Chapter 15

                                    

                                          
~Emilia~
"These Australians sure know how to have a good time," Mary revealed with her arms outstretched, gesturing towards the mass of people before them.
As soon as the sun went down, the roof fully closed over the sky, something Emilia hadn't seen as yet. Then all the lamps in the air shone as brightly as stars, almost imitating daylight. Then as they had approached the other end of the rectangular pit, they emerged into another open space streaming with people yelling, laughing, and singing.
There weren't that many children as bottles of dark liquor were being passed around between the adults. Though clearly there wouldn't be enough of the stuff to make anyone truly drunk. Surprisingly enough however, Emilia observed that there were more people their age than she'd ever seen thus far. 
While Anna had picked out the simple top and shorts for her to wear, Emilia had opted for the pants in order to hide the bandage she still kept on her leg. The glue that Anna had fashioned to close her wound had been working surprisingly well, with no tears or breakages, and had resolved to look like a thin pink line. However, she now regretted not wearing the shorts as the number of bright lamps filling the air made it intoxicatingly warm, covering the entire crowd in a light sheen of sweat. 
However, the most magnificent part was the music, blaring across the space and into Emilia's chest. It caused her cheeks to flush as she instantly fell in love with the feeling it brought her. The pressure in her chest made her feel like she had to clear her throat, but it was also exhilarating and exciting.
"What is this... music? I've never heard of it," she yelled into Mary's ear.
"No need to shout, shortcake! It's not that loud!" she yelled back. "But yeah, this music would have to be maybe fifty- sixty years old."
"Why?" she said back, eyeing an older couple intertwined in an alleyway.
"When the people started moving out here," she started with an obvious wink, "cellular reception was turned off to stop unauthorized international communication. Since a lot of music is streamed, people had to turn to their grandparent's old CDs. And CDs are discs that have a set amount of music on them and started dying out in the early 2000s. Now, people get paid a pretty penny to sell them."
"Why didn't they want people to talk to each other?"
"So that people didn't share their wartime conditions, I guess. Not sure about other countries, but the method that Australia has used is to limit the amount of technology available to the public to keep as much of it for the military. But personally, I think they've done it to make it seem like conditions here are worse than they actually are, and thus the satellite towers were destroyed."
It made sense that a government would do that, however oppressive it seemed. But Emilia was able to look past the shitty leaders that built Fimiston and be utterly amazed at its people and everything they had managed to create. It seemed like the whole city had gathered to relax for their weekly 'Tuesday party'. It was a whole other world, the atmosphere completely different as the crowd around them let loose from their constant anxieties. They carried a sense of relaxation and calmness that was usually overwhelmed by the harshness of the recent bombings. 
It had started to get crowded five streets away from the centre, and she could start to hear the music ten streets before that. Turning around in a circle, she could also see large groups of people on large balconies overhanging onto the square. They were either talking happily to each other, swaying and jumping around to the music, or simply leaning back and enjoying the feeling of no responsibilities. 
"I'll be back," came Liam's low mumble as he disappeared into the crowd, Cedric and Florence not far behind him. 
Emilia turned back to Mary, eager to do something other than think about Dominik. She quickly thought of something to say as the group next to them passed around a large bottle of rum. "Ann- Uh, Mary?"