The Sands of Borrowed Time (25 page)

The City of Surprises

The bridge into the city was largely intact, hanging above the barren riverbed, it’s hard, baked mud cracked like an old porcelain plate.  Hayley swerved the buggy in and out of the abandoned cars that littered the highway, their paint dulled and peeling from the constant heat and blazing Sunlight.  Grass and vines had tried their luck here, twisting in an out of car windows and swirling around the cables of the suspension bridge, but they were now withered and dying, their once green vigour looking pale with brown, cancerous blotches endemic in all.  Hayley looked across at the girls curled up together in the passenger seat, still fast asleep.  They had all taken it in turn to continue the long ride north, making time just to survive, knowing that every moment counted, even through the night.  The dangers of sleeping all at once were too obvious.  Up ahead she could see the tall city buildings, the Sunlight winking off their broken windows as she continued to race across the bridge.  The air felt hot already as it shimmered off the road and cars, Hayley feeling the leather on the steering wheel begin to burn.  She felt like blowing the horn to wake them, show them the approaching city but thought better; let them lie a while longer.  She could see the dust storms begin to rise in her rear view mirror, knowing that it would not be long before they would catch them up and smother them with its uncomfortable heat and dirt.  To her left was a line of tall metal pylons that once pulsed life into the hungry, bustling city.  However, now their arms hung tired or broken, their grip on the electrical cables they once supported long relinquished, hanging on the ground between them, limp and lifeless, beaten by the sand storms.

Hayley heard one of the girls stir in their seat.  She looked across to see Kyla turn, but both girls were still fast asleep.  The buggy thundered onwards along the road, the city getting ever closer, its tall spires casting long shadows westwards across the plains that would soon to be devoured by the approaching eddies of sand. 

Gotta be a good place to get some supplies,
Hayley thought, but she contemplated the risks.
If only we could tell if there’s anybody lurking there.  Must be a straggler or two, in such a big city, someone who refuses to move on, stubbornness their suicide.
  She took the ring road going westwards around the city, hoping to get some relief from the Sun in the shadows of the skyscrapers. 
They must sense the approaching storms, though.  It would be fatal for anyone to stay. 
Hayley reached down, grabbing her flask, banging it accidentally on the steering wheel with a loud clang.
 

Kyla suddenly rose up with a loud, deep gasp, “Shit, don’t do that, you gave me the creeps!  Kyla yawned loudly and unapologetically. 

“You’re like the dead waking up!” Hayley said, looking scornfully across at Kyla. 
She’s looking so pale lately, more than usual.  Hope there’s no trouble coming her way.

“Cheers, Hayley,” Kyla responded in a sleepy voice.  “Ah, a city,” she continued before taking a bottle of water from her cardigan pocket, taking a few swigs. 

“More like a shitty,” Demelza said blearily, her eyes still closed, “smells like a rancid sewer.”

“Shall we go and take a peek?” Hayley asked.  “I’m sure everyone has gone by now.  As Demelza said, it’s more like a shitty.”

“Yeah.  Let’s have a wander; there may be some useful stuff we can loot,” Kyla said as she looked up at the towering buildings, their sides covered with moss and lichen.

“Let’s be careful, though; guns at the ready, you know how mean these city types can be,” Demelza added in an uncertain tone.

Hayley suddenly swerved onto a slip road that rose up into the city, its surface covered in litter, abandoned cars getting denser.  She slowed and mounted the sidewalk where there was a clearer run.  They all looked into the shops as they whizzed by, their windows largely intact, shielded from the blast by the higher buildings to the east. 

So quiet,
Hayley pondered,
too quiet, it's like everyone just vanished!
 
Can’t be right
!  The solitude of the city began to make the girls uneasy, its peaceful streets breeding an air of paranoia of what truly lay at its heart.  Hayley slowed to a stop, the buggy’s engine giving a violent judder as she released the clutch to stall it.  All three looked around at the city; its deserted streets, it's littered pavements with grass that had grown up between the cracks, now looking like straw. 

