Shadow:. Hey everyone... Here is the second installment of Adaptation..hope you all enjoy it...
Last time on Adaptation...
Max cast a wary look at the wall to the north, It seemed that their territory grew by the hour...
Soon the entire planet would be walled off.
Wasn't it bad enough that they had practically killed off her species.... Now they had to consume her world as well?
Max shighed and turned letting out a shrill whistle.
Jax raced to her side, furry tail curled towards his back as he looked up at his Human friend.
The young woman squatted down and let the Husky lick at her face allowing him to pull her from her depressing thoughts.
"Lets go find some supplies shall we?"
Jax Barked in agreement.
Max laughed and scratched behind his ears. "Yeah some chewy toys as well."
She stood and set off for the remains of the City…
Present...
Maxine appears on the screen... Her eyes are red as fresh tears trace down her cheeks, the green orbs shine with more anger then sorrow. Her hair is loose and vanishes behind her broad shoulders. A large grey and white dog is resting it's head on her lap pointed ears twitching this way and that...
Auto log…1964784,
I hate the aliens… I hate their damn Virus… and what they have done to our world! To many lives have been extinguished much to soon.. I held one of those stole lives in my arms this morning... I watched watched helpless as it fade right before my eyes. He was only a toddler no more then 5 years old… I tried to save him but he was to far gone... before he die he… he called me Mamma… His family must have tried to save him the pain of watching them fade… One of these days I am going to find away to make them pay for what they have done to us… I still haven't been able to get to the Medical center... I'll try and do that tomarrow...
Max out…
It was well passed midnight when they reached the out skirts of the city.
Jax's ears flicked about to catch any sound that Maxine couldn't hear, his nose roamed the ground to catch scents that might help locate food, water or... people...
Max explored abandoned vehicles, stores, and other buildings pulling out jewelry, maps, first aid kits, and canned goods.
Currency held no monetary value any more, what value would money have in a world with out people?
At one point she found a room with about five skeletons, the smell it's self would have been enough to render a skunk unconscious.
Max's eyes watered from the smell as she covered her nose and mouth with the sleeve of her jacket, she sneered in disgust while backing out of the room.
When the general public found that there was no cure to the Virus, there had been many such mass suicides.
Most didn't want to suffer threw the pain as the virus practically ate threw their flesh, it wasn't really corrosive.
No that would have been to quick… the Aliens wanted to make sure their victims suffered horribly before they died.
It just slowly destabilized the bodies molecular structure.
Leaving seeping lesions on the skin that slowly eroded away flesh, bone, and muscle.
Others couldn't bare the thought of living with out someone who had died within the first few months of the epidemic or just didn't watch loved ones who were currently suffering.
To them a mass suicide was the easiest way to get it over with quickly.
Max shook her head as the walked out of the building.
"What a waste of life."
A small voice in the back of her head told her to be reasonable.
Most didn't think that humanity was going to end up on the endangered species list just because of some Mechanically engineered virus, that repelled even the harshest treatments.
Struck anything with the human gene dead not long after reaching maturity... Now it just seemed like it couldn't wait for maturity to kill off it's victims...
Few if any children where born now a days, and those that where were hidden till the parents died.
Most often then not leaving the child to fend for it's self.
6 out of every 10 children died of starvation, illness, or injury, before even catching the Virus.
Max gazed up in to the star lit sky.
She had been one of the very few lucky ones few who had found someone to look after them once their parents had died…
She was the only one she knew of... That had gotten to keep her parents as long as she had.
It filled her with a resounding feeling of guilt…
Yeah, she was glad she had gotten to actually know her parents, but what of those that ended up on the streets sooner then she had…
Jax's exited bark snapped her out of her thoughts.
She jumped out of the rusted truck she had been going threw, and took off towards Jax's whining and barking.
When she rounded a corner she spotted Jax frantically digging at a pile of rubble from a collapsed building.
The young woman jogged up to the husky and patted his back.
"What did ya find boy."
Jax ignored her and continued digging. Now and then he would stop and stick his nose into the hole and huff before resuming.
Max frowned and shoved him out of the way, she knelt and grabbed a Chem-light from her Hard Pac and held it over the hole before peering into the inside…
A small form was curled up on the bottom of the hole, the child was so thin she mistook him to be dead.
Max yelped and dropped the Chem-light into the hole when she jumped back as pair of blue eyes opened and gazed up at her.
The little boy couldn't have been more the 4 or 5 years old and that was stretching it.
Max grabbed another Chem-light, snapped it, and began tearing at the hole ignoring the sharp rusted metal as it sliced into her hands.
"Hold on little guy I'll have you out in a sec."
Jax barked and began digging as well.
With in a few minutes they had the hole big enough that Maxine could squeeze her upped torso in to the hole so she could get a good hold on the boy.
He was so light Max almost dropped him in surprise, a twinge of guilt rippled threw her before she pushed it to the back of her mind.
She was worried enough for him she didn't need her guilt nagging at her a well.
Still her worry grew exponentially when he gave hardly any reaction, He just cluched the Chem-light and stared up at her with bright but empty blue eyes.
Dirt and grime was smudged all over his face, his cheeks and eyes where sunk in from hunger giving him an eerie skeletal look.
She smiled down at him…and stroked his short red hair…He wasn't going to last much longer she had come much to late.
Maxine sat down and placed him in her lap she reached back and pulled her canteen and one of the emergency blankets out of her pack.
