Fortunately, I had just finished fitting on my youngest child's gas mask when the explosion hit. We had moved out to the settlements for a safer life far away from the constant political battles of the city.
But now this attack.
It was against galactic policy to attack an Allied settlement. Yet we were all standing under the wreckage of what used to be our living room. Without gas masks we couldn't breath the dense purple and green smoke around us. My children were screaming at the loud noises of allied tanks in the street. This is not the way it was supposed to happen. We are allied people. Yet they were treating us like the enemy.
The smoke didn't clear for hours and my youngest @diebitch was crying for milk. In the dust of what was left of our house I decided to risk it and feed her, not knowing how we would get water or food after the wreckage. I was starving and my two sons @calumam and @vikbuddy didn't stop telling me that we need to get something to eat. I told them sternly, "We've got to get better shelter and meet with the Settlers' counsel or we will die."
@vikbuddy is the middle one, but he is the most resourceful. He found some packages of ramen and said, "Let's get to the stream and catch something before we are caught." Allied guards were marching the streets looking for settlers to herd off to work camps. It really wasn't fair. The Allies gave incentives to families that settled in the disputed zone and now they turned against us, blaming us for the food shortages and fighting from the resistance. We are not the resistance but maybe the resistance is our only hope.
Together with my daughter @diebitch in my hands and and my two sons we made a dash for the stream. We loaded up with water and followed the stream to a bend. This was a more quiet part of the settlement and we expected to get out into the clearing. I got @calumam and @vikbuddy up to the ridge but when I got up there was a tall man in an Allied uniform. I had no idea what he'd want with us. All I could see was his silver badge shining in the afternoon sun. I could just make out the word @bobthebuilder2 on his shirt. This man looked at me condescendingly.
@vikbuddy stuck his tongue out at the man. @calumam kicked him in the shins. The man wrenched. I kicked him where it counts.
I made a run for it, past the Settlers counsel and into the resistance territory. I knew it was too late even for the Settlers' counsel to help us. When resistance soldiers saw us they didn't shoot or give us a condescending look. They welcomed us and gave us food to eat. I grew up being taught these people are cannibals and the enemies of the alliance, but they were more civilized than us.
They gave us a place to stay even though their shanties were already crowded. The resistance did not have huge houses or luxuries. They really didn't have even an army, but they had a togetherness that drew me close to them. @calumam learned their ways in the desert. He learned to go without and to sustain himself at a young age. His strength is incomparable to any man of the alliance. @vikbuddy has taken to the art of the resistance. He fluently speaks their language and has learned much of their culture. I would say there is no blood of the alliance in him. He is completely absorbed in what the resistance calls "books". The alliance long ago got rid of anything of the sort. I remember my grandmother telling me of e-books and internet and freedom of speech but it is all hazy now. @vikbuddy has taken a liking to what they call "The Classics".
When it comes to child raising I look up to great mothers in history like @sugandhaseth. My own daughter @diebitch has grown to become quite a young lady, but against my own wishes she has already enlisted in the resistance army. When I say "against my own wishes" I means I wish she had a childhood. We have been forced to live in turmoil while the galactic senate just turns their heads the other way. The alliance has gotten out of control and the only sense of reason today is the psyberx resistance. It has come to the point again that we must fight if we are to maintain our existence.
This story took place twenty years before the video by @psyberx was published. Find out more about this writing contest at @bobthebuilder2/contest-time-oh-yeah-over-100-hive-in-value-in-prizes.