Forgetting The Fallout

The New Beginning

Scavenging through the cabinets five miles out side of town. There were some good snacks left but he wasn't sure how edible they were. Its been five years since it happened after all. And most all of the good supplies have already been looted and used from most everywhere. Sooner or later he was going to have to get creative or learn how to hunt and fast.

His name was Theodor but no one called him that, they called him teddy. At least that's what they used to. Five years ago there was a war the largest one the earth has ever seen. There were experimental chemicals, advanced weaponry, corrupt politicians, and finally nuclear war heads the combination of these lead to the tipping point of humanity. There were riots and straight up massacres and with the dramatic change of the earths balance the climate changed. It lead to earth quakes, hurricanes, tidal waves, and absolute destruction. With this much of the human population was wiped out leaving the lucky and the paranoid left to wander the earth in search of purpose.

Theodor was one of the lucky ones he was 24 years old with slight survival skills and a sharp mind. To him it felt like he didn't actually really lose much. His mom died when he was young and he wasnt veary social. Because of this he didn't have many friends or social skills for that matter. In his eyes he was alone then and he's alone now. This young man had dark eyes a shaggy beard and greasy some what well kept hair. He had old torn clothes, a jacket, a bow with 4 or 5 arrows, and a large backpack where he kept all the goods he could find like the old can of beans in this gas station. He stands up "well shit maybe they have something in the back" he slides on the backpack over one of his shoulders and continue to the back. On his way he notices an old safe hidden under the counter. Most of the time these would already be raided but this one seemed to be untouched "aw sweet looks like today is my luck day but how am i going to get this little guy open" he looks around but doesn't see anything I guess ill come back to it" he knew there had to be something back there to help him cause the gas station is linked to a car repair shop. As soon as he opens the back he strikes gold he sees a drill press and other things hooked to a generator. He smiles at his luck, he then goes to turn it on. *click click* "nothing. Well shit, the damn thing must be out of gas." He sees a jerry can in the back of the shop and picks it up. Empty he looks around again and noticed the car held up in the middle of the room by the lift. He cocks his head in curiosity as he walks over to it. "It might work" he says to himself. He grabs a hose hanging on the wall and puts one end in the gas tank of the car and sucks on the other. Suddenly gas rushes up and hit his lips so he quickly puts it into the generator. "I wasn't expecting that to work but cool." after a few minutes he tries to turn it on again *click click vroom* it turns on. He rushes over to the safe and carries it over and sets it under the drill. He grabs some goggles and starts to drill into the safe till he hears the lock break on the inside. then he turns the drill off and looks at the safe with anticipation. "What if its nothing useful what if its empty then I would have wasted all this time on nothing." he reaches down and opens the door. Ammo he sees a box of ammo on the side it says "9mm" he drops his shoulders in disbelief "what good is ammo with out a damn gun. Well what ever I should hold on to this any way he bends down and takes off his backpack and sets his bow on the ground next to him he puts the extra ammunition in the bag then zips it up. He sits back not knowing what he should do next. "Maybe they have more canned food or... gah I don't know anymore I'm just so pissed" suddenly he hears the front door open. He grabs his backpack and bow silently then sneaks to the front to see what it is. He hides behind the door and looks through the window. He sits on the ground and thinks to him self "how can this be I thought I was the last one left in this area. I must be seeing things." He stands back up and takes another look. It was a blond girl who looked to be about 5'2 a whole foot shorter than him. And she was just walking down isle after isle like it was still pre-war. After she turned her back on him he grabbed his bow and notched an arrow. He pointed it at her. "Who are you and why are you here" he demanded at her. She jumps and quickly turns around half startled half surprised to hear another voice besides her own. "W-Who are you?" She askes slightly afraid. He replies I asked you first hurry up I don't have all day" with a frustrated look on her face she complies to the command "my name is Annabelle but most people just call me Anna."
Teddy laughs "if u haven't noticed most people arnt around."
Confused she answers "yea I noticed that, how come"
"What is she serious" teddy thought to himself "she must be joking"
She replies some what angrily at his tone "I'm serious do I look like I'm in a  joking mood" she looks away in exasperation. Teddy noticed a small red spot on the back of her blond head. He lowers his bow and somewhat ignoring he question he he asks "are you ok"
"Um ya why do you ask?" She looks at him curiously.
"I think your hurt can you look that way for a second." He asks calmly. "No why would you care." She looks at him a tad uncomfortable but he glares back annoyed so she winds up listening to him. Teddy slings his bow over his shoulders and examines the red spot. Its blood she probably hit her head on something and forgot everything. Just his luck he thinks to himself. Finding him self in a quandry he decides maybe it would be better if she didn't know and its quite obvious she doesn't remember how it happed. He steps back and says "its not big deal it was nothing anyway I don't think we introduced considering I thought you were here for my head." She laughs not thinking hes serious "well ok my name is Annabelle but I already told you that." Teddy smiles "you can call me teddy." They shake hands then teddy asks "so was this place familiar or something you looked like you were a-tad at home here?" She replies "Its kind of hazy I'm not sure I think I might off been good friends with the clerk." Teddy looks around at the old dusty shell of a gas station then looks at the pinkish sky out side. "Maybe you should find somewhere to stay tonight its not safe out here." He says to her. Anna replies "I guess I can find somewhere to sleep in here" Teddy grabs his pack and put it over his shoulders feeling the weight of it pull at his back. "That's a terrible idea but hey if you want to. I wont stop