He never once looked way from her face, even when she wrapped him in the blanket he just stared up at her as she cleaned the dirt off his hands and face.
He wouldn't take any of the rations or water she offered him, so she just held him rocking back and forth humming softly.
Jax whined and laid down next to the two humans.
Maxine felt like her chest was being crushed, her eyes burned with unshed tears but she kept herself in check she could almost feel the child's life force slipping away into the night.
Max didn't want to have his last sight be of her crying his was going to be that of peace.
The young woman blinked and smiled as an idea came to her.
She got to her feet and look eastward.
The sky was staring to lighten with the coming dawn.
"Come on Jax…"
The husky jumped to his feet and followed his human towards the sunrise.
Max made sure that he wouldn't catch sight of the wall looming closer as they walked out of the city.
the young woman looked around for a good spot to watch the sun crest the horizon.
The edge of the sun had already started rising as they sat down on top of a large flat topped crescent shaped bolder that protruded a few feet from the ground.
She gently rocked the child back and forth, his eyes not once breaking away from her face.
Maxine's heart clenched even tighter as she felt his heart beat slow, he was leaving...
The boy slowly blinked and took a breath, as he reached out and touched her face, a small smile appeared on his lips.
"Momma…"
Tears broke free as Max took his hand and held it close to her cheek.
"I'm right here little one… I'm right here."
His smile grew as he closed his eyes, Max clutched the small body to her chest as his last breath came and went in a soft sigh, The young woman could hold them any longer so she just let the tears to fall.
She got to her feet and covered the boy's face with the blanket he was wrapped in, she tucked the chem-light next to him and gently set him on the ground next to the boulder.
Jax lifted his head and sniffed at the bundle on the ground. he whined as he watched his human.
Max glanced around a found a large rock that would fit her needs.
She took a deep breath and got to work Digging a hole in in the curved part of the rock that faced the sunrise.
New Iacon city:
A silent alarm went off inside a security office startling the Red, white and blue mech on duty.
Red-Alert looked at the screen blue optics flashed in panic.
Tapping the side of his helm he com'ed The head of security.
"Prowl we have a security breach in the outer perimeter!"
"What did the sensors pick up?"
"I think it's a Decepticon! I knew they have been to quiet! They set off motion detectors to the East and…"
"Red Alert.."
"I bet their trying to…."
"Red alert!"
"…uh…Yes sir?"
"Where the motion detectors the only sensors set off again?"
The mech looked back at the screen with a sheepish look on his face.
"Yes sir but I…"
Prowl cut him off once more.
"I will send someone out to investigate… it could be one of the scanners is malfunctioning again.."
"Yes sir,..but I'm…"
" Red Alert mute it… A Decepticon would have set off more then just the Motion sensors. It's probably a malfunction or an organic, I'll send Blaster and Bumblebee to make sure… Prowl out…"
Red Alert Cycled air threw his vents as she went back to watching over the security monitors.
"One of these day it really will be a Decepticon…" He muttered to himself.
Outside of New Iacon:
Max had finished burying the body, sweat rolled down the side of her face as She placed the last rock over the small grave with a final pat.
Taking out her canteen she rinsed off the rock she used as a shovel and with one of her smaller knives she carved a prayer her parents had taught her when she was little.
"The lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want,
He maketh me lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside still waters, He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, Though I walk threw the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no Evil:
For thou art with me,
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou prepares a table in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil: My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Amen…"
Maxine chewed on the inside of her cheek to keep her from breaking down she picked up a stick and broke it in half.
Pulling the two knives from her hair She reached back up and pulled the hair band out wincing as she pulled a few strands out with it, allowing her hair to uncoil and fall beyond her backside.
She took the knife she had used on the head stone and cut the band, using it to tie the sticks into a small Cross.
Max grabbed the new head stone and planted it into the soft dirt at the top of the grave.
Then she took the Cross and shoved it into the dirt behind the head stone.
The young woman sighed and knelt there for a bit staring at the cross and head stone…
Listening to the wind as it toyed with the grass letting the sound calm and sooth her rampant emotions.
After a few minutes, Max reached up and pulled the Hardpac off the rock and began rummaging threw it until she found what she had been looking for.
She placed a small glass beaded bracelet on the Cross allowing the beads to catch the sunlight sending tiny dots of colored light dancing among the stones.
"Take care little one I'll try and visit often as I can."
Jax's bark made her look up as she re-sheathed her knife, the husky was staring at the Wall and growling, his fur starting to stand on end.
Maxine felt a wave of fresh anger, sorrow and hatred for the Aliens as she spotted a dust cloud coming near…
They where the ones she blamed for yet another death in her life…
How any more was she going to have to see slip threw her fingers?
"Come on Jax lets get out of here."
Max jogged away from the rock, She turned back around when she realized the Husky wasn't following.
"Jax! Move it..! You cant fight them..they'll turn you in the kibble.."
Jax growled and turned trotting towards his human as she turned back to the city.
Bright blue Siberian eyes glanced once more at the metal wall and dust cloud before turning and catching up with his human.
T.B.C
Nest time on Adaptation...
Blaster gazed down at the small pile of stones.
"What is it?"
"They call it a Grave... a place they bury their dead."
Bumblebee got to his feet and glanced down at the glittering bracelet
"Who?"
"Humans."
"Humans I thought the Decepticons wiped them out..."
"They did...but a few still remain."
Shadow:. Please leave a message. Till next time, Take care everyone. ^_^v
Shadow signing out...
