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The Luminary and rulers before him had been right about one thing; the Old Earth did appear to be nothing more than a barren wasteland.  The landscape for miles around was nothing more than ruins and unfamiliar vegetation.  Nick tried to imagine how it had looked before the war which had obliterated it.  He wondered how people had lived in those days; had their lives been so very different to the lives of the people in the city, and if so, how different?
 
“We’re wasting our time here, there’s nothing!” AJ said as he kicked the dirt in frustration.  With just a small amount of water and a couple of ration bars between the three of them, it didn’t take a genius to realize that they weren’t going to last long if they didn’t find food and drink soon.  Going hungry wasn’t something anyone from Endwise ever had to deal with.
 
“And what about the alternative; there’s nothing there for you either.  If we were back in the city you’d be locked away in a dark and cramped cell waiting for execution with the other blinkers” Emma told him.  “There has to be something…there just has to be!”
 
“Point taken, sorry for being such a grouch” AJ replied.  He shuddered at the thought of a dark and cramped holding cell.  If he was going to die, he was going to die as a free man and not at the Luminary’s hand.  At least now they’d gotten a fair way from the city, they were finally free of the timers which dictated their fate.  He wouldn’t have even questioned it if he and Nick hadn’t met Emma.  He didn’t know anyone who protested.  It was just the way it was and always had been.  None of them had known any other way of life.
 
They carried on walking at a fast pace, along the crumbling road, climbing over rocks, wading through fields of tall grass and other unfamiliar terrain.  The sun was now high in the sky and the three travellers felt it’s rays burning their pale skin.  Nick rolled his shirt sleeves down; his arms were looking a bit pink and felt a little uncomfortable. 
 
“Maybe they were right, maybe we can’t live out here after all.  This isn’t right, I’m burning up!” Nick complained, thinking that perhaps the Old Earth wasn’t habitable after all.  He began to panic, his breathing altered and he started to hyperventilate.
 
“Nick, it’s OK…deep breaths…calm down” Emma said soothingly “don’t you remember reading about the sun?  I remember reading about how in old times, people liked to sit out in it to brown themselves.  It was considered attractive to be burned by the sun”
 
“Weird!” AJ shook his head.  He recalled an incident when he’d burned himself on some scalding hot water; he didn’t think that had been very attractive, and it had hurt like hell.
 
“Very weird” Emma agreed. 
 
“So I’m not dying?” Nick asked, his breathing slowly returning to normal.  He still wasn’t sure what was happening to him, but was glad it didn’t seem to be life threatening after all. 
 
“No Nick, I’m pretty sure it’s just your skin’s reaction to the sun” Emma replied.
 
Nick covered himself as much as possible, he even covered his head with the giant leaves which were in abundance and secured them with vines he ripped out of the ground.
 
“Very attractive” AJ laughed, but he and Emma were soon wearing them too.
 
~*~
 
The Luminary squinted in the sunlight as his eyes adjusted to the brightness.  He hadn’t stepped foot outside for a long time.  Why citizens wanted to leave the safety of the city for this desolate wasteland was beyond him.  Didn’t they realize he knew what was best for them all; that his rules were in place to ensure they lived a comfortable existence?  Every so often a small band of rebels would form and try to undermine his authority, they never succeeded.  Never.  It had been the same for his predecessor and probably the one before him.  This time would be no different.  The traitors would be caught and made to wish they’d never disobeyed.  He would savor every moment of their torture.
 
“Is the tracking equipment ready?” he asked his second in command, Howie.
 
“Yes sir” Howie replied “ready when you are”.
 
“Good…good” the Luminary rubbed his hands together and grinned evilly.  He couldn’t wait to find them.  He always enjoyed the look of horror on escapees’ faces when they realized the game was up.  “By nightfall I hope to have them within our grasp!”
 
He then gave the command to commence the tracking.
 
~*~
 
“What the hell is that thing?” Nick asked in horror as a small brown fluffy thing scurried across the crumbling ground and disappeared into the brambles by the roadside.
 
“I have no idea” AJ replied.
 
“Look, there’s more of them” Nick almost screeched as he pointed to the bouncy little fluff balls.
 
“What if they’re dangerous?” AJ panicked.  They may look all small and cute, but they were foreign to him and his traveling companions.
 
Nick audibly gulped.  In the world in which they had been brought up in, the only living things he’d ever seen were other people.
 
“Guys, I’m pretty sure they aren’t dangerous” Emma replied as she looked around for more of them.
 
“How do you know that?  We don’t know a thing about this world!” AJ said.
 
“Because they are running away from us” she laughed.  No one had told her what life was like on the outside.  The previous rebels who’d made it outside had been executed before they had the chance to tell their story.  All Emma knew was that the red roses came from outside.
 
They carried on walking having determined that they were in no danger from the little fluffy brown things.  In fact, the more they thought about it, they were glad to have come across other living things.  If they existed then surely other life did too.
 
But the good feeling didn’t last for long. 
 
A few miles down the bumpy road, Emma stepped on something which crunched under her foot.  She looked down and screamed at what she saw.  Bones.  Not just any old bones, but human bones.  There was a skull and a rib cage with little scraps of clothing clinging to it.  Emma felt sick to her stomach.
 
“Gross” Nick kicked at the bones and watched as the skull rolled across the dirt.
 
“I wonder how long it’s been there” AJ wondered.  Had it been someone from the city who had run like they had?  Had they died of hunger or thirst in their quest for life outside?  Was it someone from the outside world?  Or was the skeleton much older than that?  Was it someone who’d died all those years ago during the nuclear war? 
 
“I don’t want to know” Emma shuddered “but I’m sure we’ll be seeing more unpleasantness on our journey”
 
She wasn’t wrong…