The Decay

Chapter 32 - Picture

32

It was getting dark again. The road to Earhart Dam was long and treacherous. Apart from the heaps of rubble that had to be scaled, he had to be wary of anyone looking for him. That meant staying away from open places and not attracting any attention. Steadying himself on a ledge he grabbed the platform above and pulled himself up onto what had been the third floor of an old building. He sat down, breathing heavily, exhaustion setting in. Richard pulled out one of his few belongings; a picture of himself and a brown-eyed woman. Her shining brown eyes were only matched by her smooth, silky hair that reached down to her shoulders. She was a few years younger than Richard, and she was beautiful. They had met in the army after they both had been recruited because of their fathers. Joshua was responsible for Richard's recruitment and Russel was responsible for hers. Alexia had been his best friend growing up in the army and had been his companion for over a year. Then, of all people, she had been ordered to help hunt him down, the day after Richard's father had told him the truth. Naturally, she could never have allowed herself to do that, and so she deliberately misled them as much as possible without making them suspect her. Richard had no doubt that it was thanks to her that he was still alive.

Smiling to himself, he folded the picture gently and placed it back in his small bag. He turned his head to face the view before him. The remains of this building was one of the highest as far as the eyes could see. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine what the center of Boston must have looked like prior to the nuclear disaster. Images of enormous buildings, crowds of people resembling ants when looked at from above, loud noise; those were the things that he immediately thought of. Now, however, it was merely a desolate landscape consisting mostly of rubble, despair, and death.

On the horizon, he counted 6 buildings that stood taller than the one he was currently in. Had it not been for the hopeless conditions of this one, someone would surely have made a settlement out of it.

Overcome by exhaustion, he closed his eyes once more, dozing off into a deep sleep.

A few hours later, it was a noise that woke him. His instincts told him that someone was nearby. He silently got up and looked down from the platform of the third floor. Rightly so, 2 shadows were on the ground, searching through the building. Richard backed up quickly and reached for his only remaining weapon; a 15cm long bowie knife. Gripping it with the blade facing down, he crouched in the shadows, waiting. He heard voices from below. “Nothing here Zeta. Proceed to second floor.” The second man promptly responded, “Roger that. Y-formation.” The 'Y-formation' was a very simple two-man formation. It got its name after the shape of the letter 'Y' and was simply the splitting of the two men at 45-degree angles to eachother. On hearing them, Richard's grip tightened on the knife. Soldiers. They know where I am.