Coroniam City

I could see the sun beginning to set outside the barred window as a man with a rather large gun shoved me up against a wall and instructed me to spread my arms and legs out. I assumed the position without protest, as was protocol, and allowed the man to pat me down. He pulled the sleeves of my shirt up to check my arms for anything suspicious and then instructed me to pick my hair up so that he may inspect my neck. I did as told and held my breath as he took special interest in my birthmark. I felt his gloved fingers go over my skin and quickly let my hair fall back below my shoulders. I turned towards him with an expectant gaze and he stepped back, looking down at my legs.

“Lift your skirt just above here,” he instructed, touching just below my privates with the tip of his gun. I looked down uncertainly and then looked back at him. “If you’d be more comfortable with a female, I can go get one.”

“That’ll just take longer,” I muttered. I lifted my skirt, unable to watch as the guard squatted down to inspect my legs. He did me the favor of not taking too long before he straightened up and nodded to say I could release my skirt. “Am I in the clear?” I asked.

“Yes ma’am,” he said. I bent down and reached towards my luggage but he stopped me by grabbing my wrist. “Sorry ma’am, all luggage is to go through proper scanning which can take two to three days. If you give me your information, I can have it sent to wherever you’ll be staying.”

“Coroniam sure has tightened their security over that past few years,” I said. The guard simply nodded and grabbed a clipboard full of papers off of a nearby podium. He handed it to me along with a black pen and I quickly scribbled down my contact information and the description of what was in my bag.

“We’ve had a lot of violence in the past year, so we’ve taken extra measures to ensure the safety of our citizens and our visitors,” the guard responded. He sounded like a robot who had a chip in his neck that told him exactly what to say. Knowing Coroniam City, I wouldn’t doubt that that was what was hiding underneath the tinted shield.

“Are there any more steps that I need to take before I can leave?” I asked. I had been in processing since early in the morning and was anticipating a warm welcome and a hot meal with my father.

“Just one last thing,” the guard said. He grabbed my arm and, with the black pen, began writing down what looked to be a phone number. I instinctively stiffened and was ready to knee him in the stomach when he began to explain, “this is a code that you need in order to exit the building. You will read the guard at the exit the middle numbers first, then the last set of numbers, and then the first. If you mess up, we’ll hold you here another day so be careful ma’am.”

“Thank you,” I said. He nodded his head and pulled down my sleeve before anyone else could see the code. I stood beside him for a moment, unsure of whether or not I had been dismissed until he walked away to grab another person waiting to be allowed entrance to Coroniam.

I turned and headed towards the only exit in the building which was crowded and full of anxious people waiting to be let out. I shuffled past old and young who were waiting to be admitted into Coroniam. A few of them stopped me and tried to get my code so that they might leave but I knew better than to share it with them. I didn’t know what kind of dangers these guards were looking for but I knew that any one of these seemingly innocent people could be it. I made it to the actual line of people who were leaving and waited as patiently as I could for it to be my turn to give the guard my numbers.

The sun was already gone by the time I reached the front guard and when I did, he wasted no time asking for my numbers. I quickly lifted my sleeve and recited the numbers in the order the former guard had instructed me too. The front guard plugged them into his wrist device and waited for a green light to blink before nodding and grabbing me by the arm. He was holding on so tightly that I actually thought I had messed up my code and was beginning to panic. I tried to explain to him how if I had messed up it was because it took so long to actually get the code and then even longer to reach him but he didn’t react as we walked down a brightly lit hallway.

“Please sir, if you give me another chance, I’m sure I know the right order-” the guard shoved me forward and I flew through a set of swinging doors. I looked around and saw a man sitting by a barred door, each bar buzzed with electricity that grew louder as I walked closer.

“Bet you’re glad to be cleared,” the man said. “Lift your sleeve please,” he instructed. He came closer so he could read the code and then walked towards the door. He slid a card key into the reader that hung on the wall beside the door and the bars stopped buzzing. Once he was sure they were off, he opened the door and motioned for me to leave. “Better hurry, the bars will come back on in thirty seconds,” he warned.

I didn’t need any more pushing than that as I ran out the door and finally stepped on to the streets. I was instantly greeted with the sounds of the big city; car horns and screeching tires, countless conversations from all of the people rushing to get home before anything bad happened to them, and even the unsettling wails of police sirens. I quickly stepped onto the sidewalk and began searching through the crowd of people in the hopes of catching sight of my father. It was hard to believe that he would wait out here for hours while I went through processing but if I knew anyone, it was my father and he would definitely be somewhere close by.

My searching was cut short when someone grabbed hold of my arms from behind. My body immediately tensed, Coroniam City was known for it's thugs and assaults so I thought that surely I was being attacked. I bent forward quickly, ready to snap my arms backwards in an attempt to surprise the assailant and make him let go but then I heard the relieving sound of my father's hearty laugh. He released me and I turned around and smiled.

"What are you trying to do, make me go back to Thessia?" I asked.

"Sorry Piper," my father said, pulling me into a tight bear hug. His body engulfed mine as if I hadn't grown to be just four inches shorter than him and when I wrapped my arms around his waist I noticed that he had become just a little thicker than the last time I had seen him.

Once he had let me go, I stepped back and asked, "have you been working out or is all that under that shirt just fluff, Dad?"

"Always with the remarks," he responded. "Where's your bags? Don't tell me you let someone take your things already. Forgotten how Coroniam works, have we?"

"No, the guard in processing said we aren't allowed to have our things until they go through processing which could take a while," I grumbled.

My father looked like he was about to say something when a scream came from somewhere behind him. His body seemed to stiffen as he turned his head in the direction of the scream. I tiptoed to look behind him and saw a large crowd of terrified looking people running towards us. My father quickly grabbed my arm and started to run towards the street. I looked behind me and saw a man with open wounds covering his body standing on top of a car. He was looking down at the crowd with his head cocked to the side and then, he jumped from the car into the crowd and I heard another ear splitting scream.

"Dad, was that a-"

"Not here, Piper, there could be more of them," my father said. He hurried towards a blue pickup and pulled a set of keys out of his pockets.

"But Dad, what are they doing out like that?" I asked. "I thought they were pushed into the underground years ago."

"They've started coming out more often," he explained. He ushered me into the truck, watching his back as he did so. I climbed over to the passenger seat as quickly as I could, keeping my eyes glued on the scene just on the other side of the street. "Security's tightened around Coroniam but the night is theirs again, and this time, I'm not sure electricity is enough to stop them."