Trapper

She decided to search the ruins of the house. Sometimes there were still good things inside, medicine, bandages, clothes. It was dangerous, but the outpost needed supplies, one of the settlements had recently moved into the walls. There were more people and more chances of an attack.

She could hear the ghouls shuffling through the dead leaves outside, so she would need to be quiet. She slipped though the broken window and crept across the dusty floor. She was on the look out for traps, The Trapper having been spotted in the area a few days ago. She had never seen him, but the stories about the bodies found in his wake would make even the most hardened soldier tremble.

She searched the kitchen, nothing useful, just ancient food from before the bombs. She found some clothes in decent shape in one of the bedrooms. The house yielded nothing else of value. She slipped past the hoard, they were getting distracted by their own footsteps in the leaves.

Once they were out of ear shot she broke into a jog, keeping out of the leaves. The walls of the city rose up to greet her and she sprinted the last leg of her journey. She was greeted warmly by the guards as they locked the gate behind her.

“No trouble with the hoard today?” One asked as she caught her breath.

“They are noisy enough to hear coming a mile away.” She swigged metallic water from her bottle. She pulled the clothes out of her bag and tossed them to the guard. “Nothing else good out there today.”

“Too bad. At least someone will be a little warmer.” The guard looked at the clothes.

“We’re going to need all the help we can get this winter, its coming up fast.” She walked up the street and went to her bunk in the small house she shared with the other scavengers.

She crashed onto her bed, exhausted. Her stomach growled at her forcefully. She poked though her bag lazily, trying to find her food voucher. She was falling asleep and gave up quickly, opting to go to bed instead.

The morning came streaming in the window, warming her cold face. She rolled out of bed and took care of the morning necessities in the bucket at the end of the hall. Grabbing her bag she kicked her housemates awake.

“We got work to do today.” She shouted, they grumbled and got up slowly.

She went down to The Kitchen, handing over a voucher and was issued a plate. The plate of food was cold, like always, but it filled her grumbling stomach.

She headed out the gate, refilling her water bottle at the river that ran just outside of town. In the forest the air was musty with dead things. The hoard passed though recently, but they were long gone now. She listened carefully for any other things that might be lurking in the brush. Deeming it safe she continued thorough the forest. A twig snapped and she dropped to the ground. There were no more sounds, that didn’t mean it was safe. She laid prone in the dirt hoping that whatever it was didn’t see her.

Her mind raced as she heard a tapping, in code. She recognized it and stood up. She held her hands up as the other person approached with their gun raised.

“Who are you?” They asked.

“A Scavenger from Hope.” She sized him up. He was either a hunter or a settler. She didn’t recognized him so he must not have been from Hope. “You are?”

“The Trapper.” He grinned, the gun went off with a bang.

Agent 0

It was like a plague erupted, the disease spread like fire. The hunger, the hunting the innocents, something needed to be done. Nox knew something needed to be done, researchers were furiously trying to get the disease under control. With so many infected, it would be nearly an impossible task.

He listened to his cohort of government interns, giving outlandish suggestions. Mass murder, camps, isolation, prisons, evacuations, massive military involvement, letting it burn out. There was opposition for every suggestion, nothing was getting accomplished.

Nox nearly stormed out of every meeting that was held. They usually found him in the research labs arguing with the scientists. His suggestions were just as silly.

“Nox you need to leave, you’re just getting in the way of research.” They shoved him out of the labs.

He went home at night, government housing, fearing an attack. His pistol never left his hand until his door was dead bolted. They would need to take action soon, or it would become a problem for the rest of the world. As it was the other countries refused to acknowledge there was a problem, the american president had laughed himself out of his chair.

That night he decided, there would be no more debate. He marched into the Minister’s office.

“Something needs to be done before our whole country is consumed by this plague.” He met the eyes of the man sitting behind the desk. “I will do something if no one else will.”

“What do you suggest we do?” The Minister’s expression was cold as steel.

“We need to fight them.”

“Are you volunteering?”

“Yes, I will fight them alone if need be.”

The Minister folded his fingers together. “That’s what I like to hear. Assemble a team, you will be in charge of training and getting this outbreak under control. You must do this quietly, we do not want any of this reaching the public, or other governments.”

“It may be too late for that already.” Nox muttered as he walked out the door.

