Chapter 5

Camille sees the Fence for the first time, but she still has no idea how to get past it.

Chapter 5
     Camille
"There it is!" I exclaim, awestruck. I had never seen the Fence before in person, only in pictures. The Fence was a colossal structure, synthesized with metal and wood. I could almost see the electricity sizzling at it flows through the metal. Most of the fence is metal, to conduct electricity, but the wood helps reinforce the structure. It is strategically placed where it won;t interfere with the electric flow. It reminded me of the card houses that my brother used to build. He had tried teaching me, but I had been too impatient for the hobby.
"Yep that's it," Riah says as if he had seen the Fence so many times, he was sick of it.
"How many times have you been here?" I asked curiously.
He shrugged and said, "Too many times to count." I gazed at the Fence with wide eyes as we approached it. He parked the car in the shoulder of the natural, patchy road.
"We need to get closer," I complained.
He gave me a look of annoyance and said, "The car can't go on this road. We have to walk."
"Fine," I mutter. I push open the door and pull myself out of the small car. The fresh air was pleasant in comparison to the cigarette-tinted air in the car. We begin walking toward the Fence. I feel nervous about leaving our car unattended, but Riah had been here so many times, I trust that he knows what he is doing. I also noticed that he brought his bottle with him.
"Why exactly do you come here often?" I ask.
He shrugs and says, "Nothing better to do." Everyone knows about his frequent trips to the Fence. At first, everyone thought he was brave, then we realized that he was just stupid and reckless. Riah and other teenage bums tend to have parties near the Fence. I don't know what it does for them. I don't see how it could give an adrenaline rush, so what do they get out of it? I noticed an abundance of garbage littering the ground and shrubs. Any idiot could see that this place was a No-Man's-Land; it was a wasteland. As Riah and I get closer to the Fence, I see guards standing on different levels of the structure, wearing special suits made with a rubber material to keep them from getting electrocuted. I learned about them in school.
"Do they mind when people come to the Fence?" I ask, suddenly anxious.
"No. They mostly think we're just stupid for coming to such a 'dangerous' place," he says, quoting the word with his fingers and taking a swig of his beverage.
"You don't think its dangerous?" I ask. My whole life I've been told to avoid the edge of the city because of how risky it was. Why doesn't he take the cautions seriously?
He chuckles and says, "Of course it's not dangerous. They just tell us it is to keep us out of the way, and to keep us in line."
"Out of the way of what?"
"Whatever conspiracy is conducted here."
Now it's my turn to chuckle. "Conspiracy?" I ask with ridicule in my tone.
He looks me straight in the eyes, suddenly sober, and says, "Every society has a conspiracy." I think the whole theory is ridiculous. There is no conspiracy in our society; it's completely preposterous. I keep my mouth shut, though. I don't have any interest in arguing about it. Riah can believe whatever he wants to.
Riah halts at a meager, limp, barbed wire fence. I throw him a puzzled look. "This is as far as we can go," he states.
"But we're twenty yards away!"
"Not my rules, sweetheart." I stand there and gaze at the Fence. There's no way I can get out. The Fence is guarded with at least fifty guards with weapons, and that's only this area. It is just like this all the way around the city. I can't go through it, nor can I go around it. I consider climbing for a brief moment, but I know that the guards would catch me. Under? I don't have time to dig my way out. My brain struggles to conjure up a solution. It's impossible a voice in my head says. I remember what my father used to tell me: anything is possible if you make it possible. I never understood what he meant. Not everything is possible. Humans could never fly without air planes, which we stopped using. They were too dangerous. Besides, our city is small enough that we can drive wherever we need to go. If you drop an apple, you can't keep it airborne because of gravity. That's impossible. Obviously, my father was wrong. I told him that you can't make things possible; it just doesn't work that way. But this time, I absolutely have to make it possible.

Author's Note

The story is clear in my own head, but I don't know how well everything is being described to readers. Let me know if it is too confusing or if I'm not describing things well enough. Thanks!