[Anglais] After The Fall

After the Fall

Citation :: A natural catastrophe has left the world stripped of its modern comforts and technology.
A group of people try to rebuild a New Eden.

En Terminal S, un professeur d'Anglais nous avait demandé de faire une écriture d'invention suivant l'un des deux thèmes donnés. Apparemment il fallait faire 300 mots. Mais bien-sûr, je ne le savais point.

Enjoy it, and take some of my personal Mojito collection !

It was merely noon when Aileen looked up at the sky.
Blinded by the sun, she could feel the warmth upon her face, the blue of the sky and the song of the birds. But then, the reality struck her face. She was here, all over again. How she not recognize this place ? This place where Melanie died and where Chris was born. Dying by giving birth, how poetic. However, there was no time for poetry, now.
Since the last time they were here, a lot of things had changed in this fellowship, this fraternity.

As told before, Melanie died, she was the former leader. Michael took the leadership after her. As the new leader, he decided to leave this cursed place, and find other survivors of the event. What event, would you tell me. The end of the days, the beginning of the new world. Calamity, disaster, catastrophe struck us all. A solar storm, bigger than the Carrington Event, hit us causing an electromagnetic Pulse all over the Planet.
Bereft of all electricity energy, Humanity has fallen into fear, causing civil wars and leaving them in Anarchy. All the tools that we used to have are now useless, or are used as walls. We have to learn how to read the sky, because our watches have frozen in the hour of 6:06 am, you have to salt your meal or to eat it before it gets rotten. Everyone is fighting, for fuel, for battery, basically, everyone is struggling to survive.
But today is another day. A clear sky and a full moon for the night. No one could attack us, not even the wolves, or the bears. We will outnumber them. It's not the hour to fight, but to rebuild.
Because today, we are back to Pasco, Washington. The perfect place to be, near Highway, the river, the mountains, and of course, near the forest.
- Here we are ! screamed happily Denton
- Finally! Thought that this peaceful city would never see my arse again ! quipped Aaron

Then she saw. She had never witnessed Michael's face so withdrawn.
"Maybe the rumors were true, after all"

- Go get your house back, and see the damage our beloved trees made. If you need any help, report to Cassidy. For the new people, help someone with his home, he will take you under his roof for the night. Tomorrow, we will begin. Are you okay, Mickie ?
-Fine A., fine. Just some old nostalgia. Go get your stuff too. After dinner, we will need to speak about this New Eden's project of yours.

She had been making this project since the day when Melanie died; to honor her memory they must be someone else. They must be a family. But to build a strong building, you have to build strong foundations.
Step 1 : Find other survivors, reliable ones.
Step 2 : Come back to Pasco.
Step 3 : Rebuild it from what can be reused. Make it a Dream Land, as well as an untakeable castle.
The night has been full of works. When she finished all the preparation with Michael, and helped some families to find some shelter to sleep in, she finally found peace.

While the morrow coming, while every living creatures were sleeping, the silence was all they could hear. the sound of the air against the leaves, until something cracked. A scream followed. Two. Three. Panic followed. People running, arrows rumbling into the air. Dead corpses falling on the ground.
"TAKE ARMS" screamed a voice.
As Aileen went outside, she began to analyze the situation. Three dozen people armed with wood edge spears, a handful of them were harmed. Then, she saw a tall man with a gun, fierce, proud. But suddenly, something caught her eyes behind him. A blinding arrow. An Arrow. ARCHERS !
"Archers in the trees, care" shouted Aileen.
But that wasn't all. All of her people were kneeling in the mud. Not all of them. Michael was missing, as well as Denton. Gun Shot. A scream. She took her bow and started knotting and loosing arrows on the trees. The kneelers were a diversion, only women except the one in the middle, with the hood. While the women got up to run away, Texas, the hooded man also the Chief-Hunter of the group, run into the direction of the gun holder while taking is knife from his case. In the chaos, he was a ghost, a shadow, moving through the crowd without even being noticed.
While Aileen and Denton, with his rifle, were taking down every men hidden or possible danger, Texas was moving as a feline in the crowd, hurting none until he got in front of the leader, he sank his huge hunting knife in the leader's right arm artery, making him loose his pistol in the darkness of the pain. Then he took back his knife ...

- NO, TEXAS DON'T ! shouted Aileen
... and deeply penetrated it in the leader's chest, through the heart.
- I could have interrogated him !
- No, you wouldn't.

But the leader was not dead, not yet. He was whispering. Whispering the same sound, the same word again and again, until Aileen heard it. Eden. How could he possibly know about Eden ? Why would he attack us for an idea ?
-No, no, no don't pass out. Don't you dear die, not now. How do you know about Eden ? What do you want from us? Why did you murder us ? Why ? NO!
-It is too late, A. . He is gone, far from this misery. Let him go, let him be with his people, answered Michael .
All of you, we are not here to fight, we are here to redeem ourselves from this cursed ground. We won't fight anyone; we will defend us. We will survive, we will live. Go on your way if you want blood, join us if you want peace. We won't starve, and we will continue where Adam and Eve failed. Help us to build our home. You are on New Eden, and this floor is the future of mankind.

Whilst the spears touched the ground, the new-comers kneeled in front of Michael, the heads bent.
-Now is not the time to watch the ground, friends. Now is the time where you must help the citizens, and fix the damages you have done! Begin to build this dream, we share. We must be united, we must live all together now, to give the example all around the world. Because, we are New Eden !

"And this, kids, is the legend of New Eden. Don't forget to pray to the old gods and the new. That Michael may always have an eye upon us to save us and to lead us to heaven"