'Merica
by RKT

Comment:


Although the Camps had been established several years before the floods came, fate had been written in the sky long before, in fluffy chemtrails. At that time, sustainable farmers pointed fingers at urban entitlement and petroleum purveyers pushed flatus theory, but the truth was closer to what reverberated beneath tin foil helmets. The environment was being intentionally targeted.

It happened while intercontinental travel was still permitted, in fact, the price of jet trips had hit an absurd nadir. Cheap flights flew in the face of incredible inflation, flippant cuts of FHA assistance and a fundamental food insecurity. Aircraft criss-crossed in close quarters without fear of collision, owing to the advanced echolocation technology that superceded plain old radar. And flight times were wildly reduced once we learned to pre-pressure the air in the plane's predicted path, neutralizing the sonic boom carpet.

Each one of these jet planes might as well have been spewing contrails in the shape of skull and crossbones. Through the harvesting of oilspill-eating bacteria, new amphipathic fuel stabilizers had been developed which increased the half-life of avtur several fold. While this technological frugality made for very cheap plane tickets, the novel nanocarbons in the eventual breakdown products ate the earth̢۪s ozone layer for breakfast. Several biochemical engineers were paid handsomely for their silence.

Ladder to Freedom
by westford

Comment:


Once we learned that all air travel had been halted, a feeling of certain doom arose. It was difficult to imagine getting home without a plane, although this grew more and more ironic as the water levels rose. We should have been able to float home. With the ever-wetter weather, the ground at Camp became a perma-muck, an endless squelching ooze with a voracious hunger for sandals and shoes. We belted ours onto our feet with clumsy bits of twine and rags in attempts to combat the vacuum. In time, we would grow nostalgic for that muck.

With the insidious rise of water, past ankles, then knees, groups of us would frequently wade-stumble out to the Camp wall as if mass-somnambulating. We would arrive and just look at it... longingly, lustily, indignantly, reproachfully. But this torrid affair was unrequited - the wall bore no reciprocal imprint of our existence. The structure was an odd hodgepodge of successive vertical barriers, about 20 feet high. The ground level consisted of massive boulders, upon that, masonry, upon that, chain-link with razor wire, and at the very top, a fine mesh in a wooden grid, stabilized by fat wooden poles. Rumor was that the seemingly delicate netting at the top was electrified or poisoned, that it couldn't be touched or hurdled. Mercifully, that rumor was as much of a lie as anything else the government had told us.

Wishes sometimes do come true
by Dennisheckman

Comment:
Apologies for my ignorance - to me it looked like a bright blue tarp and seemed too small to be ice. As soon as rollover happened, I checked in and noticed that the other commenters had more of a clue ;-) Oh well.

a sheep a boat
by Tiny

Comment:
would you could you, with a goat

autumn
by tome

Comment:
Hey Tome! Daring entry, yet so gentle and apt. This was a 7 from me, sorry I didn't comment during challenge.

Princeton 11
by mefnj

Comment:
i think the guy with the square head is dancing

"Take Me To Your Leader"
by Luciemac

Comment:
yes, i thought he did a lot of pareidolia...

Layers of Forgot
by Bearded_dop

Comment:
good title

L'Chaim
by posthumous

Comment:
i think i can see you...
through a glass darkly

Pitter Patter
by GeorgesBogaert

Comment:
Interested to hear where this is, especially since they were all given translucent umbrellas. Art installation? Sculpture? Industrial remake of willy wonka and the chocolate factory? It feel so Sisyphean.