The laughter grew louder and louder. It sounded vaguely familiar until I realized where it was coming from. The laughter was coming from me. I didn’t know why I was doing it, I just was. I realized that I was outside again, on top of a tall building. Now I was watching the flames from much further away. I could see the burning rubble in the distance. I looked past it. I could just barely make out the Grain Exchange in the distance and through the window of the tenth floor I could see someone sleeping in a chair.
I stopped laughing and turned my attention back to the south. Most of the power in the rest of the city was out, creating a vast landscape of shadows. For some reason it stayed on downtown. I looked past the dark buildings and could see faint lights in the distance. It felt like I was zooming overhead, moving toward the lights. I wasn’t moving though, I glanced down to see that my feet were still firmly planted on the rooftop. As I came closer, I could see that the lights stretched out for a good distance.
As I silently glided above, I could see the dead below. They were waiting in the darkness. For what, I don’t know. I kept moving closer to the ever brightening lights. I could make out sounds in the distance. Sounds of machinery and people, living people. As I came closer, I could see that the lights came from shadowy structures. I kept moving closer. At the front of the lights was a long row of large vehicles. It was mostly made up of military issue vehicles and civilian trucks. Every so often, I could see the outline of larger ones. They looked like the tanks you see in war movies.
Among the vehicles, there were people, thousands of living people. Most of them were military, carrying assault rifles and such. Others were civilians, toting tools and hand held weapons. There was a lot of noise and movement around the base. They were preparing for something, something big. There were thousands more of them moving toward the front line. They were bringing all kinds of weapons. When one would get to the front, he or she would just wait, nervously looking forward into the darkness.
As I glided past them, I could see something else. Behind the base there was a massive wall. It was constructed mostly of concrete highway dividers and parts of broken buildings. The wall must have been to keep the dead out. The area facing downtown was the only open area, even though it was guarded by thousands of soldiers.
As I gazed upon the crude encampment, something swooped down from above. It was a helicopter. The flying machine was painted all black and ran silent. It drifted down toward the center of the camp. As it descended, I could see people moving toward a landing pad. Armed guards surrounded the helicopter when it touched the ground.
Three men dressed in all black quickly exited the machine and turned to watch a fourth step out of the chopper. This man was wearing a full dress uniform. The others saluted and all four quickly stepped into the closest building.
I silently chuckled. The helicopter took off again and I was back on the rooftop. I watched the dead in the darkness. They just stood silently. I watched the sun slowly peek over the horizon to the east. In the red light of dawn I could see a storm creeping in.
Today’s going to be a long one.
Chapter 32
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