by Richard Dusk
"Hey," she said quietly and sat next to him.
"Hey, slept well?"
Jillian didn't answer, just shrugged, "I've never been to New York till now. It's strange to enter a city when I avoided them for the past year," she looked at a half-torn, almost broken off overhead welcome sign.
"Yeah, whether you go through capital cities or villages, they're all the same. When we set to prepare the ship a few days ago, it took us five hours to get through the snow and cars on the streets. Then we found the whole harbor frozen with a few inches thick layer of ice. We had to cut through the door to open them. When we were leaving the other day, ice and snow melted already. I hope all stayed the same as not that much time has passed. But I want to ask, why did you join us? Do you owe him something or what? If I were you, I would stay in Nest and move with people to another base."
"Yes, I owe him. He happened to be a happy accident in my life. We headed south to a warmer climate with a group I had before I met Garrett, but cold forced us to move back north again. As we traveled, it got worse and worse day after day, and I lost my entire group within a few months. I left the last one alive. I didn't have any idea how to survive alone or what to do. Roaming out there is impossible. Food is scarce and scattered, and you rarely find more than a can or two. It's tough to handle it alone if you're not determined or extraordinarily skilled. Physically or mentally. But Garrett did it somehow, and he's just a scientist," she looked at him sleeping on the bench. Even in his sleep, he looked troubled. "Then one day our paths crossed, and we somehow stuck together, and now we're here. But what about you? What's your story?"
"My story? Heh," Pace shook his head, disgusted with his life and all memories of it. "What do you think is life about, when you choose to join the units in a corporation like this for oncoming years rather than living a normal, ordinary life?"
"Messed up?" she said even though she couldn't imagine the life he had, and Pace faintly smiled.
"Look, we're here," he pointed with his finger, and Jillian stretched on the seat to see, but failed to spot any sign of city around.
"How do you know?"
"See that bridge over there?"
"Yeah?" she answered unsure.
"It's gloomy, so it's not clear yet, but there's a hanged couple on the bridge railing. I know the right exit we took last time because of those two."
Jillian glanced all over the bridge until she distinguished figures of man and woman quickly nearing to the speeding vehicle. Jillian looked at them the whole time until they passed beneath.
"They are still holding their hands."
"More like what left of their hands. There are traces of bullets in the bridge, so somebody trained a good shot on them. Now it's about two miles to the city outline," Pace looked into a mirror. "A storm is gaining on us, but we should reach the bay before it comes."
Soil embankment turned into a green tree line nourished by the moisture of ocean air. After a long time, she saw leafy trees. They drove through the single open toll gate they cleared last time. Vehicles destroyed by full speed crash into noise barrier walls remained piled up around. Knocked over toll gate on the other side of the road buried wreckages under its debris. Endless lines of the door-opened cars left by people rushing to leave the city ran all the way back to the downtown.
"Wake up, we're here," said Pace loudly to others.
The signs of metropolis appeared in the distance. Lamps, traffic signs, and iron pylons with power lines lying on the ground. Exit ramps and bridges every few miles leading to overpopulated suburbs beneath the highway blended into the background of towering factories' smokestacks, cargo rail stations with derailed trains in large storages running along the railroad. Once busy immense tangled interchange of the populated periphery remained crowded with motionless cars and bodies of those who didn't manage to escape from town and away from violent robberies.
The first buildings of the city emerged. Empty, destroyed, collapsed, hardly standing in one piece. The nearby airport ripped into two halves barely endured the ground split during an earthquake. Rusting aircrafts stood on broken gears with ripped off wings lying beside them before they had a chance to take off. Collapsed cranes in port and hundreds of stacked up containers just completed Jillian's picture of the city. She turned her head from left to right not to miss any skyscraper in the distance, but torn smiling faces on billboards didn't let her see more than the road ahead.
"We are not there yet," said Pace. "It's like fifteen miles more, but I will show you the best view on the downtown."
