Solo Day

Posted on Mon Aug 12th, 2024 @ 2:58am by Amythyst
Edited on on Sun Aug 18th, 2024 @ 10:40pm

850 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: The Road Ahead
Location: NYC
Timeline: September 8th Mid to late afternoon to night

Amythyst looked around the rooftop garden of the building on West 12th Street. She was 16 floors up. She was standing just outside what had been a family home, the garden, was like the apartment behind her, empty of living beings bar herself. She had come across it by accident when climbing across roofs after leaving the Infernals.

It was a small 2-bedroom apartment, with a fair size garden and a fire escape that led down to the city below. The garden was obviously watered by the tanks on the nearby building. It had been by that fire escape she had made it to the roof top terrace.

It was not perfect. The place had been ransacked by several gangs by the look, no bodies thankfully though and no undead, and there were no photos that showed that maybe the family who had lived there had fled... She had used the over turned furniture to block off the internal access, it had taken her hours and now as night fell, she stood looking at the skyline and across to the mainland. One of the stranger things about the place was the bird coop, which had housed pigeons. She had released them; she was not one to kill birds. She watched them fly off, maybe they would find safety. She knew they would have been fine to eat but she could not bring herself to do so. The bird poop however would make good fertiliser. Which meant she might be able to grow more in the vegetable garden. If... if she stayed in the same place.

She knew that finding a way off the island was a pipe dream. But she allowed herself a small dream. Sitting on the fake grass beside what she believed was a tomato plant, in the small vegetable patch she pulled her knees to her chest. Yes, as darkness fell, she could allow herself to dream. But maybe one day, she could be able to live that dream. Find a place far from New York, away from the undead. Maybe she could get to California. Yeah, she knew that was not going to happen. She had always wanted to go there though. As she sat there she could hear the noises from the street.

The undead, roaming. Standing she moved to the fire escape and looked down at the street. She was glad she had pulled the ground ladder up. She knew there was likelihood that there were undead in the lower apartments. But the lurching figures below made her shudder and she stumbled back. She went to the bird cage and pulled off the wire from the side, no birds meant there was no need for the cage.

She was going to close off the fire escape just in case they had learned to climb. Or in case of other gangs out there. While Dante’s gang was one thing, they were the exception not the rule and she knew what that meant. 15 years of living in NYC, meant she was no innocent flower.

The securing took a while longer and with no moon, as it was in its new moon state, it was hard to see and it took a lot of winding and pushing of wire to secure the entrance as best she could. But eventually she was back inside the apartment, her torch guiding her to one of the bedrooms.

She had claimed what had been the master bedroom, and once inside it, she shoved the tallboy in front of the door, and then she stumbled into the bed. She kicked off her shoes and laid down on the large bed, curling into the numerous pillows.

It was a big change from her bed in East Harlem, and she had to admit, the comfortable mattress was a boon for someone who had slept on a thin mattress on hard floors in the 15 story walk up since the age of 6. She lay still as she could, careful not to make noise that would draw attention. If there was undead below her, and they heard her, they may climb the internal stairs to find her. The good thing was that they were slow and made a lot of noise. She would hear them coming. She prayed in the dark that they would not. She wanted to live. She had found a few food items in the cupboards, dried pasta, tinned food, missed in the ransacking. So, before sunset she had a tin of cold baked beans, not a favourite, those days long passed but she knew it would do. As Amy lay in the darkness, she considered how she could repay Dante and his group for the night of lodgings. Even helping them move had not felt enough.

Food was an issue. She considered exploring the other apartments and seeing what she could find. Bedding, other items. She knew where the bookstore was, and she could drop things off there for them. With these thoughts she dropped off to sleep, a deeper sleep than she had, had since the whole mess started.

tbc....

 

RSS Feed