Cascade

Out On The Town

I reached up to grab my coat from the hook before heading out the door. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I headed down the hall to the apartment stairwell.

Cyber had texted me six times in the last minute. That girl had fast fingers.

I scrolled through them to see that they were mostly the same.

"Where are you? You're late?" she'd texted. "You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago. Did you sleep late again? Oh! I know; you must have found a hot date! Is she cute?"

I grimaced. Cyber had always had a weird sense of humor.

"Hurry up! We've got to leave soon if we don't want to risk being out at sunset." She'd texted. "Those things...they're scary."

Those things... yeah I better hurry. I picked up my pace as I walked out onto the sidewalk. I squinted at the brightness as I maneuvered my way through the busy streets of Asphalt city.

The sidewalks were crowded this morning. People with hard hats were carrying building supplies, venders had set up stalls to sell their wares, and then there was the scaffolding. It was everywhere and the men atop it were hard at work repairing the damaged buildings and giving them new paint.

I don't remember the old name of this town; I don't think anyone does. Most of the citizens aren't even originally from here. They all ended up here after the toxic rain. Still though, it's home and we do our best to rebuild it.

The toxic rain destroyed everything. Families, homes, power lines, it even mutated animals. Some people were immune but, others... I shuddered. They either melted down or became those things.

I texted Cyber that I was on my way before putting my phone back in my pocket. I heard it ding from low battery and made a mental note to stop by the general store to recharge when I got back. We'd done a good job of rebuilding but, power still hadn't been returned to my side of the city.

They'd offered me an apartment closer to the plant since I was an engineer helping with the restoration but I decided to let someone else have it since I figured I could deal without power for a bit longer. Plenty of old folks and albinos who need air conditioning more than I do.

Sadly being an engineer still didn't save you from being a runner. I looked up at the wall as I made my way to the city gate. It was the first thing we built because we had to keep those things out or risk being eaten.

But the wall came with price. While this looming patchwork of metal and concrete scraps protected us, it also kept us sealed up. There were only so many supplies to be found in the city and as a result we had to send people out to find more. Runners were either chosen randomly or they volunteered at the city meetings that were held every Friday.

Once a week a couple of unlucky groups were sent out into the abandoned parts of the city that lay beyond the walls to hunt for anything of use.

Guess who had an unlucky Friday? I got paired up with Mat from the construction team and Dr. Branches from animal control. Cyber decided to volunteer since I was going.

"It'll be a nice change from living underground in that dreary power plant," she'd said in attempt to cheer me up. "Just think of it as an excuse to get some sunshine. You already look like a vampire as it is, you don't need to start acting like one!"

The area around the gate was crowded with the families of the runners who came to see them off. Their expressions held fear and concern as their loved ones branched away to join their teams.

I swallowed, the motion feeling thick. I could only hope I wouldn't be one of the few that never came back. I'd been on runs before, but it did nothing to quell my nerves. My parents lived two towns to the north, would they even hear if something happened to me?

I shook my head; it wasn't time to think of such things. Taking a breath I scanned the crowd until I spotted the outrageous pink of Cyber's hair. She was standing on the left side of the clearing that rested in front of the gate.

She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with her favorite turquoise coat slung over her shoulder. She idly twirled a lock of her hair as she conversed with Dr. Branches who's brown hair looked almost golden in the sun.

Next to them stood the looming figure of Mat, his shaggy black hair shamelessly falling into his face and his work clothes covered in mud. He was wearing an ear splitting grin as he listened to Cyber and Branches.

I slunk my way through the crowd and made my way over to them. "Hey, sorry I'm late. I slept in without meaning to," I said once I was close enough.

Cyber turned to look at me, a smile spreading on her freckled face. "Trouble with your lady friend?" she asked, waggling her eyebrows.

I snorted. "As if, you know me better than that." She was convinced that I needed to find a partner, but I really just hadn't met anyone.

She laughed and turned to Branches. "Well now that Gray's here we should probably head out, don't you think?"

Branches smiled and nodded as he gestured for her to lead the way. Mat and I shared a look, his grin growing wider. I wasn't the one who needed romance concealing.

We made our way to the front of the iron gates and Cyber whistled to signal the keepers. A moment passed before a man with sandy hair looked down at us from the top of the wall. He nodded to us before disappearing from view and soon the gates started to slowly open. The rusted metal groaned and screeched as it was forced to move, sounding almost like a terrified animal. I shuddered at the sound.

Once the gates were open a silence filled the air and I did my best to swallow my nerves. Nothing moved among the collapsing buildings that lay beyond the wall. I knew it was too early in the day, but there was always that quite feeling of something lurking out of site that came from the time before the walls. It was paranoia, but it kept us alive.

Cyber boldly led the way through the gates her footsteps echoing as she stepped onto the cracked pavement. The rest of us followed and once we were halfway down the street the creaking of the gates filled the air once more.

"So where are we headed today?" asked Mat when everything had fallen silent.

I shrugged. I hadn't been out on a run in awhile and I hadn't been keeping track of which places had been hit up already. Too much work at the power plant.

Cyber looked thoughtfully at the sky before stopping and turning to face the rest of us. "I've heard that there's more places that are still stocked toward the outer edges," she began. "Not many people are willing to head that far out, but since it's early enough in the day we should still be able to make it back before sunset. What do you guys think?"

Branches nodded. "I've heard there's a pharmacy out there. It'd probably be a lot of help if we could bring back some more medical supplies."

Mat hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Yeah, I think we can make it, but we'll have to hurry if we want to have time to search for supplies."

They turned to look at me and I nervously adjusted the strap of my messengers bag before shrugging. "As long as we're careful."

They nodded and once again we were walking.