He walked, slowly, patiently, down the street, long pike in one of his gloved hands. He was never really too fond of the gloves. They made his skin feel sweaty and uncomfortable. Yet, if he took them off, the sensitive skin on his fingertips would soon become numb and he would lose feeling in them. He spiked the pieces of assorted garbage that covered the city street until his pike was full, and then he slid them off into the thick bag he held in his other hand. Times like this he wished his tree was lighter; it would surely make bending over all the time a little easier on his back.

"Yao, slow down," puffed the young man beside him, a tall fellow in a black, once white, coat and ripped boots. Around his neck hung a dirty and tattered garment, vaguely recognizable as a scarf, if only by position on his body. Thin, scraggly locks of probably curly blond hair stuck out from behind his mask. Yao had trouble telling what colour people's hair was these days. It was hard to see through all the black grit and soot."You are walking fast again. I can't keep up! Are you inspired for work today?" This man was also sporting a rubbish pike and bag, although hadn't filled his bag as much as Yao had.

"Sorry," Yao mumbled. "Ivan, keep up. We have a lot of ground to cover today." He sighed and speared more trash almost aggressively with his tool. "If you want to eat, keep up with me."

"Why do you say that all the time?" asked Ivan quietly, soft, honeyed voice oddly curious all of a sudden. "You said it last time, too."

"What, for you to keep up with me?" scoffed Yao. "You are a slow worker."

"No, eat. What does that mean?" Ivan asked, kicking his feet a little as he walked down the cracked bitumen. "You say it all the time."

Yao grunted quietly, readjusting the straps of his tree case. Feeling it slip a little, he moved his hand beneath it, and pushed it back more into place. The tree case itself was something he'd had with him for a long time. He was one of the first to get one. The technology itself was a miniaturized tree, almost like the bonsai his family had once kept in the house, situated inside a half-sphere of thick, unbreakable glass. Burying the tree's restricted roots was a shallow layer of dirt, and if you were lucky, some grass even grew. No grass grew in Yao's tree case. Below the dirt was a thick layer of metal and from that extended a length of tubing that would allow none of the outer air to seep in. This tube connected then to the front of the gasmask, providing one's own personal air supply. Yao had his looped under one of his arms. Ivan put his tubing over his shoulder."Sorry. It's a thing from Before."

"Tell me what it is," Ivan said, frowning behind his thick mask. Yao would not have been able to see. Nor had he ever seen Ivan's face, for that matter. They had become friends due to circumstance, and become closer just through verbal contact. Sometimes, Ivan would put his gloved hand on Yao's arm, and sometimes, rarely, they would embrace. Ivan didn't quite understand the motion, but Yao said it was a thing of affection. Friends did that. "I like hearing about Before."

"I could imagine why," Yao murmured quietly, slowing down and walking more calmly beside Ivan. He only really walked fast when he was deep in thought. They continued spiking trash as they walked.

"Eating is.." Yao trailed off, unsure how to explain this to his After friend. "You know, with Sustenance Fluids? How they fill you with energy?" he tried, poking something that vaguely resembled a can and putting it in his bag. "It is like that, only you do not inject it into your bloodstream. You put it into your mouth, and move your jaws to make it smaller. You then swallow it." He remarked, trying to remember what food tasted like. "There are things on your tongue, that is the fleshy thing between your teeth, called tastebuds. Different sustenances make it feel different."

"That's fascinating!" Ivan gasped, clapping his hands together in delight and almost spilling the contents of his bag. Yao luckily was paying attention, and grabbed it before Ivan's work spilled everywhere.

"If you want any Sustenance, you'll need to keep a closer eye on your day's work," Yao frowned.

After their sixteenth hour of pacing through the city and her endless mountain of trash, Ivan and Yao returned to their employer. "I am hungry," said Ivan, still finding that word, hungry, to be odd. He felt low. That was the word that the government used. The mayor used that too. When you were low, you were supposed to replenish your energy and your life with an SF, or Sustenance Fluid. Ivan only ever said hungry because Yao had.

"I'm hungry too," said Yao, frowning as they reached the Right Place.

