Greg reaches out

Greg crouched low by the chain link fence.  The morning light brought a red glow to the sky in the distance, lately the sky was reddish almost anytime of the day.  Greg looked at it and felt the hate swell up in him like it does often now.  "Why does it have to be this way?"  He remembered when things were different, when mornings ushered in blue skies and singing birds, when it wasn't blazing hot all the time even at night like it is now.  He knew who to blame, "it's the greedy capitalists" he thought for the hundredth time, if they hadn't just keep on burning fuel and causing the earth to heat up things could have stayed like they were before.  There were plenty of warnings- private, government, local, and global experts had been warning for years it was coming but the business owners didn't listen, they had products to sell, deadlines to meet, profit margins to reach.  And then toward the end once it reached a point when no one could deny what was going on they finally got scared enough to stop production of the factories, but by then it was too late.  It was like a heavy flywheel spinning out of control and nothing could slow it down or stop it.  The earth just kept getting hotter and hotter, people moved in droves further and further away from the hottest areas at the equator toward the north and south poles, and pandemonium became the norm.  Laws and borders, fences and walls, border guards and vigilantes could not stop the flood of immigrants.  Survival overtook civility and mob rule became the way of the world in this new era of take what you need to survive and don't worry about anyone else.  The toll was staggering in human life, those in the hottest zones would die if they stayed there, many who left in roaming gangs looking for food and relief from the heat died along the way and more died trying to cross the obstacles placed in front of them by the people who had gotten to the livable areas first.  But still they kept coming, in waves of fifties, hundreds, and more, relentlessly pressing, pressing, pressing, against the barriers set up to stop them.  Eventually nothing could stop them and once they overran the blockades and had ravaged the land of food and water and resources in that one area they would be on the move again and push into the next area and the cycle would repeat itself over and over again.
Greg hated the immigrants, hated the way they looked, the way they talked, the way they smelled, and mostly the way they just took whatever they wanted in order to survive.  

He didn't like to think about it, but most would say Greg grew up privileged.  Sure his family had a business making tires for automobiles, but it had been in the family for generations, and Greg didn't feel guilty about what part it had in the destruction of the planet.  He didn't ask to be born into his family, he never ran the business, in fact he just jetted around from one vacation spot to another until lately when he traveled from one place to another just trying to avoid the heat, find sustenance, and avoid the roaming mobs. There was no such thing as a vacation get away anymore and Greg resented it.  It was getting harder and harder to travel, grounded jets were now being taken over by the homeless, and for the last month, Greg had been on foot to reach this destination at the chain link fence.  He was in full desperation mode now, he really wasn't much different from the homeless people he loathed and avoided at all costs.  Gone was his prestige and his money, his ability to pay his way out of any situation he found himself in.  He was dirty, hungry, and desperate to get away from everything that had now become life on earth.
On the other side of the chain link fence was Greg's last hope for survival.  Standing against the orange morning sky was a sleek rocket with the name Spirit emblazoned on the side. Greg had heard enough about this rocket to know that this was his ticket to escape planet earth.  Greg had heard that the rocket was owned by the Theos Corp and had even seen short video's of the son of the owner of Theos urging people to sign up to leave the earth for a new habitation, one that promised everything that earth had the potential to be at one time but unlike earth, this new planet would be controlled by Theos Corp and would not allow anything to destroy the perfect way of life found there.  But Greg had a problem with all this, it was said to join the people in the rocket he would have to submit to the Theos Corp rules and even give up his rights as a person to do whatever he wanted.  Greg was too independent for that, he had been his own man all his life, in fact he had lived a pretty good life.  Sure he had stepped on a few people along the way to get what he wanted, but isn't life the survival of the fittest as they always say?  Besides the Theos Corp, Greg had another problem, and it was the owner's son Chris. Chris was promoted in the video's as this loving, caring guy who just wants to save as many people from earth as possible and take them to the new location.  And then there was the talk about the supernatural surrounding Chris, how he did things that couldn't be explained with science- and that really bothered Greg.  He figured science was the highest pinnacle of man's wisdom and for some guy to allegedly go around science and make things happen like magic just didn't set well with Greg.  It was like who gave this dude the right to suspend the laws of nature?  It's not as if Chris set up the laws of nature himself and then could get around them as he pleased, right?  Greg was sure it was all just hype from the Theos Corp anyway and that made it even worse.
