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SMNTY Fiction: Terminus, Part 3 (Chapter 3) · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and what coome stuff?
0:07
Speaker 1: When ever told you? Prediction of I heard you? And
0:18
Speaker 1: welcome back to our fiction series. This is a once
0:23
Speaker 1: a month thing we do where we read a fiction
0:25
Speaker 1: that I wrote for National Novel Writing Months. So the
0:29
Speaker 1: editing is minimal, but Christina makes them sound amazing and
0:33
Speaker 1: I like bringing them back because they're kind of fun
0:36
Speaker 1: for us to do, but also they're interesting to talk
0:39
Speaker 1: about what I was thinking, especially since most of this
0:43
Speaker 1: story revolves around motherhood and I'm not a mom. So
0:48
Speaker 1: that being said, this is the third of the trilogy,
0:52
Speaker 1: the Terminus Trilogy. I can't stop you from listening wherever
0:56
Speaker 1: you want to start, but I will say you'd probably
0:59
Speaker 1: be lost if you start right here. We've got quite
1:02
Speaker 1: a decent amount of these now. Might have to put
1:05
Speaker 1: a playlist together, obviously. Yes, this this is the shortest
1:11
Speaker 1: of the three. I think we'll be done in two more,
1:15
Speaker 1: maybe three, but probably two more. So it's coming to
1:18
Speaker 1: an end. That being said, content warning, this is a
1:23
Speaker 1: it's pretty dark uh material. I laugh because I'm someone who,
1:29
Speaker 1: for some reason seems to find relief in that in
1:33
Speaker 1: dark times, but I know that's not the case for everyone,
1:36
Speaker 1: and I appreciate that, but yes, this deals with disease,
1:41
Speaker 1: end of like humanity discussions, discussion of injuries and painkillers
1:47
Speaker 1: very brief, but just put that in there. Infertility, weapons
1:51
Speaker 1: and guns, child and daygermint. That doesn't really happen in
1:55
Speaker 1: this chapter, but the threat is there the whole time.
1:59
Speaker 1: And so two recap. We have our main character, Tilda,
2:03
Speaker 1: who has grown up in this world where there is
2:06
Speaker 1: a disease that has made pretty much everybody infertile and
2:11
Speaker 1: it's very rare to have a child. She happened to
2:13
Speaker 1: have a child. There's all of these government and religious
2:17
Speaker 1: institutions in place if that happens, and she basically escaped
2:22
Speaker 1: with her child and has been hunted ever since. Has
2:26
Speaker 1: been roaming the abandoned United States trying to stay away
2:32
Speaker 1: to escape from these enforcers as they're called. She runs
2:36
Speaker 1: into a resistance who reveals that not only did this
2:40
Speaker 1: religious organization create the virus, they also destroyed the vaccine
2:45
Speaker 1: when it had been created. So Tilda goes with her
2:50
Speaker 1: son Madison into the heart of danger in Washington, DC,
2:55
Speaker 1: finds the one remaining vaccine and learns that the leaders
3:00
Speaker 1: of this religious organization are her child's grandparents, and so
3:07
Speaker 1: there's a scuffle and they are injured, but Tilda and
3:12
Speaker 1: Madison managed to escape. After they broadcast out on the
3:14
Speaker 1: National Broadcast System the truth of what's happened. They've been
3:19
Speaker 1: on their run. Tilda and Madison are wrestling with what
3:23
Speaker 1: to do because now the resistance and her mother are
3:26
Speaker 1: coming onto this system and saying, hey, we've taken back
3:28
Speaker 1: control of Washington, DC. We really need you to come
3:31
Speaker 1: back because you kind of have this vaccine and this
3:34
Speaker 1: kid and we need to study it. And she's saying like, no,
3:38
Speaker 1: we can't do that. I don't trust them, and Madison
3:40
Speaker 1: feels really torn about it. And then Madison is taken
3:44
Speaker 1: by a rogue, very militaristic group and so she is
3:48
Speaker 1: without him for the first time. She doesn't know who
3:51
Speaker 1: she is or what to do with that. She doesn't
3:53
Speaker 1: know where he went, she doesn't know what she's facing.
3:56
Speaker 1: So she's trying to grapple with all of that while
3:59
Speaker 1: being farly injured. No weapons, no medicine, nothing, So she's
4:07
Speaker 1: still in a really low place. I feel like every
4:08
Speaker 1: time I start with this one will be happier, but
4:12
Speaker 1: it's still she's still in a really bad place, but
4:14
Speaker 1: she's trying to come up with a plan, and that
4:17
Speaker 1: is where we are, so let us get into it.
4:34
Speaker 1: After a fitful rest, Tilda woke just before sunrise, feeling
4:39
Speaker 1: like she'd gotten no sleep at all. She unzipped her
4:41
Speaker 1: sleeping bag, goosebumps rippling across her flesh underneath her clothes
4:45
Speaker 1: almost instantly, as the cold air nipped at her skin,
4:48
Speaker 1: biting into her uncovered face and hands. Teeth chattering, she
4:54
Speaker 1: emerged from her cocoon as the sun broke over the horizon,
4:58
Speaker 1: rays of bright orange yellow lights towards her, a rosy
5:02
Speaker 1: hue dappling the sky. Clumsily and having to start over
5:06
Speaker 1: several times, she rolled up her bag and reattached it
5:09
Speaker 1: to her backpack, her knee throbbing at the weight she
5:12
Speaker 1: put on it. With a grimace, she leaned back towards
5:16
Speaker 1: the tree trunk, opening a new bottle of water since
5:19
Speaker 1: her other was empty, and swallowing another handful of painkillers.
5:22
Speaker 1: The cold liquid frozen in some parts, stinging her throat.
