Fiction Rumble II - Week 26 (Current Champion: Zaphkael)

[Creature]

Spoiler: About the prompt

The prompt was originally inspired from the following image:



I know they're children, not child, and they're under a viaduct, not underground. In fact, it took me a while to word the prompt as "The child from the underground" trying to leave it as open as possible, but sorta aimed to the above image.

I liked the idea of writing children because they don't have the rigidity adults have and are better at expressing their emotions. I used the singular "child" because you'd probably wouldn't have time to write multiple children. As for underground, I had something like a bridge in mind, but underground works just as well. Living in underground is like living in poverty and isolated from the world. There was also enough space to write an adult who had lived in extreme poverty as a child.

However, I wasn't expecting anything other than the story theme revolving around "Child from the underground" and however you wanted to interpret it, so, as I said, I left it as open as possible.

Spoiler: Zaphkael's "Moments"

Kinda regret having already read this before because I could use my surprise to evaluate this better, but I'll go anyway because I can still remember how I felt when reading that.

“Have you seen him again since last time?”

I shook my head.

“No. He’s left me alone”, I lied.

“Good.”

One year ago. That's when this all began.
I was on my daily commute to school when I saw him. Third stop, where nobody ever gets on the underground. He did.

I'm going to say I like this opening. The very short lines and paragraphs made it easier to engage in.

The slightly confused look on his face, his messy brown hair waving in the breeze that never seemed to end. The way he effortlessly hopped into the metro, and looked around with his big, hazel eyes. Do you know those wonderful, almost picture-like moments that seem to last forever? This one did. Everything about him was perfectly imperfect, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.

I also like how briefly was the character described mixed with actual action.

Through the green of the leaves, and the orange of the sunset

This is a nice place description

Time is a strange thing. One moment everything feels so unreal, and then it all comes crashing down.

Shit

Iron pillars blocked the entrance to a tall, grim building. “Psychiatric Residency Goodwill”, the sign said.

Now this gives a feeling...

“This is all my fault”, my mom cried, and “I’m doing this for you. Only for you.” I didn’t understand. What was wrong with me? What was wrong with us?

It seems you can develop the conflict pretty good.

Not once did he care about anyone else. Not once did he even speak to anyone else. Is this what love really is? Complete, unconditional loyalty? I don’t think so, but who am I to say. He helped me, with everything, despite everything. The doctors gave me pills, but he told me to flush them. Because they would make me sick. Because my mom wanted me gone. Because for some reason, I wasn’t worthy of being alive. And I believed him. Why wouldn’t I?
Iron pillars blocked the exit of this tall, grim building, but he was here with me. And nothing could get between us. Right?

Glad there's still something going on between them.

A new kid arrived, as scared and confused as I once was. I talked to her, about how she wasn’t alone. About how things would get better.
He lashed out at me. His hazel eyes now radiating hatred, his awkward smile nowhere to be found.

One conflict in one. Great.

He didn’t leave. He came back, to me, but things were different. We were more distant, colder, sadder. Until that moment. That moment.

So things turned out bad. I remember hoping they would return.

“I know where they keep their needles. Feel like getting some?”

Did he actually ask me to do drugs?

“I don’t know dude, I don’t think that’s a good idea? Doing drugs has never been my thing.”

“You’re letting me down again? Come on dude, this one time, do something for me. Please.”

Love is conflict. It’s doing things you don’t like because someone else does. He taught me that.

It happened in a flash, a fleeting moment. The light coming from my alarm indicated it was two in the morning, and we got up. Whispering, giggling, like little children doing something they shouldn’t be doing. Honestly, was there any difference?
Dark hallways, locked doors. A cabinet, small and seemingly red – the dim light that lingered throughout the building wasn’t nearly enough to see everything clearly – appeared, and we stopped.

“We’re here, take it.”

And I did.

So it got serious...

There were colours, and people. I think? Music, loudly. People screaming. Flashing lights, but nothing I could distinguish. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t think. As if some thick fog had taken a hold of me, I was blinded. What was time? Does “how long” really exist? It was all but moments, moment after moment, overwhelming all of my senses at once, and none at all.

I like this to be honest. Lots of confusion, but feels like it better describes the emotive part and the rollercoaster the main character is going through while using actual mundane things.

