The City of Death

The City of Death

Aaron Smith

A family sits in a small suburban home where a television is playing. A priest comes on.

"...due to refusal to conform to the religious majority we are hereby executing this Persian."

A man with a bag on his head is dragged on screen.

"The King is dead and the princes are fallen but the knights fight on!

Until all is ended and the heralds reign and He Who is Promised is come!"

The priest prepares a ceremonial sword. They grab the Persian and behead him.

In the home, a family including a young man in his late teens talks. The father says,

"That was needless."

Young man,

"I do not know if I can support the slavers any more."

Mother,

"Well it is not us doing it so we keep it that way."

The family disperses for the evening.

In a meeting hall a large congregation of some Persians and an odd assortment of others including Europeans are sitting. Among them are the family. A speaker says.

"...while we have not been released the body we are holding a funeral to his memory. One as all his people who was so devoted to his family and work should not go without farewell. That he was executed is a heinous crime that demonstrates the further degeneration of our world..."

After the speakers the young man seeks one of the Persians.

"Hello young man, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help out to make sure there are not any more executions."

"Execution is the least of our worries, it is the apostasy to be afraid of. Most of the people here are traitors, but your family seems faithful. I would say the city is bad enough you need to be considering how to be able to defend yourself now. We are planning a protest in response to this, we can let you know since you would like to be involved."

"Thank you, sir."

People are talking with each other as the funeral ends. The father approaches the young man.

"What was that about?"

"He might have a job for me."

"Good, just remember to stay safe."

Back at home the young man kneels and prays.

"God of all, He most Holy, aid Him who hath returned unto Thee. Be with your mortals among the living and lead them to their own place of service. May all redeem themselves to you and unite in peace as you have commanded. May your will reign my King."

The young man packs a backpack, being careful to include essentials: he throws in some grenades, a map, a flashlight, and various other things that might be helpful on the streets; he sets his backpack down and puts a gun on top of it.

He turns out the lights for the night.

The next day he puts his gun on and heads downstairs. His father says,

"Where are you off to?"

"A Persian suggested I start making connections to stay safer in this city. Was going to visit friends in the slums."

"Makes enough sense. Do not forget about school, you are almost done."

The young man leaves.

The slum house is ramshackle with tents outside, low standards for the west with lots of people living inside. The young man says,

"Hello?"

A slummy walks out of the house.

"Hey, friend!"

"What are you guys up to?"

"Not much, just surviving, no salvage runs today."

"Let me know if you get up to any in the future, would like to go along for security."

"Alright man, sounds great, come in and hang out for a while."

They go inside.

It is busy at a high school. Outside some people approach the young man.

"Want to buy some drugs?"

"No thanks."

"You are no fun, man."

Inside in a classroom a teacher is at front.

"Remember you have been trained to work as taxpayers or entrepreneurs for established society. This is the most militarily successful civilization on the planet, your future can make history. That is it for your last day of school."

The school kids pile out of the classroom.

The young man is walking down a corridor when a recruiter beckons to him.

"Young man, come over here and talk to me."

"What do you need?"

"Do you have any family that has served in the military?"

"My father was in the war with Russia."

"Quite the honor, are you interested in a military career?"

"No."

"That is fine. There are good benefits involved, the only way to get one's way in this world is by using force."

"Maybe there is something more important."

"All right, let me know if could ever persuade you."

"Will keep it in mind. Goodbye."

The young man walks away.

Back at home the family is having dinner. The father says,

"So today you begin your adult life. Any plans for the summer?"

"With the city as bad as it has been do not know what there might be to do, but see what can figure out."

Mother,

"As long as you do not become involved in most of what is going on you should be fine.

"Thanks mom."

Father,

"I like the idea of you working with the Persians, see how that goes."

At the slum house things are somber and quiet with not much going on. The young man walks up to the house and finds a slummie waiting. The young man says,

"You called me?"

"Yeah, we have a salvage job we wanted you along on."

"What is it?"

