Ascending

The escape is only the beginning...

As the sun peered over the horizon on the hidden compound a girl of sixteen and a young mother of two stood at the base of a fifteen foot fence. This thin metal barrier barred the two from what they had been seeking their entire life. Freedom. The two wore black hoodies and torn jeans, their faces thin from exhaustion and hunger. The mother would have been considered a beauty if she had had some color in her face and a shine in her hair. The sixteen year-old appeared to be thirteen at best. The teen's short, dogged life had delayed the later stages of puberty and held her in a saddening state of permanent adolescence.

The fence was chain linked at the bottom and barbed wire at the top. Vines, that originated from the brair patch below, with piecing thorns climbed the fence and looped themselves into painfully knots on each link. Without an exchange of words the teen girl moved to the fence first and began to climb taking into clever consideration where to place her hands. The mother hesitated at the foot of the fence. She had an infant strapped to her chest and a seven- year old girl at her side. The child with strange eyes, one blue and the other green, moved before her mother. She grasped the fence and began to ascend, her small hands and feet fitting easily into the hole that the chain link created. The mother shook with violent force. What if she were to fall, what if her child were to slip off the fence or her infant out of her carrier? 

The teenage girl nearing halfway up the fence looked down to see the mother had not moved and the sun was quickly rising to reveal their escape. Fearful of shouting an encouragement she turned to continue her climb. Her arms were beginning to shake and her hand placement became sloppy. She repeatedly grabbed chains that had dozens of needle-like thorns that in-bedded themselves into her skin. The pain was building and her blood was spilling, but she continued to push forward. 

The teen girl neared the top and the mother had yet to move from her original spot. The teenager turned and looked down at her. Though she had not said a word, the teen's eyes shouted for her to move. It was with that silent scream that the mother began her journey towards freedom. She took the climb at a slow pace to ensure the safety of the child and herself. As she climbed she saw her daughter meet at the top with the teen. Her child appeared stoic on top of the fence. She had endured a number of hardships for such a young age, but the mother did not see it carried on her daughter's face, in her movements or her spirit. The mother thought to herself, "This child will taste freedom and it will be cherished." The mother pushed upward. 

At the top of the fence the teen and child caught each other's gaze. The climb wasn't over and the sun was moving quickly up in the sky. Soon the fields would be full with harvesters and their plot would be exposed. They would be shot and left to hang on the fence. Perhaps worse, they would be brought back and locked away. They would become comfort women, whipping girls or thrown into solitary till they went mad in silence. The teen shook away the thoughts and the young girl's gaze. She looked below and was relieved to see the mother began her climb and was nearing the halfway point. Her hands were covered in blood, but she continued to move up. 

"We will wait." the teen said to the young girl clinging to the fence which began to shift in the morning breeze. "It is all or none of us." The young girl nodded with no fear in her eyes. The teen was amazed. At this point, all of them still had the choice to go back down and stay. While the teen had yearned for freedom all of her life she feared life on the outside of the fence. In the compound she was brainwashed and told that whatever was on the outside of the fence was stronger than her. She was taught that women and girls were too feeble minded to live outside of the fence. Women inside the fence, as long as they behaved, were safe. They were cared for, to some extend. Once a year they are paired with a male to procreate and once there was a fetus growing they would be put on rest. Practically worshiped. Once the child was born it was whisked away to the school and was raised there. Thirteen years later the children would come out of the school and would be placed. The girls with the women and the boys with the men. 

The teen looking over the compound began to cry. Her daughter was still in there somewhere. She would only be a few months old, but her child had no defining features. Because of this when she and the mother rescued the two children the teen could not identify which infant was hers. The mother was lucky, her infant had a scar on her cheek which the mother gave her quickly during the birthing process to help identify when she was older. The seven year-old had two different colored eyes just like her mother. And so, one mother will escape with two children and the other with none. 

The teen looked back at the compound, shades of orange and red lingered in the windows of the distance house. If she turned around now, she would die in that house. If she left she could die, or she could possibly find help. Come back and free all the girls all the women that were held in the fence. She decided she would rather die in the outside world than die in a cage. in the outside world there was a chance. A chance of being reunited with her daughter. A chance to be something more than a mother with no child, a harvester, or whatever was chosen for her. The mother reached the top of the fence. Her hair that came loose from her braid flew in the breeze and gentle brushed the barbed wire directly above. 

The mother said with a sad smile, " My hands hurt." 

Through teared filled eyes the teen said, "Then we best get down, quickly." She used her teeth to pull her hoodie's sleeves over her hands to absorb the blood and offer some grip. The mother and child did the same. They carefully pulled themselves through the large loops of wire. The iron punctured the arm of the child, and the mother was grazed by a sharped tip but otherwise they came out unscathed. With the hardest part of the climb over the girls descended on the opposite side of the fence. Pain pierced their skin and shook in their muscles, but they were nearly there. The child was the first to touch freedom. Once she hit the ground, she didn't look into the gates of the compound, she immediately turned and headed for the tree line. The teen reached the ground second. She crouched and waited for the mother to come down. She spent the time picking thorns out of her hand. She bit and sucked on the ones that were proving to be more difficult to get out. Then the bells tolled.

Panic rose in the teen as the mother was still halfway between the ground and the top. "Hurry!" she hissed at the mother. 

The mother's heart rate elevated and caused her left hand to slip. She quickly regained herself, but her infant was startled awake. The teen saw women exiting the house, it would be seconds not minutes before they would be spotted and if they were spotted before the morning muster, they would surely be found. The mother climbed down quickly becoming more and more careless about the tenderness of her palms and the charlie horse in her leg. She vibrated with nerves and pain. She felt the pulse in her ears and heard her heart skip a beat when she heard a woman scream. "Escapees!" 

The mother was a foot from the ground, she jumped off the fence without looking back. She wrapped her arms around the baby strapped to her chest and bolted. She and the teen ran for the tree line, shouting for the little girl to meet with them. Behind the fence there was hysteria, dogs barking and men yelling. They could not focus on the distant sound of pursuers. They had to run. Run, into the frightening realm of freedom.   

Author's Note

Ignore grammar problems, please. However, I appreciate comments on the piece as a whole. Suggestions that could make the piece better. Tips and tricks for better grammar. Finally, do you actually want to read more of this particular story. (aka should there be a "second" chapter)

Thank you for your time!

Reviews

[Robert Parlange]

This is very good. A good prologue or “hook” for a much longer work. I would like to know more about this dystopian world. What lies beyond the fence? How did things get like this?

You have a narrative gift. I was drawn into the story.

Keep writing.

[MelissaAndres]

I really liked this! You have something good here. It was tense and emotional and it sure kept me reading. I love the concept. Please continue. You could give background, why they were locked in the fence in the first place, where are they going to go, and all kinds of information. Great job!