Hazel eyes stared into my soul, full of hatred. Furious. Betrayed.

“Have you seen him again since last time?”

I shook my head.

“No. He’s left me alone”, I lied.

“Good.”

Damn this ending was a punch.

Spoiler: Mina's "The Golden Place"

In order to make it fair, I decided to first read Mina trying to not be analytical on anything. Then I'll note down what I think about technical things and particular paragraphs that got me. By the looks, I don't think the story will disappoint me.

Simon was a good boy. Mother gave him rules, and he always followed them.

The first rule was to stay away from the golden place.

Liked how the opening defined where the story should go.

Little boys shouldn't go up there, said Mother. It's dangerous.

And this is the conflict. Really reminds me of K.O.L.M.

Mother said if someone found him, something terrible would happen.

Werewolf story?

Snacks were fine anywhere. Mother brought him things called apples and strawberries, cucumbers and carrots, and they would eat those together. Sometimes, when Simon was very good, she brought him treats. Simon's favourite treat was cakes. Those were so yummy. It all came from the golden place. Simon wished he could go and get cakes whenever he wanted from the golden place too. But the ladder always came and went with Mother. Besides, only bad boys went there. And Simon was good.

Good bonding.

And he would start chewing on the bars, or on his arms and legs until water the colour of strawberries came out.

Damn, that got dark.

So Simon stayed a good boy for a long time. He was so good that sometimes he got sad. Because he was all alone, and he had no one to play with. There was only just enough room for him to lie down. He spent all day walking back and forth, back and forth, or kicking the wall over and over again, or crying. And it was cold, so so so cold.

Damn, being seen as a monster must suck.

Then one day he heard noises.

Glad something started happening.

Then something magical happened. Up above opened, and then a monster looked down at him.

This is confusing...

said the voice who wasn't Mother.

Interesting choice.

The person wrapped its arm around Simon. And it smelled so juicy, so sweet and fresh, that Simon couldn't help it, Simon smiled.

Oh no...

And then it pounced, sinking its teeth into its prey, time to bite and rip the flesh and tear it to shreds, hear the crack of bones and taste the meat and suck the juicy blood and feed--

Could've been more climatic.

Mother said, When you were born, you were the loveliest baby I ever saw. Such perfect white teeth and beautiful green eyes. And so well behaved, too. You slept soundly through the night. You never needed much milk, either. We found the rats, but I thought they were because of that cat, until it was the cat next. And then your father and I were scared, so scared. But we couldn't believe it. We didn't believe it until one day it was your brother.

Yep, he's a monster. Got it.

Are you going to punish me, Mother, he asked.

Yes, said Mother. I'm sorry, Simon, but there's no other way. So Mother pulled out the needle, and also forceps.

When it was over, Simon had no more teeth, and everything hurt so much that he started to cry. Simon asked, Mother, do you hate me?

Of course not, said Mother. People tried to take you away from me, after what happened to your brother. People wanted to hurt you so bad that you wouldn't wake up again. But it's not your fault. You didn't put the monster in you. I know that you're a good boy. Whenever you smile at me, I see it.

Simon said, Mother, it hurts.

I know, Simon. It won't be so bad, you'll see. I'll mash your food up for you. It won't fill you up the same, when it's not moving. But there's no choice. But please be good, Simon. You have to be good. Otherwise I can't keep protecting you.

Simon asked, Mother, do you love me?

Mother said, Simon, I love you so much that I would die for you. One day I will die for you, and I don't even care.

Man, probably a horrible (opposite to happy) ending to be.

Spoiler: Overview

Ugh, I think this review wasn't as good as the first I have done. I'll try to get it done with feedbacks, but maybe I don't have too much to say.

Both stories really fit the theme, although it wasn't clearly the underground. The boy from "Moments" really seemed to come from something as poor as the underground, at least to the MC, and so resembled a child from underground. Simon, on the other hand, I suppose lived at something like the underground and was unable to see the world.

Both stories were emotive. I liked Zaph's because it didn't use supernatural elements, but rather just played with a girl's emotions on her unstable love phase. Kinda liked Mina's too because it really remembered me about K.O.L.M. game (can be played here if you want), both of them seems to tell the story about an overly protective mother and her freak son.

I think what Zaph's story had that Mina's lacked are two things.

