Hell's Gate stood behind us at a distance; its guards atop the wall watched as we marched into the ruins until we were completely out of sight. As we crossed the threshold between the cleared land and the concrete jungle, Sarah and I took one last look back at the town. Its mighty tall walls shrinking as we walked further away from it. Buildings rose up around us and the ground became littered with ancient debris and junk. We passed a row of town homes on our left, stripped to the bone of all their material until most of them collapsed into piles of useless rotting junk. Brick buildings on our right rose higher than the town homes. They too, however, had been picked clean of material. From their skeletal remains, vines flowed over the sides, descending down the stories. Moss, grass and ferns grew in the cracks and crevices. The term 'concrete jungle' was no longer just a metaphor. All around us nature was capturing everything that mankind had built in defiance of it. Bricks turned to dust. Wood decayed into soil. For many of these buildings, whether their facades were scrapped by people or simply fell away from centuries of neglect, their intact floors were like miniature forests of their own. Layers of soil had built up on the concrete, allowing for generations of plant life to make these human dwellings their own. On the street, weeds and grasses shot up from spaces in the asphalt and sidewalk. In some places even trees rose from the ground, such as one that grew directly out of the engine block of a rotting car. Rust had long hollowed it out into a brittle shell. The chips of iron and dust fed the soil around it for the tree.
I thought to myself that in another few hundred years, if these structures were not further interfered with, they would eventually succumb completely to the slow decaying process of the elements and the vegetation growing within and around their bones. Would there even be a trace that any of this existed? Or will this land forever appear as nothing more than a labyrinthian jungle. A brief sense of melancholy took me. I recognized then, the silence. The eerie stillness and quiet here beyond the walls of the town. In this silence, I realized that one's mind can play tricks on them. Ever so faintly, I could hear ghostly whispers echo through the canyon of decrepit buildings as the wind blew through them. A haunting reminder that we were entering the graveyard of millions of people. And these skeletal remains flanking us: their tombstones.
We entered the ruins in a spread-out line formation. Cherry, Lorenzo, Mikey and Shu at the front. Darius, Lisa and Felix in the middle. Darius had been equipped with a radio strapped to his back, while Felix carried a massive sniper rifle slung over his. Lastly, there was Sarah, me and Vincent in the back. Vincent had taken notice of how Sarah and I surveyed our surroundings in contemplative awe. "What do you think? Sure not in the vault anymore."
"Not at all," Sarah replied absently. Her eyes fixed further up the street as far as she could see before the way was obscured by debris and a bend in the road. "What about you, Vincent? You're new too. Have you ever been this way before?"
"I have actually. But not like this. I'm a scav just like the rest of you. But before I just guarded another team when they went out to collect scrap."
"What made you want to join Cherry's team?"
"Wanted a change of pace, I guess. Felt I was ready for a bigger challenge. Everybody looks up to this team; I wanted to be a part of that. Lorenzo's been a mentor of mine for some time, too."
"He's a rather… intense man, isn't he?" Sarah said, being mindful to choose her words carefully.
I upended that. "He seems like a dick to me." Sarah turned her head around to show me her look of displeasure.
But Vincent didn't seem to take too much offense. He chuckled, "He's not so bad when you really get to know him. He just cares a lot about this team. Doesn't want to see anyone get hurt. I'm sure he's seen a lot of that."
"He has a funny way of showing it," I said.
Again, Vincent didn't take any offense. "I have a lot of respect for Lorenzo. Guy like him could have turned out a lot different."
"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.
"Lorenzo and I come from the same neighborhood. Guys like him could have been made easily. Could've been running his own crew by now if he wanted to. But he chose a different path coming to Hell's Gate."
"His own crew? Where is this neighborhood?"
"We're from Little Italy, over in the Bronx."
But before he could explain further, a stir came from the front of the line. Cherry motioned for the group to halt. From the back of the line we watched curiously as Mikey came to her side. The two conversed quietly, both monitoring the wreckage in front of them. We had come to an intersection where a once tall building was in the process of slowly descending to the ground. Ages ago the top floors of the structure must have collapsed, and over time weighed down the floors below. The corner of the edifice near the intersection had collapsed down to its foundation, spilling mounds of debris out onto the street. After they had finished consulting with each other, Cherry motioned for the rest of the line to fall in. We gathered up behind her, all taking a knee. She turned to face us while Mikey kept his eyes on the mounds of debris. "Mikey thinks something's burrowed into that pile over there." She pointed at the largest mound closest to the ruin, which piled up high enough to reach the second story.
Mikey added to this by pointing at a specific part of the mess. "See that hole there?" We looked closely at the area he pointed out. It was hard to tell, obscured by overhanging brick and broken wood. There was a noticeable dip into the pile, but it was at an angle so we could not tell how deep it went. Large cornerstones further obscured the bottom lip of the supposed entrance.
"We'll get to the bottom of this," Cherry assured him. "Everyone spread out. Felix, toss something into that hole and let's see if we can flush anything out." With that order, we spread out in a semi-circle around the mound of debris. I followed Vincent over to the right where we set up behind a car half buried by bricks from the building next to it. Darius and Mikey knelt on the street next to us while Shu and the women fell back to the opposite corner from the debris, spreading out to set up a line of fire.
Felix took off the large rifle, foisting it onto Lisa. "Here, hold my big ass gun."
"Hey! What the hell!?" Lisa protested, struggling to even hold up the massive weapon.
Felix paid no mind to this as he dug through his pack and pulled out a cylindrical object. Cautiously, he approached the hole with Lorenzo close behind him. Once he got close enough, he pulled a pin from the object and tossed it perfectly into the hole. Him and Lorenzo hurried away, setting up on the left side of the semi-circle. The object made a popping sound and after a few seconds, hissed out a cloud of smoke. The smoke at first only plumed out of the hole in little puffs like a chimney but soon enough released a continuous stream. A large cloud expanded around the pile, billowing through smaller cracks in the debris. The opening itself became obscured by it.
We waited in dead silence. Only the hissing of the smoke grenade passed through the air. Like a timer ticking down, the hissing began to slow and sputter out the last of its contents. My heart skipped with each sputter. Until finally, the hissing ceased entirely. Tension hung in the now completely still air. Guns trained on the spot behind the cloud, each ear attentive for even the slightest of noises. But nothing stirred. With each passing moment, the tension began to dissipate. I took my eyes off the mound for the first time to look over at Mikey. A look of embarrassment was spreading across his face. But before it could take hold, something snapped him back to focus. I immediately shifted my sight back to the mound. The subtlest of sounds escaped from somewhere within the wreckage. No more than a pebble tumbling out of place. But gradually, there came the sound of more pebbles shifting, then rocks turning. The mound began to rumble slightly as some creature awakened from its slumber. We braced ourselves as the rumbling grew more intense.
