A Story from within the context
It was simple before, in the good old days. Back then, you did your work or went to school, then came home had a nice meal with your family. Not today. It's all different now. Half of us don't even have our families, and you can thank parliament for that. If you're reading this now who knows what you've been told to believe, but this is the truth. All of it. The Civil War. That's when the madness started. The Rebels just weren't strong enough, The british defeated them swiftly and took the new land right from under there feet. All the rebels either died in battle, or were hung after the British had won. Soon after the war, The King started sending people over the America to explore, they found lots of good land. People started making the switch from Britain, to America. Soon the British were stronger than any, The Russians, The Germans, all bowed down to the King. After that it was just fact. Britain was on top and no one could challenge them. There was another war somewhere in that time, we were never taught much about it though, all's that's been said is Britain turned against each other over some silly war about slavery, but of course nothing changed. The King wanted slavery, so it stayed. Everything was good after that, everyone was...happy. Technological advances happened. Our technology developed more and more. Which meant more weapons were developed. But finally, everyone was fed up. It started with the Germans, sneaking into Britain, commencing very thought out and planned attacks on the inside. After this became an issue, the new king of the era, King George the seventh (Who was always a hot head) started making threats against Germany. But the Russians joined the Germans, doubling their army, guns, and nuclear weapons. When the king found out about this he immediately ordered british troops to be sent into Germany. Another war started, labeled "The Grimm War". Mainly named because of the outrages number of deaths in the first battle, huge fatalities for both sides. More battles came, more lives went, soon, both sides had nothing left to fight with. So they both pulled the trigger, and sent out the nukes. Radio's started going off everywhere announcing that the bombs were coming, people retreated into their basements. The launch of the bombs was anticipated for about a month. Everyone was so paranoid lots of people had bomb shelters installed. After the bombs no one dared come out of where they we're hiding for years. Earth was quiet. Quiet and peaceful. But soon, food rations started running low, people getting sick in need of medicine. So they started to come out, little at first. They wouldn't go farther than a few miles of their shelter. After a while, the wasteland became part of a normal life. People set up camps, providing others with meals and medicine. Farms started, producing nuclear fruit that was used for cooking. Many died from radiation, but the others trudged on through their lives. Soon, a government was assembled, they came in telling people what to do and where to do it. Where they should live, how important their lives were. But we didn't like that. At first we didn't understand, we had never lived under a government. But we figured it was new, and anything new, we didn't like it. The people assembled, made plans to overthrow the government, and it worked. Everyone lived in harmony, friends with one another, accepting each other. It was like we were better off this way then before the nukes. Even slavery was forgotten! The people put together schools and gathered teachers. Everyone stayed in the Western region near the sea. Radiation levels were low there and it was one of the few places with purified water. There were stories of what lied in the east. Mutated beasts, Radiation exposed zombies, mutated animals. But no one had ever seen any of these monsters. A decade went by, no problem. We had rebuilt towns and cities. We had created machines to help us with small tasks. That's when the first one came. A fall festival being held in one of the largest cities, Novakine. People everywhere. But no one noticed a tiny mouse, scurrying about on the floor. It was when someone went onto the stage to say a few words, the mouse followed him. It crawled up his back and onto his sleeve. There were screams and hollers! When the man noticed he stayed calm, slowly, he lifted his other hand to reach for the mouse. Soon, people started realizing that the mouse… it was… glowing! The mouse was glowing a greenish color, but its fur was white. The man showed no surprise to its glow and touched its furry body. The second his hand made contact with the mouse… it bite him! Its teeth sunk into his hand and a rash immediately spread throughout his entire body. His eyes went white, his skin went brownish green. He grew to about 7 feet, and his hands… they were enormous. He lunged into the crowd of people and started tearing them to shreds. The few who survived his gruesome scratch followed the same pattern as him, the rash, the eyes. Panic overwhelmed the audience and they scrambled every which direction. Seven mutated beings stood before the mess of people. The infection had struck the masses… and there was no way of stopping it.
