I'd been in the passenger seat of the beat-up truck for an hour, headed into Florida nearing the end of a journey that I didn't want to take.
Letting my mind wander as the dried-up fields passed by, I imagined what this farm land would have looked like 150 years ago before the war. I was 31, my whole life, this had been normal to me, but I knew the entire county had changed so much in a short time. I began to run over a history lesson in my head in an attempt to reverse the onset of boredom and to take my mind off the hours ahead.
Way back in 2063, the first colony of Zolux had attacked the earth. By all accounts, it had come out of the blue. It was hard to imagine a planet where most of the species didn't believe that life existed elsewhere in the universe. It had taken humanity by surprise and a bloody battle had been fought across the world which lasted for 73 years and saw nearly 70% of human life wiped out.
The Zolux hadn't been successful either and we'd nuked over a hundred of their ships out of the sky. Eventually, a truce was called, and peace reigned again on the earth.
South America had taken the worst of the damage from the invasion and in the truce, the Zolux were given the entire of South America and some Pacific Islands where they mined the earth for minerals, as had been their intention all along. Any humans left alive had been relocated to North America and the border closed. Travel between the North and South had long been prohibited, although, there were a few gangs that had learnt to profit from the Zolux and travelled between North America and the restricted zone.
Most people alive now, had never seen a Zolux with their own eyes. There were plenty of images and video though. They were a huge 8 feet tall, almost human shape but muscular, and with light grey, almost silver skin which seemed to be smooth. The heads were slightly more oval than human and there was no hair, and these massive, deep red eyes and small round mouth. No visible nose. The Zolux dressed in a kind of tight robe of varying length and colour. Their longer than normal arms reached their knees and six long fingers extended even further. As they walked, they kept their knees slightly bent, someone had told me that it was because the gravity on earth was stronger than they were used to. I'd also learnt that they communicated with each other in what seemed like a series of grunting and high-pitched squealing noises, but rumour had it that they could communicate with certain humans using a kind of telepathy. It had been confirmed as well as the audible noises, they communicated with each other with telepathy or some sort of extra sensory perception. The humans that had this gift were known as the communicators. I'd never met one, nor met anyone that had ever met one and so I was sceptical that they existed.
Still with miles to go before we reached Miami, I began to reflect on my life. I'd managed to finish school but there were no jobs, even this long after the war, the economy was fucked. I'd not managed a relationship that lasted more than a few weeks and long ago given up on men, for most of the time. I flitted from one person to the next. I'd managed to make a mess of most of my life and had 2 imprisonments in jail behind me, both for theft. People did what they could for money and now, I was running drugs across America for Krystal, Florida's most notorious drug dealer and crime boss. She was ruthless, but I think she liked me, or at least, I hoped so, because I was in really deep shit.
So, here I am, being driven by Monique, Krystal's favourite and hard-ass fixer, back to Krystal's place in the city. I'd fucked up and gotten my truck stolen while I went for a piss at a truck stop. That was $20,000 worth of powder lost and the cash. I'd be lucky if Krystal didn't shoot me on the spot.
Monique hadn't spoken to me other than to tell me to get in the truck when she arrived to collect me. I sat in silence awaiting my fate.
Before too long, the burnt out remains of Miami came into view and derelict buildings replaced the abandoned farmland. The city was being rebuilt slowly and the population growing once again but it was still, rundown. A short while later and we pulled up outside Flame, the night club that Krystal owned. I had a moment of relief, if she intended to kill me, she probably wouldn't risk doing it here. I should have been more terrified, but I'd done a line or two before Monique arrived and now, I didn't really give a shit.
Krystal owned a few clubs and some other wholesale businesses, but these were just a front. You had to be impressed by her or intimidated by her, or both. She was in her early 40s and had inherited the business from her father. She was also imposing to meet, a beautiful, tall, black woman who kept herself in shape and was adorned in expensive jewellery and the smartest of clothes.
The truth was that I owed her, big time. I worked in one of her clubs as a bar server when I was busted for theft the second time. She used her contacts to reduce my prison sentence on the understanding I would work for her afterwards. I also had a tiny, shitty apartment in the back of the club as did some of her other women. She wasn't someone to be fucked with and for two years, I had diligently done as I was told, without any major incident, until now.
Usually, my job was to take packages to dealers in other cities and also, sometimes, she liked me to "entertain" business associates, which translated into me letting these men and woman fuck me for free. All part of the job and I had got pretty good at it, in fact, without a relationship, I quite enjoyed the occasional fuck, assuming the other person knew what they were doing of course. Krystal was nice to me and I remained loyal to her, I was hoping that loyalty would pay off now.
Krystal ran her drugs around the country, operated hooker rings and extorted everyone she could. Rumour had it that she also smuggled her drugs into South America and that the Zolux were pretty big customers. It made sense that they would get addicted to human habits once on Earth, there probably isn't a fucked-up species anywhere in the universe. Everyone's love of greed and debauchery seems to filter through every 'intelligent' species.
My attention was snapped back to the moment as Monique almost yelled at me. "Get the fuck out of my truck, Bitch!"
I nodded and opened the rusty door and climbed out onto the pavement, slamming the door behind me. It was a cool night and I glanced up at the sky which was rapidly darkening as the evening went on.
"Let's go." Monique snapped as she appeared beside me and so, I walked up the steps and through the front doors of the club, which the doorman opened for me, shortly followed by Monique. The immediate throbbing of the loud dance music was always a shock to the system. Normally, I liked the music and dancing to it, but today, I was in no mood to even think about it and the pounding noise just hurt my head.
We made our way through the drunk clubbers before we finally reached the back of the club and the door which led to the stairway to the offices and apartments. I punched in my code, slowly into the digital keypad which lit up green as soon as I entered the last number. The door clicked, and I took in a deep breath.
Passing through, we left the glitz and glamour of the club and entered the dull grey corridor. Just a few paces and I turned left and began to climb the narrow stairway which led to the office on the next floor. I would have given pretty much anything to be anywhere else at that moment and I could feel myself starting shake with fear. The drugs were wearing off at the worst possible moment.
Before I had time to think any more, we reached the door to Krystal's office. Monique reached around me and knocked, twice. It seemed to take an age for the reply to come back. "Come".
I swallowed hard and opened the door, taking a step in, I looked up and saw Krystal at her giant polished oak desk which was at the far end of the room. The office was huge, with panelled walls interspersed with mirrors and modern art. The room was expensive and designed to impress.
I made eye contact with Krystal as I approached her desk, she glared at me without a hint of kindness. This was the moment I'd been dreading. I'd find out my fate.
"Here's the dumb bitch, Boss." Monique said with a smirk as she looked across at me, now patiently standing in front of the desk.
