The City (Merome AU)

31

~*Nooch*~

I take a drink out of my canteen before scouting the area around our campsite one last time. I'm so close to the plaque. I can feel it.

"Nooch!" My attention goes directly to the man who shouted. He was running toward me with eyes wide with amazement. "W-we found a standing building. It looks to be in good condition." My heart soars with happiness when the man says those words.

"That's incredible! Where is it?" I struggle to contain my excitement.

"Oh, um." The man points in the direction he came from. "That way. There are some trees growing around it too." Trees?!

"That's what we're looking for!" I grab the man's shoulders and shake him lightly. "Go get the others! We're going into that building even if it kills us!" The man nods before running off to get everyone else. I can't believe I actually found it. Can you see me now father? Are you proud? My thoughts pause for a moment before I realize something. Benja, Frags, and Woofless should have caught up with the group by now. Did Woofless kill the two of them? No, that can't be right. He maybe killed Frags, but Benja is too hard to kill. Where are they? Shaking my head in confusion I look southward with a smile. It doesn't matter. After I sell that plaque, I will be the richest man alive.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath of the fresh air before opening my eyes again. In the corner of my eye I see a small, curly haired woman carefully balancing along the remains of some sort of wall. The woman didn't look like a wastelander; she didn't even look like a city girl. Her skin was too fair. She looked almost alien to the wasteland. "Hello?" I call out to the woman, taking a few steps closer. The woman doesn't show any sign that she heard me. Instead, she jumps off the wall and lands gracefully onto her feet before turning to look at me. Her blue eyes almost seemed to glow, and for the first time I noticed that she had a small blanket of clouds around her feet. What is this woman? After looking directly at me, the woman narrows her eyes and turns around, walking away from me.

"Nooch!" A voice from behind me draws my attention away from the woman. Everyone was walking over to me. "You ok dude? You look like you just saw a ghost." Shaking my head, I turn to look at the woman one last time. Instead of seeing the small woman walking away all I see is an empty grass field where she last stood.

"Y-yeah." I say, shaking my head. "I'm fine. Let's just get this over with and head back to the city."

"Alright." The man who found the building nods and leads us in the direction he came from. As we walk my mind races, trying to figure out what the woman was. She didn't seem human. Was she one of the wastelanders who died trying to find the plaque? Or is she older than that?

~*???*~

"Wolf, there is a band of kids coming in this direction," A male voice comes from somewhere above me. "and it looks like one of them has your nose."

"That's very funny, Sniper," I roll my eyes at the man. "No one with the same nose as me is a wastelander." Walking up the stairs to the watch point, I cross my arms at the spikey-haired brunet who held a telescope up to his eye. The only thing that showed his age was the light shading of grey within his sea of brown spikes and the small wrinkles that started to appear around the edges of his eyes.

"Trust me, Wolfy. I can recognize a nose like yours from kilometers away," Sniper states before looking at me with his honey-coloured eyes, a smug smile on his face.

"Oh really?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Would you like to take a look for yourself?" Sniper holds the telescope out for me. Rolling my eyes again I take the telescope from his hands and look out the window.

Sure enough there was a group of young men, all around the age of 20, walking toward our base. I look over all the people in the group until I find the one Sniper was talking about. He looked like a younger version of myself. Is that who I think it is? I take the telescope away from my eye and look at Sniper. "Are you thinking the same thing I am?"

"Probably." Sniper shakes his head before grabbing his bow from where it hung on the wall. "But let's not jump to conclusions just yet. There is a possibility your son is working at your parent's shop as we speak, negotiating trades better than you ever could."

"Your son is probably better at sniping if you're playing by those rules, Mr. Hughes," I state with a small smirk.

"Touché, Mr. Aceti." Sniper smiles at me before grabbing his quiver. "Should we attack before they get in?"

"No. Let them come in and see the plaque. I'm sure Lady M'ayris wouldn't mind a few visitors to her memorial." Sniper nods before climbing up the wall to our right and into his sniping perch. I'll never know how he manages to climb up walls at his age. Shaking my head, I jump down from the look out and walk to my station. Those kids are going to learn the difference between a regular and a veteran.

And I'm not showing any mercy.
_______________________
Hmm... 🤔

Much Luv,
Mickey-Kenzie