It's the day of The Great Deliverance, and I am definitely up early. In fact, I didn't sleep but for three or four hours. The cool night breeze and air kept me up the entire time. I head out at about six in the morning, just at sunrise, to wake Kyle. Surprisingly, he is already awake, sharpening his dull spear with a stone.

"Someone is in the spirit for Deliverance Day." I say jokingly.

"Of course I am." He responds.

I never was a fan of The Great Deliverance. I always felt like it was just a way for the Utopians to show us how high and mighty they are, how they can control us, make us kill each other. Once a week, on Saturday at noon, the only door in and out of Utopod Four opens and an automatic machine, carrying loads of goods and other items, moves foreword to across the great bridge separating Utopod Four from us. The great bridge is the only way to get close to the utopod; there is a fifty foot wide trench in the ground dropping so low that the bottom of the trench cannot be seen.

After the machine, which, according to the town's elders, used to be called a 'vehicle', makes it to the grounds of the Wasteland, the fight for the goods becomes a free-for-all. People literately fight and kill for food inside that machine, and usually about a hundred people show up to fight. The rest of the town in district three tend to watch intriguingly. The Great Deliverance, as morbid as it may be, keeps people like myself and Kyle alive. His choice of weapon has always been a long spear, while I always carry a serrated knife I keep in a sheath on my belt at all times.

Kyle and I wordlessly walk together towards Utopod Four. Other men join at our sides, some even younger then us. The carry knifes, spears, bows and arrows, and any other weapon you could think of. A few of the lucky ones, mainly the rich, even hold a coveted magic bow and arrow, which literately shoots a piece of metal at someone so fast, it usually kills them.

The walk to Utopod Four is a calm one, through forest and trees, but it is also a long one, usually taking two or three hours. As we walk, other men join us, wordlessly. The men of the Fifth Locale have always had this sort of mutual respect for one another. Any other day of the week, all of the men are generally friendly and calm, sharing the hospitality that Wasteland Four has become known for. However, on Deliverance day, men usually say nothing to each other, out of respect. Even after the Deliverance has past, no words are spoken. It's usually out of respect for the dead, really. About thirty to forty men are typically killed in battle during the fight.

The bond of silence we all share is between myself and Kyle as well. We allow ourselves to talk for a few minutes, but we uphold the same respect that the other men give us. The walk this week is completely silent, as the dozen or so men that have joined us remain quiet.

We all arrive to the great bridge about thirty or so minutes before The Great Deliverance, and already I can see that today's competition is stiff. Fifty or so burly men have already arrived today, some even carting their teenage boys alone with them. A large bit of the town is already here as well, waiting cautiously behind a group of rocks nearby. The older men place their bets on who will survive while the children cling to their mothers who cover their eyes. Somehow, in the years that have passed, attendance has become nearly mandatory.

Now keep in mind that this isn't completely barbaric. There is one rule that we have always kept. Never touch the great bridge until after the machine has crossed it. Any attempts to get the goods early usually ends in an arrow through the heart, delivered by our most skilled huntsman, Silas, who stands next to the mayor during every Deliverance.

Kyle and I take our place next to the other men by the great bridge. We have about five minutes left. I look to Kyle, who gives me a friendly, yet solemn nod. I nod back, and slowly draw the serrated knife, almost dagger, out of it's sheath. The next five minutes pass slowly, as sweaty faces look to the great bridge and the large marvelous door that will deliver the goods to us. The wait is unbearable, and the tension is almost palpable.

Then, with a large clang, the door of the utopod opens, revealing the machine to us. The machine takes up almost the whole door, so the only bits of the inside we can see are pitch black, seemingly on purpose. The machine slowly moves foreword, and just as it exits the door, the only entrance into Utopod Four clangs shut and bolts. The machine rumbles slowly toward us as we prepare for the bloodbath to ensue.

Before it could, though a man steps out and runs across the bridge, hoping to get an early shot at the goods. Someone attempts this every year, but with no luck. This time is no different. The soft ping! of a bow unleashing an arrow is heard, and Silas' arrow pierces the man's chest with such a force, he falls from the great bridge while clutching the arrow in his chest. We watch him fall, down and down, until he can be seen no more. His family can be heard weeping in the audience as the men turn their attention back to the oncoming truck. It creaks ever closer to us, now only ten feet away.

Five feet away...

Two feet away...

Just inches away....

The truck touches solid ground, and all hell breaks loose. Men smash in the two glass windows of the machine.. reaching for goods before getting stabbed in the back by other men. The machine at this point has inched completely onto the grounds of Wasteland Four, and now men surround it from all angles.

I stay towards the back of the powerful mob as the destruction continues. Screams come from both the audience and the crowd as the first victims fall to the ground. Finally, I decide its time to move in, and fight my way to the front.

Being as young as I am, the serrated knife I carry is my saving grace. I literately slice my way to the front of the crowd, stabbing people in places that will hopefully not kill them. The front of the machine is probably raided at this point, and everyone is digging at the open compartment in the back. I see three or four guys, fighting each other inside the compartment, while the rest of us try to get in.

The few men inside are quickly dispatched by other men, and their bodies dragged out of the way. I try to jump into the compartment, but a strong force pulls me back. I am quickly slammed to the ground by an older, more muscular man, standing above me and pinning my arms down by my sides. He lifts his weapon, a crude mace, above me, a look of pure hatred in his eyes. I slam my eyes shut and prepare for the worst, but it never comes. When I open my eyes again, a spear is straight through his heart, and he collapses beside me. Kyle pulls his spear out of the man and nods to me happily. I nod again and he pulls me up.

Turning my attention back to the compartment, I jump into the compartment and join other men battling for the food. Inside lay a roast chicken, a medical kit, and a magic bow and arrow, sized for holding in one's hand. As much as I want the chicken, I know the others will fight more for it, so I shove the magic bow and arrow into my pants pocket and grab the medical kit. It's looking like this is all I will manage this time, so I make a run for it. Many men block my way, wanting all of the goods for themselves, but Kyle stands beside me, helping me fend them off as we near the safe zone.

