GOD of a man

“Peace is what humanity is always fighting for. Peace prevails, but only after the end.”

Chapter Twenty: Life for death
Dated: 12th November, 2425

Since pre-historic times humanity has been at war amongst it’s kind. If one was fighting to prove his might, the other had to fight to protect his sovereignty and peace. The biggest of battles might have been fought for capitalistic and imperialistic interests but the explanation given invariably was, it’s all for peace. Humans have this strange notion that peace can only be brought about with violence. The end result is definitely not peace but the silence of the dead. What a pity, after all the blood shed over centuries span humans still couldn’t understand the basic truth, for peace to be had you have to let go your ego and offer peace to the one staring at the mouth of your cannons. But humans have always been so in love with cemeteries they would never understand. It’s not peace humans want, its’ silence they consider golden, silence of those who have travelled beyond the realms of existence not to utter a word anymore. Humans like to silence the ones’ whose words they cannot bear.

Adelaide metropolitan area, once a hub of life at its’ lavish best, a vibrant mix of colours of humanity, lies lost in sands of time and five souls tread in the eerie silence of its grave, digging up the past to make their future.

“Yeah!” the mighty cheer of Andy and Daniel confirmed the presence of a road at the site where they were standing at that moment.

“It’s the road?” Steve still asked to confirm it.

“It sure looks like one,” Andy was elated.

“Yes indeed!” Robin said as he and Steve looked at what lay underneath.

“That makes our job easier now. All we need to do is search for a gas station, get to the site, dig for it and hopefully find some fuel buried over there,” Steve said.

“What do you suggest, should we start right now or should we wait for tomorrow?” Robin asked.

“Look, it’s fairly late in the day now but we can still look for the closest site that is easy to find. Work can be started tomorrow,” Steve said.

“I agree with that,” Robin said, “What is the closest site you can see?”

“Lets’ see,” Steve said as he sat down while others hurdled around him. He took his time spotting and showing others what indicated gas stations on the map. Finally he spotted one that would be the easiest for them to find.

“Lets’ go for this one that existed on the corner of Brighton Road and Diagonal road. It should be the easiest one to find,” Steve said.

“Why is that?” Andy asked.

“Well, simply because it was right on the corner of an intersection. All we need to do is get to the intersection and start digging its’ corner,” Steve explained, “There are a few more in the area but they are all located on the side of a road in the middle of other buildings. We will end up digging many sand dunes just trying to find the right one. We will loose precious time.”

“You are right. We need to get the fuel quickly and get moving back to Hatsu again,” Robin said.

“It won’t be that easy either,” Steve added a word of caution.

“Offcourse we know it’s not certain we’ll find oil but we can always try our luck,” Daniel said.

“It’s not about whether we’ll find oil or not, it’s about how we will transport the oil back to the beach in case we found it,” Steve said.

“Yeah, you are right. We don’t know how far we’ll have to walk and then there’s simply no way picking up those heavy containers full of oil and then bringing them this far down especially in this heat,” Andy shoulders dropped as he realized the subsequent hardships.

“Can we work at night?” Daniel asked.

“We will loose our way in sand dunes at night,” Robin replied.

“Maybe not,” Steve said.

“What do you mean? How can we not get lost for our way?” Robin asked.

“We won’t get lost if we walked to the site before its dark and return in the morning after the break of dawn. We can sleep during the day inside our boat,” Steve provided the solution.

“What about our food?” Andy asked.

“One of us will have to stay back and do the fishing for all I guess,” Daniel said.

“That would mean one man less for the job. Damn! Why did Nakata have to die in the first place?” Robin lamented, “Now we are one man short and Clara, another pair of hands is useless. Infact she is a burden now. Not only we have to feed her but also take care of her and in return all she is good for us is nothing.”

“You don’t have to worry about me Robin,” Clara’s voice startled everyone. She had just walked up to the bunch making their plans and overheard the last bits of their conversation.

“Look Clara, please don’t get me wrong. I understand you are going through a lot of emotional distress but we are in the middle of something that is of immense importance to the entire humanity that remains,” Robin tried to explain his irrational comments.

