World of Dust

Rea

We were not born knowing how to survive. Instead, we have to learn how to survive. We have to learn through the pain and countless suffering. We have to evolve to stay alive, to see one more sunrise when we know we might not live to see the sunset. We live in a man eat man world, there is no compassion. We were no longer human, we are animals. Vicious unforgiving creatures trying to survive.

I had to watch the world I loved fall apart. Even myself, I could not claim that I was better than the others. I too had lost my humanity and I gave into the beast that lay inside of me. I could never restore what I and the world had lost. Now hell was truly a place on earth, heaven was just a myth, a long forgotten legend.

Years before I was brought into this world a disease broke out killing nearly all of the population. The majority of those killed were women, leaving men the dominant sex. After the disease war broke out for control of the remaining females. This further decimated our world, the world had turned to dust. Gangs of men would rove the streets till they found a female, then they would all rape her in hopes that she would bear them children. That was how they earned the name Rovers.

Women were used as nothing more than breeding cows. The number of females still dwindled; it seemed that women only gave birth to sons. If they did have a girl it was exceedingly rare. The young girl would be raised, as soon as she had her first menstrual cycle they would rape her.

I was a lucky one, I was born a girl. My father had been head of a gang of "Rovers"; they were nothing of the sort, they tried to protect the women; he and my mother fell in love. And from their love came me. I was their only child seeing as a few years later my mother was caught by another Rover and killed because she was with child. The Rovers did not like it when their prey was pregnant. They were too impatient to breed offspring; they would much rather kill the mother and child than wait till they were born.

As a child my father kept a close eye on me. Never was I allowed to go anywhere without a watchful eye on me. My most frequent nanny was a big burly mountain of a man named Parker. He was the same man who had watched my mother before me. He said I was more like my mother in more ways than he could count. I always tried to lose my nanny detail.

When my father found out about my nanny wandering around looking for me he was furious. His reason was that I was his most precious treasure. I grew up in a tribe surrounded by men, it has its advantages and its disadvantages. From a young age I had learned self defence and how to survive naturally in our world.

Most Rovers had tribes, they had one main base and several smaller nomadic bases. Our tribe had several large main bases and tireless nomadic tribes. I was never allowed to leave Rhea which was our main base's name. After my mother had died my father named the base after her in a way to never let a part of her leave him.

Our base seemed to teem with life. Flowers climbed the gates and became woven with the metal. People joked and shared smiles. Children ran in herds weaving in between the legs of others while their mothers chased and hollered after them. Men sat by smoldering fire pits skinning today's hunt while sharing witty banter about anything they could think of.

I always seemed to be the center of everyone's attention. I was the daughter of the great Rover chief Evander Anders. After a while the constant attention starts to become a burden. I am constantly expected to be my dad. I am expected to be the next saviour of women, don't get me wrong I want to follow in his footsteps I just want to do things a different way.

My hair tumbled over my shoulders coming down in a black cloud around my head. I brought my arm up and blocked the blow aimed for my head. Grunts left my opponents lips, as I rained down punches. I pushed my feet off the ground and arched my body backward. I held my leg straight and my foot connected with Aldric's jaw. The satisfying crack of his bone signaled the end of the match.

" I yield, you have greatly improved." Jake pants out in between large greedy gulps of air. Aldric was our fighting instructor. He had salt and pepper hair and mud brown eyes. Jake was older than my father by a few years but none the less they were best friends. Aldric's wife, Vivian, died with my mother. Aldric's son ,Sterling, was a week older than me and was the leader of one of our best nomadic tribes.

" Of course I have after all you trained me" I shoot back at him. A sly grin stretches across his face and a twinkle forms in his muddy eyes. Aldric pops his jaw back into place like nothing ever happened.

" Yes, sadly I wasted all my time training you." He retorts

" oh please you love me" I chuckle and throw him a sideways glance.

" maybe I do, but you sure as hell are cocky". He mutters under his breath.

" of course I'm cocky, I'm one of our best" I throw him an honest smile that causes him to smile back at me.

The large rusted iron gates swing open grinding against their hinges causing a hideous screeching sound to bellow through the air. Silence came over all of Rea and heads turned towards the sound. My father's smiling face came into view as cheers and screams tore from the throats of my campmates. I smiled, thankful that my father had been successful and returned home safely.