Free -Worlds Apart- Ruination by Amanda Thome Page A

the hillside is too dangerous after curfew, I have to alter my route. I keep my posture low, pumping my feet on my detour around my neighbors’ homes, I wind and weave between fences and trees. All the houses are silent and dark; my only compasses are the stars that glitter in the black sky and the road I keep to my left.
    I make it through the sub-three neighborhood and eventually I’m weaving through the larger sub-two homes. Some of them have their electric lights on. It must be nice to have electricity like that. I can’t imagine flicking a switch and having electricity surge through and brighten an entire room. Our oil lamps in sub-three aren’t so bad though.
    Thirty minutes pass before I’m finally at Grove Street. Once I cross it I’ll be at the fallen log. And after that, I’m safe. I hold my position, crouching at the side of a sub-two home. I scan the street that separates me from Garrett. My head turns left and right scouting the empty road. Three times my torso lunges forward to run but my feet stay grounded. My heart and mind are at war with each other. My heart wants to sprint across Grove Street onto the hill with him. My mind’s in self-preservation mode, trying to shield me from exposure.
    I scout one final time. The road to the left is vacant. I look to the right and my stomach immediately drops. I see the silhouette of a man running straight for me. My body instinctively sinks into the wall. I pinch my eyes closed until the sound of his approaching steps are nearly on top of me. I wish I could stifle my breathing but my chest heaves and air spirals as I pant wildly. My chest lifts and falls rapidly, in sync with my beating heart that’s ready to burst. I’ve been caught.
     

Chapter 15
     
     
    Every night I searched for her and just kept coming up empty. I did get pretty good at dodging Borgs, but that wasn’t my aim. That first winter went in a blink, but spring and summer dragged. Fall was brutal, every leaf that fell was a tease, tiptoeing me to winter when I could look for her again.
    It’s my second winter and I’m more reckless. I can hear my mom scolding me, “Tyler Michael, you’re gonna get yourself put in lock-down.” That doesn’t faze me though, I go out every night anyway. It’s coming to the end of the year and I still keep turning up empty. Panic starts creeping in, what if my sight was wrong. It’s never been wrong before but what if this one was, maybe I threw my family and life away over some miss-firing neurons.
    My breath smokes between my lips as I run. The regulator’s boots echo, they’re over by Quincy Street a full three blocks from me. Boredom builds till I need to blow-off some steam. I pick my way toward Quincy, timing my route to theirs. They’re a few meters away so I prop myself against the post and prepare for my rush. 
    “Hey you, Borg!” I shout.
    The regulators stop in their tracks. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that they hate being called a Borg. When I was younger some foreigner propaganda made its way over the wall, it called the regulators Borgs. It compared them to bionic robots that were a fad years ago. I guess they’re pretty pissed about being likened to metal pieces of shit that basically self-destructed. They turn their lights straight at me, guns slung across their backs. The booming voice of the first Borg sounds out.
    “Surrender Citizen, we have you in sight.”
    “Oh shit,” I shout as the lights settle on my chest.
    “Raise your arms and walk toward us slowly!” The one hollers as the other shoulders his rifle.
    I step toward them. The first relaxes his arms, letting me make my move. I bolt through the ally between Quincy and Walsh. The Borgs are on my tail but I’m not worried, I’ve done this before. I hurdle a silver trash can bordering the street. I clear it and stop, turning it on its side. The regulators are close but I’ll lose them I think as I roll the barrel towards their feet. The first clears