Scavenging The Past

Today I went out into the Punished Lands. I snuck past our guards at the barrier. No kids are allowed past the barrier, but I'm pretty quiet and quick. Chief Onwai would be pretty angry since I've done this before. Why should only warriors and scavengers be allowed to venture past the barrier, and why do they even call it the barrier? It's just planks of wood.

I love it out here. You can see so much. It's so vast. You can see the mesas. The Elders say they were once great structures. Built from the civilization from before. They could hold thousands of people. Now, this great land has claimed them to itself, or as the Elders say. I brought my little black book. I want to sketch everything I see today.

Walking through the Punished Lands is tricky. I noticed my tracks in the sand. They say your tracks can save you or betray you. Luckily I know what to do if I'm followed.

Scavengers need a lot of tools to get the job done. I brought mine. Things I found or stuff I made myself. Elder Zue says I'm too smart for my age. She thinks my curiosity could get me in trouble one day. I hope she's wrong. Today I want to do what the scavengers do. I want to find some really cool stuff.

People think scavenger tribes are stupid. That we just look for junk and trade it for food or weapons. Actually, we're pretty smart. Elder Zue says we are probably one of the smartest tribes in the region. We use much of the tech we find. We found some old VR and AR units which is how a lot of us kids were educated. They say I'm one of the smartest kids and a fast learner, but I can be a problem since I only want to learn about the things that I want to learn about.

The land is either sandy or sharp and spikey. They say it's because of all the sandstorms. They come in with really fast winds. One time it took away a few of the guards back at the village. The ones we did find were hurt pretty bad and cut up from all the sand flying around. One of them was hit in the head by a big piece of metal. It almost killed him. I heard people say that the sandstorms weren't always like this, but that was a very very long time ago.

Sometimes I think I see this black wolf following me around. I think it's a wolf. I've seen pictures of them in old books. Maybe it's a dog. I'm not sure it's real though. Many times I can feel it when it's around. I think I do. Can you feel something watching you? Well, I do. The Elders think it's just my imagination. Lawan believes me though.

This was a person. Hopefully Lord Libra brought them peace. Chief Onwai says we should pray if we ever find bones around in the dirt and sand.

Portal storms. Sometimes these scare me more than the sandstorms. They happen all of the time too. Some believe they cause the sandstorms. Others say they are gateways to paradise or hell. I've heard that there are people who actually throw themsleves into these things as sacrifices to the Gods. They are crazy!

I saw the Shaman today. I was really worried he would tell on me. He said my destiny is not up to him or something like that. Whatever that means. the tribe really respects him. Most tribes do actually. They say he is hundreds of years old and that he wasn't always a machine. I heard him talking about destiny with lots of people. He is very wise. He must know a lot. They say he knew people from the civilization from before. One time I heard him say that they were great people, but they wanted to be like the Gods. So the Gods said no. Now they are all gone.

I really wanted to take this helmet, but Chief Onwai says it's disrespectful to the dead and all of the Gods of the Zodiac will judge us harshly. Oh man, imagine all the tech this thing has though. Such a waste!

I found this on one of those structures in the sand. There were lots of them. I couldn't draw them all. I was worried someone would see me. The Punished Lands has scary people roaming around. I wonder who they were.

There are people with these weird boxes on their heads. I have seen them too. Lawan told me they worship technology or something. Maybe that's who these people are?

Is this a God? Which one? If not, who is this?

Why are they fighting?

I found this thing almost buried in the rock and dirt. They say these used to fly people around. That must have been so cool. I think there might be warriors who still fly these things or other machines around. I hope one day I will see them for myself!

The weird giant tube things in the sky don't scare me. The other kids are afraid of them, but I have never seen them hurt anyone. They kind of look like they are apart of the sky. I wonder where they came from. The Elders say they were not always here. That the civilization from before broke something in the heavens. I think they are kind of cool.

We have seen many of these statues around. A lot of giant heads too. I heard they are all for the same man who lived a long time ago. I wonder what he was like.

I found this structure. I wonder if the tower was apart of it at one time. I'm not sure what ANK means. I think I'm going to look inside. Good thing I have my flashlight.

There were these dead machines inside. Lots of them. They must have done things for people back then. I heard they could do everything too. they were people's servants at one time. I bet they have lots of good parts. I will take them apart and see what I can find!

They have a lot of parts! These chips could be useful!

I saw this giant circle room with a giant metal door. I was a little scared to go in but I went in anyway!

There were all these metal boxes laying around and a bunch of paper. They have all of these numbers and faces on them. I packed them up in my backpack. Maybe someone back home can tell me what they are for.

I heard growling in the back of the room. Then I saw these glowing eyes. it was a Stalin bear. I ran so fast. I think it was so excited to try and catch me it got caught up on something inside the building. I am very lucky but I won't be going back there. Once I was super far away I could still hear it growling and roaring. These beasts are the king of the Punished Lands. I didn't get all of the paper either, but I got a lot of it!

I used markers to find my way back as the scavengers do. I even found my old tracks which led me back to these structures. That's how you know you're almost home. The village is not far from here. I always thought these buildings were really cool too!

Chief Onwai was getting to search for me with a bunch of warriors. He was pretty mad but he didn't punish me. He actually said he was proud of me. He says I'm a lot like my father and that he was just as stubborn. He says he would have been proud of me too.

I showed him everything I found. He was pretty surprised. The whole tribe was too. They said that they could use a lot of the machine parts I found. I'm pretty happy with today. I need to show them the bunches of paper too.

Lawan is the Chief's daughter and my best friend. She said I was stupid for going out alone today, but later asked me if I sneak out again to bring her with me. Maybe I will, but I think Chief Onwai might kill me.

Elder Zue counted all of it. she said the paper is called money. Back then I guess people used a lot of it to trade. She even showed me how to write it down. I guess I found $20,000. She said that at one time this ruled the hearts and minds of the civilization from before and that it could have been what made the Gods angry at them.

The entire tribe looked at it. Some of them were confused others were amazed. We couldn't decide what to do with it. Elder Zue said it's all useless now. She said we should burn it. Then at least it would keep us all warm.

Tonight we were all gathered together by the fire watching this money stuff burn. It did keep us warm. We ate really well too. The warriors found some meat and we cooked it over the fire and Elder Zue told us some pretty cool stories. I hope one day I'll be in other people's stories. I wonder what else is out there. For now, it's good to be back home with my people. My tribe. My family.