Found

The door at the dome's entrance wooshed shut behind Sarah, then all was quiet. The last few hours had been the most frightening moments of her life. She had been sleeping soundly in her bed when she was awoken by the sound of pounding on the door to her apartment. As she lay still on her mattress, she could make out the sound of the door being opened and angry voices charging in. A sudden and terrifying realization hit her. They had come for her. They knew what she had done, and they weren't happy about it. 

She didn't bother resisting being taken away, she knew it wouldn't help. She simply asked the officers for a minute to pack some essentials; she tried to shove everything she could think would be useful in trying to survive the scraplands. Her parents stood in the living room with the officers, begging them not to take her. The two uniformed men simply stated that they were just following orders. They didn't even know what it was that Sarah had done to warrant this punishment. Sarah threw her pack over her shoulder, hugged her parents goodbye and let herself be led out of her home and to the unknown.

Sarah wasn't the only one that was getting kicked out today. Marching beside her were an elderly couple holding hands and an angry looking man wearing shockcuffs. The couple looked at peace, almost happy. looking at them one would think that they were simply on an evening stroll, enjoying the sights of the dome as well as each other. The man in cuffs, on the other hand, looked like he could kill someone. Maybe he had. 

The group came to an abrupt stop in front of the dome's southern entrance. The dome had three doors altogether, one on the northern side, southern side, and western side. There was no door on the eastern end because that was facing Lake St. Clair. The doors to the dome were all 12 feet tall and 15 feet wide. They were gray and heavy looking. Held up by the transparent walls of the dome, they looked out of place. They were big, ugly reminders that those inside the dome were safe, but still held inside a giant bubble. This thought made Sarah feel a little better. She was about to actually go where most citizens never would, about to experience things they would never experience. 

The doors in front of her opened, revealing the small sanitation room that stood between the outside and the dome. The officers shoved her and the others into the chamber and the doors shut behind them. The room was pitch black for a moment; then there was a mechanical whir in front of them signaling the opening of the front door. Since it was still nighttime, this did little to improve the light situation. The group of now scraplanders scuffled forward; forward was the only way to go now.

"Well, at least it's a warm night." Said the elderly woman. Sarah admired her positive attitude. She looked up at the night sky. It was mostly clear tonight, and the stars shone like a billion burning distant suns; which is what they were. 

"Thank you, at least I have a great view," she prayed. 

They all knew that they wouldn't be able to go anywhere that night, so the group sat on the grass and leaned against the wall of the dome. Sarah was exhausted from the events of the night, but she refused to let herself fall asleep. She knew she didn't have to worry about the elderly couple, but the man who had been in the shockcuffs still scared her. Her fear only worsened after she caught him staring at her from his spot a few feet away. She froze, and their gazes locked for a few moments before he chuckled and turned his head. Sarah tried to calm herself. She hugged her knees to her chest and took deep breaths, but she could feel tears start to sting her eyes. All in one night she had lost everything; her home, her family, her future. She had no Idea what she was going to do. Then a loud thought popped in her head. 

"I am with you, do not be afraid."

Sarah relaxed, she knew that no matter what happened, she wasn't going to be alone.

                                                                        _______________________________________

Sarah blinked her eyes opened; it was morning and she realized that she had let herself drift off to sleep. She bolted upright and looked around her surroundings. Her companions all sat a few feet away sharing some dried jackfruit that the older couple had brought with them. The man who had been in the shockcuffs noticed that she was awake.

"Morning sleeping beauty. I was starting to wonder if you'd ever wake up," he said.

Sarah yawned and rubbed the crust out of her eyes. She stood up, stretched, and took a good look at her surroundings. The sky was mostly clear, with a few white clouds hovering overhead. It wasn't exactly a lush paradise outside the dome, but she did she a cluster of trees in the distance. She supposed that if she wanted to survive in this new environment, she would have to try to find some plants that were edible. She opened her pack and took out an apple and her water bottle; then blessed the food and quickly ate her breakfast. The thought of what the elderly couple would do crossed her mind. Sarah looked over at them and studied their features.

They both seemed to be at least 70, and spending the night propped up against the dome wall seemed to have a negative effect on them. She knew that there was no way that either of them would be able to survive long out on their own. Sarah considered asking them to stay with her, but she knew that the closer together they stayed, the less food there would for each of them. The best course of action seemed to be to spread out and scavenge for food on their own. She wondered where all the other people who had previously been kicked out of the dome had ended up, and how they were now faring.

