DISCLAIMER - Characters are 18+. Please be aware that this story includes scenes of graphic non-consensual sex. This is a work of fiction for erotic entertainment purposes only. Sex should always be with enthusiastic consent in real life.
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Walking through the streets, I was whistling "What a Wonderful World" to myself. Something I often allowed myself after checking that the coast was clear. I took careful steps as I looked for a house that was still semi-standing. Those always had something useful if someone else had not taken it yet.
And before I get called irresponsible, I'd like to point to that one time
I did
have a slight suspicion someone was around and decided to abandon the mission. Besides, the heaps of shattered glass beneath my feet were making noise anyway so there was really no point in being quiet as a mouse in hay.
...Okay, maybe I was looking for excuses but can you really blame me when I've only had myself to entertain me for the past couple days? You see, I am a-okay when I'm left to my spidey senses. Just me and my trusty self, no one to slow me down. So-lo is the way to go-o.
Making my way, I wondered what it would be like to see trees of green and red roses too like in the song. Maybe they didn't even smell
that
great. And didn't those things have little spikes on them like blades? I certainly wouldn't want to be pricked by one. I took as deep of a breath as I dared.
Mmm, debris... and mould and rot... At least I could see the skies of yellow and clouds of grey. It could be worse.
Who am I kidding?
The bright brutal days and dark scary nights of reality made it difficult to imagine this could have ever been a wonderful world. I kicked at a piece of melted plastic at my feet and it bounced off of a long rectangular plate with a bunch of square buttons on it. Maybe it was, when the song was made 500 years ago.
I squatted down to inspect the object. Pushing the buttons made a satisfying sound so I did it a couple more times, the longer ones sounding different. Then I saw faded white prints on some of the buttons. These were readshapes. I could of course recognise them because I wasn't a savage after all. I shivered. Those people really scared me.
Uhm, perhaps this was a plate for teaching readshapes? I considered taking it with me and teaching Uvey how to read. She had been begging me the past few weeks.
Then I heard it. A crunch somewhere close.
Shit
.
I hurried behind a nearby pillar. Had I not scanned the area correctly? Took a deep, calming breath before peeking out. Nothing was out of place. Yet, something felt off. I held onto the handle of the knife I had tied to my thigh as I waited. My throat ran dry from the suspense. After a few tense minutes of dead quietness, I decided it was yet again something that had fallen off a building.
Doom it. Hated these false alarms. I continued on, strolling through the debris of my not-so-wonderful world.
There weren't many people on Earth anymore. After the 5th World War, very few remained and tried to survive among the ruins. Not that they had a choice. The rich and most of the middle class had found refuge on the moon and abandoned everyone else. Small populations formed villages in the suburbs where some things still grew in befouled soil.
That was over a 100 years ago. Some people dared to venture out to the empty cities to look for something valuable, although most locations were riddled with old battle debris.
I
was here scavenging for the brown blocks that smelled sweet but tasted even sweeter. Had them once a few years ago when I was looking for eatingsilvers and I couldn't believe anything could taste that good.
Sure, it isn't
entirely
safe out here. Packs of savages lurk around once in a red moon. Scary folk they are. Violent and gruesome. And if you get caught wandering alone, oof--
I know, I know... But hear me out, they aren't just for me.
My mother died giving birth to me. And some years later, my father died of heatsick, clutching the right side of his belly and vomiting. Uvey had promised him that she would take me in but soon after his passing she and her husband had learned she was going to have a baby. One more mouth to feed. I had assured her I could fend for myself. After all, I had recently turned eleven at the time. I wasn't a little kid anymore.
But they were still the closest I had to family. Her husband sees me as a burden, but she doesn't mind me coming over often to help. When her little boy also died of a heatsick after merely scraping his knee, we were devastated. I didn't even hear Uvey laugh again until her belly swelled again after a few sorrowful years.
Another little boy. Sweet Josie. The chubbiest cheeks and the cutest nose helped me escape my grief, although I'm sure Uvey never fully healed from her first boy. I didn't have a little brother, but I considered him to be mine. Sad I couldn't tell him stories of my adventures out in the cities. But he would understand when he grew up.
I had promised him to bring the brown and sometimes white blocks made of all the sugarcane in the whole world. I would've saved him some when I had found them the first time but that was before he was born. It would be his 4th birthday in a few months so I had started looking for them, admittedly a little late.
But it's okay. I'll find them. Have a little trust in me. Many people do. I've become a pro at what I'm doing over the years. Foraging anything useful for the people at the village. They depend on me. It might be dangerous but it's the least I could do for them accepting me despite my shortcomings.