The Wastes of Michigan

Jacob

We've been walking restlessly for the past couple of hours, drinking gulps of water occasionally. The rain finally started and the night was soon coming. The next ruins we see will have to make for an impromptu shelter. Make camp is some building.

No one has talked after Sparkle's commitment to uphold the wrench. Just the mute sound of the world and our heavy steps droned on. It was really comforting for me. Reminds me of any other time me and Davey traveled alone, in silence. Just reaching point B. With the addition of another person in tow. Left to my thoughts, I didn't think too badly of her. Coming from a land of 'Harmony' crap to harsh Michigan can take its toll on the mind and the body. As long as she commits to what we told her, she'll be fine.

Tall spiraling building were in view. The moon was coming overhead and the sun has nearly gone. Time to take refuge and sleep out the night.

"Alright guys, we're heading into those ruins up ahead to find a place to sleep. Keep your guard up." I turn to Twilight, "Especially you." She nods her head, still looking grim.

We eventually reach the crumbling city. Davey had his rifle ready to fire, looking all around our surroundings for any jumps. He was our eyes and ears for now and made sure to use his sharp senses to detect trouble.

These ruins were the remains of high rising office buildings, apartments, small stores, and suburban homes. They compared in crumbling foundations, shattered windows, graffiti, and being picked clean of most valuable's. The scenery was common all over Michigan but had the chance of being occupied by a group. Like bandits. Or something worse than that.

While traversing the area for a place to rest, we saw a lone looter. Davey spotted him through a torn down wall making a loud ruckus from his scavenging. He was in an ordinary home that use to belong to a family. He didn't notice us so we simply just passed him. Twilight stared longer than we did before she followed suit. Other things we saw were graffiti that had random signs or messages. Just pointless stuff. We saw the common feral dog rummaging through garbage. Its keen hearing picked us up but the poor thing was frail and shaking so all it did was growl in our direction. Again, we just ignored it, leaving it to its trash.

We stuck close to shadows as we looked for a spot for rest until we found a huge square office building which seemed to hold about eight storeys, not including the base. Some window panes were shattered on the higher floors and the glass entrance doors were much the same. Davey and I stepped through the door, the glass crunching under our footwear. "Careful for the glass." Davey murmured to Sparkle. A quiet "Okay." came as she carefully entered the building, minding her steps. This was the main lobby of the office building. Scattered about were stained sofas, filing cabinets, papers, and tables. To the left of the room were the stairs that lead to the upper parts of the structure. Another door beside it was just a door frame with no door. It led to the rest of the ground floor. To the right were two elevators with a shattered potted plant in between them. One was closed shut while the other was gaping open. In front of us was a wide arrow shaped desk that looked far neater than anything here. It was dusty, sure, but there was nothing else wrong with it. No stains or cuts and chips in the wood. All it had was various business crap of papers with charts that were meaningless now. Sparkle was looking at everything with mild interest. She even looked at some of the graphs and tried to make sense of them. I guess she's into that sort of stuff. I told her to drop it and we moved for the stairwell. Before we even went up the first flight of stairs, Davey set down his noise trap near the door. A good precaution from any sneaky bastards in the night. Then off we went up the stairs.

We decided to stay on the third floor after searching every room for anyone hiding out. There was no one here except us. We rolled out our 'Mummy' bedrolls from our packs and laid them out next to each other. We were settled around a bunch of cubicles that gave cover from being outright seen if anyone were to come in. Davey sat cross legged, I sat much the same up against a cubicle wall, and Sparkle folded her legs in under herself. Davey sat his pack over his lap and opened it up. He pulled out our day old dried meat that was wrapped in foil. He handed me a small chunk as well as for himself. He turned to Sparkle, shaking the foil, asking if she wanted some.

Sparkle just blanched at the thought. "I'm a herbivore...I didn't know your kind were meat eaters..." Wasn't that obvious?

Davey just shrugged and exchanged the foil for a can of noodle soup. "We can't light up a fire for obvious reasons. So you're gonna have to eat it cold, alright Twilight?" That only seemed to upset the pony further. I only watched her as I ate my meat and drank from a personal bottle of water.

