Young Writers Society

The wasteland felt cold. I had walked about 2-miles-away from Candytopia and already I missed it. However, I had to suck it up and to keep moving forward. All around me were buildings in utter ruin and decay with debris covering the ground. Nature started taking back much of the land. I even noticed some of the buildings started stinking into the ground, meaning I’ve been asleep longer than I thought…maybe too long.

“Welcome to Los Angeles…” I was reading the sign sticking out of the side of a building. When I meant sticking out, I actually meant “sticking out” as in it was wedged right in the bricks.

Honestly, I was not surprised Los Angeles to go down in desolation. With all the corruption and organized crime, I thought it would be the first place to fall. Then again, I couldn’t help but feel…sad. Imagine the horrors that happened and the million who had died. It must have been terrible. I kept on walking into the city, putting my thoughts behind me while continuing my journey. Holding onto the strap over my shoulder, I proceeded to make a detour down northeast.

Since I was previously in Anaheim, I’ll probably be in Bakersfield if I stay in this direction! I contemplated.

However, before I could move any further, I ducked behind a large chunk of debris when I heard something coming my way. Since I knew the hybrid-beast came from the outside, I was sure to be cautious because the city was a breeding ground for them, thanks to the knowledge I obtained from Queen Sugar. One seemed easy to take, but more than one presented a challenge. However, when I took a peek, I saw that it wasn’t a hybrid-beast at all.

There were two of them. They appeared insectoid in appearance, having six appendages, having three claws on each leg, and a body the size of a horse. They had beaks but no eyes, with the rest of their head consisting of pyramided, pink fleshy rings covered in antennae. On their upper back was a shell like a crab’s, or an armadillo’s with the lower part possessed a pair of retractable bat-like wings.

What the fuck are those things?!

They seemed to have been in search of food, looking around and inspecting every inch of their surroundings. I haven’t gotten use to my newfound strength, I wasn’t sure if I could fight those things. So, I laid low until they left. Unfortunately, they didn’t. At first, I assumed they had moved on to the next area, giving me the opportunity to leave. However, right before I walked out of my hiding spot, the creatures jumped at me from behind. Luckily, I was able to dodge their attack.

Their confusion gave me the opportunity to run. What I didn’t realize was that they intended for me to escape. With a dash, I was about 12-feet-away from those monsters. I looked up and was aghast when those things started flying towards me.

“Oh, come on! Give me a break! There’s gotta be something else around here to eat, besides me!” I cried pleadingly as they flew down. However, right before they could snatch me up off the ground, a large hybrid-beast that had the head of a crocodile and the body of a lion, tackled the two at once and brought them to the ground. I stopped for a minute, watching their scrabble for food.

This gave me a REAL opportunity to escape. I ran for about 20 minutes, stopping to take a breather while looking back to make sure I wasn’t being followed. Lucky for me, those monsters are nowhere in sight.

I was finally able to slow down my pacing. From my location, I could tell I was at the city’s exit.

I got hungry. So, I sat down on what remained of a wall. Taking off my rucksack, I reached in and pulled out a loaf of bread and some cheese. I didn’t see any cows around Candytopia. However, I could rule out that it was imported. Eating it reminded me of that scene from “Howl’s Moving Castle” where the old lady sat on the hill eating bread and cheese.

“Excuse me? Could you help me?”

I looked around, shocked by the mysterious voice. I didn’t see where the voice came from, but I knew it was close.

“Down here?!”

Looking down, I jumped up from my spot, dropping my snack on the ground. Under me was a white and black robot dog. What the hell…

“I can’t move my body. My back legs are dislocated and damaged, and I can’t seem to move…but it really doesn’t matter,” the dog grimaced, speaking in a British accent.

It was a robot dog. A robot dog! Wait! Why am I awestruck? These things are common in my century. Then again, it is still amazing to see one.

I felt bad for the little thing. I crouched down and picked up the robot.

Placing him on my seat, I said to it, “Don’t worry, I might be able to help you.”

It wasn’t really that serious. All I had to do was reinsert the legs back into the torso, and that’s it. Even a trained monkey could do something as simple just like that.

After I had finished, the dog stood up, staring at me with those blue-screened eyes. “Thanks, I guess,” it remarked, albeit somberly.

“You’re welcome, I guess,” I replied, feeling a bit down from its attitude. “So…what are you doing here? This city’s pretty dangerous.”

It sighed, breathing in and out a loud synthesized gasp. Then, it replied, “I was just waiting to rust and go offline…nothing much for me in this world, now, is there?” he was starting to bum me out a bit.

“Strange…didn’t think there were any humans left. From my memory bank, the last remaining humans died out during the Eldritch Cataclysm of 4582 A.D.” Stunned by it’s remark, I was astonished that it knew what happened to the human race.

I shouted astoundingly, “You know what happened to the human race?! Please! You have to tell me more! What happened during, and after, the 22nd Century?!”

“Great! Just what I need, having a self-recharging battery cell to become a teacher! When had my life gone to that direction?!” it complained sardonically. Shaking its’ head, it looked back up with a blank stare at me.

“You know, it’s rude to not address your name to someone you’ve just met, right?” it pointed out. Its’ somber tone faded a little bit with annoyance.

I was taken aback by its’ statement, knowing that it was right. I rubbed the back of my neck, flashing a weak grin before responding timidly, “Oh, r-right. Yeah, sorry about that.”

Then, I introduced myself, “My name is Akira. You are?”

“My name is ‘Campanion Droid Model: Canine X-104’, or you can call me ‘Fido’. Not that you care, that is,” it greeted.

