Chapter 21

Narrow gaps between stacked cars and rotten wood roofs made for a less than comfortable daytime sleeping arrangement. Save the milky night sky from the dispersion of moonlight and the slight orange glow through the rifle scope, the two-mile trip to the lock was dark.

The suburb’s buckled concrete roadways had no pattern, and the wreckage ranged from fire hydrants to entire houses. Although they hadn’t completely destroyed the town, the beast hordes left their mark, and they’d probably finish the job in the next round. Even during the day, travel through the rubble was difficult. Night made the trip worse, and the weather wasn’t helping.

Strong southern winds pushed back the arctic chill throughout the day and scorching air raked the ground with dirt and wood scraps. We had no luck finding motorcycle helmets from a shop, and the lone pair of goggles went to Allie. Chris and Dan had to suffer through the dust storm with cloth coverings wrapped over their heads.

We tied a rope around our waists before setting out, keeping us linked to each other. As the only person with night-vision lenses, I led us through the labyrinth of stone facades and lamp posts. Tugs at the cord signaled whether we’d stop or go forward.

Before sundown, Dan scouted the route towards the lock and provided me with landmarks. Unfortunately, I hadn’t seen a single one. A fallen gas station sign, the William & Son’s plumbing shop sign, and several more. Each landmark was a sign, a sign that laid flat on the ground.

I hadn’t thought about it then, but I finally understood the angry glare Allie gave Dan. The river was due east, though, so we’d make it with or without his directions. We just needed to walk the river’s edge until we found our way to cross. Hopefully, we’d march in the right direction.

Whenever possible, I ignored slow-moving scabs on the trip, only pushing them to the ground and breaking their legs when they came too close. Near the end of their lives, they lost their usefulness as weapons. Their groans when anyone walked by created an alert system, the only thing of value they offered. Thankfully, the howling wind muffled even the loudest noises. Sadly, not everything was a slow mover.

Two mutated dogs rushed us. Bloated bellies and matted fur. The only food source I saw in abundance groaned around us. A simple swing and kick was enough to kill them. They barely had any essence in them. Nothing in the area was strong, and the lone scab that could fight died after a single strike.

Whenever something attacked, I untied myself. Allie, Chris, and Dan stood with their backs to each other until I returned. Unless we found additional night-vision goggles, I would mostly be on my own when we had to move in the dark. It wasn’t sustainable, not with most areas ahead of us being open suburbs and cities. Dan met my question of how he planned to travel without night-vision with a shrug and an “I’d find a way."

A few feral pets and small tumbles on loose rubble later, our midnight hike through the wreckage ended.

Paved roadways transitioned to grass tufts and soft mud. Just 500 feet to the south stood the 20-foot high steel catwalk we needed to cross. For some stupid reason, I thought the lock spanned the entire river. I forgot about the narrow lattice walkway over the waterfall. Gusts of hot air over the water complicated things further.

As Dan said, a concrete barrier wall extended halfway across the river, and walking on it was no problem. Pushing through the wind, we made it to the tower and searched for weaknesses. There were no holes in the metal grating from what I could see, but the structure itself wasn’t exactly stable. At one time, maintenance employees would have checked the crossing and repaired any issues. With the damage from the breach, though, no structures were truly safe. Especially steel walkways that spanned rivers.

Allie tugged my sleeve. “What do you think?”

They couldn’t see the details, and I wasn’t an inspector. The memory of the last bridge crossed my mind. I didn’t want to go. “I think... it’s probably ok. But Dan should shake it first.”

Nobody knew what to look for, so if one of us could break it, then it wasn’t safe. As the strongest, Dan shook each of the four narrow beams framing the tower, and I watched for anything to crack. A part of me hoped something did, but other than falling paint chips caught in the wind, there was nothing. We needed to cross, and it gave us our best chance.

After distributing our packs evenly, we decided as the lightest I’d lead. Dan held one end of the rope while the other remained tied to my waist. If I fell, he’d pull me back like a fishing lure. The last place I wanted to be in was a river full of monsters, much less attached to the thin braided cable they promised wouldn’t break.

“Don’t forget to scope the other side. Three tugs if we’re clear.”

Dan wouldn’t see me nod, but I had a hard time speaking through my quick breaths. I kept my head up and squeezed each rung of the tower with a death grip, placing my feet carefully before stepping on the next. I didn’t realize I had a fear of heights until I climbed the ladder in the dark.

