The Girl Who Found the Sun

by Matthew S. Cox

  “It’s probably going to be dark in about an hour,” said Raven. “Since we’re already inside and drying off, we should probably spend the night here.”

  Sienna crouched by the big backpack and rummaged for food. “My thoughts, too.”

  They ate the last of the garden vegetables for dinner. Munching on a potato and zucchini gave Raven the idea of stopping at the same house on the way back to the Arc so they could stock up on food for the return trip. They still had some muffins left, but it would be dumb to ignore a ready supply of fresh eats. She considered suggesting that house as a potential starting point for a new settlement on the surface, but its garden couldn’t support 182 people.

  “Gotta pee. Be right back.” Cheyenne stood and walked out.

  A moment after she disappeared into the hall, the screech of metal on metal destroyed the silence. Tinsley cringed. Not quite three minutes later, the girl dashed back into the room looking like she’d seen a ghost, her poncho hood half down over her face from a frenetic sprint. Rather than run to Sienna, she stopped short in the doorway.

  “Guys! Guys!” The girl stabbed a finger at the hall behind her while swiping her hood back with her other hand. “You gotta see this! Be quiet!”

  In only a poncho, Raven felt conspicuously underdressed for going outside, but stood anyway—and grabbed the katana.

  Cheyenne jogged down the hall to an aluminum back door, its glass panels miraculously still intact. The slight eleven-year-old had to ram her hip into it twice in order to pop the door free of the frame. She shoved it open, causing a familiar metallic screech. The other kids covered their ears again, groaning. Cheyenne padded outside into what had been a parking lot, heading straight to the back end by the remains of a tall, moldy wooden fence. A line of trees there had quite well overgrown the area they’d likely been intended to occupy, breaking up the pavement closest to the dirt mound abutting the fence.

  The girl pointed at the dirt. “I was gonna hide behind the trees to, you know, but I saw that.”

  Footprints from at least three different adults wearing boots, or some manner of shoe with a treaded sole, crossed the mound from the other side of the smashed fence into the parking lot.

  “People,” whispered Cheyenne. “Someone’s been here.”

  “Neat,” said Josh.

  “Whoa.” Xan crouched by the tracks. “Day or two old.”

  “You don’t know that,” said Ariana. “Stop pretending.”

  Xan grinned. “This dirt is soft and it rains. Footprints wouldn’t last long.”

  “He’s probably right.” Raven crouched between him and Cheyenne. “The pattern from the tread wouldn’t still be there if more than a few days passed. Maybe there really are people at the silver ball.”

  “It’s not the ferals. These people have shoes,” said Sienna.

  Tinsley folded her arms. “We’re not ferals and you guys don’t have shoes.”

  “You don’t have shoes either,” said Ariana in a mildly snotty tone. “That’s just plastic tied to your feet.”

  “They’re sandals.” Tinsley held one foot up to show it off. “How many times have I stepped on a rock and hurt myself?”

  Ariana raspberried her.

  “I mean… not having shoes doesn’t make someone a feral, but having shoes kinda proves they’re not.” Sienna playfully swatted at the girl’s hair.

  Tinsley started to laugh, but clamped her hands over her mouth.

  “People is good, right?” asked Josh.

  “People is amazing.” Cheyenne bounced on her toes. “They’re not supposed to be any others left alive. What if all the stories are lies? They said the air’s gonna kill us. They said there aren’t any other humans left, but there are.”

  Xan stood, scratching both hands back and forth over his mop of frizzy hair. “Finding people doesn’t mean they’re going to like us. Or even be nice. Remember history? There used to be wars.”

  Raven shifted her weight from leg to leg. If, as it seemed, other people might actually be at the silver sphere, they might assume her one of those ferals and expect her to be hostile—at least until she spoke. Also, as Xan said, she had no way to know what those people would do. They had as much chance of being friendly as disinterested or even aggressive.

  “Why don’t you guys wait here in this building? It seems safe enough as long as you stay on the ground floor. Tomorrow, when the sun comes up, I’ll cross the ruins and try to get a better look at the silver orb.”

