Rotten to the core

A plague befalls a city as you see though the eyes of a young girl struggling to survive.

Walking along the roof of the residential complex, each one identical to every other, I found a ledge and threw a blanket down over the hard stone that would otherwise dig into my bones. Taking off my jacket, I made a makeshift pillow and lay down to view the docks and streets that lined the channel. From my perch I observed the slow gray flow of the city: a small steamboat chugging up the mud colored canal, and people walking to different destinations, none of them in a hurry.

          Ads for competing whaling companies along with posters for plague vaccines and propaganda were pasted on almost every building, some painted over with gang signs or just general graffiti. Trash accompanied by rodents littered every alleyway. Off in the distance large whaling ships drifted on the dull flat ocean, some returning, some leaving - all of them after the same thing.

A wall of light glowed from a closed bridge, surrounded by steel pylons charged with electricity. The crowd skirted from there; one touch from that wall and you would turn to ashes. Some people infected with the plague sometimes ran directly in the walls just to end their suffering, and not a single guard would lift a finger to save them. A wheeled steel transport that ran on tracks was there, and I knew its cargo. Everyone knew. It was hard to miss the smell of rot. Fly-infested bundles of dirty cloth, tied at each end with rope, were thrown from the bridge by men in navy blue uniforms. Their helmets flashed in what little sun shown down. Each bundle, adding to the high piles inside wide boats, hit with thuds so dull I couldn’t even hear them. Passersby pretended not to notice. A smaller one was thrown into empty space for a few moments and then it came tumbling down missing its target and splashing into the river. No one stopped to stare, and no one wanted to.

Off in the farther reaches of the city stood a structure that shone white and gleamed amongst the darker, dirtier buildings. The tower - where the royalty lived in the richer district - was untouched by plague. Food and drink were served with elixirs to fight infection, and trained rat exterminators prowled the streets. But rats weren’t the only thing they killed. There weren’t even burials; the bodies were thrown into boats with plague victims to be shipped off to an incinerator and no one batted an eye. We knew. People like me. We survive because we’re willing to do things that others won’t: like scavenging through trash and abandoned homes, or making deals with gangs. Sometimes the other girls would w***e themselves out to anyone who had the most coin. I work for a dangerous man - actually the most dangerous man in the city. Even the guards don’t dare touch him despite the wanted posters they hang up. He’s ruthless; his very name is like a knife thrust into the heart of every aristocrat. I’m the only girl in the gang, which isn’t exactly a friendly working environment since I’m surrounded by drooling, muscly morons.

“Hey.”

I whipped my head around to the sound of the voice behind me. A boy in plain brown slacks, suspenders and a dirty white dress shirt stood with his hands in his pockets. His gray ivy cap turned to the side just slightly, covered a mess of brown hair aside from what extended down from the back and sides of the boy’s head, as well as long, eye covering bangs.

“Anton.” I said.

“What are you doin’ up here?” he asked.

I sighed. “None of your business, now what do you want?”

“Nothin’,” Anton scuffed the ground with his heel and walked over to sit next to me on the ledge. We sat for a few moments saying nothing to each other until he broke the silence. “Weird idnit’?”

“What?”

“That a few months ago we were living like them,” He nodded toward the fishermen and regular shop - goers below. “Now almost everyone’s either sick, dead, or rich.” He looked over at me and I met his gaze. “And then there’s us, the poor b******s stuck in the middle, struggling to survive. It seems like such a long time ago, but really it’s an only a blink of an eye. One minute the people you knew were laughing and dancing, next thing they’re in a boat with hundreds of other deaders.”

I nodded solemnly. The city had fallen into a pit of sickness and pain. No one was spared during the first weeks of the infection; even the rich and royal had succumbed to the rat plague. “So no one sent you?” I asked.

“No,” He said, “totally on my own. I was actually looking for you, and I know this is your favorite spot to bum around.”

I looked to him. “What for?”

“Well,” Anton looked from side to side and behind him. “I have… a proposition for you,” he said nervously. I gave him an apprehensive glance. “Look, we both want out of the whole situation we’re in. So I have a plan to get us out of it.” Anton looked forward and started rubbing his legs with his palms. I’ve never seen him like this. Rude, confident, bold - those are words I’d use to describe Anton. Right now he was sweaty and anxious.

I sighed. “Alright, what’s the plan?”

“Really?” He looked at me excitedly.

I punched him in the arm. “Of course you twit. You think I’d leave you alone?” He let out a breath.

“Thank you.”

“So what’s the plan?”

Anton gulped and starting wringing his hands, he was really getting hyped up now. “Okay, ya know that new ship that came in, the Wraith Maria?” I nodded. “Turns out it’s leaving in a few days from now to ship elixir to Najada.”

“Najada?” The neighboring island to ours, Azulel. “Why would they be shipping elixir there? The place is plague - free.”

“Dunno, doesn’t matter, that ship is our ticket outta here.” He nodded to the docks. There was a whaling ship, bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. It would’ve been a bright yellow except for the paint that had chipped off with age. There were anchors the size of fishing boats that flanked the bow. “You’re definitely in?”

I stared hard at him. What did I have to lose? “Hell, yes.”

Author's Note

Might continue... might not, meh.

Edit: Well it seems I forgot to add the ACTUAL WRITING, whoops. It's there now, we're good.

Reviews

[E.Potter]

Interesting. Good start to a dystopian world here. I'd love to know more about the plague.

[RobertLA]

This really makes me think of Dishonored, plus it's pretty well written. The wording of, "threw a blanket down over the hard stone that would otherwise dig into my bones" seems a bit odd, but that could just be me. All in all, nice work.

[Baird Wahlander]

Yeah, it was inspired by dishonored if the Walls of Light and Arc Pylons weren't your first clue ;) haha