Bad Day in Utopia

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As Avy and Bogan stepped into line she thought of her home in New Jersey and her move to south Florida. She had grown tired of the cold, the pollution, and the population so thick that it took her over an hour to get to work each day only to arrive at a boring desk job. A job full of miserable people complaining of the weather and traffic and everything else they could find wrong with the world. If she was going to have a pointless and dull career at least it would be in a better place. So she left New Jersey and found her utopia. Well, almost at least. The crowds seemed to follow her, but she did so love the warm weather, the blue skies, and the sandy beaches - and these things made it all worth it. As long as she ignored the masses it was a perfect world. Avy loved Florida. It was almost always warm and pleasant, just like the postcards that people sent from their Florida vacations. When it rained, the rains only lasted for a few minutes. Flowers bloomed year round like they were growing in a climate controlled greenhouse. It had been perfect but the Gloom destroyed her utopia. Now she was trapped in a place worse than the place she had left. She had not seen the sun in months. It was relentlessly cold and dark, and rained almost every minute of every day. Sometimes the rains were light and sometimes it came down hard with the vengeance of a thousand out of control trains. Without the sun, there was flooding in low areas and the lakes that dotted the neighborhoods had found their way into homes, encircling them. Some low lying neighborhoods were almost submerged.
"Look up there. Just like I told you - horses! Those bastards rode horses." Mr. Bogan now chattered with the excitement of a child seeing an animal at a circus. He even smiled as he waved to two soldiers sitting high atop the powerful beast. The horsemen were dressed in full military combat clothing and gear. Their camouflage pants were neatly tucked into their polished boots. They wore heavy camouflage jackets, probably waterproof Avy thought as she looked at them in envy. Heavy Kevlar helmets sat on their heads. Their machine guns rested across their laps or were harnessed over their shoulders resting on their backs. The soldiers were strong, stronger than the Gloom. She allowed romantic thoughts to enter her head of being lifted onto the back of one of the fine steeds and taken away, of being rescued. Avy had many opportunities to have a boyfriend, but that was not why she was in Florida. She had moved to Florida to escape the binds of the real world, to experience life, and to prove to her family and to herself that she could be self-sufficient. The last two months she would have appreciated a familiar face to wake up to in her cold house each morning, but there was no dating now - only solitude. She had been a prisoner hidden in her little house, surrounded by thousands of others hiding in their houses.
As the line progressed forward one of the soldiers moved his horse toward Avy and Bogan's area of the line and began to speak. From his behavior and the way the other soldier talked to him, she could tell that he was the leader. When the man on the horse neared Avy she was struck by his brawny and hard features. His jaw was squared off and his mouth clenched tight. The warriors dark eyes were framed with crow's feet clearly displaying his experience built on a thousand days of combat. If his rank didn't demand respect his durable features and body language sure did.
"I am Captain Letum. We arrived yesterday. We would have reached you sooner but this thing you are calling the Gloom disrupted the electronics on all of our vehicles and aircraft. Fortunately horses are not electronic", the captain said with a slight smile.



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