Word went throughout the wasteland, people started retreating to their underground shelters again. The monsters from the festival hit two more cities, although everyone was unsure. Word was there was at least twenty of them now. It was every man for himself, no one would go near anyone that was at the festival the day it started, and out of all those people was a kid named Ben. Ben was about fifteen when the bombs hit, he was always different from the other kids at school. He didn't like spending his time with friends or playing sports, he enjoyed decoding messages and trying to find secrets. He was seventeen now, strong and tall. Ben wasn't in a shelter when the bombs hit. He suffered extreme brain damage. Mainly affecting his memory. A doctor found him lying in the ruins of aftermath. He had little experience in brain surgery, but knew it was Ben's only chance of living. The surgery was a slight success, but Ben lost many of his memories. Still certain words could trigger something he had forgotten. Whenever Ben remembered something, he would often have a seizure. It had only happened twice since the surgery. One memory was of his mother. The other was of his home.
When the mutated… thing, jumped into the crowd of people Ben's first instinct was to fight it, but some quick thinking went through his mind. If that thing scratched him he would end up just like it. So he started to run, but was stopped by the cry of a little girl… Ben scanned the crowd in search of where the ear-piercing cries were coming from. He finally locked onto a small child, lost in the crowd, eyes locked onto the monster. It was all slow-motion for Ben, he dove into the girl right before the monster slashed out… hitting both Ben and the girl. They hit the cold ground with a thud, the girl's cries stopped. Ben paid no attention to his wounds and crawled to the girl on the ground, she was fidgeting all over. When Ben flipped the girl onto her back to inspect her injury, but instead he saw cold, white, eyes. She developed a rash, but hers was a sky blue. Once all of her skin was the washed out blue color, she froze in Ben's arms… then she touched Ben's scratch mark. Out of all the panic Ben hadn't paid one second of attention to his wound, and when he saw it, pain started setting in. It went from his hip to his shoulder and his chest started turning the green color the other victims had. But when the child's hand touched the mark, the rash went away, and the scratch glew blue. After that, the girl ran away. Ben stumbled to get up, then chased after her. She disappeared into the fog of the wasteland and there was no way to find her in the night. Ben sat on a crate and thought about everything that just happened, he knew tomorrow, everyone would fear them, thinking they could catch the disease from him. So he, like the girl, decide to disappear into the wasteland. He snuck back into the town first, he needed some gear from his little shack of a home. Everyone had fled to their homes, the monsters still prowled the streets.
Ben stayed in the shadows, whenever a noise was heard he froze or played dead. Finally after about an hour of navigating the wreckage of a town, he came to his building. "Apartments B01-B25", It read on the front of the building. Ben's apartment was "B13". He would have to climb a flight of tall, creaky stairs to get to his floor. He started softly on the stairs, praying they wouldn't fall out beneath him. He had a close call on one of the higher stairs, but gathered himself and made it to the top. He found his room door and reached for the handle, it was locked. Ben reached to his shirt pocket to get his key, that was right, his shirt pocket had been scratched off. Ben spent the next hour finding ways to get into the room, he tried picking the lock, no good. He used an old credit card in a wallet he found, he scanned the card in the crack of the door, something he remembered from an old spy movie, didn't do anything for him in this situation. He even thought about climbing on the side of the building to get in through the window, but quickly scrapped that idea because all the windows in the building were nailed shut. Ben got fed up with not being able to get into his own room and started just smacking his hand on the door, and after a few smacks his hand hit a nail sticking out of the door. He wanted to scream but held his tongue. But the adrenaline rushed through his system and he grabbed a fire axe that was hung on the wall and started bashing his door to pieces! After a few minutes of beating the wood left over from the door on the ground, Ben realized he could get in now! Ben strolled in with a sense of accomplishment and went to his dresser to get his things.
Ben snatched a old backup laying on the ground and started filling it with items he had collected over the years. Water bottles, meat wrapped in paper, a frag grenade, a pocket knife, and a old revolver with a few rounds in it. He tossed the axe in his pack to and went to leave, but he heard people waking up in the rooms next to him. It was just then Ben realized bashing his door in with a fire axe might be a little loud. He wanted to get out of there fast and not have to explain what all the noise was about. So he sprinted for the stairs and rushed down as fast as he could… all forgetting how old the stairs were. His foot smashed into one of the stairs, and when he tried to pull it loose, the entire stairs broke sending him flying down under them. He hit the ground and was out cold.
The next morning Ben woke up. Still underneath the stairs, but now on a soft bed. It was dark and only a little light crept in from a crack in the wall. Ben stood up, but felt dizzy and stumbled. Something caught him though, a warm voice came from whatever helped him up, "You're tired, you need to rest".
