Young Writers Society

"How interesting," Gideon mused, wandering over to one of the husks and circling it thoughtfully. "It's like a little paper town." So easily crushed but somehow staying upright. He pressed a finger into the forehead of the husk, and the entire thing collapsed like a deflated accordion. He bent down to examine the sad heap, plucking at the thing's sleeves. "I wonder how this came about." Not naturally, surely. Something had killed these people or driven the owners of the husks out of the market. That answered the question of safety--or lack thereof. However, it also meant that the wares in the stalls were free for the looting.

A gasp escaped Skyler’s lips when she saw what the others were seeing. The sound was one of horror and shock. She’d faced many things in her life, but nothing— nothing that looked like this. If it wasn’t for the daylight shining on the area and the bright colors around them, those things would have felt like they came out of a scary movie.

Maybe this is a movie. Maybe someone’s heard that you do acting occasionally instead of just singing and they wanted you in their film, so they brought you here and didn’t tell you so your acting was even more realistic.

No, of course not, Sky told herself. That was just her imagination going wild, trying to find other explanations for those husks that didn’t prove those had been real people. Living, breathing people like them.

She cringed as Levi and Gideon began poking and prodding the skins— not merely because it seemed a little gross, but because that wasn’t much respect to the dead. The dead. If anything in those skins had ever been alive, what could have done this? Sky’s stomach turned, and she was starting to feel unwell. She’d already felt bad about raiding this place for supplies, and this didn’t help at all. But she wasn’t going to be sick in front of everyone here.

“We could try to figure out how long ago this was, or at least get an estimate,” Sky muttered, not bothering to speak up. It would have been just barely loud enough for everyone to hear. “Trees... Trees have rings. Each year in a tree’s life is equal to one ring. At least, that’s how it works on Earth... If the plants grew over this place soon after this all happened, we could cut down a tree and count the rings to get an idea of how long ago it grew.” She’d gotten the idea from a show she’d seen before.

Jam didn't quite know how to feel about the people he thought were vendors were, in nicer terms, simply not vendors. Or people. Or anything remotely similar to living as everything was just not alive.

Lovely. In not wanting to lose his mind, he turned to Skyler, appreciating her idea about how to tell what year this insane world must be in.

"So, if we want to do that, we need some kind of axe. Or hope that we can find an old trunk of a tree that hadn't been cut too long ago."

Jam then spun around to gaze at everyone else. "I volunteer to find that rather than do whatever it is that you all are doing."

Levi felt a twinge of irritation at Jam's comment.

"I was seeing if my guess was right," he said. He tried to keep his annoyance out of his voice, but it still slipped in regardless of the attempt. He couldn't help it. He had a reason for what he did - he always did. He had always hated when people underestimated him or looked down at him. Some part of him knew that Jam didn't know all of the baggage he had. There was no way for a complete stranger to tell. And if he did know, Levi would have to have a talk with him.

"It reminded me of when a snake sheds its skin," he said, "so I wanted to see if it was the same kind of material. It was."

He turned his back to the stall and headed into the main road again. He was scanning the stalls for any kind of materials on display. He didn't know how necessary it was to find the axe right now. It would be useful to have if they ran into any kind of trouble, but he really thought the priority should be getting food - not figuring out something that could be questioned once they had supplies.

"I'm going to keep looking for resources," he said. He was slipping so much right now, but he was starting to get to a point where he didn't really care. He was so tired of playing the Levi role. Levi wouldn't be good at things like this - being a Straight A student and the president of GSA had absolutely nothing to do with this kind of survival situation. "We don't know what it's like when this place gets dark. If I'm going to be holed up in some abandoned building tonight, I want to have some food and supplies with me. The tree idea can wait until we have our footing."

"Maybe there's a bit of flint and some steel around here somewhere," Emma added. "It'd probably be safer not to have a fire since we don't know what we're dealing with, but the nights here could be freezing. A source of freshwater and some cooking pots would also be great if we can find them. in addition to any medical supplies or hazmat suits we can grab."

"..hazmat suits?" Winthrop asked. "Why?"

"...sorry. I forgot this wasn't a nuclear apocalyptic semi-wasteland for just a moment."

"Oh. Um, yeah, okay..." Sky was only half-listening at this point. Her eyes were scanning the stalls, as if she was deciding whether to go over and search them or not. Finally, she swallowed, muttered something about going to look for useful supplies, and slowly walked over to a market stand without waiting for a reply.

She was close enough that if the others started talking, she'd be able to hear them assuming they didn't lower their voices too much (not that she was going to be paying too much attention anyway). Nonetheless, it helped to have a bit of space. It would have been better without the husk standing there behind a shelf that had also been used as a kiosk and counter. It seemed to be watching with its lifeless gaze.

