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

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to Steph.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you a protection of I Heart Radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And it is time for our another rendition of our
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Sminty Fiction, which is a once a month thing that
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: we do where we get to play around a little
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: bit with some more audio effects thanks to the amazing
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: super producer Christina. And we both love fiction and we
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: both love horror, which is kind of what we've been
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: doing pretty much times all the times. But totally understand
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: if this is not your thing. Uh, and we only
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: do it once a month, so you know, you can
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: check in and check out whatever you like. But I
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: have appreciated thanks to the people who have written in
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and been like, oh, I love this. I'm really enjoying this.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: That's nice to hear. Because this is a continuing story.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I believe we are on chapter three and it is
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: called Terminus the Depopulation Event. So this is like a
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: multi chapter thing that I wrote in two thousand and
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: ten foreignan O Ramo National Novel Writing Month, and there's
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: two sequels to it. Um well, we'll see if we
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: ever get to those. But the subject matter is kind
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: of intense. So the content warning for discussions around infertility viruses,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: government control of people's bodies, into the world type stuff, UM, hunger,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: feeling like a failure as a mother, which, as I've
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: said before, given what's going on right now, I know
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: that might not be the thing you want to hear.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: But maybe you're like me and you like dive into
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: that kind of stuff and for some reason it gives
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: you some sort of relief. I don't know, so, I
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: mean it sounds sarcastic, I I but it is true
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: for me. I watched a lot of horror because it
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: does kind of give me a stress relief, and some
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: of it can be like I love the Last of
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Us and the Last of Us is kind of eerily
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: similar to a lot of the stuff that's happening now.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: So I'm being honest, but I also totally understand people
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: who don't like that. Yes, um and a quick recap,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I would recommend going back and listening to the others.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: But essentially what has happened is there is this virus
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: that has made it so that after you have penis
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and vaginal intercourse for the first time, you become infertile,
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  Speaker 1: and it has led to the decimation of the human population.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Because a lot of times it doesn't work. People don't
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: get pregnant, and that has led to these government organizations
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: taking control of reproduction UM, and a lot of religious
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: organizations and a lot of morality rising up, and something
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: called UM, the Board for Better Parenting decides with or
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: not you can keep your child if you have a child.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: And then this story, Tilda, the main character, has run
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: away with her child is trying to avoid being recaptured
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: by these reproduction facilities and the government, and it is
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: kind of a dire situation because there's not a lot
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: of resources. She's being chased. She has a child, and
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: she's got a lot of doubts about her ability, responsibility
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: for this child and whether or not she made the
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: right decision in the best for this child. UM. And
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: it's becoming winter and it's gold and it's not good.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: So the winter is coming, and it's true. I have
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: higher hopes for this, but you'll just have to see.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: So let's get into it and we'll have a little
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: bit to discuss after we read this fiction portion. Madison roused,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: swiping at his eyes alishly, hair mussy and face pale.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: They clambered out of the car like fawns learning how
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: to walk, unsteady and gangly, all knees and elbows. The
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: child wrapped his arms around his midsection. The chill in
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  Speaker 1: the air bone deep. Tilda walked, crookedly, limbs asleep, alert eyes,
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  Speaker 1: jumping to all the dark spaces, all the pathways, all
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the places where an attack could originate. In the light,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: the junkyard was intimidating in a different way. Mountains of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: cars towered around them, broken glass, glinted, dustwashed out already
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  Speaker 1: dull colors, scratches in the paint, and years of rest
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: making everything monochrome. Twisted pieces of scrap metals scattered throughout
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  Speaker 1: the dirt gave the impression of a great war between machines.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: These remnants, like claws or bits of skin, afrayed and
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  Speaker 1: torn away, cars with doors ripped off, missing their hoods,
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  Speaker 1: mirrors hanging somehow. It was forlorn a melancholy note resonating
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  Speaker 1: Untilda's bone, a testament of their history, of how many
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: of humanity there had once been a layer of sediment,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: representing an age of life, slowly meticulously being covered by
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: an era of death, gradual but sure. A band of
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: color in our falsilized history, soon forgotten who would be
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: there to remember it? All signs of them would be eradicated. Eventually,
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  Speaker 1: she supposed, even these cards would turn to dust someday.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Frigid fingers grasped her own, and she pushed these thoughts
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: away with great effort. Tilda dredged up a small gran
