The Edge

The Mall

The stay at the main camp was about two days, which consisted of exercises and lessons on survival done by the older runners. On the morning when they would leave to the Edge, Eris pack some clothes into the duffel bag. She got to the box that contained the watch. She took it out and palmed it in her hand, feeling the weight that held centuries of history. “Yo Eri, you almost ready.” Eris turned to the door, where Tyson stood in the frame. “Yeah, I'll just be a few more minutes.” Eris turned back to the watch in her hand, she flipped it over and ran her finger over the initials that were carved into the back. AEG. These were the original owner's initials Alexander Eric Grace, he was a few greats grandfather of hers. Strange coincidence that his initials where the same as her legal ones. Eris slipped the old watch into her shirt pocket and carried her bag out the cabin.

“Niclate fungus grows in this building best, and be careful of the thorns.” Cloe had been put in charge of the new runners and was charged with collecting niclate. This came from fungus and was a needed resource used for cattle. The group stood infront of a massive mall well what was left of one. They had to got in through a crumbled wall as the bottom floor had almost completely collapsed. The inside was over grown with bioluminescent flowers and moss. They were all quite taking in the beauty. Eris traveled abit away from the group and came to some broken escalators. She looked down at the bottom level which was now a mash, the floors flooded and over grown with reeds and in the middle was a massive tree it's almost purple leaves hanging down into the water. Eris through a rock into the water trying to see how deep the water was and a bunch of small critters ran out the water into the reeds. She heard a shout and truned back to the group who were moving deeper into the massive building.

They moved quickly and quietly, the building felt like it was almost breathing as they moved through the rumble and plants. They got to a sinkhole that had a river flowing into it creating a waterfall. “Hope you guys dont mind getting wet.” Cleo had sat down and seemed to be doing something to her mechanical leg. “Have to put it into waterproof mode.” Cleo clarified, noticing the confused stares she was getting. Her leg mad some clicking and whirling noises before she got back up. She climbed down the rumble into the hole and the others followed behind. At the bottom of the sinkhole, there were thousands of small clusters of red mushrooms. The mushrooms had large throns on the stem and looked like they had a hairy top. “The thorns contain a toxin that will put you in excruciating pain if you touch it, and it will last fifteen hours.” Cleo had already put on some gloves and had gotten out a large fabric bag. She carefully began picking the mushrooms and the others followed suit. Eris was carefully picking and placing mushrooms into bags until she had filled three. Tyson had filled one and a half, Ajack filled two and Jessica one. “Ok this should be enough. Why dont you guys go explore the mall abit and see if you can find any scrap.” Cleo collected the bags and shooed the group off like they were toddlers.

The mall was beautiful, the plants gave enough light to see although there were some corners that were still in shadow everything was visible. So by the end of the day Eris had collected enough scrap to earn her two days of extra rashions. Outside the mall she stumbled across Tyson and Ajack talking when they caught sight of her they jumped apart and looked quite embarrassed while Ajack hid something behind his back. “You good?” Eris walked up to them, they gave some mumbled responses but Eris just shrugged it off. Eris had noticed that Ajack was holding an old magazine so she presumed that they had found some old store, it probably had some female models or something in it, that young adult men would be embarrassed over. She walked over to Cleo. “Hey what kind of predators live in this area?” Cleo looked confused.
“No predators live in this part of the Edge, well none that would hunt or hurt us, why?”
“Because I was certain that something or someone was watching me and I saw something following me in the shadows.”
“Well some animals get curious, so it probably isn't anything to worry about.”
Cleo looked concerned so her explanation was met with much criticism from Eris. But she just shrugged it off hoping that maybe Cleo was right. This pattern continued over the week, each place Eris went to was just as beautiful as the last. The whole Edge was lush and green, the soil a beautiful blueish purple and the plants vibrant. Everywhere she went Eris continued to have the feeling of being watched, and she had seen a figure several times briefly before it disappeared back into the shadows. Somebody was following her, and it wasn't anybody from the camp.