The Outsiders

by L. J. LaBarthe

  "Good," Arkady said. "We're in good shape."

  "Okay. Well I guess we head out after breakfast."

  "And after brushing teeth," Matty said. "I hate the fuzzy teeth feeling," he added, as Arkady quirked an eyebrow at him.

  Nisha laughed softly. "So do I. Okay, let's do that."

  After their morning needs were taken care of, the three of them set out. They walked in a close unit, Arkady slightly in front, Matty in the middle and Nisha bringing up the rear. They kept near to the buildings, and when they couldn't, they moved quickly to get back under cover of the long shadows that the crepuscular light threw. It was just as silent as it had been the previous day, yet Matty couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

  It was only a feeling, he knew that. After all, the only other human they'd seen had been the man on watch miles away. Perhaps they were being watched by animals, other people's pets who had evolved living on the abandoned and forgotten streets of the empty city.

  At midday, to judge by where the sun seemed to be, they stopped to consider their options. They hadn't encountered any street signs at all, which Matty found very peculiar. After all, why would a group of people escaping a war stop to take down all the street signs? It made no sense. Unless it had been done after the war and by persons unknown. Another question to add to his pile of them and Matty was beginning to think they'd never be answered.

  "There's a sign."

  Arkady's voice cut through Matty's thoughts like a knife and Matty spun quickly to see where Arkady was looking.

  "Holy shit, it really is," Matty said. "I thought they'd taken all the bloody things down."

  "Me, too," Nisha said. "I was adding it to my list of weird shit."

  "As was I," Arkady said.

  They moved as one, keeping close and staying low, jogging across the street to get a better look at the sign and figure out where they were. In the shadow of an abandoned store, Nisha tugged her pack around and dug through it to find a map, as Matty and Arkady peered at the faded lettering and the cracked and rusted metal.

  "It's interesting that the water hasn't risen to drown all of this," Arkady mused as they stared at the sign. "New York City is surrounded by a lot of water, isn't it? Two rivers?"

  "Yeah. I thought Manhattan might be underwater, now I'm not sure," Matty said. "Also, which branch of the library were we in? I know there's heaps of them here."

  Arkady screwed up his nose. It looked adorable and reminded Matty of a kid at Christmas trying to decide which present to open first. He hid a grin behind his hand. "I think, if I remember correctly, that it was the one on East Broadway. There were old markings on the walls near the newspaper office. I never asked about it, though, so I could be wrong."

  "That would be Chatham Square, if I remember right. I think it's in Chinatown."

  "Nothing where we emerged looked like Chinatown," Arkady said.

  "I was just thinking that. You know—" Matty turned in a small circle, looking at their surroundings "—nothing we've seen so far has any sort of identifying features. It's as if a great, invisible hand came along and picked up all the color, all the signage, all the individual culture of each neighborhood and put it somewhere else."

  Arkady was nodding. "That is an excellent description. It is exactly what I was feeling but could not put into words."

  "What's the sign say?" Nisha called out. "I've got the map out and I've found the library you two were talking about."

  "It looks like it says Lafayette Street," Matty said. "I can't make out the numbers, though."

  "Hm."

  He heard the rustle of paper as Nisha moved the map, and watched as Arkady walked around, looking now at the ground instead of the sign. Matty cast his eyes towards the sky, noted that the clouds were still where they were when they'd set out—just as Arkady had described earlier that morning.

  "Weird," Matty muttered.

  "Okay, I think I've got it," Nisha said. Matty turned back to her and moved to her side, peering at the map. A moment later, Arkady had joined them.

  "We're here," Nisha pointed to a spot on the map. "There's the library. If we go that way," she pointed down the street, "we should come to Broadway in the Financial District and Wall Street. If it hasn't all been drowned. We went in a big oval shape after we left the library, so we haven't really covered as much ground as we thought. Still, that wasn't really our fault, I'm not going to worry about it." She grinned. "Let's go see if the financial district is underwater."

