The Barrier City - 2/13

With a solemn nod and a smile tugging the corners of his mouth, Kitel ended the moment. He needed to report what he had seen, and would have to give the order to open the gates. Putting on his helmet, he activated the seals, and picked up a black battle rifle from the rack. His boots rang metallically on the stone as he descended the steps. Soon the Barrier Wall was left behind, and he moved onto the streets of the Slums.

The Slums were the districts that hugged the inside edges of the wall, which encircled the city. Soot clung to the two- and three-story buildings, while people clad in rough, dust-stained wrappings hustled about the streets, on their way to work in the factories near the Core or in the sprawling Market District to the northwest. The people of the Barrier City all had dark skin and wore earth-tones, and from above they formed a shifting smear of browns and blacks. The rankness of sweating bodies and improperly disposed of waste emanated from the streets, alleys, and gutters, but all Kitel could smell was the dry and slightly metallic tang of filtered air.

He arrived at the East Gate and approached the gatekeepers, who were clad identically to himself. Using the radio in his helmet, his report was transmitted directly to their ears. As he communicated with them he gestured to the gates, but the gatekeepers shook their heads and remained at their posts. His left arm swept out in an arc, encompassing the city behind, and he looked to the gatekeepers before him. Kitel continued speaking, his head bobbing as he talked while his words remained confined to the three mirrored helmets.

The gatekeepers shifted uneasily and looked at one another, but Kitel held his position. Seconds passed, and with a slow, reluctant nod one of the gatekeepers moved aside to wave over a platoon of general infantry. The other jabbed a finger at Kitel’s chest, and thrust the outstretched digit up at a beaten steel plaque that was bolted to the archway above the threshold. His warning delivered, the gatekeeper moved to the controls.