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  Jak's response to whatever Billy had asked him shortly after was an enigmatic smile, and she said nothing further to him on the matter. Instead they spent much of their time, after dusk at least, with Billy attempting to teach him the basics of grappling. He already knew enough to be able to restrain people without intentionally injuring them. So maybe it was more a case of the two of them trying each-other's skill to keep in shape. Either way they seemed to enjoy the sparring sessions as much as Sara and myself enjoyed watching, making friendly bets against each-other, and just talking. I will likely always look back on those moments more fondly than I should, but no harm done by or to anyone.

  She claimed to have been taught how to defend herself, which I was fairly sure a result of, directly or not, her time in the rat closet. I had told her I wouldn't offer much sport if she wanted to test herself against me. The best I had ever managed was a little boxing I had done in school as well as a few things I had picked up from our goalie on the school football team. None of what I knew would make for a good sparring match, as I would either end up on my back in the first few seconds, or Sara would have a broken nose and possibly worse.

  Hard as it might have been to believe, I'm not bragging about that. It's just a case of what I had learned being better suited to knocking someone off balance if they ran from patrol rather than one on one combat. As I said before, my 'skill' in close up fighting wouldn't match anyone we were likely to come up against.

  Even so we had one match, with both Billy and Jak waiting with what bandaging and disinfectant we had in case it went badly. It felt like I had a dislocated arm after, but Sara didn't walk away un-bloodied. That is all I will say on the matter.

  You’re fine Julian. If it were a dislocation or even a strain you would have needed to keep the thing in a sling.-Sara

  On the fifth day of our trek we started seeing farmhouses, fenced in parcels of land, and other familiar landmarks that told me that we were close. With this we thought we might find people, not many sure, maybe a family here or there that had been left alone. Such was not the case. Their homes weren't put to the torch, and any signs of violence had been erased between then and now. The silence worried us, but we were too far in to back out.

  To lighten the horse's load we had made use of a barn to hide most of our things in. This, I hoped, would minimize any strain the horses might be put under if we suddenly had to use them for a quick escape. We liked to think what we were doing made sense, but really we were just fumbling through.

  Date: September 9

  Searching

  The next day we headed for town proper, trusting that if we were spotted along the way we could claim we were out traveling and would be allowed to go our way with only a warning to keep clear. This, in part, was bolstered by the fact that if either Billy or Jak's presences were questioned we both could truthfully explain we were from well to do families and both gholem went wherever we did. They were, of course, far more to each of us; but no need in upsetting anyone's delicate sensibilities, especially if it meant the kind of trouble I thought was lurking near here.

  In an effort to conform to this illusion we took one of the more scenic routes around town. We were not challenged. What we saw were the leavings of whoever had been here strewn about. These included things like carts in the middle of the road, clothes strewn about. Weapons. Deus there were lots of weapons, mostly amid clothes, but some in neat clusters in the few buildings that look recently occupied. It was strange, and more than a little frightening.

  Billy suggested that God plucked everyone out of their clothes and the animals from their bindings in retribution for what they had done to the Refugees that thought some kind of salvation lay in our town. Cheerful thought, except the Divine Host never seemed to be one for so overt a direct action. Things being how they were, though, I had no better explanation for what we were seeing.

  We moved away from town and into the ruins the refugees had thought contained... what I didn't know. Still, the idea needed to be explored in case somehow it was the cause of what we were seeing. We talked it over, naturally, and none of us knew of any stories about weapons that would do this.

  Sure Sara and I knew the old stories, sketchy histories taught in school and other bits of speculation on the past. All agreed that there were plenty of horrors that could level cities, or atomize people where they stood, but none that came close to what we continually ran across. Only people and horses were gone. Buildings were as intact as months of abandonment have allowed. Nothing else out of place, not even signs of the likely siege between the army regulars and refugees.

  We were disturbed by this, and it was probably risky to proceed into the unknown, but we had to know if some terrible and forgotten djinni has been loosed on the world. If there was, we had to find a way to put it back in the bottle. At that time we didn't think we were doing more than just making sure.

  As we neared the ruined cityscape I heard a sharp intake of breath from Sara. Was it impressive? Considering the largest buildings we could now build, and I'm talking offices and the like rather than stone monuments people don't have to trapes up and down continually, were pale things when compared to the broken towers of steel I saw every time I came here I would have to safely say that yes, she was most definitely impressed.

  It's little wonder her breath was taken. We couldn't build this big anymore. Oh sure we can build big, we haven't lost so much that we couldn't shove an elevator in to make going up and down easier, but the biggest anyone was likely to see was a twenty, maybe thirty story job.

  I apologize, this place has that effect on me and I promised myself I would try keeping on task with this journal.

  Mind you we weren't walking into pristine streets and shining new buildings that had just been emptied

  yesterday. The streets were choked and overgrown with plants that made it more cracks and holes than smooth places. The buildings, once steel and glass monolithic monuments to progress had been reduced to windowless shells that, more often than not ended in jagged peaks of rusted steel and crumbling cement. Pieces of these broken giants adding to the general debris, which only added to the over-sized scale of where we were.

