Children of Apocalypse

Welcome to the Wastes

Life... it’s delicacy is equaled only by is abundance. It’s loss, tragic, no matter how small, how insignificant. It is only rivaled by Death. Death and its invulnerability, over abundance. Only when new death is more numerous, more constant, than new life, is the world thrown into true chaos.

Andrew sat on the front porch stair of the shack. He wiped the barrel of his revolver with a piece of cloth. The Desserts stretched out in front of him, hot and unforgiving. The shack wasn’t any better, but it was better than nothing. Two rooms, protection from the elements, and placement on a cliff giving him and his friends a lookout, for danger. He didn’t want to leave, but he knew they had too soon.

“Morning sunshine.” A voice said from the door to the shack, Andrew turned around and saw his friend, Veronica, smiling, standing in the doorway.

“Morning.” Andrew said. Veronica came out and sat next to him on the stairs.

“Where’s Gear?” Veronica asked. 

“Out, scavenging and scouting. He thinks there might be Raider activity in the area.”

Veronica cocked her Colt .45 pistol, “We going to have to do anything?”

“Gear doesn’t think so. How was Luke when you came out?”

Veronica smiled, “He’s fine, your so worried.”

“He took a knife across the face and a gunshot to the leg. We barley patched him up.”

“So he’ll have a scar, your just lucky we got out of that fight before it got serious. The Empire and Congress were at each others throats.”

“If were lucky, they slit each others throats.”

The battle had taken place just three days earlier, on the outskirts of New Gotham, the post-apocalypse New York City. Two of the largest factions in the Wasteland, the Imperials of Quinn, which was a massive Empire formed out of many smaller settlements, and the Continental Congress, a smaller Government formed on Americas older values. The two factions had become involved in fighting over land rights as the Congress was increasing in size. No official war had begun, just a lot of fighting on the borders of the Empires, that is until the battle in New Gotham, which the group had managed to become entangled in. 

“So you going to make breakfast anytime soon?” 

Veronica laughed “Make it yourself kid, I’m going to go wake up Luke. He’s going to need some painkillers when he gets up.”

About 5 minutes later Andrew walked inside the shack, clutching the locket around his neck. Veronica had woken up Luke and the two were sitting on the old couch. Luke was barley awake as Veronica prepared to give him a shot of a painkiller in his arm.

“Ow...” Luke said, groggily.

“Hang on, kid. You’ll be fine.” Veronica said. she finished up, and helped Luke lye across the couch. “I’ll be back.”

Veronica walked the Kitchen. It was old and rust covered, but the four had to make do with what they had. 

“I don’t like that you’ve been giving him those old world painkillers.” Andrew said.

“What would you rather I do? Let your brother just deal with the intense pain?”

“What if he becomes addicted? What if you give him too much and he gets even more sick, or even dies? You don’t even know what your doing.”

“At least I’m helping him, you haven’t said a f*****g word to him since he got hurt.” Andrew stopped talking, he began to cook his food in an old rusty pot. He took out a lighter and lit the stove. He leaned back against the counter and looked down. “He’s my younger brother, but he was always so strong. We were a team, he got into trouble and I rescued him. We were both from before the great war, before the bombs. But now I look at him, and he’s spread out on a couch, hopped up on painkillers, with a sliced open face and shot up leg.”

“Look, I know you don’t like seeing him like this. But those painkillers are the only way we are going to help him. And we can’t get the bullet out of his leg.”

“You sure? Theres nothing else we could do?” Andrew asked, looking up.

“Come with me.” Veronica said.

The two walked out the back door of the shack and looked over the edge of the cliff. Veronica pointed down towards the ruins of a small town, “Down there, that town has a old hospital in it. If were lucky,addicts haven’t robbed it. We could get more advanced medical supplies for Luke, and get out of here sooner.” 

Andrew checked the cylinder of his revolver,  “Do you think there are any threats in the town?”

“Yes, look” Veronica said, pulling a pair of binoculars out of her backpack. She handed them to Andrew, who looked down them. He saw armored men, patrolling the town rooftops with Assault Rifles and Snipers. “Who are they?” He asked.

“Don’t know, some mercenary group probably.”

“What are they doing?”

“I clearly don’t know.”

“What do you think we should do?”

“We wait until Gear comes back. He will stay with Luke and you and I will sneak into the town at night, take the medical supplies, and get out. The Mercs won’t even know we went in.”

“You better be right.” Andrew locked the cylinder back into the gun.

About an hour later, out of the heat waves of the Wasteland, walked Gear. The lumbering monsters, skin dust colored almost as if it had been weathered by his life, walked up to the shack. His hulking, mutated, but yet human form marched toward Andrew and Veronica.

“I bring bountiful supplies, and confirmation of raiders not being present in the area.” He said. He dropped a large sack onto the porch. Guns, ammo, and food spilled out of it.

“Any medical Supplies?” Andrew asked.

“No, I’m sorry, but nothing here will help Luke’s condition.”

Andrew sighed, “It’s alright, you did great Gear.”

“Hmmm” Gear muttered as he walked past the two and inside.

“You want me to tell him the plan?”

“Yeah, yeah I need a minute alone.”

“I sense your fear...” Andrew heard a voice whisper. In the glare of the sunlight, a ghostly shape appeared. Andrew looked into its face, his face. The apparition continued to form, until it perfectly replicated Andrew.

“What do you want.” Andrew asked.

“I’m here for...encouragement. We both know thats what you need.” The apparition said.

“Yeah, so what are you going to do.”

“The same thing I always do,” The apparition wrapped a cold, ghostly hand around Andrews arm “let me take control during the raid. We both know you’ll screw up if you don’t. And if you screw up, everyone loses.”

“Why does everyone lose?”

“Because we lose that.” The apparition said, pointing towards Andrews locket. Andrew looked at the locket, then back at the apparition, “What’d ya say?”

Andrew sighed “Fine.”

Reviews

[Pandrogynite]

I love the dialogue in this chapter- really, really flows well within the context of the individual elements of description. There's little I can't piece together about location, mood, or anything else that isn't implied in the writing without being starkly obvious. Well done!

[Victoria Everly]

I really like this. It's been awhile since I've seen someone go in depth with the story line in the first chapter and pull it off. The descriptions are great, making it easy to place one's self in the scene. The introduction into the main story was written well and wasn't confusing or holding some annoying hidden meaning. Haha. Well I look forward to reading the next chapter. Good job.

~V.E.

[Niko Timmy]

Very good first chapter, really well-written. The beginning brings in the reader immediately, which is always good. A few typos and punctuational issues but other than that it's a great opening to the book. Great descriptions, great way to introduce the characters, and wonderfully written dialogue. I love the storyline you have going so far, it sounds really interesting and can't wait to read more. Very good job.

[Malychyte]

Excellent! A great work so far, it's a very intriguing story that I wil definitely try keepng up with! I like the characters and hope for development from all! Great 'Jekyll and Hyde' surprise at the end, I liked it a lot! WIll continue on as soon as I can. Keep at it!!

[Jacques]

I love how this chapter opens with so much depth and description . I like how you describe and define life , i love how you speak and write the desserts as you put words that give us sense and make us feel like the desserts as they are a real person and my friend that's a great thing for a writer to do . it's a basic set - up so it's easy for me not too get confused or any reader for that matter . some good descritpions , dialogue and overall story . good first chapter