Suddenly, we heard the pushing away of debris behind the veil of smoke and saw the obscured form of a creature emerging from the mound. I watched in shivering awe as a large meaty pincer and arm the size of me rose from the ground. Soon followed by the car-sized body of the abomination. As it emerged fully from its den, a long sectioned appendage stood tall behind it. The bulbous end of this tail swayed back and forth like an erect snake, but its hissing tongue was instead an intimidating curved stinger. "Holy Shit!" I blurted. It was a huge scorpion that emerged from the smoke. A massive creature with a bluish exoskeleton, tinged gray from the dust of its home. It sized our group up with its many blank black eyes before snapping its fangs and letting out a challenging hiss.
"Open fire!" Cherry shouted.
A cacophony of gunfire erupted so loud that my ears began to ring immediately. Without thinking I pulled the trigger and held it until my entire magazine was spent. Everyone else did the same. Shu's machine gun thundered over all others as he let loose a barrage to the front of the scorpion. The creature was stunned by the attacks from all directions, frozen in its panic as gunfire glanced off and dug into its tough exoskeleton. But the scorpion recomposed itself quickly, holding out its thick arms to shield from the direct fire. Seeing Shu and the women immediately in front of it, the scorpion chose to charge their position. Realizing this, the four scrambled to retreat down their nearest street before the thing could trap them.
But Shu was slow to move with his bulky armor and gun. Seeing that he wouldn't make it out in time, he turned back around to face the monster. Firing another barrage to halt its advance. The scorpion charged forward regardless and took a swipe at him with its pincer. Shu jumped back to avoid the worst of it, but it still scratched into his armor, causing him to fall onto his rear. From this compromised position he had no other option than to keep unloading. Bullets jolted the scorpions face but it kept coming until it was well within striking distance. Trying to keep the closer pincers at bay, Shu began to unload on them specifically. But this could not stop the scorpion's tail from curling so that its stinger stared directly down at its target. But before the stinger could launch forward, Cherry rushed in close, firing rounds into the stinger to keep it off balance. The scorpion shifted towards her, snapping at her with its left pincer before whipping its tail around at her. Cherry pulled back enough to dodge it. At that moment, the rest of us closed in to smother the monster. I could see that our combined fire was beginning to break down the exoskeleton. Yellow blood oozed from the punctures in its carapace and the impact of slug rounds from Mikey and Lorenzo were causing entire chunks to fly off.
Now feeling the pressure and the pain, the scorpion retreated back towards its mound. Flicking its stinger in every direction to keep us from getting too close. Even lunging in my direction to scare us off. I and those around me momentarily retreated. But when the scorpion didn't chase, we held our ground and continued to fire. Again, it backed up, but its legs were beginning to stumble, and though it continued to swipe its pincers and whip its tail, we could see that it was losing its muster. With more concentrated fire, we walked the scorpion back to its home where it tried to back into its den. But as it tried to even lift itself up the mound, its underside began to drag across the ground. Its legs grew so heavy that they began to buckle. The scorpion let out a defiant screaming hiss, only for its flat underbelly to completely fall to the ground. Its legs splayed out across the dust, its arms fell limply, and with one last convulsive whip, the tail crumpled before falling back against the debris pile.
A few more rounds were let loose into its now still body for good measure. But when it gave no reaction, we finally ceased firing. Still, we were hesitant to approach. With each person watching the creature carefully, the heat of battle began to dissipate. Much like the smoke had already, though it had now been replaced by the kicked up dust from the skirmish. The dust choked some enough to cough. As for me, a nervous sweat that I had not noticed until now made the dust cling uncomfortably to my face. It and the smell of spent gunpowder irritated my nose. Checking to see if it was truly dead, Lisa picked up a piece of brick and threw it at the scorpion's lifeless face. The brick landed with a crunch and the thing remained still. This gave Shu the confidence to walk up and stomp his heavy boot onto one of its large eyes, crushing it under his heel. Finally, a complete sigh of relief passed through the team.
"That was fucking hairy," Cherry said through an exasperated breath.
"You okay Shu?" Lorenzo asked. Shu grunted in the affirmative as he brought down another stomp on the scorpion's face.
The team approached the fallen creature to marvel and study its features. I stared into its vacant black eyes, many of which had been shot out, which left me feeling unsettled. Sarah joined me, and feeling much the same, averted her eyes quickly. Instead choosing to examine the bulky muscle at the base of its pincer and knocking on the thick armor there.
Mikey stood at its side, taking in its absurd size. His eyes scanning it from the pincers to the very tip of its stinger. "This thing—this is the son of a bitch that got Pete!"
"How can you tell?" Vincent asked.
"Saw the thing clear as day when it happened. Could never forget a radscorpion this big."
Lisa squatted down to be eye level with the monster but chose to keep a distance from it. Looking at its features and the yellow blood oozing from the holes around its face made her noticeably queasy. "Can't believe one as big as this didn't kill him. The stinger alone is massive. Imagine how much poison is in that thing."
"Actually, he's probably fortunate it was so big," Darius corrected. "It's the smaller ones whose venom you really have to worry about."
Lisa made little response aside from finally averting her eyes from the thing in disgust. "Eww, I hate bugs."
"Actually, its technically an arachnid."
"Shut the fuck up, Darius. Who cares."
Mikey then began to clamor up the pile of debris to get closer to the stinger. "Betcha Pete would love a lil' souvenir." He loaded more slugs into his shotgun, racking one into the chamber before taking aim at the stinger.
"Be careful with that," Lorenzo cautioned. "That thing can still leak venom."
"Aye. Aye." He fired one shot into the base of the stinger but had to load another to break it off.
While he did this, Felix sauntered over and sat down on the right side of the scorpion's abdomen, pulling his pack of cigarettes out with a match. He struck the match off the hard carapace, putting it up to the tip of a cigarette hanging from his mouth. The second shot fired as the tip lit but Felix didn't even flinch. Coolly, he waved the match out, took a deep drag then handed it to Shu who took an even deeper drag. "So who gets to take credit for this one on their kill count? I say me and Shu split it."
After a short break to collect ourselves from the battle, the team continued on with the mission. We marched only a block away from the intersection before we came to the steep edge of the hill that made up Washington Heights. Here a brick wall created a significant drop into the lot below, but the neighboring buildings, which had slipped down the hill from erosion, spilled a pile of rubble high enough to reach the top of the wall. Using this pile, we descended carefully into the narrow valley below. Once we reached the lot, we were even with the tree line. Here the rubble spilled down a near sheer drop. Fortunately for us, the trees were near enough that the team had previously built a small bridge connecting the platform of the lot to the nearest large tree. At the tree end of the bridge was a wide platform to walk on. And behind that tree was an open square in the platform where a ladder descended further down the hill. Everyone went through here in an orderly single file line. As the rest of the team made their way across and descended down the ladder, Sarah and I were left waiting with Cherry.
"That was a really brave thing you did back there," Sarah said to Cherry.
"Hm?"
"The way you charged in there when that thing almost had Shu. It was really cool."
