Migration

Leah Sets Out

That night, the sound of scavengers roaming through the darkened boulevards, the smashing of glass and the occasional altercation, left Leah with only the lightest of sleeps. When the dawn light ebbed into her room, she was already awake and waiting for it, watching in a trance from her bed as the darkness was pushed back into the corners once again.

She got herself up and began to assemble the supplies she had made lists of the night before, preparing for their long march to the Server. Youssef's Server was about thirty miles outside of the Metropolis, down in a valley surrounded by pine trees, where the Drones could dig the circuits deep into the cool, accepting ground.

Leah had been there once before, on a rainy Spring morning, soon after Youssef had started there, when Ben was a tiny baby in her arms. She remembered the birds that sang in the tall trees that surrounded it and the polished thermo-plastic floors that made every corridor identical to the next, with disorientating effect. It would take them at least two days to get there without the help of the Vactrain, so she let the children sleep as long as possible whilst she packed.

She started off with changes of clothes, underwear and bedding, before adding a first aid kit, bottles of water, food, some antique books that she had found in Youssef's cupboard, raincoats and a washbag. But she quickly realised, as she tried to haul the pack onto her back and pick up the large holdall that contained the rest, that they would have to travel much, much lighter. She ditched everything apart from the food, water, raincoats and shared bedding, squeezing some of the food and the first aid kit into a smaller pack that Ben could carry. Rachael would be spared any carrying, it would be enough for her to keep up.

Once she was ready, Leah woke the children gently, watching them rouse with a little sadness as they stretched out the last moments of comfort in their beds. When they were up, they headed to the kitchen together for an all you could eat buffet of everything they couldn't carry in the packs, or that was about to spoil. It wasn't that much, but it would energise them enough to get out of the Metropolis, to where Leah held a little hope they would stumble across some supplies, somewhere along the way.

They showered in the freezing water as fast as they could and Leah dried them down vigorously when they were done. After that, they dressed in utility suits and sturdy shoes, with their raincoats tied around their waists. They took one last nostalgic wander around their apartment – making sure all the switches were off in case the power came back on whilst they were gone – before grabbing their packs and bags and heading out for the dark descent down the stairwell and into the morning light.

Outside it was cooler than it had been for days. Low clouds muted the rising sun and the air carried the sweetness of damp grass on the breeze. They would be spared the wilting sun as they began their march, but Leah looked to the sky and wished for the rain to hold off. A downpour before they had even left the Metropolis would make their long day a hundred times harder.

The streets were quiet as they drifted silently through them and it brought a strange silence to their little group. Normally they would be talking, the children running about and peering through windows, but for now they walked silently hand in hand, casting cautious glances down every alleyway and through every twisted shop door. The sparrows were back on the awnings and pavement, hopping about amongst the dusty whirlpools of litter and bouncing away down side streets and entrance foyers as the three refugees passed by.

They walked like this for a good couple of hours, passing first their local Vac terminal, then the next and next and so on. Leah wasn't entirely sure of the route on foot, so it was safer to use the stations as journey landmarks. Before long the high, ghostly apartments were behind them and they were moving through the lower industrial buildings and retail centres that populated the edges of the Metropolis.