It was still early 2035 when it all happened. The power was the first to go, transistors, wires and most household appliances went with it. All fried down to the core. A repair like this on mass scale would take decades to fix. And so the panic ensued. In a cashless society where nobody could get money out from anywhere, people became financially broke, very quickly. The military did their best to keep the peace and hand out food and water in the form of emergency drops. But people began to take advantage of the situation. There's no phones to call emergency services, no fuel pumps working to use vehicles. No large trucks to transport mass amounts of food or health supplies.
Money very quickly became worthless and people realised that playing nice didn't mean they'd get to eat that night. And those who were desperate for medical supplies for their families. Well.
When an entire country goes into a complete blackout, and that out of control. It's near impossible to regain it. And so communities began to appear, under control of a new military force, recruiting anyone they could to boost numbers. Factions formed after views differed and people were left divided. These communities were closing off areas small enough to control the population within it's limits. Money was a thing of the past, as everything we as humanity had based it's worth on was now gone. You worked for the good of the community, and you traded for the things you wanted or needed. Fights between factions and settlements broke out over land, water supplies and other resources. The poor living conditions meant disease spread, famine was a constant. People's desperation led to violence and betrayal.
But that was only the start of it. Nobody is sure why, theories rest in a disaster in a particle collider, a solar storm, maybe a mixture of a lot of things. Batteries began to fail holding charge for long periods of time, even things like magnets started to lose their magnetism. People theorised the magnet poles in the Earth were changing, others said that would take thousands of years to take effect. Not a few years.
Places like Nuclear plants were not being able to cool their reactors efficiently after all electrics were fried, resulting in detonation of the core. But in the end nobody is even sure how far the black out really spread. Could only be half the globe.
But whatever had happened, it changed everything we understood about the laws of time and physics.
It came to be known as fractures.
Or time storms.
Unseen rips in the fabric of our own universal plain. It can tear everything down atom by atom, it can warp the gravity in the affected area as well as age and unage objects before your eyes. Those whom have come in contact with such events sometimes show altered behaviours. Like radiation, it alters your DNA. Basically an early death sentence.
—
Caeden emerged from the dense brown fog that covered the inner city street. He was carrying Wystan's backpack, letting it drag along the ground, eyes glazed.
He stops with a blank expression.
“So then what happened?” Caeden said to Rui who came into sight followed closely by Aryan, the events of last night had weighed heavy on them. Still fresh in their mind and written all over their faces. It was still just before sunrise, the coldest hour of day. The streets still abandoned and quiet. They were still on the very outskirts of the inner city safe zone after traversing through the broken buildings and underground train lines.
“Those infected with the radiation of a fracture, don't live long. They often get very sick from it. Depending if you've been touched by it or just exposed” Rui sighed in worry. “You think that'll happen to us?” Caeden asked as he pulled his cargo pants leg up to look at his ankle. The clear imprint of what almost looks like a burn mark in the shape of a hand. “Does it hurt?” Aryan asked. “No, it's just... there.”
“If you start showing any signs of anything. Don't tell anyone, ok Caeden?”
“Rui is right.” Aryan concurred. “If they suspect us for coming into contact with a storm, I... don't know what will happen.” Aryan's voice dropped.
The sound of Caeden's stomach growling broke the somber silence. He turned to look at Aryan giving him this innocent look, “can I have some food now?” Aryan looked at the bag taking a deep breath before answering. “Wait until we trade this stuff in ok, canned goods are worth far more than what we can get at the market.” “How come?” Caeden said annoyed, turning his head up in confusion. “Because immediate food won't last as long, but this stuff, will last forever.” Aryan said proudly holding a can of baked beans.
Caeden frowned, “it says expired.” “Oh right.” Aryan remembered this now, tossing the can over to his brother. “Just save me some ok, and look out for mold will you. We can't afford you getting sick.” Before he had finished his sentence, his brother had already began preying at the can with his fingers ripping the lid off and scooping out the cold and expired baked beans with his hand.
Rui leaned up against the closest wall slumping to the ground, unsettling the red dust that layered the floor as his feet slide out infront of him.
“What do we do?” Rui looked over at Aryan. “I don't know, I'm to worried to go out a second night in a row.” “The storm?” “The storm...” The sound of Caeden wolfing down the can of baked beans could be heard in the background. “I've never seen one before, just stories. And victims.” Rui continued, “you seen the guy in the market, only one arm?” “Yeah?” “He lost that when he was kid, his arm basically turned to bone and they had to saw the rest of it off.” Aryan's eyes went wide, “Fuuuck.”
Caeden started tugging on brother's shirt, almost waving the rest of the can in his face. “I left you the rest.” He explained, before handing over the baked beans and picking up the bag he had dropped.
“We still have some food to last a few days, we could try trading some of the other stuff down at the markets?” Rui explained. Aryan shrugged to agree and they collected their bags and began walking back into the populated containment zone. The streets became more alive as people woke for the day. The street was littered with people asleep outside their market stalls and places of business. Food, engineers, traders, traveling merchants. Bedding and en-capsulized boxes patched with different metals and fabrics would morph before their eyes. The smell as people tipped last nights stool into the open drains that lined the streets filled the air, it was lucky most people wore face masks on the regular. The stench was near unbearable until it was flushed later that day.
Wystan's death still played on Aryan's mind, every time he had a moment to think in between stepping around and over people. It would jump to the forefront of his thoughts, haunting his conscience. It's one thing to have witnessed death, but another to have caused it. Regardless that deep down he knew he did what he had to do. His eyes peered down at little brother's leg as he was balancing along the sidewalk of the no longer used roadway.
“Wish I had that kind of energy.” Rui gestured. “To be a kid again aye.” Aryan remarked, “not sure how he's held onto it really. I can't remember if I was like that much past 5.”
“Are you guys talking about me?” Caeden turned, walking backwards to face the boys. “Not quite.” Rui answered. Caeden raised an eyebrow before turning back around to walk as far ahead as he could. He would often pause at each stall that caught his attention. The engineers was his favourite, anything electricity based really. It was like magic to him. All means of mass producing electricity much outside already made batteries had to be rethought. Hand wound devices, and log fire engines on larger machines to produce power was a more common commodity.
The other types of machines were that of clockwork and gears, beautifully intricate pieces of technology. It's become one of the most desired and admired trades of the current world. Not that people like Aryan or Rui saw much usefulness in it, they would always see it as fancy and unnecessary to survive day to day in their lives. 'Who needs to know the time?' They would often remark when the topic was brought up. But having a knowledge of gears or leveraging systems could be used to develop doors, draw bridges, lifting heavy objects, calender's for seasons or systems used to keep track of records or certain events as well as the best times to grow certain plants. Or even develop the ability to create river generators harvesting energy from the flow of water. But they had never been exposed to those things to understand the broader picture, and that was hard to do in the current.
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