Chapter Three: A Seed For The Future

When I came to, I was hanging twenty feet from the top of the cliff. The sun was beginning to rise over the other side of the ridge. While unconscious I managed to wrap my rope around my left arm and cinch it tight enough to keep me stationary. One of the many methods of "training", or torture depending on your perspective, was that we were anesthetized and trained to be able to maintain combat or defensive/survival skills while completely out cold. I pulled myself up the rope just enough to give myself some slack to work with, I managed to resituate the line around my body to allow it to start flowing through my hand. I gradually came to the bottom of the cliff and disconnected from the rappel; my arm had a winding bruise around it from the tension of the rope cutting off the circulation. In a matter of seconds, before I could hardly blink, the bruise disappeared. I began walking toward the wreckage of the indistinguishable train, there was a crater like a meteor had struck where the lead car had made contact. My shoulder suddenly popped into place, it must have been dislocated without my knowledge, I slid down the slope to the charred remains. The ground was still warm and steaming, I couldn't have been unconscious for long. The first two cars had been completely vaporized, only the coupling remained from the second. The third however, had a massive hole blown through the side large enough for a sedan to fit through. I stepped over and through the jagged edges being sure not to make too much noise, I wasn't exactly sure how long I was out for, but it was very likely the ones responsible for this explosion were still in the area. To my dismay there wasn't a single usable thing left, the shelves of supplies that weren't completely destroyed had been obviously ransacked… I was too late. I began walking down the gangway looking through the other cars hoping for whatever reason the situation might be different, to my surprise I came to the one train car I was actually looking for… seeds! The Ghosts took everything they believed to be useful; weapons, food, medicines, and cleaning supplies but they left the one thing of true use, SEEDS! Food is great but eventually you run out, BUT if you grow and make your own food you are self-sufficient and not dependent on anything. I began grabbing sacks of seed two at a time and opened the emergency hatch from the inside. I walked the sacks up the slope to the rest of my equipment and began piling them on my hover lift. Underneath the last layer of seed was a large wooden crate, I opened it to find practical gold staring at me. It was filled with various tools ranging from heavy duty farm tools down to basic hand tools for repair. It was a miracle, like the universe itself had finally smiled upon me. I dragged the crate out of the train and up the hill to the rest of my plunder, once I had it loaded on the hov-lift I put in the coordinates for my camp. It began to slowly accelerate forward then adjusted course slightly left, I went back down to the wreckage to make one more pass-through for anything that might be salvageable. I had to begin climbing through the cars as the train was still hanging off the cliff, aside from some clothing most everything else was either destroyed or buried under mountains of other supplies. There were three cars at the top of the cliff still somewhat on the track, the situation was pretty much identical as the first few cars on the ground, ransacked. As I made it to the caboose I could hear faint screaming and banging, I paused momentarily. I could hear a pair of voices calling for help, I hurried to the last car where I found the same two drunks from the burnout bar. They had been tied together around a seat and it looked like the taller one's arm was broken. The two men turned and looked at me with eyes full of confusion, "a-aren't you t-that dog from the bar?" the shorter man coughed out. "Let me guess, The Ghosts did this to the two of you?" The short man chuckled, "Yep, they said if we supplied the explosives we'd get first pick from the supplies they got. That was obviously a load of shit." I started walking toward the two men and pulled my blade out. "Hey man! What're you doing we ain't done nothin' to you-" I cut the rope binding them, the shorter man got to his feet confused and helped his friend struggling to get up, to his feet. "What the hell is this about? Why is a government dog helpin' us and lettin' us go? We don't need no pity from a dog." I shook my head, "I've already told the two of you I'm not with the government, I went AWOL a long time ago. And I'm not helping the two of you out of pity, you're going to do something for me." The two men looked at one another. "Even if you aren't with the government, why would we do anything for you?" These two were determined to give me a hard time every step of the way. "If you would like me to tie the two of you back up to wait for a starving beast to start combing this wreckage in hope of a meal, be my guest-" "NO! No! We may have been too hasty with our response, what I meant was 'how can we be of service'?" The short man chuckled nervously which I couldn't help but start laughing at. I reached into my rucksack and pulled out a gallon sized Ziploc full of various seeds, fertilizing solutions, and a small written instruction manual for how, when, and where to plant each type of seed. "It's simple really. Just take this back with you and plant these if you want to get your hands on some food." The man looked at me dumbfounded, "That's it? Plant some seeds?" "That and stop making explosives. Instead use that focus for this, and I promise you'll get a lot more out of it. I even have instructions for how to make your own various alcohols like vodka and beer, so it's not like you have to give up everything. Just simply be responsible and take care of what you need to take care of." The man slowly grabbed the gift bag from my hand. "I can't promise that we'll actually be able to grow anything, but we'll give it a shot." I nodded and grinned proudly, "Here, take this" I reached back into my ruck and pulled out two wooden rods and some wrapping "You can make a quick stint for your friend's arm. It should help to keep the bone from shifting anymore." "We really don't get you. Why are you going out of your way so much to help us?" The two men looked at me skeptically. "You aren't wrong to feel the way you do about the government and those that work for it. So, I understand yall's treatment toward me and deserve it for the things that I have done. This is also another way for me to try to make amends with my past, I just want to actually make the difference I believed I was when I joined the military in the first place. So just take this and get out of here." The short drunk grabbed the supplies from me and the two men left without another word but the slightest bit of admiration in their eyes. The two had been more impacted by the encounter than either would care to admit so they walked back in silence the entire way. 

When I returned to where the rest of my gear was at the top of the cliff my duffel bag had been rummaged through and things scattered across the ground. Oddly enough everything was still accounted for, as for my rope it was frayed as if it had been cut… or chewed through. A twig suddenly snapped behind me, in an instant I lunged forward and somersaulted. A blur of white passed over me, it was the wolf from the school. In the morning daylight it was much easier to make out all of its daunting features. It had to have been a descendant of an irradiated wolf; its stature was comparable to that of a horse with lean, powerful muscles. The innocent playfulness in its eyes made it clear that it was still a rather young pup which begged the question 'how much larger was it going to get'? I slowly reached down for my duffel, the wolf dropped its front legs and bared its fangs ready to respond to an attack. "Easy pup. I'm not going to hurt you; I'm betting you're pretty hungry and thought my seeds smelled like food. Here I've got some crackers." I reached into the bag under my MRE's for the crackers and tossed a few his way. His tension eased somewhat but he was still cautious of me as he sniffed and ate the food. I slowly stood up and began backing away, the pup snapped its head at me. It trotted over and started sniffing and nipping at my bag, "No!" I bopped his nose, and he started growling slightly. I could make out the sound of rotors approaching in the distance… the empire.