Random Act of Fiction: After the End
I wrote this one sitting in the train station in Moscow, Russia.
We had like six house to kill, and I needed to get this finished for a writing group challenge.
If I remember correctly, we each thought of five random things, wrote them down, tossed them in a hat, and pulled five back out.
Whatever we drew, we had to write a story using all of them.
I’m oddly proud of the feel of this one, even though the writing is old and the grammar needs serious editing.
Bananas
Mike looked at the small tray of airline-like food with profound distrust. Most of it was unrecognizable even in its nicely labeled plastic packages and the aromas that were coming from his neighbor’s meals were not encouraging.
The blue female with tentacles sitting next to Mike broke out into her third tirade since the flight started in a language that thus far no one recognized. Mike shifted in his seat, trying to put some distance between his broad shoulders and the flailing tentacles. Luckily this time she decided to use the universal point and grunt method and before too long the attendant deduced that the female wanted chicken instead of beef.
“Too bad this is breakfast,” Mike muttered under his breath. No one laughed but Mike figured that was because he was the only English speaking bi-pied in this half of the transport.
The whole incident was soon smoothed over, as well as anything could be smoothed over in this over crowded, stinky transport that was bound for an unknown final destination, and the attendant moved across the isle to translate for something that looked like it had gills.
Mike sighed, knowing that he had to eat something, and picked up the only piece of food that he was sure of. It was small but it was unmistakably a banana.
Rocks
A few hours later found Mike making his way slowly to the rear of the transport. Predictably there was a line for the single toilet, or whatever it was called, so he joined the queue and waited.
He was always amused by the looks he received. He was tall, even by human standards, and built like a tree. Right now the heat of so many creatures in a confined space was beating out the cooling system on the transport and Mike could feel his dark skin glistening with sweat. Not many humans were left Outside and that alone was enough to draw attention, his individual appearance only added to the staring.
There were still two beings in line before Mike when the transport wobbled unexpectedly. Next came a short but violent bout of bouncing that jostled everyone around. It took a few moments before the shrieking stopped and everything fell back into place.
Mike managed to keep his feet but the isle was now littered with things that had been dropped by their owners. A female that looked similar to a human with three yellow eyes was attempting to pick up a book and calm several of what looked like her children at the same time. Shaking his head Mike bent down to retrieved her book. At the same time the transport gave one more lurch, sending anything that was not bolted down flying into the air, including people.
Grunting Mike hit the floor on one hand and his knees but he somehow managed to snatch the book out of the air. He quickly rose and handed to book back to the woman. She thanked Mike with something that sounded like ‘gracias’ and he smiled in return. His smile did not last however as the captain came over the speaker and told everyone to resume their seats. Shaking his head Mike turned around and began the trek back to his chair. Absently he began to pick the small pebbles out of his palm and wondered how many worlds were represented by the rocks that were in this piece of junk.
Baseball Hat
The jostle of bodies as the passengers exited the aircraft was enough to send two female Kulstis into hysterics and one male Draisl into a rant. Mike felt very lucky for once in his life to be so tall. His head towered over almost everyone else’s and he was able to avoid the worst of the press of the crowd. It seemed an eternity of traveling down small, twisting corridors before they finally passed into a large room with vaulted ceilings and a series of gates at one end.
The female who had dropped her book on the transport was just ahead of Mike and was having trouble juggling her two young ones and the few belongings that they still had. Mike shouldered his pack and rearranged his other things so that he had an extra hand and moved to lift the female’s bag for her.
She responded in a string of what was something akin to Spanish of which Mike only caught a few words, one of them again being gracias. Mike nodded his head and motioned for the mother and her young ones to keep moving.
The sea of people moved slowly towards the bottleneck at the gates and Mike took care to make sure the mother made it that far. Just as he sent her through something caught the man’s eye. Coming towards the gate, lost in the mass of people, was someone wearing a baseball hat.
Words
Mike angled towards the person in the baseball hat, hoping he could intercept them before they both got drug through the gates with everyone else. Baseball hats were from old Earth. Humans wore them as a tradition of mourning for what they once had. No one else would ever wear one.
It took a few minutes of fighting upstream but Mike managed to reach the person in the hat. He leaned down close to their ear and said, “Hello.” The human in the hat stopped and stared at Mike’s outstretched hand for a moment before they looked up.
The man blinked in surprise when his eyes were met by the blue eyes of a woman who even under weeks of dirt and grime was still beautiful. Mike smiled down at the woman and after an obvious moment of distrust the severe look on her face softened.
“Hello,” she shook his hand.
He did not have to ask where she was from or what she was here for. Instead he said, “My name is Mike.”
“I’m Abbey,” she said it with some difficulty, as if she had not spoken in some time.
“Would you like to go through together?” Mike inquired.
Abbey nodded.
Tape Recording
Mike and Abbey went through the gates with no extra fuss for which they were both grateful. The ‘guards’ were obviously bored and would rather have been anywhere but here, which is exactly how everyone else felt. Mike offered to carry Abbey’s bag and the woman thanked him but politely declined. He did not take offense, she must have been used to being independent. Absently he wondered where she had been when they caught her.
The two of them said very little as they went past the gates and continued to swim in the river of people. There was only one way to go. The corridor ahead was undecorated cinderblock with cracking tiled floors and those moving down it were eerily quiet. Simple lights hung overhead, serving as to spotlight everyone as they moved.
A tape recording was blaring from speakers on the wall and when it finally began in English Mike and Abbey slowed down to listen attentively. The recording lasted only a few minutes and when it was over Mike was certain that the look on his face mirrored the disgusted look on Abbey’s.
“Do you believe any of that?” she asked.
A new life, a new world, a better place…Mike’s usual humor failed him as he shook his head. “No.”