The first one involves the description. In "Moments" I could easily get a grasp of where the characters were and who were they. I could tell the boy from the MC's dreams had brown hair and hazel eyes while at the same time I knew they were in the metro. Then I could also easily picture the psychiatry the MC was sent in and the fences she used to communicate with the boy. While in "The Golden Place" I could barely tell where they were: was it a circus? Was it near a golden gate? I couldn't even tell what the characters were: were they humans? What monster was the boy?

The other thing is that "Moments" seemed to have more fluidity and dinamicity. The opening caught my attention and defined what the story was somewhat about, then it got straight to the point the MC met the boy and the paragraphs already told where they were and what was happening. The story soon got to the conflict of the MC being sent to the orphanage and later breaking the boy's heart, just to then find out he wasn't real. It didn't seem to stagnate at any part. In "The Golden Place", despite understanding why it had to all happen in one place, it sorta felt stagnating. There was a bunch of lore and the conflict took a bit too long to start.

I still see potential for "The Golden Place", but I think the characters and place should be better defined. Are they human? If not, please, describe them briefly. It'd be really interesting to see different but harmless nonhuman creatures with Simon being the odd one. Other question is: Where are they? I think the room could be better described and there had space to give an idea of what Simon's room was like and where the mother would stand.

The other thing that could be changed is to show instead of tell. In the story, Simon kept telling himself what were the rules and everything his mother gave him. Maybe one way to make that more engaging is to have Simon get close to breaking the rule, use the moment to briefly describe the place and then have the mother suddenly return home and reinforce the rule. As for Simon's eating habits, you could build him a false expectancy of something delicious upon his mother's arrival until he sees his food is something moving. Those two things could help get to the conflict quicker.

The conflict should get the more attention. Kylie and her mother is bringing Simon to a place he has never been, right? What is Simon seeing? What is he feeling? And when he would inevitably attack them, it would be great to hear a scream like "Monster!". I found the ending fine and I don't know what I would change here.

As for "Moments", I don't know what I would change. It seems to fit the most as a short story and it feels very real.

So, I have decided to declare Zaphkael the winner

.

I know Mina probably rushed to get the story done, but now there should be more time to turn it more real. Show, not tell, the introduction. Briefly give a physical description of the characters and the place where it fits the better. Quickly introduce the main conflict. Make it seem more memorable (especially when they're attacked). I hope it helps.

[Zaphkael]

Thank you for the very in depth feedback, I really loved seeing you go through everything this thoroughly!
Now that I can say it, I really enjoyed Mina's story and it really shows how good of a writer she is, despite it being a bit messy because it was rushed. I think the use of the third person is really clever here: it's obviously told through the eyes of Simon, but in sections like these it almost feels as if the perspective changes, which the third person allows:

Someone very bad hurt this boy, said the person who wasn't Mother. And we're going to help him.

Mother wiped his face off with a cloth. Then she rocked him back and forth, stroking his forehead as Simon sucked his thumb. They were down below again.

Mother said, When you were born, you were the loveliest baby I ever saw. Such perfect white teeth and beautiful green eyes. And so well behaved, too. You slept soundly through the night. You never needed much milk, either. We found the rats, but I thought they were because of that cat, until it was the cat next. And then your father and I were scared, so scared. But we couldn't believe it. We didn't believe it until one day it was your brother.

Simon lowered his head, because he'd been bad.

Oh, Simon, said Mother. What am I to do with you?

I'm also a massive fan of how you describe things without actually describing them - I think I got a very good grasp of where they are unlike what creature said. Some examples:

There was only just enough room for him to lie down. He spent all day walking back and forth, back and forth, or kicking the wall over and over again, or crying. And it was cold, so so so cold.

Most of the time it hid from Simon, but when Mother came down, up above opened, and then the golden place was there again. Even though it was so shiny that it hurt his eyes, he could squeeze them so they didn't hurt as much and see a colour that Mother called blue.

The longer up above stayed open, the less shiny it got. Now he could see the blue without hurting his eyes.

Great story, I'm kind of sad you had to rush through it because it could have easily been so much better.

Anyway, my prompt:

"A coin."

2000 words, two weeks!

