Snuffed Out

I wrote this for the writing competition but did not realize the deadline! I hope ya'll enjoy!

Snuffed Out

By: Brittany K Moore

Thick black smoke fills my lungs. I quickly pull my gas mask over my head to get some relief from the toxins still present in the air continuing to get worse with each month. My breath makes an echoing sound like that old Star Wars movie villain…. what was his name?

With each inhale I feel my chest clinch and the muffled air through the mask.

So many had died. So many continued to die. In an expanse of twelve years, we had gone from a population of billions and dwindled down to hundreds of thousands. It was kind of funny in my opinion as I tried taking deep breaths in and ruffled my pixy cut red hair into place. So many animals we had sat by and watched be destroyed. So many people not believing our air quality was dwindling till it was to late.

Another deep breath. Muffled by the bulky black mask as I look around at hundreds of depressed faces covered in similar masks to my own. Shuffling their feet as they made their way to whatever task they had been charged to for the day. The US had fallen, along with so many other countries. Migrations to the cleanest places had left us with barely anything. And by barely anything you had to work for every bit or scrap you had. We had banded together to save the human race in ways I never thought where possible, but I couldn’t help the negative thought that maybe, just maybe we would all be better off dead. This wasn’t living. This was hardly surviving.

“Adrien,” Lucas’s slimy voice says off to my right.

A few people stop to look at us as he makes his way to my side and I pull the alien filtered air into my lungs to control myself.

“Hmmm?” I ask looking him up and down.

My mind wanders again. He looks like someone who walked out of a steampunk event…My thirty year old brain registers from memories of eight years ago non chalantly. His dark brown hair is tousled from the thick air blowing dust and dirt around us. Lucas is one of the council members for our massive six teen hundred member society. He and I hadn’t gotten along from the moment I stomped into the makeshift camp ground and just seeing his face made me want to yank his mask off and stomp it into the ground. He wears a pair of thick jeans and a long sleeve shirt with a scarf wrapped around his neck to ward off the heat and grime. The northern hemisphere had gone from a lush oasis with different climates to that of an almost baren desert. It was rather pitiful in my eyes, but the council was still fighting. Fighting for the survival of the human race.

My fingers fiddle with the thick chain of a heart shaped locket my mom had thrust in my hand six years ago as she took her last breaths. Only the elite had access to masks at that time, and they didn’t care how bad the air had gotten. People where dropping like sugar drunk flies left and right. They just kept smiling. My dad had died stealing a mask, and in the process my mom shoved it on my face to keep me alive. I still remember the way her tears streaked down her face as she said she wished for more for me. Then she was gone. Gone like the trees and the animals I remember learning about in school.

“Adrien.” Lucas says firmly as his thin lips pinch into a straight line pushing me out of my memories.

“What do you want Lucas?” I ask.

His thick arms thrust into the air as his thick eyebrows pull together in disgust and I try not to giggle as he stomps his foot. He’s only a year older than me, but he looks like he’s in his fifties. “You missed your appointment and now your not even at your station.” He says.

“I’m sorry, an appointment to see if I’m fertile and then toting gallons of water that you just keep dumping into baby making experimental tubes is not in my personality description.” I respond as my muscled and extremely freckled arms go to my hips. He’s at least six inches taller than me and I look up at him feeling a spark of resentment cross my eyes.

They had been doing experiments. We were the most well known and comfortable of all the societies built after everything began to fall apart. There where a total of ten different societies total. They could still interact with each other, and we still had access to a couple vehicles and helicopters, but it was meant for only the most detrimental issues. Each society was working on a quick evolution expanse of creating hybrid humans that could withstand and breath in this air. They had gotten the idea when they noticed certain species of animals began evolving to breath freely with the lack of air as well as plants in certain areas began exploding to life because of the vast amount of carbon monoxide.

I was fascinated by how quickly the earth made an effort to survive along with all the life on it. Even more fascinating was the fact that the human race was not evolving. We were dying by the thousands daily. I tug on my necklace and pull in another breath to prepare for his onslaught.

“Not in your personality description? Do you care about us surviving at all? You have a responsibility to this society!” He responds. I feel as if I can hear his teeth grinding and I smile ever so sweetly.

“I. am. Not. Your. Baby. Making. Machine.” I say slowly.

