Quick question
What do you get when you get a financially bankrupt country
Where the mentally insane roam the streets
Of the polluted landscape?
-California, 2031
-4:13am
“Wake up all!!!” shouted Raffk, “Wake up, wake up, wake up! Gotta go to work.”
Both Little & Lotus rose from their cots to strap into their handmade armor, lifting their suspenders & zippers. The attire consists of factory uniforms hidden beneath strips & shells of steel armor. The shells were leftover finds from the riots, the authoritative rights protest which became a riot once the military fired at the crowds.
“We have to make good timing, the nutters might be out there by now so pack up some weaponry.”
After getting clothed, Raffk, Little & Lotus walked towards the minivan. It was silent & dark, but in a matter of hours it would become light & loud. The van drove off the garage & into the vacant streets, the world still sleeps.
Left & right, nothing but empty plots of land & abandoned houses.
“Stop here Raffk!”
Raffk stepped on the breaks. “What is it Little?”
Little slid the van door open & ran towards the vacant plot of land. Trudging through the sand & marching like a tin soldier, Little grabs an aluminum can & rises it over his head.
“Nice eye Little!!” shouted Lotus.
As little marched back to the van, a horrid looking woman with gray thinning hair approached him in a drunken rage.
“God wants you to leave his house!!!!” yelled the fowl smelling crazy woman as she grabbed Little by the collar & blew chunk filled saliva on his face.
“Damn, pass me the bat Lotus.” ordered Raffk.
“Hey, madam. Let off the kid, he’s not messing with anyone.” Raffk marched towards the woman with his bat hidden behind him. “We’re not in god’s house, remember? This is just land. Remember, God is dead, the Chinese IOU killed him.” Raffk inched nearer to the lady as she still continued to grab Little’s collar.
“Get out!!!” cried the gross woman. “Get outta here!! I‘manana call satan to skin you alive!!!”
“Let go of my friend & I‘ll go away.”
“Get outta god’s..”
“Let go of him!!”
Get outta here!!!” the deranged woman tossed Little to the sand & pulled out a knife from her saggy cleavage. Raffk charged towards the woman & smacked his bat onto her ribs. Raffk heard a battle cry from a distance. He knew, clear as day, that the cry isn’t coming from a bird or a wolf.
“Get up Little, the psych gangs might get here in zero to one.” Raffk got little up on his toes & helped him run back to the van.
Later on they arrive at a junkyard where a park once stood. Everywhere they looked there were mounds of trash in that has not yet been picked by the other competing scavengers. The young people dug though dumpsters & the mounds to find anything they deemed worthy of value.
“Hey look, bicycle handle bars!” shouted Lotus.
“Toss it in the van, we can get a price for it.” replied Raffk.
“What about this?” asked Little as she held out a crumpled newspaper.
“The recycling center doesn’t accept paper anymore, remember?”
“Ah yeah, I forgot.”
“Come on people, find something the recycling center would pay for.”
Raffk leaned on the wooden fences & watched the mounds with a flask of alcohol he had hidden in his armor. He heard the sound of various footsteps, coming nearer & a mix of eerie chattering.
‘Must be nothing, probably mangy rats digging around the mounds. Hope the two don’t get bitten.’
Then Raffk heard the same war cry he heard back at that vacant lot.
‘It’s the Psych Gangs.’ thought Raffk. They appeared out of the darkness, wearing worn out hospital garments as they marched barefoot with their steel pipes on their hands & nicely painted decals on their faces. They stood ontop of the mounds of trash, looking down at Raffk, smiling their sinister smiles.
The front man of the gang whistled & pointed at Raffk as he stood there & looked up.
“Oh fuck. Guys!!! Get back to the van, quick!!”
The Psych Gang watched as the three fled to their van, shouting their toothless growl & leaping towards the moving van. Two of them managed to the roof, they held onto the roof railing as they readied their dynamite sticks.
“They’re on the roof, someone take care of it!!” yelled Raffk as Lotus took out her modified super soaker & opened the small rooftop window. The two crazed men saw the opportunity arise & desperately tried to fit into the small open van window. Lotus flicked her lighter on to burn the small candle torch in front of the soaker’s barrel.
“Get behind me Little!!” Lotus burned the arms & legs of the demented savages, they fell off the roof with their arms & legs still burning.
“Good work, the sun’s almost up. We better get to the recycling center now.”
A young man in white armor, holding a machine gun, approached the van.
“State your business.” he asked.
“We got junk.” replied Raffk.
“We got a haul!” he shouted to the armed guard above the gate. “Open the gate!!”
The two tall & mighty shards of decorated metal opened up & exposed the landfill full of precious metals being grabbed by robotic claws & tossed into incinerators & melted into small molds.
A fat man in a leisure suit approached Raffk as he held a small handheld calculator & chewed in a small meat stick. “One pound of cans, a bycicle steering wheel, 2oz of crumpled aluminum foil & a bag full of disassembled video game cartridges (Five Decades old).” the fat man pulled a note from his fanny pack & handed it to Raffk. “All that worth one crisp dollar.”
Raffk & his team sit in the dimly lit him kitchen as he dispenses specific rations of baked beans, straight from the can.
“We did good today, but we have to wake up much earlier tomorrow. I‘m thinking of going up North & see what we find in the ritzy estates.” said Raffk as he chewed the small beans.
“But what if we don’t get a great hall tomorrow? Like, we find not a single can or shard of foil?” asked Little with some worry in him.
“Then we will fail on that day to succeed in another day.”
Lotus smiled, cheering Little up.
