1

Rachel

 

She leaned back and closed her eyes, letting the warm sunlight kiss her face. She enjoyed feeling the rays of light dance on her eyelids. She pulled her hood back to feel the summer breeze on her scalp. She ran her fingers through the little hair she had. She dreamed of the day that her hair would be long and gorgeous like those of the women in the magazines she would find. But for now she figured her hair was almost an inch long. She knew that if her father ever found out he would probably hold her down and shave it off. Was it too much to ask of a 15 year old girl in this ugly world to want some individuality? To maybe bring some beauty to the desolate waste that was…well, she didn’t remember what her father told her this place was once called. Names of cities and towns no longer mattered and most have been forgotten in time; unless you were lucky and knew how to read.

She opened her eyes and let out a long sigh. She was mad that she had drew the short straw this time to go into the city. It was a four day trip and the return was the worst with all the extra weight. If it wasn’t for her father and his ability to keep them together she would have left a long time ago. Yet he had distilled in them how important family was and no matter how hard she tried she never had the heart to not come back. Her brothers agitated her to no end. One of them, Rhett, her senior, the other, Sten, was younger than her and they always seemed to know how to make her life a living hell. She had one younger sister, Sariah, who still had so much to learn about this world. Unfortunately she had the worst trait you could have in this world and that was being naive. Though she was only ten, so she still had time to learn to trust herself more than others.

Behind her she heard a clatter. As she spun around she drew her blade, her head moving ahead of her body to see the target sooner. Her mind raced. She had let down her guard again. Her father warned her about her daydreaming; telling her that one day it would get her killed. She imagined having long hair flailing about her head as she spun. With her blade fully unsheathed her eyes locked on her target.  As she completed her turn she froze meeting her foe. Breathing heavily she scanned the rooftop with her eyes, making sure that the creature in front of her was the only other living thing up there besides her. When she had determined that the two of them were alone on the rooftop she put her blade back in its sheathe. The creature, who stood motionless during her display of aggression, cocked its head to one side staring at her. After a moment of his own studying his jaw opened releasing its tongue and his tail started to wag.

“Now how did you get up here?” she mumbled under her breath. She knelt down and motioned for him to come to her, which he happily obeyed. Once he reached her she reached out to pet him and he lay down at once and rolled over implying that he wanted his belly rubbed. She complied, smiling and scratching his belly diligently. He panted and seemed to almost smile. She admired his simple beauty and his long golden hair. She could imagine how hot it was for him in this sun. He was probably up here looking for water. As she smiled and rubbed his belly he seemed to smile back, enjoying this rare interaction to where he was spoiled. As she scratched and they smiled at each other she drew her knife and buried it into the side of his neck.

****

After she had finished quartering her kill she placed the meat she found worthy of keeping in her backpack.   She found some dirt on the rooftop and rubbed it on her hands to clean the blood off. She didn’t want to waste any of her water because she didn’t know when the next time she would find a clean source. Between her brothers, her father and herself they hadn’t searched the whole city yet. They had only been in the other valley for a few months. It was a smaller town though most of it had already been ransacked. Her father decided to travel and see what was on the other side of the mountain and that’s when he discovered the Valley City. Or that’s what she called it anyways. From one end of the valley to the other end was nothing but buildings and houses. It would take forever to search every building, but, with luck being on their side, they had all the time in the world.

Today was gathering day. She needed to gather all she could find that would help her family. Food, clothes, things. Most of them she came up with names for but often forgot. Most of them had cords hanging from them and they did nothing anyways. Her father told her that there was this thing called ‘electricity’ that used to power the world. From what she could figure these cords had something to do with that. She had seen them attached to walls but they still didn’t work. There was a piece of the puzzle missing.

She wiped her blade off on the coat of her kill then put her pack on only after donning her hood. It was a deep hood which was nice because it kept the sun off of her face and when obscurity was needed it helped her blend into the shadows. After double checking to make sure she had her belongings she headed for the roof door. It was still morning of her second day and she had a long trip in front of her tonight. Keeping her blade out she headed down the stairs of the office building, weary of her surroundings. She reached the bottom floor and stopped. Something didn’t feel right. She felt like she was being watched. Her breath caught in her throat at the thought of the two worst enemies out here in this wasteland. Single scavengers didn’t bother her. She knew she could fight just about anyone off and those she couldn’t she could outrun. Still feeling the presence of eyes upon her she again only thought of two things: the screaming mountain cats that had made the city their home, preying on smaller animals and unsuspecting scavengers, and Cale’s Army. She didn’t know which was worse.

Finally she gathered her strength and took a defensive stance and started proceeding into the store. She stuck to staying in the center of the room because it was the most direct route to outside and she didn’t want to end up being cornered by sticking to the walls. She crouched as low as she could and stopped suddenly stopped, her breath catching again in her throat. She heard footsteps to her left. At least footsteps ruled out the cats. Though that could mean members of Cale’s Army but at least with them she would have a fighting chance. The footsteps had stopped and after listening for what felt like an eternity she continued forward. She didn’t need to search out the source of the sound. If she could get out without a quarrel she would. There was no need to sacrifice the needs of her family for her curiosity.

Author's Note

Not the end of the chapter. Just a teaser. Trying to see if people will bite.