Steam City

When everything could go wrong -- it does go wrong. Zombies used for entertainment. People randomly chosen without being given a choice. Yes, Steam City is definitely the place to be.

It wasn't that I wasn't interested in the performance that had begun nearly an hour ago, but it had gotten boring quick. The coliseum was built for these performances yet I couldn't help my mind wandering to the 'what ifs' of all the other things it could be used for in this day and age. My eyes closed as I began to nod off from all the thinking I had been doing for the past few minutes. These performances were getting rather boring. 

A screamed pierced the air as my eyes shot open from the shock of such a scream. When had they used women for these performances? I thought it was forbidden to kill women off. I pinpointed the woman going through the performance; her scream gave her position away. She was going to die. If you screamed, you were done. The chains rattled in my brain; they were distinct in this god-forbidden city. The moans came after the chains rattling; the moans always came after the chains rattling. It was the performance of the century. 

Her red hair glistened with sweat as she ran from the horde of walkers. Steam swallowed the figures as they stumbled into the arena; it was hard to have awesome coordination when you were dead. Well, technically, they were undead, but I'm diverting from the performance at hand. The woman was pale skinned; I could only assume she was of Irish descent. She stumbled to the other side of the arena. She was deprived of food and water; she was vulnerable. 

What the hell am I saying? Even men were vulnerable. Nobody was handpicked by the council; it was automatic. The chosen were picked from a steam powered supercomputer. It had the power to tell which human beings were to live and which were not to live. These performances were a sport to the citizens of Steam City. She was graceful being able to dodge the horde of living dead. I gulped as I recognized one of the walkers. She had sunken blue eyes; her black hair dull from no nutrition going to it. 

"Mom ..." 

"What's wrong, boy? See a lover?" laughed the man next to me. 

I glared at him. He didn't say another word as his head turned toward the woman crying, begging and screaming to be saved. A walker bit her arm before the others started to devour her. She'll either become a walker or die; I do hope she dies and goes to the promised land. I heard turning into a walker was torture. It was worse than dying.  My eyes traveled over to the woman with red hair. She wasn't much of a woman anymore. Her skin rotted from her bone; she was a mindless creature only wanting to eat. 

"How'd I let this happen to you, Mom?" I covered my face with my hands as other watchers left the arena. I stayed in my position for a good ten minutes before deciding to leave. The walkers went to their stay-hold with suggestion from the wranglers; they were deadly creatures, and they were treated as if they were lower than the most dangerous animal in the world. Does this mean the walkers weren't even considered an animal? They were things -- unholy things.

The city wasn't even all that impressive. It ran by steam, because steam was easy to create in this haven. Oh, haven -- I haven't used thatin a long time. I coughed as steam spit in my face. 

"Ugh!" I rubbed my eyes to gain back a clear, not blurry, picture. "I hate this city." 

I was all alone. I was heartbroken within the city walls. I had no family nor friends. Of course, most people within Steam City didn't have family and friends. I happened to one of the 'and' kind. I've been lucky as well. Those that have no one usually ended up as the sport of the city. 

Funny how the very creature that brought us to build this fortress are our sport. It made me sick when I thought about it. Why would we feed the 'scum' of the city to the walkers? Would that mean the scum were even lower than the walkers outside the city? My stomach churned from the thought. It wasn't right. Grabbing the apartment key from my pocket, I unlocked the door before stepping in to 'home sweet home'. I heard the neighbor play their saxophone; I loved the sound of that saxophone. 

Why'd the song have to sound eerie? 

I took a look at the apartment. It wasn't very big; enough for one person. The old-fashioned TV flashed in static as I walked through the living room to the kitchen. 

Did I leave the TV on with I left? 

The thought dissipated when I found some Raman in the fridge. Chicken flavored noodles sounded delicious right now. I placed the noodles in the microwave before going to turn the TV off. 

I'm sure I turned the TV off when I left. 

The microwave timer went off. Oh, food was done. I quickly ate the noodles before grabbing a towel from the closet. I worked grave shift at the gates. I was a guard to make sure no walkers got into the city. It was an easy and boring job. Walkers weren't the brightest creatures on the planet. 

Of course, neither were we. 

I turned the shower on before stripping myself of the dirty clothes. Why was the water so loud in this apartment complex? Though, I could still hear the saxophone music from the neighbor's apartment. It relaxed my mind. I opened my eyes as I saw a flash of white. The TV static was heard throughout the apartment. 

I turned that off! 

The saxophone's notes augmentation seemed to heightened the mood as a figure appeared in front of my shower curtain. 

Author's Note

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