After the Quake, A Brand New Day

Daylight. Waking from a rough night on the steps of the blown-out office building, Willa found herself clutching the heart-shaped locket given to her by her mother so many years before the world ended. She stretched and took a quick headcount of her charges. Seven children, all were there, asleep in a pile in the cool air. She would let them sleep for a while yet, there was nothing to eat and she would spare their tummies the bad news for as long as possible.

Toma stood motionless outside a doorway of the crumbled complex, keeping his bow nocked watching a movement in the rocks. He loosed the arrow, skewering the rat, and lightly scrambled over the rubble to retrieve the meat before something else made away

with his prize.

Slowly adding small bits of wood scraps to the tiny fire in front of her, Randa tended the flame, trying to get the fire large enough for cooking. The flames grew stronger so she added larger kindling, getting the fire to a healthier, steady, but still small burn. Once that was going well, she added 3” thick pieces of fallen lumber that were probably pressured wood that would take some work to get burning, but burn it would, once ignited.

Randa grabbed a once-white, plastic bucket that sat nearby. There was only a little water left in the bottom. “That won’t do, if Toma has any success,” she said to no one. Picking her way through the random rocks and clutter on the ground, she checked the fire with a look over her shoulder and went off along a somewhat clear path to the place where the river had cracked a tributary and ran a trickle through the fallen city. She held the bucket shallowly in the water and drew cold water off of the top of the swirling stream, before returning to the fire.

Toma arrived at the fire, hoping he would have enough meat to feed the group, the same time as Randa with the water. He carried a slew of furred kills on his hip. He dropped them before her as she set the bucket beside the fire. Randa sorted the creatures and counted them, five rats and...she paused and looked up at him questioningly.

“It’s meat,” Toma responded to her shocked stare, indicating that she shouldn’t be put off by the fact that he had brought two dead ferals as well.

Randa shuddered. Their meals had never included cat meat before, and she wasn’t happy including it now. The rats had been hard enough to accept, even as she reached to start plucking the fur from one of the giants. She pondered plucking the fur from the cats and decided they would probably need to be skinned. Cringing at the thought, she put it away until she had to deal with it.

A swell of voices and laughter indicated that the children must be awake. Willa stepped through a doorway and led the seven younger bodies into the area. They instantly scattered around the fire for warmth, and some were more curious about what Randa was doing. Willa drew a whistle from her pocket and blew it to summons the children to a sort of attention. “Careful, Randa is cooking. You don’t want to interfere in getting the meal done. If she wants your help, she will ask you.”

To which Randa replied, “Actually, I could use some help plucking the fur from these rats.”

She was met with a chorus of disgusted “Oooo!s,” and then the “I wills!” Toma laughed, and three brave volunteers came around and accepted a giant rat to pluck the fur from, perching on a rock just behind Randa.

“Good grief, it’s not like you haven’t been eating like this for a long time. You’ve seen this before,” she said.

One girl looking forlorn replied, “but I’ve never had to touch it.”

Randa shook her head and just went to work cleaning the skin of the rat. When it was clear, she took her knife, chopped the feet off, split it open, and eviscerated the animal. Cleaning it thoroughly, she turned to check on the progress of the three who were helping. Satisfied that they had an idea about what they were supposed to be doing, Randa picked up the last rat and began to clean it off.

Meanwhile, Toma had begun to work on a dead “feral.” It was easier for him to think of them as just some wild creature than as cats. He removed the feet, split them open, split the legs, and peeled the skin, trying to keep it intact. He gutted the carcass and repeated the actions on the second.

Randa rinsed both rat carcasses she had cleaned, then went to see which helpers might need a hand. Willa was assisting one child already. Getting the animals clean, they were split open and cleaned out, then rinsed in the bucket. There was just one more, and Willa helped to make quick work of finishing it.

The rats were skewered on a thin steel rod for cooking. Then the rod was placed over a pair of rocks on either side of the flame. The smell of meat cooking filled the air. Toma found another rod and skewered the cats. This rod was bent on the end, so it could be used to turn the rod with the ferals on it for more even cooking.

Chores were momentarily taken care of except for turning the spit, which was under Randa’s control. Toma went to the doorway where he liked to stand watch. Keeping an eye on the terrain and listening for sounds of something coming, with his bow ever at the ready, he was prepared for prey or intruder.

It took longer than the children wanted for the food to be ready. Once Randa deemed the rat meat cooked through, Willa helped her in taking it off of the skewer and distributed it to the children. She took half a rat to Toma.

