A long silence filled the air and impatience spurred her to break it. “Well, aren't you going to answer me?”
“Huh, oh, no I'm not. I told you to ask your question. I never said I would answer it.”
She closed her eyes and took a calming breath. “I see where he gets it from.”
“He is a handsome young man, so thank you for the compliment, but we really don't have time for that. We need to get moving or we won't get to our objective before nightfall.”
Her mouth opened, but when she couldn't come up with a retort, she snapped it shut. “Which way?”
Sean motioned north and then vanished into the forest as his camouflage system came on. She was noticing now that she could better track their movements. As they advanced through the forest, patches of air would digitize for a fraction of a second almost like a corrupted frame in a digital video. The faster they moved or more complex the movement, the harder for the system to compensate. She began to think about software that her father could write to detect such inconsistencies. It wouldn't be of any use from a great distance, but it might give family forces a greater chance for victory if their two sides ever went to war. Their single-minded hatred for her father and clear willingness to use lethal force for even the slight chance at killing him augured a coming conflict. So while she was intent on establishing a positive relationship to steer them off this self-destructive course, she also needed to be practical and proactive. As they walked among the trees, she mentally reviewed family resources for upgrading their drones so that they could capitalize on this weakness in the camouflage system.
She was pulled from her thoughts by a gentle hand being rested upon her shoulder. Sean’s voice was next to her her ear, “Dad says we're almost to where he tranquillized and secured the feral. Stay quiet and hold onto my pack.”
Sean's hand slid from her shoulder down to her bicep. Her pulse quickened and she pulled her arm away slightly. The idea of being touched made her skin crawl and she crossed her arms tightly, looking over her shoulder to see if Williams noticed. She saw nothing behind her, obviously, and fought down the emotional flare up. She reached a hand outward until it made contact with the material of his backpack, gripping it tightly. Sean began to slowly move forward.
They slowly crept past a rock overhang, which formed a V-shaped enclosure and created a natural defense from the weather and potential threats. Maria couldn't help but notice the geological features of the rock. Smooth flat surfaces and the shave of the cut itself indicated that it had likely been formed by glaciation tens of thousands of years ago.
Within the overhang, she saw them, seven forms, laying still upon the ground. Bones of various animals lay scattered about them while they slept. This was where they lived, people who once could have been anything, doctors or teachers. They probably owned houses and drove their children to school in the morning. Here they were, reduced to this savagery. Her heart went out to them. The smell struck her a moment later, and she did her best not to gag. They defecated where they ate. A moment of revulsion was overwhelmed by shame. One moment she was pitying them and the next judging them. They had no more control of their situation than she did. Punctuating that realization was the fact that all of them had plastic ties wrapped around their feet and hands, binding them together and preventing them from attacking her as the three of them transited through their home.
A thought occurred to her, Williams had done all of this for her protection. After all with their camouflage, the ferals could not detect either him or his son Sean. Therefore the sedatives and ties must have been because of her. Even with the cloak, she was nowhere near as difficult to detect as the men. As they snuck past and out of view of the pack of former people, she found herself hoping that the incident hadn't affected them too negatively. Yes, they were little more than vicious wild animals, but they were entitled to some level of dignity and comfort, both of which were being denied to them at the moment.
They continued to sneak through the forest. As the hours passed, the sun crept ever closer to the horizon. They covered kilometers of the rugged terrain in near silence. The only noise being made coming from her as she grunted her way through a particularly strenuous narrow boulder-filled pass. The entire time her mind kept going back to the ferals that they had left behind. Eventually they cleared the tree line and Maria’s breath caught in excitement. Before them was a chain link fence that separated the forest from an overgrown field full of dozens upon dozens of long rectangular containers. Sean broke from their group and the chain link fence shook as he peeled it back from one of its support posts and created a space large enough for them to enter through.
An invisible force gently grabbed her hand and guided her through the opening and into the space that had at one time been a… well, she wasn't sure what it was yet. However, her eyes drank in every detail of this example of the old world. Her father had never allowed her to explore any of the ruins and had stayed firm in that even though she had used every manipulation in her arsenal against him. He was adamant that these places were not safe for her. For a moment she admitted that he was correct. After all, it was her curiosity about the old world that had driven her to investigate the cabin and led her to her attacker.
No, that wasn't right. He had been spying on her since she had arrived in that part of the Ocoee. Whatever haunted places like this likely wasn’t a threat to her. In fact a lack of knowledge of these places and what was inside of them merely created a vulnerability for her that could be exploited by others; therefore, her father was mistaken and she needed to understand the unknown. If he hadn't shielded her from this part of the world, she likely would have been more cautious when it came to investigating ruins and venturing out on her own.
She stopped that line of thinking. If she kept it up, soon she would be blaming her father for what had happened to her, for all of this, and that wouldn't be fair to him. So she satisfied herself by centering on the logic that gaining further knowledge of these places would better prepare her for possible threats in the future.
