Chapter 10: Salvaged

Chapter 10: Salvaged

"Chip, get in here; we need your help moving this sink," called back Gabriel Mccarthy from the bathroom. Moses put down the dishware set that he was carrying and walked back towards the voice. 

"Okay, you get that side and me and Misa will carry this side," Gabriel said.

Moses crossed the floor of the dilapidated bathroom and bent down to lift his side of the sink. It was a sunny day out today, but it wasn't too hot. On days like this, a few members of the town all got together and traveled to the maze of forgotten homes to salvage parts. The houses in the maze were all bunched together, with barely any space between them. Moses couldn't imagine what it must have been like to live right next to people like that. 

 

The houses were all more than a hundred years old, but there were still many parts of them that were useful. Bathroom sinks and toilets, wiring from appliances, and sometimes even wood boards were taken. There wasn't usually any food in the houses; almost everything edible had already been taken by previous scavengers. Once Moses did find a whole hidden room full of canned foods and beans behind a false wall. It's amazing how people back before the wipeout could stockpile food like that. 

He helped the Mccarthy kids carry the sink outside and load it into their wagon. The wagon was only about halfway full, but it was already late evening; so the group decided it was time to head home. Moses said goodbye to the two children and left to find his brother. He found Aaron sitting on the side of the broken road playing with Byte. 

"Aaron, you did help strip at least one house today didn't you?" Moses asked.

"I'll have you know that this is the only time I've sat down since we got here," answered Aaron defiantly. The wolf pup by Aaron's feet ran and started jumping on Moses. Moses patted her head.

"Well, it's time to head home now. Come on, Mr. Sumdac's going to give us a ride back home." Moses nodded his head toward a wagon a little ways down the road. Aaron and Moses walked to the wagon while Byte followed on their heels. 

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Moses had a perfect view of the sunset from his seat on the back of Mr. Sumdac's wagon. The sky was cast in shades of pink and purple, and the hay on the sides of the road seemed to glow a heavenly golden color. There was a small river to the left of Moses that branched off to form Clear Creek, the creek that his town got its name from. He watched a twig bobble up and down in the water, being swiftly carried downstream. As he was observing this, Moses noticed some sort of orange lump laying on one of the banks. He leaned over the side of the wagon to get a closer look. On the top of the lump was a pile of what looked like hair, and next to that was...a hand! 

Moses jumped off the wagon and raced down the bank. He landed on his knees next to the unconscious woman and rolled her over. She felt cold and her lips had turned blue. Moses hovered his hand over her face to feel if she was still breathing. She was, barely.

"Aaron and Mr. Sumdac had seen Moses jump out the wagon and watched in bewilderment as he had run to the edge of the bank. After they realized that what he was now kneeling by was a person, they halted the moose pulling the wagon and climbed down to help.

"She's alive, but she's cold," Moses told them. The three of them picked the girl up and carried her to the wagon bed. They laid her down gently and Moses took off his hoodie to use as a cover for her. 

"We need to get her to Dr. Tonaka as quickly as possible," Moses said. 

"I'll push the moose as fast as they'll go. Aaron, you climb on the back of the wagon and start chucking the things we salvaged overboard." Said Mr. Sumdac.

"But we spent all day finding that stuff." Aaron wined.

"This girl's life is more important, now come on we don't want to waste any time." 

Mr. Sumdac ran to the front of the wagon while Aaron and Moses climbed on the back. Aaron started reluctantly tossing out the salvaged parts while Moses held the unconscious girl, trying to lend her his body heat. After Moses said a short prayer for her, she felt a little warmer. 

She was extremely pale, like the sun and her skin had never been introduced. Moses had met few people whose skin wasn't some shade of brown. It reminded him of that Asian girl who they had found after she was thrown out the dome a few months ago. What was her name? Susan? No, that's right. It was Sarah.

Reviews

[Marcel Darrow]

I'm excited to see where the story will go now that all the main characters have finally met (or rather been pushed together by fate). This chapter mentions a wipeout, an incident preceding the implementation of the dome/scrapland system, which I look forward to learning more about if you chose to address it. Also, in some of the earlier chapters, there is a motif of religion and the persecution of it in this new era. I think that is a fascinating element that deserves to be talked about more from a narrative standpoint (like why mention it if you don't have something to say about it). I am excited to read more on that, along with Amanda's journey in the scraplands.