"Oh yeah?" Cherry replied with a grin. "Nah, don't mention it. I was just doing my job."
"Well you did a very dangerous job and you did it well," Sarah chided.
Cherry stepped onto the bridge and made her way towards the platform with Sarah and I following behind. "Really, it was nothing. I think anyone who calls themselves a leader should be willing to risk themselves for the sake of their team. How else can I trust them to do the same for me?"
We crossed over onto the platform. While Cherry began to climb down the ladder, she continued her conversation with Sarah, who waited for more space at the top. I stood on the platform behind Sarah, looking through the thinning canopy of autumn leaves at the neighboring hill across from us. The faces of decrepit buildings with their open windows and missing sections of wall were like hollow eyes and gaping mouths staring back at me. Another ghostly whisper floated across the valley. I turned back around quickly to find that space had opened up for me to go down the ladder as well.
"We saw large mole rats on the hunt the other day," Sarah said. "And we've seen large roaches growing up in the vault, but I had no idea how big things can get out here. Scorpions used to be tiny."
"They were?" Cherry asked in disbelief.
"Well sure. All bugs were before the war. I guess the radiation must have really mutated them."
"Um, actually, they're arachnids," I said jokingly.
Cherry let out a small laugh. "Interesting…"
"Um, speaking of which," Sarah continued. "There aren't giant spiders out here are there?"
"I haven't seen any."
"Oh good, that's good," Sarah said with relief. We reached the bottom of the ladder where the trickle of rubble from up above collected into piles around us. We were in the backyard of a row of tenement buildings. The weeds here were overgrown but a path had been cut from the ladder to the back door of the nearest tenement. Lorenzo led the way through the building. "So I guess you wouldn't know exactly, but how many large creatures live up here?"
"Sister, you have no idea." Sarah's sense of relief quickly faded.
We walked on through the bottom floor of the tenement and straight out the front door onto a slightly sloped street. Years of water runoff between these hills had carved a shallow stagnant stream cutting through the center of this road. Lorenzo led us up the slope once again heading south. As we passed through the street, everyone's eyes were scanning the windows of each building we passed. At the top of the slope we reached an intersection. Lorenzo took us left, but before doing so, I examined the complex situated to our right. On its wall facing the street were the remains of a sign which had fallen apart, leaving little intact. The only thing that remained was the star of David atop the block where the letters of the building's name once were. We continued following Lorenzo as he led us up another slight slope on the opposite hill of the valley. We crossed to the other side of the street here, hugging the side of a sturdy structure made from large stone blocks. We continued up the sidewalk until we were directly in front of the structure. Here I realized that it was a church. Its bell tower had fallen in on itself, as did much of the roof. The once ornate stain glass window above the entrance had been smashed out long ago. But the stone of the church, though covered in moss, remained strong even after two centuries. From here we continued southward. We didn't go far from the church before something caught my eye. A tower, significantly taller than anything else around us. As we went along it came clearer into view, rising up from behind the buildings on the other side of the street until it lorded over everything in sight. The sight of it alone sent a tingle up my spine. Half of it, which faced us, had collapsed floor by floor over the years. But the other half, which faced the direction of downtown Manhattan, stood firm. As we marched down the sidewalk, my eyes were completely glued to it. So much so that I didn't realize everyone had stopped moving.
I bumped into Sarah. Pulling back, I was about to apologized when I realized that conversation had also ceased entirely. Everyone ahead of Sarah was noticeably tense over something I didn't understand. They all watched closely as Lorenzo paused at the front of the line. He stood in the shade of a tree growing in the middle of the sidewalk. Tilting his ear slightly upwards, listening for something. A moment passed in which everyone was frozen still. Lorenzo continued to listen, then stepped beyond the shade of the tree to get a better view of the sky. He turned to the Northeast, seeing nothing in particular. Yet some sense was warning him of danger, and his expression showed it. He looked down the line and with a loud whisper ordered us to take cover. Everyone hurried to the shade of the tree. Next to it was a station wagon which Lorenzo helped the front half of the line climb into. The rest of us in the back of the line hugged the base of the tree or laid down close to the side of the car. We looked frantically upwards through the leaves in search of this unknown danger.
Then, I heard it. A rhythmic humming noise like cooing echoed through the street. It was growing louder, and as it did it became more like a deep drone that sent trembles through the heart as it passed by. The sensation of these sound waves going through us was disorienting. Like pressure slowly bearing down on us from all sides. Even though we could sense the approach of the source, we could not sense from where it was coming. I stared up at the hollow faces of brick and concrete around us. Paranoid that the sound was the ghostly moans of many souls escaping from these former hives of human life. Then there came the rushing noise of wind and air being pushed and pulled as massive wings flapped. The droning became deeper and longer like a siren. When suddenly it was cut by an ear piercing screech. Like a metal chair dragged across concrete. A rush of air passed above the tops of the buildings. My gaze jerked ahead of us, facing the tower. That's when we saw it; an enormous bird creature soaring low in the sky. The sunlight reflected glistening cosmic colors from the sheen of its sleek feathers. It rushed like a gray flash overtop of us. As it flew further into the distance its movements appeared slow and dramatic. No doubt because of its size. Its wingspan cast a shadow that covered the width of the street, and its body length outstretched the station wagon next to us twofold. It lifted itself gracefully high into the sky. Ascending gradually before releasing another screech and cutting sharply to its left. It disappeared behind the tower.
"Oh my god," Sarah said in a loud breath. "Was that…?"
"So you were asking about other large creatures?" Cherry teased.
I completed Sarah's thought. "Was that a fucking a pigeon…?" She didn't have to respond. Her amused look at my horror said it all.
"We're clear." Lorenzo hopped out of the station wagon. He kept his eyes fixed on the direction of the tower. "Nearly snuck up on us."
"Good ear, Lorenzo," Cherry praised.
He gave Darius a hand out of the car. "The stash is just two blocks away. Let's hustle." As soon as the last person got out of the car, we jogged cautiously down the sidewalk. Quickly reaching an old store front. The walls from the floor above here had slipped, obscuring most of the front with rubble and slabs of concrete. But left enough space for one to slip behind them and into the store. We followed Lorenzo into this ruin. He slipped briskly into the wide front room of the store. Going behind the counter towards a doorway in the far corner from us. Beyond here was an inconspicuous space. A bathroom directly opposite the doorway. To the right upon entering was a hallway leading to the backrooms of the store, but the ceiling had caved in here, blocking anyone from going back there. To the left of the doorway between it and the bathroom was a wall dividing this store from other next door. Lorenzo entered the bathroom. To the left of him was a light switch panel. He pulled out a pocketknife and went to work twisting out the small screws that held the panel in place. Once this was off, it exposed the space in the wall where wires and piping were. Lorenzo stuck his left arm into and up in the space. Grabbing hold of something unseen, he pushed it forward. Then did the same thing to another object lower down in the wall. Suddenly the inconspicuous wall in the hallway shifted. A bit of dust fell from the corners of it and blew towards us as a gust of chilled air escaped the sealed entrance. Cherry pushed on one half of the wall and it receded back like a large door on a hinge. We all filed into the room on the other side. There was little space here as most of the room had caved in. But there was enough for us to reach another doorway behind the nearby counter. Lorenzo entered the room last, turning around to shut the false wall. It turned out that what he was moving to release the wall were two heavy iron bars. When slid back into position, they kept it sealed.