"Some workers were planning a wage strike and the slavers found out so they had them mass executed. It might be dangerous but no one has checked the bodies yet."

"Gruesome. Sounds doable."

The crew packs up on bikes and leaves.

The crew leaves their bicycles outside a factory and head carefully in. Sure enough, people with machine guns had come in and gunned down the worker in the middle of the day. Bodies lie strewn over machinery and many seem like they tried to run for it. The young man says,

"This is horrendous."

They start checking bodies, occasionally finding a wallet or other such articles. They check through the building and find nothing else of value. They are in the middle of this when they hear noise behind them. The slummie yells,

"CANNIBALS!"

Several African people are coming in the door. The young man pulls his gun and starts firing. The cannibals scatter leaving the slum kids alone. They pack up and leave.

Back at the slum house they ditch the bicycles and head inside. They all gather in a living room area where some people sleep and pull out their findings. The slummie says,

"All right everyone, any money found goes in the middle then we split it up."

Everyone does as directed and a decent pile forms.

"So how about we put $200 towards rent and split up $50 each for the job, that sound fair to everyone?"

They all agree and split the money up. The young man says goodbye to his friends and leaves.

The young man arrives at a grim office building with a gate. He is let inside and meets a secretary who says,

"Thank you for coming in, he should be just a moment."

The young man walks back to an office and finds the Persian leader he had talked to before waiting.

"Thank you for showing up, it is time for the contract we put together."

"Thank you for letting me help."

We are putting together a retaliatory strike on the Christian community for the recent executions. We should be ready to go in a little while."

The young man goes back out to the waiting area. Other Persians come in.

Inside a van are the several Persians and the young man. They hand out machine guns. Along the way they pass a work camp. After a ways they come to their destination.

They pull up in front of a monastery. After some looking around they all pile out and approach an entrance of the building. The Persian leader yells,

"SURRENDER!"

A moment and gun shots start coming out of the building. The Persian crew opens fire in response. Soon everything is quiet again with some yelling inside and they enter, taking cover at the next opportunity. They open fire again on the people they see, and proceed again. Working this way through the building they clear it and head back to the van.

They leave and pack up the machine guns. The Persian leader says,

"Anyone hurt"

Another Persian says,

"I got a minor wound, should be alright."

They continue back to where they started.

They all get out of the van and head into the office building. The Persian leader says,

"Thank you for your help young man. That might dissuade further executions."

"You do not deserve to be persecuted for your religion."

"We will let you know if anything else comes up. Keep us in mind."

"Will do."

At home the young man talks to his parents. His father says,

"How did it go?"

"Terrible. I do not like killing people."

"That is good, remember you did not start this conflict."

"Will keep that in mind."

He goes to his room and starts cleaning his gun.

The young man shows up at the slum house. The slum leader says,

"Thanks for coming, we were going to claim some new territory today."

"I can help with that."

"Give us a little bit and we will pack up to go."

They fetch him a bicycle and everyone starts coming outside.

After biking a ways they get to an abandoned field. The slum leader says,

"We were going to do some gardening here, need a rototiller but wanted to check the area was safe."

They bike around the neighborhood a little bit. They come across a nearby commercial street where a homeless person is holding a sign that says I DO NOT WANT TO DIE. They continue biking back around to the field without incident. The streets are scary but they find nothing.

"Now we need to go get a rototiller."

They bike back for the day.

Everyone gets back and packs the bikes aside.

"Thanks for coming today."

"Any time."

At a pow wow a group of natives is gathered and the young man is there. The announcer says,

"And now we have a special dance remembering taken reservation land."

A dancer dressed in black comes out and dances to native chanting. After it is done the young man walks up to the information person to ask a question.

"Is there any way I could talk to an elder?"

"Sure. Give us a moment."

They go find an elderly native man.

"What can I do for you?"

"Someone suggested I make friends with as many of the factions of the city as possible so I came to visit the natives."

