Red on Gray

“Is that something?”

Dammit! I was hoping she didn’t see it. Of course she saw it! Everything is gray. Always fucking gray and chalky and dry!! The little flickers of sunlight peeking through ricochet off in every direction, failing in its attempts to add color or life to this shithole. Splashing against the depressing background of the ruins, illuminating misery. Yet just like all of us, still trying its best.

It wasn’t nuclear or biochemical. Society just burned itself to the ground. We lost all the data, so very few memories are consistent from place to place. Everyone blamed everyone else, as all failed civilizations do. The world just turned on itself in a flash. A constant effort was required to keep catastrophe at bay. Once we let up just a little, the house of cards toppled, as all houses of cards do. We do the best we can. The clever among us have learned to filter what water we find with the abundance of carbon at our disposal. Some crops died, some have grown out of control. It is a feast or famine world. Some are contaminated. Some are mutated. We eat what we find when we find it because winter comes without warning. We keep what we find. If something isn’t burnt or discolored it is considered treasure. Anything to contrast all the ash. Any life to contrast all of the death and decay. Fuck that! I don’t buy into that. She is my only treasure. She is the only reason I haven’t jumped off a bridge. I trust her and she trusts me. That is it. The beginning, middle, and end of our relationship are simply that. We share everything we find and have each other’s backs. I sit for a moment and hold onto the moment. A mind is an easy thing to lose without fire in the heart.

I try to disguise my body movements but this world has had everyone on high alert for so long we are tuned to the slightest twitch. We can’t diagnose diseases like we used to. Every sneeze and cough are a threat and people have been banished or killed for far less.

Communities, the little groups we form to survive. I am also not a fan. There is never enough to go around and people end up turning on or abandoning the group. No thank you.

We are all we have and we are more than enough. Besides, the gratitude I have gets me through the days.

I glance down at color out-of-place. All color is out of place here. Vibrant red absorbing the light, allowing an intimate dance inside until the light rebounds drenched in deep living red. I shuffle slightly to dislodge the soot around it, more of the red emerges and I see it’s encased in shiny metal, maybe silver or gold, too much carbon to tell. It looks like a locket.

“What was that?”

DAMMIT!! I gripped the locket as I stood to share what I had found, but she was looking in the other direction. Before I could get closer, she dropped and began to scramble towards me as silently as panic would allow. I rushed and grabbed her and in a quiet breath she said “rovers”.

We stayed low and ran until acid was burning through our veins. We got to the nearest structure and as soon we were shielded from view we threw our chests high and ran at full speed. Rovers aren’t the only threat but there is none worse. We found a spot to hide that had a slightly elevated view. Scanning for threats and gulping air quietly as possible. We were both shaking. We stayed put until night fell. It had remained quiet. She finally allowed herself to fell asleep. I pulled the locket out and cleaned it as best I could. It was a brilliant red heart, the size of my fingertip, supported with two small silver hands sharing and protecting the heart. I don’t remember the last time I saw anything as beautiful. I looked over and remembered exactly when.

I don’t remember dozing into a dream. I remember being so confused. How was everything spiraling out of control so fast? Why were people at each other’s throats when things were getting better? Things were good. People were struggling but nothing we couldn’t handle. It happened so fast. Tiny incidents here and there became larger and larger. The things people were saying to one another got more hateful and dehumanizing. It became the most important introduction. “What side are you on???”. Sophistry took control.

There was no real flashpoint. It was more like a teapot going off downstairs while stuck in the bathroom. By the time everyone got off their asses, it was too late. The internet went down. Data centers were destroyed, the grid was attacked. Did it start in Texas or Washington? New York or Nevada? Depending on who you asked the answer was any city on the map.

Roads were unsafe, so almost immediately guns became useless. There’s no gas for vehicles and electricity is generated in primitive ways on small scales and doing so immediately makes you a target from the desperate and dying, and worse, it gets the rover’s attention. The rovers are groups of people who have made a death pact. They roam in big numbers capturing and killing anyone they come across, and when things get thin, they eat the weakest among themselves. Seriously. They start their feast ceremony and test each other in combat and the loser gets eaten alive. This is important to them because they want to hear the pain. They love bones. Their armor and weapons are all made of the victim’s remains. They are rabid and often their ceremonies devolve into massacres. Rabid from consuming human meat they thrive on torture and cruelty. And I think I just fucking heard them coming. I open my eyes as a hand covers my mouth. She stares into my eyes, burning everything I need to know right into them. Don’t say a word.

We sat frozen for what seemed like forever. The noise got closer and closer and then stopped. It sounds like they are making camp. Hours went by feeling like days. It felt like we would be discovered at any moment and we had no weapons to defend ourselves with. At one point some were so close their foulness burned the eyes. They are not easy to understand but it was clear they were excited and on the trail of prey. Was it us? Had they tracked us or are they pursuing others? Either way, their excitement was palpable. They could not wait to consume something living just to hear its agony. Being on someone’s menu is unsettling.

