Starry Night

Cyrus marveled at the landscape as he rumbled down the road. He hadn't really seen the beauty of the Rupture before, only the destruction. The electromagnetic pulses in the atmosphere painted a subtle haze over the horizon. The bends of light and ambience reminded him of paintings by Vincent Van Gough.

"What in the blue blazes..." He mumbled under his breath as he noticed a herd of creatures in the distance. They were like nothing he'd ever seen before. Beautiful and eerie at the same time. He came to a stop upon hearing running water nearby. It had been a while since he filled his canteen.

Cyrus parked his bike alongside the road, which looked as though no one had used it for quite some time. He couldn't tell what damage was from the Rupture and what was the result of bureaucratic negligence. He did appreciate the barreness of the highways out here, whereas he found himself slowly maneuvering in and out of debris closer to the cities. After grabbing his canteen from his saddlebag, Cyrus took to the air to get a bird's eye view of his surroundings. At about 500ft up he could see for miles. Mountains to the north and west, vast plains to the east, and a small forest to the south. The colors were breathtaking. Cyrus floated for a moment, just taking it all in. This was as far as he'd ever been from the inhabited zones since it happened. The air even tasted different... almost cleaner.

After a brief moment of stopping to smell the roses, Cyrus honed in on the source of the sound: a small creek flowing through the forest to the south. The water had a strange luminescent glow to it. It couldn't be more than a mile away. He could fly over, but he didn't want to leave his bike. So, Cyrus returned to the ground and got back on his bike. The roar of the engine coming to life pierced through the serenity of the environment like a jackhammer. Cyrus was almost appalled at just how noisy it was compared to everything else.

"Damn, I need to get a new muffler." He thought outloud as he drove off toward the creek.