The blasted lands of the Dying Earth, year 7853021 After Ascension

02-02-2018

The blasted lands of the Dying Earth, year 7853021 After Ascension

The crowd scattered like cockroaches fleeing the second the gates opened. They swarmed the shade and left room for no one else, no room for the weak or the dying.

They left their imprint on dust floating in the air, staying up in a moment of ingravity, in seeming permanent nonmotion.

I had just arrived this universe so I didn’t know what was the significance of the sunset through radioactive clouds, of that orange light that seeped by the opening of the gates.

A fast hand dragged me to the shadows and stayed over my mouths, tracing the patterns over my lips to signal me to stay quiet.

It was my companion, my guide through this universe. A native of this quantum spectrum to take care of my naïve steps.

They lowered me and huddled me closer to them. The distinctive warmth of the inhabitants of this place grounded me into existence.

The gates did not close. The refuge was now exposed.

My companion whispered into my ear canal.

 - The scavengers are here. – they said, a coded death sentence.

I could only look at them in uncertainty.

- Many, many, many nights ago, when the bombs just fell, we made a pact with the ones who run wild in the desert.

I nodded. These were the beings I came here for.

The scavengers roamed the dirt streets of the refuge, a city made of scraps and metal. They sniffed the air and licked their lips with the only tongue they had.

Human physiology is a mystery for all ascended creatures in many universes. My companion was one too, but the refugees were tainted with radiation.

Uranium, nasty primitive stuff.

I drew back from the protective embrace of my companion and peeked through the corner.

There they were the scavengers dragging the dying out of their homes, the sick from their beds and the dead from their graves.

There is two places that became useless after the bombs fell, my companion tells me, the first are Hospitals, medicine forever forgotten, and Cemeteries, so death became restless.

The scavengers dragged their hunt out of the city, merciful to the residents and they feasted.

For all I have traveled this is my final destination, the blasted lands of the Dying Earth, where cannibals thrive in radioactive flesh.