let him enjoy the fullness of the outdoors and not be limited by Silvershade’s surrounding wall. Whenever there was foul weather or when there were no clouds to shield him from the sun, Damian simply read books. He loved to let his imagination run wild with tales from another time and place. Many books were lost after the Great War which is why the city’s Game Center counted with only 204 books in its library. Two days before, Damian had finished reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and was preparing to return it to the center’s library after breakfast.

Normally that would be the day’s high point but this day was different. This was the day that the Silvershade Game Center was going to inaugurate its Film Room. It had been a couple of weeks since the city’s sentinels recovered some pre-war technology and brought it to the Power Hub to be analyzed. Among the items that were brought back, they found a broken Blu-Ray player along with certain discs. The tech experts worked hard to restore the machine and after doing so, started to set up a film room in the Game Center so that they could project the motion pictures found in the discs on a weekly basis. This week’s feature would be an old movie even by the Ancestor’s standards: King Kong. Damian was really looking forward to seeing that movie because it would be his first, the first for many of Silvershade’s residents as well.

The film’s first showing was set to begin at 11:00 am and it was already 10:00 am. Damian started hurrying because he wanted to arrive at the center before there were too many people. He did not like big crowds; they always made him feel uncomfortable.

The boy went back up to his room and grabbed his school bag. He did not bother to take out his schoolbooks but he made sure to grab the novel he wanted to return as well as his CTP. Even though he lived within the city, his mother always made him take it whenever he left the house. Her words resounded clearly in his head: Always take your Contamination Testing Probe! I don’t care if you’re just going to the yard. You can’t be too careful; you never know if something contaminated or irradiated might be nearby. You have to be ready for anything sweetie. Our city is nice and clean but this world is toxic! He didn’t know much about the rest of the world, aside from what he was taught in school, but he took her word for it. Easier to slip in the device than to forget it and deal with his mother’s wrath anyway. He quickly grabbed a plain black jacket and stuffed it into his bag as well, then stormed down the stairs.

Damian started crossing the living room and before he made it to the front door, Mr. Paw barked to get his attention. The dog was standing next to the kitchen table and with its snout, started pushing a leather-bound pad that was near the table’s edge, next to the message board.

In an instant, the boy knew what his dog was reminding him of. He wished he didn’t have to take it because it wasn’t a school day and it always reminded him of how different he was. He begrudgingly grabbed the small pad and some chalk and just placed it in his bag’s outer pocket. Even if he disliked it, he had to take it. He had used it since he was old enough to write and yet, he still wasn’t at ease when doing it. Of course, it was not entirely for his own benefit, it was for everyone else’s. Without Damian writing on the small foldable chalk pad, there would not be an effective way of communicating with everyone else. For as long as Damian could remember, he had always been unable to talk.

5

One of the reasons that Damian felt uncomfortable around many people is that the feeling was mutual. There were no disabled or handicapped citizens in Silvershade or in any High City before Damian for that matter.

All High Cities were inhabited by Nobleborns: people who had no mutations, birth defects or disabilities, most of which came as a result of the Great War. As a rule, Nobleborns tried not to associate themselves with Lowborns: lesser humans because of their imperfect genetic material. Some of Damian’s neighbors, a very small minority, did not think he deserved to live among them because of his problem. They might not say it overtly, but it could easily be read in their eyes when they stared at the mute boy. Any time the question of Damian’s inability to speak arose, his parents would simply look at each other with an expression that revealed a deep sorrow and his father would answer: It’s a miracle that he’s alive. He’s always been a bright kid, so curious about the world and his surroundings. He was barely one year old when he mistakenly drank a poisonous antiseptic we were using to decontaminate our home. The liquid dissolved part of his tongue as well as his vocal cords. He got so sick and almost died on us, but here he is! Damian is our very own miracle. Usually the subject was dropped after the explanation but the boy could always sense the awkward malaise permeating the inquirer’s thoughts.

He did not blame them; people usually fear what they do not know or understand, but he disliked being the one that stood out. It did not help that he was short for his age and a lot smarter than his peers. That is why he tried his hardest to be on his own buried in his stories, or with people that knew him like his parents or with his friend and pet Mr. Paw.

Even if some citizens misunderstood him, most liked him because he was always polite, helpful and quite the problem solver.

As he crossed his front yard, a tall stocky fellow called out to him. He turned towards the sound of the voice and saw that the man was Owen Blossom, an off duty veteran sentinel. The man was running to keep his aging body in shape.

“Mornin’ Damian” He said while slowing down but still running in place.

The boy smiled and replied with a slight nod.

“Gonna watch the films later are ya?”

