The Deadened Masses (W/Charlie Vasilyev)

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"And I'm Adrian. Now that the introductory bullshit is over, let's get moving. We can't afford to stay in the same place for too long." He stood up and adjusted his bag, looking around him for a moment. "If I'm going to be honest, it's a relief that I've got someone with me now. Scavenging these god forsaken lands alone isn't the smartest of ideas." he turned around to face her, a small on his face. "I'm going to trust that you won't stab me in the back of my head when I'm not looking."
 
Aiden crawled out and put her backpack on. She watched Adrian with suspicion as she prepped for the journey where it may take them. She tightened the shoulder straps on her bag and fixed her hair as she waited for Aiden to say where he wanted to head. Aiden was more of a passive person and never chose to put herself out there too lead. She was fine with going wherever the wind may take her as long as she was somewhere where she was able to get the supplies she needed.
Aiden looked around, she 'd really slept in the sun was already up a good ways in the sky. It was probably around 8:00-8:30 in the monring. She'd had a watch but it'd broken a long time ago and she had never found one to replace it.
 
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"Alright, if you've gotten everything, let's go." Adrian turned around and began to walk deeper into the woods, systematically scanning the area around him. "A bow and arrow would really be nice right about now. Killing things with a knife isn't exactly efficient." However, the idea did occur to him to tie his knife to a stick for a spear, but for now, they had some food and hunting could wait. Besides, the meat could spoil, and they didn't have the necessary resources to preserve it. Well, at least he didn't anyway. "So, Aidan, mind telling me a bit about yourself, if nothing else than to pass some time?"
 
Aiden shook her head. She was not opening herself up to him since she just met him.
"My life ain't nothin' special. " she dismissed quietly not revealing anything at all. She shrugged dismissively because she was fine with walking in silence. After all you could hear someone sneaking up on or when you were nearing a threat better if you were silent then if you were blabbing all the time.
Though silence was also easier for someone who had never really been taught or seen proper/friendly social interaction.
 
"Right..." Was all he said, taking the hint that Aidan wasn't exactly of the conversationalist type. Up ahead about fifty or so yards was a rather large tree, and it appeared to be in full bloom with fruit. For some reason or other, it filled Adrian with a sense of awe, as something that was thriving while everything else was dying unequivocally earned Adrian's respect. "Hey, you see that tree over there? It's got tons of fruit on it and if we had something to pack them in we could take some with us. It'll save space in our packs, and I'm dying for some fucking fruit."
 
"We could also dry some over a fire. That's perseve it and we could pack even more of it if we dries a hunch here. " Aidan suggested. It wasn't that she didn't want to move on quickly from the ruined town it was just that full fruit trees were normally scavenged quickly and they should take advantage of it and ru as much fruit as possible over a fire so they could have a reliable source of food.
Aidan looked at Adrian to see what he thought of the idea
 
Adrian didn't say anything, instead nodding his approval. He ran towards the tree and began to climb, knocking some pieces of fruit down and grabbing others on his way up. "These are some ripe ones, ready for the picking!" After a few minutes, he climbed back down and dropped what pieces he had. "Alright, let's get the fire going." he said as he tossed a few pieces towards her, now wandering around to grab a few sticks.
 
Aidan started a fire quickly and laid flat stone near it to heat up and then taking out her knife she started to cut the fruit into thin pieces to dry out and lay them on the heating stones. She set some fruit aside for eating now but worked on cutting a lot of it up and getting it ready to dry. The process took a long time but finally around two hours later they had a large amount of dried fruit and some fresh to eat that day. Aidan split the piled of dried fruit in half and pulling a small bag out of her bag she filled it up with half. Adrian could carry the other half.
 
While Aidan had been busy drying out the fruit, Adrian had been munching on some of the fresh pieces. It tasted really, really good, and it had been forever since he had something this fresh. "You know, this sure beats the hell out of eating bugs and maggots." He stated, putting his share of the dried fruit in his pack. "Come on, let's get that fire extinguished and hidden and get going." He began to stamp out the few embers that were left and began to throw dirt over it.
 
Aidan nodded in agreement as she herself started to eat some fresh fruit. She stomped out the fire and threw her bag on and tightened the straps on her bag. She was ready to go and shoved some fruit in the side pockets of her backpack ready as she ate her fruit. She nodded too Adrian while her mouth was full of juicy fruit because she didn't want to talk with her mouth full.
 
