Tell A Story To Me Writing Contest #13 - A Civilised Apocalypse

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Welcome to Tell A Story To Me. The prompt for this story is "A Civilised Apocalypse"

Here is the link to the original post by @calluna so that you can join in the fun:
https://steemit.com/tellastorytome/@calluna/tell-a-story-to-me-and-win-5-sbd-writing-contest-13-a-civilised-apocalypse

All the Little Children of the World

Khalessi stood at the edge of the water and stared over at the fires that had once again erupted across the channel. She had heard the adults talking about survivors that still lived around the buildings that continued to randomly burst into flames even after all this time. She was turning 5 years old today and very wise for her years. Yet she was still young enough to be elated by the fact that her mother was back at the outpost baking her a birthday cake. This was the only life that Khalessi had ever known, being the first child born in their outpost following the apocalypse.

The apocalypse had been caused by humanity’s disregard for global warming. Political elements had argued to the point nothing had been done to stop the pollution. Heads were buried in the sand instead of finding solutions. Ultimately, in that final year, the polar ice caps had completely melted, covering 90% of earth’s surface in contaminated water leaving only small patches of inhabited dry land few and far between.

It was almost dark now and Khalessi knew she had to get back to their unit soon, the Council had a rule about being outside the perimeters after dark. This was a Gathering night and after the evening meal (with birthday cake for dessert!) the Council would call her in for a communication session. She liked doing those sessions even if she didn’t fully understand what was happening, she knew it made her very important.

The Council was already assembled in the Communication chamber gathered around a large oval table. There were 6 Elders present, with Jonathon not yet returned from leading a crew on a hunt. Candice expressed her concern, “I have a bad feeling about this, Jonathon knows the importance of being back before dark. We all know what happened to the last crew that stayed out late. Those damn Aftermath monsters don’t take prisoners..”

There was a few moments of uneasy silence while the group contemplated previous encounters with the Aftermathers, all of them bad memories. That was one of the two major obstacles of getting groups of survivors back together and forming bigger communities. The months of blackout after the apocalypse had formed some sort of mindless entity that now lived in the darkness. While the sun had gradually reasserted itself into its normal 24 hour cycle, each time the blackness fell, the Aftermathers ruled. Nothing had been found yet that would defeat them, only keeping the outposts in bright light 24 hours a day could keep the monsters at bay. The other obstacle was the contaminated water that surrounded all the individual pockets of inhabitable land. There was a popular theory that some unknown mineral buried deep in the polar ice was released with the huge meltdown and it mixed with all the man made pollutants and chemicals that covered the earth. Whatever the reason, the result was a water so corrosive that not only was it undrinkable, it virtually dissolved anything they could manufacture to try to float on it.

Henry strode over to the doorway to the chamber and opened it to peer outside. He could see the night had indeed fallen beyond the perimeter of the outpost and Jonathon and the hunt crew were still nowhere in sight. But just then there was a racket outside the gate and the gatekeeper was hurriedly cranking the gate open, calling for help to get the crew inside quickly. Jonathon rushed his men in ahead of him as they dragged a good sized wild boar through the opening. “Thank goodness!” exclaimed Henry as he turned back to the Council members. “Jon is back and it they have managed to snag a boar!”

A short time later, Jonathon had taken a quick shower and presented himself to the
Communications Chamber. He explained that he and the boys had been caught in a clearing surrounded by the pack of wild boars they had been hunting. It was touch and go before they were able to kill the leader and escape from the rest of the pack. “Each time we go out, we have to go farther and farther to find game,” Jonathon explained. “It’s making it hard to get back here by dark. Our group has grown over this past year, our single herd of mutated pygmy cows can’t keep up with our food demands, and hunting is not going to be the solution. We’ve got to make faster progress on a way to get out of this outpost and join forces with others.”

“When we bring Khalessi in for tonight’s communication session we’ll focus on finding out if New Tower’s Council is making any progress with their stabilization set up for their hot air balloon. Everything we have tried has failed. Until these nonstop turbulent winds finally ease up, nothing we have came up with can stay in the air, let alone be guided.” said Curtis, who was their chief engineer.

Back in the domestic kitchen quarters, Johanna pulled her second attempt out of the oven. The first birthday cake had failed miserably. Beside the fact that she’d never been a master chef to begin with, add the fact that she was severely limited on ingredients. But in answering one of her daughter's endless relentless questions, she had described the Olden Days’ ritual of a birthday celebration. The part that most fascinated Khalessi specifically was the part of having a birthday cake and making a wish. “I guess this will have to do”, sighed Johanna as she topped the lopsided cake with fresh strawberries.