[Mina]

Thanks for the detailed feedback from both of you! Yeah, so I guess it was optimistic of me to hope no one would catch that the scene where Kylie and her mother rescue Simon was where I went "so how much time do I have left SHIT IT'S ALMOST DEADLINE NOW AAAAAAAH END THIS QUICKLY." But we should be evaluated on the the story we post, not the story we might have written had we managed our time properly.

Glad at least Zaphkael understood what I was trying to get across, since the style was very experimental and the narrator's PoV so limited that a lot wasn't explicitly spelled out. (My philosophy on the importance of describing details like hair colour is different from Creature's, because I prefer to focus on the ones that fit the tone/atmosphere/PoV, but I definitely could have painted a more vivid picture in some parts.)

Congrats on the win, Zaphkael! I really liked the concept for yours, and you captured the narrator's conflicted feelings about the boy well.

[Creature]

Still am hella worried about a work worth 50% of the grade that's due June 2th, but after that I should be free to write a quick 2k- words story.

[Zaphkael]

That kind of stuff always comes first, if needed the deadline can be extended

[Equinox]

It looks like deadline has to be extended now.

[Creature]

"A coin."

2000 words, two weeks!

I know it's late, but it has been a long time since I ever actually finished writing something:

Spoiler: Where the Heart Belongs, 1839 words

Fifteen years ago, a soon-to-be-a-man buried a coin. But it was no usual place.

He, alongside his father, crossed long miles away from any civilization to the mountain of Azpark. There, they went through hardship and multiple cold sicknesses to climb the most dangerous mountain in the kingdom of Ethalia. Eventually, they did it. However, in the middle of their descending, the father was so sick it was unlikely he would ever come out of it alive. The son promised to bury a coin wherever his father last breathed. Before he died, he told his son one day, when the people would most need, he should fetch back the coin. Then the father died and in the same place the son buried the coin.

Fifteen years later, a terrible famine would plague the kingdom of Ethalia. In a terrible combination of events, all of the wheat, corn, and potato stock has drastically decreased. Even more noble fruits from fruit trees were affected by the new wave of bad climate enough that the royal family kicked their duchesses to make up for their lack. Within the lower part of its citizens, the situation was way out of control. All of the vendors have disappeared from the streets as the streets itself were crowded by people, most of them sick, waiting for a generous soul to aid them, even though none of them did.

A man who only goes by the name of Patel had just arrived in time to present an intense fight between a couple of citizens. It seemed one of them was dumb enough to bring a small but not subtle sack of corn. Soon enough, the whole sack was ripped off and corns scattered all around the dirty floor while people stacked to grab any of the seeds.

Patel, on the other hand, had other ambitious plans: to escape the city. The guards were positioned to prevent any exodus, but once in a while, they’d let a group of farmers get into the city and be escorted to the warehouse. Sneaking in between them was easy and soon Patel found himself being escorted out of the city alongside the farmers.

The village the farmers have come from was one of the few that was still productive. Yet there was still a general apathy between the villagers being the ones dutied to feed the entire Ethalia. One of these farmers could barely feed their donkeys. That’s when Patel came with an odd request: to travel away from the kingdom with his starving donkey. The farmer was astonished. Even still, he knew he had to get rid of the donkey eventually.

While the inside was plagued by the famine, the outside was no safe place. Many of the most daring were later reported to be missing to be never seen. There was only one road straight to the Azpark mountain yet dreaded beasts were towering over men. So far there only was one safe time to cross the road to Azpark. It took Patel way longer to cross the road by taking the safe route. When it was unsafe to go, he would hide his donkey somewhere too small for monsters to go while also hunting mostly insects.

The Azpark mountain towered over the horizon as would a dark and larger sun. The land began to tilt upward and soon Patel was forced to leave the donkey behind. There was no more he could do so he just freed the animal to try its luck in the forest. The man, meanwhile, continued to follow the upward path between the scarcer trees. Eventually, there were no more trees and Patel found himself using his hands more often. The air became scarcer, his stamina became scarcer. He was frequently stopping in his tracks and trying to not fall a long way down despite his precarious health. He had to reach the other side. However, before he could, he blacked out right somewhere close to the top.

Patel woke up to what seemed a hut made of straws and leaves. Near his bed was what seemed a small tree stump. However, its two black holes seemed to stare at him. The stump thing was grey and had twigs over its head. When Patel tried to move, the thing stopped him and forced the man to go back to his bed of leaves.

“I have to leave,” Said the man.

