The world's gone mad today,
And good's bad today,
And black's white today,
And day's night today..
Rain was falling. The empty, broken buildings of this ancient society lay vacant and crumbling. Something had happened, long ago, but nobody knew what. For all they knew, things had always been like this. All they knew was that people lived here, and now they don't, and now the people that do scavenge what's left. There's some food, some water, some medicines, the usual. It wasn't until today that something new was discovered.
Charlie was the first to find it. Digging through the rubble, he saw it. A tattered poster of some kind, with the phrase Anything Goes! So perhaps they had been in Anarchy for much longer than thought. But the big kicker was the people on the poster. On this poster was a group of men in women, both dressed extravagantly. It was like nothing else seen out here. Charlie here was dressed in some rugged pants and a torn shirt with greasy hair and cuts on his hands and face. The men were dressed in multiple layers and looked sharp and clean, and the women lovely and fair. He had never seen anything like it. He picked up the paper, rolled it up tight, and took the last of the food from the abandoned theater before heading back to his tribe.
"Look, guys!" he shouted as he unfurled the poster.
His tribe, 3 men (James, Clark, and Andrew) and one woman (Jane) looked at him with curiosity. What could it be? Perhaps a map to supplies? A newspaper explaining what had happened to the old settlement of Broad Way? But as he opened it up, they were disappointed. Some fine folks (dressed very sharply, though!) posing. It didn't mean anything to them, though. That is, until Charles spoke. "Look around us!" he cried, "the buildings, the signs, the advertisements! They were all made by these people! What if we became the next generation of them? Then we might be able to achieve this level of excellence!"
It made sense, though. Perhaps the sharp suits and dresses meant these people were the top of the top, the most excellent from the most excellent. Surely people that great had the time, money and ingenuity to build up a society this vast and so full of luxury. Even in the dress, it was far better off than they all were now. But where would they get this stuff? The tribe got up from around their campfire and began to explore Broad Way. They passed several stores of all sorts (taking the important things like medicines and food for later) and eventually stumbled upon a storefront full of the classy dress. With a brick in one hand, Charlie smashed open the window and waled in. There was nothing to worry about. Normally, raiders could be found in stores ambushing people who enter and taking their supplies, but since this was a boutique (according to the sign), nobody would have any reason. Charlie found himself a pinstriped suit and changed into it, and took a wide-brimmed fedora off of the floor on his way out. "How do I look?" he asked.
"Great!" James replied.
"I feel greater already! Oh, but of course they didn't just dress like this! They also acted like this! Maybe we can go to one of those theater buildings. There's always old reels, and I held one up to the light and I could see the people from before! This is perfect!"
It seemed like a plan. Tomorrow, they were to go to the theaters in Broad Way and figure out how to access the information stored on those large reels. After all, a civilization once this great had to have documented some of it on one.
542Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dIPcESvRj
