The day when the rain came

2791: Day 359. “There it is,” I say, looking up for a brief moment but then immediately returning to focus on walking. “Right, left, right, left,” I tell myself in my head over and over again forcing myself to keep walking in spite of my wanting. My wanting to collapse and let the warmth of the sun take me and lift me up to the light. It is a blistering hot day, I estimate about 103 degrees. I play games in my mind like count the cacti, trying to force myself to ignore the throbbing pain in my leg. I lean desperately on Rose trying to support my own weight with my good leg. As the fallen city we call home gets closer and closer, I can feel my strength start to fade. With every step, my body seems to get heavier and heavier. I start to count the minutes. 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. My consciousness starts to fade. 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour. “We’re almost there,” Rose says in a soft soothing whisper. But instead of responding with the determination I once had, my paper thin legs crumple to the ground in defeat.

  2791: day 360.  I wake up in a ragged, worn out bed to see Rose and the nurse arguing. Her dark brown hair is neatly tucked in a high ponytail and a single strand of bright pink colored hair drapes down her face. I look around with panic. We’re in Hospital Red 4, one of the only buildings that is not in ruins. I look out the window and gaze at the destroyed city. The people who have not died of thirst and hunger clutter up the streets like hungry animals, desperately searching for their next meal. I take my mind off them and try to recall how I got here. Pieces of my memory slowly fit back into place, then I remember. Our desperate mission for water, the tick of the trip wire, the leap out of the building, and my busted leg. And as if I had just thrusted a knife into my leg, the pain flushed back to terrorize me once again. Tears threatened to rush to my eyes, but I stayed strong, holding back the terrible flood of memories from the past year. The war with the Antarcticans, my family's death, and of course the rain disaster, but little did I know the worst was yet to come.  

    2791: day 363. I run my hands across the smooth leather covering my healing wound. I remember just two days ago when I had the surgery on my leg. I was told that with the power of medicines, surgery used to be quick and painless. But they didn’t have that kind of technology here. I remember vividly the excruciating pain of their tools going through my leg and moving the bone back into place. It still makes me nauseous just thinking about it. The doctor said I would be able to walk in two weeks, but for The Plan, I need to be able to walk in two days. The Plan: the last chance plan to steal back what the Antarctican’s stole from us, water.

    2791: day 364. “Leo!” I hear from a distance. I spin around and quickly cover my eyes with my hand to block the glaring light. The broken down clock tower is not enough to block the sun, which seems to get brighter every day. I fight through the blinding beam of light to see who is calling me.  It’s Rictor, the self-proclaimed genius of The Plan. I curse under my breath.

    “What?” I yelled wobbling towards him.

    “We are reviewing The Plan.  I don’t know why Smith needs you there anyway.  You are about as useful as, rubber nails” he snarled.

    I glared at Rictor.  We had never been friends but  lately he’s becoming narcissistic.  “Whatever you think,” I reply. I slowly turn away and head for the old cathedral on the banks of the ocean that is no longer there. It takes me a few minutes to walk over there but to me it feels like hours. I struggle to believe that I will be running for my dear life in a few days. I try to shake the feeling out of my head as I walk into the elegant building. Although the whole cathedral is rotting from the inside I still admire the long curved arches and elegant design. I run my hands along the well crafted leaves and flowers in the wood. Although their color has faded I still can see the vibrant reds and yellows in my mind. I look away from the carved flowers to see Rose, Johnny, Rictor, Tasha, and Mr. Smith all staring at me. “You coming, we don’t got all day?” Rictor said with a smirk. Embarrassed I take my seat next to Rose and prepare myself for our last rundown of The Plan. We have gone over The Plan so many times I feel like I could do it blindfolded, but still Mr. Smith wants to be sure we know it top to bottom.

2791: day 365. I wake with details of tomorrow’s plan in my head.  The annual rain comes tomorrow and we need to be prepared. The rain should provide the distraction we need to load up the Anarctican’s water into our army of jeeps. We have a good 500 people with us on The Plan, but it is just going to be the five of us doing the real work.  I look around my assigned sleeping area. The room is filled with what once would have been valuable objects which are now worthless. Water is now the only thing that has real value. My leg aches but feels better than yesterday. I will myself to get up and check to make sure no night bandits have carjacked our fleet of jeeps.  I slip my shoes on and walk down a flight of stairs leading to the garage. The smell reeks of the dead bodies of thousands of fish. When the oceans were still around it was said that fish roamed freely and thrived in their habitat. But now what’s left of the oceans is the awful smell of rotting fish carcuses. After a few minutes of walking, I turn the lock on the garage locker and swing open the rusted door. Everything looks how it should be. The 60 or so jeeps all ready to be filled with water are lined up in a perfect line. Everything seems to be in place for tomorrow.

