Welcome to today's episode of Alarm Clock Dawn, I hope you enjoy!
SteemFest Announcement: I’m excited to announce that I’ll be reading the final episode of Alarm Clock Dawn live at Steemfest in Amsterdam on Saturday, November 11th! The episode will be published on Steemit immediately after the reading.
Did you miss Episode 35 of Alarm Clock Dawn? If so click here to catch up.
Are you new to Alarm Clock Dawn? If so click here to start at the beginning.
“I'm sorry. How in the world did you absorb all of those volts from the taser without your legs buckling?” Adam asked.
Bear took off one of his black leather gloves and tossed it to Adam. “These electrician’s gloves are lined with ceramic fiber. I traded them for a fresh pack of smokes a few months ago. The guy I got them from claimed they would withstand a jolt from a taser, but I’d never tested them until now.”
The pair continued on quickly in silence with only the sound of their feet crunching against the gravel road.
It was a barren, khaki colored landscape except for a few patches of green vegetation. With the growing numbers of people joining the camps, the demand for firewood was great and trees were becoming scarce. As they continued on to Bell Rock, the pair walked past what seemed like a never ending succession of homeless camps. For the first time Adam saw the scores of dirty faced and drunken inhabitants yelling and carousing, brought out into the fresh air by the unusually mild weather.
Adam looked over at Bear and realized how thankful he was for his company. Not just for his help at the checkpoint but for his companionship on the journey. He would’ve been an easy target without Bear as a traveling partner.
To Adam’s surprise, the camps seemed to get progressively cleaner and more civilized as they traveled further away from the city. The distinct smell of wood smoke in the air was welcoming to Adam and in the distance they began to spot outcrops of bright red rock in fading twilight.
They came upon a large group standing around a campfire. In the flickering light Adam could see they were cheering loudly as they tossed things into the fire and then danced around the flames.
Adam waited as long as his curiosity allowed him to before speaking up. “What's going on over there, Bear?”
“Oh, those are just newbies.” Bear answered, chuckling.
“What?”
“Newbies. These are people fresh from the city. The first thing they always do when they decide they've had enough of the struggle and join the Quiet Rebellion is burn their C.ID cards. It's a symbolic rite of passage, and yes, it feels every bit as good as you can imagine. It symbolically destroys their link to that hellish nightmare,” Bear said, pointing back towards the city.
“Bear, are you a member of the rebellion?”
“Of course, you see, Adam, insatiable consumption is the only thing that drives their system of human despair and the devastation of our planet. The very minute you make the decision to walk away from their society, you take away a small piece of their power. The moment you walk away, you are no longer part of the problem, You are part of the Quiet Rebellion.”
“So, what made you walk away?” Adam asked his new friend.
Bear hesitated for a few seconds then stroked his long beard reflectively. “When I first heard of the rebellion, I thought it was crazy idea, but the concept stuck in my head and festered. One day I realized the life of consumption I was living was consuming me.”
“How do you mean?” Adam asked.
“In my former life—that's what I call it now because that's how it seems—I was a stockbroker. Can you believe it? Designer suits, hundred-dollar haircuts, luxury cars. I was in deep. I was so naive.” Bear laughed as he glanced up at the graying sky.
“After only a few short years, I had made more money than I knew what to do with. I had everything I thought I ever wanted, but it never felt like enough. There was always the hunger for more. Eventually it got to the point where making money was just about all I thought about. I got a new group of friends. You had to be seen with the right crowd, you know. We always found ourselves at these boozy dinner parties seated around the table with shallow people who only bothered to include someone on the invite if they could benefit from them in some way.” Bear paused to run his fingers through his greasy, tangled hair.
“I worked way too much, had no time for family or friends. After a while, I lost touch with nearly everyone who mattered. If I didn't do business with them, they became complete strangers to me. I found myself constantly angry, stressed out, and unable to sleep. I tried the prescription drugs, but I didn't like how they numbed me, especially Serenity. One day I woke up choking and feeling as though there was a weight on my chest, like I was being physically smothered. I stumbled to the bathroom to grab a cool drink of water and just stood there staring at myself in the mirror. I didn't even recognize the reflection looking back at me. My biggest mistake was I let them define what success meant to me. At that very moment, like millions of others are doing as you can see from these camps, I made the decision to walk away from that poisonous life. I can tell you honestly since my journey began five years ago even my worst days out here rival my best days in my former life. Even hunger isn't as bad as the emptiness I felt on the other side.”
“Wow, Bear that’s quite some story. Is there anything you miss?” It was hard for Adam to imagine this burly man all cleaned up, wearing a pinstripe business suit. As hard as he tried, he just couldn't see it.
“Adam, you will see as time passes that things are naturally plucked from our lives one by one. After a while you begin to realize that losing people and things is just a part of the natural order of life. I lost everything I couldn’t carry on my back when I walked away from my old life, but none of that matters to me. The only thing I miss is the people who know me. Out here people, they come and they go, there are new faces every day. I miss my old friends, but, you know, once you're out here, you realize quickly that so much from our civilized world is complete bullshit. Out here there's no credit score, no f*cking Greens, Oranges, or Reds. The only Green that matters are the leaves, the only Orange are the sunsets, and the only Red are the sweet berries. This realization is a good trade off for me.”
Adam stared at the ground and deeply reflected on what Bear had just told him as they continued walking up the road.
The next episode of Alarm Clock Dawn will appear in two days...on Saturday, September 24th!
Alarm Clock Dawn is the first novel of a trilogy. The sequel entitled, Truth Is Stranger, will be published in the Spring of 2017.
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