NaNoWriMo - Chapter 2

Kenji Higa

Caara Island, one of the only inhabitable places remaining on this ruined planet. To think politicians were so stupid centuries ago, using nuclear warfare to solve their problems. Then again, are we any different?

The day I joined the Eradication Squad, I was promised a role in protecting the city. If I had known that included staring at a fifty-foot high brick wall all day, I would’ve become a researcher instead. Okay, maybe not a researcher—I don’t have the patience to stare at test tubes or listen to the scientific lingo. Waste management is probably more suitable for me. Being on the squad isn’t all bad, though. Most days we have to save the city from a rogue squirrel. Today, however, our main mission is to stand here, at the wall, all day. With half the city in a panic over the virus and the other half fleeing to the outskirts of the island, there’s not much happening.

The lonely streets are peaceful in a way. It gives me time to daydream about being a waste management supervisor and saving the city one trashcan at a time. It’s nearly silent, other than the occasional sound of a truck driving past or the construction workers drilling steel beams in the tall unfinished buildings. It’s as if the city officials held a meeting and said, People are dying from the incurable virus, so let’s build yet another useless building to block out the sun. I cringe thinking about it.