The safe zone is where you stand after you have claimed your prize. No one fighting in The Great Deliverance is allowed to touch you once you make it to the safe zone. Kyle and I were just about there when a searing pain shoots through my leg and I scream in pain, falling to the ground. I turn so that my back is on the floor and I see a middle aged man, holding a machete covered in blood. My blood. In anger, I swing my knife blindly at him. My eyes are closed in pain but I feel the blade cut flesh. Kyle quickly drags me off to the safe zone and I open my eyes.

The second I see the man, I vomit right there. I had killed him. He was the first person I had ever killed in The Great Deliverance. Kyle had no issue with the killing, but I always valued human life. I cry soundlessly and wipe the vomit from my mouth as I stand and turn away from him. The killings are over. The Great Deliverance is over. Yet I had done what the sick Utopians wanted. I turned into a barbarian to survive. The very thought makes me sick.

The pain in my leg reminds me that I cannot focus on that now. Looking down, it's worse then I thought it was. The gash in my leg is almost two inches deep and five inches long. The volunteer medical team quickly come over and look me over. They tie a tourniquet to my leg and pour antibiotics into it. I wince in the pain, but I hold through. They give me a crude pair of wooden crutches and quickly move to the next wounded person, another victim of The Great Deliverance.

"What did you get?" I ask Kyle wearily.

"Not much." He says. "A piece of chicken and some gasoline. You got the medical kit and magic bow and arrow, right?"

"Yes, but I don't think it was worth it. I mean, I killed that guy for it!" I exclaim.

"Don't think anything of it." Kyle reassures me. "That's life. That's The Great Deliverance!"

"That doesn't make it right!" I say, much louder then before. "I mean, just think about it. Those sick Utopians are probably laughing at us right now from their fancy little homes and...their stupid technology! I mean they probably know how this magic bow and arrow works." I continue, holding the device in my hand. "It's not even magic to them!"

Kyle looks at me gravely. "There is nothing we can do about it, ok?" He glances down at my leg and looks back up to me. "You know your not going to be able to walk right for a while, let alone participate in the next Deliverance, right?"

I sigh in acceptance. "I know...so what am I supposed to do for the next two weeks? Go to school?"

"Maybe." he says. "Look, I'll handle the trading. You just deal with yourself, alright? I'll make sure you have something when you get back 'home'" Kyle adds, using the word 'home' in this case meaning 'street'.

"Fine." I say. "But you better have some good meat."

We take the walk back to the capitol slowly, since my injured leg makes sure I go as slow as possible. Me and Kyle keep the code of silence once more, walking beside men we tried to kill just minutes before. It takes us three hours to finally make it back to the capitol, and the festivities have already began. I huge party is usually thrown after The Great Deliverance, for all those who participated and survived. However, there are always those few that sulk back to their homes and figure out what they are going to do without their loved one. It won't be easy, and I know from experience. My own father died in The Great Deliverance. I was about twelve years old when my father was impaled with a spear in the side, one similar to Kyle's, and pushed down the trench.

Mom and I couldn't make it alone. We worked so hard for food, and since mom always gave me more food then herself, she died of starvation not six months after my father's passing. Ever since then, I vowed not to kill anyone in The Great Deliverance. A vow I had broken today. I could not stop thinking about it.

Kyle asks if I want to join the parties, but I say no. He just shrugs and runs into the party by himself. I walk by myself alone to Kyle's building and sit in silence, sharpening my blade and wiping the man's blood off of it, over and over again, until Kyle stumbles into the room, drunken as ever. I simply chuckle at him as he prances around the room like an idiot, but it still doesn't take my mind off of the man.

Lifting the 'magic bow and arrow', I closely examine it. I never understood why we called it a bow and arrow, let alone magic. The device didn't look like a bow at all, and the 'arrows' in this case were just curved metal pieces, about the size of the top half of my index finger. I look through the opening of the device, where the metal pieces come out, hoping for an answer to the question of why it works. Legend tells us that the Utopians took everything from us; technology, food, even civilization. It was generations before anarchy was wiped out in Wasteland Four.

Kyle and I sit around for another few hours. I do nothing, save for talking to Kyle, looking through the medical kit, eating the raw chicken, and just sitting around.

I wish Kyle goodnight at about nine at night and promise him I'll be at school tomorrow, although he is probably too drunk to remember anything I say to him at all. So I walk down the streets alone, in the cold, and think about tomorrow. What if the man had a kid? What if he goes to school? What will I say then? All's fair in love, war, and Deliverance? The questions rattle through my minds as I walk back to the alley. I pull the blanket over me, just like every night, but I already know that I am going to find little sleep tonight. So I lay in silence, filled with guilt, until my body shuts itself down and I finally fall asleep once again.

School in the wastelands is an odd thing. Since we know so little about how things actually work, most of the information taught in the schools seems to be legend or myth. I think that was part of the Utpoian's plan, long ago, to keep us from the truths in life. I find books in many houses, but I have never found a single one explaining how things work.

I wake up earlier then usual in my alleyway, pushing the worn blanket off of me as I sit up. Walking casually, I look at the clock-tower and see that I have about thirty or so minutes until school. This should be just enough time to get ready.

I walk to the well in the center of the town and I see that people have already lined up to get their hands on water. After waiting for my turn in line, I carry the bucketful I receive and make for the woods.

One of the cons of being homeless is really that you lack hygiene. I wash myself in the woods with the little water that I have, looking for other people that may be watching suspiciously.

After washing, I walk back to the marketplace, compass in my pocket, and look for a good trade for the compass. Today, I look for someone who will take the compass for at least a hayben. I walk up to the nearest trading post with a man I know occupying it; the mayor's young son, Levi.

"How much for this?" I ask, placing the compass down on the table for Levi to see. Levi picks up the compass and examines it closely. He turns it in his hands, as Kyle did, and hands it back to me.

"I'll give ya a hayben for it." He replies gruffly. It's the answer I wanted to hear. I ask for the hayben in reguild, but he says he does not have that many reguild on him. I sigh and take the hayben, aiming to exchange it for fifty reguild tomorrow.

The school building in the capitol is the only school building in all of the Fifth Locale. I have attended the school before, but after my mother passed away I had to live on the streets, holding my own in order to survive.

The building definitely shows it's age. School is held in this building since it used to be a school in the dark ages. Half of the building has since collapsed with age, but schools in the dark ages were so large, we only use one of the four large hallways that the school originally had. The teachers and administrators of the school blocked off the broken parts of the school, so no one really gets to examine the entire place. I hold my breath as I walk into the front doors.

