Sounds of the Wild

03.

Thorn

I know that living in an underground bunker sounds terrible, but when you think about it, it's better than dying gruesomely due to toxic air created by the destruction of mankind.

Plus, the people in my colony are amazing, they treat me like the moody teenager I was when the apocalypse first started, but they're like family to me.

The only time that I get to go to the surface is when I go on the supply runs. It's always a little surreal since the toxic gas doesn't have any color. But the other men and I have to wear gas masks when we go outdoors.

To be honest I'm a little envious of the women in the colony. They can come and go when they please, Even though they stay with the colony most of the time, they go to the surface to farm and harvest the crops.

I swing my backpack over my shoulders, grinning to myself. It was my first time going to the surface by alone. But when everyone else is doing something equally important to the colony, I had nominated myself to scavenge.

I could totally handle it.

A throat was cleared behind me, I jumped a little, Surprised and brought out of my own thoughts.

It was David. He clapped me on the back and gave me a toothy grin.

"Be careful, Okay. Just because you're going on your own doesn't mean you're invincible."

I rolled my eyes, but still took his words with a grain of salt.

"Don't worry David. I can handle myself."

"That's not what I'm worried about. All of our usual scavenging spots are pretty picked over. You're going to have to go far to get anything good."

I could tell that David was worried about my safety, but this had been the opportunity that I was looking for to prove myself to the colony. This would show them that I could be taken seriously, and treated like the adult that I am.

David was a few inches shorter than me, but his graying hair and wise eyes showed his experience and strength.

You could always count on him to get the job done, no matter what it was.

David was the one that found the old textbooks on harvesting energy at the abandoned community college.

He had also been the volunteer to test Dr. Holsten's theory that men could go to the surface wearing a gas mask.

To be honest, he had kinda become a father figure to me.

I had just recently been allowed to go on supply runs, apparently my knowledge of technology and mechanics was too valuable to let me go to the surface.

I was able to convince David to let me come along when the runners couldn't figure out what old tech was still usable. Needless to say it got frustrating when they would bring back completely fried motherboards, and expect me to magically be able to fix it.

It had been my only job though, look for broken devices and equipment that had even the smallest chance of being salvaged. Plus I usually stayed in the back when our group came across any danger.

My fighting skills were as graceful as a baby giraffe, I was always worried that me doing anything towards a threat would end up hurting more than helping.

David's wife, Alyssa, came up to us as we chatted a bit more about the things I was going to be looking for. She had some small tote bag with her.

"Here." She handed the extra supplies to me. Checking inside, I saw that it was some first aid.