The Davis survivor – perhaps the only living member of the local Davis clan – acknowledged the meaning of the delay with reluctance, turning away and staring unseeingly down the residential street. How could anyone survive here? She observed the huge drifts, covering the ground floors of all the neighbouring houses and reaching up to the second floor in many cases; the theoretical location of the road was marked out by little snow-topped streetlamps, some of which barely protruded from the white waves of powdery water.
Kirrina put her arm around the slightly shorter girl and looked in the same direction, her mind continuing to search all around for signs of life, but coming up with nothing – or nobody – she would want to meet. “Can you think of other places they might have been, when the snow started? They could have gotten stranded pretty fast – you know how quickly the storm came in.”
The sound of glass breaking brought their attention back to the search in hand. The two military-minded men had waded through three metres of semi-compacted snow to a window.
“I’ve been trying to figure that. Dad’s office is downtown. It was the end of the week and near to the end of the workday, and sometimes Mom takes my little brothers to meet him and then they go for burgers and a movie. They might have done that, as it would’ve been a chance to see some dumb show that I wouldn’t like.” Amber looked guilty as she recalled how critical she had often been about the small boy tastes of her siblings. “Wait a minute! That’s my bedroom!”
“It would look different from this angle.” Karen moved with her through the semi-trampled snow, knowing that the men had entered and would have moved on to search the rest of the house, leaving the bedroom clear. “Let’s see what it’s like then.”
Climbing through the window was easy, the drop inside was not very far and was half-filled by snow that had fallen in when the glass was broken. Should’ve got them to use a laser! Kirrina found that she disliked damaging the house and then found that amusing, given the circumstances. She looked around, glancing behind the bedroom door to find a long mirror mounted on it, seeing Amber’s tense expression reflected in it, thinking this was the kind of bedroom with which many Earth-born American girls might have been accustomed. But not me! “Anything you want to take with you? I don’t know when we will come back.”
“Let’s see the rest of the house first.”
“No one here.” Ed Baynes looked into the room from the landing between the bedrooms, his pistol holstered now. My sister is lost somewhere in this drift-filled city… this really is war! He looked up, thinking of Narlavs hidden on the Moon.
Amber sighed, part disappointed, part relieved. Not here… but at least that means they could still be alive! “I’m just gonna be a minute.”
Karen followed Amber as she went to her parents’ room, saddened by the equalising effect of the Narlav attack. Now I’m not so unique; almost everyone has lost family members – ‘cos of the greed of the Rhaal Narlavs. She observed a slightly wrinkled spot on the bed, about half-way between the pillowed area and the foot, where someone – Amber’s mother, probably – had sat whilst putting on her shoes. There are the slippers.
Amber stared at her mother’s dressing table mirror, looking into the alternate world beyond its smooth surface, thinking perhaps, in that version of reality, her family was still somehow safe and secure. The tears in her eyes were visible to Karen, her self-appointed guardian. “I guess I didn’t really believe they wouldn’t be here.” She walked out of the room and looked briefly into the other bedroom, seeing the bunk beds with their rather bumpy covers. She flipped back the edge of the lower one, finding a Lego spaceship underneath.
Kirrina saw the strangely – or innovatively – constructed craft and caught the interpretation from the older sister of the boy. Nick!
Amber climbed on the edge of the mattress and looked at the upper bunk, finding two unopened adventure books and a drained electronic tablet. She lifted up the pillow and found a squashed, knitted bunny rabbit there. That’s Jacob… ten, going on four!
“We can try downtown,” Kirrina stated gently.
Amber stepped down from the bunk and turned her glistening dark eyes towards the far too understanding young woman there. She noticed the electric blue curviness of the Arshonnan laser weapon. She’s been carrying that all along? How didn’t I notice that? “I’ll get something from the family room first.”
Ed and Eric met them in the very comfortable-looking family room, though the deep snow outside meant that the room was in an almost impenetrable gloom.
