Disclaimer: I do not own or advocate for any of the brand name products, works of literature, film, video games, musical masterpieces or over-commercialized holidays mentioned in this fan fiction, including Apple, Pong, and Christmas. The bones of this story, however, are entirely my own.
Rating MA to cover my ass in future chapters, and should I feel the need to cuss like a sailor. :)
Chapter 1.0
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“...test subject one-fifteen, deceased... time, oh-three hundred...”
“...subject one-thirty-three... alive, awake.. three weeks old...”
“...subject one-thirty-three, deceased at four weeks...”
…
She stopped when she felt the water run down into her boots, and worked her long dark tresses into a messy bun high on her head, securing it with a green elastic band. Should have let Song braid it. Stalling, she checked the time on her Apple. 1:27 AM. This was wrong. She knew it was wrong, but she hadn't fixed. She'd just learned to go by this wrong time. No one could tell time by numbers anymore anyway.
The light flickered above, snapping her from her thoughts and reminding her that there were only a couple hours of daylight left. She needed to hurry. But she was reluctant to progress any further. The were no windows underground. Just the busted pipes and water with unknown depths. Stacks of yellowing, water stained papers of little importance were all that stocked the shelves down here. But one room she knew would have what she was looking for.
There were no lights working ahead to illuminate her path in the bluish 'energy efficient' glow; they would have popped on from her proximity. No, the hallway ahead and whatever lie within it was pitch black. Taking in a deep breath and summoning her courage, she tread forward into the black water. She unsnapped a small flash light from her belt, wound it, and turned it on. It only illuminated about five feet in front of her in a sharp white light, but there wasn't much to see anyway. She knew if there was anything in this water, it would drag her under and make a meal of her whether she could see it coming or not.
There were no more stairs this far down, just a long stretch of hallway gently slopping down. The water hit her thighs and she came to door, which upon almost slipping in, she realized was stairs leading down. It was completely flooded, but it wouldn't have been this far. No, nothing down there but for maintenance. She must have missed it, so she turned around, feeling and squinting at the walls in the dim light she held in her hand. The water seemed to have a movement of it's own; she could hear it lapping the walls. Finally, she found it, the door half hanging off the hinges and partially blocked on the other side. But she was just skinny enough to squeeze through.
When she felt something bump her thigh, she froze. Her hands scrambled along the wall until they found a switch, and fortunately the lights worked! The room wasn't very big, just enough for the counters that lined the far wall, and a table that now float around the room, bumping the walls and reminding her of a game of Pong. She knew pong.
This must have also been the same object that bumped into her, and she breathed a sigh of relief it wasn't something with a massive jaw and sharp teeth.
Amazingly, this room had not been majorly affected by the water. There was little damage; only whatever had been atop of the table probably hadn't made it, but the counter tops held her prize, and they only trembled with each bump of the table. Barely containing her excitement, she waded toward them through the water and began to evaluate each item, turning them in her hands and determining what each item was. But she remembered the time and shrugged the yellow pack off her shoulders to begin filling it.
Most large buildings like this one had rooms like this. Libraries especially. Entering the city was dangerous enough, but even it had been picked over throughout the decades and just after The End. But the basements seemed relatively untouched, and probably for good reason. She'd met her share of creepy critters in dark dank places such as this. But she'd been relatively lucky on this particular adventure, though she'd had to travel further in to the city than she would have liked.
But she'd found exactly what she was looking for, a storage room of technology and parts. Old computers, broken computers, computers they didn't have room for after remodeling... Whatever the reason, here it was. It wasn't always the newest model, and it didn't always work, although these looked to be in relatively good shape. From what she could tell as she scooped the lot into her pack, she had a nice range of items. Not everyone could use technology, although you didn't necessarily need to read to be able to work all the controls of a computer with some of these models... But she was still commissioned for the simple things and for parts, to fix whatever they already had. Batteries were a big seller, for whatever still ran on batteries, for whoever couldn't find or afford the rare solar powered bits of technology.