  “What if they see you?” Sienna bit her lip.

  “Then I try to make friendly contact—or run like hell.”

  Sienna grabbed her arm. “What do you do if they won’t let you leave?”

  “I have a sword.” She held it up.

  “Girl, if you’re going to risk making contact, let’s stay together.” Sienna stared into her eyes. “I’d rather that, even if we get captured, than sit here wondering when or if you’ll be back.”

  “Yeah.” Josh puffed up his chest. “We should stay together.”

  “Me, too,” said Tinsley.

  Ariana looked down, fidgeting at her long hair. “I’m scared of both, but less scared staying together.”

  “Yeah, totally.” Xan folded his arms. “Stay together all the way. And if the people are bad, it’s harder to grab all of us at once than just you.”

  Tinsley kicked her plastic sandal at the paving, the click, click, click echoing into the ruins. “People used to be mean to each other because the Earth had lots and lots of people and not much space. Now, the Earth’s got lots and lots of space and not much people.” She grinned. “They’re probably lonely. I think they’re gonna be nice.”

  Raven stared at her scrawny little daughter, barely able to find words. Bringing her to a place with other people, people who might be anything from crazy ferals to survivors from another Arc, could be incredibly stupid. Leaving her, and the others, here while she went off alone could also be dumb in a different way.

  These tracks in the dirt only meant someone had been here within the last few days. It didn’t prove they’d come from the silver ball, these ruins, or would even still be nearby. True, they might return while she’s gone, find the others, and… anything could happen.

  Tinsley had a point. Before the Great Death, humans fought with each other over land, resources, and maybe that credit stuff. Now, it didn’t seem likely any concept of credit or wealth remained. Vast amounts of land sat unclaimed. Perhaps the worst thing that would happen is the other people drove them away, protecting their food and water source. It sounded far more reasonable to think that a small group of surviving humans would welcome two women and a bunch of kids rather than view them as a threat.

  We certainly don’t look like we’re going to invade and take over.

  Her father had gone off alone, and never come back. She absolutely couldn’t do that to Tinsley.

  “Okay. We all go.” Raven looked down at her bare feet. “In the morning.”

  “Yay!” Tinsley jogged across the parking lot to the door, the clapping of her plastic sandals on the crumbling pavement ringing into the ruins around them.

  “She adores those,” said Sienna. “Didn’t want to take them off.”

  “Not like plastic gets wet.” Raven chuckled.

  “True. Beats going barefoot out here. Not like being in the Arc. I’ve found every damn rock, pebble, twig, and nugget of concrete in the world.” Sienna winced. “At least it’s warm though. My toes aren’t numb.”

  Raven followed her to the building. “I’m going to need to make some for myself when we get back. Those boots are about ready to give up.”

  “Surprised they haven’t fallen apart already.” Sienna smiled. “Not sure how you can wear boots that belonged to like ten other people before you.”

  “Easy.” Raven headed past the door to the hall. “Picture wearing tread socks, or nothing, and stepping in stuff leaking out of broken sewer pipe. I’ll take the old boots.”

  Sienna gag
ged.

  Once back in the room with all the chairs, everyone settled in for the night.

  Not knowing what to expect when the sun came back up, Raven held her daughter close. They could be walking into a bad situation come sunrise, but the Arc didn’t feel safe anymore. Everyone back there might already have suffocated, leaving her, Sienna, and the kids stranded on the surface with no true home. That seemed as likely as the people at the silver ball attacking them, or there being no one there at all. Many questions and worries swirled around in Raven’s mind, but one truth kept her from losing it entirely:

  No matter what happened, if they survived or if they died, at least she and Tinsley would be together.

  30

  What Was and What May Be

  Humanity left behind a vast, empty world. Why shouldn’t I go out there and look for stuff we can use? Their crap can’t be in any worse shape than our crap. – Ellis Wilder.