  Was it wise to bring the horses into this terrain? I wasn't sure since by now the old road had weathered and overgrown, though if it got much worse we would dismount and go on foot. I didn't want to do that, horses being faster than people, and I was afraid of what was waiting further in.

  I'd never seen Billy actually try racing one, but she's said in a pinch she could outrun anything that wasn't bred for racing. Hopefully we wouldn't have to see if that was true, especially since unlike her and possibly Jak I most definitely couldn't and Sara looked to not have even the stamina I'd gotten from playing on my hobby-farm. Again, I'm not boasting, or at least I'm trying not to. It's just that even though my farm was more for diversion than subsistence working the animals and land had helped to keep me in shape.

  Billy and Jak moved to either side of Sara while I took point. This wasn't because Sara was more important than the rest. It was simply a matter of putting our best eyes to either side and our lone gun, me, where I had a clean shot at anything in front of me. That was the theory anyway. I hoped it wouldn't get us killed.

  I had my rifle handy. I wasn't sure how sturdy the insides of those buildings were, but both times I had been here before I could've sworn something was watching me. It was nothing more than nerves, but even the slimmest possibility people, friendly or otherwise, were hiding in the ruins couldn't be completely written off. Every now and then we would stop to watch what moved in those glassless windows, and every time we would resume walking when we saw it was a bird, or cat, or some other animal. Well, Billy and Jak saw these things and directed Sara and myself as appropriate. I didn't have binoculars, and we were willing to do as they said if it meant avoiding snipers.

  There was a lovely thought. One that would drive me bonkers if I followed it to it's logical extreme. If I wanted to give in to thi
s fear every open window, every high perch, marksmen could hide in any of it.

  Did I forget to mention the ruins were mostly vertical? Take one forty or fifty story building. Lots of windows hiding places. Plunk down ten or fifteen more buildings that tall. Now add in all sorts of smaller structures that make up most of the broken cityscape we're wading through. I was doing my level best to not worry about what could jump out from every corner. We kept alert for activity, but trying to find any unseen assassins was just impossible for us, and we knew it.

  How long had we actually been in here I'm not sure. Had to be hours because the sun was going down. I'd slept in the ruins before, and I wasn't looking forward to doing it again, but there was just no way to get back out before dark. With dark came all the nocturnal predators that are no doubt hiding here, human or otherwise. I say this from experience. Both times I had to come here I'd found whole communities of coyote. OK it's not quite that bad, but there were still far more here than anywhere else. Lots of hiding places, prey items, and people that stayed away made this a good place for them to hole up at.

  Date: September 10

  Mood: Curious

  Most of the morning was spent attempting to find a way back out of the ruined cityscape to where we left our stuff. The new plan was to take everything with us into the city and go thorough looking for survivors or anything that didn't seem to belong there. Why were we doing this? I couldn't speak for the other three, but what happened with everyone and everything disappearing in Belleberg I had to know if it came from here. We were afraid of what we might find, but such is one of the prices of curiosity.

  Back on the Trail

  "We might cover more ground," I explained to Sara as patiently as I could manage, "But splitting up means each of us would be more vulnerable." I pressed the opening I had created, "Also, if any of us found something how would we signal the others?"

  She looked thoughtful for a moment, "Sorry..." "Can't hurt to bring any idea up." I threaded my

  horse thorough a gauntlet of debris. Hard for me to do, but it seemed I had the most difficulty out of the group in doing so. When we were reunited I finished what I was going to say. "I can't think of everything, and I don't want to start believing I'm more competent than I actually am. That kind of attitude will get us killed, so feel free to keep the ideas coming, and keep me knocked off my high horse." It was true. Arrogance bred complacency, and complacency got people neck deep in trouble.

  Going continued to be slow as we made our way towards the center of town. Maybe we should have gone around, but it was three to one for going the way we were now, with Billy being the one dissenter. At least we had been civil about making decisions so far. I wondered how long that would last.

  More empty and ruined buildings. More desolation. More... well more of nature reclaiming everything Man had created.

  Our second night there was spent in what might have been the courthouse lawn. I thought it was a courthouse anyway. It was near the middle of everything as near as we could tell, had a ruined bell tower, and looked similar to the sort in Ashton, so I'm calling it a courthouse. No fire tonight, so we filled the hours between making camp and sleep with songs and stories. In the dark. Perfect for stories of haunts and spooks, but we weren't in the mood for it. There were too many things to be afraid of out there without the added ghoul or vampyre lurking behind every rock.

  Billy woke all of us sometime later with the sound of gunfire, the sounds of panicked horses, and screaming. Jak was already outside looking about franticly when I managed to belly crawl out of my tent. I didn't know what we were dealing with, and unlike Jak and Billy I couldn't make out what was going on.

  Chaos and Death in the Dark

  Shouts from the courthouse. Gunfire. One of our horses wounded.

