You Wish Productions presents...
The Price of Life
By: Blue Taboo
It didn't take them long to find that which neither of them really wanted to see, but it was too evident to miss. The great shinning city that had once been the capital of Japan, the base of NERV, and the origin of humanity's last hope was now just a giant crater. Actually, crater didn't do the description justice. It was more like a gaping hole with a few wobbling structures on its edge. The whole lead down to the sphere-shaped hollow that had once been the Geofront, or as Shinji later learned, the Black Moon.
It was afternoon by the time they topped the last hill and came upon the valley. Both Children were quite tired and getting ready to find somewhere to sleep as the sun's rays began to turn everything orange. The redness in the sky had begun to fade and each day it started looking more normal. Shinji was grateful for the change, as slow as it was. He realized that his surroundings were becoming more familiar as they went.
"I've been here before..." he commented softly. The day had been pretty much silent. Conversations were started, but never lasted more than a few sentences. The silence of everything was eerie. Even the ever-present cicadas were gone and their absence was unnerving. Each had counted maybe five or so animals all together in their long hike from the beach, even including birds. The world seemed almost lonely...
"What do you mean?" she asked. Actually, she was still trying to think of a way to explain her rationale for her running off like she did. It was something she couldn't quite put into words...an old stale fear that...no...it'd come if she waited...
"This place, where we are, I've seen it before. It's familiar," he explained.
"We don't even know where we're going or where we started from so how can you know this place?"
"Maybe we'll be able to see if we climb that hill," he suggested as he pointed towards a taller peak to the right of them, one that ended in a cliff and might have once had some crops planted on it.
She murmured an agreement and they ascended with little difficulty. Asuka didn't seem to be as injured as her bandages told, Shinji observed. Only then did he realize that neither of them had bothered to bathe in the past four days and it was beginning to show, as well as smell, but they wouldn't comment. Things had to settle down a bit more before either one could think about such simple things.
Shinji was the first to the top. As he saw the view he finally realized why he knew this place, but he didn't bother to share his thoughts, for some things can just go unspoken. Asuka was only a little ways behind and when she saw it, she too was at a lack of words. Tokyo-3 was no more and its ruins had snuck up on both of them. They'd been traveling country roads and small footpaths. The paved roads and highways were nothing but rivers of cracked asphalt that made for slow and painful travel. They had seen no signs, nor met any familiar landmarks until Shinji had said something, and that was just before. Here they were, looking over the rubble of the city that made them and the city that destroyed them. Its destruction was almost justified, yet neither one of them was really glad for it. Sure, this place had held many painful memories, but it had some good points. However, it was a great sight, but neither one of them really wanted to look upon it for too long.
It was Asuka that advised, "Let's just go, Shinji..."
"I-I want to see just one thing first, then we never have to come back, okay?" he objected.
She looked at him and then back out at the ruins, sighed, and then nodded slowly.
He led the way down the hill again and they picked their way into the valley while the sun began to set, turning the sky to crimson once again, but at least this was a natural color. They eventually entered the city and only then did Asuka understand where it was that the boy was taking them. About two kilometers away stood a structure that both of them knew. It was stout and not very tall compared to the skyscrapers that once stood watchful over the metropolis. They had lived there for nearly a year, after all. What was amazing was the fact that it still looked fairly intact. It was one of the taller structure's left standing and though it was not the tallest, it was still a marvel.
Shinji stopped and looked at the place he'd called home for only a short part of his life. He'd shared a tiny space with two women, one his age and the other twice his age, but each of them a great person. People he was glad to know...and one of them a person he was glad to have with him. He knew then that things would go slow from now on. They'd have to take it a day at a time, but maybe they could help the world's lonely suffering just a little bit. Maybe he'd once again have time to dream the little and almost petty dreams he had dreamed in that little bedroom of his.
"We can go now," he announced after he had bid his silent goodbye to his old life.
She nodded, lost in her own memories of better days.
