Okay, folks, so my first attempt at a story here. Let me know if you like it or hate it. There’s more to come and I’m just setting the scene here but if no one’s interested then I won’t bore you with any more of it. Thanks in advance for any feedback!
The sun blazed, obscured and angry, in the sky.
The dense, thick atmosphere cast a hazy orange veil over the sky. The air felt heavy and oppressive, cloying in the throat as if one were perpetually drowning. It took some getting used to, if that were actually possible.
Tom’s feet fell heavily, one in front of the other, a ceaseless motion that he had repeated for hundreds of miles. Despite the heat, he was wrapped from head to toe in clothing. It was soaked through with his sweat, yet far better than the alternative of his skin baking and peeling off.
There was nothing on either side of the road he walked on except sand and dirt. Occasionally, when the dust swirled just right, he could see the mountains just peaking above the horizon. He still had far to go.
His watch beeped as fine yellow particles made a particularly vicious assault on any exposed skin. The damn stuff got everywhere, there wasn’t enough duct tape left in the world to keep it all out.
Looking up, he saw what his watch was telling him. The sun was reaching the middle of the sky and if he stayed out in it much longer he wouldn’t be complaining about the dust any more.
An articulated truck, tipped on its side and scavenged long ago, lay at the side of the road. The container was open just a fraction, and Tom heaved against the rusted hinges to push one of the doors upward. He fumbled for the torch in his pocket, checking the far corners for any dangers. Empty. He was in luck. He clambered over the bottom door, lowering the top one down gently behind him. Having the hinges break and trap him in wouldn’t benefit anyone.
Crawling to the far end, Tom unclipped his side bags and then slipped his bergen off. Whilst the utility belt looked completely ordinary, the bergen was anything but. It was large, at least half of his own six feet and two inches, almost as wide as he was, and entirely rigid in its rectangular shape. It was made almost entirely of a white ceramic, except for the straps and padding, and wouldn’t look entirely out of place on a space walk.
Tom sighed, collapsing into the corner of the container. He unwrapped his face coverings and took a few heavy breaths, mentally preparing himself for what was to come. He hated the damn things but without them he’d have been dead long ago. He just hoped the noise was a little quieter today, though he wasn’t holding his breath.
Placing his thumb on a red circle that sat in the middle of the bergen, a lid lifted seamlessly as if from nowhere with a hiss of escaping air. He could feel the coolness blessedly against his skin. The relief was short lived, however.
“Nu, munstah daddeh!”
“Babbeh nu fo’ nummies!”
“Giv’ ‘u sowwee poopies!”
For fuck sake.
He stooped to look over the now open biological transport unit. Safe inside were three compartments, one stacked on top of the other. The top contained a fluffy family; an Earthie mare, a Unicorn stallion and five foals. They were cramped, practically on top of one another, and didn’t look at all comfortable. Some faeces smeared the sides, which he would have to wipe down, but the internal cleaning system had taken care of the rest, transporting it to a section of the lowest compartment where it was stored and used as fuel for the cooling system.
Tom didn’t rightly understand the technology, something to do with the carbon chains and methane making it easy to ignite and maintain undercontrolled circumstances, thus powering the complex system. Tom wasn’t keen on essentially carrying a boiler around on his back, but out of everything it wasn’t his least favourite aspect.
Tom reached in quickly and yanked the stallion out roughly.
“Nu, bad upsies!” it cried, spraying shit all up the insides of the metal container. This wasn’t Tom’s first time, however, and he had it pointed away from him.
“Fuck off”, he muttered, flicking the stallion hard on the nose.
“Owies! Why daddeh meanie munstah?”
“‘Cause I fucking hate you, that’s why”. He stared the blue haired stallion straight in its eyes, its bright purple mane glistening in the light of the transport bergen. “Now any more of that literal shit and I’ll break your fucking legs right off, understand me?”
“Hu hu hu, daddeh so meanie” the stallion sobbed. “Why no wub Wimto and family?”
“Shut the fuck up, that’s why”. Tom placed his thumb against another red circle at the bottom of the bergen. It slid open silently, revealing a clear vinyl mat, high-energy, protein, carbohydrate and vitamin food pellets, as well as a half-filled water bottle.
Tom lay the mat on the floor and sat Vimto down on it.
“Do you remember the rules?” he asked it sternly.
“Yesh daddeh”, Vimto replied sadly.
“Tell me”.
“No weave bwankie ow get bwoken weggies, hu hu hu”.
Tom leaned in to look into the top compartment again.
“Did everyone hear that?”
“Yesh daddeh, Sunfwowa hear”.
Man, I hate those stupid names.
He pulled Sunflower out, her yellow fur and green mane prompting the rather unimaginative name, and then lifted the five foals out. They were larger than normal foals for their age, a product of the hyper-stimulant food pellets that he fed to Sunflower. Looking like nothing so much as an aspirin tablet, one a day was more than enough for her and her foals. Vimto had half of one, because he was slightly less important.
“Daddeh, wiww ‘u nummie babbeh?” Sunflower asked timidly, trying to hide her multicoloured foals behind her.
They were all a varying shade of yellow, green or blue, except for the brown one. Surprisingly, despite the close quarters, she hadn’t tried to kill it. Not that it made any difference, they were only there for him to eat.
“Not today”, he told her, rubbing his hand through his beard. It seemed to placate her a little but the goddamn huu huu-ing was enough to drive him crazy. “It’s milking time, though”.
“NU!” she cried. “Nu’ tuch miwkie pwace! Miwkies are fow babbehs, gwow big and stwong!”
“Your babies aren’t going to grow big or strong” he muttered, grabbing her by the scruff of the neck.
“Munstah daddeh wan’ kiww and num babbehs!” She struggled against him, her stubby legs waving around in the air uselessly. Tears poured down her face, matting her fluff.
“I swear to god, keep this shit up and I’ll fucking eat one of them now”.
This didn’t help.
“Nu’ munstah daddeh! Pwease don’ num babbehs! Babbehs are for wub and hugsies!”
Her crying had started the foals cheeping, their inane senses telling them that if mummah isn’t happy then neither should they be. The noise was unbearable and it took all his strength not to slam her into them over and over again.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” he yelled.
The noise stopped, all of the fluffies terrified into silence.
“Now”, he continued, “do I do this gently or painfully?”
Sunflower didn’t answer, simply crying quietly to herself.
“Hu hu hu, wan’ wun away” she said softly.
“Yeah, sure, see how far you get”.
Bringing a cup out of one of his utility bags, Tom put it beneath Sunflower and then proceeded to massage her teats, milking her until the cup was full. He put her down, probably rougher than he should have done, though nowhere near as much as he should have.
Downing the milk in one, Tom winced at the overly sweet taste of it. The pellets were just for the fluffies, they made the milk a suitable food substitute for him, too. He then fed Vimto and Sunflower their pellets and let them play with the foals. Previous experience had shown that they stayed away from the ‘wan die’ loop longer if they had a chance to play.
Fucking stupid.
With them settled in, Tom finally gave a quick check into the middle compartment of the bergen. Fast asleep, nestled between the top and bottom layers and hooked up to a collection of wires and tubes, was a brown mare with fluff the colour of espresso and just as smooth as shiny. This one didn’t complain, wouldn’t even wake up until he made his destination. This one was the whole reason he was out here, risking his life in this godsforsaken wasteland.
This fucking… thing, was apparently going to save the human race.