As they walked through the rows of containers, she took every opportunity to read the signs that she saw posted throughout the space. She quickly came to realize that this had been a hydroponic farm. Places such as this had been an incredibly disruptive force on traditional farms due to their ability to produce food at or very near the point of sale, that being the major urban areas. The Spires used similar technology to produce food for the families within and even went a step further and created beef, chicken, pork, and fish. One of her favorite subjects had been learning about how the facility manufactured those proteins. The data wonk in her geeked out at how efficient the process was compared to the old world method of raising those animals for consumption. She was immensely grateful for the technology since she loved cheeseburgers, and after meeting a cow when she was eight and learning how meat was originally acquired, she knew she would have had to resort to vegetarianism. Thankfully that was not a route she would have to follow.
Her eyes caught on one container that had the word “STRAWBERRIES” stenciled upon it. Her mouth watered at the idea. It had seemed so long since she had been able to have any.
“Mind if we take a peak in that container and see if anything is edible?"
Nothing responded but the wind and she took that as a no. Slowly they made their way to a central building. Its ground floor windows were boarded shut. She watched as an invisible force produced a hammer from a bush growing against the side of the building and as quietly as possible removed nails over a window. Within moments the rotting piece of wood gave way and was placed along the wall. The glass was missing and she was guided through into the office space inside. Tiny workspaces, walled off with short partitions and desks, greeted them. She had problems making out specific details in the fading light, but she surmised that this was likely where the owners and staff who ran the containers processed their orders and shipments.
They worked their way to the center of the building. By this point she was
having an incredibly difficult time seeing where they were going in the dark building. This deep in even moonlight didn't penetrate. Yet again she had to trust completely in her guides.
“Uh guys, I can't see a thing.”
She felt a small package pressed into the palm of her hand. “Goggles," Williams said to her. She slipped them over her eyes and the world sprung to life around her. She still couldn't make out the two men but at least she could see where she was being led. They finally came to a large reflective door that looked heavy and thick. It was attached to the wall. As she looked up, several meters above she could make out what appeared to be a ledge and then inky blackness.
“Are we going through the door?”
It opened slowly and released a foul smell as it did; however, she assumed that was their destination, that is until a hand fell on her shoulder and stopped her from walking in.
She watched as what looked to be a very worn ladder emerged from the what she assumed was a freezer. The door closed and the ladder was placed along the side of the wall. It shook slightly in front of her and she assumed one of her captors was climbing to the ledge above. A hand on the small of her back gently encouraged her to ascend the ladder. She quickly broke the contact and climbed, soon finding herself in a space where she could not stand upright. Crouching she made her way over a metal floor. Behind her the ladder shook for a moment and then slid up into the space with them, preventing anyone from easily following.
David’s larger form appeared at one end of the space, crouched over a pack. He removed something familiar from it, a tent similar to the one that she usually brought with her on camping trips. It began to self-inflate and create a sleeping space.
“So I take it this is home tonight?” her voice at a whisper.
He nodded. “How much longer until we get where we need to be?” she asked.
“’Bout three hours.”
“Why not just keep on hiking until we reach it and rest there?”
“Your father owns the night. If we were traveling by ourselves, we'd risk it but,” a shrug of the shoulders concluding his thought.
“This place is pretty impressive. I imagine they grew plenty of food here."
He nodded and said, “These types of farms were pretty popular before the collapse. Growing food hydroponically like this was far more efficient than traditional farming, a hell of a lot better for the environment, and made it possible for urban communities to participate in food production."
She nodded. “My dad would always tell me about places like this. He really loved a company called Guilt Free Meat. Said they were why the destruction of the Amazon stopped."
“Damn good steaks too."
She groaned slightly. “I would kill for a steak."
He dug in his pack and tossed a bag at her. Maria caught it and read the label, “Meal Ready to Eat, Beef stroganoff."
She arched an eyebrow. “Thanks, I mean that, but this looks pre-collapse. Is it still good?"
“Were they ever?” Sean's voice broke in, its source unknown.
“Shelf life is twenty-five years. Don’t ask how they get it to keep for so long. You'll lose your appetite.”
The tent had finished self-erecting, and David motioned toward it. “Head in there and get some sleep. We’ll wake you once the sun rises."
She entered the space, noting how it truly was very similar to the ones her father provided her with. In fact, it might have come from the same company that produced the units for Multi National Robotics. Low light emanated from the walls, softly illuminating everything. She sat in the middle of the space, following the instructions on the packaging and eating the meal given to her. For something that was slightly younger than her, it wasn't bad at all. It was a wonder that civilization had collapsed so suddenly given how advanced it had become. This hydroponic farm was a perfect example of how humanity had changed in what was essentially the blink of an eye. Technology and our mastery of it had led to a safer, cleaner, and far more productive world. It was a shame that the plague had happened, who knows what humanity would have achieved had it been able to hold things together. With this thought on her mind, she tried to sleep and was successful for a while, but her troubled thoughts kept true rest at bay.
