Short Stories from the Fire Hunter Universe
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The dog never left the child’s side, even though there was no food. The air grew colder as night fell over the city. How many nights had it been since the child’s arrival? The child had lost count. The cycle of day and night, the number of the dead, the days spent to reach this point—there had been numbers for all of that once, but the child had forgotten. They were exhausted from death and travel.
The city never changed much, but it remained a hazard. Many of the buildings were on the verge of collapse. Clouds drifted above the child and the dog, shifting in color from gray to vermilion to deep blue. Any of the buildings could crumble at any moment, so they spent their time exposed to the elements. Perhaps it would make no difference whether they were inside or outside if a giant building were to collapse, but they hadn’t been crushed yet.
Insects crawled over the cracked pavement with a dry rustling sound. There were no humans here to keep the insects in check, so insects ruled over the wasteland they’d conquered like the planet’s chosen survivors. The child petted the dog at their side and shivered. Tonight was especially cold. The dog was so thin that all its bones were visible through its skin. The child and the dog huddled together for warmth.
The wind howled. The scent of death and decay tickled the child’s nose. They were familiar with death, but not the slow rot of it. It was the scent of someone who had breathed their last somewhere far away. The city was full of death and insects. Nothing else.
And then it was dark. The child could see nothing but a few stars glimmering overhead. They sang a song. Their singing was not loud or skillful. Disease and hunger had worn away the edges of the child’s health and strength. But they still sang to the stars, which were sometimes covered by clouds. The dog listened and didn’t complain.
The song was one that the child’s mother would often sing on stormy nights during the rainy season. The lyrics were about lighting a fire on a dark night as the rain poured down.
No one could light fires anymore.
The clouds cleared and the rain lessened, revealing more silver stars. The stars felt as if they were living beings to the child, breathing in a world far above that was forever out of reach.
The dog looked up at the sky and whined.
Insects crawled around them. There was no other sign of life on the ground.
The heavens burned with stars.
The glittering stars faded one by one as dawn came. The edges of the child’s vision turned black. They felt the dog’s heartbeat slowing under their hands.
The stars didn’t notice or care. Everything that happened on this earth was insignificant to the stars above.
The child knew this.
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