As soon as the wall was barred, the lingering tension from our encounter with the pigeon finally dissipated. People's body language began to ease as they hurried into the backrooms. I myself felt a sense of relief as I followed them. We were in a spacious storage room packed with supplies and lit by two electric lamps. "Gather whatever you want," Cherry ordered. "I have a list here of things we have to bring for the guys in the outpost. Don't forget to restock on ammo. We'll take 20 minutes to rest." We spread out around the room, opening up boxes, chests, cupboards and the like, going through all manner of supplies but primarily ammunition and food.
"Eek!" Lisa squealed and jumped up on a chair. "Somebody kill it!" Everyone jumped at her sudden noise, snapping over to her. A footlong radroach had crawled out from under a shelf. But just as quickly as it emerged, it scurried out of the room heading towards the front, where it disappeared in the pile of rubble. Some laughed at Lisa as she angrily jumped down from the chair.
Felix came over to the shelf where the radroach was, frantically opening one of the boxes on the bottom of it. "Ah dammit, he ate my snack cakes."
"Guess we need to set up another trap," Lorenzo said, placing two ammo boxes on the table in the center of the room.
I went over and collected my fill of ammunition. After doing so, my eyes scanned around the room. Though it was spacious, it was still hard to accommodate 10 people. The dust and lack of ventilation made some feel claustrophobic enough to leave the room for more space. I caught sight of Sarah in the corner helping Mikey pull out a large chest. Mikey opened it up to reveal that it was full of pre-war non-perishables: Cram, noodles, Blamco Mac & Cheese, Instamash, etc. Feeling the need to sit down, I chose an ancient looking couch next to me against the wall. As soon as I sat down, I was startled by how far I sank into it. The bench under the cushions had been completely worn out. I sat on one end of the couch, leaning back into the corner and resting my shoulder against the arm. Then I felt the benching push up on the cushion below me. I rose as Shu sunk even deeper into the couch next to me. He sat back on the couch, his large legs extending long and wide away from the furniture. He was chewing absently on something. Looking over at me, he pulled out a box of gumdrops. Wordlessly offering some to me. I put my hand out and he rolled one out of the box onto my palm. We sat there for a few minutes peacefully chewing our gum.
Eventually, Felix came to join us. He took a seat on Shu's left side. When he sat down, I was sure that this already sinking couch would completely crumble under our weight. Felix rested for a moment, throwing his head back against the couch and rolling his head around his shoulders. Then he turned to Shu and began speaking to him in fluent Chinese. At first, I didn't realize what he was doing until Shu responded to what he had said in Chinese as well. They carried on a conversation like this for minutes. While I sat next to them watching the exchange in disbelief. Felix told some kind of joke that got a deep bellowing laugh from Shu. I couldn't help but inject myself into the conversation. "Felix, you can talk to him?"
"Yeah, obviously," he said dismissively.
"I don't understand."
"Well he understands English pretty well but he has a hard time speaking. So I figure it would just be easier to talk to him in Chinese."
"Wait, you already knew Chinese?"
"I picked up some from when I was a kid, yeah. But Shu's actually a really good teacher. I've learned a lot from him." At that, Shu smiled and nodded appreciatively.
"But I don't—how did you—why doesn't he?"
"I from Chinatown," Shu explained slowly. "Felix from Brooklyn. We neighbor." This explanation only spurred further questions in my head. But before I could ask them, Cherry ordered everyone to collect their gear to move out.
We ventured back out onto the street and moved cautiously to our next destination which loomed ahead: the tower. Peaking around the corner, Cherry surveyed the block of distance between us and the ruin. Though we had gone this far without any sign of the pigeon, we remained on guard. Especially now that there was an open space between our position and the tower that we had to cross. Now that we were across the street from it, I could better appreciate its location relative to what we had seen on the crude map from the briefing days before. The tower was indeed situated on a platform above the interstate, which ran across the George Washington bridge and cut across Manhattan. I could see also the fate of its sister towers, the other four rectangles on the map, of which it was the last one closest to the bridge. A wide road had separated these sisters into two pairs. The pair furthest from us had turned on each other and were locked in a centuries long battle to stay standing. One toppled over three quarters of the way up but remained intact enough that those top floors now leaned against its nearest sister. Someday, that broken tower would either complete its collapse, or the force of its top floors will push its sister over. As for the other pair, which included our own destination, its nearest sibling had entirely collapsed into a wreckage of concrete and steel that splayed out in all directions, creating an impassible jungle gym covering the width of four blocks. Its skeletal steel fingers scratched at what remained standing of the tower. clawing and intermixing with the half that had already fallen away. So great was the mass of wreckage that it piled up at least ten stories.
Half the team hurried across to this wreckage while the other half covered them from the corner. Once both halves were reunited, we began to scale the hill. Sarah and I followed the person in front of us closely for fear of making a misstep that would cause rubble or ourselves to tumble down. As we ascended higher, so did our anxiety of falling back down to the bottom. Eventually we reached the height of the pile. Shu, who was one person ahead of me, struggled greatly to carry his weight and gear up the hill of rubble. Breathing heavily, he handed his weapon to those in front so he could climb up a large slab of concrete. Once he made it over with help from two others, he fell to his knees exhausted. Vincent climbed up ahead of me, turning around to lend a hand once he'd made it. Once I was up, I turned around, taking a brief moment to spot where we had descended down the heights earlier before helping Sarah up. She then did the same for the last person in line, Lisa. Everyone took a moment to breath. Cherry, needing the least time to recoup, continued on. Nearby in front of the group was our entrance to the tower. A crescent ridge of rubble provided a path to a gentle slope of concrete slabs leading into an exposed room of the building. The line followed behind her. Occasionally, a piece of rubble would slip from the ridge, tumbling down to the bottom. Each time this happened something would swell uncomfortably in my throat. Sarah refused to look down for fear of vertigo.
