by Kevin George
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Carli didn’t say a word and neither did Wyatt. The silence between them stretched for many hours and many miles, long after the Comm HASS was nothing but a distant memory behind them. Talking would’ve filled their lungs with freezing air, which would’ve made it harder to take a deep breath. Their clothing was thick and kept out most of the cold. They slept that night, bundled closely together, in a makeshift tent Wyatt had made from insulated materials scavenged from the HASS.
Carli woke first, her face inches from Wyatt’s, the closest she’d ever been to a boy. While he slept, his expression was serene, his face free of scowls or deep thought or wrinkles of concern. She didn’t intend to stare at him, but that was exactly what she did, at least until his eyes slowly opened and he smiled. Carli immediately rolled over and climbed to her feet, gathering her belongings so they could set out right away.
They continued into the Nothingness, their tracks from the day before already snowed over, the position of the sun their only guide about where to go.
“Do you want to fly ahead?” Wyatt asked. “Scout the surrounding area? See if the city is in view yet?”
He shifted his backpack from one shoulder to the other. His second pack was secured to his chest and was so heavy he always appeared ready to tip forward. Every step was a struggle for him, but Wyatt never complained, nor did he accept Carli’s offer to help. The jetpack strapped to her shoulders was heavy, but any discomfort she felt she kept to herself. She wanted desperately to don her helmet and fly off but knew Wyatt would never leave her side if their roles were reversed.
She shook her head. “Better to get a full charge for the solar panels. Someone very wise is always reminding me of that,” she said. “Besides, we probably don’t want to risk separating among the endless whiteness.”
In her periphery, she saw Wyatt grin, relief flooding his eyes. They stumbled forward for hours, fatigue making them want to stop and rest, but rest causing them to lose body warmth generated from movement. When they were thirsty, they sucked on handfuls of snow; when they were hungry, they shared a few carrots they’d harvested from the Comm HASS’s garden, though every piece of food had become frozen solid. The effort to eat was so exhausting that they eventually gave up and returned the food to Wyatt’s pack.
Every few hours, Wyatt convinced Carli to stop and clear the snow and ice forming on the jetpack’s solar panels. She would then press the power button and soar straight up until Wyatt became no larger than a dot among the infinite snow. She turned slowly, staring into the distance, finding nothing but the same empty landscape before returning to the ground to deliver the bad news. When she finally spotted oversized snow mounds and remnants of the ancient city sticking out of the snow, Carli didn’t know whether to feel excited or concerned. She hovered an extra minute, scanning the ground between them and the city, searching for a sign of anyone—or anything—that might be standing in their way. She found nothing but didn’t feel better because of it.
As she descended to the ground and Wyatt, lightly tapping the power button along the way, Carli racked her brain for what to say, for what to admit seeing. She still had an awful feeling about returning to the city and considered lying, or maybe admit spotting the city but pointing them in another direction to avoid it. For that matter, she wondered if she could turn them around so much that they ended up back at the Comm HASS, where they could continue living their difficult—albeit livable—existence. But any thought of lying faded from Carli’s mind the moment she landed and saw the look of excitement on Wyatt’s face.
“You saw it, didn’t you?” he asked.
She frowned but nodded, admitting the city waited a few miles ahead. Wyatt picked up the pace, trudging forward with renewed fervor. The terrain became more uneven and they encountered large sections of snow-covered rubble, some of it unpassable. The buildings grew larger upon approach, but it still took hours to reach the city, especially when they had to take longer paths around steep snowbanks or areas of debris too difficult to traverse. More than once, Carli wondered aloud if the city would be too dangerous, if they wouldn’t be better off turning back. But the allure of finally fixing the GPS spurred Wyatt to ignore her concern and find a way into the city.
When they reached the first city street with snow-covered buildings lining both sides, Carli’s head remained on a swivel, searching every window—and every broken window, and every empty windowsill where no glass remained—for any sign of movement. She found none but didn’t feel better, knowing that just meant the city-dwellers were doing a better job of hiding.
“Let’s find the parts we need and get out of here,” Carli said.
Wyatt looked from one building to the next, his face aglow with awe. “I know you want to avoid whoever lives here—”
“We want to avoid them,” she reminded him.
“But what if they could help us? What if they could take us exactly where extra parts might be? What if they know what else is in the world?”
“Or what if they kill us and eat our flesh?” Carli asked. Wyatt’s brow furrowed and he frowned in disbelief. “I know, that might be extreme, but you didn’t see what I saw at the other HASSes. I’m not sure the person I saw—or the people I saw—I don’t even know if they were people. . . at least people like us.”
Wyatt’s next frown was much more genuine, but he continued walking the snowy path between the buildings.
“I read something once about some species dying off when there’s a drastic change to their environment,” he said.
“Uplifting,” Carli said, still scanning the buildings.
“But,” Wyatt continued, “I also read how other species altered to survive. Did you know the first inhabitants of the HASSes had difficulty breathing air at such high altitudes?”
