Climbing out of the rubble and into the open storm, we head toward the future, and into the chaos, together.
EPILOGUE
Sabrina
After weeksof traveling in stormy, rainy weather, journeying through the ruins of Rickton City, across the plains between it and the forest, we finally enter the borderlands, where grassy, mossy lands are and where the newest growth is.
We’ve been taking it slow, not only because of the rain but also because of me and the continued ships flying above. Darolus has us hide each time one appears. And with my lack of planetary survival skills, he’s insistent we take our time entering each new area, scouting it thoroughly first. Teaching me how to track and hunt has been put on the back burner due to the continuous rain.
Even after two weeks, I’m still in awe of it. Water is a commodity, a valued resource, and to have so much of it that it can fall in droves for days on end… It’s mind boggling.
During the days we travel from one crumbling shelter to the next until we eventually make it to the forest. By the time I see the first trees, the rain has lessened to a dribble and has created an eerie white mist, obscuring much of the tree’s beauty from me.
Darolus tries the orb he’s brought with us, but without sunlight, it hasn’t been able to power on for long. After all this time, it behooves me to discover the orbs are voice activated and solar powered.
Another several days pass as we follow the borderlands surrounding the forest north. By the time Darolus starts to have us slow down, the rain has mostly stopped. We steer clear of the lakes and streams, and when we come upon a body of water we have to cross, Darolus has me climb onto his shoulders. It’s the only way to get me across.
So when I get my first real view of the mountains and the forest, I’m completely over the entire experience and ready to call it quits.
“I hear something,” Darolus says.
Slowing our movements, I pull my hide hood closer around me and slink closer to his side. “What?” I ask.
“I hear humans, machines… ships.”
I pause, taking in his words. “Do you think… Could we have possibly…” It’s almost too hard to say how hopeful I suddenly am. “Did we make it?”
He peers around with narrowed eyes. “I do not know.”
Straining to hear what he hears myself, all I get is the sound of the breeze and the noises of some nearby buzzing critters.
Darolus tilts his head and hisses. “We approach slowly.”
I nod and, when he moves forward, follow closely behind him.
We pass a large bend between several rocky hills that lead up into a range of mountains, and journey through sporadic groupings of baby trees when I finally begin to hear the ruckus Darolus hears.
Climbing onto a nearby mossy boulder and searching farther afield, I see smoke rising in the air past the grassy hills to the north and west and around the curve of the small mountain range.
Darolus’s tail slips around me as he comes to my side. “Do not get closer to those mountains. There are signs that this is the territory of another naga...”
“I hear them,” I say, still listening to the distant noise. “And okay. I don’t plan on leaving your side.”
“The humans?”
“Yeah.”
“It has to be the northern camp, right? We’ve been traveling for weeks.”
Darolus turns away from me then peers outward toward where I think the noise is coming from. “We will not know until we look.”
I nod and take his hand, climbing down off the rock. “Then let’s look.”
We slowly make our way closer, lowering to the ground when we come to the final bend. Climbing the rocks here for a higher vantage point, a large ship, surrounded by dozens of smaller ships on either side, appears. Down the hill and farther from the forest, the encampment of ships partially faces us, half turned toward the green fields west.
In the distance there’s a small lake, and beyond, the thick trees of the forest.
Lowering even closer to the ground, my eyes roam over the people and camps stationed between the many ships and to the numerous fires between them. Thereare men and women with guns but only one or two in uniform. A couple of security drones fly around though they don’t appear military grade. They seem to be commercial.
