11 Unconfirmed

2034

"What is this crap on my window?!" Eli yells from the driver seat.

He pulls out his bandana, leans out the window, and swipes at the glass to remove some of the liquid brown mud from his windshield. Blue Scarf grasps the wheel with one hand, keeping it steady.

"Yes."

"What?"

"It's crap."

"Dammit." Eli tosses his bandana out the window. "Ugh, I got some on my hand. Dammit!"

Blue Scarf eyes Eli to make sure he isn't going to touch him and glances at the side mirror. He counts each truck that follows behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vanessa fiddles with Greg's hat and puts it on her head. The bumpy ride makes it harder for Raymond to pour water on the cloth in his hand without spilling it. Drops of water spill onto his leg and he grimaces. He puts the jug between his legs and puts a cap on it. He uses the cloth to dap at the cut on his arm. It isn't bleeding too bad, but he hopes the blade wasn't dirty before it was used on him.

Sia sees Raymond dabbing at the wound with only water, and frowns. She opens her bag beside her and looks for alcohol or some sort of disinfectant. She doesn't find any.

"Do any of you have alcohol or peroxide?"

"Greg did." Raymond mutters.

Vanessa sits silent. Raymond signals Sia with his head and motions toward Greg's bag at the back of the truck. Sia wobbles to the back and looks through it. It's too dark to tell objects apart, so she starts placing some of the items onto the floor one by one.

"Hey! You can't just toss someone's stuff around!" Vanessa yells.

"What?" Sia doesn't get to say more before the other female rushes at her and snatches the bag from her hands.

Vanessa nudges her away and puts all the items back into the bag.

"It's not yours! Here." Vanessa pulls out the alcohol bottle and tosses it at Sia.

Sia's knees buckle as she stumbles forward to catch the small container.

"Hey! Be careful with that stuff!" Sia yells at the back of the woman.

Vanessa curls around the bag and sits in the back corner facing away from everyone. Sia sighs deeply and moves over to Raymond.

"You should disinfect that. You never know what those people have on their weapons. Who were they anyway?"

"Savages. They're everywhere. Crazies that went insane while starving. Lost their humanity. The radiation mutated some of them. Others ate too much human flesh - too much mutated human flesh. It changes you. Some of the animals out here have poison infused with their meat. They probably eat those suckers too."

Sia's frown deepens.

'If it's not one thing, it's another. Animals are mutated, humans turned into crazies. What's next?' she thinks to herself.

Raymond pours some of the alcohol onto his arm and holds his breath as it burns his skin.

"I wonder who made all this happen?" Sia says to Raymond as he begins to wrap his arm with a clean bandage.

"You don't know?" Raymond raises a brow and stops mid-motion.

Sia shrugs.

"I never really asked. I'm not ever in this sort of position."

"You really are treated like a princess, aren't you?"

Sigh.

"Nooo. I'm a janitor. A..a custodian! I take care of people and their homes, their workplaces. I'm just not used to being out in the open."

"Huh. Still seems odd you don't know about the start of the war. Us, Wanderers, go all over, and people may not agree on what happened to start it all, but we all know WHO did it. The Underlings."

"Underlings?"

"Yup, they attacked Cinalia, then every known allies' coast. One by one until they all surrendered."

"But they're pacifists!"

"Not anymore. Whatever happened back then, they attacked, and they won. We all lost. We lost bad. Aid used to come to help us at the beginning, but we're all forgotten now. No one cares about the lost souls of Old Cinalia."

Sia stares at her knees and thinks about his words.

'Is this true?' she asks the device.

INFORMATION INCONCLUSIVE

She had assumed that the attackers were another known antagonist among the First World nations. Not the pacifist Underling nation. Their superior technology would definitely change the sway of any war, so they had quickly reported to the other nations their firm belief in neutrality. They were the largest neutral nation on earth. Their kingdom had territories within every ocean. No one would have been able to escape such a global attack.

Sia wonders why Lil Puter can't find any information about the war online, but Raymond has so much information.

"How do you know this?" she asks him after a long silence.

"Huh? Everyone knows. I'm a Wanderer. This whole region has been traveled, and people talk. We all know it was the Underlings. Cinalia was definitely the main target too. Why else would they obliterate us so thoroughly? We must have provoked them." Raymond nods at the last of his words and tucks the rest of his stuff into his bag.

Sia can't fully believe this information. It may be based on propaganda or some leftover materials someone latched onto. When she finds the lab, she will search for more information, and more ways to contact a satellite. Without counting the Underlings, New Cinalia had the best technology of any of the First World nations. The only true defense against the secret oceanic nation. It all can't be gone.

Sia thinks of her family. They probably didn't survive any of the attacks. What kind of warning did anyone get? If it was like the lab's warning, they probably had a few seconds to know the end was coming. Her eyes tear up and she squeezes at her knees in order to keep it all together. Grieving about events that happened 16 years ago would be odd. She can't draw that kind of attention to herself.

"Buuuut....you're fine right?"

"Uuuuh. Yea. I'm fine. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Traveling with a caravan has its advantages. Are you alright? I thought one of the Savages shot at you..." Raymond eyes Sia's body from the side.

Sia waves an arm. "No, No. I'm fine. They had bad aim. Barely fired near me."

"You definitely held your own out there. I judged you wrong." Raymond pats her shoulder.

"Ha." Sia tries to smile, but it just turns into a nervous grimace.

"It's alright. There's nothing we could do about Greg." Raymond's hand stays on her shoulder.

Sia shrugs it off.

"Yea. I wish the guards had noticed them before they got to him."

Raymond takes back his hand and points out at the wilderness they are driving away from.

"Well, there's more and more of that stuff out here. Better get used to it. Either you notice before it gets you or they got you. I should have went out with him, instead of resting back here. But he was that sort of guy. Used to doing things all on his own. Watching out for everyone."

Sia nods and looks over at Vanessa.

"She was close to him?" she whispers.

"Mmm. We just gotta give her some time."

Sia nods and motions over at the empty seats nearby.

"I'm gonna just...take a nap."

Raymond turns away and looks out at the passing landscapes.

Sia uses her backpack as a pillow and asks Lil Putter the same thing she has asked before bed every night.

'Have you got any updated information on survivors of New Cinalia or America?' She thinks.

NO NEW DATA

DATABASE OF NEW CINALIA CORRUPTED

AMERICAN RECORDS: SURVIVOR RECORDS INCOMPLETE

SEARCH INCONCLUSIVE