The boy nodded enthusiastically and gave him a thumbs up.

“That’s nice. I’ve seen one or two in my time. Maybe I’ll run into you later. Enjoy yourself young man!”

As the man walked away, Damian waved goodbye and kept walking with his dog next to him.

6

The morning felt warm, spring was starting to make its yearly appearance and winter was now long gone. A gentle wind was blowing through the city without altering the comfortable temperature. Trees were silently swaying around Damian as he walked through Memorial Park. Another reason the boy was hurrying to leave the house was to have time to take a stroll in the park on his way to the Center. It was the long way but he enjoyed seeing the trees and plants being reborn after a long winter. Mr. Paw certainly did not object to the detour.

Silvershade was not a big city by Nobleborn standards, only 371 people inhabited it; but it did have its charms. Some of those charms were what gave the city its name. All the houses and buildings were made with stone and covered by a metal alloy named albroxy. This material helped insulate homes to diminish energy demands. Whenever the sun would come out from behind the clouds, the buildings would glint like silver. The “shade” part of the name came from the town’s geographical placement. Being at the base of a mountain and having tall trees provided citizens with a fair amount of shade whenever there were no clouds in the sky.

The Power Hub provided all buildings with electricity and purified running water; something that was very hard to find outside a High City. Every home was equipped with solar panels as well, so to absorb some solar energy and not put too much of a strain on the Hub.

The farms, stables, crops, fields and cemetery were placed outside of the city walls. Nobleborns living on the other side were given the same power and water as the ones on the inside but they lived there at their own risk. Sentinels would come out to patrol but outside residents would never be as safe as within the walls. Wildlife around the city was abundant, which attracted dangerous predators; which is the main reason the city was walled in.

The park was placed at the heart of the city. It was meant to provide the citizens with a safe and controlled green area where they could enjoy nature without fearing the dangers of contamination from irradiated plants or animals. Many pines, maples, oaks and birch trees could be found in the park as well as many non-indigenous ones such as sequoias. Some plants had been genetically engineered because after the Great War, certain species were wiped out. Aside from the forest portion of the park, there were also simple grassy terrains for picnics and games. If it were up to him, Damian would live inside the park; he felt like he was in a different world every time he walked down those lush paths surrounded by trees.

As the duo emerged from the wooded area, they could already see the Center’s distinctive asymmetrical form. One thing that Damian always liked about the building was that it looked so different from the rest of town.

Most houses looked identical to the Pearls’ home; all buildings were made of the same materials and were set up in a similar fashion but it seemed that a different architect had thought up the Game Center. One might think that the person who planned the city’s look got bored and simply let a child draw up the blueprints for the Center. The façade was made of bright red bricks; the windows were large rectangles that varied in size and the roof resembled a three-dimensional black letter N. The building was placed at the northeast corner of town, about one kilometer from Damian’s house, at the end of the last row of houses. Although it was a few meters from the houses, it wasn’t parallel to them or even perpendicular but it faced them diagonally. The three floor structure contained a small library, a gymnasium, a playroom (that contained games from before the Great War) and the newly opened film room.

Needless to say, the Game Center was peculiar, which is probably why Damian felt a close connection to it. The boy’s heart was pounding against his chest when he jogged up the entrance ramp, not because of the long walk but because he was genuinely excited about watching his first movie.

He had no idea just how exciting things would become.

7

He gripped the handle and pulled open the door. Cool air smelling of disinfectant greeted him as he entered. Tara the receptionist quickly rose from her desk and stopped him before he could go further, her long auburn hair swaying as she did so. While she whispered to him, her front teeth kept nervously biting her lower lip while her eyes darted from side to side, making sure no one was staring.

“Hi Damian, sorry but I can’t let you bring him in today.”

He raised a questioning eyebrow and held out both hands, as if asking her to explain why the dog could not come in.

“I know, I know…I don’t have any problems with Mr. Paw, you know that…it’s just that we have lots of people coming here today and I could get in trouble if I let you sneak him in.”

Her demeanor told Damian she was concerned and sincere. He thought she would surely draw blood if she kept biting her lip so he took out his pad, opened it and rapidly scribbled: He’ll be good! I promise!

She bent down and stroked the dog’s fur. “I know he is” she said looking at the canine. “But he has to stay outside for now; you can bring him in when most people have gone home, ok?” Her hazel eyes looked up at the boy hoping he would understand her predicament.

Damian was disappointed but he knew Tara usually bent the rules for him; he didn’t want to make things difficult for her. He nodded and formed a circle with his right thumb and index finger signifying that all was good. He led his dog out the door and with his hand, indicated that he should stay put. As per usual, no words were needed between them; Mr. Paw simply sat down without whining and looked on as his master went back inside.

