"Penners!"
I groan, mentally smacking myself in the face as I stop walking, turning around to face Mandy as I plaster a smile on my face.
"Hey Mandy. How's it going?"
She walks alongside me, quickly skipping the greeting part of the awkward conversations we usually have.
"So did you talk to him?"
I roll my eyes, shaking my head slightly.
"I can't just talk to him, Mandy. He has a lot on his mind these days, planning the Summer Festival and all. Afterall, he's the mayor just as much as he's the priest of this village."
"But it's one tiny request, Penny! I already gave him a sample of the cake I made a few days ago and he said he liked it and he'd get back to me. Plus, you're his daughter. He'll listen to you for a few seconds, right?"
I sigh heavily and hang my head, surrendering.
"Yeah fine, Mandy. I'll tell him tonight."
"Thanks."
She doesn't look like she appreciates my comprimise one bit as she walks away, swinging her ass in her long dress. I giggle at the fact that her parents are strongly Catholic and surprisingly don't know she's a whore. If she could control how she dressed, she'd be in short skirts and bandoes by now.
I sigh as I turn around, gripping the handwritten books in my hands, hugging them closer to my chest. Summer was just coming around the corner in Region 18. We were the furthest region from the equator, and having about 17 other regions in front of us, we lived in a rather... cold climated area. Of course, we were smaller than all the other regions.
My name is Penelope Cooper, but of course, everyone calls me Penny. I was named after my mother, actually. Her middle name was Penelope. I vaguely remember my mother, mostly by her wavy blonde hair and dark green eyes. That is, aside from that terrible night, of course. No one here talks of that night, though. It's just something we keep to ourselves. Every October 17th, we light candles and set them off in small wooden boats into the water, in respect of all those who died that night. The return of the 'Others' had wiped half the population of Region 18, and barely had any survivors. Most children died that night. I am one of the only surviving children, along with four others. Of course, mothers have reproduced since then. It's only that I remember the night vividly while the children were in hiding.
I feel a shiver crawl my back as I remember how warm my mother's blood had felt in contact with my palms, so little at the time. If the incident had happened right now, of course, I would have known what to do. Place a cloth on the wound, put her in the correct position, do CPR on her... but... that's something I've learned to accept. That my mother was far gone before I even ran to her on my little feet that night. Afterall, I was only 6.
Anyway, back to Region 18. I have seen maps of this place but I've lived my whole life in here. A small town girl, hopping on horses and playing the guitar alongside with, of course, learning medicine from my father. My father is a wonderful person; as religious as he is. I am respected mainly because of his reputation. Our small town is far better than all the other regions. Our climate change is more various, our land is far more agricultural, and of course, the possibility of attack is less likely in here. I am, overall, lucky to live here.
The place we live in used to be a place called Regina, in Saskatchewan, in a country that...
Sorry, I don't pay attention in history class. It used to be in a place called Canda, I believe.
Soon after the 8/16 accident in 2020, when the global war on Terrorism had gone beyond control, a biohazardous infectious disease got out. From what my father says on the days he feels extra generous with his knowledge, the virus was designed to kill those within a thousand miles. It was dropped here by a bomb far from here, from a country who's name I don't quite remember. All I know is, that the virus spread pretty fast, managing to kill a lot of people. Luckily, the cure was found at some point, but only a few survived. This did not stop the country from continuing to bomb us with endless nucleous and chemical materials, which destroyed the face of the earth completely at some point, wiping at least 80% of the population, leaving too much destruction. It has taken us around a hundred years to get where we are now; free of virus, cleaned up regions of what remained, and named the regions in the best way we possibly could have.
