We'll Never Eat Oranges Ch. 1 (Patreon)

Chapter One – Communication

“I’m here.”

The voice was gruff, calm, female, yet almost afraid. Spooked, I’d say. The reason was obvious: she thought she was going crazy.  

“I’m not fake. Everything is still the same as last time,” I said softly. “Brockton Bay. New England. We’re imprisoned be the sentinels Leviathan to the Atlantic, Cuchulain to the North, Simurgh just south of Philadelphia, and Dullahan, that’s the headless Centaur guy to the west. Is… everything still the same for you?”

“I’m Aisha. We… I’m from Atlanta. We have… Simurgh to the North. Dullahan also watches the west. We call him The Hollow though. Leviathan is the same in the Atlantic. But to the south, below Florida is Jaconius.”

“You mentioned that last time, but the only thing that came up when I looked for it in the library was something from a card game,” I replied in my mind.

“Yeah… I think that’s actually what its from. Some nerds said it was similar, and the name stuck. Apparently some island off the coast of the Bahamas was lifted up out of the water and swims in the caribbean now, blocking anyone from going south,” she replied. “I’m still pretty sure this is crazy though. No one can communicate beyond the border. No one! So how are you talking to me in my fucking head?”

“I told you, I think I have powers. I can communicate with people far away,” I said excitedly.

“So… why me?” she asked. “And you’re just telling me? Just like that? Don’t you have secret identities in your… uhh… cell?

“We can talk, but if you’re really from the southern states, then who are you going to tell? As far as I know we haven’t had any way to communicate in… well. Thirty years! As for why you? I just picked someone randomly. I get impressions. I knew you were a girl about my age…  I can sense only about nine hundred people there though. Have things gone so badly?”

“Nine hundred…? Wait, you can sense nine hundred…? No. No we have millions here. I mean, in the whole area. Probably more. Atlanta alone has over three hundred thousand people. Population has gone up since the sentinels, and since the idiots stopped trying to escape,” Aisha replied.

“Oh thank god. I knew I could only sense about seven or eight hundred here but there’s millions in the region. I hoped it was specific people that I was sensing. Then, there must be something special about the people-!”