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Or the bridge could be out.
In this case, 'out' meant that its frame had been distorted by an impossible heat, pinching together unnaturally in the middle, ends twisted in opposite directions in a loose helix, like something out of an impossible video game fantasy.
There were no cones set up on this end, no person waving passersby or cars elsewhere - and still no sirens, not even in the distance, not even briefly flaring up to die again.
Both of Keneh's hands cradled her jaw, fingertips loosely held in part against her nose, in part against her cheeks, her right shoulder pressed against a brick wall, staring at the Escher-inspired wreck a block from her current position. She'd stopped dead in her tracks when it'd become apparent what she was seeing. She hadn't sunk to her knees quite yet, but it was starting to dawn on her that while they could probably find an alternate route back to their apartment block with minimal effort, something had fundamentally changed.
“What now?” she mumbled into her hands, meaning the question for Delaney, albeit delivered without any associated obligation to actually answer. Between the two sites, she felt exposed and vulnerable up above-ground, but what alternative was there? Abandoned houses that were unlikely to be the target of sweeps were few and far between, and this felt too much like a deliberate attempt to delineate territory as that she could quite dismiss the mental image. She felt like they'd been impossibly lucky not to be picked off. This was more than one 'mutant' - more even than the two the distant fire from earlier might have suggested.
“Um.” This was big. This was bigger than she knew how to deal with. This was way, WAY beyond a couple of crazy people and right up with organised terrorism or military action. She did not want to be in the middle of military action. This was bad. This was so so bad. “Out of town seems good?” Delaney managed in a wobbly voice. Attacks and things always focused on big population centers, right? “I mean, people have to know about this. But there's nobody here. Which is bad, because that means someone is making them stay away and that means we shouldn't be here either.” And she was going to scream if zombies showed up but this was starting to look like just the sort of thing that zombies showed up in and maybe they should be looking at some sort of weapon?
Keneh nodded mutely. Her sense of direction was practically useless - she knew the way between their apartment block and her work place off by heart, along with a few alternate routes, and the way to some choice restaurants and stores, but beyond that, she'd have trouble even being entirely certain about the cardinal direction she was facing in most. It had never seemed relevant to know her place on the map, not with the internet rendering her physical location practically irrelevant. It took some effort to work out that the best way out of the city was to head back. It was tempting to keep to the water's edge as a point of reference, but at this point, she doubted she had the courage to take such an obvious route. Her hands dropped, a tense breath puncturing the silence, fingers coming to clutch at her elbows. “What way?” Her gaze stayed fixed on the bridge but for a fleeting moment of being warily cast back the way they'd come from. Staying in one place felt like precisely the wrong thing to do, but she had no courage to move in either direction without a prompt.
✘ IN PROGRESS