Schooling in the Fifth Locale is even more odd than in other places in Wasteland Four. School lasts from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon, as long as they say dark ages schools lasted. Many people believe we need to separate ourselves from the dark ages, since humans before us decided on keeping life simpler. However, the mayor, as lucky as he was, convinced the board of elders to allow a longer school day, and they approved.

I looked to the front wall of the school to see what room I would be in. Classes are usually divided by age, and a crumpled piece of paper in the front of the school tells you what classroom you need to go to. Today, the paper told me that I needed to go to room 113, so I wordlessly walk down the hallway, past the other students, and enter the classroom.


Nothing had changed, really, since I went to school last. The desks were still old and rusty, the front board so rotted it's covered by a tarp, the ceiling half caved in. It's a wonder this room hasn't fallen down yet. I take my seat quietly and wait for class to start.

Our teacher walks to the front of the classroom and begins the first subject of the day, History. I find it ironic, really, for us to teach history when we know so little about it. So the teacher just covers the basics.

"According to legend," The teacher begins, already sweating in the musty classroom, "Long ago, we had the dark ages. A time of war and pain, of evil technology and weapons. Back then, there were no wastelands, only organizations called 'countries'. The people of the earth, after a tragic war, decided that the world needed to be saved. So the earth was divided into twelve sections." The teacher pulls out an old map of the earth on it, a very rare item. The maps we have are so old, we only see land masses. The names and lines of these 'countries' has since worn out. Ink is scribbled on it to separate the land into about twelve sections, showing us where we think the sections are.

"These twelve sections are called 'Wastelands'" The teacher continues, most of the students already asleep from the monotony of the story. Most all of us know the story as kids, yet they teach it every day. "In the Wastelands there is always one place of paradise, called a utopod. The world's leaders moved into the utopods with their families and closed the doors. Once a week, they provide us with generous food and technology, so that some day, we may grow as vast and powerful as they do." The teacher finishes.

It's this story of hope that we are taught throughout our adolescence. Most of us know better then to believe it, but again, the schools teach it anyway. The teacher now tells us to write a paper on the formation of the wastelands and what it means to us. We write until the teacher tells us to stop, and I hand my paper to the teacher. After the teacher has collected the papers, the next lesson begins.

The entire first half of the day goes by like this. A lesson, and then a paper. It's all the teachers can come up with, and is the reason why many kids like myself skip school to learn for ourselves, think what we want to, to grow up and face the realities of living in a wasteland. It's only until after the teacher tells us we can go to the lunch room for lunch that I sit up and actually move. I had been sleeping for a few hours.

The only nice thing about school here is that lunch is extremely cheap, usually only a reguild. The only problem was that I only had a knife, 'bow and arrow', and a hayben on me, so I just sit at a table alone. I was used to being alone anyways, sleeping in alleys, skipping meals, stealing from others, so I just watch the children grab their meals and talk to their friends happily while I lay my head down.

"Hey." Comes a gentle voice from above me. I'm startled and look up fast. Standing in front of me is a girl. She had pale skin and straight blond hair. She seemed like the kind of girl that was always bubbly, another pretty face just wanting to have fun. However, today she looked startled and solemn. She wore clothes just as dirty as my own. She appeared to be about one hundred and sixty-eight months old. "Can I sit with you?" she asks. I don't see why she can't, so I nod politely and the girl takes the seat in front of me.

"What's your name?" I ask, wearily. Might as well make small talk. The girl looks back up at me while finishing her piece of food. "Laura. What's yours?"

"Aaron." I reply. The girl keeps eating a bit, then looks back up at me. "

"I haven't seen you here before, are you new?" She asks.

"I never go to school." I reply. "I...don't have a family, so I usually go out and take care of myself." I try to avoid the whole story of my parents and keep the mood light, for the girl's sake. She looked sad enough.

"I'm new here too." She responded. "But I..." She cuts off and looks away for a second, closing her eyes. I think she might start crying, but she turns back. "I don't have a place either."

"No where?" I ask. She nods. "Like I said, I've only been here a week or so."

Now it made sense. Usually people that try to move here have a hard time, so most live on the streets, like me, so that they don't have to pay the rent for an apartment, in order to save up for a house.

"Well, don't your parents-" I begin, but she just shakes her head 'no'. I nod.

"If you want." I begin. "You can use my shelter. Or at least my friends. I like to sleep alone."

She looks up to me and smiles. "Really? You'd do that?"

"Sure." I say. I usually didn't just invite people to live with me, but this was an orphan girl with no place to go. I had to help out somehow.

"Thanks." The girl added. She offers me a piece of the moldy roll she was eating, but I just shake my head. "You probably need it more than I do." She nods and eats the rest of it.

The rest of the lunch period goes by slowly. I try to ask more about Laura, but she doesn't usually answer any questions about where she is from. The most I get out of her is that she is from the Eleventh Locale, which is actually quite far away from here, but I never get any more information. I ask her to meet me after school in the front and she nods. I walk back to my classes and try to finish the rest of the day, but after an hour of learning simple math, I fall asleep, and the teacher wakes me up when school is over.


Walking back to the front of the school, I see that the girl has taken me up on my offer. She stands, thin as a rail, waiting for me. We share a silent glance and walk out of the door, with me leading the way. We take the walk back to the condemned building in silence, until Laura sees the marketplace.

"Wow. All those people trading..." She comments, and I nod. "It's just what everyone does around here. Hold on a second." I walk over to the banker, who was closed yesterday. "Got change for a hayben?" I ask.

He nods and takes my hayben, giving me fifty reguild in exchange. I count them carefully before thanking the man and walking back off with Laura.

"How on earth did you ever get a hayben?" Laura asks. I feel like she is suspicious that I stole something, so I quickly clarify the situation.

"By trading. Me and my friend, Kyle, go out into the woods and look for remnants of the dark ages. When we find some, we usually trade it for money, then we buy food." She nods and accepts the answer. I lead the way down an alley and into the condemned building. Kyle is waiting for me inside.

"Hey, Aaron!" He says happily. "How was school?"

"Boring as usual." I add, then move out of the way so that Laura can see Kyle. "This is Laura." I say. "She's from the Eleventh Locale. She, um, has no where to stay, so I thought she could hang with us for a while."