They entered a suspension bridge built high above the water surface. Pace drove fast but cautiously to avoid cars in his way. Most of the construction of the last bridge on the east side was already gone, and the rest barely held together. Jillian finally saw the area outside of the downtown. Blackened fire-destroyed skyscrapers, buildings sticking out of the water, toppled tankers among trees far from the dock, and uncountable crumbling houses didn't fit into pictures she knew.
"Hold on, something's different," said Hodge, and Pace stopped the car in the middle of the bridge, at the trailer hanging over the edge. He climbed out on the roof to look on the road ahead.
"What's wrong?" Vince opened the back door and climbed up to him. The rest came out of the car, but they didn't know what to look at.
"Look ahead. Those cars weren't here before," said Hodge.
His eyes traveled down the road, seeking the empty line they've made by the railing the last time. The number of cars doubled and blocked the way since then. Jillian walked to the edge and looked down on the shore covered with hundreds of damaged vehicles that fell from a great height.
"Garrett, come here," called Jillian after she rose her sight into the distance over the ocean, and he walked to her. "See that storm clouds? They are behaving strangely," she pointed to darkening and spinning clouds.
They neared from the horizon, but the strobing bright blue light inside struck their eyes enough to be overseen. The frothy water surface below traveled in waves towards the coast. "It's similar to the electric storm we went through."
"No, it's not," Garrett squinted to distinguish the unclear shapes in the storm. "Things are appearing there and falling into the ocean with rain. If it comes here, it will rake us with anything it replicates."
"Hodge," said Kaiden from behind their backs. "Find a way through the cars, and let's move on."
"That won't be easy. There are too many of them. It will be like running against the wall. We'll have to make the path again or go around."
"Get a grip. This is the last bridge standing over Hudson through which we can get to the city. All the others are gone. We'll neither spend next hours moving the cars again, nor we'll go three-hundred miles to drive around. Earthquake ripped open the crust in two parts all the way to the north. We'll drive through somehow and not wait here for another quake or stringers to vanish," said Kaiden.
The metal construction groaned and creaked under the weight of all vehicles when the wind gust hit the bridge and made it sway lightly.
"I got it, but there is no other way than moving them," said Hodge loudly.
"There is also no space - it's too narrow. We'll have to move all of them or find a spot where the railing is broken and push them off the bridge," said Vince.
"Guys, we don't have time for that. A storm is coming, and this is not an ordinary one - it's probably the same that threw these cars here. We need to move at once. This bridge may not withstand it," said Garrett as the dark storm clouds quickly approached them, and the wind gained strength.
"Where the hell did it come from?" said Vince.
A thunder crack accompanied turquoise lightning flash spreading across the sky. The bolt hit buildings built near the shore and set them on fire.
"We've got to get to the other side. I'm not going to risk losing the bridge in the storm. You all know very well what these can cause. Get inside. We'll push through. There's no time to play around," shouted Kaiden through rumbling
noise. Vince and Hodge climbed down to get in with others, but Jillian stood outside at the doors.
"Use charges we packed. Blow the cars in the air. It will save time and make way."
Everyone inside stopped and looked at her, wondering whether she's crazy or not.
"Are you brainsick?" said Pace. "Look at the bridge. Half of the hangers are gone."
Jillian looked at Garrett, seeking support. She saw in his eyes that he surmised the outcome of the explosions in his head.
"This is insane, but she might be right, and with the good speed it may work," he climbed up on the roof to look at the road, fighting wind pushing him to the edge. "What do you have?" he shouted down.
"Seven remote-controlled Armex charges," said Vince.
"Will it blow the car in the air?"
"It can blow an army tank in the air. You just have to set the desired strength."
Hodge climbed on the roof again and took out monocular.
"If we go the same way as before, then there will be nine cars in front of us, and one coach stuck in the hangers a few feet above the ground," said Hodge.
