“It’s easy to slip around a tree.”
She let it go.
“Can you find the city again?” he asked.
“Pretty sure. It’s right through those trees,” she said, pointing.
“Lead the way, Girl Scout.”
“Hey, I’m a good explorer,” she quipped, starting off with him following behind. “You might not think it to look at me, but I bet I could have been a topnotch Girl Scout.”
“Uh huh. Face it, Ellie. Neither one of us is exactly used to the outdoors. I can track a shifter through the streets, dig him or her out of a city full of people, and watch my six in back alleys or parties, but I’m not the guy who can build a lean-to out of splinters and a shoelace.”
She laughed at his description. They were in the trees now, and the falling darkness had deepened by several degrees, heightening his uneasy feeling.
“I can’t either. I doubt I’d last long on one of those survival TV shows. Guess we’re both more used to city. Which is where we’re headed. It may be different, but it is a city.”
It was a city alright, which Carter saw when they exited the trees. A walled, stone city, again looking like something from a movie. Nothing like what he was used to. The fading twilight revealed the open gates. He didn’t see or smell any smoke from fires, which would’ve been a telltale sign of life. Didn’t hear any hustle or bustle. Nothing. Even from down here, if this city had been filled with people, they should’ve been able to hear something. The silence was deafening.
Ellie glanced back at him.
“There it is,” she said. “Weird, huh?”
“You got that right.”
“For what it’s worth,” she said, beginning the upward hike toward the towering walls, “I didn’t see or sense anything dangerous in there. Like I told you, it seemed completely empty.”
The city was empty. Carter could tell that as soon as he stepped through the gates. If there were any inhabitants, they were staying hidden and silent. He didn’t think there were any. It would be hard to hide the amount of people that would fill up a city like this. He stood there briefly, glancing around through the gloom, trying to take stock of the situation, assess what their best bet would be.
“I say we find a house and hole up for the night,” suggested Ellie. Her voice was quiet, as if she also sensed the pall hanging over the city that seemed to forbid loud noises.
“I’m not against it.” He was against it, but there wasn’t any choice. Either an empty city or a forest full of potential hazards. He disliked either option, but, like he’d said earlier, he wanted a wall against his back.
They chose a house near the gates in case something came up and they needed to get out quickly. That was his idea. Ellie simply didn’t seem as concerned as he’d felt. Possibly because she’d apparently trekked all over today, led by supposed angels and owls and talking water fountains…
And she’d once called the idea of shapeshifters crazy.
Whatever was bolstering her, it continued to give her energy. Once they selected a house with a door that he locked and barricaded shut, and with one window in the front that he could easily guard, she set about rifling through baskets and shelves in the darkness, discovering resources they could use. After a few minutes, she said,
“Look, here’s a lamp.”
The clunk of her setting it on the table drew his attention.
“I think this is the stuff you use to light it.”
The instruments looked vaguely familiar. He’d probably seen them in a movie or documentary or possibly even a video game at some point.
“Do you know how they work?” She looked up questioningly.
“Do I look like somebody from the Stone Age?”
She didn’t take offense at his sarcasm. “Not any more than I do, but you never know. We can either sit here in the dark or try to figure this out.”
She was right and he was being a jackass. Tearing himself away from the window, where he’d been keeping watch, scanning the night outside, he moved over to the table where Ellie had placed the lamp and lighting tools. Probably some sort of flint and iron along with tinder, he assumed, picking them up and turning them over in his hands. It didn’t look too bad. The ancients had used it. How complicated could it be?
Turned out a bit more than he’d assumed. After several minutes of trying, failing, and swearing that had Ellie shooting him dark looks, he managed to get the lamp sputtering to life. It cast dancing shadows about the small, cramped stone house. Eerie in a way, but certainly better than the previous gloom.
Ellie breathed a sigh of relief.
“Much better. Makes me feel like we’re not so alone here.”
“Don’t say that,” Carter chuckled, feeling better himself. Having a light source, weak as it was, made the entire ordeal a little less worrisome.
“Why not?”
“At this point, I kind of want to be alone, don’t you? Better to be alone than risk anything else that might be out there.”
She quirked a smile. “True. Alright, now that we have light, let me see if I can find us something to eat.”
While she did that, Carter closed and fastened the wooden shutters over the window, not wanting their lamp to draw unwelcome attention. Also, the gathering storm was finally breaking. Raindrops pattered on the stones outside the cottage. Thunder rumbled gently, echoing off the surrounding mountains. The effect might have been cozy—shut inside the small home with Ellie, the storm outside—if not for the circumstances.
Carter wasn’t too keen on eating food in this weird place, but as soon as Ellie mentioned eating his stomach roared to life, reminding him it had been hours since he’d eaten anything. Ellie spread out some of the food the angel—if that’s what it was—had left for her.
