oyasama-blog

[oyasama-blog]

A Town at the End of the World

Chapter 2

It was around 5:45 when Ezra returned home. He took the satchel off his bike and locked it back into the shed. He looked over towards his small field then headed inside. The house had been his real parents and he started living in it again when he had turned 18. There had been squatters over the years that had tried to claim the small piece of land but his father and the town guard had driven them all off. After a few months of repairs it was livable again. He placed his bag down on his kitchen table and took all the vegetables. He loaded some wood into his stove and placed some kindling under it. He reached up onto his counter top and grabbed a rectangular stone and another smaller stone. He hit them together and a few time, the sparks coming off them caught the kindling and soon a small flame began to burn. He fanned it a while and then stood back up to start preparing the vegetables for the soup.

The sweet smell of spice and boiling carrots and potatoes filled the house. Ezra was in his study reading a book he had picked up the month prier. It was about the inner working of clocks. On the desk in front of him was a pocket watch, its back opened but nothing had yet been dissembled. He sighed and rubbed his eyes and and looked over at a grandfather clock in the corner. "It should be done soon..." He said as he placed a piece of paper in the book and sat it down. He looked out the window and darkness of the night. He rolled around in his head whether to go out and look for the Mandrake or eat first. " I'm just looking for a flower in the garden... Should be easy." He said to him self and and walked to the front door. "Oh wait..." He said as he went back to his study and shuffled around some drawer and pull out a small ball of cotton. "Really need to reorganize in here." He said as he closed it and walked back to the front door and shoved the cotton in his ears. he took a lamp and lit it walked out into the cool night air.

Ezra raised the lamp and walked to his garden. His eyes glued to the ground as he walked through each row he stopped when he found what he was looking for. He bent down and set the lamp next to the small blue flower. Dirt was clinging to its petals. "Okay... just grab it by the roo-" He said to himself when he caught a flutter of movement in his peripheral vision. He looked to the side. His eyes widened as as he saw a figure of a woman. Her cloths her ragged, stained brown. The stains were around her mouth as well. What was that stain. He looked down. Something was in her hands, stands of something hanging between her fingers. "I-Intestines?..." He muttered to him self as he realized that the brown stains were that of blood. She wore a blank expression as she looked at him. "Uhh... Hello" She uttered. As Ezra saw her gnashed her teeth at him he fell backwards he felt as if he was about to piss himself.

A sudden high pitch squeal ran through his head causing him to grit his teeth. He had forgot that he had his hand still wrapped around the Mandrake root. He was surprised at how loud it was even with his ears stuffed. His eyes swept back to the girl. Her legs kicking wildly as she rolled on the ground covering her ears. He could tell she was screaming in pain. "Good." He thought to himself as this would give him a chance to run away. As soon as that thought ran through his head the Mandrake fell silent. He looked down at it. Its face frozen in a snapshot of dying agony. He looked back up at the woman as she got back to her feet she covered her head as if she was recovering from a hangover. She shuffled her feet towards him. "I'm going to die." Ezra thought to himself as she walked past him. "What the ffff..." He breathed as he turned his head watching her walk into a waist high fence, causing her to flip over it and land with a thud.

Ezra sat there dumbfounded. "What the hell was that?... " Asked himself as he slowly got to his feet. He patted his crotch, surprised it was dry. He picked up the oil lamp and looked back at the woman and slowly made her way over to her. Slowly he peered over the fence. She was out cold. He lowered the lamp to see her better. Her face was covered in dirt, It was caked around her mouth. He looked at her hands and they were also covered in dirt, a rotten vine of vegetation tangled between her fingers. "...Oh...OH!...Oh shit..." He said to himself realizing he may have made a bit of a mistake. He quickly ran back to his house and put the lamp down on counter and threw the Mandrake by it. He then rushed back out to the woman. He looked at her for a bit then wrapped his arms under hers and dragged her back to his home. He dragged her over to a reclining chair and managed to sit her in it. With the better lighting he was now able to get a better look at her. She had unevenly cut shoulder length dirty blond hair, or maybe it was just blond and her hair was just really dirty. He couldn't honestly tell. She was young maybe around Janace's age, perhaps a bit younger. She was shorter then Janace for sure. Ezra wondered where she came from. Skulking around in the night eating peoples failed crops.

"Eat... Shit! The soup!" He said as he rushed back into the kitchen and removed the pot from the burner. He steered it and was relieved nothing was burned to the pot. He brought the spoon up to his lips and sipped. "Good..." He said as he looked back over his shoulder to see the girl leaning against the entrance of the kitchen. "The Fuck!" Ezra jumped, dropping the spoon to the ground. The girl jumped back as well, her hand still resting on the side of her hand. Her face was flustered and her eyes were darting around, Her lips moving as well. "What are you doing?!" He asked her. She looked at him puzzled, then her expression turning to more of one of anger. Her lips began moving again. "What... Your not...Oh wait..." He said as he reached up and pulled the cotton from his ears.