Skyler couldn't suppress a shiver.

She slowly entered the stall with slow, cautious movements as if she was half-expecting the husk to pounce on her. But the person that was no longer a person (and might never have been) did not move, and so she turned her back to it as she let out a quiet sigh of relief that she was glad no one could hear.

The stall was like something she could easily expect to see at a London flea market. Many of the ones she'd been to had at least one clothing stand, and it seemed like this market was no exception. Near the front, clothes that had once been folded were slightly scattered from the wind but remained on display. Skyler kicked a glove that had fallen on the ground out of her way. The area where the clothes were wasn't all that covered, but further back in the stall was a shelf that appeared to be well-sheltered and stocked.

Before she went to see what the shelf contained, Sky picked up the first item on a stack of clothing. She frowned as she examined it. It smelled unpleasant-- maybe it had gotten wet and grown some mold she hadn't seen. Setting it down, she began to search the piles. The ones near the top were all in a bad state for various reasons. Some were tattered and torn; others had their colors fading from being exposed to the sun. However, the ones further down were more or less intact.

Sky had made quite the mess by now as she tossed damaged clothing to the side in her hunt for functional layers. If Emma's guess about this world having cold nights was correct, they'd all be very grateful later. She didn't know what size clothing everyone in the group wore, but hopefully there would be something in the random assortment of clothes she'd dug up. Placing her pile of findings to the side, she glanced back at the... creature. Her reluctance to take anything from this place hit her again, harder than before, and her heart hurt as if something was squeezing it tightly.

"Um..." Skyler shuddered again as she forced herself to meet the eyes of the husk. Treat them as if they were a person. Make a request. "I, uh, it doesn't seem like you'll be needing these anymore, so..." Say it. Say it. "Can we borrow these? We don't know what this place is and I wouldn't be taking them unless it was absolutely necessary..."

The husk did not reply. Sky felt her heart pounding loudly, like the beat of a song. The silence lasted for a minute that was tenser than anything she'd ever experienced before she released the breath she'd been holding. Her cheeks reddened a bit, and she hoped no one had heard that. It still felt a lot like she was stealing, but at least she would get away with it. That didn't make it right, but she did her best to forget about it as she stepped toward the shelf.

Fabric was rolled up rather neatly, and the bundles seemed to have been untouched for a long time. Sky saw there were many different kinds and patterns. Some looked like they were made for designing floral dresses, while others looked like perfect vintage curtain materials. There were a couple that seemed entirely unfamiliar to her. She reached out to feel one of the mystery fabrics. It seemed like it might be waterproof from the texture, or at the very least water-resistant. If they could set it up well enough, it could make a decent outdoor shelter.

Sky took the whole roll and held it between her arm and her side. Carrying the layers she'd seemed suitable on top of the fabric was no small task. It was hard to hold on to all of it, and it blocked part of her vision. She stumbled out of the stall with her findings to share them with the group, as it hadn't taken all that long. If only it were so easy to shake the sick feeling she had.

Jam looked up to watch Skyler grab some clothes. He shuddered by the mere thought of doing something like that, going up to the weird, unhuman things that lined the stalls. No questioning that she was far more brave than he was.

With that in mind, he turned to look back at the rest of them. "I'll try my best to find water. I don't know how many people that will take, but yeah."

He finished his sentence with a smile, hoping that his fear didn't show itself despite his words. Jam already felt like the weak line, so he didn't want to come off as a complete scaredy cat.

Levi watched Sky's exchange from afar. He had been mulling over what Emma Dorothy said, but he was distracted by how politely Sky was addressing the empty husks. Part of him wanted to comment on that. He wanted to point out that they weren't people anymore - whatever had been inside them had left. The most it did was make things look a little scary and off.

But then his own thoughts registered.

He froze.

What was he thinking? There was nothing wrong with what Sky was doing. He couldn't afford to show his own feelings anymore, but that wasn't something that applied to everyone. It was good that Sky was put off by this whole thing. Someone needed a conscience, and that someone could be someone who was tainted by a war like he was.

Sky needed help with the clothes. But it was Jam's request that made the most sense right now - they needed food and water. Out of everyone here, he was probably the best qualified to find good sources of water. They had always been creative back then.

He took a step forward.

"I'll come with you," Levi offered. He pushed up his glasses. As long as the water didn't touch him, he'd be alright. Even if it did, he would be okay if he kept calm.

Sky checked to make sure the ground was dry and clean before she set what she was carrying down. She'd noticed she was being watched as she'd gone about her task, and she couldn't help but feel a little silly. Her cheeks were slightly flushed with embarrassment. Had she just made a fool of herself for talking to the husks? She hoped not.

