City Of Ruins - Chapter Three

Sorry it took so long to post but here it is. I have decided to now do it in third person. Please leave comments! :)

Someone new -

The sun is a clear color of yellow, the kind of yellow that follows the tail of the bananas that grew and fell from the trees many years ago, before the war began and the world turned to ashes. People say that the color of the sun will never change and I do hope that there lies a true story to their words.

Before we met a girl, she woke up underneath the Earth with no hope of knowing who she is and where she has come to. The only clues where the objects around her, including the dead body of a scientist that seemed to have died from a bullet wound. She luckily escaped from her capture and made it outside, alive. Now the sun bore down on her clear face, she must take in the hot air and the clear smell of the outside word. Her eyes stung in the bright light, another clue that she must have been down beneath the Earth for quite some time.

Here is where this young girl's story truly begins.

With her aching body still under her, she continued to walk deeper into the wasteland. It was brighter than expected. The wind was still, not even a breath of air dared moved in the wasteland. There was no life in sight, not even a tree or a bush, a leaf was not even lying on the ground. It was a clear sight of absolutely nothing.No grass touched the bottom of the Earth, only rock and dirt lay underneath. Mountains however were clear in the background. A huge sight of rocks poured on each other kept still in the distance. Perhaps she could make her way there and try to see if she can find help and a place to rest.

It was her only option, perhaps someone knew who she was and could identify her. She walked with her bare feet forward and spread her arms above her head to keep the flaring light from her eyes. It would take about half a day's walk to reach those mountains, so she better gets started.

Hours and hours past with still nothing in sight. Her throat was beginning to dry up and her stomach grew tired and hungry. She was still far from the mountains and was not even sure if there was anything above those mountains. At least she would be able to climb on top and see if there was anything around the area.

But then she smelled something, something quite delicious. A hot steamy smell that thought to be food. It was coming from the east, and it must be close for her to smell it. Someone was cooking something, maybe they could help her, and maybe she could have some of that food.

She turned her way and ran towards the smell. Closer and closer, she was getting closer towards it. She then stopped and spotted something. It was a house, at least a type of house. It is what we call a shack, a broken down house that is as small as a shed. You would find most people living in shacks in the villages. Some are bigger than others, mostly scavengers would find types of metal and wood and rebuild the shacks into something much more suitable for living in.

Right now this shack had someone living in it. A man from what our adventurer could tell. He had quite a short brown beard covering his face that was as shaggy as a dog, with his ripped clothes surrounding him. Although his cooking was rather good as the smell entered the girl's nose and made her stomach plead for food. The only question was, is he friend or foe?

There was no way to be sure, he was definitely keeping an eye out and holding a type of shotgun in his hands. He was prepared for something while he was cooking on what looked like to be a piece of concrete; the sun was hot enough to cook the meal for him without having to use any type of fire.

The girl had no choice; she was desperate for food and a calm and quiet place to rest. She had to take her chance and greet the man with the beard in the shack.

She walked over to where he was standing with slow quiet steps as to not alarm him. He seemed kind enough, but then again he looked as if he was living alone and that could not be a very good sign.

As soon as he turned around and spotted her he raised his gun. His face turned angry and frightened at the same time and he raised his head to look at her from a good angle. "Stop right where you are missy! You ain't gonna scab me food! You hear?" he kept his gun pointed at her but in no way did he look as if he was about to shoot. The girl on the other stopped dead in her tracks and didn't dare move a muscle. "Now who are ya and what do ya think ya doing on me property missy?"

The girl was scared; she scanned her brain and realized that this felt familiar. But where had she done this before, so many questions are unanswered and it was killing her. But this defiantly felt very familiar.

The girl kept her hands above her head and kept silent; she was taken away by the delicious food sizzling in the sun. All she wanted to do was have a bite and then be on her way but something about shaggy beards tone and the shotgun pointed at her head made her think that wasn't gonna happen.

