singing a dirty song, adding as many words as he could think of that rhymed with female genitalia. I envied his ability to view every situation as a grand adventure. To him, life was a video game. Death didn’t mean much; you could always start over. Except this was life; at times it felt like I was the only one who realized that. After our rope ran out, we had an arduous task of climbing down the side of the building by hand, using cracks, ledges, enclaves, and worn out climbing gear. It was always the most dangerous part of raiding a tower. But we were the Gutter Punks, and scaling towers was one of our strongest suits.
e marched through the dust and rubble of the street, dwarfed by the skeletal remains of decaying buildings to either side, the Empire State Building looming at our backs. The sun crept into the sky, illuminating the dying world in grays and browns. We were exposed and wanted to put as much distance as we could between ourselves and the tower. There weren’t supposed to be any guards out on the streets, but the raid had been a failure. They had our scent and would surely be out sniffing about. Dodger kept a steady pace ahead of us, hopping around and kicking rocks, not a care in the world. Occasionally, he would jot down a note in his worn-out journal.
Smith, however, cautiously inspected every burned out car or corner we passed, while keeping up the rear. I walked between both, like old times, when the three of us would raid places together, before Smith had enough of Dodger and decided to branch out on his own.
I was unsettled by the turn of events.
Why weren’t they giving chase
? It wasn’t like Suits to let thieves just walk away.
“Dodge, why aren’t they chasing after us?” I asked.
“Don’t know,” he said carelessly, returning his journal to his back pocket.
“You don’t think it’s strange? Last time we got caught, they were up our asses for nearly half the day.”
“Didn’t your Momma ever teach you not to look gift horses in the nuts?” Dodge laughed.
“Mouth,” I shook my head.
“Guys!” Smith sounded shaken. “This isn’t right. It’s too quiet. There aren’t even any scavengers out. This area is always filled with scavengers.”
It wasn’t until he mentioned the absence of the bottom dwellers that I realized the streets were indeed empty. The scavengers usually were gone when the sun came up, but still there were always signs of life, a child running about looking for scraps or a shadow moving about the periphery. We passed street corners and marched through the darkness of alleys, and for all we could see, we were completely alone in the world. Not a sign of life but the three of us.
Dodger stopped; turning on his heels, he held up his hands, brought up a finger to his lips and squinted in concentration. “Who cares?” He laughed hard, smacking his thigh. He grabbed Smith’s nose and whispered, “Everyone fears the mighty Dodger!” With that, he continued on. “We got about three more blocks to the train station. You guys going to wuss around all day or you want to get home? Today’s a hot one. The weather man says, ‘Sunny with a chance of gray,’ you know, and, ‘radiation.’”
We didn’t have to question why the streets were so empty much longer. When we reached the corner of 34th and 8th, we spotted a small group of Suits. Eight we could see, standing idly by our train station entrance. One seemed to be yelling something down the stairs to another. We had no way of knowing how many others waited on the platform below. We were lucky to have noticed them first, as we were deep in conversation when we turned the corner. We barely had enough time to duck back around an abandoned clothing store before they saw us.
“What the hell are they doing here?” Dodger whispered, pushing me back further behind cover of the wall.
“This is too much of a coincidence.” Smith sat next to me, hugging his bag to his chest. “All those Suits on duty.
e marched through the dust and rubble of the street, dwarfed by the skeletal remains of decaying buildings to either side, the Empire State Building looming at our backs. The sun crept into the sky, illuminating the dying world in grays and browns. We were exposed and wanted to put as much distance as we could between ourselves and the tower. There weren’t supposed to be any guards out on the streets, but the raid had been a failure. They had our scent and would surely be out sniffing about. Dodger kept a steady pace ahead of us, hopping around and kicking rocks, not a care in the world. Occasionally, he would jot down a note in his worn-out journal.
Smith, however, cautiously inspected every burned out car or corner we passed, while keeping up the rear. I walked between both, like old times, when the three of us would raid places together, before Smith had enough of Dodger and decided to branch out on his own.
I was unsettled by the turn of events.
Why weren’t they giving chase
? It wasn’t like Suits to let thieves just walk away.
“Dodge, why aren’t they chasing after us?” I asked.
“Don’t know,” he said carelessly, returning his journal to his back pocket.
“You don’t think it’s strange? Last time we got caught, they were up our asses for nearly half the day.”
“Didn’t your Momma ever teach you not to look gift horses in the nuts?” Dodge laughed.
“Mouth,” I shook my head.
“Guys!” Smith sounded shaken. “This isn’t right. It’s too quiet. There aren’t even any scavengers out. This area is always filled with scavengers.”
It wasn’t until he mentioned the absence of the bottom dwellers that I realized the streets were indeed empty. The scavengers usually were gone when the sun came up, but still there were always signs of life, a child running about looking for scraps or a shadow moving about the periphery. We passed street corners and marched through the darkness of alleys, and for all we could see, we were completely alone in the world. Not a sign of life but the three of us.
Dodger stopped; turning on his heels, he held up his hands, brought up a finger to his lips and squinted in concentration. “Who cares?” He laughed hard, smacking his thigh. He grabbed Smith’s nose and whispered, “Everyone fears the mighty Dodger!” With that, he continued on. “We got about three more blocks to the train station. You guys going to wuss around all day or you want to get home? Today’s a hot one. The weather man says, ‘Sunny with a chance of gray,’ you know, and, ‘radiation.’”
We didn’t have to question why the streets were so empty much longer. When we reached the corner of 34th and 8th, we spotted a small group of Suits. Eight we could see, standing idly by our train station entrance. One seemed to be yelling something down the stairs to another. We had no way of knowing how many others waited on the platform below. We were lucky to have noticed them first, as we were deep in conversation when we turned the corner. We barely had enough time to duck back around an abandoned clothing store before they saw us.
“What the hell are they doing here?” Dodger whispered, pushing me back further behind cover of the wall.
“This is too much of a coincidence.” Smith sat next to me, hugging his bag to his chest. “All those Suits on duty.
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