Fio & Pax

Soft light began to seep in through the broken windowpane, illuminating the decayed old room. A cloud of fog had settled upon the deserted town that chilly morning. Fio laid still, unfazed by the room’s gradual change in light. Pax, however, began shifting his small primate body, readjusting to a returning state of consciousness as he lay atop of Fio. The wooden floorboards sparkled with their coating of morning dew, as the dissipating sun fought to cut its way through the cracks and chinks in the old drywall. Pax raised his fuzzy head and peered around the glimmering space, easing into a stretch that awoke Fio. The two looked at each other and smiled. Fio sat up and broke out into a yawn.

“Oh well, time to finish the job”, Fio stated. Pax hopped down off of Fio and moved into another stretch, extending his tail.

“Only a few streets left to search and then we’ll begin our tip back to the commune”.

The pair had arrived in the town early yesterday morning, which had given them the whole day to explore. They had searched through most of the old buildings, in which the generations of the Anthropocene epoch used to reside before the War to end them all. They had searched thoroughly. Along the streets and sidewalks engulfed by the overgrowth of prospering vegetation, and into the impoverished interiors that held nothing other than the open air that now moved freely through them. Entering and exiting the fissures created by conflict and intensified by time. Their search was informed by Fio’s duty to the commune. A Seeker of Things was zir title, and ze had lived by its creed for many years past.

“I know we struggled to find any artefacts yesterday Pax, but I believe that is because we were treading over previously covered ground. Worn down tracks in the dense flora suggest Seekers from other communes may have been through this way.” Fio spoke with sanguine disposition on zir hypothesis.

“Not to mention the ease at which we could access some of those buildings, I don’t think that’s a coincidence...” Fio looked to Pax seeking reassurance. A habit ze had grown accustomed to during their travels throughout the new world unpopulated. Also, a good strategy in nourishing the soundness of one’s mind, when faced with the sparseness of the void.

“Wouldn’t you agree?”

Pax chattered unintelligibly in response.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.”

Fio’s red rusted bicycle stood up on its wheel set outside the house in which they took refuge, supported by the perpendicular set of wheels on a small cargo trailer in tow. Fio returned their swag to the trailer while Pax climbed up into the little wire mesh basket, perched up on the bicycle’s handlebars. Fio hopped on after.

“Gotta be careful in this fog, I can only see a few meters in front of us!”

Pax let out a nervous coo.

“Oh come on Pax, I’ll pedal slowly in the middle of the road. I learned my lesson the last time I trifled with tree roots.” Pax’s apprehensive demeanour appeared unaffected by Fio’s claim to acuity. The pair began on their way, down streets untraveled.

A few hours had past and the fog was not letting up. Each encounter with a building intact only proving a waste of time, as the monkey-human investigative duo failed in producing any artefacts. Fio’s optimism had begun to exhaust as ze grew weary.

“Not looking too promising, hey Pax?” Fio asked with sigh of submission.

“If the rest of the town is like this, we’ll have nothing to bring back to the Writers of Time.”

The bicycle stopped in the middle of the road. A moment of contemplation. Fio scratched zir head considering the hours already past, and the ensuing need to depart the town to make it to the next before nightfall.

Fio looked up at the sun. The daylight slowly but surely beginning to lift the foggy blanket. A vibrant emerald green colour palette revealing itself through the soft murk. While Fio remained in zir state of contemplation, Pax turned his attention to an adjacent side street that struck the monkey’s interest. The density of vegetation down this street appeared far thicker than that of any other yet encountered. Pax let out a whoop of excitement to grab Fio’s attention, pointing toward the wall of foliage.

“What’s that pal?” Fio followed Pax’s indication, and turned zir attention down the street.

“Mmhmm.” Fio muttered in agreement.

“You’ve got keen perception little buddy. Either you want to go for a swing through those trees, or you also think it looks as though no one has been down that way since the War.” The two glanced at one another and nodded, as if coming to a mutual understanding.

“I’m guessing the former, not that it matters because that’s the way we’re headed.” Fio peddled over and the pair dismounted the bicycle.

“Go on bud!” Fio waved Pax toward the overgrowth. Pax responded without hesitation, leaping from the ground onto Fio’s shoulder and again onto the nearest tree branch before launching into the depths of the foggy horizontal abyss. Fio stood for a moment, listening to Pax’s excited hoots and chatters with accompanying rustles as the monkey indulged his primal senses. Fio laughed to zirself and, after the moment passed, followed into the foliage.

15 minutes of trudging and Fio needed a short rest. Ze could still hear Pax rustling in the distance.

“No one could’ve come this way in ages.” Fio said to zirself as Pax let out a whoop.

“Unless they had the athleticism of, or actually were a monkey.”

Pax let out another whoop, followed by more consecutive whoops that intensified into screams. Fio quickly looked up in a state of alarm.

“Pax! Pax are you okay?” Fio called out. The monkey continued to cry out in a state of panic. Fio squinted in attempt to make sense of the distant silhouetted figures engulfed by the fog, but ze could only make out the tree trunks and their entanglement of branches.

