Excerpt from Atem's Struggle

Trigger Warning. Please note that this story is an old project that has yet to be finished. It was started roughly 5 years ago, so it is in no way meant to suppose a new societal norm that might emerge after the end of the CoVID-19 Pandemic. Also, there is a violent and a gruesome scene towards the end of this excerpt.

Excerpt from Atem's Struggle

Atem was strong. She refused to be anything other than such. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. The small, frail looking girl looked up at the rusted pipe before her. It was supported on either side by metal pipes fastened to the wall. The fixture was oddly placed in the middle of a wall. It was just out of her reach, so she crouched down and used all of her might to propel herself upward. Her hands quickly grabbed the bar and held on tightly. She tried to pull herself up, her scrawny muscles flexed, but she went nowhere. 

She let her muscles relax and her weight pull her down. Her arms became taut. She tried again, but this time was worse than the last. It was utterly useless.

Atem let go, allowing herself to fall. Her feet hit the ground with an unsatisfying thump. Today was just like any other day. Her weak arms could not bring her up, no matter how hard she tried.

That would not stop her. She would be at it again soon. She sighed and left the large, empty room to walk through the abandoned building. When she looked out the windows, she could see how the grass had overtaken most everything. Trees grew like giants, spreading their roots ever closer to the building’s foundation. Their trunks were thick and strong. They had seen everything, yet grew ever stronger. The expansive grass field was spotted with rusted structures that begged to be climbed on.

She stopped by a room filled with empty chairs and tables— dust covered everything. The doorframe had small lines drawn every so often with names labeling each one. Whoever had been here, she thought, had been like me. She even matched herself to one of the marks.

An unintelligible yell rang through the building— it was time to move on. Atem ran through the halls, her foot hitting something. A book slid across the floor. It came open to a page of pictures, each little picture containing the smile of a child. She leaned over to touch a face, but the yell rang through the air again.

Her body moved suddenly, grabbing the old book and taking it with her as she maneuvered her way through the broken door at the end of the hall. She seemingly hopped down the concrete stairs full of cracks and weeds. She could barely contain her excitement. It was as if a bell had rung. A sign hung above the main entrance read Lincoln Elementary.

Atem knew nothing of days gone by— she was far too young to even know what a school had been for.

Atem climbed into the back of a car. The back seat had been eaten away by moths and years of decay. The smell of burning gas and fumes made their way through the rusted interior. It was a toxic fume but traveling by cars in this area was the only way to get anywhere. There were pockets of trains connecting metropolises, but they only ran so far and were governed by the cities’ governments. Any civil unrest and the trains would stop altogether.

Nearly everything that had once connected people had long since been rejected in favor of isolation. No one wanted to be connected. No one wanted to see the faces of others. Cities, and even towns, were few and far between. The cities themselves felt cold and people were almost never seen walking in the streets.

“Atem,” a young woman’s voice called from the front seat. “Sit up.” The woman was tall and muscular. A rifle rested against her inner thigh. Her hair was pulled back, but the sheer perfection was boggling. Every strand was in its place.

Atem sat up and stared out the front where a window had once been. Each house they passed seemed worse than the last. The little town had once been thriving but it was now aging fast. The tombstones of the little graveyard sat so long forgotten that the ivy and rain were turning them to dust. Most lay broken on the ground surrounded by weeds.

The driver of the car was an older man. His hair greyed well beyond his year. He never faced anywhere but the road. His eyes, however, darted quickly to and fro. The town was soon behind the three. The potholes jostled the gas cans near Atem’s feet. After nearly a day in the car, Atem reeked of gasoline. Her very being would become one with the smell.

The sun had long since set and only the faint glow of the moon guided them. They pulled up to a small cottage with a detached garage. The woman got out of the car with her rifle and opened the large garage door. The old man drove in and removed the wire from its place. The only way to get the car to move was to hotwire it. The engine went silent.

