EMANCIPATION… A new Sci-Fi HyperShort by Anthony Lawrence

Today’s HyperShort from Tony focuses on an age-old subject in a whole new light… or dark.

EMANCIPATION by Anthony Lawrence

Sarah ran like the devil himself was after her. Her heart was pounding and she felt as if it would burst. She sobbed as branches tore at her flesh. It was so dark she could barely see where she was running. The stars whirled overhead but they gave her little light. The moon was just a sliver. Sarah sobbed as she stumbled and fell, then forced herself back to her feet and kept running. They would be on her if she did not run. She could hear the men and the dogs in the distance. Her orange prison uniform was torn but it was a target they would be able to see from a distance. If only she could strip it from her body and run naked, but it was too cold.

If they caught her they would execute her like they had done to Dr. Cobb. They would strap her down and inject drugs into her. She had been sentenced to die and they would kill her if they caught her. They had called her names like harlot and murderer. She knew she would die if she stopped running. Her only chance was to make it across the border to the civilian spaceport. He had given her the money to make the flight. He was only a poor working guard but he had been so kind all those months she had waited for her fate. He had given her money and directions to the port. He had arranged for her escape and he had wished her luck.

Sarah saw the farm just ahead. She knew she had to stop, if only for a moment to get some water. She was so thirsty and so tired. There was a light on in the house and she heard the voices of children. A woman lived there and Sarah could tell from her face that she would be kind and give her water. The woman’s face was sallow and thin but she welcomed Sarah into the farmhouse. There was not much she could provide because she was terribly poor and had six children to feed. But even though her own children were close to starving, the woman gave Sarah some food and even a dress to wear. She knew that Sarah was escaping but she was sympathetic and burned the hated orange prison jumpsuit in her fireplace.

There was only a moment to thank the poor woman and then Sarah ran again, into the night, terrified and desperate, stumbling across fields and through more woods. She could hear the men and their dogs as they came closer. Sarah could only glance at the paper with the directions the guard had given her but she knew somehow that she was crossing the border and that the port was closer. Then she saw it, the shining metal hull of the spaceship rising up above the treetops. She was going to make it. She was going to live. God, how she wanted to live! She was a human being who had a right to live, to breathe and to love. Her body no longer ached and she could feel a surge of strength as she ran toward that shining steel arrow that pointed toward the sky.

Sarah swiftly ran across the spaceport to the entrance, paid her fare, having just made it under the last call. It was just as she had settled into her seat and buckled the restraints, that she heard the blast of ignition and felt the shudder of the great craft as it rose slowly. Glancing out a porthole, Sarah saw the men and dogs and black cars arriving. But it was too late. Sarah felt sorry for her sins, felt badly that she could not give the woman who had helped her some of the money. But she needed it for her fare in order to live. It was living that mattered. She couldn’t understand why people seemed to care less for those living children than the ones who were not.  But Sarah was on her way to a new world, a world where a woman could not be executed for allowing a doctor to remove the rape-thing from her body.

©2014AnthonyLawrence

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