Finally, we entered the tower through an open door in the half-room. Cherry led us into a damp dingy hallway that cut through the center of the building. At the very center of this hallway was an elevator door. But although the elevator shaft was still intact, we were obviously not going to be taking it up. Our long climb was just beginning. Everyone followed Cherry grudgingly to the end of the hall not far from where we had entered. A door to the emergency staircase was there. As we approached, I slowed down to peak into the open rooms on our left. I could see then that this was an apartment building. Peaking into one of the rooms, I saw a domestic scene frozen in time. A living room bathed in the light of the sun. Dust particles floated through the rays of sunlight. The floor was littered with the remains of old world objects. Primarily children's toys: A rusty tricycle, a flattened rubber ball, and rotting remains of wooden blocks. These sat on the remains of a rug which had been soiled, eaten away in sections, and crusted over many times. Along the back wall next to the shattered window was a couch fragmented into pieces as its wood frame broke apart. A deep sigh escaped me as I stared at this snapshot. For a brief moment I could see vividly what it must have looked like before in my imagination. Saw a mother and father lounging on that couch as they watched their child play on the floor in front of them. When the bombs fell, did they turn around and watch the blasts from that window? The thought snapped me from my imagination, and once again the room was in its depressing form. I wondered sadly about what may have happened to that family. Ghostly whispers returned.
The taxing climb up the stairs was slow. Members of the team had to pause every few flights to catch their breath and ease their burning legs. At points we had to move carefully for fear of collapse from too much weight. Then as we reached the last few flights, our movement had grown torturously slow. Not just because we were exhausted, but because we had to be mindful of booby traps. Our first trap was a thin wire easy to miss had Cherry and Lorenzo not already known about it. The wire ran between two steps and was attached to a bouquet of grenades. Had we tripped the wire, these grenades would be unpinned, blowing up the entire staircase and us along with it. After navigating these traps, we finally reached the last floor. Here we were met by a reinforced steel door. Cherry approached, giving it a special knock. We waited impatiently for a response. Then a slit in the door opened up. A pair of eyes peered out at us. Cherry waved at them. Wordlessly, they closed the slit. Seconds passed as we listened to a series of locks, latches, bolts and bars get removed. With a great sigh of relief, we watched the door slowly swing open.
A handsome young man stood in the doorway to greet us. "Glad to see you all made it in one piece." He moved aside for us to file in.
"Glad we made it too, Johnny," Cherry replied.
As soon as we entered there was an immediate feeling of relaxation. In the background, Billie Holiday's Easy Living played softly. The piano melody inviting us all to take a load off once we entered. Accordingly, the team dropped their packs and gear by the door. I did much the same as I entered the outpost, dropping my pack against the wall to the side and leaning my rifle next to it. My eyes scanned the spacious room. It appeared to be a penthouse at one time. With the area near the door being the living room and the back wall being the kitchen. But little furniture and appliances remained to make that evident. Being on the top floor no doubt exposed this room to damage and the elements more than others. The denizens of the outpost must have cleaned up much of the mess, which meant scrapping most amenities. The floor was bare concrete where perhaps wood planks and carpet may have once been. But it was well kept with dust and debris brushed away, and rugs were scattered across the floor. A few chairs and couches were spread out, all facing the center of the room where there sat a dormant fire pit. Against the wall not far from this were shelves and a table complete with the means for prepping a meal. Back in the actual kitchen most of the space had been cleared for a workbench, a reloading table and a desk space for one of the recon members to report their logs via a ham radio and typewriter. A tall thin man with a skinny mustache sat there fiddling with the radio. Along the wall facing the outside was a confab of different materials, all meant to camouflage the outpost with the rest of the building when looked at from the outside. Stacks of cinder blocks, nets, tarps, sandbags and what remained of the wall. In the far corner from us was a nest of such material, but also a sprawl on the floor of rugs, curtains and blankets. An old man with a grizzly looking beard and long hair laid on a mattress in the center of this sprawl looking down the scope of a rifle, which stuck out through an opening in the confab to oversee the landscape outside. The young man, Johnny, who had let us in called to his two roommates on the other side of the room. They broke from what they were doing to look over, greeting us briefly in their own way before returning to their job. The team paid little mind to this as we were mostly focused on unwinding from the trek up the stairs.
Cherry began talking to Johnny while she took off her protective gear. "We brought the goods."
"Nice! Whatchya got?"
With some help from others, Cherry bequeathed three packs full of food and other comforts. "Take a look."
Giddily, the young man dug through the packs. "Cool. Cool. This is my favorite part right here going through the new groceries for goodies." With that said, he took out a box of potato crisps and helped himself to them.
Cherry reached into one of the bags and pulled out two handfuls of noodle packets. "I hope you guys like noodles because we had a lot of them."
His eyes brightened. "I love noodles! Looks like we're having a big ramen dinner tonight. I have a recipe that is delicious," he said making a chef's kiss. "Say, did you guys bring the real good stuff?"
"Got it right here," Mikey said proudly as he pulled three large bottles of liquor from his pack and set them on the table. Johnny laughed excitedly. Taking a few more bites of potato crisps, he reached back into one of the bags, pulling out a carton of cigarettes and a can of pork and beans. Carrying them over to his comrades on the other side of the room. He set the carton next to the thin man and the can next to the old grizzly man. This was enough to pull them from their jobs to indulge in the new treats.
"Hey," I called across the room. "Where do I go to use the bathroom around here?"
Johnny pointed to a doorway between the kitchen and living room, covered by curtains. "Through there and to the left."
"Thanks." I went over, passing through the curtains. I came face to face with the door to the elevator that runs through the center of the building. Back here was kind of dark so I turned on my Pip-boy light, using the illumination to better study the space. It appeared to be a hallway that connected with the rest of the penthouse. But it was immediately obvious that the collapse took down everything beyond the elevator shaft. Only the floor of this hallway remained. The wall running even with the elevator had fallen into a deep cavern of wreckage as well. However, the overhanging debris, and tangles of concrete with wire and steel, left a considerable amount in place up above. My studious eyes ventured to my right where I could see some kind of contraption with a long bending pipe running all the way up to the roof. Most likely a water catching system. Then I looked to my left, where I saw a lonely bucket with a toilet seat on top sitting next to the wall. Nervously, I walked towards it. The edge of the floor here intimidated me as I got closer. Against my own judgement, I chose to look over the edge to my right. I saw a deep cavernous abyss with floors and layers of rubble melded together on the sides, forming a jagged pit all the way down. My vision grew dizzy the more I looked so I closed my eyes briefly before going to sit down on the bucket. A little bit later, I called out to the other side of the curtain. "What do I do with this bucket?"
"Toss the shit down the hole."
I gulped nervously, as that would mean I'd have to get near the edge again. I inched my feet towards the edge slowly before tossing the contents of the bucket into the darkness. I backed up quickly to set it down, then hurried back to the others. After bursting through the curtains I was quick to recompose myself. Nobody paid any notice though as they were preoccupied with lounging. The team spread out, taking up couches, chairs, their own corner of the room or sitting Indian style on a rug.
Cherry was still preoccupied with business. She stood over the man at the radio as he broke some troubling news to her. "Looks like we've got a snafu here. Radio's been acting up since this morning."
"What's wrong with it?"
"Not sure yet. But we're picking up a lot of static on the normal channels. Can't reach Hell's Gate at all."
"What does that mean for us? We brought a radio to keep contact with you while we're out there."
