Anthills

Anthills

The children don't remember the true color of our skies, but I do. The elders don't teach about the day our world ended, but I do. No one dares to ask the hard questions, to venture out into the broken and charred ruins of the surface we once called our home, but I do.

My morning began the same way it had for awhile now. I awoke on my cot in the dimly room that Aunty Chel and I shared for years. The walls on my side were decorated with the crude paintings we used to do together when I was younger. Our rooms weren't anything special at all. Four stone walls, two cots, and just barely enough room to move around. It didn't bother me though. It's just the way we live here in the lower level. I laid in bed for a few moments, staring at the low ceiling and plotting my moves for the day. I needed to go topside and grab some junk to trade around. "Alright", I pulled myself up and swung my legs over the side of my bed. I reached over to the stone shelf behind my bed and grabbed my toolbox. Aunty got it for me when I was little to keep me occupied. Ever since I was a girl I always had little projects that I would tinker on. The lid sprang open with a metallic pop, revealing the contents of the box. It held a lot of random junk I'd collected over the years like nuts, bolts, fuses, LEDs, circuit boards, and wires. I'd graduated from making little lightup toys for the younger kids though. I removed the trays of random junk and placed them beside me on the bed while I rummaged around for my latest project. I held the unfinished hand cannon in my palms carefully. It only needed a chamber and ammunition. I fashioned the grip out of a warped piece of thick metal and wrapped tape and leather straps around it so I could grasp it easier. The rest of the gun's frame consisted of pieces from an officer's handgun that I had welded together over the past few months.

It was time for me to get a move on. I got a tip on some potentially valuable salvage that I need to chase down. I threw on the tarnished old pair of black overalls I've been wearing a few years now and slid into a pair of old boots that didn't quite fit. Sure it wasn't exactly the sexiest thing to wear in public but we live on patchwork and hand me downs here in the lower levels. I tucked the unfinished handcannon into one the front pockets of my overalls and headed out the door. "Myrn", a voice called out to me just as I closed the hatch. I glanced over my shoulder to see Tamn, my business partner. He was a kid, maybe about 8 or 9 at this point. His skin was the same tawny color as mine except a shade or two lighter because he never went outside and his hair was orange, curley, wild and unkept. He was wearing a jumpsuit covered in dirt and soot. He must of just come from the mining districts or something. "Morning Tammy", he took a drag from the ciggarette he was holding in his lips as I approached. "We got an opening", smoke flew from his mouth with every word, " Maybe an hour or two tops. Word is the Elites are planning a parade or something upstairs. If you need to get out then we gotta go now Myrn". For someone as young as Tamn, he didn't mince words. I like that about him though. "Damn Tammy. I don't get a 'good morning' or 'you're looking good today Myrn'. It's always straight to business with you", I teased him as I plucked the ciggarette from his lips and placed it between my own. I puffed on it a couple times and snuffed it out on the floor. "And I told you about the smoking", I went on, " You're f*****g up the oxygen for the rest of us down here". Tamn's bright brown eyes bore holes into my own as he went into the chest pocket of his jumpsuit and brought out an entire pack of smokes. He maintained eye contact with me while he lit another up. " Come on, we gotta get to work", He motioned for me to follow as he shouldered his way through the cramped tunnels. A grin tugged at the side of my mouth as I followed my associate.

We'd been walking in silence for a few moments before I finally spoke up. " So what are some of the orders we have coming in", I asked. Tamn didn't say anything right away, he just sort of zoned out and watched the overhead lights as we passed. He let out a long sigh and said, "We got a request from the Hall of Many Mothers. They need fuses to keep the heaters going in the nursery or else the children will freeze", he passed the short of his ciggarette over to me before continuing, "They're offering a ration card per parent so it'll be a good pay day. Our guy in the munitions district wanted me to warn you that he won't be able to send anything else our way for awhile because the Elites are coming down harder on quality control. I think that's about it". I didn't realize how bad things were getting all around. I've got to get to that salvage today. I spent a lot of my early childhood in the Hall of Many Mothers while Aunty Chel was working. Tamn practically grew up there ever since the Cabin Fever Riots. He lost his parents in a cave in that was induced by the Elites to subdue the rioters. His older sister struggled to keep them alive by working in the mines. "Shouldn't we help the Mothers for fre-", the word 'free' barely even got out before Tamn cut me off. "We need the cards Myrn", he started, "My sister needs those cards. Remember, we're a-". I let out a frustrated sigh and cut him off this time, "A business not a charity. I know". For someone less than half my age Tamn was a hardass when it came to getting paid. I guess that's why I chose him to be my Rigger. See this is how our business works, I'm the Scavenger and Tamn is my Rigger. The Rigger takes in requests from clients to get things that would help the community or just help the individual. We except payment in ration cards mostly but if Tamn sees a potiental gain he'll take a favor over the cards. Me being the Scavenger, I'm tasked with finding whatever the Rigger needs in order to complete a job. I try to keep an eye out for anything useful in general, not just what I'm tasked with finding. I save myself a lot of trips to the surface that way.