"Yeah, go ahead and do that," Skyler agreed, not meeting their eyes. She moved almost mechanically as she sorted the clothes, arranging them into piles by relative size and warmth. She wasn't paying much attention to style, but she hoped she had found enough for each one of them to have something they could (and wanted to) wear. "I'll stay here and work this out. Oh, and whoever helps me out can get first pick of the sweaters."

Sky rolled out the fabric a bit to determine if it was large enough for what she had in mind. Satisfied, she nodded, feeling her shoulders slump slightly. It felt a bit like relief. She'd been so tense when she'd gone over to gather all of this, and it was slowly wearing off now. "I think this can be used for a shelter that should keep us dry from rain," she said, cautiously optimistic. "We can drape it over something, but it might work better if we stretch it out flat and tie the corners to some support, in order to have the most covered space."

Levi nodded.

It was a good plan. The last thing he wanted was to get wet from a sudden downpour - water and him never mixed well.

...Which was why he had volunteered to get the water.

What was he thinking? That had to be the stupidest idea he had ever come up with. But he had already volunteered and they hadn't even left yet, so it wasn't like he could suddenly back out of it. He couldn't risk that decision ruining how the other people here viewed him. His age was already a major detractor; he would have to work hard to be taken seriously if he backed out.

"We should probably look for the water now," he said, turning to Jam. Where would water be hiding?

"I wouldn't mind a few cozy sweaters," Gideon said, approaching Sky. "You never know what the nights might be like here." He scanned the stalls of fabric, raising an eyebrow. It would be wiser to put up for the night in one of the buildings, infested with plants as they were, and a shelter would certainly be easier to create with fabric as Sky said. Yes, that should work nicely.

Emma was more closely examining one of the husks, peering at its-- exoskeleton? Was that what her teachers had called it before the bombs dropped and everything shut down? On the ground by this one were a bunch of poles.

"I think we could use these!" she called to the others, holding two up. "Sharpen them into spears, make a tent, lots of things we could do. Looks like there are at least ten."

Winthrop, meanwhile, had already found two small pots but was struggling to find any flint or other fire starters. To be honest, she couldn't exactly remember what flint looked like-- she hadn't used it since she was in her tweens!

“Cool.” Sweaters for Gideon and me, poles for Emma, water for Levi and Jam. Skyler was making a list in her head. She hadn’t looked up from her task to see what Winthrop was doing, but she assumed the self-declared president was searching around. “Well... good luck to anyone who’s going anywhere, I guess?”

Don’t get eaten. That wouldn’t be fun.

Sky paused, scowling at the slightly intrusive thought. No, they weren’t going to get eaten by some lurking monster. At least, she was pretty sure of that. Still, she didn’t say that out loud, just in case. It might worry them a bit.

“Here,” she said to Gideon, gesturing towards one of the piles. “You’re pretty tall, but there should be something your size in here.” Sky had noticed that his clothes were quite old-fashioned. Maybe he liked vintage-style clothing? It could also be a costume, but it wasn’t Halloween. Was it historical cosplay? If so, she couldn’t tell who he was dressing up as.

Strange. It felt like he was from another time entirely.

Skyler’s eyes caught a shade of blue she liked. Taking something out of the pile she was searching in, she lifted it up to examine it. It was a navy sweater with a hood that should fit her pretty well, judging by its size. Even though it had a good, it seemed a little different from a hoodie. The fabric was softer and looser, as well as more flowing, and it was longer in some places because it was cut in a certain style. It had an aesthetic that she liked.

“Yep,” she said. “First dibs on this one.”

Gideon began to browse another stall. He hadn't ever worn something like this before, but it seemed comfortable enough. They didn't quite fit his aesthetic, of course.
He pulled a dark turtleneck from the pile, nodding to himself. Perhaps he could get used to it.
"May I ask from where you hail?" he asked, glancing over to Sky. "Your accent is very familiar, but I've never seen clothing like that."

Sky hesitated for a moment.

"My clothes are... pretty average," she said slowly. Never seen anything like them? Okay, so that didn't seem like cosplay... unless Gideon had taken to acting like someone from the past as well as looking like one. His manner was strange— it wasn't something she was familiar with. "At least, where I'm from..."

He'd already mentioned that he was from Glasgow and lived somewhere in Germany, so it wouldn't hurt to tell him. Still, he made her feel a little unsettled for some reason. She decided to take the small risk and answer.

"I'm not from New York City," she said, setting the sweater she'd claimed down in her lap. Her blue-green eyes were staring at the ground in front of her. "I'm British," she said, and added more after she cleared her throat. "London. West End, in fact. Have you heard of that district?"

It was barely identifying personal information at this point. It wasn't going to tell him very much at all. Still, saying it felt strange and even a little uncomfortable for her.