(Rose)
I wake up alone. I remember then that she's still there with me. Always.
I bring my left hand to my chest where she takes her roots. It grows from something missing where my ribs should meet. The middle of my ribcage is where she starts. Over time, it shifted from wounds I still have scars for, to there. And she's still there. I sigh in relief.
I can hear the sea and the wind.
Outside, the world is cold and bleak currently. Inside my tent, it's a warm place. I curl up a little and cuddle what I can of Blume around myself.
After a few minutes, I dress up, and then pack up. I have nothing left to eat in my bag.
As I walk on the shore, I pick up a few shells that I'll cook later. I find mussels on the wrecks of boats that litter the shores.
There are lots of wreckages on this shore. Some vessels are so big that they're stuck a mile away in the sea. Oh they have sunk, but they're maybe half a mile long so they couldn't sink closer to the shore. I wonder what such large ships carried.
Along the wrecks and rubbish covering the shore, I see no bird.
It's ghastly.
Some giant metallic crates made it to the shore. Giant metallic crates, rusted to the core. They carried boxes of something. It's filled with mould now, mushrooms are peering through the openings of the rust.
I'd like to see what's inside the giant ships broken apart in the distance.
We can hardly find anything left that would still float.
Until we do. Inside a military ship that ran aground along with the others. It was obviously a warship, given the size of the numerous canons or turrets spread across it. The ship was all rusted through its core as well, but with so thick a hull that it remained in rather good shape.
I climbed a ladder and went inside. It's a tilted underwater palace of some sort. It looks like cities sewers now. Some things are moving in the dark and are avoiding me.
I find old cookware, and various items damp, eaten by moulds.
In a more secure chest, I found an inflatable orange boat. It inflated by itself when I pulled on a string on it, and blocked the corridor. My knife couldn't cur through it. I went around and picked up another one cautiously, and took it away.
~
Back on the shore, I built a camp and planned my itinerary. I sculpted a row. I made a fire generously nourished with some flammable products gathered around. I left most of my belongings by the camp and went on my boat, toward the immense sunken ship standing in the distance.
I'm going to scavenge goods like I did in every town and city we go through. This time it's a ship as big as a village.
I row slowly across the water. I leave the shore behind and get closer to the dark wall obstructing the horizon. A ship maybe bigger than the Titanic was. It looks so big it could be a floating city for all I know.
I reach it. I can't see a way to climb on board from where I am. I end up finding a hollow a few metres above us.
Blume helps me. She stretches out and throws herself up there like a rope or whips. A moment later, I'm being pulled up as if a crane was lifting me. I feel like I'm slowly flying to this opening. I land on a set of corridors filled with pipes.
Blume throws herself down this time, and pulls the boat up to us. I have to help her pull so I don't fall. The orange boat reaches us and gets inside too.
I'm pulling our boat through a large damp corridor toward stairs I can see that should lead to the main deck.
It does in a way. There is no deck as I pictured it. The ship is actually hollow, and filled with an incredible number of those metallic crates the size of two good sheds.
The deck, if I can call it that way, is below the floating line. Well, now it's below the sea level I should say. The piles of crates go on deep below and high above. There are hundreds, if not thousands.
A maybe ten stories building looks like the command post a little further. I'm more curious about the crates for now.
It would take months to check them all by myself.
I leave my boat around that slim top deck I'm on. Beyond a handrail is a fall to the water inside, or crates below. There are catwalks between pules of crates. Some fell over each other. It's a mess;
We go to crates we can reach and try to open them. I need Blume's magical strength to open them through the rust. She covers my arms, legs and hands. With our combined strength, we can open the locks and doors otherwise impossible. We bend the metal even. They make an old metallic noise that is rather typical when we force them open.
The first box contained... I'm not sure. It's rotted. The second one was worse even, and I almost vomited on the spot. I guess it carried food, years ago.
Another one carried books and flowers, both made in plastics.
Another one, tools, I think. Then clothing, lots of clothing but everything was mush and putrid.
After a while I realised that all rusty crates were probably worthless now. Maybe some in the middle of the piles were still good? We went to look.
We made some piles fall in terrible ruckus.
Then we found the core of the bread that mould didn't ate yet. Some crates still had some of their original colours left.
Various goods in more or less better shape followed. Cans of paints. Toilet seats, furniture, metallic components. Most were still rotted with their sealing and wrapping.
I found a box filled with smaller boxes, carrying pens. That was in a container carrying various kinds of goods.
I took a few more minutes to look at the fountain pens. The nibs weren't in gold but they looked good. I kept a few. I liked pens. I found some more nice stationery there. It's as pointless as jewellery would be nowadays, but I'm happier holding a nice pen than I would be with a large gem.
Night is already falling. We opened a few last crates before leaving. Clothing again. Some tires. Ammunitions of some sort. Logs of wood? Large beads of glass... I wonder what for.
Then one carrying a sudden putrid aroma. I looked away for a second and the smell fainted rapidly.
It carried boxes of bottles, with alcohol I guess given the stench. I took a look at the ones that weren't broken. No name I could recognise, not that I knew many.
I picked a box of what looked like sturdy bottles, not round but square and short.
We opened a few more crates. It's an addictive game to open them and discover what they hold. I saw sport equipment. Skis, rackets, balls. Fishing lines even? I found another thing then I didn't expect at first. Bows and arrows. I guess hunting and fishing equipment were categorised along ball and snow sports somehow. I don't think I need a bow or a crossbow, and I know too little about fishing to pick the right tools there. But it was funny to see that centuries later, archery was still a valued British sport.
I see a bike like the one my friend has.
I pick up a weird pair of shoes that intrigues me. I close the door and we begin to leave as it starts to rain and it's really dark already.
We reach the orange boat and go back to the opening in the hull. I remember seeing ropes and climbing gear in the sports crates, it could help.
We go back and bring back what we can carry. I attach a harness to myself while Blume sets the rope. It's raining a lot now. The winds get stronger.
I climb down with a heavy backpack. We reach the boat and slowly return to land.
I get tired to row. Night is there and the rain gets even stronger. I slip and lose the row. I curse it.
Blume checks the depts. And says I can walk. I jump in the water and fall. I drown a little and manage to walk thereafter, coughing. I'm freezing. I slowly reach the shore. My fire is gone but some flammable cans remain inside the shelter made in the pile of empty crates.
I start a new fire in the shelter and begin to dry myself. I'm shivering.
But I'm smiling.
This was interesting.
~
Later at night, I'm lazing by the fire. We're discussing the findings.
R - I know writings mean little now. It still is important to me. I like these kinds of items.
B - I can guess what those shoes are for. This could be fun.
R - I think so too. It's worth trying. They're a little big, but if they can roll, it would be like skating...
The fire is melting some of the cans I threw inside. Burning plastic smells bad and I cough a little. I smile as I look at the box of bottles.
R - You remember what we discussed regarding alcohol?
B - I do.
R - I thought our best chance to find some was in a deep old cave of a house somewhere in the countryside.
B - We were lucky. Aren't you feeling playful lately?
R - Eh. Perhaps I have. A little maybe.
I raise my smile.
We shall see.
~