by L. E. Howel
Were they safer? The question was a good one and Birch couldn’t logically answer it, but it felt true. It may have been that within the forest they could have hidden more easily than in this wide expanse, but instinctively he knew they were better off out in the open prairie, or so he believed, and that was enough for now.
They were alone; at least they seemed to be. As Birch scanned with the heat sensor he already knew that no friends were nearby. Either they had made it further east, or they hadn’t made it at all. Whichever it was Birch knew that he would have to make it without their help. They were friendless and alone on this wide-open range.
Quickly their minds turned to finding shelter for the night. It might have been easier, and perhaps even wiser, to spend a last night under the cover of the trees before exploring these expansive grasslands, but Birch would not consider it. Once freed from their darkness he had no desire to return. They would find somewhere on the plains to spend the night.
In the last dying embers of the day he scanned the horizon, searching for any sign of life, any sign of friends or enemies they might need to prepare for. He couldn’t see much. There was no life. In the dim light he noticed a strange feature to the south, what seemed to be a gray mass, perhaps of buildings huddled together at the foot of the mountain range. It was dark. Though the light of day had now almost faded to black and the stars had begun to burst forth in the gloomy night, still the place, whatever it was, remained lifeless. Not a single point of light appeared and not a sign of movement could be seen. Karla shivered.
“What do you think it is?” she asked breathlessly.
Birch shrugged. “It was something once I guess. We’ll find out what it is tomorrow. For now let’s just concentrate on finding a place for tonight.”
A short time later they had found a dip, or ditch, that, with tall grass surrounding it, provided excellent cover from the eyes of any who might seek them. They settled to sleep. Their circumstances were less cramped than the night before and Birch appreciated the time to rest on his own; to think about things. He was tired and as he lay in the tall, rustling grass his mind drifted between what they had done and what they still had to do. He had ideas that, if he was fully awake, would have seemed foolish. He had hopes, but at the same time those distant gray buildings seemed to lie on them, like a blight on his consciousness. It was a gray smudge, a human stain on this natural landscape. They were his first chance to find out for himself what this new earth was all about. Not to hear it from others, but to discover it for himself. Tomorrow he would see for himself what this old world had made of itself.
TWENTY-FIVE
It was a bright dawn on the plains. The land was so flat and so empty that the sky seemed to fill the space it had left with a radiant, fierce blue that burned away even the slightest suggestion of impurity in its cloudless realm. What a contrast it made with the old, gray light of the forest. Two domains, an ocean of sky, cloudless and unsullied above, and an ocean of grass below, swaying in waves at the wind’s command. Here, it seemed, you could be a king of infinite space. All of this cheered Karla and even Birch felt its influence prying its way into his darkened mind. It opened their hearts and poured the sun right in from the bounteous overflow of that big sky. This was what it was like to be free, freed from a dread danger that threatened their lives. Now, finally, it seemed to have let them go, but like all illusions it could not last.
It was the city that stole away all impression of freedom. It was yet distant, but they could see it, an indistinct gray line on the horizon. No other detail could be seen from this distance, but even from here the impression was wrong. It was a dwarfed gray mass, with no grandeur and no life. The night before it had remained black and cold in the darkness, now even in the daylight it hardly seemed warmed or lightened by the sun that brought light and life to everything else. This was where they were headed. Rather than go to the open plains, that seemed to invite them eastwards to safety, they would move south toward this monstrosity. It was their best chance to get what they needed for the next stage of their journey. It also might provide some of the answers Birch was looking for.
Their hurried breakfast of fish saved from the day before was eaten in silence. Their hunger was less pronounced than yesterday, and as a result the raw, slimy flesh was harder to stomach. Still, Birch was glad of what he had and when Karla produced a few berries she had saved from yesterday he felt it had almost been a meal worth eating. It would keep them going for a while anyway.
Soon they were walking toward the city. It took some time to cover the distance, but as the first hour passed they drew close enough to get a clear impression of where they were going. Their sense of gloom deepened, like long shadows cast over their minds. This seemed to jar against reality, for even in the low morning sun the city cast only the shortest of shadows against the mountains behind them. There were no skyscrapers. It seemed like nothing taller even than the tenth or twentieth story remained. They were gone. Their approach revealed the ghastly effect, jagged edges of metal and exposed girders protruding from rusted bases showed a sudden, calamitous destruction of all those structures in a great swath. It was as though a giant scythe had swept across the city and destroyed its towering pride in one swoop.
Karla drew closer to Birch, and for once he didn’t mind. This place was dead. It had died a long time ago and any presence of life was a comfort.
“I think I know this place,” she murmured softly, “at least I did.” Birch gave a start, somehow in his mind this location had been all about the future, some strange city that they had never known. As he had thought about this terrible scene it had escaped him somehow that this was their own world and that they might know it. His curious interest was instantly transformed into a dour moodiness.
“Where are we then?” He was now looking himself for any signs.
