Routines

By Laura Lin

The world exists in a perpetual winter after an asteroid impact shifted the Earth's axis. Survivors migrate to the remaining habitable area to form The Community.  Under the rule of The United Government(UG), every aspect of life is intensely controlled, a fact that builds resentment in Sam Rice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: W & B Publishers, Inc
• Release date: Jun 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781635542585

Book preview

Routines

By

Laura Lin

W & B Publishers

USA

Routines © 2020. All rights reserved by Laura Lin

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any informational storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

W & B Publishers

For information:

W & B Publishers

9001 Ridge Hill Street

Kernersville, NC 27284

www.a-argusbooks.com

ISBN: 9781635542578

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.

Book Cover designed by Laura Lin

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

This book is dedicated to:

my kids, who forever inspire me to do more;

And to My parents and Dave, who always believe I can do more.

Chapter 1

Eat, work, sleep, repeat. That was it. That was life, from now until the day you died.

These were the thoughts going through Sam’s head as she lay on her back staring out into the blackness of the room. For the rest of her life a clock would dictate Sam’s world, telling her when to work, when to eat, when to sleep. Unlike the other parts of her day, Sam didn’t mind the sleep portion; there was sanctuary in sleep.

The world felt as though it came to a stop in those hours of closed eyes and strange dreams. However, the moment her eyelids snapped open, the routine began again and she was thrown back into the reality of her nightmare, the planet’s nightmare.

Groaning and muttering a few oaths of discontent, Sam sat up, throwing her feet over the edge of the bed. The floor, cold on her skin, caused her thin figure to shiver in response while feeling about with her toes for her worn slippers. Ever since the Earth’s axis had shifted it was always cold, always winter, always gray. It was as if they lived within a black and white photograph, the perpetual drabness doing little to help Sam’s somber mood as she stood to wrap a threadbare bathrobe around her shoulders before heading down the hall to the communal bathroom. With land being scarce, the remaining population had been forced to live a bit differently. There was no longer the luxury of owning one’s own home. Now houses were pushed to their limit, holding three to four families, depending on their size, and everyone else resided in dorm style apartments with only a room to claim.

*****

The water temperature of the shower failed to reach above lukewarm causing Sam to hurry through the ritual of washing. She had just stepped out of the rain locker when the insistent knocking began. Sam instinctively knew who it was.

Just a minute. She called out, quickly drying off with the harsh fabric of a thinning towel as the intrusion on her privacy continued. I said just a minute! Sam barked, thrusting her arms into the sleeves of the cotton sleep shirt. The fabric stuck to her skin due to the failure to dry properly, slowing the progress of getting dressed.

Hurry up, I’m going to be late. A muffled voice replied, giving a momentary pause in the knocking. Sam would have preferred the knocking to the nasally voice that now spoke.

I’m almost finished. She called out, loud enough to be heard through the closed door. The hammering resumed nonetheless. Groaning in annoyance, Sam pulled on her bathrobe, yanking open the door a few seconds later.

It’s all yours, Sam announced, tossing the damp towel over her shoulder, casting a glaring eye at the sickly blond that stood before her. Sam almost felt sorry for the girl...almost. Allie had been used to a much better life BA (Before the Asteroids). Her father had been the owner of a chain of hotels, allowing her to have the best of everything and wanting for nothing. Now she shared a bathroom with people she didn’t like and took cold showers. Despite her empathy, Sam couldn’t help giving a mock curtsy before moving past her. Your highness.

You’re not the only one on this floor who has to get ready, Allie snapped, slamming the bathroom door shut with a huff of air that caused a smile to erupt upon Sam’s face. It was all rather childish, and though she tried not to provoke Allie, sometimes it was just too hard to resist.

Back in her room, Sam towel dried her shoulder length hair before pulling on the thick brown wool pants. Finishing off the uniform, she slipped a gray wool sweater on over the sleep shirt; she had learned long ago that by doing so this added a bit of protection against the scratchy fabric as well as an added layer of warmth. With agile fingers, Sam plaited her hair to hide the fact that it was almost too long for regulations. She knew she was pushing the boundaries, but there was something liberating in controlling some aspect of your life.

