Wings

All I wanted to do was fly. The only way I could do it was to find a necklace that had been hidden. After World War Ⅲ our lands became barren with radiation. Everything that was grown mutated into inedible poisonous food, it was no use for many years. Starvation and death was a common theme for many years until found out sunflowers drew out radiation from soil. When we were getting out of this great depression, one of the ‘elites’ announced that he had hidden a necklace that allowed the owner to fly. No one knew what he meant by this statement, but he left clues to where the necklace was to be found.

I have decoded the short story that had the clues within it. The clues itself were hard to decode the location of where the necklace lays. Many have tried to find it but perished on the way due to the radiation fields and the animals. The animals seemed to morph into demons, most of them bearing fangs with thirst for blood. They loved to feast on humans instead of their own kind. How the elite man was able to put the locket in its place is still a mystery for anyone who has tried to be attacked by the beasts.

From the short story, the clues point towards the opposite side of the continent from where I reside. I have to walk about sixteen days to accomplish my goal. The location of where the necklace lays is in a cave in what used to be Colorado. How society is set up there are villages with their own government systems. Some let refugees enter while other people are speared on site, because all guns have become useless due to no amo being available. After the war we were no longer the United States of America; we are different shells of our old society.

Tomorrow I leave. I need to know how to fly and not cope with the devastation that I call my village. My village is the poorest of the cities around us, limiting my ability to feel free. Just like the old days money is power. The more of it the more power a person processes. All I want to do is fly and the only way to do it is the necklace. I think of my plans as I drift asleep.

The sun rising wakes me from my cold slumber. Popping my back and getting out of bed, heading towards the door to where my supplies are. I open the door to see the rundown buildings of my community. The birds flying overhead shows me the right sign: that I’m ready to spread my wings and fly. I step down the rotted wooden steps rady to start my journey. I have to get to the village of Seren before dark when the big ones come out.

The outskirts of the town are mainly weeds that lead to the forest. There is an old road that leads to my destination, but there are villages along the way that are hostile to outsiders. When I get there I have to trek through the woods so they can’t attack me. I wonder what lurks outside their city; is it like mine with wild animals ready to pounce. Or where they are able to dispose of their problems like the more rich cities. Animal attacks are very common and some people say that those who are attacked turn into creatures. I don’t believe in those rumors because I have never seen it.

A little down the rundown road I see a body on the ground. As I approach it I can see it move around, writhing and shaking, I shout at them to see if they would respond. To my surprise the person spoke up.

“Hey, I need help!” I ran towards them to see what the problem was. When I approach, I see the person on the ground was a young man probably the age of nineteen. His face was slashed from his forehead to his mouth on the side of his face. He was laying face down so i couldn’t see the rest of his body. I squat down and push his body so he is his back to see what problem I was facing. Everything else seems to be fine but his face. I sit him up and ask him, “What happened?”

“I was attacked by a rabbit with fangs and the longest claws I have ever seen!” He rasped out. He was clutching his face and the blood was running down his face onto his dirty shirt. I open my bag to get the medical supplies and take out gauze so he can press it against his face. I then take out alcohol wipes to sterilize his wounds then tape gauze onto his wounds. He starts to talk again.

“Thanks. I was headed back to my village. Where are you headed?” I was pondering if I should tell him the truth or just to Seren. It's not a problem to talk about the necklace adventure because it is common for people to try this.

“I’m on my way to find the necklace.” He looked at me with shock. He starts to stand up and walks towards me. He states, “I always wanted to do that. Would you let me come along?” The shock turns to me. The guy who just got attacked wants to risk his life to go on a hunt that could take his life. I nod my head anyway, wanting to have company on the way. He beams at me.

“Great! I’m Simon and we need to stop by my house in Seren so I can get my bag.” I don’t know what he thinks he is getting into. We should be able to get to Seren before dark. As we start to walk to our destination I say one thing, “My name is Lee.” The rest of the way it was silence.