Sighing, she says, "Yeah. It's fine." Davey sets it on the floor and it was then shortly levitated toward Sparkle.

She looked depressed, looking at the can disapprovingly. "How am I going to open this?" She lets out after a while.

"Can't you use magic to open it?" Davey said with a mouthful.

Her expression showed disdain from Davey's chewing, she replied "I could. But I'm trying to save up magic. I don't want to waste it on something so trivial as opening a can."

I was almost through with the dry meat in my hands. I let out a little air from my nostrils and snorted as I reached for a spare knife I kept concealed in a pocket from my pack. The blade was a tad bit dull with black smudges on it, and from the utter disgust on Sparkle's face, I roll my eyes and grab a clean rag to wipe the blade to a clean-ish state.

"We don't have anything else that can open it. Make due with this." We could have opened it some other way, but I wanted to see what she'd do.

I held it for her to take. She just shook her head. "I'm not hungry anymore..." Davey let out a disappointed 'Oh Jacob' but other than that, he didn't do anything.

"We ain't gonna eat anything else until midday tomorrow."

Davey passed me the last strip of meat. Sparkle's face was skewered into a tight face of revulsion.

"Have you 'used' this on anyone?" Her emphasis on 'used' made me chuckle.

A little lying couldn't hurt. "Yeah, but just make sure the blade doesn't touch the soup and you should be fine." Another look, one of nausea, repugnance, and horror. All in one was directed to the blade.

Probably thinking of her choices, and the sound of her stomach growling, she eventually levitates the knife over to the can. She angled the knife and stabbed the lid, only the tip entering. She wiggled the knife and easily popped the lid off, revealing the noddles soaking in broth. She then handed the knife back to me. I slipped it back into my pack. "Can someone please pass a spoon." she spoke with much withstrain on her voice.

Grumbling out, "Drink it from the rim." probably didn't help with her rising anger.

She let out a sigh and stared deep into the broth before lifting it up with her hooves somehow and to her lips. A long slurp came from her before she steadily dropped the can. I hope she wouldn't throw up and to my surprise she didn't. She kept at that can until it was done.

She sure sounded stress about all this. I am an ass but even I know when to pull myself back. Might as well give out some answers to relieve her anger a bit. I finish off the meat and take a sip of water. The entire time she just glared at me, waiting for an answer. "I'm just being an ass, sorry. We could answer more questions if you want.

She flashed an eager smile. She looked happy to hear more of Michigan for whatever reason.

"Finally! Alright, so, what happened to civilization? Why is everything in ruins? That question has been on my mind ever since we stepped out of the woods you found me in." First question. Pretty easy.

"I don't know." My answer shocked her.

"What do you mean you don't know?" she questioned.

"I don't know, kid. Davey doesn't either. I was born into this world already in shambles. I'd guess it's already been more than a century or more since the collapse."

She squinted her eyes. "You just mentioned a collapse. That must entail something on what occurred to the world."

"That's just what everyone calls it. Pretty ominous, ain't it?" I chuckle.

She took some seconds to process the answer and consider her next question. "Where's the government in all this? Surely you have some form of leadership for your people. Why aren't they helping?"

"The only government in Michigan is the DMC."

"DMC?"

Davey pipes in, "Detroit Megacity. Largest civilized place we know of. The city holds over one million people behind its walls. The place is constantly growing and expanding outwards."

"Well from the talk of it, it must be safer than roaming the wilds. Why doesn't anyone go there for shelter?"

"I'm sure your peace loving world would accept all refugees into their cities." I started. "Ponies are mild-mannered right? Well humans are something else entirely. We're volatile and destructive creatures by nature. There's others out here that will kill you for no good reason. Sometimes they'll kill for fun or out of desperation. Not everyone is allowed to enter the DMC for that reason alone. Besides that, there's those that could carry diseases, contraband and whatnot. Only trusted individuals can enter."