"-pped me! You-you can't just knock a person out and and take them home! What where you planning to do?! Rape me! You sick son of a bitch!" She yelled at him. Ezra stared at her not sure what the hell she was going on about. "I-what? I didn't-" He stammered. "What is that?" She asked. "Wha-" Ezra let out before she walked past him and stood over the pot. "Sweet Father, It smells so good!" She yelled. "What are-" Ezra said not sure how to react to this sudden change in her tone. She picked up the spoon that had fallen to the ground and used it to scoop up some of the soup and shoved it into her mouth. "Hey!" Ezra yelled out as he grabbed to spoon away from her. "Holy Father!" She let out as she allowed the soup to swirl around her tongue. She chewed a slice of carrot that had been cooked to a perfect tenderness. "More please!" She said to him with frenzied eyes.

Ezra stared at her, shaking his head slightly trying to comprehend the situation. "Uhhh... Just... Uh... Go ahead and sit at the table." Said as he walked to the cabinet and grabbed a bowl, He looked back at her. She was rocking back and forth in her seat anticipating the meal. Ezra eyes turned to thous of pity. He put back the bowl for a slightly bigger one. He filled it making sure to give plenty of potatoes and set it in front of her. Without saying a word the took the bowl and began drinking the soup. "Calm down and use your spoon!" Ezra almost yelled at her. "Haa..." She took a deep breath and the took up the spoon and began shoveling the cooked vegetables into her mouth. Ezra laughed a bit and poured her a glace of water and placed a small roll of bread on the table in front of her. She looked at him as if she was going to cry. "W-What? This is nothing, just eat up." He said to her and sat down with a bowl of his own. Ezra steered the soup in the bowl and looked up at her. "So... Who are you?"

[oyasama-blog]

A Town at the End of the World

Chapter 1

"Shit..." Ezra said under his breath as rolled a wilted pale carrot in the palm of his hand.He looked back at his small field. Carrot, potatoes, squash and corn all struggling for life. Ezra just couldn't understand what was wrong. He had fertilized his entire field which was no easy task. He had made several trips into Mr. Taims cow pasture to collect droppings. With Mr. Taims never being the generous type he had to do this under the cover of night. Gathering cow shit by moonlight is not a glamours pass time. Water was not the issue as Rain had been pretty plentiful all spring. Ezra bit off the tip of the carrot but then quickly spit it out. "God, tastes like... sand." He said as he dropped the rest of the carrot to ground.

Ezra sighed and ran his hand through his hair. His crops failing wasn't the end of the world. It wasn't his livelihood, he had a job helping the towns blacksmith during the week. It would cut into his side projects which was something he spent most of his pay on. Ezra walked up the small path that lead back to his house. He took a few steps up to his porch and sat down on it. Ezra lived on the outskirts of the west side of town. While he had neighbors, the closest one was about a mile away. The relative isolation was needed for his projects, as the smoke and noise would drive anyone around him to commit murder after a short time. Ezra glanced up real quick to see were the sun rested in the sky and thought out loud. "Maybe 3 o'clock." He said as he looked down his walkway to the main road. "I should do some shopping before dark." He said reluctantly. I waited a few more seconds than was need before he got up and and walked to the side of his house to a small shed. He unlocked it and rolled out a bike. It was heavily modified with what looked like a small gasoline engine and numerous bags and satchels.

He gave a quick push off as he hopped his right leg over the seat as he steadied himself and began to pedal. He reached the main road and hung a right towards town. Ashton Point was a small town that had survived the Apocalypse relatively unscathed. Its been almost twenty years since then and the world had settled into a new kind of normal. Monsters and beasts roamed much of the old cites and the remnants of human civilization had been pushed back to small settlements and towns. Maybe only 30 percent of humanity was left although there were also more then one sentient creature on earth now. Ezra would love to set down and talk to another humanoid one day. How interesting would it be to talk to something that saw the world differently than he could ever dream of.

Ezra waved at some of the Ashton Guardsman on patrol. They were both armed with shotgun of different models and machetes. He passed Mr. Taims Cow Pasture and a few other houses before he came into the town proper. As he rolled into main street he was making a mental list for a soup he would make later that night. He pulled up to a bike rack and locked a chain around it.

"No ones stupid enough to steal that you know?" A girl of about Twenty years said to him as she poked her head out of a shop window situated behind the bike rack. Ezra looked up and and chuckled as he looked back down at his baby. "Yeah, It is so suped up and personalized no one could claim it was there even if they were to stea-" He said before he was cut off. "More like no one would knowingly sit on that time bomb..." She said motioning to the custom made engine. "What! That's perfectly safe! I've run numerous tests on it. It works perfectly." He protested. "How many?" She asked. "Hm? How many what?" He asked back. "Tests." She replied. He was silent for a few seconds before saying anything. "Enough to know it safe." She narrowed her eyes. " That pause gives me so much confidence." She said smiling slyly. "Shut it... Gasoline is hard to come by." He said defensively. "Uh huh... Whatcha' in town for?" She asked, changing the subject.