    2792: day 1. I wake up a little late at 2:30. I quickly slip on my gear and head out for the jeeps. It will start to rain at noon and with a nine hour ride to the Antarctican’s base we can’t be a second late. I jog down to the garage and hop in Jeep #24. My father told me he would buy me a car and teach me how to drive when I was sixteen, but since my whole family died when I was twelve I never got the chance. Sometimes it's hard to believe it was just three years ago. I shake the thought out of my head as Rictor takes the driver seat.

The ride is long and almost impossible to shake the smell of fish. As the destination gets closer and closer we try to rest up for the fight ahead. Since we all had to wake so early almost everyone is almost asleep, except for the drivers of course. As I start to drift off to sleep the smallest touch of my shoulder jolts me wide awake. It is Rose. Her head is gently resting on my shoulder sound asleep. Petrified of waking her up, I keep my body from even the smallest of movements. Although we are heading to our impending doom, even if I die I will always keep this moment close to my heart.

After a few hours of driving we finally make it to their base. We park our jeeps right outside the back walls of the base. The base has large sturdy walls about forty feet tall. I look back. This could be the last time I see the rest of my team. “Good luck” Mr. Smith says with a worried yet confident look. I nod my thanks but I’m more focused on Rose. For some reason I don’t want to leave her to fend for herself. I know she can take it, but I don’t want to take the risk. I try to drink in her beauty one last time before we have to part. But alas some moments don’t last forever. I look away forcing myself to let go and stop savoring the moment.

I start my climb. Unfortunately the wall is too high up to use a grappling hook so I have to do it the old fashioned way. Although it’s annoying finding the small crevices of the concrete bricks, its effective. I quickly scale the first twenty feet of the wall but then I’m stuck. The wall here looks smoothed over with a fresh coat of paint and it's impossible to find a crack. I examine my options. I could make a leap up and use my grappling hook and hope its long enough to reach the top. Or I could climb down and try a new spot. I decide to play it risky. With all my strength I hurl my body up and shoot my grappler in a desperate attempt. I start to fall down but then I hear the click. The click of my grappler attaching. I got it!  Suspended in midair I start to climb up the rope. I look back to see if I can still spot Rose and the others but they are already out of view heading to the entrance. Once again I’m all alone.

As soon as I get up the wall, I’m amazed at the technology filled world I have never known. All the houses look cubelike and not destroyed, and there are cameras everywhere moderating the citizens’ lives. I don’t have much time to look though, because I glance down at my watch and I only have twenty minutes to get in place. I quickly rush to the storage rooms but at the same time trying not to look to obvious. The people here look so innocent and oblivious to the harsh outside world. I try not to think about stealing their water as I rush past.

Finally I’m there. I pull my key card out of my vest that Mr. Smith gave me swipe it. A red screen flashes back at me DENIED. “Damn it!” I mutter under my breath. I quickly make a mental note of the soldiers around me. I see a yellow key that looks the same as mine held by a younger officer that’s probably in his 20s. Trying to look as tipsy as I can I start to stagger over to his direction. With the best act I can, I stumble into him and swipe his card. I look back and with a half drunk smile I say, “Sorry mate, looks like I had one too many drinks today.”

He looks at me in disgust. “Watch where you're going snot!” It takes all my strength not to take him down right there on the spot. I head back to the door and swipe the card. This time to my relief the doors open. I cautiously walk inside. A long row of hallways greets me and for once it's not so complicated. One door is marked water. I creek open the door making sure not to make a peep. If the others did their job correctly the security cameras should be off. I click the light switch on. Fortune finally turned its head to help us out because there in the one garage are containers and containers of water. I check my watch: 11:55. “Right on time, god I’m good,” I say as I sprint to the garage opener. I tap the red button and the huge garage door lifts and a sea of jeeps awaits me.

People swarm in and we all start loading the water onto the jeeps. This water could give us half a year of survival at least. As almost all the water is loaded in the jeeps we all stop at the same time. Outside the rain starts falling. It is beautiful. Most of us have only seen it rain a few times and every time it’s magical. Unfortunately, we don’t have long to savor it because the jeeps are starting to roll out. I hop in my assigned jeep but before we are able to drive away I hear a loud crack up in the sky. Gunshots. This is not part of The Plan. All the soldiers are supposed to be distracted by the rain but no, they are ready for us. I do a headcount. Everyone is here, everyone except for Rictor.

I look up and in the middle of all the soldiers is Rictor. We make eye contact. Then he smiles, “Fire” he yells from above. The Jeeps desperately try to drive away but most of the tires are popped by the bullets. It’s a massacre. Gunfire is raining down and hundreds of bodies are pelted with bullets on the ground. Blood is everywhere. In the middle of the massacre I see Rose. I run to her trying to save her before they shoot her, but as soon as I leave my cover she is not the one who gets shot. Three bullets fill my chest. I drop to the ground. As I look up at the rainy sky my strength fades. I always knew I would die one day. I knew I would drop to the ground and pass to the other side. But I never thought it would be like this. I thought I would go in peace. I thought I would find love. I thought I would save my people. I thought I would be old, but no. I die a failure.