Quest of the Heartman

The Quest of Heartman

In the year 2066 humanity’s lust for technological advancement and entertainment reached a breaking point. With the creation of the world’s 419th streaming service the human race was brought to a stand still. Society was halted as the world was overwhelmed with so many options people could no longer decide what to watch. Businesses, schools, and churches were left completely vacant as people stayed inside glued to their couches endlessly scrolling through various streaming services unable to make a decision on what to watch. This event became known to the survivors as the Big Stop. As humanity sat idle in it’s perpetual search for a decent movie or show the world they built began to crumble around them until nothing was left but a decrepit shell. I now walk the empty cities of this abandoned earth as one of the few survivors of the big stop. I am John Heartman and this is my quest.

Three years have passed since the Big Stop. I find myself traveling in the blistering heat across what was once a bustling highway. Now all that remains is abandoned vehicles faded and worn by the weather slowly being overtaken by the surrounding foliage. As I look to my compass I hear a squeaking noise in the distance. I see an old rusted directional sign hanging by it’s last remaining bolt. The sign reads “LA NEXT EXIT” in chipped crumbling white paint. My journey was beginning to draw to a close. I leaned up against a weather battered sedan and pulled out my canteen but before I could take a sip I heard a muffled groaning noise come from behind me. I spun around and through the dirt covered glass I saw it glaring back at me, a watcher. What was once a fellow human being was now a pale emaciated husk of a creature. Its face was obscured by long stringy unkempt hair draped in front of a pair of greyed out glassy eyes. The now baggy clothes that hung off its body were covered in what seemed like years of sweat stains and clutched in its overgrown fingernails was an old iphone covered in scratches. The phone appears to have gone dead years ago yet the poor creature continues to stare at the screen, swiping at the cold black surface with its long yellowed fingernails. I quickly took a step back from the car and the watcher turned its head back towards the phone in its gnarled hands. I took my sip and continued on my way. I've lived long enough to learn it's not a good idea to startle a watcher. Nobody knows why or how the watchers cling to life. Some think it's a kind of mutation brought on by radiation emitted from computers, phones, and TV screens. Meanwhile the more superstitious survivors believe they have been forever cursed by God for their sins. Me personally? I think deep down some part of them still holds out hope that one day they'll be able to figure out what to watch and get on with their lives. Unfortunately hope can be a dangerous thing.

I made my way down from the highway overpass in what was once the city of LA. Since the Big Stop most of the city had become flooded leaving the streets inaccessible. The only way survivors can now traverse what remains of the city is either by boat or by rooftop hopping. Fortunately for me I brought my trusty grappling hook. I grappled onto what was once an apartment building and began climbing. Simply entering the building and making my way up from within was too risky. Aside from the years of water damage and no safety inspections leaving the interior of the building structurally unsound it could also be full of watchers and I’d rather take my chances with old man gravity than those creatures. As I climbed I steeled my nerves by focusing on my current goal, The Queen Mary. The Mary was a 1936 ocean liner turned into a luxury hotel. Before The Big Stop she was a symbol of old world splendor and comfort. Now the old tub is one of the last bastions of civilization for survivors in this broken world. As I continued my climb I began to hear a distant buzzing sound that slowly grew louder and louder. I turned my gaze to the east and I saw delivery drones. These machines once ruled the skies of major cities delivering packages and using their various sensors to gather marketing data. After years of neglect since The Big Stop the drones without a master to command them have gone feral. Now they attack anything that moves by slamming directly into their target. If one of those things were to ram into me I could possibly be left with some minor scratches or even bruises. I had no choice. I detached my grappling hook and smashed myself through a nearby window. Glass flew all over the place as I hurled myself into an old stairwell. My body slammed into a guard rail overlooking the stairs causing it to break loose from the floor. I tumbled over the edge but at the last second I was able to swing myself to safety using my grappling hook. The Drones not looking to cause a rumble within the building fled the area. I regained my composure and dusted off the shards of glass stuck to my clothes. A sign on the adjacent wall said I was on the 9th floor only two floors away from the roof.

