In the Wastes (December 12, 2021)

"I can't protect you if you go out there."

She turned to face him, fire in her eyes. "I don't need you to." She slung the rifle onto her back and slid on the gas mask. Hopping onto the bike as the doors to the Kingdom slide open. 

"Daughter! Wait!" The man stepped forward as his daughter kicked the bike into gear. 

She turned back to face her father. "Dad. I know what I'm doing. Bye." The bike roared as she dusted out of the Kingdom. As soon as she was out of the gate the door slammed shut behind her. 

Marcus sunk to the ground looking at the closed door. Then he looked up at the glass dome that covered the Kingdom. His daughter was driving out into the Waste's. A toxic hell hole that was the rest of the world. 

Jane raced down the tunnel, the lights flicking by. The second security door opened a half mile in front of her. The moment she went racing through the door slammed shut behind her. The final door began opening on the ceiling as the tunnel road sloped upwards. The bike jumped as it exited the slant. 

She stopped the bike and got off. She removed the portable oxygen tank and disconnected it from the bike's o2 scrubber. As she stepped away she hooked into the tank and slung it on her back. Looking around. "Damn." As far as the eye could see was a gray ashen plan. 

She looked back at the mountains and could see just nestled in the front the glass dome she had just left. Stepping further away from the bike out the electrochemical sensor. It started beeping as it jumped into the red. The air was still toxic enough to kill a man in minute's

Jane looked up at the gray black sky and took the deepest breath she could through the gas mask. Then she walked back to the bike. Turning it back on she started across the gray dusty landscape.

Jane kept driving, the mountains fading behind her as she drove across the ashen wastes. Within the next couple of miles she would reach the edge of what the people of Green Mountain Kingdom knew. After hundreds of years, the Earth's atmosphere had finally removed enough not to kill a person. 

Driving across the vast, flat expanse of the Ashen Wastes, a seemingly infinite endless plane of gray ash. The sun began to set and Jane turned on the lights. The bike had its own o2 scrubber, theatrically she had infinite oxygen as long as the fusion core that powered the bike didn’t go out.

Jane thought ‘driving isn’t hard. There isn’t a single thing I could run into.’ The Ashen Wastes had been made by time and the explosion of a volcano. Time had flattened the landscape that was now dozens of feet deep in ash. The only thing you could drive over was the dunes. 

The bike drove on as it’s rider watched the horizon line. Waiting for what she knew she would see eventually. The horizon started fading from the gray black into a lighter shade of gray. Jane also noticed the terrain was becoming more rocky as she drove on. 

In the distance Jane could see it now. From here it looked almost like the rock formations that used to be in the Utah desert. Massive jagged mountains and spirals. But as you got closer, you could begin to make out what it was. 

Jane starred as she drew closer to the bluff that marked the end of the Ashen Waste. The mountains that the Kingdom sat in were surrounded by hundreds of miles of the Ashen Waste. WIth the air being so thick, and unbreathable. Flight from the Ashen Waste was out of the question. 

However there was one place the Ashen Waste did not stretch hundreds of miles, and that was the path Jane was going. She was heading to the closest way out. Through the concrete jungle.

Jane looked at the jagged concrete jungle. She stopped her bike. The last pair to leave the Kingdom had decided to turn back here after calling the concrete jungle impassable. Jane was not a coward like them. 

She looked behind her. A massive black dust cloud was coming. That cloud was the dust and sulfur kicked up from the ground.

"Dammit." She quickly checked the air quality levels. They were dropping fast. Jane decided she would set up camp here.

She got off and opened the side compartment on the motorcycle. She pulled out the tent and started setting it up. After that was finished she grabbed an oxygen tank, other supplies and the air scrubber. 

With one last look at the concrete jungle Jane went into the darkness of the tent. Carefully she attached the hoses to the air scrubber and then led them out of the tent. She then sealed it off and turned on the scrubber. It started making it’s whirring sound as Jane got out her own sleeping roll. 

Then pulling out the sensor, she stared at it. Waiting as the dial ticked down from red, to yellow, into green. And finally settling in the mid range of the green. Jane removed her mask, and then the hood. 

She took off the thick overcoat she had been wearing all day. And changed into the clothes she would be wearing the next day. Jane finally laid down. Looking up at the ceiling of the tent. Listening to the ever howling wind and to the sound of the purifier. 

Jane woke up suddenly. It wasn’t a strange sound that had woken her up. She sat and looked at the air scrubber. It was the lack of a familiar one. As she sat up Jane realized how heavy her lungs felt and she started coughing. As she grabbed her small tool kit and looked at the scrubber. 

