Dead City
An imaginative piece composed by Milo (Year 10, Mackillop Catholic College)
Comet’s hand brushed the moss-covered concrete beside her, absentmindedly fiddling with it, wedging it further into the cracks of the ground. The last few hours she’d spent awake, looking out for potential dangers had been taxing, it was nearly sundown and her eyes were beginning to close, seemingly with a mind of their own.
Was it worth it?
She spared a glance over to the small, fluffy creature sleeping next to her on a soft spot of moss, his chest rising and falling at a calming pace. A kitten, a small helpless kitten, Comet had managed to save from a horde of ARGOS just a few hours ago. Small, rodent-like creatures with a taste for destruction and teeth so sharp they could probably chew through anything, a failed science experiment that was said would finally put an end to the torment of the apocalypse, but ultimately making it so much worse in the end.
She reached over and stroked her fingers through the black tufts of fur on his head. He let out a quiet purr.
Yes. It was worth it.
The few hours she could have spent asleep meant almost nothing to her now that she wasn’t alone anymore. “We’ve got to get you a name, huh?” She pulled her hand back as the kitten's ears shot up, eyes open wide within a matter of seconds. He stared up at her, the setting sun reflecting in his eyes and turning them a pinky orange. “Dusk. How about Dusk?” He let out a small mew, almost as if in approval of the name. Comet felt a laugh escape her lips. “Dusk it is then.”
She rose slowly, trying to keep any rubble from falling out from under her and making any noise, attracting unwanted attention. It was nearly night time, which was probably the safest time to be travelling since everything else would be sleeping, including ARGOS. Comet bent down and scooped up the kitten, placing him down into her backpack. Dusk stared up at her with wide eyes and not a single meow of protest. She slung the bag over her shoulder, making sure not to knock him around too much and began walking, trying to find any signs of remaining civilisation.
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The hum of the broken streetlights buzzed around her, the clumps of leaves and moss finding their way through the electrical system and making the lights nearly unfunctional, flickering on and off in a pattern Comet couldn’t quite keep track of. Dusk stayed put in her bag, purring loudly as he slept in the shelter of the cool fabric and Comet just continued walking. She’d met a few lone droids who pointed her in this direction before she’d found Dusk. “If you’re looking for civilization, the best place to go is through the dead city.” They’d told her.
Each of them had said the same thing. Well, here she was, tracking through the crumbling, overgrown structures, her life at a constant risk at every turn, and she hadn’t managed to find a single thing.
It had grown darker now, the moon slowly creeping across the starless sky, making strange shapes out of clouds and smoke, playing with the shadows and making them appear as something they weren’t. Comet pulled her bag from her shoulder and set it down gently, being careful not to wake Dusk. She leant her back against a nearby wall and sunk slowly to the floor, fed up with living like this. Wandering aimlessly through fallen and collapsing cities, trying to find whatever normalcy was left, if normalcy even existed anymore. In a constant state of emotional purgatory. No, that wasn’t living.
Existing. She was merely existing.
Comet suddenly felt a cold nose on her hand placed at her side, she looked down to see Dusk butting his head against her arm, breaking her from her thoughts and snapping her back to reality. She brushed her hand against his face, scratching his chin.
She reached into her bag, going through it in an attempt to find something to do to distract herself. She wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for, something to eat maybe? When a small, almost silent rustle came from her right. Comet’s head shot up in the direction of the noise. A tiny rodent pulling at scraps and rubbish for whatever food it could find. She quickly scanned over the creature, looking for the bright red logo that adorned the side of ARGOS, after a few seconds of looking to no avail, Comet decided there was nothing to worry about.
She reached back into her bag and pulled out a small protein bar, opening it and breaking a piece off, she threw it to the rodent. It looked up at her, gratefully, before snatching it up and running off.
Comet picked up the small kitten at her side and placed him on her lap. Dusk curled up against her stomach and drifted off to sleep almost immediately, purring contently.
It was hard out here, constant danger and little food. Your life was as precious as a candle in a winter storm, warm and sustaining, but fragile, able to be snuffed out at the hand of any minor breeze. Out of all the things you could do in the apocalypse, surviving alone might just be the worst.
But she wasn’t alone anymore
