Mute

As the sun set to the west, the chill set into her bones she knew she had to seek shelter, with the empty wasteland stretched out in front of her her mortality never felt so close. So real. That's when she heard them, raiders. rasping laughter in the distance made the winter chill seem weak in comparison. Mute gripped her lucky locket, it was just some old heart shaped locket she found in some debris of an old house she took shelter in. It always brought her comfort. " Why did the world have to fall into ruin?" She thought to herself. She often wondered what is must have been like before, no one even remembered how it happened. But they were stories, Mute was too young to remember them, or her parents. " I don't even know how old I am." She mused. She was so wrapped up in thought that she didn't even realize how loudly she was walking through debris, and towards some lights in the distance. " Hey! Who is that?!" One of the raiders shouted. " Oh no!" Mute thought to herself as she took off sprinting into the night.

The ruined buildings looked haunting stretching into the night sky, crumbling but still impressively tall. She never came this far into the city, the few traders that she had dealt with warned against it. " Avoid any large settlements, they're havens for bandit clans." They would say. But she had no choice, those raiders gave chase for hours and she couldn't go much longer. She needed food, shelter, and sleep. Mute ducked into what looked to be an old supermarket, busted lightbulbs, cobwebs, rusted cans and mold. " Wonderful hiding spot, me." Mute thought to herself. She walked through the rundown aisles, it's clear there hasn't been anything of value here for years but old supermarkets are frequently turned into survivor camps, perhaps there was one here before, someone may have stashed something away that the bandits of this area missed. As she reached the back of the store, light and noise started pouring in from the shattered windows at the front of the store. " WHERE DID THAT BITCH GO!" Mute heard one of the raiders from the desert yell. They were going building to building, she was just hoping that they weren't one of those cannibalistic tribes. Mute found a ladder in one of the back rooms leading up into a crawlspace, she quickly but quietly climbed up into it. Crawling quietly to not cause too much creaking she explored the hidden area, a lot of rotted wooden beams, she would have to be careful. In the corner of the tiny crawlspace was an old yellow backpack, Mute slowly undid the zipper to not attract attention. Once inside she found some expired potato chips, a bottle of water, and an old comic book. " Score!" Mute thought to herself. She had a quick meal and noticed the raiders seemed to have moved on. She thought that this seemed a good a place as any to rest, " Odds are they won't check up here." She figured. With that thought she stretched out and laid her head down on the backpack letting the days worries fade into peaceful sleep.

Mute found herself abruptly awoken but a sound that made her blood run cold. " Hello little mouse." A large man covered in tattoos and scars said crouching over her. Mute just stared at him wide eyed, she never spoke but suddenly felt the primal urge to scream. Suddenly he grabbed her by her leg and started dragging her towards the ladder, she was fighting with everything she had but she knew it was over, he was just too strong. Her thrashing was getting her nowhere but she didn't know what else to do, if she was going to die or worse, she was going out fighting. Suddenly the raider grabbed her roughly and tossed her down the ladder, she landed not so gracefully and knocked the breath right out of her. " This is my chance, while he climbs down I can make a break for it." Mute thought to herself. but that was easier said then done, nothing was broken but she was rattled and bruised. She called upon all of her willpower to climb to her feet, wincing at every movement and made for the door. " Going somewhere?" A man said blocking her escape, followed closely but another two. " Looks like you're coming with me and my friends here little Mouse." The man laughed as he finished coming down the ladder behind her. Mute gripped the locket around her neck fervently fighting back tears, the man behind her shoved her forward into the others who grabbed her tightly and started tugging her towards the front of the store. They dragged out and down a dilapidated street and towards what looked like a central square overflowing with marauders. It was at this point that Mute realized that these were a different group than the ones she originally fled from. They dragged her to the center of the square and threw her down, " We're eaten good tonight boys!" One of the shouted. " Oh no." Mute thought to herself, this is what she was afraid of. Just as she was about to look for something sharp to end it all with there was shouting past the gate that had just closed behind her. " THAT'S OUR PREY!" She heard a familiar voice shout. " What! The desert raiders!" She thought suddenly astounded at her poor luck, two gangs of evil bastards found her at once. " WELL, YOU CAN'T HAVE HER! I FOUND A CASE OF SPICES ME AN' THE BOYS HAVE BEEN DYIN TO TRY!" One of the men in the camp shouted back. " Wait, maybe this is a good thing." Mute considered. Suddenly aloud bang set her ears ringing, she could just barely make out muffled sounds of fighting. " One of them has an actual working gun!" She thought to herself slightly panicked, but as she looked around. " No ones looking this way." She mused, all she could make out past the fence around the compound was what looked like a bloodbath. Mute took off in the direction away from all the fighting further into the city, but suddenly she felt pain in her back and faceplanted into concrete. " We really need to put a bell on you little Mouse!" The large man who grabbed her in the supermarket said, the leader of this group Mute thinks. He picked her up with one hand leaving his other to wield a large knife, he started walking towards a strange looking building at the edge of the compound. " I'm goin to put you someplace nice and secure little Mouse." He said with a grin. At this point Mute had had enough and no longer feared death she started thrashing wildly and punched him in the face with all the strength her tiny body had, this seemed to catch the man off guard. She was running before her feet even touched the ground, the only place she saw to flee to was right where he was taking her. " I guess I have nothing to lose." She thought and ran into the structure. The room she found herself in had a broken stairwell, loads of dirty mattresses and a boarded up elevator shaft. She stared for the stairwell hoping to be able to climb up, when a hand was suddenly around her neck. " You are more trouble than you're worth little Mouse." The man growled as he spun her around, no longer smiling. With that he put his knife away and grabbed her with both hands and shoved her up against the boards blocking off the empty elevator shaft. "Goodbye Mouse." He said with a sinister smile as kicked her through the boards and down the shaft.