A fuse on the machine was blown. She looked over at it and realized the parts to fix it were on the bike. She grabbed her oxygen mask and connected it to the tank, then she stepped out into the elements. Her lungs started to feel lighter as she took deep breaths in through the mask.

She walked to the bike's saddle bags and pulled out her tool bag. Then she walked back to the tent, before she entered she looked up at the horizon, it was almost day. She wouldn’t get much more sleep today. 

She fixed the small scrubber, then got fully dressed and took down the tent. She packed it all back into the bike then started towards the concrete jungle as the weak light of the sun rose.

The descent down the hill towards the concrete jungle was done quickly. The ground slowly went from ash to dark gray stone. Until it was just entirely uneven stone, the small formations that rose from the ground were jagged.

The jagged formations began to grow taller and bigger. The bike is now struggling to continue driving over it. But Jane kept pushing it, following alone a narrow path, but something that was definitely a path. The pillars of stone were now far over Jane’s head and blocking out the sun.

Still Jane was not in the heart of the concrete jungle. No for in the heart of the forest were concrete pillars hundreds of feet tall. 

Jane stopped the bike. Something was wrong, but she didn't know what. She wiped away the dust on her visor and looked around. She heard it again. The sound she had probably only heard on the edge of her hearing over the sound of the bike.

It was the sound of breathing and small footsteps. Not a small animal, no, it was too large for that. Jane flicked up her visor, scanning around her. There It was again, it was a yelp. 

Then she heard them, the footsteps, followed by many others. A girl bolted just ten feet in front of Jane’s bike. Coming from in between two crumbling pieces of stone. Then a monster followed right behind her. Neither seemed to notice Jane. 

Jane ripped her long rifle off the back of the bike. Then she jumped off. The emergency latch disengaged and the oxygen tub disconnected. As Jane ran, she connected the tub to her emergency tank. And she took off after the two of them. 

They cut between the large pillars of stone. Jane was burning through her oxygen but she didn't notice. She could hear the beast just ahead. But she couldn't hear the girl. Then she heard a scream. Jane sprinted into an area where the pillars cut off and created a dead end. 

The girl was holding a rock and swinging it towards the three beasts that were slowly approaching her. Jane lifted the gun to her shoulder and pulled the trigger. She had to be careful to not aim near the girl. 

The electrified rail gun cut straight through the beast and into the wall. In the rapid section Jane killed the other two beasts. The girl dropped the rock and ducked, crawling into the corner. 

Jane flipped the rifle to her back and ran over to the girl. “Hey.” Jane knelt down, the girl cowered away from her, covering her face. 

“Don’t karba she! Damon!” The girl yelled. She hit Jane’s mask with a well placed blow, then covering her face she crawled away. 

“Look kid! I will back up.” Jane stood up, backing away and pulling out the electrochemical sensor. Turning it on, the thing did not start beeping. The air here was clean. But that shouldn’t have been possible. 

She started walking a little ways and the sensor needle didn’t move. Jane stopped, and stared in disbelief. The sensor was in the green zone. Jane looked back at the child cowering in the corner. 

The kid jumped back to her feet and threw a rock at Jane. Jane raised her hands. “I’m human!” 

“DAMON!”

“Look!” Then Jane pulled down the hood and holding her breath she pulled off the oxygen mask. The kid stopped crying and looked at her. And asked “I hahmen, and yo hahmen? Yo no cabull?” She pointed at the body of the six legged beast. 

Jane took her first breath. The air tasted, like, nothing. It didn’t taste like the purified indoor or tank air. It was nothing. Jane started breathing. The kid got to her feet. And asked, “yo sav ma?” She pointed from Jane, to the dead body of the beast, and finally to herself. 

“I think so. My name is Jane.” Said Jane, who looked back at the kid. Now that Jane was able to get a good look at the kid, she could tell that she was young. Like maybe 6 years old at most, closer to 5 or 4. 

"Jana?" 

"Yes, Jane. Your Parents. Do you have parents?”

“parnants?” 

“Yes, parents.”

The kid shook her head. I reached out my hand. The girl took it. “COME!” She began dragging Jane by the hand back down through the pillars. They reached the intersection where her motorcycle sat and she finally dug Her heels in. Jane's mind is finally catching up to what just happened.  

“Wait!”

“What?”

“Where are you taking me?” She tilted her head, looking at me. “Me. You. Go. Where?”

“Ma, pa.” She glared at me and pointed downwards. “Strangers are bad. No strangers go back to hom.” Then she looked back at me. “You're not a stranger?”

“No. . . Where are your parents?” The kid looked sad. 

“Brother gone. Parents at home. You take me home?”

“Yes. I will take you home. But we won’t be walking there.” I pointed towards my motorcycle. “That drives. We drive to your home. It will be faster.” 

