Waking again the next morning - fully expecting ALL of this was just a dream - no dead people, no Man in white, no abandoned cargo's. I took the small jit from his crate and headed into the warehouse... stopping as I approached my pile of personal belongings - my shoulders sinking a bit as I noticed things had been re-arranged - exactly like I assumed they had been in my dream... this lessened the chances that it actually was a dream but I didn't give up hope.
I moved past the pile of things and to the door to the outside, stepping into the sunshine, as the juvenile jit screamed in glee - springing from my arms and immediately scampering along the docks - poking himself into various cargo's and just generally bouncing around.... he seemed to be in better spirits than he had been and I was at least glad he wasn't sick - as I had thought he might be.
I wasn't so glad to see that everything else outside the warehouse was exactly as it was the evening before...this left a conundrum for me... I had not been dreaming.
There would be no boats leaving this morning.
The Man in white was probably very real....
and there were probably a lot of dead people laying in the sun around the city.
I still found it odd that none were on the docks though. I picked a few more tospits out of their crate and began sectioning the fruits for the jit and I ... The small primate seemingly having a grand time as he skittered the lengths of the wharves - up and down he ran screeching in glee.
Well at least he was happy.
I made myself comfortable on a bench - there was little danger of the jit actually falling in the water as they tended to avoid it.
Mine, as a matter of fact, hated it... rain included. His sullenness had begun in the Den when the rains came, but he seemed perfectly happy to run between docked ships and along empty piers.
I supposed I could entertain myself by seeing whats left inside the ships - maybe I could find some stuff that would be useful in wherever I was going.... if I was going.
I began to wonder again about the Man in white... were we the only two left? An outlaw and a Thief - what irony in that. True lawlessness would be all there was left on the planet. At that, I laughed a bit to myself.
I ate my tospit pieces then got off my duff and headed towards a nearby ship - entering the cargo hold via the planks set there and began looking around, and making my way through the still loaded pallets as I rifled through crates of goods headed to other places... I found more skins and piled them aside, as well as sacks of grains and beans...Good. Food. Food I could use.
I also procured some new lanterns and rolled a small keg of oil toward the door... It was getting kinda warm in here - or maybe it was because I was actually working hard to secure this stuff. I opened a few of the boarded windows to let fresh air and some more light in, then sat on a crate to rest a bit. I wished I had a whole crew to unload this thing like it was supposed to be done - instead I'd have to take my time.
I began to give more thought to the world without people... I'd been a loner since my Father was murdered on these very docks... Holed up in the Den outside of the city itself... I was good at alone - but that had been my choice... I wasn't choosing this. It's different when you realize it's no longer a choice to be alone. It's kinda... depressing. I shook my head to clear it from negative thinking and once again began sorting through loaded pallets - keeping what I thought might be of use and tossing the other stuff aside.
