Mania

Chapter 13

Easton

          A city looms in front of us, looking filthy. I can already smell smoke and I pray that it won't get worse as we get closer to the city. But, with our luck, it'll be awful.
          They say that cities are teeming with the plague and all sorts of criminals. Rats and other stray animals overpower the streets and most of the buildings are past the point of being destroyed. What would I know, of course. All I've done for the past year was staying cooped up in my home and feeling sorry for myself.
          Home.
          I don't know what I miss more; the clean clothes, the shower, the food, or my parents. I knew my parents were in the Mania, but I never thought of them as terroristic psychopaths.
          Maybe we could find a place with a shower. We've been traveling for a little over two weeks and we're going to a city that used to be "Spokane." Two weeks without a shower changes you. I can't believe how Claire went over six months without washing her hair.
          For being early spring, the wind nipped at my ears and stung my face. The sky above us was gray and dismal and possibly threatened a chance for rain. Or, it could be from the pollution from the city. It's up in the air.
          "Have you ever been to a city?" I ask Claire.
          She shakes her head and answers,
          "Not even before the takeover. We didn't travel a lot."
          I look up at the skyscrapers and I try to remember what they used to look like. My dad used to travel here for work, so sometimes he'd take the whole family. I point to one of the taller buildings and I describe, "That used to be a hotel, surprisingly. A bunch of celebrities stayed there all of the time. When it was night, the entire city came alive. You could here music and laughter from your hotel room." I smile at the memory of my parents dancing around to the music in our hotel room. "There used to be this amazing pizza restaurant here called 'The Flying Goat.'"
          She laughs at its ridiculous name and she asks, "What did you get there?"
          I look down at her and I reply, "Pizza, of course."
          She rolls her eyes. "What kind of pizza?"
          I smile. "Hawaiian and I always got a chocolate chip cookie afterwards."
          She makes a face. "Hawaiian?"
          I nod. "The best kind."
          She shakes her head and scrunches up her freckled nose. "Fruit and pizza should not be together."
          "Not even breakfast pizza?"
          She narrows her eyes and says, "You know what I mean, idiot."
          I chuckle as I step on a department of health and safety warning of the Acid Fever.
          "Please contact the CCC or the nearest hospital if you experience any of the following symptoms:
          Flu like symptoms, including: dizziness, nausea, fever or chills.
          Bruise like discoloration on skin.
          Severe pain in stomach or abdomen. "
          The print's mostly faded by people just like me stepping on it. The sidewalks are littered with propaganda posters and people sitting against the rotting buildings.
          A woman grabs my ankle, begging for some food and water. Claire reaches into my bag and pulls out three strips of jerky. She gives it to the woman and other beggars rush towards her, desperate for food.
          We leave before it gets too ugly, but we still hear the beggars still fighting for the jerky. We walk further down the block and I suggest, "Should we try looking for a place to sleep?"
          I'm met with silence.
          I look beside me (and a little below me- Claire's a foot shorter than me and I sometimes I run into her) and I see no one beside me. My heart races in my chest and my mind hums with possibilities of where she might've gone.
          I race down the street and I'm checking every alley for any signs of her. I sprint into the alleyway closest to the beggars and I see something glinting in the grass. I pick it up and to my disbelief, it was a lighter. It could've been any old lighter, but I pray that it is Claire's. I run down the alley and I come to a dead end. I look around and I see a cellar door.
          It was partially open and the dust looked like it was moved recently. I open it and go inside.
          I don't know what I was expecting; maybe an armory, or maybe even a few dead bodies here and there. You know, the usual things you would expect to find in a kidnapper's basement. But, all I could see were canned goods and furniture covered in plastic.
          I close the door and I turn on my flashlight. "Claire," I whisper/shout. I don't hear anything, so I go further into the cellar. I'm at the base of the steps as I hear footsteps approach the door. I quickly turn off the flashlight and I dive behind a couch. The door opens and I hear heavy footsteps go down the stairs. I peer over the edge of the couch and see a man with thin shoulders and wild hair. I creep out from the couch and I follow him.
          He leads me to a kitchen of some sorts and I make sure to hide behind a counter. He flicks on the lights and I see Claire tied up with her hands bound behind her back and her mouth gagged. A large gash covered her forehead and blood was matted in with her hair.
          We catch eye contact for a brief moment until her captor turns around and I duck behind the cabinet. I dig into my bag and I bring out a canteen full of water. I send it sailing across the cellar and I hear it crash with a canned good.
          Hearing the distraction, the man goes toward the direction of the sound, holding a gun. I get up and I run to Claire. I take the gag out of her mouth and bring my finger to my lips to tell her to be quiet. She nods and I free her hands and legs. I help her up and we retrace the steps to the flight of steps that lead upstairs.
          We race up the stairs. I throw the door open and we crash out of the cellar. We stumble down the hallway until we see the front door. I pull it open and I hear the gun go off. I look outside and see the captor holding his gun with the barrel of it smoking. Claire noticeably pales and I look down.
          I'm bleeding.
          I feel the color drain from my face and my head spins. Claire reaches for something and I see something shiny and black in her hand. She fires it and the man falls backwards. Behind him, Maniac soldiers stand holding out their own guns. They probably saw or heard gun shots and came over to scope it out.
          Claire drops the gun and puts her hands up. I would do the same, but my knees buckle and I'm unconscious before I hit the ground.