5:27
Speaker 1: Hungrier now than she had been in days, she ate
5:29
Speaker 1: a tin of fruit, some almonds, and some crushed candy,
5:33
Speaker 1: watching as the sun rose over the horizon, wiping crumbs
5:39
Speaker 1: from her pants. She cleaned up after herself and repacked,
5:42
Speaker 1: all the while looking and listening or any sign of
5:46
Speaker 1: the cars or the people occupying them that she'd seen
5:49
Speaker 1: last night. She found none, but that did not mean
5:52
Speaker 1: that they were not near. She weighed the pros and
5:56
Speaker 1: cons of returning to the flat and easily traversible asphalt
5:59
Speaker 1: of the road, or if she should travel parallel to
6:01
Speaker 1: it at good distance back if it was the Resistance. Well,
6:07
Speaker 1: as much as she didn't like the idea, she could
6:10
Speaker 1: not deny she could use the help, and they might
6:13
Speaker 1: let her stay with Madison if they were able to
6:15
Speaker 1: secure him, or she could use them to help her
6:19
Speaker 1: with the rescue and then make a run for it.
6:22
Speaker 1: They were the more known evil. But if it wasn't
6:28
Speaker 1: the Resistance, if it was the group that had taken
6:31
Speaker 1: Madison being captured, while it came with the same chance
6:34
Speaker 1: of being reunited with her son, it greatly diminished their
6:38
Speaker 1: chance of escape. In the end, Tilda decided to walk
6:43
Speaker 1: alongside the road, though the lack of trees or anything
6:46
Speaker 1: really would not provide her much in the way of cover.
6:50
Speaker 1: The sun had still not completed its initials sense. Untilda
6:54
Speaker 1: shouldered her pack, pulled up her hood, and started walking
6:57
Speaker 1: toward the hazy skyline of the next city, hoping the
7:00
Speaker 1: movement would warm her up. She started humming aimlessly, her
7:05
Speaker 1: eyes darting shiftily to and from the road, expecting at
7:08
Speaker 1: any moment the car to come roaring down it and
7:11
Speaker 1: spot her. There were no signs of wildlife, no birds,
7:17
Speaker 1: of squirrels, no mice, giving Tilda the unwelcome impression that
7:22
Speaker 1: she was the only thing alive in this vicinity, that
7:27
Speaker 1: every other living thing knew better than to embark on
7:31
Speaker 1: the journey she'd undertaken. Her back and feet ached. As
7:36
Speaker 1: the sun arked higher and higher into the sky, the
7:40
Speaker 1: air around her losing some of its bitter coldness. The
7:43
Speaker 1: outline of the city grew more and more in focus,
7:46
Speaker 1: but it was still quite a ways off. As much
7:49
Speaker 1: as she didn't want to admit it, she had to
7:51
Speaker 1: concede she would probably not make it there today either,
7:53
Speaker 1: unless it perhaps had a sprawl of suburbs, so she'd
7:57
Speaker 1: probably be spending another night on the coal hard ground,
8:01
Speaker 1: jumping at every snapping tree branch and grass rustling in
8:05
Speaker 1: the breeze. She came upon another turbine when the sun
8:10
Speaker 1: was directly overhead, and she stopped sitting and resting her
8:14
Speaker 1: back against the cool metal, stretching out her sore and
8:17
Speaker 1: aching legs as she slowly sipped at some water, completed
8:20
Speaker 1: her new pill regiment, and munched on a granola bar
8:24
Speaker 1: apple cinnamon. With careful hands, Tilda inspected her nose, still
8:30
Speaker 1: sensitive to the touch, and the part of her ankle
8:32
Speaker 1: accessible outside of her shoe. The swelling had gone down considerably,
8:37
Speaker 1: but some still remained. Her wrist had returned to its
8:41
Speaker 1: usual size, and apart from some pain from rotating it,
8:44
Speaker 1: it was almost completely recovered. Her torso was still extremely
8:49
Speaker 1: tender to the touch and flared at any prodding or movement.
8:53
Speaker 1: As with most things, she'd just have to live with it.
8:58
Speaker 1: While digging for her pills, she found the dry shampoo
9:01
Speaker 1: she'd taken from the pharmacy. Despite the nastiness of her hair,
9:06
Speaker 1: hard and stringy on her face and neck, she'd forgotten
9:09
Speaker 1: about it. She read the directions and worked a small
9:12
Speaker 1: amount of the fresh smelling gel into her hands and
9:15
Speaker 1: massaged it suspiciously into her scalp, combing her fingers through
9:20
Speaker 1: her tangled and unyielding shrands. Specks of dark blood fell away,
9:25
Speaker 1: and some crimson streaked her hand as she worked the
9:28
Speaker 1: substance into her hair. Wait, the directions instructed next, so
9:35
Speaker 1: she did, wishing she had some type of reflective surface,
9:39
Speaker 1: and that was it. She replaced the bottle, wondering if
9:44
Speaker 1: it had worked it all. Her hair did feel lighter,
9:48
Speaker 1: and it was definitely smelling better, but now it had
9:51
Speaker 1: a greasy quality that she could only hope when away
9:53
Speaker 1: as it dried. After her brief respite, she walked several
9:59
Speaker 1: hours more or eventually coming upon to sign that red
10:02
Speaker 1: white pine, and just ahead of that she could see
10:05
Speaker 1: a smattering of buildings. Beyond that was the small city
10:11
Speaker 1: Tilda had been seen for the past few days. Set
10:13
Speaker 1: against the mountains, Tilda felt a quiet relief that she
10:17
Speaker 1: wouldn't have to sleep outside again tonight. That was dampened
10:21
Speaker 1: by the roads she could see smoking off in different directions.
