April Writing Challenge: Apocolypse Now
Apr 13, 2011 21:07:27 GMT -5
Post by Yulia Sokolov on Apr 13, 2011 21:07:27 GMT -5
This isn't home (pt. 2)
“She’s a burden to you Mama.” Yulia could hear her sister’s voice from the kitchen. It was Irina, of course. Elena was far too nervous a creature to ever speak out like that. Still in that sense it was both of them, as Irina tended to speak for both. Barely even glanced up from the form she was working on.
“No Irina, now that isn’t true. Your sister has a job.” Irina scoffed in the kitchen.
“She has a job, yes, but where has she been for the past thirteen years?”
“You know where she has been Irina, she was in the military and then in America.”
“I bet she’s all tied into the mess over there,” Irina said bitterly. America’s troubles with the now reorganized and stranger MSAD had been in the papers and on the news. That made Yulia glance up, tempted to go out there and scold Irina. She didn’t though, she had work to do and she didn’t want to stress her mother out any more. However, Christina spoke up for her.
“Irina! What kind of thing is that to say about your sister! She could not possibly, she has been here.”
“She wants to go back though.” That was true, in fact Yulia was working on her immigrant Visa now. In the meantime she had been trying her best to contact her friends. She hadn’t heard from any of them, but assumed that they had fled Pilot Ridge after MSAD resurfaced once the military had withdrawn. At least that was what she hoped had happened, because the alternative was just too awful to think about.
“She has friends there, she has a life there.”
“What about here? She should stay here and help us to take care of you when you get old Mama.”
“I am getting old now and I can take care of myself. Your father and I will be fine.” Yulia had enough. She put down her form and stepped out of her room, going to the kitchen where her mother and sisters were. Immediately all were silent. Her mother absentmindedly stirred her tea. Irina glared at her younger sister, the look sizzling with anger. Then there was Elena, who just sat there, thin, cold, and as sharp as an icicle. Yulia got herself a glass of water, simply enjoying their forced silence. She took her time, and soon enough Irina was forced to start in on another subject.
“Peter keeps letting the children get away with everything. They won’t even listen to me anymore.”
Yulia went back to her room.
~
“You’re fired.”
“But I have done nothing wrong,” Yulia said in alarm.
“You are Meta, it says so in your new papers, so you are fired. We cannot have you in this mine.” Yulia looked down, if she got fired from the mine then where could she get a job? If this was on her papers then her prospects were grim.
Things were hard enough already. Yesterday she had gotten word that her immigration visa had been denied, and she still hadn’t gotten any letters yet. She was worried already, and now she felt sick to her stomach. Yulia handed over her helmet and walked out of the office. She had no idea what she was going to do. Was it possible for her to get fake papers? She had perfect control over her ability, no one was in danger.
Yulia left the premises and walked home. It was better just to go than to stay and fight it out with her boss and security. Now Irina would be right, she was about to become a burden. Still, during the long walk home she did come up with a plus. If this continued she could apply for Humanitarian parole. Naturally she didn’t want it to, but there was some advantage.
Clearly the same reason that she had been denied her immigration Visa had also cost her job. She was a security risk, or rather was unjustly considered one. She could find some way of it working in her benefit. Well, it looked like she had plenty of time to brainstorm now.
~
Yulia sat at the kitchen table, looking down at the new paperwork. She had no job now, no one would hire her. At least they weren’t chasing her out, her military time earned her some respect. Her parents had been quite, tense. She knew that they were worried about money, she knew that they could only support her for so long. She was using what she had saved to support herself, but her funds were drying up.
The situation in America was getting worse from what she could tell. Other countries were now facing such challenges. China was right bellow them, and the Metas there had risen up as well. Yulia hated MSAD more than ever. They had caused a lockdown on anyone who was a meta. Russia was really cracking down. She had been informed of her curfew, and other check in times. Luckily she had always been one to play by the rules.
Yulia signed her forms in a few last places. She stacked them and put them into the manila envelope that was already stamped and addressed. Tomorrow her father said he could drop off the petition for humanitarian parole to be mailed. Yulia stood, but then there was a sudden knock on the door. Nickolai wasn’t home yet, but Christina stepped out of her bedroom. Yulia answered the door.
“Yulia Sokolov?”
“Yes.” She didn’t have time to say anything more. The man tazed her and she blacked out.
~
“Yulia?” Yulia blinked a few times, her body aching. She looked at the man across the table from her. She wasn’t sure where was was, but she knew what this was. It was clearly an interrogation, but for what? She hadn’t done anything, but then again she had gotten a lot of crap for not doing anything over the past couple months.