Carli nodded. “Something to do with lower air pressure and how our lungs handle it,” she said. “But our ancestors were strong. They overcame it.”
“They did,” Wyatt said, scanning the tops of snowbanks lining nearby buildings, searching for the safest place to enter. “And subsequent generations adapted to conditions over time, to the point where we no longer needed to pressurize the HASSes or wear helmets when we set foot on the outer platforms.”
Carli’s eyes instinctively turned skyward, searching for a life and a place she’d probably never see again.
“Your point?” she asked with a sigh.
“The ground was never as cold as it is now,” Wyatt said. “Maybe humans that survived here have changed.”
Carli shivered, though the sun broke through the clouds and the wind had died down.
“I wouldn’t want to find out either way,” she said. “Do I have to remind you we’re on a mission and can’t be distracted? It’s the only reason I came back.”
“The only reason?” Wyatt asked.
“Yes,” Carli answered, blushing. Though she continued to scan the buildings, she sensed Wyatt looking at her and could almost imagine his smile. She pointed to the first building on their right. “What about that one? There’s no need to head deeper into the city if we can find something right here.”
Wyatt frowned, glancing at the building before craning his neck to see what stretched toward the clouds farther ahead of them. He pointed to the tallest building in the city, the same one he’d been thinking about since the first time they encountered the snowy city. He noted the large tower atop it, the large antenna that seemed to reach for the sky.
“A communication building of some sort,” Wyatt said. “Undoubtedly has the parts we’ll need.”
“If we survive long enough to reach it,” Carli said. “What about something closer? At least check a few others first?”
Wyatt turned to her, ready to argue, but saw genuine fear on her face. He frowned and nodded, gesturing toward the nearest building. Linking arms, they climbed the steep embankment, a three-story rise of snow that wasn’t nearly as compact as the snow at street level. Neither Carli nor Wyatt could take
a step without their legs plunging toward their knees, making the climb time-consuming and strenuous. A simple push of the jetpack’s power button could’ve propelled Carli to the top in a matter of seconds, but they were climbing this hill because of her and she wouldn’t leave Wyatt to struggle on his own.
Both were out of breath by the time they reached the top. With a higher perspective of the city, Carli started her window search anew but still found no sign of anyone watching. Wyatt cleared the remnants of a broken window and climbed inside, waving Carli to follow. The interior was dark, especially compared to the endless bright whiteness that had filled their vision for hours. While the temperature was certainly not warm, it wasn’t as cold as outside and the lack of wind conditions bearable. The sudden quiet should’ve been a welcome relief, but Carli couldn’t help finding it eerie.
A heavy thud startled her, but the sound was followed by Wyatt’s sigh. He’d plopped down both of his packs and stretched his shoulders. Carli’s own jetpack suddenly felt heavier, but she wasn’t about to put it down and risk slowing a potential escape. She stared into the darkness, her vision slowly adjusting, seeing a wide open room and broken windows on the far side. In between were smaller walls that stretched no higher than four or five feet, creating dozens of cube-shaped spaces.
“An office building. . . I think,” Wyatt said. “I read about these once.”
“Sounds like boring reading,” Carli said.
Wyatt nodded. “But probably filled with equipment.”
Carli’s heart leapt at the thought and she hurried to the first cubicle. Wyatt did the same but nearly collided with Carli when she suddenly stopped. She pointed to his two packs sitting on the floor. With a roll of the eyes, he lugged them back onto his shoulders. Carli bumped into the first short wall she encountered, causing it to collapse with a loud bang, a noise that seemed to echo in the darkness, a noise so loud it must’ve been heard by anyone inside the building’s many levels.
“Stop!” she hissed at Wyatt.
“I’m sure nobody’s—”
“Shh!”
She squinted, seeing nothing but darkness and shadow, before eventually closing her eyes to focus on listening. She only heard high-pitched wind and distant creaking, neither sound she attributed to anyone being there. She nodded to Wyatt and together they searched the cubicles, finding lots of dust and ice and broken equipment. Carli became excited each time she found something that looked like it could be of use, but everything she showed Wyatt was met with a frown and shake of the head. It wasn’t long before she gave up on trying to find anything else.
They reached a darkened stairwell and proceeded to the next floor, where they found more broken windows, scattered glass, and overturned desks, yet nothing of use. Carli continued to search the first few floors carefully, rifling through every pile of debris, but Wyatt eventually deemed the effort futile, using his foot to kick aside random pieces of trash, knowing he’d find nothing. When Carli wanted to go to the next floor up, Wyatt cut her off before she reached the stairwell.
“What’s the point?” he asked. “Staying here is a waste of time.”
“We have to keep trying,” Carli said, pushing her way past him. “All it’ll take is finding a few lucky parts.”
Wyatt hurried after her, nearly bumping into Carli a few steps up. She held up a hand, telling him to be careful. He soon saw why. A large section of stairs had collapsed, fallen away to create a massive hole. The railing had somehow remained intact, but Wyatt dared not touch it for fear that it would fall as well.