“What do you seek here?” The stump spoke despite not having a mouth.

“I seek the coin, the coin I buried here long ago,” Answered Patel.

The old stump wouldn’t let Patel go out, but the latter waited the moment the stump went out of the hut to get himself out of the bed and walk out. As he walked out, he was glimpsed to the view of large thin trees with robust green crowns covering their top. If he couldn’t see the Azpark and its other mountains surrounding the land he would think he was back in the forest. Nonetheless, as he crossed the forest, not even the forest had such beautiful imagery of the water and grass disputing the land. Not even the outer forest had such small and cheerful birds since the beasts started roaming it. And not once Patel ever heard about small walking tree stumps playing cheerfully like children would before the famine.

The man sought the spot he buried the coin. It was harder to find out because he only remembered the place being nothing but rocks and infertile soil as opposed to the new flora it grew. He could still remember a few details from fifteen years ago. There was a pointy vertical rock slightly inclined towards the north. There were three slopes of land to take. Not too far was a small cave in between three rocks, only a little under the earth. That’s where Patel hid the coin. That was also where his father died.

Without a shovel, he began to dig with his fingers as the image of his father formed there like the pile of dirt from his digging. As he dug, one of the stump things showed up, a small childlike stump. Then another slightly, and another even larger. Until there was a whole crowd of them, all bearing the expression a man would show upon seeing his daughter under attack. That’s when Patel realized they weren’t there to watch him pacifically. In fact, two of the largest stumps approached the man. The visitor grabbed a rock twice his hand and maced it against the eye of the first, but it seemed unaffected. With their twigs, the two stumps quickly overpowered him. Patel thought it was his end, but then he heard:
“Father?”

It was one of the younger stumps, but more of them followed. Fifteen years ago, a sorrowed son buried the coin and since then life flourished on an otherwise dead land. Among the new life was the stump folk. A folk just like Patel’s. Fifteen years later their father has returned.

The stump folk brought the new visitor to what seemed to be the center of their villager. Patel could see many of them. There were the small childlike stumps of a light green color with eyes wide open in curiosity. Then there were large brave-looking stumps of a strong brown color who seemed to revere him. There were also thinner and elegant-seemingly stumps of a lighter brown color who wanted to serve him. Finally there were weaker and older but experienced stumps of a grey color displaying their faith.

On his days there, there would be parties and glories. The longer he stayed, the more he pondered about his life in the kingdom. What would happen if he returned? Would he be given any glory? Or just have any statue in his tribute like any minor hero, probably scrawny looking, only to be taken off a few years later by the hero purists? He did so much for the kingdom but never received anything in return. What would he accomplish saving the kingdom now? For the first time in his life, Patel felt being given importance.

On the other hand, the stump folk aged quickly and a couple of days were enough to start and finish a stump life cycle. In one of these, Patel was curious about a single stump. Ever since he first met it when it was a child, the thing kept bringing him memories about his life in the kingdom. The thing grew old, its color went from light green to grey and its crust started to peel, but it still followed Patel.

“What do you want?” The man finally asked, “I’m finally being treated as someone important here by your folk. No way I’ll ever return to Ethalia just to be forgotten!”

“I understand what you’re thinking of,” The stump responded, “Your father used to be seen as someone important in Ethalia. He also never once considered fleeing from Ethalia. But then you were born. And suddenly his need to be put in the pedestal was no longer seem as important.”

“Who are you to speak so loud about my father?” Patel retorted.

One of the hardest phenomena to explain is a man’s sudden change of heart. At first, someone could be convinced they found their little illusory place to live for the rest of their life foreign to the rest of the world. Then suddenly they would turn everything off that little paradise into dust. That’s what happened when Patel was given a hand-crafted shovel from the odd stump, when he went all the way back to where his father last laid, throwing piles of dirt in the air while many scared eyes watched him in despair. By the time he got the coin by his hand, everything has turned into dust. The land now seemed the same when he was first there.

The kingdom quickly recovered from the famine with the harvest of the wheat, corn, and potato from all sides of Ethalia. Soon Ethalia received back the title of the wonderful land with bright green trees and grasses flourishing, birds of various colors coming back to sing again, and there to grow many boys like Patel was: happy and adventurous. It was like the piece of paradise was brought back and spread through all the lands. The sacrifice of one valley to a kingdom.

