𝐕𝐈𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 | Gally | BOOK 2

Chapter Eleven

The sun's rays prickled through the sleeves of my sweater as I kept moving towards the city that seemed to only get further and further away. The sand below me was sturdier to walk on. I could start to feel the abandoned roads beneath thin layers of golden sand. Between areas that used to be highways and bridges were large dunes of sand that trapped them like a still wave. Layers of floors from ruined buildings were left opened and exposed to the harsh climate. I couldn't imagine anyone actually living there anymore.

I blocked the bright light above me with my arm, giving my eyes a chance to rest and observe my surroundings more. The remaining buildings rose high into the sky and felt much larger than before when I stood under them. As I walked down the middle of the street, wrecked cars sat overturned on the sides of the road. Many of them were either on top or trapped underneath piles of dusty rubble. Other items like shopping carts or strollers sat sprawled out along the strip. I thought of the people who once lived there. How long had they been gone? But more importantly, what had they become?

I hadn't stopped to think about the thing that chased after me earlier. It had the limbs and face of a human, but was other-worldly. There was something familiar about it though. They way its oozing purple skin wasn't far off from how Gally looked that day. There had to be more things like that. I couldn't imagine that they were alone. But what the hell happened to them. I hoped that the people back at WICKED's facility weren't the only ones out here who were sane.

The more I walked through the city, the more puzzling the whole situation became. I looked down alley's and streets, but there was no evidence of any human life. Eventually, I found what seemed to be an old grocery store. Letters from the sign had fallen off, so it was impossible to read. The old boards that used covered up the doors were easy to tear off. Once I stepped inside it was dark and felt more eerie than the rest of the city. More boards had blocked most of the outside light from coming in. Most of the shelves were either bare or fallen over. What seemed to be a fresh produce, or used to, was completely empty. The canned foods section was empty too, except for a few left over cans.

A can of beans and spam were all that was left. The labels on them were barely visible. I looked around the cans for an expiry date, but couldn't seem to find any. Besides, I was too hungry to even care and I didn't even know what year it was, let alone the day.

I carried the three cans with me around the store, hoping to find any possible resources. I wasn't surprised when I didn't find anything, I expected some other people came around a long time ago and took everything they could. I didn't blame them.

As I explored the rest of the room, I noticed two swinging doors along the back wall. It was probably just a storage room, once filled with food, but it was still work checking out. When I pushed through them, the doors swung open with a loud creek. I could tell they'd been opened many times before, the floor left a curved trail of where the bottom of the door dragged.

The inside of the room was much darker than the open area, and smaller too. All the racks were still standing upright. Something was different about this room. It felt homier, and more worn in. I checked around the small room, maybe I was wrong about there being no signs of life. In a dark corner, I spotted a pile of rolled up blankets. A few clothes were folded up and a big brown bag slumped over beside it. The clothes didn't seem to be too sandy, which was odd. Carefully, I opened up the bag. Inside were at least a dozen cans of all different sorts of food. A few bottles of water sat at the bottom too. With a whiff of guilt rising, I took two more cans and one of the water bottles. I felt bad, but there wasn't any other evidence that anyone was near. This stuff could've been folded up a week ago, maybe even a month. I was sure that whoever left it was probably long gone by then.

I hadn't realised how long I'd been looking around the city for until I stepped back outside. The hazy mountains in the distance, which I hadn't taken the time to notice before, reflected the gradient of gold and deep blue of the rising twilight. I had thought about staying the night in the store, but something about it didn't feel right. The clothes and food in the back room seemed too recent.

I continued down the street, looking back at the shop I came out of to take mental note of it. Before it was too dark to see anything, I hunted around the city a bit, looking for another shelter that seemed somewhat trustworthy. A couple alleyways offered a place to rest, but eventually I came across another cement cave, like the one last night. Heaps of rock and rubble sat comfortably on top but the inside was large enough for me to crawl in to. I regretted not taking one of the blankets from the storage room but it was too late to go back. The stars had already washed over the night sky and a chilly breeze crept into my pathetic shelter. The water I had grabbed tasted stale and almost dried my throat more than hydrate it. I was careful not to drink all of it though, no matter how much I desperately wanted to. With a sharp rock I had found beside me I broke into the can of beans. Somehow, they were harder to swallow than Gally's moonshine, yet my stomach craved them as if it were a feast.

The city outside seemed even more dead at night than in the day time. It was nearly impossible to see, but over the hills of sand I could still see the faintest light of WICKED's facility shining up into the night. With the storm it was impossible to see, but in the still darkness it was visible. As I continued watching, more smaller white lights buzzed around the sky like little insects. My bet was that they were little helicopters looking for me or hopefully, Aris had found a way out, maybe even with Newt and the others.

But I didn't want to think about the others. I didn't want to think about the future, because it didn't feel like there was one. The best I could do was try to survive. But survive for what?