"Thank you for your friendliness. We have our own view of history here. Many years ago we lived peaceably on this land, until the slavers came. They massacred our families and took our land. As they grew their slavery increased until there is all but nothing left of our people and the world cries in ruins. If you wish to side with us you may."

"I would like that."

"Some of our young people do patrols since the police gave up. You could probably join them if you are interested."

"Please let me know."

On a street a group of several natives is waiting. The streets are dark and dangerous, with no friendly activity. The young man shows up. A native asks,

"Did you come armed like we asked?"

"Yes."

"Good. We are going to patrol around an area where several of our families live. The police used to do this job until they went corrupt. Call us volunteer tribal police."

"Got it."

They set out into the neighborhood. The houses are quiet and some are abandoned. Things go simply until they come to a park.

"We patrol these as we appreciate the land that is left. It is usually dangerous here, we will take a careful route. Be quiet and be ready."

"Will do."

They make their way slowly into the park, guns ready. After a ways they approach one side of a hill. Looking over there are a few people gathered around a picnic table doing something. The native says,

"DISARM!"

The few people reach for weapons, and the native crew drops to the ground on their side of the hill. The thugs open fire and the natives return it until all of them are down. After a few moments they get up to go investigate the scene. The young man says,

"Looks like they were dealing drugs."

"We get a lot of that around here."

They continue through the park without further incident. They walk again through the neighborhoods mostly residential. There are some shop districts but things like restaurants and community spaces went out of use a long time ago. After a ways they come to the end of their route.

"Thank you for your help today. We will call you pure spirit, as you work with whoever has need."

"Thank you for letting me come with you.

Back at the Persians' office Pure Spirit walks in and says to the secretary,

"You called?"

"Yes, we have a job we wanted you in on.

"Okay."

"You can go back and ask about it."

He walks back to the office and finds the Persian waiting.

"Hello. We are transporting some new refugees to the area today and thought you might want to come along. Interested?"

"Yes."

"Good. We should be leaving shortly.

The Persian finishes up and they head outside. A few other Persians are waiting in the van. They leave.

At the airport the few Persians, armed with hand guns, and the young man are waiting when a family of Persians arrives from the plane dock. They greet and turn around and leave.

After driving a ways to a suburban neighborhood they drop off the family at their new home. The Persians and help are looking around to make sure the situation is safe. A refugee says,

"In the east it is all civil wars and massacres. This might be more peaceful."

The new family enters their home and the escort packs up and leaves.

Back at the office the crew walks inside. The secretary offers an envelope to Pure Spirit,

"Here you go young man, here is $100 for the job."

"Thank you miss."

Pure Spirit leaves.

At the field the slummies and Pure Spirit have finished rototilling and are plantning things. A slummie says,

"Once we get this planted we will have to pitch a tent for shifts to watch it."

"I wish we had a way to water it."

"Yeah, details."

They continue with their work.

Pure Spirit is walking home one day when he is approached by a young woman who says,

"Hi. Who are you?"

"I go by Pure Spirit. Do you need something?"

"Was just wondering if we could hang out, get to know each other."

"You mean like a date?"

"Sure."

"...okay, meet me back here next Sunday evening?"

"Sounds good, thanks!"

Pure Spirit watches her leave.

Some days later Pure Spirit is out with a native patrol when they pass a large apartment complex. A few immigrants are outside. He says,

"Do you mind if I leave for a minute?"

"Sure, we can wait."

Pure Spirit walks up to an African man.

"Excuse me sire, do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"No, feel free."

"Thanks. So you are an immigrant here?"

"Yes. My people are slaves where I came from."

"I cannot think of any way could be friends with your people from here, but could you at least tell me if there is anything could do?"

"Sure. My story is the same as many, I live oppressed. There is no way out of this poverty, the slavers have overrun the world by now and wherever they go they leave degradation. When the slavers came they brought disease and atheism, arms and hate, and we have lost everything since. Now we no longer even have our wilderness and many live in slums, we have no future."

"Could I keep you in mind if there is anything we could do together in the future?"

"Yes, always keep the immigrants in mind."

