THE DEAD END AT 38TH AVE

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

goo.gl/maps/8zHn5

This dead end leads to the back yards of some very nice houses. The massive overgrowth threatens to make it look like a true wilderness of ruins.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Takuji had run from horrorboys.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=subpar2&action=display&thread=419 the spooky house at 1617 37th avenue, and was looking for an out of the way place to rest. He jogged off the main street and around a corner found a dead end. The plants here were beautiful and stretched powerfully into the streets, like a comforting country glade with an unfortunate asphalt meadow in its shade. Grass splitting the edges of the concrete seemed eager to erase that last detail.

He walked quickly to the end, where three cars sat empty and old. One was covered in a canvas tarp, and he lay on its trunk, finally resting. He let out a rattling sigh.

Was that Jacob guy dead?

No point in worrying about that.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Later, he woke with a start. Something was walking nearby. He rolled off the car in what he surmised was the opposite direction, and went into a low crouch.

She walked by like she was real and he was a ghost, outdated hipster clothes from that recent year when granny blouses had come into style briefly. She didn't notice him and kept walking, across the street to another house, then, carefully, through its door.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

The young man hesitated for a moment... Could that woman be something like the blood thirsty maniac he'd encountered earlier, just cleaner?
It seemed too silly. What was he even looking for out here? Food of course, but it was something else, wasn't it? It had been nice to talk with Jacob earlier, he didn't realize how long he'd gone without even seeing other humans.
He cautiously made his way to the house she'd entered, standing across the lawn and watching.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

There was a distant sound of motion in the house, only audible above the birds and insects because of the intense quiet of the post-electric world. The lawn between them was up to his shoulders.

Abruptly she came out onto a porch, and looking across the grass, saw him. She stood still, looking.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

We waved weakly, feeling silly.

Young Woman-
"Hello!"

She came through the grass, carrying a bucket of water, a towel over her shoulder, and set the burden down near him to talk.

Takuji-
"Hello! I'm Takuji. Do you live here?"


Young Woman-
"Takuji. I'm Racquel. I live here. Where do you live?"


Takuji-
"I was in Capitol Hill, I just come here today. There's not many people here...
Is this a good place to be?"


Racquel-
"I think it is. There's probably more people around than you know,
but I stay with my family. We don't go anywhere."

Racquel shifted on her feet. She looked underfed, but very clean. A random bug flew between them
and disappeared. The sun lit flecks of pollen as they twisted in the breeze.

Takuji-
"I only have people once before, I'm by myself now. Well, I don't want to bother you,
but it's nice to talk to someone."

He mimicked her foot shift, he was already getting to feel more bashful around other people than
he had in secondary school. She looked at him more directly.

There was something in her eyes. She was as lonely as he was. They were aware, then, of each other
as humans - as vessels of need, of lusting creatures. Her face was young and tired, her lips trembled
just slightly and held. It wouldn't have been unlikely for them to start making out in that moment,
but they did not.

Racquel-
"Takuji. Are you lonely? Would you want to stay with us?"


Takuji-
"Um, m-maybe... yeah I could, uh, I go see it there..."

They walked into the back yard on the other side of the alley, picking out stones of a path,
mostly obscured by tall grass. The path human travel had cut through it was reminiscent of
a deer path in the woods. It was a small yard, and they came to the stairs. As they scaled
the short steps, Takuji took in the details in vivid color. This house had been extremely
well maintained until recently, the stained red wood of the deck still a vivid red, the paint
on the sides of the building some high quality material that had barely begun to collect grime
from the passage of this wild summer. Dragonflies lazily sat on the railing.

Racquel-
"It is just my father and I. We buried my brother a month ago...
I still think of him as with us sometimes."

He relaxed a little at the idea that it was just two people. Maybe it was just big groups that went sour...

Takuji-
"I'm so sorry about your brother. It's good you have a father here.
I don't even know if Japan is-- well, you understand I think."

He watched the dragonflies for a moment.

"It is a beautiful house."

She smiled weakly and they went inside.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

The inside of the house left no doubt. These had been moneyed people. The large room was warmed by tall windows high above, the furniture spare and modern. She walked him through the place and spoke.

Racquel-
"I don't know how long it's going to take, but we are very good, and ready."


Takuji-
"Hm, sorry, how do you mean?"


