Chapter One

This is chapter one

She yanked at her curtain as sand blew in.

Scrapper was getting ready for bed.

Stripped from her day clothes, strangely cool air rushed in through the door that had swung ajar. Her droopy eyes followed this wind to her door only to meet the heat haze on the horizon.

Navy nights like this never showed a lot of stars, seeing as baleful smog blurred most of them, but Scrapper managed to capture sight of those small sky diamonds. The same wind harshly brushed up against the vermilion earth, sweeping up ember-like grit that stung in her throat. The white blooms of the cactus mounds had started to blossom. For a nation infested with people, the landscape felt empty without those dirty beasts. Scrapper glimpsed at the fragments of mirror glued on the wall.

She was the only dirty beast around.

Gazing at the horizon once again, Scrapper realised that she felt at peace once in a long time. With this, she let her mind’s musings wash over her in this moment of pure serenity.

The potato bugs crawled out of their holes at this hour. Their drumming and hisses brought her sharply out of her wistful daydreaming.

‘Back to the grind.’ she thought, dismissive over the moment. She closed the trailer’s door slowly, only to throw herself into the unforgiving mattress she called bed shortly after.

Back to the grind.

With the buzzes of that pesky alarm zapped Scrapper awake. Before even getting up, she lifted a fist and flattened the clock in one hit. Satisfied with the silence, she let out a groan and heaved herself up from bed.

Guess I’m sleeping with the curtain open now, Scrapper thought.

After a few minutes that she used for changing clothes and a breakfast of jerky with cactus fruit, she left her trailer.

Today is a new day.

There’s work to be done.

Scrapper ran a mixture of a scrapyard and an auto-mechanic shop. If it was a car, she’d work on it. It used to be a popular pit stop, but nowadays only the occasional car rolled in. Those kinds of jobs only brought in a handful of five spots.

Society has traded in flowers. ‘Their visual beauty and rarity’ was claimed to be the reason for this, including some historical explosion called ‘The Blue Glare’, but Scrapper wasn’t one for gossip per se.

Scrapper went over to one of the cars sent in for disassembly, and as soon as she started working on it, it was like clockwork.

Pop the tires? Check.

Rip out the seats? Check.

Remove the engine? Che-

Wait.

Something is wrong. The air seemed fresher. Breathing became smoother. There was a scent in the air, combined with the constant stink of gasoline and the shop’s burning metal odour.

It was something natural. Something… floral.

Scrapper stopped with the car and lifted her to look at the entrance of the yard.

She saw a Black Hat.

The Black Hats were a gang that ran south of Mammonus. They are the richest people around, and many citizens, like Scrapper, grovelled at their feet. They would adorn themselves with flowers, steal them from communities, and then use them to buy other, larger communities.

Scrapper resided on the dividing line between the west and the south, but the Black Hats kept inland, so why was one here?

“Ah, Scrapper! just the person I wanted to see. I have come on behalf of the Black Hats,” he grinned. “With a proposition.”

“A proposition? I’m just a scrap dealer. The only things I could help ye with are auto-mechanics and getting rid of metals, but I bet yer got people for that. ‘' Scrapper stated, She didn’t speak much, and her voice was like fine sandpaper because of it; soft-voiced yet husky.

“Oh, we’re aware of your abilities, but that’s not why I’m here.”He retorted. The Black Hat adjusted the flowers on his wide-brimmed hat. Sharp winds messed up the bouquet on the brim.

“Alright. I’m listening.” She responded as she continued dismantling the car.

“The Black Hats have considered expanding to the west,” he started. “And to get the west under our wings, we need power over the border.” Do you see where I’m getting at? "

She stopped fiddling with the car.

“ Yer suggesting me to give you hatters my land?!” Scrapper yelled, lifting the Black Hat by his shirt collar, but it didn’t seem to bother him.

“Bingo!” He exclaimed before a fit of coughs as grit went into his throat.

Scrapper felt steam come out of her ears as she yelled. “This is outrageous! If yer expect me to just hand it over then I oughta!-”

“But we can give options!” He wheezed out, shaking in her grip. “You pay us, we….we leave you alone. You don’t, you work for us. It’s that e-easy!”

“What’s the price ?” She asked.

“Dahlias. Stargazers. Tulips. Maypops. Flowers like that.”

“Tempers and rainys?! Are ye hatters laughing?” Scrapper boomed, yanking his collar higher so his eyes could meet her icy glare.

“I know, I know. It’s a lot. But that’s what the boss wants! Plus, I think a big strong woman like you around headquarters would also make her happy if you know what I mean.” He spurred out, flashing a smile at Scrapper when his face started to go violet.

“Ew!” Scrapper exclaimed, dropping him with force. “ Just go! I’ll need to think on this, and yer creeping me out now.”

“W-we’ll give you a week. But remember, you can’t hide from our slowly hobbled back to the entrance, for air. He slowly hobbled back to the entrance, rubbing his head from the fall. He took a moment to straighten himself out. Stealing a glance from Scrapper, it was like he left with the wind.

Scrapper’s body began to deflate.

Author's Note

I'm 14, so please just check everything (grammar, dialogue, plot etc ) and make sure I understand what you are telling. I don't know what genre this falls under so if can tell me that would be great.