Remainers

Lost Mementos of the Past, Part 2

After Hope left with Kai and Sean, Caleb began wandering the empty streets of New York City. The city was sprawling, and while Caleb had explored urban environments before, he was a little lost when it came to this massive metropolis. The sky was obscured by tall skyscrapers, and the symmetrical and monochrome landscape made it hard for him to keep track of where he had already been and where he had yet to tread.

As he slowly mapped the city and tried to get a sense of his bearings, Caleb's mind wandered back to the strange request that Kai had made. He had no idea who Mina was, or Kai's connection to her. Was she a troublemaker trying to get in their way, or simply a remainer in need of guidance? Neither option made sense. Nobody who was going to cause trouble like that would have become a remainer in the first place, and aside from Hope, everyone else had centuries more experience than him.

Still, none of that mattered until he actually found this Mina. For now, he took his time exploring the ruined city, looking for anything that might have been left over by human civilization. In truth, the prospect of exploring a city that had been left standing for so long excited him. Already he had seen many things that he had never seen elsewhere, such as giant billboards with faded signs or exotic shops selling trinkets that might as well have been alien to him. It was the closest he had come to seeing remnants of human civilization in a long time, and it interested him greatly.

For the first day, Caleb proceeded in this manner. Instead of seriously looking for anything salvageable like he normally would, he simply marveled at the city like a tourist might have. He knew he'd have lots of time to properly search later. After all, it would be weeks before the demolition actually started, so he was in no rush.

He ended the day looking for a place to stay for the night. He found it in a crumbling building that seemed stable and set up a tent. As he laid down, he wondered if Hope and the others would be working through the night. Well, the city wasn't necessarily the best place to rest, so he could hardly blame them if they did.

After a slightly uncomfortable night of sleep, Caleb awoke to an early morning. The city was still fairly dark due to the buildings blocking the light of the sun, so he had a leisurely breakfast while he waited for the city to get a little bit brighter. It was the first time in a long time that he had experienced a quiet morning alone, and it felt both nostalgic and strange.

Once he was done with his morning preparations, Caleb set out to explore the city once again. He had made little ground the day before, but today he set out with the intention of exploring as much of the city as he could before sunset. From the short survey he had conducted, he could tell that there would not be a lot of salvageable material left over in this city. For that reason, he decided to change his priorities to finding Mina. Considering Kai's request, he suspected that was what he really wanted him to do anyway.

That was easier said than done, though. While it was true that there wouldn't be too many other remainers wandering the city, it would easily take him days to canvas the entire area, especially on foot. Plus, if she was here for the same reason he was, she was probably traveling from place to place as well. There was a pretty good chance they'd miss each other all the way up until the deadline for demolition.

For that reason, Caleb decided to climb up one of the large buildings in an attempt to gain a better vantage point over the city. He made it up about four floors before the stairs started to crumble on him, so he decided to play it safe and check out the city from there. He walked out to the edge of the building and peered out over the openings where windows once were. He slowly walked around, looking for any sign of a remainer he didn't recognize.

To his surprise, this strategy served him better than he expected, as he soon found an unfamiliar woman searching a former mall several blocks from where he was. He quickly took out his binoculars and closely inspected the woman to make sure she wasn't Hope, and regretted not asking Kai about any distinguishing features. There wasn't any point in theorizing up here. Caleb descended the building as fast as he could and tried to catch up with her before she left.