What do you get when you get a financially bankrupt country
Where the mentally insane roam the streets
Of the polluted landscape?
-California, 2031
-4:13am
“Wake up all!!!” shouted Raffk, “Wake up, wake up, wake up! Gotta go to work.”
Both Little & Lotus rose from their cots to strap into their handmade armor, lifting their suspenders & zippers. The attire consists of factory uniforms hidden beneath strips & shells of steel armor. The shells were leftover finds from the riots, the authoritative rights protest which became a riot once the military fired at the crowds.
“We have to make good timing, the nutters might be out there by now so pack up some weaponry.”
After getting clothed, Raffk, Little & Lotus walked towards the minivan. It was silent & dark, but in a matter of hours it would become light & loud. The van drove off the garage & into the vacant streets, the world still sleeps.
Left & right, nothing but empty plots of land & abandoned houses.
“Stop here Raffk!”
Raffk stepped on the breaks. “What is it Little?”
Little slid the van door open & ran towards the vacant plot of land. Trudging through the sand & marching like a tin soldier, Little grabs an aluminum can & rises it over his head.
“Nice eye Little!!” shouted Lotus.
As little marched back to the van, a horrid looking woman with gray thinning hair approached him in a drunken rage.
“God wants you to leave his house!!!!” yelled the fowl smelling crazy woman as she grabbed Little by the collar & blew chunk filled saliva on his face.
“Damn, pass me the bat Lotus.” ordered Raffk.
“Hey, madam. Let off the kid, he’s not messing with anyone.” Raffk marched towards the woman with his bat hidden behind him. “We’re not in god’s house, remember? This is just land. Remember, God is dead, the Chinese IOU killed him.” Raffk inched nearer to the lady as she still continued to grab Little’s collar.
“Get out!!!” cried the gross woman. “Get outta here!! I‘manana call satan to skin you alive!!!”
“Let go of my friend & I‘ll go away.”
“Get outta god’s..”
“Let go of him!!”
Get outta here!!!” the deranged woman tossed Little to the sand & pulled out a knife from her saggy cleavage. Raffk charged towards the woman & smacked his bat onto her ribs. Raffk heard a battle cry from a distance. He knew, clear as day, that the cry isn’t coming from a bird or a wolf.
“Get up Little, the psych gangs might get here in zero to one.” Raffk got little up on his toes & helped him run back to the van.
Later on they arrive at a junkyard where a park once stood. Everywhere they looked there were mounds of trash in that has not yet been picked by the other competing scavengers. The young people dug though dumpsters & the mounds to find anything they deemed worthy of value.
“Hey look, bicycle handle bars!” shouted Lotus.
“Toss it in the van, we can get a price for it.” replied Raffk.
“What about this?” asked Little as she held out a crumpled newspaper.
“The recycling center doesn’t accept paper anymore, remember?”
“Ah yeah, I forgot.”
“Come on people, find something the recycling center would pay for.”
Raffk leaned on the wooden fences & watched the mounds with a flask of alcohol he had hidden in his armor. He heard the sound of various footsteps, coming nearer & a mix of eerie chattering.
‘Must be nothing, probably mangy rats digging around the mounds. Hope the two don’t get bitten.’
Then Raffk heard the same war cry he heard back at that vacant lot.
‘It’s the Psych Gangs.’ thought Raffk. They appeared out of the darkness, wearing worn out hospital garments as they marched barefoot with their steel pipes on their hands & nicely painted decals on their faces. They stood ontop of the mounds of trash, looking down at Raffk, smiling their sinister smiles.
The front man of the gang whistled & pointed at Raffk as he stood there & looked up.
“Oh fuck. Guys!!! Get back to the van, quick!!”
The Psych Gang watched as the three fled to their van, shouting their toothless growl & leaping towards the moving van. Two of them managed to the roof, they held onto the roof railing as they readied their dynamite sticks.
“They’re on the roof, someone take care of it!!” yelled Raffk as Lotus took out her modified super soaker & opened the small rooftop window. The two crazed men saw the opportunity arise & desperately tried to fit into the small open van window. Lotus flicked her lighter on to burn the small candle torch in front of the soaker’s barrel.
“Get behind me Little!!” Lotus burned the arms & legs of the demented savages, they fell off the roof with their arms & legs still burning.
“Good work, the sun’s almost up. We better get to the recycling center now.”
A young man in white armor, holding a machine gun, approached the van.
“State your business.” he asked.
“We got junk.” replied Raffk.
“We got a haul!” he shouted to the armed guard above the gate. “Open the gate!!”
The two tall & mighty shards of decorated metal opened up & exposed the landfill full of precious metals being grabbed by robotic claws & tossed into incinerators & melted into small molds.
A fat man in a leisure suit approached Raffk as he held a small handheld calculator & chewed in a small meat stick. “One pound of cans, a bycicle steering wheel, 2oz of crumpled aluminum foil & a bag full of disassembled video game cartridges (Five Decades old).” the fat man pulled a note from his fanny pack & handed it to Raffk. “All that worth one crisp dollar.”
Raffk & his team sit in the dimly lit him kitchen as he dispenses specific rations of baked beans, straight from the can.
“We did good today, but we have to wake up much earlier tomorrow. I‘m thinking of going up North & see what we find in the ritzy estates.” said Raffk as he chewed the small beans.
“But what if we don’t get a great hall tomorrow? Like, we find not a single can or shard of foil?” asked Little with some worry in him.
“Then we will fail on that day to succeed in another day.”
Lotus smiled, cheering Little up.