  "Only one way to find out," Matty said. "It shouldn't take long to walk there, not as we're the only people around."

  "If we're as careful as we have been since we set out, I'd say a few hours," Nisha agreed.

  "Let us eat before we move," Arkady said. "We need to keep our nourishment up."

  They ate standing up by the wall of the building, looking up at the sign that had given them such a lifeline. The bread they ate was stale now, yet it still tasted like the finest thing Matty had ever eaten. The orange he followed it up with was juicy and delicious. One thing was for sure, the people living their lives in the subway beneath them certainly knew how to grow their crops. He did admire them that, if little else.

  "Okay, let's go." Nisha took up the lead this time and Matty shouldered his pack and his weapon. Once more, they set out, now walking with more determination, their destination secure in their minds.

  They were silent as they made their way towards the financial district. Matty couldn't quite put his finger on why he felt that this was the way to go. He kept close to the buildings and ruins and looked everywhere, frowning as they passed signs of what could only be severe shelling—buildings with shattered frames and piles of rubble, bent and twisted steel, open and raw like a giant gaping wound left to the elements.

  "There's the dog and cat again." Nisha had come to a stop at the corner of the street.

  "Are you sure it's the same two?" Matty asked, staring at the two animals that sat opposite them.

  "Yeah. I spent a lot of time last night patting them. I'm positive."

  Arkady nodded. "I also am sure."

  "Maybe their people are living in this part of the city," Matty said.

  "Do we keep going?" Nisha asked.

  "Yes." Matty nodded. "We might be able to find somewhere with another working computer or something we can cobble together. I need to find out if we can leave here or if we're at the mercy of whatever we can find or scrounge."

  "All right." Arkady stepped out and crossed the street. As he reached the animals, the dog gave a happy bark, and, tail wagging, leapt up to lick Arkady's face. The cat wove between Arkady's legs.

  "They're happy to see him," Nisha said.

  "They're so tame, it kind of weirds me out a little," Matty said.

  "It does seem out of place," Nisha said.

  They crossed to join Arkady, and petted the dog and the cat who showed their delight at seeing all three of them with happy sounds and licks. The dog turned and began to trot down the street. The cat followed, tail held high, and then stopped, turning to look at them in such a way that could only be described as it saying, "Well, are you three coming or what?"

  "I guess we're following them," Nisha said.

  "They do seem pretty determined," Matty said.

  In a small procession, they walked down the street, Matty noticing the destruction gradually increasing. Soon, it wasn't buildings they were passing, but piles of rubble that they were climbing over, broken trees, plants, and weeds growing between cracks and pushing up destroyed structures with determination to take over the space. The cat and dog walked along, their pace never slowing, moving with confidence as if this was an area they were very familiar with.

  "A great battle happened here," Arkady noted as they climbed yet another small hill of bricks, mortar, and steel. "A lot of weapons were fired at these places."

  "I can see that," Matty said. He huffed as he hauled himself over a particularly large piece of debris. "I wonder if all of
this, this damaged and destroyed stuff, has been used to hold back the water, like a sea breaker or something."

  "Possible." Arkady scrambled over another foot of destruction.

  "And that, folks, is far enough," said a new voice. "Stop right there, stand up straight and raise your hands above your heads where I can see them."

  The dog growled and the cat hissed. Matty and Arkady immediately froze in place, standing on the edge of another scree of the broken city, Nisha not far beyond them.

  A tall man stood perhaps ten feet away. He wore an oilskin coat over pants and sweater that looked handwoven. His boots were worn and scuffed and his auburn hair was shoulder length. He held a shotgun in his hands and he had a beard that seemed to begin almost beneath his eyes. Those eyes were a piercing shade of blue.

  "Now we know we are not alone," Arkady said, his voice very soft.

  "He's not who you saw watching when we were in the hotel, though, is he?"

  "No." Arkady took a slow breath. "Someone else. He knows how to use that weapon, though."

  "We'll be careful."

  "Very."

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  "Who are you? What are you doing here?" the man with the gun was glaring at them.