In spite of Greg's disregard for Chris, Greg knew that rocket roared off the launch pad every morning at 6 AM and if he wanted to live much longer he needed to be on it.  Instead of signing up through the Theos Corp Greg made his own plan.  He had been hiding by the fence watching the rocket make trips for about a week now and noticed there were hand rails on the sides all the way up to the cargo bay doors and he had seen workers on the lift off scaffold open and close those doors before every launch.  They weren't locked and he was sure he could get that door open on his own if only he could sneak up to the rocket just before liftoff and climb up those hand rails.  It was chancy Greg knew but he was not about to submit to Theos Corp and Chris for anything.  Greg had a stubborn streak that ran hot when it came to getting what he wanted and how he wanted to get it. 
Movement to Greg's side roused him from his thoughts and he instinctively sprang to his feet to escape what must be a security guard.  Greg had not seen a guard outside the fence the whole week he had been there and had gotten careless, Greg chastised himself as he started off running.  A strong hand grabbed his shoulder from behind and Greg stumbled down face first to the ground writhing and kicking at whoever was holding him back.  "Stop it! settle down!" Greg turned to see it was a guard and who was bigger and stronger than Greg so he had little choice but to lay there and hope the guard would let him up.  "What are you doing here?  You know this is a restricted area."  Breathing heavy, Greg decided to just tell the guard what he was doing there, Greg was too weary to make up a lie at this point.  The guard nodded as Greg talked, he had heard it many times before, and as Greg finished telling him the plan the guard just shock his head slowly and asked why on earth didn't he just sign up the right way and get on board like the other people did?  Greg got angry and cussed out Chris, the Theos Corp, and even cursed the rocket a few times.  He was just too proud to humble himself to that ordeal he said.  The guard looked at Greg for a moment, and he genuinely felt sorry for him.  The guard told Greg some amazing things about Chris and how that Chris had even been injured to the point of death trying to get people into the rocket and how that medically speaking he shouldn't even be alive, but in spite of this he keeps putting out the word relentlessly to warn people on earth to enter the rocket and leave this doomed planet.  Greg wasn't buying it, "another stupid zealot" he thought to himself "how much is Theos Corp paying this guy?".  "Just let me go and I won't bother anyone around here anymore" Greg told the guard.  To Greg's surprise the guard let him go with just a stern warning to stay away.
Greg went back to a hiding place he had set up when he first arrived at the launch site about a quarter mile away in some bushes and tried to sleep for a while.  It was too hot to sleep, Greg was hungry and thirsty.  He had eaten and drank the last of the provisions he had stolen the day before.  "Tomorrow's the day" he thought, "I can't hang on here any longer, I've got a plan I will just have to work the plan tomorrow morning.  It's my only hope."

Fitful sleep made for a long night, Greg got up and moved around some.  "I've got to get limbered up to be able to scale that fence then climb that rocket all in the short period of time the lift off crew leave the site and the rocket starts liftoff."  Greg knew the fiery liftoff would bake him to a crisp if he was still climbing up the side of the rocket when the burners started igniting.  He had only about 2 minutes he figured from the time the liftoff crew left the area for him to climb the fence, race to the rocket, climb up it and get in the cargo doors before the flames started rolling up the sides of the rocket.
Greg was tired and dirty, he smelled as bad as the immigrants he despised and now hunger and lack of sleep were dogging him but none of that mattered.  It was go with the plan or die, "the survival instinct is stronger than I thought" Greg realized.  Greg checked his time, it was time to move out.  "If only that guard doesn't show up I think I can make it" Greg thought as he crouched and moved toward the fence.  In his weakness Greg felt like he could see himself moving along as if he were watching from above his own progress, it was strange but Greg had little time to think about it.  Finally at the fence Greg thought he must be getting delirious because laying against the fence was a pair of wire cutters, Greg grabbed them and they were real, in no time he had the fence cut open, "no climbing for me" he thought.  He checked the time again and it was almost time for liftoff, the ground crew began moving out and Greg got ready to make his move.  It was crucial that he get from the fence to the rocket without detection but he had no plan for how to accomplish it.  This part of the plan was just left up to sheer luck and Greg hated that, he wanted to be in total control but as hard as he had planned he could not come up with any good way to get there undetected, he would just run as fast as he could and hope for the best.  The fence was cut, the ground crew was gone, now was the time to run for it.  Greg's legs felt heavy as he started out across the open area to the rocket, in fact he could see himself from above again and it looked like slow motion steps as he ran.  Everything in his brain screamed RUN! but fatigue in his body failed him.  Nevertheless, somehow he made it across the open area and when he came to the base of the rocket it looked bigger and harder to climb than he thought it would be.  