He had an idea for the team, but they would need to agree to join him, He couldn’t risk someone turning him down. There were a select few individuals he trusted to begin with, of those maybe one could be trusted with this task.

He stopped by the research labs, they quickly shooed him out.

“I need to talk to Dr. Solen.” He insisted, “Its urgent.”

She came outside a few minutes later. Her hands on her hips. “What do you want now.”

“I need to know how to kill these monsters.”

“You know I can’t give that information out. We’re working on a cure.”

“You’re working on a vaccine, preventive, not a cure.”

She folded her arms. “Of course we’re working on a cure.”

“Dr. Solen, I really need your help on this.” He pleaded.

“Help with mass murder? I don’t think so.”

“Its preventive, if we can get the infected under control, there might be a chance of curing them before it becomes a global problem.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Nox, you know it already is a global problem. The virus lays dormant for seven days before people start showing symptoms. People have already traveled, and who knows if they were infected.”

“All the more reason to do something.”

She rubbed her forehead, “I know what you mean, I just don’t think its ethical.”

“Do you trust me?”

“About as far as I can throw you.”

He nodded, “Keep me in the loop please.”

“Fine,” She opened the door, “Anything else you want?”

He shook his head a walked away. She would never leave her research, but she would let him know anything they discovered in  the labs. He needed some field agents.

Over the next couple days he observed his cohort, determining which of them would be the most trustworthy, combat ready, and loyal. He decided on three, who he was positive would say yes.

His first recruit was a man who had completed more combat missions than anyone, he even had a metal for it. He jumped at the chance to fight the monsters. The second recruit was a little more hesitant, but she agreed. She was the best strategist of the entire office. His final recruit told him yes before he had even finished asking, he was the most loyal friend he had.

He told the Minister about his selections, the Minster was pleased. “You have a lot to do.”

 

Daily Prompt: Fragile

via Daily Prompt: Fragile

Human life in the wastelands was fragile, delicate beings trying to scrape enough to survive and avoid the terrible dangers that now roamed freely. Tiny settlements of humans staked out small patches of land trying not to attract the attention of the large predator that were now the top of the food chain.

Humans had become an endangered species on the brink of extinction. The world was pushing them there making them the favorite prey. Humans had little in the way of natural defenses, being caught alone in the wilderness meant death.

There were few to be trusted, everyone out to save their own skin. Large scale fighting only brought more death, but with resources scarce it was hard to resist the urge.

Children died of decease, or were eaten by the monsters that roamed the land, not fast enough to escape the hoards. Parents taught them not to scream, just to run, screaming brought more nightmares, bigger nightmares.

The small settlements did everything they could to save them and still survive. Everything about the world was dangerous now. The event was worse than they had anticipated and even seven generations later humanity still stood on the edge of the knife.

Every attempt to take their world back ended in disaster, massive loss of life and supplies. The world they had once ruled had turned on them. Great cities left in ruin, overrun by the un-dead and wilderness. Humanity knew it had once been great, it hadn’t always been this way, they had read it. The books and stories passed down from generation to generation telling the tale of the rise and fall of humanity.

Many wished they could go back to that time, when the world was connected, not scattered to settlements of five or six struggling to survive. Where food was readily available, when the oceans were able to be crossed and not full of hell beasts. When children could sleep safely at night and play outside. They knew there had been warnings about the outcome. Those that had come before ignored them, leaving their world in ruin.

 

 

Survival

She clenched her fists. There was no way she was going to let this beat her. She had already seen so many people slaughtered at the hands of these monsters, she wasn’t going to let them have her too.

She broke out of cover sprinting as hard as she could, her backpack thumping heavily against her back. She dodged trees and plowed through bushes, hearing their footsteps behind her. She pulled her shotgun off her shoulder and blasted a shot over her shoulder, hoping to slow them down a little.

Her breathing became ragged, she would need to find cover. A quick glance over her shoulder told her they were falling behind. Spotting a cave she darted inside, trying to get control of her breathing so they wouldn’t hear her. She ventured into the darkness, allowing her eyes to adjust, getting away from the entrance of the cave. She stopped listening for breathing, sometimes there were things lurking in the caves that were worse than zombies.

