Historical Holograms From A Runaway Punk

Crap, is this thing on? Yea, okay, good. I remember how I got to the Archery Range, but let me tell you how I got here because it wasn’t on my own. I got picked up by Ivan and his Mike the Trike. I swear I was walking forever with so many questions inside my head, like where did all the exiles go to? Would I meet any of them? Did anyone live out here, outside the walls of Tech City?

I heard a rumbling noise, so I ducked behind some bushes. As soon as the noise source came into view, I noticed that it was an old man riding on some mechanical beast that I had never seen before! Very unlike the people in Tech City, he had scraggly, old man white hair halfway down his back and a thick full white beard with a huge, wide mustache. His clothes were made of some blue ratted material, something else I had never seen before. He didn’t seem scary, so I quickly ran out and yelled for him to stop. At first, he did not hear me, so I screamed again at the top of my lungs and waved my arms. He looked back and finally noticed me, turning his mechanical beast around so that he was facing me. He made a stop right in front of me; he was curious. I eyed his 3-wheeled dinosaur. “What are you doing out here by yourself, purple? This is no place for a city kid,” he asked.

“I’m trying to find my mother. She was exiled.”

“Your mother? Why in hell… Well, that might cost you. Can you pay?” he asked with a smile. I wasn’t sure what to say and started to step back away from him. “Look, kid, I don’t have all day. Nothing in life is free, so there must be something you can pay me with.”

I remembered I had the glass bot, so I took it out of my pocket and showed it to him. He took it out of my hand and looked it over, “That’s a Mil-RAT. Where’d you get this?” I pointed to the woods, “From over there, in a building. It just popped out of the wall.”

“Is that right?” he asked. I nodded my head, “yes.” He put the Mil-RAT inside his pocket and said, “Hop on, and we’ll figure something out.” I got on the metal beast, and soon we were moving, like flying on land.

“Dad still in Tech City?” he asked.

“I don’t know...” I said.

“I should take ya back.”

“NO! I don’t belong there.”

“So, what’s your name? You hungry?”

“I’m starving!”

We stopped at a place that had food and sat down. Ivan asked me what my name was again, so I drew the inscription I saw from my secret place. He said, “K-I-N-G, looks like the name King.”

“Yes, that’s it, King, my name.”

“Unusual name for a little girl. How’d you get a name like that?”

“I don’t know,” I said, stuffing food in my face to avoid talking. I didn’t want to tell him my real name. I was scared he would try to take me back to Tech City, and I wanted to leave that place behind.

I asked him, “What’s your name?”

“Ivan, the Terrible.”

“You don’t seem so terrible to me.”

“That’s because you don’t know me very well. See these tats? I’ve been to faraway places, seen many scary things, and fought in too many battles; it’s how I remember. This tear under my eye means I will always be crying for my comrades who died for this country.” I could see the glaze in his eyes as he remembered his living nightmare.

“I was in the Marines before all this went to shit.”

“Did you get exiled from Tech City?” I asked.

“Nah, nothing like that. I kept out of that place and decided to take my chances as a free man.”

Ivan looked a little sad as we finished our meal in silence. But I could still see his fire as if he was ready to fight some more. He told me of a place he would take me, a little southeast away from the city and high up in the woods. He knew of a special lady who would take me in and take care of me since he could not; he said he was a loner, a vagabond.

“Is that where all the exiles go?” I asked him.

He didn’t seem too sure how to answer but said, “Well, kid, not all people who live out here get along. I mean, sure, some Tech City exiles live together. But there are others who you want to stay away from.”

“So maybe my mom will be with them?”

“It’s possible, but don’t get your hopes up just yet; we gotta get you in a safe place with good people. Now let’s get going before night falls.”

As we rode away from the grey crumbling buildings on the outskirts of Tech City, I watched the landscape transform into the green-covered abandoned objects overtaken by grass, abundant bushes, and an assortment of trees. I breathed in the new fresh air and felt better about finding my mother. I heard Ivan say, “The Archery Range,” as he turned into a gate that was heavily guarded by scrubby-looking men carrying archaic black Bushmaster rifles. They recognized Ivan and let us through.

“This is it, kid,” he said. That’s how I got here.