"No God On Earth" is me making fun of dystopian novels like The Hunger Games and Divergence. It's a world full of snow and ice because winter finally came unlike the lie that is Game of Thrones. Winter is Coming my ass, 4 seasons in and not a drop of snow. Not afraid of killing the main character either, as it's supposed to be from different character's point of views.
They say there used to be a sun in a blue sky that heated the Earth allowing crops to grow,
animals to thrive and humans to live. I've never seen it. Old science books classified this mythical orb of light as a giant star made of gas capable of burning anything that even got as close as ten feet of it. I consider it just a myth but apparently it happened, the historians swear that it's all true but all I know is the cold darkness we live in now.
Thanks to that yellow ball of fire dying out on us, we now live in complete total
darkness, the moon still exists and we have calm seas plagued by pirates taking advantage of
blind spots. The days are cold with snows blowing down from the Article Circle, and people once feared what the historians called Global Warming. Snow isn't the only thing parading south of the pole, polar bears have become vicious man-eaters, threatening the people who lived in their ancestral homes.
Our nights are just as treacherous considering that we no longer have a day or night,
it's just black all the time, sometimes I think that without our clothes, we wouldn't know color. I'm just old enough to go out hunting the vicious bears, only creatures accustomed to the cold survived. Snow leopards and Siberian tigers used the glaciers that formed between Russia and Alaska to migrate to the Americas and now range from Canada to Chile, wiping out anything else that happened to survive like snow hares.
This is a world of ice.
A world of freezing winds and plummeting temperatures.
We wonder how we've survived for so long.
My home is shared with my parents, older brother and younger sister, we had more siblings but they died of fever and starvation.
Medicine that was created by science and improved upon by technology was hoarded
when all governments collapsed by the doctors, surgeons and nurses in an attempt to protect their own families and make themselves richer by selling flu shots and other vaccines to the highest bidders. My dad says that if they're willing to break their Hippocratic Oath then what else are they willing to break for the sake of a few bucks?
Money is still important, you wouldn't think it would be, right? You'd assume that resources like fur, meat, vegetables and wood would be more precious but the world hasn't gone that dystopian yet. You can always tell who has the money, they live in well made mansions and manor houses with armed guards to protect their endless supply of wood and gasoline used to heat their home.
These same people do not rule us though, they don't extort people like us who live in
small colonies in the middle of some forgotten forest where lumber is abundant. They make
their money by selling what they've got to other rich jerk offs and foreigners who snow mobile here just to make a deal. That and prostitution and we know prostitution is a fact, Jenny from down the road left her parent's cabin to make a comfortable life for herself as some rich
man's lover.
It worked well for her until he killed her.
Some people say the President is held up in the White House, well if he is, his black ass ain't doing a damn thing to help anyone out. I personally wouldn't know.
My father is standing in the kitchen area of our cabin with his rifle in hand, a beautiful long barrel that costed him some river rat meat, a moose hide and a cup of oil to fuel a lamp.
It was a good trade, only in small villages like this is where trade is fair.
My dad cocks the gun, it's a loud sound that I've gotten used to hearing, he makes a living by hunting large and small game. Some stubborn otters or river rats as we call them, badgers, rabbits, moose, deer and mountain lions have been able to survive the rough climate.
Fortunately, leopards and tigers aren't that all migrated to this part of the world, we now have
ibex and mountain goats running about here.
My father calls my name to snap me out of my narrative, I turn to face him and he's holding out a medium sized rifle, it costed him nearly half our lumber to trade that for me, the soft smile on his face is killing me.
I know my dad loves me but was getting me a rifle of my own worth half our
firewood? Right after trading for the gun, he went out and began chopping more, when I confronted him about it, he swung the axe down and told me that three men hunting was a better odd than two, and that wood was available here in the forest where as meat was rare.
Even rarer than meat was vegetables and fruit but there had been rumors of people growing them in greenhouses along with medicinal herbs and spices. I've never seen it and wondered how a greenhouse would work.
I hesitantly take the gun, I can shoot all right, been learning my whole life but I only hunted small game like the river rats, a rabbit or badger. My dad wanted to go after a moose
while my brother wanted to seize a name for himself by bringing down a leopard or tiger. Our
dad told him he was an idiot.
I put down the gun to pull on my boots, inhaling a breath to steel my nerves. Moose were big with huge antlers and I was not looking forward to seeing one up close. My dad calls for my brother while I double knot my laces.
My mother plops a hat on my head and pulls the knit cap down over my ears, I shrug
away her bothersome hands, I'm 15, I can put on my own cap. She chastises me but I ignore her shrill words while my father and brother pull on their deerskin coats. Mine has a hood and that's why I like mine.
The door opens and a cold wind blows past us, threatening to turn our fireplace to steam. We rush outside at my mother's urging. Pulling down my dark green face mask, I breathe in the fresh air, it stills my lungs and cleanses it until it burns, I slowly blow out a breath taking delight that it looks like smoke that only the rich can afford.
