The Forgotten One

Ellie quickened her pace, the sun beating down on her back, already drenched in sweat. She glanced down at the NavCom strapped to her wrist to double check her coordinates. She was almost to her destination. Six months of careful planning was finally going to pay off. At least, she hoped it would. To be honest, she had no idea what she would actually find when she arrived. She just knew that she had to satiate her curiosity. That someone wouldn’t have kept and hidden the information she discovered if it wasn’t important. She scanned the horizon’s surface for anything that would indicate that she was close. She was running out of daylight, and she didn’t want to be caught out in the open after sunset. Even in a remote location such as this. Raiders were everywhere. The world had gone to Hell in a handbasket long before she was even a thought. The Great War, they called it. From what she could see, there was nothing great about it. There was nothing but struggle, pain, and dust. Everywhere was dust. She had read old articles on how things were before the war. Green, lush. More than enough for everyone, yet the people were filled with greed and selfishness. They didn’t know what they had. How blessed they truly were. Or maybe they did, and they just stopped caring and took it all for granted. In the end, it didn’t matter. Not when bombs were raining from the sky and the whole world was burning. Not when bodies were piled high in the street and the stench of death hung in the air like a miasmic cloud. Ellie thought it was all such a waste. Yeah, they killed their enemies, but they killed the earth as well. It was years before the fires stopped raging, and all that was left was ash. And the dust. Even after the war ended, the death count didn’t. The number of deaths after the war were more than triple the amount during, as people died of radiation poisoning, disease, and famine. What was left of civilization fled to more remote locations in search of water and land that was nontoxic. Large metropolises became too radiated to venture into, as they were hit the hardest with the nukes, and new ones sprang up in their place as viable lands were discovered. Over eighty years have passed, and the effects of the war were still apparent in the ruins that littered the landscapes of this once thriving nation. And yet, the memory of those that remained was short and before long greed returned out of necessity. Everyone was just out for themselves as food and water became scarce. Only the strong survived. It seemed some things never changed.

Along with the natural necessities, bits of tech and replacement machinery parts were always needed and became a currency of sorts for those brave enough to risk venturing into radiated areas to recover such items. Ellie realized at an early age that she would have to be the best of them in order to survive. She had scraped and saved everything she earned from odd jobs to purchase the tools necessary to be a Scrapper. Over time, she was well known for her ability to retrieve rare tech, and for her generosity with the spoils. After losing her family to starvation and the elements, and nearly dying herself, she vowed that she would never allow someone else to experience that, as long as she could help it. And so, she poured herself into her work. Taking what jobs she could and training on her days off to keep in peak physical condition. It was vital to her survival in the field. Every job could be her last or could be the one that would let her retire at the early age of thirty. This was why she was out here in the middle of Hell itself.

As she continued the trek over the last stretch of Nevada desert, she thought back on the discovery that had set this quest in motion. She had been scrapping at what was once a United States Air Force base on the outskirts of Old Vegas. Although she usually liked to scrap for parts alone, she had teamed up with a few fellow Scrappers. Scrapping was most lucrative when the spoils didn’t need dividing, but on larger hauls or treks further out, there was strength in numbers. Raiders were always looking for lone Scrappers they could ambush and pillage. Her and her crew had just finished looting the remnants of one of the barrack buildings when she noticed the sun catch on an object out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she stooped to pick it up. It was a simple, silver locket on a broken chain. It was charred, scuffed, and a little misshapen, but she could clearly see it was heart shaped. She realized that she wouldn’t be able to get it open, as it was melted shut, without her tools back home. So, she tucked it in her pocket and hurried to rejoin the group that had continued on ahead. Several days passed and the locket was forgotten until she was gathering clothes for washing and it fell from her pocket and clattered to the floor. Snatching it up, she went in search of her tools. After several minutes and more than a few choice words, she finally managed to pry it open and reveal its hidden contents. As she did, a single small bit of folded paper slipped free. She was amazed at the condition it was in after eighty plus years. Probably due to the lack of oxidation from being sealed away. She removed it and set the locket aside. Carefully unfolding it, she revealed what appeared to be coordinates and a set of numbers, six digits long. She went to the digital map on the wall and typed in the coordinates and waited for its location. When it finally blipped onto the screen, she was surprised to see that it was in the middle of nowhere. As far as she knew, there was nothing at that location. Just a wasteland of miles and miles of empty, open desert. Confused, she went to her data pad and started searching for any clue as to why someone would bother to write down and save coordinates to a wasteland.