Fio let out one last blaring yell that echoed down the street.

“Pax!” Zir call answered by nothing but silence. Pax had ceased movement. Fio stood to attention, as the fear for zir companion’s life became equalled by fear for zir own. Ze looked left and right to no avail. If whatever had frightened, and potentially done harm to Pax could detect them in these conditions... they didn’t stand a chance. A deep synthetic droning roused further down the street, echoing to meet Fio’s eardrums. Zir unsettled state morphed quickly into utter distress as two shimmering artificial lights coloured red and green materialised amidst the haze. Fio quivered, whispering to zirself.

“A relic from the War.”

Fio felt a cold sweat run down zir cheek, before springing behind the nearest tree trunk large enough to obscure the relic’s view. A red laser cut through fog to Fio’s left, as ze sat with zir back to the tree trunk facing away from the relic. The laser fanned out, spreading vertically to create a transparent wall of light that slowly panned towards Fio’s hiding place.

“The Writers of Time spoke of this phenomena. Relics that scan their surroundings before homing in on their target.” Fio recalled to zirself quietly. The light wall dissolved and was replaced by the roaring cracks of the relic as golden bolts teared through the vegetation, ripping their own path, and propelling wooden shrapnel through the air. The sounds of a squealing monkey found Fio’s ears before ze had time to block them.

“I’m here Pax follow my voice!”

Pax ducked and weaved, darting across the tree branches before they were shredded by the relic’s projectiles behind him. He leaped in the direction of Fio’s call-outs until he was yanked out of mid-air, pulled in toward the chest of a friend.

“Gotcha!” Fio exclaimed as ze pulled Pax in close. The relic’s firing ceased.

“Stay still Pax it’s me!” Fio firmly whispered.

“Hold tight, it stopped firing, so it must’ve lost track of you.” Fio held zir hand over the monkey’s mouth while the two sat against the tree. Hearts pounding. Deep breathing. As they waited for the nausea of anxiety pass so they could act upon clearer minds, the wall of light cast by the relic had returned to scanning the area around them. As it passed to their left, Fio peaked out over zir right shoulder back at the relic.

“Its stationary, hasn’t moved.” Ze whispered. Fio then looked to zir right. The fog had proceeded to let up, granting Fio a few extra meters of sight. A waist high fence could be made out between the trees. Fencing like that marks a building’s perimeter, Fio thought to zirself. Fio began whispering.

“Alright Pax, we’re gonna make a break for it.”

Fio reached down and picked up a chunk of tree that blown off during the initial bullet barrage.

“Okay. Ready. Set...” Fio hurled the chunk toward the light wall. A clear gap cut through the light source as the chunk flew through the air.

“Go!”

Fio jumped up and threw Pax up into the trees where his talent for mobility thrived. Fio sprinted with everything ze had while trying to keep composure traversing the thick terrain. The relic poured another round of bullets back toward the centre of the street in the direction Fio had mislead it before ceasing altogether. The two swiftly cleared the fence and continued into the building it enclosed.

Fio and Pax laid down on the old creaky floor, where they remained for quite some time. They caught their breath as the remaining adrenaline unravelled into excitement before departing, leaving only light headedness. Fio laughed and Pax rolled around as if to join in on the humour Fio had found in hindsight of the situation.

“Leave it to us to find trouble in an empty pre-war town hey pal.” Fio said before sighing with relief. Fio sat up and rubbed Pax thoroughly on the head before giving him a big hug.

“Right, now that we know why no ones been down this end of town for so long, lets see if it was worth the trouble.” Fio stated before standing up and taking in their new surroundings. The room was, for the most part, empty, aside from an antique dining table set up next to a window in the far wall.

“Well, not exactly the kind of artefact the Writers are after.” Fio walked over to the table.

“Wait a second.” Ze picked up a golden heart shaped locket attached to a chain. Fio held it up, staring at the object in awe.

“Fascinating, another example of sentimentality in the pre-war generations perhaps? Pax come and check this out!” Pax sprung across the floor and joined Fio in examination up on zir shoulder.

“Interesting humans.” Fio continued.

“To create jewellery in the shape of an ancient heart symbol, before taking part in a monumental war that pretty well plunged our entire race into extinction. The Writers are going to eat this up.”

Pax fiddled with the locket until it popped open. The duo gazed upon the locket’s contents with curious eyes.

“You’re a genius Pax!” Inside, on one side of the locket was a small image of two humans embracing each other, on the opposing side was the inscription Lyla and Raddix - Forever.

“Wow, pre-war gens were possessive. I think I overheard one of the Writers saying that they even ‘possessed’ their own buildings or land or something. Like the ones we’ve been staying in!” Fio laughed at the idea. It seemed outlandish, having led a nomadic existence across the post-war wasteland, also being accustomed to the practice of polyamory back at the commune.

“Maybe that possessiveness is what led to the War? I dunno.” Fio pondered.

“One thing I do know Pax, is that the old generations definitely did not understand the concept of forever.”