Pain and blackness was all Mute could register as she fell for what felt like an eternity, she landed on cold, hard concrete and felt a flash of white hot pain. She refused to let out a scream, Mute could tell nothing was broken, she had cuts and gashes, but was somehow still alive. She turned her eyes to where she fell from, it was about 15 feet Mute guessed. With great effort she managed to climb to her feet and surveyed her surroundings. There was a tunnel straight ahead with a large metal door illuminated by a red light. " Is that electrical power?" Mute thought, she knew that electrical power was common in the old days, but not anymore. As Mute approached the door a light flashed from a pad next to the door startling her. " Identity confirmed, welcome Dr. Reedman." A mechanical voice said. " Dr. Reedman?" Mute questioned in her head. The red light on the door turned green and made an unlocking sound. " Better than the alternative." She thought walking towards the door wincing as she did so. Mute walked down a concrete hallway and as she walked lights came on sensing her presence, she just kept walking staring in wonder at the fluorescent bulbs. She finally reached a large round room with machinery all around and a large table in the center with a holographic display. Mute couldn't believe what she was seeing, she didn't even know what any of these things were supposed to do. As if to assist her the holographic display whirred to life and started what seemed like a presentation. " Hello! My name is Dr. Jennifer Reedman and this room is my personal project known as Resurgence, the purpose of Resurgence is to terraform the world in the event a great doom befalls our world. Right now as I speak a war is raging all over the world and I fear this may be humanity's end." The woman, Dr. Reedman, said. Mute noticed a heart shaped locket around her neck exactly like the one she found in a house just outside of town. " With the existence of things like bombs, coal burning, and exhaust fumes I wanted to make sure that anyone who survives this great war might be able to fix the damage that we, humanity, have caused." Dr. Reedman continued, Mute was so enthralled by all this. She could scarcely believe what she was hearing, could this repair the desert wastelands and freezing nights? " If you're hearing this then that means I failed to survive and activate Resurgence myself, all you have to do is wait for the calculations to complete and insert my locket into this machine." Dr. Reedman stated with a picture of strange device appearing, replacing her face momentarily. Mute recognized that device, she looked to her right. There was a green light on it blinking, and a heart shaped slot on it's face. " Good luck." The recording of Dr. Reedman said before the hologram table shut off. Mute took off the necklace and detached the heart from the rope she hung it on and inserted it into the device. Suddenly all of the machines lit up and started making noise, followed by load siren. Mute felt the need to get away, there's no way those raiders believe she's dead now. She found a secret stairwell in the back, she followed it up to the roof of the building. . " I think I'm safe." She thought with a feeling of relief, when suddenly she could here the siren all the way up on the roof. A bright green light appeared from a metal construction on the rooftop and fired into the sky, it faded as soon as it appeared. Mute was confused, then it started to rain for the first time in her life. " Resurgence." She said out loud, hearing her voice for the first time. She smiled and turned her face to the sky.