The Wasteland

[Steel]

The world had gone to rubble. Governments useless, millions dead. The war left nothing but devastation, and amongst all this, terrors emerged. Strange mutated life forms have spread over the planet, killing and haunting human kind. In the midst of this tragedy, two people live in a wasteland of what was once a town. Now it is little more than wreckage and sand. A few miles from this town rests a gas station and home adjoined. James lives there with Ellen Valentine, a fellow survivor.


It was another hot day in the wasteland. James was inside, drinking from a beer bottle. His beard had gotten thicker of late. He calls out, "Ellie! You around?" James took another drink. He was never an alcoholic, and isn't to this day. But he loved a cold beer on a molten hot day like today.

 

[NightAngel]

Ellie steps inside, wiping her brow with a dirty rag. "Yes James?" She'd been working on her jeep, her pride and joy. She sees the cool beer in his hand and sighs, but she had decided even before the outbreak to not drink. She chuckles a bit at the tiny bit of it dribbling on his beard.

 

[Steel]

James looks down at what she laughed at, then smirked. "What can I say? It's my flavor saver." He laughs. "How's the jeep, sweetcheeks?" He cracks a grin, he knew how much she loved that Jeep. He had a love of his own, the '68 Chevy Silverado in their garage.

 

[NightAngel]

She flips him the bird for the sweetcheeks comment, broadly grinning the whole time, "My Jeep is immaculate as always, not that I can say the same about that beater you drive...." Not that she meant it, both vehicles had proven invaluable time and time again.

 

[Steel]

He laughs. "Hey, don't pick on Ol' Blue. Besides, I still have that project I need to show you! Remember? The one I've been keeping secret?" James rises from his seat and heads outside, tossing the bottle into their scrap bin. He walked outside past the house a bit, to the big garage and shop they had. The man sits on the hood of a hidden car.

 

[NightAngel]

She follows along, wondering whats got his panties in a bunch. He'd been in there almost every minute we hadn't been doing anything important. And it meant she could be in there. "This had better be good Jo- James." She shook her head, wondering where that thought had come from.

 

[Steel]

He unveils the masterpiece. It was a gorgeous '69 Dodge Challenger, its paint a deep red, with white racing stripes. He leans against it. "Yeah, I figured we needed a car for if we decided to head on a date, y'know? Maybe a fancy restaurant." Ha, as if. All restaurants in the world quickly fell to ruin without 60% of the world's population around. But he made the joke out of good spirit, and it gave him a chance to nudge at their budding feelings for each other, even if it was playfully.

 

[NightAngel]

Ellie whistles loudly, very impressed indeed. "Damn J, where did you find the stuff to fix this up?" She walks the length of it, running a finger along the roof. She twitched a bit at the mention of a date. James was a nice guy, but we are kind of surviving the end of days here. Maybe that's just her reluctance talking. "I know we said we'd try to save as much gas as we can, but you think we could go for a cruise later?"

 

[Steel]

James heads over to a side of the shop, hopping up to sit on the workbench. "Sure. There were three cars farther into town than we normally go. Had tons of gas an parts we needed. Not to mention another crate of ammo and pistols. Probably a scavenger group from the other side of the county. Didn't make it though. A biter got them, saw the bones." He had gotten to calling the mutant beasts 'biters', since for the most part, mutated dogs were the norm. And they were very aggressive, not to mention hideous. Some even had multiple heads, or giant deformations. It made James sad, he loved dogs. But he loved his wolf more. She was actually half wolf, half husky. He had taken to naming her 'Aikido'. She did well to scare off smaller biters.

 

[NightAngel]

His name for the mutants made her grin just a bit. The whole time before she met him, she'd been alone. With no one to talk to she didn't need to name them, leading to them just being They. As far as she knew he'd been in this area most of the time, where as she'd come from the coast right out from the old occupied zones. "What are we going to do with this batch of gear?" We were pretty much stockpiling, but the two of us only needed so much.

 

[Steel]

He shrugs. James was a hoarder when it came to supplies, and it had saved them time and time again. "To the bunker with the rest. That's safest." He scratches his beard, he had been living here most of his life. In fact, he was even growing a garden of decent size in a greenhouse behind their home. It consisted of tomatoes, carrots, and other vegetables. "I put the guns and ammo away already. We have a total of eight handguns, six shotguns, three rifles, and four bows; with about three hundred arrows. So weapon wise, we're set." He looks to the midday sun. "Let's take that ride, yeah? Aikido can watch the house. She's inside right?" He hops into the Challenger.