Patel never got the fame and never desired to do so. He’d rather not be known for taking away a land. Even after many years have passed, Patel still couldn’t forget about the place where he buried the coin. What would have been different if he wasn’t dissuaded so easily? Perhaps the stump folk would still be alive and happy. He’d live away from the cruelties of his people and would help raise a small but cheerful place that’s now all gone. He was pretty decided to just live there with the stump folk.

Until one of the stumps presented itself as his long-gone father.

[Creature]

The Prompt:

"A man's or woman's best friend."

2500 words.

Sorry, didn't have time to cut out some words even though I could:

Spoiler: Snowberry, 2787 words

There were two strange presences in the supermarket. They have slipped past Ace’s cameras and the boy only realized it when he heard them. They seemed to have been a young man and a young woman. One of them pushed a shopping cart while the other attacked the freezer. Just like any other cannibal, they seemed desperate for any kind of food, be it flesh or industrial. The boy was cringed at how the figures were lousy when one of them dropped the cart and then shouted at each other, but he wouldn’t fool himself, the cannibals could shout barely comprehensible words sometimes.

Ace planned to silently back away and wait for the figures to be gone. However, to his dismay, he stepped on an empty bag of chips. The young man quickly pulled a laser gun and shouted:

“Who is there?”

Just as he turned the corner to face Ace, a heavily armored dog charged against him and threw the man over fifty meters away.
The young woman was quick to check what was going happen and when she did she saw what seemed to be a medium-sized white dog. However, the dog was part metal, going from half its face to its neck and its front paws. The dog shifted its head to the poor woman as its metal eye glowed red.

“Please, don’t!” And the woman began crying at the imminent danger.

Ace called Snowberry to stop. It was clear the woman was in fear and the infected couldn’t display that emotion. It was possible she could be faking it, but, at the moment, his sparse sense of humanity prevailed.

There once lived a boy when humanity was at its peak of technology. What was once deemed unimaginable was the new normal. Flying cars? Check. The world entirely powered by solar energy? Check. Computer operating by the movement of a human eye? Check. And like any other boy his age Ace dreamed to be an inventor. The problem is that it was hard to create anything entirely new and the only few people who bothered to try anything new were either of the upper class or were part of the underground club. There was no way Ace would ever get to the upper class and the underground club was said to be for society outcast freaks.

“So you were part of the underground club?” Exclaimed the man.

The young couple, who the boy learned they were Kenny and Jess, was quite obnoxious. Ace was surprised they survived that long in full-fledged apocalypse.

“I don’t want to talk about it” That was his only answer.

Being part of the underground club wasn’t so easy. The club had such negative light that talking about joining it seemed a blasphemy. To join the club, Ace had to not only flee from his parents in the middle of the night and roam the large streets of many supercities in hunger but he also had to clear his own name from history. The underground club was incredibly difficult to find if you couldn’t develop your own system to find them and even then there was the chance of them rejecting you if they deemed you unable, meaning you’d have sacrificed your old life for nothing. Usually, the only chance to enter the underground club was through one of the older members choosing to mentor you.

“Look. I don’t know how the two of you have made it so far into the city and I don’t believe you will escape from it” Said Ace, “But I can offer you help to flee the city unnoticed.”

Kenny and Jess were quick to agree to his proposal. Ace could see in their face they were naive about the apocalypse.

“But you two will have to shut up”

Unknown to most innocent people, there was an underground system in most buildings leading to different parts of the city. They were mostly used for shipping although even shipping didn’t use the underground system as much. However, it helped the three to cross a part of the city unnoticed with Snowberry sniffing for any possible presence.

Eventually, they found the end of the tunnel and were forced to leave to the surface. Ace stopped the two and sent Snowberry to go first. The white dog sprinted to outside and soon they could hear inaudible words and groans from the infected. There was the unmistakable sound of shooting and Snowberry quickly returned with the blood of its victims.

“Let’s go!” Ace said as the three pushed their way into the next building.

As soon as they got in, Ace locked the door. They decided to stay there while the boy checked the city through the drone he carried within. To his annoyance, the couple watched his moves tirelessly.

“Where will you go after we escape the city?” Asked Jess.

“I will return to the underground” Answered the boy.

