The Free City

by Marius Pitigoi

  He found out that, once, one of them had smoked dragon’s grass and couldn’t remember what he did for two days. He had woken up naked in the ward. Another one had passed himself as a manicurist only to try to pick up girls. He was then asked what his plans were in New Hope.

  “I might be here for a long time. I am considered a criminal.”

  “Same here,” said Jeremy Phillips.

  Why wasn’t he surprised to hear that? Soon enough, he had to kick in another $20. He thought it was a good investment. Apparently, the others had accepted him into their group. He was in a good mood. The alcohol made him forget the beating he had received. Later on, he realized it had gotten dark. Public lighting wasn’t New Hope’s strong point. There were a few lights, but they were placed high up so that hateful residents wouldn’t break them, and these only gave off dim light.

  When he left, Jeremy Phillips told Dylan he could come to the gym the next day, and this time he wouldn’t beat him up. It was exactly what Dylan wanted to hear, but now he had to hurry home. He set his GPS for the shortest route to the subway and left.

  After a few minutes of walking, he saw a woman, about 200 feet ahead of him, all of a sudden collapse. The first thing that came to his mind was that the woman was sick, but then he remembered he was in New Hope. Dylan stopped. He drew away into a darker reach and lay on the ground. Three guys holding guns appeared out of the blue. It became apparent that the woman had fallen because she was shot. One of the men shot the woman again. The other two bound her hands and feet. A fourth one, who was carrying a covered wheelbarrow, which was more like a box with a wheel and handles, opened the lid and shoved the woman inside. If moments earlier she hadn’t walked past him, Dylan wouldn’t even have imagined she was a woman. It was clear that he was witnessing a kidnapping.

  One of the attackers turned toward him. Two scuffles were too much for a single day. He turned around and bolted. The attackers didn’t pursue him; they only cared about the abduction. The woman probably had to be transported a long distance since they needed a wheelbarrow. Its contents were obviously supposed to be kept hidden to avoid any suspicions. The men left in a hurry. Dylan waited a bit to make sure they weren’t around. He then placed a call to the ward.

  “Hello, I would like to report a kidnapping.”

  “Sir, you must be well-intentioned, but here in New Hope there are no laws; therefore, kidnapping is not a crime. There’s nothing to report.”

  “Yeah…”

  When was he going to get used to this idea? On top of that, the call he just made wasn’t even free. Should he step in? No, definitely not. He wasn’t in good physical shape and he didn’t even have his gun. He repeated to himself that one scuffle a day was enough. He hurried to get back to his studio. He was almost running. He got home without getting into any further trouble, but what he had seen and what had happened to him that day was more than enough for him. He was living in a jungle. Only the strongest survived.

  Although it was late, he called Lydia. He was eager to tell her everything that happened. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea for her to come here. In New Hope, survival depended if you made friends and traveled with a group. There were stories about justice enforcers who stepped in when they saw an incident, but how many of those really existed? He had seen with his own eyes that nobody intervened when the woman had been grabbed in the street. And if justice makers did exist, there were probably only a few. On top of that, one would have to be lucky that they would be in the right place at the right time.

  The following day, he went to the gym, but arrived much earlier. He was already tired when his friends arrived. Of course, it suited them to come later. There were many of them and they went about in a group. They probably slept during the day and then spent their time at the gym until late in the evening. Dylan told them what he had witnessed the night before. None of them seemed surprised. Yes, it happened. Being attacked and robbed happened often. Obviously, these kinds of things happened more often in the evening or at night. Jeremy Phillips told him that he once followed someone who’d angered him at his very place. He waited for a few hours until the man had come out from his block. And as soon as Jeremy spotted him, he showed the man why it wasn’t such a good idea to anger him.

  Nathan asked Dylan: “Have you by any chance seen the note placed at the entrance?”

  In New Hope, there weren’t any central locations for information, so announcements were placed on the very front of buildings. There was even a special technique to do this. First, one applies a few coats of white paint over a previously written note, until completely covered. Then, using another color, usually black, a new announcement is written down. Dylan didn’t notice the announcement in front of the gym.

  Nathan explained, “A competition of street basketball is being organized in the amphitheater in area 12H8 on Saturday and Sunday. Do you know how to play?”

  “I haven’t played basketball in a while, but I was pretty good at it in high school,” said Dylan.

  “Well, let’s see what you can do.”

  Inside the sports hall, the baskets were lined up along the whole length of one side. At first, Dylan found it odd that there wasn’t a basketball court. But the rules here were a bit different. They played three-on-three with only one basket. From time to time, those who could afford a mobile basketball hoop would install one in the amphitheater, where they would charge a fee to play. The minimum stake was now $1,000 per team. Whoever won, took the money, excluding $200, which went to the host. The referee’s fee was included in this sum of money, alongside with some kind of safety fee.

  “What are the rules here?” asked Dylan.

  “The same as always. If you score, the ball goes to the opponent. If you score inside the arc, you get one point. If you score behind the arc, you get two. The game stops at twenty-one points,” explained Nathan.

