post_apocalypse_story/ja-erosion-michelle_wakeup....

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<h1>Erosion</h1>
<p>
<span class="quote speech">Morning, Michelle!</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Ugh.</span><br />
She feels dizzy and her body is filled with a burning sensation.
She stumbles forward, out of her preservation chamber, and sits down
on the floor in front of it, putting her arms over her knees to rest
her head.
<br />
<span class="quote speech">I&apos;m gonna ... need a moment.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Water?</span><br />
She raises her head and Jack hands her a glass. After taking a couple
sips, she sets it down, unsure whether it helps or makes it worse, and
rests her head again.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Just let me sit here for a while.</span><br />
He sits down next to her, about half a meter away.
</p>
<p>
A few minutes later, she lifts up her head again:<br />
<span class="quote speech">What year is it? ... and what&apos;s the
mission?</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Twenty-one-oh-six. There is no explicit
mission, uplink&apos;s dead.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">You&apos;re kidding.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Nope.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">How&apos;d you get woken up then?</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Technical failure. The preservation chamber
died.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">You survived that?</span><br />
He chuckles. <span class="quote speech">That was the least of my
challenges.</span>
He briefly tells her how he found himself trapped inside and that he
turned to the dome city for help.
</p>
<p>
Michelle&apos;s dizziness starts to go away and the burning sensation
in her body begins to fade. She slowly gets up, takes a few cautious
steps forward to the table, and leans on it.<br />
<span class="quote speech">So? What now? Any plans?</span><br />
Jack gets up as well and picks up the glass.<br />
<span class="quote speech">I guess, for now, taking a look at the
uplink. I wanna see if we can get it going again.</span><br />
He sets the glass on the table.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Thanks.</span><br />
She thinks for a moment.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Assuming we can fix it... Then what?</span>
<br />
<span class="quote speech">Honestly, I don&apos;t know. Maybe they have
something to do for us, maybe they don&apos;t. I&apos;m&nbsp;just curious
about the state of things up there.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Sounds good &ndash; but I don&apos;t feel
quite ready for a hike like that.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Take your time, you just woke up.</span><br />
She pulls back one of the chairs, sits down, and takes another sip.<br />
<span class="quote speech">If we can&apos;t fix it... The people who
helped you, do you think they&apos;d help us with the uplink too?</span>
<br />
<span class="quote speech">Don&apos;t know if they would, but they
can&apos;t. They&apos;re stuck inside the dome city and want our
help.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">How? Even if the tunnels have collapsed,
I can think of a few other ways to break&nbsp;out.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">From what I know, they aren&apos;t physically
trapped inside, the people in charge just don&apos;t want anyone to
leave.</span><br />
Jack sits down across from her and retells everything that had happened
in detail, starting with his preservaton chamber breaking down.
It takes him about half an hour, including answering Michelles questions.
</p>
<p>
<span class="quote speech">How have you been dealing with food?
I imagine the stockpile was already pretty low?</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Actually not, the others seem to have mostly
hunted and foraged for themselves.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">I wonder what they found to still be
edible...</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Speaking of food, I got leftover baked
potatoes. Want some?</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Now that you ask, I&apos;m slowly getting
hungry. Did you make your usual spicy dip?</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Yup &mdash; well...</span><br />
He gets up and walks over to the kitchen area, grabs a small bowl filled
with a dark red-ish paste, and sets it on the table.<br />
<span class="quote speech">I had to improvise a little because of
a distinct lack of fresh ingredients but I think it still turned out
pretty good.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Oh wow, that looks almost kinda scary.</span>
<br />
<span class="quote speech">The flakes they left us just aren&apos;t
the same as fresh peppers. I had to add <i>a lot</i> to get even close
to the usual spiciness.</span><br />
He grabs the <span class="comment">Backblech?</span> with potatoes
and puts it back in the oven to re-heat them.
</p>
<p>
After the meal, they go to the bunker entrance and Jack opens the door
by touching a thick cable to one of the lugs on the motor. Sparks fly
and the door moves up into the ceiling. Michelle gets her first look
outside. The sky is a clear blue and the sun hits the other side of
the valley.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Oddly familiar, and yet so different.</span>
<br />
She hesitates for a moment before stepping onto the cracked pavement
in front of the bunker.<br />
<span class="comment">the scene where Jack opens the door should
have a short description of the lay of the lands</span><br />
The two decide to walk up to a <span class="comment">crest? ridge?</span>
not far from them on the other side of the valley. Beyond it is Ivydale,
once a large city housing just over a million people &ndash; only one of
<span class="comment">who? whom? which?</span> remains to behold its
overgrown ruins.
<br />
<span class="comment">Jack is from Sentinel Shores.</span><br />
Michelle says: <span class="quote speech">I mean I knew it already but
seeing it like this just hits differently.</span><br />
They sit down on a large rock in the shade of a small, lone tree and
take in the view. Michelle takes some time to fully process her new
reality.
</p>
<p>
After a long while, she says: <span class="quote speech">Okay,
let&apos;s go take a look at that uplink.</span><br />
The two get up and walk back towards the bunker, looking for a path
somewhere to the left of it.<br />
Jack points to a structure a decent bit up the mountain and says:
<span class="quote speech">I think that&apos;s it.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Oh wow, there isn&apos;t much left.</span>
<br />
Jack points at a few other things below it.<br />
<span class="quote speech">I think these are also part of it.</span>
</p>
<p>
They make their way over and, following what remains of the path, the two
start making their way up. The path is narrow and winded, and overgrown
where it hasn&apos;t disappeared entirely. Jack walks ahead, only half
following it, half making it up as he goes. Michelle struggles to follow,
slowly falling behind. After a while, he stops abruptly, looking down at
something, then up, then down again. Then, he turns to Michelle who is
just catching up and says:<br />
<span class="quote speech">Well, that could be a reason why
the uplink is down &ndash; it literally ...<i>is&nbsp;down</i>...</span>
<br />
Michelle reaches the edge and and sees what Jack had stopped for:
A large <span class="comment">ravine? wash?</span> extends downwards
from the top of the mountain where a landslide had left nothing but
a cliff and a huge pile of rubble. At the top of the mountain, teetering
on the edge, are two buildings &ndash; all that&apos;s left of the ground
station. The rest of the buildings and the dish lay strewn around
in pieces down below.
</p>
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