by Tia Wylder
All able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and thirty would be required to enlist. Short of breaking both my legs, I qualified. My hands were trembling as I set the phone down beside me on the bed. I looked back to Jackie and then over to Jacob’s crib. I couldn’t leave them without a husband and father, but I didn’t have much of a choice either. If I enlisted, I would be killed. We all would, this wasn’t a war you could win.
So I had two choices: suicide or fugitive. If I ran, they would hunt me, but if I went quietly, they’d have me serve as fodder on some god-forsaken field for the enemy. I slowly stood up and walked over to Jacob’s crib. He was sleeping soundly, I couldn’t risk waking him up. I grabbed the leather jacket my grandfather gave me, pulled on a pair of blue jeans, and walked out to the kitchen. I took the magnetic tablet off the fridge and set it on our modest table. Paper had been outlawed in 2020 when a bill passed to cease deforestation of the Earth’s major ecosystems.
The damage had been done if you asked me, but the bill forced the government to provide cheap electronic solutions for everything from books, to journals, to sketchbooks and school textbooks. Of course, all of that was going to cost money, money we didn’t have.
I tried to type using the onscreen keyboard but it was too frustrating. I turned on the voice-to-text mode and walked to the opposite side of the kitchen.
“Jackie, by the time you read this I’ll already be gone. I know you don’t keep up with the news, but we’re at war. They’re taking everyone they can to the meat grinder, but I won’t be one of them. I have to disappear for a while, get off the grid, but I promise you I’ll come back. As soon as they lose my scent or this damn war ends, I’ll be back. Wait for me, baby. Love, Axel.”
I looked down at the digitally handwritten note. It would have to do. I had to put as much distance between myself and this place as I could before they showed up to haul off all the men. I placed the tablet back on the surface of the fridge and walked back to the bedroom as quietly as I could.
I stood over Jacob’s crib and gently touched his soft cheek before planting a kiss on his forehead. It could be years before I would be able to safely return. He would grow up without me, without his father. I had no other choice, unlike my deadbeat dad who walked out on us; I was trying to avoid him losing a father entirely.
I turned and walked over to Jackie. She was sleeping peacefully. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes upon. I wanted to stay and protect her, protect Jacob, but I couldn’t. They would haul me off like some criminal in a week and I would never see them again. I leaned down and kissed her on the cheeks.
“I love you baby,” I whispered.
She replied with a few soft sounds that barely resembled words. She was fast asleep. I reached over to the picture frame on our nightstand. It was both of us on our first date. I took her to the beach and we posed for that picture with the sun setting in the background. It was my favorite picture of us, I couldn’t leave it behind. I took the picture out delicately and placed it in my pocket.
I fought back tears as I stood up and walked to the entrance of our apartment. I didn’t feel good about any of it. This wasn’t the right thing, but it was the only thing I could do. I walked out and closed the door behind me.
Out in the parking lot was Jackie’s old station wagon. She had gotten it from her parents so the thing was ancient compared to the cars surrounding it from recent years. Parked next to it was my motorcycle. While it was also old and technically illegal because it used a combustion engine, it had class. A small gas can hung from the back of it as gas stations were few and far between.
They didn’t do much to enforce the rules about combustion engines; otherwise Jackie and I would have been out of our vehicles a long time ago. People still drove them, and gas stations, albeit small ones, could still be found in the corners of small towns.
I climbed onto the motorcycle and placed the keys into the ignition. This was it, the first day of the rest of my life. I turned the key and the engine roared. It barked and growled, nothing like the quiet and meek engines we used in modern cars. No, this was a thing of beauty. I slid my helmet on and drove off. I didn’t know where I was going. Anywhere but here I suppose
Chapter Three
Jackie
You never think about the day the person you love leaves you, mostly because there’s such a large part of you that knows it will never happen. Maybe I was naive, but I believed Axel when he said he was going to stick around. I remember, when I first saw his digital note on the fridge, my knees went weak.
I grabbed my phone and called him repeatedly, but he didn’t pick up. My first reaction was pure anger. He was being selfish; he left us behind so he wouldn’t have to join the military. Either way, he would have been taken from us, but if he was going to run, he could have at least taken us.
Then there were nights where I finished a bottle of wine after Jacob went to sleep and I thought about how he had no choice. He promised to come back, after all. I didn’t know if I still loved him or hated him, honestly it depended on the time of day. One thing was certain though, I couldn’t raise Jacob alone. Axel had transferred everything he had into my bank account before he left, but it wasn’t enough to last more than a few weeks.
I could ask my parents for help, but they didn’t know about Jacob. Their reaction would have been horrific if Axel was here, but with him gone it would be even worse. They would force me to move back in with them. They would take my baby from me, probably send him to some boarding school or offer him up for adoption.
They loved to dig their claws in and control my life like I was a puppet with strings leading right back to them. Help always came with a catch, which is why I never asked, unless I had to. No, I couldn’t tell them, and Axel’s parents were separated. He didn’t even speak to his mother anymore.
