Into Oblivion

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Hope followed Castor out of the shop, she liked it in there, it had more respectability than the rest of the city she had seen.  As they walked quietly through the sludge Hope realised for the first time how much she hated Oceanus. Every day was spent doing the same thing, in the wasteland Hope and Lena had always travelled with the goal of finding somewhere better, this was barely an improvement. The wasteland was vast, there had to be other cities left out there. That was when Hope had the idea. “Castor, listen.” Castor stopped and turned to face her. “Have you heard from any other cities out there?”

“No, why?” Then he realised. “Hope no, you can’t go back out there. You barely managed to get here; going back out into the wastes is practically suicide. You can’t be serious!” He said, with his voice raised.

“I know, I know. That’s why I was hoping to have a friend out there, somebody to watch my back. Somebody like you.” She replied somewhat tentatively.

Castor looked as if somebody had just proposed that he should jump into the ocean. It was only then that she realised how ridiculous this all sounded. He had barely just met her, and that was only because she had almost died. Now she was asking him to go out into the wasteland with him? But still, she had her reasons. Staying here may be safer than in the wasteland, but she’d rather die quickly from a sword, than slowly, and painfully from disease.

“I’ve built a life here Hope, you expect me to throw that away for a stranger?” Castor suddenly said. He was looking at Hope sceptically. The seagulls were cawing overhead, making the silence between their sentences even more awkward. Hope knew she had to work at an angle Castor would relate to.

“Just think Castor, people are dying here, every day. You run a clinic; you know that better than most people. And it’s not even just that, I walked outside earlier and the first thing I saw was people lying in the dirt, just asking for food that people didn’t have to give. If we could find something out there and they’ve done better than Oceanus they could help you, they could help this entire city. Don’t you at least want to try?

This seemed to shift Castor’s thoughts on the matter. If they could start trade with another city, that could be a huge benefit to Oceanus.

“This place is my home, and you’re asking me to leave. But for what? So that we can die?” Castor argued.

“Castor please! Just look around you! This isn’t a city, it’s a death trap! And unless you get help, you’re all going to die here!”

He sighed, and looked around him, he saw children starving in the streets, slowly edging towards an endless slumber. He saw buildings; built so high, to accommodate so many, that they were near collapse. And he finally saw, after years of living here, that this city, without help, was never going to make it. Castor sighed, he breathed in the smoggy air, which he was so accustomed to. He looked up into Hope’s eyes, with a new found determination in his own. He nodded.