Chapter 1
ABBY
Abby smelled it at first.
The horrid stench of rotten flesh.
She traced it though, allowing her nose to guide her through the long grass. She dodged scraps of metal, glass, and other various things. Then she saw it.
A huge lump lay in the grass. She didn’t dare move for fear of being attacked. That’s happened before. She thought the Liger had been dead. She had approached it and leaned down, looking at its face. She thought she could have sold its teeth, but then a wild golden eye had opened and stared at her. Long story short, she had learned her lesson. The hard way.
She bent down slowly and plucked a twisted lump of metal from the long grass. She threw it against one of the buildings across from her. The thing didn’t move. So she crept forward, cautiously, pulling out the old “12.5” Tactical Hunting Fixed Blade Knife” out of her pants. At least that was what the abused package said. She rarely found anything she could read, so she memorized all the words she could. She crouched forward and studied it. It was a blanket.
Wary now, she poked the figure. It didn’t move. Pulling the long spear off her shoulder, the worn leather felt comforting in her hands. Familiar. She backed away and slowly slid the spearhead under the blanket. With swift flicks of her wrists, she lifted the blanket up. What was under made her jump.
A boy lay under it. He was curled up on his side, his skin dark with dirt and grime. She pulled the blanket off and looked around. This could be a trap. Other clans could be around. But she saw nothing.
She turned back to the boy who was shivering slightly. He had long, shaggy white hair that hung around his head in greasy strands. His hair was shoulder length. She poked him.
“Get up.” She said in a harsh voice.
He cracked his eyes open which appeared to be startlingly green. But something was off about them. They were glazed. Definitely the AB-20 virus. She shook her head. He wasn’t going to make it. The disease had been around since it was discovered in 2093. A while ago.
He was shaking now, and she could see the signs of the sickness. The eyes, the shivering. Foam was leaking out of his mouth. And his shirt was ripped up so she could see the festering flesh.
She bit her cheek. She’d seen it so many times she should be numb. Had to be. For the sake of her and the other Grimies in her clan, she had to pretend that it didn’t affect her. For she was the Chief’s second hand, after all. But it did. She hefted the spear, preparing for the only thing she could or should do.
But the boy finally must have caught on that she was there. He scrambled up, twitching, and opened his mouth wide. She gagged as the stench of death was breathed onto her. He let out an inhuman screech. Due to his disease-attacked lungs. Fear shot through her system like adrenalin. The virus. It must have already taken over.
She lunged and thrust the spear through his head. The screeching cut off as quickly as it had begun and he dropped. She placed her boot onto his skull and pulled. His skull gave way and she stumbled, her foot falling. Grind it. She growled in her head. She turned her head this way and that. Hopefully no one else had heard. She was kidding herself though.
Abby knew what would happen if she didn’t leave and hide in time. She dove into the bushes and Peace Keeper crawled to a tree. She hoisted herself up silently, careful not to make a branch rustle.
She crawled to the top and squirmed out onto a branch as far as she dared. She peered through the trees.
Sure enough, out of the buildings and streets swamped with water splashing the Vermins came. Their bodies were alive, though infested. Like those Zombies from the stories told centuries ago. She only knew about that history because she bought books off of people in the blackest of the black markets. What Abby did was highly illegal, but anything to keep your Clan alive, right?
The only way to live for a Grimie was to be in a Clan. That or be a slave to the Barons. The rich people that lived in the pristine cities well protected. She refused that.
She waited and watched as they started to attack each other, tearing each other apart with an animalistic madness. She looked away, but she didn’t dare move her hands to block her ears. Be strong - The Clan - Be strong - The Clan - Be strong - The Clan. She repeated this over and over in her mind. She needed to be strong for her clan. They couldn’t do without her.
She waited for hours, the sun disappearing. She couldn’t see them but knew that they were there. She could hear them. Their screeches as they threw themselves at each other without any hesitation.
She turned and silently began to climb. By the time she stopped she was a good eighty feet in the air.
Abby reached behind her shoulder and opened her pack. The blue and gold cloth of the New York Region was currently wrapped around one handle of her pack. Though, against the laws, switched them out, buying them off the black market. She pulled out her rope and tied it to two branches next to each other, making sure to hook the graphing hook onto a branch. She then placed her pack next to her, ready to go. She lay down on the ropes and folded her arms across her stomach, staring up into the starry sky.
Abby thought of the pristine slips of paper all bearing the different seals of different Regions tucked away in her pack. She could remember the rules clearly, recite them from memory. For how could she not. Her job was to slip around them.
RULES AND REGULATIONS1. CITIZENS MUST ALWAYS REPORT VERMINS
2. CITIZENS MUST ALWAYS REPORT INFECTIONS
3. CITIZENS MUST ALWAYS CARRY THEIR ID CARDS
4. CITIZENS MUST ABIDE CURFEW5. ALL TRAVEL MUST BE APPROVED BY THE GOVERNMENT
6. CITIZENS MUST REPORT FOR DAILY CHECK-IN
7. CITIZENS MUST NOT LIE TO THOSE OF HIGHER RANK
8. CITIZENS MUST OBEY THOSE OF HIGHER RANK
9. CITIZENS MUST ALWAYS WEAR ASSIGNED UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENT
10. CITIZENS MUST NEVER BETRAY THEIR REGIONS
Abby snorted to herself darkly. She never obeyed any of them. At all. Jokes on them, they never caught her. Never.
She turned her head and looked down. All she could see was thick leaves below her a couple feet down. Good. No one would see her. She twisted back and began to study the sky, finding constellations she had read about in abused books from way back in 2058.
She turned on her side and curled up into a ball, though she made sure that whichever way she turned her weapons would not get caught in the web of rope.
Abby’s eyes drooped, and she looked at the world through her dirty lashes. The humming of crickets lulled her to sleep, the warm wind gently blowing past her body, its invisible hands caressing her softly, as if to soothe her aches and wounds.
That’s what Abby loved the most about her life. The nature. She was only registering the soft, warm hands as they brushed her hair across her face and snuggled her side, only registering its mystical voice whispering to her the songs of the past, back when the world was young and humans did not destroy it with their machines and influence. Back when the world was whole. And despite all the death and violence happening around her, despite all the sorrow and pain, she fell asleep with a small, soft smile on her face.
