Interview with: The First Family of Murkland

It was late in the day when I was finally able to talk to the Mayor of Murkland. He and his family were busy people, but they were nice people, despite some rumors I had heard. After I explained what I was doing they agreed to speak with me and answer as much as they felt like sharing. Their daughter, Millennia did not join us.


I was curious as to what life they had been living before the "event" happened and they told me they were both involved in politics. The Mayor was running for mayor of a town called Willow Creek. In fact, it was the place I lived now, but we all called it Widow's Creek.


"I'll never forget those days," Aeon began, "we had just bought a house on the upper side of town. It was a beautiful old Victorian manor. Of course it was smaller than I had wanted, but we had plans to buy a bigger one after Epoch had been mayor for a while."


"We were so happy then. Life was perfect. We had each other and we were in all the best social circles. I was even president of quite a few important clubs and held galas and parties almost every weekend. Life couldn't get any better....and then... the plague came..." She sighed deeply.


Everyone was quiet for a moment then I asked Chiliad how he liked living in the safe camp. He just laughed and said he didn't really remember too much about it. He barely remembered the little girl he played with when I told him about my mother's story. So I asked the Mayor to tell me about what he remembered during his time living there.


"I hated that place," he started with a scowl,"it was an over crowded place full of all kinds of riff-raft. And yes, it's true, Mad Mud was there too. He was a constant nuisance to me and my family back then as well. He was full of himself and his background was questionable to say the least. He also thought he was God's gift to women."


"He made pass after pass at my Aeon! One night I could not take it anymore, and I let him have it! Now I am not one to disobey the rules, I beleive we need rules to keep disorder at bay, but this man pushed me to my limits and beyond!"


"Oh, you want to know who won the fight, well let me just say that I was sure he wouldn't be trying to put the moves on my wife again! I hated that man! Perhaps more so then than I do now, but he made life in the camp almost unbearable. He's only admirable quality was he had an annoyingly stubborn way of getting what he wanted that I will never understand."


"Not long after our fight, I heard the rumors, and came up with a plan. You see, people were saying that the plague had stopped spreading and was actually dying off. There were rumors around the camp that the camp leaders were going to allow people to return to cities to rebuild. They were even allowing us to start our own forms of government. It would be like starting our own new worlds! I went to visit the camp's head, who it turned out was an old high school friend."


"In school we had always called him 'Scruffy', because he was the only one of us who could grow facial hair at the time. His five o'clock shadow had a shadow. I reminisced with him about old times and told him of my former political career and then asked about the rumors. He said they were true. They had begun to form a list of who would be sent where."


"I told him if there was anyway he could get me to the top of that list I'd be very grateful. That was when he told me about Murkland, or Old Oasis Springs as it was known at the time. He said most people didn't want to return there for some reason. Perhaps it was because that was were the plague seemed to spread from, or perhaps it was because of the mutant zombie creatures and the giant green raccoons that were rumored to live there. But he told me there was also a great military secret there."


"An old abandoned military base was located in the cliffs of Old Oasis Springs and it still had some power in it's backup generator. He said he wasn't sure exactly what kind of base it was, but he knew there had been top secret work going on there. So far only one other person was on the list for consideration to be given rule over the township, Mad Mud. He had asked for the place a few days earlier but there had been no decision because of his past record and recent behavior. I promised Scruffy, that if he could see to it I got the township, I'd help him live out his life long dream of owning a restaurant when the camp was finally shut down."


"Later that night I was in the arms of my beloved wife telling her everything was going to be alright and that soon we would be out of this horrid camp and we would be ruling over our own town. Free to run things the way we saw best."


"Not long after we found ourselves standing in front of our new home. An old military base called Fort Clearwater. Named after the water it was built on, although now it was anything but clear. This was all mine now! And as a bonus, I was also given jurisdiction over what was left of Newcrest a small neighboring town. None of it was perfect and there were obstacles I'd have to over come, but I did love a challenge and anything worth having always took a little effort to get."


"Poor little Chiliad was covered in dust and dirt when we arrived. Aeon was not too happy either when she saw our new home. I remember her saying, '..at least the camp was clean.' It was a bit down heartening. 'Murky water, murky home, murky smells, and a murky little boy,' she added. Chiliad smiled at us both, 'It's murky land! It's murky land!' As you know, the name fit so we kept it and called our new town, Murkland."


"Aeon had her doubts that we could make this work at first. I admit I was a little bit worried myself, but I had a plan and if everything went according to it, we would all be just fine. I did my best to calm her fears. I promised to protect her and our little boy."


"It wouldn't be easy, I knew that. I had to win the trust of all the people already living in Murkland, but with Aeon's charm and people skills I knew we could do that in no time. She was my treasure. The only downside to all this was that I had to give a section of town to Mad Mud. He demanded a place here and through heated debates back at the camp, he was allowed a small area on the southeast side of town."