“Yes,” She replied. Her wrists were tied behind her to the chair she was sitting on, and the room was wickedly cold. She started to shiver.
“Yulia Sokolov, twenty five, born in Norilsk, attended Odarennyi and then you were in the Military for seven years?”
“Yes, but what is this about?”
“I will ask the questions Ms. Sokolov,” said that man as he grimly sorted through his papers.
“You are a meta human? With Psionic Blast?”
“Yes, I am.”
“You lost your partner during a mission?” Yulia was silent, she didn’t want to talk about Evgeny. The man took note of this. “I see that this is a sore spot for you. Do you blame the military or Russia for this?” That earned him a suspicious look from Yulia.
“We could have had better intelligence on the cell that we were invading.”
“Hmm, I see,” he said as he marked something down. “And so you left the military for Vermont?”
“I was discharged, I was badly injured and I took a job elsewhere.”
“Hammel.”
“Yes.”
“Hammel has been on the news a lot recently. It has raised some concerns for us. It seems as if MSAD is spreading from that very town.” Now she understood.
“I fought against MSAD in Pilot Ridge,” she declared determinedly.
“What proof do you have of that?” Yulia stared at him blankly for a moment.
“None,” she said slowly. “The people I know, they’re either dead of fleeing.”
“So there is no proof that you weren’t a MSAD agent? None at all?”
“My word isn’t good enough? I served in the Military for seven years.” The man slammed his hand down on the table.
“Where your partner died in a mysterious incident, after which you ran off to Vermont.”
“It wasn’t mysterious, it was an explosion! An explosion that the military sent him into!” The man sat down with a satisfied smirk and Yulia knew that she had misspoken. She bit her lip.
“So you do blame the Military for the death of Mr. Yegor?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You might as well have.” This wasn’t fair, but that seemed to be a theme or late.
“That isn’t true, people I cared about, my co-workers, died.”
“Did you kill them?”
“No!”
“Did you help someone else kill them?”
“No I did not.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Do you think we are all just malicious killers? All Metas?” The man gave a half smirk and half snarl, paired with a cold laugh.
“It looks like it from what we have seen on the news and from what we have gathered at our own institute.”
“You expect children forced into military school to be happy?”
“They’re lucky they aren’t in the outside world like you and the other graduates.”
“What is this all about?”
“Russia sees metas as a threat to national security. Given your military training and knowledge, let alone your questionable loyalties, we will have to place you in a facility. We are doing the same with all of our Metas, in unit or discharged.”
“They haven’t even done anything, have they?”
“We can’t take the risk.” Yulia pulled at her restraints, trying to break them now.
“You cannot do this to a group of innocent people!”
“We will do what is needed to keep the Public safe.”
“What happens to all of us?”
“You will all be dealt with according to your power set. Given your power and your history I can guarantee you of what you will get Ms. Sokolov.”
“And what is that?”
“An execution date.”
~
Yulia’s eyes were closed, and she leaned against the wall. The painted cinderblock was cold against her back and shoulders. She had been here for a few months, locked away like a criminal with a bunch of other metas. Then again, in the eyes of the government they were criminals. She had watched mainly, some were old men and women and some were younger than her. She had been interrogated since, mostly about MSAD. Naturally she didn’t know much, and they thought she was simply resisting. She continued to proclaim her innocence. It did her no good.
A few weeks after she arrived here she had seen the first one. They had taken a man out, a man around the age of forty she would say. They had all watched as he had been led past the cells to the doors. At first Yulia thought they were letting him out, she had been wrong. Her cell window faced the field behind the prison not the road in front. They brought the man out to that field, and Yulia watched through her window as they shot him in the head and buried him in that field. Over the past few months she had watched as that field became a cemetery.
The man had been right, they had given her an execution date as well, but that was for two months ago. However she was still alive because of one thing, her application for humanitarian parole. She had the chance to escape all of this, given that the United States granted that parole. It was a long shot but it was her only chance. The downside came with the sickening knowledge that any day could be her last, and there was nothing she could do about it. She was at the mercy of a government already plagued by meta problems.
Clicking footsteps that signaled the approach of guards. There was a general rustle of movement from the cells as everyone looked to see where they were going. It was like a sick game show, who would die today? Yulia watched and waited, but then they stopped at her cell. One unlocked the door and stepped in. Yulia sat calmly, which took nearly all of her self control at this point. The guard said nothing to her, just reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter, holding it out to Yulia. She looked at it for a moment and then took her, her hand shaking a little. She looked down at the address, it was from the U.S. Citizen and Immigration services. So this was it, this was the letter she had been waiting for.
