Saber (a post-apocalyptic fantasy)

1 - The Bone Trees

Ash hangs in the moonlight like snow as I trudge through the Bone Trees. Papi told me the dead forests were once covered in leaves. They were green like Mami's eyes. Now, the trees are bare skeletons, just like my mother. I never knew the world Papi told me about. Papi is dead too, and the memories of his stories are all I carry with me. That and his rules. The ones he drilled into my head for so many years:

1. Trust No One.

2. Always Boil Water Before Drinking.

3. Never Let the Shades Look You in the Eye.

I still hear his voice in the words, as though he's still beside me, reciting them, hand on the hilt of his blade, always ready. It has been six months since he joined my mother in the World Beyond the Sun. Since he left me wandering the Waste alone. Mami broke rule number one. Papi didn't break any of his rules. So I added a fourth rule:

4. Never Feel Safe. Not Anywhere. Not For a Moment.

___________

My name is Saber, and I have lived all my life in the Waste. My parents were my age when the world was seared — the Flare, Papi called it — when humanity all but died out, when civilization fell.

Somewhere out there, there are still small colonies of humans, but they are not safe. We lived in a colony when I was little, and we left. Papi said it is better out here alone in the Waste, without people. I don't remember much about the colony, but I remember the walls. They were made of metal, built as high as four men, surrounding the place to keep the Shades out and the people in. The colony was called The Haven. Things were more complicated there. Even at the age of six, I was expected to pull my weight. Mami and me worked in a gardenhouse in the mornings. In the afternoons, we practiced archery. And in the evenings, I was taught to read.

I don't remember much more than the letters. There are old signs in the Waste, identifying landmarks and giving directions for a world that no longer exists. When we left The Haven, I could read some of them. But the signs were rare, and I soon forgot how. Now, the old letters blur past, blending in with the dreariness of the rest of the world.

The ash upon the forest floor crunches soft beneath my feet, hushing every step as though I carry dark secrets. But all I carry is enough to survive. My father's sword is strapped to the back of my pack. Inside the pack, there is a canvas tent — little more than a sheet I drape over a dead branch during the day — a half-empty tin of beans I scavenged from an abandoned settlement last week, and my mother's beaded prayer necklace. My bow is always strapped across my chest, and I keep my only arrow in hand, so I am always ready — to hunt or to fight. At all times, I wear gloves, my long, leather coat, and sunglasses. To keep the sun off my skin. Too much scorch and I'll turn into a Shade too, with gray skin and red eyes.

___________

The Bone Trees are empty again today. A shrubby vegetation has started to grow there, and sometimes I'll find rabbits foraging at night. Once, even a deer. But nothing today.

I've been pushing north through the Bone Trees for about a week. But things are growing scarcer at the Edge of the World.

Most of the human colonies lie over the Gray Mountains to the west. I came from the Southlands, where the river meets the sea. But I can't go south again. The Shades are getting bad down there.

My stomach is grinding inside me. It's been days since I ate anything but beans, and I can only stretch my tin another day before the fatigue sets in. I've felt it before. After Papi died, I was in pieces. I never knew what the Shades could do. Not really.

I didn't move from my hiding spot for two days.

Hunger is nothing new, but if I don't find anything to eat tonight, I'll have to brave one of the abandoned settlements of the Northern Waste. And where there are settlements, there are Shades.

___________

No luck hunting in the Bone Trees. So I spend the day hidden away in a cleft between two boulders. When the sun dies, I leave the cover of the forest and brave the Waste. A half-night's march towards the Sunrise, there's an abandoned settlement. Not one of the ones from the World Before.

I never go there.

I march through the night. Whatever happens to the Shades' eyes — whatever makes them red — makes it so they don't see great in the dark. They don't venture across the Waste much, but that's what Papi thought, too, before he died.

Sometimes, I wonder what it was like before everything got scorched and the sand took over — the World Before. Mami said it was a little like The Haven. You'd go to classes, and have an assigned task like tending the gardenhouses, and you played and could rest and not be afraid of anything. Mostly, I think that's what she missed — not fearing the scorch or the Shades. I reckon I wouldn't do too well, if I lived in the World Before. Mami said I was restless all the time at The Haven, always wanted to go explore. The Council Members didn't like that much about me.

I may not remember much about The Haven, but I know Mami was wrong. It wasn't like the World Before. We were still afraid there.

Welcome to the Waste! Buckle up for an action-packed ride! I hope you enjoy it!

Discussion: What do you think of Chapter One?

What do you think happened to Saber's father?