"So anyway, I poked around this old military base for a while I discovered a couple of strange men on the roof of one of the towers. They were clones! Mostly machine but with some human element thrown in. It soon became apparent that this was some sort of old cloning facility. A secret government base. I couldn't believe my luck. I knew I would be able to use this to my advantage."


"After establishing that I was their new leader, the clones began to tell me reports on all the people currently living in Murkland. I was most interested in my new neighbors across the street. The Cliff Dwellers they were called. They had somehow survived the apocalypse without a scratch. I learned from the drones that they had clean water and strange plants. One of such was called a trash plant. It was discovered by another Murklander named, Veegan. They said it was what the people here ate to stay alive."


"Well, after getting the location of this Veegan fellow, I went to pay him a visit to find out more about this trash fruit plant. I was impressed with his skills to reuse old items. He and his companions had put together a little commune out of old shipping containers. It was a pieced together place, but it kept them sheltered."


"I passed some foul smelling bushes and was surprised when a young lady jumped out of one and greeted me. I told her who I was and why I was there. She smiled at me for a moment. 'So you're the new boss man, huh?' She then replied. Then she told me where to find Veegan."


"I walked to the back of the lot and found a young man eating some strange smelling grilled fruit. We made our introductions. I was surprised when he told me the government had offered him the job of mayor to this town but he had turned it down. I told him about a few of my plans, one of which was to build a Mercantile to offer goods to the town folk, for a finders fee of course."


"Then we talked about his trash plants. You know of the drought that has been Murkland ever since the apocalypse ended, well water was scarce, and what was to be found was not really safe to drink or bathe in for very long. Veegan told me of how he was wondering the desert looking for what ever was left behind one night when he found the plant. He said a voice told him it would 'help save them all'. It would help them to survive. Whether or not I believed his story is not important. The fact that the fruit of the trash plant has all the daily water a person needs to live is what was."


"He promised to get me a couple of starter plants a send them over as soon as they were ready. In the meantime he said I could take what I wanted from their plants. Then I was introduced to some of the, Freegan Clan, as he called them. A couple of young boys named Forest and Sunshine."


"I confess I was disappointed at first by this small group. There were six of them but with four of them being basically children they were not going to be of much use to me for some time. I mean I couldn't very well ask a child to do a man's work and I needed help to rebuild. I needed grown up help. I needed willing, strong men and women to help me with a variety of tasks. All I had was a few children and a couple of hippy adults."


"Then my drones told me of a rumor about a grow plant the Cliff Dwellers grew. They said it was rumored to have special powers even to make those who ate from it to advance in age, among other things. Well I began to form a plan but needed to find out if the rumors were true. I paid this Veegan another visit to see if I could get him to go and investigate. I knew the Cliff dwellers already trusted him. Besides, it's always better to get someone else to do the grunt work if you can. I was thankful his friend Brennachan was there. She talked him into dong what I asked."


"A few days later I was back at their little commune and could not believe what I saw. The two little boys were now teen aged! They were both nearly full grown men! I tell you, I even searched the camp for any trace of the smaller boys but found nothing. It was really them. It turned out that if the grow fruit is mixed with the trash fruit and a few special herbs you can make a cake and when someone eats the cake they advance to the next stage of life. I asked them for the recipe and returned home."


"I had to see the cake at work myself so I baked one and gave a piece to little Chiliad. I couldn't believe how quickly he grew. It was amazing!" The Mayor paused talking as his wife, Aeon got up to go inside. He watched her go quietly before he continued on.


"Aeon was furious when she found out what had happened to her little boy. She felt I had stolen part of his childhood, and she was right in a sense, but I was able to convince her it was for the best. I mean truth be told, he would be safer now that he was a little older and take less of our time so we could focus on our rebuild efforts. But she made some good points too and said there needed to be rules regarding the eating of the cake. Otherwise people would go from infant to old man in a matter of days or hours for that matter."


"So later that evening I sat in front of one of the old working computers at the base and typed up a list of rules and various other things that I would soon be teaching all those who wanted to stay in Murkland. I had even devised a way to keep track of who was where by dividing the place up into factions. Soon, with a little help from my old pal Scruffy who got the government to send me goods weekly, I was running a bustling business and a functioning town."


"That's not to say I haven't had a few ups and downs through the years, but everyone does. Even old Mud has faced a few hiccups in his plans. But I am still the Mayor of Murkland and I wouldn't trade this little town for all the clean water in the world." With that he said his goodbyes and went into his old dusty fort. I had learned quite a lot from his story, but I also had a ton more questions I wanted answers to. I decided I'd go talk to Veegan next. I was curious as to just how he found the trash plant.