"All right. Jillian, Lex, take the charges and put them below the lightest parts of the cars in our way. Choose mainly trunks or anywhere to direct the blast to throw the car out of the way or down from the bridge. It's a few hundred yards to go, so hurry. Rest of you, till girls are finished, we'll move out of the way all cars we don't have charges for. They don't seem to weigh much," said Garrett waiting mainly for Kaiden's approval.
"Got it. Come, Jill," said Lex, who didn't wait for anyone's decision and took the charges from the Deimos while others waited for the leader's order.
"You've heard the man. Let's do it," said Kaiden. The moment he finished the sentence, a raindrop fell on his head. "Make it quick!" he shouted at girls disappearing between cars and walked to the green car. "Hodge, wind out the winch and pull that car back. You've got enough space to move here. Rest of you, with me," he walked to second car twenty yards ahead.
The team gathered around the car's trunk, ready to lift and move it.
"On one," said Kaiden.
Thunder ripping noisily cracked, and lightning hit the ocean surface. A rapidly nearing energy wave emerged at the point of the strike and traveled like a growing sphere. Its boundary distorted the scenery of storm behind like hot exhaust haze and passed through their bodies followed by air pressure pushing against them. The bridge screeched and rattled, giving chills and shivers penetrating the skin and flesh to the bones. Several cars moved, and the first heavy raindrops of torrential rain began falling one after another and clattering on the vehicles.
"Damn it. What kind of storm is this?" shouted Vince.
"Don't know, never saw one like this," replied Garrett.
"Let's move. One," shouted Kaiden, and they lifted the car.
Wheels on the back axle freely hanged in the air while four men pulled the car in small steps out of the way. Garrett felt that strength in his back and arms substantially decreased over the last year.
"Down," said Kaiden.
The rain burst into regular ice-cold downpour combined with bluster whipping their faces with tiny ice crystals. The lightning struck the cargo ship in the dock, and the fuel inside exploded.
"Lex, status. This storm looks worse than we expected," Kaiden watched the burning flying metal parts landing in the water. "We've got another iron deluge coming."
"Four more and we're done," she replied to him.
Garrett looked their way, but they disappeared in the rain. He couldn't see further than fifty yards ahead.
"I hope your plan works. I'm not a big fan of being cooked on this giant lightning rod," said Kaiden covering eyes against raindrops.
"I'm more concerned about the road than being cooked alive. If we blow the holes in the road, we may weaken the internal structure before it hits us," said Garrett doing the same while they walked to another car.
"Armex are regulated directional explosives. Lex can choose the direction and energy of the explosion. So I wouldn't worry about it more than about the remaining gasoline in the cars. If the explosion catapults some car and knocks out the beam, the bridge will fall with us before we reach the wing wall. What do you plan anyway?"
"We'll drive fast and set off the charges second before we reach them. One by one. That should give us some time if the bridge is about to fall. It's way more dangerous but with a higher chance of success. The bridge is too big to fall quickly," he watched the rain ran down in streamlets on his gear.
"I hope your science won't fail us," said Kaiden, and Garrett wished to tell him that he is a hundred percent sure it won't.
"Guys, you are completely mental," said Lex through the radio.
"Agreed," replied Vince to her. "Where are you?"
"We're almost done. Setting the last charge."
"Okay, hurry."
They gathered around the red sports car crashed through the railing. The sky entirely clouded over, and the day turned into stormy dusk. Kaiden and Vince had to switch on their flashlights to see better.
"What about this one?" Pace ran his hand down the spoiler like stroking a pet.
"We'll throw it down. There's no point in pulling it back," said Kaiden, and Pace moaned at that idea as he liked the car.
"Up," said Kaiden, and they lifted it, feeling their hands slid on the wet plastic body kit. "And push," he said into a screeching sound of iron railing carving deep scratches along the car's length.
The engine in back quickly overbalanced the rest of the car and pulled it to free fall and a loud splash in the water. Pace looked at it all the time while it fell and then watched it sink.
"What's up?" said Garrett.
"Only three left the factory. Ever."
"Don't worry, it will wait for you right there," chuckled Vince.