“You don’t have to explain it to me. The gravity of the situation hasn’t been lost on me,” Clara replied, “My heart may be bleeding right now but I know what needs to be done. You guys don’t have to worry about me anymore. I have realized the way of GOD. He’s chosen me for serving the rest of you in your quest.”

“Clara, please don’t mind but will you cut this crap about GOD and His way from your speech?” Daniel showed his indignation.

“I am sorry Daniel but I believe in HIM,” Clara stated emphatically, “Anyway, what I was going to say is, I will do the fishing and water filtering for you guys over here while you can go and do what needs to be done.”

“Well, that solves our food problem gentlemen, doesn’t it,” Steve exclaimed.

“But how are we going to transport oil back this far. We still haven’t solved this bit of the puzzle,” Andy reminded everyone.

“I don’t know why you guys should be worried about that,” Clara interrupted.

“Why, is your GOD going to carry it for us or are you going to do it using your strong muscles?” Daniel took a scathing swipe.

“Nope, there is no need to trouble GOD for what we humans can accomplish on our own,” Clara calmly replied.

“How, the question is how?” Daniel rephrased the problem.

“Simple, just roll the containers back,” Clara replied with an assured smile, “They don’t have to be carried. Just roll them back and since it is sand that covers everything around her, you can be assured they won’t be scratched, at least not damagingly.”

“Why did we not think about that?” Andy was amazed by the simplicity of the solution.

“That’s Clara for you guys,” was all that Steve said as he had a content smile on his face.

“But there is one more problem that needs to be addressed right now,” Robin reminded everyone.

“Now what,” Andy was at loss.

“How are we going to work at night without light,” Robin reminded everyone the real challenge.

“Hmm! That is something we still need to look into,” Steve said as he stroked his brow. They all went into deep consternation to figure out a solution for their biggest challenge.

Clara finally came up with an idea, “I think I may give you guys a solution, but it will increase your work.”

“Don’t worry about the efforts it will need Clara, just tell us what you have in your mind,” Steve said.

“We know everything perished without decay due to the radiation, right?” Clara started.

“Right,” Robin replied.

“That means, everything must have got buried along with the city as it was,” Clara continued.

“What are you getting at?” Steve asked.

“If everything was buried without decay or decomposition, don’t you guys think that will include trees as well?” Clara asked in reply.

“How does that solve our problem? What will we do with trees even if we found them?” Daniel asked.

“Trees mean wood and wood means fire,” Clara replied with a smile.

“I see what you are trying to get to Clara but then how are we going to start a fire even if we found the trees?” Robin asked.

“Simple! Just wrap a bit of paper around a branch dipped in a bit of fuel and rub two hunting knives over it until you get a spark. The spark will ignite the paper and you can leave the rest to the fuel and wood,” Clara made it as simple as it could get.

Everybody was impressed by Clara’s intelligence as they all straightened up on their backs as if big weights had been taken of them.

“Guys, I think we all know what to do next,” was Steve’s next statement.

“But where do we start digging for trees?” Andy asked.

“Trees used to be on the side of the roads or gardens and parks,” Robin replied and continued, “Steve, I think the easiest place would be to walk to a green area and dig around its’ edges rather than wasting our time digging every sand mound in a street of buried buildings. Who knows which one them had trees or did any of them had at all, including this street.”

“You are right Robin, lets get to the nearest parkland,” Steve said as he checked the map for the closest place to find one, “There, lets go to this one, it doesn’t look far from here.”

And they all set to find a park land among sand dunes. After walking through a maze of sand dunes that suddenly appeared so comprehendible, they reached a large vacant spot.

“This is the place closest to the spot represented in the map as a green area,” Steve said, “And my goodness, does it look vast and empty!”

“Yeah it does,” Robin exclaimed.

“But where do we dig for trees?” Andy asked.

Steve walked towards the middle of the empty sand land as the rest followed him. Once in the middle he looked around and said, “Do you guys notice how this place is like a bowl?”

“Hmm! Lets’ start digging the edges folks,” Robin got the hint.

