“The birds didn’t fare much better. They need darkness to migrate, as many of them navigated using the stars. But the constant glow of the cities made this impossible. Habitat loss was staggering as humans sprawled across all the areas wildlife once inhabited. Many birds died from collisions with omnipresent plate glass, buildings, and vehicles. Food became scarce.
“Deforestation wiped out rainforests en masse, killing tens of thousands of species yearly. The only animals that survived were those who could coexist alongside humans, but these were often considered pests. Humans employed chemicals and traps to wipe them out. Mice, rats, roaches, raccoons, opossums . . . even their populations dwindled over time. My mom says that only roaches and bacteria will inherit the earth, when humanity has done its best to destroy it.”
H124 could see a fire burning on the horizon, black smoke billowing up into the sky in a thick column of ash.
“Can you imagine what it must have been like to live back then, when things were still around? Green forests? Birds singing in their branches, packs of wolves howling? I would have loved to see a bear rooting around, digging up logs to find insects, or glimpse a long V of geese migrating north for the summer.”
He looked down. “What can we do now? It hurts to live in this time. Everything’s gone wrong; I can feel it in my bones. It’s not supposed to be this way, but the devastation just keeps mounting. It’s as if an ancient war machine were trundling on, trampling everything underfoot, leaving behind only broken cement in its wake. A lifeless wasteland, stripped of all beauty and value.
“We don’t even live out in these ruined places. We wouldn’t be able to survive out here.”
He picked up a handful of rubble, which crumbled as he closed his fingers. Then he reached down and ended the recording. She set the PRD down. Had it really all been so different? She tried to imagine standing on the ruined street above her when it was a grassy field, or a forest of trees. She tried to imagine the sound the birds might have made as they sung in the branches, or what a deer would have looked like stepping gracefully over logs to drink by a clear stream.
She closed her eyes, imagining that time, and fell asleep.
* * * *
At dusk she showered, tucked away the new books she’d found, and ate a quick meal of an MRE that was called Meat Substitute Salisbury Steak. Then she tucked more rations into her tool bag, took one long look at the weather shelter, and locked it up.
Her car waited for her beneath the debris she’d covered it in. She got in and drove it out from under the sheet metal. Rain fell, pummeling its roof. At least it wasn’t hailing. Yet.
She drove for two hours in the darkness, then felt her throat constrict when she saw headlights in the distance. Again she shut her lights off and pulled over next to one of the numerous ramps she’d seen along the road. They typically led up an embankment, crossing a bridge over the road. Many of the bridges had long since collapsed, but a few still stood. This was one of them. She’d explored a couple, looking for places to sleep, and usually found a series of buildings nearby, their window frames bereft of glass. They all looked similar, though she didn’t know what they’d been used for. They had tall overhangs jutting out, and upright rectangular contraptions with rotted hoses spaced evenly under the overhangs. Any markings on the rectangles had long since been weathered away, but she could tell they’d once been electronic. She’d slept next to one of these buildings more than once.
As the headlights grew closer, she decided to drive up the ramp and see if she could find one of those buildings to park behind. She maneuvered up the slope and crossed the old bridge, hoping that it would hold. It did. To her relief, a little way down this smaller road, she saw one of those buildings with the overhangs. Other structures stood nearby, with tall signs that had toppled over. They were probably once visible from the interstate. She’d seen the same fallen signs all along her travels. They were hollow and shattered, and looked like they’d once held lighting. This turnout still had one intact sign. It leaned against its building, covered in mold and dust. She could still make out the symbol, a giant yellow M set against a red background.
She glanced over her shoulder and back at the interstate, seeing the approaching lights. She thought she must be nearing some center of activity for these people. She hadn’t seen anyone else for days.
She pulled between the buildings, careful not to drive over anything sharp. Behind them lay a crumbled space of asphalt, and she pulled in flush with one of the walls. She debated whether or not to get out of the car, then decided she would run over to the interstate and see if they drove by without pulling in.
On the watch for night stalkers, she ran.
Chapter 17
She knelt down behind one of the railing supports at the cross bridge and watched. The headlights were about a mile away. Two cars. They started to slow as they approached the exit. There was every chance they’d seen her headlights when she’d seen theirs, but maybe they’d think she was one of their own. She wondered if they had some way to communicate between cars. If so, and they’d tried to communicate with her, they’d know she wasn’t one of them. Now the two cars slowed even more