She pulled out the cellphone in her pocket and gave it a shake turning on the flashlight. The towers had been destroyed so there was no cell service. Light reflected off the cave walls, no markings to show anything lived there. With a sigh of relief she shook the flashlight off. She ventured further, she stumbled over something in the darkness. She pulled out her light again, she muffled a scream.

The body had been mostly eaten, its clothes shredded, its head was a bloody smear across the ground. She spotted the culprit, a shotgun and a broken trip wire. She scolded herself for not being more careful. She checked the pockets for anything valuable and came up empty. She shook the light off.

Back at the mouth of the cave she checked for her pursuers. Just the regular cricket and bird noises came back to her ears. She crept out of the cave, keeping low to the ground, after carefully observing her surroundings she stood up. Knowing she needed to get back to the settlement quickly before they caught her scent again she jogged along. A stick cracked behind her and she froze dropping into a crouch. She pulled the pistol out of her bag holding it ready to fire. A deer pranced out across the path and she lowered her weapon. A relief flooded through her and she continued on her way.

She was almost to the settlement, almost to safety when she heard it. The heavy breathing of something charging up to her. It sounded like a great beast, possibly a giant, maybe worse. She broke into a run charging through the remainder of the forest hoping to make it to the safety of the walls before it caught her. She slid through the gate, screaming for them to close it. There was panic, she stood up and brushed herself off looking under the gate she saw it. A huge hulking creature, at least twenty feet tall. It looked like it had been charred, blacked and smoking, she winced as it collided with the gate. The iron held. Its claw scrabbled through the hole in the wood, disemboweling a wayward gate keeper.

The creature roared in despair, she covered her ears against the tremendous noise. It lumbered off no match for the walls and gates. She slumped against the nearest house, trying to avoid the glares from people who blamed her for bringing the creatures so close. It had been her only choice.

Very few people braved the wilderness to bring back supplies, medicine collected from the wasteland settlements, food, everything the city had came from beyond its walls. She dropped of her collected items. She traded meat for supplies she needed, properly mixed medicines, bandages, and ammunition.

The medicine woman needed water from the river outside the walls for her patients. She took the task without question. She checked out the power plant, electricity was still running well. She plugged the phone she carried into one of the outlets and grabbed another fully charged one. Water wasn’t too far away but it was dangerous out there.

She pulled out her hand drawn map, notes about monsters lined the margins. She headed out the side door to the gate. She saw the child before she could fully process what she had seen the zombies appeared. Cursing she ran to the child scooping it up in her arms, it would slow her down greatly but she couldn’t leave it. With her bag and the child she stumbled over rocks and roots.

Panting heavily she fell to her knees. The zombies converged on them devouring everything.

Curiosity

They approached the abandoned building. Hugo looked over at his friend nervously fidgeting from foot to foot. “You know what they say… Curiosity killed the cat.”

“That’s not the whole saying…” Donnie said looking at the house with glee. “Who knows what we might find in there. Curiosity is killing me, and the satisfaction will bring me back, just like the cat.”

Hugo sighed. “What if there’s a ghost or something? I’ve seen enough horror movies to know where entering an abandoned house leads.”

Donnie cackled. “Sure, sure there are ghosts in there. Just like your parents took the dog to the farm upstate.”

Hugo choked down a sob

“Now lets go satisfy that curiosity.” Donnie marched up to the front door and kicked it down. The rotten wood gave way easily and the doors crashed down together. They stepped into the dank house. The light was what sun filtered through the rotten roof and holey drapes.

“I don’t think we should be in here…” Hugo whined.

“Should we go to the left or right?”

“Right?”

“Right!” Donnie marched forward, “Great minds do think alike.”

“But fools rarely differ…” Hugo muttered trailing along after Donnie like a duckling.

“Do you think there might be treasure in here? Or something cool like that?” Donnie kicked down another door. They walked through the kitchen, rusty appliances and silverware still on the counter.

Hugo held onto the edge of Donnie’s jacket. “We shouldn’t be here…”

“We’ve only got a few more rooms to go.” Donnie said hopefully as they marched through the living room the ancient TV broken out and the couch torn to pieces. “Why do you think the people left?”

“Because its haunted.” Hugo muttered.

They both looked over the destruction of the living room. Lamps had been turned over broken glass scattered across the floor. The huge front window had been broken in. they turned down a narrow hallway, it was almost pitch black. Hugo trembled clinging to Donnie for dear life. They peaked in both bedrooms and the bathroom Hugo shrieking when he caught sight of themselves in the mirror.

