Chapter 14: Injustice
"๐จ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ . ๐ฐ'๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐."
As the famous song written and recorded by John Denver goes. But just like the feeling of the person who sang it, I was not ready to go. On the contrary, good news finally arrived the night before. Ed was found travelling home and will be able to catch the launch with us. I've never seen Mr. Zellwinger so happy. He laughed and he cried knowing Ed's alive and well. I was rejoicing too but something in the back of my mind tells me that leaving was totally wrong.
Cricket noises were the only sound I could hear. Everybody must still be asleep in the bunker. It was still two hours past midnight and it was the very day of the launch, November 19, 2023. Mr. Zellwinger decided to leave at dawn to keep everything a secret. He couldn't afford another seat for another person. As much as he hated the idea but we had to leave everyone in the bunker clueless of where we were going. I felt the guilt crippling onto my feet in every step I took going out of there. I was only carrying two bags with me. It was all the things I own. I wasn't fond of buying more of what I already have. The cars were already outside. There were about fifteen of them. Inside of those were Mr. Zellwinger's men and their families.
The moon and the stars lit up the nightsky. But as I looked down, I couldn't recognize the place where I grew up anymore. There were mud and wreck everywhere. Tall buildings were reduced to quite a number of its floors. Dead animals and people laying and hanging on the wrecks. There was filth in the air.
The roads were cracked if not destroyed. The convoy had to make a few detours just to reach the venue. As we got closer, the volume of people got thicker and thicker until the cars weren't able to move anymore. No wonder there were no people in the city. All these time they were here waiting for a miracle. To get inside and manage to board the aircraft. People were screaming, crying, and begging. They knew we were heading inside the launch area. It crumpled our hearts every inch our car moved. Some were furious and threw things at us. Luckily, the car was armored and bullet-proof. Some even tried to open the car doors. These were lives that were about to be taken because of how unfair life in this world is and how human greed rigged the system.
I heard a knock on the window, it was an old lady carrying a little girl about two to four years old. Dusts covered her face. I could see the cracks of her dehydrated lips. The little girl had the same hair as my late sister; short but straight and black as the night.
"Sir! please bring my granddaughter with you! Please! Just her. Please!"
She was coughing and weak but it didn't matter to her. She walked along the car and relentlessly knocked on the window and begged me. Over and over...
Everything paused.
My thoughts began to clear.
It doesn't have to be like this.
There must be something else left undone. Just as Einstein's theory of relativity suggests that everything in this reality is linked to each other. That in order for something to exist, it must co-relate to something else. Like how light bounces to things in order for us to see them. Like how darkness exists because of the absence of light. And so on..
Therefore, if this problem with global warming exists, it must definitely have a solution.
In that very moment, I have made up my mind. I'm gonna find it even if it kills me.
"Mr. Zellwinger what if there's a chance to save this place?" With all the ruckus happening outside, I asked him.
"Son, if there is, this Mars migration wouldn't be in the picture"
"Sir, what if no one really looked that hard? And took the immediate option available right away?"
"Son, I know. Seeing all these people is damn hard but we can't do anything to ---"
"Sir" I held Mr. Zellwinger's hand.
"Thank you for everything. Please tell Ed to get a girlfriend already. He's too serious. You get some rest often, too. You're so workaholic. No doubt, he's definitely your son. Thank you for making my life awesome. I love you both. So much."
"Son! No--"
then I opened the car door. I grabbed the little girl from the old lady and immediately put her inside the car. I tried letting the old lady get in too but she was pulled by the people away from me and I had to close the door immediately. I knew it would be a risk letting more people in. Mr. Zellwinger tried reaching for my hand and even tried to get out of the car but his men didn't let him. People got furious and started to land punches and kicks on me but it didn't last since they too were trying to ride on the cars. People were swarming the cars. Some rode on top, on the windshields, and some just grabbed on to some parts of it. I was struggling trying to get out of the crowd but when I saw the old lady smiling at me in the midst of all the chaos,
I knew I made the right call. It was not long when the cars were able to push further and got us finally an air to breathe but suddenly...
Gunshots were fired.
People that rode on top of the car and on the sides fell off straight to the ground lifeless; bathing on their own blood. The rest of the people dispersed in fear. They ran and cried for their lives..
"You Bastards!!"
"Fuck you!"
"We're humans too!"
"Heartless piece of shits!!"
๐พ๐ฏ๐?
There were reasons why they did what they did but why did they have to be killed trying to survive? Why would the authorities have to go that far? Why would survival be so exclusive to those who suffered the least in this lifetime?
Questions that lingered in my mind as I held the old lady's hand and guided her to safety. But I snapped the moment she called me...
"Sir, thank you so much!"
She held my hands so tight. Her eyes were filled with joy that I saw tears ready to jump off anytime. Despite knowing that her life could end up horribly, she uttered...
"Now, I'm at peace." She smiled looking at the cars that got in the launch area as the gates were closing.
She put my hand down slowly and walked away with a big smile on her face.
It moved my soul that I wasn't able to move watching her slowly walking away step by step. I remembered my mom and how she tends to me whenever I was sick. How she raised both of us alone. How she endured sleepless nights finding ways how she could put food on our plate. I remembered how great and noble the sacrifices were. And now I had a clearer picture why she had done all of those without any complaints.
But again, ๐พ๐ฏ๐?
Why does it have to be the good ones?
Why does money come first before morality?
Why do the ones that suffered the most pay the greatest price?
I looked around all the injustice that surrounded me and I looked up to the clear night sky...
"Why?"
[๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐]
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