The Owl House: What if?

What if... Luz lived in a nuclear apocalypse? part one

Luz looked around the bunker, her flashlight flickering. She rummaged through dusty bins, finding nothing but empty cans. A rumble of thunder made her look up, before climbing out of the bunker to see a massive storm.

Cursing, she made her way to a grove of nearby trees, where her Jeep was parked. Jumping in, she turned it on and flew off, the storm steadily chasing her. Seeing a paved road, she drove onto it, hitting the gas and accelerating way above the speed limit.

Suddenly, another car on the side of the road roared to life, it's lights blinding her as she swerved, before it rammed into her side, flipping the Jeep.

Her ears rang, and her head swam. She barely registered the group surrounding her vehicle, or the hands that pulled her out of it. "Get her legs open!" That was when she finally came to her senses. Grabbing the arm that held her, she pulled it down and bit. There was a yell of pain, and she was let go. She acted quickly, grabbing the knife on her belt and slashing at the person's ankles, spraying her face with artery blood. She flipped onto her feet and immediately stabbed the man in front of her, who has his 'jewels' out. Scoring a direct hit on them with her knife she was rewarded with his scream of pain.

Pulling the knife out, she then stabbed it into the man's neck as he fell, twisting it and spraying her clothes with more blood. Her intuition told her to duck, and she did just that, narrowly missing a hatchet that instead buried itself in the second man's head. Turning, she slashed at the new woman's tendons, making her drop, before grabbing a gun from her belt and shooting her.

She waited. Silence. Deciding that the danger was gone, she quickly and cautiously made her way to her Jeep as the storm overtook her. Knowing she wouldn't make it out of the storm until it passed, she opted to wait in her vehicle.

Journal log 462

I just killed three more. How many does that make now? I wonder what Mami would say about it. But, she's not here anyone, so it doesn't matter.

I'm still sleeping in the backseat of this dusty Jeep. I'm used to it by now, but that still doesn't make it comfortable. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like in the Union, or one of the City-states dotting this damn waste. But, I have to be self-sufficient. I can't rely on anyone, not after I saw what happened to Mami.

I miss her. Luz 'Azura' Noceda, wasteland survivor, signing off.

Luz sighed, before tossing her journal into the passenger seat, before turning off the light and slowly falling asleep to the sound of the storm.

When she finally awoke, she noticed the storm had fallen to a light drizzle. Taking advantage of the lessened rain, she stepped outside the car, wincing as her muscles cramped in complaint. Opening the trunk, she stood underneath the cover it provided as she rooted through her stuff, finally finding a full set of clothes and a bar of soap. Stripping down, she washed herself and her clothes in the rain, before drying off with an old sheet and getting dressed again.

She then set up a plastic tarp on the back seat and laid her clothes on it, before turning on the heater to dry her clothes while she put on a poncho to investigate the attackers car from the night before.

A quick investigation confirmed these people had nothing valuable besides some bare essentials. Suddenly, she heard some cursing. Pulling out her knife again, she snuck around the other side of the road, where another car had gone off-road. Believing it to be a surviving attacker, she gripped the knife, before the voice rang out.

"Where's all my Twinkies?" A woman's voice roared, and an older lady stepped out, her red dress and gray hair dry despite the rain. Seeing Luz, the lady stopped, before smiling.

"What's a kid doing out here all alone?" She asked Luz, twirling her staff. Luz shrugged, still holding the knife up. "I learned to survive on my own. Can't have another person weighing me down." The lady studied her for a few tense moments.

"Camila Noceda." Luz's heart skipped a beat when she heard that name. "How do you know that name?" She demanded. The lady smirked and pulled out a small key. Pressing the eye on it, a door materialized, opening to a bright light. "Why don't you come and see?"

Luz dropped the knife and took some shaky steps forward. Looking back at the lady, she hesitated, before walking into the light. The light lasted only a second, before Luz found herself in a red forest, the lady stepping through the door and folding it into a suitcase.

"I'm Eda, the Owl Lady. Follow me, we have a lot to talk about."