“Why are we stopping here?  Demelza asked.  Hayley shrugged her shoulders. 

“Why keep going?”

Kyla pulled herself over the side rails of the buggy and jumped onto the pavement, the others soon following.  They could feel the air beginning to stir around them as the winds began to howl from the south, the sound of distant thunder getting louder by the moment.

“So, what’s the plan guys; grab and go?” Demelza asked, surveying the nearby shops, squinting her eyes as she felt the sandy air blow against her face.

“I don’t think we’ll be going anywhere soon with this storm coming,” Kyla remarked, looking up as lightning flickered through the mushy, brown clouds above.

“We must hide,” she continued, starting to feel alarmed.        

              “The buggy also,” Hayley added, “it’s our only hope of getting to the north, to get across any terrain.”

They all jumped back into the buggy, this time, Kyla taking the wheel.  No sooner had she dipped the clutch and hit the ignition, they were wheel spinning their way back up the pavement, veering back onto the road.  She throttled them deeper into the heart of the city, the engine now barely audible against the howling wind and sand.

“There!” shouted Hayley, pointing her arm to the right. “Over there, look!”  Kyla saw it, the entrance to an underground parking lot, swerving just in time to make the entrance, driving deep underground on its narrow road, the closeness of its walls whizzing by at breakneck speed, the sputtering piston sounds of the buggie’s engine, a loud whining sound, reverberating along the close walls like a frightened ghost.  Inside was dark.  Kyla flicked on the headlights, the left one appearing brighter than the left and its beam a bit higher, then slowed the buggy to a stop, letting the engine die naturally.  Demelza coughed as she took in a lungful of pale blue exhaust fumes. 

The pistons are surely fucked,
Kyla thought.
They even sound sick.  Surprised it keeps going and going, never stopping, like an exhausted racehorse, but one day it must fall and die, and with it, us.

“Good to see the décor of the parking lots up here are
just as beautiful as those down south,” Demelza sarcastically commented as they all looked around at the incoherent graffiti sprayed across its grey walls.

“At least it doesn’t smell of piss,” Kyla commented.

“Or puke,” Hayley added.

“Good to hear,” Demelza said, “means that everyone should be long gone, but let’s not get too cautious, you never know who or what lurks around the corner.”

“Plenty of gasoline to siphon off these motors, though,” Kyla interrupted, all too aware of the dangers of their situation.

“Plenty indeed,” Hayley added.  All three smiled, feeling safer underground away from the storm and any prying eyes.

“Look what we have here,” Kyla said as she peered into the window of a BMW, tapping the window with her pointed finger.  She ran back to the buggy as the others looked inside. 

“Wow, yes! Demelza cried as she and Hayley lustfully eyed the crate of cola cans on its back seat.  As Kyla ran back towards them, crowbar in hand, she called them to back away from the car.  She placed the crowbar into the gap between the door and frame and prised the door open, unashamedly bending the metal of the door and frame as she did so.  She reached inside and dragged out the booty, leaving it to fall to the ground.  They each took a can, each one fizzing and exploding as they opened them, all three eagerly catching the rush of liquid into their mouths, it's sharp and bubbly feel refreshing to their parched throats.  For a moment, they all felt that everything was okay, that everything was as it should be, down in this dark and dingy parking lot as they savoured the taste of the cool cola on their lips, feeling its stickiness on their skin, but soon reality came flooding back into their minds.

“It’s good to stretch the muscles,” Hayley said as she felt their stiffness loosen a bit.  Kyla arched her back thinking the same. 

“It certainly is.  We’ve been cooped up in that thing for days, without a break from it.” 

All three suddenly screamed in unison, “Fuck!”  hearing the metallic clang of a door slamming shut on the floor above them, its heavy sound ominous.

