Authorès Note: Thank you everyone for reading. Please comment your thoughts, I would love to know what you think about it.

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            The sweat was collecting on Brodhi’s forehead and began to roll down his cheek. He was jogging through the streets of the Slums when he saw Todd sneaking back through one of the alleys. He picked up his pace and ran towards him.

            Todd looked up as he heard Brodhi’s footsteps echo down the alley. Brodhi always thought it was funny to see Todd when he tried to look wealthy. He already pulled his red shirt out from his pants and a few pieces of hair strayed loose from the gel.

            “Gee, where are you coming from?” Brodhi asked wryly.

            “Who are you runnin’ from?” Todd asked back.

            “Don’t be a smart-ass.”

            Todd chuckled under his breath. Brodhi panted heavily from his extensive jog as the walked down the alley together.

            “Shai got her hands on this piece of jewellery yesterday,” Todd began to tell Brodhi. Other than Shai, he was the only person Todd trusted. “We were able to pawn it for a thousand at some pawn shop in Bright.”

            “Then I see you left her behind,” Brodhi pointed out; noticing that Shai was nowhere near them.

            “No, she attracted some Brighty. I told her to go out with him and try to get him to buy her things.”

            “What if she gets caught?”

            “She won’t be.”

            Brodhi was always amazed by Todd’s confidence in Shai. The girl was definitely a good thief and a liar, but it took Todd years before he could trust Brodhi. They met when they were thirteen and spent over a year robbing together. Then one day Todd found Shai. She was skinny and covered in dirt, like so many abandoned kids on the streets. He still didn’t know what possessed Todd to bring her home with him like a stray dog.

            “Just don’t mention anythin’ to my brother,” Brodhi said smirking. “I don’t think he’d like the idea of some Brighty falling in love with Shai.”

            “If he’s buyin’ her expensive enough things, I don’t think Jasper will complain,” Todd said.

            “True.”

            They came to the back of Todd’s apartment building and the stopped right outside of the fire escape. The building provided a cool rectangle of shade.

            “So I’ll see you at the derby tomorrow?” Brodhi asked.

            “Yeah. You drivin’ this year?”

            “Nah, I can’t risk it. Lynn is goin’ to give birth in a month and I can’t let her raise that baby by herself. You driving?”

            “Never do.”

            “Why?”

            Todd just shrugged his shoulders and wrapped his fingers around the ladder. He started to pull himself up and climb up to his apartment.

            “I just don’t. Who needs a Brighty searchin’ through their file?” Todd replied.

            “I thought you didn’t have a file,” he yelled up the fire escape.

            When Brodhi got back to his house, Lynn was standing in the kitchen with his mother. A line of children ran around the table and then out the back door. Brodhi’s mother, Darla, ran a daycare centre out of their home. She got very little money for each kid, but it was better than nothing.

            Lynn was cutting the mould off an old piece of bread they got at the Drop-Off. They go to the Drop-Off every week for food, and Brodhi had to go today. He slung his arm over her shoulder and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

            “You smell horrible,” she told him.

            “Maybe I’ll use that to get to the front of the line,” he informed her.

            “This is all we have,” she said flipping a piece of her curly red hair out of her face. “So you better leave before it’s all gone.”

            “Do you want me to go with you?” Darla asked.

            Lynn shot him a quick look and he knew she didn’t want to be left in charge of a herd of children for a couple hours.

            “No, I’ve got it. I’ll just get changed and then go,” he told them heading for the stairs. He walked down the hallway to Lynn and his room at the end of the hall. The blue wallpaper was faded and peeling off. He pulled his sweaty shirt over his head and put on a fairly clean black one. The weight of his knife he could still feel in his pocket. Quickly he wiped his head and face with his old shirt and went back down the stairs.

            He gave Lynn a quick kiss before leaving and headed for the Drop-Off.

