Chapter 26

Cold and windless. The sun had yet to break the horizon, but we couldn’t afford to waste time. Calm weather in December was rare. A day of heavy snow, then a day of frigid wind, we lost two days because of the storm.

“You sure you don’t wanna come?” Allie wrapped what passed as a brown scarf around her face and tightened the draw straps to her thick, silver puffer coat’s hood.

“We’ll slow ya down. Let the army know to expect us soon.” The old lady buried herself into the comforter with her husband across the room. They’d fall asleep and stay that way for hours. There was little else to do inside the house.

Dan nodded, and I pulled Allie outside before she woke the rest of the family and convinced them. When they found me, Dan was against me joining them, citing how dangerous I was. Now that I was in a similar situation, I understood the real reason.

Surviving was hard; keeping others alive was harder.

Although I felt terrible, protecting seven people from an attack was impossible. When I was alone, I wandered carelessly. It didn’t matter if something happened. Nobody would know or care. Moving in a group wasn’t the same, not for the person responsible for safety. I didn’t want the guilt of failure. I didn’t want the responsibility of choosing who lives and who dies when attacked. Dan didn’t either.

Once outside, we pushed our way through the thigh-deep snow until we reached the windswept road. The frozen crystals clinging to our pants would melt when we moved and harden when we stopped. An awkward dance across the arctic plains of upstate NY. I used essence to prevent the chafing.

“Why hello miss, Amy.” Allie looped her arm around mine and pulled me close so only I could hear. “Mind sharing what you really do?”

I stammered, thinking about how to answer her question. Since traveling with them, I worried about what they’d do once they learned the truth. There was no way to keep things hidden after healing Dan. Not after using the man’s ability. “I um, I can touch souls, and kind of, fix them, and make them heal someone’s body too.”

“Hm… is that so? Why can you use that guy’s worms?”

Unfortunately, Dan recovered his speech quicker than I thought. The first thing he did was tell Allie about the similarities between the bridges I made and the strings that tore him into pieces. He didn’t understand how it worked, but he knew I mimicked what the man in Waterford did.

“I can also break them, tear souls and like, attach them to me.” Describing what I did was uncomfortable. The more I thought about my ability, the more disgusting it sounded. To rip someone apart and use them. I had no right.

If something bothered Allie, she didn’t show it. She didn’t say anything, and she didn’t let go of my arm either. Dan watched me cautiously. Maybe, he had the right reaction. I told myself I did it to survive, and to keep Lia alive, to keep her with me. It might not have been the only reason.

Allie wanted everyone to like her. Dan didn’t like attracting attention. Chris read a lot of comics. I didn’t want to be alone. Different desires led to different abilities. Most of which we couldn’t control. We didn’t even realize what we wanted sometimes.

Was it ok for me to take Lia? I didn’t ask her, but I hoped it was ok. It was probably ok. If Lia was angry, she wouldn’t help me anymore.

One of Allie’s best qualities was she didn’t press issues when they made someone uncomfortable. My coat was thin, my pants even more so, but we both knew the real reason I was shaking. She squeezed my arm and pulled me forward.

We forged through snow that flowed like waves and tripped over hidden tree limbs. The sun rose in the yellow sky and told everyone where we were. We were hoping someone noticed us on our way to the cliffs and made contact. If they saw us and didn’t respond, they didn’t want anyone to find them. We’d search in vain until the breach shattered the sky.

A lifeless forest, a quiet road, and four freezing travelers. We staked our lives on one place, and each of us had doubts. One more day, one more night. Perhaps, if we pushed our arrival off one more day, then we could avoid the disappointment of finding nothing.

But the breach was coming, and we were running low on extra days.

The intersection at the end of Gardner road wasn’t as broad as the map made it out to be. A buried stop sign and a telephone pole held by taut wires from three directions somehow remained. Three wrecked house frames wrapped in snow on the dead-end street across from us would provide no cover. The wind hadn’t blown all morning, but the whistling remained in my mind.

“I’ll check first.” Dan pointed towards the wood line and started across the intersection.

“Yeah, that’s not happening, Dan.” Allie pulled him back before he made it three steps ahead. “Nobody’s chasing you again. Amy, any signals?”

I shook my head, No signatures in the helmet, no pings, no alerts. Within 500 feet in every direction, we were alone.

“Then we hike like planned.”