Once the house was explored and they returned to the sunlight Hugo managed  to calm down.

“Why did you follow me in there if you were going to be so scared?” Donnie asked patting his friend on the shoulder.

“Because blood of the covenant is thicker than water of the womb.” Hugo said smiling.

“I thought it was blood is thicker than water?”

“Nope.”

“Huh, well thanks for being brave buddy!” They fist bumped and walked down the sidewalk back home.

Gem eaters 2

She watched the car hit him, green glistening gems scattered across the road. She carefully collected the blood spattered gems from the edge of the scene carefully making her way closer. The ambulance came in the bustle she continued her collection. They started CPR and administered shocks, but she knew it was too late. The driver of the car was crying. Her pockets were full of the green gems, there were more to be collected. She pulled her bag off her shoulder and carefully started to fill it. The man was hauled into the ambulance, all his gems left behind. She had collected her dues.

She walked away from the scene as the police showed up, to them she was just another witness. A shrug, and a passive answer later they left her alone. She pulled a gem out of her pocket and crunched on it. It reminded her of a granny smith apple.

They were her sustenance, and she ate until she was full. She kept her eyes open for the omen of tiny drops of green crystals.

“I see you are still successful.” A silky voice said from the shadows.

“Have been for hundreds of years now.” She replied watching gems start to fall as an old man collapsed at the park.

She began collecting them. The presence was close behind her watching her work.

“Two in one day, impressive.”

“Its fairly normal for this city,” She filled her bag. “Sometimes four or five.”

There was silence from the darkness, then the presence disappeared. She shrugged and finished collecting the gems in silence. She munched on them in the park a ways away from the dead body. They were bitter, she gagged as she choked them down.

She finished them and sulked away trying not to throw them up. The presence returned.

“Every soul you return to me is always a surprise.”

“Why? You watched him die.”

“Its so quick and they are complete.”

She arched an eyebrow at the shadows.

There was some guilt when it spoke again, “I have over burdened you, being the best vessel in my employ. I did not realize you were returning three or four souls in a day.”

“Four or more.” She corrected rubbing her upset stomach.

“To assist you.” A teenager stepped out of the shadows. “He is new to the order. Please teach him.”

“Okay,” She agreed, the pain lessening when the presence disappeared.

“Are you okay?” The boy looked terrified.

She smiled the best she could. “Yeah, sometimes the souls are a little difficult to process.”

“We process souls?”

“Keep up kid.” She ruffled his shaggy dyed black hair. “Lets walk and talk.”

They walked out of the park and onto the packed sidewalks. There was an awkward silence. They watched a opossum chose an inopportune time to cross the road. Blue crystals scattered as the car continued on its way.

“Those are for you.” She said leading him across the crosswalk. He picked up a couple. “All of them.”

He gathered up all of them and stood looking up at her with confusion. “I’ve seen these before.”

She nodded, “Not everyone can. To do this job you kind of need to see them.”

“What do I do with them?”

“You eat them.”

He gaped at her. “But these came out of a dead thing!”

“Just do it.” Her face hardened and he listened, popping a gem into his mouth. She watched his face transform from disgust to wonder. He quickly ate all of them. She patted him on the back, “Good job.”

He followed her around, eating any all of the sapphire blue gems that fell.

 

Finding

They went out hunting and didn’t come back. They left a note, “Went hunting, be home soon. Love Mom, Dad, Buck, and Ronnie.” I waited for them, it was really too dangerous to go out alone. I waited three days for them to come back, with five of us to feed there was not much worry about me running out of food.

I waited a week, still nothing, hunting trips should only take a day or two. Nights are too dangerous to do much. Everything is dangerous now, with raiders, mutants, wild animals, and non-humans.

I headed out to look for them, obviously something bad happened and they won’t be coming back soon. I packed my riffle, ammunition, jerky, some of our home canned food. I also grabbed my canteen and filled it with water.

I planned on returning home that night to restock, today’s mission was to find which direction they went.