Atem hopped out of the car and pulled the garage door down from the outside of the garage. The old oil from the car was used to grease the door hinges. The woman paused for a moment and listened from something. After a moment, she walked out of the side door and into the house.

Atem had already made her way into the house. She still clutched the book in her arms. A large pot hung over dying coals and the smell of venison wafted through the house. The man brought in a few articles of clothing and empty jars.

“Can we eat?” Atem asked as the woman walked in. The woman set her gun down and grabbed three bowls off the counter.

“Sure,” she replied, handing one of the bowls to Atem. “Saul, you’ll eat two portions tonight?”

The man had come in and was washing his hands at the sink. In a deep voice, the man responded, “I’ll take one and a half. The poor kid needs to eat more.”

The three had only been together for a few years. Atem figured that the other two must be related somehow, but she had never bothered to ask. After dinner, the woman and Atem bathed.

“Coralyn.”

“Yes, Atem?”

“What were we doing today?”

“Nothing much. We just needed a few things.”

“I didn’t see anybody. Where did you go?”

“Nowhere in particular. And everybody was hiding. It’s better that way.” Coralyn kept her answers short. The tone of her voice suggested that Atem not ask questions.

“Umm…ok.” Atem gave up. She knew Coralyn would never give her the real answer.

Atem always looked at Coralyn and Saul with awe. She could not remember the last time she had seen anybody else. It had always been just those two. She knew they were not her parents, but she was not quite sure who they were. But they fed, clothed, and protected her from something unknown.

The two went out into the main living area. The whole house was rather small. It consisted of one bath, a small kitchen, a living area, and a bedroom. The bedroom had a full size bed and a dresser. The living area had a twin bed and table with three chairs. An old, broken radio sat in the corner waiting for electricity to pump through its wires. The kitchen stove had no gas to run on, so the three used the fireplace.

Saul blew out the candles and climbed into his bed. Coralyn and Atem went into the small bedroom and got into bed together. The only other place to sleep was the floor.

Saul was usually gone when morning came. The scent of coffee would still linger in the kitchen. Mornings were the most active, as the weather was crisp and birds could be heard chirping noisily outside the windows. The overgrown field and forest around the house seemed impenetrable. A group of decrepit silos and propane tanks could be seen from the front yard. A rusted, holey tank sat in the backyard.

This morning, however, Saul was standing by the well just outside of the house. He was generally distant. He leaned over the well wall to pull the bucket out. Despite his gray hair, he looked rather young. Atem thought that he must be the age of her father, wherever her father might be.

Saul had finally lifted the pail out of the well and placed it on the stone firepit. The water had become full of leaves that managed to slip in under the cover. It was Atem’s job to take them out with the bucket. They would decompose quickly in the compost heap next to the garden.

Coralyn stood in the doorway watching the two work. Atem was chatting about some dream she had, while Saul was quietly moving between tasks. Saul had recently let Atem chop firewood, which she would ask to do any time the task had to be done. Fall had only just started, but it would not be long before winter fell. Seasons changed quickly and generally without warning. Some feared that there was only winter and summer left, but the brisk breeze of fall would still stir up the leaves before giving way to the white blanket of winter.

Coralyn, Saul, and Atem had moved into this house in the dead of winter four years past. When Atem first came to live with them, they lived in an abandoned restaurant in the town of Cartego. The town had many restaurants, and nearly as many houses, but when the people disappeared the need for premade food went with it. There were rumors that some cities still had places people could pay to eat, but few had even heard of this.

The move to this remote building was brought on by the need for self-efficiency. Coralyn had realized that Atem would be at risk in a city. Coralyn knew that she and Saul would not always be around and Atem would need another way to survive. Wild animals may be a threat here, but the presence of humans was worse. Without people around, Atem could grow and learn to protect herself.

Breakfast was usually bread from the day before and jerky. One deer, prepared right, could last for some time. The first time Atem saw a deer carcass hanging split open in a tree was several years prior. She must have been around eight. It was not really frightening or sadistically fascinating, but it was interesting. The animal she had seen grazing by old roads had been completely gutted.