Ezra took one of the satchels off his bike and slung it over his shoulder. "Groceries." He said. "I thought you were going to harvest your garden today... You promised to bring some potatoes to Mother remember?" She asked. "Yeah... I don't know. All my crops are dead. Can you apologize to Mom for me? Just tell her to take a rain check for my next harvest." He said. "Its not a big deal or anything, but I thought you said last week that they were coming along nicely." She said resting her head on the window seal. "Yeah, they were... Maybe some fungus got a hold of them or something. They were all shriveled and tasteless." He said scratching his head. "Hmm... That's weird. Oh you should talk to Margret! An herbalist may have seen something like that before." She said. "Yeah, Didn't think of asking her. I'll do that. Oh Janace, did the book I order come in yet?" He asked her. "The caravan is supposed to come in in the morning. I'm not working tomorrow so I can drop it by if you want." Janace offered. "That would be great! Thanks." He said to her. "No problem. Just have some breakfast ready for me as delivery payment!" She said smiling. "Sure! I'll see you Janace" Ezra said with a wave and turned to walk towards the market.

Janace and Ezra go way back. Ezra was 4 when the Apocalypse hit and his Mother and Father where out of town on business. Ezra was staying with Janace's Mother and Father as they were friends with his parents. Janace was 3 months old at the time. Ezra's parents were never heard of again. Since then, Janace's Mother and Father raised him as one of there own. Thomas Avery, Janace's father died three years ago. Most of the town was at his funeral, he had been a pillar of the community. He had been one of the first people to form the Ashton Guard and helped protect the town during the early chaos of the Apocalypse. While nowadays its much more peaceful there are still times when the Guard had to rally and fight off a threat to the town. All able bodied men where conscripted into the guard and any woman that volunteered were also allowed after passing a physical. As it stood, everyone had two days of guard duty a month, Ezra included. Alice Avery, Janace's Mother and owner of the local Book Store, Avery Pages, Is equally respected around the town. She sit on the town counsel. Janace currently works at Avery Pages but she is planning to start as a Town Guard sometime next month when she turns 20.

Ezra picked up what he had needed and stopped by Margret's Apothecary before heading home. He walked in and let his eyes adjust dimmer light. "So I just rub it on?" A older man asked an elderly woman sitting behind the counter. "That's right, where ever your muscle pains are." She said. "Great! Thanks Granny. How much will this be?" He asked. She paused and thought about it. " A dozen eggs." She said. "Got it! I'll bring it to you first thing in the morning!" He said and nodded to her, She smiled and nodded back. "Yo Ezra! Pulled a muscle too?" The man asked. "Uhh no. Just came to ask Granny Margret a question about plants." He said to the tall man. "Ah! I see, See you around!" He said to Ezra as he gave him a hardy slap on the back. " Ah ha... You too Mr. Sanders." Ezra said to him as he walked out. He turned around and walked up to the counter. The small woman gave him a smile. "Hi Granny Margret, The roof hasn't started leaking again had it?" Ezra asked with a smile. "Oh no, Your fix has been holding very well." She said smiling. "That's great, Um, I actually came to ask you a question since you know so much about plants." Ezra asked. "Sure thing sweetie." She said as she adjusted the pillow she was sitting on. "Do you know of a reason why a bunch of corps would suddenly die in under a week?" He asked. "Well, there could be plenty or reasons. not enough water, insufficient soil." She added. "Oh no, That shouldn't have been a problem... They were shriveled and tasteless to.." He said. Margret looked at him. "Where the crops colorless?" She asked raising an eyebrow. "Uhh... Yeah they had a little color but were really pale looking... Is it some sort of fungus?" He asked.

Margret got up and stretched and walked to a shelve and picked up a book. She came back and sat back down. "I saw this about 7 or so years ago. Its called a Mandrake." She said as she showed him a drawing she had made of the one she encountered back then. "That's... In my garden?" He asked looking at the picture of what looked like a turnip with a screaming human like face on it. "Most likely, You would only be able to find it at night. Its flower pokes out of the soil in the moonlight and blooms a blue flower. Just grasp it by the base of the flower and pull it up." She said."Sounds easy." Ezra commented. "Just remember to plug your ears before you do it. It screams like a Banshee for a few seconds afterwards. If you find it bring it to me, I'll reward you!" She said smiling. "You can use it to make medicine?" Ezra asked surprised. "No, You can make a powerful paralytic with it, Perfect for surgeries." She said. "Ah, Sure! Thanks for the info" He said to her and began to leave. "Bye-bye sweetie." She said back to him waving. Ezra walked back to his bike a few streets over and attached his bag to it.

"Make me something good tomorrow!" Jance said out the window. "Yeah yeah..." Ezra said back to her. He got on his bike and turned to head back home. "Tell Mom I love her." He said to Janace with a wave. "What about me?" She asked faking a pained expression." Yeah yeah... Love you too." He said to her with a sigh. Janace smiled and waved "Love you too!" She called back to him. Ezra began pedaling back out of town. The sun was starting to set.