The smallest being can save a life

[Gena Martin]

Monty Green

With Farm station not found yet, there weren't many survivors from that station known to the Ark at the moment. Gena was one of them. As a cook and bartender people valued her knowledge of edibles and what wasn't edible. With Arkadia not yet self sustaining, she knew they had to find what they needed in the wild, preferably roots. From the delinquents time on the ground before the Ark came down, they knew there were plants in the woods, some around the drop ship. There would probably not be enough for everyone in one run, but hopefully enough to get started on proper food.

Gena sat in the back of the rover, a guard with her and she knew the other kid from farm would be Monty. They had seen each other before, been friendly on farm, but they hadn't really spent much quality time yet, not alone. The guard didn't really count. When she saw the other, Gena smiled. "Hey Monty." she greeted the boy from her station. She was kind of excited to see him again. He looked good, tougher than on the Ark, but she noticed that before. Just not that closely. "Ready?" She added. "Digging in the ground, sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it?"

[Monty Green]

Monty had only been told that morning that he'd be going outside of Arkadia in search of food, he knew that since he'd grown up on farm station that he had knowledge of edible plants, he didn't know as much as some of the others from farm did, but he didn't want to be a farmer, he'd chosen to train to be an engineer and you didn't need to know much about farming in that line of work. However, since farm station had yet to be found, if there was anything left of it to find, there weren't many people from farm station in Arkadia, Monty was one of the few that originally came from the station and therefore had knowledge of farming, that made him one of the most eligible people to go digging through dirt in search of the roots that would be safe for them to eat.

Approaching the rover, the boy soon spotted Gena sitting in the back, a smile appeared on his face as he drew closer and noticed that she too, was smiling. "Hey Gena!" he muttered in response to her greeting, pleased that it was her that he'd be accompanying outside the gates. He remembered her kindness on the ark, she'd been nice to him on the few occasions that they actually got to talk and he figured that she was better than some of the other people that he could be spending his time with. Climbing into the rover, he pulled the door closed behind him before taking a seat opposite the young woman, he was ready, as ready as he'd ever be. He laughed softly at her words "yeah, didn't think I'd ever have to do it again when I was recruited by engineering" he told her offering a small shrug of his shoulders.

Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

Gena laughed at that. She was glad it was Monty. At least he had an idea which plants could be right for them. It was not just because he was from farm. It was not just because his parents grew plants - medicinal, as far as Gena knew. It was alos because he had been on the ground. And from what she heard, Monty had been in touch with what the delinquents had done to survive. He had knowledge that was valuable to all of them, far beyond his intelligence. Gena knew how true that was. Monty, even though quiet, was a mind that could bring down mountains - he had proven that - or could have saved the Ark and he probably didn't even realize what potential for greatness he truly had. One day the time would be right to tell him. It wasn't right right now. 

"I think none of us expected to be on the ground." Gena admitted. She certainly didn't. All of it came fast. All of it came way too fast actually. But they survived, somehow. And more could be out there. It was still a fight, but it was a fight worth fighting. "There's worse than looking for food: There could be sorting through clothing all day. At least we will see things." And do things and get out. "Besides I guess you could have worse company."

Monty Green

[Monty Green]

Monty nodded at Gena's words, nobody had expected to be on the ground. Monty hadn't even known that it was possible, as far as he knew, earth wasn't survivable. They were still alive though, not all of them, many had been lost, but things were looking good for those that remained. "Sorting through clothes does sound kind of dull" he agreed, getting out of Arkadia for the day could prove to be rewarding, spending every day in Arkadia got boring quickly, at least this was an opportunity to do something different.

When the rest of farm station was found, there would be others to do the job for them, perhaps people who had more experience in farming than either of them did, despite growing up on the station themselves and when that happened then they wouldn't have many opportunities like this to get out of Arkadia. Monty was grateful that Gena was the one that he would be going with, at least he knew her on some level. The only other person he'd want to go with who'd also grown up on farm was Jasper and he spent most of his time drinking these days anyway. Since Monty would rather be in the company of someone who was sober, Gena seemed to be his best option. "Yeah, maybe we'll even enjoy digging in the ground" he suggested, the actual job of digging around looking for food couldn't offer too much entertainment, but he figured that they could at least enjoy each others company.

Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

"You could." Gena pointed out. She guessed digging and exploring could be fun. Especially if they found more than just food. There was so much out there that could not be lost too far. So much wonderful things from the past. She wanted to find it. "I mean, think about what could be out there, Monty. The nuclear apocalypse was only less than a century ago. And this place was, according to the maps in Arkadia, once heavily populated. Look at the trees." Gena pointed to the woods, the trees that were a certain size. "They are so big, they must have been here for a while. Decades even. That means nature has reclaimed this place shortly after the apocalypse. I bet there is so much to find just down there."