We approached the border of the village that had a barbwire fence surrounding it. It's common for richer cities to have this for animal attacks. The sun has set so we hurry to the entrance of the wire and calmly start the journey to his house. His house looks rebuilt and has a nice shine to it with the lamp post light. It had two stories and had lights on inside, it felt very welcoming. When we walked the smell of cooked meat wafted throughout the house and a nice voice drifted from the kitchen.

“Simone, is that you? Dinners ready.” This woman came out of the hallway. “Oh, who is this?” As we take off our shoes he responds, “This is Lee and we are going on a trip tomorrow. We are going to see what the west can bring us.” I take a side glance presuming he won’t tell her the actual reason we are going. I let it go and go into the dining room to have dinner. I was too poor to afford meat and any furniture besides a chair. I spent all my money on the supplies of this trip and what food I could get. Afterwards we head up to his room so we can have energy for tomorrow. Dawn approaches a lot sooner than we wanted. We get up and have breakfast and head towards the next village.

We have been walking for days hoping from village to village. As night approaches we would have to take shelter outside the village of Gulem. They are not accepting outsiders due to the animal turned creatures supposedly. The shelter is made up of sticks found around and dirty clothes that we had. I made the fire while Simone started to cook whatever food his mother gave us. We had to set up by the radiation field since no one visits there. As we started to settle down in the shelter for the night, I heard a rustle in the brushes a few feet away. I sit up and grab the knife that was next to me and peek out of the shelter.

In the distance I could make out glowing eyes. I hold still and pray it doesn’t come near. The beast starts to step out of the bushes and I can tell it was medium size but not much else until it approached the fire. It turned out to be a deer with paws. For all that society knows that they are almost harmless, but provoking them they will attack. I continued to stare to see what it would do. It looks me in the eyes and starts to run towards us. I take the knife and stab it in the neck to bring down the beast. It lets out a howl and falls down still twitching and trying to bite me. I held down the head and sliced the neck to end its suffering. I turned to Simone and said, “Hey, Simone we need to take shifts sleeping. I’ll take the first shift.” He nods his head and turns away. The rest of the night was peaceful except for the noises from the woods.

After days of walking we see mountains appear in the distance. From the short story, a clue says that ‘approaching from the east the cave the adventures are looking for is looking at them.’ We trek up to the bottom of the mountain looking for a village to settle for the night. With none that was located nearby we had to settle for the bottom of the mountain. We made another stick shelter under trees. We take turns watching the night life with only the moon and fire illuminating our little area. Not much happens through the night just owls in the trees above. The day comes where we can finally search the cave. The day I have been dreaming about for the past few months.

The cave is dark and small. I get a flashlight out and crawl into the damp cave. The story says ‘where you need to look is in the back, upon this journey look up and you find the item that you want.’ It takes a while to reach the midpoint, having to climb over stalagmites and dodging stalactites. Hands slipping with the damp floors and the floors having some rough spots cutting our knees. We reach this ‘slide’ that leads to a bigger part of the cave. I start to climb down it but end up slipping and crashing onto the hard floor at the bottom. Simone followed me right after and crashed on top of me crushing ribs. After he got off of me, I sat up wheezing trying to catch my breath. AFter a few minutes we continued into the cave. We were able to walk now as the cave had opened up. We neared the back of the cave where we would find this mysterious necklace. The flashlight was pointed at the ground and I turned my head to say something to Simone and smacked into the wall. This was the end of the trial so I started to shine the light up to see if I could see a glimmer of metal.

At the very top hanging by a chain is a heart-shaped necklace. The wall had indents so someone was able to climb and place the necklace there. Simone starts to climb it but slips and hits his head and loses consciousness when he lands. I shook him to try to get him back up, but he didn’t open his eyes. I lay his head on top of his bag. Afterwards I try the wall for myself. As I made my way up the wall and reached the necklace and climbed back down. With this I will be able to fly. I open the locket and it glows this blue light and I hear a voice.

“Welcome to the elites.”