Minutes later we arrived at a literal fork in the road. I started going into the tunnel on the right while Tamn continued on the left. "I'll meet you in the usual spot," I told him. He regarded me with a single nod and kept going. It was a ritual for me to go visit Aunty before I go topside. I love my aunt, I really do but I absolutely hate visiting her during office hours. It's so far off the beaten path for me, it's always packed with other people and the Elite security detail always makes me uneasy. My parents sacrificed themselves to get me to Aunty Chel. She used to be a high ranking official, a community relations officer or something, until she opened the gates of the Bunker to the general public before the bombs fell. She saved many lives that day, as many as she could but she was demoted for it. The Elites sentenced her to serve as the liaison between the upper and lower levels of the Bunker. She's the reason that we thrive down here. The reason I've thrived down here for so long. I climbed several levels before I finally reached Level 0, the liaison office. "Identify yourself", the Elite officer at the gate demanded. He was clad in heavy riot gear, all black with emerald colored accents here and there, a laser rifle hung from the strap over his shoulder. The eyes of his facemask glow the same emerald color as his armor. "Identify yourself citizen", He commanded again, his voice had a rasp to it. I rolled my eyes, " Myrn Loche. I'm here to see Liaison Chel Loche". The Elite stepped aside and opened the first gate for me. There have been two sets of gates at the Liaison office ever since the Cabin Fever Riots. The Elites really don't want us on the upper levels with them. Meanwhile, the people of the lower levels slave away to make sure the Elites have every resource and luxery that they require. Aunty told me they live like we used to before the bombs fell. There's a giant dome that covers the uppermost level of the Bunker and it imitates the old sky. They have these tiny mechanical boxes that allow them to communicate with one another, having wordless conversations. The sad thing is it all sounded like a fairy tale to me.

I made my way through the office greeting the people I knew and ignoring the ones I didn't. Aunty was just wrapping up a session with someone from the munitions district according to the way he was dressed. He left her office bowing and thanking her for whatever she's about to do for him. She met me in the doorway smiling like a woman that didn't know the definition of tired. Aunty was a little bit taller than me by a few inches or so. Her skin was a deeper brown than my own, just like most of the older people. Her violet colored dreads were finally beginning to fade into a grey white color as she got on in years. She wore the maturity well. Aunty waved at one of her nearby assistants, "Give me a few minutes with my niece please". Without a second to spare her assistant started tending to the next citizen at her own desk. Aunty nodded for me to enter her office and I did. She closed the door behind us and flipped a switch that fogs up her office window from the outside. Her office wasn't too different from our housing situation, the ceiling was higher and there were more shelves in the wall but that's about it. "Are you headed out again", Aunty asked heading over to her desk. The desk was fashioned out of some sort of clay and melded to the floor of the office. "Yeah", I answered, "I'm gonna go make a trade and hopefully get some loot for the Hall of Many Mothers. Shouldn't take more than a few hours tops". I posted myself up by the door. We never spoke that long when it came down to work. What I do compared to Aunty is highly illegal. If the Elites caught me at any point I would shot on sight for jeopardizing the integrity of the Bunker. Scavenging is dangerous for a lot of reasons, not just because the Elites say so. Aunty gave me this knowing look that she always gives me. Her violet eyes were looking into the very depths of my soul, and then she asked me the age old question. "Have you eaten today"? I shook my head and she tossed me a couple of ration bars. "Take one to Tamn okay", she ordered, "And be careful out there please. Ration cards decrease in value when you're not alive to spend them". I was already halfway through the ration bar by the time she finished her statement. I pocketed Tamns bar and wrapped the last half of mine up for later. "As you say lady liaison", I started bowing and mimicking the guy that had just left her office. I got a chuckle out of her as I made my exit. Now I had to catch up to Tamn.

