When the World Goes Cold

Chapter 2

"Darő, home of regal kings, and now, you!" Read the sign. A worn thing, driven deep into the ground and surrounded by concrete cracked which had gone years without repair. It was probably set for when people took a wrong turn onto the highway and bumped into the little town. "Hiking, swimming, everything you want and need for a family getaway." It continued, tucked beneath intricate carvings that people had the luxury to make back then. With it being a hours drive away from any big city—if I rightly remembered how fast cars were—may as well try to turn it into a tourist trap. Take a break from that awful job where you were in an air conditioned building, able to get plenty of food and not worry about being eaten alive or shot.

What had once been a faux vintage facade, with exposed brick and overhead street lights made of wrought iron, now looked ancient. The storefronts teeth were broken, twinkling shards catching the sun's gaze. Most of them had been ripped apart, with just the bones and flesh made of empty shelves and dirty floors left. Wood planks stopped curious eyes from getting at a few of the places, but those got the worse of prying hands, with chunks of plaster or even brick lying at their feet.

But even with all the buildings clustered together and entrapped by mountains, it didn't feel as safe as the forest had. The only real difference was instead of huddling in a mighty high tower to watch the revenants pass through faint places like ants and try to guess if the running shapes were human or animal, I stood right where they came. Still, revenants didn't come at random. At worse, there would be some stragglers. I just couldn't shake the feeling of being unsafe. There weren't even stragglers up north, William made sure of that—one thing I could appreciate about him.

I tightened my grip on my backpack and increased my pace.

The crops were in an odd spot, at the base of a river which flowed down the western most mountain during the warmer months and bled into a lake at the edge of Darő. No one told me how far the river went, or how far the rice seeds spread, but it'd been their source of food for a while. Worked fine for them, even in winter; something about the ground beneath the top layer of frost still being saturated.

A head high wooden fence marked the spot, going around the area like a clenched fist. I wrapped my fingers around the edge and hauled myself over.

Leilah and Atlas were sat next to each other on a bench, its original color long drained and now a rotting deep brown. Behind it situated a brighter hut, same color as the fence that secured the area.

"Everything good?"

"I don't know." The ground squelched underfoot as I closed the distance. "Came right through, so I only know the main path is clear."

"I meant did you have any trouble?"

"Oh, no. No trouble."

Leilah leaned back, exchanging a word with Atlas before looking at me with an expression that might've been pity or bemusement. Never was the best at reading faces.

"Do you know how to canoe?" Atlas asked, mimicking Leilah's expression with more of a toothy smile.

"Negative."

"Alright. Leilah and I will paddle. You can, um..." They bit their lip, searching the area while their hands moved about.