Atem had become quite accustomed to the sight, especially come fall. Saul had promised that this hunting season would be her first. Coralyn would often tell Atem to practice her patience during long trips in the car, but Atem was always restless. Recently, Saul had had Atem sit out in the grasses on the edge of the woods practicing her patience, but when she was hidden by the tall grass, she could barely contain her excitement.

The sound of a truck backfiring broke up the morning activities. Saul grabbed Atem and lowered her into the well. A rusted pipe stuck out of the ground a few feet down. She balanced herself on the pipe and knelt down so that the cover could be put back. She had once hidden here for a game of hide and seek. They often played the game when they first moved to the house.

Saul closed the garage door and crouched behind a large, uprooted stump. Coralyn grabbed her rifle and readied it just inside the doorway. By this time the truck had made its way past the silos and its black smoke could clearly be seen. The truck had popped a tire. No one from this area would drive very far on a useless tire and had at least two spares somewhere. The tires were very impractical and generally flat, but better than damaging the rims. Everyone did what they could to get the most out of something.

The scarlet red truck drew nearer, stopping at the entrance of the forgotten gravel driveway. A man jumped out, leaving a boy sitting inside. Atem could see nothing but a few streaks of sunlight that found their way through the cracks in the well’s walls 

The man continued to move forward. Coralyn yelled to him, “What brings you way out here?”

The sound of rocks rubbing together continued as the gravel moved beneath the man’s feet. The scent of tobacco wafted through the air. The smell was pungent and carried behind it the strong scent of alcohol. It reeked of delusion. 

Another yell came from Coralyn and then a shot pierced through the well and echoed off the stone. The sound penetrated into Atem’s soul. The world outside had become silent. No scream of pain or fear, not even the wind rustled leaves could be heard.

Atem went to peek out of a crack, but nearly fell from her perch. She had to thrust her arms against the wall to regain balance. There was a sudden shuffling of gravel, but it did not last long. The scuffle had moved to the grass. Something was being beaten against the outer wall of the well. The constant thudding frightened Atem, but she was unable to move to investigate the sound. A cracking noise seeped in. Tears began to roll down her cheek as fear swallowed her completely. Another gunshot, this one was different than the first.

The breeze shifted and howled through the disjointed rocks. A moment later, the large cover was slowly pushed back, letting the sun and reality rush in. A hand covered in blood reached down to Atem. She reached up in the hope of finding comfort.

Coralyn leaned against the well to support herself as she struggled to help Atem out. As Atem came up, she noticed the pushed aside gravel and the open truck door. It took her a second to notice the two bodies.

Her eyes went first to the unidentified man lying motionless in a puddle of blood that stained both grass and gravel. His back was to the sky with a bullet hole through the middle of his back. Her eyes drifted to Saul’s body which lay next to the well. His head was caved in with parts of his brain smeared on the outer wall of the well.

It was only when Coralyn kneeled to the ground that Atem looked at her. Atem’s wrist was painted with Coralyn’s blood. Coralyn propped herself up against the wall of the well and breathed heavy.

“Atem.” Coralyn’s voice creaked and seemed distance. She struggled to speak. “The pack.”

Time hardly moved. The wind animated the hair and clothes of the lifeless bodies. Coralyn’s hair floated mindlessly about as her spirit left her. Atem now stood amongst the carnage. Her body moved on its own. She grabbed the pack and gun. She had to leave. The rumbling of the truck finally reminded her of the other guest. The truck sat idling at the end of the drive. The boy was still sitting inside.

Atem’s eyes met his. An unknown feeling arose in her. The blood began to burn as it rushed through her veins. Her thoughts began to collect. She began to understand the situation. The boy had been with the man. It was fight or flight. With little more than primal thoughts, Atem turned, leaving herself exposed. She walked towards the tree line. Tears slowly formed in her eyes. The muscles in her body tensed as she bit her lip to fight them off.