"Well?" he yelled at her from a distance. "Speak up Missy!"
"I'm..." the girl managed to find her voice for the very first time since she awoken and it sounded strange to her. "I smelled your food".

The man kept his evil eye upon her and they grew tired and confused. "What?" the girl looked up at the man and made eye contact. "I smelled your food from across the land and I'm so hungry and tired that..... I thought.... I thought you might let me stay with you for a while?"

The man became a little calmer and began to lower his gun. "What's ya name?"
The girl was taken aback, what she shall do. She could lie and pretend she has a name or she could come forward with the truth as she wants this man to know he can trust her. She came to a decision. "I don't know." The man's eyebrows rose. "What do ya mean ya don't know? It's but a simple question. What is ya name?"

The girl with no name then explained to the man what had happened, how she awoke with no idea of whom she was, the dead scientist that lay still on the floor. And how she ran into the creature and escaped by swimming through freezing water and still managed to escape to the outside world of the wasteland. And by the end of all of it the man said but simple five words. "Ya better come with me."

Into the shack she went and the man put his gun up against the wall and grabbed the food that was now done cooking on the concert. He put it on a plate and passed it on over to the girl, who was now sitting on a small stool. The man shut the shack door right after he looked around to make sure the area is safe and then sat down opposite the girl.

"Well, you're in a bit of a pickle aren't ya?"
The girl looked up from scoffing all the hot and tasty food and saw the look in the man's eye. "I don't know what happened. I just woke up without any clue of who I am and then this thing attacked me and I-"

"A Swamplurk" the man suddenly said, interrupting the girl's sentence. The girl was confused by this word and asked what he meant by it. "By the description of the creature ya gave and the violent behavior it showed towards ya sounds like it's a Swamplurk. Crazy buggers but they are dangerous; they would attack ya for any reason. They mostly stay close to the waters and the swamps, hence the name."
Wow, the creature had a name. It sounded like a suitable one as it sure did look like a swamp like creature. "Anyway, um..... I don't know what's happened to me but I need to find out and any information you could give would be great."

The man scoffed at the girl's remark and began to laugh. "Missy I haven't the slightest Thorn Monkeys idea of who the heck ya are. But I can tell ya that you'd be best to stay away from the darkness of the Wasteland. It's a dangerous world out there Missy and right now ya smack in the middle of it."

The girl wasn't surprised that he didn't know who she was; he would have told her by now if he had seen her before. But it was hard, waking up and not knowing who the hell you are, where the hell you are. Quite frankly she couldn't be more confused.

"OW!" She suddenly blurted out and looked down at her leg. The white that had surrounded it was now completely covered in blood; it looked as if it was getting worse by the minute. She grabbed it with pain and began to squint. The man bent down and examined her leg carefully. The girl cried in pain when he touched the wound and took off the white lab coat that was stained in blood. He then looked closely at it and got up to get a little knife from his pocket. "This may hurt a bit missy"

He cut into the leg with his knife and it began to bleed. The girl squirmed with the pain, all the dried up skin fell to the floor of the shack with blood right behind it. The girl grabbed the side counter for support.

Then the man stopped what he was doing and took out a pair of scissors and carefully took out a small bullet from the wound. "There ya are" he said with triumph. He then placed it on the counter and looked at the girl. "Ya where shot in the leg."

Someone shot her, that was another clue, maybe it was the scientist. She was interrupted with thought when the man tried to clean up the wound and get a clean pair of cloth, tie it around her wound and tighten it much tighter than she had. He then cut it so it fit perfectly. No blood would get passed.

She looked at the strange old man and thought something. "I don't even know your name."

He smiled. "They call me Samuel, but I call me Sam." He began to laugh again and the girl knew that, that laugh would be imprinted into her mind for years to come.
"Sam" she slowly repeated back to herself.

"Don't worry Missy, ya will find out who ya are soon enough. Besides names aren't really important out there, as long as ya got strength and money." The girl looked at Samuel. "Money?" "Yeah, ya ain't gonna get far without ya money, for food and water and shelter and weapons."

