The perfect life
On a warm morning I sat at the entrance of my tent, drawing. These mornings were rare. The sun barely ever came out of the clouds but i loved it when it did. I loved basking in it, feeling the warmth on my skin. I loved to draw in the sun, it made it easier to see and just got me in the mood. I drew every single chance i got. Since i was young i always wondered what the world looked like before the fall. I found books, i heard stories, i saw plants inside the cities. I loved them, they were beautiful, perfect in every way. The only way i could possibly honor them was to draw them in all their beauty. My mother is the one that taught me how to draw, she was an artist before she met my dad. Sometimes I wished that they chose to stay inside the cities where its always warm, comfortable, safe... but that didn't matter. I was happy here, my dad was in charge of a small group of nomads. We traveled from city to city and traded with the people. It was a peaceful life, one i could not argue against.
"You know for a seventeen year old you are very smart but it seems that it came at the cost of your ears. " My mother belched as she came storming at me from her tent. She was wearing her travel suit. A special suit made to keep the ash out and the body warm. It looked perfect on her, like she was made for it not it for her. She continued yelling at me, "I told you a thousand times, no exiting the tent without your suit. Its dangerous. We cant afford an advanced prosthetic. If you lose an arm or a leg due to the ash you will be stuck with a very basic replacement.". "I know, I know. I just wanted to feel the sun on my skin for once." I responded irritated. Looking back now i wish i was less of an arrogant teenager back then. She had come to tell me to gather my things and that we were moving. I hastily put away my sketchbook and ran inside to get my suit. It was a pretty cool thing. I mean it sat around my body perfectly and it made traveling in the wasteland so much easier. No trouble pulling boys with this on me. That doesn't change the fact that its really uncomfortable. I think its actually a size to small for me but its to expensive to replace right now.
Once i was ready, i packed up my tent and all my belongings and left to go meet my parents where they were addressing the people. My mother broke off from talking to someone to scold me, "What took you so long? With the sun out we barely have 3 hours to travel safely. We were all waiting for you to show up" I looked around me in confusion at the probably 20 twenty people still packing up their tents and a random boy just sitting around, staring at me. I responded sarcastically, "Oh how dare i not be done before everyone". My mother looked around, evidently noticing the people still packing up, "Sorry, just a bit nervous because of the sun". I accepted the apology and went to greet my dad who was currently giving out orders and rushing those who were still packing up. I didn't quite make it to him though. I noticed something in the corner of my eye. One of the tents had caught on fire.
I was not the only one to notice this. 10 people charged at the tent with extinguishers. The fire was quickly put out. Once the danger had subsided, i went inside to investigate what caused the fire. My dad tried to protest as i entered but he was to late and i was already inside.
Once i got inside, a smell hit me. It was like something set fire to my nose. I gasped for air and pinched my nose. I stood there for a few seconds, regaining my composure as my dad charged into the tent after me. "What the hell are you doing Gab... UHG, what is that smell!?". We both searched the room. For some reason, i had a feeling i just couldn't shake. It was mostly ashes with the sun shining through in places. After a few seconds of searching we found the cause of the smell.
A dead body, now mostly charred. I looked at it, not daring to touch it with a ten meter pole. It was disgusting. The body was burnt, the clothes were mostly gone, all that remained was burnt muscle and tissue. It bled everywhere, muscles torn and gushing with blood, the eyes were brown and dripping some kind of white goop. His mouth was open when he died, presumably screaming in agony.
I sat there, staring at his face, the longer i stared, the more something felt off. Something tugged at me, like a voice in my head screaming at me to run. "We should get out here" i tried to tell my dad, "And leave the body and all this equipment? If you want to lead you need to respect the people and learn to save materials.". Annoyed by his response i looked back at the face. It was haunting, something just kept pulling, gnawing at my thoughts. Then it happened.
The body jerked. The arms flailed, the mouth howling in pain. He reached for me, grabbed me by my hair. Before i could even react, i was sitting there, staring right into his screaming face, into the now soggy eyeballs and bleeding mouth. His screaming was interrupted as he coughed blood onto my face. He begged me, "It hurts! They did this! Please! Kill me!" He did not get anything else out before my dad, cut his head clean off with his surprise infused dagger.
His arm fell limp, letting go of my now bleeding scalp. I sat there, head and face covered in blood as my dad tried to clean and comfort me. I couldn't hear him. All i heard was "Kill me!" over and over again in his croaky, broken voice. And something else, something deeper kept bugging me. It was like an ice cube was put in my brain and froze one thought in place, one thought that would never go away. Who are They?
