by Eric Johnson
a Life in After World: Dru’Ar
By Eric Johnson
Copyright ©2012 Eric Johnson
Online Resources
https://www.ALifeinAfterWorld.com
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A Day in a Life in After World
This is a series of short stories based in the same world as the book series A Life in After World. Instead of telling the life story of one character, these stories tell the story of one day in the life of a person in After World. The stories should be able to stand alone but together they tell of a bigger story.
After World is a world in which due to a catastrophic solar storm, all electrical technology on Earth failed. Because of this, most of the world’s population died off. This period in the history is known as the Red Sun Millennia. Those that did survive had to fight, struggle, and evolve to survive. When the storm was over, the sun dawned on a new world with many different races of humans.
Electrical technology is now possible, but it is forbidden by most because of the damage it did when it failed before.
If you enjoy these tales, please purchase the books in the series A Life in After World.
Dru’Ar
It was not really dark in the alley, but there were shadows. Shadows were enough for Dru’Ar to hide himself from view. His body was covered in a mottled grey fur that allowed him to vanish in nearly any dark spot.
Yesterday was a bad day, like the one before. He would have to get some food soon but the opportunities did not avail themselves. Also the fricking mice kept getting to the dumpsters before he could. Dumpsters were generally beneath him, but when desperate they were normally a great source of food. But this city was overrun.
A vendor rolled past the end of the alley. It looked to be Franz. He usually sold dried fruit. His candied apple slices were always great but Franz was always wary when Dru’Ar showed himself. It was hard to filch food from him.
Another vendor rolled by after. This was Jesh. She was a leather worker and tinkerer. Dru’Ar had no use for her products, be she herself was rather cute. If Jesh and Franz setup near each other maybe he could flirt with her while stealing a snack from him.
The next cart rolling into market was Black Jake. He was a dwarf or something; shorter than everyone else and highly suspicious of Dru’Ar’s people. Dru’Ar was a furry; covered head to toe in fur. They normally lived in the forest but hunting and gathering in the wild never suited Dru’Ar.
Today he would have to set his sights elsewhere. If Black Jake was in the plaza, he would keep his eyes on Dru’Ar’s hands the entire time. No, today he would probably have to hit the harbor.
It appeared for a moment that the shadow in the alley swelled and then split into two pieces. Only after the furry had fully emerged did the shadow look like a man.
As he was moving he saw something dash away from a bin. Another shape followed right behind. It looked like a couple of nine year olds, but he knew they were mice, probably only a few years old. Mice were sub humans that aged fast but were near to impossible to kill. They never got sick and healed very well. But they topped out around twenty years old or so.
Dru’Ar peeked out from the alley to make sure there were no overt eyes pointing in his direction. Then he calmly strolled away in the opposite direction of the market place trying to look as much as if he belonged as possible.
“You better beat it!” came a gruff voice from behind him. He did not even need to turn around to know it was Black Jake.
What kind of a name was Black Jake anyway? He was ghastly pale and always wore a big hat to filter out the sun. He went nearly ballistic if anyone tried to shorten his name like “Blacky”, “BJ”, or even just “Jake”.
“You call me by my given name or you don’t talk to me at all!” He was often heard shouting, even to strangers. There is only one documented case of him stabbing someone over abbreviating his name, but he had already served his time for that.
Dru’Ar kept walking and did not look back. He still heard sneers and jeers from the dwarf. He also heard Jesh trying to get the dwarf to shut up. Gosh he loved that girl sometimes. Actually he would dedicate himself body and soul to her if she only gave him a chance.
Dru’Ar sighed and rounded the corner and ran smack into a member of the watch, Captain Dill. Before Dru’Ar could react the Captain had him in a behind the back arm lock.
“Who are you running from scamp?” He growled at the furry.
“No one Cap! No one!” he pleaded. His wrist and elbow were in severe pain. He ought to be used to this by now as this was the usual treatment from Captain Dill.