The Right Place was a collection of rickety shacks within an abandoned streetway. It was like what Yao's parents might have called a ghetto. To find the heart of the Right Place, they were to surf through the other people trying to bargain their every belonging for just a little more Sustenance. There was never enough to go around, and chances are, there never would be. Even with the Depopulation and Protection Program, DPP for short, in place, there would never be enough for life to be fine and fair and lived happily. It would be a struggle forever. Ivan's gloved fingers gripped tightly onto the back of Yao's coat, afraid of losing him in the Right Place. Soon, thankfully, they reached the heart.

The heart of the Right Place was its very center, its very pulse, its very life-force, if you will. There was one man in charge of keeping those in this ghetto neighborhood on the leash, and that was a charismatic man who was known as Francis the Giver. And give he did. He gave his all at keeping these people hopeful, he gave his time up constantly to perhaps sit with the ill and sickly and tell them they were needed in heaven. He was a man who made good use of his knowledge of Before.

"Francis!" hummed Ivan, merrily hopping past Yao and over to his friend. "Hello! We are finally finished all our hours for today!"

"Ah, boys," Francis cooed quietly. His voice was slightly husky, more than it should have been, yet his soft, low tones were still kind on their ears. "Good job. Here," he smiled, handing them each a few lidded syringes held in a group with old rubber bands. "Merci."

"What language is that again?" asked Yao, a faint smile behind his mask.

"French!" laughed Francis, giving a light-hearted shrug of his shoulders. Ivan just tilted his head a bit, thinking once again how odd his friends from Before were around one another.

"Thank you for cleaning up the streets again today," Francis nodded after their muffled laughter had died down. "I very much appreciate everything all of those in the Right Place are doing to help my wish be achieved," he sniffled softly.

"I want to see this city pure again," Yao nodded weakly. "It's our duty to help." With a tearful nod from Francis, Ivan and Yao turned and began to walk home.

"Why does he talk like that?" asked Ivan. He had a bad habit of assuming because Yao was older and from before the Dark that he knew everything under the harsh and unforgiving sun.

"Did you see his tree?" Yao asked, taking Ivan's SF syringes for safekeeping.

"Yes."

"It was dying." Yao said in a quiet and subdued voice. "Our trees are our life, Ivan. Without our tree, we are incapable of drawing breath that will not kill us."

"So Mister Giver is dying?" Ivan asked, turning to look at his friend.

"Yes. His kindness is just a cover for the blinding fear he must feel."

ah yes, a new fic! i've never written post-apocalyptic before. i have this all planned out. should be good fun.

Glossary –

Before – Any place in time prior to the Dark.

The Dark – The time when a great amount of toxic smog, acid, and vile pollution were released into the environment. Released initially as a contained test of eliminating a single country, the situation quickly got out o f hand, and spread like wildfire, obliterating fauna and flora on a global scale. This event destroyed the world. Only a few civilizations remain across Northern America. Other continents are also affected, but it is unknown if there are any surviving humans on them. There were some precautions in place before the pollutions were released, including the SFs, and tree cases. These products are now being produced as quickly as possible, however, resources are very limited. The trees now within the tree cases are incredibly precious, as they are the last trees in existence.

After – Any place in time following the Dark.

Tree case – A miniature tree growing in a shallow layer of dirt within an unbreakable glass capsule. The bottom is made of thick metal. Airtight tubing connects the capsule to a mask strapped onto the wearer's face. The exchange of carbon dioxide from the wearer and oxygen from the tree create the wearer's personal air supply. The case is worn like a backpack, with straps crossing over the chest. The gasmask only covers the front of the head. Ears, hair, etc, are still visible and stick out from between the straps.

Elephant – Yao's term for the gasmasks, due to their trunk-like tubing.

SF/SFs – Sustenance Fluid/s. A re-energizing liquid within a syringe that has become currency. SFs replace the need for food or water, and are mostly nutritiously sound. They are becoming increasingly hard to come by.

DPP – Depopulation and Protection Program. The government's law states that for every child born, its parents must opt to either have the child live forever without a tree to themselves (ergo giving them up and letting them die) or sacrifice both the mother and father's trees to the government. The mother's tree goes to the child, and the father's tree goes to the government. This is a scheme in place to reduce the population to accommodate for having very limited resources.