___
The next morning they made their way through the long abandoned ruins of a suburban town. Her thoughts were abuzz as she experienced the remains of the old world first hand. The dilapidated homes and businesses stood as monuments to a once great civilization. She marveled at the architecture and the roadways, tasking herself with determining why the leaders of this town had made the planning choices that they had. She took careful note of how nature had reestablished itself here as it had on the roadway she walked. One thing struck her though, the absence of bodies. Given the size of this town, she would have expected to see hundreds littering the streets. As she began to think about it, the lack of remains made sense. As people began to die out, scavengers would have moved into the towns and picked clean the remains of any exposed corpses. Likely if she wanted to find human remains to study, she would have to locate an animal den or possibly a locked buildings with their windows still intact.
As it turned out, she found one much closer than she had expected. As they moved alongside what had once been someone’s home, they walked past a small space attached to it. Inside sat a personal vehicle, protected from the elements, it was relatively clean when compared to those she had seen on the roadways. She caught a glimpse of a face staring back at her. Without noticing, her feet took her off the path they were following and up to the vehicle.
Preserved but desiccated were the remains of a woman. Her body was slumped forward, face upon the dash board and tilted so it could be seen through the front side window. The hair and nails had grown even after death but, other than that and the dehydrated flesh, the car had preserved her body perfectly. Maria took in every detail, marveling at things like the black faced watch upon her wrist, the rings hanging on her bony fingers, and the early generation of smart contacts that had peeled slightly away from her eyes. Questions swirled through her mind, who was she, what did she do in life, how did she end up here? A small satchel sat upon the seat next to the body. Maria surmised that a personal device might be within and could help answer some of her burning questions. She reached for the handle that would open the door, only to have her hand stop just shy of it.
“We try not to disturb the dead," David said, his voice serious.
She withdrew her hand and the pressure vanished. “I just want to know who she is. Once I know that, I can appreciate who she was and share her story, honor her.”
“When we're done today, you'll have plenty of opportunities to honor the dead.”
She felt an invisible tether pressed into her hand and began to follow it as it pulled her away. The entire time her head was turned over her shoulder, looking back at the unblinking face of the past.
She stood before the remains of what had once been a sports stadium. She wouldn't have known that were it not for a few of the football movies she had watched with her father, where he lamented the loss of a particular tradition known as ‘tailgating’. Before her were a sea of vehicles, decaying slowly but surely under nature’s never-ending onslaught. Glass littered the streets and she had begun to see her first signs of skeletal remains. The scavengers had likely felt comfortable enough to feast on their finds because of all the cover that the tangled and unorganized mass of automobiles provided. As they moved through the sea of cars, something began to nag at her. She stayed quiet about it until they managed to enter the structure.
As they went inside, the air felt humid. Light streamed in through various broken windows, but for the most part, the inside was deathly dark. As they passed the threshold, she spoke up, “Why did they all come here? It runs contrary to what you should do in an epidemic.”
Williams blinked into existence before her, the tether in her hand leading to the pack upon his back. “They were told to come here
.”
“By whom? Who in power would be foolish enough to give such an order and increase exposure to the virus?”
David turned and began moving deeper into the space, the dark. Maria pulled her night vision goggles out as he guided her forward. “Foolish implies that the information wasn't intentionally provided."
As she pulled the goggles over her eyes and activated them, the hall they were walking down sprung to life and her breath caught. The floor ahead was littered with remains and only increased in frequency the deeper into the stadium they went.
Finally, they reached the central field illuminated by the variety of holes in the large dome that hung over head. Before them was a sea destruction and death. She was wrong. This wasn't a stadium; it was a crypt. She removed the goggles and stared out at thousands of remains, jumbled beyond recognition covering the floor. She couldn't possibly hope to count all that were dead.
“What the hell happened here?” she whispered.
David stood beside her. “Social media and radio broadcasts in the area told people to come here, that there would be a treatment for the plague, food and shelter."
“The RAF did this?”
“No.”
She spun on him, her emotions boiling over at the implication he was making. It was one thing to make such allegations in a sterile hospital room, but it was another to make them… here. “My father did not do this, could not do this,” she hissed.
He nodded and then motioned with his head for her to follow him. They walked toward several tents that had been worn by weather and the conflict that had killed all these people. They entered one of them. The light was low so Williams activated a flashlight. The space lit up and showed a single skeleton. Stained and damaged by the gnawing of wild animals; however, still mostly intact, though some of the smaller bones in the feet and hands were nowhere to be found.
“Look at her pelvis.”
His use of the pronoun “her” threw her off balance mentally for a moment, knowing the gender made this skeleton into a person. She quickly recovered her composure and knelt down. The beam from his light focused directly upon the bone. He was correct. She was a she, the shape of the bone was undeniable. Something caught her eye and she knelt closer, three small holes, clustered closely together and an equal distance from one another.
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