Crap, the girl thought. She wasn't going to get very far then. "I don't have any money."
Sam grumbled to himself, pulled himself off the floor and walked on over to a shelf that was barely hanging together on the wall. He took down a container and took out some paper colored with green. He handed it to the girl with no name.

"Take it." The girl shook her head. She couldn't take his money, she would have to make do on her own but taking money from an old man seemed rather terrible. "Take the bloody money; I am in no need for it. I catch my own food, head on over to the creek for water and make my own weapons. And I ain't ever leaving the shack. But you, if ya going out in the big wasteland ya gonna need it!"

He pushed the money into her face where she gladly accepted it with a great deal of gratitude. The man then sat back down on his stool and took out a big map.
He marked a place on the map in red and then strolled up and marked another place with red and then pointed at her. "This is where we are." He pointed to the red circle on the map and marked it with an SS for Sam's Shack. And then he pointed to the other red circle on the map marked with an MT.

"Ya gonna go here to stock up and rest"
The girl looked at the place and it didn't seem that far from Sam's shack. About a day's walk at best. "What is it?" she asked. Sam grabbed what looked like to be a cow skin shoulder bag and began to place items of food and bottles of water into it. As well as a few knives and what looked like to be a small pistol. It was strange that the girl knew what all of these weapons were called.

"It's called Middletown. A small town that is good for trading and a place to rest. I go there sometimes to collect food when I can't catch a good hare for me dinner."
The girl nodded along but looking at the way to the place called Middletown, what would be the best route? "When ya get there ask for a man named Hamouse, he knows pretty much everyone in this area of the Wasteland."

"And you think he might know me?" The girl asked as Sam grabbed the map and stuck it in the bag. "Yeah I do, and if he ain't a clue of who ya are then he might know where to start ya off looking."

Sam pushed the bag into the girl's arms when she got up off the stool. She swung it over her shoulder and looked into Sam's eyes.

"Thank you Sam. You've been a great friend." Sam laughed. "I was just helping out a young Missy. Now you must look out for them monsters out in the waste. There are tones of them, not many in this area so ya should be safe on ya way to Middletown."
The girl hugged Sam with all her might, it appeared her wounds had healed very well and she had strength back. "I'll never forget you Sam."

"Oh none of that Missy, I will bet ya a bats eye we will see each other again."
The girl laughed, the first time from when she awoken. She then left the shack and began the second part of her journey. She looked back on her new friend as she left.
She knew that she would never forget Sam and knew that she would see him again.

She walked for what seemed like hours at a time. Her feet were beginning to ache. The Wasteland was surly a strange place. But Sam was right, she didn't run into any monsters or animals on her way to Middletown, this area must not have many of them.

The first thing she did see of Middletown was a large gate that was covering the entrance. Huge walls that were made out of cars and wood and metal surrounded the entire town which looked to be fairly larger than expected. Two guards stood at the front to guard the entrance, obviously they had tight security. She walked over to one of the guards who were dressed in full black uniform.

"Halt stranger" He said to her and held out his hand to stop her from continuing onward. "What's your business here in Middletown?"

The girl thought for a moment and answered the guard as politely as possible. "I am in need of a place to rest and stay." The guard turned toward the other one and pointed with his head at the girl. "Search her" He commanded and the other guard came over to the girl and took the bag. He rummaged through and took out the weapons that Sam had stashed away in there before she left. He then gave her the bag and strip searched her and then gave threw the weapons to the side.

"No weapons inside the town!"
The girl nodded.

"Now what's your name stranger?" He asked as he looked her up and down. "My name?" The girl repeated. "Yes your name" "Why do you need to know?" the guard had a horrible look on his face, the girl just noticed that he looked a little young to be doing this, although she didn't know much. "If you wish to get inside Middletown then you will answer the questions you are given. I won't ask again! Your name?"

The girl had to think on her feet, she had to give some sort of name but what? And then she had the answer.

"Sam, my name is Sam".