The story

The story is not new. Sadly, it’s not old, either. “The story” is the gap between space and time, because nothing can be not old and not new at the same time. The government has been studying this phenomena for 10 years since 65% of the population of earth disappeared. Multiple sandstorms engulfed all weak buildings that were too much above ground, like the Eiffel Tower, and the sea level rose to catastrophic levels, engulfing multiple cities near water. Now, only two continents are left, Asia and North America. The world is in decline, and so is the health of the last humans in their underground bases.

Mr. Von Shang “plip” pilper, sits in the one of the last government facilities, safely covered underground from any survivors getting in. Shang Pilper is studying a very unique piece of human writing, and the thing that started this all, or that’s what he thinks.

This writing is a story of what would happen in the future of human society, if this whole mess hadn’t happened. It was written exactly a year before the apocalypse, down to the second. But that wasn’t the only thing weird about it. The story told about how prosperous human civilization would have been if “he hadn’t ruined it.” The paper said no new information of this figure, but just kept bringing up “him.” For all plip knew, this man could be in this theoretical future. But something told him that this man, whoever he is or was, started this whole mess. And Pilper needed to find him, no matter what.

Somewhere in North America, a few survivors had set up a camp in the basement of a ruined building. They had patched the holes in the concrete with cloth and sheets of metal and created small tents to sleep in and to block out the dust storms. This was no prosperous trade camp, but it was something. Many travelers had passed through this area, and stopped at this camp for food and water.

And the population of this was no more than five, with the leaders being a couple that had set up this camp in the first place. The three other people were just good combatants, builders, and scientists that had decided to stay and help grow the outpost. The biggest city was miles from here and way more technologically advanced than this one. But one of the whole reasons they had set this up was to get away from the big city, because this group didn’t exactly trust the city due to the “underground issues” referring to the underground crime syndicate. But in the next few days, many things will change for both of these camps.

“Hey! Can I get some help over here?! This fabric is tearing!” Charlie yelled over the wind.

“Ok, I’ll get some from the house!” the soldier said as he walked to the entrance of the house. This soldier refused to tell his name to the others, and just stayed at the camp helping out.

“Seriously hurry, this is blasting away my piles!” he said as many scraps of metal were blown away smacking into many other piles of wood, still flapping in the wind.

Charlie was a collector, he went around the abandoned city collecting scraps of other survivors bases that were long destroyed. He then came back to make piles of different shapes and materials just in case they needed to build something.

“And this is why I told you to put it in the house,” Harper said.

“I can’t because someone told me I can’t because they would take up too much room!” Charlie said angrily.

Then someone came out from the house covering their eyes with their arms. 

This was Emily Sterling, the scientist. “I need that room to store my stuff! Do you know how much room I need for all the testing ingredients?” she asked Charlie.

“No,” he answered.

“Well… a lot of room!” she yelled, walking angrily back down the stairs.

“Jeez, she needs to calm down about her stuff getting ruined.” Charlie said, picking up some scrap metal to put it back into a pile.

“Ok, I’m back! Get the rope!” the soldier yelled running over to Charlie.

“Ok I’ll hold it down. Did you put holes in it?” he asked.

“Yes. Hold it down!” the soldier answered.

“I am!” Charlie yelled, frustrated.

“Here, let me help,” Harper Steele said as she walked over. She put the string in her mouth and started to weave it through the holes of the other fabric. She was a natural builder. In a few minutes they had patched the hole and returned most of the scrap to its original place.

“Ok, so what was that?” Harper asked, very annoyed. “It was a perfectly fine day… uh, dust storm, until metal plates started flying around the camp! So? Are you going to answer?”

The soldier said, “Charlie made me help him fix up the hole so this isn’t my problem,” he said as he stood up and started to walk away.

“Hey! No no no, you can’t just walk away from this. You were involved so you’ve got to help me clean up or something!” she yelled at the soldier.

“She always acts like a mom when she’s angry,” Charlie thought.

Harper grabbed the soldier by his ear and pulled him back down to the circle.

He stared at her and said, “What do you think you’re doing?” He pulled her hand off his ear, and looked at her fixedly, with a “Don’t mess with me” face.

He then turned and walked away. “Ugh, he acts like he owns the place.” Then she turned towards Charlie.

“Uh, I didn’t do anything, the fabric on the wall just tore and wind came in and-“ Harper interrupted.

”Charlie, just shut up and go inside and eat something.” Harper stood up and walked into the dark stairway.

Charlie still sat on the dirty ground outside, looking at the entrance, unknowing of what’s to come in the next few day. Inside the house, the crew was sitting in the living room waiting for someone. Steam was coming from a teapot in the other room and someone was humming while making toast.

“Ok, it’s ready. Well, the toast is. The water is still heating up for the cocoa,” the person said.

As she came out from the kitchen, darkness shrouded her face. She had a hood on and a mask covering the bottom of her face.

“Ok, here you go.” The outline of three people sat in the light of a fire underground.

Harper spoke first. “We need more support beams outside to keep the tent up, a few more hammocks inside, and make sure they’re next to the fire. Oh, and more firewood.” She said as she took out a list. “I’ll get the beams up, and someone will go out and get the firewood.” She picked up some rectangular wood poles.

“I’ll go get the firewood, it’s out in the forest so it’s not too far,” Charlie said as he took a bite of toast.

“Oh don’t be crazy!” the soldier told Charlie. “You don’t know what things could be out there.”

Charlie answered, “Yes, I do Mr. Fearless Soldier. Raccoons and owls. It’s not like we’re in a jungle, the only things dangerous enough at night to hurt me are rats and rabid animals,” he turned and looked at the soldier.

“Fine, break a leg buddy,” he said and went over to the cloth pile. “I’ll make some hammocks for tonight.” Charlie grabbed an ax.

“Be careful honey, you don’t want any scars!” she snickered.

Charlie opened the cloth door. The winds had seemed to have died down, and it was very quiet. An owl sitting in a building was the only noise. He walked behind the camp and climbed over the fence. When he put his foot into one of the holes to climb, it came crashing down and Charlie fell on his back. He was breathing very hard, sitting on the ground.

“Ok. I’m ok,” he thought to himself. He got up and ran to the forest. “Just get this over with and get back.” He came to a stop next to a few sticks. They were too small, so he walked farther into the woods.

It had gotten dark but the light of the moon was enough to see. He saw a good tree and started to cut it down. After his first hit he stopped, and looked around. A squirrel jumped out of a bush, and went through Charlie’s legs. He tried to look under him to see the squirrel but dropped the ax and twisted his ankle.

“Ow! Wow, I’m very athletic,” he thought sarcastically and was starting to get up again, but he heard more rustling farther away.

A rush of wind blew through the trees, and the pile of sticks from before blew away. He heard the sound of screeching. It wasn’t any animal he knew of, and it sounded like it was getting closer.

He saw the outline of a human running, coming closer and closer. He picked up the ax again, and yelled, “Who’s there!?”

The figure stopped and looked around, then looked at Charlie. It waved and started to run. “Hey! Who are you?” Charlie said again. He started to hear the person speak.

“Help! Help me! The city! it’s- ahh!” The man ran through a bush in front of Charlie, tripped and accidentally smacked his head into Charlie’s forehead.

He dropped his ax and fell back. The two people sat on the ground, dazed and confused from the impact.

“Who are you, and why were you running through the forest?” Charlie asked the man.

“Please, help me. I come from the city with grave news,” the man spoke.

Charlie looked at him, wondering why he was speaking like that. “Go on…” Charlie told him.

“The city has fallen.” 

Credit: Mehdi Photos // Shutterstock