1 Cherry on Top

Post Nuclear Fallout has begun after a devastating nuclear clash of nations. The World loses a majority of its population and remnants of its people find themselves nationless turning the world to anarchy. The world is clouded and it snows more than half the year, and the surface faces its challenges with changing climate and natural predators. The world has begun a new journey in this apocalypse. We follow a lone wanderer heading east. He covers his face with a gas mask and goggles. His trench coat conceals his firearms and his broken arm in a sling. His bag carries his essentials as he walks down an open empty highway. Nightfall draws near and he decides to set up camp inside an abandoned car which is singed from fire from a long while ago. As soon as night falls we see him through the window light moving around his campsite looking for something that catches his attention before settling into bed under blankets wrapped tight against winter cold. After some time passes he wakes suddenly in darkness; there's no moonlight or stars above us but he senses someone else nearby so quietly moves closer to listen at the window. He hears screams and they go on for some time. Gunshots and a sound of struggle, but he doesn't move to act. Eventually the sounds come to a halt, and he returns to slumber. In the morning he awakes. There are two other cars parked alongside his own. One appears untouched by snow and ice, but the second one looks like it was driven off road sometime back due to rusting metal. It sits alone now, with only a single occupant who seems frozen stiff within its confines. Our wanderer collects himself and heads down towards the noises he heard last night, to see if anything was left behind. Upon reaching the site he finds blood splattered all over the walls of an underpass. Corpses still fresh with bite marks and body parts spread across the ground. It appears there was a vicious attack by a pack of animals. Predators had gotten a lot larger and dangerous than what humanity could remember. What is strange is that these corpses had nothing of value on them. The wanderer looks around and notices a small shed off the side of the road. Emanating from it is a noticeable light source. He retraces his look back towards his feet. He notices a blood trail and he decides to follow it to the shed, gun drawn. He knocks and listens closely, but no answer. There is only a faint growl. As he pushes the door open, the growling stops. He peeks around the corner of the door and it becomes a hissing sound. He points his gun at the source and to his surprise, it was a little girl. She was drenched in blood and covered in scratches and bruises. She was feasting on what looked to be on of the beasts that attacked last night. she had be no more than ten years old maybe. But her eyes were wild and angry, and when our wanderer dropped his weapon down...she lunged at him and bit him right through his pant leg. He smacks her in the back of the head immobilizing her. He begins to rummage through the gathered materials. He finds plenty of goods; food and ammo, some clothes. Some of the bags are small and he zip-ties them to his pack for extra storage. He finds it odd that there is food in here and the girl was eating a wild animal raw. He checks her breath with his hand. She's still breathing, and he pours water over her face and wipes off the blood and gunk. She had some bruises, but her scratches had all vanished. He could've sworn she had them. Our wanderer hasn't run into a child on his journey and considers it wrong to leave her behind. He binds her and covers her mouth so she won't bite him again. He then throws her over his shoulders and continues east. After several hours on foot, he finally reaches another town. A few buildings remain standing, most have collapsed. He makes his way along the main street until he comes upon a bar. He decides to take a break and sets the small girl down on the bar top; still unconscious. Being that several hours had passed he grew concerned but overwise he began to set up camp. He removes his gasmask and he sets it down. The food he had boiling got nice and soft. He set some aside for the girl if she wakes up. He takes some of the food after it cooled and mashed it up a bit more in a cup. He shoves a tube to back of his mouth through the side of a metal mouth covering strapped to his head. He pours the food down the tube with water and swallows. Once he finishes eating he carefully removes the tube and the mouth covering and begins cleaning it with a cloth. He lacks a jaw and the lower half of his face. His wounds are cauterized and he only has his front set of teeth. Once he cleans out his covering, he straps it back on. Our wanderer stands up and looks around. There isn't much left of the building but enough to make use of. But shelter is shelter tonight. He goes over to the girl and examines her again. Her wounds seemed to have healed in a spectacular stroke of luck. This confused him. He lifts up the back of her shirt and checks for other damages but finds none, though strangely... Before further examination her body struggles and squirms. He jumps back from the sudden movement. She then locks eyes with the man and then she begins to cry. Immediately he uncovers her mouth and he gestures his hands side to side as if to calm her down. Surprisingly enough she calms. Rather relaxed. "Who are you?" she asks. He shakes his head and waves his hand in front of his mask. He points at the food. "Umm, thank you Sully" she says. This baffles him. That is his first name, for which he didn't share. It somehow came out