“Open it,” the guard told her.
Yulia tore open the envelope and took out the letter…
“She’s a burden to you Mama.” Yulia could hear her sister’s voice from the kitchen. It was Irina, of course. Elena was far too nervous a creature to ever speak out like that. Still in that sense it was both of them, as Irina tended to speak for both. Barely even glanced up from the form she was working on.
“No Irina, now that isn’t true. Your sister has a job.” Irina scoffed in the kitchen.
“She has a job, yes, but where has she been for the past thirteen years?”
“You know where she has been Irina, she was in the military and then in America.”
“I bet she’s all tied into the mess over there,” Irina said bitterly. America’s troubles with the now reorganized and stranger MSAD had been in the papers and on the news. That made Yulia glance up, tempted to go out there and scold Irina. She didn’t though, she had work to do and she didn’t want to stress her mother out any more. However, Christina spoke up for her.
“Irina! What kind of thing is that to say about your sister! She could not possibly, she has been here.”
“She wants to go back though.” That was true, in fact Yulia was working on her immigrant Visa now. In the meantime she had been trying her best to contact her friends. She hadn’t heard from any of them, but assumed that they had fled Pilot Ridge after MSAD resurfaced once the military had withdrawn. At least that was what she hoped had happened, because the alternative was just too awful to think about.
“She has friends there, she has a life there.”
“What about here? She should stay here and help us to take care of you when you get old Mama.”
“I am getting old now and I can take care of myself. Your father and I will be fine.” Yulia had enough. She put down her form and stepped out of her room, going to the kitchen where her mother and sisters were. Immediately all were silent. Her mother absentmindedly stirred her tea. Irina glared at her younger sister, the look sizzling with anger. Then there was Elena, who just sat there, thin, cold, and as sharp as an icicle. Yulia got herself a glass of water, simply enjoying their forced silence. She took her time, and soon enough Irina was forced to start in on another subject.
“Peter keeps letting the children get away with everything. They won’t even listen to me anymore.”
Yulia went back to her room.
~
“You’re fired.”
“But I have done nothing wrong,” Yulia said in alarm.
“You are Meta, it says so in your new papers, so you are fired. We cannot have you in this mine.” Yulia looked down, if she got fired from the mine then where could she get a job? If this was on her papers then her prospects were grim.
Things were hard enough already. Yesterday she had gotten word that her immigration visa had been denied, and she still hadn’t gotten any letters yet. She was worried already, and now she felt sick to her stomach. Yulia handed over her helmet and walked out of the office. She had no idea what she was going to do. Was it possible for her to get fake papers? She had perfect control over her ability, no one was in danger.
Yulia left the premises and walked home. It was better just to go than to stay and fight it out with her boss and security. Now Irina would be right, she was about to become a burden. Still, during the long walk home she did come up with a plus. If this continued she could apply for Humanitarian parole. Naturally she didn’t want it to, but there was some advantage.
Clearly the same reason that she had been denied her immigration Visa had also cost her job. She was a security risk, or rather was unjustly considered one. She could find some way of it working in her benefit. Well, it looked like she had plenty of time to brainstorm now.
~
Yulia sat at the kitchen table, looking down at the new paperwork. She had no job now, no one would hire her. At least they weren’t chasing her out, her military time earned her some respect. Her parents had been quite, tense. She knew that they were worried about money, she knew that they could only support her for so long. She was using what she had saved to support herself, but her funds were drying up.
The situation in America was getting worse from what she could tell. Other countries were now facing such challenges. China was right bellow them, and the Metas there had risen up as well. Yulia hated MSAD more than ever. They had caused a lockdown on anyone who was a meta. Russia was really cracking down. She had been informed of her curfew, and other check in times. Luckily she had always been one to play by the rules.
Yulia signed her forms in a few last places. She stacked them and put them into the manila envelope that was already stamped and addressed. Tomorrow her father said he could drop off the petition for humanitarian parole to be mailed. Yulia stood, but then there was a sudden knock on the door. Nickolai wasn’t home yet, but Christina stepped out of her bedroom. Yulia answered the door.
“Yulia Sokolov?”
“Yes.” She didn’t have time to say anything more. The man tazed her and she blacked out.
~
“Yulia?” Yulia blinked a few times, her body aching. She looked at the man across the table from her. She wasn’t sure where was was, but she knew what this was. It was clearly an interrogation, but for what? She hadn’t done anything, but then again she had gotten a lot of crap for not doing anything over the past couple months.
“Yes,” She replied. Her wrists were tied behind her to the chair she was sitting on, and the room was wickedly cold. She started to shiver.