10:24
Speaker 1: Her path forward was no longer clear. Not only that,
10:29
Speaker 1: but she would only guess that the people she'd seen
10:32
Speaker 1: drive by the previous night were holed up somewhere in
10:34
Speaker 1: this medium sized town. Tilda cut across the field diagonally
10:40
Speaker 1: as she neared the outskirts, old signs for restaurants and
10:43
Speaker 1: hotels peppering the horizon. She wondered if there was anywhere
10:47
Speaker 1: that she could go that might not have been cleaned
10:49
Speaker 1: out of weapons, if her next best move would be
10:51
Speaker 1: to search this place for something to help her get
10:54
Speaker 1: Madison back and safely away while she figured out what
10:57
Speaker 1: direction they'd taken him. Every sense alert, Tilda entered the
11:03
Speaker 1: boundaries of White Pine, walking past to spread out large
11:06
Speaker 1: white houses with large fields at first, but then the
11:10
Speaker 1: streets grew more populated, punctuated with a pop of color
11:13
Speaker 1: in the form of bright red fire hydrants. She crept
11:19
Speaker 1: along the side of these buildings, every window she imagined
11:23
Speaker 1: to have someone peeking out of it, just waiting for
11:25
Speaker 1: the opportunity to sneak up on her. Everyone who had
11:30
Speaker 1: lived in these houses would have taken anything of use
11:33
Speaker 1: till the reasoned she needed to go further in town,
11:37
Speaker 1: closer she was sure to the danger posed by the
11:40
Speaker 1: people she'd seen the night before. She cut through backyards,
11:45
Speaker 1: staying low and pausing at the corners of houses, listening, assessing.
11:50
Speaker 1: At one point she reached for Madison, only to be
11:53
Speaker 1: reminded unforgivingly that he was not there. Swallowing tightly, she
11:59
Speaker 1: crossed the street as quickly as her injured ankle would allow,
12:02
Speaker 1: closing in on the signs hovering overhead. Her heart pounded,
12:07
Speaker 1: eyes bouncing from one abandoned car to the next, searching
12:10
Speaker 1: for any side of movement of life. She turned onto
12:15
Speaker 1: the main strip, finding many signs she'd come to recognize
12:18
Speaker 1: in her years as a nomad wandering through the lands
12:20
Speaker 1: abandoned cities, signs that dotted every mid size town to
12:25
Speaker 1: a large city. If Madison were here, he'd make guesses
12:29
Speaker 1: to their purpose what they used to be. Tilda also
12:34
Speaker 1: knew from experience not to expect anything useful from most
12:38
Speaker 1: of these places. What she was looking for now was
12:41
Speaker 1: a store, or a police station, maybe a jail, all
12:45
Speaker 1: of which was largely hit or miss as well. As
12:48
Speaker 1: she walked down the street, her next sore from her
12:51
Speaker 1: constant craning and twisting, she sought out road signs, hoping
12:55
Speaker 1: to maybe look at her map and figure out possible
12:57
Speaker 1: destinations of the people she was seeking. From what she
13:01
Speaker 1: could gather. There were two main highways, one going north
13:05
Speaker 1: and one southwest, as along with the one she was
13:09
Speaker 1: currently on. A smaller interstate. Heading west, her mind went
13:15
Speaker 1: back to that tank. She didn't know much about them,
13:19
Speaker 1: but she figured that it took a lot to fuel
13:21
Speaker 1: something of that size, and that it used a specialized fuel.
13:25
Speaker 1: Tilda started to search for any signs of a nearby
13:28
Speaker 1: army base, promising to peruse her map for one. When
13:31
Speaker 1: she found a place to settle for the night, she
13:34
Speaker 1: found a sign that read police station and county jail.
13:38
Speaker 1: Pointing right, Tilda followed them to a dingy looking cement building.
13:43
Speaker 1: There were still some police cars parked outside in surprisingly
13:46
Speaker 1: good condition. Tilda peered into their windows, tested their doors,
13:51
Speaker 1: but they were all walked and the insides looked bare. Next,
13:56
Speaker 1: Tilda followed the sidewalk alongside the edge of the building
13:59
Speaker 1: to the front door, but it was chained shut. Frustrated,
14:04
Speaker 1: she shook the chain and wedged the doors apart as
14:07
Speaker 1: far as she could to see if she could slip through,
14:09
Speaker 1: but to no avail. Glancing over her shoulder, she circled
14:12
Speaker 1: around to the back, but that door too was locked.
14:16
Speaker 1: Unwilling to give up quite yet, she made sure there
14:19
Speaker 1: were no windows along the wall before looping around to
14:22
Speaker 1: the other side, where she found a sizeable vent high
14:25
Speaker 1: off the ground, large enough for her to slip through
14:27
Speaker 1: if she could reach it. Looking around for something she
14:31
Speaker 1: could move and climb on top of, she saw some
14:33
Speaker 1: toppled trash cans. She lifted one easily with only the
14:37
Speaker 1: smallest twinge in her wrist, and carried it over, settling
14:40
Speaker 1: it just underneath the opening of the vent. She tested
14:46
Speaker 1: the top of the trash can to see if it
14:47
Speaker 1: would hold her weight. It seemed sturdy enough. She was
14:51
Speaker 1: more worried about the balancing act she'd have to pull
14:53
Speaker 1: off to keep it from toppling over and injuring herself.
14:56
Speaker 1: More carefully, using her her good wrist to brace against
15:01
Speaker 1: the wall and her good ankle to hoist herself up,
15:04
Speaker 1: she climbed onto the lid of the can, almost crying
15:07
Speaker 1: aloud at the sudden pain in her knee, swiftly followed
15:10
Speaker 1: by a constellation of pain in her side. Taking several
15:13
Speaker 1: steading breasts, she ever so slowly stood one leg at
15:17
Speaker 1: a time until she was upright her forehead. Even with
15:20
Speaker 1: the bottom edge of the vent's opening. She'd have to
15:24
Speaker 1: hoist herself up. On a good day with no injuries,
15:27
Speaker 1: this would not have been an easy task, and what
15:30
Speaker 1: if she got trapped inside? What if there were no weapons?
