The young woman was tense, riding on the train always made her nervous. A girl, alone, in a post-apocalyptic world. She watched out the window as the scorched earth passed by. 15 years since nuclear Armageddon, and humanity had already emerged from its safe houses. The plant life hadn’t quite recovered yet, but there was more than enough for the few hundred thousand people sharing the continent.
she muttered to herself, “if only, if only.”

If only her parents had been in the lottery of survivors. The girl was only two when people were being chosen for the bunkers, and her new family unit was good to her, but she still wondered what life would have looked like.

She touched the small golden cross around her neck, it was worthless now, but she had been told that it would have fetched a pretty penny in the Foredays. It was her mother’s. Her real mother’s.

If only the new unit had been honest about who her parents were. They had been called criminals, people who had deserved to die. But she knew the truth now, the raffle had favored the wealthy, it was a miracle even she had survived.

She reached into her pocket, feeling the folding knife. It was all black with a one engraved word “Dragonslayer.” It was worth much in these Afterdays. It was her father’s. Her real father’s.

If only life were fair.

If only…

IF ONLY…

Someone else entered the train car, a young man, about seventeen. Above two meters tall, with earthy hair and eyes. He sat down across from the young woman staring at the floor.

“Why do you do that?”

The young man looked up, “what?”

“Three years we’ve shared this train ride, and three years you’ve stared at the floor. Why?”

“I was born in the Foredays.”

“So? I was as well, but I don’t study flooring”

“Have you heard of the limited geniuses?”

“You mean…”

“Yes… Autism.”

The way he said the word, with both hatred and love, told a story. A story better told from his perspective.

A story for another day, the train pulled into the station.