He almost didn’t tell Vanessa about the rat infestation but changed his mind. To his surprise, she wasn’t all that upset about his risky endeavor. She knew Scarlet had his back if it got out of hand.
“I’ll warn you now, the scene is…gruesome. Scarlet wouldn’t even let me on her back until I cleaned the blood and guts off. I—”
He’d been about to say he didn’t even know what the last apartment building looked like on the inside, but he did, since he could pull up the images.
“Hold on a sec. I’m an idiot and forgot to replay the last apartment building in my mind. I ran through it so fast, I didn’t pay much attention to anything.”
Jared closed his eye and cast his mind back to the battle. Slowly, and then faster, he replayed the walk-through in his mind. The rooms were filthy, and there was little chance they could make it into a living space. Bottom to top, they were all the same. The only saving grace was the lack of foot-long maggots they’d encountered in the subway.
He concluded they should get rid of the building and use the materials to build up a wall around the area. It wouldn’t be enough material, but they could chop down the dead trees around the area and use it to fortify defenses.
“Okay, sorry. That last building where the rats lived is worthless. The entire place reeks, there’s mold on everything, and none of the furniture survived. We should just destroy it and use the materials to build a wall.”
“How many rooms do the other apartments have?”
“Oh, there’s plenty of space. Each apartment has around one-hundred rooms. There’s also a large building that has a dining hall. In another corridor, there’s a bunch of smaller rooms that have cages in front of them.
“Cages?”
“I’m not sure what they were, but there seems to be a bunch of items on display, and metal grates cover the entrance.”
“It sounds like a resort.”
“A resort?”
“Yeah, I remember seeing them in old magazines as a kid. It’s where people would go on vacation. If I remember correctly, Colorado was a big destination for skiing.”
“Sorry, I must sound dumb, but skiing?”
“I know little more than you, but it has something to do with sliding down the mountain on snow with long flat things on your feet.”
“Why would you do that? I mean, it could be fun, I guess.” Jared wondered if it would be any different from riding on Scarlet’s back. “I wonder if we can find any of them and ski down the mountains here.”
Vanessa laughed. “Well, there has to be snow first.”
“There’s some on the peaks.” Jared gestured to the tallest mountains partially obscured by clouds. “I wonder if it even snows anywhere but up there. We saw snow occasionally back home, but everyone said it used to be much heavier before the apocalypse. Not that they knew either. It’s all just word of mouth passed on from generation to generation at this point.”
“I wonder if the world will ever right itself. Think about it, if the nanites can convert radioactive waste into nutrients for our bodies, couldn’t someone program them to clean and scrub the rest of the earth? Look at me.” Vanessa ran a hand over her neck and slid her tongue between her teeth which were no longer pointed.
Jared shivered, watching her show off her body. She was so beautiful, and even a simple action like that sent his pulse racing. Vanessa continued speaking, but he hadn’t heard what she’d said. He blinked and nodded noncommittally, pretending he’d heard her.
“I hope so,” Jared said. “Who knows, maybe Pete and Kirgor will figure it out. I find it hard to believe the cities above would just sit back and screw the rest of humanity for hundreds of years if they could do that. Then again, there’s nothing I’ve seen so far to refute their callousness.”
Jared and Vanessa spent the rest of the day chatting, and he almost stayed an extra day just to spend more time with her. Unfortunately, most of the group were antsy, and Carla’s mood declined rapidly. Jared spurred everyone into motion, and they packed their meager belongings to set out.
“Let’s move. We need to hurry to get past the colony before dawn. When we get closer, I’ll let you know and make sure that everyone keeps their voices down. Scarlet, it will be best if you and your brothers fly from above. Anyone that wants to fly, may do so.”
Jared paused for a moment, thinking who should ride on Scarlet. He’d almost asked Vanessa, but he knew she’d refuse. Her people were on the ground and would suffer so that’s where she would want to stay.
“Carla?”
“Yes?” she responded timidly.
“Can you ride atop Scarlet for this part? Besides Elle and I, you have the best eyesight, and I want you to keep an eye on everything around us.”
“Okay.”
He wished there was something he could do to set her at ease, but short of retrieving Attis, nothing he said would change things.
Vanessa caught the glance he shot her way and nodded her head. Before Jared turned back to the rest of the group, he saw Vanessa walk up to Carla and lay a hand on her back. Maybe she could provide some encouragement to keep her going.
Jared set a fast pace with Kitty and Elle bringing up the rear. To everyone’s credit, they all kept up with him and they made it past the colony well before the sun came up.
“Does anyone need to stop and rest?”
Jared saw the exhaustion warring for dominance, but no one raised a hand to stop. Just before dawn, Scarlet and her brothers landed, creating a perimeter around them.
“Scarlet, did you see any of those creatures again?”
“No, all is quiet. I do not know what we observed from a distance, but they are conspicuously absent now.”
“What do you think they were?”
“I can only guess, but they walked on four legs.”
