It was almost 5pm, so Leo made his way to Daniel's house. He only lived about twenty minutes away using the tram service. It was free to all employees of the Big Three corporations, Calder Energy, Meridian Healthcare, and Apex Intelligence. Despite Leo being told his employment was terminated six months ago, his pass still worked. He had no intention of reporting it. He hopped onto the tram, found a quiet seat near the back, and watched as the city passed him by. It was a twenty-minute journey through the stratified layers of age, technology, and wealth. All three brothers grew up on the outskirts of Greater Manchester, before the war. Most of the city and the main towns around it were either destroyed or just beyond saving. That's when Calder Energy and Meridian Healthcare moved in to push forward a new vision.
Adam and Daniel were old enough to remember, but Leo only heard about the stories, mainly from Arthur, about how the Corps transformed their first-gen industrial zone, and rapidly re-engineered their 3D printing technology to mass-produce emergency shelters for people who had been displaced. The industrial zone soon became a refugee site, with countless people, veterans, all searching for a way back to some semblance of normality. Arthur said the corporations offered them all sanctuary, in exchange for their services. Leo was too young to remember, but they did live in one of the blocks of flats that he now resides in, back when they were the only real housing available to many in the area. Alderbourne, at it's heart, was built for the people, by the people. It grew, rapidly, with thousands of people arriving each week, all eager to join this mega-project.
As the tram passed the Lower-East side through to the South side of Alderbourne, he could see the landscape change. The blocks of flats changed into rows of houses. Only small, and cramped, but, larger than each of the flats in The Cliffs. He knew that the first zone of houses were built for the war vets, as a thank you. Every Aegis Security employee got one, for their "heroic actions in fighting oppressive tyranny", Arthur used to tell his boys. Leo couldn't believe that people would turn on each other. Kill each other. But they did. And it escalated for two years, hundreds of thousands of people died. He learned about that in school. He remembered his dad being away most of the time, and his mum was always stressed. It wasn't until he was old enough to understand what had happened that he appreciated just how well his mum protected him and his brothers from it all.
As the tram moved into the South-Central zone, he could see the war memorial. It sat in the middle of a beautiful plaza, surrounded by greenery, benches, a small park for children. Leo remembered going on a school trip where the teacher gave a tour of Alderbourne, and told the children what used to be here. Leo found it hard to believe then, and even harder to believe now, that terrorists used a dirty bomb in Manchester city-centre. It killed tens of thousands of people, mostly families who couldn't escape the fighting and had taken shelter in the dense urban city centre. It was now an exclusion zone, a complete no-go area and heavily guarded around the perimeter to stop anyone from trying. The war memorial sat on the southern edge of the central zone. "History is written by the victors", Leo had learned in school, although he couldn't remember who said it. He always found it odd how the history books never stated who was responsible for the dirty bomb. Only that the civil war ended that day. The entire country put down their arms, put away their grievances. And started to rebuild.
The tram continued to pass from South-Central, through to South-West Alderbourne, where the majority of the corps' employees lived. The well-paid ones, at least. This route was always a bitter-sweet journey for Leo. To see the city change as he moved from east to west, the buildings were newer, grander, there was more greenery. Even the air smelled better. People still looked just as stressed as they did in The Cliffs, they just wore nicer clothes. He always enjoyed seeing his older brother, and especially enjoyed getting to spend time with his two nieces. But once that ended, the journey back was like travelling back in time, back to the post-war era of the city. He was too young to remember it. But he lived in its legacy every day.