The Taupee Chronicles- Blight and it's Master's

Chapter one

A blaring horn startled her awake from the blissful comfort of a deep dream. Smashing her head on something hard, she looked around thoroughly confused. She swore she had been laying on a beach, dipping her feet in the cool ocean currents. She eventually realised this had been a dream.

"Uugghh" she groaned, loud enough that she could hear her upstairs neighbour faintly chuckling to himself. Ava had never been introduced to the guy, nor did she want to be. She didn't even know his name. She had avoided him ever since he caught her rummaging through some nearby bins for food. Ava had just moved to the community back then and had found the hidden basement below their building. She had just started to make it habitable. At the time she had been starving and had been close to passing out after going days without food. She had seen her neighbour stare at her through his grubby circular window. As he caught her eye, he had brought a spoonful of rice to his mouth and slowly chewed. All the while, he had maintained eye contact with her and grinned. He always seemed like he enjoyed watching others struggle to survive. She knew that she was not the only one who avoided him. But for her especially, it would be dangerous if he got too close.

Once her eyes had finally stopped seeing stars, she rolled out of the bed alcove. She had transformed the tiny dip in her wall into a bed some time ago. Its space was rather comfy now. Although, the little alcove was barely big enough for her. Vibrations from the traffic on the street above her little basement flat would always loosen dust from the worn concrete. It covered her as she slept. Her flat was probably no more than 10 square feet, as well as a little hallway leading up to the entrance ladder. The small room had large iron tub in one corner, used for both cleaning and bathing. Ava was lucky to have access to fresh water like this. She had tapped into the mains pipe shortly after she had found the place. It was one of the reasons she had stayed there for so long. Most others would have to walk to the nearby communal taps and carry as many gallons back to their homes as they could stand.

On the opposite side of the room, there was a TV, a small desk with Ava's laptop on it, and a small pile of books with her pens and papers. Above the alcove were some small cupboards. The doors had long been ripped off from a previous owner. She had been walking home from a shift at the café and has spotted them discarded. They had been hiding underneath piles of rubbish in an alley close to her home. Most of the drawers had been broken, and some of the wood had snapped off in places. However, she was good with her hands and was able to transform rubbish, which had been discarded by others, into usable items. This is what happens when you are abandoned as a child and left to fend for yourself. You learn to see the value in things others cast aside.

The basement was an old bunker from the wars, some 400 years ago. There were many of them throughout the city of Gar, where she lived. Most, like hers, had been remodelled into basements for new buildings within the last 100 years. Some, such as hers, had not been renovated well, causing the entrances to cave in. Ava had found the entrance to her place purely by chance. She was scavenging for food and had tripped on a loose stone. As she landed heavily on the entrance, she had noticed that some of the stones echoed as they fell. So, she decided to investigate. She had known at the time that there was a mains water pipe nearby and hoped she had lucked out with an abandoned bunker. It took her a few days, but she had managed to move most of the larger stones and rubble aside before squeezing her way into the basement. She had been delighted with her find.

The first thing she did, once she decided she was going to stay a while, was scavenge an old sewer lid and several sturdy locks. She had then spent much of the next week welding the locks into place and attaching the sewer lid to the stones. Gar is not a place where you take your home security lightly. Despite the basement being only just habitable, Ava would not change it for the world. She knew from experience that others were not so well off.