The figure helped him back onto the bed and more light hit the figures small face. It was a beautiful girl, she had red hair, wearing some old armored clothes. She looked to be a little older than Ben, maybe nineteen or twenty.
"Who… Who are you?" Ben mumbled as he laid back down.
"My name is Rosaline, you fell into my home last night!" she said with a chuckle.
"What do you… do you mean?" Ben moaned from the Bed.
"Well," Rosaline started, "When these apartments first opened up, I got here too late. There were no open rooms, so I found this place under the stairs. This is we're i've lived for the past years" Rosaline explained with a warm glow in her voice. "Last night the floor boards let out and you came tumbling down! Don't worry though, nothing broken, just a few scrapes and bruises… and one very large scratch…" she said with a sudden seriousness in her voice.
Ben froze up and stuttered, "Uh, well, I think…". Rosaline stopped him.
"I know where it came from. What I don't know is why it's blue… and why you're not dead".
Ben made a decision and decided to keep the little girl a secret,
"I was cutting firewood and the axe hit the ground and bounced back at me into my chest! I'm lucky I survived!". Rosaline scanned him with a look of question, then pulled something out from behind her back.
"This axe?" she asked with confusion in her voice. She held the fire axe Ben had used to knock his door down. Ben froze for a second, crafting a lie in his head to explain the axe, the logical choice would have been to just say yes. Instead, Ben said that that used to be his father's axe and it was very precious to him. Rosaline took a second to process the words that just came out of Ben's mouth, but then seemed to drop the topic and move on.
"You live in this building, i've seen you before. What's your name?".
The words started to come out of Ben's mouth, but suddenly he stopped.
"It's B-Sam."
Rosaline again seemed to see through him, almost like she knew he was lying.
"Sam. I knew a dog named Sam once." Rosaline said, studying Ben's reaction.
Ben froze. He had completely forgotten about Sam, his old dog… Ben went into a seizure. He fell of the bed, but Rosaline caught him. Almost like she knew this would happen. Rosaline caught Ben in her warm arms and soothed him with her voice. A voice like an angel. Ben fidgeted in Rosaline's arms. They both lay on the cold floor, one single beam of sunlight hitting them.
Ben came too a short while after, the sun was still up. His eyes locked on to Rosaline, he studied her, wondering how she knew about his dog. Ben's mind soon wandered though, memories flooding in of Sam and his good times. At the park, in the yard. Sam kept Ben company when it was a stormy night. Ben's last memory of Sam was when his sister, Jade, had taken him for a walk… the bombs hit while they were gone, never seen again. Ben finally spoke to Rosaline.
"I-I'm sorry… that's never happened before." Ben lied.
Rosaline stayed silent, she was in a corner full of knick-knacks and gadgetry.
"Wh-What are you doing?" Ben asked, barely spitting it out. He was week, needed food. A second past, and Rosaline shot out from the darkness.
"I know you met her." she stated in a cold, authoritative, growl.
"You will tell where you met her, what she did to you, and how you got this." She growled again. She was touching the wound across Ben's chest.
"Tell me… now." This was a new side of Rosaline. Ben had the impression she was a sweet, yet mysterious girl at first. But Rosaline was showing her dark side. Ben, in sheer fright. spewed out words.
"It was at the festival!" Ben answered, almost in a shriek.
"Go on." Rosaline answered.
"At the festival, there was a little girl, st-standing in the crowd. She just stood there, staring down the creature! He lunged at her… I-I shoved her out of the way. B-but got slashed." Ben stopped.
"It's blue. I know she touched it. You tell me how it happened." Rosaline, in a more frightened voice, yelled.
"After I hit the ground, I didn't notice it until I looked down. Pain started to seep in but before it could takeover. I-She touched it! The wound healed together and it went blue." Ben stuttered, hoping Rosaline got her answer. They sat in silence for a while. Ben finally mustered up the courage to speak again.
"Ev-Everyone else who was scratched. They turned into one of them. Why not me?"
Rosaline stood, then lifted up the back of her shirt to reveal a collection of slashes, scratches, and gashes. All glowing blue.
"SHE DID IT TO ME TOO! IT DOESN'T HEAL YOU! IT CONTROLS YOU!"