15:34
Speaker 1: Tilda hovered indecisively, staring at the opening, maintaining a tenuous
15:39
Speaker 1: hold on her balance. She curled her fingers around the
15:43
Speaker 1: edge of the vent, now entertaining the possibility that there
15:45
Speaker 1: was a grate that would prevent her passage if she
15:47
Speaker 1: should somehow make it up there. You've got hope sometime
15:52
Speaker 1: for something, her mom's words echoed in her ears. Taking
15:58
Speaker 1: a deep breath, she pushed herself off the trash can
16:01
Speaker 1: with her calves while simultaneously pulling upwards with her arms.
16:05
Speaker 1: The trash can clattered to the ground with a loud
16:07
Speaker 1: clang as Tilda's chest hit the metal edge of the vent.
16:11
Speaker 1: Her feet scrabbled against the slippery cement wall, and she
16:14
Speaker 1: used her elbows to slowly lift her body until her
16:17
Speaker 1: torso was inside, and she crawled forward, pulling her legs
16:21
Speaker 1: in after her. With a tired breath that reverberated off
16:24
Speaker 1: the metal walls. Sore and hardly believing she'd done it,
16:29
Speaker 1: she went forward on her hands and knees, stale air
16:32
Speaker 1: drying out her throat. She came to a grate. Looking
16:37
Speaker 1: through it, she could make out several machines, papers, pins, pencils,
16:41
Speaker 1: supplies like that. Her fingers felt along the edges, looking
16:45
Speaker 1: for a weakness. Something snacked on her sleeve. Upon investigation,
16:50
Speaker 1: it was a metal switch. Tentatively, she pulled it, startling
16:55
Speaker 1: violently when the grate clanged open and fell with a
16:58
Speaker 1: loud racket. Once again recovering her breath, she poked her
17:02
Speaker 1: head out the opening, doing her usual scan for threats.
17:06
Speaker 1: The room was dark, the hallway it opened into even
17:09
Speaker 1: darker chess Below her was a bulky machine topped with
17:13
Speaker 1: what appeared to be a plate of glass. Tilda righted
17:17
Speaker 1: herself and dangled her legs out the opening, and with
17:20
Speaker 1: as controlled emotion as possible, dropped onto the machine. It
17:25
Speaker 1: wobbled disconcertedly, but held her weight. Blinking against the dark,
17:31
Speaker 1: she lowered herself into a crouch and then slid off
17:33
Speaker 1: the side of the machine, exhaling in relief. On her
17:36
Speaker 1: feet came into contact with solid ground. When looking around
17:40
Speaker 1: did little to clarify her surroundings, she reached into her
17:43
Speaker 1: pack side pocket and pulled out the flashlight, cooking it
17:47
Speaker 1: on and illuminating the gloom. She stepped into the main hallway,
17:52
Speaker 1: shining her light down both ends, listening intently. To her
17:57
Speaker 1: right was the back exit. Directly across from her was
18:01
Speaker 1: a room marked evidence room and weapons check. Stealing herself,
18:07
Speaker 1: Tilda tested the handle, only to find, of course, it
18:11
Speaker 1: was locked. Why did it matter whether they locked up
18:14
Speaker 1: when they left? Tilda thought and annoyance, staring at the
18:18
Speaker 1: pain of metal and hoping it would disappear. Giving up
18:22
Speaker 1: on the idea that she'd somehow managed to melt her obstacle,
18:25
Speaker 1: Tilda proceeded towards the front entrance, testing the doors. Along
18:28
Speaker 1: the way. She explored what looked like an interrogation room,
18:33
Speaker 1: which was completely barren, and an office across from that,
18:36
Speaker 1: where she found a small handgun taped beneath one of
18:38
Speaker 1: the drawers. It didn't look like much, and peruising through
18:43
Speaker 1: the other drawers and shelves produced no AMMO, but she
18:45
Speaker 1: did feel better having it. The desk was decorated with
18:49
Speaker 1: pictures of a happy looking family. She wondered if they
18:53
Speaker 1: were still alive somewhere. The next two offices offered much
18:59
Speaker 1: less in terms of usefulness. One of them did have
19:02
Speaker 1: a pack of dry noodles, some hand sanitizer, and tissues.
19:06
Speaker 1: The other had a number of childish drawings pinned up
19:08
Speaker 1: to the back wall that made Tilda's heart peek. Though
19:12
Speaker 1: she searched, she still found no keys for the evidence room.
19:18
Speaker 1: The front office was outfitted with two desks in the
19:20
Speaker 1: back corners, rows of chairs lying the walls just inside
19:24
Speaker 1: the entrance. Tilda swept her light along the wall over
19:27
Speaker 1: most wanted pictures, flyers for lost loved ones, mostly children
19:32
Speaker 1: reading have you Seen Me? In blocky clinical text, and
19:36
Speaker 1: safety posters. Tilda went through the desk to her right, first,
19:40
Speaker 1: looking with some confusion at a line of dolls with
19:43
Speaker 1: gently bobbing heads. Most of the characters looked to be animals.
19:48
Speaker 1: The drawers were filled with papers, office supplies, candy wrappers,
19:52
Speaker 1: nothing useful apart from a pack of batteries. A sound
19:56
Speaker 1: outside caught Tilda's attention, and her head shot up just
19:59
Speaker 1: as her body dropped behind the desk. Out of instinct.
20:02
Speaker 1: She waited, holding her breath to better hear, but all
20:05
Speaker 1: she detected was silence. After a while, she stood slowly,
20:10
Speaker 1: feeling on edge, and made her way to the other desk.
20:14
Speaker 1: As her fingers searched underneath the wood panel under the
20:17
Speaker 1: computer she felt something. Her flashlight revealed a small red button.
