What happens when the planet you are from no longer sustains life because of the generations that lived before you. The blue marble that shines so brightly like a Gem in our solar system has gone, replaced with a dark and poisonous planet.
Ten years...
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She cradled her chest as she stood up and entered the safe house. That was what she had called it, it was the only place in the world Luna felt safe.
Her reflection greeted her in the steel door as she entered. She stopped for a moment, her green eyes glowed full of pain and loneliness. Her dirty blonde locks hung down across her face reminding her she needed to trim them and wash her face.
Removing her khaki jacket and shaking it was a custom she would never enjoy. She never really knew what she was shaking off. The ashes all seem to form into one now, reminding her how fragile life had become.
The small body she cradled in her arms was barely alive. She walked over to the table and laid it down on a small rag. The table was a mess with circuits and wires laying everywhere.
Its breathing was rapid before but seemed to have settled now. Luna wasn't sure what it was, it was tiny and had dirty fur and very short legs. You could see its bones it was so skinny. It made very faint crying noises. Luna wasn't sure if she should put it out of its misery or try and help it. She had found many animals in the last ten years but most of them died. The only ones that seem to survive were the birds, and any animals that survived became savage and dangerous.
"Hi amigo, it's ok you're safe now" Luna walked over to her dirty plastic water bottle and poured a little into a piece of old plastic and then placed it by the little strange creature.
She ran to her large dusty and unorganised bookshelf were she had found many old books and pulled the one with the animal pictures out. Flicking through the pages, all kinds of strange-looking animals bounced out of the pages. She had read the book many times so she had an idea what it might be.
"Got it! so you're a dog, a Perro" Luna was Bilingual and spoke English and Spanish. Her parents had been from both countries, speaking both as they raised her. Before the bombs went off she lived near the coast of Spain with her parents, but they were forced to flee to London. Luna lived somewhere on the outskirts of what once was London.
The little dog began to sit up and drink some of the water "what are we going to call you dog?" Luna looked under his body to see if it was male or female "Ok you're a girl so let me think" She sat down and watched the little dog smiling.
"I think I will call you lucky" I mean it was a miracle it had survived for so long out there Luna thought to herself.
Today wasn't just any ordinary day for Luna, it was the day she would make the long journey into the city. She hadn't made a journey like this since she lost Kate. She tried so hard to forget those memories, wishing she was like a machine; being able to wipe her memories clean.
Luna held the last bottle in her arms like it was a baby, this meant life. She needed more to survive and she knew exactly where she could get it.
She packed all the tools she needed along with food rations and water. Luna was a technical wizard. She had built a solar-powered buggy to travel around with and even tried to build an air filter but she didn't have all the parts she needed. Scavenging was a daily chore and quite fun. She would often dream about the lives people once had and imagine what having a relationship with someone would be like.
She had been saving the last bottle of oxygen for this mission, making trips outside without air. You could breathe out there but it hurt. After a while sickness kicked in until eventually, you would die. Luna had seen it firsthand and still mourned the loss of her friends Kate and Stan.
Luna paced the small bunker holding onto her walkman. It was her most prized possession she had found in the junk out there. Finding a tape was like gold to her and she would risk her life to find more. She found this deep connection with music like it soothed her. It was the friend she needed at that moment.
She left some food for the small dog and water and gathered her bag and her last bottle and closed the bunker door. This was it, if she didn't make it back it would finally be her time to face the inevitable. "See you soon Lucky"
The toxic air filled her lungs as soon as she stepped outside. The sky always seemed to be the same colour of orange to purple mixed with a thick fog. Luna threw her things into the buggy and closed the doors. The air was a little better but it wasn't clean, eventually, she would have to use her bottle and mask.
She loaded the tape in her walkman and placed the earphones over her ears and then smiled as the crescendo of sound soothed her soul. "You got this Luna" She turned on the lights. Out here in the desert, there was less fog the solar panels could charge. In the old city, the fog was thicker and harder to breathe. Luna's safe house was on a large hill high up where the air seemed a little cleaner.
Her buggy made all sorts of sputtering noises until it seemed to calm down. Luna sang along to her music as she drove down the steep hill with an excited grin on her face, she loved to drive any kind of engine. Being stuck in a safe house most of the time was giving her cabin fever. She knew she had to do something, she couldn't live like this for much longer.
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A/N
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