  "We're just passing through," Nisha said.

  "Ha. To where?" the man's voice was bitter. "There's nothing much left beyond this point."

  "We wanted to see for ourselves," Nisha said.

  "Why?" The suspicion in the man's voice was clear and his eyes had narrowed.

  "Tobias!" Another man had appeared, dressed in much the same clothing. His hair was dark and held back in a ponytail, and his face was clean shaven. He also had a rifle which was slung over his shoulder. "Let them alone."

  "We don't know who they are or what they want," the man named Tobias said. "It's my job to check everyone who comes down here."

  "Right, and it's my job to make sure you don't shoot everyone in the process. I'll deal with it."

  "Fuck you, Tony. I'll—"

  "No, I said I'll deal with it. I'm the elected leader after all, so stand down."

  Tobias stuck out his jaw pugnaciously but lowered his weapon. "You'll regret this. See how many weapons they have? They'll kill you and your pets."

  "I don't think so. Anna's wagging her tail and Jordy's quite calm. They wouldn't be that way if these people were a threat. Go back to your family, Tobias, let me handle this."

  Tobias muttered something under his breath. He shouldered his gun and headed away from them without looking back. Matty watched him go, tense and ready to spring into action should he turn around and try to shoot them. Tobias did as he was told and was soon out of sight.

  "Well, that wasn't quite the welcome I'm sure you were expecting. I'm Tony, you've met my dog, Anna, and my cat, Jordy." Tony stepped forward, holding out his hand for each of them to shake. "We don't get many strangers down this way, so it sure is a surprise to see you. Where'd you come from?" His voice was warm and easy-going and his posture was calm and friendly. Matty felt himself relax though he was still alert for anything.

  "It's a long story," he said. "What if I told you we came from the year 2016?"

  Tony's eyebrows shot up almost to his hairline. "Cryos?"

  "You know about us?" Arkady asked.

  "Yeah. There's been rumors for years about you people and here around seven years ago, or so, along comes this guy who says he was in cryo. A few days ago, we rescued an old man who'd been banished from his home down in the subway, he was talking about cryos as well. Poor bugger, he was in a bad way. Kept crying about his son and what was going to happen to the boy. Those folk downstairs—" Tony shook his head "—they don't care a whit for anyone except themselves. Well, the ones running the show anyway."

  "They reckon they're all in some sort of Utopia," Matty said.

  Tony barked a laugh. "And I'm Santa. Life is hard, friends. Up here or down there, it's different sorts of hard but it's still hard. The war shat all over the world."

  "That's something we don't know much about," Nisha said. "We know a bit…" she spread her hands in a gesture of uncertainty.

  "Sure, if you've been asleep for all those years. Listen, come to my place, I'll feed you and fill you in. You should meet the other guy who came from cryo."

  "Thank you. You're very kind," Arkady said.

  Tony chuckled and waved that off. "I was taught by my mom to treat everyone the way I wanted to be treated. Plus, I'm just as curious about you as you are about us, we can swap stories, yeah? Something for something."

  Matty laughed at that. "I'm not sure you'll believe all of ours."

  "You never know, friend. What's your names, by the way?"

  "Oh. I'm Matty, this is Arkady and the lady is Nisha."

  "Good to meet you."

  "We weren't sure the animals had a home," Nisha said.

  "They go where they like," Tony said, looking down and smiling at his pets. "I'm just happy they like to spend most of their time with me. They're good company. Right, let's go."

  They followed Tony down another street littered with rubble and detritus, heading towards the sea. Matty could smell it now, the salt tang of it strong in the air, his pulse quickened with excitement. Maybe a surviving port was down there and ships that could cross distances large enough to take them to their homelands to see what was left. God, it would be good to go home, he thought, good to see Sydney and see what had become of his family, if there were any descendants.

  The walk was short and before Matty knew it, Tony was leading them into a rough shaped doorway that was covered with a sheet of tar-smeared leather.