Flashlights and radios. Everyone wanted a flashlight and a radio. But what had lasted over the years had not been the necessities. More often than not, you had a flashlight with a dead bulb or a radio that took batteries... and a book on first aide you could no longer read. Or a disc that played an old movie the whole town had seen more than they wanted to, and continued to play no matter how many scratches accumulated on it's backside. Or a dog with a bum leg that continued to live well into it's 20's. You thought it was cute when you were a kid, now you're wondering when it'll drop dead so you can stop sharing your food, but it just won't die, no matter how many 'accidents' it has. Crap like that.
Lucky, lucky day! She opened a drawer and found it full of batteries. A cabinet above her head held light bulbs of various shapes and sizes.
The way back seemed a lot quicker, and soon she was back under that flickering blue light. She shuddered when she heard an echo behind her and kept moving forward. When she heard her heels click upon dry concrete, her mood lightened, and as she bound up the stairs, static filled her ears.
Then it faded out as it caught a signal. “Roku?” She turned on her headset. Best let him know she was still alive and well.
“..gome... Kagome? I was just beginning to worry about you.” She heard him chuckle and could practically see him shaking his head. He was far past being worried about her. They'd shared too many adventures for him to think of her as one of the weak. She was small and lacking in muscle, but she was the most resourceful and skilled survivor he knew. What she lack in brawn, she made up for double in brains. Kagome was, however, always getting herself into more trouble than was necessary. It was no big thing to hear that his headstrong friend was in the middle of a scrap with some wild beast or another, or for the lines of communication to go dead for an hour or so. He would lecture her when she got back, just to tease. “Are you heading back now?”
“Just have to return this book, and I'll be on my way.” She'd just entered the main floor of the library, and made her way through a maze of towering shelves made of thick heavy wood. A thick layer of dust carpeted every surface.
“...probably safer... you camp there.. won't make it.. before sundown...” She frowned, first at the fading signal, then out the large windows at the front of the building. Pink light filtered through at an angle and she could see the dust in the air. Shit. She looked at her iPod. 2:41 PM. Had it really taken her that long? She sighed, her eyebrows furrowed in her reluctance. But of course he was right.. Better to set up camp right there in the library than to risk being caught at dusk in the city, or at night in the wastelands.
But she told him to keep the signal open, just in case, and turned off her headset. She kept walking to the back corner of the library where fiction started. It progressed up the stairs, but she would stay on ground level tonight. She reached into the small side pocket of her pack and pulled out a thick book with a cracked spine, placing back in it's spot upon the shelf, then dropped her stuff right there, and backtracked out to the entrance of the building. The big double doors were still on their hinges, but they were open. She wouldn't close them though, for fear someone might notice. There were still people who tried to make in the cities, along with any number of wild animals and who knew how cognitive they were, but she'd be damned if one of them recognizing a door out of place was going to get her eaten alive.
The shelves would provide plenty of shelter from passing eyes though. And if anyone were to enter.. She looked around for.. something. Ah ha! On either side of the door were large windows, and in front, trees. Two on either side of the door. And tall. Kagome looked up the evergreens to take in their height. They reached impressively towards the dome of the building. They must have been magnificent when they were alive and full. Now they were dry and bare, mere skeletons still wrapped in garland and barely holding on to their glass baubles. It had been Christmas, one more of those things she knew.
She plucked an armful of ornaments off the tree, shook the melancholy thoughts from her head, and set about placing them in front of the doorway. There was a gun in her holster, but it was unreasonable to assume she'd lie awake all night with it aimed at the door. Now, she would get some sleep, and if there were any intruders, now she would hear them.
And she did.
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a/n: So, here's the first installment of my first fic ever! I hope you enjoyed it and continue to follow the story as I update. I'll try to make this a weekly thing maybe, I don't know. Feel free to leave reviews boosting my confidence, asking questions, guesstimating the titles of where I got my inspiration from; whatever you do in reviews sans ripping me apart. Make fun of the title all you want though, cause I know I'm just super creative when it comes to titles. /sarcasm. Meanwhile, I'll be working on Chapter 2.0! PEACE. :)