In her mind, I knew she clicked into something. "Is that the reason why you're out here? Because you're killers?" She looked frighten by the realization she made in her head.

Davey chimed in to wipe out that idea. "Heh, whoa now Twilight. Reel that in. We aren't murdering savages. See?" he slides up his right sleeve to show the device wrapped around his wrist. This didn't really put her mind at ease but rather intrigued her. "This bracelet here grants us permission to walk around the DMC. They're pretty hard to come by. They carry our personal information in them so if anyone steals it off our bodies, they still won't be allowed to enter. They also, uh, track our position when inside the city."

"Well, is there any reason why you and Davey aren't living in the DMC?"

Davey was going to answer but looked to me. I shook my head and spoke instead. "I...I was expelled from living there. For life." a tense silence falls across the room. Sparkle seemed regretful of her question. "I'm still allowed to travel into the city. Albeit under strict watch."

Sensing that the story behind that was sensitive, she didn't bother to question it further. The room was getting kinda awkward anyways.

Davey clears out his throat, breaking the quiet. "Well buying a house is pretty expensive. You can't exactly find a permanent job in a city that you're temporarily visiting. You'd need to make money selling crap or taking jobs from the locals to get anywhere near the cost of a home. Plus paying to be a citizen? Forget it. That's hundreds of thousands already being drained but it's something I hope to end up in." He glances at me and gives a small sad smile. "Maybe they'll be more lenient with your sentence and we'll finally live together, Jacob."

"I'd be a withered old man that you'd have to feed by then. A burden"

"As long as it's out of harm, I can live with that."

Sparkle was smiling at Davey's loyalty for me. It really was kind of him to say that to me. But deep down, I know it will never happen. I'll likely die out here and Davey will have to live on his own. The wilderness was my home. It's where I belong now.

"So how do you guys earn a paycheck for yourselves? You must have an income if Davey's dream is to be a reality."

Davey continued to answer Twilight. "Well Jacob and I both work for an organization in the DMC. It takes the word 'scavenger' to a much more respectable meaning. Scavengers, like us, work for Mr. Hatter outside the city. The man is beyond old but is well respected in the DMC. He even has a say in leadership."

"First of all, tell me about the organization."

"I got this one, Davey. The organization, run by Hatter, is a private company. It's not owned by the government but they support us. This whole idea of using 'scavengers' to scout out Michigan was first thought up by the man himself. We're 'Scavengers'. See, DMC guards only know how to shoot and keep the peace. They wouldn't survive a day in the vast. Scavengers, on the other hand, can live off the land and survive. The things we do is mostly surveying locations, checking up on what's happening in Michigan. Other times we have to accompany guards to establish checkpoints. Rarely do we keep these checkpoints safe though. They're often overrun in less than a week from bandits or other beasts. But when we do keep a place secure, it's a huge deal and offers a safe haven for anyone passing through. It also gives any scavengers who were with the group a nice little bonus to their pay. The only reason why the Scavengers are supported by the government was from the Grayling mission all these years ago that gave them the influence and power to run the DMC. Done solo by the first model Scavenger, Philip Kindred.

I just dropped a load of info on her. She seemed to handle it well since she was listening to every word I said. "Why haven't you mentioned any of this before?"

"You never asked." she put her hoof to her temple at my stupid answer. Davey and I snickered at that and soon Sparkle was giggling along with us. It's not that what I said was funny or anything. We were just relieving some tension. To let out a good laugh over shenanigans. It was just a good time all around for only lasting some seconds.

"Okay, okay. You got anymore questions? We still have time before we actually sleep." Davey said with a smile still on his face.

"Yeah, I still have some." she let out any giggles in her throat before she spoke again. "You mentioned a person named Philip Kindred. Who was he?"

