(Chapter 7) Steve & Gary

Chapter 7

Steve & Gary

The following interview was transcribed verbatim from a recorded session and written alongside several personal observations.

Two more gentlemen are my next interviewees, though I am starting to notice a lack of diversity on my list which will soon be remedied. My next candidates are around five-six and five-ten respectively, they look very healthy and are both well built.

AA - Good morning my friends, many thanks for joining me on what is a rare sunny day in this country!

SH - Actually, they've gotten to be more frequent lately.

GH - Could have something to do with the lack of shite we're pumping into the atmosphere.

AA - I suspect so as well, still, nothing like a sunny day to do the soul some good.

SH - Couldn't agree with you more.

GH - I'm a fan of rain myself.

AA - I suppose you'd have to be. Now then, first thing's first-

SH - I'm the realest…

GH - …

AA - …

SH - Sorry, it's a song. I always had a habit of doing that.

GH - Before you ask, he'd finish someone's sentence with song lyrics, but he's usually better at gauging the mood.

AA - Well, someone has to keep things...upbeat around here. Now, as I was saying, would you please both state your names and details for the record.

SH - Steven Homely, everyone calls me Steve, male, seventy or thereabouts.

GH - Gary Homely, everyone calls me...well, Gary, male also, around sixty.

AA - Thank you, now I've heard around town but I don't like to assume so could you confirm you are-

SH - Married, yes.

AA - Excellent, you could've been brothers and I don't hasten to assume anything, especially not anymore.

GH - What's that supposed to mean?

(I could feel the atmosphere in the room, the tension in both the men sitting across from me.)

AA - I didn't mean to cause any offence, I simply meant since the world ended we can't afford to assume anything.

GH - I...look, I'm sorry. I always was a tad defensive.

(They take each other's hands.)

SH - Gary here didn't have a great relationship with his family when we were married, he doesn't mean to snap.

AA - Please my friends, no need to apologise. I'm sorry that the world has made you feel as though you have to be defensive about such things.

GH - It's alright, honestly I haven't felt defensive in the entire time we've been here.

SH - Everyone here is so lovely, they all treat each other with respect and...well love to be honest.

GH - Hard not to when everyone around you could represent the last living humans on the planet.

SH - It sounded more poetic when I said it…

GH - My sincere apologies my dear.

(There was a familiar warmth to the exchange, nothing sinister at all.)

AA - Now that we're all a little more relaxed, perhaps the two of you would be so kind as to tell me what it is you did before the world ended?

GH - We really do need to get a better expression for describing that.

SH - You get right on that my sweet.

GH - I have been, don't you worry. Now then, I didn't do anything stable as far as I can remember. I was a guitarist and that usually had my attention.

SH - Shockingly it's why I fell head over heels for the man.

AA - And you Steve?

SH - Oh I was a Police Inspector, but I hadn't held the position long. I was a Sergeant, not six months before.

GH - Here it comes…

AA - I'm sorry?

GH - Well whenever Steve says something he considers even a mild brag he'll say something self-deprecating to recover.

SH - Well, look, it was just a small town we lived in and-

GH - See? Told you.

(Steve does look somewhat embarrassed by simply describing his profession, but Gary squeezes his hand in another well-worn gesture.)

AA - It's quite alright gentlemen. We all have our ways of dealing with a conversation.

SH - My bad, to be honest, I really did enjoy being an Inspector. I love a good puzzle.

AA - Which sort of leads into my next line of questions, how was it you ended up here?

GH - Well, the same story as everyone else really. We can just about remember snippets from before we...well before we woke up again.

SH - Yeah, I remember some things, but nothing too specific you know? There are a lot of memories rattling around in there but...it's like a slideshow being projected on a wall at a party. You know it's there, you even see the pictures, but it doesn't stay around for long.

AA - That's as stunning an analogy I've ever heard, thank you for that.

GH - It's right on the money for everyone around here too, that's the best way we can describe it.

SH - I don't even remember specifically us heading off to a bunker, though I do remember there were plenty of reasons to do so.

GH - It was a clusterfuck of war at the time, everyone was fighting each other and themselves at the same time.

SH - You knew it was over...you just had a feeling this was it, you know?

GH - Every time the news would be on or you'd read a paper, it was always some horrible event or other.

SH - Then the news just...stopped coming. Dunno if there was just too much going on or if the government shut them down but we knew the time would come soon.

GH - World was gonna end and...well, it did, didn't it?

AA - But you two were elsewhere?

SH - We had better things to do, fortunately.

GH - Grouped up with a few other people from our town and headed out to the farms. Apparently there was a bunker buried there.

SH - We didn't believe them but we had nowhere else to go.

GH - Turns out they were on the money. We went inside and...to be honest that's about all I can remember.

SH - Yeah, the next thing I remember to be honest is waking up!

AA - You slept for...sorry how old were you when you went in?

GH - Suffice to say it was around forty years or so, or at least that's how much we seem to have physically aged.

SH - That's the doctor's best estimate anyway.

GH - Looks like it's been much longer for the rest of the world though.

SH - Yeah, how everything has evolved. And, oh no, remember those...things we saw?

GH - Honestly, I'd rather not.

AA - Sorry to interject but you mentioned creatures? Are you referring to the evolved predators?