“I think we should set a watch on every side when we stop to rest. At least until we’re certain they won’t bother us. If they’re anything like what we’ve encountered so far, they might just attack the second they catch wind of us. Though I have to wonder where they disappeared to.”
It was midday before they stopped to rest, and Jared called it for the day to give everyone some time to recover. The next morning, Jared let the others set the pace. The path became so grueling for some they needed to ride atop the dragons to continue. They only managed ten miles before they needed to stop for the night. The next day proved even more difficult, but it saw them through the worst part of the trek. The following day was all downhill, and the time went much faster. Finally, the buildings came into view, and a quiet cheer echoed around the group.
Jared paused at the third apartment building, expecting to see the mass of rat carcasses littering the ground, but only blood remained, mixing with the dirt to create a thick brownish red sludge. The building itself looked like an abstract painting with arcs of arterial spray shooting as high as fifteen feet off the ground.
“Scarlet? You didn’t—”
“No. There were many bodies here when we left.”
“It looks like we may need to get that wall built sooner than we thought. I know it took several days to get back here, but that was a lot of bodies.”
Jared addressed everyone before they delved into the buildings. “Please be careful as you explore. There are other predators in the area that carried off many rat carcasses that Scarlet and I killed. There could be creatures lurking in these buildings. It might be a good idea to have Carla or Elle check the building before you go too far.”
Jared went through the disgusting rat den again but found nothing waiting for him inside. A few bodies littered the rooms at random, and Jared guessed that whatever creature had cleaned up the massacre couldn’t fit inside or had their fill and moved on.
“My brothers want to hunt.”
“You need not ask my permission, but if you don’t mind, can yo
u split into two groups? One group head south and the other north so you can push our boundary and cover both approaches? I doubt anything will come at us from up the mountain on the east and west, but if it does, we’ll see it long before it gets here and be ready to defend ourselves.”
The feast Scarlet and her brothers brought back was nothing short of impressive. They’d gorged themselves on deer, various mountain cats, moose, and the occasional bear. They found none of the larger creatures Jared and Scarlet had observed from a distance. Jared wondered if they were only active at night, or they knew the dragons had moved into the area and stayed far away. It didn’t matter, they would hunt them down eventually no matter where they were.
Jared constructed a huge fire pit, dragged a bunch of chairs out of the cafeteria, and fashioned a spit for the meat. Maria gathered up all the excess and staked her claim on the kitchen behind the cafeteria. It was a mess, but it had everything she could want, including a massive walk-in refrigerator. Jared doubted the seal worked anymore, but it was as good a place as any to store any food they had and keep creatures out. If they got the electricity up and running, maybe they’d even have a place to keep that food fresh longer.
Jared walked around the area after dinner and found a metal ladder leading to the roof. It was only two stories, he could just jump to the top, but used the ladder which proved sturdy enough. Once on top of the building, Jared’s eyes widened. Banks of solar panels lined the top. He hadn’t seen them from below because a three-foot high wall rimmed the roof, and he hadn’t seen them when they’d flown over at night because they blended with the roof itself.
Looking over the edge of the building he shouted for Pete to join him.
“There’s a ladder around back.”
Pete quickly scrambled up and mirrored Jared’s own surprise.
“Scarlet?”
“Yes?”
“Did you know about the solar panels?”
“I did. Wanted. Surprise.”
“Sorry, I can barely hear you. We’ll chat about it when you get back.”
Jared shook his head. If he hadn’t found them so quickly, they could’ve gone days without looking into them if Scarlet kept it a “surprise” until then.
“Well, what do you think?”
“It will take work, b-but I think I c-can get it working.”
Jared left Pete to his work and walked over to an access panel that led into the kitchen below. Dropping through the opening, Jared found himself in a dark, cramped closet. As he’d thought, it spilled out into a utility room in the back of the kitchen. A lot of the equipment was in disrepair, but if they got it cleaned up and running, it would be a huge morale booster.
Many pots, pans, utensils, and every conceivable manner of small appliance lined a row of shelves on the last remaining wall. A four-by-four-foot window looked into the cafeteria and a bulky machine with a bunch of buttons sat next to it. Jared suspected it had something to do with recording meals, but he wasn’t familiar with it. In a small community like where he’d grown up, everyone received an equal share of any goods, food, and services. It was a true communal setting, and as far as he knew everyone lived like that these days. Though, the more he thought about the people he’d encountered along the way, a different story unfolded in his head.
He never figured out why the Daggers didn’t use the boosters they had on them to replenish their stores. Clearly, there was something else at play. Maybe they had some contribution requirements they had to meet, or they couldn’t go back. Jared didn’t know what the situation was, but a part of him wished he’d gone back to get the whole story.
Jared moved over to the first apartment building and hiked up the staircase. There was no ladder on the outside of the building like there’d been with the other, shorter building. Once on the fourth floor, Jared went door to door looking for an access hatch to the roof. A few of the water folk had chosen rooms up there, so Jared knocked on the doors before barging in.