you." She looks at him in disbelief and puts her hands on her hips, "well what do you suppose I do?" she asks with a somewhat agitated tone at the comment just made. "I not the one who's apparently new to all this so don't ask me." He turns to walk away. She turns crosses her arms and huffs exasperated "fine then ill just come with you and you can take care off me." Teddy stops and turns to her, "first off you can follow me if you want but just know you're a liability, and I don't take care of liabilities you got that?" he asks in some what of a demanding tone. "so you found someone injured in the middle of the apocalypse and your not going to help them?" she asks still aggravated Her new companion. Teddy ignores her and turns to start their walk. They walk out of the gas station parking lot and out to the street. As they walk farther from the gas station in to this new farm land they check the scarce amount of cars for anything of value and they continue to do so for the next three hours. Anna, exhausted at the walking turns to the leader of the two man party. "ah god when are we going to get there this is terrible." Teddy looks at her somewhat annoyed by this question "We're almost there its just over the hill and if you want to survive out here you're going to have to suck it up." After this short conversation they continue to walk and about fifteen minutes later they reach the destination. From Anna's perspective it seemed to be and old camp which actually still looked in decent shape. "What is this place, where are we?" she asks. Teddy smiles and responds its an old camp for kids I used to come here all the time." The girl replies "but why here?" as the converse they walk past an old totem pole covered in vines and rotting at the base. "It was the closest place I knew. Plus it brings back a lot of good memories." She continues to walk beside him to reach their new home. "so the camp is made up of three locations: eagle, oak, and Shawnee we'll be at Eagle cause it's the closest ok?" Anna nods at their new plan. They continue to walk and reach the dining hall its in need of minor repairs but livable. They walk in and Teddy smiles "I remember this place like it was yesterday, we used to sing songs and do improvised skits here when it was raining. But I-" he cuts himself off as he looks in Anna's direction. "but you what?" she asks curiously. "don't worry about it we have to set up and ration food for the night." He replies back in his normal serious tone. She looks at him in an irritated manner like she has been since they met. Teddy looks back at her "I need you to unpack all our supplies and count it. Its vital we keep track of what we have." He turn to walk away but Anna intervenes, "what are you going to do then?" he sets his pack down but keeps his bow. "Well first I'm going to clear the area Make sure we're safe, that reminds me, when I leave barricade the door and don't open it till you hear me knock." He knocks on the table three times, then two, then three more times to demonstrate. "you think you can handle this alone?" he asks worried. "um yeah what's so hard about sitting around counting food" she said in a confident manner. Teddy nods and walks out the door. Once he leaves he hears some chairs being piled against the door and other materials like he instructed. He starts to walk down the gravel road farther into the old camp. He shows a slight smile as he walks through the camp as he reminisces on his time spent at his old home away from home. He walks to the trading post where the kids used to spend the money their parents sent them. Normally it was just candy and soda they bought, but every now and then they got shirts and even camp knives. Teddy walk up to the door and jiggled the handle but it was locked. "hmm lets try the back." He said thinking out loud to himself. He walks to the side of the building where. The kids used to pick up their food here to cook back at each camp site. In the back there was the door the staff used to get in. He walked up to this door and did the same as if it was the first one he tried. It was locked but it cracked open a bit. He didn't want to break it down but he didn't have much choice. He took a step back and did a forward kick making sure to land it right next to the handle. He learned that it didn't matter if you break a couple things here or there. After all this was the end of the world, how else would you get into locked areas. After the kick the door flung open with intense energy. It seemed that it gave way a lot easier than he thought it would. He walk into the service area and looked around. If he had something to carry all this with it'd be an amazing hull. There where tarps, rope, metal buckets, wood steaks, and other various things they gave out to the campers. "maybe I can borrow one or two things from here I'm sure they wont mind given the situation I'm in." he grabs a tarp and unfolds it on the ground. He then proceeds to grab a large spool of rope, a half a bag of charcoal, and the sledge hammer in the back corner. They used this to put up large tents for the kids to do activities under when it was raining. Teddy then goes to wrap it up and bring it out side. He then sets the new care package on the ground. "I think I'll come back and get that after on more look around. Hmm where next?" he said talking to himself "ah how could I be so dumb." He smiles and starts to do a light jog down one of the trails. At this point it was hard to tell where the trail really was because over the years lots of the vegetation grew back. As he ran he could see the path in his head as if was paved just for him. He pushes tree limbs out of the way and steps over the small plants that seemed to be there just to trip him. After about a 5 min walk he reached his destination. It was a wood gazebo with a huge mound of dirt about 50 meters away. Next to it was another more open area with a small metal building under a hill. This was the shooting ranger where the older kids would go if they signed up for it. Teddy walked up to the building and there was a metal door this time. This is obviously where they kept the guns. He kicked it in giving everything he had. It wobbled some, but not much give. He tried again. Same response as the first time. He took a step back and gave all he had into this kick. It swung open with a heavy bang. He took a step inside. It wasn't much just a small work bench and a rack with four twenty-two rifles and a small box of ammo on one of the shelves. He grabbed the box and one of the rifles. "this will be a big help." As he turned to leave he saw a staff hat on the wall. He put the box in his pocket and took the hat. He smiled as he turned to leave.