20:24
Speaker 1: Although she knew pressing it would almost certainly not result
20:27
Speaker 1: in any action, since power here had long been out,
20:31
Speaker 1: she did not risk it, thinking of how loud an
20:33
Speaker 1: alarm would sound in this new silence that settled over
20:36
Speaker 1: everything like a shroud, a thin layer of dust coating
20:39
Speaker 1: their very existence. In the drawer she found a stack
20:44
Speaker 1: of newspaper clippings. She was going to ignore them, but
20:47
Speaker 1: one of the headlines caught her attention, and she spread
20:50
Speaker 1: them out on the desk. New virus renders victim sterile
20:56
Speaker 1: CDC stumped this must be from the first outbreak of
21:00
Speaker 1: HSV five, before people knew that it couldn't be cured,
21:03
Speaker 1: what it could do, that it was relentless and would
21:06
Speaker 1: bring humanity to its knees. She skimmed the article, wanting
21:10
Speaker 1: to scream into the past. There were quotes from doctors
21:15
Speaker 1: confessing that they'd never seen anything quite like it before,
21:18
Speaker 1: but that they were confident they could contain it, that
21:21
Speaker 1: a cure could be found. The next few clippings detailed
21:25
Speaker 1: HSV five spread around the world as doctors tried to
21:28
Speaker 1: stop it, thousands of cases all over the globe, and
21:32
Speaker 1: those were only the ones reported. Some teenagers were stoned
21:36
Speaker 1: to death at the proof written on their faces that
21:39
Speaker 1: they'd had sex outside of wedlock, and then a piece
21:43
Speaker 1: advising parents to talk to their children about the dangers
21:45
Speaker 1: of having sex and for young adults to refrain until
21:48
Speaker 1: the underlying cause of HSV five was covered. Some charts
21:53
Speaker 1: showing the projected decline of the population at the current rate,
21:57
Speaker 1: estimates of the number affected. An opinion piece about how
22:01
Speaker 1: it was our punishment from God for having sex so
22:04
Speaker 1: casually and lacking so much moral fiber and respect for
22:08
Speaker 1: the life of a fetus. Some stories from a local
22:12
Speaker 1: paper about cases shutting down the high school. Interviews with
22:16
Speaker 1: frightened people on the streets. An emergency task force formed,
22:23
Speaker 1: a new government brought in, granted more powers than ever
22:26
Speaker 1: before in a democracy. As panic spread, the President asking
22:30
Speaker 1: residents to refrain from looting from destruction, the government announcing
22:35
Speaker 1: conception centers, the rise of arm the creation of the
22:40
Speaker 1: Board of Better Parenting, the relocation of people into bigger
22:44
Speaker 1: cities near five main hubs. Tilda froze staring at some
22:50
Speaker 1: pixelated dots that came together to form the image of
22:53
Speaker 1: Arin and Angela Delanne, standing seriously to the side of
22:57
Speaker 1: the then president. Everyone had gone along with this. There
23:03
Speaker 1: have been little resistance, But what could people have done?
23:07
Speaker 1: What else was there to do? Tilda's fingers rifled through
23:13
Speaker 1: the papers for the next headline, but there was none.
23:17
Speaker 1: She supposed that the person who had been collecting these
23:19
Speaker 1: had either relocated themselves, or paper had ceased being delivered
23:25
Speaker 1: or stopped being printed. Altogether, the story fell incomplete. Even
23:31
Speaker 1: though Tilda had experienced what happened after this, there were
23:35
Speaker 1: no papers anymore to give her the context of what
23:40
Speaker 1: was going on, no detailed analysis and interviews, another lost
23:46
Speaker 1: to lament. After a moment, she decided to place the
23:50
Speaker 1: clippings in the front pocket of her pack. She resumed
23:54
Speaker 1: her search, rifling through the top drawer and then the bottom,
23:57
Speaker 1: lifting the plastic organizer, more out of anee to be
24:00
Speaker 1: thorough than any expectation of discovery, only to touch something
24:04
Speaker 1: jagged and cold and metal keys, she thought, excitedly, retrieving
24:09
Speaker 1: the jangling keychain, hitting her hip and cursing loudly in
24:12
Speaker 1: her eagerness to get out from behind the desk. Recovering quickly,
24:16
Speaker 1: she went to the end of the hall and began
24:17
Speaker 1: testing each key in the lock both ways. The fourth
24:21
Speaker 1: key slid home and she twisted it to the left
24:23
Speaker 1: with a heavy thunk. Tilda pulled the key free and
24:26
Speaker 1: pushed the door open, coughing against a puff of dust,
24:29
Speaker 1: the particles of which danced in the light from her flashlights.
24:33
Speaker 1: Hinges groaned as they were opened for the first time
24:36
Speaker 1: in many years, and Tilda stepped inside, waving away the dust.
24:41
Speaker 1: Inside were rows of metal shelving behind a glass pane
24:44
Speaker 1: and a chain link door. Tilda tested the door. When
24:48
Speaker 1: it didn't give, she went through key after key until
24:51
Speaker 1: she heard the click of the right one, grimising at
24:53
Speaker 1: the squealing sound it made when she swung it free
24:57
Speaker 1: without wasting any time, Tilda started to sort through the
25:00
Speaker 1: evidence boxes, finding mostly powders and pills, some needles knives.
25:05
Speaker 1: She pocketed the ones that had a housing from the
25:07
Speaker 1: blade inside the handle, a rather large handgun, and a
25:11
Speaker 1: box of AMMO, which she took as well. The next
25:14
Speaker 1: row produced much of the same, mostly drugs. What did
25:18
Speaker 1: they need to cope with? Back then, Tilda wondered. The
25:24
Speaker 1: row over was weapons checkout. Tilda looked down at it
25:28
Speaker 1: for a moment, thinking about the god machine and the tank.