Each one of them started digging a separate edge and soon enough, each one of them had something to cheer about. They dug out enough tree bodies, still intact but dry, exactly as they needed them. Next day was spent cutting the trees into manageable blocks and sticks of wood. The day after they started their search for the intersection they were looking for. Sure enough, they found it in just a matter of few hours. The site they were looking for had a big sand dune that started from its’ middle to stretch and rise as it extended deeper towards the sand dunes behind it, the ones’ that must have been the surrounding buildings at some point in time. Now the next bit was transporting wood to the site to start their work which was accomplished by the afternoon the day after. Once all that had been accomplished, it was time to dig for oil.

“I saw some old pictures in a book in the library. The gas stations used to have small cuboidal boxes referred to as pumps which used to dispense fuel to the vehicles, while there used to be a building housing utilities and grocery items in the back where people used to pay for their purchase,” Steve said, “Lets’ start digging the sand dune from it’s edge.”

Torches were lit and buried in sand to make ‘em stand erect while they dug earnestly. It didn’t take long for them to unearth what must have been the shed above the pumps once. Over the period of time it must have collapsed on the pumps.

“That looks like the overhead shed above the pumps. Lets’ dig around it to clear it from all sides,” Steve said.

They dug and dug for a whole day to clear all the sand around the collapsed shed. To their misfortune it had collapsed right on top of the pumps, or perhaps it wasn’t their misfortune.

“What do we do now? It looks pretty heavy,” Robin asked.

“Lets’ break it down into smaller pieces and pick ‘em up one by one to clear the site for our work,” Steve said.

It took them another day to break it into smaller pieces and remove the debris to clear the site for scavenging. They found the pumps damaged and collapsed under the weight of the fallen roof. They cleared the pump debris but they couldn’t find a rubber pipe that was usable. The next step was to find an opening for the underground storage. They broomed the area clear of sand swinging their clothes as brooms until they found the gutter lids that covered the underground container lids. Just like the gutter lid, the container lid was rusted and broke off as they tried to open it. But it was unimportant if they break up or come out clean, what was the only thing important was, “Is their still any oil inside those containers?” The only way to get an answer was to put a pipe inside and suck it to see if any oil comes out. Their next piece of work was cut out. They needed to dig the site where the pumps were buried to pullout any kind of pipes, metal or rubber that used to connect them to the container. This was the hard part as what they had been digging till now was only sand but what they needed to dig now was gravel and cement.

It took them five days to dig out the first set of pipes, all metal and just long enough to reach the bottom of the containers. The only problem was they were all rusted.

“What do we do now?” Robin asked.

“We don’t have a choice, we have to use these pipes to get the oil out if there is any,” Steve replied.

“But these are rusted. Will it not contaminate our oil?” Andy asked.

“It sure will but we can always let the oil stand and let the rust and other impurities settle to the bottom. Then we can always use only the top part of the oil from the container and leave the lower part with impurities as such,” Steve explained the solution.

“Sounds good at the moment, lets’ see if there is any oil in the first place,” Robin said.

Steve carefully bent an end of the pipe and put the pipe into the container and sucked at its’ bent end. He had to such at the pipe which was huge, then block it’s opening with his hand to breathe and then suck at it again, took him a while to get the first bit of oil out. He immediately put a container under its’ bent mouth as oil came out of it. There was jubilation all around. They’ve found the oil once again, only problem was it wasn’t enough.

“Looks like most of it evaporated over the period of time,” Steve said as they could barely get five containers out of the three underground containers they dug out at the site, two of which were empty.

“Why are the other two empty?” Andy asked.

“Perhaps one of them was for petrol and the other one was for gas,” Steve replied, “And these two are a lot more volatile than diesel and must have evaporated by now.”

“What do we do now?” Robin asked a question he himself knew the answer to.

“That means our job gets tougher now,” Steve said, “We’ll have to dig many more gas stations now.”

“That will take a lot of time,” Andy said as the reality disheartened him.

“Don’t worry Andy we have plenty of time at our disposal. We are not in a race,” Steve tried to pep him up.

They strolled their way back to the beach rolling their haul along. The sun was just coming up for a bright new day. As soon as they reached the beach they saw Clara clutching her stomach bent on her knees as if in discomfort. They rushed to her as she vomited.

“What happened? Are you all right?” Steve’s concerned voice asked as everybody surrounded her.

Clara looked up at them and said, “I’m pregnant!”