The Scavengers

Dana's skin burned. The familiar feeling of her entire body smoldering had been long since adjusted to. As long as she did what she had to within four hours she'd be fine. She had already used up half that time. There was only one more person she had to visit.

Dana loosened the straps hanging around her upper arms. Compared those around her she was dressed very scantily, also familiar. She wore a billowing red tanktop and a flower-patterned piece of cloth tied like a short skirt. Her shoes were overlarge dirty pink ballet flats she'd tied to her feet with the ribbon. Her instantly identifiable white hair was hidden under an irritatingly hot brown hat.

She passed by a few dwellings moving down the tunnel. This sector was not very well constructed. The people here had lost their entire livelihoods during the Final War. They had nothing to bargain with when the builders came. Hence, every house in this area was rubble pieced together into a few walls and a roof, if that.

Dana arrived at her destination. She pulled aside a curtain made of torn-up pant legs. Inside, a small child sat dressed in a dress-like dirty hoodie and nothing else. He had long black hair covering his eyes. Two large piles of miscellaneous goods flanked him. Two large men stood at the end of each pile, next to the kid. He held his hands above the only source of heat, a lamp.

"Kind trader, what may I do for you?" The child said in a mysterious voice.

"Cut the crap Mouse, it's me." Dana snapped.

"Oh." The child slumped and pushed the hair from his eyes, revealing a blank white stare. "South." Her nickname, they all had nicknames. "What do you want?"

"A box." Dana pulled a bag from her shoulder.

"Come on South, you know boxes are gov business." Mouse turned away, more a gesture of dismissal than actual avoidance. Mouse had lost his sight from the radiation, the same radiation that drove the survivors underground, and turned Dana into a Scavenger.

"Mouse, I know you stockpile." Dana looked at the two lines of stuff and paused. "I brought more... y'know."

Mouse tried to hide it by biting his lip but his face lit up. He motioned down one of burly men and whispered in their ear. The man nodded, going behind a curtain further back in the tent.

"Show me." Mouse demanded. Dana raised an eyebrow. Mouse interjected. "Let me hold them you idiot, I know you're giving me that look."

Dana pulled out a small sealed plastic bag from her pack. It held four pieces of hard candy. Three mints and one butterscotch, practically gold. Mouse grabbed the bag and ran his tiny hands over the rounded objects. He smelled the bag even though there was no scent. The man came back in carrying a small white box, about the size of a brick, with a red plus sign.

"Fine." Mouse nodded. "You're lucky you know me." He motioned for the man to give Dana the box. Dana stashed it in her pack instantly.

"Whatever." Dana rushed out of the tent before Mouse could change his mind.

Dana backtracked through the tunnels. She didn't know her way around very well but she had a decent sense of direction. She moved quickly and quietly, the way she always had to, and tried not to draw attention. It would have helped if she had worn larger, heavier clothing but she couldn't stand it. She glanced at her busted LED watch. Less than an hour left. She began to jog.

Dana ran through the center tunnel, containing the main light source of this sector, the Starbulb, a small artificial sun. She felt sweat pool on her forehead and she moved under it as quickly as possible. She turned down an empty tunnel and found their mark, a crudely drawn bird with an open beak. She made a second turn where it indicated.