Rosaline dropped to the floor weeping. Ben felt like he should comfort her but then a words came out of him, but he wasn't speaking them.
"What do you mean I… it does not heal you? We-I feel great! She healed me! She saved me!". Ben choked out trying to stop it. Rosaline looked back with big eyes.
"Really? You think she helped you?! She cursed you! I've been looking for her for years! She makes me do things I don't want to! The only way to stop it is for her to die!" Rosaline was a wave of mixed emotions. Ben just sat on the side and watched like he was looking in through the window.
"You don't understand it's not me!" Ben uttered trying to get Rosaline to understand.
"She's doing it. She has you! This is what i'm talking about!" Rosaline screamed.
Ben came back. He could feel it was gone.
"I-I think it left." Ben burst out gasping for air.
Rosaline immediately went to work packing two bags.
"What are you doing?" Ben asked trying to climb to his feet.
"We have to kill it. It's the only way. I've dealt with it for so long, I'm strong enough to fight her off. But you. If she tries to take you over again, she'll have you for good". Rosaline informed him.
"Where do we find her?" Ben asked finally getting on his feet.
"There's an old power plant, it's where I met her. It's awhile away from here, but we can make it in two days. We'll find her there, we can destroy her there." Rosaline said with an eagerness in her voice.
"How do we kill her?" Ben asked, unsure if Rosaline entirely knew.
"We'll figure it out" Rosaline said with authority.
About an hour later, Rosaline and Ben found a way out of the hole they were stuck in.
"Sam! Grab the hose!" Rosaline hollered from the top of the stair case. The two had crafted a pulley system out of and old hose and and some scrap metal. Ben was confused at first, 'Why did she call me Sam?' but immediately remembered the lie he told about his name.
"Ok! Pull me up!" Ben yelled from down in the pit, he was clenching too the hose. He was still weak from his first stumble into the pit. Rosaline tugged on the hose and Ben started to move up. Rosaline was incredibly strong and Ben was amazed at how she pulled him up without breaking a sweat. He had to admit he had a little crush on her, but it felt wrong. After Rosaline had pulled Ben up, the two carefully tip-toed down the stairs. Finally they hit the ground floor. One of the glass sliding door was stuck open in the front of the building letting sunlight peer in, it was incredibly bright. Rosaline jumped up with excitement and shooted for the door. She jumped through the doorway outside with a pep in her step. Ben walked towards the door admiring Rosaline's excitement just to be outside! Ben wondered when the last time Rose stepped foot out of her pit, but his thoughts were interrupted by a shriek. Ben ran out the door, the scream belonged to Rose. When he got outside he found why.
Three huge tanks wrapped in battle armor had spotlights on their fronts, all aiming at Rose. There was a speaker in the biggest tank, and a voice came out of it.
"Stop! This area is under quarantine! Evacuation was issued yesterday! Why haven't you left yet!"
Ben's heart sank. It was "The Ranger's Of Duke". The false government. "The Rangers Of Duke" was a society assembled shortly after the bombs hit. They advertised themselves as "The People's Power", meaning they would stand up to the government and destroy them. Everyone supported the Rangers and they took out the government. But no one knew what the Ranger's had planned next. They tried to take over the land, telling people where they could live, what they could have. But bomb threats started coming in from anonymous sources saying if the Rangers didn't stop what they were doing they would be blown sky high. So the Ranger's stepped down, not wanting their valuables destroyed, greedy pigs! They still existed though, quietly. When disaster would strike they would do what they could to help, but usually it was just another plot to take the role as government. But the people stopped them. The Rangers still have some control where they can issue evacuations and other sorts of meaningless power. Anyway. Ben and Rose stood in front of the Ranger's tanks as they demanded why they haven't left yet. Ben was about to explain everything. But Rosaline beat him too it.
"Oh my it's just terrible!" Rosaline fell to her knees blubbering. "Me and my husband have been searching for our daughter ever since the 'incident' at the festival! We didn't want to leave without her but now we have no choice! We'll get out of your way we've already packed our bags! Goodbye!" Rosaline stood up and grabbed her bag, she handed Ben his and they headed for the town's gates. The Ranger officer was confused at first but shook it off and he and his tank buddies kept searching through the rubble.
Ben waited until they were out of the gate's before he said anything. After they left he started.
"That was amazing! They actually believed you!" Ben said in amazement.