Kyle looks at me oddly, wondering if I took her here to rob her or something. I quickly shake me head no, and Kyle looks back to Laura, his look of indifference replaced with happiness.

"Well, Laura, we don't have much, but you can stay here." Kyle says happily. Laura lets out a shy thank you and we all sit on the old floor.

"So Laura, are there any wonders of the Fifth Locale you would like to see?" Kyle asks sarcastically. There is nothing to see around here. However, Laura looks to Kyle and smiles. "Well, I never got the see a utopod before..."

Her response puzzles me. How can you live so close to a utopod, yet never see one? I sit puzzled while Kyle smiles and responds. "Would you like to go see it?"

"Now?" She asks, a bit happier then before.

"Well, from far away." Kyle adds. He knew that they were probably still cleaning up the mess from yesterday, so we would have to walk to the hill and see it from there. I don't feel like going out again, especially at three, but if it makes this girl a bit happier, maybe we can find out more about her.

"Sure!" She agrees, and we all stand up and leave the building. I buy some bread rolls on the way out of the marketplace, and we begin our journey that me and Kyle took about two days ago. We walk forward and make it to the burned down fence. We step over the fence and begin the walk through the woods. Its a silent journey as we walk, as no one seems in much of a mood to talk. We take a second look around as we walk, hoping that we can find something else to trade, but to no avail. The sun begins to set in the sky as we finally find the hill we were looking for.

"We're here." I say quietly as I walk up the hill. Laura and Kyle follow behind.

Utopod Four looks even more brilliant in the sunset. The shiny gold-colored walls of the utopod shine brightly in the night sky as the dome reflects some of the sun's rays back out in all directions. It appears to be a symbol of hope, of peace, but to us on the outside, it's a symbol of tyranny.

"It's absolutely beautiful!" Laura gasps as she sees the wonder about a few miles away.

"It truly is, isn't it?" Kyle adds.

I nod, and we stare out for a few more minutes before Kyle says it's time to head back, so we can make it while the candle lights of the capitol are still lit and we can find it. Kyle and I turn to walk down the hill, but Laura sees the old wall that we found.

"Hey guys, check this out!" She exclaims, and runs down to the wall. I sigh and look at Kyle. He simply gives me a look that says 'time to go', and I nod. I walk back up and down the hill to retrieve Laura.

"Laura, we have to go." I say politely, but the look in her eyes shows me that she isn't going to just leave.

"But, I mean, look at this!" She says. "I mean, what do think is on the other side of this thing?"

"I've been there." I say. "It's just a bunch of houses from the dark ages. Not to much excitement." I lie. We really just needed to leave, so I was hoping Laura would forget about it.

"Well, take me back here some other time." Laura adds. "I want to see it for myself." She turns from the wall, and we walk back up the hill and meet up with Kyle together.

The long walk back really hurts my leg, and even though I tried to ignore the pain all day, at this point I was limping badly. Laura notices and looks at me.

"What's wrong with your leg?" She asks.

"I injured it in-" I begin, but I remember that she is not from around here, and probably doesn't know that The Great Deliverance is a violent and bloody affair. "-in a fight." I lie again. Laura nods and doesn't ask further questions, to my relief.

It's late when we arrive at the capitol, probably about ten or eleven at night. Kyle goes to get us water for the night as I lead Laura to the building in the night sky. We arrive and sit, and some time later Kyle comes back with both water and my blanket. He must have walked to my alley and gotten it for me.

"Again, we don't have much." Kyle began. "But we have enough." I reach into the medical kit I had gotten from The Great Deliverance and pulled out a nice blanket.

"You can use this to sleep with." I say, and hand it over to Laura. She nods thankfully, and we lay down to sleep. Kyle seems to fall asleep almost instantly, and I am almost asleep as well when I feel Laura softly nudging me. "Aaron." She says quietly.

"Yeah?" Is the best answer I can give at this time of night.

"Where can I go to, you know, go?"

"You know where the well is?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"Just go left from there. There are public restrooms there."

"Thank you, Aaron. For everything." Laura stands up and walks out quietly. I smile and close my eyes once again. I'm just about to fall asleep when Kyle nudges me. "Aaron." He says. I annoyingly grunt, giving him the answer that I'm awake but annoyed.

"What do you want?"


"Why did you invite this girl here anyways? I mean, you never do this." Kyle asks.

"She reminds me..." I fade out for a second, before finishing my statement. "She reminds me of myself, when I lost my parents."

"Well, you better hope she can woo the traders into giving up a good deal." Kyle adds jokingly.

"Haha, she will." I finish. "She will."

We both roll over once again, and close our eyes. I am just about to fall asleep when I hear Laura creep back into the abandoned building.

"Thank You." She says, as I slowly lose consciousness.

The next week was going to be a very long week. We convince Laura to stay out of school in order for us to teach her the art of trading. I also need a long time for my leg to heal, as I need to participate in the upcoming Deliverance. Kyle and I cannot support Laura and ourselves with just one person participating, so we double our efforts to trade well and try to obtain medical supplies for my leg. The gash in my leg has yet to seal shut, and Kyle tells me I may need to get a doctor to stitch it.

The first day of 'training' for Laura actually goes well. We set up a small stall for our few items to sell and actually make three reguild off my old blanket. Laura tells me not to sell it but I am too desperate for money at this point. I manage the shop as Kyle and Laura venture into the woods to find a decent item to sell. When they get back, they bring with them an old set of pliers, scissors and old socks. I sell them for a good price and by the end of the day, we make forty-three reguild. We use the money to buy dinner and end the day with twenty-four reguild.

The next three days continue in the same pattern. Kyle and Laura go to gather items and I sell them. I was able to spend one of our hayben (with their permission, of course) to purchase ointment from the town healer. The doctor's bill would have exceeded a senqite, money we didn't have, so I pour the ointment into the wound. It hurts badly at first, but the pain subsides and the wound begins to heal overnight.


It is the morning before The Great Deliverance, and finally, I have healed enough to assist with the gathering of items. We walk together through the woods and Laura leads the way.

"You guys sure have been bringing back quite a lot of stuff recently." I ask. "Where do you go to get it?"

