Zarima

Zarima’s streets were deceptively empty – yet they brimmed with reminders of where people should have been.

Weeds pushed through the footpaths where feet should have walked. Silence filled streets that should have rumbled with vehicles. And for those few streetlights that remained, nothing at all filled their lichen-covered panels.

Most buildings stood deep in decay. No windows bore glass and door frames were empty. Few had intact ceilings. All wood was rotting, splinters scattered everywhere. Scraps of cloth survived inside some places they searched, but never steel or anything electronic.

So far, the search was similar to other cities they’d passed.

Shops and homes were dark. The occasional warehouse was cavernous and usually stood empty even of fittings. Light poured in through their vacant windows to fall across filth-caked floors. The filth was usually mud and dust and leaves set together after rain, and sometimes animal droppings.

Twice they’d had to detour walls of rubble where buildings had collapsed, twisted metal sometimes visible within.

At one intersection, vines had burst up from the sewers.

Their flowers were yellow, with bulbs easily as tall as Lily herself. Each bulb bore a crown of spikes and she and Gabriel gave them wide berth.

[No real signs of people in this part of the city,] Gabriel said as they dashed through another intersection, moving from shadow to shadow.

[Luckily.]

Thankfully, there was no shortage of shadows to use, thanks to the towering buildings, those that yearned to touch the sky.

They were called sky-scrapers. That’s right, she thought, the memory coming a little slowly. Most of the sky-scrapers were covered in rope-like vines, ground floor entries sometimes barred by dense plant-life.

So far, they hadn’t searched sky-scrapers.

But up ahead, the street led directly to a side entrance for one. Its walls and windows were also covered in vines but in one section, enough had died away to reveal a sign, its colours leeched by time.

A few unfamiliar words in white covered a blue background that could have been an ocean. Something like a boat with horns cut a path through both water and words.

Meaningless, she thought. But once, it meant something to everyone who saw it.

[Want to search it?] Gabriel asked.

[We should. We need shelter, sooner or later.]

He gestured toward the upper storeys. [Might be a good place to listen for signals, if we can find a radio inside.]

[If.] She added emphasis by holding her sign a little longer than usual.

[If, yeah.]

[And if we can get up there. Remember the city near the ocean?]

He shuddered. [I do. All right, only if there are stairs, since I’m never setting foot inside an elevator again.]

Lily nodded as she pushed the door open.

More dust and litter filled a dim hallway.

Soft light tinted green waited at its end. A door stood ajar halfway down the passage, and she crept toward it. Having seen no-one so far didn’t mean things would stay that way. It was better to be cautious.

Very cautious, especially without the kami.

She paused at the door to listen.

Nothing.

Lily slipped inside… and found a bathroom. Rows of stalls stood across from broken mirrors and shattered basins. The plumbing had been stripped from the walls, leaving only holes and cobwebs behind.

Words were visible on the nearest mirror, which still had a large section of glass in one piece. One piece, though it wasn’t unmarred, for the message had been scratched into the glass.

Lily hesitated, a hand half-raised before the mirror. For a change, she was able to read the words.

Flee the night in Zarima.

She turned but Gabe was already beside her, a frown on his face. [How long would it take to cross and leave the city, do you think?]

[Hmmm. I don’t even know how to estimate that.]

[Then we’ll have to spend at least one night here, won’t we?]

[Let’s keep searching while the daylight holds.]

Back in the corridor, Lily stumbled to a halt before she’d taken two steps.

A tall figure stood at the far end.

Silver patterns!

The human-sized kami stepped away, vanishing from sight. She spun to catch Gabriel’s arm but didn’t need to ask her question.

By his wide eyes, he’d seen the figure. [Was that real?]

[Yes!] she replied.

[But was it actually a kami?]

[What else?]

[If it’s not real… then maybe someone trying to fool us.]

She shook her head. [Who could even do something like that? And why? No-one knows we’re here.]

Gabriel’s expression of worry changed when he smiled. [No choice but to find out.]

Lily gave him a shove. [Then lead the way with that rifle, will you?]

He gave her a thumbs up, then lifted the weapon and started down the corridor. Lily drew her belt knife and followed.

No silver kami waited for them when they reached the light.

Just an empty reception.

Once, the room would have had smooth floors, but they were scratched and scattered with dirt. A high ceiling had not fallen in, perhaps thanks to spreading vines, tangling even the light fixtures.

More vines covered half the walls and windows, letting light cut through in sharp beams.

Lily knelt to examine the floor.

No footprints.

Wherever the silver kami went, it was gone now.

Impossible to track, too. What was its purpose? Feels like it’s taunting us, she thought. Once again, all she could do was keep watching. Wait for it to return, and hope it meant no harm.

There was just no way to guess at its motives…

Lily rose. [Might as well start searching.]

[I suppose so.] He lowered the rifle to lean against it. [Where first?]

She pointed. In the centre of the reception area, two sets of frozen mechanical stairs waited. One led up and the other down. [How about down? The light won’t be as good, but the upper floors would definitely have been picked over many times by now.]

[All that darkness without kami?]

[I know. But I’m starting to feel exposed the longer we’re above ground.]

He shrugged. [Well, we need to find a place to sleep, either way. ‘Out of sight’ sounds good to me, too.]

She slung her pack from one shoulder and lifted it. [Maybe the Twins included something we can use. I know I should have by now, but I haven’t unwrapped every parcel yet.]

[Down we go, then.]

Lily followed him to the stairs, stairs which had once moved thanks to electricity, and then together they descended to the dimness below.

She glanced over her shoulder as she did, but no silver kami followed.

The floor below encircled the stairway with various shops. Based on the terrible condition of most, it was impossible to know what they once sold, but the shells of computers were visible in one empty window.

Inside, there was enough light to know at a glance that nothing of use remained.

Just in case, they searched.

While her brother went immediately to the door that led to the store’s back room, Lily rummaged around behind the counter. She prodded and pried at shelves, and wrenched drawers that looked to have been kicked in, finding nothing.

One cabinet was so jammed that had to grip the handle with both hands and use her entire bodyweight.

It ripped from the wall.

Lily fell flat on her backside with a grunt. But something was revealed, something that had obviously fallen down behind the cabinet long, long ago…

A newspaper.

Lily lifted the paper. Her eyes were drawn to the date. Over one hundred and thirty years ago – from before the Second Collapse.

Voices echoed from the reception area above.

Lily froze.