"We can check to make sure there's a connection between the two while you're here. But we won't know how far that goes until you get down there."
"Dammit. Darius, bring the radio over here. See if it's connecting with this one."
"Yes ma'am."
She then walked over to the old man, now sitting up on his mattress eating his pork and beans. "How's it look down there? Still quiet?"
"Nothin'," he said gruffly. "No sign of people. No gunfire from the South. Even No Man's Land is silent."
"You're kidding. Even No Man's Land?"
"Look and listen for yourself," he said, pointing to the wide open space in the distance. Unmistakably the land of Central Park. Cherry did as he said and found that it was true. A look of concern and contemplation was on her face. "Noticed a group of ghouls wandering up from there but I haven't seen em' in a few days," the old man continued. "Must've dispersed into the ruins."
"What about a pigeon? You see any?"
"Flew right past here not too long ago. Scared the shit out of me—I was looking down my scope when it came by. Didn't see where it flew off to though."
While this conversation carried on, I found myself drawn to the openings in the wall. Overwhelmed by an intense desire to see the view from here. Next to the old man's sniper nest was an exposed space; most likely the door to what used to be a balcony before it crumbled to the ground. I could see through this space a sight unlike any I had seen to that point. A clear line of sight from here to midtown Manhattan some 6 miles away. Leading up to that were the gridlines of streets and neighborhoods and the long open space of Central Park. At the park's southern end I could see a goliath wall of skyscrapers, somewhat obscured by a persistent cloud of dust that hung over the park. But still I could make them out like I never could before. While many closest to the park were completely blown away and razed to the ground, plenty of structures blocks away stood tall. Though many I could tell were nowhere near their former glory. Pillars of steel and concrete reached in vain for their former heights. For many, at their highest levels they were nothing but a frame; an empty shell, their internal structure hollowed out and collapsed. To my surprise, I saw that many of the younger structures had not stood the test of time compared to the older stone buildings. The most cutting edge architecture by the time of the Great War were in the most disrepair. Buildings made of mostly steel frames and glass siding had completely collapsed or at best left only a skeleton of steel. Sturdier buildings of chrome faired much better. But even amongst those, their rust was eating into their stability. First chrome panels lost their paint, then succumbed to rust and weathering, before they came undone. Either hanging desperately to the building or plummeting to the streets below. Still, some of this architecture persevered despite 200 years. It was truly impressive to see the ingenuity of our ancestors. Like I said though, the older buildings of stone faired the best. The art-deco design of some were fascinating to study. As for others, it was equally fascinating to study how nature had mingled with them. The edifices were punctuated with vegetation in the spaces between blocks. Even within the buildings themselves I could make out entire ecosystems: grasses, forests, jungles. Depending on the height of the floor, and exposure to sun and wind. I wondered what creatures, or even humans, called these places home. For how many of them were these vertical landscapes their entire world.
Suddenly there was a rush of wind coming downward from above my line of sight. Instinctively I took a step back. Just as the large figure of a pigeon raced past my view. Too quick to get a clear look, even though it was closer to me than it was before. After a few seconds, the pigeon ascended back into my line of sight, flapping away into the distance and letting out another screech.
"Don't get too close to the edge," the old man warned me. "Especially without cover. That's how you get snatched away. Or shot by a sniper."
I backed further away. "Sorry…It's a hell of a view, isn't it?"
"Sure is." He pulled back some of the covering to get a look at the landscape too. Closely watching the Pigeon as it flew further off. "It's angry, you know." Cherry and I looked at him questioningly. "I've seen some pigeons in my time. Know them well. Been so close that I could make out their individual feathers. See their different colors. Stared into their big red eyes. Ohh, they look blank and dull, like a doll's eyes. But if you stare long enough you can see the truth of what's behind them."
"What are you talkin' about old geezer?" Cherry teased.
He laughed to himself, staring intensely out into the distance where the pigeon was. "They're smart. Real smart. Think like us. Even feel like us. There's a rumor that they build their own settlements just like we do. They've got one somewhere to the South."
"You said that it's mad?" I spoke up. "Mad about what?"
"Can't say for sure. But I've heard the sounds they make from being up here. They communicate with all that screechin' and cooin'. Words. Ideas. Feelings. This one's angry. It's in a lot of pain, and it's looking for something to take it out on."
This was troubling to hear. I for one was skeptical of what the man was saying. I thought perhaps he'd spent too much time up in this tower staring out at the ruins. But I could see that this information weighed heavily on Cherry. "That thing made a pass over us on our way here," she said. Seems like its patrolling this area."
"Probably right about that," the old man replied.
Cherry looked around the room, taking stock of her tired team, then the work being done on the radio behind her, then finally out towards the wasteland. She tsked, "Son of a bitch."
"What is it?" I asked.
"I think we'll have to hold here. Rest, relax, and see if anything changes for us. Radio needs to work. And I don't wanna be out in uncharted territory with that bird circling us the whole time. Nate, tell the team we're staying here tonight."
"Yes ma'am."
Night fell on the ruins of New York City. And all through the twilight hours I stayed by the edge of the tower, looking out over the city bathed in orange light and purple shadows. As the sun set further in the west, glimmers of light piercing through the labyrinth of ruins began to recede and narrow. Skyscrapers casted long reaching finger-like specters across the land. When darkness finally fell, I was called to dinner. Everyone gathered around the fire pit where a large pot of seasoned noodles simmered. Johnny scooped up tangles of noodles, placing each into whatever bowl was closest to him. Once everyone had their food, they began to spread out around the outpost. Darius and the radio operator returned to their work at his desk. The old man went back to his nest, eating quietly on his mattress. Lorenzo and Shu stood by the reloading bench, loading magazines and clips between bites. Felix and Lisa sat on a couch apart from the group eating in silence. But the rest of us remained around the pit, chatting while we ate.
"You know," Vincent said through a mouth full of noodles. He slurped them up. "When I was growing up in the old neighborhood, my nana was a very superstitious lady. Told me all kinds of stories about legends and old wives' tales. Seeing that pigeon today reminded me of one."
"Oh yeah?" Cherry said leaning in with interest.
"Well according to her, there's a legend that says pigeons are harbingers of death."
"No shit," Lorenzo butted in from the reloading bench. "Those birds kill people all the time."
"Of course," Vincent continued. "But she would say that there's more to it than that."
"What do you mean?" Cherry asked.
"Some people say that pigeons carry the souls of the dead."
"I thought crows were supposed to do that?" Sarah said. "You know, like Edgar Allen Poe and the Raven."
