Free Deserted by L.M. McCleary

from peeking over the
horizon.
               
The winds were stronger up above our resting place, even in the early hours of
the day and I instinctively raised my bandana over my face. As I drudged my way
up the sloping mesa I started to see the outline of a large, metallic object in
the shifting sands ahead, not far from the remains of the bridge I had seen
earlier. It wasn’t until I reached the bridge itself that I realized what lay
stagnant before me. The wasteland was supposed to be vast and empty and yet
there it stood, tall and imposing over my small frame. Its wheels were rusted
over and swallowed up by the sands while its body stood in a slanting manner,
ready to fall at a moment’s notice. I wasn’t entirely sure why but the sight
saddened me; where was it trying to go? What purpose did it have? And just what
exactly happened to it? Gazing at it in awe, I noticed there was a tipped
boxcar behind it. Empty boxes littered the sands around it and while it had
already been scavenged I could still see a few pickaxes within its otherwise
empty walls; I could only assume it was an old coal train that once lead to the
very mine I had escaped from. I softly touched the train’s metal frame,
wondering on the might of our race before the Reckoning had taken everything
from us. To have been able to create such a thing as the beast before me was
mind-boggling and yet I knew from my parents that the world was once full of
things like this; in fact, this multi-wheeled monstrosity was considered tame
in the grand scheme of things.
               
I’m not entirely sure what compelled me to but I pressed my head against the
steel frame and closed my eyes; maybe I was hoping to sense the world it once
came from or listen to some fleeting ghosts whispering in the silence…I really
couldn’t tell you, but something did happen all the same. As I embraced the
train I suddenly felt my heart swell with love as an overwhelming feeling of my
father filled my head. Maybe that’s why such sights always filled me with
sadness…it was remnants of a world that my father once loved dearly. Dad…where are you now?
               
I sighed as the sound of my stomach growling brought me back to reality. I
didn’t have much left in my bag and I was saving what I could for Ponika anyway; it wasn’t his decision to enter the
wasteland so I was going to make sure he was taken care of, even if it meant I
wouldn’t be. I decided to enter the boxcar, hoping there could be something
worth taking back with me, regardless of how old it might be. I had
contemplated taking a pickaxe to defend myself with but in the end I felt it
would be too cumbersome and I already had my dagger anyway. Besides, what good
would a pickaxe do against a swarm like that in the mine? Its bulk would merely
hold me back. While I was contemplating my choice in weapons I suddenly heard
voices in the wind outside the train. Panicked, I ran to the back of the boxcar
and hid behind some overturned crates, keeping my eye on a nearby axe just in
case.
    “Why do
we even need this, anyway?” A male voice grumbled angrily.
               
“I don’t know…” A smaller voice replied.
    They
quickly entered the boxcar, causing it to shake momentarily and I could barely
make them out within the small gaps of the boxes I hid behind. They both
appeared to be rather young with the taller boy looking no older than sixteen.
Both strangers wore light brown tunics and had faded blue tattoos across their
face. The eldest boy had messy brown hair and appeared to have a few white,
shining strands within it, while the younger boy had short, dirty blonde hair.
The small boy looked around carefully, fiddling with his fingers and grabbing
at his tunic as the taller one kicked some crates over and huffed.
               
“I told him there would be nothing here…what a waste of time. How exactly does
he expect us to get