Karen nodded in response to Baynes’ slight tilt of the head. “Give her a moment more.”
Amber went directly to a small, mirror-topped table with a drawer built into it and pulled out a photo album. She led the way back upstairs, stopping briefly to collect a number of CDs from a spot beside her bed.
“Wait.” Kirrina froze as she was preparing to clamber back out the window. She knelt down and looked beneath the bed, flattening herself onto the carpeted floor, reaching under the raised wooden frame with a hastily-ungloved hand. Is it, could it be? She pulled the crumpled blanket she found there, exposing something darker still. Her fingers touched the rounded, hairy surface. Ah! What a creature!
A thump and a blast of cold air announced Amber’s rapid descent to the floor and her face appeared next to Karen’s. “Is he?” She reached out her hand, having pulled off her gloves earlier when collecting her musical compact disk collection. “Smoke!” She continued, her tone whispered, but intense.
A gleam indicated the eyes were aware…
Amber dragged the blanket towards herself, pulling the ultra-chilled dog out from his hiding place – almost his last hiding place, at that. She hugged her dear friend, tears flowing freely as she realised he had waited for her. “Dear boy… dearest boy!” She looked up at Kirrina, sitting alongside her now on the plush carpet, and the platinum blonde, amazed at how her spirits were so buoyed by this simple ‘find’, noticed that the gleam from the canine eyes was brighter already.
“Don’t worry – you were in worse condition when Walt and Tony brought you in – I’ll get Tracy to adjust the Medic for dogs so it will be ready when we return.” The young Mrs. Fletcher found her vision had become blurred at the thought of how she would feel if her boki Nical was found in such a state. And his eyes, she thought ironically, they’re not quite brown, really, it’s more like…. amber!
Soon Kirrina had finished her concise message, beamed it back directly to New Leeds, and was moving the Aircar along the street, holding Magic Wagon, in essentially invisible mode once more, about ten metres above the snow banks as they progressed towards the centre of Baltimore. Any idea of looking for the family vehicle was soon quashed; no vehicles – other than a ladder fire truck which was visible because of the dip in the drifts which left the ladder partly exposed – could be seen along the busy route.
Amber sat up front with her pet and confidante, Smoke cuddled on her lap, his eyes a little wider open, but still in a deep lethargy. Her uncle was still seated behind, not knowing what would be safe to say, so keeping very quiet. The jubilant young Davis watched the scenery slip by below, until taller buildings caused larger variations in the snow cover; higher drifts and even the occasional spot where pavement was exposed.
More life in these buildings – if you can call it that! Kirrina’s eyes went battleship grey as she picked up on activities in the lower levels. No one there I want to meet. She moved on, not speaking.
Amber looked at her face, catching something of the flint that had formed in her expression. She almost asked, but decided she would rather not know. Oh! If we could find Mom and Dad… Jacob and Nick…
They passed the office skyscraper where her father had his office, but Kirrina could detect no life in it. Finally, they reached the building which contained the multi-screen movie theatre that her family sometimes visited.
“What happened here?” Eric noticed some angular steel members protruding from another tall buil
ding just across the disk-shaped space where once vehicles had circumnavigated a traffic circle.
“Construction crane fell.” Baynes recognised the wreckage. “Lots of ventilation in those apartments!”
Karen kept moving, drifting between the downtown buildings until they had criss-crossed most of the downtown area and were on the edge of the suburbs again. A building with life in it! Some kind of emergency generator… Suddenly her eyes flashed briefly, shifting from sky-blue to deep grey. Stand in the corner; cover your faces! Plug your ears, too! Her left hand reached out, grasping the blue control sphere that had materialised at her command. “Get ready, Ed, Eric! Some refugees – sorry, Amber; they are not your family – and the local thugs are about to break down their barricades. Take your safeties off; anybody you see with a weapon is not worth another moment alive!”
Baynes caught the implication of her emotionally-charged declaration and his lips become tightly compressed, a muscle showing in his cheek as he ground his teeth together.