  Sleep didn’t come easy for Raven, and once it did, she found herself in a nightmare.

  For hours, she ran through a dark forest away from a growling monster. No matter how fast she went or where she turned, the glowing green eyes remained right behind her. She woke abruptly in a pitch black room, everyone else still sleeping.

  Sweating, and out of breath from dream running, Raven lay there in a fog until she passed out.

  She awoke again to sunlight leaking in from the doorway. Tinsley’s slight weight draped across her, the girl’s head under her chin. No one else had yet stirred. Raven attempted to sleep a little longer, but it soon became obvious that wouldn’t happen. The weird feeling in her stomach could have been excitement as easily as dread. Reaching the unearthly silver sphere would have a powerful effect on her emotionally no matter what it turned out to be. Crushing disappointment if she found an empty nothing. Elation if it held more people—or terror if those people attacked them.

  We’ve come too far to turn back without risking it. Don’t have to charge in like an idiot. Look from a distance, get a feel, then make a decision.

  Raven eased Tinsley down to lay on the rug, then sat up and pulled her boots over to check them. So many rips riddled the old, black material, she couldn’t identify any new ones, but they definitely felt flimsier than before this recent long hike. She had no idea what the boots had even been made from. Except for the sole, the material appeared to be simultaneously plastic and fabric. They’d been produced prior to the drastic drop in population, when the Arc still had people who knew advanced chemistry, electronics, and how to run the complicated machines on level six. She’d read about leather boots—which these clearly were not—but those required the skin of dead animals, another material the Arc lacked. She figured they had to be a synthetic fabric, perhaps plastic spun into a thread-like weave.

  If we stay on the surface, we might end up hunting deer.

  She pictured herself wearing the costume of Fiona the Huntress, a ‘wood elf’ character from one of the books in her room that still had a cover. Brown leather pants with cross-cording up the outside of both legs, fringed boots, and… well okay. She didn’t really want to wear a skimpy halter top. Whoever painted that elf had clearly been a man.

  Regardless, a generation or two from now—assuming people survived that long—they’d all be wearing clothing like that or end up like the ferals and abandoning clothing entirely. One thing to sit around at home with family, everyone in their inside clothes, but quite another to traipse about wearing nothing at all in public. Wearing only her poncho, though it covered everything, still felt as awkward as if she’d gone to the cafeteria in her inside clothes.

  She cringed.

  “Gotta do what I can to stop us from sliding into primitivism.”

  Lacking duct tape, she took some cord from her tool satchel and did her best to reinforce the boots. Eventually, the others stirred. They went outside to relieve themselves and returned to claim their dried inside clothes. Raven dressed, put her boots on, and added another cord or two to keep them in place. The left boot’s sole flopped about, nearly separated from the rest of it.

  I should turn these into sandals. The bottoms are still intact, and tough.

  After a breakfast of stale muffins, they filed down the hall to the front door and went outside. A quick glance at the sky reassured her with the promise of nice weather for the day, if a bit warm again. Raven followed the street to the left, going east. As best she could tell from what she’d seen using the binoculars, a stretch of forest separated the silver orb from the ruins, a distance roughly half that of the city’s span. Assuming the road that brought them here continued in a straight line across the ruins, she figured they could reach the orb at or slightly after noon. If she didn’t like what she saw from a distance, they could make it back here before full dark.

  The kids kept talking to a minimum, mostly gazing around in awe at all the overgrown buildings, sidewalk-destroying trees, and wreckage of decomposing cars. Cheyenne zipped across the street to check out a small building where a few mannequins in the broken window wore the rotted remains of clothing made hundreds of years ago. The girl sighed in disappointment when a dress broke apart into dust wherever her fingers made contact.

  Most buildings’ doors hung wide open and the vast majority of skeletal cars sat askew on the road, mushed into other cars or embedded in walls. Some had flipped on their sides. Raven tried to imagine the chaos and terror that must have gone on here as the people unable to get into an Arc freaked out, knowing they would die soon. Had they attempted to flee the city by car? Where would they go if the entire Earth had become deadly?