The girl looked towards the cycle and then at me. It took a few minutes to get the girl to approach the bike. She seemed to be scared of it. She was especially scared of it when Jane turned on the cycle. 

But after an additional 10 minutes of Jane getting on the bike. And trying to communicate with her to join her. As soon as Jane got her on the bike, she wrapped a strap around her, then herself. To make sure she didn’t fall off. Then they took off.

Jane pulled back up her goggles as they drove. The girl screamed behind in what seemed like both a mixture of fear and excitement. They drove through the concrete jungle. The girl started tapping her on the shoulder when they reached an ever increasing tangle of tunnels and corners. Jane killed the bike. The girl yelled “THERE, THEN THERE!” She pointed to the right, then to the left. “NOR ATH!”

Jane looked towards the right tunnel, it headed almost directly north, the far more open looking route was heading east. She decided to trust the girl and followed the right path. Then, all of a sudden, the bike exploded out onto a wind swept plane, hitting the brown dirt and tearing up moss under its tread. 

Both screamed as Jane nearly lost control of the bike as it slid in the moss and dirt. The girl clenched tighter to Jane's waist as she slammed the brakes. They came to halt and Jane killed the power. 

Jane unhooked the girl and jumped off the bike. Jane looked behind her and saw the towering stone pillars. Then she looked backed back

The plain was large, covered not in grass but in moss. The moss was already torn apart in the trail. Distantly, you could hear a river, the rapids rushing over many stones. It looked like the trail of torn up ground led to the river. 

Jane pointed to the trail. "Was that you?"

The girl nodded. “Run.” She ran from the monsters, from the river, from the  raft that had shattered on the rapids. A raft that had been brought miles away from its original location when the girl's brother had lost control of it. Jane knew none of it, but she guessed most of it. She started the bike and began to slowly follow the trail. 

Soon they reached the river. There was no evidence of what had happened there. Other than the torn apart bank of plants and moss. "So where next" 

"Up river. Homa. Go go."

Jane turned the bike and the two of them started following along the edge of the river. As they continued following the winding river the concrete city began to disappear. Replaced with the massive black walls of the plateau.

"Jana!" 

Jane slowed and stopped the bike, twisting around and looking at the girl. The girl was pointing towards the distant bluff. A massive black cloud was rolling down off the bluffs from the Ashen Wastes. 

The girl started screaming, she untied herself and jumped to the ground. She immediately started digging into the earth. A breeze started rushing through Jane's hair as she pulled out her electrochemical sensor. The air quality was green. But it was quickly lowering. 

As the girl continued digging Jane set up the tent and connected the O2 scrubber. The cloud of sulfur and ash was coming closer. Jane grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her into the tent. Then I closed it. 

The girl looked around, panicked. "Dig! Ground we go under. DIG!" she leaped for the entrance. Jane pulled her back. Then everything went dark as they were sucked into the toxic dust cloud

The wind and the dust battered the tent. But the girl and the women were safe inside. So after several long hours of darkness, first from the storm and then the night. The two stepped back out into the mossy plain.

The two of them packed up the tent and started following the river as it turned west. The mountains and the ashen wastes directly behind them. Every moment they drew further and further away from the only home Jane had ever known. 

As they followed the river the terrain became less flat, until hills rose from the landscape. 

The ground became more rocky. But also filled with more life. The moss was replaced with grass and wildflowers. Jane could barely pay attention to driving as she was too busy looking at all the life that surrounded her. 

Jane finally stopped the bike at the top of a hill. A Half mile or so in front of them was about a 40 foot cliff, at the top of the cliff was a forest. A real forest. A waterfall poured off the edge and into a small pond that quickly turned into the river. Jane looked in either direction. This massive shelf stretched as far as they could see. It did in fact stretch for miles. A place that had once been the shore of a great lake. That the women and the girl now stood in. 

Both of them got off the bike. The ground here was very Rocky, with large holes in the ground in-between boulders. 

The girl excitedly pointed up the cliff."Homa! Homa!"

Jane grabbed all of the rope and climbing gear she had thought to bring with her. She had expected to be climbing over the Concrete jungle. So she had quite a bit of gear. 

They walked towards the cliff. Jane made the girl a harness and was just attaching the crampons to the wall when the girls froze. 

"Jana." She pointed back towards the bike, back towards the open plains. A pack was racing it's way towards them.

Part of the very same pack that Jane had shot three of its members. Here on the edge of the Ashen Wastes meat was scarce. So the beasts were forced into eating plants or eating each other. But fresh meat was rare. 

