Opportunity

The woman and the others traversed the dusty expanse. They headed away from the large, circular system of underground tunnels by walking along one of the wide paths which lay between the ruined structures to either side, one of those radial spokes that stretched to the limits of sight. The choice of direction they took was meaningless. All were the same. The hot, motionless light suspended in a ceiling of blue and gray burned upon the barren earth regardless.

They moved in the shadows of the great crumbling structures whenever possible. The shadows, too, never changed in orientation. The only differences in size came about due to the dimensions of the objects which cast the shadows. It was too hot to move outside the protection provided by the shade for an extended period of time. They ate dried bits of flesh and other materials as they walked. They had nothing to burn so they could not char the meat they carried.

They stopped often to rest and to consume liquid they brought along in pale bags. He saw they needed to do this to continue to travel. Their bodies grew weary. At times many of them would stop moving entirely, huddled together against the wall of one of the battered structures. He watched them when they stopped to rest like this. The ones who did not sprawl in the dirt would look around warily. He saw that they feared attack. Perhaps from the strangers in red, perhaps from others they had never encountered.

In time, they would return to motion and resume their journey.

The wind was an endless torment which the group bore. They covered their faces with scraps of material to keep from choking on the plumes of dust kicked up by the wind's passage. When the sprawling blackness loomed in the distance, when the winds grew fiercer and begin to whirl in powerful gusts that tugged at their bodies, they sought shelter in the nearby structures. They favored those that had only one entrance. They removed heavy, folded sheets of dried skin from the bottoms of their carts and draped them over the openings. They stopped much of the dirt from being blown in when the great dust storms swept by. The storms were one of the few times everyone in the group could rest simultaneously in the protective darkness.

Members of their group would explore some of the structures, if their passages had not collapsed or were not blocked shut by masses of rock and dirt blown in by the winds. They always went deeper with weapons. They carried pale lights. The woman went on these excursions. He was not certain what they sought. Whatever it was, they never seemed to find it.

After much wandering, one of the smaller members of the group gave a shout and pointed. Something stood in stark contrast to the unending tapestry of brown, gray, and red. It was a patch of something which grew up from the dirt. It had fronds. They were colored green, though barely.

The discovery excited the others. They moved within one of the larger structures which stood nearby despite no trace of a windstorm in the distance. The woman and others investigated the growth. They bickered. Some wanted to remain. They viewed the presence of this wiry patch as a great portend. Some wanted to continue moving on. They felt it was dangerous. Others might be nearby who would attack and kill the group.

The woman struck a compromise. They would stay, for a short time, and explore the surrounding area. If they found what they sought, those who wished to remain would be vindicated. If they encountered resistance, they would react appropriately.

The light burned overhead. The woman and her companions explored all of the structures near the patch. They searched for the existence of tunnels like those they had left behind. He followed the young woman when she went inside the structures. She did not find what she sought. They expanded the radius of their search.

They found one other. The woman was not present when it happened. He was. The stranger was wiry and wrinkled and leaned upon a length of metal. The stranger resided inside one of the structures. Its walls had crumbled in a way that the light from outside could enter. The stranger maintained things which somewhat resembled the patch of material that the woman's group had found. They were inside containers filled with dirt. The stranger moved them in and out of the ceaseless light. They produced things which the stranger could eat.

The woman's companions tried to take the stranger and his possessions into their custody. The stranger did not want this to happen. The stranger resisted when the woman's companions used force. The stranger ruined the containers and destroyed their contents. Blood fell to the ground, caused by the stranger's own hand. The stranger's secrets remained hidden.

The woman was not pleased when she learned of what happened. But the woman did not let her distaste prevent her from moving herself and her companions to the place where the stranger once resided. He moved with them.

There were tunnels here. The tunnels held warrens of creatures of various sizes and shapes. The stranger had eaten of them before. Now the woman and her companions did so.

They would explore.