A Garden of Adam (Original Work)

Chapter 2

As far as the ruined cities go, this one was by far the strangest. The city wasn't too horribly large, but it was still a city. The majority of building were intact, water was plentiful in the form of rainfall, and yet one thing stood out the most.

Of all the cities we've considered for a base of operations, this one held the lowest population. Or at least, that was what we'd thought. Turns out the majority of the Cats inhabiting Lou Kong kept to one side of town. Only the less fortunate inhabited the other half, the half that held a certain junkyard that was the root of all the housing problems. Nobody wanted to live near a pack of angry stray dogs. Which was why, in the end, we decided that this would be our town.

Taking it over was a walk in the park. The current holders, or 'Wolves' as they called themselves, didn't stand a change against our numbers. It happened in one single night, and just like that we had our own home. Well, we'd had one before, but everyone who followed me would agree that that the Bioglobes are not the paradise they're made out to be. I suppose if you really had to chose a word for us, we'd be 'mafia'. A family of like-minded people who came from both dilapidated towns and privileged Bioglobes in search of a better life. Hopefully we could attain that here in Lou Kong. Our group had three tiers. There was me, George, Jean and Zix in the first tier, as the leaders. Then came the multiple officers who managed the third tier, which was made up of the rest of the group. We functioned cohesively, as we always had. Everyone was rewarded for good service and good work, and nobody complained.

Our group settled in the side of town close to the dangerous junkyard. As long as we didn't get close, we were safe. I wonder if the pack even knew the town had been mostly unoccupied. Actually, I'm certain the dogs knew. So why didn't they ever leave the junkyard and expand their territory? They certainly had the numbers to do so.

The answer came with the arrival of a man who was in charge of the trade in and out of the city. A man named Vekel who managed the single grocery store in the city. He came peacefully, just asking to meet with us to discuss the future of Lou Kong, and agreed to answer some of our questions. We met around a large table in the highest building on our side of the town, which we'd furnished using what we could find in the other buildings or make ourselves. Vekel sat at one end, the four of us gathered towards the other end. George responds for us in his deep baritone.

"So... what are your plans for Lou Kong?"

"We want to make this city into a home, to live a better life. Lou Kong is the best city for that. There's plenty of rainfall, there was space for us to move into, and the buildings are, for the most part, intact. If possible we'd like begin a trade system to keep us afloat and make the city a better place. Your city doesn't have a hospital, or at least, one usable."

"That is true... We have a saying here regarding that. 'If it hurts you, don't touch.' An injury commonly means death and we don't have any doctors or anything."

"We have a few in our group. They'll take over the current hospital building and start making it usable again. I've noticed that Lou Kong still has electricity... Why is that?"

"I'm not completely sure, honestly. My grandfather told me once that the city generator recharges itself, but I couldn't tell you where it is. As for the hospital, I will do what I can to procure any items you need. We sometimes are able to trade with the nomads on their way through the city, and Stray brings in a few things every so often."

"Stray?"

"I'm sure you've probably noticed the pack of feral dogs inhabiting the junkyard. They are Stray and Hound's family. They go where Hound goes, and Stray says where Hound goes. Hound is the alpha dog down there, a big black beast. You don't have to know what he looks like to instinctively know which one he is."