Cindy woke from a long nap. They had been traveling along a broken strip of streets, coming closer to what they thought was Times Square, but the closer they got the more the path was impassable. They had to double back a few times and climb a few hills piled with the remains of large buildings and apartments. Mary and Rochelle didn't talk through this long day. At mid-afternoon they decided to stop and rest. They had not eaten anything since the morning. They raided a small store, smashed and shattered with its contents of food scattered among the debris and decimated material of buildings. She had a backpack filled with other items from the store next to her while she slept.
Cindy looked up from her small hiding place in the overhang of a bus stop, which for some reason was clear of rubble. She heard something. It was dusk and the sun was going down on the horizon. She sighed, looking at the skyline and remembering a few days ago how buildings and structures had dotted the city. She heard the noise again. Cindy had slept through the afternoon. She looked for Mary and Rochelle. They were not within her sight and she felt a little trepidation, thinking the Grog insects had got them or something else. She stood and brushed off the dirt from her pants.
Cindy heard the noise again, a clanking noise, and she moved toward it. Her body trembled while she picked her way up the street. She spied a long pipe on the ground and she picked it up for protection. The clanking noise was to her right. Cindy stopped and listened for anything that would help her figure out what was happening. She wanted to yell for Mary and Rochelle but she stopped herself. Her mind screamed for her to flee, but she had to find them, no matter if they were alive or dead.
She saw a large mound of cement, asphalt and debris. The sound was coming from that area. Goosebumps developed on her arms as if a cold breeze flew by her, but it was warm in New York, and that was odd because it had been cold for the last few weeks.
Cindy started to climb. She held the large pipe in her hands, clasped in a two-handed grip like a baseball player. She turned to look at where she slept today but it was hidden by the stacks of debris. The clanking stopped and it was eerie hearing the wind flowing through the devastation. The first thing she saw didn't register in her brain until she saw everything.
Before her blood and gore spread out among the various rocks, bricks and glass. Even though it was dusk, the blood was glinting through the glass. Entrails splattered all over and Cindy couldn't tell if this was one person or two. Then she heard the clanking noise. A metal pipe attached to a large cord hung over the carnage and it was covered in the gore. And the pipe swayed in the wind hitting a metal siding. She thought she saw a ripped piece of a scalp with long dark red hair attached to it sitting below the pipe.
Stolen story; please report.
Cindy turned and vomited to the side. She wiped her mouth and climbed down the embankment. Her stomach recoiled again like a venomous snake and she doubled over clutching it. The images of the entrails and blood floated in her mind. She ran down an opened lane and then stopped herself. She needed to know if Mary or Rochelle was alive. If one of them survived, she would have to find them. Cindy steeled her nerves and took a deep breath. She needed to think. She decided to travel half a block away and break camp. Tomorrow, she would come back and look again. The sun finally disappeared into the night.
Cindy walked a few feet, looking around, but finding nothing that looked promising. All she saw was more broken buildings and bricks. Finally, she saw a small structure that was half broken and opened in the front. She was thinking of making a small fire. The nights of New York were chilly and she had enough wood and paper to create a fire. She touched the bic lighter in her pocket. Rochelle had grabbed a few lighters when they found the store in the morning. She checked the small backpack and took out a bottled water, now almost done, and some licorice and potato chips. She had saved these for dinner tonight.
Cindy went into the small structure. It was relatively clean even though most of the walls were ripped and broken. She cleared an area and found several slabs of wood and paper for kindling. She placed the wood in the middle of the clearing and added the newsprint around the bottom of the mound. Grabbing the lighter, she flicked the spark wheel and nothing happened. She flicked it several times and a flame erupted.
She placed the flame to the paper and lit the bonfire, holding her hands closer to the warmth of the small blaze. The surrounding structure would protect her from anybody seeing the light. She didn't want to sleep because she was afraid the creature that had done all that carnage was probably still out there, moving and looking for more food.
The fire caught quickly and warmed the area around her. She sat on the bare cement. Her body started to get warm, not from the fire blazing before her but from inside her chest and arms. She sensed a calling from something or someone. She felt a pulling toward somebody, in the same way that two magnets are attracted to each other. Cindy knew it was a person and this person was far away from her. Somewhere on the west coast, she thought, and she believed this calling meant that she was going to do something, embark on a journey to somewhere.
She shook her head. This was crazy. Pulling her hands away from the fire she wondered if all this was an elaborate experiment. She envisioned a scientist appearing and telling her the experiment was done and she could go back to her old life.
Her hands started to move in an intricate pattern and a globe appeared before her, made of water. She marveled at it. It was the size of her fist and it floated close to her. It was transparent, so that she could see the broken buildings and walls through it, and then an image appeared. It flashed like a television screen and she was amazed to see a man looking at her, but not really seeing her.
It was her friend, Lazarus. She almost touched the globe.