“Lead the way,” Arkas said, then easily kept up with her when she began sprinting to town.
Oaklie slowed down when they neared the house where she’d heard a madman on the ham radio.“This is the place,” she said in a hushed voice.
Arkas examined the small abode that was painted yellow.“I can hear a strange hissing noise,” he said with a frown.
“That’s static from the radio,” Oaklie explained.
He opened his mouth to reply, then the radio crackled and a voice began to speak.“Listen up, people,” the human said grimly.“The latest good guy who’s arrived needs to trust the female he’s with.Only by working together will they reach Manhattan alive.”
“Is that the sign you were looking for?”Oaklie asked wryly.
“Fate is speaking through this Mad Prophet,” the knight surmised.“Amaros and my brothers must be in this city.We need to reach it as soon as possible.”
“It will take us weeks to walk there,” the artist warned him.“We should look for transportation.”
He glanced at the vehicles sitting in driveways or parked on the roads.“Good point,” he conceded.“Do you think any of these cars will still work?”
“Probably not,” she said.“But I saw someone driving around in a truck a while ago.They live out near the blue house you’re squatting in.”
“Squatting?”he protested, taking offense.“I’m merely borrowing an empty house while I wait for my commander to arrive.”
“We call that squatting in this era,” Oaklie said solemnly, then snickered at him.“Follow me,” she ordered, then took off running again.Arkas was right beside her as she sprinted to a property just a mile or so from his base.“Uh, oh,” she said when she saw red splashes on the snowy driveway.Bodies were sprawled near the truck she’d come to steal.It must have occurred just after the storm had ended.
“Stay here, female,” the knight said.“I’ll move closer and see if anyone is still alive.”
Heaving a quiet sigh, she leaned against a tree to wait.Arkas flashed across the road and reached the house at the end of the long driveway.It only took him a moment to ascertain it was safe for her to approach.
Oaklie joined him a few seconds later.“It looks like they had a battle over the truck and no one survived,” she guessed.All five men and women were sporting bullet holes.
“That’s convenient for us,” Arkas said, then bent to pluck keys out of one of the dead men’s hand.“We should search the house for supplies,” he suggested.
“Check to see if the tank is full,” Oaklie requested.“There might be spare jerrycans in the barn.”
He looked confused for a moment, then nodded.“Right,” he agreed, then sauntered over to their new ride.
Shaking her head at how strange the aliens were, Oaklie entered the unlocked front door.“Jackpot,” she murmured when she saw boxes of food on the kitchen table.There was enough canned food and bottled water to last her for a few weeks.She began carrying them to the truck Arkas had left unlocked and began stashing them on the back seat.
Arkas strode out of the barn with two jerrycans in his hands.“The tank is full,” he reported, then placed them in the bed.“I’ll cover them with a tarp so they don’t fall out,” he added.
Oaklie was amazed at how fast he was learning to cope in this era.Everything had changed dramatically since he’d been here last.“Women can even vote now,” she said to herself as she headed back inside for the next load of food.The supplies had probably been stolen from town and the neighboring properties.“I bet this is going on all over America,” she figured.“Neighbors are killing each other over a box of stale cookies.”
There was no amusement in her tone.This was the harsh reality all of the people who’d been left behind were now facing.Earth had become a dystopian place where only the toughest would survive.