Everyone cocked their brow except me. "I know what crows or ravens are," Vincent responded. "I don't know anything about that Edgar guy though. Anyway, my nana would say that pigeons lived amongst people before the Great War. They were everywhere just living and observing humans. I guess they were smaller and friendlier back then," he said with a laugh. "She told me that after the bombs fell, the pigeons that survived absorbed the souls of the people who were killed. That's why they've grown so big and are so smart. Now they roam the skies collecting more souls wherever they pass over. Those who are worthy will be carried to the afterlife, and those that are not, or those that are killed by the pigeon itself, will be held and tormented for eternity, or until they are cleansed. Some people even claim that they've been so close to a pigeon, that when it makes a sound, you can hear people screaming and moaning from within.
Johnny listened to this closely, noticeably spooked by the story. "Wow, the old-timer over there has told me a lot about pigeons. But I don't think he's ever told me that." I looked over at the old man in the corner for a reaction, but he didn't seem to be paying attention.
"I've heard those stories too," Lorenzo said. "Don't worry kid, it's just like Vincent said. It's just an old wives' tale. People die often in the Empire Wasteland. Sometimes it's at the hand of a pigeon, sometimes pigeons happen to fly by."
"Geez Lorenzo, where's your sense of mystery," Cherry balked. She slurped up the last of the noodles in her bowl. "This is fun! We should break open the bottles and tell more ghost stories." She set her bowl to the side and got up to retrieve one of the liquor bottles. Soon she came back with two opened ones and started passing it around. Lisa and Felix came over to join. As the bottle made its way around the fire, Sarah and I chose not to partake. Instead opting to excuse ourselves with more noodles, leaving the circle to go sit by the edge of the tower again.
We sat down with our bowls, eating quietly while we stared pensively into the darkness. The rough vague shapes of the ruins could be made out but little else could be seen from the lack of moonlight. "I can't stop looking at it," I said aloud.
"So I've noticed," Sarah teased. "What do you think about all of this?"
"Honestly, its hard to make sense of what I think. The more I look out there, the more thoughts and feelings I have." I lifted my bowl close to my mouth, picking up a fork full of noodles.
"I think its kind of spooky," Sarah said. "I can't wrap my head around how empty it is. Every ruin we've passed, every street we've walked. They used to be teaming with life. I can't fathom so many people living in one place; how many must have died."
"It's beautiful in a way-not the deaths of course. I mean, its so still. So quiet. I can only imagine what it must have been like. Now this whole place is like one giant monument."
"If that monument was a memorial I suppose."
"Yeah. It is. Since the moment we entered this city, I feel like we've been walking through a graveyard. There must be millions of ghosts watching us."
Sarah shivered, "When you put it like that it scares me even more."
"Sorry." We continued eating our noodles in silence, our eyes fixed on the void of the night. But in staring into that darkness my eyes began to adjust. I saw the silhouetted ruins in better detail. My sight then focused on the relative flat space in the center of the dark landscape, Central Park. My eyes continued to adjust to what I was seeing, and as they did so, I noticed a green glow emanating from the south end of the park. The longer I stared, the more pronounced the glow became. "Hey Sarah, do you see that over there?"
"What?"
"That glow off in the distance." I pointed to the spot for her to focus on.
She stared for a few moments. "Yeah, I see it. What is that?"
"I don't know." I looked over at the old man nearby. He was finished with his noodles and was already preparing for bed. "Sir?" His back was towards us. He rolled over on his mattress to face me. "There's a green glow over there. What is that?"
He looked at us incredulously for a brief moment before he explained, "that's the central crater."
"What?" I snapped back to the site of the glow. "You mean that's where…"
"It's one place where they dropped the bomb."
Sarah and I looked on in amazement. "Incredible. After all these years… So that glow must be…"
"Radiation," Sarah finished my thought. As if on cue, a gust of wind blew on us from that direction. The Geiger counters in our Pip-boys crackled to life for the first time since we came out here. But only for a moment.
"They say it was a dirty bomb," the old man added. "Not sure what that means, but I guess it meant a small explosion with more rads. To this day, that area's still heavy with it. It's like a wall between the North and South of Manhattan."
I realized then what that wall of dust I had seen earlier in the day was, and why the buildings on that side of the park were completely destroyed. In awe I continued to look out across the land towards the glow. The longer I did so, the better I could make out the rolling of the dust in the wind. How the cloud of fallout hovered, floated and danced over the origin of its hellish existence. I wondered what kind of nightmare world sat on the ground below that cloud, Some kind of portal to an uncanny reality frozen between the past and the end of time. The very thought raised the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck. A sense of terror grew more intense the longer I stared, yet I couldn't look away.
Once again, ghostly whispers returned. Floating through the valley of darkness and the wreckage of history. What had we done? What evil force did our ancestors unleash upon the world? The sensation of voices in my ear grew louder. Rising into the sounds of distant ominous sirens echoing across the land; the sobs, the cries, and screams of terror as millions of people awaited their annihilation. All building into a crescendo of a thundering roar. And then… A brilliant flash of light consumes everything into its massive form. Absolute silence like every sound has been sucked into a vacuum of infinity. I can only hear my heart racing and my breath laboring. As I watch the great monuments to mankind, these towers of Babylon, be reduced to dust and ash in an instant; floating away into the atmosphere or being sucked into the vacuum. A new sun is born. It consumes everything, even my sight. My pupils then my eyes expand to their limits until my vision is totally consumed by brightness. Night turns into day. But just as suddenly as it happened, the light recedes. Sound is released in the form of a deafening roar. A gigantic column of fire rises into the atmosphere, ascending to reign over all life.
I look to Sarah. Time is slowed to a crawl. She speaks to me but I hear nothing. A bludgeoning wave of fire and debris washes over us. I look into her eyes and she looks back at mine. I watch as the top layer of skin on her face peels like its sunburnt. Dust in the obliterating wind flays her top layer of skin. Her hair ignites into flames and is blown away from her melting scalp. Her clothes graft with her body. Her eyes boil out of the sockets. Her deeper layers of skin are burned to a crisp instantly. Her entire figure is reduced to ash and blows away. Leaving only a shadow where she once sat.
"Hey. Nate."
My eyes flickered but were too heavy to resist the desire for sleep. But gradually the clamor of everyone around me pierced my fading dreams.
"Wake up."
I felt a light tap on my arm from the tip of a boot. My eyes opened with blurry vision. I fought the urge to close them again, until finally my vision came into focus. I realized then that it was Lorenzo whose voice I was hearing. I blinked my eyes slowly with disappointment. Already my day was off to a bad start.
"It's time to go," he said indifferently. Then walked away.
The sleeping bag I wanted to sink back into moments ago became stiff and uncomfortable on my back. I sat up and looked around the room. I was one of the last ones to wake while everyone else was moving. Gear was checked and guns were loaded. Everybody went about their morning routine. Nearby me, Lisa was the other person to just wake up. She rose from her sleeping bag with a large frown. Rubbing her eyes with balled fists, she grumbled to herself. Just then, I smelled the scent of something good. I turned around to see that Sarah had brought me a plate of biscuits and gravy. Johnny stood behind her at the fire pit stirring a large pot of the stuff. I took it graciously. "Sheesh wish I was that spoiled," Mikey joked from nearby.
