Dreamers- A Merome, Pooflan, Wroetostar and Minizerk Story

⋖Chapter 1⋗

Mitch's P.O.V.

With a short sword in hand I stalked forwards, Jerome padding softly behind me. Carefully avoiding anything on the ground that could make noise we wound our way slowly through the trees, my eyes scanning back and forth for any prey we might come across. It was the same as every day, a vast jungle of trees and vegetation, going on for as far as we could ever walk. Of course, there were mountain ranges and rivers and old cities, but we spent most of our time in the forest.

"Mitch-" Jerome hissed, catching my attention. He raised his hand and pointed upward, where there was a large bird perched up on a branch. I had a good throwing vantage point from where I was standing and slowly, movements so soft I almost wasn't moving at all, I pulled a knife from my belt, aimed- and hit the bird dead on. "Nice! Good aim!" He laughed.

I grinned and shrugged, seizing the knife from the body of the bird. Jerome hauled it over his shoulder and tied it there with a length of flax rope, the only natural thing strong enough to hold it. We continued the path we had been trekking before, heading off into the dark abyss of trees.

---------------------------------------------------------

We didn't have a base camp, I don't think anyone did if I was honest, there was just no point. You had to be constantly on the move to find fresh water sources and food, sometimes to find more shelter as well. Things fell apart, there were fires or floods, so you had to move. You had to watch your back to stay alive.

That night we set up at the base of a tree, finding bits of scrap metal and roof tiles and nearly crumbling wood to set up a temporary shelter. There was old supplies everywhere, the last part of what we referred to as the old world, the old humanity, from when they built massive cities, sprawling for hundred of miles. They had technology beyond our wildest dreams, they had buildings dedicated to food and water pumped directly to their dwellings, they didn't die from things like water poisoning or starvation. I had only heard the stories, but it was enough to make me want to be like them.

There was no completely accurate way to tell how much time had passed since the series of natural disasters had wiped out most of the human population, but older generations (generations that no longer existed, who had died at quite a young age) had estimated it to be 500 or so years. Information had filtered down to us, but most of it was inaccurate or flat out wrong, fading into legend as it passed through so many hands.

The only solid evidence we had left of their existence was their buildings, falling apart and almost completely gone now. Plants overran their once beautiful cities, nature taking back what it had once owned. It was almost beautiful, thinking about it, but when you knew it was all because billions of people died... not so much.

Jerome and I had known each other since birth, born three days apart. We were raised as brothers, my mother had died in the birth and so Jerome's mother took me in as her own. We had grown up together, learning to survive on our own until we were the only ones left. Most of them got sick and died, as most people did. No one knew why some people got sick, they just did. I tried to ignore it.

My one goal in life was to begin the journey to get us back to where we were, with technology for everyone to survive, to live and to thrive. The stories told to me as a child were of great people, people who were doing their best to improve the world, who wanted to save everyone. That was why they developed medicine and continued to improve. I wanted to be like them.

Jerome shuffled a little closer, his arm sidling around my waist. It was getting chilly, winter setting in over the mountain range about a hundred miles away, and I was getting used to his gentle touches that got more and more frequent as the weather cooled. We weren't... together, to put it, nothing had ever been made official, but we had been close for so long that it was kind of just official. We would share soft kisses, lie tangled up together at night, share secrets in the dark night. We didn't have a word for it, what we were, why we liked each other this way, but we loved each other all the same.

I leaned up against him as well, glancing around at the leaf covered floor. Autumn was almost over. Jerome's arm tightened around me, moving his head to rest on my shoulder, his eyes flickering open and closed as he fell asleep.

"Night Jerome." I mumbled quietly, leaning up against him as well. "Love you."

"Love you too." He breathed, not even opening his eyes. He was asleep less than a minute later.

-----------------------------------------------------

We emerged from the forest to a river about noon the next day, a big river, flowing so hard and fast that we wouldn't be able to cross it. Another of the border river, one of the many that surrounded our patch of forest and although we could leave the area, it was difficult. We wandered down the river, Jerome occasionally throwing his axe into the ground ahead of him because he was bored.

Boredom was kind of just a thing in our lives, especially since we knew the area like the back of our hands. We were always on the move, yes, but it was often around the same area, the same little stretch of land that we had known since we were young, so there was only so much you could do. We were only focused on survival so much. Honestly, if I didn't have Jerome then I would have lost my mind.

Jerome waved me over, trailing his feet in the river. I got closer and followed his example, stripping off my thick leather shoes to press my aching feet into the soothing water. It was nice, comforting even.

"We need to get on the move soon." Jerome mused, looking around. The trees were orange, their leaves dying- the animals who became our food were fleeing to warmers pastures. "Move further from the mountains."

"It's gonna be a long journey." I sighed, but it was a journey we made every year. If we stayed permanently up in what used to be Canada, centuries ago, we would freeze to death over winter. "But might as well start it now."