Chapter Text
In the hours, days, months, years after The Event, life is neither grand nor loud. Life is simple. And life is sweet.
Life for some is a vast desert, made small by the few people around. Everyone knows each other. No one knows what's past the mountain range. All that is known is the sun, the sand, and the lifelong friends.
Life is waiting for the turn of the season. The days grow longer and hotter. The sun grows oppressive with nothing to hold it back. And grubs crawl through the carefully tended soil of a farm.
The excitement of summer is collecting. She who farms wants these grubs gone, for they ruin her hard work and grow to be bumbling annoyances. Others see it differently. Eager fingers pick through the mulch to snatch up fat wriggling things. Some become snacks, juicy and filled with precious nutrients. Some become pets, kept in a tub and fed scraps until one day the round pale things become green and jeweled and eager for fruit.
The days of constant sun make everyone eager for fruit. The fruit of pale yellow become treasure in this small community. Mixed with lukewarm water to dilute it into a sweet and tangy beverage. The fruits of dark purple are gobbled down by everyone, the sun ripening them too fast. They grow and fall off sometimes before a human can claim it. These ones that smell of fermentation are enjoyed by the green jewels, causing their flight path to wobble. The random movements laughed at by the children who grew them.
The children laugh at much. Enjoyment ready in their mind. Their early days were less enjoyable. So soon after The Event there was not much to enjoy. Crumbling towers and artificial caves. But they left that behind for chaparral and infinite blue skies and a building from Before that they now call home.
Their home is ramshackle. Once filled with shelves and machines and plastic. Now filled with a small fire and piles of stuffed cloth to rest on. Shelves shoved against the walls and filled with treasures. Green jewels that died in seasons past. Smooth stones that stay cool when everything else is not. Pitch black feathers left behind by the loud ones that ate a dead coyote. The most precious treasure of all is the bottles of clear water, collected from the well or during the rains and kept stashed away. The ultimate hoard. But they were not greedy, and if others were in need the bottles were gladly given away, expecting nothing in return, for there were times when they were in need as well.
One day they discover what's past the mountains, northward and then in the direction of the rising sun.
Some people cling to Before. Black panels that eat the sun and send it through colorful vines into "batteries".
These people are weird.
The people past the mountains live in the crumbled towers. Some not so crumbled. They want to rebuild. They want to live like they did Before.
The children go back over the mountains by themselves. The bike riders that accompanied them to the "city" want to stay a little bit longer. The one with orange hair takes pity and brings them back home.
The children did not like Before. Sure, The Event was hectic, and people got hurt, but it took them away from Before.
Before for the youngest was filled with hate from those who should love. And though he had been scarred and hurt by the event, it took him away from them.
Before for them two was filled with sharp objects and "experiments" and the strong smell of the clean liquid. The day the tunnels they were trapped in caved in was what they considered the first day of their lives.
Maybe Before was different for those over the mountain. But for the children Before is best forgotten. Pretending things were the same as they were before The Event didn't sit right with them.
They decline going on any more trips over the mountain