Here is the fifth installment of the series, this time we get to see the world through carla's eyes <<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>



Chapter 5
Carla had been dreaming when she heard a noise. She got up slowly and carefully picked up her shotgun that she always kept near her and moved to the door. Hearing a strange scuttling noise once more outside she kicked open the door and pointed her gun at the poor little squirrel that had been eating an acorn right off the driveway.

“Heh, sorry little buddy.”

At that the squirrel scampered off and disappeared into the forest. She set the gun down by the door. She had chosen one of the larger houses in the town of Bolder. To be honest it was the perfect town to lay in wait for someone not crazy, it was close enough to larger towns so she could get supplies very easily but small enough that no one would try to get supplies because once again there were better places to get food and water and such. Carla sighed and decided since the sun was up and she was already up that she would go to work. Her work was basically going around to different locations and setting up notes and pathways to Bolder. With her great mechanical skill, which came from having a mechanic for a dad, she fixed up houses that are near Bolder and then filling them with food and providing plumbing and heating if possible. She knew that she needed to be back by midday everyday if she had any chance to meet someone so, she rigged a bicycle with a motor and drove that to a new house or location every day and did her work.

She checked her watch it was about seven in the morning so she decided to go and paint another billboard; The idea is that someone would be walking and then see the billboard and go investigate. With each billboard she left a crate of supplies with a crowbar to pry it open. She also was betting on insane people not being able to read so that no crazy would wander into the town. For billboards she, instead of the bike, took a golf cart on steroids. It had been a Rhino type cart once but someone in town, before the nukes, decided to haul out the motor and replaced it with a motor that could pull a beach whale from Chicago to Missouri. Then that same person decided to fix a trailer to it, which came with a gun stock by-the-way, and for a finishing touch it was entirely in camo. Not surprisingly in that same house she found 7 shotguns, 2 handguns, 0 toilets, and 8 rifles, all of which had thumbhole stocks.

She got the cart off the charger which was hooked up to the only working generator within twenty miles. Carla didn’t like the generator because it made her fur stand up on end and it didn’t look too pretty, even though she mostly stuck around dad, her mom did a pretty good job with keeping her body-fur and top-fur clean and pretty. She got into the golf cart and headed north to Claut City. The reason she was going there was just in case someone missed Bolder and could potently turn around and come to her. For some reason however the cart wouldn’t start. It was strange because it never failed in the two years since she got it up and running.

“Well guess I could just fish till midday,” She thought to herself

So she went back inside and took a fishing pole and some bait to go fishing. Carla had always been kind of a tomboy as her hard life didn’t leave much time for girl stuff, so while most girls had sleepovers and gossiped all day long she was busy fixing up tractors and old cars with her dad. As a result she wore overalls and a t-shirt everyday in the summer, never a skirt or shorts, and pants and a long-sleeved shirt in the winter. Because of her tomboyish ways she was more prepared for the nuclear disaster better than anyone in her hometown of Engin. It was a shame to leave Engin but the place was being swarmed by feral animals.

She started up the bicycle and headed towards the river. She never caught anything worth eating, but it was a good way to pass the time. The river had a strong current and a murky bottom, the only fish Carla saw there were minnows and Asian Carp, neither of which were any good. As Carla fished she began to think about all her efforts. In just a month would mark the two year anniversary of her project. She had labeled every note she left with May 2 2014 even though her first full fixed house was completed on May 10 not 2.

It was about getting towards midday so Carla reeled up and packed up. One the way home she felt a little lightheaded and started to see spots. Carla clenched her fists and though, “How long is it going to last?”
Ever since the disease she had succumbed to a strange condition, at the most random of times she would pass out, no warning, no apparent cause, and worst of all, no clear way to get rid of it. Carla was just glad that it never happened while using power tools or while tampering with gas lines. She headed towards the post office and hoped that there would be someone there. She got parked her bike next to the post office and saw a shadow through the non-see through window, she felt like calling out when she heard a voice scream angrily,

“SHUT UP, she’ll be here I know she will.”

There was something about the voice that instantly made her close her muzzle and pull out her shotgun instead; she loaded three rounds and readied the gun. She pressed her shoulder to the wall next to the entrance and heard the same man say, “No I don’t think she was trying to kill us just shut up would you? I’m pretty sure that last night was a huge mistake. I bet she even didn’t know about all those animals.”