I let out a low whistle. That was a far back so I delved into my mind to pull out some memories of about him. "Uh...Philip was around when I was just a kid on the streets. I'm talking about thirteen in age, I'm 52 now. Philip was just this new guy who showed up out of no where. Nothing special by looking at him. But word caught around that he was working for Hatter somehow. Hatter back then was real shifty. He dressed oddly and never talked to anyone out in the streets. So Philip must've done something to get his attention. Anyways, I didn't hear much of Kindred after that. It was a few weeks later that rumors came out about him taking the job to Camp Grayling. We all knew it was a suicide job but there was always the possibility. So he left. As it turns out, that by the end of the month, our old government came into power over the DMC. A government from before the collapse. They had Grayling at the touch of their fingers which meant that Philip succeeded his job. So this shadowy government became the new leaders of the DMC. It's pretty much the same old DMC, from what I hear, except the idea of expansion was much more prominent in their minds. Reclaim what use to be ours and crap. As for Philip Kindred, he did his job but was never seen again."

"So I'm guessing he did get into Camp Grayling?"

"That he did." Davey confirmed.

"Then what made it a suicide mission?"

I nodded to Davey to tell her. I had enough explaining for today. "Camp Grayling is like this high tech base that has some pretty nasty defenses to it. Electrified fences and little emitters and spider robots that shoot microwave energy at you. That stuff burns you to a crisp real quick. The significance of the place are these drones stationed in the hangars at Grayling. These huge planes - you know what planes are, right?" Seeing her shake her head, Davey goes in to explain. "Imagine being in some ground vehicle, okay? Now imagine that, but way bigger, a lot more aerodynamic, and it travels through the sky at tremendously high altitudes. Anyways, Camp Grayling has these planes that can do recon way more efficiently and faster than any human can. The only reason the Scavengers didn't go out of business from it was because none of them are operational! Some top techies are looking into fixing them up. Besides that, there's planes and other airborne stuff that work just fine. Those are mostly used for carrying supplies back and forth. From DMC to Grayling.

"You didn't really answer my question, Davey. Not really." She smiled.

"Oh crap. You're right. Well, before it was under government control, it was abandoned. Anyone who entered had no chance to survive. Those defenses I mentioned were very much still active. Anyone Hatter sent there never returned. You can guess what happened to them."

Davey left it as that. Twilight seemed to muse over the things we told her. "So just to get this organized: This Mr. Kindred was sent to the dangerous military outpost of Camp Grayling by your boss, Hatter, many years ago. Kindred does complete what he's assigned to do, but ends up missing. Your pre-collapse government takes control of Grayling and then the DMC. And Hatter goes off to create an organization that uses scavengers to journey across Michigan. Is that everything?"

I clicked my tongue. "Tch. I guess so."

A nice silence fell. Me and Davey just told her a lot of facts about the world. I hope we satisfied her curiosity now. Davey lets out a loud drawn out yawn. Followed by Twilight. I was tuckered out too, but not enough to go to sleep. I'm on guard duty tonight.

"I guess it's time for bed." Davey yawns once more and settles inside his 'mummy' bag. Twilight looked around for another bag. the only one left was mine.

"Where will I sleep?" She wanted that bedroll; she didn't want to admit to being selfish by just crawling into mine. I'm sure she didn't want to sleep on this nasty floor. I know I wouldn't want to.

"I don't get much sleep now-a-days. Go ahead and sleep in my bag tonight. I'll be busy keeping an ear out for any intruders."

She called an affirmative "Okay." then went over to my bedroll and looked into my eyes as if to say 'Are you sure'? I nodding my head to her. She whispered a thank you and settled into the 'mummy' bag.

With both hands, I rubbed the tired out of my face. Both of my companions were asleep and I had guard duty again. I couldn't help but to stare at the sleeping pony. Her chest was rising and falling with her breath. Sparkle is an actual alien in our world, she's here by mistake, we're taking care of her. I wonder if her people will come for her? Maybe they'll enslave the human race and take us to their peaceful home planet to live a life as humble servants. Yeah right. From what little Sparkle told me about her home, I'd take a guess that their army is just a bunch of prissy ponies. She better pray that her people don't come here. They'll get wreaked by Michigan and every single being in Michigan.

I pull out the knife from my boot and twiddled with the tip. Nothing left to do but wait for morning.