Pace frowned at him and looked around in the hope of seeing another one like that. The lightning struck again, hitting the nearby park on the other side and set the trees on fire.
"Guys, we're back," they heard Lex's voice from a distance. Both girls returned, red in faces from running, and their breath quickly condensed in the cold air.
"Is everything all right?" said Garrett.
"No. It's not right," said Lex catching her breath. "The coach's back is winded in the ropes, and it's across the barrier. I don't think that the explosion will throw it away."
"Where did you place it?" said Vince.
"It's buckled on the fuel tank at a hundred percent power. I thought it might work."
"Let's hope your idea works, though it will rip all hangers," said Garrett scratching his chin. "How much space left beneath it?"
"Like this much," Jillian raised her hand at the level of her neck.
Another lightning struck, this time too close. It hit the third of the seven cars they planned to blow up. Boom and light of explosion drown out in the blast of a lightning bolt. They watched the spinning, burning car fly far from the bridge and land on the debris of the railway bridge next to this one.
"This will be fun," said Lex keenly to relieve her nerves.
"Pace, we're coming, What's the status?" said Kaiden as they trotted back to him.
"Ready to roll."
Their transport waited with headlights and whirring engine on. Before getting in, Garrett looked at the storm. A short iron bridge falling freely followed the mining tower less than a mile away. He shut the back door and finally could wipe the water off his face, but the streams continued pouring from the gear to the floor.
"Vince, you'll drive. You can handle this beast the best. Lex, give me the remote. All, buckle yourselves," said Kaiden and walked to Garrett. "It was your idea. I want to see it done," he handed him the remote. "It's sequenced to activate always the nearest one. Just click, and that's all. Good luck with that," he tapped Garrett's shoulder and buckled himself next to Jillian.
Garrett moved to the front seat. His hands trembled as he fastened the seat belt, but he forced hi
mself to brace up.
"Garrett, it's our only chance. Make it count," Vince shifted the first gear.
"Okay, let's do this."
Raindrops loudly clattered on the windshield, making the road blurred despite the rapidly moving wipers. Vince switched on the roof light bar to cut through the murk. He stepped on the gas, and Deimos quickly gained speed. The cliff-hanging atmosphere inside the vehicle intensified, as they neared the obstacles that could kill them in a second. Jillian sensed that Lex groped after her hand. When she found it, she grasped it tightly, crushing her fingers. Pace and Hodge sitting opposite squeezed the bench they sat on so firm that they almost ripped it off. The only one of the crew looking calm was Kaiden. He sat there with clasped hands as if he went through the same moments many times before. With shut eyes, he seemed to be praying. Deimos got closer to the first charge when the storm made them fully feel its strength. Blue light flickered over the storm clouds, and intense bright lightning repeatedly hit the bridge. Burning sparks covered the windshield from every direction as the current traveled through the entire construction. The wind hit the car and pushed it closer to the railing. Vince counted inches between speeding vehicle under his control and concrete barrier passing at his side.
"Garrett!"
Garrett reflexively clicked the controller in the last second. Light of explosion dazzled them, and the wreckage of gray minivan lifted in the air hurled hundreds of scraps at them. It ripped off the iron hanger off its anchorage, and they flew together down in the water.
"Again!"
Deimos raced faster with every yard they passed. Garrett clicked again with bated breath, and the car exploded second before they drove beneath it. This one didn't fell off the bridge. It shot out and hit the cable holding hangers over their heads and torn the wires inside. They immediately felt the bridge jerked. Vince shifted higher gear and drove so fast that Garrett could hardly pay attention to all happening in front, not mentioning beside him. His mind searched for every next obstacle to blow up, focused on nothing more than triggering the charge every few seconds. Cars exploded one after another, bursting into pieces. The burning wreckages left behind covered the holes blown through the deck. It was the fifth car that blew up when they all felt the first sharp tug of the bridge. The explosion knocked out stringers and hurled them towards the water below. The deck behind began piece by piece falling off its place.