The Journey

Unexpected encounter

The morning was cold. Aurora and Maya woke up in their makeshift camp in the forest, as they always did. They always got up before dawn, not out of will, but because they are forced by their pets, Bailey and Boris, who have the habit of getting up with the sun.

Aurora stretched sleepily, sitting in her sleeping bag, and started braiding her long red hair. Although she liked her curls, keeping them loose was not an option. She put her gloves on so she wouldn't accidentally burn her hands again, when Boris gets excited about something. She then approached the dragon and ran her hands gently over its red snout, rising to its brown horns and following its huge wings and body until she reached its powerful blue tail.

Maya always woke up in a bad mood, but every time she saw Bailey smiling as she waited patiently to be brushed, her heart was filled with joy. Maya hurried to brush her teeth and her short brown hair. Every morning she brushed her pet's light brown fur, while the big cat purred with joy, then immediately after polished its beautiful purple horns, which closely resemble those of a deer. This morning ritual started when Bailey was still a cub. At the time it took no more than ten minutes, now two hours pass before the Diger was completely brushed and ready to start the day.

The mornings were always silent. The silence was sometimes interrupted by the sounds made by the pets or the girls talking to each other. It's over the time when mornings were greeted by birdsongs or the sounds of civilization, no, that was a long time ago. Now everything is quiet, the world is quiet.

As always, they rolled up their sleeping bags, tied them in their backpacks and returned for the journey that had been going on for almost 7 years and seemed endless.

Sometimes they came across people, but they were all bad and wanted to hurt them or their pets. Pirates, as they called them, were a big problem until their pets learned to defend themselves.

Since the last great war, all that has been seen was destruction: bombs dropped on cities and fire that consumed everything for days in a row, but nothing was as devastating as the nuclear bomb containing the mutagen R-7, which led to the death of almost the entire world population, animal and human. Many plants were also affected, but most remained intact.

All animals suffered some kind of mutation in their DNA. Many grew to sizes never imagined before, others grew new limbs, and several others had their DNA mixed with other species.

Often on their journey, the girls came across adorable monsters and creatures, and always tried to study or understand them as best they could.

Living in a dystopian world was never their dream, as it's pretty hard to survive, especially to get enough food to support themselves. That is one of the reasons why they are always traveling. Whenever they arrived in a city, they look for abandoned markets and shops. They often find new clothes and a good supply of food, which are stored in their backpacks. Whenever it's possible, they go to drugstores to supply the first aid kit.

Sometimes they were lucky enough to find libraries, but it was a rare thing, because most of them were set on fire or destroyed next to buildings. The cities they pass through are always empty, but it is not uncommon to find skeletons in the streets and establishments, remains of a dark past.

That was the routine. It didn't have much difference from one day to another, but they didn't care. The priority was survive.

"Look! Art supplies!"

"Where?" Maya asked excitedly.

"There!" Aurora pointed to a building at the end of the street. "Come on, my pencils are running low."

"Don't you think it's weird that we're always stepping on skeletons?" Maya asked, looking disturbed at her shoe when she heard the distinct noise of bones breaking under her feet.