"Thank you."

Pure Spirit leaves to rejoin the group, and they head off.

Back at the same place where the young woman showed up Pure Spirit is waiting when she returns. She says,

"Hi."

"Hello."

"So what are we doing this evening?"

"You will see."

They start walking. The streets are heading towards dark and there is little sign of anything except the usual industry. After a ways they come to a run down house. Pure Spirit knocks. Someone answers,

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, could I get two blocks of explosives?"

"Sure, see what can find."

They close the door again and come back out after a little while.

"Here you go."

He hands over two packages with fuses.

"Thanks. This is what I have."

He hands him $100.

"Thank you for your business."

The person shuts the door. Pure Spirit hands one of the packages to the young woman and they leave. They walk for a ways further until reaching their destination. It is dark by now. Pure Spirit says,

"This is it. We place them and run for it."

The building is an abortion clinic and they approach it.

"Got it."

They place the explosives next to each other, then light them and run. They hide around a corner and look until the building blows. Then they turn and run from the flaming structure. They run through back streets for a good ways until coming to a park. They stop to catch their breath. She says,

"Nice date."

"Thanks"

The young woman reaches out and takes his hand.

"See you next weekend?"

"Sure. Thanks for proving yourself.

They part ways.

At home it is daytime. Pure Spirit gets a phone call. A slummie says,

"We have a problem."

Pure Spirit shows up at the field on foot. There are several slummies about.

"We had two people on shift and the slavers came by and killed them. They left a sign."

Pure Spirit walks up and sure enough there is blood all over the tent and a sign posted. It reads:

RETURN TO TAXPAYING

"That ends this project."

"Can you think of anything we could do about it?"

"No, but the ruling class hat declared themselves hostile."

Pure Spirit meets the young woman again. She says,

"Hi there."

"Hello."

"Could I take you somewhere tonight?"

"Sure."

They set out walking, passing dark buildings until coming to a church.

"This is my church."

"Nice."

A van pulls up and people with guns get out. They surround Pure Spirit and disarm him. Then they grab him and throw him in the van. One of the abductors says,

"Now we are going to play a little game of apostasy torture until you die."

The young woman screams,

"You did not say you were going to hurt him!"

They put a bag over his head, close the door, and drive away.

At a holding center they dump him in a makeshift cell and leave him for the night. The next morning they take him to see a priest who says.

"Your Persian friends are difficult to get away with killing. But from watching them we learned about you, and what is another body showing up dead in this city?"

"I am prepared to die for my religion."

"No matter, we never planned to just kill you. I am simply here to ask if you would commit apostasy before we begin with the torture. At any time we can end this quickly"

"No."

"Your choice."

They drag him back to his cell and get a blow torch.

"WE are going to start with some burning.

The young man starts screaming. After a while suddenly gun shots are heard, until the guards and the person doing the torture are dead. The Persians showed up. They grab Pure Spirit and drag him out of the building. They all get into their van and leave. Inside is the young woman. The Persian says,

"Your girlfriend here came and got us this morning."

"I am so sorry."

She kisses Pure Spirit.

Another Persian says,

"The wounds look pretty bad. We should get him to a doctor."

They drive for a while until a police officer pulls them over.

"You were driving pretty fast there."

The Persian responds,

"We have someone injured in the vehicle."

"Makes no difference to me. Here is your ticket.

The group drives for a ways further then drops the two off in front of a building.

Back at home a newly bandaged Pure Spirit walks in with the young woman.

"I am home."

His father comes out and says,

"What happened to you?

"Tortured. She is a long story but is a friend."

"Sounds like what you get for not being part of the majority in this town."

"Can she hang out?"

"Yes."

"Thank you. I am going upstairs to rest."

The young man visits the Persian's office and says,

"Could we coordinate another strike against the Christians?"

"We could do that."

"Let me know when you want to coordinate."

Back at the same church the young woman took Pure Spirit to it is late Sunday morning and most people are leaving. There are a few Persians in the van and the young woman and Pure Spirit who says,

"Go."

