Danger
The tension in the store is palpable. After Aiden and Lana’s discovery, we decided to call off the exploration and return to A-Mart. Now that we have a real, known danger out there, the mood has turned somber, fearful even. The group stays clustered together. No one wants to leave our base in the mattress section. Lana and Viren even moved some of our food stocks closer. If anyone needs to leave the group, they take a partner with them, and someone has a hand on a weapon at all times.
I want to go around the store to check for weaknesses and points of entry, but I don’t think I should leave the group yet. They all seem terrified. I know that, for better or worse, they look to me as a protector or leader. Once they settle, maybe I can take one of them with me and sneak away to check the perimeter.
“Hey,” Lana interrupts my thoughts.
I look up to her, and straighten, realizing how far I’ve slumped over. “Can I help you with something?”
“You were awfully quiet.” She sits next to me. “I thought maybe you needed someone to share your thoughts with.”
I shake my head. “No, I’m fine.” I couldn’t show her what I had inside my head, even if I wanted to. Lana was the most shaken by the discovery she made with Aiden. Looking into her dark, nearly black eyes now, I can see the terror she’s trying to contain. I sigh and avert my gaze, not wanting to stare. Without looking, I wrap my arm around her. She jumps a little when she first feels my touch, but then she settles into it. I fall back into my own thoughts and she slowly falls into my side.
Awhile later, Savannah walks by. “She asleep?” I nod. “You ready to go? You seem like you need to move.”
I shrug with my unhindered right side. Actually I’ve become pretty comfortable, but I do still want to check on our defenses, however little they may be. “How could you tell?” I ask. Gently I lay Lana down on the bed. She curls up into a ball until I throw a spare blanket over her.
“You’re curious because you’re basically expressionless?” Savannah asks. I turn to her, eyes narrowed. “You just seem alert, like there’s something keeping you up.”
“There is,” I confirm. “Do you have your gun?”
“Of course,” Savannah tells me. “And a flashlight. What are we exploring?”
“Just the store.” I shoulder my pack, and pull out my flashlight. “I want to check the perimeter, maybe reinforce it a little.”
Savannah nods. “Makes sense, since, you know...” She fidgets and looks away. Though she usually seems more resilient, it’s obvious she was affected too. I wonder if something’s wrong with me. Should I feel more afraid than I do? I feel less secure, knowing there’s someone out there, but I don’t feel quite as disturbed by that as the others do.
“You guys going somewhere?” Aiden walks over with his hands in his pockets.
I nod. “Yeah, are you going to be up for a bit?”
“Mhm. I’ll keep watch while you’re gone, since the others are asleep,” he quickly agrees to what I would have asked.
“Good.” I look over at Viren, sprawled across a bed. “Hm. I didn’t think the kid ever ran out of energy.”
“Viren must have been busy pestering you today,” Aiden says.
“They were certainly active,” I agree. “You don’t have limitless energy though. Are you going to be alright until we get back?”
“Haha, I’m fine.” He pulls a rolled up magazine from his back pocket. “Yeah, I’ve got plenty to read. I’ll stay awake.”
“Hey,” Savannah points at him. “Don’t lose focus, bookworm. I’ve seen you fall into those magazines of yours.”
Aiden smiles guiltily and fixes his glasses. “I won’t. I’m far too on edge for that. The magazines are just to help keep me up.”
“Okay, someone will switch with you when we get back,” I tell him. “Come on, Savannah.” I want to get this done; it’s been eating at me since we came back. Maybe I am as scared as everybody else.
Savannah follows my lead in silence, down the immobile escalator to the first floor. Immediately, we head to the front entrance. We locked the door earlier with the interior locks, but since it’s a rotating door, Aiden and I also moved a piece of furniture into it, to keep the door from spinning. We didn’t trust the locks on their own. “I’m not fond of these large windows,” I say quietly, pointing to the floor to ceiling windows providing a view of the unused first floor.
“At least it doesn’t really look like anyone’s in here,” Savannah tries to reassure me.
“Still,” I hold my chin in my hand thoughtfully. “I’d like to block them somehow tomorrow.”
Savannah nods, not disagreeing with me. Even though she was bothered by finding out about the killer, and the body left in their wake, her instincts push her to be more defensive now, rather than blindly frightened. Savannah was the first to take control of the group, to give them direction. Leading is clearly in her nature, and a heavy weight of responsibility comes with it.
I break the pensive silence with a question. “Can you show me where any other entrances or exits are in the store? I believe you all explored indoors a bit more while I was sleeping.”
She nods, and a sly smile creeps onto her face. “It wasn’t hard, since you were out for so long.” My eyes narrow and she laughs.
Savannah does show me what I need to see with more precision than if I’d just stumbled around on my own in the dark. As we move further back, the light from the street lights fades and we resort to our flashlights. There are two other doors on the first floor, intended for emergencies only. I’m pretty certain that they’re intended to remain locked from the outside, but we bar them anyway, for added protection. The sublevel of the building doesn’t have any possibility of outside access, neither do the upper floors. Savannah does know where we can get up the roof, however, so I follow her there.
“We should block this off too,” I tell her. “Just in case.”
“Okay,’ she agrees quietly. “But before we do, do you want to go up there?”
One of my eyebrows rises. “Why?”
She shrugs. “It’s just intriguing to me. Who knows what we could see from up there?”
That’s strange. “You haven’t been up yet?”
“No,” she answers as she looks down. “The others weren’t particularly interested in the roof, so I felt kind of silly.” For her strong personality, and sometimes stronger words, Savannah still has her own weaknesses.
I take her hand. “Come on, let’s go up.”
Her face lights up. “Okay.” I push the door open and lead her up the stairs. The stairwell is enclosed, and dark. The air is stale and musty. Two beams of light guide the quiet steps of our ascent. Our shoes make the smallest of noises, tiny thuds, as they touch down on the concrete stairs. The door at the top of the staircase is metal, heavy, with a narrow reinforced window.
“Seems pretty secure,” I mutter, and turn to look at Savannah, a step below me. “Are you ready?” She nods, a smile reappearing on her face. I find my face trying to mimic hers. With some effort, I push open the stiff old door. The fresh outside air rushes in and I take a deep breath. Suddenly it feels like I can breathe again. I hadn’t realized exactly how stifling the climb up was.
We step out onto the flat roof, looking out over the city. “Wow.” Savannah turns, looking around us. “It’s so big.”
We look out over the unevenness of flat rectangular roofs, some indistinguishable from each other. Street lamps cast light upon the streets below. Lights don’t reach us from the streets beyond our view, so it’s hard to tell how far the working lights extend. “Elise did say this is a super city.”
Savannah gives me a look. “Well, am I supposed to remember how massive a supercity is?”
I shrug. “Yes, actually.”
She sticks her tongue out at me. She looks away from me, and stops, exhaling. “Wow.” I follow her gaze. In this direction, not far off, the street lights are toppled and most nonfunctional. Buildings crumble and we can see the absence of many blocky silhouettes. The remaining pillars of civilization stand tall against the shimmering dark blue background. Separated from their comrades, they’re mere inky blots against the starry night.
“That’s where we came from,” I say, taking in the destruction.
“The explosion.” Savannah’s eyes are distant. Her vacant expression shows her mind’s journey back to when we woke up. I can almost see the flames in her green eyes, almost feel the heat coming off of her skin. She shivers and wraps her arms around herself.
I take my jacket off and place it over her shoulders. “Maybe we should go back inside.” She looks up at me and nods. Her eyes harden, returning to the present, as she leads us back inside.
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