Lost Mementos of the Past, Part 2

After Hope left with Kai and Sean, Caleb began wandering the empty streets of New York City. The city was sprawling, and while Caleb had explored urban environments before, he was a little lost when it came to this massive metropolis. The sky was obscured by tall skyscrapers, and the symmetrical and monochrome landscape made it hard for him to keep track of where he had already been and where he had yet to tread.

As he slowly mapped the city and tried to get a sense of his bearings, Caleb's mind wandered back to the strange request that Kai had made. He had no idea who Mina was, or Kai's connection to her. Was she a troublemaker trying to get in their way, or simply a remainer in need of guidance? Neither option made sense. Nobody who was going to cause trouble like that would have become a remainer in the first place, and aside from Hope, everyone else had centuries more experience than him.

Still, none of that mattered until he actually found this Mina. For now, he took his time exploring the ruined city, looking for anything that might have been left over by human civilization. In truth, the prospect of exploring a city that had been left standing for so long excited him. Already he had seen many things that he had never seen elsewhere, such as giant billboards with faded signs or exotic shops selling trinkets that might as well have been alien to him. It was the closest he had come to seeing remnants of human civilization in a long time, and it interested him greatly.

For the first day, Caleb proceeded in this manner. Instead of seriously looking for anything salvageable like he normally would, he simply marveled at the city like a tourist might have. He knew he'd have lots of time to properly search later. After all, it would be weeks before the demolition actually started, so he was in no rush.

He ended the day looking for a place to stay for the night. He found it in a crumbling building that seemed stable and set up a tent. As he laid down, he wondered if Hope and the others would be working through the night. Well, the city wasn't necessarily the best place to rest, so he could hardly blame them if they did.

After a slightly uncomfortable night of sleep, Caleb awoke to an early morning. The city was still fairly dark due to the buildings blocking the light of the sun, so he had a leisurely breakfast while he waited for the city to get a little bit brighter. It was the first time in a long time that he had experienced a quiet morning alone, and it felt both nostalgic and strange.

Once he was done with his morning preparations, Caleb set out to explore the city once again. He had made little ground the day before, but today he set out with the intention of exploring as much of the city as he could before sunset. From the short survey he had conducted, he could tell that there would not be a lot of salvageable material left over in this city. For that reason, he decided to change his priorities to finding Mina. Considering Kai's request, he suspected that was what he really wanted him to do anyway.

That was easier said than done, though. While it was true that there wouldn't be too many other remainers wandering the city, it would easily take him days to canvas the entire area, especially on foot. Plus, if she was here for the same reason he was, she was probably traveling from place to place as well. There was a pretty good chance they'd miss each other all the way up until the deadline for demolition.

For that reason, Caleb decided to climb up one of the large buildings in an attempt to gain a better vantage point over the city. He made it up about four floors before the stairs started to crumble on him, so he decided to play it safe and check out the city from there. He walked out to the edge of the building and peered out over the openings where windows once were. He slowly walked around, looking for any sign of a remainer he didn't recognize.

To his surprise, this strategy served him better than he expected, as he soon found an unfamiliar woman searching a former mall several blocks from where he was. He quickly took out his binoculars and closely inspected the woman to make sure she wasn't Hope, and regretted not asking Kai about any distinguishing features. There wasn't any point in theorizing up here. Caleb descended the building as fast as he could and tried to catch up with her before she left.

Thankfully, Caleb arrived at the mall before she wandered off. He took a moment to catch his breath; if he walked up to her while panting, she would definitely find him suspicious. Once he was a little more composed, he entered the building and tried to greet her as casually as he could.

“Hey, there! Are you part of the crew scavenging the city before its demolition?”

The woman shot him a stern glance. She looked like a young and slender Asian woman, with long black hair tied up in a simple ponytail. She was dressed in the usual work clothes of the remainers, though hers were covered from head to toe in gray dust and dirt.

“I'm Caleb, and I was sent to scavenge the place too. I'm not that familiar with this area, and when I saw you from a distance, I thought I'd see how you were doing.”

“You have the time to be checking on people when you're in the middle of a job?”

Caleb winced. To be honest, pretending to be a friendly and outgoing guy was pretty hard for him. He had kept to himself ever since Kyle and Ella, and being a conversationalist had never been his strong suit.

Caleb watched her as she rummaged through the rubble and debris of the various stores that used to occupy the mall they were in. He couldn't tell what she was looking for, but it was clear that salvageable materials were the last thing on her mind. She seemed aimless in the way she dug through rock and collapsed cement, but her eyes told him that she was anything but.

Caleb knelt down so he was close to eye level with her. “Seriously, do you need help? You're clearly looking for something, and I don't think it has something to do with the demolition. In fact, I bet it's because of the demolition that you're even out here at all.”

The woman stopped digging through debris and turned her attention to him. “Just who are you? Why are you paying so much attention to me? Shouldn't you get on with your job?”

Caleb scratched his head awkwardly. “Well, you could say this is my job. To be honest, I was asked by a man called Kai to keep an eye out for a girl named Mina, and I was wondering if you were her.”

“Kai?” A look of realization flashed across her face. “So my brother sent you? Makes sense. He's the one in charge of the demolition, so he's the only one who'd even think I'd be out here.”

“From that reaction, I guess you must be Mina,” Caleb concluded. “Still, he's your brother, huh? I guess that's why he was worried about you.”

“It's unnecessary,” Mina declared irritably. “I hate that he always acts like he knows everything that's going on.”

“Still, that doesn't change that I'm willing to help you out,” Caleb repeated. “Come on. What are you searching so feverishly for?”

Mina sighed. “Fine. Help if you want. But to be honest, I'm not really looking for anything specific.”

“What do you mean?”

“Back when I was young–before humanity left for the stars–there was an old movie that was fairly popular. It was old even when I was growing up, but I loved watching it. When I became a remainer, I was forced to leave everything about my former life behind. I did that, but I kept a copy of that movie with me regardless.”

“You really liked that movie, huh?”

“You could say that,” Mina chuckled. “I couldn't even watch it, but just having it with me would cheer me up when I needed it. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. Though I preserved it as well as I could, in the end it crumbled into dust a few hundred years ago.”

“I'm sorry about that.”

“Don't be. It was inevitable, and I'm not that affected by it anymore. Still, it was one of the only mementos I had of that movie, and even with my nanomachine brain, my memory isn't perfect. I would occasionally search for anything that referenced the movie during my jobs across the country, but I could never find much. With New York City being mostly untouched, I thought I could find something here, but could never make an excuse to come out here.”

“But now that it's being demolished, it's too late to worry about things like that, huh?”

“Pretty much,” Mina sighed. “My partner is probably furious, but it can't be helped. This is one thing I can't budge on.”

Despite the sobering mood, Caleb felt himself smiling. Though the remainers had been living for hundreds of years, whenever they showed these little moments of humanity, he couldn't help but find it endearing. He stretched out a hand to help Mina up.

“Come on. Two heads are better than one, right? Let me help you out.”

Mina seemed reluctant, but she ultimately relented and took his hand. “Fine. I guess my brother will breathe easier so long as I let you tag along anyway.”

“Two birds with one stone, right? In any case, what's the title of the movie?”

Mina blushed. “Unfortunately, I don't remember.”

“You don't? Then how are you searching?”

“It's been centuries, okay?! It doesn't matter, anyway. As long as I put my eyes on it, I'll recognize it. I'm sure of it!”

As Mina walked off into the city, Caleb let out a weary sigh. “Looks like this is gonna be harder than I thought.”