They finally returned to the rest of their feral pack. I reached in my pocket and took out the locket and showed her. She smiled with her eyes, I smiled back. Was not the moment I had hoped for but she radiated silent joy. She examined the shape, running her fingers over the gem and the shiny silver hands. I watch her run her fingernail into the seam and the hands clicked apart. A yellow flower petal protruded. She softly took it out and we gazed at the first flower petal we had seen since it all burned down. Soft dry yellow contrasting to the dancing light from the red stone. Yellow and red blend in her eyes how I remember sunsets. She looked up at me and with a single tear expressing emotion for the first time. Words would have ruined it anyway.

With a faint sound, our gazes froze. Pupils smash down to pinholes. There was movement. No noise, not rovers, something was moving quietly and it was close. We both turned our gaze towards the silence and could see a gray figure perfectly camouflaged holding a finger over its mouth hastily motioning for us to follow. We did.

We followed the silent figure until it disappeared into the ground. As we crawled closer we saw a small hole angled into the wall, we followed the figure in. The hatch shut behind us. The figure removed its mask.

“Are you warriors?” the person asked. Feminine features but deeply hardened. Their voice cracked from grit and lack of use. “Or just survivors?”

I answered “survivors”

“Well then you’re useless and need to be on your way. We are exterminating these rovers and I can’t have you on my conscience. There is an exit down that tunnel, be gone, and don’t turn back or you will be treated as a threat.”

I knew the warning was serious but I had to speak. “They rovers were talking about being close to prey they are hunting. You have set traps for them. You have the means to attack such a large group?”

“Look who is suddenly talking like a warrior” their voice sounded like amused gravel.

She grasped my arm and pleaded with her eyes. I looked back to the figure who saved us with gratitude, they returned the sentiment as we turned down the tunnel. It looked like infinity and became dark as space almost instantly.

Inch by inch until I felt the hatch. Fumbled to open it and was assaulted by the light. Emerging at the edge of a building shielded, the occasional hole to peek through. We should’ve selected any other path.

Long enough to be plenty thirsty we stop for a moment. I saw them first, but there was no time. They immediately began to rush towards us. I looked her in the eye. “Take this, and thank you, thank you for everything. Thank you for being the only color in my life. Now run and don’t stop!” She bolted. I knew she wanted to fight. I knew she wanted to fight by my side. Before I turned away I saw her look at the locket in her hand. She cried out and ran as fast as she could. She has my heart with her.

In that case.

I turned and ran as fast as I could. Let’s see how willing to die these freaks are now that my heartbeat is safe. I grabbed two rocks, smashed them together a few times to let them know I was here. Let’s do this.

I was white-hot and they weren’t that tough. Slow and easily disoriented. I bought her a lot of time. It brought me peace. Yeah, they got me with those damn bone weapons a few times. I was bleeding pretty bad but it was going to take everything they had. I kept their attention on me for what felt like forever. I don’t see what the fuss was. I mean… I’m going to die, but this place sucked anyway. I just wanted to keep her safe. She has to be safe by now. The lights are starting to flicker. I feel the pressure and the jostling, but not much else. It’s getting hard to see, but I see her.

Rocks come flying in like bullets. Dropping the rovers in their tracks. The last thing I remember is the sound of rocks crashing like hail and seeing figures swarm past.

My eyes are dried shut. I have to peel them open. Where the fuck am I? I sit up and everything hurts like hell. Holy shit are these stitches? She walks in and smiles.

I survived. I realize as one walks in that the figures had saved me after all. “You’re nuts man!” a familiar face says.

Not what I expected…

“You were chopped up pretty bad. You’ve been down for over a week. We got you here in time” he said proudly and with a hint of you’re welcome.

“Where is here?” I asked

“The Community. We are starting over. We defeated the rovers” he said as he glanced over to her. She looked at me with the most sinister smile and nodded for me to follow.

The figure handed me a walking stick and their shoulder as I struggled to my feet. We walked out of the room to a balcony, looking down at a towering wall bearing a giant red heart smeared across. I turned to her and she pulled the locket out and showed it to me. The figure pulled his shirt down to reveal a red heart painted on their skin. All of the figures present showed me similar markings.

“It became a symbol of hope. We told stories of your bravery. Of how you attacked the rovers giving us the advantage we needed to win. They were not invincible after all. They fell quickly. We have established as much safety as this world will allow. Thanks to you two.” he turned leave us alone. The rest followed.

She smiled that sinister smile and pointed towards the heart mural.

“It’s beautiful. How did you do it?”

There’s that sinister smile I love, she leaned in and said “After they hurt you, they brought you here and promised they would help. So I took the guards and we cut the rover’s hearts out”, she gestured towards the mural, “and painted the wall” wink.

I smile with my eyes and she smiles back.