“Yulia Sokolov, twenty five, born in Norilsk, attended Odarennyi and then you were in the Military for seven years?”
“Yes, but what is this about?”
“I will ask the questions Ms. Sokolov,” said that man as he grimly sorted through his papers.
“You are a meta human? With Psionic Blast?”
“Yes, I am.”
“You lost your partner during a mission?” Yulia was silent, she didn’t want to talk about Evgeny. The man took note of this. “I see that this is a sore spot for you. Do you blame the military or Russia for this?” That earned him a suspicious look from Yulia.
“We could have had better intelligence on the cell that we were invading.”
“Hmm, I see,” he said as he marked something down. “And so you left the military for Vermont?”
“I was discharged, I was badly injured and I took a job elsewhere.”
“Hammel.”
“Yes.”
“Hammel has been on the news a lot recently. It has raised some concerns for us. It seems as if MSAD is spreading from that very town.” Now she understood.
“I fought against MSAD in Pilot Ridge,” she declared determinedly.
“What proof do you have of that?” Yulia stared at him blankly for a moment.
“None,” she said slowly. “The people I know, they’re either dead of fleeing.”
“So there is no proof that you weren’t a MSAD agent? None at all?”
“My word isn’t good enough? I served in the Military for seven years.” The man slammed his hand down on the table.
“Where your partner died in a mysterious incident, after which you ran off to Vermont.”
“It wasn’t mysterious, it was an explosion! An explosion that the military sent him into!” The man sat down with a satisfied smirk and Yulia knew that she had misspoken. She bit her lip.
“So you do blame the Military for the death of Mr. Yegor?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You might as well have.” This wasn’t fair, but that seemed to be a theme or late.
“That isn’t true, people I cared about, my co-workers, died.”
“Did you kill them?”
“No!”
“Did you help someone else kill them?”
“No I did not.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Do you think we are all just malicious killers? All Metas?” The man gave a half smirk and half snarl, paired with a cold laugh.
“It looks like it from what we have seen on the news and from what we have gathered at our own institute.”
“You expect children forced into military school to be happy?”
“They’re lucky they aren’t in the outside world like you and the other graduates.”
“What is this all about?”
“Russia sees metas as a threat to national security. Given your military training and knowledge, let alone your questionable loyalties, we will have to place you in a facility. We are doing the same with all of our Metas, in unit or discharged.”
“They haven’t even done anything, have they?”
“We can’t take the risk.” Yulia pulled at her restraints, trying to break them now.
“You cannot do this to a group of innocent people!”
“We will do what is needed to keep the Public safe.”
“What happens to all of us?”
“You will all be dealt with according to your power set. Given your power and your history I can guarantee you of what you will get Ms. Sokolov.”
“And what is that?”
“An execution date.”
~
Yulia’s eyes were closed, and she leaned against the wall. The painted cinderblock was cold against her back and shoulders. She had been here for a few months, locked away like a criminal with a bunch of other metas. Then again, in the eyes of the government they were criminals. She had watched mainly, some were old men and women and some were younger than her. She had been interrogated since, mostly about MSAD. Naturally she didn’t know much, and they thought she was simply resisting. She continued to proclaim her innocence. It did her no good.
A few weeks after she arrived here she had seen the first one. They had taken a man out, a man around the age of forty she would say. They had all watched as he had been led past the cells to the doors. At first Yulia thought they were letting him out, she had been wrong. Her cell window faced the field behind the prison not the road in front. They brought the man out to that field, and Yulia watched through her window as they shot him in the head and buried him in that field. Over the past few months she had watched as that field became a cemetery.
The man had been right, they had given her an execution date as well, but that was for two months ago. However she was still alive because of one thing, her application for humanitarian parole. She had the chance to escape all of this, given that the United States granted that parole. It was a long shot but it was her only chance. The downside came with the sickening knowledge that any day could be her last, and there was nothing she could do about it. She was at the mercy of a government already plagued by meta problems.
Clicking footsteps that signaled the approach of guards. There was a general rustle of movement from the cells as everyone looked to see where they were going. It was like a sick game show, who would die today? Yulia watched and waited, but then they stopped at her cell. One unlocked the door and stepped in. Yulia sat calmly, which took nearly all of her self control at this point. The guard said nothing to her, just reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter, holding it out to Yulia. She looked at it for a moment and then took her, her hand shaking a little. She looked down at the address, it was from the U.S. Citizen and Immigration services. So this was it, this was the letter she had been waiting for.
“Open it,” the guard told her.
Yulia tore open the envelope and took out the letter…
