Armageddon. #2

The Beginning Of An End.

*Two Weeks After End Of Book 1*

"Fin! Nick! Come here!" I call over my shoulder, from where I'm crouched among the rubble of a city once called Zootopia. We still call it that, but it is farther from the utopia that was advertised in commercials and bumper stickers.

First it was the earthquakes, the loud noises. After that, the weather machines used to keep the districts temperate went crazy, making the weather irregular and erratic. Now you always have to carry snow pants and a coat, even when it's over 100*.

Nick rushes to my side. He was protective before, but now he barely lets himself stray more than a couple yards from my side.

"What? What is it?" He asks, a little frantically.

I quickly soothe him. "Nothing's wrong, it's really good, actually. Look." I take his hand and point towards a crack in the rubble.

His green eyes brighten, for the first time in what feels like forever. I've missed the grin that wraps itself around his face, and when it appears, I can't help but smile back.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"I think so!"

Finnick comes over, and looks under my elbow, but all he does is grunt.

"Fin, you're a real optimist, you know it." Nick says, his mood playful again. I've missed the Nick I fell in love with, what feels like years ago. I love present day Nick, but I miss when he was light hearted and happy.

It's hard to believe it's only been two weeks.

We all start digging away at the rubble, cheerful despite the scorching heat. You adapt, after a while, to the harshest environments. We're animals, after all.

When a hole large enough for Fin, the smallest, appears we stop and lower him down.

We hear him rustling around, and a sandy paw reaches up, and we haul him up and out. In his hand is a small piece of the beginning to putting our world back together.

A regulator.

A regulator is an essential part to the weather machines, the part that restricted them to their ecosystems.

It's only one, we need eleven more, but it's a start.

Even though the cold winds of Tundra Town start whisking away Savannah Squares baking heat, we all smile.

It's not a lot, but it's a start, a reason to hope.

We haven't had a lot of those lately, and it feels good to feel it again.