Seeing Via alive is probably be the best thing that I can imagine every happening. Via and I grew up together, and we are really close.
Now we are, riding in a speeder, to the city, to get stuff and leave.
We get closer to the city, when something crashes, creating a booming sound, and I see a three story building crumbling just a mile away.
"What happened?" I ask, buildings don't just crumble.
"Like I said, stuff will start falling apart," Via responds, "the Mag-Lifts have to be recalibrated every week, and that's a bunch of buildings falling down, the city will be gone in a week, when the stuff calibrated today runs out."
"And you know this how?"
"Engineer," She replies, with her job.
"Oh right, Princess."
"Shut up."
We sit in science for a bit more, and as we get closer to the city, we begin to see how much has already fallen. Buildings have been reduced to rubble, and we're swerving to avoid fallen parts, and the occasional building, coming to reduce us to rubble.
"It's weird, how quiet it is without people and the hum of the machines, the glow of people's devices, lights, and cars is eerie," Via breaks the silence.
"Just how you and I like it," I respond with a smile. Both of us know that we're part of the few that actually enjoy being out of the city, away from the people. No one else values that anymore. The trails I hike hardly are used anymore, and Via runs on a track no one cares about.
"We need to find what's useful."
"Let's start at the activity post, they keep survival kits there, and air masks."
"Air masks?"
"Yeah, just in case the leak is airborne, then we wear them to filter the air."
"How long will that last us?"
"Until there isn't any two bonded oxygen molecules to rip from other chemicals."
"Where's the nearest activity post?"
"Down that street," I say, pointing to our right, "hopefully it isn't destroyed."
Via gets the speeder moving towards the intact activity post. The two of us jump off the speeder and walk towards the building. I head for the door, but Via goes the the corner, where a control panel is, and begins to pry it open, and it comes open with a pop.
"They should put locks on these," she comments.
"But then it would make it hard for stranded people to get in," I reply.
"No one is supposed to be stranded," Via says flatly, as she enters a code on a keypad. With a loud beeping, she says, "you can go in, it won't crumble for another week."
She meets me inside, as I direct her towards the back, where they keep the survival kits. I grab two waterproof bags and throw one at her, "get anything that looks useful."
And we start pulling bags of dried fruit and meat, cans of beans and soups, water filters and other stuff off the shelves. Via grabs another pack, and puts two small sleeping bag packs, and a tent, along with rope, heavy duty tape, a a few knives into it.
"Hey, your speeder will get us around the city limits, but I'm assuming we're intending to leave the city, should we grab a wheeled vechicle?" Like everything in the city, the speeders hover above the ground using magnets, the same stuff keeping the buildings intact.
"Yeah, where do we get one?"
"Here, the back lot has some, I've just grabbed keys."
"Great."
The two of us meet at the back door, and before we leave, we grab oxygem masks.
"I'm bringing five extra," she says.
"Why?"
"If we met anyone along our exit of the city."
"In that case, we should pack like five extra bags."
"There's other activity post on our route," she replies.
ns 15.158.61.41da2