  Return fire from Billy. Pause. Something thudding to the ground. disappeared, guessing he went to see if he could get his hands on the man's weapon. I went to check on Sara, and found her curled in her tent whimpering. Told her we had to go. She pushed me away; said they can't know if there's anyone in the tent or not. I tell her it doesn't matter; all they have to do is shoot through to make sure. Slowly she uncurls and follows me out. We both stay low since there's nothing we can do

  other than search for cover. Neither of us like that we can't do anything but stay alert.

  More gunfire. Our pack horse is down. Return fire.

  Quiet. Was it over? We waited, tense. Minutes passed. Still nothing. Billy started to rise while Jak was alert for movement. Nothing. The rest of us stood slowly. Still nothing. It's over we thought. We have to put the two horses down, but none of us had anything other than scrapes from diving for cover.

  We packed everything onto one of the remaining horses. After stripping the saddles and bags off the remaining animal and adding that to what our new pack animal needed to carry we had something of a problem. This forced, by majority vote (myself being the dissenter this time) that Billy and Jack walk on foot while Sara and I ride horseback.

  I didn't like it, but it made the most sense. both Jak and Billy found rifles for themselves as well six clips of ammunition to split between the two. The new guns were, unfortunately, of a different make than mine, but we have more guns to defend ourselves with. It didn't completely balance for the horses, but if we were to expect more attacks than we need what we can get.

  Camp was set back up on another building's lawn. Horses seemed nervous, and I couldn't say that they were the only ones. Here's to hoping we could get some rest before anything else tried shooting us.

  It was Jak's turn at watch, so I had a chance to speak with Billy. She showed me a shoulder patch she pulled from one of the dead men. I couldn't see the details in the darkness, but the fact it was there at all suggested either Military, a group that wanted to act like it's military, or looters. We both thought the last might be the most likely scenario, and hoped any we find in the daylight hours would be more willing to talk before shooting. We could only hope.

  Were they human? Gholem? Probably the latter, and as much as I dislike violence, especially against our blue skinned friends, all bets and restraint is off if I'm fighting for my life, or the lives of those around me. I never did care too much at who shot at me unless it helped solve the problem of how to make them stop. I was tired and we had only a couple hours before we needed to get going again. Sleep Now.

  Date: September 11

  Mood: Disturbed

  Even with the attack last night we still woke at dawn to get started. We had no choice really. The question now was where do we look? The courthouse, Library, and Council buildings turned up nothing that suggested more than casual passes at looting what weather and animals hadn't already destroyed, and there seemed no signs that a particularly large group had passed this way recently.

  Let me make this clear. I didn't know what these buildings were actually called. Sure there were a few have names carved into the stone facing, but weathering, neglect, and such had made much of it unreadable, so I called each building by what it most resembled to me. Plus there is the inevitable shifting of the language to consider. Look at how English mutated over the centuries, and for proof of that, just go find any play Shakespeare wrote. People didn't talk like that when the United States had been founded. People didn't talk like how they did when the United States was born when the great emptying happened, and we don't talk much like they did then. For all I knew the 'courthouse' could have been a bank, or the library a warehouse, or... I think I explained myself well enough.

  After these buildings yielded nothing we weren't

  sure where to take our search next. This place was too large for four people to reasonably look through, at least in the time we had available to us. Instead we decided that since nothing here near the middle gave us answers that we would travel through to the other side and try seeing what we could see there. We would have wanted to loop around the whole thing, but that would take days, possibly weeks to do as methodically as we wanted. Additio
nally there was the problem shared by most abandoned cities in that there was no clearly defined edge. In most cases there was a gradual spreading out as one left the center and moved into the residential areas, which could connect two separate cities if they were close enough together. Beginning to see the problem I had mentioned about with scale? Too large to do more than what we were doing.

  We first saw people when we passed through what I am going to refer to as a grand market. Couldn't say really if that's what it was, but all the lots in this mammoth building all seemed dedicated to commerce of some sort. I could go into whole pages of detail in describing just this building, but I won't because few of the details actually mattered, though there was a fountain where several corridors meet that I would have liked to make a sketch of if I had the talent.

  Sara stayed with the horses outside, armed with one of our newly acquired rifles, while the rest of us explored the inside of this place. Other people, all of them wearing bits and pieces of uniforms we had seen in heaps around Belleberg were inside this place. They could have been army regulars, but Billy and Jak both though that since most of them wore only bits and pieces. It was, in their judgment, far too piecemeal to be regulars. Well then. Let's see if our new neighbors were friendly.

  Date Unknown

  Discord

  Disorientation. Flashes of disconnected images and sounds. People were talking, couldn't understand the words. On reflection that was probably due to getting thrown into a building. At the time I knew nothing of where I was or how I had gotten there though. This next segment was written after. Where was I? Oh yes, I was in the care of unknown persons, hurting everywhere, and unsure of the basics like who I was or what I was doing much less able to spare a thought for my companions. Everything had a dream-like feel to it.