41. Lands of the Red

Scavengers were not at their best during these days, but the much known fact about them has been that even when they were not good, they are good enough to be evil; it was something which was always present in their blood since they turned. A lot of factors are said to contribute to the origin and the existence of the Scavengers, and the strongest of them have been the wars with their side-effects, the weapons used and the war crimes which had happened more than anywhere else at these wastelands. It was a place of human atrocities and hopelessness; the same had indirectly lead to the practice of black magic and all kinds of sorcery because science had ruined their life with no hope to escape from the pain and terror. There were similar wastelands at many other places, but none like this one which has spread through the lands and survived until now causing fear everywhere – its an achievement no other land could come up with, making this place the one true wasteland, the only area which could claim that title without second thoughts.

The Reds as they were called by many groups of people who stayed outside the city and no longer existed, the rivers of blood that they created through the heart of the wastelands made sure that the name stayed for a long time. Acheron had once come up with a decree to eliminate them all, but they still survived. But the same couldn’t be said about the team which he had sent to finish them off. It was one of the worst situations that a commando operation had to face. Some people still stay that the commandos still survive, in the form of Scavengers, while others say that they had been fully eaten and no part of them remains.

Acheron decided to let them stay then, because they were confined to the wastelands, and he could execute his prisoners by sending them to these lands of the red. The place proved to be good burial grounds as well as the place of execution. The grounds stained by blood were part of the poetry and fictional novels written by the authors of the city for quite a long time. They were the kind of works which brought them instant awards. With not many people left living around the wastelands due to the climate change and the presence of strange creatures, the Scavengers could always be there even with less humans to feed from.

Jack and Noah continued to walk, with eyes following them. The scenery was beautiful even though it was inside that limited space. There were yellow flowers hanging from the top and light reflected from the top provided a special view. The number of eyes following them had only increased in number. They could hide themselves really well, but they were very close to the two friends. They talked to each other using signs.

“And the big journey continues! I have never walked so much in my life! This is now officially my record” exclaimed Jack.

“Are we to continue walking like this? With no real aim and with no idea where we are going?” asked Noah.

“I guess so. It is best option around here as of now, and it should work at some point” replied Jack.

“This doesn’t seem to be good enough to get us to a possible end; seems like a case of eternity” said Noah.

“Even eternity is just a word; it has to end unless that goes as a fairy-tale, those sweet little stories which the kids used to read, but are of no real use in the current world; we are learning it the hard way” said Jack.

“We can continue walking, but even this much of eternity is a little too much; we are not immortals – it has been a long time since our journey to this situation began” added Noah.

“Well, you will see that this is not that long as you think it is, as there is no such thing as we have only a limited amount of land in this area – the land can’t stretch by itself, and we are walking straight” said Jack.

“I will hope for the same. There is nothing else to be done anyway. It is not like we can be Scavengers and do what they do. That would have been more fun and with a better reason” said Noah.

“There is a lot negative in your thoughts right now, you know; it only gets worse. Maybe it is the problem with the your artificial blood group or something” added Jack.

“It is ridiculous. My blood is not artificial; I never used artificial supply there” claimed Noah.

The Scavengers had already reached three quarters of the digging even though they never knew that they were getting close. They had their mind set on only one thing here, and they were all prepared for their most basic need, to feed. They just couldn’t remember when was the last time they managed to feed. But this was the day on which they would come up with a date, and that would be this particular day. Scavengers were not people without spirit, especially when related to things like these. They were more determined than a common man on these days. These were among the worst of times for them too, but they had more hope than the humans themselves.

To be continued…