 

[NightAngel]

Ellie ducks into the house, double checking her gear and telling Aikido to watch the house. She even takes a second to glance in the mirror and appraise her appearance. With a nod she ducks back out the door. A moment later she slides into the passenger seat, enjoying the feel of the warm leather. "We're good to go."

 

[Steel]

He nods, and starts up the 454 engine. It rumbled loudly, and he slowly pulled out of the garage. James snacks the garage door closer, and peels out, leaving a trail of dust. They flew down the dirt road smoothly, and James beamed along the way. "WOOHOO!" He laughs, turning the wheel so that they drifted the next turn. He drove along until they began to slow, and allowe them to cruise easily for a little.

 

[NightAngel]

The deep bass rumble of the engine is a pleasant sound, going on forever in the crisp, dry air. Once James is done showing off, they both relax into the seats, enjoying the silence. After a few moments a thought hits her. "We have't checked any of the radio stations lately, maybe there's someone broadcasting." She leans forward and starts fiddling with the controls, functional thankfully. Just as she's about to give up, a week signal comes in, getting ever so stronger. An old country song, Hank Sr. or the likes, starts jangling out of the speakers. "Well what do you know, some real music."

 

[Steel]

He looks up to the sky, "Thank you lord, for giving me a country music loving girl to survive with. And a pretty one at that." He laughs, nodding his head to the song as he drove contentedly. "You know, I always wanted to be a country singer." He chuckles at the thought. "Can play guitar pretty well."

 

[NightAngel]

She grins over at him. "Country ain't my first choice big boy. I was raised a metalhead." She leans back in her seat. "I played in a band with some friends of mine for a while. What was it we called ourselves?" She trails off for a moment lost in the music. "Oh yeah, Oath to the Thunder Goddess." She chuckles, "Neighbors hated us."

 

[Steel]

"I had a band. 'Oklahoma Blues'. We got popular around the cities, playing at bars and clubs. I never got my big debut though. But I liked it. Some called me the next Johnmy Cash. That was probably drunk bull though." He chuckles, driving towards their home. "I got into a deep depression when I was a young teen. My mom died, see. So I started singing blues."

 

[NightAngel]

That she could relate to in some way. "I get where you're coming from. My stepfather beat my mom, and my siblings." She grins a little bit at the next part, despite the lack of anything remotely funny. "One night He came home jacked out of his mind and started pushing me around, wanting to fuck me..." Ellie looks over at James. "I almost killed him that night..."

 

[Steel]

He nods. "I believe it. I had a buddy who cracked his stepdad in the face with a baseball bat for hitting his mom." He buckled, then pulls into the garage, shutting it behind them. He hops out, patting te car. "Gotta love it."

 

[NightAngel]

Ellie slips out, looking off into the distance, watching the sun going slowly down. "The more you think about it. things haven't gotten much worse... Just in different ways." Snapping out of it she starts toward the house. "I'm going to start dinner, I'm starving." She calls over her shoulder.

 

[Steel]

James follows, "What's for supper, gorgeous?" He liked to throw in random compliments. James wasn't a man who was quiet about his feelings. He heads into his bedroom, removing the Bowie knife and revolver from his belt, before heading into the kitchen. He hands Aikido a fresh bone from the last hunt he had gone on.

 

[NightAngel]

After rifling through the cupboards and refrigerator she decides on fajitas, one of her favorite foods. "Mexican tonight hon." Ellie liked to cook, so she went into a zone when she cooked. When she recovered from her haze she was holding a pan full of amazing smelling pepper, onions and chicken. "Eat up big guy, they're done." She announces as she sets the pan on the table.

 

[Steel]

He enters, with new bandages around the cut he had gotten from sheet metal on his arm. "Yum." He sits down and begins eating, looking up at her. "I think we should look into going deeper into town tomorrow."

 

[NightAngel]

She finishes her bite before replying. "I was thinking something like that too. Supplies are starting to get scarce out here and who know, maybe we'll run into other people." As much as she liked James and Aikido, interacting with others would be nice. Even if it was a firefight...

 

[Steel]

He nods. "Sounds like a plan." That night when he went to bed, James's hunting rifle was loaded, along with his .357.


---The Next Day---


James sheathes his hatchet, slinging his rifle. He was wearing his darker colored plaid shirt, with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows. This revealed the Marines symbol on his forearm. James enters the living room, pulling on his camo ball cap. "Ready?"