Dan grunted, but he didn’t protest further. From a distance, the cliffs reminded us of an aging man—a hill with a smiling rock face, dotted with trees on top like a balding grandfather. Up close, they were imposing. When we crossed into the forest and trudged through waist-deep snow, the last thing we thought about was how cute and grandfatherly they looked.

Dan led the charge as the tallest, but his bulldozing didn’t help as much as we hoped. The snow fell back behind him, covering boulders, roots, and logs. It was hard not to stumble around like drunken toddlers. By the time we reached the icy mounds that piled against the stony face, it was midday. Thankfully, we found a path.

“You think it’s an animal trail?” Chris sat on the ground, deciding to take a break, and looked in both directions. The only one of us capable of ignoring the cold heated a canteen and passed it to Allie.

“Animals?” Dan shook his head and pointed to a tattered rope with foot loops hanging halfway down the rock wall. “Hiking trail, probably.”

The region was a park, and the beasts hadn’t destroyed every bit of forest. Although it wasn’t much, it was something to go on. But the path was steep, most likely bottoming out and rising on the other side again. West of Albany, the Helderberg escarpment, the fortress meant to withstand the worst the breach could offer. That was the only part of the story we held in common. Three groups shared a set of vague directions.

“I think down’s better. I’m tired of climbing.” Chris stood and brushed the snow from his black jeans.

Up or down. It was hard to say which was the smarter choice, but there was a major county route above the cliffs. If they built a new drive to the bunker, it wouldn’t show on the map. Even if they did, though, they wouldn’t abandon existing roads. “Up. We should go up. There’s a road above.”

Allie agreed, Dan agreed, and Chris protested. The narrow trail of deep snow and frigid air burned our lungs. Somewhere along our hike, Allie and Chris started a snowball fight and hit Dan in the back of his head. His scowl like an annoyed father dragging kids through a mall combined with the icicles forming on his beard to lighten the mood. For a moment, we didn’t care about the trail ending.

The view opened at the top, and the fluffy snow turned into ankle-deep powder. The cliff-top wasn’t bare because beast hordes trampled the trees. At one time, families would have strolled across well-maintained grounds, flying kites, or eating burgers while overlooking the now terrifying sight.

Allie gasped, and Dan cursed. Chris’s eyes widened, and I wasn’t sure what to say. We avoided it on purpose, afraid of running into other people. I couldn’t imagine anyone remained.

On a frigid day from a cliff-top, not more than 10 miles away, we stared at Albany, or what was once Albany. At one time, there were buildings. The tallest buildings in the state outside of New York City. But not anymore. Rolling mounds like sand dunes covered in snow, set against an icy river. That was the new Albany. The capital of New York.

Everyone took a moment to take it in. I’m not sure what we expected. Probably something different for all of us. Perhaps Allie, Chris, and Dan hoped the state capital still existed. I wanted to believe my childhood didn’t disappear. But the view solidified something each of us knew. For us, there was no home, and there never would be again.

Five pings raced in our direction from different sides, and for a moment, I didn’t care.

I slapped the side of my helmet, unzipped my coat, and grabbed my mace. “Something’s coming.”

Allie removed her pistol, with Chris and Dan holding rifles. I pointed out the directions, and they each prepared themselves. The targets were fast, but not strong.

“Five more, behind. Slower, but stronger.”

I crouched and readied myself until the running figures and barks clarified the situation. Dogs. Larger than normal. But dogs nonetheless.

“People behind them,” Dan confirmed through his scope what we all suspected.

Allie stood to calm everyone and put her gun away. “Dan, don’t do anything stupid. Amy, relax. Chris put the gun down.”

The pony-sized German Shepards kept their distance, but barked at us like cornered prey until their owners came. Five men wearing hefty brown coveralls, that didn’t look like any military uniform I had ever seen.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” Gruff voiced with a helmet similar to mine. The leader, or who I assumed was the leader, stepped forward in a less than welcoming manner.

I placed my hand in Allie’s and passed close to half my essence to her.

Allie removed the scarf from her face and cutely hummed in a way that made me jealous. “Hiya. I’m Allie, that’s Amy, my brother Chris, and that’s Dan. And we came because of the fortress, of course.”

She held her hands in the air, smiled, and slowly made her way to the leader. From a distance, I could sense her ability flowing from her body, as if her soul expanded 10 feet in all directions. Dan and I fought. Chris found food for our group. And we all protected Allie.

She reached her hand out, and the leader removed his gloves. We did our part to get to the cliffs, fighting every day. But none of that mattered any longer. Everything rested on Allie’s smile and how charming her touch could be.