Part IV
The midday air was still and dry. Shoko wished it would be cool, or at least that the haunting glare could slip out of it. There were no clouds in the sky, and no shadows on the great, dead plain save those cast by the children and their meager supplies. Nothing to offer any protection from the sun. There was not any great heat, only the unrelenting pound of sunrays, hour after hour.
Shoko looked back in the direction of the desolate shack, or in the direction she imagined it to be. She had not laid eyes on the pitiful structure for some time, and only regarded it as a symbol of the lost past. When things were going wrong or seemed inescapable, she would stare out into some vague direction and imagine she could see it there.
They had held onto the place as long as they could. However, with the systems failing constantly so that the technologies of heat and refrigeration and lights faded by the day, they were forced to leave. With the strange storm which passed over that week, the silver halls had become full of water and rust. No matter what precaution was taken, the water had always gotten in.
When the lights failed for the final time, they were forced to leave. There was nothing else to be done. With the scent of stagnation all about and the icy air and the old food, there was no more reason to stay there. In fact, the old place of safety had become something of a danger. The lights of tangential halls and lower levels had gone first, eventually leaving nothing but a few select areas with light. People tried to stay to those lit areas, but a couple had gotten lost. They always found their way back, but this did not defeat the fear and worry that they might not the next.
And so, the ten of them had gathered everything useful and left behind the old home. In truth, they never exited the immediate area. Though the marking shack was gone, everyone knew it lay just over some hill or behind the wavering heat lines. With no reason to investigate or to return, though, these thoughts were never confirmed.
There were other matters to attend to in these times. Many blankets and pieces of bedding had come with them in the departure, so they did not freeze when the sun went down. Some equipment had been found and taken along, but only small technologies like flashlights and knives. Tommy had found an aged lighter somewhere and, as long as the fuel lasted, had taken to using it for the creation of fire. However, the fuel did not last long and he once again began to utilize the skillsets Stephen had bestowed.
They all had weapons now, even the ones who had never trained with them. Tommy and Shoko tried to explain and demonstrate the use of swords to those who had never held one, but it was slow learning. However, the blades were carried at all times, just in case. None of them knew what could happen, and always prepared for the worst possible.
Everyone tried their hand at hunting, even though animals were rarely visible in that place. A bird had been caught once, but only a meager amount of meat had come from it. That had not even fed them for one night. It might have satisfied a single person, but everyone rushed toward the smell of cooking meat as if it carried some kind of spell. Tommy, who had caught the bird, found himself sharing it with everyone. They were all so hungry, so cold sometimes, and so overall downtrodden.
Sometimes they caught food, and sometimes they did not. Food from the Dojo seemed able to last them for a while. However, no one was able to be confident in that greying stuff. Many things from that place had seemed useful before becoming suddenly awful. A knife they used for a single week had suddenly shattered in James' hand. He hadn't been hurt, no one hand, but the event drove a certain distrust of the old materials into their heads.
Either way, with or without the salvaged equipment, their situation did not change. They would need to hunt, and they would need to find a safe place. That was important, Shoko realized it as well as Tommy did. If no destination were picked or found, this group would begin to fade. The others had, but they could not let it happen again.
They would need to stay strong, and stay together. They would need to find a path to walk, a search to keep them busy. Shoko recognized that, and Tommy recognized that. Unit l then, they were nothing but vagabonds, floating around and waiting for nothing.
There was no destination, though. Nowhere to go, and no hope. Shoko looked around and saw how stuck they were. Nobody knew where to go or how to possibly get there. They were all caught here in a sort of empty place.
There was nothing, and they were all scared.