"West Lake Country Club." Laura says, as-a-matter-of-factly, her mood gradually cheering up since I met her.

"West what?" I ask, really confused at this point.

"West Lake Country Club. Those houses that we found the other day together." Kyle adds.

I finally remember. Staying back in the capitol so long hindered my thoughts, and I remember that day with the flashing machine. "You guys have been going in there this whole time?" I ask.

"Of course we have." Laura says as we walk up the hill. "And you were the one that told me it was boring over there."

"Well, I didn't know you were that interested in things of the dark ages." I add. "My bad, haha."

We descend down the tall hill and make it to the wall. I now see that Kyle and Laura have cleared the dirt and debris off the wall, and the side does say "West Lake Country Club".

I follow them to a point where the wall is completely torn down by age. We walk through the rubble and they lead me to another street.

"We have already covered most of the houses by the entrance." Kyle explains. "We are working our way inward."

I nod, and follow the two into one of the houses. All the houses in this area still look the same, and this house is no different. Same odd color, holes, and doors. We walk in and Kyle tells me to check downstairs. I nod and Kyle goes upstairs while Laura follows me. The living room of this house was only slightly different then the one I remember, but still contained a rectangle box and old couches like the others did. I walk into the kitchen and open the small doors next to the shiny metal machines. Inside lay various items, such as knifes, spoons, forks, and any kind of plate you can think of. I hand a few to Laura and she takes them silently.

I skip the room that held the odd green blanket in the last house and go behind the house through a broken window. Grass grows to my knees here, and moss covers the entire back of the house. I move cautiously, not wanting to disturb and creature that might have taken residence after the previous homeowners left.

I feel something under my foot and I quickly back up, looking down. Underneath my feet was a green tube, rubbery in appearance. I pick it up slowly and feel it carefully. Looking left and right, I find the source of the tube, connecting to the house. Walking carefully over to the source, a metal knob sticks from the house, and I turn it so it turns loose. Suddenly, I hear Laura scream, and I turn around quickly.

The end of the tube, about three feet away from Laura, was spewing this bark brown water quickly.

"Make it stop!" She screams. I quickly turn the knob back to its original position, and the water stops flowing.

"What do you think that means?" I ask. Laura is shaken, but answers calmly.

"I have no idea. I think maybe that's how the dark age people got their water, but it sure was disgusting..."

I nod and we walk back into the house. Kyle has come down the stairs, holding old dolls that little girls may end up playing with, so we call it a day and leave the house. I notice that on a brick column outside the house by the road had a number engraved into it: 839.

"What does that mean?" I ask Kyle as we pass the column.

"I think that's what the people used to tell people where they lived." Laura adds. Kyle agrees.

"Yeah, we've seen it on every house so far."

"I guess so..." I add, and we walk back to the capitol.

After getting back inside Kyle's 'place', we sit down and eat some of the food we saved from trades the previous day.

"You think we got enough stuff for tomorrow?" I ask Kyle. He nods in approval. "Of course, bro. I'm glad you healed enough to fight."

"What?" Laura asks, confused. "What's going on tomorrow?"

"The Great Deliverance." I respond. "Don't you remember, it's every week."

Laura's face went from calm to immediately upset. "You can't go to that!" She protests. "You'll get killed!"

I'm surprised at Laura's sudden reaction. The way they teach it in school, it makes it seem like a fun and lively affair.

"We do it every week." Kyle responds. "It's how we get our-"

"NO! You can't go!" She screams. "It's too dangerous!" Tears are now begin to pour down her face. She runs to me and buries her face in my chest. "Don't leave me! Don't leave me!" She screams over and over again.

At this point, me and Kyle look at each other, as confused as ever. This is the most upset she's been all week. She's even more upset then when I first met her. I try to ask why she is so concerned, but she just lays in my arms, not responding. I pat her back awkwardly and look to Kyle once more, so simply shrugs. He has no idea why she burst out this way, and neither do I. Maybe she heard a bad story or something. Whatever it is, it's turned Laura into a young child that acts as if she lost someone dear.

"Laura." I begin, as nicely as I can put the name. "I'll tell you what. Let Kyle go into the Deliverance, and I'll stay out of it. Ok?"

Laura finally lifts her head up and looks at me. "Really? You mean it?"

"Yeah, definitely."

Laura smiles and sits back up, regaining her composure then. She reaches her hand out to me.

"Deal?"

I take the hand and shake it. "You've got a deal."



The next morning, Kyle, Laura, and myself walk together to Utopod Four. The silence of the town begins again, according to tradition. Laura clutches onto Kyle a lot of the way down to Utopod Four. She can't help herself and I don't blame her. Walking to possibly your own death is a hard feeling to get used to.

The walk seems to take longer today, possibly due to my still-injured foot, but I move with the others and arrive on time, a good twenty minutes before the Deliverance begins.


This is the first time I have witnessed the Deliverance without participating since my father's death. So I take my place among the crowd next to the mayor. Laura has said her 'goodbyes' to Kyle and he has walked over to the player's area. She stands next to me, sobbing lightly. Our mayor, who usually means well, pats Laura on the back and smiles to her. She gives him a smile back.

"First Deliverance?" The mayor asks me politely. I nod 'yes' and he smiles.

The next few minutes are filled with solemn faces and silence. The people participating stand together, almost as a unit, preparing for battle. It's barbaric, really, to befriend someone one day and stab him in the back the next. But what choice do we have?

Finally, the tension is broken, and the door to Utopod Four opens. The machine slides forward, but no one steps out early today. I guess they all learned their lesson from the last poor soul last week. There is much less tension today for me than last week. The machine seems to move speedily from this angle and before you know it, the Deliverance has begun.

Men jump over other men, diving into every part of the machine, and already the first few men fall to the floor. I can barely see Kyle from this angle, who had quickly skewered his way into the middle of the battle. The truck is now completely invisible to us in the crowds. Everyone holds an expressionless face in the crowd, including the mayor and Silas. Laura sobs quietly, as do many women in the crowds.

Today's fight is over quickly. The men today seem to take whatever they can and run more then stick around for good items. Laura and I see Kyle emerging from the crowd of men. He's limping, as well as bloody in the face, but he seems to be ok as he crosses the line into the safe zone. Laura runs over to him and hugs him quickly as he sets down his winnings. I walk over to him.