It took me about an hour or so to climb down to the level that Tamn and I usually hide out on, Level -13. It used to be a residential level until the riots took place now it's mostly caved in with the exception of the transition tunnel that gets you to the levels further below and the old maintenance shafts I used to get to the surface. Tamn was already doing the routine checks on my equipment when I showed up. He was hovering over a stone table with his headlamp on and checking the filter for my gasmask, " Everything looks good to go", he called over his shoulder as I approached, "I got the chamber for the handcannon and five shots for you. So if you need to shoot out there then make it count". I grabbed the spare headlamp we hid under some rubble so I could see as well. I joined him at the workbench and spent a few minutes affixing the chamber to the handcannon. It fit perfectly, no tweaking envolved at all which was the first. I started to get my gear and armor on while Tamn got the maintenance hatch open for us. The handcannon wasn't the first firearm I had created from scratch but it was the smallest. My first gun was a shotty. I made it back when I was 13, I used pipes and other makeshift bits. I've always had the same two shells in it too. Thankfully I've never had to shoot it. I wrapped a sleeve of patchwork leather around both of my arms to protect my wrists, hung the shotty from a strap on my shoulder and tucked the handcannon into my front pocket. Once I got my gasmask settled around my neck I was ready to go. We entered the hatch and began making the climb towards the surface. It took us about an hour or more of crawling around in the dark before we reached the top. Tamn popped the hatch open and looked around. Once he figured that the coast was clear he helped me make my way up.

Once again I was free. Free to explore this wasteland that was once a beacon to our society. Now its only a ruin, the skeletal remains of my home. The sky above a dull grey with clouds of white, completely devoid of color. I was met with nothing but silence and the ghosts of thousands of people that couldn't be saved. The monolith of the Bunker towered over me like a great and ancient titan. I felt like an ant observing it's hill for the first time. My existance was dwarfed by this structure's sheer scope. It all happened about twenty years ago. According to Aunty and various documents I've managed to find on the subject, we used to have this thing called a government. It's when a lot of elite big wigs get together and decide what's best for the rest of the common people. Well, our government hid a lot of things and it cost us our world. Apparently there was some sort of metorite that hit our planet. It was something we handn't seen before so of course they began researching it. The metorite was holding a lifeform inside of it. Here's were things get interesting, the lifeform was an unknown species of parasite. It was special though. The thing about this parasite was that it reanimated dead tissues. It would feed, reproduce, and colonize any dead thing at an alarming rate. Our government wanted to weaponize this but it backfired almost overnight. The test subjects got out of hand. The documents I've read say things like the bodies had immense strength and could change shape or evolve. Once the research facility was lost there wasn't a lot that could be done. Reports say the organisms were immune to most ballistic gunfire, fire, and they regenerated rapidly even from lasers. By the time that information was acquired we'd already lost a few cities. The parasites were spreading fast and becoming stronger and harder to deal with. A war was waged in order to buy time for the construction of the Bunkers that we now inhabit but that was only phase one of our government's plan. Phase two was to nuke the surface of our world in order to purge the monsters. Of course that backfired too. Sure we took some of them out but the radiation left behind caused all manner of mutations in the remaining parasites. Our population was reduced significantly because the Bunkers weren't meant to take in everyone.

I had to start my hike to meet with the trader. That meant going through the downtown ruins if I wanted to get there in time. I had to risk it. I needed the ration cards and the children need the fuses for the heaters to work. It was all on me to get that for them. I was careful in the beginning. Watching my steps, moving behind cover. There's one thing that's always certain up here on the surface and thats silence. I was only a few minutes into the hike before I started hearing whispering. A hushed voice hissing and mumbling. Against my better judgement I followed the sounds to their source. An old alleyway. I still couldn't make out what was being said from my postion around the corner but I could tell that the voice was female. I didn't want to do it but I had to. It's lawless on the surface especially if you're a Scavenger and those kids needed those fuses. I pulled up my gas mask, c****d the the shotty and rounded the corner. "Reach for the f*****g sky you-", I couldn't finish. Because the woman, no the thing that I was looking at didn't make since. There was the woman, porcelain white skin and long wavey pitch black hair. She was nude in every since of the word but her body was wrong. She looked at me with glazed over dead eyes and began to stand. Her limbs snapped like twigs and gravel as she moved. I could see her open ribcage from the side. Sharp claws or obsidian replaced her fingertips and her toes. She let out an otherwordly scream that resounded around the entire block. Then her bottom jaw split open, revealing rows of tiny dagger like teeth. Everything in me screamed one word after laying eyes on her. RUN!