Flashes of immensely bright orange laser light picked out the details of the fairly modest apartment building and the surroundings. A moment later, a room-sized section of the exterior wall three stories up had vanished, vapour from the warm air previously contained in the apartment was whipped away by the bitter wind, portions of paper-thin, laser-ablated brickwork and collateral damage corridor walling fell away from the wreckage she had so expertly wrought. Still under Karen’s one-handed but masterful control, Magic Wagon slewed sideways, rapidly closing the gap with the exposed living space, the double doors opening as Kirouac and Baynes held their weapons at the ready.
“Duck!” Kirrina leaned past Amber with the hand laser now in her right hand, the left now controlling the Aircar’s flight path. A flash of green impacted on a shadowy figure climbing over the rubble and the movement stopped.
Amber suppressed a scream; only a brief squeak came out. Magic Wagon slid to a stop, touching the jagged reinforced concrete flooring and blocking the gap down to the brick walkway ironically and inopportunely exposed so dangerously far below. Ed and Eric jumped across the rough edge, landing inside the remains of the living room, partly filled with boxes of canned goods and tetra-packs of juices, prudently bought on the first day from the convenience store on the ground floor. A further squeal came from the frightened teenager as Karen bounced past the girl and her dog, her laser flashing green again and again as she clambered over the grocery stacks and eliminated several more haggard, seemingly half-human attackers before they recovered from the shock of the apparent structural failure of the outer wall and associated corridor partition.
Eric’s weapon added to the sound of falling rubble and screams as he targeted other assailants crowded in the corridor until nothing moved out there. Ed realised there had been no return salvoes and that he had not fired a single shot, either. A semi-silence took over the scene; only the sound of the wind and the patter of snowy hailstones could be heard.
Amber looked into the ruined apartment. Kirrina had found the beleaguered ones huddled in the corner farthest from the now missing apartment door and associated partition; she was talking to them or perhaps far more – in the gloom it was impossible for Amber to see if she was making physical contact with any of them and from her position twisted sideways in the ‘captain-type’ chair in the front of the Aircar, she could not hear any words. She felt – rather than heard – a slight growl from Smoke, through the vibrations he generated as he lay, still incapacitated, on her legs. A minute or two passed and then, while the two NUIT members were still holding their weapons warily and watching the opening into the space by the apartment elevators, six individuals cautiously stood up and nervously moved into the ample space in the heart of Magic Wagon.
Kirrina smiled at Amber as she gestured to her to move over to the left edge. “I’ll fly from this side.” She ruffled the ears of the shepherd-collie cross as his head raised up questioningly because his ‘cushion’ was moving over to make room for the returning pilot. Smoke, you are a wonder! She called up the Navigation Sphere as Baynes and Kirouac rejoined the Aircar. A moment later and the doors were closed, shutting out the cold.
Instantly the supremely skilled pilot, not even breathing heavily as far as Amber could discern, took the vehicle upwards towards the clouds. Once the buildings were far below, but just before the clouds blocked the view, Karen stopped the motion and turned around.
