Hi again!
Oh, how time flies when we’re having fun…
Well, I wouldn’t call the recent months to be fun in the traditional sense but I certainly did get a lot of school course work done still working toward my degree. However, now that it is over with and my free time is my own again, I wanted to get back into my writing, diving headlong in and hoping for the best. So, after tackling several writing prompts, nearly a weeks worth to be exact, this was the latest snippet of what I’m hoping to make a recurring appearance, at least once a week, giving an update to this or other character/stories that scream for my attention while I work on my main novel.
Originally, this was posted over on my deviantart page, but for those of you who’d rather not be dragged away over there to see, just check below the line for the latest submission!
As always, thanks for dropping by and taking the time to read. Happy to read comments/thoughts/suggestions if you choose to leave ‘em.
Thanks!
-Sam
Caleb stood up from the recently deceased body and sighed.
“Schultz, that’s the fifth this week…” He said, scratching his head as he stared down at the lifeless man.
“And it won’t be the last,” Schultz nodded back toward the road, “c’mon,” he added and turned and walked away.
”There’s always more…” Caleb mumbled.
He adjusted the over-sized bag on his back, centering the heavy load between his shoulders. The various bits and pieces within shifted and settled with every step as he trotted after his friend. As he caught up, he didn’t say anything, only fell in step behind him.
They walked for a time without a word. The whisper of the soft breeze rolling through the overgrown grass as it passed between them. The sun had already started to climb high into the morning sky. The birds, their vibrant shades of blue and red and brown, zipped along the full, billowy, clouds. He’d never told Schultz, but it was his favorite part of their time together. Not the rushing from city to city, not the ever-present threat of bandits and burglars along the abandoned highways, but the long stretches of open field, the grounds reclaimed by Mother Nature over the years, that lay between them and their destination.
Caleb watched the slow-rolling clouds keep pace with them for a long moment before breaking the silence.
“You still think its worth it?”
“Do I think what is worth what?”
“All of this. Movin’ place to place even when we find a fair spot we could stay? Trying to help folks even when most of ’em don’t want to be helped?”
“Everyone wants help, Caleb,” Schultz gestured his arms open wide from under the folds of his long black coat, “there is still a reason to live, even if some don’t see it.”
He stared at Schultz, a silent hope for more than to justify their endless travel. Schultz continued silently.
The long, crooked, cone nose–like the beak of a bird–jutted out from the mask over his face, as if pointing the way. Green lenses set into large, round, copper goggles reflected the light over the eye sockets. Dr. Schultz maintained the unsettling mixture of man and crow to his appearance, like the plague doctors from the stories of old. Only they weren’t fighting a plague.
“Caleb, you’re a good man, but I beg you to have faith in the work that we do.” Schultz said. He fished around in the folds of his coat and pulled out a golden locket that hung on a chain around his neck and flicked it open.
“How could we live with ourselves, once we arrive, if we hadn’t done all we could along the way?” He closed the locket and tucked it back into his layered clothes.
“Where to next?” Caleb asked.
Sam Hughes 
Leave a comment