Ace made it clear he didn’t want to be questioned further on that subject. The drone quickly returned and the boy sketched a plan on the table. They could safely cross multiple streets if they stayed low and then they’d have to take the alleys to avoid crowded streets until they reached the bridge.

Snowberry led the group on the watch for any dangers. The boy commanded the dog to kill any enemy on spot, not wanting to take any chances with random passersby. There were a couple of scares in their trajectory, most of them were dealt with by the cyborg dog, but some had to be dealt with by the young man’s hands. They soon crossed the alleys and were close to the bridge. Snowberry began to shoot a group of infected and at that moment Ace realized they were being outnumbered.

“Here!” Kenny shouted.

Without any other choice, the boy ordered Snowberry to take the defensive mode as they ran down the streets while more infected came from the buildings. They crossed alleys, jumped barriers, all while the dog shot the infected from behind until they came across the bridge.

“So what’s your plan?” Asked Kenny.

“Resist” Answered Ace.

In fact, the infected came only from one side and they couldn’t sneak from behind, so the three along the cyborg dog attacked the horde of infected. Kenny and Jess began to shoot, but Snowberry automatically shot them with an incredible precision all the while the closest infected would be barred by its invisible shield.

Suddenly, one of them came from behind and grabbed Jess, causing her to trip and cry in pain. Kenny quickly grabbed a bar from the ground and hit the infected relentlessly until it stopped moving. When he looked up, he realized they were coming from both sides of the bridge.

“Ace, we have a problem!” He shouted.

Suddenly, an all familiar sound of moving engines echoed from the other side of the bridge. The large amount of infected there was soon down to its shots.

“Get down!”

All three of them launched themselves into the ground as the shooting crossed past them to hit the horde from the other side. The dog still attacked while its shield protected it from the shooting, but then the boy ordered it to stop and stay together. Soon, all of the infected were down, dead, or paralyzed.

The engine opened and from there stepped out five soldiers, among them was a man in his thirties in an armored uniform.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

Before the apocalypse started, Ace was only a boy roaming the streets looking for any scrape of metal and copper to make anything that wasn’t an ancient course’s project. All he could do was connect those parts in a cloth doll. Even when he found the underground club, endless straight lines of blue lights connecting long hallways of rooms, he was only met with rejection and the same three words would echo:

“Go home, kid”

Without anywhere to go and the underground club miles away, Ace spent another couple of months adapting old objects with new features, but they were barely any original. He was still able to attract the attention of what seemed to be a homeless old man. Though, he’d soon learn that man was a long veteran from the underground club.

“I see potential in you,” Said the leader of the group that just rescued Ace and the young couple. “My group can safely accompany you to the underground club.”

Ace straight out refused, with the knowledge that the underground club was repelled from larger groups, and also with the addition, the boy didn’t trust the man standing ahead of him. The man was clearly disappointed but stated he understood.

The group was housed at a skyscraper but they stayed on the ground floor while blocking the upper floors beside the entrance door. Kenny was among the scrawnier looking members dutied to push large furniture and block the doors. At one of the free rooms, Ace saw Jess bolting a small round drone.

“Were you always part of this group?” The boy asked.

She nodded with the face of someone who knew what this group was about. In fact, the more Ace stayed with the group, the more he felt he had no place there at all. As the days went through, he observed there was a hierarchy system in the group, with the strongest being said to protect the group and be also given the most resources, while the weakest having to serve the former while also being given the fewer resources. The leader of the group still tried to talk the boy into leading them to the underground club while Ace avoided hinting anything.

Through the days, Ace accumulated pieces of metal and copper, some by himself, some being given as if the group would expect him to return the favor. As he planned his next project, he re-remembered that old veteran man who gave him a shot. Being the outcast of the own club of outcasts, the elderly was known for taking the most bizarre decisions out of all underground veterans. He was still quite frank to his soon to be mentee when he told him his inventions alone weren’t extraordinary, but he added more and more people would become dependent on each other. If one of them ever were to fall, the rest would fall together.

“You, on the other hand, can adapt yourself in unimaginable ways.”

That was the mentality his mentor adopted with him. They weren’t building extraordinary colossal machines or wonders of technology, but they were able to make a lot of so little until the days the virus spread all around the globe.