He started back the way he came. He was walking slow taking in the scenery. It seemed to him al long time since he had any free time or got to enjoy himself like this. The sun was still a ways from setting may he could visit one more place. He remembered the lake that he and the other kids used to play in. He starts to recall all the things they used to do back then. Once he and his friends went out on the lake with one of the staff. Right off the bat they knew the staff member didn't like them but they didn't care. Teddy and his friends got into the water with their life vests and pulled out a canoe. Already they were laughing and yelling and telling jokes that probably wouldn't be considered the most appropriate. They continue out into the water slowly pushing the water behind them. Teddy and his other friends were going on a small float trip just to the middle of this lake and back. That's what it was supposed to be at least. The kids attending this trip seemed to be notorious around the camp for being especially rowdy. The sun setting on the young campers expedition, they thought it a good idea to swamp the canoes. Though they had life vests on this seemed to be a bad idea to the staff. It was to late, as soon as he told them not to they went ahead and flipped the aluminum vessel. All laughing and shouting in good spirits. Teddy and the crew of fun loving hooligans tried helpless to un-swamp now thousand pound boat due to the water inside. It wasn't till they received help from a passing boat about half an hour later were they able to actually able to make progress, not they cared. One by one each boat had to be flipped back to its upward position. Still cracking jokes and laughing hardily the campers linked the boats and created a barge back to shore. When they returned to the camp the news of the adventure spread as if someone lit a tree in the area on fire. The next day the head of the camp was debating weather or not he should kick them out for their reckless and obnoxious behavior.

At this point Teddy was sitting at the edge of the lake looking out on to the upside-down sky that dwelled within it. It was this pink illumination that reminded him of this experience. He started to chuckle at the thought of it. It seemed to be a lot less of deal looking back on this then it did then. He continued to watch the sun drop behind the double sided sky and disappear into the night. He picked up a rock and skipped it. He watched as it bounced along the vast screen of water then sink into it. He then began to stand up and walk back to the trading post to gather the supplies he stashed for his journey back. He slung his gun over his shoulder and started off. Again pushing tree branches and kicking limbs away from his feet as he ventured back. Passing all the old and over grown campsites he made his way to the trading post. Not long from where he and Anna where staying. He walks up his self made gift basket of supplies puts it over his other shoulder and picks up the hammer with his other hand. He then starts back to the new home that was being prepared for him. As he approaches he hears a ear defining scream coming from inside the cabin and a loud crash. Teddy knew what was happening right away. He dropped the bag and the gun. He opened the door. The clutter that was supposed to be blocking it moved to the side. He looked inside to see a man in tattered clothes and his right arm missing laying on the other side of the room. He was on top of Anna and she was struggling to keep him off. Teddy then approaches the two and he grabs the mans right shoulder and flips him on the ground next to the young lady. Teddy could see the attackers face now. Half of the left cheek was missing and scared and his nose completely gone leaving an open hole in the center of his face. With out any hesitation Teddy brought the sledge hammer over his head. Then as if trying to break a rock in half he brought it back down with all his might. As the hammer connected brain and blood splattered all over the two partners as Anna let out a shrill scream. As Teddy stood there panting at the sudden rush of what just occurred. He then drops the hammer and turns to the girl. "Hey are you ok? Did he scratch you?" he asked some what hastily. "um yeah, no I'm ok and I don't think so why? Who was he? Where were you?" a million questions started racing through her mind and you could see it on her face. Teddy kneels beside her "look you need to relax for now. The best thing you can do is forget about it and try to stay calm." He said to her in a gentle manner. She nods quietly and wipes the blood splatter from her face. He sits next the her "I'm sorry you had to see that but now you have a taste of what life out here is like." He sits quietly next to her for a minute or so then gets up and walks over to the corpse. He grabs the one arm and hoists the headless body over his shoulders and carries it out side to drop it in the woods.