The snow crunches loudly under our feet as we move in what looks like a single line until my friend, Rafiq Isaff Abd-El-Kadir came to walk by my side, while his father, Alem Gafar Abd-El-Kadir spoke to mine. They were tenth generation Arabians, the story went that their great great grandfather came to live in the western hemisphere before the sun exploded.
They claimed to have been citizens not that citizenship mattered much anymore. My father believed in never hunting alone and Mr. Alem was an excellent shot who used falconry to help him hunt rather than dogs like the rest of us.
My brother thought by using hawks, Mr. Alem was only showing off but he assured my brother that his skills were real. My father talked with Mr. Alem while Rafiq and I remained in
the back of the line holding the laterns to light the darkened way.
My brother held the front of the line.
We talked about useless things of what we think of the past and what it was like, not paying attention to our noisy steps until my father shushes me. "You'll scare the moose." Only ten miles away we settled down to get ready to actually track the large animal. We broke off into our families so our fathers could continue to teach us about tracking, a skill we've been learning our entire lives but still wasn't good enough for them.
I yawn through the lesson until my father hits the back of my head causing me to bite my tongue with a yelp. "Pay attention Cody or you can be seriously injured or worse, Paolo," dad looks to my brother and utters a command that Paolo follows without question or comment.
We move on from Mr. Alem and Rafiq, their hawks let out a squeal that they follow by latern light deeper into the forest. I watch their beacon move in the darkness like it was some sort of mysterious orb, mesmerized by it as it bounced seemingly without a host. Paolo nudges me forward and I stumble a bit, my foot punches through the thick snow until I'm stuck. Cursing under my breath, I pull my leg out, my blue jeans wet now.
My father crouches low beside some trees while we wait, you think animals wouldn't be able to survive without a sun but we're all doing the best we can out here in Pluto, our village's history teacher says this might be vengeance for no longer considering Pluto a planet, quite honestly, I just space out when the windbag talks but I guess I am learning something, something enough to mock it.
Silence rings out between the three of us and the only thing we can hear is the continued screeching of our neighbor's hawks circling the air. It's annoying to sit around and wait for the damn animals to come out and eat some leaves. We have better luck hunting owls. Taking out my slingshot I hold it up to eye level and center it on a tree where I can see rustling despite not having any wind. I pull back and wait again then let go of the lead pellet.
The owl falls to the ground and our dog brings it to me. Paolo chastises me, our dad ignores our small squabble then raises his hand for silence when a large creature comes stalking. We can't quite see what it is but we can hear its body sinking into the snow around us all. My father stands up and pulls the trigger in rapid succession so the creature wouldn't run away. An eerie sound escapes its mouth, a loud bellowing that I never heard.
Such pain and panic is released in a loud roar as the creature gives chase, we break out
into a run to follow the heavy beast. My dad takes more shots of it, Paolo is holding the light just behind his ear. We see it fall. My dad checks its corpse, "we got a stag!" Not what we wanted but its meat would be stored and its pelt can be traded.
The two began to drag it back to our house while my dad contacts Mr.Alem on the
walkie-talkie to let him know we got something and was heading back to the starting point.
He agreed that we should wait for 15 minutes.
Mr. Alem and Rafiq return with small game but nothing big. My dad offered some of the stag meat to them. Mr. Alem had more children than Rafiq but his older boys left to the cluster cities to make money but he had daughters as well. He graciously accepted the offer.
It's hard to tell the difference of time, when do we sleep or wake? I lay awake in my bed covered by artic fox fur and old sheets from a time when there were department stores and a place called Walmart. Whatever the hell that was. My hands are behind my head but I feel restless. Rafiq asked me earlier while we huddled in the back of the line to sneak out with him and drive his dad's snow mobile to the closest saloon.
The rumor was that there was a brothel set up by a retired pirate and former hitman in the small town and that they built it to look like the old westerns featuring someone named The Duke, he claimed that he had an erection lasting nearly all day and had some money that one of his brothers sent back to him as a gift. He wanted to leave sometime in the early morning or as we call it, twilight o' clock. Not that the sky lightens, no it never lightens but we have laterns both electric, battery operated and oil.
I'm thinking about it, this life is pretty boring. Day in and night out.
Getting off my bed, I silently get dressed in my warmest clothes but not too warm, I don't want the women to think I'm some kind of kid. Pulling on my black jeans over my red longjohns, I tiptoe into my brother's room for one of his long sleeve shirts and grab his silver lion totem necklace. Slipping it around my kneck, I creep into the kitchen to slip on my boots once more, pull on my jacket then wait to hear the content sigh of the collective house.
I could hear my dad's snoring from his bedroom, my mom no doubt lying beside him
with a pillow over her head. Nervously I grab the doorknob and twist, in a few heart pounding moments I'm outside and off down the road staying in the tracks we've created earlier or was
it yesterday? Last night? Oh nevermind.