Their trail was not hard to find since our giant, semi domesticated, mutant dog had gone with them and knocked down every bit of vegetation in his path. Since it was still early I followed their trail. Out of the abandoned city where we live and through the former farmlands, that looked more like forests with food crops growing in them. It was a good opportunity to restock my supplies. Being a solo meant I was fast and silent, not triggering any alarms or lookouts. It also meant I was vulnerable, no backup.

I kind of wished I had our dog with me, at least he would be something. I made it to another abandoned city. This one more populated than ours. This city was where I found the second note from my family after six months of following and searching for them. They had left it with the lookout who spotted me easily.

“You Gabrielle?” He asked when I approached.

“Yeah,” More curious how he had known it was me.

“This is for you I guess.” He handed me a wrinkled and beaten up envelope still sealed with my name written on it.

“How do you know this is for me?” Really I knew, there weren’t many female survivors of the catastrophe, and the female birthrate was low. A loner was odd, a girl loaner extraordinary.

He shrugged, “They kind of look like you.”

“Did they have a dog?”

He nodded and I tore the envelope open. “Chased by raiders, didn’t want to compromise the home base. Love Mom, Dad, Buck, and Ronnie.”

“You just missed them actually.” He said and pointed in the direction they went. Still farther away from home. I followed hoping I would catch up with them. I lost their trail a few times, finding our dogs kills along the way.

The way they took took me two years to follow them back home. There was a new note on the kitchen table. “Went hunting be home soon!”

With a sigh I went back into my room in the basement to wait for them.

Not all knights ride horses

“Some day my prince will come…”

“Shut up Judith, what princes do you know? Been to Europe lately? This isn’t a fairy tale, princes don’t just show up on your doorstep.”

Teary eyed, Judith countered, “What about the white knight on his valiant steed?”

“When was the last time you saw someone riding a horse?”

“Margie you’re just being mean now.”

“I’m being realistic. There isn’t anyone who is going to save you, you’ve got to save yourself. If there’s someone you want go for them. You can’t wait around and complain when you’ve done literally nothing to further your cause.”

Margie looked over the moat of lava that imprisoned them in the tower, it had been there their whole lives. “Judith no one even knows we’re alive in here.”

“Well I can dream its like the stories can’t I?”

“Dream all you want, its not going to get us out of here any sooner than your mythical prince will.”

“Like your plans will work any better…”

Margie marched over to the door and flung it open, she stomped through their vegetable garden and right to the edge of the moat. She strung the bow she had crafted from part of the door frame loaded the arrow with a rope attached and took aim for a tree on the other side of the moat. Years of planning and calculating had gone into this moment. Hundreds of hours of practicing her aim.

She let the arrow fly. She watched it soar across the lava and embed itself into the tree. She tied the rest of the rope on her end around a pillar of stone and began her way across. She would get of of that God forsaken castle, and she didn’t need a prince to help her.

The heat made her sweat as she inched across. Her hands growing slippery on the rope but her legs holding firm. She continued as her body grew tired. Once she was back on the ground she collapsed exhausted but relieved to be safe again.

She walked a few feet into the forest and found a camp of young men, sitting around a fire eating mutton and laughing. She crept over not paying any attention to the holes in her clothes or the smoke and sweat stains.

She walked right up and helped herself to a chunk of meat. The men fell silent.

“Miss, what are you doing?”

“I am eating, what does it look like?”

“That’s our food.”

“You have plenty, and I just climbed across a moat of lava, I deserve a bite to eat.”

“What moat of lava?”

She gestured in the direction she had come from.

All of the men stood up and marched that way. She heard gasps. She took her hunk of meat with her.

“That’s the rope I used, and there’s the lava.”

“A little thing like you crossed that huge moat?”

“I am not that little!”

“You wouldn’t have happened to be guarded by a dragon would you?”

“The dragon left us a few years ago, not enough food.”

A strained laugh went through the group.

“How many years were you there for little girl.”

“My name is Margie,. I use to live there with my little sister Judith. A knight never ever tried to rescue us, our whole lives were spent there. Twenty years of waiting. So I rescued myself.”

There was some soft murmuring. Obvious guilt. Margie smirked.

“Now I will be on my way to town, I’ve got to get some supplies to get my sister out of there.”

“Well if there is no dragon… Maybe one of us could make the trip?”

“Try if you want…” Margie licked the grease off of her fingers and walked away. She would hit a town eventually and be able to get some supplies to get her sister over the moat of lava.

