draliman on life

Here’s my contribution for Adam Icke’s Storybook Corner for July/August.

I think this would probably be better as a “short story” rather than a 500-ish word flash fiction, as I’ve crammed a lot of story in there, but here it is anyway!

Here’s the logo.

And here’s the photo prompt!

“You’ve done it this time!” screamed Saliyah. “You know what this means.” Saliyah’s yells changed to tears as Reliakh took her in his arms, gently stroking her hair.

“That’s enough, Reliakh,” said the uniformed guardsman at the door. “Come with us now, please.”

The “Within”, as the citizens called the huge city, was the last bastion of mankind. After centuries of chemicals, wars and heavy mining the majority of the Earth was a barren wasteland. The Within kept the survivors, some hundreds of thousands, safe within hundreds of interconnected bio-domes. Air was cleaned, food and water recycled to bolster that grown or collected.

Still, resources were limited. The population was strictly controlled. There was no room in Within to feed and keep those who broke the law. Eyes were everywhere, watching, waiting for any indiscretion.

Reliakh had broken the law.

The only punishment – exile Without. From shoplifting to murder, the penalty was the same.

Reliakh had stood in the market and preached to all around – the air Without was safe! The Earth had surely healed by now. Keeping the People Within was just a method of control! Rise up! Rise up! And so he was to be exiled.

Judgment was swift Within and, despite his begging and the tears of his life-mate, an hour later Reliakh was Without, staring across the wasteland. The first surprise – he could breathe. He had been right! He could live Without and return some day, alive and triumphant.

Scattered around were bodies in various states of decay. Other exiles, unwilling to leave the only home they’d ever known, begging for re-admission until they starved to death. Reliakh determined he would survive. He headed off in the direction of some vegetation he could see on the horizon. Vegetation! Further evidence that Without was safe.

After some hours he spotted a low structure and headed towards it. Already he was feeling ill – evidently the air Without was not safe. Fear grew as he realised that maybe he had been wrong after all. Tired, he arrived at the structure and managed to light a small fire by striking small stones against the metal of his Citizen ID band. Night was drawing in, and it would be a cold one. The smoke was drawn up into the tiny structure and out the top, almost as if it had been designed for it. At last he fell asleep.

Drawn by the smoke and the glow from the fire, the People Without had come in the night. They had never eaten so well! Such succulent, tasty meat. Where had it come from? One ripped an arm from the corpse and munched appreciatively, juice running down his face. Another, the leader, looked out across the plains, wiping the last of Reliakh’s brains from his chin and licking his lips. He pointed at the glow on the horizon, emanating from the bio-domes of Within.

More meat would be there.

He raised his arm and as one the thousands of the People Without rose and headed toward their new feeding ground.