  "It's not much, but it's home," Tony said, as he gestured for them to enter and make themselves comfortable. "The buildings in this part of the city are made really well, they're pretty sturdy so even though they got bombed a lot, these floors are still stable. My granddad cleared this one out and set it up with a fire and everything, my family's lived here ever since. We all live in this building and two others." He moved through the area, lighting an oil lamp and several thick candles, Matty could see that it had once been an office waiting room. Some posters—faded, to be sure—were attached to one wall, a stack of old copies of Financial Review sat on top of a crate by a fire. The fire was laid in a space in the wall and there appeared to be a good, working chimney.

  It contained a bed, a couple of small tables, a larger one with hunting gear sitting on it along with some pots and pans. There was a stove, the sort of portable stove that Matty had himself used when on assignment deep in wilderness or jungle. An old icebox sat in one corner, a few cupboards as well, and a pair of sofas that looked like the sort of things one might see in a doctor's waiting room. They were covered with thick blankets and a rug was laid on the floor. The dog and cat had gone straight to the rug and lay down and were now fast asleep.

  "Have a seat," Tony said. "I'll make some tea."

  They did, getting comfortable on the sofas, the three of them sitting together. "Where do you get your food from?" Matty asked, more to make conversation than anything else.

  "We hunt, we grow some things. We do a lot of fishing with the river right there. There's also some trade going on with other groups in other parts of the city. Last I heard, maybe twenty thousand of us lived in the ruins. I heard that New York City was one of the biggest and brightest in the world, once upon a time."

  "It's true," Arkady said.

  Tony joined them, handing them steaming cups of tea. He sat down on the other sofa and took a long drink from his own cup. "I would've liked to have seen it with my own eyes. I've only got pictures in old magazines or when we can get the old computer to work."

  "You've got a computer?" Matty leaned forward.

  "Yeah, the other cryo guy found it and fixed it. He says it's not the best and it'll probably stop working soon, though he's been saying that for years and it's still chugging along. Amazing technology existed before the war." Tony's voice held a note of wonder.

  "What
did happen with the war?" Nisha asked. "We've only had a very brief summary, a lot of that doesn't make sense."

  Tony ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure I understand it too well either, miss, though I'll tell you what I know."

  "Please." She smiled warmly at him. "Call me Nisha."

  "Sure." He smiled back. "Well Nisha, Arkady, Matty, this is what I learned. In the early years of the twenty-first century, a lot of folk were getting concerned about the way that international politics were becoming more about hating one another rather than trying to help one another. So, a group of people, they were called the Elite, thought that this needed to change so the world could work towards peace, came together and made a plan. They were going to convince the leaders of the world to change their rhetoric and policies, to get them to see that the path they were on led only to destruction."

  Matty shifted uncomfortably, hearing these words. This was exactly what had brought him and his friends together, what had led Paul to propose his plan.

  "Anyway, they started to do this and were having some good successes, yet there was a schism in the group. One man wanted to have the nations of the world fight it out and go into cryo while that went on, coming out when it was all over. The other man wanted to stop everything and use forms of blackmail to get leaders to do the right thing.

  "The leaders of several nations found out about these plans and one of them, where the man who wanted to blackmail was hiding out, decided that it was going to up the ante. It had bombs, really terrible bombs, it launched them at its neighbors, the countries called China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and Australia. Not all of them hit the targets, it sent the world into chaos and war was declared. The United Nations declared an international state of emergency. Everyone was fighting each other. The war went on for years, until nearly everyone was dead. A lot of regular folk, folk like you and me, hid underground in the subways or quarries or tunnels beneath their cities, waiting for things to pass. They took their livestock and families, and managed to survive, some for generations.

  "The war ended seven years after it started. I don't know how. It just stopped. I'm told that people came up from underground to see what was left of their countries and found ruins and destruction. Half the folk returned to their underground homes and decided to continue to live that way, very much like what you saw down in the city in the subway here. The other half decided to live like us, above ground, to make our way. That's how it's been ever since."