"So, anything good this time?" I ask. He releases Laura and picks up his items from the floor.

"Some food inside these metal cans, fresh bread, and this steel case." Kyle replies. I look to the cans and the bread. Worthy catches in the chaos of The Great Deliverance, but what was the steel case? I reach down to it and try to pull it open, but it's dead bolted.

"I tried too." Kyle says.

"We can open it with those pliers we have back home." Laura suggests.

"We sold those." Kyle says, and I shake my head yes. I did sell those. But I knew how to open that case.

"If we hurry, we can catch the locksmith before the party." I suggest. Maybe something valuable was inside.

"Alright then, let's head out." Kyle says. We lead Laura away from the area, but Laura seemed to keep looking back, as long as the utopod was in sight.



We walk as fast as my wounded leg would carry me. The locksmith is known for being the most drunk at the parties and I intend to find him before he gets that way. We finally exit the path into the square, and I lead the group to the locksmith's store. Luckily, we catch him on his way out the door.

"What do you want?" The locksmith asks. He has the same accent as a lot of the old folks around district three as well as all of Wasteland Four. "I've got a party to attend."

"We need you to open this case for us." I say, handing the man the case I held in my hand. The locksmith takes it roughly and examines it, flipping it a few times before glancing back to me.

"Yew got this 'ere case from The Great Deliverance, didn't ya?"

We nod to him, and he turns to his table. We expect him to pull out some set of keys to open the case, but the locksmith takes a metal wedge and sledgehammer. He places the wedge onto the deadbolt, and slams his hammer into the case, smashing the dead bolt to dust. The three of us wince at the shockwave it produces. The locksmith hands the case back to me and pushes us out of the way.

"Have a nice day." He grumbles as he heads to the party. Kyle rolls his eyes and we head back to the house.



The sun begins to set as we head inside to our 'house'. We are tired and weary from the day and Kyle needs a bit of medicine from his fight in The Great Deliverance. I open my medical kit I still have and hand a pill in the kit that was labeled 'For Pain' to Kyle. He takes it with some of the water we have left over while Laura leaves to get more water. I sit down on the floor and wait for the two of them to gather around. I want all of us to see what's in this thing together.

Kyle wordlessly scoots next to me and some time later Laura comes in as well. She sits next to me and sighs.

"So, what's in this thing?" She asks.

"No idea." Is my reply. "I was waiting for you guys. Now we can open it together."

We all look back to the small metal case together, and I place my hands to the side of the case, lifting the cold metal upwards, revealing the contents. I am amazed at what I see.

Inside lay ten shiny metal boxes, each sealed shut on the top and locked by what appeared to be an old combination lock, like the ones found on the worn lockers at school. We still use them today to secure valuables. We lift up the ten boxes from the case and hold them up to the light. None of them are any larger than my hand. Underneath the boxes lays a handwritten letter. I pick it up and read it out loud to Laura and Kyle:
Solve these, my riddles ten,
And have your lives back again.

Riddle One:
Look in West Lake, 421,
The child leads you to the chosen one.

I look to Kyle, who gives me an unknowing glance.

"I have no idea, man."

"They're trying to give us our lives back!" Laura exclaims. "'And have your lives back again.' . They're going to give us whatever is still in that utopod!"

"How are we supposed to believe some random suitcase?" Kyle questions. "I mean, for all we know, it's a trap! They could just be messing with us, just like The Great Deliverance!"

I look to Kyle and smile wearily. "We have to try, dude."

Kyle opens his mouth to deny it, but he knows I'm right. "We don't know where this could lead us." Kyle says mournfully.

"Hey guys, check this out!" Laura exclaims. We turn back to Laura and the case, and we see that she is holding a painting in her hand. This isn't some regular old painting we see in the marketplace, though. This painting hasn't aged a bit, keeping all of its splendor and glory, just as if it was made yesterday. In fact, I don't think it's a painting at all. It's so brilliant and detailed, far too much so to be a painting. The 'painting' is of a house, newly built, standing tall, with a family standing in front of it, smiling happily and looking happy. Judging by the neatness of their close, whatever this is was made in the dark ages. Laura turns it around and reads a handwritten inscription:
Photograph of Suburban House, circa. 2079

"Photograph?" Kyle asks.

"2079?" Laura adds.

"I guess these things are called 'photographs', then." I say. "But 2079? What does that mean?"

"Maybe it's one of those 'year' things people talk about." Kyle says. I remember how we were taught as kids about how the dark ages people had a odd thing about them. They would use weeks and months, but they needed a greater expanse of time, called 'years'. They had thinks called 'birthdays', on which they would celebrate each 'year' that passed after their birth. It was a funny thing, really.

"Probably." I add.

Laura studies the photograph closely. "Wait a second. This is a house in that 'West Lake Country Club'!"

Kyle and I look back at the photograph and realize she's right. The same colors, although much brighter her, the same windows, and doors.

"Well, I guess we found where the first clue is. House number 421. Now we just need to figure out what 'The child leads you to the chosen one' means."

"So we're really going to do this?" Kyle asks.

"What else are we going to do? Sit around and wait for The Great Deliverance to kill us off?" I ask.

"Aaron's right." Laura says. "We might as well find all of these clues. It might lead us into Utopod Four!"

"I guess. But can we at least wait until tomorrow? I'm tired."

Laura and I laugh a bit, then we all place the items back into the case and close it. I get out our blankets and prepare to sleep. While they set up our new makeshift beds (A large pile of straw we found), I hide the case inside the medical kit and then place the medical kit underneath the straw. There isn't much straw to go around, so Laura, Kyle and I huddle for warmth in the cool fall air.

"You think we are going to do it?" Kyle asks, quietly, as Laura has already fallen asleep.

"Do what?" I ask.

"Get inside of Utopod Four."

"To be honest, I don't really know." I reply.

And I don't know. But I have this feeling that whatever this case leads us to, it will change everything.

We set out early the next morning. With the money we made from past trades throughout last week, we have enough money to purchase canteens for Kyle and Laura, a large leather bag to carry our food, and a small dagger for Laura. She protests, but I insist that this still may be a trap, so she reluctantly carries it with her. I put all of our remaining foods, along with the actual case, inside the bag as well as all of our supplies. We intend to come back, but we have no idea how long the search for this house may take.