With the fire taken care of, Adrian began to once more make his way deeper into the woods. It really was amazing that something so alive and voluminous could exist in a world where most everything else was dead or dying. It was just so green and lush, nothing at all like the oceans of grey that seemed to be constantly surrounding him. "So, Aidan, where you from?" He asked, glancing over at her, "Or are you still not gonna talk?"
 
"Nowhere really." Aidan responded. "If anywhere I'd just say south..." she added. Her mother had been from what used to be Louisiana, but Aidan had been born somewhere in what used to be Georgia and she didn't know where her father was. She'd wandered so much she honestly wasn't sure where she was anymore either. Aidan shrugged apologetically knowing her response was vague and unhelpful, but it was all the detail she had.
"Where are you from?" she asked, attempting to make conversation, though her social skills sucked her way of speaking wasn't really friendly.
 
Adrian thought for a moment, trying to remember where he had come from. "I was born in Bulga, just slightly after shit hit the fan. My mother didn't want to raise a child in such a hostile place at such a horrible time, so she took what money she could and took a boat to America. Shortly after that, America got involved in that stupid fucking war, and all hell broke loose. Mom was killed in a riot and I never learned who my father was. I was left to fend for myself, and soon learned that the world was a harsh, violent place." He looked over at her after he spoke, soon returning his gaze back to the forest. "This world's fucked Aidan, and it's a miracle if anyone can live past 30"
 
"Bulga?" Aidan asked. She hadn't heard of Bulga before though her education was extremely limited when it came to geography. She could read a map of she tried but she had to devote so much time to not dying her general education was extremely lacking.
Aidan listened to his story kind of admiring his bravery for telling his story and wondering if it was stupid to open up that much to someone.
 
Adrian simply nodded and kept walking. "I don't expect you to give half a rat's ass, but I figure if we're going to be heading off to possibly meet our deaths, I might as well tell you a bit about myself." He adjusted his back and stepped over a branch, but couldn't help but look back over at her. "One man wanted more power, and it reduced the world to mere rubble. What a fucking shame."
 
Aidan nodded as she followed him. It really did suck. One idiot brought the whole world down and now everyone had to suffer for his hubris.
"Where's Bulga?" She asked curiously. Adrian's story wasn't a unique one. A lot of immigrants came here for safety and then lost everything when America got into the war. Aidan walked slowly along not particularly pushing the pace. They needed to conserve energy after all.
 
"Bulga was a small country that sat where Germany once was. Germany was taken over and declared Bulga about fifty years ago by a small army that claimed loyalty to the Russian empire. Thing was, Germany and Gonovia had been at odds for what seemed like forever and when Bulga established itself, it took on that feud with a hate that was just as vehement." He looked over at her when he finished, and noticed her slower pace.
 
Aidan nodded to show she was listening. She stepped over the log quietly and followed Adrian,
"I ain't ever left America." she stated quietly, "Saw a lot of gang feuds and junk though. Can't imagine whole countries doing it. Seems petty." she commented quietly. It really did seem petty to her. Why would your ruin hundreds of thousands of peope's llives over a stupid little disagreement? It was just cruel and selfish.
 
"You're not wrong there Aidan." he agreed, "That's just the way the world works. One country doesn't like another, and boom, you got a fucking war on your hands. Stupid fucking shit heads couldn't just leave each other alone." He walked for a little while longer before stopping at a fork in the road, trying to decide what route to take. Finally, he decided to take the left hand path, now continuing onward. "One country ain't much different than the other. People may talk different languages and use different money, but we're all the same. We're all just pathetic little rats trying to make it the next day. Sure, there are strong rats and weak rats, and eventually the strong rats kill the weak rats and eat them, but they're all just rats the same."
 
Optomistic fella aren't you? Aidan thought. She shoved her hands in her pockets and walked behind Adrian. She looked around, trying to figure out where they were going.
"Got any plans for where we're headed?" Aidan asked quietly as she trudged along. She didn't honestly care, it would just be nice know. It wasn't like she had plans to begin with, she'd just heep wandering in hopes of finding a good place for food and shelter.
 
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