4 Chapter I A New World - Part 4

Hours laters. Time: 22:34

Planet: Earth: Region: North America.

Day: October 21, 22,236

It was the middle of the night as Locus woke up, he first sight was the same sky but except it was greyer than before like almost totally pitch black. He noticed his body was being carried from a horse. To his shock surprise, he quickly fell off the horse because of how frightened he was. He lied on the ground once again hurting more, he saw a brown horse with black spots jumping and becoming upset. "Easy girl! Yah!" a scratchy voice commanded the horse. He calmed the horse by gently petting it's freshly brushed braids, the mysterious man jumped off the horse, he headed towards Locus trying to aid. Locus was afraid and clenched his fist, swinging a punch at the mysterious man, shouting, "Get away from me vile beasts!" The swing the stranger dodged with ease as it wasn't fast enough.

"Woah easy kid, I only want to help." The scratchy voiced man told him pushing his black steampunk themed cloak away from his leg.

"Huh? Wait your…." Locus was surprised as it was a human voice.

"That's right, and you are too, which is rare around here," he said tipping his grey colored top hat forward and back.

"Who are you?" Locus asked the figure.

"My name's Jeremiah, you can call me just that, if ya please." (Not much of a steampunk name.) Locus thought as dressed like an ancient person from a different timeline.

"Where are we?" Locus asked curiously, unable to see around him as it was too dark to see.

"Near the wild fields of Illinois, nothing much here but wild game and old structures. You look pretty hurt and judging by your armor, you must be with those Militia guys right?"

"Kinda, I need to make it to them as soon as I can, but can you take me somewhere to rest up?"

"I got a house nearby if you wanna turn in for the night, but I got questions to ask you before we get there."

"Right, I'll tell you what I know so far."

Locus accepted Jeremiah's hand and he pulled him up from his horse. They rode swiftly back to his house.

As they rode back Jeremiah asked him a few questions.

"You got a name?" he snotted and spitted out the gunk from aside.

"Locus." he said quietly.

"Funny name, what were you doing in those open fields?" He whipped the horse to travel a bit faster.

"I was searching for something, a spaceship in fact." Locus said cautiously as he couldn't figure out whether to trust him or not.

"I see," he scratched his neck from an annoying itch, "why were you damaged and tore up when I found you?"

"I was attacked by Scar creatures."

"Those things were nothing but trouble when they arrived here twenty years ago. You don't look like the dangerous kind of man, but it's not every day you'll see a body just resting in the middle of the plains ya know?"

"I promise you that I'm not an evil man, I just want to leave this planet, I need to report to a group called: the Autumn."

Jeremiah jerked his horse back tightly as they arrived at his home/hideout. It was a small old wooden house, it looked like it was built with scraps and planks. There was one open window but no glass, it was covered with rotten shutters instead. The door seemed like an old stained white cloth out of a bed sheet. The roofing was covered with patches of dirt piled on top with wooden rectangular plywood. (the dirt most likely was to put weight on top from the roof, keeping it from flying off.) It was dimly lit inside revealing a slight red color from the outside.

A harsh wind blew all of a sudden, it danced with the stained cloth trashing it around uncontrollably. Inside he saw was a woman and two children; two daughters from the looks of it. The woman who Locus assumed was the mother of those two stood up and walked in front of the entry.

"Don't worry Elise, he's with us." Jeremiah told her.

"I understand, please can you help us sir?" the woman asked Locus.

Locus got off the horse, still hurting inside, he looked at her and replied, "I'll see what I can do."

The two daughters were tugging behind the mother's skirt afraid of Locus, the daughter on the left of the mom was a young browned haired girl who was about 5'2 probably at least ten years old, she had wore poor clothing such as jean like jacket wrapped comfortably around her upper body, she also wore a stripped t shirt of yellow and white. Stained Jeans she wore as well with sneakers for shoes.

The daughter on the right dressed more warmfully like Jeremiah, she was slightly shorter than the other girl. She had pelts of animal furs all around her small body, it was strange that she wore a coonskin on her head, Locus had never seen one before only in the stories he read when he was a child.

Locus: "You have daughters?"

Jeremiah: "It's only been us through these plains and abandoned ruins. The Government had abandoned us when the Scars had attacked."

Locus: "They couldn't have saved everyone."

Jeremiah: "No they couldn't have, because they tuck their tails between their legs and ran."

Locus: "........" He sat in silence unable to respond.

Jeremiah: "Enough talk, come inside."

Locus entered the shelter and sat down next to the fire inside. The family sat next to the fire, but the mother and daughters kept their distance unsure of Locus's intensions.

The mother grabbed a wooden oak bowl of stew for Locus, she gave it to him and he thanked her.

Locus: "Do you plan to live the rest of your lives like this?"

Mother: "It's all we have left after what those 'things' did to us."

Jeremiah: "I don't trust those 'Militia' people, not after what they did and took from us."

Mother: "Honey," she touches his cold scratched hand with comfort, "We don't have to talk about it."

Jeremiah: "Do you know what those Militia did to me? I had a son before all this, we were evacuating the city and as we got through the gate, they told-" He clenched his fists with anger, "They said children and mothers had to be left behind."

Locus was at a loss of words.

Jeremiah: "The people grew with anger and attacked the Militia believing it was unfair, they killed my eleven year old son right in front of me as he stood up with me and the others!"

Locus: "I'm sorry."

Jeremiah: "It's been hard to put that behind me and move on. I don't think you're on their side to be honest with you, you're a Locust soldier after all."

To Locus's surprise, he was shocked to know that he was a Locus soldier.

Jeremiah: "But you, you stayed and helped defend the world from the Scars. When they announced that all the Locus soldiers were dead, I never believed them and held out hope that your kind would return and bring peace back."

Locus: "Why did you help me earlier? You couldn't have known that I was a Locust soldier."

Jeremiah grabs his helmet and shows him resting it against the fire.

Jermiah: "You gave me hope when I saw this."

All of a sudden, a loud explosion was heard from the outside home. Locus and Jeremiah jumped and went to investigate.

The smell of burnt ash swirled through Jeremiah and Locus's nostrils. They saw the red glow from a nearby distance, with a trail of black smoke emmencing upwards. The pale moonlight finally broke through and lit up the burnt fields surrounding them. Several Scar drop spaceships moving swiftly towards the explosion's position. "You have to hide," Locus told Jeremiah.

He replied back softly, "No. We're both fighting them."

Locus words were returned back with a fighting spirit.

Jeremiah straightened his cowboy hat, spat on the side, loaded his rustic old pump shot-gun, and said, "These things took our home, I'm not going to let them keep this up."

Locus stood silent listening to Jeremiah. He hands Locus his damaged helmet and dirty helmet, "What do you say?"

Locus accepted his offer, he re-equipped his helmet and replied, "I accept."

Giddy with excitement, Jeremiah quickly went back into his house to tell his wife and kids about his plan. Locus examined the landscape and thought of a plan.