Tara had started talking to a small child when Damian came back in. The little boy wanted to know if the film would be scary and Tara was reassuring him that it was all make believe. Damian kept walking down the hallway until he found the small library.

Truth be told, “library” was an ambitious word for what the room really was. The library was not bigger than Damian’s classroom and consisted of three tables, nine chairs, two sofas and a few shelves with books on them. In front of the tables was the front desk where the checkout book was kept. The librarian, Mr. McAllister, who was also the Center’s manager and event organizer, was sitting behind the desk. He was a short chubby man that always wore a wool sweater no matter the weather. His clothes were as gray as his thinning hair but at least he was not as monotonous as he looked.

“Well, well, if it isn’t our very own avid reader!” He smiled widely as he greeted the boy. “Don’t tell me you already finished? It’s only been one week!”

Damian shook his plump hand, smiled back and took out the book from his bag. After placing it on the table he wrote: Very good story. Liked the different creatures and places.

“Uh-huh, for sure, for sure. You like that one, you’ll definitely love the ones that come after. You’re lucky that we have the whole collection.” He said with a note of pride in his voice.

The boy’s eyes lit up and just when he started writing a reply, the ground started to tremble lightly. It only lasted a couple of seconds but it startled everybody.

The couple sitting at one of the tables started asking what that was aloud. “Ah don’t you fret kids. Must the Power Hub again. They’re working on them power increases and all”, answered Mr. McAllister matter-of-factly. He glanced at the clock on the wall, saw that it was 10:45 am and announced “Almost movie time everybody. Tara will be setting it up in five minutes. Don’t wanna be late now don’t we?”

Damian paid no attention to the tremor, he finished writing his question: Can I get the other books after the film? A friendly chuckle escaped Mr. McAllister’s lips, “Sure, sure, go on son. Those books ain’t going nowhere.”

The boy carefully mouthed a “thank you” as he went towards the stairs that led to the film room. He saw that there were at least two dozen people on their way to the room as well.

I guess Tara was right, he thought as he entered the line to go inside the room. It’s best that he stays outside for now.

8

The film room was as big as the library room. There were 4 rows of chairs set up facing the freshly painted white wall. A large projector hung from the ceiling and was connected to the Blu-Ray player in the back.

Damian sat in the front row and was looking around with awe. Usually he saw a few people at the Center but never a full room like the one he was observing. He was expecting to see what he was told the Ancestors called a “teevee” but all he could see was the movie box connected to something on the ceiling. He could hear a very light hum coming from the projector. As he looked at his surroundings, all the seats started to fill up. Most kids (actually three quarters of the audience) sat at the front; the small worried child from before sat down next to him. The boy still looked preoccupied so Damian tried to give him an encouraging smile. The little boy answered with a polite “Hi”. The kid looked to be about six years old which made Damian wonder where his parents might be.

It was still five minutes to eleven and the place was already packed at full capacity. A couple of people were actually sitting on the floor since there were no more chairs; Owen Blossom was one of them. He had changed his clothes but still looked flushed from all the running. He winked at Damian when he saw him; Damian winked back.

Tara closed the curtains and started fiddling with the Blu-Ray player. One of the city’s tech experts was helping her use the machine.

If this continues, they’ll need more than just Tara and Mr. McAllister working here, thought the boy. He secretly hoped he could one day work at the Center, although realistically, his interactions with people would be very hard and limited.

“All right everyone, I’d like to have your attention please”, started Tara; “we’ll be starting shortly.”

The loud audience started getting quieter and gradually settled down. Everyone was now paying attention to Tara. “As you know, it’s very rare to find actual intact technology from the Ancestors; not all the High Cities are as lucky as we are.” She paused, letting her words sink in, and resumed with a pleasing smile; “Now today, we are proud to open our very ow-”

Tara’s opening speech was interrupted by a stronger quake; this one lasting half a minute. As the ground shook, sparks flew from the lights, showering everyone. The floor moved both horizontally and vertically, which made a few people roll out of their seats. The deafening rumble caused some attendees to cover their ears while trying to stand their ground. The projector fell from the ceiling, barely missing two teenagers that had been quietly discussing Tara’s attractiveness. On its way down, it bumped a chair and crashed at their feet. The worried little boy clung to Damian as the scene unfolded.

No one knew what was happening or what had to be done. Some people were paralyzed with fear and stayed in their seats; others jumped up and exited the room hurriedly with a loss of balance.

At this point, no one thought the Power Hub was responsible but one thing was certain: movie time was over.