Greg had no time to waste, soon the rocket boosters were going to ignite and he was standing right under them.  With waning strength Greg jumped up to grab the first hand rail and pulled himself slowly up to reach the next rail.  Once he got a foot hold on the lowest rail he began climbing hand and foot up the rails.  It was slower climbing up to the cargo doors than Greg had planned, but he keep climbing.  Up and up he climbed exhausted and breathing heavy, every reach up for the next rail and every step up with his feet was painful and he felt he was going to drop off the side of the rocket at any moment.  Strength was low and hope lower as he finally reached the cargo door.  Greg saw the cargo door handle just above him and paused to get one last breath before reaching for it, but the pause was interrupted by the thundering sound of ignition from the boosters below.   This was it, open the door and get inside or die Greg lunged for the door handle.  "LOCKED!" Greg cursed the door handle, he cursed the rocket, he cursed Chris, and the Theos Corp and he slumped back away from the door in defeat.  He may as well just let go and fall into the surging flames that were starting to roil under the rocket.  How could he have not known they would lock that door!  How could he have thought he would be able to pull this off by himself?  Greg was done with himself, it was over, he knew he was a thief trying to lie and cheat his way out of the earth that he had helped destroy.  He saw himself for the fraud he really was in that instant and it hurt more than anything else had ever hurt him in his whole life.  "How could dying in the flames be any worse?"  he thought. The flames were reaching out from under the rocket and the rumble and roar of them was getting louder by the second.  Heat was blasting up from below him like no heat he had felt on the scorched earth he had hoped to escape.  Greg knew the end had come and he felt his grip on the rails getting weaker.  The cargo door above him made a loud sound then with a louder bang it swung open,  Greg's grip locked onto the rails as he was startled back to the reality of the open door and at the same time the intensity of the flames grew hotter around him.  Standing in the door was of all people-Chris, and he reached his hand out to Greg to pull him in.  Chris shouted above the roar of the rocket engines, "Get in! you only have seconds!"  Greg pulled back, this wasn't his plan, he didn't want Chris to rescue him, it was all wrong.  Time seemed to stand still as Greg looked at Chris and saw two things instantly, the first was his hands, they were charred beyond belief, Greg didn't have time to think about it but what could be the reason for those hands?  Then he saw the eyes, they were unlike any eyes he had ever seen before, in just the short moment of time Greg looked at Chris's eyes he felt like Chis had looked all the way down into Greg's soul and knew everything about him- good and bad, but also the penetrating eyes emitted a sense of warmth, of comfort, of caring.  It was almost like love was flowing out of those eyes and Greg needed love now.  At this point Greg was engulfed in the flames and he could feel his hair and clothing bursting into flames, the heat was unbearable and Greg knew this was the end of him.  In that final moment of the end, Greg reached for Chris's hand and then everything went blank.
Greg opened his eyes and he had no idea how long they had been closed or where he was.  Was he just imagining he opened his eyes and was he really just laying on the launch pad cooked to a crisp?  "So you have revived?" Greg heard a voice, the same voice that called him into the rocket ship,  And of course there he was, it was Chris, with the same charred hands and the same eyes that Greg had seen standing in the cargo door.  "You mean I made it inside?" asked Greg,  "Yes you did, with very little help from you" Chris smiled.  Greg looked at Chris's hands, those charred hands, "You got those hands burned from pulling me in didn't you? " "Yes, you and many others" Chris said.  Greg looked around, "where are the others?" he asked.  "What others? you are the only one on this trip except the guard who left you the wire cutters."  The guard walked up to Greg smiling, "did you leave them where I can find them for the next guy?" ""What next guy?  What do you mean?  Where are all the people who sign up the right way?  Why am I the only one on board?"  Chris sighed, "You don't think anyone really just signs up and comes on board like that do you?  You are all the same" he said laughing, "you all think you are the only one who is going to sneak in by your own grit and bypass me.  You know, sin is more powerful than anyone can imagine.  No one leaves earth who hasn't been burned by it.  And look at my hands, every one I pull on board just like you gives me another layer of char.  But it's OK because we now have a great new start to life together, I love you because I made you originally, you wandered away, and now I have you back again, and you love me because I saved you."  We have a new place to go and figure this new life out together without any of the evil from earth following us there."  Greg looked at Chris "I am so sorry! what can I do to show you I am sorry?"  Chris shook his head "you can't do anything, everything has been taken care of by Theos Corp, I pull people on board, and the Spirit carries us to the new perfect planet." Greg smiled for the first time in he couldn't remember how long.  "I'm going home to a place where I have belonged and I never even knew it existed" thought Chris.  Greg looked out the window at the new planet they were headed to hanging like a jewel in space, first tears welled up in his eyes, and then he laughed the hardest he can ever remember laughing.