None of the rooms had an access hatch, and the only place he had yet to look was the stairwell opposite the one he’d ascended. Opening the door, Jared immediately found a shorter staircase leading up to a door. The door only opened from one side, so he used a cinder block sitting next to the door to hold it open. The moment Jared stepped on the roof, a loud groaning pop echoed across the rooftop. Jared froze. Carefully, he spread out his feet and dropped to all fours, distributing his weight more widely.
It could have just been the many years since anyone had stepped foot on top, but he didn’t want to risk smashing through a rotted roof. Carefully, he inched his way along. Thankfully, the creaks didn’t persist, and he chalked it up to not being used in years. The door he’d exited faced north, parallel to the ravine. He could see for many miles standing up here and it would make an excellent lookout position.
Rounding the corner to face the other side of the roof, Jared’s lips curled into a smile. More solar panels lined the surface. Looking across to the other apartment buildings, Jared found every building had a full array. Some panels bore cracks, but the majority of them only held layers of dust and debris from years of neglect.
“Yes!” Jared’s voice echoed off the mountain walls.
When he looked over the side of the building, Pete stared up at him from the top of the shorter building.
“There are more solar panels on top of all the apartments,” shouted Jared.
Pete mouthed something, but Jared couldn’t put the words together. Judging by the man’s smile, he was as excited as Jared. They easily had five times the number of solar panels they’d taken from the old colony, and that amount of electricity had been plenty to sustain the group for anything they needed. If Pete got these up and running, they wouldn’t even need to conserve their usage.
The fact these panels and buildings remained in such good repair made Jared wonder about the weather patterns in the area. The panels back in the old colony had been in good shape because it’d been less than a decade, and the winds and occasional acidic rain hadn’t been enough to deteriorate them. However, there was no telling how long this place had remained vacant, yet everything was in good shape. The obvious conclusion was that the climate wasn’t as harsh, and the rain didn’t carry with it any of the abrasive chemicals he’d become accustomed to.
That could be the reason the colonies at the base of the mountain were thriving. If they didn’t need to worry about acid rain, they could easily live a normal life—except for the all the mutant beasts, but they had a wall to protect them.
His mind spun as he worked out the possibilities. There was definitely still radiation in the air because he hadn’t felt hungry like he did beneath the earth, but maybe it was less than usual, which could explain the massive size of the two colonies.
Maybe the mountains block the spread of radiation?
There were too many variables, and he had no data to back them up. For now, he’d take it as fate smiling on them and use it in the best way he could. His next mission was to explore the reservoir and see if there was a way to get water running again. He knew next to nothing about plumbing other than pipes go from one place to another. He’d have to rely on someone like Pete to figure out how it worked, though, it wasn’t a pressing matter and Pete had many other things to occupy his time for now.
For the next week, everyone busied themselves making their new home presentable, purging everything, and attempting to clean out the third apartment. Jared finally called it quits and realized they’d never neutralize the rat infestation from the building. He asked Scarlet and her brothers to knock the building down after he removed the solar panels on top. They moved a lot of the wreckage to the perimeter of the area to burn while the panels went up on top of the cafeteria where Pete added them to the existing array.
Before they’d turned the pile of rubble into a massive bonfire, Jared asked Scarlet to fly a distance away and make sure the moun
tain obscured the smoke trails from the colonies. Thankfully, the mountains thoroughly blocked them from view. Jared’s only concern was a drop ship passing overhead, but they also needed to get rid of the nasty rubble. All the dragons contributed to the burning and reduced the pile to ash while Jared and the others piled dirt on the embers to snuff it out. They’d waited in tense silence inside the apartments for hours before he gave the all clear.
Over the course of the past week, Jared had gone out to explore a few times and ended up finding massive lengths of steel cables running up the mountain. Vanessa explained it was how people used to get up the mountain so they could ski down. It wasn’t until he found one of the bucket seats that ferried people up and down that he understood how it worked. He traced the cables down to a small building with a massive steel pole thrusting into the sky.
After he’d described his findings to Scarlet, she informed him there were many of them dotting the side of the mountains. It was then Jared got an idea for a perimeter.
“Scarlet, can you and your brothers gather up these steel poles and cables? I think we can create a wall using all the materials.”
“We can gather them and help create the wall. Though, I have to wonder, do we even need a wall? Nothing we have seen in the mountains would be a challenge for us to defeat.”
“What about those big creatures we saw?”
“They have not shown themselves yet, and I am increasingly confident they will not approach while we are here.”
“You’re probably right, but if you and your brothers leave for any reason, it would provide comfort to everyone here.”
“I hardly think you are defenseless.”
“Still, if we’ve got the materials and the time to do it?”
“Then there is no harm. We shall start tomorrow.”
Another week passed as everyone spent the bulk of their time working on the wall. Scarlet fused the ends of the cables together using her dragon fire and then again to mount the cables on the steel poles. Having dragons around to do the heavy work made an arduous process simple.
Radioactive Revolution: A Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Page 33