“I’ll go first,” Carli said, shifting to the side where a narrow section of stairs remained in place. She didn’t have a chance to climb one step when Wyatt grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
Carli wrenched her arm free and held up the jetpack’s power button for Wyatt to see.
“I’ll be ready to fly if I have to.”
With her back—more specifically, the jetpack—pressed against the stairwell wall, Carli tiptoed onto the first step, which creaked beneath her weight but held firm. Her toes dangling over the edge of the hole, Carli felt dizzy for a moment before realizing she was holding her breath. Wyatt whispered for her to be careful, but she barely heard a word. By the time she cleared the hole and reached the next level, her heartbeat pounded in her ears. She called down that she was safe and told Wyatt it would be safer for him to wait where he was. He denied her suggestion.
Carli watched with bated breath as Wyatt made his way up the narrow section of steps. Halfway up, he suffered a momentary wobble where he looked like he might fall through the stairwell, but he regained his balance and scrambled up the rest of the way. Wyatt smiled when he reached her, but Carli doubted she would ever relax again. Before they kept climbing, Wyatt stopped and offered her the bag holding the GPS locator.
“I think you’d better carry this from now on and the wrist device, too,” he said. “Their safety is far more important than my life. If something happens to me, I want you to—”
Carli shook her head. “I don’t know anything about fixing that.”
“That’s not true,” Wyatt said. “I’ve shown you the parts we’re looking for, I’ve shown you where they’d go.”
“Whether I could fix it or not, I want no part of this plan—no part of this life—without you,” she said, surprised to feel her throat tightening. Wyatt’s resulting smile annoyed her. . . or pleased her. . . she couldn’t tell. Either way, she shook her head and pushed the pack back at him. “Remember that before you do something foolish like falling through a giant hole.”
After another hour of fruitless searching, Wyatt convinced Carli to abandon the building and push farther into the city. His eyes continued to focus on the tallest building downtown, but Carli insisted they check the next closest one. Wyatt agreed with a sigh, and they found the next building filled with what appeared to be living quarters, yet also devoid of anything useful. The walls of most rooms were crumbling, but it was the stained smears of red all over the place that worried Carli most.
“This is what it looked like inside the HASSes,” she whispered.
“Even more reason to get to the communications building,” Wyatt said. “If nowhere in the city is safe, we might as well stop wasting time and go where we’re most likely to find what we need.”
Staring at the bloodied walls, Carli nodded begrudgingly. Wyatt stood in front of a windowsill that hadn’t held glass for years. They’d reached one of the top floors and had a clear view of the tallest building across the city. Sensing her hesitancy, Wyatt nodded to her jetpack.
“Regardless of what happened in the past, this building looks like it’s been abandoned a long time,” he said. “If you want to stay here and guard the GPS, I could fly to the comm building and make sure it’s—”
Carli shook her head before he could finish. “What if I held onto you? Could we fly in tandem and make it to the building?”
Wyatt frowned and looked at the jetpack, doing a few quick calculations in his mind before shaking his head. “Even at full power, the jetpack might only have a few minutes of juice with our combined weight, not nearly enough to let us fly to the middle of the city. We’re going to have to walk.”
After making their way back outside, Wyatt pointed down the nearest snowy street, a direct path leading to the comm building downtown. But Carli insisted they stay off the streets as much as possible, and she led them into the nearest building, cutting through it to an alley behind, scurrying through the shadows and ducking across the next street into the next building. They repeated the process for several hours, their progress slow and steady, never staying out in the open for longer than a few minutes.
Wyatt wanted to point out her paranoia—he wanted to point out that without meandering, they would’ve reached the comm building by now—but he spotted movement in the windows on several occasions. Before following Carli into yet another building, Wyatt glanced up and saw a silhouette fla
shing in front of a broken window several stories above them. He hissed Carli’s name, but she’d already entered the building. He scurried after her, trying to make as little noise as possible, his eyes peeled. He was so focused on the shadows that he bumped into Carli from behind.
“Watch it!” she snapped.
“Shhh,” he hissed, taking her by the arm to drag her along faster. “Keep your voice down.”
Carli immediately sensed a problem. Her arm tensed in his grip and her head turned from side to side. Wyatt admitted what he’d seen. They became so focused on finding someone hiding in the dark—so panicked about being attacked out of nowhere—that they lost focus on where they were going and struggled to find a back exit to the building. Every corner they turned was a dead end, every room they found led nowhere. Carli suggested turning back, but Wyatt shook his head.
“If they spotted us—if they’re coming after us—they’ll be back there,” he said, his warning striking fear in them both.
When they finally found an exit to an alley, Carli rushed to the end, eyeing the next building for them to pass through. Wyatt stopped her before she stepped out of the shadows.
“It wasn’t the first silhouette I’ve seen,” he admitted, earning a glare from Carli. “They’ve been watching us the last few blocks. I don’t know how many there are, or if they can communicate with each other or coordinate their movements, but we might want to try taking a different path to the—”