"They were just dopey Rangers! They'd believe anything I told them!" Rose replied with a hint of confidence in her voice. After that there wasn't much talking, they only had a few more hours of sunlight and needed to find an area to stay for the night. In those few hours Ben did a lot of thinking. He thought about what he remembered before the bombs, he thought about his dog and how much he missed him. But most of all Ben thought about Rosaline, good thoughts at first. How confident she was, how strong she was, how smart she was. But then Ben started thinking darker thoughts. 'If she's that good of a liar, maybe she's lying to you. What if she's not what she says she is, what if she's not leading us to the girl. How come she questions everything we say?'. Rosaline finally spoke.
"This is a good spot to stay for the night, if there are any creatures out in the waste land they won't find us here, there's also a stream down there and I think the water is pure."
Ben agreed silently, opened his pack. He found two blankets and a pillow, they were in rough shape but they would do. He also found some granola, and all of the things had had packed from his room.
"Thanks for packing us… me some stuff." Ben said, but Rosaline noticed a slither in his voice.
"Yeah it's fine Sam. I had some leftover supplies." Rosaline sayed seemingly shaking off the mystery in Ben's voice before.
The two laid on their bedding. Rosaline, on one side of a boulder. Ben on the other. Ben could hear her singing on the other side. Rose had a beautiful voice, but this time he thought differently.
'Doesn't she know we're trying to rest over here! Tell her to shut it!'.
But Ben ignored it and went to bed, falling into a deep sleep. Rose, on the other hand could not sleep. She was wide awake. Was it a strange feeling of uneasiness, or was it just the thrill of finally being outside! Rose decided taking a walk would be a good idea so she quietly slipped out of her blanket and took a walk through the area around her, staying close enough so she could see the lantern on the top of the rock. The sky was beautiful that night. Rose couldn't take her eyes off of it. The colors of blue, black, and a tint of green made a perfect mix almost like a painting. Rose soon became adventurous and she was like a little kid, climbing rocks and picking up sticks and pebbles. Rose soon found her way back to the camp and laid on her bed slowly falling into a deep sleep, still staring amazed at the sky.
That night rose had a dream. She was dancing through big, puffy, white clouds, humming a cheerful tune. She bounced from one cloud to another, she was weightless in the air slowly landing on each cloud. But soon the clouds grew gray, then black. With each hop, Rose became heavier until she struggled to even take a step. It was like Rose was struggling with herself, she felt weight on her pushing her down. The dream faded and Rose opened her eyes to see Ben, holding her hands together with one hand… and holding the axe in the other. Rose screamed as Ben struggled to hold Rose still. Rose could see the blue lights in Ben's eyes and knew the little girl had possessed his body. She shifted and threw Ben off of herself. Then she grabbed him by his neck and lifted him. Rose grabbed the handle of the axe and grasped it tightly. She stared into Ben's eyes, hoping she could scare the girl out of him. But instead, she saw the night sky from last night. She became hypnotized in Ben's eyes, again she could not make her eyes leave the sight of the sky. Ben then slowly lifted the axe to take a swipe at Rose. But the little movement was enough to make Rose snap out of the state. She twisted the axe forcing Ben to let go, then shoved the handle against his throat pushing him to the dirt ground. Rose started screaming.
"Leave him now! You have no right to use him! You get out right now and do not come back! Take me if you have to but leave him alone! He's the only one that can save everyone! Let him live!". Immediately Ben snapped back into it, again he had experienced the whole event, but had no control over his body. Rose went into tears and dropped the axe. She wept beside Ben. Ben finally sat up and started to comfort her. After a while Rose grew silent, and then stood up. She grabbed her bag and started walking into the plains without a word to Ben. Ben stared at Rose, unsure of what to do.
"Well, I'm waiting." Rose said with annoyance in her voice. Ben quickly shuffled over to his bag and then caught up with Rose. Again, left alone with his thoughts, trying to make sense of past events.
The morning seemed to go on forever, nothing eventful happened which made it even more dreaded. Finally the two found some shade to take a break in. Rose said the first word in hours.
"So what's your story Sam? Where were you before the bombs hit?".
Ben locked up, he still didn't trust Rose and he wasn't going to go spewing about his entire life.
