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Prolific Writer
Join Date: Mar 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 313
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Sci-Fi Unoriginal Idea
Just some ramblings. I'm not sure if I plan to go anywhere with this; the whole end-of-the-world thing has been done enough.
The damn ceiling was leaking again. What more could he do? He had already put plastic over the top of the battered building. He would just have to scrunch into a corner and wait for the acid rain to cease. He sighed, and tried to adjust into a more comfortable position. He had just drawn from his clothing a hardened piece of bread and began gnawing on it when he heard a commotion from outside and his haphazard “door” of plastic was pushed aside, and a stranger entered. The figure chucked the garbage lid she had been covering herself with back outside and looked around, freezing when she saw Will with his food halfway to his mouth. Naz protectively tucked the morsel back into a pocket and watched the stranger with wide eyes. On closer inspection she proved to be not much older than Naz, and her pale face was uncharacteristically free of dirt. The young woman raised her hands in the universal sign of peace, and remained comfortingly still. “I just need shelter.” Naz gazed at her suspiciously. The girl glanced back outside. “And maybe hiding.” She looked like she could hold her own in a fight; her muscles were somewhat larger than Naz's, and her combat boots looked like they had had a little wear. Naz shifted and cleared his voice; “You can stay.”
The next morning was sickeningly hot, quite unlike the cold day yesterday, and the sun beat down relentlessly. Overhead the sky was a splotchy red, purple where pollution was thinner. One of the two moons, Rsuke, was still visible in the horizon. Will looked behind him to the sleeping stranger still in the shelter, and wondered how long the pale girl would stay pale. The sun would scorch her in a matter of hours. Will bit his lip and retrieved a rare tube of sunscreen out of his pack. It was nearly empty anyway, he rationalized, and dropped it at the stranger’s feet. The woman should get up. Scavengers might come by… Naz wrinkled his nose at waking her up, and settled for kicking the shelter to startle her awake as he walked away.
Today would be a good day for food hunting; he had passed a quickie-mart last night as he had run from the acid rain. It had been locked, with no windows, and he hadn’t bothered looking at it as shelter in his hurry. But today was different. Retracing his steps across the dusty ground, he made his way back into town, eyes darting everywhere for signs of trouble. Most of the buildings had already been broken into, and the only reason this store hadn’t been was because of locks, and the lack of windows. As Naz approached it, though, he saw he could pick the lock with ease. Dropping to one knee, he rifled through his pack and found his makeshift picking utensils, and selected a few. Within a few minutes, the door popped open, and Naz straightened. He poked his head in with caution, just to be certain it was empty, and entered. He knew he had hit the jack pot right away; true, quite a few of the foods were moldy, but he saw bags of chips that would have weathered the years well, cans of soda, and many cans of various foods. Naz smiled happily and put just a few choice things into his pack; he hadn’t broken the padlock, so this little store might prove a very good asset. It could last him a year if he was good about. Also, it provided him a bit of protection; true, it didn’t do much good if he was mugged, but he could bargain for his life with some of this stuff if necessary.
He turned to go and quickly replaced the lock. He had just finished when he heard a ruckus, and he turned swiftly. It was the stranger from last night, in a fight with one of the locals. The older, fatter man was winning, judging by the big, growing bruise on the stranger’s face. Will trotted over, fishing a chocolate bar out of his bag. “Leave her alone! She has nothing.” Will tossed the bar to the man, who snatched it and disappeared quickly.
The girl turned from her crouched position to view him, and slowly straightened into a stand. “You didn’t need to do that.” Her voice was strong and deep, deeper than his, in fact. “Yeah?” he said, placing a hand on his hip. “You think you could have taken care of fatty by yourself?” She glared at him and pulled out a knife; “It’s not like I’m unarmed.” Naz squinted at the weapon. It was nicer than most he saw, almost a work of art. It looked sharp. “You didn’t even have sunscreen, and look at how pale you are!” Naz pointed out. “I doubt very much if you could survive out here for a week. Where’d you come from, that you didn’t need such skills?” She brushed back black hair and glared at him, her voice rising in anger; “At least I’m not throwing away valuable food to the ‘fatty’! We easily could have taken him together, without wasting that bar!” Naz shook his head and dropped to his knees, opening his sack. He shook out the food he had gathered, and watched with a smirk as the girl’s jaw dropped open in shock at the wealth. “Take what you like,” Naz said imperiously. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” She looked at him curiously. “What about that piece of bread you were gnawing on earlier?” she questioned. Naz tossed her a soda, which she snatched out of the air. She had good reflexes. Maybe she could have taken care of herself. “It was a decoy,” he lied smoothly. “So you didn’t think I had anything of value.” Her eyes narrowed doubtfully, but she opened the soda, draining it quickly and eyeing the rest of the food. “Have some more,” Naz offered, backing peacefully away from the pile. She crossed her arms. “Where’d you get it?” she had a slight accent, which probably meant she was from the north. He asked her if she was. “What if I am?” was her reply. Naz scratched at the earth with a toe. “I was wondering if it’s true, if there are settlements up there-” “They’re gone now,” she said, cutting him short. “I came down here because the ice is spreading.” Naz raised his eyebrows. This wasn’t good news. “New York -?” “Gone.” It had been one of the first places to get hit, but many had survived, and there had been rumors of camps. In the south, there were no such organizations, and people roamed freely.
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"I demand to choose your signature" - Tristiano
Last edited by Damien. : 03-27-2008 at 02:00 PM.
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