It took weeks to get the structures to be safe enough for her sister to come back over the moat. Meanwhile the men tried various measures to get over the moat themselves. Most of their attempts ended in death. There were only two men left when she finished her moat crossing system.

She looked between the two of them. With a sigh she spoke, “Would one of you be willing to cross the river of lava in this basket and retrieve my little sister. She’s always wanted to be rescued by a knight or a prince.”

“Neither one of us is a knight or a prince. We’re just squires.”

“Can’t you pretend?”

There was some shoving and muttering about which one would go and save the girl. Once that was settled the man climbed into the basket. Margie rolled him across the river of lava her plan working perfectly.

She waited with the other squire for his friend and her sister to return. The squire sent her sister over first and then Margie pulled her sister’s rescuer back across the lava.

Judith was ecstatic.

“Lets go into town.” Margie suggested after her sister had finished gushing about the very heroic rescue.

Judith insisted on marrying the man who had rescued her the whole way into town, and through dinner.

Margie couldn’t find it in her heart to spoil her sister’s excitement, that she had rescued her not this ‘valiant knight.’

 

 

Choice of Leaving

She fiddled with the tiny piece of broken silver. Her overpriced cup of coffee growing cold beside her. She watched how the light danced off the facets and cracks. She kept her nose down not wanting to talk to anyone else.

‘Its the last thing I have…’ She thought making the dim coffee house lights play off the surface. ‘The last thing from her.’

She pulled her worn backpack onto her shoulders and walked out the door. Every time she went somewhere it was both the first and last time she entered the building. She made every choice intentionally, she would not be helpless in her own life any more.

Arming Day

Everyone waits anxiously for the day they receive their weapon. Its a way to protect yourself in the wilds, it means you can finally take quests from the boards in the center of town. Monster hunting, duels, even just exploring are possible once you can protect yourself. I have been waiting my twenty one long years for my weapon and today is the day. Shifting around on the balls of my feet I close my eyes and wait for it to materialize.

I feel the weight of it as it becomes solid. I cracked my eye open to see what it was. It had a long handle, which was flexible, and a long blade at the end. It was a long spear. I had never used a spear before, I practiced with my fathers sword and my mothers bow before, neither seemed to fit me right. I tugged at the golden tassels tied to the end of the shaft. The engraving on the blade was also gold. It looked beautiful, willowy, elegant, but difficult to use .

After a few practice thrusts against a tree in the communal yard I headed to the board to accept my first quest. Yohan marched over with his huge club made of rocks tied to a rough tree branch. There were ware marks on where he gripped it, he was only a few months older than me. I slung my spear over my shoulders, looping my arms around it.

“So what are you taking this time?” I asked trying to sound casual.

He grabbed one off of the wall seemingly at random and lumbered off, not even grunting in my direction. I examined the wall carefully, I wanted something at a beginner level, I had been warned that I might need to wait a couple days for one to show up. I spotted one that seemed pretty easy, just walk through the woods and find ingredients. I should only need to fight to defend myself if attacked. I shifted my spear, the weight was satisfying. I had to admit I liked it a lot.

I headed out to the forest to collect the ingredients, on the alert for any monsters. It didn’t take very long and I didn’t run into any trouble. I did see Yohan barreling through the forest after something. Back in town I turned my quest to the person who had requested it, she was a nice little old lady who was our local healer. I tried to find her weapon, more out of curiosity than anything else. I couldn’t spot one, and generally its not polite to ask.

Heading back home with the money jangling in my pocket, I stopped for a snack. Yohan’s parents owned a bakery that had the most fantastic desserts. There were rumors that his father’s weapon was a rolling pin, that had been disproved fairly quickly.

I went home with the baked treats. I handed them over to my mother. She smiled and put them on the table for the family to share. I told them the harrowing tale of herb retrieval. Mom laughed but dad looked at me sourly. I knew he disapproved of me making light of the dangers of questing. He had been dreading my birthday since the day I was born. His sword hung on the rack near the door. My spear was propped up next to it. My mother’s quiver and bow were in their bedroom since she had been doing maintenance on it for the past couple of days.

I didn’t know if my next quests would go this well, many people had died taking on quests they were too weak to accomplish. My dad seemed to think it was all going to fall apart at any minute.