[center]Clo remained motionless in her cot oblivious to the commotion in the other rooms and lost in a deep sleep...
---[/center]
"I said..." The man pulled his hand back by his ear and swatted at the girl, knocking her to the floor. Dust bellowed around her small form and stuck to her like glue. "...pick up that pale and get us some goddamn water!" He reached down, picking the girl up by the collar around her neck and choking her in the process. Hethrew her toward the waiting bucket where she landed on her hands and knees. Fearing another beating, she quickly scrambled to her feet as fast as she could and darted toward the well with bucket in hand.

It was evening now. The sun was beginning to slip behind mountains on the horizon and chasing it away were the stars as they filled up the sky. It was a beautiful sight as always, something Clo tried to catch every night before bed. Everyone would talk about the sunrise but it was the sunset that always caught her eye. The colors that were splayed across the expanse above her were breathtaking. Hues of red and blue and purple she'd never knew existed surrounded by sparkling light, flashing stars all winking their "hellos". She'd wink back at each one as she walked through the town. Most were afraid of the dark when dangers lurked everywhere unseen but under the watchful eyes of the night sky, she never really felt alone. In the back of her mind she knew she wasn't. She clutched the pale a little closer to her chest and continued on her way, trying her best to avoid eye contact with anyone still wandering the barren streets.

"Hey John!" Someone called out to her right. She didn't look and kept her eyes on the ground as she walked. "Get me mah rifle ahaha! Found us some dinner!" Clo picked up the pace. The man wasn't bluffing. He'd been drinking whatever it was he drank out of the jar of his and it made the deputy crazy. He'd shot at her once before and when the Sheriff questioned him, he simply retorted that he'd thought she was a large quail. He got a shrug in response. "Looks about right to me..." She remembered the man saying. She wouldn't be safe until she was around the corner and out of sight.

Down another street she walked, this one quieter than the last. The town was mostly a collection of dilapidated buildings all waiting to crumble to dust. There was no wildlife here, just rocks and dust and dirt. There was so much of the stuff that it clung to everything including the air. Clo hated it in the town. Every breath was a struggle to filter out the debri that cluttered her lungs. It was nice outside but the grime of a war long forgotten seemed to gather here in particular. Maybe it was dragged in by the people who lived there? She didn't know. They seemed just as dirty as the rest of the fallen world. The only real freedom from it all was when she was outside, far away... gathering water.

"I'm watching you." The guard would say to her as she passed him by. "I even think you're trying to run little girl and I'll put a bullet in that empty head of yours." She said nothing, nodding her head letting him know she understood. He watched her continue to the small well just outside the town, never once looking up and never straying from the thin beaten path.

"You always gotta talk to her like that?" The man to his left asked. He too had been posted as guard that day. The both of them stood at the edge of the town with their weapons slung across their chests and their eyes facing the irradiated wastes ahead of them. 

"Gotta keep up appearances man or we'll get thrown in with the rest of 'em."

"It's not right how they treat them... us... our people. We're no different."

"Shut up before you get us both killed man. Like I said. Keep up appearances... but give her as much time as she needs."

"As usual..."

"As usual..."

Clo smiled a little but did her best not to let them notice. They always talked a little too loud for their own good. They might have acted tough around her, pushing her around just like the rest but she knew they meant well. Almost every night she came out here to draw water and almost every night she'd stay a little too long for her own good and they never said a word. Her master was too dumb to notice her absence anyways, content to waste his time away in the hut he called a home.

The pump was rather worn itself having miraculously survived the assault on the planet. It sat there in the middle of the nowhere defiant, it's red paint now entirely gone save for a few slivers here and there. It's metal was nearly rusted, and the lever jiggled around a little more than necessary. Of course there was also a beauty to destruction. Every now and again someone would pour too much or miss their bucket and a little bit of water would sprinkle the ground. Around the pump's base were small weeds, thin colors of green stretching away from the dying earth and reaching toward the sky. Clo reached down and pushed some of the blades away gently, tugging on them lightly as she placed her bucket on the ground. Wrapping her fingers around the lever, she began to pump water up and out of the spout until it poured into her pale. After a few pumps, it was nearly full and she stopped. The clear water sparkled in the moonlight above her and she smiled, placing her finger in the cool liquid and disturbing the surface. The stars and the moon danced around her hand erratically, crashing into her skin and breaking into a million tiny lights. They'd wander the sky lost for a while before finding each other again and finally settling, winking back at Clo and seeming to smile at her. She winked back again. [b]"Hello..."[/b]

"Hello" Came a soft voice behind her.

Clo shot to her feet startled, knocking over the bucket and spilling the precious water all over the parched ground. It drank it all up in seconds. Clo's eyes fell on two figures, their wings glistening in the light of the moon.

"Anora." Said one. "Ramera" Said the other.