Sarah took another drink from her water bottle. It was already almost empty. The first thing she would have to do was find a source of clean water. She stood up, said goodbye to her fellow scrapees, and started walking toward the greenest area she could see. 

After walking for about half an hour, she found herself in a forest. At least, It was probably the closest thing to a forest that she would ever see. Sarah searched around for a stream or creek; There had to be one around here somewhere or else this area would be as barren as the majority of the surrounding terrain. After a while, she found a small stream of water flowing through the wooded area. It was only about a foot wide, but its water was even clearer than she'd hope to find. 

Sarah squatted down to fill her bottle with the cool water from the stream. She let the water from the stream run into the bottle till it was about half full and then lifted it to her mouth to take a long drink. The water from the creek had an earthy flavor. She hoped that it wouldn't make her sick. If she had had more time to prepare before being scrapped then she would have 3d printed a water purifier, and a fire starter, and maybe a tent.

Sarah decided that her best option was to follow the creek upstream and hope it would lead to a larger river; which would mean more vegetation. As she walked she tried to keep a lookout for berry bushes and fruit-bearing trees. She knew that even if she found plenty of edible plants, it wouldn't be enough to sustain her forever. She needed to teach herself how to hunt or fish. The creek had widened to about 5 feet across now, and seemed to be about a foot deep. She glanced down at the water to see if there were any sign of aquatic life. There were some tadpoles huddled near the bank, but Sarah refused to even think of eating them. No matter how hungry she got, she was NOT going to resort to eating frogs. 

Sarah continued following the creek for a few hours. While walking she thought about what she would do when winter came. She didn't have any way to preserve food, and it wasn't likely that she would be able to start any fires. Even though her death seemed to be imminent, she tried not to despair. At least she knew where she was going; she was only sorry she hadn't been able to do more in her life. The creek took a turn to the right and the wooded area opened up to a large field. In the distance, Sarah could see what looked like a group of buildings. She stopped, confused. This must have been one of the towns people used to live in before the planet was devastated by the McCullen virus. 

This could be her chance. She could use one of the buildings as shelter, and there might even be some preserved food as well. She marched toward the town, simultaneously thankful, and trying not to get her hopes up too high. As she came closer to the town, she noticed that the buildings looked quite unusual. They looked almost like they had been constructed from various parts of other buildings, Like a Frankenstein village. 

She finally came to the back of one of the buildings and started looking for a door. After walking about halfway around the structure, she found a handle sticking out of the side. As she was reaching for the metal knob, the door suddenly swung open. On the other side was a surprised looking man. The man appeared to be in his late 30s, and had a pointed chin with black hair and dark eyes. After a moment his expression eased.

"Oh, excuse me miss," He said nonchalantly. The man stepped to the side and passed Sarah, then turned and started walking down through the town. Sarah gaped after him. She thought for a moment that she might be hallucinating. Maybe the stress had caused her to snap. A voice came from inside the building.

"Well don't just stand there, either come in or shut the door," the voice commanded. 

Sarah looked through the door frame and saw an elderly man sitting in a cushioned chair and covered with a patchwork quilt. She slowly stepped inside and closed the door behind her. 

"Who are you? What are you doing here, and who was that man that just left?" She asked.

"I'm Joseph, but most folks call me Old Joe. This is my workshop, and that was the doc come around to make me take some of his foul tastin medicine. Have to admit it does make havin a cold a lot less bothersome though." 

Joe noticed that Sarah was staring at him like he was crazy. 

"I've don't think I've ever seen you before. Are you new to Clear Creek?" He asked.

"Clear Creek?" Sarah parroted unsurely.

"The town. Y'know usually they give newcomers a whole tour of the place after they find them." The man looked at her puzzledly. Who was it that brought you here?

"Nobody brought me here, I followed The creek upstream and It lead me here. I'm from the dome, but they kicked me out last night."

Joe smiled and laughed hoarsely.

"Of course your from the dome. The only people within a hundred miles of here are either from the dome or from here. Since I'm in no condition to show you around, you can wait here until my assistant comes in and I'll have him help you get situated." The man gestured to a chair standing against a wall on the other side of the room. 

"Here, have a seat."

Sarah walked to the chair and sat down. Her mind was reeling from the events of the last few minutes. What was this place? From what this Joe had told her, it sounded like this was some settlement that the scraps had formed outside the dome. Was that even possible? how could so many people possibly find enough food in such a small area to feed an entire town? She had always assumed that most people who were removed from the dome survived for only a short time after they were kicked out. Probably they were killed by wild animals or starved or froze to death in the next winter, but here she was, sitting in a building in a town that had both a doctor and a handyman. 

