Sara:
As usual the air outside is thin and dry. There is no breeze and what's left of the wild life stands still; slowly dying. Considering where I used to live, this place is a resort. The closest I got to outside was a small window that looked over the whole city. Everyone that lived there was too afraid to set foot outside. My old friends would tell me horror stories of people suffocating to death just going to check their mail. That being said, I was a little nervous to move here. That is, until I stepped foot on this dry dirt and lifted my face to the sky. I had never felt something so warm and it filled me with hope.
I lean against a tree, tilting my head to the sky absorbing as much sun as I can since I only get to be out here for a few minutes. My chest rises and falls slowly. My breaths are short. I've learned that the less air you breathe out here, the better. After a few long minutes, I feel as if I might suffocate. I make my way back to the house very slowly, carefully taking small breaths. I'm almost to the door when I lose my balance as my foot falls into a hole; stuck in a pile of debri. I hit the ground with a thud. I pull but the pile doesn't budge. I lean down to start picking my way through the scraps of metal and wood but something stops me. I see a light shining through a small hole in the pile. I can't make out what the light is so instead I yell. "Heellloooo?" The sound of my voice echos. Strange.
I lean back and pull my leg toward me as hard as I can. My throat is starting to get dry and my lungs burn from being out here for too long. Still, nothing happens. I pull again...and again...until something snaps. I look into the pile and see that the hole has gotten quite a bit larger. Unfortunately my foot is a few inches away from the hole. Feeling faint, I breathe in a deep, sharp breath and instantly regret it. My lungs feel as if they are filled with liquid. Just as I start panic, hands grip around my arms and pull me from my predicament.
Tegan:
Sometimes I enjoy a little stroll around outside, usually wearing nothing but shorts and a sports bra because of the heat of the sun. Shit went bad in this neighborhood, well I everywhere, 8 years ago. but it hit Midwestern states the worst, losing crops and then animals since there was nothing to feed them. Radiation slowly made it hard to go outside without suffocating to death. It also made our lands barren.
Some people fled to the outer states (except a few ballsy people like my dad) but those states quickly got over crowded. Eventually, the government started paying people to move to states like Iowa. My dad of course decided to stay here because and I quote "This is our home Tee, we aren't moving because a silly little bomb blew up." People who take up the government's offer to move to this crap of a land are not aware that it's completely stupid to go outside their house to have a good time.
I guess I see the attraction to this place because when just taking a look around you'd think "wow this place is a beautiful desert" but god are they fooled, with all the dry dirt that lost all signs of life and now it all almost looks and feels like sand from the sun bleaching it. The ground is so dry that sometimes stepping wrong can make everything crumble around you then it's goodbye life because nobody is gonna go looking for you. With hardly any trees around, ones that still stand are withered with no leaves on the branches.
The other day I saw a moving truck down the street. All I could think was fucking idiots.
Today as I walk, I head that way. As I get closer I notice a pale skinned female that looks dead by a tree, I start rushing forward until I see her stir, I come to a halt after making sure my body won't drop into the ground and watch as she makes her way back to her door. She strides slowly probably because she can't breathe and because she's in a rush she isn't paying attention to the ground, stupid girl, she slips on a pile of debri and struggles to get up. "Hello?" I faintly hear her call out looking down into the hole.
I dash for it not caring about the ground. When I get to her I grab onto her arms and pull her up with a swift motion "What are you?! A fucking idiot?" I yell and push her to her house "WAIT" she shouts with a raspy, dry voice and struggles away from me. "No" I say firmly and open her door and push her inside. When I do so she collapses onto the ground landing on her hands and knees "Do you want to fucking die?!" when she looks at me with a shocked and scared expression shaking her head, I relax a little "Then stay inside" I say turning on my heals and leaving the house with a slam of the door.