Terra Firma

Jimmi Bob

Picking her way carefully over a tumble of fallen bricks, Luna lifted a hand to shelter her eyes from the light as she stared around.

She had left the buggy behind once she had gotten to the first line of debris. It wasn't so bad on the outskirts of town, if she was hyper-vigilant she might have been able to weave the buggy through the rubble, but it wasn't worth what few parts she had just for the ease of travel.

The air felt different here. You could see the thick clouds of smog still lingering over the town, turning what sunlight that filtered through it into an ethereal silver. It made the devastation seem that much worse; as if someone had taken Earth and turned it into some grotesque metal sculpture. Luna's lungs protested each breath she chanced to suck in. It had been so long now that she had plenty of time to practice, but the longest she could go without taking another breath was just over two minutes.

It wasn't long enough.

She picked her way back down the pile of rubble, crossing her chest and muttering a soft Madre mía each time she saw a boot or an elbow patch sticking out from under the fallen stone. A small part of her was relieved that enough time had passed that the only stench left around here was ash, chemical residue, and the thick pollution that periodically filtered down like macabre snow.

If it wasn't for her walkman, Luna knew she wouldn't be able to make it this far into the city. The silence was unbearable. It was as if she had fallen into a nightmare, trying and failing to scream, to even whisper, and all that was left was the void. The silence haunted her even in her unconscious moments. Her heart pounded to a halt when her tape stopped playing, and she tried not to panic while she fiddled with the old thing until it began to play again.

The bliss of rhythm was all she had left. But, maybe... no. She had given up on that. After Kate and Stan, she had no faith that she wasn't the only person left on Earth.

Left behind, anyways.

The city towered over her. Usually, she loved to make up stories about who people were and what they did, but staring up at what shattered glass remained in the old skeleton buildings only filled her heart with dread. It was a kind of sinking weight that settled somewhere in her gut, growing heavier with every step closer to the centre she got. The ground was covered with a fresh layer of ash, muffling her footfalls.

Luna wrapped her arms tightly around herself, nodding her head to the beat and trying to ignore the bones that peeked out from the car of a door left ajar. It wouldn't be too far away now, she hoped. Her chest had started to sting, and even her muscles strained from the lack of oxygen. She dragged the back of her hand across her eyes and brow, bending to grasp her thighs as she paused for the first time that day.

It was starting. The clock began to tick from the first moment she took to rest, a broken hourglass with a pinch of sand. She pinched her eyes shut as tight as she could and thought about the little animal left in her safe house. Lucky. They both needed that luck, now. And if Luna never made it home, well...

Maldito aire, she swore, pursing her lips and trying to stretch her record to two and a half minutes. Every second mattered out here. 130 ... 131 ... 132. Her vision sparkled with tiny stars and the ground swayed beneath her feet. 133 ... 134 ... 135.

She couldn't hold it in any longer. Her breath rushed out in a painful gasp, and she forced herself to stand straight again before she took her next one. It wasn't the best oxygen if you could even call it that anymore, but it was keeping her alive. A good lungful and a short suck were nowhere on the same level of usefulness, though they both killed you the same.

Luna needed to make it there. The shop was only a block or two away now. The streets all blended into each other lately; everything looked the same. It was impossible to tell the difference between the buildings, and even the burnt-out shells of cars seemed like someone had taken a magic wand and cloned each one. The corner of her mouth tugged up a tiny bit at that thought.

What she wouldn't do for a magic wand. Some sort of spell that could somehow transport her away from here. Maybe one that would change this broken down hunk of junk they used to call Earth, into a luscious paradise like the ones in her storybooks.

Her knees buckled. If it hadn't been for the split open and rusted post box beside her, she would have crashed to the ground. An injury was more than she could handle right now — even a sprained ankle would kill her. If she didn't get home... didn't get to the shop... she was doomed either way. Luna pushed herself back to her feet, hissing through clenched teeth.

She did it before. She needed to do it again.

Trudging on, the layer of silt only got deeper. One more turn and she would be in front of it: Jimmi Bob's Surf'n'Sail Emporium. It was the last place she knew had any oxygen tanks left. After the Exodus, mass panic and rioting had seen what Luna endearingly referred to as los demonios stripping the city of any oxygen it had left. The hospitals were the first to run dry. Then, the medical clinics. They didn't even really need it then — not like Luna needed it now, anyways.

She never would have survived if it hadn't been for Kate's sharp wits and strangely useful scuba-diving knowledge. It still made her cheeks burn to think about it; she'd lived pretty much her whole life in Spain, and she'd never once gone under the sea. Too much to freak her out had been her excuse. Well, she hadn't known the true meaning of fear, then.

Now ... well, she just needed the tanks to cling to what life she had left. Briefly, she wondered if life was any better under the waves, but in the last decade, a trip to the seaside was out of the question. She didn't even know if any ocean life had survived. Her home was closer to Chiltern than it was to the coast, but maybe if she could stockpile enough oxygen, she'd be able to make it there one day.

She closed her eyes and sunk to her knees. The track on her cassette tape sped up making the song sound comical like a chipmunk, before correcting its self. 131 ... 132 ... 133. Luna let her eyes slide open and stared up at the fading aquamarine dolphin smiling down at her. She'd made it to Jimmi Bob's.

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A/N

Thanks for reading and voting guys. @caybaileyand I are really enjoying writing this one together. PLEASE comment or ask questions because we love your thoughts :)

Thanks, J & C <3