A moan summoned from deep within the lazy haze. An animal dieing, he first thought, an animal -perhaps- in pain. A sound of shuffled feet, the sight of dust leaving the ground in an orb to rise and meet with the pollution in the air. Elapsed buildings bent to the floor, hugging the stubborn coils that remain in earth’s structure. To inspect the source of the odd noise would be dangerous, this he knew, and it would be futile as well, for whatever had lived thus long would never see tomorrow’s daylight. The morning beam would touch onto the fatigue soil, the barren wasteland would be greeted once more by an orange slumber for that was all that was left of humanities home. A planet that once bared life had succumbed to a diseased landscape echoing with a naked cry.

The boy stumbled from behind the remains of a crusted wall, surrendering his body to the persecuted openness. He limped for he had injured himself on his travels, his ankle was bent askew and thin strips of blood lapped from wounds created by the infected wind. He had left his mother’s and two younger sister’s corpses behind in search for life, anywhere on this God-forsaken planet. Dishevelled drips of wire hung around a metal frame; it was once used to protect the building standing in the distance. He studied the whitewashed building quickly before ducking underneath the feeble fence. A blue sphere containing a white circlet, red forked-road and white pimples now dashing across letters he failed to recognise. And then, ah yes, he remembered the word; NASA. The old space-centre. Many a people blamed this technology as the slayers of his home planet, for it was the gasses released by this equipment that had created a binding blanket around the planet and caused poisonous fumes to be trapped inside, eating away at the goodness of nature.

The painful drone was coming to an end now, the boy recognised the gurgling of blood. It was only now that he was close to the creature that the boy realised it was human. Worn skin draped over frail bones like saggy leather, eyes were burnt with age and chapped lips trembled as the boy crouched down besides the frail man.
“H-h-how?” he managed to croak flailing his limp hands in despair. The boy did not respond for he was in a great shock. The old man spoke again, this time pointing an ancient finger to the sky. It was nearing evening and the boy just managed to make out a vague glow in the heavens. A star. “T-t-take the pod. There is a girl in there; she will not harm you for she is injured. Take the pod and fly it past the moon, further still until you’ve reached the star. Leave us all, or be doomed.”

The man gasped in pain, venom filling his tired lungs. He stretched his weary eyes to meet the boy’s, “What is your name, son?”
“Adam,” the boy responded. He looked worriedly at the man who smiled.
“May God be with you Adam,” the old man chuckled weakly, “And for heaven’s sake look after your new home.” And with that, the old man closed his eyes and welcomed death happily. The boy stared in confusion at the mangled carcass now dangling in his arms. The old man must have been mad, he decided before looking over his shoulder to inspect his surroundings. And then Adam saw it; a small shuttle sitting on its launch pad and at the entrance stood a girl clutching at her chest, blood draining between her fingers. Adam looked at the sky again. A star? Travel to a star and call it home? It seemed a foolish scheme, death await them for sure. But then again, what was the harm in trying? What did they have left to lose?

Adam rose to his feet and made his way over to the girl. She was a very pretty, with clear eyes and locks of black curly hair framing her scarlet lips.
“What is your name?” Adam asked reaching out to her.
The girl did not respond for she did not speak his tongue. Instead she pointed to the darkening sky in warning and replied, “Eve.”

Adam nodded and took her hand leading her into the shuttle.

As strange as it would sound, the star the old man had directed Adam too was in fact a planet. It had lushes green fields and blue swarms of ocean waters. No diseases that had once lived on the human’s birth planet reigned here, although they were not entirely out of harms way. Large reptiles fumbled over the valley, but Adam and ‘Eve’ devised a manner to stay clear of their path. Eve’s wounds were mended as Adam donated a rib to fill her vacant chest. They lived happily together, christening the planet “Earth,” the planet of Life, a much friendlier place than their planet of War.