Over so many years these beasts had evolved to smell fresh meat for miles. Fresh meat that had just cornered itself on the side of a cliff. Jane saw the two dozen beasts rushing forward, rushing to kill the two of them

Jane sprinted back towards the bike, she could hear the screaming in the distance. Her hands shaking, she grabbed the small comms tower and set it up on the bike. She checked the screen and the little symbol telling her she had a connection flipped on. 

“YES!”

The screams were very close now. Jane was almost out of time. Hurriedly she grabbed the receiver and started speaking into it.

“This is Jane of the Kingdom. SOS. I repeat, SOS, once you leave the Waste’s the air is clear, there is life. I require assistance. The air is clear, I need help. God Damn it! Out of time! Send help!” Jane dropped the receiver and ripped open the panel on the bike towards the fusion core. 

Home, back through the route she had come was well over 100 miles. A distance she would never be able to make on foot. Especially over the Ashen Wastes. But without a second thought she yanked out her knife and slashed wires inside. She also swapped several others, but finally she removed the cooling tube. 

The screams were coming up the hill now, she could feel their thundering feet. Jane turned and started running towards the other side of the hill. Jane ran, she ran because her life depended on it, she knew they would try and follow her. But if they were dead? Maybe they wouldn’t

The fusion core immediately after Jane left it started shaking, heat started radiating off the box. The wires that connected it melted, and then the bike itself started melting. The six legged beasts ran around it in their pursuit of Jane. The monsters tear through the dirt, moss and rocks, chasing her. the final safety system on the core failed.

And with that, it exploded. The explosion shattered the hill. A wave of energy shot out in a bubble around the core. Jane jumped into a deep ditch and covered her head. The ground shook, she felt the heat cross her back then rocks and dirt thundering down on top of her. 

The girl sat hiding behind a rock next to the rope. She too had known that the screams would follow Jane. She also knew Jane had just saved her life. The girl watched in horror as Jane ran at the beasts. Then in even more shock as the machine Jane rode exploded. But not only did it explode, it took the hill, the screams, and Jane with it. 

The girl climbed down and began to run towards the hill. She climbed up into the crater, and kept running. Jane was nowhere to be seen, and the girl started to fear the worst. As she climbed, stumbling up to the rim. She looked around, then heard it. 

A coughing sound, the girl ran towards it. The girl saw a single hand sticking up from the debris and she started digging. She grabbed Jane and with all the strength in her small body pulled her free. Jane coughed up dirt and then stood up to her feet. 

The girl hugged her, “ya alive alive!”

Jane patted the girl's head. “I am. Now, let's get back to your home?”

The girl nodded, “home.” The girl grabbed Jane’s hand, and the two of them climbed slowly up the cliff into the forest. Jane set down the climbing gear. And the two of them started back towards the girl’s home. Towards the forests, the rivers, the green. Towards life.

Jane looked up, then back. Back towards the Kingdom. Back towards the Ashen Waste. Then she looked away, smiling at herself and the girl walked onwards. Towards a new home, towards life. 

Hundreds of miles away, past the river, through the concrete jungle, and across the Ashen Waste sat the Kingdom. Marcus ran through the tunnels, and waited impatiently up the elevators. He finally stumbled out into a communications room that was filled with important people. 

They all listened to Jane’s message. Marcus only caught the tall end. “The air is clear, I need help. God Damn it out of time! Send help!” Then there was a thunking sound and static, slowly they could hear a screaming sound coming over the speakers. And finally a very loud thunk like an explosion and the recording ended. 

The room was silent as Marcus sank to the floor himself silently weeping. He heard someone say. “Play it again.” They played the recording again and Marcus finally shook himself and stood up.

“We have to go after her?! We have to go save my daughter!”

Silence again, and then another man stepped towards him. “She’s dead.”

“No she’s alive, we can leave, past the Waste’s the air is clear! Didn’t you hear her!?”

The man shook his head no. “One of the signs of air poisoning is hallucinations, I doubt the air was clear. More likely her air scrubber failed.”

Marcus wanted to grab the man and shake him. “Then what was the screaming sound! It sounded like animals to me! If there's animals then life is possible. We need to go find her!”

There was murmuring of agreement throughout the room. The man rolled his eyes. “It was just the wind whistling in the receiver.

“No it wasn’t. We need to find my daughter!”|

The man now looked annoyed as other people in the room agreed with Marcus. “LOOK! Marcus, I am being patient with you because you have just suffered an immense and terrible loss. But we just can’t risk losing more people on a pointless mission.”

Marcus grabbed the man now and shook him. “It’s not pointless if it is for my daughter!” Guards grabbed Marcus and pulled him off. Marcus starts cussing the man out. Hurling insults towards him. The guards dragged Marcus towards the elevator, the group of people starred on in silence. 

The man yelled louder. “IF WE LEAVE WE DIE! WE STAY HERE, IN THE WASTE’S!”