When We Shed Civilization

Chapter 41

As Leo approached Seaside, with its forbidding, gray walls, he wondered, not for the first time, if this had been a good idea. Knocking on their gates and offering them to trade their offspring for weapons—what a silly thought.

And he was doing that alone.

This place made him remember the day they had shot his wife, Rose.

She, Leo, and some others had been foraging in the Gaters' waste. Seaside's landfill was a few hundred yards downhill from the village. They had been going through the junk there, looking for anything useful or functional. Suddenly, Rose collapsed, and a heartbeat later, the short bark of a gun reached them.

Leo and his companions hadn't posed a threat to the Gaters. Yet they had shot, maybe just for sports, challenging each other to fell a body from such a distance.

Helpless anger made him close his fists as he studied Seaside now. The forbidding walls, as high as a tree, were as uncaring as he remembered them. No one showed up at the ramparts. Just some tech-age equipment stood automated vigil.

Within the walls, domes of glass and metal glittered in the sun.

Seaside stood on a flat section between a chain of hills. The Wastelands lay on one side of it and a long slope on the other. Beyond the slope, the dark blue sea shimmered in the mist.

The old road he stood on ended at a gate of steel, high enough for a giant to enter. But it stood closed.

Leo checked out the ramparts once more, looking for guards. What if they were up there, hiding, and waiting for some more targets to practice their shooting skills?

No one moved up there, though.

Slowly, Leo advanced. He did not need to hide or to sneak up on them. They should see him, acknowledge him, and talk to him.

As he got closer, the age of the settlement became apparent in the cracks crisscrossing the walls and the rust on the mighty double door.

He stopped a dozen steps from the gate. "Hey there! I've got a message for you!"

The faint whisper of the steady westerly wind was his only reply to his call.

"Hey! Anyone in there?" Louder this time, his voice hit the wall without triggering any reaction.

What if they were dead? Succumbed to the ruin fever that had put an end to the wars after the age of tech? Or had they just died from boredom as they watched the unchanging hillscape surrounding them?

He picked up a stone the size of his fist and threw it, aiming for the top of the gate. It hit the metal with a clang. "Anyone home?"

Maybe they were indeed dead, as dead as their daughter Beth. He had kept looking for her while crossing the Wastelands, hoping she had survived the river against all the odds. But he hadn't seen a trace of her.

He picked up another stone, walked up to the doors, and rapped it against the panels. Each ringing blow stoked his anger. Anger at how they had killed his wife. Anger at how they didn't care. Anger at their daughter's death.

"Stop it, asshole! Dammit!"

The words made him look up.

A man with short-cropped, gray hair pointed a gun at him from the ramparts.

Leo dropped the rock. "I've got a message for you."

"Postal services are long dead. Get yourself lost, postman, or I'll waste a bullet on you."

"It's a message from Beth and Burt." He paused for effect. "You know them, I guess."

The man turned and talked to someone behind him; someone Leo didn't see. The whispered words were too soft to understand. Then, the head reappeared. "What is it?"

Leo unshouldered his backpack. It felt too light in his hands, with his water bottle almost empty. The letter from the two hostages was where he had stowed it. He held it up. "Beth has written it. I'll just leave it here." He dropped it, and it landed on the gate's threshold of pitted concrete.

The envelope also contained the list of items they wanted in return for swapping the hostages. That was all that he had to deliver.

He could leave now.

But as he was about to turn, a rumbling sound from the gate made him hesitate. It opened a gap, and the barrel of a shotgun was pushed through it—pointing straight at him.

"You wait," a woman said. As one wing of the gate swung outwards further, she came into view. Short, she'd barely reach his chest, but her fierce gaze left no doubt that she wouldn't mind pulling the trigger. Her gaze flickered to the letter on the ground. "Pick it up."

He did as ordered, and she stepped back, motioning him to enter.

He stepped into a high-ceilinged hall. With its strangely cool air and dim illumination, he felt like entering a cavern, but the smooth, upright walls and the electric lamps on the ceiling were, without doubt, manmade.

A car stood on one side; the rest of the place was bare.

The man with the short hair descended a spiral staircase at the rear side of the hall, his pistol at the ready. "Welcome." The harsh tone of the word belied its meaning. "Where are they, Beth and Burt?"

"In the city. They're safe." Leo wondered if his words were as obviously false as the man's welcome.

"Where in the city? Don't bullshit—"

The woman stopped the man by placing a hand on his arm. "Wait, Dan, let's go to the meeting room and fetch Carl. He should hear this, too."

The man, Dan, huffed but didn't say anything. Instead, he plucked the letter from Leo's hand and gestured at an open door on the other side of the hall.

Frustrated for being out of options, Leo complied. Resistance wouldn't help. They had the weapons. And it wouldn't help to make them distrust him.

When he crossed the threshold, the sight made Leo stop. He found himself entering a vast space, bright but still pleasantly crisp, under a dome of large windows and vast canvases providing shade. A stand of trees grew on one side, its foliage vibrant and green. Fresh grass covered the ground next to the gravel path he stood on, and the air held the earthy, moist scent of well-watered plants.

The path led to a small basin. A short tube stood in its center, and some old tech made water sprout from it, a silvery jet that hit an unseen obstacle in midair to be deflected into a myriad of glittering droplets, which fell back into the pool below.

From the basin, one path branched off to a low, white-painted building on the right side, and two more crossed vegetable gardens and headed for passageways into other domes.

A small girl in a red dress knelt in one of the gardens, looking up at them.

The woman at Leo's side called out to the child. "Anne, go get Carl. We've got a visitor who has seen Beth and Burt. We're in the meeting room."

The girl nodded, got up, and hurried off towards one of the gateways.

"Move." The man with the pistol gestured towards the white building.