In the hardest of times, integrity is even more important.
The prompt is:
RUINED CITY
Darien and Luisa stared at the ruins across the valley. The crumbling skyline of the City had gaps where the bombs had left craters.
“Are you sure about this?” Darien’s voice wavered.
Luisa turned to look at him. “Suck it up, Dar. You know as well as I do that we can’t go back without a big score. A really big score.” She turned back to the ruins. “Thanks to you.”
One little mistake, he wanted to say, but held his tongue instead. They’d had that argument again and again during the three-day trek to the City. When he didn’t respond, Luisa stood and shouldered her pack and pulse rifle.
“Come on. It’ll be dark soon.”
The pale sun, though high in the sky, was barely visible. The overcast remnants of nuclear winter meant the world hung in a constant state of twilight. Climbing the slope through the ruins of suburbs, their rad-meters also climbed through yellow and orange. When they flickered red, Luisa stopped.
“Okay, we’ve got maybe thirty minutes here. Less if we go deeper.”
Darien looked at the abandoned and looted tract houses. “Probably not much here.”
“Yeah. You go that way.” She pointed to the left. “I’ll go there. No more than another klick toward the City, and meet back here in thirty. Got it?”
Darien just nodded and set off at a run.
Thirty minutes later, Luisa jogged to a halt back at their meeting place. Her pack held a meager collection of light bulbs. On the ground, though, Darien’s pack bulged with transformers, motors, and a mini-generator. Hearing a moan from the weeds next to the road, she spun around. Her brother lay there, blood oozing from his eyes, ears, and nose.
“I pay my debts,” he wheezed and gasped one last time.
THE END
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