Gena grinned. She had the idea not too long ago. There had to be left overs. There had to be things left, maybe historic things. They could preserve some of their past. After all they didn't have the chance back then. Their ancestors could barely safe themselves after all. But some things hat to have survived. In Mount Weather for example. So much art was there. What else was out there. "I mean we're meant to look for food, but nobody will say anything if we find something else as well, history maybe."

Monty Green

[Monty Green]

Monty listened as Gena spoke about the trees and what they could find out in the forest, outside of Arkadia’s gates, she had a point. It wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye out for something while they looked for food. Hearing her talk about the trees made him really look at them, when he lived on the Ark, he’d never thought that he’d ever see trees and at first they’d been amazing, but then the threat from the grounders kind of took the beauty out of everything. It was hard to admire the scenery when people with spears were trying to kill them. “Maybe we’ll find something” he suggested with a shrug of his shoulders, it would make the trip more exciting.

He knew that they were supposed to be looking for food, that was the priority, but if they happened across anything then it could be interesting. “I wonder what’s out there” Monty thought aloud, he found it hard to believe that all traces of life from before the nuclear apocalypse had just been erased as if it was nothing. There had to be something left out there and although he’d focus on the task of finding food, he made no promises that if they found it, he wouldn’t want to find out the story behind it. “What exactly do you expect to find out here?” he asked her out of curiosity, she seemed more than a little interested in finding something that belonged to the old world.

Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

"There have to be ruins." Gena pointed out. There had to be some of them at least. She knew logic all but dictated that there were more ruins out there than they had seen so far. She had heard of some kind of track close to TonDC and a statue that by the sound of it was agreed on being the old Lincoln memorial. If that survived it meant they really had landed close to a once populated area. "This place, if the assumptions are correct, is where once the capital of America was. The president, according to our books and records, has been heavily guarded. So there have to be buildings left, more than we already saw. There are so many that were specially designed to withstand nuclear attacks. I doubt all of them are gone." How could they be?

"Maybe we find some memorys. Books, clothing, something small." Something that would give them an idea about what the people lived like just before the apocalypse. "A girl can dream." She announced. And she did dream. Of so many things that would never ever come true. Gena sighed. She wished they could, but the logical part of her, the one that could observe and make connections knew that even her current happiness was meant to change. She still decided to enjoy it while it lasted 


Monty Green

[Monty Green]

Monty could see that Gena was excited about the possibility of finding something from the old world, she wanted to find something and Monty could see why. It was an exciting thought, to find something that might teach them a little about how the people of earth lived before the nuclear apocalypse wiped out the majority of the population. If what she said was true, Monty didn't see any reason why they wouldn't find something, even if they only found something small. "Maybe we can look while we're looking for food" he suggested, he didn't think it would take up too much time if they looked whilst searching for food. He couldn't see why anyone would mind if they brought back enough food to show that they'd actually been doing their job.

"Hey, maybe your dreams will come true" he told her, a smile on his face at the idea. Not many people could say that their dreams had come true, especially not in recent days. He'd thought his dreams had come true when he was sent down to earth and effectively pardoned for his crimes, obviously he hadn't counted on running into some very angry grounders, that part had definitely not been in his dreams. "If this was a heavily populated area then we should be able to find something, it'll be easy" he told her "we'll just have to look in the right places" he wasn't quite sure what the right places look like but he was sure that they'd know where to look when they got there. He wanted to find something, because Gena wanted to and he knew that she was excited about the possibility, if it made her happy then he'd help her look.

Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

He was right. They might be able to find something if there was the right place to look. And maybe even something that was more than useful. But that was a hard thing to look for. Gena knew that much. But with Monty she had good company. They could and should at least try and not give up before they have a chance to try. She smirked at hima s the rover kept on shaking her – them most likely. “Oh Monty. This will be fun.” She grinned. Two farm station people certainly could have so much fun together and she was banking on it. A look outside and she knew they had to stop.

“Wait! Stop!” The place was full of berries. She had no idea what they all were, but they were worth taking with them and they were worth testing. What if they were a good food source. And it looked like some might be roots, too. It was a chance for them to maybe get new resources for them. “Monty, we should check those plants out. They could be edible. Or have other proprieties that might be useful for us.” And if they were that, well then they had hit the jackpot. “Come on” She pulled out gloves, just to be save. Jumping out she immediately started picking some of the berries. “Make sure nothing pierces your gloves. They might be poisonous.”

Monty Green