Page 32 of The Last True Hero
McClain ducked under the arch, his eyes widening in surprise as he stared around. Miles of desert and ruined buildings stretched around them, as Mia turned in a circle, her arms spread. "Must have been some sort of balcony once. Isn't it amazing?"
Lush green vines grew over the railing. They'd enveloped the entire building once, though half of them had died and their dried husks shivered in the wind. Still, this part remained green and vibrant. Her favorite book as a child had been an ancient copy of The Jungle Book that survived the Darkening, and she couldn't help but think of that now as she breathed in the scent of flowers.
"It's beautiful," McClain admitted, leaning on the rail.
Strange how she could find beauty and peace in this moment. Her sister was in hell. This entire chase had ended in disappointment. But she still felt it, just for a second.
"It makes me wonder what sort of people lived here," she mused. From this vantage point she could see almost everything. Huge buildings with crazy statues and adornments lined the street. Everything was faded, half-broken and washed out, but she could still see traces of what this place must have been like. "What do you think it was like before the Darkening?"
Her mother told her once that the pre-Darkening people knew the meteor was going to hit almost a year before it did. There'd been a lot of panic. Talk of missiles to blow it up, only there wasn't time enough to build one with the capabilities required to destroy the meteor before it hit.
Some cults and Doomsday preppers owned underground bunkers, so there'd been fights in the shops over food and water. People killed each other in riots, and stole what they could. Panic was widespread and people headed for cabins in the wild, or bunkers they knew of. All over the world, people prepared, though Mia had no idea whether anyone still survived in those countries. They were simply colors on an ancient map to her, and the impact cloud killed off most of what the radiation and revenant plague didn't.
Sometimes, Susan admitted, she wondered whether they called it the Darkening because the skies turned black from the dust cloud, or because that's what happened in people's hearts.
"It was a place for pleasure," McClain murmured. "They have some kind of machine in the big rooms downstairs. Thousands of them. I don't know what they did, but there's carpet in there and what looks like a bar." McClain examined the vista. "We know they had technology we can only dream of. The only place that wields that sort of power now is the Confederacy."
"Cameras, cloning, and cannons," she muttered, for everyone knew the Eastern Confederacy was hiding technology and secrets behind their walls. Rumors came back from the odd traders who managed to get within their city-states. She couldn't imagine it, but apparently the people there called each other citizen, and they were all supposed to have equal rights. Even the leaders.
They wore numbered tattoos and old Jefferson, the trader, said that they waved some kind of machine over the tattoos that could automatically tell them who a person really was and if they had a criminal record or not. Confederacy leaders strictly controlled information, and citizens were actively encouraged to report upon dissenters within their families and friends. It was the only way for the Confederacy to survive according to their leaders, Jefferson said.
Scary, in a way.
"Do you ever think about how easy it would have been back then?" he asked. "They created wargs and shadow-cats in their labs, but they weren't a widespread affliction. There were no revenants—they came with the virus the meteor brought with it. So they had no predators, not really. Just cars, and huge buildings...."
"And planes," she said, getting into the swing of things. "My mom's grandfather once flew a plane. Said it could take him anywhere in the world. That would be amazing."
"My sister used to complain that she'd kill to get her hands on some of the medicines they used," McClain said, with a faint smile. "She's a doctor. She's really smart, and she's saved a lot of lives. But she always wishes she could save more."
"You love her," Mia said. "I see it on your face every time you mention her."
He nodded.
"When was the last time you saw her? Does she know where you are?" It struck her then, just how little she knew about him. "Why did you leave her behind?"
Suddenly reluctance filled him. She could see it in every line of his body. "Mia, it's kind of complicated. I didn't want to leave. I promised my father that I'd protect Eden with my dying breath. But... I did something bad and the people in my town—the people I trusted—they didn't want me around anymore. I left because I didn't want to drag Eden down with me."
She couldn't imagine this man doing anything bad. But it was clear he didn't want to talk about it. And that rankled a little, for she'd thought that he trusted her. She trusted him.
"Then they're fools," she said, and bumped shoulders with him. "You're actually quite handy. You're practically a superhero."
"Thanks," he muttered.
"For?"
"The distraction," he replied.
She was wise enough not to comment on that. Maybe he saw right through her, but they both needed this right now.
In the distance something gave a coughing roar.
Both of them turned.
"What the hell is that thing?" she asked, with a frown. The moon shone bright enough to make out a few things in the streets below. "Do you think it's the white tiger?"
"It's out there somewhere." McClain peered into the distance, moonlight gilding his jaw. "But it's not my main concern. There's something moving down there in the street." He frowned. "Two somethings. They've come for the bodies."
Mia lifted onto her tiptoes, but all she could see were shadows and glimmers of moonlight reflecting back off broken glass and metal. She shuddered. "Ac’tun ahili?"
