Terra Firma

The old cabin

El took in the scenery as her head seemed to spin. She rubbed her arm pinching it to remind her she was still alive. Yes, she was some kind of human-cyborg robot but she was still alive. She threw herself forward to the nearest collapsed building and fell down to the floor. The dust flew up as she crashed down to the floor then slowly rained on her, covering her in grey snowflakes. Her knees came up to her chest and she wrapped her arms tightly around them and buried her face into her knees.

Luna followed but gave her the space she needed. This was a lot for El to take in and Eli was the only one that could help her, the only one who knew what she was going through.

Luna gave them some space, climbing up the old ruins. The thick toxic smog-filled her lungs in no time but Luna didn't panic. She took a deep breath and then carried on climbing. The boss lady was right about something after all.

She sat at the top of the old crumbled building far enough away not to hear Eli. Her legs swung down and she looked out into the thick city smog. A gentle breeze drifted along with a not so pleasant smell.

Luna quickly made a face covering with some material she ripped from her clothing. It seemed to help a little with the smell. She took another deep breath and smiled to herself, she had no idea what her plan was but, she was happy to be out of that droids nest. She had a million thoughts running through her mind, was she the last human now after all? what happened to her friends?

She ran her hands through her hair and closed her eyes tightly trying to ground herself again, for the first time in a while Luna was totally lost. She had no plan, no home not even a place to hide. She could feel her heart loudly thumping in her chest. As a child when she was scared she would stick her fingers into her ears and curl up into a ball so that all she could hear was her heartbeat, it was the only thing that soothed her.

She stuck her fingers in her ears to see if it still worked. she smiled as she thought back to her mother and built up her picture in her mind. Luna was often frightened that she would one day forget what her mother looked like or she would forget the sound of her voice. She would make up daydreams a lot to keep her alive.

Her chest felt tight as she let out a cough to try and clear it. She needed to get out of the city and a little higher to cleaner air. She quickly climbed down to see if El was a little calmer now.

"Hey, I need to get out of the city for a while. my chest is getting tighter" El looked concerned

"Are you ok? you should be wearing a mask Luna? how are you still breathing?" Luna started cautiously walking out of the ruins "Apparently my lungs have adapted to the toxic air somehow. I used to panic and almost have panic attacks because I had seen so many people die from the air. But it was all in my head, apparantly" They walked stepping over obstacles as quietly as possible. Luna lead them, she had been doing this since she was only a child.

The only one place that Luna could think of to go now was the old man's cabin. She would go there once or twice a year like it was a vacation of sorts for her when she lived in her bunker. Eli whispered, "Where are we going luna?"

Luna turned and whispered back "Dont worry, I have a safe place. Its a long walk though" Luna couldn't shake the feeling off that someone was watching them.

The tree of them navigated the crumbled concrete graveyard as quietly as they could looking, searching for any signs of life. Luna felt sick to her stomach as she always did walking through the city, that would never change. The ash, the signs of life that had been left behind. It was always a stern reminder of why she hated the city.

After walking for a long time they finally left the city and the thick smog behind them. The air was by no means fresh but it was thinner, easier to breath. For Luna it was like walking in her back garden, she knew the landscape so well as she had spent years walking and learning. She knew they were close when she could see the old bridge over river, what was left of it anyway.

The bridge hung by only a few planks of wood now and a long metal structure that spread the width of the river. Eli watched Luna jump and hop over the rotten wood like she was playing a game of hop scotch. He felt a little nervous having to go next. There was nothing to hold onto anymore only the metal supporting the rotten planks of wood. For all he knew he might weigh three times what he used to. Eli took a deep breath and moved his foot forward trying to walk over the metal beam incase the wood broke. He walked cautiously and very slowly with El following behind. She didn't seem to overthink it.

They made it over and then caught up with Luna who seemed to be on a mission walking at super speed. El could barely keep up "Are you sure you are human Luna?" Luna stoped for a moment then let out a loud laugh "Im sorry, I just get excited to see this landscape; We have history"

She pointed in the distance "There it is, the cabin"

Luna picked up the pace almost running as she let her arms out and ran her fingers through the long grass. There wasn't much grass left on this toxic planet but this special place still had the long grass and that is why Luna came here on holidays. She inhaled the grass as she fell to the floor and rolled about in the long green field. This was as good as it got on this broken earth.

Eli stoped in his tracks as he watched Luna, with El beside him. El watched her brother watching this girl. watching Luna enjoy something so simple and wild they both forgot where they were for a moment or what had happened to them. El let out a giggle as she looked at her brother again "I like her Eli, I really like her" His smile ran from ear to ear as he watched her " I like her too El"

"Come on you two!" Luna sat up and waved them both over smiling like nothing had ever happened.

A small wooden cabin stood just behind the long grass that looked out to an old lake, most of which had dried out. There was some water left. It was old and rustic with two or three small wooden sheds that surrounded the cabin. It had a large porch with old wooden seats outside. You could image before the world had gone bad this place was like paradise.

Eli could see why Luna would like coming here for vacations.

Luna went around to the back of the porch and lifted a little hidden board up where she pulled a large key from. She stuck it into the lock and turned it with force lifting the handle at the same time. The door creeked as it opened and Luna lost that smile all of a sudden.

As she took in the aroma of the old cabin a million memories flooded her mind. The cabin was neat and tidy, not like Luna's bunker. Everything had its place.

Eli wandered from the living room to the kitchen, he was surprised that there was food and water bottles stacked up neatly, like someone was living here. Hand drawn pictures were stuck to the refrigerator and the kitchen wall that a younger child had made. He walked over smiling at the cute pictures of animals and rainbows until he saw the name on the pictures.

Luna.