“Welcome! I’m Kirrina. This is Amber, and her dog, Smoke. The two guys with guns are Eric and Ed.” Clearly the hand weapon she had used with such devastating effect did not feature in her thoughts, now that it was back in its quiescent state. “I’ll save you the trouble of introducing yourselves; I know how scary these last few days have been for you.” She smiled, her eyes now a beautiful deep blue. “Everyone, we have just rescued the Harper family and their friends the Tarmola family. That’s Mom and Dad Harper and their daughter Cindy and son Clint, and Mom and Dad Tarmola and their baby daughter Inka. I’ll explain more later, but for now, I hope you can believe that you are completely safe.” At this point, her eyes flickered briefly over the very trim teenage Cindy, noting her wide grey eyes, her flushed cheeks, her skin-tight tank top and very short shorts. She probably doesn’t realise the impact of her lovely shapeliness on anyone who might see her – any guy, that is. And you never know what kind of people are living around you, hidden in pseudo-respectability, until society collapses! They had been anticipating the prospect of getting much more closely acquainted with Cindy than just passing her in the foyer – as they had done many times in the days before the snow – once they had disposed of the rest of the family. They had saved her for last. Karen tried not to think about the ones that these ‘opportunists’ had already selected, savoured and sacrificed – there was no one else left alive in the four story apartment block. She shuddered. At least these low-lifes will never hurt anyone again. Turning back to the ‘view’ forwards, though in truth little could be seen through the continual snowfall, she took them up above the clouds, heading back to New Leeds and safety. And the others, the ones who left the building when they realised they would soon be in danger from the lawless mob, anticipating that they would become more confident as the immobilising weather showed no sign of ending… those who could see the ‘writing on the wall’ – where did they go? Are any of them still alive, and, if they are, how long can they last, lost in Baltimore, in the awful cold and perhaps even more horrifying lawlessness?
***
On subsequent trips to Baltimore and various other north-eastern centres, it was mostly the ragged remnants of families, or single, stray souls that were brought out. The remaining inhabitants discovered in Amber’s hometown and other eastern cities became increasingly hostile to anyone not in their self-composed tribe or gang, and these loosely organised hostile forces were undoubtedly responsible for the deaths of many of the other, less violent or solely scared survivors of the initial effects of the Narlav weapon of mass destruction, in their own desperate struggle to gain power, or to simply stay alive. Similar conditions were noted in other major cities across the continent and in the rural areas too. No sign of Amber’s family was ever found and the search for them was eventually given up by all – except of course the eldest Davis child; it was common knowledge that she would greet a proposal for another search with enthusiasm and go on it with a minute’s notice, if anyone would offer to take her. And Smoke, once restored, had a meaningful mournful expression and tilted head whenever anyone mentioned the names of Amber’s brothers, or even the words Davis or Baltimore.
A gradual grim acceptance crept over those fortunate to have survived the initial attack; a few of them were lucky enough to find some family members on the searches, but most were not. The memory of the countless friends and family that everyone had lost already served as a symbol for the unknown and ever unknowable millions who had also perished and were still perishing as the icy cold deepened its hold and spread ever further south. This tragedy became a
motivational focus for the feverish attempt to prepare the counter-attack before the Narlavs concluded the death toll was sufficient… for then they would come with their fearsome troops to complete their mission of subjugation and occupation, wiping the last vestiges of hope from planet Earth.
Chapter Eighteen
A starfish in New York City
“Let’s get going – the weather is calm enough that we could’ve used the regular exit, if Paranak hadn’t pushed to get this ‘unreal’ one set up!” Kirrina grinned as she opened Magic Wagon’s double doors, encouraging her New York rescue team to board.
“It would still get pretty cold in here.” Brad looked at the twenty foot diameter wall-panel mounted in the night by Paranak, with help from his willing accomplices Jane Kellogg, Spencer Baldwin and Abner Sharif. “I almost wish I’d missed my sleep, so I could’ve seen that being installed – it looks too much like a real wall for me to be able to deliberately fly at it!” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised Paranak was behind it – he’s really not built for this weather!
“Consider yourself lucky.” Karen smiled as she recalled an earlier conversation with her husband. “I had to remind Richard that we didn’t need to switch on the holographic system – at least not unless we have someone nearby that we need to hide it from!”
Brad tore his eyes away from the new ‘panel’. How would I even know where to aim, if he did that?
“There’s a holographical descrambler in all three Aircars – courtesy Paranak, of course. You’d see where to go.”
“Did I transmit that?”
Karen laughed. “No, that time I just figured out what you were thinking from your expression – Tracy told me she can read you like the proverbial book, and I’m beginning to see what she means!”
Hawk shook his head, glancing at her briefly before climbing into the left hand front seat, from which he was to pilot them to New York, wisely deciding to say nothing further.
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