They began to walk away in silence when a small noise sounded from behind them. Shinji was strangely frightened. He didn't know what to expect from this new era of Earth, and he certainly didn't need another human being to deal with, though they could be helpful. He turned around slowly, hoping to find that it was just the wind, even though the valley was never really windy, having the shelter of the mountains to protect it. A patch of white and black fur caught his eye as it flashed back out of sight as soon as it came into it.
"What was that?" he asked Asuka, who had also turned to face the interruption of her nostalgic moment.
"Not sure...I think it might be a dog."
"How could he have survived, especially here where it all happened?" he questioned in disbelief.
"I don't know. He could've come from somewhere else. Besides...I said I wasn't sure. Let's go see," she suggested as she began to move slowly towards the origin of the brief glimpse of the creature, who she though lay hiding behind a large piece of someone's roof.
Shinji followed, hoping whatever it was that was hiding was friendly at least.
Asuka peered over the edge of the piece to find pretty much what she had expected. It was a dog. A skinny thing with patches and dots of black coating his long white hair. She surmised he was probably a mutt, though she didn't claim to be an expert on dogs. She'd never really seen why people were so fond of them anyway, but this one appeared to be nice in temperament, if only a little weary from fatigue and hunger, as they all were.
"I was right," she announced to Shinji, who was coming up behind her, "Just a dog."
He leaned over to look as well, coming nearly face to face with the large, pleadingly dark eyes of the dog. "He's got a collar..." the boy observed.
Asuka offered her hand to the dog to sniff as she'd seen people do and occasionally done herself. He did so with a little whine and she cautiously patted his head, then reached for the tags, which she read aloud, stumbling a little over the kanji. "Panda. If found call...555-2015. Hmm...I guess that's more original than Spot."
"Hey Panda," Shinji said calmingly to the dog that was obviously more frightened of them than they had ever been of him, "It's all right. We won't hurt you." Once the dog allowed him to pet him Shinji asked, "Is there an address?"
"Nope, just the name and phone number. Why do you ask?"
"I wanted to see if he was from around here...that's all. Looks like he hasn't eaten in a while..."
"What would there be for him to eat? And who would there be to give it to him?" she asked rhetorically, almost getting up to her mocking tone again, but still falling short.
"Still, by the look of him it looks like longer than four days since he's had a good meal. I wonder how long we've been gone..." he mused.
She frowned as she realized his logic. It was a disturbing thought, not knowing how long you'd been asleep or non-existent in the world.
"We should give him something to eat," Shinji proposed.
"And have him following us around for the rest of however long it is we live in this fucked over world?!" She was angry again; the thoughts making her old walls rise up and her tongue sharpen.
"He's got no one else to take care of him...as far as we know..."
"Why do you care so much about a stupid dog? It'd be easier if we just left him to fend for himself."
"He'd probably die though..."
"So? It's just a dog..."
Shinji paused, trying to put into words why his face looked so hurt when she said that. "H-how do you think I felt when you just found me on the beach and left me? He'll follow us anyway, just because he doesn't want to be alone..."
She glared at him and then gave no affirmative or negative as she walked away, leaving the decision to him, though regretting that she couldn't think of a better excuse to leave what would become another burden for them behind. The low blow on her still un-explained actions didn't help either.
Shinji went to the other side of the rubble and reassured the dog. "Come on, boy. Don't worry about her. She's just like that sometimes. I bet you'd like some food..."
As soon as he finished the last word the dog's trust in him peaked with the promise of a full belly and the animal sprung to his feet, wagging his tail and ready to follow the boy who had promised him a meal. Shinji smiled and scratched Panda's ears. He'd always liked dogs, though he'd never owned one. When he lived at his teacher's, the young couple next door had a little Welsh Corgi and they traveled a lot, so Shinji had been offered the job of dog-sitting many times. He enjoyed the idea of dogs and their unconditional love and friendship...so much easier than dealing with humans...
