Dusty skies -intro

Inhaling, exhaling, inhaling, exhaling, that pure rhythm of survival was echoing throughout the marble hall of the abandoned subway. The sky was collared crimson as he left the underground and returned to the surface. Surrounded by concrete, steel and rubble, the head of the scavenger turned upwards, gassing at the red above. A cloud of dust rushed past, forcing him to wipe the large glass section of the mask that enabled breathing in the hostile environment he was currently residing in. After cleaning the visor the masked man looked up one last time at the dusk sky before continuing the journey thro the grey, mud stained wasteland. The lonely sound of boots crushing glass, stepping on plastic and metal shrapnel filled the empty square. It was except for the occasional gust of wind, the only sound that could be heard.


The little display case he kept in the inner pocket of his coat showed a total of 2% oxygen in the nearby vicinity, a dreaded sight since the oxygen tank was already half empty and he hadn't found anything useful except a small amount of petrol. Not the questionable mixture they produce back home but the clear enriched kind left behind by the people before. A glass of that stuff would translate into a smaller fortune but he had only found a capsule the size of his own little finger, that was still worth a pretty penny, but taking into account the expenses required to acquire it made it laughable. It would just about cover the field rations, water and compressed oxygen it took to get it and maybe with some haggling the various damaged equipment could be repaired, maybe. Most would see this as a huge setback since life threatening dangers shouldn’t be left out of the equation, but that was of no importance to him by now. He was just about to enter a promising looking building but realised there was no time for it after checking his pocket watch he valued so much. Behind the scratched glass casing the hands displayed six o’clock pm. Right now he had to worry about finding shelter for the night not more useless junk. But shortly after leaving the big empty square did he find an interesting looking alleyway. It was extremely short and had a wreckage of a… car? Was that what those were called? His father had insisted on teaching him all about the times of old when he was young. He used to say

-Knowledge is power my son, and our predecessors sure had a lot of it! He would after that shove the fattest book on the shelf in to his sons little hands, slowly going through the articulation of every word.

Snap out of it, he thought as he climbed over the wreckage. As he suspected, the little alleyway was protected from all sides by walls and the car. What a glorious shelter this would come to be. As he happily set up his provisional little tent in the middle of the tiny alleyway he noticed a steel door to his right. It was wide open and was in fact hinged. A still hinged door was a rare sight, it only hung on a single rusty one but still. Only after examining it closer for about five minutes could he find what looked like text engraved into the thick, warped metal. Reading it was almost impossible and an empty belly didn't really help, but after another five or so minutes could he identify the word “achtung” along with others and if he remembered correctly it meant something in the style of attention or warning. But being deprived of both food and sleep wasn't good for the memory, or survival for that matter. A meal and rest was what he needed. Just before crawling on to the portable madras he placed inside of the little tent did he drag out a canister of pre made “soup”. The canister was attachable to the drinking tube located on the left side of his mask. It wasn’t really soup, more like various dried nutritious substances, crushed and mixed with water. Although it was eatable on the move was it only meant to be consumed in the evening or before sleep because of the side effect of making the consumer feeling a bit dizzy, dizzy but full. It was referred to as a negative side effect by most, but it was perfect to calm his nerves since he was filled with an irrational paranoia any time he closed his eyes. The whole concept of partially shutting down your body and losing any connection to the surroundings in the process sounded more like a death trap then anything else. But it was required in some extent to survive, so with that did he close the now twitching eyes and let himself drift away.


He was awakened the following morning by what he perceived as a mechanical screech. Or was he just losing it? He came to the conclusion that further investigation was indeed required. But where had it come from? Had it come from behind the door?

The pocket watch displayed five o’clock am. He rose from the portable bed roll and returned it to its rolled up state before attaching it to his back pack. The mask was functioning correctly and he still had a third of his oxygen left. Speed was of  importance if he was to search the ruins and still have oxygen left for the trip home. He examined the door once more before venturing into the underground. It was indeed a remarkable door to withstand the powers of decay for so long, the only proper door he had ever encountered was the vault underneath what he guessed to be some old town hall. But then again,  that was a vault so maybe it didn't count. The door received a gentle pat out of pure respect as he took the first steps downwards into the abyss.

Only after turning on his head lamp could he see the thick layer of rust decorating the purely steel covered walls. The darkness mercilessly swallowed everything that wasn't in the beam of the head lamp. A slight feeling of claustrophobia filled him as the darkness itself looked capable of caving in on him if he didn't remain vigilant. This wasn't a safe location to say the least, more like a death trap really. The whole complex could collapse in on itself by just the added pressure of his hands touching the walls. The sound was probably his imagination and should be treated as such. Just as he were about to turn around did he once again hear the peculiar screech echo throughout the narrow hallway. An uncontrollable amount of curiosity fuelled his heart, like flame in the night did it burn to reveal what might wait for him in the darkness a head.