Full summary: The City has descended into a rusting shell of its former self after strange happenings occur. The population consists of pockets of young people, the only ones left, fighting to survive. But with a food shortage, lack of shelter and the ever sinister fights between Tribes, survival becomes a day-to-day hope. Leon is one of those few heading for the City's edge, though how far he'll get is anyone's guess after events outside of his control unfold, throwing him into the tribes he never wanted to get involved in.
A/N: I was bored and this was spawned. I love apocalypse/dystopia-type stories, they're fun to read (and now I've found they're fun to write). I wrote this while listening to Rise Against, 'Saviour' in particular. I'm going to see them again in December and I can't wait!
I'd love your thoughts on this. Are there any others who love this type of thing?
Disclaimer: It's called 'fanfiction' for a reason, darling.
He'd been running for a long time, longer then he'd thought possible for any human. His legs shook due to the sheer amount of movement he'd forced them to do, his eyes streamed with tears from the chilling wind as the goggles he'd picked-up at the beginning of his trek had been long lost. Or were they traded? He couldn't remember.
His fingers were scratched and bleeding with two fingernails completely missing on his left hand after a badly timed jump had left him scrabbling to cling onto the concrete rooftops.
Travelling on the ground was just too dangerous. Too many other Strays, too many Tribes, too many shadows and alleyways which potential enemies could be lurking in. No, the rooftops, though much more difficult to traverse, were at least significantly safer and allowed for easy viewing of the City. Or rather, what was left of the City.
From his high vantage point, Leon could just make out the City Limits and that was where he was headed to. Rumour had it that the disaster was localised to the City and that people were living normally on the outside. Leon had no idea if any of those rumours were true but it was all he had to go off and so to the City's edge it was.
Taking in his next distance to travel across, Leon surveyed the gap between the building he was stood on and the ones across from him. There were three he could choose from, though one was instantly dismissed due to a high chain-link fence running around the top. The other two were a similar distance away, but after looking carefully Leon saw that one was lower then the other, making it an easier jump for him, especially as he was so tired.
'This will be the last one for today.' He decided and his muscles cried out in agreement.
He made a running jump for the ledge, muscles twitching in anticipation of the leap. The edge was coming up fast and he knew that if all went well, he could reach the other side easily. However, fate didn't seem to be on his side that day and instead of making a clean jump to the next building, Leon's foot caught on the raised lip which ran around the edge of the block he had been jumping from.
Feeling his body pitch forward towards the ground and a particularly messy death, Leon reached out for the electricity cable rushing past him, briefly wishing that he'd notice it earlier and simply crossed using that in the first place.
The wire slowed his decent but did nothing to stop it. The brunette's weight and the force of the fall put too much strain on the wire and it quickly snapped, sending Leon slamming into the wall of the building he'd been aiming for before it snapped again and he fell four storeys.
It was almost too much to believe when Leon found himself landing in a dumpster full of relatively soft garbage bags instead of the solid tarmac floor.
Rolling himself out of the rubbish pile, and onto the tarmac, Leon closed his eyes and let out an audible sigh of relief as the cool ground made contact with his muscles. The joy was short lived though, as a heavy object connected with his ribcage. Grey eyes shot open and came face-to-face with an extremely sharp looking object, behind which a helmeted head was looking down on him. Glancing down at his chest Leon saw that the heavy thing was a boot, attached to a well muscled leg if those curves through dirt matted jeans were anything to go by.
"This is our territory." The roughly made spear was raised further, the sharpened piece of car barely brushing the skin between his eyes. Knowing what he knew about the various tribes which littered the City after the Change had happened, Leon was justifiably terrified. Tribes were known to be ruthless, picking off those in opposing groups and forcibly recruiting anyone who they believed would be an asset.
He also knew that, most of the time, only the best were put out on patrol duty.
"Hey, I didn't mean to-" Leon started but the foot on his chest gave a sharp kick down and all thoughts on forming excuses as to why he was there were halted abruptly.