The woods are now much more barren, with fall claiming many of the leaves on the trees and leaving them on the floor, causing our treads to be a fair amount louder. The thickness of the leaves on the floor as well as our mission today causes us not to look for any items on the ground or anywhere else as we walk.

Two hours pass, and we arrive at the hill. It's steep slope is much harder to climb with the slippery leaves on it, but we manage. We all slide down the other side and enter West Lake Country Club.

"You think we should split up to find 421?" Kyle asks as we enter the maze of houses.

"That wouldn't be a good idea." I say. "We don't really know how big this place is."

I look at the road in front of us and look at the pillar holding the numbers of the houses. 893. I walk to the next one over, whose number is 891.

"Kyle, what's the number on that house over there?" I ask, pointing the house directly across from the one I am standing at. We walks over and glances at the pillar.

"890!" He yells to me. I look to both him and Laura.

'So they're going down this way, so we should head down this road until we find a split." I say.

"But we're in the eight-hundreds!" Laura protests. "There has got to be a quicker way to get to 421."

I shrug. "Got any ideas?" I ask.

We all look around for a second. We are completely lost in these houses and it seems that the only way to 421 is to walk for hours, maybe even days. I glance through the space between two houses, which is really not much larger than a small alleyway, and try to see as far as I can. In the distance, I see another road, interlinking the houses together.


"See that?" I say, pointing. "Let's check the numbers on those houses."

We walk together through the gap. It seems hopeless, really, but we might as well. The grass remains tall and thick, and I wish we had purchased a sickle from the tool man back in the capitol marketplace. We pass behind the row of houses we saw as we entered and through the front yards of the houses behind them, leading us to the road. I walk to the left and check the pillar on the house to the left and Kyle does the same on the right.

"790!" I call out.

"792!" He replies.

We have Laura check the house in front of mine and learn that it's number is 791.

"Alright, so if we pass through these yards," I begin, "Then we'll probably get to the four-hundreds a lot quicker than following the road."

"Hopefully the pattern won't change on us." I hear Kyle mumble pessimistically. I ignore him and we continue on the route we were on.


We must have walked a good mile or so before we found the 400's. The walk was tiring and long, through more tall grass and more monotonous houses. We come out to the same few numbers, 490 and 492, and head to the left. Our walk is not over yet. The road we are on curves to the right and veers down a long hill. We see that the houses, instead of being built at an angle to match the lean of the earth, are built straight up with only parts of the house above the ground.

"Why do you think they did that?" Laura asks me as we pass house number 458. "I mean, wouldn't it be easier to go with the earth rather than build against it?"

"Maybe they wanted more room to live in." I say. "This way they have parts of their houses underground."

"I don't understand these people..." Kyle adds. We keep walking past the houses and the land flattens out.

The numbers pass by slowly, but eventually, after about thirty or forty minutes, on the right, a house, just like every other house, is numbered 421.


"Alright, Kyle, get out the riddle." I tell Kyle. He reaches into the large bag we've been carring and pulls out the case, then the box, and finally, the riddle.
Look in West Lake, 421.
The child leads you to the chosen one.

Kyle puts back the paper as I look to Laura.

"Alright, so we're at the house, but what do you think 'the child' is?"

Laura looks at the house, and I turn to it too.

Nothing is special to me about this house. Like the others, it is painted a bright color, or at least was, as the house is a faded green. The windows are smashed out, and the door is molded and rotting. The only thing I can see that is actually different is that the top of the house seems to be burned off a bit and there is a significant hole in the wall, almost as if it was blasted out.

"Well, let's look inside." Kyle says as he puts the case back into the bag. We walk forward to the door and push it to the side. Maggots crawl out of the door, angry at us for disturbing them.

Inside, the house is a splitting image of all the others, which was expected. As usual, Laura and I walk through the downstairs and Kyle goes upstairs.

"See a child?" Laura asks me sarcastically as we walk into the kitchen. I make my way over to the cupboards and begin searching through them. "There's no way that riddle meant a physical child." I say. "We need to look for something that he meant to be a child. A kid's play toy, a statue, something."

I look in all the cupboards to no avail. Just the same dreary old cups and plates. Nothing changes about these people. I walk over to the room that usually has the black rectangle thing it, since that's the room with the hole in it. Kyle comes down the stairs.


"Any luck?" I ask. He shakes his head 'no'. I sigh, and inspect the hole in the wall. The floor of the house turns black here. Ash lays strewn about and lays on top of anything near the hole, weathered and worn, but still laying in the cracks of the house. Walking in the ash leaves heavy footprints. No one seems to have been here for hundreds of years. I feel along the wall and it crumples like paper. The odd-colored walls fall apart with my touch.

Suddenly, I hear someone stumbling, and I see Laura clutching her leg.

"Ow!" Laura says as she holds her leg. "I freaking just stubbed my toe!" Kyle laughs and looks to her.

"On what?" He teases. "Steel?"

I ask her where she kicked whatever it was at, she points to the ground. I almost can't see anything, but something in the ash looks off. I grope on the floor and, sure enough, my hand bumps into something.

It would have been easy to miss, of course. The ash was so imbedded onto it that it was almost invisible on the floor.

"I think I found the problem." I say, and turn to the back of the house. Kyle and Laura look at me confused for a second, then follow.

I opened the back door slowly, which was made of some other material and was not rotting. In the thick grass, I feel for the green tube I had found behind the other houses and find it. I ask Kyle to turn the knob on the wall, and he quickly obliges.

The blackish-brown water flows freely from the nozzle, and I move the object in my hand underneath the nozzle. Years of dirt begin the flow away from the piece, and soon I begin to make out that what I am holding is a large steel plate. Engraved in it seems to be a small child, pointing upwards.

"You were right." I say to Kyle, as I put the tube down. He turns the knob back to off and looks at me puzzled.

"It's steel!" I say happily. I hand it to him, and Laura and I look at the piece with Kyle.

"Wait a minute..." Laura says. "Come here!" Laura runs into the house, and we follow after her. We go back through the kitchen and back to the room with the hole once more. Laura is standing in the middle of the ash, and looks up.

"Look! This thing fell!" She says.