            The Drop-Off was when restaurants and businesses had too much food left over and because it was stale or mouldy they didn’t want to eat it. So, every Thursday a large truck from the Base in Bright bring it over into the Slums. Brighties didn’t want it, and it was easier to give it to Rats than to dispose of it properly.

            The building already came into view. It was long and you could tell there use to be large windows, but now all of the glass was smashed leaving sharp shards of glass to jut of from the building. A faded piece of green cloth hung over the door. The wind had ripped holes into it. Brodhi had once heard someone say that the building was used before the Virus to sell food out of.

            How appropriate, he thought.

            There was a line of people coming out from the store. Most of them were women with children clinging to them or people suffering from disabilities. Not many able-bodied men like Brodhi came here, as it was to hurt their pride. He asked Todd if would ever come to the Drop-Off and he just snorted and turned his head the other way. If someone asked Brodhi the same question a year ago, he would have had the same response. Now, he was having a baby and he noticed his mother starting to lose her memory. If he got caught stealing he’d be sent to one of those camps and he won’t know what would happen to his family.

            Two Officers were posted outside the doors to the store. The line slowly shuffled into the building and Brodhi prayed that he hadn’t showed up too late. He couldn’t stand the thought of coming back to the house and telling Lynn there was nothing left. He didn’t want them to starve for a week because he went out for a run before going to the Drop-Off. 

            The woman in front of him was carrying a baby that was eying him oddly. He looked away and saw that the line had grown even longer behind him. He also noticed that the man behind him leaning to one side on a crutch. Brodhi kept his eyes straight and his feet moving.

            He could see the Officers behind the many lengthy counters were handing boxes to many people as the other Officers behind them were filling the boxes.

            When he got to the front of the line the Officer glared at him before handing him his box. The black plastic flaps on the lid were closed so he couldn’t see what was inside.

            He followed into the line with the rest of the people out of the store. Many of the women grabbed the hands of their children and ran home before anyone tried to rob them. The cripples tried to wobble home as quickly as they could too. The box remained under Brodhi’s arm and walked home with the knife readily available.

            When he got home, Lynn had one of the children on her hip. She had a towel pressed up against the girl’s forehead. Brodhi put the box on the table and opened up the flaps to revile what’s inside. Darla came up beside her son.

            Brodhi pulled out three loaves of bread covered in mould, bruised apples and strawberries, and a hunk of cheese that most had turned grey. There was also a small packet of meat. Brodhi opened it and a rotten smell filled his nose.

            He turned to throw it out when Darla grabbed his arm.

            “What are you doing?” she asked concerned.

            “I’m getting’ rid of it,” he said.

            “No! You can’t do that!” she exclaimed.

            Darla reached out for the meat and Brodhi held it away from her. She clawed at him with her fingernails trying to get the pack from him.

            “Mom, its no good,” he told her. “If I let any of us eat it we may die!”

            “No! The Officers gave it to us, so it’s good.”

            “The Officers don’t care, Mom. They’re giving us food they don’t want because it is the easiest way to get rid of it. They could care less about us.”

            The tears began to build up in Darla’s eyes and she let go of Brodhi. Lynn put the girl down and took the towel off her head. A red gash was across the corner of the girl’s temple.

            “Go back outside, Lori,” Lynn told her.

            “What if Billy starts throwin’ rocks at me again?” her small voice asked.

            “Then just tell him to stop being an ass,” she said, clearly more interested in the argument between Brodhi and Darla.

            Lynn took Darla by the shoulders and set her down in one of the chairs at the table. The blank expression on his mother’s face concerned Brodhi. He threw the pack of meat in the plastic container and put it out on the corner of their lawn. After Curfew a team of Officers come out to collect them. Anyone caught with a box was considered an offence and were at risk of being set off to a camp.

            When Brodhi came back into the house Lynn was sitting down too, rubbing a hand over her large belly. He sat down in another chair and began slicing off the mould on the bread.

            So this is what a legal life feels like, he thought.