Chapter 2
1052words
Jack trudged through ankle-deep mud, each step producing the crisp sound of bones crushing beneath his soles—whether from mutant rats or Scavengers who hadn't survived last winter, he couldn't tell.
The Mississippi tributary had long since become a fetid mire, glistening with oily blackness. Unidentifiable rotting matter floated beneath the surface, with occasional bubbles rising to burst with a stench like disinfectant mixed with rotting meat.
He held the dosimeter to his eyes. The reading jumped to 0.6 Sv/hour—twice as high as in the Rust Belt Corridor. He needed to find iodine tablets fast; lingering here meant risking Phosphorescence Syndrome himself.
"Screeeech—"
A sharp insect cry pierced the air from above. Jack snapped his head up to see several grayish-black shadows circling in the rainy mist. Their wings spanned half a meter, with scales that gave off an eerie silver glow in the darkness—Blister Moths, the mutated insects Lily had warned him about last night. Their scales burned blisters into skin on contact and carried deadly radiation.
He reached for the steel pipe on his back—salvaged from a truck chassis and sharpened into a weapon—but too late. The lead Blister Moth dove, its wings sweeping across his shoulder, instantly searing his skin with white-hot pain.
Jack staggered backward, his foot slipping into a shallow pit where black water instantly rose to his waist with bone-chilling cold.
Another Blister Moth swooped down, transparent mucus dripping from its mouthparts as it aimed for his face—
BANG!
A gunshot echoed through the wetlands. The Blister Moth dropped to the ground, wings twitching, scales scattering everywhere.
Jack looked up to see a woman in a light blue Radiation Suit standing at the pit's edge. She held an old revolver, with "Shelter 79" emblazoned on her chest. The Black Rain marks on her shoulder plates weren't yet dry.
"What are you gawking at? Want to be moth food?" The woman jumped down and reached out to pull him up. Her voice was crisp but carried unmistakable authority. "I'm Ella, resource patrol from Shelter 79. You a Rust Belt Scavenger?"
Jack rubbed his scalded shoulder, already turning an angry red. "Jack Steele. Looking for iodine tablets. My sister…"
"Phosphorescence Syndrome?" Ella cut in, her eyes darkening. "Half the shelter has it, but the upper levels keep the iodine tablets locked up. Say they're 'prioritized for researchers'—bullshit. They just want to live a few days longer themselves."
Her words sparked something in Jack's mind. "Wait—there are Phosphorescence patients in the shelter too? Then this Purification Station in Colorado… does your shelter actually know how to use it?"
Ella stiffened suddenly. She glanced around warily before pulling him behind a dead tree.
The trunk was completely hollow, its bark covered with black Decay Vines that made it look wrapped in rotting cloth. "How do you know about the Purification Station?" she hissed.
"Overheard some Tech Hunters in the Rust Belt," Jack pulled out the paper. "And I found this—Exl Terra, coordinates in Colorado."
Ella stared at the note, her fingers trembling slightly. "That machine can purify radiation from soil—it can even cure Phosphorescence Syndrome. But Thorn, our shelter supervisor, says Scavengers only get access 'after areas around the shelter are purified.' God knows how long that'll take. My brother's locked in isolation, and if this drags on much longer, he'll…"
Her voice trailed off as footsteps approached, accompanied by the static crackle of walkie-talkies.
Ella's expression changed instantly. "Patrol! If they catch me with a Scavenger, I'll end up in isolation too!"
Before Jack could speak, Ella grabbed mud from the ground and smeared it on his neck. She tore off her radiation suit sleeve, dipped it in the black water, and wiped it across his arm. "Play sick!" she whispered urgently. "Say a radiation rat bit you and I'm 'handling a contaminated body'!"
The footsteps drew closer. Two men in matching radiation suits appeared, rifles pointed at them. "Ella! What the hell are you doing? What's with the scavenger?"
"Radiation rat bite in the wetlands—wound's already festering," Ella said loudly, giving Jack a subtle kick. "Was just dragging him to the incineration point before he infects anyone else."
Jack obligingly began to cough, making sure to display his mud-stained arm. "Please…" he wheezed. "Just one iodine tablet… my sister's waiting…"
One patrol member frowned. "Cut the crap. Incineration point's east. Deal with it quickly—don't delay our supply check."
After they left, Ella exhaled deeply and slumped onto the muddy ground. "Thank god they didn't look closer.
Jack, if you really can find the Purification Station… could you take me to see my brother? I know where Shelter 79's Energy Core is—it can activate the Purification Station. I can steal it for you."
Jack studied the light in her eyes—the same desperate gleam he saw in his own reflection, the look of someone willing to risk everything for family. He remembered how Lily had clutched his hand last night, whispering "Brother, I don't want to die." His heart clenched as he nodded firmly: "If it cures my sister, I'll help you find your brother."
The rain intensified, black water dripping from Decay Vine leaves onto the muddy ground between them, splashing tiny droplets around their feet.
Ella pulled a small iodine tablet fragment from her pocket and pressed it into Jack's hand. "Take this for now. If it's not enough, there's an abandoned medical station north of the wetlands that might still have supplies."
Jack took the iodine tablet, crumpling its plastic packaging in his grip. He gazed at the distant, blurry outline of the shelter—a giant iron box containing both hope and despair.
But now he had direction—find the medical station, get more iodine tablets, then head to Colorado with Ella.
"Let's move," he said, tucking the iodine tablet into his inner pocket next to the Exl Terra note. "To the medical station."
Ella nodded, snatched her revolver from the ground, and plunged into the curtain of rain.
Jack followed, stepping in her footprints. Mud splashed onto his pant legs, ice-cold and bone-chilling, but a fire burned in his heart—a fire of survival, a fire to save his sister, and a tiny flame of hope beginning to glow in this ashen, frost-covered wasteland.
