Chapter 11: Stephen’s Day

I climbed up a large pile of plastic at the junkyard and stood up with a metal detector in my hands. I glanced at the horizon.

There are so many possibilities. Where should I start? Will I find a new type of chemical today? I hope so. Anything to activate electronic objects in any way will be helpful.

I wandered around with my metal detector for hours. I am finding basic items so far today. Mostly iron and aluminum objects. As I head back through the junkyard I trip over a broken tricycle handle and land head first upon a pile of stainless steel auto parts.

Ugh, I don’t feel so good.

I touched the back of my head and looked at my hand. Blood drips off my fingertips. My vision gets blurry as I pass out.

A voice nudges me awake, “ Steve? Hey! Steve! Wake up!”

Ugh, what happened? I have such a headache.

I stand up and see my friend Pete standing in front of me.

I asked, “ Oh, hey Pete. What’s wrong? What happened?”