1 Start of the Journey

Jaab walked through the streets of his rural town on his way to work. He glanced around at the starving kids under three-sided shacks lucky if they had a roof. The government had abandoned them 8 years ago. They stopped sending food and restocking trucks to the bigger corporations, big used lightly. The largest building for miles was the two-story warehouse on the edge of town that used to hold precious gems and metals from the mines that had run dry almost a decade ago. When it became clear that no matter how much digging and bombing they did the mines would not give up anymore, Rashn had been deemed insignificant and cut off. Nothing was left to the people.

The road beneath Jaab's feet was in disarray; the red-orange stones used as paving were cracked and dry. The cart pulled by a graying ox that came up beside him covered him in orange dust as it passed. He paused to wave in front of his face and cough. Why had this happened? Were the people here so insignificant that the government could leave them to slowly starve and decay into desert dust? When they had pulled away, they left nothing to the people. No settlement money or offers of jobs in other cities. Now, the people were left too poor to get to the other cities 60 miles away and too tired to try if they did.

With a deep sigh, he looked up at the gray-blue sky that was dreary enough to match his mood and continued walking. He saw a rusted out car body in one of the many stacked trash piles and was reminded of his childhood when his parents would be forced to drive him around to get him to quiet. He had always loved to visit the warehouse where his dad worked to look at the shiny stones and glistening bars of metal that were always lying around. He stuck a hand in his pocket to feel the rough edges of the blue diamond he carried; a final momento of his childish dreams. What use was dreaming when you knew nothing would change?

When he finally arrived at the dull concrete supermarket, he walked inside and was met with stifling silence. Morning shift. Well, the only shift. It was only him and the owner that actually worked here. He let out another heartfelt sigh and flicked on the light. He wandered to the back room and began restocking the few rows of shelves with the last of the boxes. The new shipment wasn't expected until... well, it wasn't expected. Someone had to work up the gumption to take an ox cart over the trek to another city, or at least half if you could find a runner. None of the big cities bothered to deliver all the way to Rashn, the small town in nowhere, and the best you could do was meet them halfway.

Throughout the long day, a grand total of four customers came through, all looking sad, thin, and resigned to the high price of the few items they got. There was no choice, it was buy it or starve. Nothing would grow in the barren dust of the land around Rashn, so they had always relied on imports. Now those were over and the people were just waiting to starve.

With his eyes heavy-lidded, Jaab set his head down on his arms and closed his eyes while keeping his ears open for the small bell on the door. He was grateful for the dark quiet that helped him ignore the pain in his stomach and unconsciously drifted off. The problem was when he opened his eyes, it wasn't the dark gray, red striped walls of the supermarket he saw.