Cindy took a deep breath and tried to gather her will to do the task before her. She waited until mid-morning to go back to the gore and blood. She told herself it was not her responsibility to find Mary or Rochelle, but they did help her when she was in trouble and she needed to know if they were dead. Cindy had hoped that when she woke in the morning she would find one of them, but neither appeared. She was surprised the magical water globe she conjured last night was still floating close to her position. She sensed the globe had watched her through the night, protecting her and making sure nobody caught her unaware.
She stood and recalled last night how she had seen her old friend, Lazarus, inside the globe. Was this a vision, she wondered, or a memory? Yet, she knew she had to find him. He was alive and he was the Leader. She stood and brushed off the dirt from the rugged khaki pants she wore and had found in the remains of a clothing store. She almost laughed. If anybody saw her attired like this, they wouldn't recognize her from her power suits and the dresses she wore at work. She shook her head. She was postponing what she needed to do. Walking back to the area where she saw the blood, her mind tried to give her the hope that Mary and Rochelle were not dead. They fled somewhere far away and they were fine. She muttered something under her breath. Great, she thought, she was going crazy, becoming like the many street bums who populated the parks and streets of New York.
Cindy climbed a hill of rocks and bricks. Her boots gave her better traction than the sandals she wore a few days ago. Then she felt the pulling again. She needed to find Lazarus and not look for Mary and Rochelle. The thought was so strong she almost turned around.
She said out loud, "No!"
Magic came out of her. A gush of water flew from her and struck against a small wall that still stood. The small wave destroyed the brick wall into small pieces of concrete and debris. It dawned on her that her powers were water based in nature and she could conjure magic at any time, but she didn't know how to control it.
She wondered if she could do other things. Her mind wandered and she shook her head. She needed to get this task over with. Cindy walked to the place she had napped the day before and looked around. She was not sure if this area was the place. Everything looked the same, just a mess of broken pieces of brick walls and concrete. Large cracks peppered the streets and at certain places yawning fissures. Then she recalled the sound of metal hitting against metal had led her to the gruesome scene. She waited and tried to hear the sound again, but to no avail. The pipe had either fallen or the wind couldn't make the pipe strike against the metal siding. She was almost relieved that she couldn't find the gruesome scene again.
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Cindy was about to leave and start to check other areas, when she heard the sound again, the incessant noise of pipe banging against metal. It was the death knoll that brought to her to the corpses which lay in a heap of junk and refuse, to tell her to look and watch and tell her she couldn't help them and she didn't protect them. She started to travel to that noise, being careful not to fall or hurt herself.
Cindy stopped and saw the heap of rubble that hid the gore. Her body started to shake and she couldn't move for a while. Then she took a deep breath and started to climb. She heard the banging of the pipe and then something else, a buzzing noise. Cindy climbed to the top and stared at the blood and gore, but it was covered by hundreds of flies. Her stomach curled and moved like the buzzing insects. She looked away but then she saw something. It was Mary's purse, bloodstained and cut into pieces, and then she saw a leg and then Mary, lying on her stomach, cut into ribbons.
Cindy said, "No, no."
She wanted to look away but she could not. Cindy had to look. She gazed away from the gore. And saw another hump covered with flies. Maybe it was Rochelle.
Cindy's mind reeled with pain. She wondered why the creatures didn't attack her. It didn't make sense. She looked away and saw the water globe was not next to her. She placed her hands in fists. Magic crackled.
The globe appeared and it was transparent, filled with water and with lightning crackling along its surface. Cindy's anger boiled over. This should not be happening. She should be at her job in her high rise building talking about accounts and money. The smell of death wafted in the air and she moved back down the small hill. She wanted to say some eulogy to the dead, but she didn't know what to say. She should bury them.
The crackling noise from the floating globe and the buzzing noise of the flies made her angrier. She held up her hands before her, focused at the small hill and gathered her magic. A blast of water hit the mound and an explosion rocked the space. Debris and stone fell backwards covering Mary and the gore. The flies flew upwards in a swarm. The insects were a cloud of incessant buzzing. They moved in formation and Cindy thought the creatures were going to attack her.
But the flies hovered for a second and disappeared. She sighed and looked at the resting place of Mary and maybe her daughter, Rochelle, and nodded. The water globe changed into a clear droplet as it moved close to her and in the second before it was about to touch her it disappeared.
She left the vicinity and moved toward Time Square, the only place she hoped she would find somebody alive.