of her mouth. "I can't move my hands" she frowns. Sully unbinds her and she eats the food set aside for her. Her behavior is very much different from their first encounter. She is apparently very hungry. She eats her food very fast and quietly. Then she gets quiet and just watches the man. With each passing moment he grows suspicious about the situation. "So where are we mister?" she asks. The wanderer thinks hard for a minute trying to recall where they would possibly be. Still very much far away from his particular set destination. Though unable to tell where exactly here is. "You don't know?" she says. As if reading his mind, she adds: "...it's okay." she looks around. "Where is green bean?" Sully becomes confused. "Green Bean is gone!" She panics. "Did you leave Green Bean behind?" Sully begins to wonder, "NO NOT BEANS! My Dragon!" Oh dear she is delusional, he thinks. "What's delusional? I just want Green Bean!" tears well up her cheeks. "YOU MUST TAKE ME BACK TO GREEN BEAN!" Sully is beside himself. Worried that attention will be drawn he covers her mouth to silence her. Realizing nobody is around to hear it anyway he proceeds to do that for his own ears. "What are you doing??" clear as day rings his ears. His eyes widen as clearly his hand cups her mouth. She is concerned and upset by his actions and pushes away. She runs past him. He runs after her. "I am going to get Green Bean!" he snatches her up before she got too far. She hisses, bearing her fangs. But seriously, her fangs are huge on her. "Let me go!" He begins regretting his help of sorts for this girl. He thinks she is crazy. "I just want my stuffed dragon." she wails and tears up. He finally kind of understands her fuss. Although Sully does find all her behavior peculiar. Does he go for this stuffed animal? move on? or just completely dump the girl behind? "Don't leave me here," she says, "meanie!" she scowls. Not much menacing but irritating. She's a small hassle but he doesn't know how she'll tell her to wait until morning to go find him. "Okay" she says. Now Sully realizes his suspicions are true. She is somehow reading his mind. "I'm not reading your mind mister sully." yes you are, "I am? oh, you have no mouth??" Sully gives up. He has set his mind that he and this small nuisance will head out tomorrow for some "green bean". "We will? YAY!" she cheers. Kids have this much energy though sully can't recall. Sully tries thinking about asking for her name. "Oh, I am Cheryline" she replies. "My mom called me Cherry." She pauses. " So am I really reading your mind?" yes "How am I doing that?" He doesn't know. She eventually settles down for the night. They both sleep until morning. Luckily there was very light snow throughout the night, and the morning is just dry without precipitation. You can see pretty well in this weather. They gather up their things and head back up the way they came from. Little Cherry at his side. She wears her slightly torn but usable collared winter coat, a thick pair of pants, boots, and a beanie cap. Her hair is short and she has one pony tail out the side of her head. She looks up at him as they walk along. his gun holstered under his cloak. His sling on his right arm covered as well to trap heat. Cherry finds it hard to gage his expression due to his face covered in mask, goggle, and hood. His bag heavy with supplies. "Thanks, for finding me yesterday." she smiles. Sully just looks down and back up. "I don't remember all that happened before you found me." The road is long, and covered in snow. A noticeable divot outlines the road itself. It requires somewhat of a high step to travel through, this really slows down the pace. The path ahead is mostly flat though. Which means less work for the wanderer to keep up with. Snow drifts cover the ground and it is quite cold outside. Their breath thick with fog. And yet despite the chill in the air, Cherry remains warm. "How much further from where you found me? my feet hurt." He ignores her, his feet hurt too. "oh." Sully is trying to get over the fact that he is going backwards for this girl. Though he can't quite figure out why. "Maybe it is because you are a nice person? Sully?" she smiles. He also struggles to get over that as well. Though happy he can be heard; that talent or curse if you will can be quite unnerving. Reading minds is absolutely the most weird occurrence in his life. She is the biggest oddball thing in his life right now. As confused as he is, and as conflicted as he is, he trudges on while keeping an eye out for her. They get closer to where Sully found Cherry. He finds the area very familiar. "We are here?" her eyes light up as she runs forwards. She trips a bit and faceplants into the snow. As she gets up she stops. Sully checks if she is okay but she has this face that has gone sour. An expression of fear. She points out in front of her. "I hear somebody over there. I hear him." for the first time, Sully can see her shiver. She won't budge so he picks her up and she piggy backs on his shoulders. He trudges over to the same shack he came across when he found her. The snow was more so displaced, and the snow tainted with deep red blood. "He's in there." He sets Cherry down and tells her to wait, as she reads what he meant. She stays put hugging his pack he put down. He Unholsters his gun and knocks on the door. No answer. He pushes it in. He hears a man wheezing. Not long before he sees a man lying on the ground, a pistol points toward him. Though from what eyes could tell and the pool of blood persuades. He was on his way out. "Who are you?" the man croaks.

To be continued

Rate this book