Dreamers- A Merome, Pooflan, Wroetostar and Minizerk Story

⋖Chapter 5⋗

Jerome's P.O.V.

I didn't tell Mitch that I suspected his view of the world and his opinion on old humanity was slightly skewed. He may have heard stories about how great they were, about their technology and their advancements to make their lives better, I had heard them too, but I had heard other tales as well. I think they thought we were too young and by the time we were old enough, we were the only ones left. I didn't have the heart to destroy Mitch's childish sense of admiration, so I kept my opinion to myself.

The stories we had been told were of their greatness, their ability to improve lives all over the world. What we hadn't been told, what I found out by accident, was that it wasn't completely natural disasters that killed most of the population. It was some sort of bomb, something they built and something they set off. But I couldn't tell Mitch that, not when he wanted so much to be like them, in a world where it simply wasn't possible anymore.

We woke in our temporary shelter, tangled together as the cold breeze brushed over us. It was frosty out, again, and winter was well on its way, only a few weeks out now and I was getting nervous. We had almost no supplies stocked up, no dried meat or fruit, no nuts, no herbs, nothing stockpiled to get through the season. Food had been scarce in our area during the warmer months, so it was no longer safe or productive to stay.

"Mitch?" I called, catching his attention from where he was standing on the river bank. He was packing everything into his thick leather bag, of which I had an identical one, because he knew we had to get on the move again. We had been in the same area since last winter so moving on was tough, but it was necessary, we had burned through all of the resources. "Ready?"

"Yeah." He sighed and called back, throwing his bag over his shoulder. "I guess we gotta go..." He looked downright put out at the thought of leaving the area, but it happened every year. He got pretty attached to areas after spending a while in them and considering we both knew we would never return because of how large the country was, I didn't know why he went through the emotions.

"It'll be alright." I mumbled, kissing his forehead as he got close enough. "But we gotta do this. Same as every year."

"I know..." He breathed, leaning heavily against me. "I still hate it though."

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We trekked south, further south than we had ever been before. We normally didn't go far but the weather had been getting colder each year for a reason we couldn't explain, so we travelled further and further south before returning to our homeland when the winter passed. It was routine now.

But the thing was, the further south we went, the more confused we became. We were used to trees that grew tall and proud, stretching high into the sky and birds flying around the skies but things were incredibly different- more different than I would have expected from the slight shift in climate. There was less animal life than I was used to, no birds chirping, no small mammals or rodents or bugs scuttling through the undergrowth and although I could have put it down to it being winter, there was always more life around us. I saw the occasional bird, but they were silent. The further we trekked, the more visibly unsettled Mitch became.

At a campsite we had set up, about 3 weeks after we had first set off from our home ground, Mitch finally mentioned it. He glanced over at a tree nearby, which had shed its leaves weirdly, massive clumps of leaves were gone while the rest was still green. Its trunks grown was also strange, rather than growing straight up it had grown to several weird angles. On the ground were dead trees, looking years, maybe even decades old- not decomposing.

"This place is strange." Mitch mumbled, looking around. "No wildlife, the trees are weird. I don't like it here."

"I know." I said, reassuring him while tucking him into my side. "Maybe it's just this area? We'll only be here for a couple of months after all."

He sighed and rested his head lightly on my shoulder, closing his eyes. I kissed his forehead.

I didn't mention it out loud, but I think I understood why the area was so different- it was something to with the old humanity, and their act of destruction. I didn't know what was in that bomb but it had completely destroyed the environment, especially in this area, and it simply hadn't grown back the same. It was something in the bomb that caused this.

Of course, I never mentioned my suspicions to Mitch. I couldn't. It was destroy the only thing he had keeping his hope alive and I wasn't about to do that, not when we had already made it so far. Maybe one day he would come to that revelation himself but if not... I didn't want to think about that. If it came to that, I would think about it then.

But it was his first real revelation that maybe something was wrong, a little different possibly. I had known right from the beginning that surely natural disasters couldn't have wiped out over 90% of the human population, but maybe Mitch didn't know that. I shook my head, bringing myself back into the real world.

Mitch was still lying on me, still tucked close. He was barely focused now, eyes slipping open and closed with exhaustion and it didn't take much longer before he had drifted off on my lap, just as he always did. Honestly, I couldn't remember a night when we hadn't fallen asleep side by side, we had done it since we were little.

"Night Mitch." I whispered, planting a gentle kiss on the sleeping boys forehead. "I love you."