Sord in Prosperity - Hope Beyond the Apocalypse

Sord was born after the second Great Debacle. He attends high school in Prosperity, the domed nation-state and last known large assemblage of humans and hybrids on Earth. His father disappeared in a mysterious physics experiment, and his mother makes him read an ancestor's diary to understand what life was like before the debacles. Trouble seems to shadow the poor guy. Then there's Daisy, his ebullient new girlfriend, and they embark on an adventure together.

SAMPLE PARAGRAPHS FROM A FEW EPISODES:

119 - SIGHTINGS: "Naw, he didn't have nothing like fingers and toes. I'd call it more like fins or flappy things that looked the shape of a tree leaf. He had a couple of those on each limb. Something like that."

"Oh yeah, I didn't tell them yet about the foam and blade and all. Anyway, this thing had a head, like a big head that an eight foot tall man might have, but rounder like soccer ball size. And you know what? I've kind of blanked on what its face looked like, if that was its face at all."

"I stopped the Jeep and we saw what we thought was this huge guy, a silhouette in the fading light, standing in the road and staring at us. If I had kept going, I would've plowed right into him and the Army wouldn't have gotten their prized specimen."

"So, we're slowly walking up to it, talking all the time, and trying to calm it down like we were trained to do with drunk soldiers. And usually, you'd expect someone to react but this thing didn't even take notice of us. Like it was in its own dimension of space and had no idea we was there other than the Jeep with the lights that must have blinded it."

"Hell, you don't go stabbing your own chest if you're having a nice day and enjoying the scenery. This guy, this being, was doing it on purpose. I think he was afraid to live, afraid we'd take him back and dissect him alive or whatever, so he wanted to end it as quickly as possible."

122 - BECCA: "Disrupters. Anarchists. Entropists. Demagogues. Demigods. Autocrats. Tyrants. Too many terms for them. Those who prefer to tear apart, tear down, or demolish existing social structures that allow people be fair and equitable with each other, so they can own and control what remains in the bloody and gruesome aftermath."

"Money and power just weren't enough. You'd eventually crave adoration, worship, and control over all beings and activities of the world. It's an old story going way, way back in human history. Social Darwinism, the thought that you must have achieved obscene wealth and power because you are fundamentally superior to all others."

"If they were close by and watching, why did they let us do it, particularly during the last few centuries? Why let us go through God knows how many wars and immeasurable pain and suffering? Why wouldn't they say: 'Don't proceed. Don't do it. Dangerous path?' You'd think they'd have some compassion."

124 - RACNINES: "What are they waiting for?" Sord complained. "Which one of us they'll eat first? It'll be the weaker one, the one with the fractured bone and bloody suit."

The lead dog approached, standing on its hind legs momentarily as if to survey the best tasting prospects for his imminent meal. "What now?" Sord regurgitated hoarsely. "What gets worse than this?"