After months of searching every database and archive she could get her hands on, she was only able to discern that there was once a military installation there that was highly guarded, and its contents kept classified from the public. As she searched, it became clear that this base was largely forgotten and likely remained untouched by looters, Scrappers, or raiders. It could be the haul of a lifetime. One she meant to keep to herself. There were incredible risks venturing there at all, let alone on her own, but if by chance she was the first to discover the site, the payout would be well worth the risks. She could finally feed all those she cared about and then some. No more dangerous jobs or risking her life to make ends meet. She just needed this venture to pay off.

After what felt like hours, she finally spotted ruins in the distance. Not much farther. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was in much need of rest. She had been traveling for three days in the heat. The last two on foot, as she didn’t want to risk alerting potential raiders to her location. Her back, legs, and feet were sore, and she could feel blisters forming on her heels from fourteen hours of nonstop walking. Her face and neck were burned, and her lips cracked and bleeding from the dry heat. She was low on water and prayed she would have enough for the return trip back to her Solar Bike. It would be a cruel twist of fate if she keeled over from dehydration this close to her destination. As she neared the site, she stopped to check her Rad Reader. Radiation levels were low and so she continued, keeping her hand near the weapon strapped at her hip.

The site was a desolate wasteland, the debris barely discernable from the many mounds of sand that decorated what was left of an airfield. There were only a few small outbuildings still standing. After hours of searching for anything of merit, she was beginning to get frustrated. She could see nothing that would warrant someone securing the coordinates inside of a locket. She decided to give up and continue her search in the morning, as the sun began to set. She headed towards the outbuilding that looked the most stable to set up camp for the night, when her foot struck something, and she fell face first in the dirt. Her ego more bruised than her body, she rolled over and sat up to examine what had tripped her. Sticking out of the sand was a handle. Intrigued, she started digging and brushing the sand away to reveal a trap door. Squatting, she gripped the handle and pulled, yet it was too heavy to budge more than a few inches. Looking around, she noticed a length of rebar a short distance away. She jogged to it, snatched it up, and rushed back to the door. Sticking one side through the handle and using her body weight as leverage, she pried the door open. There was a ladder inside descending into darkness. She sat at the edge and tested her weight on the first rung. It held firm. She tucked the rebar into her belt. Reaching into the sack on her back, she dug out her headlamp and a few glow sticks. Snapping one of the sticks, she dropped it into the depths below. It hit the ground with a thud. Thankfully, the hole didn’t appear to be that deep. Slowly, she made the descent underground. When she reached the bottom, she flipped on her headlamp. Glancing around she found she was in a narrow hallway. Unsure of which direction she should go, she looked down at her NavCom and headed in the direction of the coordinates. After many twists and turns and half a dozen stairwells, she finally reached what appeared to be a dead end. There was a large metal bay door at the end of the hall. Pulling the rebar from her belt, she used it to pry open the door. To her surprise and delight, she was able to force it open about three feet. Soft light shone from inside. The place still had power. She surmised that it must be solar and was shocked it was still working after all this time. Crawling inside, she found herself in a large control room filled with old computers and electronic equipment. It was a Scrapper’s dream. There was enough tech here that could service a small city. However, this wasn’t what caught her eye. Behind thick, cracked and broken glass panels, was what looked like a long, thin egg. It was about eight feet in length and three feet in width. It was this object that the light was emanating from. As she cautiously approached it, she could hear faint humming, like a heartbeat, coming from the mysterious object in the center of the room. It was all white and covered in a light coat of dust. There was a small screen attached to its side that displayed vital signs. There was something or someone alive inside! As she examined the device, she discovered a small keypad. Remembering the six-digit number, she pulled the piece of paper from her pocket. She hesitated for just a moment before she punched the numbers into the pad. One by one. There was a light hiss as the top slid open.