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: for him, but it faded like a ripple caused by
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: a single drop of rain. He turned to face ahead, solemn,
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  Speaker 1: shoulder square, as though sensing the dangers that lie before them.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: The gate was open from where the enforcers had entered
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  Speaker 1: during the night, the lock hanging uselessly. Hand in hand
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: and with only the tiniest hesitation and step, Tilda and
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Madison passed through, both small and scrawny and stature, emerging
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: from the mouth of some twisted metal boogeyman. The gaping
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: fence like jaws, hoods on threadbare code it's still up.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: The cold clung to them like cloaks. Tilda's blonde hair
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: fluttered out from the black fabric as they drew to
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: a stop. At the edge of the eroded sledge, gray
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: asphalt flecked white and yellow lines, long devoid of meaning,
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  Speaker 1: a sort of numbness washed over her as she stared,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: afraid of the road like she never had been before,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: not even when she ran into the roadblock. She glanced west,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: imagining she could make out the silhouettes of buildings, almost
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: like a mirage, in the distance. Gingerly, she stepped onto concrete,
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  Speaker 1: the soul of her shoes silent against the worn asphalt,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: every imperfection, pebble, bit of dust engraving the bottom of
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: her soul, pushing against the rust skin on the bottom
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: of her foot. A tactile map rough uneven beside her,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Madison mimicked her movements, methodical and his intent to copy
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: her to the last detail. They had to go, She
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: told herself firmly, maybe finding nothing the enforcers had left
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: a beautiful, comforting thought, but her heart knew it was
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: a lie. We'll travel next to the road today, all right,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: stay out of sight. Her voice sounded a trifle hopeless
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: in her own ears, but Madison nodded dutifully. Together they
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: crossed the road, wading through a river of asphalt, life
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: saving and damning all at once. They reached the other side,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: times slowing with the weight of Tilda's decision, with the
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: day that loomed out of sight, unknown and deadly, but
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: all that they had the only way to cling to
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: their ragged existence. Something buzzed and Tilda's ears, but it
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: faded to nothingness as soon as she stepped off the
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  Speaker 1: asphalt and onto a bed of soft pine needles and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: wet leaves. Though she did not appreciate the dampness seeping
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: through her shoes and into hole windden socks, it would
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: help mask their arrival, the dew muffling the normal crackling
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: of dry, dead leaves. There was a slight drop off
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and a stream. Tilda climbed down, gesturing for Madison to wait.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Hopping over the quietly babbling water, she held her arms
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  Speaker 1: up and the child carefully jumped into them, a tiny
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: giggle escaping him as she swung him down next to her.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: The expression of joy, as small as it was, sounded
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: out of place and heavy in the tense atmosphere. Un
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Tilda studied the drop off. It would provide them with
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: some decent cover. She could feel Madison's eyes on her.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Some of the crushing responsibility and it was an odd
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: word to use, but Tilda thought it was the right one. Dissipated,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: she turned to observe him, a tiny, thin creature, faded denim,
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  Speaker 1: barely held up by a two big belt, worn gray trainers,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: pulling away from the rubber passion, and frayed black jacket,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: hood up, pale face with small features and huge eyes,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: mousy hair, a solemn pixie creature, a woful, dark angelic
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: thing in miniature. Fumbling with her carrier bag, she pulled
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: out a package of cracked peanut butter and cheddar crackers,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: offering them to him. He watched her serious, reluctantly reaching
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  Speaker 1: up to take them. He put his hand over the crackers,
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  Speaker 1: but did not take them from her. You need to
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  Speaker 1: eat too, he reminded her softly. She was barely managing
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  Speaker 1: to keep a wave of diszeiness at bay, A hunger
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: beyond cramps, beyond growling, a hunger that was part of her.
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  Speaker 1: Her whole being felt transparent, a shape aid of a
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: real person. Even the emotion, the tender, ferocious love she
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: usually felt when Madison gazed at her that way, expressing
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: his love for her so openly, with so much trust
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  Speaker 1: and so much innocence, it was only an echo under
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: a shell of apathy, whether erected in preparation for the
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: danger ahead, or due to lack of food, rest, and
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: general wellness. She couldn't say, probably all, but it didn't matter.
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  Speaker 1: I'll have one, she agreed, horse, tearing the plastic open
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: for him, closing small hands around five while she took
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the last one. And then she heard a sound that
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: jerked her out of her apathy. Dread erupting inside her,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Madison coughed her breath, left her what little color there
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: was draining from her cheeks. He looked up at her,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: rubbing his mouth with a cup of his sleeve, fear
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: evident on his face. They both knew how deadly illness
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: was out here. A scratch a cold could prove fatal.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: She sucked in a shaky breath, reaching out to place
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  Speaker 1: a hand on his forehead. Her hand was so cold,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Tilda couldn't properly judge his temperature. Do you feel all right?
