Playlist for the Apocalypse

Chapter 12: Message in a Bottle

EVELYN

Once again Evelyn found herself following Jonathan, as he navigated them out of the facility and through an intricate maze of residential buildings. River District was made up of an eclectic collection of residences each with a different style of architecture. Some were modern apartment and townhouse buildings while others looked like tiny cottages from the late 18th or early 19th century, there were also several buildings that looked as though they were halted in the middle of construction, likely when the first wave of the pandemic hit. The left-over scaffolding and machinery had clearly been adapted by the survivors of the colony to be useful in the new world. Rope bridges and pully systems hung from the buildings like Christmas lights. Even the large spaces of land dug up for infrastructure had been repurposed and were being used as farmland. It was a beautiful patchwork of civilization, a true testament to the will of humanity to survive. Evelyn had little time to take in the sight of it all as Jonathan steered her towards the side of one of the unfinished apartment buildings.

"This way," he said, motioning for her to follow him as he began to climb.

Evelyn took hold of the scaffolding with a sweaty hand, "Jonathan," She whispered, and he paused, turning to look back down at her.

"What?"

Evelyn pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose, "umm... I was just thinking, your stitches. Maybe there's another way around."

"Stop worrying about me, I'll be fine," He said continuing to climb, "if I pop one of my stitches you can say I told you so."

Evelyn placed her other hand on the scaffolding. The bars felt slippery between her fingers. Though her feet hadn't left the ground, she could already feel her arms and legs tingling. Jonathan was already 10 feet up.

"Are you coming or what?" Jonathan asked, peering down at her. He stared at her for a moment in confusion and then a knowing look passed over his features as he registered what the problem was.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights," he said.

Evelyn blushed, "a little," she admitted. It was a stupid fear, not even based on anything traumatic or remotely rational. She had camped on the roofs of gas stations before and climbed trees as a child but for some reason staring up at the dizzying height of the apartment complex was too much. It didn't make sense. She didn't trust she could make it. Fear was strange that way, it was not always consistent, it didn't always make sense, but it was always inconvenient. Jonathan slowly climbed back down next to her.

"You know what it's fine," he reassured her, "there's another way around but we're going to have to be careful, the second route runs right beside town square."

"Thanks," Evelyn said, trying to casually rub her sweaty hands against her jeans without Jonathan noticing, "I'm sorry that I'm so much trouble."

"It's okay. I'm pretty sure I'm more trouble." The right side of his mouth curled into a smirk, "I'm the lightning rod, remember?"

Evelyn smiled back gratefully and the two of them crept around the building, clinging to the wall like shadows. The whole experience reminded Evelyn of the game of spies she used to play with Elliot. Most 10-year old's would have said they were too old for imagination games like that, especially with their big sisters, but not Elliot. Any opportunity for him to pretend he was Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible was instantly his favourite game. He would have scaled that scaffolding no problem because he was fearless...

He'd be 12 now, she realized with a start. Just like with Kevin, the image of her brother was frozen in the past. The thought of it made her chest feel hollow and she strengthened her resolve to keep going. She would see Elliot again. She would see all of them again.