On the Front: Part 5

(Read the previous part here)

The brook meandered through the valley below as I watched. From my vantage point, I could see the valley retaken by nature. On the shores of a small lake, the ruins of a small town stood. I looked down.

The tree’s were cut in an almost perfect line down the mountain in front of me. This didn’t corroborate any other evidence of The Collapse. Sure the Gravity Waves pushed trees over, but there was no evidence anywhere else in the world, to my knowledge, where the Event had uprooted trees and covered the evidence. Very odd.

I summoned my Sparrow and rode down the hill, turning left at the bottom and zooming along beneath what looked like an old electricity line, back when DC was the most common method of electricity transfer.

Having been distracted by outdated technology, I missed the chair lying in the grass. I flew off and landed again. The main engine hit the floor and the whole vehicle began to shake. I left off as the Sparrow went hurtling out of control into a parking lot. Guest appeared,

“Do you want me to….”

I cut him off,

“Nope I'll walk.”

A few minutes later, I was walking down a two lane road, cracked and scorched. Cars were littered everywhere, they're tires melted by, something. Down in the valley off to my left hand side, the empty carcass of a crashed Aeroplane smoked. I almost jumped to get the Black Box, but didn't, because there was something about the town.

I followed the road to the town. A scorched sign read Welcome to Ederland, Olora. That didn't seem right. I progressed deeper into the town center, and saw a burned out building once made of wood. The ground level door was jammed so I jumped to a balcony and pulled myself over. A door was hanging off one of it’s hinges,

“Ghast, gun please.”

My Paleocontact JPK-43 landed in my hands gently, and I raised it. I pushed aside the door and entered. Ghast flicked on his light and I looked around. A computer stood on the counter inside. The place had a heavy scent of skunk. I recognized the smell. Marijuana. The drug once proclaimed illegal, that was legalized in some states just prior to the Traveler’s arrival, although the Cryptarchy’s records on The Before, were spotty at best. The computer on the counter contained valuable information on the before, containing, perhaps, Social Media records, a glimpse into everyday life, an area current records lacked.

“Ghast, can you access the hard drive on the computer while I take a look around?”

Ghast nodded and got to work opening the file system for inspection. I decided to enter the backroom. Inside, the smell of Marijuana grew thicker. In the corner, a surprisingly well preserved corpse lay, almost covered with ash. The roof was gone, apart from some singed edges. Through the hole, the sound of drums being beaten came to my ears.

“What?” I said, almost to myself.

“What?” Said Ghast over comms.

“Can you check the Beacon network for movement inside the town?”

“Copy that. Beacons online and transmitting. Huh. Large amounts of movement detected in sectors E-173 and E-177. Repurposing Beacons to scan for Fallen signatures.” A pause, “Interesting, no Fallen signatures detected. Do you wanna go take a look? I'm almost done with the drive.”

He didn't have to tell me twice. I glided out of the Marijuana shop and down into the cracked street. I ran faster and faster towards the drum beat, curiosity enveloping my being. I ran faster and faster. Boom, boom, boom. Moments away now. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! I rounded the corner at top speed and then stopped.

40 people had stopped drumming and stared at me. They were seated in a circle around something. One got to its feet and spoke in old English,

“Stranger! Leave this town in peace! We don't want war.”

“I do not bring war!”

Clearly they didn't understand and me as they rushed me at top speed, small pieces of mangled metal glinting in the sun light. I glided and climbed up the building nearest me and stood on the roof. Now I could see what they had huddled around. A frozen corpse lay in the street. Ghast appeared at my shoulder,

“That body! Grab it, the user appears to be cryogenically frozen.”

“Why would someone do that?” I asked as I leapt from the rooftop to the street. I rolled out of my dive and grabbed the body. I ran away and told Ghast to summon the Sparrow. An arrow flew by my face as I hurtled through the streets of Ederland.

As I sped up the hill away from the town, my ship dropped in and I felt that familiar feeling of transmat as I flew off the edge.

//Thanks for reading. By the time I post this, I'll have next week’s episode ready to upload. That part will be my last update of Year 2. The Saturday after Rise of Iron, I will post the first of 4 SIVA Episodes of On the Front. Guardians at Home will return in late October with 4 episodes, before On the Front returns for 10 more episodes in November. I look forward to posting all these stories and I'll see you after Rise of Iron!//

(Read the next part here)

Edit: I should really start linking this at the end of every episode, as it's the link to a complete anthology of everything I've written for Sarech. Again the link can be found here