SH - Oh no, they're bad enough but this was something much...much worse.

GH - I shudder to think about them but he's right. They were...almost human really. At least they looked humanoid, you know?

AA - I think I know what you're referring to now. I believe people have taken to calling them mutants?

GH - That's...a pretty accurate way to look at things.

SH - Yeah, they were awful. I feel bad, I felt bad just looking at them but...what even are they?

GH - Mutants, just like we say. Mutated humans, though mutated by what I couldn't tell you.

AA - I doubt anyone living could.

SH - They were dropping all sorts at the height of the war. Who knows what it did to the humans that didn't make it into the bunkers.

GH - My best guess is...well...it did that.

SH - Horrible things, some of them hulking brutes and others that were smaller but just as terrifying.

GH - Their skin looks like it was melting off but stopped halfway through. Some of them have three arms or three legs or something in between!

SH - Honestly, they seemed to have retained something of what they were.

AA - How do you mean exactly?

SH - Well...they moved in packs for one.

GH - Each caring for the other, I think we saw their entire...tribe-whatever-thing-village once.

AA - Oh?

SH - Yeah I remember that like it was yesterday, hundreds of them living together in a little walled-off section of the city we were passing through.

GH - They did not like us snooping around.

SH - Chased us out of the city but didn't really move on from the city limits.

GH - Grabbed a couple of us...dread to think what became of them.

SH - Probably best not to dwell on it.

AA - Fascinating, in a morbid sort of way really. I haven't had much time to study them.

SH - Is that what you are then? Some sort of...scientist?

AA - Ah, well, yes, you could say that I suppose. I'm just a collector of stories that's all and something of an optimist.

GH - You'd have to be.

SH - So you won't be staying?

AA - I intend to collect as many stories as I can then move on to, hopefully, find more settlements like yours.

GH - We've tried scouting for them, haven't found anything so far.

AA - Ah, so you're one of the scouts for this village then?

SH - Volunteered as soon as we got in, my Gary likes to feel needed.

GH - Who doesn't?

AA - Quite so, now Steve have you had enough to keep you busy in the way of law enforcement?

SH - Are you joking?

GH - Have you looked out there recently? Aside from it being the end of the world, it's a veritable paradise.

SH - People all working together, no conflict to speak of, no politics and no bickering.

GH - Everyone helps each other because it's the right and natural thing to do. No passing judgement just everyone pitching in where they can.

SH - Town's growing too, and the infrastructure is growing pretty damn quickly.

AA - How do you mean?

SH - Well, we've got running water now which has solved a lot of problems.

GH - Those engineering boys managed to get a water supply station running again from a nearby dam. It's heated too!

SH - Which means sanitation is back up, thank goodness for flushing toilets and running showers.

GH - Not to mention the irrigation the fields are getting now, but that was already in place.

SH - And the food! I've never seen anyone in this place want for...well anything practical really.

GH - We all get a little...sad every now and again. Remembering what we've lost.

SH - But then we remember we survived and we're grateful again.

AA - Sounds like a utopia.

SH - As far as the end of the world goes, it's not so bad really.

GH - Most of the people we travelled with stayed, but some moved on to find something else.

AA - They didn't feel like settling down here?

GH - I think some of them were just lost or looking for something that would probably never be found.

SH - Needless to say, this little village of ours is wonderful considering the circumstances.

AA - I've noticed this place doesn't have a name yet.

SH - Chief hasn't settled on one since we all started coming together. He's afraid of picking something too cliche-

GH - Like 'Haven' or 'Paradise' or 'Sanctuary'-

SH - But people don't really have to call it anything. It's just the village or home to everyone here.

GH - Looking forward to the results of that consensus, for the first time in history.

SH - Be interesting to see how many people there are here.

AA - I've noticed it is expanding a lot too.

GH - Oh, we all have big plans for this place.

SH - Chief takes all suggestions very seriously, and the extension plans are all made public.

GH - Everyone pitches in when it comes time to build new houses or storage facilities.

SH - Remember last month when we built that barn? It was like something out of a film!

GH - Good laugh though.

AA - I'm happy to see so much of humanity still shining through.

GH - Turns out you can, in fact, polish a turd.

SH - Gary, you monster! This part of humanity was always here, it was just buried in...the necessitation of greed.

AA - Another highly apt simile, I'm starting to think you should run the village newspaper.

SH - Hah! Maybe when we have enough people to justify it.

GH - Right now, you could stand on a box in front of the town hall and shout. That'd do it.

SH - I've been tempted a few times, let me tell you.

AA - Nothing too serious I hope?

GH - No, Steve tends to be overcome with emotion at times.

SH - Well, you do too! I just want to...thank everyone for keeping the human race going.

AA - I think that's a fine idea. Well, gentlemen, I think I have enough to go on for now. Thank you both for your time.

SH - Our pleasure.

GH - Thanks for listening to our story, I'm glad someone is collecting them in the end.

(END)

Not many notes here.

Most interesting about this couple is the fact that they are a couple of the only people whose first instinct was not to seek out a specific place of residence. They were also survivors of encounters with these mutated survivors I keep hearing about. Though they did not go into details about their encounters with the various hazards of this new world, it did not feel right to push them on this subject.

The fact that they emerged from hiding and proceeded as a group, however, is very promising indeed.