Sarah ignored him. "You alright?"
"Hm? Yeah, why?"
"It seemed like you were having a bad dream."
"Oh…It's nothing. I'm fine." She was skeptical but chose not to push the issue. With a parting smile, she left me alone to eat my breakfast so she could get her gear together.
Soon after, Cherry passed by. "Nate and Lisa, get your asses moving. We leave in 15." Lisa responded with a louder grumble but still at the stern order, she jumped up from her sleeping bag and went to work cleaning herself up and collecting her gear. I followed suit by scarfing down my food. As soon as that was done, I rolled up the sleeping bag and began preparing for the day. Clean water was drawn for us to brush our teeth and wash our faces. Plates were also turned in to a bin for Johnny to wash them later. In the meantime, he was ladling gravy over people's biscuits. Those that had time to spare were coming around for seconds while others quietly prepped their gear, did a little extra self-maintenance or just sat quietly to mentally prepare for the day.
After I had put everything away and gathered my things, I sat on the floor near the outside edge of the outpost again, wanting to catch another glimpse of the cityscape before we descended back down into it. Others had the same idea as well. Felix, Darius, Mikey, and Vincent were all there looking out at the view. Darius caught glimpses between doing a final inspection of his weapon and gear. While the other three men took drawn out drags of cigarettes before blowing the smoke out towards the ruins and the rising sun in East. I sat slightly behind them, looking out as well while I laced up my boots and strapped on my leather armor.
"See that large building there," Vincent said pointing ten blocks directly South. "That's our destination. That's Columbia right there." It was an older building, taller and wider than any others around it. A complex with multiple wings surrounded by smaller younger structures that together made up the school of medicine's campus.
"Ten blocks to paydirt," Mikey said absently. "Just like Cherry said."
"Looks closer than I thought," Darius commented. "That building to the left of it should be the research and technology wing then, right?"
"Yeah," I responded.
Felix turned around, "Morning, Nate. Want a cigarette? Helps wake you up."
"No thanks, I'm okay."
Just then Lisa walked past me. "I'll take that." Felix handed her one with a lighter. She lit up and took a deep breath before releasing it. "Aaah, that's a nice toke."
Then Sarah then sat next to me with a cup of tea. Sipping on it meditatively as she looked out towards the ruins. We all sat there in silence. Ten blocks to paydirt, I thought to myself. A quick walk down the street. But what fresh hell could be down there, I wondered. I think we all were asking ourselves the same question. Until Cherry stirred us from our contemplation.
"Alright team. Everyone good to go? Got your food? Put your faces on? Darius, you tested the connection with the radios?"
"Yes ma'am. Should be connected now."
She looked at the outpost's radio operator for confirmation and he gave a thumbs up. "Good. Hey old man, you got that rifle ready to go? See anything we ought to worry about?" The old man was at his mattress again, this time with the large rifle we brought set up on a bipod and facing out towards the ruins. He gave a thumbs up as well. "Okay, easy part is over guys. When we get down there, I want everybody's head on a swivel. Keep the noise down and chatter to a minimum, okay."
"Good luck out there, fellas," Johnny added.
Cherry took one long glance at all of us under her command, nodding in approval of what she saw. "Let's move out."
We were back down on the street. The security and comfort that we had felt up there in that nest faded quickly as our feet touched down on the sidewalk. Once again, we were small figures in a great labyrinth. Everything lorded over us. The tension was palpable for everyone on the team, as we were now entering unknown territory. We marched in a single file line with great caution, hugging the left side of the road. We left the perimeter of the tower, crossing over into untamed land. Remnants of apartment buildings extended forward for a couple of blocks, spilling large quantities of brick on our path. Cherry led the way, moving carefully from one pile to the next. Our progress was slow. At every available cover we stopped to scan the way forward and structures across the street from us. Every opening had to be examined. Eventually we traveled two blocks to an intersection. Catty-corner to us was a stone structure still mostly intact. Its green capped rotund dome on the corner nearest to us made it stand out. I took a moment to appreciate the architecture. Then looking a little further down the road, I could see another green capped stone structure two blocks ahead. A church with a tall clock and bell tower. We eyed the tower closely for a potential sniper as we crawled forward.
Finally we were nearing the church. But the street beyond was noticeably concerning to Cherry. Here, the street altered as it merged into another, leaving a large open triangular space with many angles to watch the area from on high. Across the triangle from us were buildings much larger than any nearby. Their faces had been altered considerably with fallen facades, gaping holes in their walls and sections of collapsed floors, but still the structure stood. Between us and the buildings there was nothing to shield us from their line of sight. In the center of the triangle was a Red Rocket gas station, and directly across the street to our right was a little corner café. But these were too low to the ground. The only real cover we had were the cars parked next to us on the street. Cherry slowed our pace even more. Now we were moving from car to car in teams of two. At each one, we all had to stop and scan the area, but anxiety spread through us as we realized that there were too many angles to cover.
At the rear of the line with Sarah, I could see the whole team in front, and see the nervousness in each of them. Eyes darting everywhere, heads swiveling back and forth. Their guns pointing in every which way. My heart began to race as I began to do the same. My eyes darted up at the clock tower. Then further down the sidewalk. To the Red Rocket. Then the café. I trained my rifle at the broken windows as the shadows of chairs and debris hanging from the ceiling could be a person in waiting. Then I pivoted my rifle up towards the buildings on the other side of the triangle. So many floors and so many windows to cover. My eyes darted, my head and rifle swiveled so much that my head began to spin. Then I came to rest on a particular corner of one of the middle floors. The bricks there had all fallen away, leaving a large open gap in that corner. But on the edge of the floor, the brick that had fallen away was stacked in piles. Stacked, not by chance of their falling down, but stacked purposefully. My heart raced faster. I looked down the line wanting to speak up about it, but nobody was directly in front of me for me to send the word down. I checked the spot again. Completely still, but my worry persisted. We moved up another car. Vincent was the closest in front of me. I Whispered his name to get his attention but he didn't notice. I whispered again. This time he heard me. "Building across the way. Sixth floor," I whispered again.
We both turned to look, as did Sarah behind me. But just as we had done so, something moved. Popping up from behind the stacked bricks. Before we could react. Before we could say anything. Just as quickly as they appeared, a flash of light escaped the shade of that corner. And in an instant, I heard the crack of a rifle, then a hard thud. Vincent's head snapped back. A spray of blood shot out the back of his skull, splattering onto the pavement. He fell backwards onto the ground, his head landing hard on top of the splatter, where more blood spread quickly. In shock I pressed myself against a car for cover, my heart beating out of my chest. I looked down at him with short lived hope that he was alive. But there was no denying the hole in his forehead. His wide glazed over eyes stared vacantly up at the sky. Sarah and I both struggled to let loose instinctive screams but they were caught in our lungs. "Aa-aa-aah-Aaaaaah! AMBUSH!"