The air was thick. Wes would describe it as carrying the colour grey. It looked that way. In reality, the air probably just held remnants of the radiation from months ago.
It was a harsh leak, but it happened. The radiation carried through the air and in mere months, ate at abandoned houses and buildings. Everyone had just fled. The radiation spread across a few miles in all directions, but it hadn't fully attacked all of America.
Most people who are still in town are just floaters. A small town was established on the ground of an old one. Most of everything there is cheap because of the small population and economy. That's probably the only reason most people are even there. Cheapskate's risking their memory to save a few bills.
Wesley, preferably called Wes, explored a different part of the town. The main square is just a few miles west from the street he was currently on. Wes was searching the abandoned houses.
The leak caused a lot of people who were unprotected and exposed to the free floating radiation to nip at their memories. Inducing retrograde amnesia or sending people comatose.
Wes was working in a field one day. The day of the leak, which he was unaware of. He hadn't gone far from the city. In fact Wes was on his way back. Still, with how long he'd been exposed, Wes was infected.
He probably barely parked in front of an apartment building when everything went blank. He doesn't even remember that much.
He had been out for two weeks. The first days, a group of uninfected people spotted him and taken him to a hospital. A hospital nearly full of other infected people who were caught up in their comas as well as Wes.
They had rejected him due to the lack of space. Luckily the group that saved him, was persistent that they get him help. They took him back to their own building, where they were able to flag down help and saved Wes' life.
He woke up not knowing who he was or what was going on. The group had taken him in. After a brief explanation, Wes thanked them. He believed them enough and trusted them. Especially after they let him stay free in a motel that the group takes care of.
Wes trekked forward. He had just rummaged through a one story yellow house. He was hoping something would jog his memory a bit but nothing did. He was getting worried that the leakage had permanently destroyed his memory. The main thing he was looking for in his searches was pictures and names. The group that had taken him in said that his name was embossed on his jumper. That's all he had however. Just the name Wesley to hold onto. The only thing he has of his old life.
A week ago, Wes had gone looking for the vehicle that he had been rescued from. One of his friends from the group, David had gone with him. The street he was found on, Pleasant Street was more of a wreckage. The leftover radiation was eating at the cement. The vehicle that David was on the lookout for, was probably stolen, or broken beyond recognition. They couldn't find it.
Nonetheless, the group had figured Wes used to be persistent and patient as he was showing then. He just kept looking.
A distant scream erupted a few streets away. As if serving as a reminder for Wes to get back home. He wasn't too far from the motel, but still, it was going to be dark by the time he arrives.
There has been cases of radiation actually destroying too much of a person's brain that they went crazy. Like a zombie, without dying. They have supposed incoherent thoughts and usually have muscle spasms. They have very disoriented coordination. Also, the most notable thing about these infected people are that they are easily or always agitated. Usually attacking someone, if not all of those in their line of view.
The people who have stayed in the town have tried to establish order. It's usually respected aside from infected crazies.
It's been theorized that even though the radiation has seemed to drift away, it might be secretly infecting the rest of western America. Maybe even traveling far east.
Wes didn't let those get into his head, mainly because he already doesn't have his memories and there's a chance whatever family he has left doesn't either. He was still determined to look for his past self. Whether he was alone or not.
There was a few more screams not too far from Wes. He wasn't too scared because he believed he could take whoever on. He still had a lot of muscle from the past.
There's been a lot of cases of infected people in this town however everyone isn't too quick to go out and lock them up. Mainly because a lot of people took a few hits of radiation so it's hard to know exactly who could be crazy in the mind. Though many who've actually attacked are currently locked up until further notice. Wes has kept it hidden that he doesn't have his memories or else they'd probably take him in for questioning his sanity. It was his group's idea.
"Hey Wes," Mari greeted. She was leaning against the wall surrounding the motel. It was mainly for precautions. Mari had been waiting for Wes just a little while.
"Hey, anything new here?" Wes asked, he grabbed for his backpack that slumped on his shoulder.
"Sure. Anything new out there?" Mari shrugged. Wes shook his head, pulling out a water bottle from the pack. He nudged his chin towards the motel in question.
"A group came by. Staying in for a bit. They're on the left side away from us. All good?"
"Yeah. How much of them?" The two walked slowly to their rooms that were beside each other. Wes also waved to a few of his other group members. David and Amra.
"Five? They're younger than us, at least they look it. You can meet them tomorrow," Mari finished. She unlocked her room and waved to Wes.
Wes was a bit curious, and pondered checking out the kitchen area. He was hungry. He was also hoping that he'd run into the new people.