“We will see. We will see!” the watch officer dragged him back to the market area.
“I tell you Cap I am not running from anyone!” He was in tears from both the pain and frustration.
Captain Dill ignored his supplication and shoved him down on the ground in the market place.
“Who has this rat been stealing from?” He asked of the merchants.
“Nobody yet!” of course it was the dwarf who spoke up. “I drove him off before he could do anything.”
“Shut up Blacky.” Jesh said. She was the only exception to Black Jake’s name rule. When she called him by some other name, he did not even notice it. She once called him Back Splat and he did not bat an eyelash.
Black Jake removed his hat and went silent in the admonishment. Dru’Ar really did love that girl sometimes.
None of the other merchants spoke up and most went back to setting up their carts for the morning rush.
“He was just walking down the street, the other way when I saw him, Captain.” Jesh said to him sweetly. “He has not even come near our carts today. Besides, he is never any trouble for me.”
Jesh looked at the furry without any malice in her eyes. There was even some warmth. Dru’Ar felt like he might melt before those eyes.
“Get up then!” Captain Dill demanded as he laid a foot against the Furry’s side and gave him just enough of a push to roll him over.
Dru’Ar bumped into the dried fruit cart before he caught himself. He stood up, dusted himself off, adjusted his loin cloth and walked back down the street away from the group. He could feel their eyes boring into the back of his head. He waited till he got back around the corner and he was sure no one was checking him out before he looked at his hand.
A nut encrusted jewel lay there for him. A praline peach had fallen from the cart when he bumped it and he managed to palm it as he stood up. The day was looking up.
Maybe he would eschew the wharf today and hang out near the trader house. Food there was exchanged in bushels and if a piece of fruit here or there fell on the ground, half the time they left it.
There was a bench between two pillars open when Dru’Ar arrived. No one paid him any attention. That was another thing he liked here. Everyone was so busy they hardly noticed him unless he got in the way or got caught taking something. Heavens forbid you get caught stealing while under Trader’s Law. They did not have a jail so they punished you as soon as they caught you.
Dru’Ar looked down at his pinkie on his right hand. It did not hurt any more, but it was pretty useless after they crushed it when he was caught grabbing an apple from a basket. That was before he learned about dropped fruit.
He took small little bites out of his peach. The pecan crust was sweetened with molasses and it made for a double crunch as he bit in. Below the nuts was a sweet and chewy bit of peach jerky. He savoured every nibble while he watched the workers.
A gentleman came and sat near the Furry on the same bench but paid him no mind. And a gentleman he was in all aspects of the word. He had the fancy clothes;
he wore white gloves, and held his chin a little higher, even while sitting.
A crate of melons were being offloaded from a cart when do to mishandling one of the melons hit the floor and cracked open.
Now it was Dru’Ar’s chance. All he had to do was wait for them to walk away from it.
Just then a small shape emerged from somewhere on the other wall. It was a mouse. A fricking mouse! It was streaking straight for the melon.
A trader side stepped and nearly dropped his load as the mouse passed by and this created a ruckus. Traders everywhere nearby set down their loads and took after the mouse. If there is one thing they hated more than a thief, it was a mouse. Worse still was if the mouse had stolen something.
Weapons came out of nowhere and the traders were in pursuit. Even the gentleman stood up and went to go watch the happening.
That’s when Dru’Ar noticed it. A small felt bag sitting on the bench where the gentleman had been sitting. He took a quick glance around and no one was watching. He quickly scooped the bag and lashed it to the back of his cloth. Then he tucked it in so it was not visible.
Walking as calmly as he could, he went straight into the crowd of people to see what was going on. When he got there, the people were just breaking up. Mice might be hard to kill, but there was going to be no healing for this poor guy. He looked to be about four in mouse years. No one even bothered with the body or the melon. They just dispersed. The maintenance crew would be around in a bit to clean