25:32
Speaker 1: A lot of the weapons were missing, taken when the
25:35
Speaker 1: town emptied. Tilda imagined whoever had locked the doors had
25:39
Speaker 1: probably had the intention of staying here, of coming back.
25:44
Speaker 1: She wondered what got in the way of their plan,
25:46
Speaker 1: or if they had just up changed their mind one day.
25:49
Speaker 1: A large part of her suspected it was the person
25:51
Speaker 1: who had sat at that desk where she'd found the
25:53
Speaker 1: newspaper clippings and the keys, but it didn't matter. She
26:00
Speaker 1: she wandered into the room as one into a museum,
26:02
Speaker 1: pulling down a shotgun from the rack, caging its weight
26:06
Speaker 1: good for close encounters. She remembered a lot of firepower,
26:10
Speaker 1: a lot of kick. She'd never shot one, though this
26:14
Speaker 1: was information she picked up during her brief stay with Resistance.
26:19
Speaker 1: Underneath the shotgun she found a box of AMMO with
26:21
Speaker 1: only a few shells. Placing her light in her teeth,
26:25
Speaker 1: she opened her front pocket and put the box inside
26:28
Speaker 1: with her growing stock of weapons, and put the shotgun,
26:30
Speaker 1: after awkwardly making sure it was not loaded upright in
26:34
Speaker 1: the main pocket, just managing to tug the zipper closed.
26:39
Speaker 1: There were a few handguns remaining, but no ammo. For them,
26:42
Speaker 1: so she left them untouched. There was a rack of
26:46
Speaker 1: bullet proof vest till the felt material between her fingers.
26:50
Speaker 1: Wondering if they'd do her any good, She slid her
26:53
Speaker 1: pack off and looked for the smallest one and slid
26:55
Speaker 1: it over her shoulders, but it was still huge on
26:58
Speaker 1: her It would definitely imp her ability to run her
27:01
Speaker 1: general movements. She took it off and replaced it, putting
27:05
Speaker 1: her now heavier pack back on with a grunt. Opposite
27:09
Speaker 1: the vest was a wall labeled anti riot and crowd
27:12
Speaker 1: control that was mostly empty, but Tilda did take the
27:15
Speaker 1: two canisters of tear gas and three smoke bombs left behind.
27:22
Speaker 1: She remembered, as if it was a lifetime ago, the
27:24
Speaker 1: hunting knife, matches and lighter she snagged from the State
27:28
Speaker 1: Park gift store before she and Madison chrecked through the
27:30
Speaker 1: National Forest. She wondered if she could set something on
27:34
Speaker 1: fire as a distraction, and then was promptly stunned that
27:37
Speaker 1: she was so seriously considering a scenario that involved a tiny,
27:41
Speaker 1: frail insignificant her storming what she pictured to be a
27:45
Speaker 1: military fortress lined with soldiers, and somehow coming out on top.
27:51
Speaker 1: Tilda left the weapons room, wondering if it might be
27:54
Speaker 1: best for her to stay here and plan. It was
27:58
Speaker 1: locked up, fortified, and there were no windows save for
28:01
Speaker 1: the ones in the front entryway covered with heavy blinds.
28:04
Speaker 1: The only danger she saw was from anyone else who
28:07
Speaker 1: got the same idea that she did, and it was
28:10
Speaker 1: so dark in here. She went to the back door,
28:16
Speaker 1: celebrating silently when she slid the lock open without a
28:19
Speaker 1: key and cracked it open, bright afternoon light assaulting her eyes,
28:23
Speaker 1: the croak of old, rusty hinges loud in her ear drums.
28:28
Speaker 1: Once the door was open, she took a moment for
28:30
Speaker 1: her eyes to adjust, looking around behind the building, her
28:33
Speaker 1: eyes lingering for a second on the fallen trashcan she'd
28:36
Speaker 1: used to boost herself up. Hearing nothing, she stepped out
28:40
Speaker 1: into the day and shut the door as quietly as
28:42
Speaker 1: she could behind her, so as to hopefully erase as
28:45
Speaker 1: much of her presence as possible. She hated this feeling
28:51
Speaker 1: she was haunted. She wondered if she'd ever live free
28:54
Speaker 1: of that feeling again. Tilda turned right down the town
28:59
Speaker 1: center and in the jail in all direction she'd been heading,
29:01
Speaker 1: darting from building to building, keeping her eye on the street.
29:06
Speaker 1: Another town, another main square, this one decorated with banners
29:10
Speaker 1: of blue and yellow for the local college. She circled around,
29:14
Speaker 1: knowing the only buildings she'd find inside would u souvenir
29:17
Speaker 1: shops and restaurants. Another row of restaurants lined the main square,
29:22
Speaker 1: most of them the ones that she and Madison had
29:24
Speaker 1: seen before in other towns. Those she passed quickly as well,
29:28
Speaker 1: wanting to find shelter as quickly as possible, to get
29:30
Speaker 1: out of sight and consult a map so she could
29:33
Speaker 1: formulate a plan. A couple blocks down, she passed in
29:36
Speaker 1: an elementary school, but dismissed at as well. Schools were
29:40
Speaker 1: some of Madison's favorite places. She'd never be able to
29:43
Speaker 1: concentrate surrounded by a constant reminder of him. In the
29:46
Speaker 1: stakes that she faced almost immediately after was a graveyard,
29:52
Speaker 1: which Tilda found odd to have a school for young
29:55
Speaker 1: children so close to a church and a graveyard. It
29:58
Speaker 1: practically shared a border with the plague. Across the way
30:02
Speaker 1: was a church. While Tilda did not like sheltering in churches,
30:05
Speaker 1: they did generally have a bed, doors, usually unlocked, and
30:09
Speaker 1: were often the last place most people liked to hole
30:11
Speaker 1: up in these days, so she made her way to
30:14
Speaker 1: the small white wooden structure that spired jutting into the sky.
