Operation S.A.L.V.A.T.I.O.N.

Prologue

EARTH

A.D. 3267
March 21st
19:13

The barely audible crunch of gravel under Lantroupa's booted feet sounds loud in her ears as she adjusts her crouch, twisting to face her brother who's squatting next to her, his hands gripping the low brick wall they're hiding behind impatiently.
She levels an intense stare at the side of his face and he notices, turning to look back at his sister with those dark blue eyes from which he got his name. He brushes a stray lock of emerald green hair from his pale cheek and mock scowls at her.
"You don't have to tell me to be quiet," he whisper-yells furiously.
Lantroupa presses her lips together, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him, and directs her focus back to the source of their playful argument.
A deer is standing in the middle of the abandoned street, the graceful creature happily chewing on the green clumps of grass sticking out between the cracks of worn concrete.
New Orleans has been abandoned for years. All cities are. Most of Earth's population fled to other planets nearly a hundred years ago, thinking to find greener pastures or whatever.
The cities decayed and nature started taking over again, thus the deer in New Orleans, aka our dinner.
Sappheer and Lantroupa have gotten pretty good at hunting, but there's always the chance for mess-ups, the reason for her constant looks to quiet him.
She slowly grabs an arrow from the small bundle Sappheer's holding and puts it to the string of her crude bow. She takes a deep breath and holds it, peeking around the brick wall and lifting the bow, zeroing in on the animal. It lifts its head momentarily and looks in her direction and Lantroupa freezes, going completely still. The animal looks around, then tenses, flinging its head in the other direction and staring for a split second, before it's suddenly moving, exploding to the side, and jumping away, faster than she can react.
There goes dinner.
Lantroupa sighs and stands up, shading her eyes from the unforgiving sun to see what scared the deer. She hears Sappheer stand up behind her but she ignores him, still scanning between the rusty buildings.
When she finds nothing, she shrugs and turns to go, Sappheer trailing along.
Guess we're going hungry tonight. Lantroupa looks over at her brother and makes an oh-well face.
"Not the first time," he replies cheerily, always one to look at the bright side. He's also way too curious for his own good.
As for herself, Lantroupa shares his fiery spirit, though it's buried much deeper. She tends to be very calculated and mistrustful. She's also one for few words. Actually, she hardly ever talks, not because she doesn't want to, but because for some reason, she can't. She's not mute either, it's just extremely difficult for her to form words, not to mention painful. She must have some speech defect.
Thankfully, being her twin, Sappheer can always tell what Lantroupa is thinking, what she's trying to say.
She brushes her leather pants off idly, staring up ahead at the alleys littered with trash, grass, and broken pieces of the buildings around them. The siblings don't know any different. Earth has been this way since they were born; they've only heard stories of what it was like before, stories passed down their family tree.

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Lantroupa and Sappheer arrive at their home fifteen minutes later, judging from the sun's position. It's not much--a shabby tent with holes in it propped up on some long sticks, but it's roomy enough and keeps them dry and warm.

Lantroupa sends Sappheer for some firewood and sits down outside the door, watching the sun as it slowly sinks towards the horizon. The clouds burn red and gold, and a soft breeze pulls at her hair, threatening to pull it from the bandana wrapped around her head. She takes a deep breath and sighs in contentment. They might not get to eat tonight, but they had some pigeons yesterday. They're far from starving.

She's just wondering what's taking her brother so long to complete the simple task of getting firewood when the wind suddenly picks up and a threatening hum starts to fill the air. Lantroupa instantly jumps up and stares around at the sky, the hum rising to a roar. She presses her hands to her head to keep her hair in check, anxiety starting to rise in her chest, and finally, she finds the source of the clamor. Her heart sinks.

It's a government aircraft.

Dear Readers,

Sorry for the cliffhanger! I will do my best to update at least once a week, but given my busy schedule, we'll see how that turns out lol! Thank you so much for reading! Please vote, comment, and let me know how you think this adventure will continue!!!!!!!

Best wishes!

LiethaS