Harley grimaced when her stomach growled. She knew she shouldn't have had two cans of green beans last night, as that meant nothing to feed her hungry body tonight. She'd been running low on supplies for a while now, but that had truly been the last of it. Harley had spent nearly the entire day scouring abandoned grocery stores…gas stations…anywhere that might have a morsel of something to sustain her, but it was gone. She could say that with some certainty now. Her world no longer belonged to humans.
As the darkness closed in, and the night got cold, Harley realized hunger wasn't her only problem—certainly not the most pressing one. Her search had taken her to the outskirts of the city center, where the forest encroached.
The treetops spanned buildings, the roots of the jungle had buried themselves deep below the pavement, tearing it apart, terraforming the city, covering every lamp post in vines and sidewalk in moss. The humans had retained only a small patch of Gotham to call their own, and that shrunk every day, as the flowers crept further, and the trees loomed larger.
Animals lived in those woods. Not house pets that had run away from home after the bombs dropped, but real, wild animals. Ones who had no business even being on this continent. Worse than the animals, though, worse than the cackling hyenas and the screaming gorillas, were the spirits that lived among those trees, well…one spirit. They say that she exists in the braches that humans can't reach. Her feet never touch the forest floor, instead, she swings like a monkey, guarding the fruit that could sustain the starving people.
Then again, Harley doubted anything could sustain them for long. This was the only world Harley had ever known. She was born only 6 months before the first bomb dropped. Her parents said she was a miracle, as most Gotham City residents died the moment it first hit, didn't even survive long enough to live through the second one. But she was still here. Her parents weren't, and neither was her brother, but Harley was. She wondered if the 21 year olds in generations before her had spent their days sleeping in abandoned store fronts, calling canned green beans a meal and running from literal wolves. She doubted it. Maybe they'd behaved more like Jay. Maybe that's why the world had been ruined for the rest of them.
Harley remembered the rubble, though, and the smoke and the looting…she supposed the jungle was an improvement. And there was nothing to steal anymore, so the streets were quieter. Still, though, it wasn't wise to sleep uncovered. The humans that were left could be just as dangerous, and even more desperate, than the animals. The fact that guns were the only resource plentiful enough to go around didn't help.
Harley had a gun, and she was good with it, but that didn't matter when you were sleeping. Even the quickest draw wasn't going to wake up if someone got the drop on them. Worse than that, it was December, and Gotham City Decembers weren't exactly kind to its residents.
It was warmer in the forest, and if she climbed a tree, slept off of the ground, no animal would bother her, aside from a gorilla, maybe…or the spirit.
Ok, but look, here's the thing about that spirit; no one had ever survived long enough in the forest to prove she even really existed. Harley's father had said she was just a story, made up to keep children away from the woods, as kids were less scared of animals than they ought to be. Harley wasn't totally sure what she thought. All she knew was she was hungry and cold, and from her position she could see a branch so covered with moss she might even describe it as "cozy".
Besides that, she was probably going to die anyway. A person could only go so long without food.
"Fuck," Harley breathed out, adjusting her bag on her shoulder, letting her fate sit heavy in her bones.
Here goes nothing.
The branch was a little less cozy than it looked, but it beat the glass covered floor of a crumbling Best Buy. That was kinda a low bar, but whatever.
Harley closed her eyes, the sound of her own pulse thrumming in her ears drowning out the whines and roars of the animals in the distance.
There are no such things as spirits. There are no such thing as spirits. There is are such thing as…spirits…
Her eyes shot open at the snapping of a twig, and she found she'd slept all the way through the night. It had been a while since that'd happened….
But realizations about improvements to her sleep pattern could come later. There was someone here...she could feel them…
A shadow danced at the end of the branch, and Harley jumped up to her feet, her chest pounding. She reached for her gun, but that was gone. Taken.
And Harley was pinned, she realized. Whatever had been watching her, whatever had taken her gun, would be able to move a lot more efficiently through the treetops than she could, and she doubted dropping down to the forest floor would be any safer.
Harley had mostly survived this long by accident. Through sheer luck and bravery rooted more in stupidity than any true strategy. So she decided she would deal with this situation the Harley way.
"I know you took my gun!" she called out, her high voice ringing through the forest, cutting the stillness that surrounded her like a sharp knife in a shaky hand. "My father was a professor before the bombs came, so I don't believe in spirits. I know you're just a stupid monkey."
The leaves before her didn't shake. Nothing moved.
…until a chill began to run down Harley's spine, starting in the small hairs at the base of her skull and descending until her posture was uncomfortably straight. She barely breathed, and whatever was hanging upside down behind her didn't make a sound either.
3…2…1…
Harley whipped around to face it, expecting to meet the face of an ape…but instead finding a woman. Though not like any woman Harley had ever seen.
This one had green skin, the same color as the foliage that surrounded her, and red hair matted in dreadlocks to her head. But her eyes were what Harley found most concerning. Their green was iridescent, glowing, even in the light of early morning. Oh, and she was naked. Like…super naked. On the bottom half, anyway. Her breasts were bound to her chest with a few vines, Harley guessed so they wouldn't flop down in front of her face when she hung like that. They weren't exactly small breasts, you see.
"You're, umm, welcome to have me—have it! The gun," Harley faltered. "I have other ones stored in the city if you, uh…mhm…" she just nodded awkwardly, finding the green woman was still closely examining her.
Her head was tilted curiously, and her eyes roamed Harley's body, not exactly predatory, but certainly…interested.
"Can you talk?" Harley asked as the silence stretched.
The woman didn't respond verbally, not that Harley really expected her to. She did, however, wave her hand in the air, and with the motion, the vines wrapped around her legs seemed to obey her, moving of their own accord and setting her upright on her feet only a few inches in front of Harley.
She was impressive, like, physically. Beneath her skin were ropes of muscles, each flexing with her subtle movements. And her face, although green, was rather beautiful, Harley realized. Besides that, it turned out the vines that had been binding her breasts were an extension of ones she'd been hanging from, so as they twisted away from her feet, her chest was left bare as well.
"Oh, hi," Harley stammered, looking straight up in the air, as she did not trust herself to only look at the woman's face. "I'm Harley, that's my name, typically people introduce themselves before—,"
She stopped when the woman extended her arm, brushing her hand over Harley's face.
"You must know that this is, um, very peculiar," Harley forced out as the woman grabbed hold of her hair, moving forward to sniff at her. "My father's dead, but I'm still not sure he'd—uh—find this very appropriate."
The woman had leaned into her neck, now sniffing down the column of her throat.
"Um, em, excuse me—," her breath caught as the woman moved to her chest, sinking slowly down onto her knees as her nose continued its exploration. "That's a little low, that's a little—hey!" Harley shoved the woman away when her face pressed between her legs. "Oh, I don't think so, plant lady!"
The woman stumbled backwards, a noticeable degree of fear in her eyes. And before Harley could stop her, she had a vine wrapped around her arm and was swinging to the next tree, making quick time away from Harley.
"No, wait!" Harley shouted after her.
But she'd already disappeared into the shadows of the forest.
Utterly confused, Harley remained on her branch, still staring in the direction the woman had left. She didn't know much about spirits, but she definitely didn't think they could touch you, let alone sniff you.
Deciding to get out of there before the woman came back angrier, Harley picked up her bag…. noticing it was now much heavier.
Puzzled, she took it off her shoulder, zipping open the top to find it was filled with mangoes.
What in the world….
She cupped her hands around her mouth, hoping the woman hadn't gone too far yet. "Thank you!"