A Savage Life
Chapter 19

I had been walking for a mile when I had finally found a sign. “Nw Yor” it said. Then I realized that I was in the remnants of New York.

Wow, I’ve come a long way from home, and frankly, come to think of it, I’ve never been to New York, and if it wasn’t so torn apart, and if I hadn’t ran across that child that died, I might spend a minute or two exploring even more. Heck, maybe a piece of the puzzle rested somewhere around here, in these ruins; the Twin Towers reside here, and so does the Pentagon, and they’re probably heavily fortified, and since nobody’s here, I might just “break in.” Do some snooping and all that, but then again, the government may have destroyed every document when they knew the world was going to a bad place, so even if they left in a rush, what would make me think that they would leave a whole bunch of top secret information just lying about? That would be like me leaving my Social Security Number lying around in an old alleyway.

Also, think of the people I might encounter. Marauders, thieves, murderers, sociopaths, and all the matter of the like, and based on what I’ve seen, they’d probably figure out how much I was worth, and send my corpse back to the Laboratory I escaped from, laughing as they gorged themselves on whatever reward they could get. After all, money was essentially useless, but supplies were like the bread and butter of the 1950s here.

I took a good look before I left. I will probably never forget the twenty-story high skyscrapers that now lay in toppled shambles, laying on their sides like fallen trees, the foundations of houses swept away by disaster, the cracked pavement, the cactuses that sprung up from the sidewalks here and there, the moss that creeped over the slate of the leftover metallic things, and the sand that swept over the area when the wind blew, so yes, I was, drum roll please, essentially in a desert.

A mild desert. It wasn’t hot, but you could tell the temperature was warm enough for dry sand. And what would I encounter? Probably snakes, mutated camels, maybe even carnivorous plants. Well I’ll never know if I don’t head on out of there, and I won’t last long without any essentials, and without something to fight with. The next tree I see, I’m ripping a twig off. I can’t go on without a weapon, not here, not ever, so some puny stick will have to do. And hey, it’s better than nothing, so I trudge on, avoiding the white, mutated, three-headed snake, heading my way. Eugh. Disgusting. At least in Alaska, a snake was the least of my worries. No, they were nonexistent, but the struggle between hungry polar bears, grizzly bears, and wolves would highlight the day for you, even if you did live in a city. Some animal always made themselves your neighbor. And I’m even more grateful that I live in a rural area instead of in the mountains. I would definitely not like to wake up to a lynx or one of Santa’s lost pets staring at me through a window in the middle of the night.

I eventually make my way to a “You are now leaving New York” sign (But it was more of a U R Nuw Levin Nuw Yrk sign really). I look at the sign, and wish I had a camera to capture this moment. Lana would love to see this, but then I remember that I’m not a tourist, but someone sent here for some reason that I wish I knew. And so, as I walked by, I see this half naked man stumbling around. I think he’s drunk, but if he was, he wouldn’t have made a bee line for me.

“Are you a lady?” he asked me, standing in my personal space bubble.

This man was either blind, stupid, or both. Stupid because this isn’t the timeline right where you risk walking up to strangers unless you’re desperate and on death’s door. And I’m not sure how you could confuse me for a lady. I have a shabby looking beard that’s starting to get too long, short, blackish-brown hair, my physic was slender, but pudgy almost. I’m too tall to be a woman, nor do I have those curves that they do. Now you tell me how I could be confused for a lady. He rubs up against me and I shove him off going, “You better not be getting ready to do what I think you were gonna do!”

I made sure I sounded terrifying, so that way he knew the definition of Boundaries.

“Do what?” the man asked innocently.

“Rob me!” I shout. “Now on your feet man! And don’t play dumb with me if you value your life!”

Yeah I threatened him. He’ll know better now than to threaten me.

His only response was, “Rob you! I just want to know if you’re a man or woman!”

I clench my fists and my teeth and give an aggravated moan, and then kick his face in, knocking him out on the spot. I am in no mood for games. Lana is the only one who counts. But then I realize, would Lana have wanted this? Oh great, I’m as bad as Tyler, the school bully. I had to knock in his whole front row of teeth to get him to leave me alone. He would’ve done exactly what I just did right now to me whenever he got the chance.

Now I know that wasn’t nice of me, so to do what Lana wanted, I will carry... this... heavy... elephant... over... my... shoulders... God how much does this guy eat? He don’t even look like he’d weigh ninety pounds?

Well, if I want to get any farther I’ll have to walk; After all, Sabine isn’t here to comfort me, or do something so idiotic I get agitated and ready to throw in the towel, which made me feel a little less lonely, and scream at him. At least he was somebody to talk to. Well, I hope Heavyweight Twig over here will at least provide some sort of company and not be as much of a nuisance as Sabine.

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