  “Without a break?”

  “Yes. And without time-outs or changes.”

  “I see. So the rules are not really the same, after all.”

  “They’re the exact same rules ever since New Hope first existed.”

  “What happens if someone gets injured?”

  “Nothing, the game goes on.”

  To Dylan’s surprise, he still played pretty well, especially at throwing the ball behind the arc. In two hours, he had teamed up with Nathan Green and Jeremy Phillips. This was already a great victory for him. The only problem was that he had to procure money. The idea of playing for money didn’t appeal to him at all. But he had a chance to become part of the group. He had to turn this to his advantage.

  They spent the two days before the competition only for training. Their days were spent all day long at the gym practicing all the moves. Dylan had become the key player. The two-point throws would make the difference.

  “And whom are we going to play against?” asked Dylan.

  “Against whomever we find” replied Jeremy. “Of course, if two-meter-tall guys show up, we obviously won’t play against them, although that is not necessarily a given. The most important thing is to win the first few rounds, so that we can play for a profit afterward.”

  Dylan woke up early on Saturday and went to the gym to join them. From there, they set out together to area 12H8. It was barely nine o’clock, but the competition had already started. It was so crowded that not only the amphitheater was full, but also the alleys around it. Everyone was being jostled.

  Everyone was anxious to start as early as possible. Since the demand to watch the competition was very high, the organizers were rubbing their hands with satisfaction. There was money at stake. The organizers had opted for the rule of the most profitable round, which meant that the biggest stake was at the next round.

  The teams were striking bargains, at first, and if others came later and wanted to play on a higher amount, then an auction would follow, and the winners would get the court for the next round. The amount for a starting wager was downright huge: $9,000! The night before, they agre
ed to have $700 each so that they could be able to play at least two rounds. For now, his team would have to wait.

  Apart from the usual matches, there was another activity going on that was even more successful in the eyes of the public: gambling. All the organizers had a table where one could “officially” bet. Here, anyone could bet the amount they wanted and, in the end, the money from the losing team was shared in direct ratio with the amount they had placed at stake. In reality, everyone chose to bet ad hoc. All you had to do was to find someone willing to take your bet.

  Since it was hard to believe that a stake would get so low, Jeremy Phillips came up with the suggestion that they should bet all their money on a single team. Come what may! Otherwise, they had no chance to play. With a little luck, they won $5,000. However, as time went on, the stake was increasing as well. Dylan was surprised:

  “What the hell! What are all these people doing here?”

  “It’s the most popular team sport that can be played in New Hope. It’s only normal that so many came. Don’t you see how many women are here, as well?”

  “Well, then let’s get it into shape, too. I’m happy with as little as five percent.”

  “You need many people. Everyone wearing the shirts that read “Staff” helped organize the event. But I’ve heard that they don’t work independently. They are controlled by the authorities.”

  “What do we do, wait a bit or keep betting?”

  “I say we wait.”

  “Are you always so weak-spirited, Dylan?”

  “I’d rather lose the money on the court than by betting.”

  As time passed, they grew less and less patient. It was well-known that money that came easily could be lost just as easily, and they were left with only watching the games. Regrets were useless. “I told you so” did not encourage Dylan anymore. He needed friends more than money. Even if he spent all the money Lydia sent to him, he was convinced that she wouldn’t be angry at him. He still dared to draw their attention to two teams that were playing on suspiciously high stakes.

  Dylan came with the explanation, “I’m sure those are hand in glove with the organizers. Think about it. If nobody bets, they don’t lose anything. They keep the money. But if somebody bets even as little as five thousand, they win five times more. On top of it all, they can win bets if some of their people are betting, too. That thing with a thousand dollars was just a bait. To make sure people would come.”

  They agreed he was right. It must have been so. The scums!

  Chapter 8

  The following two weeks passed the same way. People gathered in the little park in front of his block, but he still never managed to talk with any of them. He had to buy earplugs since during the night screams and howls could be heard. One night, something very unpleasant happened in a studio near his. Music was playing so loudly that Dylan thought a party was going on, but when the music stopped, he heard weeping and wailing.

  On Saturday around noon, he received a call from Lydia. As soon as he heard the bracelet ringing and saw that it was, indeed, Lydia, he realized something was wrong. She never called him other than the times they had agreed on.

  “For God’s sake, tell me what happened already!”

  He hardly managed to understand a thing she said. She had just found out from his lawyer that Gabriel Hall had revoked his request of confrontation and asked for Dylan’s GPS localization. Gabriel was going to catch up with him in New Hope and kill him. What else was he planning? Dylan couldn’t calm down Lydia, but he assured her that he’d come up with something. He would call her when he had a solution.

  Dylan didn’t go to the gym that day. He had to come up with a solution. He knew he was guilty, he was conscience-stricken, but he still didn’t want to die. He loved Lydia and wanted to live for her. Maybe it was true what others said: that if a criminal wasn’t punished on the spot, then justice wasn’t served. Yet, New Hope was designed precisely because punishment and revenge made no sense in an advanced society, and the key question wasn’t how the criminal should pay for his deeds, but how society would ensure that a crime or offense would not be repeated. Dylan’s thoughts drifted from one scenario to another, but he couldn’t think of any way to get out of this situation.