Racquel-
"When the good father calls us home. I don't know how much longer it will be. Maybe a hundred years, maybe tomorrow. But we're about ready, aren't we?"


Takuji-
"Ohh, mn. Yeah."

He figured she was talking about something Christian, he hadn't really paid much attention to the details of that religion, other than Christmas, Jesus and crosses, and people in rural areas were more fervent believers. Some of his Korean exchange friends tried to get him to go to church before, but he didn't. He figured he'd stay quiet and reverent about it, that usually worked.

They came to an upstairs room in the sun. A well-kempt man sat in there, and turned to see them.

Racquel's Dad-
"Whoa! You surprised me."


Racquel-
"Dad, this is Takuji. He's thinking about staying with us, if that's OK. Takuji, this is Clark."


Clark-
"Maybe he can. Takuji, welcome to our home. What do you think?"


Takuji-
"It's a beautiful home, very nice. Thank you..."

He made a friendly head-nod, a modification to the knee-jerk bowing reflex he still had.

Takuji-
"I don't want to impose, please tell me if I can be helpful."


Clark-
"Just stay clean, be good, and share the food and water. That's all we ask. It seems like many people now find that too much to ask."

It looked like Takuji had a home, barring any unforeseen unpleasance...

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

SOME TIME LATER








Takuji had lived with the Salters for a long quiet time. There were moments alone with Racquel that seemed magically intimate, though they didn't do much more than hold hands.

But the rest of the time was shockingly tedious and awkward. Clark expected him to bathe twice a day and keep his clothes clean. He actually liked staying clean himself, but it just got to be too much. He didn't understand at first, but discovered it was a religious idea. They needed to stay physically clean so they'd be more likely to catch the Rapture out of this mess.

And what a mess it was. The house was clean as a slightly dusty whistle. This was a different kind of mess. They had very little to eat and drink. The rationing was severe, and they refused to scavenge beyond the closest houses on the block. Takuji spent part of one day passed out from hunger. No one seemed to think anything of it.

One day in the austere house of former luxury, Clark called them to the sunny room for a bible reading.

Clark-
"'...And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb'... White from blood. How could that be?"


Racquel-
"The blood of god can only make things clean."


Takuji-
"..."

Takuji couldn't follow the story or the message, as usual. Maybe starvation had weakened the language center of his brain, or just his ability to relate to the arcane texts. It reminded him of his friends back home endlessly discussing details and stories of video games he'd never play.

Clark seemed to have some reservations about Takuji, unsurprisingly, and gave him judgmental looks from time to time. On this occasion, they fell a bit hot against his cheeks. He daydreamed to quiet the droning insistence of this unpleasant scene.

The religious portion of events seemed to end when he wasn't paying attention. The man gave him some flack about needing to use bleach.

It was tiresome, and depressing. The droning about the end times seemed worse in many ways than just facing the monsters and going on as if this was all there was ever going to be. He thought sometimes about Jacob and other people around. No one else lived in the cul-de-sac, they'd long taken everything of value from the nearby homes, and the world was empty and silent. The plants outside were like a jungle, and they almost obscured the sight of the rest of the city. He had to go, he was sick of being hungry, and sick of being depressed.

When they got a moment alone, he told Racquel he was going to go out to look for more supplies, further than they'd gone before. She looked at him in a way that told him she knew, but didn't say anything like that.

Racquel-
"Yes. That. Ought to be good."


Takuji-
"Um, you can come with me... if you want."

She took a long time to answer. Her thin body swayed in the breeze on that back porch. The dragonflies were nowhere to be seen. Wisps of pollen swirled in the air. Some distant starlings erupted into a chorus of croaks, like flying toads. Her thick eyebrows knit and unknit themselves, her freckles cheeks remained slack. She looked through him, then into another world.

Racquel-
"I'm too weak to go. But I'm patient as Job."


Takuji-
"Don't you-- I can help you. There's food outside... I saw other people."


Racquel-
"You just get the food and come back then, OK?"

She clearly knew he wasn't coming back, but didn't want to talk as if it was true. He could understand that now, but not why.

He started to wonder if he really should come back with food. It was just too sad, imagining the girl going without food forever, living in this lonely place.

Takuji-
"Okay... Goodbye... Sorry."


Racquel-
"I'll see you later, Takuji."