A few seconds passed, then a minute. Heavy silence filled the tank’s cab.
“Okay,” Zoe said, breaking it, “we can’t tuck tail and run, so now what?”
We all looked to George for an answer. As the leader, I’m sure he expected that, but he was scared the same way we all were.
“George?” Chad said.
Still no answer. Not from him, at least. And the person who answered was who I least expected. Now, in hindsight, it makes sense. She had lost too many people she cared for and loved already. She refused to lose anyone else.
Eleanor leaned forward and said, “We fight, that’s what we do. We drive into the City and we fight for what’s ours, damn it, no matter who the enemy may be.”
The gates hung open crookedly, as if something had smashed through them. Something huge. I scanned the snow for tracks, footsteps or tires, and saw nothing. George drove forward. The tank fit, and soon we were rounding the watchtower I'd spent so many hours in. No lights glowed from it or any of the other towers. All the windows of the main buildings were boarded up, but usually you could see a faint gleam shining through the cracks on a few of these windows. You couldn’t now. Darkness flooded the entire City.
I felt like I was entering a graveyard. It was quiet and still. Even the wind had died down. The terrible shrieking had become soft whistling.
“What now?” Zoe asked. For the first time since knowing her, she looked frightened. She usually wore a perpetual scowl on her face, a kind of don’t-fuck-with-me look right up there with Mia’s default expression, but it had cracked. Now she seemed human.
George turned back to Ell.
“Keep going,” she said, nodding her head toward the windshield.
So that’s what we did. George drove the tank right up to the nearest entrance. He shut the engine off and reached for his rifle. Once in hand, he seemed a little more sure of himself. I grabbed my own weapon and, I’ll admit, I also felt a bit better.
“You ready?” he asked.
None of us answered. We weren’t ready; he knew this as well as we did.
George led the way. “All right, let’s get inside.”
We went to the same door I had tried getting through when Stone was shot. The keycard didn’t work without power, so I doubted if it would work then. If not, then how were we—
Gunshots exploded in front of us. The scanner shattered and sparks flew in every direction. George backed up a few steps, raised a leg, and kicked out, his weapon’s barrel smoking. The door, peppered with bullet holes, collapsed with the force of George’s boot. It was open now, and like the outside, there was only absolute darkness.
George hesitated before stepping forward. I didn't blame him. The fear rippling through me was enough to almost block out the arctic temperatures eating at my flesh. I didn’t want to go in, and I don’t think anyone else did either. But we had to. There was too much on the line. Stone and Mia and Monica and Chewy, not to mention the new friends I had made over the last few months. If I lost them, if I lost my shelter, if I lost all of it, nothing would matter anymore. I might as well be dead, and I’m sure the others felt this way too.
George went in first, and we followed. Guns and flashlights raised, we scanned the corridors. Paintings of sunsets and stick figures holding hands lined the walls. Cute and wholesome at any other time, they somehow felt sinister in the darkness. I kept my eyes forward and focused on what our beams brightened, which was a lot of nothing as we eased our way toward the hub.
I don’t think any of us were breathing. We spoke no words either, not until a rush of footsteps echoed down the hall. They were coming in our direction. I stopped, my muscles somehow tightening more than I believed possible.
“Fingers off your triggers,” George whispered. “Easy, easy.”
A light danced ahead. Shadows crawled along the walls. I couldn’t breathe. It was like an invisible hand was strangling me.
“Easy,” George repeated. “Easy—”
The person rounded the corner and squinted at our flashlights. It was Scarlett. She held a hand up over her face and looked as if she’d just been roused from sleep.
“What the hell was that?” she exclaimed. “Did you shoot at someone?”
“Scarlett?” George said.
“Who else?”
“What the hell happened here?” Zoe countered. “The gates are busted open.”
We all lowered our guns to the side. Well, everyone except for Eleanor. She was eyeing Scarlett warily. I reached over, put a hand on her rifle’s barrel, and eased it down. She resisted at first before dropping it.
“Long story,” Scarlett said. “Come to the cafeteria, that’s where everyone’s at. Set up a projector there. Everyone’s watching a movie on a small backup generator, you know, to take their minds off of what happened. I’ll tell you what I can on the way.”
“Are they okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, mostly. There’s a few people with some minor scratches and bruises. Debbie bonked her head pretty good during the evacuation. Might have a concussion, poor gal. She’ll be okay, though.” Scarlett stopped and turned to Eleanor. “We missed you, Ell. Really needed your medical expertise.”
The invisible hand around my throat relaxed.
Ell’s forehead wrinkled. “What? Nina and Sharon are the ones—”
Scarlett stopped. Her shoulders slouched, and her head tilted downward at the floor.
“Scar?” Chad said. “You okay there?”
I shined my light in front of her. There was nothing.
George reached out and put a hand on her arm. “Scarlett?”
“I think she’s the one who bumped her head,” Zoe whispered, widening her eyes and spinning an index finger by her temple.
“Scarlett,” Ell began in a concerned
