Humanity was only starting to rebuild itself after the war. It has been thirty years since The Dark War. People could only remember rushing into the bunkers when the sirens sounded.  They could hear the blasts above them, and could only imagine the destruction unleashed above their heads. These bunkers were only made to supply one thousand people for twenty years.

Many bunkers had to open their doors, and ambitious adventurers would leave to find resources for their families and their friends of the bunkers. Resources were scarce, they were often contaminated by the inevitable radiation. Several human settlements were scattered around the world, serving as sanctuaries for people that have left the bunkers. Settlements were located in manmade villages or old cities that endured the blasts. Adventuring outside in the "blast zone" was often referred to be a death sentence. They said the nuclear fallout would kill us, would mutate us. Maybe eventually.

I just stood there looking at him puzzled. I wondered how he made it this far. Under those clothes I could see how scrawny he was, how did he make it? He told me he needed to make it to the settlement of Hope. He had braces on his teeth, they were stained, disgusting and broken.  I was an orthodontist before the war. Nobody needs orthodontists now, I have a useless skill. Our world now is a survival is priority world. We don't have any time to worry about how the teeth look. As long as the teeth work.

"Listen buddy, we're about a  eighty day walk from Hope. I don't think I can take you there, I don't got no supplies to keep us both alive."  He simply stared back at me.

"I need to get to Hope, please sir."

"Why do you need to get to Hope?"

"I'm looking for someone."

I could only imagine the pain and the suffering this kid had to go through. I wonder if someone told him that his parents lived in Hope. Without any further questions I agreed to take him.

We would have to travel through the Broken Forest - the remnants of Vancouver and its surroundings. They named it the Broken Forest - rumor has it that it was once a beautiful city, full of trees, life and gorgeous mountains. The city was struck with several nuclear warheads, and napalm bombs. We were told the forestry industry was very big in the region. Eventually all the wood, the trees, and the logging sites were burnt and destroyed leaving a broken forest. I was told that the ruins of Vancouver was a stronghold of supplies, however radiation would be a problem. The closest settlement to the Broken Forest was, Hope . It was a quiet settlement 10 miles North the Broken Forest.

"What's your name?" He didn't reply to me, we just simply kept walking. "We will have to stop at every settlement on the way to hope to resupply." He nodded and kept pace next to me. "Do you know where we are?" He replied with a shrug. "Well we are currently in the settlement of Believe. There are about fourteen settlements on the way to Hope. Our first stop is in six days, at settlement Success."

I tried to make conversation with this kid. I'm guiding him to meet his parents on an eighty-day adventure.  It has been thirty days and we have only spoken to each other when he says he is hungry or thirsty. He does not try at all to converse with me. "What happened to your parents?" I asked for the hundredth time.

"They're in Courage." he finally said without hesitation.

I stopped walking. He didn't notice and continued four steps ahead of me, until he turned back. I was shocked, they're alive? We're travelling away from the settlement of Courage. "They are alive?" He nodded and stared back at me.

"Who are you looking for?" I was beginning to feel the anger build up inside of me.

"Doctor Weinhurn." He responded.

Weinhurn was my name. I am Doctor Weinhurn.

"Okay, kid listen I am Doctor Weinhurn. Did you find something in my bag with my name on it? Stop playing games with me, who are you looking for?" His eyes lit up. He pointed at the braces on his teeth.

"I want them off, please." I looked at him. The words repeated in my mind for minutes. We continued walking towards Serenity. I didn't say anything and he followed closer than ever. "Can you take them off, doc?"

"I haven't done any orthodontics in years. We don't have the correct tools, we don't have any facility to do it in. Are you crazy?" He only kept on walking.

"Please take them off."

"I don't think I can, kid."

"Please take them off."

For the rest of trip, I could not convince him that I was not able to take them off. We eventually ended up in Serenity and we went to the rundown clinic there. I found makeshift instruments and tools that I could use to remove them. I told the local doctor, it would only take an hour and we would be leaving, I just need the chair and light.

I had to cut the wire metals off the blade of a buzz saw attached to a handle. I began to scrape off the orthodontic adhesive with sandpaper attached to the back of a spoon. The spots where the adhesive were, was much whiter than his actual plaque stained teeth. He would groan in pain often, but he never wanted me to stop.

When I removed the braces he walked up the mirror and smiled. We spent the night at Serenity, I was wondering where we would go next. What he would do now.  When I woke up in the morning however, he was not there. He had disappeared.