"This is our territory," His attacker stated again, pressing down heavily on his chest with a dirty booted foot, "that means 'what the fuck are you doing here?'"
Behind the motorbike helmet visor, Leon could just make out a pair of barely purple eyes and a fringe of black hair. The guy was easily bigger then him, in height and build, so fighting him off wasn't an option. Besides, Leon was exhausted. He didn't think he could actually raise his fists to defend himself even if he did believe he had a chance against this stranger.
Somewhere behind Leon there was a crash of metal hitting metal and glass breaking as another person approach.
'Great.' He thought, 'Now I'm royally screwed.'
"Oi, Zack. We need to move on." This voice was obviously another male, possibly younger then the one with his foot planted firmly on Leon's chest, but he couldn't be sure. "You found somethin'?" The voice asked, getting closer as Leon heard more rubble and debris being kicked out of the way.
"Not somethin', someone." The foot pushed down again and Leon let out a cough in protest. The weight didn't shift.
The new person came into view, a shock of blonde spikes making itself known against the grey sky and the boy's eyes were hidden from view by goggles not so dissimilar to the pair Leon had started his journey with. A scowl played on chapped lips.
"What is he?" He spoke dispassionately, addressing
"Dunno, he fell from the building." The first person's ('Zack is what the blonde called him.' Leon reminded himself) voice had changed greatly. It was almost carefree when talking to the other, though it still carried a threatening undertoned.
"So he's a Roof Runner?"
"That's what I thought but there're no markings on him." The blonde used the blunt end of his spear to nudge at Leon's chin, turning his head towards him. The goggles were lifted from his face and blue eyes scanned his face passively, giving nothing away about what was being thought behind them. There was a faint red ring around each eye from where the harsh plastic had pushed against the skin and Leon noticed that the previously protected skin was a significant shade lighter then the dirt smeared cheeks and forehead.
"So Spiky, what're we gonna do with him?"
"'We'? Zack, this was your find. Don't drag me into it." The blonde groaned, frowning heavily at the older boy. "You know I'm not exactly in 'His Majesty's' Good Books as it is." The sarcasm was tangible.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever Spiky. Still, what're we doing with him?"
Leon was now suffering the painful pangs of cramp in his arms from holding himself up and so was feeling more then just a little irate.
"I say you fucking let me go, bastards." He muttered under his breath, not really intending for either of the men above him to hear the comment.
The two looked back down at him sharply, as though they had forgotten that their find could talk.
"Ya know Spike, maybe we should take him back? He could be of some use, especially if he's been jumping the roofs all this time."
"Whatever Zack, it's on your head."
The painful pressure on his chest abated and Leon was dragged up to a standing position by the front of his jacket. With his legs wailing in protest of their rest being cut short, Leon stumbled a little before holding himself straight again. The blonde was watching him carefully though Leon still couldn't read his eyes. They were surrounded by dark shadows, making the boy (for that was all he appeared to be, as opposed to his bulkier partner) seem tired. However, before Leon could get a proper look at the blonde, the one named Zack tied something around his eyes, swiftly grabbing his wrist and binding those too, behind his back
"Hey! Wait what-"
"Company policy, Scarface." Zack chuckled darkly, "We don't want you seeing the way to base, do we now?" And with that Leon felt himself being swung, not at all carefully over the bigger guy's shoulder.
"Fuck you." Was all the brunette had left to mutter as he was carried to wherever it was that these two strangers called 'base'. He didn't bother resisting as he knew that was his best plane for survival. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and he knew that to pick a fight with either of his captors would be a bad move on his part.
Eventually a potent combination of the rhythmic walking rocking his body and the artificial darkness wrapped around his head sent Leon to sleep, against his better judgment. Every part of him was so thankful to get some much sought after rest that not even the logical part of his mind protested too much about the danger of falling asleep on his captor's shoulders.
At least this way he'd be well rested when the inevitable fight (or chase, depending on how lucky he was) came about, Leon reasoned to himself as sleep stole away rational thought.