I was alone in this. Time went on and I lost hope. The money Axel left dwindled until there was nothing but pennies left. I applied for assistance from the government, but they denied me. Even with an infant son, they were too obsessed with their war to help a mother with her newborn son. I was out of options. I remember sitting on the bed, my eyes red and swollen from sobbing. I had never felt so alone in my entire life.
My phone starting ringing on the bed next to me. I looked over and saw the name of my best friend, Lisa, lit up on the screen. We hadn’t spoken since Axel left, but something told me to pick up the call. Honestly, if someone would just listen, that would be enough for now. I picked it up and swiped across the screen to answer.
“Hey Lisa,” I said.
“Jackie, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” she asked.
She always knew, she could tell when I was sick, when I was sad, and everything in between.
“It’s Axel,” I said.
“What did he do? Did he hit you?”
She didn’t think very highly of him.
“No Lisa, nothing like that. He ran out when they announced the draft.”
Lisa sighed into the speaker.
“How are you holding up?
“Well, we had a baby before he left, so not well.”
I heard Lisa’s voice turn sour through the speaker. We agreed not to tell anyone about the baby, friends included. I knew this moment would come sooner or later.
“You have a baby? Why didn’t you tell me? We tell each other everything, Jackie!”
I felt the tears welling up behind my eyes again. Lisa sounded hurt, I knew I would be.
“We didn’t want anyone to know. You know how my parents are.”
“You thought I would tell them?” Lisa asked.
“No, not that, I just, I promised Axel I wouldn’t tell a soul.”
Lisa scoffed. “A lot of good that did.”
“Listen, Lisa, you know I love you like a sister, but I’m not good right now. We’re out of money and I don’t know what to do. Can I call you back later and we’ll talk about this?”
I could practically see Lisa shaking her head.
&n
bsp; “No, that’s not how this works. You need someone there to help you.”
“Lisa, I couldn’t ask that from you.”
“I’m not talking about me, Jackie, I’m talking about Tyler.”
Tyler was Jackie’s older brother. He was kind of a dork in school, but he grew up fast and got in shape. Last time I heard about him, he was a professional athlete, playing as the quarterback of a big football team. Asking Lisa for help was bad enough, but asking help from my best friend’s older brother? I couldn’t.
“Lisa, Tyler is busy; he’s a famous athlete isn’t he?”
“Yeah, but he busted his shoulder last season, they won’t let him play for at least a year. He’s too busted up to get drafted like the other guys, so he’s been moping around my house for the last three weeks. He’s driving me crazy, to be honest. He can’t lift anything heavy, but otherwise he’s fully capable and he’s got enough money for three lifetimes so he can help you out. He owes me, and besides, he’s always had a crush on you,” Lisa said.
“No, Lisa, I can’t. Axel said he was coming back!”
“Listen, Jackie, I don’t know if you’re bad boy biker is coming back, or if he’s in some kind of MC, but in the meantime, you have a newborn to take care of and bills to pay. You don’t have to sleep with him, but you’d be doing me a favor if you take him off my hands.”
It didn’t feel right, but I was out of options. Axel leaving had finally backed me into a corner.
“Alright, alright, he can stay here,” I said.
“Good, it’s done then. I’ll talk to him tonight and he’ll be there in a couple days. Are you going to be alright until then?”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine.”
“Good. Oh, and Jackie?”
This was the part where she lectured me about what I had done wrong. She was wise, but I swear sometimes I thought she was more of a mother to me than my real one ever was.
“Yes, Lisa?”
“I want to meet that baby. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
She always knew how to make me smile.
Chapter Four
Axel
I wasn’t the only one who dodged the draft, but I still saw my face on the news and on the digital billboards. They cycled through pictures of all the dodgers, offering a reward to anyone who turned them in. They were ruthless, trying to get other people to do their dirty work. I kept my face hidden, wore a hat and sunglasses everywhere I could.
I stuck to small towns where the gas stations still existed anyway. I looked for work, or any way to make money, but I soon learned that people would rather turn me in instead of hiring a draft-dodger. I had already given everything I could spare to Jackie when I left. The only money I kept was for gas and food, but even that was running low.
Just like my money, I knew my luck was going to run out eventually. They had an entire broadcast channel running the names and faces of all the people who didn’t report for the draft. My fortune turned for the worst at a gas station in some no-name town just west of nowhere. I had to pay with cash; it was too easy to track cards. That meant going inside and paying, something I always dreaded doing.
I made the walk to the main building and pulled open the glass door. A bell clanged against the glass as I was hit with the stale and cold breeze that seemed to exist in every gas station. The teller sat behind a counter, his face buried in a magazine as I casually browsed the candy bar aisle.
I checked for exits like usual, just in case I needed to run. I walked back to the ATM and looked at the bulletin board. The owner had flyers up with lists of the dodger’s names. That wasn’t a good sign. I could always bail and head to another station, but I didn’t think my bike would make it. I walked back up to the counter and saw the magazine lower. A tattoo revealed itself from beneath his sleeve as he set the magazine down.
It was an emblem, military if I had to guess. No wonder he had a list of draft-dodgers, he was veteran. This was all way too risky, but I wasn’t about to run out of gas on some stretch of road in the middle of a blistering desert.