Wes fixed himself a late bowl of cereal. He pondered whether or not taking the bowl back to his room to eat there, but he had still plenty of other bowls left in his room from previous late night cereal snacks. He came home late often, and he didn't really like when everyone else would wait up for him. He hasn't had dinner with everyone else in a while. Maybe he should stay home tomorrow and spend some time with his friends. His family can wait another day.
Maybe there was also a factor of him meeting the new visitors. Yeah, not a lot of people come to stay in the motel. A while back there was a small family. Mom and dad, and a cute little 1 year old. However they were already heading up north, to Canada. They were nice enough to offer some spots on their ride, but nobody was interested. Their new lives were there.
Wes picked around the kitchen. Hoping to find cookies or someone's hidden stash of candy. Even hoping to find ice cream in the freezer. Without a supply of snacks, Wes frowned. Looks like they were due to shop very soon.
"Oh-Sorry, I am just looking for something to eat," a guy, just shorter than Wes walked in the kitchen.
"It's no problem, I was looking for a snack. There's probably something in the fridge, if not there's cereal," Wes explained. He grabbed some crackers from a cabinet and watched the other guy dig around as well.
"My name's Shayne if you were wondering," he introduced, with his back still turned.
"I'm Wes," he replied. He looked back down to the crackers in his hand and sighed. If only they were Oreos.
"Everything okay?" Shayne asked, smiling at Wes' disappointed look.
"I'm craving something sweet, we need to get restocked soon," Wes explained, chuckling a bit to himself.
"If you want to, you can come to my room. I have a hidden stash sweets that I can share," Shayne grinned. Wes perked up at the offer.
"Really?"
"So what brings you to the motel?" Wes asked as he held a few chocolate chip cookies in his hand.
"We wanted a place to settle for a while. My squad and I. We don't have much of a game plan really, so we'll be here a while. What about you?"
"Me? I'm here with a few of my friends. They run the motel actually, this is our home base. Stay as long as you need," Wes smiled. "Umm, I'm not going to lie, I think you look really, attractive," Wes scratched the back of his neck. He felt unsure of himself and his words but he realized he must've been honest and forthright in his past life.
"Oh really?" Shayne grinned devilishly. "Well Wes, I think you look very attractive too. I can introduce you to everyone tomorrow from my squad if you as well," he changed the subject.
"You refer to them as a squad?" Wes chuckled.
"Yeah, we wanted to be like a smosh pit but I think we need more people for that," Shayne explained, cleaning his bed space distractedly.
"A smosh pit? You mean a mosh pit?" Wes corrected, laughing at his small mistake.
"Wait what did I say? A smosh pit?"
"Yeah, you and you're squad, you can be a Smosh Squad."
The two guys laughed together.
"So uhh, you always get late cravings or do you come back late?" Shayne asked. He grabbed himself a water bottle and offered Wes one. Wo shook his head.
"Yeah I usually miss dinner. They like to cool and eat together. I'm always out in the city during the day," Wes stretched his arms, getting tired.
"Oh? What's in the city? Hunting the infected?"
Wes pursed his lips into a straight line. Thinking maybe it wasn't the best idea to say what he did.
"Umm, I just, prefer to be out," Wes tried to lie. Shayne's eyes widened.
"Oh I'm sorry, you must be looking for your old life or something right? I'm sorry, Noah's the same way. Or was, he gave up just last week and now we're here," Shayne explained. Wes felt relieved that he isn't uncomfortable with "infected people."
"Really? How did you meet?"
"Umm, we met up sort of oddly. I went into an abandoned house to hide for the night. I found the other four huddled over Noah, who was unconcious and they asked for help. So after he finally woke up, we helped him out a bit. They each met one by one starting with Noah and Olivia. It's It's a crazy story before me apparently," Shayne explained. Wes nodded.
"They - My friends found me unconcious in a truck. Brought me to a hospital but they wouldn't take me. They found help eventually. I stuck with them," Wes said, his tone getting admiring at the thought.
"So you're still looking then huh?" Shayne asked. Wes nodded.
"Well I should be going to bed. Goodnight, and thank you for these," Wes held up the little bag of sweets.
"No problem. I-If you're heading out again tomorrow, can I come with you?" Shayne asked before Wes left.
"I'm spending the day here tomorrow but the next day, of course!"
Wes woke up the next day, at around lunch time. He had gone to sleep at about 3 a.m, which he didn't plan really. He was just full of energy as he had plenty of sugar. Wes jerked up when he saw the time. He wanted to meet some of the new people as well as spend time with his friends today. He didn't want to spend it sleeping.
He got dressed and ready as fast as he could, before rushing out to the kitchen.
Part 1! This was promised a while ago and I'm so sorry for getting this out this late! Part 2 will be out in a little while! Thanks for waiting!