“It’s the mountains and those buildings, a lot of it’s gone now of course, but what’s left of them is in the right place. We used to come here all the time; it was like the big day out. It took hours to get here and then even more hours to get back it always seemed, but it was so pretty with the mountains and the big glass buildings all standing so tall against them, but look at them now. How could this happen?”
“Just tell me where we are,” Birch sighed impatiently.
“Denver. It’s Denver. Can’t you see how what’s left just lays out just right?”
Birch had never been to Denver, but he could imagine she was right. He had no reason to doubt it. So a great city had been reduced to this. He shivered in the cool morning air. He was glad this wasn’t a place he had known, not because he hoped that the places where he had lived had been spared this fate, but rather because he didn’t want to see them, whatever had happened. Everything would be changed, and yet still somehow the same. To see it like this would have been the hardest. Better to have the past obliterated totally than to stumble upon the rusting remains of what you once knew. Even those who cherished the past so much at least wanted it buried out of sight, so they could remember what it was, not what it would become. He could see those same feelings conflicting within Karla now. She seemed both horrified and fascinated to be here. A strange fear seemed to come into her eyes as they drew closer to the city.
By late afternoon they were at the outskirts, and the first signs of the mangled mayhem of the city’s destruction became evident. A great expanse of rusted vehicles lay along a packed road, weathered and beaten, like so many grave markers where the writing had disappeared with the memory of those who lie within. They had been here a long time, but the evidence of violent and sudden destruction remained. Cars and trucks lay upturned, metal fragments, and holes in the road all spoke of some final struggle here, a final hope of escape for some that had lead to nothing. Karla sighed but it sounded more like a sob.
“There’s nothing we can use here,” Birch remarked. “We need to go further in.” Karla nodded stoically and followed close behind.
Cautiously they moved toward
the center of the city. The great press of rusted out cars did not lessen, it was as though every vehicle that the city had possessed was thrown out onto the street on this one occasion, a last parade of all the city had to offer before it was finally destroyed. Looking at it now- it seemed like it had all happened only a minute ago. Rusted doors still hung open from cars where panicked drivers had left them, debris and personal belongings lay scattered where they had fallen. More poignant than Pompeii, this was real to Birch. He stooped to pick up a single shoe left rotting on the roadside. What story could it tell? What had happened to its owner? He shuddered at the images that poured into his brain, and with all his effort flung it into the demolished remnants of a building nearby. He didn’t want to know its story, nor its owner, nor its past. It was too painful. He would get what he could use from this place and he would find out about what happened to the city, those things would help him, but he didn’t want to know about the people. Everyone else had forgotten them, why should he remember?
Karla and Birch had moved onto one of the long, wide roads that would once have been a main artery into the heart of the city. They were far enough out that it contained all of those conveniences that had moved out from the city center long ago. The malls, the restaurants, and all the other megastores lay in ghostly silence. Some were largely intact, others were totally demolished and left little evidence of their existence but for rubble, or perhaps a hole where a structure had once stood. The destruction seemed almost random and, where it hit, as total as the most destructive tornado, but this ‘tornado’ had gone through the whole city. Whatever happened here was no natural disaster though. That much was very clear.
Finally as they passed a large superstore Birch turned off from the road and walked toward its abandoned parking lot. A skeleton of faded white lines crisscrossed to show where cars would have once parked. None were there. That same familiar dread was resting in their stomachs as they drew near. It was the dread of seeing everything you once knew come to this, and wondering what new horrors you might find in these old, familiar surroundings.
The door, that once would have opened to welcome them, remained firmly shut. This wasn’t surprising, there would be no power to operate it, but from habit Karla had almost walked into its smeared glass pane, expecting it to slide aside and admit her. She smiled sheepishly and her mood seemed to lighten with her own mistake. The door wasn’t locked and Birch was able to pull it open so that they both could pass through.
The air inside the foyer was stale and slightly foul and grew worse as they walked further in. Natural light streamed down through the skylights, but the overall impression was not cheery; it was dank and dark. Pipes hung loosely from the ceiling and debris lay everywhere. From the condition of the floor it was evident that a number of animals had made use of this building over the years. Some of it was fresh and that didn’t help the smell.
“Cleanup on aisle five,” Karla quipped. Birch smiled despite himself, he was just glad she was holding together better than he had thought she would. “This is quite a mess,” she added brightly, “but it looks like there’s a lot of stuff left here.” She was right. The produce section, naturally, had rotted to dust, but most of the other things seemed largely intact. It was strange. There was no sign of the type of looting he would have expected to see under this type of circumstance. Neither those fleeing, nor the victors here seemed to have touched a thing. It was all left as though the store might open again tomorrow. In some places the shelving had given way and spilled its contents on the floor, but mostly it was a picture of dusty, dilapidated order. Everything was left where it should be. It was like an evil Christmas, everything you could possibly want, but at a terrible price. Still Karla, and even Birch, couldn’t help feeling cheered by this bounty.