I crept through the ruined hallway of the 10th floor making sure to watch where I stepped as well as for any signs of movement. The hallway smelled of mildew and rat piss. It was completely dark, the only light to guide me was coming from the makeshift lantern I cobbled together back in Soda Springs Idaho. With each step I took I could feel the decrepit floor boards beneath me buckle and creek as if at any moment the rotting floor could give and send me plummeting down. No way this place would pass a safety inspection. On both sides I was surrounded by doors leading to the apartment spaces most of which were closed, some even boarded up aside from one. As I creeped closer to the open doorway I could hear a distant weezing stopping me dead in my tracks. I peeked within the open apartment and saw two figures slumped over on a couch facing a dead flatscreen. Two watchers looked like they were once a couple, I guess they still are. The male had one arm clutching a dusty old remote still clicking away looking for something to watch. Meanwhile the other arm was wrapped around the shoulder of his companion. For whatever the reason seeing these creatures embraced stirred up some old memories within me, memories of better days. I could see it movie night, Debra sat on the couch with the remote in her hand and a warm smile on her face. I sat down next to her with a bowl full of pop-corn and stared into her eyes. When she looked at me her eyes shined brighter than the locket around her neck. That warm shine let me know everything was perfect, but it didn't last. I began to hear the wheezing noise from before turning into a low growl and snapped out of my daydream. The watchers on the couch were becoming agitated with my presence, so before things turned ugly I dimmed the light on my lanturn and made my way to the roof.

I jimmied open a rusted metal door and made my way into the sunlight. I was on the roof and found what looked like an abandoned camp someone had set up. There was a tent, grill, rain collector, and laundry still hanging on the line. Inside the tent I found a skeleton next to an old plastic cooler filled with empty bean cans. Looks like the poor guy held out for as long as he could before he ran out of food. Under his pillow I found an old .22 revolver however when I examined it I decided it was too old and rusted to use. It would be more likely to blow up in my hands than harm any would be attacker. As I rummaged through the rest of the deadman’s old belongings I found a pair of binoculars and an old map of the city hidden beneath a pile of inappropriate adult reading material. As the sun began to set I could see the Queen Mary off in the distance and better yet I could see lights and smoke, signs of life. The sky was beginning to grow dark so I decided to use the map to plan my route and head out at sunrise. Just as I was prepping a campfire using the reading material I found in the tent I suddenly heard a familiar buzzing sound in the distance. The drones had returned. I dashed to the metal door to reenter the building but it was jammed. I began slamming my body up against the door to unjam it. The door broke off its rusted hinges and tumbled down the stairs with a loud bang. The noise must have alerted the watchers inside as I began to hear inhuman screeching and frantic footsteps coming from within. I was trapped between a rock and a hard place. I brought out my trusty grappling hook and swung at the oncoming drones. My grapple struck a drone but the hook had become stuck to its metal frame. The drone then began to veer off and collide with another thus becoming stuck together. Soon enough I had gotten the entire pack of feral drones tangled in my grapple. Just then several enraged watchers shambled their way up the stairs, it was now or never I had to take a chance. With the rope from my grapple gripped firmly in my hands I jumped from the rooftop.

I made it. I escaped the wrath of the watchers and was now floating across the city towards the Queen Mary like some kind of twisted Mary Poppins. I looked down at the rooftops below me and saw many camps just like the one I had come from, abandoned with no signs of life. The dozens of dead camps I saw brought back memories of lonelier times. Of when Debra and I split up. It seems like a lifetime ago now. We would argue so much back then. It would be about such mundane things that didn't matter now. Looking back now I wish I did more to fix it. Most likely Debra, like most of humanity, isn't around anymore. After we split up she went on a trip to LA for a medical conference and took her locket with her. That locket is the only remnant of a past where I was happy. I must find it. This is my quest. I was rocked out of my daydream by the sound of a loud bang. One of the drones that was carrying had exploded under the stress, lighting the others on fire. I fell so close to my goal all my struggles were in vain. Everything went black.

I was dazed, awoken by a familiar voice. “Oh my God it's John”. I opened my eyes only to see the locket swinging in front of me. I looked up. It was Debra. “John, you took a bad fall. It's ok now you're in The Queen Mary’s infirmary” she said, placing her hand on mine. “You kept the locket” I said in a weak voice. Debra clutching the locket “yeah I missed you”. Struggling to get my words out through the pain I said “Yeah I missed you too”. She smiled and sat down at my bedside, “we've got a lot of catching up to do”.