“Just the wind, please tell me it was just the wind doing that!” Demelza whispered loudly, looking at Hayley and Kyla for some comforting confirmation.  Then an ignition as an engine came to life, a revving of piston sounds accompanied by the sickly smell of exhaust fumes.

“Could have been the wind with the door, a coincidence to the later engine sound which I believe would require more than the wind,” Kyla said, looking at Demelza’s fearful face.  “Sorry.”  Then came the sound of another engine bursting into life.

“Shit, this is a bustling, busy city,” Hayley said as they listened to the squeals of tires as the vehicles left the car park.

“Surprised we weren’t seen,” Kyla said amazed.

“Me too,” Hayley added, folding her arms tightly across her chest, looking uneasy.  “Maybe we were seen, and they’re fleeing,” she continued.

“Fleeing from us, three girls.  No, I don’t believe it,” Demelza objected.

“Maybe she’s right.  They’re fleeing, but perhaps from the storm; it looked like a big one cooking up,” Kyla added.

“But where to?  They would never make it in cars.  They would get bogged down and buried in no time at all,” Hayley insisted.

“That’s a good reason to keep the buggy, no matter how bad it sounds,” Kyla said, holding up the glow plug in her hands.  “The buggy goes nowhere without this.”

“Anyway; whatever, whoever, they're gone.  Wouldn’t be surprised if we heard some more signs of life,” Hayley said, sounding pragmatic as Demelza sighed nervously.

“Come on, guns in your holsters cocked and ready; let’s explore,” Kyla giggled nervously.

“You're mad, both of you,” Demelza said, shaking her head.  “Guess the lift is out of order?” she continued with a giggle.

“Sign of the times, my dear Demelza,” Hayley replied as they headed for the staircase.  As they climbed to the ground level they each feverishly finished another coke can, their bodies nauseating again at the sudden rush of sugar into their glucose deprived veins.  Kyla opened the door at the top cautiously, peering through slowly.  There was no one to be seen.

“Come, let’s go,” Kyla said, ushering them through.  They were back out into the open air, the storm now beginning to pick up as it drifted steadily north in their direction.

“Do you think they’ll come back?” Demelza asked.  “Perhaps we should be on our way, also?  The storm doesn’t look too pleasant to stick around in.”  Kyla looked at the sand-laden clouds racing overhead, “I think we missed our window.  There is no chance we will get anywhere in that.  We’d be buried alive out on the prairies.  Let’s wait until dawn, when all will be quiet again.”

“Anyway, it will provide us with ample cover to see what’s around here,” Hayley added as she brushed her hair free of sand before tying it back.

“Down!  Quick!  Kyla said anxiously.  “Look over there, those guys, guys in hazard suits.”

“Are they respirator masks?” Hayley asked.

Demelza frowned, “Why would they be wearing respirator masks?”

“To keep the sand out of their lungs, perhaps?”  Kyla shrugged.

“What are they carrying?” Demelza asked.  “Looks like a body bag.”

“Looks very much like a body bag,” Hayley nodded.

“You think there’s someone in there, dead?”

“Well, they wouldn’t be alive would they,” Kyla replied quickly, looking overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events.

“Fuck, this is creepy, don’t you think?  Hayley asked.  “Don’t you think this is all a bit creepy?” she continued slowly.

“Course it's fucking creepy.  Who wouldn’t find it so?”  Kyla replied, getting irritated.

“Look; they’re throwing the body bag into the back of that truck,” Demelza said, her comment punctuated by a dull thud, her face wincing.  “And there’s more, lots of them, look, coming from the square.”  Kyla took her scope from her pocket and focused across to the square. 

Shit, Jesus, like some massacre has occurred,
she thought
as she scoured the many body bags that were in the square.

“Tell me it's good news,” Demelza said.

“How can it be good news?” Kyla exclaimed.

“You know, that the body bags contain, well, no bodies,” Demelza replied, not looking too hopeful.

Kyla looked through the scope again, surveying the many body bags before handing the scope to Hayley.   “What do you think?”  Hayley took a long look through the scope.