Our Dirty Hands

I inhaled so deep as the crisp clean air of this new city known as Jupiter, filled my polluted lungs. It hurt to breathe, but felt so glorious.

We couldn't see anything because they had tied bags over our heads, but I could still hear it. The unfamiliar noises of humming hover cars, the click clack of peoples shoes on pavement and slight murmur of thousands of voices. So lucid, but it wasn't the reality I was used to.

They led us to a room with two twin beds, nothing like I had ever seen before, luxury.....sweet luxury.
It was warm and there were no holes in the walls or leaks in the ceiling. As I slowly laid on the bed I felt my body melt into it's comfort. Never had I laid on something so soft and warm.

I could tell Lenith was feeling the same vibes I was and we both glanced at each other.
He was the first to speak up,
"I heard them saying that this hotel is actually what they call under-class, so if we cooperate...we could get something even nicer then this."

I became angry, "I would never work with those freaks! They killed my father!"

He snapped back at me, "And what are you gonna do for revenge?! Kill the entire military force?"

I stuttered then just looked away from him closing my eyes.

'Who does he think he is? Stupid kid.'

Before I knew it I was sucked into such a deep sleep that when I awoke it felt as if I had been in a comma.

I let out a soft groan and I stretched out my body under the soft blanket. This was a new comfort, a new warmth and I liked it, and I never wanted it to end.

"I could get used to this..."
I hear Lenith speak softly across the room.
Then I smelled a smell I had never smelled before. My mouth watered and I set up and opened my dull blue eyes.

A tray of food was sitting by my bed.
Eggs, toast, steak and juice.
Not rock hard bread, fried bug meat or withered cabbage. Real food.

Lenith was already done scarfing down his plate by the time I started.
It was like nothing I had ever tasted.

A few minutes after we were done stuffing our face the tall one eyed man stomped into the room,
"Hello boys....I think we got off on the wrong foot, my name is Captain Alce.."

My body felt like it was on fire with rags as soon as I saw that same devious smirk he had on his face. As soon as I flinched my body forward he pulled his 300 Cycle Blaster out and pointed it straight at my head. The small blue sniper light shown on my forehead,
"I know you a lot better then you think I do Quarin. All those 'men' you killed back out in the waste lands...they weren't really men...they were clones. "
My pupils shrank and my heart raced.

"We're you really stupid enough to think I would bring un-armored solders with manual guns to fight a revenge filled boy with a 272 Cycle gun?"

I glared and then looked toward the large window. I could feel Lenith's eyes staring into the back of my neck.

"Listen up, bright and early tomorrow morning you boys are gonna be heading over to the academy, where you will be trained with all of the other boys we brought in this month. So if I was you I'd enjoy my final day of freedom. Yes that's right, you kids are free to roam around this district of the city..why are we giving you so much freedom when we dragged you here? Well this district is especially made for outsiders like yourself, so there is absolutely no way for you to escape...Good luck."

Before, we knew it the one eyed man known as Captain Alce vanished.

We were alone to explore this damned new world full of demented freaks and mentally corrupted men.

I released the smoke from my lips as I removed the cigar from my half open mouth.
Lenith was slowly zipping his boots up to above his ankle and slipping on his dark orangish vest,
"I'm going out there, I have to see what's going on-"

"Don't be an idiot." I cut him off. "Do you really think any of the half-minded little boys out there are going to help you?"

Lenith's eyes filled with annoyance, "It's better then sitting around getting hy!!"
He stormed out the large metal door.

'Great now I have to follow him'

I groaned and lifted my self up off of the bed.
I strapped my leather boots on and threw a jacket over my self.
The windows were glazed in frost, so I assumed it would be cold.
I scooped up into my hand the pack of cigarettes resting on the table.

I didn't know what would be waiting out side of the walls of this 'under-class' hotel.
All I had were my bony cold fists now. If anything were to happen I would have to get up close and personal.
Me and Lenith didn't like each other, but we were from the same damned city and we would have no choice but to have each others backs when danger would come.

We would get our hands dirty for each other, no matter what the cost.