Somewhere between midnight and dawn, the boy finished the final adjustments at the mechanical engine covering Snowberry. He stepped back and initiated the order. The metal plate covering the neck and chest of the dog opened up into two small plane-like wings. Ace couldn’t hide his excitement as he grabbed his friend’s back.

“Fly” He ordered.

At the same time, the dog took out and brought the boy towards the sky. Ace looked down to see the many buildings of fifty or hundred floors towering over the city that looked more amazing than any scale model could ever represent it. For the first time, he could feel why that old veteran underground member chose to mentor him just like he could feel the wind run against his face.
He commanded the dog to land at the top of a building. Not just any building, but it seemed to have been an old cableway that could lead him to outside the city the safest possible. He could have fled from the city at this moment, but something held him behind: Kenny and Jess. The two seemed naive, but Ace couldn’t just leave them behind with that shit of a group. After all, his mentor taught him that sometimes humanity was worth it.

“We will have to go back one more time,” He told his long companion.

The two flew back to the building the group was located. He quickly found Kenny and told the young man they’d escape. Kenny was in disbelief they could ever escape the group.

“I know one way out,” Said the boy.

Waiting for the right moment, the young couple met the boy somewhere away from the rest of the group. Ace was standing alongside Snowberry, who had its wings active and ready. The dog could only carry one at a time and they decided Jess would go first. As they waited for the dog’s return, they could hear the voices of the group looking for them. As the dog was seen returning in the sky, Kenny said:

“You have to go”

“No, you go first. I will distract them long enough”

“You sure?”

The boy left no place to question. As soon Snowberry took off with Kenny, he hid behind the shelves as a couple of soldiers entered the room. Ace could hear them muttering about hearing voices and he quickly slipped to the next room, which unfortunately had no other exit. The soldiers would soon join the room, but then one shelf in the previous room collapsed just as the boy planned. In the distraction of the soldiers, Ace was quick to run through the door the soldiers came in.

“Hey!”

But the boy was far away and already crawled his way through the blockage to find himself outside. A few infected were there and took notice of him, but just in time, Snowberry returned to take away Ace. He still saw the soldiers rushing out from the building.

With the help of the cableway, the three were able to reach the border of the city. It wasn’t easy to cross the border, on the other hand. All Ace remembered about city borders were endless flashing lights apparently designed to lead the traffic of the flying cars as that was the only way for them to cross the shield. Ace again put Snowberry into the foreplay. Just as the dog finished off a group of stray infected, one shot echoed past them and dropped way too close to the dog, despite its shield being on.

“I’ll make the terms clear,” The leader casually said, “The boy will work for me, under constant surveillance,” He added sharply, “The two of you are dead.”

With one simple mutter, Ace ordered Snowberry to attack the group. The boy only looked down while his friend charged against the soldiers bringing them down at a phantasmagorical speed and ripping their neck. All the while, however, the dog was taking shots that left nasty black scars over its white fur.

Not too long after the virus reached a global scale and not too long after seeing his mentor’s death, Ace was frozen in fear of the magnitude of the fall humanity has taken. Somewhere away from the city’s core, somewhere that barely could be considered safe, the boy sat on the concrete and stared at the sunset knowing the end was near. In between the cardboards, he saw what seemed a small white dog.

Snowberry, as he would name the dog, was still a fragile creature, but it kept Ace’s will to live. At least to a certain point. It wouldn’t be long until the infected would finally grab hold of the dog. Ace’s more prudent action would be to just leave it behind, but he instead risked his life fighting the infected. When he approached the dog, it was clearly up to no good. Most of its neck and chest was done for and it was a miracle it was still alive. Pretty much all of its circulatory system was gone around that area. The boy couldn’t believe he would manage to save the dog at the time.

The battle between Kenny, Jess, and Ace against their former group would soon be done. With a clean shot, Kenny would soon bring down its tyranny. By that point, all of the soldiers who were willing to fight were gone and the few remaining decided to back down. They quickly agreed to not meet again and took their own ways.

But Snowberry wasn’t so lucky. It took a bunch of shots before going down and when it did most of its metal plates were gone and its chest was exposed again. As Ace grabbed the dog in his lap, he could see its small artificial heart still beating while sending electrical waves to the wires that would connect to the rest of its body. Snowberry licked its friend one last time before the boy would say his last order:

“Stop.”

And its artificial heart stopped beating.