"I-I was in a shelter, my dad had one installed. He believed every word the parliament said. So when they said put in shelters, he did." Ben barely choked out the words, he couldn't bare lying. His real father was the exact opposite of they lie. He never believed anything parliament said and thought the bombs were a made up scheme just so parliament could get more money. That's why Ben wasn't in a shelter when they hit. Rose grew curious of Ben and started asking more questions.
"Hmm, My dad was a real jackass about parliament, always going off on a spew about how they want our money or how its all fake, I was at my friends house when the bombs hit, luckily I got to hide in there shelter. After a month or so I went back to my house the entire thing was gone! Only thing left was the a huge gun safe my dad had, I tried to open it but it was no use without the key".
The story about the gun safe reminded Ben of a chest his father had, he kept it at the side of his bed. Never opened it, Ben always imagined what he was hiding in there.
"So all your family died after the bombs?" Ben asked with a shake in his voice.
"Yep pretty much, knowing my dad when the sirens went off warning people about the bombs he probably ran outside and started screaming about how it was a lie. My mom never left the kitchen, she was either talking on the phone or cooking or reading magazines, she did everything in there." Rose replied without a care in the world talking about her dead parents.
"Is it sad sometimes thinking about them?" Ben asked growing more comfortable talking with Rose about it.
"Not really, there dead. Can't do much about it, no sense powtin' about now. I've got better things to do, more important things than my parents." Rose preached back. Then, without thinking, Ben blurted out a question.
"How'd she get you?"
"Who my mom? Ben do I really need to explain this" Rose said with a chuckle.
"No, the little girl, how did she get you" Ben said with a newly found authority in his voice, wondering where it came from.
"Well you came on this little road trip with me so I guess I owe it to you to tell you." Rose said with a hint of surrender in her voice. Ben was surprised Rose didn't put up a fight.
" Well lets see… i'm 19 or so now so… seven years ago! Yeah, when I was twelve. We lived in a rough neighborhood at the time, always seeing the most terrifying things on the news. So I was walking home from school one day minding own business looking at the ground trying not to start anything. Of course occasionally some pre-pubescent kid would holler some corny pick up line at me but I kept walking. So I was taking my usual route home and I always walked past this one alley, abandoned and always reeked of the dumpster sitting in it. This time when I walked past there were two guys sitting in the alley. One looked at me and hollered a name. I kept walking paying no attention to it, they got up and started to follow me. I could sense trouble was about to start. One of them grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. I kicked his shin, the smart thing to do would be to run away… but for some reason I didn't. The other guy pulled out a blade and struck. I dodged it and punched his gut. He wasn't phased and pushed me back. I jumped up and started to run but he slashed. He cut my back and I fell. Both of them proceeded to cut me up pretty good…" Rose stopped with a blank expression.
Ben was horrified. He couldn't picture Rosaline in that situation. Rose started again.
"That was the first time I took pain. I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I let it happen. I remember being eerily calm. Soon I heard a scream, 'Get away from her!' A small voice screamed. I looked up to see a small kid, she had pigtails and a plastic lunch box. One of the guys laughed 'Yeah? What are you gonna do 'bout it princess?'. Her eyes went dead black and the two guys went flying. I was amazed by what she had done… She ran to my side and inspected my wounds. I tried to tell her to go get help but she touched the slashes. It burned at first but then it was cold. I could feel the marks seel up… I had so many questions but she ran off". Rose stopped and rubbed her back.
Ben wanted to say something but couldn't think of anything, he just stared. Rose started again with a shake in her voice. "I stood up and the cuts didn't hurt anymore. I ran home and didn't come out of my room. The next day I went back to the alley. The two guys weren't hanging around there today. I sat in the alley and waited for the girl. I was there for a while and almost went to leave… but then I heard footsteps. I waited until I could see who was making the noise and there she was. Wearing the same dead black gown as the day before. I took out my notebook and started describing what she looked like. I went on for a few days like this, watching and logging her every move. Finally after a week I confronted her. As soon as she saw me she ran. I chased after her but she was as fast as a rabbit." Rose stopped. She stood in the waste land deep in thought, she wasn't said. Just phased by the memories.
"I didn't see her after that. I looked everyday but didn't see her… Until after the bombs. We had many run ins after the bombs. Some good… some bad. I've learned a lot about her, I know her favorite place is the power plant." Rose said remembering the goal of their expedition.