“Why are you so moody?”

“Production error resulting in personality chip malfunction! You know, the usual stuff.”

His attitude was starting to make me feel depressed. I mean, seriously! It was like talking to a nihilistic philosopher. So, I changed the subject, hoping the atmosphere would get better.

“So…you wanna join me on my journey?” I offered, trying to change the sad mood in the atmosphere.

Sighing one more time, Fido replied, “Sure, why not? It’s not like I want to spend another millennium in this junk pile.”

Hopping off the concrete seat, Fido stood beside me as we prepared to walk. Then he added, “Also, it’s better than living in a city infested with hybrid monsters and Mi-Go.”

“Mi-go?” I repeated.

“They’re a race of extraterrestrial, fungoid crustaceans from the planet Yuggoth that migrated to Earth during the Jurassic period around 165 million-years-ago. They remained dormant, hibernating in areas such as the Himalayas, Andes, and Appalachians, until the Eldritch Cataclysm occurred. Originally, they were a technologically advanced empire, rivaling that of the Elder Things and the Great Race of Yith. However, due to circumstances that happen after their resurfacing, most of them have become feral survivalists, yet still clever enough to not be underestimated.”

I heard about the mi-go before. I read them somewhere in a book I can’t remember, but I didn’t think they existed. My eyes couldn’t help but widen, becoming stunned from the knowledge Fido provided me.

As we walked out of the city, we continued conversing as we strolled down the fallen road. I asked puzzlingly, “So, what’s up ahead from here?”

I hoped Fido knew more about the new cartography of the region than I did.

“Up head, about 3-miles-away, there’s a settlement called Windsworth where the weather is always lovely…bet it never rains too much, unlike Los Angeles,” he announced.

Hopefully, the next town over won’t have as much calamity as Los Angeles…although I shouldn’t have jinxed it.

30-minutes-later, we finally arrived in Windsworth, which looked like a village made of junk, having buildings patched together from debris and roofs made of scrap-metal. A chain link fence surrounded the settlement with barbwire on top. I wasn’t sure if they were electrified or not but with all the ferocious beasts roaming the lands, I wouldn’t doubt their caution on security. The town was built around a hill and on top of the hill was a weather station that hadn’t been maintained in years.

Since the gate was open, we didn’t bother swaggering inside.

“Freeze!”

Suddenly, we both halted. Later, we were surrounded by green humanoids with muskets and farming tools. I raised my hands up to my head, surrendering and not wanting to cause a fuss.

“Who are you and what’s your business in our village,” said one of the villagers, pointing a musket to my face.

“My name is Akira and I was just passing through! Please, I mean you no harm!” I pleaded, trying to reason with the villagers.

They turned their attention to Fido, all of them arching an eyebrow.

Fido replied, “Can’t really say I vouch for him, on the count that I just met in 45-minutes-ago.”

The villagers looked at one another. They started conversing and arguing until they finished. They then turned back to me with one of them stating, “Okay. You seem like a harmless…whatever you are. You can’t be too cautious now, can you, since these parts are teaming with beasts and bandits.”

They laid down their weapons in passiveness. Then one of them asked, “What brings you to our town, stranger?”

“I was just passing through,” I answered straightforwardly. I looked up at the sky. Even though the clouds were blocking the sun, I could tell it was getting late by the angle of its’ position, i.e. over the curvature. “Say…do you have an inn. Fido and I need a place to crash somewhere for the night, and I was hoping you could let us stay for the night?”

“Sure, we have an inn about three blocks down. You could check into there,” said one of the townsfolk.

Fido and I headed to the inn, thanking the townsfolk before sauntering at the end. During our stroll, I turned to my right and noticed the farmlands. They were mostly barren with little to no food growing, at all. Fido said they had good weather. However, the weather was too dry to for farming. Standing at a two-story building, we looked up at the sign that read “Inn” and slowly entered.

“Welcome to the Windsworth Inn!”

When we walked in, a little girl with brown pigtails and overalls greeted us at the entrance. We walked up to the front desk and asked for a room.

She said, “That’ll be three gold coins, sir!”

I took off my rucksack and rummaged through it. I pulled out the right amount of change and placed it on the counter. I was lucky. I have to thank Queen Sugar for giving me money when I get back to Candytopia.

“So, are your parents the owner of the inn?” I asked curiously.

“Yes. Mommy and daddy are out, so I’m in charge,” she answered, smiling while giving me the key.

“Not really a good business strategy; letting a 10-year-old run an in, that is,” Fido criticized pessimistically.

I glared at the robot dog before turning back to the little girl. I apologized, “Sorry about him. He’s just very depressed.”

Then I asked the girl, “what can you tell me about the farmland?”

The girl’s cheerful expression faded into a grimace. She answered, albeit whisperingly, “W-we’re not suppose to talk about out in public. There’s a witch that lives in the building, on the hill, who controls the weather, but that’s all I’m going to say!”

Well, that explains some of it. Fido did say the village never has bad weather, so a witch with that much power could manipulate weather pattern. However, I doubted such things as witches exist and might just be local superstition. Then again, after everything I’ve seen lately—walking candy people and eldritch abominations—I needed to start keeping an open mind towards the impossible.

Picking up the robot dog and my rucksack, I thanked the girl for the information and climbed up the stairs. The key read “Room 101”, which was the first room on the second floor. I opened the door and waltzed right in. I wanted to know more about this…witch, but not at the moment. I had to wait until tomorrow to gather more data on the situation.