Coexist - Short Stories by luvenar

“All packed up? Nothing got left behind?”

“Ready to go,”

Tina and Joe had been living in this town for more than a decade, yet today could possibly their last.

Furniture, stuffs, TV, beds, and all the other small things are all inside the truck. The couple stood in front of their house before their departure, admiring their green-painted two story house, complete with the front yard, wood bench and a garage, also a few hanging pots of flowers and various plants as the sun setting down. Through the window, there’s nothing but wooden floor, just a beautiful yet empty house in the middle of a suburban.

“I’m gonna miss this town…” Tina leans on Joe’s shoulder.

“Yeah…” Joe simply hugged Tina tight, savoring the last moments before they leaves their home.

Looking around, most of the houses are already empty, only a few still packing up their belongings.

“Well… let’s go,” Joe walks toward the driver seat of the truck.

The engine roars gently, wheels slowly rolls through the asphalt carrying the couple and their belongings through the almost empty suburban area, only empty houses and few parked cars.

“Let’s see… through the downtown, enter highway, straight ahead and exit at tunnel 57…”

“Joe, look… isn’t that Sid?” Tina points at a bunch of crowds gathering near a convenience store. “He’s still here?”

Curious, Joe hit the brakes right in front of the store, noticing a few familiar neighbors also stood there in the parking lot.

“Sid? I thought you’re already gone,” Joe rolls down the window.

“Dude, don’t you love this city? We can’t just giving it away to them!” without even any rhyme or setup, Sid lets out his angry tone.

“I thought we’re already talked about this…” Joe just sighed. “Come on, it’s impossible and you know that,”

“We didn’t even know yet!” suddenly, a mid-twenties woman interrupts from behind Sid. “Give it a try! Who knows, maybe they’re willing to negotiate!”

“Carla, not you too!?” Tina seems surprised.

“Come on, Joe! Join us! There’s still time before tomorrow! We could take back this city!” Sid walks closer to Joe’s truck.

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about, Sid… you already know ‘em and what they look like, we’re just ants to them! You’re just insane to think that they’ll be willing to follow your demands! Next thing you know, you’re just a red stain under their boot…”

“But this is straight up discrimination, and I won’t take it this way! We’ve been here for more than twenty years, and what? One day, suddenly, all of us have to evacuate ourselves, just like that?”

“I know how bad it is, but what could we do, eh? At least they provide us a temporary place, it wasn’t so bad,”

“Those manufactured cities? Dude, come on… you’re better than that,”

“Like I said, what choice do we have? Anybody knows how degrading this is, but we do what we have to do to keep on living, right?” Joe lifts up the brake. “You still got hours before tomorrow evening, Sid. Don’t be stupid, please,”

“Who’s more stupid then? The one who would do their best defending this beloved city from those damn Brobby, or the one who just decided to give up and living in that miserable hellhole of a so-called manufactured city?” Carla just pierces through Joe’s conversation.

Joe, realizing the lost cause that already doomed this whole people, could only sighed in defeat trying to convince the ‘defenders’.

“I’m outta here,” Joe pressed the gas pedal, once again speeding through the suburbs.

“HEY!” Sid runs a little on the asphalt. “Ah, fuck them cowards…”

***

Driving through the downtown area, it’s actually surprising that the city still looked clean despite already been deserted for a few days. Joe and Tina spotted a few people still roaming the street and sidewalk, even there’s still a few inside the buildings. Despite the relatively calm atmosphere with all those slick clean tall skyscrapers glimmering by the setting sun, the couple couldn’t help but to feel a sense of incoming danger that would soon befell this town.

“I just couldn’t imagine it,” Tina blurts out lazily.

“Imagine what?”

“This whole town… the day after tomorrow, it would be… no more,”

“You’ve seen it on TV, right? Not the first time we’ve seen something like that,”

“I know that, but… it’s just felt surreal when it actually happened to our town, know what I mean?”

“Ah, I see your point…” Joe nodded. “Well, when we’re on the lower part of the food chain, then there’s no point on fighting through it though… we’re just human, after all. Besides, we’re truly lucky actually, they’re letting us evacuating ourselves before it happened, even providing us a temporary shelter, it couldn’t get better than that,”

“That, I couldn’t complain… I’ve seen worse as well,”

As the sun still sets, the couple made their way through the downtown, entering the highway, exiting their beloved city for the final time…