Rafiq is on Mr. Alem's red Yamaha snow mobile, the bright white lights glisten off the snow in front of him, highlighting the cold drizzle. I suddenly just want to get to bed but if Rafiq is up for it then I'm game. "Awesome, let's go," he says in Arabic as I sit behind him, I'm confused about what to do with my hands, do I put them on his waist? Does that make me gay if I do? I clamp down on his shoulders instead, the engine whirls to life and kickstarts us into our first taste of freedom.
The town is a good ten miles from our forest dwellings near the river where the supposed pirate made his living from. Steam barges also grants passenger rides up and down the river to elsewhere. We tried talking but couldn't hear one another over the loud engine. I wonder how he knows where the town is, when we reach the town of twinkling oil lamps, he disembarks with a suaveness I never noticed before.
I wanted to question it but questioning is for kids and I want to appeal cool when I remember that I have no money.
"Relax," he waves down my concern, "my bro sent me a hundred as an early gift. Don't sweat it."
The brothel's sign is lit in neon lights, glowlights without batteries or electricity, I can't help but to notice how odd it looks with the classic wood paneling. I stop abreast the jutting
stairs covered in slush and various footprints to savor this capitol moment in my life. Inhaling icy air, I follow Rafiq inside where no one is guarding the door.
The stench hits me first, a mixture of cheap perfume and unwashed bodies strong
enough to make a lungless person gag. I turn my head in a quick reflex, feeling dizziness overtake my senses until I feel a tugging on my jacket. The sound penetrates my ears, I never heard such high pitch screaming and labored grunts combined in disgusting melodies. When I finally look up from following Rafiq blindly, I see the coat of lavender on the walls and plush furniture, naked and half naked women are walking about but so are shirtless men with beer bottles in hand.
I suddenly feel afraid of the other men but I can't show it. Tonight I become a man just like them so I can't back down. I must be the lion that hangs around my neck, fisting the medallion tightly, I feel a new confidence wash down my spine. Bravely I give any man my best cocky look.
Rafiq sits down at a round table with two chairs then begin to rub his hands together to thaw them out from under his thick gloves. He sits back in the chair comfortable and I can't help but to wonder why. "You know how to play poker, right?" He looks at me with a smile, revealing a chip tooth that I never seen.
"Yeah, I can play." My dad, brother, mother and I play for fun for small trinkets or
snacks.
"And pool?"
"Never seen one."
"Ahh, well then we'll stick to poker then."
Stunned, a woman comes bending over the table before I could ask, my eyes focus on the large creamy boobs that are barreling out of her halter top. Heat flushes my face but it has
nothing to do with the temperature inside. "You got some balls kid, are you Na'il's brother? You definitely got bigger balls than he does. All right, I'll go let the boss know you're here."
She sucked air between her teeth as she strode away to a back room where a large group of men and one woman sat playing cards. "Na'il's kid brother is here."
The boss nodded and two other men got up from the table.
Ajahny Carson was a large man, 6'0", fit and capable. The metal spurs on his black leather boots clanked on the wooden floor as he came towards us, the second large man has a blank expression making me feel like he wasn't too bright. The one in front sat down at the table. "Are you here to play in his stead?"
For the first time since this journey began I see sweat form on Rafiq's forehead as the
adult shuffled the deck of cards. The plastic cards flew between his hands magically before he tossed them out to Rafiq. "Get these boys some beers." The adult smiled lazily as he eyed us with his brown eyes, I sit up in the chair feeling my chest tightened, the other man remained standing near the one with the cards, silent as stone. Something about this wasn't right, what was Rafiq doing here playing poker with this man?
Another woman brings three beers and pops the tops and hands them to us.
I slowly take a sip so I wouldn't seem out of place, the cold brew slides down my throat with a bitter taste that I grimace at, when I see the man grin at me, I stop instantly. "I'm Ajahny Carson by the way, second in command of the town." He said using his authority, "and you'll know what will happen if your brother can't pay up, don't ya?" The corners of his mouth lift up in another grin that was chilling.
I sit quietly as they play the game, fearing each turn of the cards, each give and take of the chips and every dollar that's placed on the rough surface on the table. Time slowed down when the last hand was played, it was such a blur as Rafiq was pulled down by the front of his shirt until his head slammed against the table in a loud pop.
I remember getting to my feet and screaming, I could hear a collage of voices blending
and mixing in high pitched terror, my feet pound against wood then snow as a gust of cold air blasts my open chest. I don't remember where Rafiq is but my hands are suddenly shoveling through blankets of snow as my lower legs scramble to get me up again, I can see the black
outline of Mr. Alem's snow mobile, my heart is racing but for some reason nothing in my head seems to be making sense.
I am scared. Really scared. Scared shitless.
I can hear gun shots then feel a red hot sensation pass through my legs as I tumble back down to the ground. I can feel blood seeping through my longjohns and jeans before another gun goes off and everything fades to black.
Then it's Rafiq's POV but I haven't finished it yet.
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