061. Radiant day, 1

(Zeslinry)

I never believed in fateful encounters, soulmates, coup de foudre and other romantic bullshit.

Retrospectively, I still think it was an incredible luck and a godsend.

One night, the light I keep caught someone. It was just a vagrant girl.

She arrived there by pure luck, alone as I was since the end of time.

She found the light and generator, but only ruins around. She used her own light torch to look for the survivors around. She found the medical truck where I was sleeping, door locked.

She knocked on the door, waking me up.

We didn't talk, because she was only testing me at that moment. She wasn't sure she could trust me. I opened the door to no one, and thought I had dreamt.

It was only on the next morning, when I went out with my crutches that we truly met. She saw me first.

I was eating breakfast sitting on top of a small building. She naturally came out of her hiding, to meet me and share our food.

A young girl, maybe a third of my age, but with the spark of a superior intelligence in her dark eyes.

We smile at each other, quickly acting like long-time friends. Our personalities click well with each other.

Myls is about to be ten years old, but the circumstances forced her to rush to adulthood or die. She survived.

M - But helping each other will be much nicer and easier.

Z - I fully agree. Two half brains are better than a single one.

She cracks a smile.

We'll get along well, I thought at the time. She thought the exact same.

~

Myls was the one who found me a prosthetic leg. She helped me set it right on my healing wound.

I was able to walk again, thanks to her. I even threw away the crutches later.

She was playing with a handgun, making it spin like a cowboy. She is aware that we should stay armed from now on.

M - Let's find ourselves a new home. I'm sure we can find a nice place where you'll be able to grow food safely.

Z - We will. I have a few ideas already. A main base and over time, set secondary bases, in case we need to move someday.

She smiles. We're going.

~

Myls is quick on her feet, and certainly more agile than me currently. We're heading inland, toward the forests.

We're witnessing more and more weird stuff along the way. She's already quite accustomed to it.

We discuss about each other as we go and explore the changed countryside. We chat as we walk the empty roads.

M - One question each, Ready?

Z - Yes.

M - Are you married?

Z - No. I had boyfriends though. You, did you have a lover?

M - I had a brother I looked up too, and a best friend, but they're gone now. How old are you?

Z - I'm 28. You're quite smart, who taught you?

M - My parents and my brother. They wanted me to be an engineer. What about you?

Z - Me too actually, but then we had to move and they enrolled in the war. How did you come to this land?

M - We came by plane with others, it was when I was a baby. How did you come?

Z - I paid for a boat ride to a smuggler, a week before the white day. I wanted to work in a small farm. Do you have a hobby?

M - I like pretty books and old things. Why did you come here?

Z - Ah well, it's close enough to civilisation but lax enough so I could live on the fringe of society without too much trouble. That was the idea. Did you live in the area?

M - I lived with my parents in the far north from her. Scotland. The plague caught us.

Z - The plague?

M - I'll have two questions Zeslinry! Yes, the plague. People melting. We escaped in train but it caught us. We jumped and continued on foot. All my family died one after another as we went... Do you miss your family? Do you miss the old society...

Z - I'm sorry... A little, but they died before all this. And, a little, but not too much. What about you?

M - A little... Sometimes a little yes... What will we do in time?

Z - Hm, good question... But the truth is, for me it doesn't change anything really. I just want to find a place I can call home and where I can live and work to live. I don't really have more ambition. What about you?

M - Hm... For now, I just want to live and I'd like to stay with you. When I'm all grown up, when I'm a strong and smart adult, I'd like to travel. I think.

Z - You're already quite smart and strong for your age Myls. You're right to play it safe. You'll be strong enough to travel before you know it.

M - I hope so... Do you wonder about what happened?

Z - I do. Some computers still find accesses to online communication networks, but nothing happens there. So some machines still function here and there, but it's like everyone is gone... Where would you like to travel?

M - I don't know... Scandinavia maybe. That's where my parents were from... Do you think other people are like us?

Z - Certainly. I'm sure a few human communities still live everywhere on the planet. I just wonder what will become of them in the next few years.

M - I wonder if there will be many adventurers like us.

Z - It seems statistically plausible to me.

M - You're funny Zeslinry when you speak like an old robot. Are you one?

Z - Ah! No. Flesh and blood, just like you... What about you?

M - No, I'm human too.

We chat. We laugh. We even play at times.

We became a family in mere days. And we helped each other in all sorts of ways along our path.

We would find a home eventually. And we would build what we had in mind.

The world was bizarre now, but still welcoming, habitable.

We would live, that's what matters.

The winter will be over soon. The new spring of this year zero will see many interesting new things sprout.

~