Before the last step
We stand on a threshold now. The rain is battering outside and night has fallen, but we know it’s there, just outside the walls of this little salon.
Once again, we have run up against the edge of what used to be civilisation. I don’t really know what to call it now. Shelter, perhaps. All that’s left of what people built in the world. And beyond it is the bare open ground.
With two vehicles held together by ductape, plastic, and oil, we can only hope that they’ll last long enough to carry us across the gulf. The rain still comes every day, even though the earth is so thoroughly soaked that it doesn’t seem to be able to take any more of it. The earlier the ice melts, the bigger and more persistent the puddles seem to be.
Somewhere out there in the open space is Greenberry. The source of the radio signal, that one that still loops over and over. There’s a chance that it’s just a machine out there, mindlessly talking to the empty air. We’ve tried, but there hasn’t been any answer from whoever set up that signal. We don’t know if there’s anyone left watching over it.
It could be nothing. But it’s the last place we’ve got left to go. We’re Seekers, and this is the only thing left to seek.
After this, I don’t know what we’ll do. I don’t want to think about it but it’s hanging over us as huge and dark as the gaping bare earth outside.
We’re all quiet tonight, all thinking the same thing. The map shows a small cluster of buildings at Greenberry, just inside a wide sprawl of what was once green, rolling hills. Barring obstacles, we should be able to get there tomorrow. One quick jump across the gulf and there’s shelter waiting for us on the other side.
I wonder how many other people have sat here like this, looking at the last step and churning over what they’ll find. I wonder what they found, and if it’ll be the same as what we’ll find tomorrow.
I can’t stand this. The quiet, the waiting. None of us will sleep tonight. Even Jersey has lost the shine of her determined bounce.
There must be something else to do in this place. Something else to find. I’m going to find it. If nothing else, the search is something to do.
I guess that’s why they call us Seekers.
- Category: 13. Haven,Uncategorized