A quick check around the room to ensure everything was in order in case of an inspection was the next step in the routine. The barren, light-gray walls did little to make the 10 foot x 8 foot room seem bigger with its wall to wall furniture completing the boxed-in look. Rooms weren’t meant to be luxurious, just practical. A small narrow bed directly to the left of the door took up most of one wall. It was little more than a straw filled mattress hidden beneath a patchwork wool blanket but it did the task it was designed for despite the lack of comfort. The opposite wall housed a narrow wardrobe that provided a place for her sparse belongings, next to it was an old rickety chair that Sam had draped her towel across for drying. The bright spot, if there could be one, was a simple wooden desk that was positioned in front of the window. It was made from a pallet, the rough wood sanded down to make it smooth enough to avoid splinters. The spindly legs didn’t allow it to be moved around too much but with so few options for movement that really wasn’t a problem. Several books were stacked on the corner, dog eared pages marking the progress of the reader. This was the only indulgence citizens were allowed and during the organized free time, Sam took full advantage of it. The final piece in the room was a small black monitor affixed to the wall in the corner at the foot of the bed. The ever present world globe rotating on the screen, a permanent reminder of the United Government’s power.

Confident that the room was up to standard, Sam laced up her fur-lined leather boots and grabbed the small satchel that contained her identification papers and a book off the chair. Her wool mittens were held between her teeth as she worked on fastening her coat closed while navigating the halls and stairways. The cluster of people around the kitchen waiting for a turn at the toaster oven confirmed her decision to skip breakfast.

The heavy black coat did a poor job deflecting the wind that instantly assaulted her petite frame upon stepping outside. Tucking her head down, she sought shelter in the scarf that was wrapped around her head, leaving only green eyes exposed to the harsh elements.

*****

The sky was just waking up, the blackness giving way to the start of a gray that would later give way to a muted white. Setting a brisk pace, Sam joined others from neighboring housing pods on the snow covered walkways for the commute to work, their frozen breath drifting lazily upwards like small thin clouds. Muffled voices added to the crunching snow as Citizens chattered about mundane things, blindly following the routine.

Part of Sam’s routine included a stop off at the library – the only library left AA. Though it wasn’t opened yet Sam knew the service door would be unlocked for her, she and the librarian had struck up what one might call a friendship. Mrs. Lanlam would stock the books and Sam would read them allowing both women to enjoy stimulating conversations.

The door opened silently after a few pushes of the buttons on the control panel, allowing Sam to slip inside. Only here did the world seem untouched by asteroids, cold, and death. The books looked the same as they did before the life altering events. Their covers had never been brilliant, their pages always thin, and that smell; nothing like it in the world – it was history on paper, maps to other lands and worlds, and wisdom of past generations.

Sam removed the mittens and undid her coat, settling onto the cot that had been set up just for her. Mrs. Lanlam had also provided a small stash of food rations tucked in amongst some filing cabinets for such occasions, thus a little retreat from life had been created in the sub-level of the old building. Turning on a little desk lamp that sat on one of the metal shelves, Sam pulled out a copy of King Lear from the satchel. It was an old copy, well abused, the pages were yellowed with some displaying little tears or stains, but the words were all there. She loved how Shakespeare wrote; the language antiquated and unique, but it had a rhythm that sang to the soul. She couldn’t help but wonder what Shakespeare would have written had he lived in this day and time. As her imagination drifted she soon became submersed within the world that the writer had created, allowing time to momentarily stand still.

The alarm on her wrist sounded, jolting Sam back into reality. How she despised the little watch-like device that dictated her life. Everyone had one; it was implanted on The Day of Graduation, the day that transitioned a child into a contributing member of The Community. A small digital screen showed just beneath the skin glowing faintly with sickly green. The purpose of the device was to relay news and to keep Citizens on schedule. The United Government rationalized that this would allow for a more efficient way of living.

More than once Sam had been tempted to dig it out from beneath her skin but fear kept it in place. When she was younger and in training, there had been talk of a citizen who had removed it; her peers claimed he went mad, the feeds hooked to his nervous system having caused a complete meltdown. Sam wasn’t sure how much truth there was in the story, wondering if it was made up simply to keep The Citizens from taking it out, but she wasn’t willing to risk her sanity to find out.

Obediently, she packed the book back into the satchel and extinguished the light before bundling up once more for the trek into work.

*****

The hum of computers filled the floor, the space divided by short walls that created a partition of individual work spaces, on the far wall was mounted a large screen where the United Government logo was presented. Sam sat in her cubicle fingers nimbly gliding over the keypad, the characters coming up on the screen slower than what she typed. She was busy at work transcribing the notes for tomorrow’s round of Fake News. The woman working in the cubicle across from her worked slower and was most likely doing a financing project as she used the number pad more than letters. Everything came through this room. News, scripts, budgets, school books....everything. Nobody really paid attention to what they were keying in, they just did their job; Sam had learned early that it was mostly lies anyhow as she observed that often she was typing the same piece again and again with only slightly different wording to make it sound fresh.

The United Government wouldn’t allow them to print anything that may make them look bad, as if they couldn’t control the world. Only a fool or a desperate person could believe such propaganda but right now the world is full of both. The Citizens wanted, needed, to