Khalessi was enjoying the last crumbs of her birthday cake and thinking about asking for seconds. Her father pushed back his chair and announced that it was time to get her over to the Communication center. He still wasn’t happy about the use they were putting his little girl to, but knew it was for the good of human race in general. No one knew why all the children that were born after the apocalypse had the ability to communicate with each other telepathically. It had only been discovered recently when Khalessi was found in her room talking animatedly to another little girl, but no one was in the room with her. She astounded them with the news that she had been talking with Lysette for weeks and didn’t seem to realize that the adults could not do this. The children born in the post-apocalyptic world all seemed more intelligent, more mature, and more sensitive than past generations.

Karl walked with Khalessi to the Communication center and found the Council in a heated discussion that abruptly stopped when he and his daughter entered the chamber. The tension was thick enough to notice and Khalessi immediately sensed that it had something to do with her. She looked up at her father with apprehension in her eyes. “What’s all the arguing about? You’re surely not going to bring up that trance inducing idea again, are you?” Karl menacingly asked the group.

Five council members looked guiltily at each and the 6th, Jonathon, leaped to his feet. “Now don’t go all stubborn on us yet, Karl, we have a better idea this time. You know we have to find a way to extend the communication period so we can actually make some progress. This 15 minutes at a time just isn’t getting us where we need to be.”

Karl’s face reddened and his hands formed into fists. “I’ve told you people, I’m not risking my daughter’s sanity with your experiments. It’s enough that I have her here cooperating. She’s just a child!”

Jonathan stepped up to Karl and took him by the shoulder, giving it a slight shake. “But listen man, our survival depends on us sharing information with the other outposts. This is all we’ve got. It’s going to come down to us starving to death if we don’t find a way to unite and combine our resources.”

Karl threw an arm up to knock off Jonathon’s hand and took a step forward to chest bump him while growling, “Get your hands off me!”

Jonathon, who was running on pure adrenaline after being out on a hunt for over 12 hours and almost losing his team to the Aftermathers, took a swing at Karl just as a reaction. Unfortunately, the punch landed squarely on Karl’s chin and sent him staggering backwards. He tripped over the nearby chair and went down hard on the floor. The Council looked on wide eyed and dismayed at having their meeting turned into a brawl. Jonathon rushed forward to extend a hand to Karl trying to apologize and help him up, but Karl was having none of that. Red faced, both angry and embarrassed, he scrambled to his feet and looked ready to attack.

Then Khalessi stepped between the two men, drawing herself up to her whole 3 feet 2 inches, and sternly said, “Guys! Knock it off! You two need to say you’re sorry and act like grown ups!” The two men took a beat to look down at the wise little girl then back at each other. The tension popped like a pricked balloon and everyone took a deep breath and relaxed.

Jonathon and Karl took their seats at the table and Khalessi went to her usual spot at the head of the table where the recording equipment was set up. This was their third communication session and she knew the drill. It was still about 30 minutes prior to the appointed time when Lysette in the New Tower outpost, Carrie in the Mountain Pass outpost, Leroy in the Twin Peaks outpost, and Derrick in the RiverBottom outpost would all link minds and allow the various councils to communicate with each other. So far the telepathy only lasted about 15 minutes and it was obvious that each of the children experienced severe fatigue after the sessions. At the last meeting it was decided that all the councils were going to brainstorm ways that this time might be extended and the effect on the children lessened. Also new telepaths and outposts were being added each week. The one furthest away was able to connect with someone else outside the circle. Once the connection was made, they all were able to communicate no matter the distance. Eventually the target was to be able to connect all the remaining outposts.

Candice began filling Karl in with what the council was discussing when he and Khalessi had arrived. She explained that one of the healers had offered up a natural medicine remedy she had made mainly for relaxation. The hope was that it would slow down the heart rate and put the children in an almost suspended animation and thus extend the time the telepathic lines could be kept open. A dual benefit would be that it would hopefully reduce the strain on their psyche and lessen the resulting fatigue they were now experiencing. All the ingredients were natural and had no harmful properties attributed to them. It would be a matter of finding the correct strength for maximum benefit.

Karl thought about this and although he was still uneasy about it, he could see that it just might work and not be harmful to his daughter. The council all agreed that at this upcoming session they would give this as their suggestion for better and longer communications. Maybe one of the other outposts would come up with a better theory, but they had the ingredients of the herbal relaxant ready to give out if agreed up by the other outposts.

That night’s session began on time with each child linking minds with the others. And tonight there were three new attendees from other outposts. The group was growing as intended and in the time allowed the main topic of discussion was how to increase the length of the sessions. The suggestion made through Khalessi was met with enthusiasm by the other outposts and the formula was passed on to each. The coming week was to be used by each outpost to make the formula and experiment with the dosages to get the optimal result. The time was set for the next Communication session and the meeting was closed.

The council thanked Khalessi for her help again, and wished her happy birthday. Karl picked up his now exhausted daughter to carry her home to bed. Hope for the future was being felt at all the outposts at the thought of being able to communicate together and make sense of this new world. Ways to come together, share their ideas, and rebuild their society into a better place seemed to be just on the horizon.