"How many people live here?" she asked abruptly.

The old man didn't answer her. she looked at him and saw that his eyes were closed. Whatever medicine the "doctor" had given him must have also been a sedative. As she sat in her chair, Sarah looked around the workshop. It was filled with spare parts from almost every machine Sarah could think of from repulsorboards to computers. She wondered how Joe had gotten all this stuff from, and how long he had been here. A few minutes later Sarah heard the door open.

"Joe, It's Me. I'm sorry I'm a little late I..." 

The man that had barged in stopped and looked at her. Sarah shifted in her seat and cleared her throat.

"Uh hi, I'm Sarah, I'm new. Are you Joe's assistant?"

The man blinked at her then replied.

"Uh, yeah, sort of. I help him every now and again. What are you doing here?"

"I was kicked out of the dome last night."

"No yeah, I figured that; I mean what are you doing in Joe's workshop?"

"Oh, I just sort of happened onto the place."

"Oh." 

The two stood in awkward silence for about a minute. The man coughed. 

"I'm Moses, by the way."

"Sarah."

"Yeah, you already told me." 

Sarah winced.

"Oh, right."

Joe snored from his chair across the room. Moses put his hands in his pockets.

"Well, it looks like we're not going to get any work done today." He turned and looked at her.

"So, what did you do while you lived in the dome?" he asked.

I was a medical student. I was in my second year, but then..." Sarah trailed off. Moses smiled wide.

"Hey that's great! y'know I've heard that doctor Tanaka has been looking for an apprentice. I'm sure he would love to take you on." 

Sarah looked at him curiously. Dr. Tanaka? He must mean the man she had run into before. 

"Could you introduce me to him?" She asked hesitantly.

"Well sure, his house is the closest one to the town. It's only a fifteen-minute walk from here. Come on I'll take you right now."

The man started towards the door, motioning for her to follow him. She walked behind him a few paces, looking around at the buildings they passed. The structures were simple designs, nothing like the ones in the dome, but they looked sturdy enough. The place also gave off a sense of peace that she hadn't noticed before. She was surprised to see a few children playing on one of the porches. She tugged on the sleeve of her guide.

"What did they do to be thrown out of the dome? They're so young."

Moses looked at her in confusion.

"They weren't thrown out; They've never been in the dome. All those kids were born right here in Clear Creek, just like I was."

"You were born here? I had no idea..." She furrowed her brows. Obviously, there were a lot of things she didn't know about the outside.

After walking out of town, they walked through a large field covered with purple wildflowers. They came to the same creek that Sarah was walking along earlier, and built near it was a small cottage with smoke coming out the top.

"Is that house on fire?" Sarah asked urgently.

"No. That's just smoke coming out of the chimney. There is a fire inside but it's intentional and completely under control. Most newcomers are surprised when they first see a fireplace, but you don't need to worry; It's normal here to have a fire going on a chilly day like this."

After arriving at the cottage, Aaron knocked on the door a few times. Sarah wondered why he didn't just buzz the door for a moment before realizing that there probably wasn't one. The door opened and the man she had bumped into earlier greeted Aaron with a smile.

"How's it going chip? You see the old man yet today?" He asked.

"He's out like a light back at the warehouse. You must have gave him some of your strong stuff, huh." Aaron replied.

The older man chuckled.

"Well, a cold goes by a lot faster if your unconscious for most of it."

The doctor turned to face Sarah.

"You're the young lady that I met earlier aren't you? I'm sorry for not introducing myself before. I'm Doctor Tomago, but most folks just call me Doc, or Frank.

"Oh, your first name's Frank?

"No."

..............

..........................

Moses interrupted the awkward silence. 

"Anyway, doc, Sarah here happens to be a medical student; and I know that you've been trying to find someone to be your apprentice, so, I thought you could take her on?" Moses said in a pleading tone.

The Doctor studied Sarah for a moment, then waved a hand inside his cabin.

"Come in, I'll show you where you'll be staying." He started walking inside, motioning her to follow him.

Sarah hesitated for a moment and looked back toward Moses. He gave her to thumbs up and a big smile. 

"Well," She thought, "It's not like I have any better options." She followed after the Doctor.

Moses waved goodbye and started walking back toward the town. This had been a very strange day.