Frostpunk: The Last City On Earth
Chapter 5: The bridge
Night comes, and the expedition has yet to reach their new home.
"You know Walter. I think the drought would be much better than this." Walter looks up from his map, shaking, "I don't know if I can agree with you on that. I prefer freezing to burning. It's less agonizing that way."
"Speaking of freezing, how many blizzards has it been now!? Ten? Twelve, maybe?"
Walter smirks, "It's the endless winter, Jack. Of course, there will be endless blizzards, so we need to get used to it."
"Oh, bloody wonderful, mate."
It usually comes when the sun starts to set, but the lights from their lamps still hum as it illuminates the ground around them.
"Excuse me, young man, how much further till we get back?" Said an elder wearing a red-flat cap. The ice was starting to form on his beard.
"Shouldn't be long now. We need to keep moving and don't stop." Said Walter, as he looks further behind, "The rest of you make sure no one is lagging."
They nodded.
The children held on tight to their parents to share body heat. One of them said, "Mommy, will we see daddy again?" The child looks up at her. The mother looks down with a small smile, "We will, sweetie, we'll see your father again when we reach our new home, okay?"
Walter and Jack were navigating them with the map.
"For Christ's sake, I can't see a damn thing in this blizzard!" Walter yelled in frustration, using the light from his lamp to see in front of him. "We should be going the right way," Jack said.
Out of nowhere, Walter slipped on the ice. "Ahh!"
"Walter!" Jack screamed, startled as he looked up from his map. Walter landed on his back, hard. He rolls on his stomach.
"Ow..." He groaned, messaging his back.
Jack walks over to help him up, "You okay, Walter?" Walter grabs his hand and stands up, "I'm alright. I think my back's not broken." Jack looks at the ice, confused.
"Where did this ice come from?" He asked.
"I can ask a better question, where does this ravine come from?"
Jack turns to him, "Ravine?"
Walter points ahead and in front of them. Everyone gathered around them to see it.
There was a ravine, a big one. "The rest of you stay back," Walter warns the others. Jack took a closer look. He leans forward, only to see a dark bottomless hole.
"I can't see the bottom at all," Jack said in wonder. "I was sure we were going the right way."
"Right way!? I could've died right there!" Walter replied.
"But you didn't."
Walter stares at him.
"Yeah, I didn't." Jack pauses for a moment before asking, "Walter, we're not lost, are we?"
Walter grabs the map from Jack, "If this ravine is here," He pauses as he estimates. "Then that means we went in the wrong direction."
"Wait, but how? We were following the map exactly."
Walter examines the map again before answering.
"Not exactly. I think we went in the wrong direction after we passed the forest. Home is in the north, and the forest is in the south, and that means we're facing the southwest from home."
Jack's eyes widen, "You mean, we went slightly off from where we're supposed to go?"
"Yup. See, this must be the ravine, then that means our home is just over it."
Jack scratches his head as he looks around, "Can we just go around it or something?" Walter shakes his head, "Doesn't look like it, Jack. I don't know how long this ravine stretches out. And I don't know if it even ends anywhere."
"Well, is there any we can cross this ravine then?"
Walter smirks, "Come on, Jack, as if there happens to a bridge so conveniently placed that we can easily pass through?"
The elder from before came up to Walter. "Sorry to intrude but, if you haven't noticed, there seems to be a bridge right there." He said, pointing at the said bridge.
"Wait, there's a bridge!?" They said as they turned to look in the elder's direction.
And before their eyes, a massive steel bridge just barely visible, crossing the ravine. They opened their mouth in confusion.
Walter couldn't believe it, "What, but. I didn't even notice that! When was that here?" He said in disbelief.
Jack shrugs, "Believe it or not, I'm not complaining. Let's go."
Walter immediately puts his arm in front of Jack, stopping him from moving forward.
"Hey, what gives?"
"Jack," said Walter. "Aren't you at least a tiny bit suspicious of it? It could be dangerous for all we know."
Jack thought for a while, "Nope, but I know that home is on the other side of that bridge, and we need to get these people safe and fast." He points upwards to the dark sky and down on his watch to tap it.
He does have a point, backtracking would take a long time, and these people can't survive in the cold for long, after all that walking. They're getting tired.
Without any options left, Walter sighs, putting the map away and taking out his rifle. "We need to check it out first before the rest can go. We'll take the bridge but only if we know that it's safe enough to cross."
Jack nods and readies his ice ax.
"The rest of you stay together. We're going to check this bridge real quick. Maybe it could help us." Walter said.
Everyone nodded. "Don't take too long. The others are starting to grow tired the longer we wait." Said one of them.
Walter nods, "We won't." He signals Jack to follow him. "Come on, stay behind me, Jack."
Jack smirks, "My hero."
"Shut up."
They cautiously approach the bridge. Walter guards their front with his rifle. He hoped the bridge was empty as his rifle wasn't strong enough to take on bears.
Even though Jack was completely okay with using the bridge at first, he quickly felt scared when they heard a clanking sound when they got closer.
"Look, it's an automaton!" Jack said as he pointed at the entrance of the bridge.
Jack and Walter marveled at the sight. The bridge wasn't exactly small though, "This bridge is massive. Just look at the sheer size of it." Jack said. The bridge had a big platform like it could take a dreadnaught to drive on it.
Walter taps his boot onto the platform of the bridge, "Steel, this bridge should be sturdy, and I don't see it swaying with the wind."
The automaton works as it sweeps the snow out of the bridge, "Work robots. I didn't think I would see them out here. Where did this one come from?" Walter asked.
"Maybe, Winterhome?"
"Winterhome? What are you talking about?"
"That plaque over there, it says 'Built by the people of Winterhome in AD 1887'. This lonely automaton here is keeping the bridge clean of snow for them to use it."
Walter stares at the plaque in shock, "There's another city here? If this bridge is here, then that means they are not too far away from us. We got to tell the captain."
Another wind blows harshly at them.
"We'll worry about that later, but right now, the bridge looks safe enough. Can we move the others now? I want to get out of this cold." Jack asked.
Walter nods, "Alright, let's move them."
"But what about this automaton? We can't just leave it here."
"Jack, that belongs to Winterhome. We can't take it. That's stealing."
End of Chapter 5
A/N: Hello, this story is still alive. Just busy is all. I was thinking of putting smaller chapters for this story as it would be faster to upload a chapter. I'm sorry for the delay.
I think writing for Frostpunk is harder than I thought, plus with the expansions on the game, there's even more lore to work with. Plus a second game, which I am also excited for. I did plan on making rewrites for the story to give it a better read at some point. Old characters will not change, just the pace and the proper story structure.
I am also working on two other stories lately. Like Papers Please, Next Please. Where an Inspector lost his family and is all alone in a war-torn country, But during the 31 days till new year he finds new friends and enemies along the way.
And my latest, RWBY: Shadow Company. Where Jaune Arc decides to join a mercenary company instead of Beacon to become a huntsman.
You may check those two if you like.
I have been putting a lot of thought into RWBY lately and I didn't keep up with this one, sorry. I will try to be more consistent. But better chapters take a little longer to write.
Still, thank you for reading Frostpunk: The Last City On Earth. And Happy New Year.
-Raven