The beach house is a no go. So is the city.
Can't stay here, probably can't ever come back.
Where to go… Anywhere I guess.
Just drive for now. There's surely somewhere we can go. Off the grid. Away from the eyes of the government.
I stop the car.
Surely I'm not thinking of going there. I look in the rear view mirror.
No. Just drive forward…
I can't drive forward. It's technically perfect. Off the grid, away from the eyes of the government.
It's too dangerous, especially for a baby… but what choice do I have?
The outback is a vast empty wasteland. Wild game is near extinct and in preservation camps. Most of this place is a desert, we'd have to live off the occasional reptile or trapped bird… if we are lucky enough to find any.
Can a baby even eat wild meat?
The chances of surviving long enough would be slim to none.
I look back at my daughter in the rear view, and rest my head on the steering wheel for a moment with a sigh, before steeling myself and turning the car around.
It's gonna be a long drive.
The slums aren't exactly a place you go by choice, most would rather serve jail time than be forced to live out there- myself included.
There's only one reason you would go willingly; to disappear.
Violent gangs run rampant in a sprawling city, an unwanted and ever growing metropolis of trash discarded from the people of the real metropolis: New Sydney City.
I see the city in the distance, skyscrapers poking just above the impossibly tall steel walls that surround NSC. From this distance it almost looks like a giant castle, and the slums would be the moat. The closer to the wall you get, the higher the people of the slums have built… and the higher you live, the bigger the target on your back.
Height is power. It's safety. It means you don't get crushed because you are above everyone else. That makes you an enemy of everybody, so if you want to keep your spot, you have to be ruthless.
On the other hand, the lower you go, the more degenerate it becomes. Some thrive in the chaos, running amok in gangs with no real interest in leaving the depths. Happy to live a completely vile and hedonistic lifestyle. Others are just here by circumstance and forced to make a living.
High or low, as long as you are close enough to the wall you can survive.
As you get further and further from the wall, you get further and further from the only sustainable food source.
Trash.
People who think they can live on the outskirts are quickly reminded how isolated and easy to access they are. How there are no gangs you can pay for protection from the lunatics and drug addicts that wander at night. How it's impossible to find anything to eat or drink.
Sometimes, city criminals on the run try to hide out there, only to find out the hard way about the biggest difference between being on the outskirts and being deep in the slums.
In the outskirts, if somebody wants to find you, they actually can. Should have just gone to slums.
Gonna have to ditch the car when we get there.
No roads in the slums, if you're ending up there you've probably already sold your car at that point. Anything to pay rent and avoid living in the trash. No such thing as homelessness in New Sydney. Technically.
This is where we will have to live for the time being, at least until I can think of a real plan. I'm just gonna have to improvise until my daughter is old enough to assume a new identity and live somewhere real. I have enough baby-food in this bag to last months, if I'm smart with it. Me, on the other hand… Worry about that later. This is the only option.
Anywhere else would risk her being found… Word of a blue eyed baby would spread like the plague. It hasn't been seen in decades. It would only be a matter of time before she was discovered. Have to stick to the plan, however miserable. Keep her safe. No one can even know she exists, for as long as it takes…Until she's old enough to fully understand.
Once she can wear these contacts, she'll be able to go wherever she wants unnoticed. Unlike her parents, she will actually get a choice.
…
By now, the father is a wanted man.
The backup eventually arrived at the doctors house. No traces of the baby, not even a hair. Doctors sure know how to keep a sterile environment.
The fathers prints were all over the house's living room and front door though.
That's all the confirmation they needed to start the manhunt. The father is wanted for arrest:
2 counts of murdering a police officer.
2 counts of murdering a civilian.
1 count of kidnapping and endangering a child
1 Grand theft Auto
News outlets later reported that a man murdered his wife after finding out she was having an affair with her retired doctor during a vacation. Police found the suspect attempting to kidnap the doctor's daughter, claiming she was actually his own. When police tried to approach, they were shot dead. The suspect fled in a stolen manual-mobile. He is considered Armed and Dangerous, as well as mentally unstable. A large reward is offered to anyone who can provide information that leads to his arrest.
I shut off the radio.
Definitely have to ditch the car. As soon as someone sees a steering wheel the cops are getting called. Words out, and it's not everyday you see a manual-mobile.
It got us this far at least. If I start walking soon we can get to the outskirts by sundown.
I take the car off-road for a short while, finding a long since deserted service station. There's a ridiculous amount of service stations along the roads interstate of Australia, but eventually they all died out. Electric cars got to a point that you could literally drive endlessly for a month. Hell, most people treat them like a portable hotel room, enjoying a delicious automated meal while the car drives itself through crowded streets at exactly 60 Kph (in populated areas).
They were faster, quieter (unless you wanted them loud, in which case, they were louder) and more importantly: Cheap. Like dirt cheap.
Petrol cars became a collectors item at best.
No one really strays off road since the invention of Ai-mobiles, they have map navigation software and stick to their path. No one's gonna walk this far either. So unless the government finds it, this car can potentially sit here for decades.
Let's hope it's still here in one.
I leave the keys in the glovebox, no point losing them.
Hopefully the government thinks I'm still heading to my beach property.
I wish I could.