Nothing. Nothing at all. It was reassuring.

Viktor stepped away from the window breathing a sigh of relief.

Max clacked in from the kitchen. The corgi stood in the middle of the floor gazing lopsidedly at his owner.

It was so good that he found the canine Max. Whatever balm he could get from the loss of the dogs namesake was welcome indeed.

The black button eyes reflected the stillness that the silence tossed like a drape over a birdcage.

Viktor felt like a bird. He might be the smartest bird. Or more humbly the best guesser but he was a bird nontheless.

Max had been so certain. Unlike his brother he was afraid of heights. A physical fear that grounded him and tethered his spirit for good and for ill.

Viktor had always been flighty. It was why he’d joined the budding counterculture.

Max on the other hand wanted to change things from inside the party.

It was this logic that led him to follow the evacuation orders. The orders were logical.

But logic was so many buildings spread in brutalist array below the uppermost room of the Leninplatz.

There was no radiation.

“Whether or not this is a lie, it is better not to tempt fate, why would the Soviets abdicated their position here?”

It made sense.

But sense wasn’t truth.

Just like the myriad empty concrete cages outside were not homes.

Another free prompt for anyone to use. The original setting was meant to be in an American city but I couldn’t decide whether to stick with the familiarity of the Southeast or set it in some place like new york. For some reason East Berlin was knocking about my head as a word picture. So I googled it.

I saw a picture of a punk. And I like Einsturzende Neubauten so I went with it.

The theme is dystopian. Originally I was going to do a bit of a scene that hinted at a brother or friend running to the hills to be a survivalist away from the inrigue of a city under stress. But the city isn’t under stress. It is inhabited only by the protoganist and his dog.

Feel free to take this idea and run with it.

As always thanks for reading.

I hope to have more substantial offerings soon.