J. Mitchell - Midnight City

The ruins stretched in all directions, a hundred buildings or more poking up and out of the flooded landscape, half submerged, all crumbling and rotting where they stood. Rusted signs and decals identified them as office buildings, groceries, hardware stores, apartments, churches, a library, a courthouse.

All abandoned now. All sunken. All lifeless…

Holt led them to the edge of the cleaner’s roof. The city had been built close together; the tops of the buildings weren’t that far apart. It wouldn’t be that hard to jump between them. Unless you were Zoey or Max—then it got a little more problematic.

“What we really need is a bridge,” Holt said, examining the gap between the roofs.

“Maybe we can make one,” Mira said. Off another edge of the dry cleaner’s were the remains of a feed store. Its roof was made of rippled sheet metal, like a barn. Long rectangular holes dotted its surface where some of the pieces had collapsed and fallen through. From where they stood, the sheet metal strips seemed long enough to span the divide between most roofs in the ruins.

The top of the store looked precarious at best. Since it required someone jumping across, Mira volunteered. She was lighter, would have less of an impact when she hit the top.

The roof shook when she landed, more pieces of the sheet metal fell away into the gap. But the structure didn’t collapse. Mira grabbed one of the long pieces, lifted it up, and placed it like a bridge between the feed store roof and the dry cleaner’s.

It was strong enough that Zoey and Max could slide across it, if they took their time. Of course, getting Max to take his time doing anything was difficult. But Zoey kept a firm hold on him as she crossed the bridge, and the dog seemed eager to move at her pace.

“Can I ride the Max across the next bridge?” Zoey asked.

“No!” Holt and Mira said in unison.

Using the portable bridge, the four cautiously traversed building to building, Holt and Mira leaping between the gap, Zoey and Max sliding along the sheet metal.

The sun was almost down now behind the cliffs. Ahead of them was Holt’s goal. A much larger building, maybe five stories tall in the center of the ruined town. A rusted sign, barely holding on to its wall, read TAVERN INN.

A hotel. Holt guessed it would be the best place to make camp for the night. Its floors were higher above the water than the other buildings, and probably drier and in better shape.

Its roof was much higher, though, and there was no way to reach it with the bridge. But they could reach the old fire escape that climbed down its side like a vine. They extended the bridge so Zoey and Max could cross; then Holt and Mira jumped to the other side.

Holt climbed several flights until he found a room with its window still intact and unlocked. He opened it and let the others inside. Before he followed, Holt looked at and appraised the city around them in the fading light.

Across from them was an old drugstore, and it didn’t seem as flooded as the other buildings. Holt studied it with interest before he crawled in after the others.

The room was in tatters. Wallpaper peeled off the walls, the ceiling was a patchwork of holes and mold, and the bed and furniture were covered in dust, but it was dry and secure. The door to the hallway outside was closed, and Holt made sure it was locked and chained. A futile gesture, probably, but it didn’t hurt.

Holt looked to the others. They were slumped on the floor in exhaustion, resting against the peeling wall.

“You have a look in your eye, Hawkins,” Mira said as she watched him at the door. “What are you about to do?”

“There’s something I want to check out, before the sun sets. Can you hold the fort?”

“Sure, it seems quiet,” Mira said, turning to look out the window above her.

“Yeah,” Holt said with a frown. “That’s what bothers me.” He slipped out the window.

As he did, Mira called after him. “Don’t get lost,” she said.

“You’re not that lucky,” he said with a slight smile, and stepped onto the fire escape.

Holt scrambled up to the roof and scanned what little of the city he could see in the fading light. He found the drugstore again, below him, but not adjacent to the wall with the fire escape.

How was he going to get down there? Holt figured he could jump, but it was a two-story drop. Even if he managed it without breaking something, the roof was most likely in just as bad a condition as all the others he’d seen. He might go crashing straight through it.

Holt looked around. There was a thick line of cable strung between the two roofs, probably a power line. It was attached by large bolts into the brick walls on both sides, then continued on to more of the submerged buildings in the distance. It was definitely thick enough to support his weight. The question was, would those bolts hold?

Worst-case scenario, they wouldn’t. And he’d tumble down into the black floodwaters below. Not a good thing.

But the drugstore was worth the risk. This whole city, because of where it was, and the dangers involved in reaching it, probably hadn’t been explored since the invasion.

That store most likely held things he could use, things he couldn’t find anywhere else. And there would almost certainly be valuable items for trade. Medicine, writing instruments, bandages, even deodorant and toothpaste were highly valuable commodities now.

Survival dictated that he explore it, in spite of the risk.

Holt moved for the cable bolted underneath him. He could just reach it.

MIRA AND ZOEY SAT in the crumbling bedroom, listening to Max continue to work on the taffy Holt had given him earlier. It was tough going. He’d managed to gnaw off only about half of the thick, sticky substance.

Mira stared at the dog in annoyance. The sounds were starting to get on her nerves, a gross combination of crunching and slurping. The dog was a dirty, stinky nuisance that constantly stared at her with its dark, conniving eyes. It didn’t like or trust her, which was fine for Mira, because the feeling was mutual.

Mira reached for the taffy in Max’s mouth. He erupted into an enraged combination of barks and growls, advancing on her in a frenzy.

“Okay, okay! Fine!” Mira shouted, backing off. “Keep the stupid thing.”

Max lay back down and picked up where he’d left off, but kept a wary gaze on Mira. She glared back at him.

“He likes candy,” Zoey said beside her. When the little girl reached out to pet the dog, he didn’t even bat an eye, just kept staring and chewing while Zoey rubbed his ears.

“Clearly.” Mira looked out the window. It was getting dark, what was left of the daylight fading fast. The shadows grew outside, consuming more and more of the sunken, suburban landscape. The idea of spending the night in this place was starting to seem less appealing.

“The things you use,” Zoey said softly. “The things that do the special stuff. What are they?”

Mira looked at Zoey. “They’re things from a place called the Strange Lands. Most people call them artifacts.”

“How did you learn to make them?” Zoey asked.

“I had a teacher,” Mira said. “At Midnight City. But the truth is, it was just something I was good at. It came easier to me than it did to other kids.”

“Have you been to the Strange Lands a lot?”

Mira smiled. “Yep. I’m a Freebooter.” The words came from her easily; she was still so used to reciting them. But it wasn’t totally true anymore, was it? “Or I used to be. Before… everything happened.” She would make those words true again, she told herself. She would find a way.

“What’s a Freebooter?” Zoey asked.

“Someone who travels the Strange Lands looking for artifacts to bring back and trade. Someone who knows how to survive there.”