"What?" Kyle asks as we join her in the middle of the ash. I look up, and see that she was right. This hole in the wall wasn't where the fire began. Above us, we see that the high ceiling was burned through, and the second floor after that. The fire must have originated from the attic, and something heavy, on fire, burned it's way down to the ground floor.

"Come on!" I say, and Kyle and Laura follow me as I run up the stairs to the second floor of the home. I look around on the ceiling to find some way up to the attic, but it's no use. The attic is sealed off to us, and the hole that was burned into the ceiling is too torn and broken to get to. We stand for a minute, puzzled.

"Wait a second..." Kyle says. He pulls out a knife from his bag, then quickly puts it back and looks to me.


"Aaron, do you have your serrated knife on you?" I nod my head.

"Here," He says. "Get on my shoulders. Then you can cut a hole to the attic!"

Quickly, Kyle gets onto his knees as I pull out the serrated knife and get on his back. He lifts me almost all the way up to the ceiling, so I only reach a little bit and start sawing. Dust starts to fall from the roof, and I have to close my eyes and blindly cut. The process is slow and tiring, but finally, I cut the hole out and throw the piece down to the floor of the second story. "Push me up." I say, and Kyle lifts me up even higher. I grab onto the beams of the attic and pull myself in.

"Hold on!" I shout. "I'm gonna look for a way for you guys to get up here!" I look around in the attic in front of me. The place is barren and quite worn from it's lack of roof. Sharp slivers of glass stick from the ground, and cut me as I walk to find something useful, finally, I find a chain ladder. I pick it up quickly and hook it to the nearest beam in the attic and drop it to my friends. Soon, all three of us are standing in the attic.

"Alright," Laura says. "Look for some symbol of 'the chosen one'". She walks right as I walk left. Kyle looks around and heads forward.

A lot of things appear to have been damaged by the fire that raged here so many years ago. The floor is cracked and charred in places and most of the items are torn apart. I look for something, anything that could be of some use to us. It doesn't take long, either.

Down towards the end of the roof lays a human figure. It's half charred, but it's steel, like the child, and I wipe some of the ash away with my hand. It appears to be a human on some sort of cross, nailed onto there. Suddenly it comes to me.

"Guys I found him!" I shout, and I hear them approach me. "The chosen one was Jesus!"

Christianity was one of only a few religions that still lingered on the dark ages, and I should have immediately recognized it.

On the bottom of the cross is a hinge, and I quickly pull it open. A small piece of paper falls out, and I catch it. I unfold it and read it out loud to the others:
45-28-34

"That's all that's written on it." I say. Kyle looks at me happily. "Dude, that's all that we need! Don't you see? It's the numeric code for the combination lock on box #2!"

I smile happily as I realize it. "I guess this isn't some trap after all." I turn to the left and head for the hole in the floor that I had cut out a few minutes ago. "Come on, we can open this thing back at home."

Suddenly, we all heard a great cracking sound and a low moan come from the house. We feel the floor lean a bit and the house sway. I look at Kyle and Laura, paralyzed in fear for a few agonizing moments.

"GO!" Kyle finally screams, breaking the silence, and I don't have to be told twice. I jump down through the hole in the floor and land back in the second story of the house. The house creaks and leans once more, and this time, we can easily feel the house leaning to the left, the side of the house where the hole in the wall is.

"Come on!" I scream into the hole above me, and in moments, the case drops down from the attic. I catch it and quickly help Laura and Kyle out of the attic.

We run down the stairs and the house nearly gives out on us. Debris and ash fall onto us as we run down the stairs and into the main room of the home. I blink my eyes rapidly to clear all of the debris out of it. We hear more terrible sounds coming from the house, and burst out the door before we can hear any more. Behind us, we hear the house finally give out, and wood, concrete, and metal collapse quickly behind us. We run onto the road, where we feel safer, and finally turn to the house.

The entire building seems to be collapsing in slow motion. The entire left side of the house has already collapsed, leaving an open view of the house, as if it was cut in half by a knife. The rest of the house finally gives away, and falls down to the left, on top of the rubble left there. Smoke and ash rise up from the mess, as the movement gradually ceases. I turn to Kyle and Laura, and they look at me, scared to death.

"I guess..." I began. "Well, the house has been sitting here for a very long time...so, I guess it just couldn't handle our weight."

We look at each other awkwardly for a few moments. The fact that we almost got killed was so insane, it was almost funny. I feel like Kyle is going to yell at me, but suddenly, Laura starts to laugh. Kyle and I look at each other for a moment, then we laugh too. I guess the tension of the house collapsing was overshadow by the fact we escaped just fine.

"That was pretty insane!" Laura says, smiling. "I mean, it just fell down!"

"Well, let's' head back then..." I say, and we leave the rubble in good spirits.


The walk back to the capitol of the Fifth Locale is very boring. We walk slowly back to the exit of the maze of houses, still happy, yet shaken, by the day's events. We climb back up the hill and begin our walk through the forest. The sun begins to set as we continue the long walk back to the capitol. We joke about the house as we go, as well as what the next mission will be that the case sends us on.

The easy nature of the first clue has brought our spirits up, and, even though none of us have mentioned it, I guess we feel like this case that has come to us really will get us into Utopod Four.

Nighttime falls upon us as we almost arrive. The sun sets ahead of us, and darkness begins to overtake the land. Yet, in the distance, we can still see brightness coming, long after the sun has set.

"Do you know what that is?" Laura asks us as we continue the long walk.

"Not sure..." I say. "Maybe they are having some sort of huge bonfire. It's happened before.

"It's a little bright to be a bonfire..." Kyle adds. "You think it's coming from Utopod Four?"

"Naw, it can't be. Utopod Four is to the left of us, not ahead." I add.

We walk in silence for a few more minutes as the brightness ahead of us gets brighter and brighter, yet we cannot see what it is behind the mass of trees. Finally, as we almost arrive to the capitol, I hear faint sounds coming from the city. I can't quite make it out. The noise is just too faint to be comprehended. Then, just as the orange glow ahead of us gets very close, I finally understand. The sound is the sound of burning.

"Come on!" I scream, and Kyle and Laura follow me as I run to the capitol. The orange glow can be completely seen as flames this close, and the heat hits us like a wall. We push through into the city, and run into the main square of the capitol



The whole city was burning to the ground.