Kei 7 - Inspection

Published on 2024年6月30日

Before the events of KEI 6

Doug stopped moving when he heard a quiet buzzing sound. He looked up and squinted his eyes. A black dot hovered under the cloudy skies. The size of dot expanded. Then Doug realized what it was.

He immediately ran to the farmhouse. When he reached inside, he shut the door closed.

“Alex! You have to see this!”

The red haired young man turned to Doug, his face bewildered. “What’s the matter?” Alex asked.

Doug pointed towards the window.

As the black dot approached, its actual shape was clearer. It was a disc with an outer ring around it. A blade sliced the air in the space between the disc and ring, spinning like a revolving fan. The object moved in a periodic cycle of moving and then pausing.

“A drone,” Alex said. Doug felt something eerie as the drone drifted in the sky. After all, he had never seen a drone or frankly any operating machinery since the plague five years ago. The drone probably had sensed the farmhouse and if Doug had to guess, it was now going to inspect it.

“We cannot risk it,” Alex said quietly, “We must go to the cellar. That is the only place we will be safe.”

Doug hesitated as he held his sight. “But does this mean that there are survivors left? Cannot just be a stray drone flying around.”

“Heck I know. They made some mad stuff back in the day. And even if it was sent by a survivor, it doesn’t mean they are friendly.” Suddenly, Alex grabbed Doug’s arm. “We gotta go now,” he said, “or it’s going to be too late.” However, Doug resisted the tug. The drone still captured his attention.

“We might not have an opportunity like this ever again,” Doug said, “If there are survivors left, then this is our chance.”

Alex raised his voice. “Do you want us getting fucking killed? We cannot trust it! We already destroyed ourselves once. Who knows what is out there. Could be fucking aliens.”

“But we only destroyed ourselves once! Stop assuming the worst. We can rebuild and learn from our mistakes. I would rather try to do something than hiding in the corner doing nothing. And didn’t you say that we will wait for survivors to come to us?”

Alex’s face grew red. “That was five years ago, Doug! And look how well we are living. This is our one chance to live peacefully and don’t ruin it. We need to go now! And if you are going to refuse to hide, I will force you to it.”

The drone was now about forty feet away. Doug fought against Alex’s pull. Maybe it was safer hiding. But living the rest of his life inside this shabby farmhouse… No, not when there was a greater world out there. He had to do it.

Doug broke his arm from Alex’s and burst out the door. Doug ignored Alex’s shouting as he ran through the fields towards the drone. He reached just below it and jumped, raising his hands. He saw the bottom of the drone, thirty feet below.

“Hello!” Doug shouted, “There are two of us survivors! We are perfectly healthy. Please come back to us!”

The drone froze in place.

Doug gathered more breath. “We are friendly!”

Doug did not know if Alex was right or wrong. But it was worth the risk.

Author note:

The setting is inspired by the music video of ZUTOMAYO’s “QUILT” of a rural post-apocalypse kind of setting. However, my original vision for it has shifted a lot before settling for this idea.

This chapter originally had much more background and lore involved, but I decided to cut it out because it felt too boring and ruined the pace of the story. This also give me a lot of flexibility later on as I intend to return to this setting, though probably in a different point of view character. I promise there are characters and factions in this series, just that I haven’t introduced their full story yet.

Thanks for reading! Any feedback would be appreciated.

- thairanaru

This work by thairanaru is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

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