We'll Go Down Together

Companions

Ryder ran until he made it to a small town, it was, as always, empty. The buildings were cracked and broken down, there were crashed cars in the streets, and light posts were tipped and shattered. It's funny how much damage two years can do to a building when there isn't daily upkeep. He walked over rubble that the magnorats had thrown into the streets a while ago and tried to find a building with a good standing roof, it looked like it was going to rain. He wouldn't mind staying out in the rain if it weren't for one thing, the rain was deadly. It was like acid, except it worked faster, it could dissolve half of a can in seconds, and a human in just thirty minutes.

Ryder hurried weaving easily through the cars and random chunks of rock and metal. He watched as noractins scurried across the ground in front of him avoiding his footsteps. They were speedy creatures, and they were quite smart, at times. Ryder found a house that looked slightly intact, the roof and walls were there at least. He ran to it and tried the door handle, it to was surprisingly intact, and locked. He questioningly stared at the door then grabbed a bobby pin from his back pocket and started working on the lock.

The first drop of rain hit the back of Ryder's neck as he worked to unlock the door, and then as if someone threw a snowball onto a mountain, the rain came pouring down like an avalanche. Ryder kept his eyes down so the rain didn't get into them and he worked faster on the lock, his hands fumbled over themselves as the pain of the acid like rain ran over his body. He got the lock off and turned the handle pushing the door open as he ran inside. He slammed it shut as soon as he was in and threw his backpack onto the ground pulling his soaked clothes off his body he threw them aside before digging through his backpack trying to find the water and the ointment. He poured the water over his head rinsing the rain out of his hair, before pouring it over his body. He then took the ointment and rubbed it all over his body to stop the burning pain that he felt.

He sighed and sat down on the ground as the pain started to fade. I won't be safe for long, the rain is coming down hard, and this building only has two stories. He took a deep breath and grabbed his backpack taking out a new pair of clothes, he tossed them on then decided to explore to see if the building had a basement or things to try and stop the rain. He also wanted to find out why the door had been locked, that meant that the people from this house had either left another way or they were still here. Ryder explored the first floor of the building and walked into a bedroom, it was nice, or he thought it would have been. It was a mess chairs were overthrown, the bed sheets were ripped and torn off the bed, the dresser was in splinters, and the closet door had been ripped off. This is the work of a baby magnorat, or a noractin. He left the room and went to a different one, the bathroom, he went over to the sink and tried the water it slowly trickled out. He put his finger under the water and nothing happened, it was normal water!

"Oh thank god", Ryder said in relief and put his water bottle under the tap and left it to slowly fill up. It would take a while since the water only came out in drips. He left his water bottle there and went into another room, there was a hole in the wall farthest from the door which is where, Ryder guessed, the noractin or magnorat came in and where the family left. He stood in the door for a while watching the rain eat away at the edges of the hole and the sidewalk outside. The other houses were dissolving and Ryder already guessed that the upstairs of the house was partially gone. He shook his head and left the room going back to see how much his water bottle had been filled. When he got back to the bathroom he took his water bottle out from under the tap and put the cap on. Ryder silently headed back to the living room and sat next to his backpack pulling out a can of beans. He opened the top of it with his knife and then grabbed a fork starting to eat.

He ate slowly since that was his only food for who knows how long. The pitter patter of the rain hit the second story floor, and the loudness of it made Ryder mad. He didn't exactly know why he was mad but it made him mad, perhaps it was the fear and the anticipation of when the acid like rain would seep it's way into the room that Ryder was in. Or perhaps it was the sadness of the fact that he always listened to the rain when he was at his grandfather's house in the study. Either way it made him mad, he ran his hand through his long once black but now white hair, the nuclear debris had turned his hair white. Ryder ate half of the can before standing up to try and find a basement, he ate as he walked, he found other rooms partially demolished, and some fairly intact. He couldn't find a basement though so he walked back to the living room and hoped that the rain would stop soon.

As he stepped back into the room something came crashing through the window and it landed on top of him. He yelled and fell back dropping the rest of the beans behind him. The thing on top of him dripped acid rain from it's fur onto Ryder's body but it got off of him before the rain could do damage and went over lapping up the spilt beans. Ryder growled and stood up facing the thing, it was a noractin, it looked like a dog, except that it had three tails, long razor sharp claws, and even larger teeth.

"Damn thing that was my food", Ryder yelled at it. The noractin looked up at him, sat down and lowered it's head giving a soft whine in apology. Ryder sighed softly and kneeled down seeing if it would come to him, "Okay I'm sorry I yelled at you. Come here." The noractin slowly edged towards Ryder's outstretched hand and sniffed it before happily wagging it's tails nuzzling into his hand. It then flopped onto it's stomach and licked Ryder's hand. "Good dog", Ryder smiled happily, glad to finally have a companion, "You need a name don't you", he smiled as he pet the noractin dog in front of him, "Bark if you're a boy." The dog stayed silent looking up at him, "So you're a girl then?" The noractin barked, it sounded much different than a normal bark but Ryder didn't care. "How about Ashley, I'll call you Ash for short?" The noractin barked again and stood up nuzzling into Ryder. The acid rain had soaked into the dog's fur and since it had mutated to survive, it did no damage to her.

Ryder smiled and scratched behind the dog's ear before standing up leading Ash over to the rest of the beans that she hadn't eaten and let her eat the rest of them. He was glad to have a companion even if she did eat his food. He watched her lick up the beans and he grabbed his fork rinsing it off in the sink, before placing it back in his backpack. Ash followed him when she got done eating and stayed close to his legs. Is she trying to protect me or is she scared? He thought reaching down to softly pat her head. "It's okay, Ashley."