The Freedom Roads - Part Five

David spent the night in Riley’s house. The upstairs rooms were much cleaner since Riley hadn’t been there in a while. God, how long did you sit down there alone? Even the bed was still made and only had a thin layer of dust on it. David flipped the pillows and drew a breath when he saw the black Beretta 92 lying on the bed sheet. Riley was all authentic apparently. The gun looked really old. The metal was faded and it had small dents and scratches that made David think it had been dropped a bunch of times. He pressed the magazine release and it slid out smoothly. There were still bullets in it. He flicked each of them out into the palm of his hand. Nine. He reloaded the clip and pushed it back in the gun. It clicked pleasingly. He pulled back the slide and heard a round go into the chamber. Holy shit this thing is loaded now! How do you unload it? Is this a semi-automatic? He pulled back the slider again and the bullet flew out to his right. There we go! He recovered the bullet and put it back in the magazine. He didn’t reload the gun but flipped the safety on anyway and stowed it under the bed. It’d probably give me nightmares under the pillow. He pulled back the covers and passed out as his head hit the cushion.

David was standing on a hill looking down on a field dotted with Scarlet, pointy tents. The sky was the color of blood and fire and the wind bit at his face. He heard drums and the wind carried the loud cracks of whips, followed by screams. He saw tall men in Roman armor, wearing capes the color of blood and bronze helmets reflecting the orange sky. Naked men and women were pulling plows by their necks. Some were pointlessly hacking at the ground with picks but whenever they stopped the whips cracked again. There were mounds of something. They stood dark against the bright sky and David couldn’t figure out their purpose. Then he saw it. Limbs twisted together, faces staring blindly into the sky. Hundreds and hundreds of people stripped of their clothes and tossed together in bundles. David looked closer. He couldn’t believe it. They were still moving. Each mound was slightly trembling and writhing in bizarre unison. Then a soldier threw a torch on one of them. It went up like nitrate film and their screams rose and fell with the smoke.
David screamed. “It’s only been twenty years! How did you let this happen? Don’t you consider this a slight overreaction?!” He was flailing his arms as tears streaked down his face. He could hardly hear himself over the wind as he sprinted down the hill towards the soldiers and their slaves. One of the mounds wasn’t aflame yet but a soldier was carrying a torch towards it. David aimed at him and lowered his shoulders. One of them popped out of its socket as he hit the metal armor with a blunt thud but they tumbled to the ground and landed at the foot of the mound and Riley was staring David in the face. “You fool boy“, he croaked. “But he was gonna burn you”. A kind smile of pity swept across Riley’s face. “I’m already dead son”. David lowered his head and cried. “Don’t ever throw your life away on the count of being a hero kid. The time for heroes is over. It won’t do anyone any good and you’ll only get yourself killed.” “Okay Riley…” “It’s pretty fucked up in here, you must have issues Dave.” “What?” “You’re dreaming kid, wake up”, Riley slapped him across the cheek.
David woke with a shout.

It was morning and grey when he set out. The Beretta felt heavy tucked in his jeans and David didn’t like it but wasn’t foolish enough to pass it up. I would have never found a gun. There were basically no guns before why would there be guns now? Why did Riley have a gun? David hoped he had never used it. I should probably test it. Would be no good to have it misfire when the Romans show up. He couldn’t shake the dream. Maybe I have no idea what I’m getting into.

He still had to decide where to go. He had never seen Venice but after the dream Venice scared him. Images of pale, bloated bodies, staring up at him from the canals flittered across his mind but he pushed them away. Rome scared him as well but for another reason. The Coliseum was probably still there. Was it insane to think that someone had decided to pick up the old games? David grinded his teeth; Yes it is. It’s only been twenty years! But he couldn’t shake the images.
It would be interesting to study though. It took us over 2000 years to become as civilized as we are. I wonder how long it’ll take us to regress to how we started out. Or form a new society entirely.
He imagined an Italy a hundred years from now. Its people divided into families, not waging war but greeting each other as cousins whenever they met. An entire country united under multicolored pavilions, kissing checks and drinking wine, singing songs and playing guitars. I wonder how Germany would do, David smiled.

He had reached the borders of familiarity. He couldn’t recognize the countryside or the villas anymore, nor the cars left on the road. Maybe it’s time to start looking for one. From this point on they might have batteries in them.