30:20
Speaker 1: She skirted her way along the outside of the graveyard,
30:22
Speaker 1: though it took longer, Tilda told herself it was because
30:25
Speaker 1: it was wide open and exposed, it was atop a
30:29
Speaker 1: small hill, and with her recent injuries, Tilda was uaving
30:32
Speaker 1: a little by the time she reached the devil doors,
30:34
Speaker 1: wishing she could see inside the red stained glass windows. Anxiously,
30:40
Speaker 1: she shouldered open the door, unsurprised when it opened at
30:43
Speaker 1: her touch. The wide open space inside was well lit,
30:47
Speaker 1: light streaming from the rafters, the stained glass painted diamonds
30:51
Speaker 1: of blues, purples, greens, and reds on white walls and
30:54
Speaker 1: wooden pews, a red carpet down the middle, leading up
30:57
Speaker 1: to a raised level with a podium, and the familiarly
31:01
Speaker 1: unsettling statue of a man hanging by nails from his
31:04
Speaker 1: hands from across a stone, tear on his cheek a
31:07
Speaker 1: crown of thorns on his head. Tilda looked around as
31:10
Speaker 1: she entered. A spiral metal staircase was on her left,
31:14
Speaker 1: and another pair of double doors were down the hallway
31:16
Speaker 1: to her right, tearing her gaze away from the statue
31:20
Speaker 1: that sent a chill up her spine every time she
31:23
Speaker 1: took the doors, unable to see through the dirty, dusty windows,
31:27
Speaker 1: she found a small meeting and dining space, an office,
31:30
Speaker 1: a room filled with kids toys and games, and, as
31:33
Speaker 1: she had hoped, a small room with a cot. Tilda
31:37
Speaker 1: slid off her packet shut the door behind her, taking
31:40
Speaker 1: a seat on the bed. There was a small rectangular
31:43
Speaker 1: window above her head for light to stream through, but
31:46
Speaker 1: other than that square white room was enclosed. Tilda opened
31:51
Speaker 1: her pack and pulled out her recently collected weapons, laying
31:54
Speaker 1: them in their respective ammos in front of her, as
31:57
Speaker 1: well as smoke bombs and tear gas canisters. She produced
32:01
Speaker 1: her map and unfurled it, her eyes, tracing the road
32:04
Speaker 1: she'd been on until she found White Pine, Virginia, just
32:07
Speaker 1: outside Christianburg. It occurred to her then that a military
32:12
Speaker 1: base would most likely not be labeled on her map,
32:15
Speaker 1: but she searched the outlying area anyway, looking for anything
32:18
Speaker 1: out of the ordinary, anything that could help her, but
32:22
Speaker 1: she found nothing, so instead she traced the roads leaving
32:26
Speaker 1: from the city center, thinking of where she'd go if
32:29
Speaker 1: she had a base. To hide tilt it. Did her
32:32
Speaker 1: best not to dwell on the unlikelihood of this. Gingerly,
32:37
Speaker 1: she stretched out her legs, eyeing the weapons laid out
32:39
Speaker 1: before her. She picked up the shotgun, getting a feel
32:43
Speaker 1: for its weight, running her hands along it, looking down
32:46
Speaker 1: the barrel of it, hesitantly, sliding the hefty bullets to
32:50
Speaker 1: each chamber. Unsure if she was loading it properly, she
32:54
Speaker 1: snapped it shut with a loud click that sounded very
32:56
Speaker 1: final in the silence. Tailor blinked carefully, placing the weapon
33:00
Speaker 1: back on the floor like an animal that could strike
33:02
Speaker 1: at any moment, afraid it would go off and kill her. Methodically, slowly,
33:08
Speaker 1: she opened all the weapons, turning them over in her hand,
33:12
Speaker 1: imagining pointing to them at someone squeezing the trigger and
33:15
Speaker 1: quickly aim kill her peak. All of them felt dangerous
33:22
Speaker 1: and heavy in the grip of her small hands. She
33:25
Speaker 1: felt diminished holding them. She could never do this. Who
33:31
Speaker 1: was she kidding? Tilda thought of medicine, of everything she
33:34
Speaker 1: did to protect him, and knew it wasn't a question
33:36
Speaker 1: of her being able to summon the anger, find the
33:39
Speaker 1: rage to punish those who would treat her child with
33:42
Speaker 1: such disregard. She had to be realistic. Tilda had never
33:47
Speaker 1: fired any of these weapons, much less at a person,
33:50
Speaker 1: and a trained one that was trying to kill her.
33:54
Speaker 1: With all the weapons she'd been dead set on collecting
33:57
Speaker 1: in front of her that she'd been convinced would be this,
34:00
Speaker 1: and she so desperately needed to solve all of her problems,
34:03
Speaker 1: they now appeared in her hands, completely useless. She felt
34:09
Speaker 1: so incredibly, fatally stupid. She drew her knees up to
34:17
Speaker 1: her chest and buried her head in them. The first
34:19
Speaker 1: saw bracking of her throat, followed in quick succession by
34:22
Speaker 1: another and another, as she finally gave into her grief,
34:26
Speaker 1: each one accompanied by sharp, fiery pain. Hot tears cascaded
34:31
Speaker 1: down her cheeks and stained her jeans absorbed into denim
34:34
Speaker 1: hardened with blood. The bulky bandage around her knee pressed
34:38
Speaker 1: into her forehead. The room closed in on her as
34:43
Speaker 1: she wept, smaller and smaller, and her shrinking with it.
34:47
Speaker 1: Grief smothered all rational thought, until all she was left
34:51
Speaker 1: with was the raw, gnawing guilt that haunted every decision
34:55
Speaker 1: her very existence, and the unyielding hopelessness the truth that
35:01
Speaker 1: she'd probably never see Madison again that she'd so far
35:05
Speaker 1: avoided because her very existence depended on it. Must be faced.