The young woman grabs a backpack and heads out of the vehicle. She walks into the emptying church then after a little bit walks back out again without the backpack. She gets in the van. They pick up a remote control detonator and ignite it. The end of the church blows to pieces. They drive away. Pure Spirit says,

"That took a lot. Thanks for your help."

"So what is your people's religion"

The Persian answers,

"We believes there is one God over all religions Who will send His Prophets successively to raise up mankind."

"Sounds decent. I would be interested in learning more."

In a tent at the slum house sitting across from each other holding hands are Pure Spirit and the young woman. They look at each other sitting quietly for a long while. Then they start undressing and kiss each other...

In a meeting hall a large group of people including the Persian extremists, Pure Spirit, and the young woman are there. Someone goes up to the front and starts speaking.

"While we had an agenda for today's meeting we have been getting rumors that certain of our members have been standing up against the Christian majority. As a community we cannot allow this to become a threat to the rest of us who avow to the Persians' religion. Therefore we are taking drastic easures into our own hands. Sieze him!"

The traitor points at the Persian.

"NO!"

Several people grab him and a brawl starts between the Persians, Pure Spirit, and the rest. They grab him and get him to the ground. The traitor says,

"We will hand you over for the next execution."

The Persian is dragged off.

Pure Spirit and family including the young woman are watching the execution on television.

The Persian is dragged on screen.

"The fire here ignited shall burn to the end of days when judgement is passed upon the souls."

They behead him.

The family cries.

Pure Spirit walks into the Persian office. The secretary says,

"Thank you for coming in. There are a few things we need to go over."

"Always here to help."

"First as you might know the Christians managed to get the national guard called in. There is a small regiment stationed in town that is working on ending what are considered public disturbances."

"Got it."

"Second before he dies our leader expressed he wanted you to have one of our machine guns in case anything happened."

The secretary goes and gets it.

"Here you are."

"Thank you miss."

"We have no current plans for how to deal with the situation."

"I think I have an idea."

Pure Spirit approaches an industrial facility. There are a few Mexicans outside. He approaches them.

"Hey, I am looking for someone who could coordinate a favor."

"While a slave like me has no reason to help you, we could do something depending on what it is."

"Could you get me a group of Mexicans willing to risk social protest together within the next few days?"

"We could do that. What for? Protest is usually only a risk of death."

"This might go differently."

A small group of Mexican protesters is in front of an empty building. They are holdings signs like BACK TO MEXICO and PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME. Inside the building hiding under the windows is a put together crew of some slummies, a number of natives from the patrols, the Persians, and a few Mexicans armed. After a little while two military troop transport trucks show up. A soldier yells,

"RETURN TO YOUR SLAVERY!"

Soldiers start piling out of the back of the trucks and line up facing the Mexicans. The people hiding in the abandoned building open fire on them. From that vantage they are protected and soon wipe out the entire contingent. The Mexicans cheer. Pure Spirit says,

"And now it is their move."

Back at the Persian office the few who participated are packing up their machine guns and Pure Spirit is there. The secretary says,

"The report is in. Government is shutting down imports to the city and sending in more troops."

A persian says,

"That is something."

Pure Spirit says,

"We win this city, but what we are dealing with is global problems."

The secretary says,

"We will not tell anyone about your participation."

"Thank you."

A small military encampment is being set up in the middle of the city. Pure Spirit, the young woman, and a few slum friends are watching through binoculars. Pure Spirit says,

"There is no way we could take that on."

Young woman,

"I do not think there is any more possibility of negotiating."

Slummie,

"Well at least things make sense now. The oppressed versus an evil empire."

Pure Spirit,

"I have no idea what to do."

At home the family and the young woman are sitting around the table with what arms they have on it. The father says,

"Well you got things started. Now we will see about defending ourselves."

Mother,

"At least it is understood the city is protesting."

Young woman,

"I have something to share. I think I might be pregnant."

Pure Spirit,

"May we all have a future."