March City: Rebellion of the Gifted [Book 2 | Complete | Fantasy/Sci-fi]

Chapter 5: Empty Streets

Ari and Fris peered out of the fire exit they'd escaped into the day prior. The skies were cloudless, a gradient shade of mid-blue over their head and fading to a pale yellow in the distance over the skyline. The hotel came up to about half the height of the buildings on the right side, but towards the left and over the river the abandoned buildings stretched as far as the eye could see. Green covered the sides of the buildings' coarse surfaces sporadically, revealing a cracked window here and there and creeping into the broken ones like instruments into an eye socket. It unnerved Ari, seeing such a dilapidated city, so unnatural in its abandoned state, contrasting with the calming effect from the presence of trees and vines. Rubble crunched beneath Ari's shoes, digging into her heels through the soft soles. Sunlight bounced off the waves of the blue river, scattering like sparks of electricity.

"I don't hear anyone nearby," came Mina's dismayed voice from behind. She and Rale emerged, eyes darting around warily. "I can't hear anything nearby. There's so much noise."

She must mean the wind, whistling and coursing its way through the criss-cross of fallen ledges and collapsed balconies. Having jumped from building to building and plummeting upwards of fifty storeys for the past few years, the sound brought sweet memories to Ari, but to Mina, it must only remind her how out of her comfort zone she was. Mina coughed, eyes watering. Ari only hoped the unfiltered air outside didn't irritate Mina too much, with her body being so vulnerable to illness. On cue, Mina's stomach rumbled again and Ari suddenly became aware of how much her stomach burned.

"Hungry?" said Rale. "I guess if you're used to three square meals a day..."

Ari shot him an unimpressed look. "And I suppose you prepared in case of emergencies."

"I actually have," he said, pushing his glasses up his nose and his lips curling. "After hearing what happened to Kena, I'd half expected to have to disappear off the face of March City if the vaccine didn't work, so I have some spare food, emergency supplies, batteries..."

"Nice of you to bring this up now instead of waiting till one of us breaks our leg, then," said Fris with a glare.

"I was hardly going to announce it to the entire population of March City. I have to look after number one." He fished out a handful of energy bars from his bag. "Look, it's not much, but god knows when we can find a steady source of food and this place isn't looking like they deliver super-foods, so let's ration these, all right?"

"Super-foods?" said Mina, nibbling at the energy bar and wrinkling her nose at the taste. It must have sat in Rale's bag for a long time.

"Oh, I forgot. You're rich."

Like hell, you did, thought Ari.

"Super-foods are these compressed, energy- and nutrient-dense pellets the poor use in crises. You won't die from malnourishment but you'll feel all the pangs. I guess in Area Seven you have your fancy freshly-prepared deliciousness you haven't come across these before."

Mina was quiet, chewing her bar. Ari glared at Rale. Jibes at her she didn't mind, but she wouldn't hesitate to bite him if he bullied Mina. As if sensing her ire, Rale busied himself checking his phone, orientating himself to the virtual map. The red dots hadn't moved much since last night, suggesting most students had found shelter and likely would be on the move again soon.

"So Lira is in this direction," said Rale, pointing away from the glistening river. "It doesn't look like most of the buildings link together. We're probably safer on the ground floor, seeing as not all of us can jump across the sky."

"But we're vulnerable on the ground floor. What if those robots snag us?" said Fris, chewing her lip.

"Then we'll have to depend on you two mighty warriors to save our asses, then."