Rush Above Sea Level

Chapter 1: The Car Ride Up

Everywhere is surrounded by sea...and I hate it. It's been weeks since 'The Flood', the huge flood that took my city. Buildings are gone, schools are gone, my favorite bakery is gone. It still seems like the flood happened yesterday. I was hiking on my own, it was stupid, but I was angry with everything. I wanted a turn in my life, a big change, something that made the world seem brighter. The view was stunning, the bright sunlight melted onto me, the city looked brighter there. My hands clutched my backpack hard, I felt like I was falling, heights was never a fear I overcame. I loved the mountain though, somehow the Earth connected to me best there.  As I stared at every detail of the city, the ground shook, it was like the ground was trying to shake me off...

I gasped, the car was moving through the rocky terrain, up the brown road.

"You okay, Atlantis?" Twinkle murmured. He stared at the rear view mirror anxiously, his brown eyes twinkling. Truth be told, I wasn't,but the stranger seemed so uneasy that I couldn't help but tell him I was fine. He seemed to see my concern but nodded, something my parents never did, they never waited for me to feel comfortable and open up. It was always argument, talk, crying, apologies, and doing it all again.

"I wanted children once." Twinkle smiled.

I fidgeted with my knightcon hoodie, the last gift my brother gave me.

"Why don't you have children?" I mumbled.

He sighed "Wife didn't want them."

"Your wife?"

"We," he huffed "Divorced."

"I'm sorry."

"Ah, it's fine, wouldn't have met you if I didn't visit her."

"Why did you visit her?"

"Her strawberry jam is exquisite, I simply visited her to give her some fresh strawberries to make them."

"I would have liked to try them."

Awkwardness crowded the air, we tried to avoid mentioning the flood, it always shook us back to reality. Twinkle lost his left arm to a tractor accident, doctors had to amputate it up to his elbow. His prickly, disordered beard covered most of his face. Hair tousled and covered in dirt. He had a light brown coat over a white shirt with blue jeans. He always slept with his black boots on, a gift from his wife apparently.

3 hours later

The engine sputtered as the last drop of fuel did it's work. Twinkle got out and nodded to me, we had planned for the day this happened. I jumped out of the car and examined the road. My red backpack behind my shoulders, and Twinkle's black one on his. Our food supply was barely managing, I had planned a picnic on the mountain myself, luckily, Twinkle preferred his own sandwiches instead of "oily garbage".

Hiking was an enjoyable process when it was considered entertainment, but when it's for survival, sometimes you've just got to suck it. Twinkle was doing better than me, for a middle aged man, he had the metabolism of a thirty year old. My water bottle was not doing well, I only had half a bottle left. The water that flooded the world was salt water, but the filtering system I learned from my Camping: For Dummies  helped me well. I was lucky enough to find an intact glass piece from the debris, so I put two stick to support one side. Then on the bottom of the leaning glass, I placed my water bottle. Got a bucket from the trash, scooped some water, and let evaporation do the work. Now we're both nearly out of water and climbing up a mountain in hopes of finding something. This was something we planned for a while, we assumed that there must be something on the top. I'm was pretty proud of our temporary camp, it was my first one, I never joined girl scouts like a normal girl would (because apparently that's what most girls my year did).

Twinkle and I must have walked for about 2 hours. The top of the mountain seemed more nearer now, but it was still a long way to go. We both sat for a moment, savoring the view. Twinkle gripped his thermos, staring at the coffee left. He groaned at the amount left.

"I haven't had a good cup of coffee for so long!"

"Well, at least you're alive."

After contemplating a while, Twinkle stood up and stared at the long road to the mountain then frowned.

"There's...smoke."

My eyes lit up,

"Smoke?" I raised my eyebrow.

Twinkle didn't answer, he ran. It's hard to follow a middle aged, coffee starving farmer but it's possible. When he stopped, I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was a CABIN.

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Thanks for reading! I'll try to move this story, but really, I'm just scared of how people will react.

Peace out

Karrot