Toma carefully pulled the meat from the bones, while keeping his eyes on the surrounding area. Willa and Randa both ate gingerly around the bones, not appreciating the greasy coating on their fingers. The children ate ravenously. “Is anyone still hungry?” Randa asked. She started to reach for the spit with the ferals when Toma suddenly came picking his way back from the doorway.

“Everyone move!” He ordered, making shooing gestures with his arms and he was indicating the direction of the river. Willa and Randa both looked at him quizzically. “Men are coming!” he answered in an exaggerated whisper.

Willa hurriedly backtracked to the area where the children had slept to see if they had left anything that would reveal their presence. She found herself reflexively running her heart-shaped locket along its chain while she looked, and she snatched up Aarn’s hat and Lizzl’s doll which they’d left behind, and dashed back to the group.

All of the rat scraps got tossed into the fire as Randa tried to hide their numbers. The ferals would have to be a sacrifice. Toma caught her by the arm as he passed and pulled her toward the path to the river after the children. Willa came in from behind. It would be obvious that someone had been here, but hopefully not how many, or that there were children.

The three young adults followed the others toward the river and caught up to them right away. Toma called the entire group in to hide at a place just off the path. “I’m going to go keep an eye on them.” He said. “You all stay here and I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t take any chances!” Willa warned emphatically.

Randa was alarmed. “You’re leaving us and the children without any protection?”

Toma answered. “You’ll be all right as long as you keep your heads down. I’ll be back.” He ducked his head and slipped back up the path.

Climbing up the steps of the destroyed office building were a group of five men and two women. They were dressed in a hodgepodge of advanced, military-looking armor, animal skins, primitive armor, and cloth. They carried a variety of weapons including beam weapons/blasters, automatic weapons, miscellaneous swords, and spears. Toma guessed that the one with the most advanced, military armor was the leader. She looked like the one with the most advanced weapons as well. The woman gave hand signals and told her team what she wanted, but Toma couldn’t hear from his post.

The group rounded the corner of the stairs and came down, crossing the area where the children had been nesting until just a couple of hours before. Toma sank back into the crack where he hid. Something had given the fact away that the site was unique. They milled about the site, toeing the steps as if to turn up something. One of the men was holding a hand-sized, electronic box he was looking at and moving it all over the area. He held his hand up and nodded his head. The others all focused for a moment and then looked all around.

The one with the electronic unit waved his hand and pointed in the direction of the fire pit. Toma slipped out and retreated further before he got trapped in his spot. He hoped he was able to move before being seen by any of the search team or their tracker unit, or whatever the electronic box was.

The team reached the smoldering fire pit with ferals still on the spit. “They have definitely been here.” the team leader emphasized. One of the team members stepped up to the spit and produced a large shiny silver bag from a pocket in his clothing. He pulled the spit from the fire and carefully pulled the first feral from the rod, sliding it into the bag. He followed suit with the final cat, sliding it into the bag next.

“Well, there’s no reason to let it go to waste…” he explained in defense, looking around at the others.

The leader turned to the technician with the locator beacon and asked if he had a reading on which direction they might have gone. “The signal is too scattered.” came the answer.

“I’d bet on the river.” the other woman offered.

“Anyone with a better lead?” The leader asked. There were mumbles and shrugs but no one had any concrete ideas to offer. “The river it is. Makes as much sense as any.”

Toma rolled out in the direction the group was hiding and warned them that they were being followed. “Move!” He whispered harshly. Willa, Randa, and the seven children all spilled forward and headed toward the river. It was their only option. They came to where the earthquake had divided the tributary from the main body and jumped across, then, they discovered there was really no place else they could go. Along the river, they found a crack in the wall. They pressed into it tightly, with Toma standing guard, and waited.

Mirroring movements to the river, the technician with the signal generator suddenly had a clear line to the target. “This way!” He called, pointing along the tributary. The searchers tramped on to the river without another trace of the group, but lightly hopped the tributary following the signal. Toma, standing in front of his group was obvious. The signal from the electronic box became audible to all.

A man stepped out from the searchers and called, “Maddie Willa Raddux, your family has found you all at last. I have proof, a heart-shaped locket matching one I gave you as a child.” Willa stepped forward to see, clutching her locket. “We are here to take you home to our new, reconstructed city. Your group can be placed too. The world has been torn since the quake, Willa, but now, everything is coming right again, and will be...once you all are home at last.”