And so they were now three, or two and a half by Asuka's standards, but she didn't complain when they caught up with her, at least not for a whole ten minutes. Just before they were about to go back up into the hills, they decided to stop for the night at a small store on the very outskirts that was still standing. It was two stories, the first being just a little general store with all that they needed food-wise and more, and the second being a small two bedroom apartment. From some cans and packets that were still sealed and the little stove in the apartment, Shinji managed to make a decent dinner that was well-liked by both his critics, at least he assumed so. Asuka didn't gag of complain and Panda ate it as fast as it was put in front of him. Then came two much needed showers for the humans. After that, they decided to go back down to the store.
"We will be running around, so we're going to need supplies," Asuka said after she had gotten out of the shower, now changed into some men's clothes they had found in the drawers. Shinji had objected at first, but she had pointed out that they never really knew if the guy was going to be coming back anytime soon and if so, he'd be worried about more than a few sets of clothes.
"But where are we going to?" Shinji wondered aloud at her as he got up from his seat outside the bathroom as he waited his turn.
She paused for a minute and shrugged. "I really don't want to think about it. We'll know when we get there..."
He came to the notion that he really didn't want to either and was content to go searching with her after he had washed and changed into the rather baggy clothes. They first found a few knapsacks, not very big, but good enough to carry about a week's supplies between the two of them. Shinji was able to scout out some water bottles that could be attached to the packs with a little string and did so, giving each of them two one-liter bottles.
For his pack, there were all the non-perishable food items that Asuka deemed edible, as well as a few small metal bowls and a pan to cook them in. A pocket knife was a welcome editions, as well as a few lighters and match books. They had considered taking an old map, but later deemed that it probably wouldn't be of much use, seeing as how things had changed so much. A little coil of nylon rope was added, just in case, as well as some pens and a few little pads of paper. He added some toiletries and a few other little things to fill it up.
For her there were flashlights and batteries to go with them. Her toiletries took up a great deal more space than his, but no one chose to mention that. She was grateful to find a few pair of flip-flop sandals that were close to her size, one which went on her feet and two which went in the pack. Not the best of hiking shoes, but there wasn't anything else. She was thoughtful enough to stuff in a few medicines, also just in case, as well as some bandages and other first aid things. She wasn't in need of them, though her arm showed a pale scar all the way down and her left eye appeared to be a little more sensitive to the last light of the sun and eventually the beams of the flashlights as night fell. A few magazines as well as a little more food and she too had a full pack.
After their search, they all went up to the apartment to sleep. Asuka regretted having only inspected one bedroom, for she found a great big hole in the roof of the one she had chosen for the night. This was cause for a great dilemma, since it was either the small bed, or the floor, since a couch appeared to be non-existent and the only other form of seating was the lumpy cushions around the low dining table.
"I guess I'll sleep on the floor..." Shinji conceded when she told him about the situation.
She said nothing and he didn't move. Her eyes traveled to the wall as she climbed into the bed, almost as if she thought Shinji would just disappear when she got in. He just took it as a silent way of saying. "Hell yeah, you're sleeping on the floor!" and started to get out, but what happened next took him by surprise yet again.
"Stay..." she said softly, almost as if she was about to cry, in a voice he had only heard from her while she was asleep.
He sat there in shock, half in half out of the sheets.
"I promise I won't leave you alone again. I realize now how you must've felt and...I-I'm sorry. No one should feel like a dog left for dead. It's a horrible feeling...Besides, you chose me, so I have to stay and so do you," she laughed and regained some of her normal volume her voice still unsteady, "But d-don't try anything..."
"All right."
And he didn't. Until sleep took them both of the children lay at the very opposite edges of the full-sized bed. Physical contact was maybe just a little bit far away right now, but it was nice to know that someone was there...that you weren't the last person on the face of the earth...
Panda watched them until he felt the drag of dog-dreams on his eyelids. He was also glad he wasn't alone...
"For every great person, dozens of other people were there to take care of them." - Anonymous
-Blue Taboo-