  People don’t think when they panic, they just do stuff.

  “Look!” chimed Ariana.

  Raven stopped short and spun.

  The nine-year-old squatted by the curb on the right, in the shade of an old truck that had decayed to a rusted metal frame and engine block. She picked a small stone up off the road, set it in her left palm, and walked over to everyone. The ‘rock’ had six legs and large pincers, but appeared docile and tolerated being handled.

  “That’s huge,” whispered Josh, gawking at it. “What is it?”

  “A bug…” Xan’s eyes widened.

  “What kind of bug?” Josh poked it.

  “Some kind of beetle,” said Sienna.

  Raven raised both eyebrows. The beetle made most of her socket wrench drivers seem small. It had to be three inches long and more than an inch around.

  “Can it fly?” asked Cheyenne, hiding behind Raven.

  “Uhh, I really hope not.” Xan leaned back.

  Cheyenne shivered. “If that thing sprouts wings, I’m outta here.”

  “Its teeth look sharp. Put it down before it bites you.” Josh nudged Ariana.

  “Mandibles.” Sienna pointed at the bug. “Those aren’t teeth.”

  “Now you’re making up words.” Xan rolled his eyes.

  “I promise that’s a real word. Mandibles stick out of the face.” Sienna held her hands up to her cheeks, fingers out to mimic pincers. “Teeth are inside the mouth.”

  Raven gingerly grasped the girl’s wrist to steady her left hand. “We shouldn’t touch these bugs. It needs to stay alive. We don’t know how many of them survived. Maybe hurting one could cause this entire species to die out again.”

  “Oh, no!” whispered Ariana. As if trying to carry a soap bubble without bursting it, she crept back to where she’d found the beetle, lowered her hand near the street, and let it crawl off.

  Two blocks later, Cheyenne pointed at a small kiosk at the street corner. Inside, under an awning, a metal frame held a large picture of a woman in a coral-hued dress. Though the photograph had faded a great deal, enough color remained that her lips had a distinctly inhuman teal coloration. The girl hurried over, admiring the design of the dress, like nothing any of them had ever seen.

  “Why are her lips that color?” asked Xan. “Is she sick?”

  “Maybe people back then had green lips?” Josh scratched his head.

/>   “She kissed a toad.” Tinsley frowned. “That was dumb.”

  The other kids—and Raven—laughed.

  “Who was she?” Josh leaned into the kiosk, which contained only a metal bench. “Why is her picture out here? Was she like the queen or something?”

  “The country that used to be here didn’t have queens or kings,” said Sienna. “They had a leader called a president who changed every few years based on who had the most wealth. But the president didn’t control all the power. The government was divided into three different branches. The president, the lobbyists, and the people. The lobbyist branch acted as the voice of corporations while the people’s branch mostly tried to do what citizens asked for, but the people belonging to them all basically just tried to make wealth for themselves. Whenever the lobbyists and the people didn’t agree, the president declared the winner, but presidents had loyalties to one side or the other and always went with their team rather than the best choice. That’s why the Great Death happened.”

  “What’s a corp ration?” asked Ariana.

  Sienna twirled a hand randomly. “A large, powerful entity with relentless hunger that gathered all the wealth it could and usually destroyed anyone or anything that got in its way.”

  “Entity?” Xan furrowed his eyebrows.

  “You know, what women have. Entities,” said Josh patting his chest, completely serious.

  Raven laughed.

  “No, no… that’s another word. Entity means, uhh, like a being. Something that exists,” said Sierra, sounding less than confident.

  Tinsley gasped. “Dragons?”

  “I don’t think so. Dragons aren’t real.” Cheyenne shook her head.

  “But they’re big and powerful and take all the gold and burn people.” Tinsley flailed her arms to add emphasis.

  Raven glanced over at Sienna. “You don’t sound so sure.”

  “I don’t think corporations were like living creatures. More like concepts. It’s… I dunno. I read it years ago and don’t really remember.”