Once I reached the top, I pulled the rifle from my back and searched our surroundings. Like we feared, the orange glow came from Waterford center itself. Despite the strong winds, several lights flickered. Someone occupied the town, and they had no fear of lighting a beacon with their bonfires. But from what I could tell, nobody was on the other side of the lock. I tugged the cord and took a deep breath.

Rust flaked off the catwalk’s grated steel floor, so despite the discomfort, I crawled the 50-foot span above the river, distributing my weight in hopes to avoid falling through. The blood pounding through my head gave me a slight headache, and the wind swayed my body, turning my stomach and leaving me dizzy. Although I inched forward slowly, eventually, I reached the other side and gasped. I could finally breathe again.

I descended the tower’s rungs and wrapped the rope around a docking hook before signaling to the others. If everyone fell into the water, I was probably strong enough to pull them out, but only if I had a way to steady myself. Allie crossed quicker than I did, gliding through with no problems and sliding down to the concrete platform.

But the tower wasn’t as stable as the other. One of the four beams snapped, and the others leaned to the side when Chris reached us. Although it didn’t twist an enormous amount, the catwalk was no longer level.

The bridge swayed, and Dan raced across before the tower bowed too far. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

The lattice bent several feet and warped the thin passage. The engineers who designed it hadn’t thought about the possibility of four people crossing it while damaged.

Allie tapped my shoulder. “Why’s he cursing?”

I unhooked the rope from the docking handle. “I think Dan broke the tower.”

Dan’s head snapped towards my voice, but he didn’t say anything. Although it sounded minor, it was a serious problem if someone noticed. We bet on the crossing because it would likely be unguarded. City planners built dozens of bridges and locks in the area, and even more further south. It was a safe bet they couldn’t cover them all. We weren’t foolish enough to believe there weren’t patrols along the river’s edge, though. They wouldn’t notice it during the night, but the bend would be visible during the day.

If the crossing had snapped and fell in the water, they might have written it off as just another structure collapsing. But usually, steel walkways didn’t twist on their own overnight. We could only hope the patrollers didn’t write overly detailed reports.

The canal lock was closed and wide enough to walk to the other side. Essence-vision didn’t pick up anything in the immediate area, and I didn’t see any movement in the night-vision filter. I checked the small security shed next to a pine tree, but it was empty. Everything was clear.

We loaded Chris with our packs before walking into what was most likely a residential zone. Flattened apartments and destroyed single-family homes lined either side of the main road towards the town. At some point, it became difficult to tell the difference between them as the damaged houses blended in with one another.

Waterford was flat and open, with low-rise buildings that provided terrible cover. By the time we found a relatively hidden spot, the sky had brightened enough to see clearly. We needed a better area than the corner of a collapsed restaurant if we wanted to sleep through the day.

Dan untied his rope. “I’ll look around.”

I nodded and tracked him through my scope. When he captured me, I thought he hid the energy output from his particles, but in reality, he blended in with the background. More accurately, he distorted our way of viewing him. I followed him until he reached a broad intersection that headed away from the town center, then lost him.

Allie sat next to me and watched Chris pilfer through bricks and metal sheets. Somehow, he found a large can of sliced peaches and a few tins of mackerel.

She leaned back against the wall and stretched her arms. “Probably an apartment above.”

I remembered a high school friend who lived above her family’s restaurant and nodded. “He’s good at finding food.”

No matter how hard I searched, I never found food the way Chris did. Every place we stopped, he found enough for the four of us. For a while, I almost thought he had a second ability.

“When we were little, mom hid the snacks, but Chris always found them.” Allie rested her head on her knees and looked towards him. “My cute little brother somehow turned into this.”

Chris pulled another can from beneath a bent steel table and tried to read the label. A teenage boy that gained weight while the world starved. We both laughed, and he ignored us.

She turned towards me and smiled, but didn’t ask. On the military base, we learned quickly not to ask about someone’s family. Dragging up memories and confronting reality was difficult. Until we found their bodies, it was easier to believe our families were still alive. That we’d meet each other again soon.

Chris continued scavenging for anything he could find, and even through the dusty air, Allie’s face glowed. Her face glowed, and my stomach hardened. I realized we had a problem. The sun broke the horizon an hour earlier, and Dan hadn’t returned.