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: A sniffle her heart stuttered. I'm fine, cold, a little tired,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: and hungry. A big bite of cracker punctuated the sentence,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: emphasizing the final point. Tilda scrutinized him for a minute,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: wishing again that she could do what good mothers could,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Real mothers and make him feel better, fix things, make
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: this right. Instead, she said, we'll get some food today
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  Speaker 1: and some warmer clothes. She ruffled his brown hair, prompting
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: a tiny quirk of the lips from the child. Maybe
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: some medicine. All traces of a smile disappeared, replaced by
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: a fatalistic expression. So we're going to go to the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: town across the river. Yes, she knelt in front of him.
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  Speaker 1: We have to, but we have to be careful, stay quiet,
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  Speaker 1: and stay out of sight. Do you understand? Those wide
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: hazel eyes unnerved her, but she didn't look away. She
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: could almost he thoughts forming inside those orbs. But those men,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: he started, but broke off. Coffin, Tilda rubbed his back.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Old doubts and insecurities about her ability to care for
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: such a precious child roaring to life inside her. I know,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: but we have to we Madison jumped in. We could
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: stay here in the woods. There must be something if
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: we just kept going. Tilda rested her hand against his cheek,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: almost laughing aloud, when he took a sober bite of
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: the bright orange crackers, crumbs collecting at the corner of
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: his mouth. We can't do that. It could be days
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: before we find anything, I can keep going, Madison interjected,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: with a hint of pleading. He was scared. Tilta realized,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: of course he was just like her. No you can't
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: and I can't either. She paused, running a hand through
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: his hair, trying to find the right thing to say,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: but in her exhaustion, only able to conjure overuse platitudes.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and there's nothing we can do about it, but do it.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Putting it off only make it worse. The words felt
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: silly as they tumbled from her mouth, but they were
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: all that she had. Madison looked down, revealing madded hair.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: She had hoped they'd be able to clean themselves up
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: at the next place they stopped, but she didn't fancy
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: trying to shower with enforcers prowling around looking for them.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: A top moment passed, vibrating in the air around them.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Tilda stood, Eat your crackers, Madison did, slowly, munching away
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: as his mind digested her words. Wrought with worry, Tilda
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: took a bite of her own, the stale cracker magnificent
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: to her deprived taste buds. Her stomach seizing up and
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: its enthusiasm. Madison cought and sniffed as he ate a
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: black cloud over an already dark day. She handed in
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: some water, which he swallowed jerkily. When they both finished,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Tilda stood grasping his hand and starting forward as one
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: walking to death. Madison followed behind her, And that brings
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: us to the end of this installment of Terminus. I'm
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: excited because we're getting into Some of them are action
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: e bits, and I know I've said it in the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: other ones, other episodes we've done on this. This is
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: veryy lightly edited, and I want I kind of wanted
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: it that way because it's an examination almost of what
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: was going on in my head when I was trying
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: to deal with this trauma and why in the world
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: did I write this story as someone who's never had
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: a kid, never been pregnant. And that's something that I
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: know you and I, Samantha, have wanted to come back
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: and discuss because there's been a lot of recent examples
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: and a history of examples of horror and related genres
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: really using the idea of pregnancy and infertility and loss
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: of child in this way and this kind of like
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: horror trope that we've seen a lot, and we've talked
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: about motherhood specifically, but we haven't really honed in on
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: that precisely. It is everywhere, and I know it's often
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: not UM labeled and can be very traumatizing and triggering
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: for people. M hm. So look forward. I think it
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: will be interesting. I think it will be interesting. But yeah,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: and the meantime, as always, if there is something in
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the fiction realm that's like in the public domain that
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: you'd like us to read, especially as we're now moving
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: into the spooky seasons, which is all the time for
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Samantha and I. But you know, UM, just let us
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: know because these are fun to do and they're fun
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: to hear what Christina does with them because a lot
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: of times we don't know until she sends it to us.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: And it's very very cool and I would love you know,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: any series or thoughts you have you can send tomorrow
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: way to UM. And yes, if you want to send
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: any of those things to us that you can our emails,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: stuffie you Mom, stuff at I heart mea dot com.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter at most stuff podcasts,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: or Instagram at stuff One never tells you things as
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: always to our super producer Christino magic Maker. Yes, and
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: thanks to you for listening stuff I never told you.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Protection of I Heart Radio. For more podcast on my
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: heart Radio, you can check out the heart Radio app,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Apple podcast or every listen to your favorite shows.