“Not mine, but you have type O blood, therefore your needed to conduct the experiment. Especially if you have viable eggs.” He runs a hand through his tousled hair, and I want to gag.

If only he new the real reason I was here. I made a promise to my mom before she died, and her locket was all the strength I needed. Losing it would leave me broken. But being broken would be better than this any day. I would not be forced into anything, and I would keep going till every last makeshift and broken society crumbled from the inside out.

“I’m not your pet Lucas, If Charles has an issue with me not showing up, his lazy no-good self can come down from his throne. He can stop chowing down on the buffet he continues to eat regardless of the lack of food and get me himself,” I say.

I hear a few gasps around me and my chest hums in anticipation. Keep it together Adrien. You have a job remember?

“How dare you! How about I take you to him myself? He’s in the lab right now!” Lucas says while throwing his thick and harry arms into he air again. His hand reaches out and clamps tightly on my wrist. It makes me hiss involuntarily as my other hand still holds onto my mom’s necklace.

“First things first… take your disgusting sweaty hand off me before I punch you in the face. Second, it would be my pleasure, but regardless of you know where I stand when it comes to us surviving… if we were meant to live we would be evolving like the deer that now live in a rainforest,” I say while grinning and wink at him.

Sense being in this society I had hated him from the start. It always brought me joy to rub things in his face. Especially considering there were originally sixteen societies. It was in God’s grace, or whoever is even out there that I finally made it to this one. In case your bad at math, that’s five previously that crumbled. My parents had a goal… and I was going to see that goal fulfilled considering Charles was the one who killed them in the first place.

Lucas shakes his head and unclasps his hand from my wrist. He may seem confident to others, but I know how sleezy and weak he really is. I grin up at him and I see his face crumble in disgust before a sinister smile spreads across his lips. In a split second his head tilts up in a nod and my eyes widen as his hand shoots out towards my neck. Quicker than I can register he has yanked my mothers necklace from my slender neck. The pain from the clasp snapping and the chain ripping against my skin is nothing compared to watching him shove it into his pocket. I screech incoherently and his smile spreads across his face as two sets of arms grab hold of me.

“You wont need this anytime soon… it’s not like your going anywhere right? When you get all the testing done and if you’re a viable candidate I will give it back to you,” His voice hisses out as he looks around at people who have stopped to gape at us.

I squirm to get away and attack him, but the arms holding me are strong. I kick and scream and beg for someone to help, but that’s the thing about the human race… despite all the talk of unity and survival, when people take charge and they might get hurt or end up in trouble as well they stop caring.

Lucas glares at me as I continue to thrash till my mask flips off and he sighs in disgust, leaning down to pick it up. I want to kick him, but my legs cant reach as my lungs start attempting to pull air in. They stop dragging me as he steps forward to put my mask back on. He pauses for a second and we both stare at each other with hostility.

“I hate you, and I hate your dad,” I say under my breath.

“I know… your parents would be so disgusted with you… they actually helped Charles unlike you… that’s what makes this so fun. You’re a nobody, with valuable parts to disassemble. That’s it,” he says before winking.

My mouth gapes open, but as I begin to snarkily respond he punches me across the face and everything goes black.

I’m sorry mama… I tried. I have lost it. I’m dead… because hearing my mother in my head while knocked out is the last thing I ever expected to hear.

Shhhhh… rest child, your time is coming… you made it. Now listen to me. When you wake up… you get my necklace back and you press that button… you’re daddy and I left a present that connects all societies at this location. Then you sit back and watch the fireworks explode. Her voice giggles as it floats away, and I see a bright light on the edge of my vision.

Wait! Mama… please don’t go!

Fireworks baby! There’s gonna be fireworks! Her voice continues to chuckle as it finally disappears.

My eyes flash open and come face to face with both Lucas and Charles.

“Good lord son, why did you hit her so hard?” Charles asks.

“She was being a…” Lucas responds before I cut him off.

“Can I just have my necklace back? It’s the only thing I have of my mom.”

Charles eyebrows rise in surprise, and he nods to Lucas. Lucas’s nose wrinkles but he pulls it from his pocket, and I sigh in relief before holding out my hand. It drops with a very quiet jingle, and I smile fully at them.

“Boom,” I say simply before pressing the button on the back of the heart. I had always thought it was just a mess up in the metal… I was wrong. I didn’t think humankind was going to survive what my parents had put into place… and ironically, I hoped that thought would be true.