“Let’s get some stuff,” Birch gestured to the shelves, “concentrate on canned goods. I’m not sure how good they’ll be after all this time, but that’s our best chance at getting something edible. And whatever you do keep your eyes open for a can opener. I don’t want to get back on the plains and have to chew my way into these cans to get a meal!”
Karla laughed. “I bet you could though,” she added mischievously. Birch turned sharply to look at the lieutenant but she had turned her back and was getting a cart from a long column at the front of the store. Birch looked on in disbelief.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting a cart,” she answered flatly.
“You know this isn’t a Sunday afternoon shopping trip, right?“ Birch’s words dripped irony. “We’re here to grab stuff quick and get out.”
“I know,” Karla didn’t seem phased by his words, “but I wasn’t planning on carrying everything in my hands you know. I may as well use the carts while they’re here.”
Birch shrugged. It made sense but it didn’t seem right, you didn’t do doomsday shopping with a cart, you grabbed and ran. “I guess that’s fine,” he admitted, “but don’t forget to ask for a price check if any of the price tags have fallen off. We don’t want to get caught short at the checkout.”
Karla and Birch stuck together in the store. It was a gloomy place, which didn’t bother him, but he didn’t want to leave her alone. She seemed to need the company, and so they shopped together like a normal couple in normal times. He picked some things, she picked some others. They disagreed on some things, but compromised where they could. The atmosphere was heavy with the past and you could almost peel away the years like a greasy film and find them fresh and clean in the old days, shopping together and returning home to their suburban lives. This parallel did not escape Birch’s attention and it made his head hurt.
Finally they had as many cans as he thought they could carry. They moved through the store looking for other useful items, Birch found the much-needed can opener and Karla stopped in clothing. She had even wanted to try something on, but Birch had insisted that either she grab what she wanted as they passed by or she got nothing. Sulkily she picked a few items and suggested that Birch might need a few things. He scoffed and continued toward the sporting goods department. Karla followed behind, but stopped in the men’s department long enough to pick up a warmer jacket for him.
It was sporting goods more than anything that had held real hope for Birch, and when they arrived he found the glass display cabinet just as he had hoped he would. It was filled with weapons and ammunition. Even these had been left. Whatever happened here must have been sudden and disastrous. It seemed like all they did was run.
“This is what we’re looking for,” Birch muttered to himself as he grabbed a hunting jacket from a nearby hanger and wrapped it around his arm. With a quick shove he had broken the glass and was taking the rifles out of the display. “Just hunting rifles, shotguns, and a few low powered pistols,” he spoke more to himself than Karla, “not anything fast or impressive, but it’s better than what we’ve got now.” Karla nodded and lifted one of the rifles, feeling it for weight.
“These aren’t bad,” she noted lifting a shotgun from the display case. “They can pack a punch. You’ll have to watch out for the reloads though. They can be tricky under pressure. My guess is the Ares will give you even less time to load again than the deer this weapon was made for. At least the deer would run away from you rather than at you if you missed!”
Birch laughed. “I give up on figuring you out,” he chuckled. “You’re supposed to be the computer geek, not the all fishing, all hunting outdoorsman. What is it with you?”
Karla smiled. “I guess you don’t know me as well as you thought, Major.” She clicked the shotgun shut. “It’s all in my personnel profile. I’m surprised you didn’t look.”
“Oh, I looked alright,” Birch was stern again, “I didn’t see anything like that.” Indeed Birch had looked at Karla’s records, over and over again. It was he who had objected to her inclusion, despite Colonel Ratliff’s support. He had poured over those records to find anything to keep her off, but he couldn’t find anything more than he
r age and his own personal hunch about her to support his view. That hadn’t been enough and Ratliff had won. It angered him just to think of it, even now.
“All I saw,” Birch continued, “was that you had the usual stellar education I would have expected. You hadn’t done much else, but Colonel Ratliff didn’t care. He wanted you for the mission. He wanted you all along”
Karla eyed Birch thoughtfully, as though his words had revealed something to her she hadn’t thought of before. For a moment she looked hurt, but the cloud over her seemed to move quickly away. When she spoke again her voice remained upbeat.
“You have to read between the lines,” she enthused. “That’s where you learn the most! You can’t tell about a person just from their education, you know. Sure, from that you could easily say that I’m just a ‘computer geek’, as you so nicely put it, but that’s not all I am. I was raised out here, on a Kansas farm, and I know a lot more about plenty of things than you ever could.”
Birch doubted it. He smiled wickedly. “Why you’re Dorothy,” he laughed, but his voice was hard and harsh. It came as no surprise to him that Karla was some corn-fed farm girl. It seemed to fit. “Perhaps if you just knock your shoes together and say ‘there’s no place like home’ you can end all
of this. Why, you could be back home in a minute with Toto and the whole family gathered around your bed, and what a story you could tell them.”
Karla’s skin took a grayish tint and she looked down, her eyes filling with tears. Birch didn’t notice. He was working himself up in his analogy.
