Yet to be named...

This story takes place in a time when man is ruled by bad, bad, BAD people. People, who take joy in harming children, breaking their sprits so they become mindless Zombies who only do what they are told, children with no imagination, no opinoins, no thoughts, and only love for "The Masters and The Faction." They are simlar to the socialist from Orwell's 'The Party' in "1984." but not excatly.

Their is also another group of people fittingly dubbed "The Tribe"(get it? Becuase I am Native?) A family like group that decided to live a more like we live today. please forgive all the misspelled words. I love writing but hate spelling! SORRY!

***

Lzarus shifted uncomfrtably in the seat of his car. He has been watching this same house since the sun first started rising over the rooftops of the sleeping houses. Normally Lazarus would be scouting at least a five square mile area but today, today he has a mission to finsh first.

He watched the sky turn from pinkish-purple to bright blue. The door on number 2 Sunrise Rd. opened quietly. The tall, bult dirty blonde teen boy came out holding trash bags. It looked like to much for him to handle.

Lazarus got out of his car and jogged up to the boy, "Hey, good morning, Son. Need some help?" The boy jumped at the sight of the Lazarus.

***
Lazarus and the boy met every other morning for three weeks. The boy, whose name was John, is an apprentice to one of the Leaders and is on the fast track to becoming a Master at a relatively young age. Lazarus is just in the middle of explaining the difference of life in The Tribe, compared to life in The Administration.

“Love is the fundamental rule. Everything we do is out of love. I know it sounds a little cheesy but it is the truth.” Lazarus shrugged slightly. He always hates when his long moving speeches come out so… hokey or hippie like, he could remember all the hippies standing around waving their nonsense about, Free love, war is bad and all that whoopla. Sadly, that’s exactly led to his life now, all the talks of peace and the world uniting as one. I bet when they pictured peace they never pictured this.

“The world today is an awful place. To create the ‘perfect’ world, children pay the price; they lose their innocence and freedom. Even though most don’t even realize what they have lost. They don’t know that there is a better life then this” Lazarus jerked his head toward the perfect houses and lawns in front of them. “ I mean have you ever hear your parents tell you they love you? Not The Masters or The Administration, but you, as a person, as more than just a tool that can pull them higher in the ranks?” Lazarus turned to look at john with a serious look. “I never leave the house without telling my wife and daughter that I love them. Not only because I may never come back, but, because I do love them.”

“Love…” John whispered. He’d never heard that word without hearing The Administration or The Masters. He never associated that word with anything else, but it felt like it should be. Like there was something deep inside of his being that knew that word and what it meant. “What is love?” John turned to face the man that just brought this new concept to his attention but he was gone. All that was left of him was a book. A plain black book, an old rather withered book. John reached over and picked it up apprehensively, he had the feeling that what he was doing was bad. Although there really weren’t any laws or rules that could be broken. There was only one rule. Obey the Masters and Administration. Short and simple.

John whipped up the book and jumped off the ground. He turned his head to the left and the right. He was making sure no one was watching him. Paranoia is a new emotion to him. Not that it would matter, only one of the leaders even stood a chance of selling him out. Any average person would be punished for questioning him. John walked as quickly as he could into the house, once inside he ran up the stairs to his room. John sat down at his desk and opened the book. The pages were yellowed with age and perfectly smooth. He had never held such a book in his life. There was something about this book that caused the same type of reaction in his body that the world Love had brought on. There on the yellow paper was a passage, handwritten and full of new ideas.

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

-St. Augustine

John read the book, front to back. As soon as he was done he flipped it over and started to read it again, he read it three times before his parents came home. He didn’t tell them about it; surely if he did they would take it away and burn it or something. Truth be told John didn’t say more than two words to his parents. Fine and thank you, were his responses that night. After they had fallen asleep he crept out of his window with nothing but his clothes and some money he stole from his parents room.

Lazarus was waiting for John. He saw his dark shadow wondering around in the dark trying to find some secret passage that led to The Tribe. Lazarus scoffed and John jumped at the sound. Lazarus flashed his lights on and off so quickly that if anyone were awake they wouldn’t have been able to see it. John ran over to the car but skidded to a stop a good 10 feet away. He was being careful; worried it might be a member of The Administration, trying to catch traitors. After a few minutes of internal struggle, John decided it wasn’t a trap and even it was, what did it matter? Being killed seemed to be a better option than living life as a member of the Administration.

John squared his shoulders and marched his way to the car, whipped the door open and jumped in prepared for the worst. His whole frame relaxed when he recognized Lazarus sitting in the driver seat. Lazarus started the car and drove off, now that he was certain that John was with him, at least for now, he finally took him home.

After almost an hour of driving John fell asleep, which left Lazarus with nothing to do but wonder if he put his entire clan at risk. They have brought former administration members into our community but never from such a high level of rank. The higher they go, the more difficult to being back to life. However, this boy… there is just something different about him, he walks a little slower, his smile and tone are just a little more genuine. He can be saved, Lazarus was sure of it. After he had convinced himself a bit more he let his mind wonder to happier places, to his wife and their beautiful 3 year old daughter, Annie. Just thought of her smile had him pressing on the gas pedal a little harder.

Before he knew it they were home. At least for now, Lazarus is the leader of one of the few nomadic tribes. They travel from town to town saving lives, doing our duties only families of four or less can travel with him. After the car came to a stop John jerked up right and looked around lost for a second.