Chapter 1

Cracked, dry, desolate planes of existence. That's what David saw from atop his tower, as he always did, every day and every night. He sat on the edge of the platform with his legs dangling off the sides, flowing from side to side in the gentle breeze. It was nice cool air that relaxed him when above the dust that it swirled around on ground level. Scattered around him were books of various sizes and genre, story books, dictionaries in various languages, books with unrecognisable maps and encyclopaedias of wildlife that he could only dream of. Despite it being called a pursuit of lost and pointless knowledge, David relished in his studies, freely letting his imagination fly into the pages and pictures. Sometimes the books were damaged and he would have to make up one or two pages or mentally finish the picture shown.

Right then however, he wasn't focused on his reading, but instead on the vast, empty wasteland which stretched onwards for what seems like all of time. About a mile from his tower lay his village, a small and primitive tribal establishment but home was home. A collection of cream coloured rough-skin hovels with a centre mental lined tent which served as the gathering point. All around the hovels there lay fires with people who talked, laughed and went on with their daily lives though they were mere sticks to David's eyes from that range.

David was sixteen years old, mature for his age and intelligent which had drawn some people away from him. Intelligence was not a trait admired as it led to questioning the ways of the village and wanderlust, the village ran on the sense of a collective personality and goal of the greater good.

He was a tallish boy with short, flaky brown hair and a strong built body, forged as many were, from hard labour in the farms. He wore tight leather clothing with a hard shoulder guard on his right shoulder, the strap which ran across his chest being augmented to serve as an empty bandolier, though not yet had it found a purpose. His trousers were cargo type, patched together from various materials by skilful needlework from his mother.

The different colouring in these materials had left a distinct, darkly coloured, digital camouflage pattern. His footwear was hard leather boots with simple yet effective laces. He relished the look of a soldier though such a thing did not really exist in the village, hunters and guards were few and far between.

"One would think you don't even live at home" A hard female voice sounded behind him. David looked around at the stealthy intruder to see his older sister standing there, leaning on one side with a quizzical yet friendly expression. Sapphire was a tall girl, just shorter than her younger brother, she was 17 years old and carried herself with a calm collectiveness. She had an attractive, shapely figure and was armed with decent sized breasts and a sharp mind. Her shoulder length electric blue hair went in good contrast with her dark gothic apparel, quite the enigma of femininity.

"I like it up here" David said looking around at his sister

"There is a nice breeze up here" as she said that a gush blew through, pulling her black skirt up so it for a second showed her blue underwear. David shook his head as she blushed

"There's a good view of the surrounding area up here" He shuddered as he realised the potential innuendo he had just made. They both starred out into the Great Plains. "I heard that where we are used to be called Wyoming. The ruins not far from here is a place called Cheyenne, I think"

"You know we're not meant to read into the past, those pages contain things that shouldn't be learnt" Sapphire said, though this was forced out half-heartedly

"Those magazines that you hoard away are from the past" David smirked

"Yeah but only you know about them" She laughed back "Come on let's get back to the village, before we're missed"

"I've got to check on the lizards first, shouldn't take long"

"You and those lizards, I'm surprised you have any friends. Airtight then I'll come with" She sighed playfully

Dave packed away his books and such into a storage cupboard he had created himself and descended down to the base of the watch tower. The descent was down several ladders onto platforms gradually lower and lower, the last platform being ringed with barbed wire and sandbags, the ladder down from that was retractable, allowing it to be pulled up in an event of a fight. The ground below was parched and cracked everywhere with the occasional set of roots sprouting up from deep in the earth, searching for water.

He hopped down cheerily and jogged off to the west side, away from the village. Sapphire leaped down behind him, causing her skirt to rise up yet again to give the view of her blue thong which left little to the imagination. A whistle sounded from behind them as a male of similar age to David appeared from behind a few rocks. As soon as Sapphire saw who it was, she smiled as she said harshly

"Pervert"

"Oh yeah, you show your ass off to me and I'm the pervert eh?" He laughed in response

"Not my fault that this skirt is subject to the wind"

"Yes, but you jumped off knowing exactly what would happen. You probably would've pulled it up anyway if you knew I was nearby" Sapphire simply stuck her tongue out in response

"Az what you doing here. Other than checking out my sister?" Dave came over and asked quizzically

"Just seeing how you were and working on my tracking and travelling skills. Saw Sapph heading up the tower and thought she'd pull you down so might as well wait here. And checking out your sister is a automatic thing anyway haha"

Aaron was a tall lad with a decent enough build. He was not handsome but maintained a rugged look and a similar dress sense as his close friend which he did undoubtedly pull off better. He had a low powered rifle slung over his shoulder at that time, a machete holstered by his hip and a rucksack on filled with provisions, food, water, ammunition and flares.

"Where you heading to?" Aaron continued

"My Lizards"

"Oh I love those guys" He replied to which Sapphire sighed "I'll tag along"

"The more the merrier" They started to briskly walk off into the cavernous area to the west "Travelling skills Aaron? You planning to go somewhere?""

"Well the village is more like a prison nowadays with them expecting all of us to stay here and have no contact with anyone outside. I know you feel the same Dave"

"Yeah" He sighed

"Most people are more than happy to stay in the village and live out their lives as they do" Sapphire butted in

"Bah, don't tell me you agree with them?" Aaron cast a disapproving look at her