Irradiated

Chapter 1: The Lowest of the Low

Next, were the Poors. They had absolutely no access to the things the Rich and the Moderates had. All the supplies they got were hard to get. Sometimes, it would occur to me that maybe I wasn't in the lowest of the ranks. The Poors were the people without skills like mine to protect themselves. They were basically dumped off in Southeastern Europe, and were left to fend for themselves, even if they couldn't. They weren't weak. They were just scared, unskilled, and above all - unwanted.

Lastly, and definitely least, the Lankies. They were the scavengers in the streets, the ones that nearly starved every day. Most of them were simple people who lived and wandered alone, like me, but others were ruthless savages. These were the people who had been most affected by the pollution's outbreak. Not knowing how to handle this insanity, they decided to let it be their ruler and became insane themselves. Dodgers, which was the name I gave these type of people, were among the Lankies. Dodgers were the ones who lived in camps, guarding forests like their territory. They picked off prey, like the wild animals they were, and I steered clear from them as much as I could. No way was I going to be killed by people like them.

In the Lankies, is where I could be found. I was quite skilled, but it didn't mean I was safe. We were all lusting the type of needs that we were lacking, even in the Rich class. Not only that, but we were all losing that one thing that made us sane: trust. No matter what ground was walked, one could never have faith in another living being. Except for animals. They were chill.

Next thing I knew, I was carefully stepping out of the RV I was growing accustomed to. I needed to get my kill for the next day. So, it was night when I went out hunting. I was slowly learning how to make it out here. Alone. Lankies didn't work together like the other classes did. We had to stick to our instincts and steal from others. Some of them were so desperate, they'd steal from Poors. Those were the Dodgers, of course. I had the dignity to not steal from the people who couldn't get supplies for themselves. That's why I stole from those kind of Lankies. I was pretty much giving them a taste of their own medicine, and not the good kind of medicine that tasted like bubblegum and cherry.

Like I said, I had been learning things. I learned that deer were more active during the night. So, I was off. I was off to get the bit of prey I could for the next day.

Marching through the woods, I held my trusty hand-made bow with a few arrows tucked away in my holster. By my side, was that large Great Dane. I had found him as a pup, a while back. The cutest little pup you could ever have known, but now that I looked at him, he seemed like a vicious man-eating killer. Ok, maybe not a man-eating killer, but he did look pretty tough.

I named him Trevor, after my brother. He had become a Dodger, when he was nineteen. However, he recently got caught and put under custody by Riches. Yes. Caught. That was the main reason why people felt threatened by Riches. They gave themselves the power to lock people up if they lost control.

Our parents were one of the first to die, because of him. It was when they reached the point of no return for us, only to get killed in the end for a reason I still couldn't comprehend. I wasn't there at the time, and I wished there had been something I could've done to prevent it. Living in the past wasn't my sort of pastime, so I tried to forget it. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that leaving my brother alone with them right as we were given the news that the world had gone down into submission probably wasn't a good idea. I didn't like to think it was my fault, but it sure felt like it.

Trevor panted slightly from trotting at my side and he looked up at me with those big brown eyes. "What? Can't take the heat?" I teased. He whimpered and made that face I loved so much. Alright, so I wasn't completely alone out here, but somehow, I almost never counted Trevor as company. He practically hunted and scavenged for himself, so it was almost like he was a Lankie on his own too.