35:10
Speaker 1: She'd been lucky to have him in her life for
35:12
Speaker 1: so long, especially when she was never supposed to have
35:15
Speaker 1: him in the first place. All of their time together
35:18
Speaker 1: was stolen, and now she felt ungrateful and foolish for
35:22
Speaker 1: not cherishing every moment they got to share together. She
35:28
Speaker 1: stopped crying, not because the demands of her grief had
35:31
Speaker 1: in any way been satisfied, but because she had no
35:34
Speaker 1: energy left to continue. The grief was seeped into her bones,
35:38
Speaker 1: into her very being. Her face felt puffy, her nose
35:42
Speaker 1: stuffed with mucus. Tilda lifted her wary head. The first
35:48
Speaker 1: thing she saw was the guns and knives carefully spread
35:51
Speaker 1: out in front of her. She drew in a shuddering breath,
35:55
Speaker 1: unfolding her legs. She didn't feel like a real person,
35:58
Speaker 1: but something made of straw, held together only by the
36:01
Speaker 1: tattered fabric of her clothes and her damaged skin. More
36:05
Speaker 1: to distract herself than out of any semblance of a plan,
36:08
Speaker 1: she re examined the map, wiping at her nose and
36:10
Speaker 1: apathetically deciding to go to Christianburgh. She folded the map
36:15
Speaker 1: and put it in her backpack, and carefully stashed her
36:17
Speaker 1: weapons in the bag, making sure to turn the safety
36:20
Speaker 1: on each of them. The smaller handgun that she slid
36:23
Speaker 1: into the waistband of her jeans. The tear gas and
36:26
Speaker 1: smoke bombs she put in the side pockets for easier access,
36:29
Speaker 1: failing to picture an instance where she deplore them successfully.
36:34
Speaker 1: The low rumble of a vehicle caught her attention. Tilda
36:38
Speaker 1: crouched outside the window in time to see a black
36:40
Speaker 1: seb drive slowly by. And it wasn't fear, she felt,
36:44
Speaker 1: or at least not entirely, but trepidacious hope. Keeping her
36:48
Speaker 1: eyes on the vehicle's path, she hoisted her pack on
36:51
Speaker 1: her shoulders and went out of her little sanctuary, back
36:53
Speaker 1: down the hall and into the main entrance. She paused
36:57
Speaker 1: at the door, listening, when a voice from inside the
37:00
Speaker 1: church said, I thought I'd find you here. And that
37:24
Speaker 1: brings us to the end of this edition of Sminty Fiction,
37:28
Speaker 1: And it's a cliffhanger. Do you like cliffhanger? Samantha? You
37:31
Speaker 1: know I don't. I'm a binger. You're a bet. We've
37:35
Speaker 1: had some people write in and have asked me like,
37:37
Speaker 1: when will it be done? Then I will bene it. Yep,
37:40
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. I appreciate that this is a cliffhanger,
37:44
Speaker 1: but it will be resolved. All will be revealed. I
37:48
Speaker 1: would love to I'll believe you. Oh why not? I
37:55
Speaker 1: know I talk about this all the time, but you
37:57
Speaker 1: can clearly see how how much map research I did
38:01
Speaker 1: for this. I don't know why, but I really went
38:05
Speaker 1: in on like the road names and the town names. Also,
38:09
Speaker 1: there's a lot of religious undertones in this chapter that
38:12
Speaker 1: I'd kind of forgotten about. But the church that's being
38:15
Speaker 1: described in here is definitely my church. That was what
38:18
Speaker 1: my church looked like. Yeah, yes, very small, kind of
38:25
Speaker 1: like it's. It was beautiful, but it just had this
38:28
Speaker 1: creepy vibe. But I say that as someone who watches
38:31
Speaker 1: a lot of horror movies, so who's to say everything
38:34
Speaker 1: has a creepy vibe. My house is haunted. I forget
38:36
Speaker 1: my fee. This is also such a video game chapter,
38:42
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Like the Finding of the documents. You know,
38:45
Speaker 1: when the world has ended and you find all the
38:48
Speaker 1: newspaper clippings before it happened, and you're reading those and
38:52
Speaker 1: opening up the map and marketing locations, the weapon discovery,
38:56
Speaker 1: the flashlight like it's a very video gamey chapter. Again,
39:02
Speaker 1: I wrote this before the Last of Us came out,
39:03
Speaker 1: I swear I did, but I had still played like
39:07
Speaker 1: a lot of Resident Evil or Silent Hill, similar kind
39:11
Speaker 1: of mechanic games. But I'm excited. I'm excited to get
39:16
Speaker 1: to the end and share the ending of this, this
39:19
Speaker 1: whole saga, so I hope you're excited to Thanks again,
39:23
Speaker 1: double thanks to Christina who makes these fantastic, who deals
39:28
Speaker 1: with my outline that just has vague sound cues like
39:32
Speaker 1: creepy door opening, and makes it work. And thanks to
39:38
Speaker 1: you for listening. Yes, if you would like to email
39:41
Speaker 1: as you can, we are at Hello at stuff I
39:44
Speaker 1: Never Told You dot com. You can also find us
39:47
Speaker 1: on Blue Sky at Mamstaff podcast, or on Instagram and
39:50
Speaker 1: TikTok at stuff I've Never Told You. We're also on YouTube.
39:52
Speaker 1: We have a tea public store, and we have a
39:54
Speaker 1: book we can get wherever you get your books. Thanks
39:57
Speaker 1: as always too, our super producer, Christina. I're excited to
39:59
Speaker 1: produce my and our contributor Joey. Thank you, and thanks
40:03
Speaker 1: to you for listening Stefan Never Told You inspection of
40:06
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you
40:07
Speaker 1: can check out the art radio app, Apple podcast or
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