Armageddon. #2

Thoughts

It is SO tempting to say yes. To just slip out one night, forget about the world, and be selfish.

But they need us. Me. Zootopia needs us to do the best we can, to save it, so it can save us.

I expect him to put up a fight, to struggle, but he just nods, no surprise in his face. Am I so predictable?

Three hours later, the three Mouseketeers ride again, heading to Sahara Square to fix the machine. A small step, but a tangible one.

I want you to picture the most broken, rubble filled, shattered glass scattered place you've ever seen.

Zootopia was worse.

It was the center of our whole civilization, and I'm reminded every time I open my eyes how far we've fallen. It's in my thoughts, a constant in our changed world.

Finnick is smiling at something Nick said, but it's warped, twisted.

But at least it's a smile. I can tell that he's starting to bounce back. I make a mental note to not push him too hard during his recovery.

I feel Nicks hand slip into my own, and I feel him squeeze my fingers with his rough paw pads. I know him so well, that I immediately recognize that his thoughts are much the same as mine.

We enter into the scorch that is Sahara Square. Not much sand, more plains and scrubby trees in the places that the landscape is shown, showcased like some kind of prize in between broken buildings and cracked pavement.

The weather machines are located almost exactly in the center of their districts. The rugulator sits heavy in Finnicks pack.

Birds fly through our city, cheerful and free. For a moment I wish for wings, to distance myself from this place.

Then I remember that Nick offered them to me, and I'd refused to take them.

The weather building is in pretty good shape, for the shape it's in. Minimal damage, windows mostly intact.

We march in the door, past the desk where a receptionist would have sat, and into the room that contains the machine that supported us, and is now storming, rebelling against us.

I look at it, and all I see is a pile of parts. I was never good with machines.

Finnick, never one for drama, quickly steps forward and rewires the old regulator out, and the new one in.

Painless and fast.