The Weight of the World ch 1

Pri stared out at a group of kids standing just outside the netting. Kids always gathered there. Some wanted let in, others had vandalized the netting and wanted to see the repair and others just had nothing better to do and thought watching us was entertaining. She sighed, adjusted the string keeping the straw hat on her head and took off her shoes. The kids edged closer wanting to get a better view. Pri smiled and stifled a giggle. A drop of sap fell onto her hat as she shouldered a bag containing a role of sticky netting.

The children for some reason found that hilarious and were rolling laughing. That happened all the time on the reservation. When you live in a netted off dome covered with sap you tend to get sap dropped on your head. That was the reason for the straw hat. The hat’s cone shaped with a fat base and a short height like everyone else on the reserve wears.

Pri stood and gripped the netting. She started climbing and the laughing stopped. Pri couldn’t tell if the kids were too impressed to laugh or if she had just climbed out of earshot. She had to foce herself not to look down. That would have been a big mistake because she had to be at least 200 feet up. Finally, she got to the torn patch in the netting.



Pri had hoped it would be torn from weather but no such luck. The edges of the gap were singed where it had been burned. The vandals were starting to burn places higher on the dome in hopes of destroying a place where the Reserve workers couldn’t reach. Did they realized that even their weakest climbers could climb all the way to the top? The vandals would have had an easier time climbing the some 600 feet to the top than the workers because the slope put them on top of the netting while the slope from the inside proved difficult for the workers. Still the vandals hadn’t gone past 300 feet yet.

The workers suspected that somebody was hiring these vandals; trying to get us to give up the Reserve. Some of the vandals were just addicts, though, letting out their anger. There really was no where else not already wrecked.

Pri unbuckled her belt, ran it through some sturdy netting and buckled it again so she wouldn’t fall. She took the knife that was strapped to her thigh and cut a piece from the roll of netting. She was almost done tying the netting over the gap when there was a tap on her shoulder.

“Gosh, give me a heart attack why don’t yah'?” she snapped.

“Sorry,” David chuckled. He was a good climber-the best-especially for an educated class child who had only been climbing for three years. Pri had climbed a lot longer yet he was the sure footed one that never even shook the net as he climbed. It was a little infuriating. You’d think that a high class educated kid who never had to lift a finger except for turning the pages of a trig book wouldn’t be athletic. Yet he was the strongest, the best at climbing and the best fighter on the Reserve.

“Still using your belt Priscilla?” he teased, using her full name just to bug her. Pri wanted to punch him in the arm but since the were so high up she settled for glaring at him. He just laughed and went to help her finish.

“Want to race?” he asked after they had finished. She shook her head no.

“How many holes were there and were they all burned?” she asked as they descended slowly. He hesitated.

“Yes they were all burned and there were a couple…dozen.” The vandalism was getting worse and more frequent. She kept her face indifferent and the entire climb down David studied her expression intently. She shouldn’t have to go through this; worrying about vandals. That’s been her life though from the time she was eight. Shouldn’t have to but yet she does. SHouldn't have to raise herself. Shouldn’t have to run a nature reserve at age sixteen. Shouldn’t have to be responsible for the last hope for this planet. She tries to tell herself that God has a plan but sometimes it's hard.

When they got to the bottom the kids were gone. Pri set down the netting and put her shoes back on. When she stood up David had the netting over his shoulder, which was strange because she carried her own gear and had never needed help. She climbed, worked, and fought just like every body else. On the reserve the only people who don’t work are young, old or sick. She looked at him quizzically and he just shrugged.

They walked back to the life tree in more awkward silence. The life tree is a giant, what the Reserve calls a fortified eucalyptus tree. It's a eucalyptus tree that evolved during the nuclear war, the only plant that managed to adapt to the new environment. It is immune to all the toxins in the air. They call it the life tree because they use its bark and sap to make the netting that keeps out the toxins in the air; it protects some of the last plants on earth.

It is also the only of its kind. With out it there would be no hope for the planet. Nobody knows if the other trees were stripped of their useful bark and died or if theirs is the only one ever. That’s why they take such good care of it and never take more than they need from it.

Pri and David got there and climbed up to the lowest branch. The branches on the life tree keep the netting from caving in on the Reserve. It’s very tall, about 600 feet at its tallest point. Workers eat their lunches on branches so they can’t be taken by surprise by the animals that live on the reserve.

Suddenly insistent beeping came from David and Pri's pagers. Code yellow: somebody was at the gate. Pri leaped from the tree branch, rolled as she landed, got to her feet and started running.

*****

Pri was running across the ground before David could even react. The adrenaline of danger, battle and fear poured into him like ice and soon he was in a cold sweat. He left the netting, he would get it later. They ran towards the gate and caught up with Jasmine, a medium build girl with dark brown hair and an attitude. Ever since they were little Pri and Jasmine had been inseparable even though they were exact opposites. Pri only seems dangerous and is actually really sweet while Jasmine seems sweet, even fragile... until you piss her off.

All three of them fell into pace together and Jasmine started distributing the weapons she was carrying. They had no clue who was waiting for them at the gates but they always try to put on an impressive show of strength for visitors. They had rehearsed this many times before and they knew what to do but it still made him scared.

The others were already there when they got to the iron gates covered in netting that separated the Reserve from the outside world. Pri was carrying more weapons than everyone else and they were all carrying more than their usual knives.

They assembled themselves according to rank, arms crossed or resting on weapons. Pri was in the front with me at her right and Jasmine on her left.

She crossed her arms and David didn’t have to look at her face to know she had a look of pure hatred on like a mask. It didn’t fool anyone who knew her but she could convince most strangers. It was actually seemed pretty comical to him when she was trying to look mean.

With her usual knife strapped to her thigh, a gun slung across her back and a sword at her side she looked almost evil to anyone else; of course she only knew how to use the knife. Her hair is really long and a light brown color with sun bleached blond streaks but she hides it in a braid under her straw hat so it won't get in the way. She wouldn't have any hair at all if Jasmine would let her, Jasmine does Pri's hair and insists that she look presentable. Multiple scars, including some bite marks from a jungle cat, add to the effect. As they waited for the gates to open David took out his sword, like he actually knew ho to use it.

“What’s going on,” asked Pri in her most authoritative voice.

“They came by car so we’re making them go park their apocalypse on wheels at the outer rim,” yelled one of the centuries perched on a tree limb talking into a walkie-talkie. They call cars ‘apocalypse on wheels’ because they’re basically what caused the world to end and for our borrowed time here on this planet to begin. Pri never thought it was borrowed time though; she believed that God let us live and wants us to fix our mistakes. The nickname Pri's grandmother had come up with. She had a knack for naming things and in this new world there were a lot of new 'things' to name or rename.

They were supposed to look forward and show no fear but he glanced over at Pri. Her jaw was clenched tight and since he knew her so well he could detect fear in her forest green eyes. Behind them he could almost feel the anxiety rolling off of Dalton, their youngest fighter and Pri’s little brother. He nodded at Pri and she understood the words he didn’t say.

“Show no fear, everything will be ok. We are the world’s last hope, remember! Carry that in your hearts! Besides it's probably nothing,” she yelled loud enough so everyone could hear but she was really just saying it for Dalton’s benefit.

The gates swung out with a creak and in walked about twenty men in black suits carrying an assortment of weapons. They must have been dying from heat but they all moved in perfect unison, protecting who ever was behind them. The sea of black parted and out walked the most horrible man in the history of the universe: Mr. Nemicodelmondo.

David's father.

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