  Lydia called him again. He didn’t even realize that he spent a few hours in bed.

  “I’ve made up my mind. I’m giving up on my training as it is not mandatory. I’m coming anyway. I want to be with you for as long as we can. I’m staying beside you till the end. I’ll never love anybody like I’ve loved you.”

  “Honey, there’s no point in this! Do you want to watch me die? No, it’s better to remember me as you have until now. Better be left with the beautiful memories in our lives. I’ve described the life here. Those who come here only stay for a few days for fun, and many of them stay at the well-off district. They don’t know what New Hope really is.”

  “I know you’re trying to protect me and that you want me to suffer as little as possible. I appreciate it. Yet, you know how stubborn I am. In fact, I have already bought my ticket, so there’s no point in talking about this anymore. Tomorrow evening, I will be there with you.”

  “What about your job?”

  “Have you forgotten? I told you that I had already took care of that. I was going to start my training on Monday.”

  “No… please…don’t do this.”

  “I’ve already done it. I’m arriving tomorrow at 12H3 subway station. Wait for me there. Don’t think about anything else. Just be glad that you’ll see me tomorrow.”

  “At least try to get here during the day. It’s dangerous to walk the streets in the evening and at night.”

  “I can’t. I’m arriving at seven o’clock at the terminal. How long will it take for you to get to the subway?”

  “I don’t remember exactly but I will check after our conversation ends.”

  “Let’s say it is possible to arrive at your place at about eight o’clock. That doesn’t seem so late.”

  “No. I’ll wait you at New Hope’s first station from the terminal. From there, the train takes on only those who arrive here.”

  He didn’t like it at all that Lydia was coming. He knew that things would get more complicated. She asked to be assigned to the same ward as him. The cost seemed enormous to him—$15,000—but he couldn’t do anything about it. If they wanted to dine together, they needed to be assigned to the same ward. They could stay either at his studio or her studio, depending on which room seemed more welcoming.

  “I'll give you a call when I get on the train, and again when I get to the first station so that you also get on the subway.”

  Dylan felt like crying. He realized he was finished. He imagined Gabriel Hall coming with a group of bodyguards, breaking through studio’s door, and storming in. They’d know exactly where they lived; they’d catch them totally unprepared. And because of Gabriel’s hate for Dylan, he’d also kill Lydia. Or, even worse, they would first torture, rape, and beat her to death in front of him. He imagined that as if it was happening right then and there. He saw Lydia begging for forgiveness, but the paid assassins would beat her even harder. It wouldn’t matter that she screamed and begged for someone to help them.

  How could Dylan let this happen? He’ll call his lawyer and ask him to get in touch with Gabriel Hall and tell him he accepted the confrontation. Dylan would just have to endure whatever Gabriel wanted to do to him. Lydia would get away. At least she would live. Dylan thought of the huge amount of money she had already spent, only to come and be with him!

  Why hadn’t he simply accepted the confrontation from the very beginning? He thought himself a coward. That he didn’t even deserve to live.

  That night was awful. Dylan couldn’t sleep a wink. At the crack of dawn, when he couldn’t even tell if he was awake or dreaming, he remembered Robert Gomez. He had offered Dylan the plan to be bait, which meant he’d essentially be changing his identity. YES! That was it. That was the only way out. He had to find
Robert and strike up a deal.

  He was going to be a bait and, if the plan succeeded, he would try it again on his own. He would pay Jeremy Phillips to be a bait for him. The plan was risky, very risky, but it was a plan nonetheless. At least now he had some hope. He finally managed to fall asleep, somewhat pacified with his solution.

  He woke up at almost noon. He still had enough time. He went to the market where he first met Robert Gomez and asked about him right and left. Apparently, nobody knew him. But he knew someone had to know the whereabouts of Robert Gomez. After almost an hour of asking around in the market, a guy approached him.

  “How much is it worth to you for me to tell you where you can find Robert Gomez?”

  He was not surprised by this at all. Everyone here looked for a way to lay their hands on some money.

  “How about fifty dollars?”

  The guy literally burst into laughter. “You have to be kidding me.” He turned and was on the verge of leaving.

  “Wait. How much do you want?”

  “Do you think I don’t know who Robert Gomez is? Whoever looks for him needs his services. So, he’s got money. One thousand dollars or nothing.

  A thousand dollars? Was this guy crazy? Why such a high amount of money? Yet, Dylan was desperate. He had to bargain.

  “All right… I’ll give you two hundred.”

  “Bye.”

  “Will three hundred do?”

  “No.”

  “Four hundred dollars. That’s my last offer.”

  “I like you. Five hundred dollars since I’m in a such good mood.”

  “Four hundred fifty?”

  “I said five hundred dollars. Don’t make me forget my good mood.”