“Twenty on pump two,” I said.
His wrinkled eyes glanced up at me and then back to his register.
“You look familiar kid,” he said.
“I’ve just got one of those faces,” I replied.
He pressed a few keys on the register and the drawer popped open.
“Take off the glasses and the hat,” he said.
“Sorry, what did you say?”
He picked up the crinkled bill from the counter and placed it in the register. His hand came back out with a revolver. It had a long silver barrel that gleamed as he turned its gaze on me.
“Did I stutter?” he asked.
I pulled off the glasses and the hat. I slowly lowered them onto the counter and let him stare at me with his piercing eyes.
“Why’d you do it?”
“I have a family,” I said.
He chuckled. “So you run and leave them behind?”
“Better than fighting a war we can’t win.”
He pulled back the hammer on the revolver.
“Watch your tongue. Now you just stay real still until they come to get you and we won’t have an issue.”
“Please, just let me go! I can pay you double the reward!”
“I’m not interested in money.”
“Then why? Why are you turning me in?”
He kept the gun perfectly trained on me, but I could see his hand shaking. If I timed it right, I could get that gun from him. He picked up his phone and placed it on his ear, holding it with his shoulder.
“Yeah, I’ve got a dodger here. Yeah, hold on one second.”
He held out the phone towards me.
“Say your name.”
I clenched my fists. “Axel Blackwell.”
“You got that? Good, he’ll be here.”
The teller put down the phone and steadied his grip on the pistol.
“I’m turning you in because you’re exactly like me.”
“We’re nothing alike,” I said.
He nodded. “No, not anymore we’re not.”
I waited for his hand to start shaking again, that’s when I would make my move.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I was like you once. I had a girl, a kid, a bike, and not a care in the world. War or no, you we’re always going to leave. You want to know why?”
I saw his hand starting to quake.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because you don’t care about them, not really. You don’t value them like you should. You’re not cut out for the office job, two kids, and a trophy wife life. Take a stroll with death, though, and you’ll find that they’re suddenly the most important things in the world.”
“I’m not going anywhere. When this is all over, I’m going back to them,” I said.
“Just keep telling yourself that.”
I had enough of this. I swung out with my right hand and gripped the revolver’s barrel. The gun slid out of the shaking man’s hands like it as covered in grease. His eyes went wide as I turned the gun around on him.
“Go ahead, shoot!” he said.
I slid the gun into the back of my pants and shook my head.
“You don’t know me.”
I turned and ran to the door. They would send a special unit to come get me. With that kind of tech I had two, maybe three minutes before they would descend in hover jets and swarm like locusts. I could have stayed, could have gone willingly, but that wasn’t my style. I climbed onto my motorcycle and started up the engine. It grumbled and sputtered, but it held in the end. I fired the gas and shot out onto the dusty road.
I was somewhere in the Midwest. Vast plains of dust and sand stretched out into every horizon. Towering mesas dotted the landscape like strange mountains. I wasn’t on the road for more than a minute before I heard the roaring crackle of jet engines. The agile vehicles tore past me and spun on a dime. Soldiers dressed in f
ull body suits descended from within, rappelling down onto the road in front of me.
I pushed the bike harder as the engine released a roaring battle cry. I wasn’t going down without a fight. I pulled the gun out of my pants and fired blindly into the throng of soldiers. They dove out of the way and created a pathway for me to escape. I made it past their impromptu roadblock just as they opened fire. Bullets soared past me, hissing as they barely missed their target.
I weaved the bike across the road, making it as difficult as possible for them to hit their mark. Of course, these weren’t your standard beat cops fresh out of the academy. These were trained killers. They never miss.
They wanted me alive, but perhaps that plan changed when I opened fire on them. I felt a bullet strike true. White hot pain exploded through my back as my vision went red. I lost balance and tumbled off the bike. I hit the road with my shoulder and rolled into the momentum. My vision thrashed and tumbled until I my head hit the ground just right and everything went black.
The last thing I saw before everything went dark was the picture I took with me when I left. My mind went back to that night on the beach. The sun was setting behind us; Jackie’s scented sunscreen made her smell like coconut. I could feel her in my arms; I could feel the salty air rushing off the ocean. That moment was perfect, I never wanted to leave. Maybe now I won’t have to.
Chapter Five
Jackie
Tyler was nothing like I remembered him, but that was a good thing. In school he was always this lanky awkward kid who clearly had a crush on me, but never knew how to show it. Now he was a suave and chiseled professional athlete. He was the kind of guy you saw on magazine covers and in shaving commercials. I had to admit, he caught my eye when he first arrived.
I was different too, though. I had once been a skinny girl lacking in curves, but now I was a big beautiful woman who had a lot to offer for the right man. Up until he left, I had thought Axel was that man.
Tyler was a sweetheart underneath it all, though. He was great with Jacob and he took really good care of me when I needed help. There was a sexual tension between us from the moment he walked in, and as time went on it only got worse. I saw the way he looked at me, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t return his looks, but I was still hopeful that Axel would keep his promise and come back to me.