The inner section of the building had a small landing before turning left into the barbershop. To the right were bathrooms, and straight ahead was the Exchange itself. Katie summoned a new glowrock, these ones being much brighter than the earlier ones, and handed it to Drew, both of her hands returning to grip her spear.
Drew held it up high. The Exchange only had a few windows, and in the dying light, it was filled with shadows. He had never realized how dark it was without the ever bright fluorescent lights to illuminate everything. The doors into the exchange were locked by a chain. Another acid dart opened the lock and the clanking sound of the chain being pulled off the door and dropped filled the noiseless atrium ominously.
“Probably more rats or cockroaches if anything; hopefully, it’s rats,” Drew said, as he pulled the door open. Without a weapon, and without Mitch’s enhanced melee blows, there wasn’t much they could do against cockroaches.
The Exchange was somewhat large and divided into four different parts. Directly in front of them in the front right section of the store was the electronics and hardware section. Going clockwise around the store was the coast guard branded civilian clothing section, the uniform item section, and then the convenience store area. Glancing around the room, Drew threw a couple of the old glowrocks into the various corners, waiting to see if anything responded to the intrusion of light into the semidarkness.
With a glance at Katie, who shrugged, they moved forward, heading to the food area. Finding nothing, they began moving less cautiously until they had cleared the entire Exchange. Drew found a broom and took a moment to knock the dropped ceiling tiles down so that nothing could be hiding up above them. They did find several regular spiders, which Drew killed with the broom handle, not wanting to take any chances on them becoming mana twisted while they weren’t watching.
The next hour was spent clearing, using the toilets, and then eating what Katie sarcastically called, “a very nutritious dinner” of jerky, nuts, and warm sprite. Then they began the process of fortifying the area. Katie summoned walls to block off the windows and door, while Drew raided the clothing area for bedding. They made a spot for Sarah on the most comfortable bed they could make for her. Drew had cast refresh on both of them again, and they both changed into clean clothes, giving them a sense of revitalization, they hadn’t had since the advent.
Katie moved to block off the last window at sunset, the hill providing them with a great view to the west where the dying light tinted the city in gold. When it finally set, and the city turned dark, Katie started to block the window.
“No, wait. Let’s see if there are lights anywhere.” They stood at the window and watched for thirty minutes before Katie shook her head.
“Nothing.” She raised the wall and they retreated to the two chairs they found, placed near Sarah, Drew casting refresh on her sleeping body.
“So, what do we do next?” Katie asked. Sarah’s state was still pretty much the same…slow, shallow breathing. They had given her some liquids earlier while they ate, but they didn’t have any way to give her more substantial nutrients.
“Well, we need to find where the rest of the people are. I think our best bets are going to either Bolling or McNair,” Drew answered, glancing towards the now-blocked window. Fort McNair was hidden by the slope of the hill they were on, but Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling was across the freeway from Coast Guard Headquarters where they were, and it was one of the places that had remained dark.
“Either way, we’re going to need a better way to transport Sarah. Or wake her up,” Katie responded, looking at her silent form. “I don’t really feel like dragging that litter all the way to McNair.”
“Yeah, but I guess that leaves another question: what do we do if there’s no one there?” Drew didn’t say it, but both were thinking it. What if there was no one anywhere? “I need to check on Zoey. I know logically that she’s probably dead, but I need to make sure either way.”
“I don’t have anything I really need to do, but I’d like to go home and get some things…” Katie trailed off with a shrug, “I live in Kingstown.”
Drew nodded, “I’m right near the Air Force Memorial in Arlington.” Sort of opposite directions. To get to Katie’s, it would be better to go south and take the Woodrow Wilson bridge west into Alexandria. Whereas for Drew’s, it would be faster to go northwest across the Frederick Douglass Bridge and into DC proper before crossing the Potomac on the 14th Street Bridges. Both were on the other side of the Potomac though.
“Well, what are our transportation options?” Katie asked, trying to break the problem down.
“We can try to find an old car, something from…I dunno, the 70’s or earlier? I’m not sure when they started using electronics, but an older car would probably still work. The other alternative is a cart? Maybe we can find a horse?” Drew shrugged, “And what do we do with Sarah while we are out looking for transportation?”
“The Commissary on Bolling would have shopping carts, but the loading dock here might have something better than that media cart you used,” Katie offered.
“Commissary would be a couple hours there and back at least, while the loading dock is a possibility. That would be a short trip.”
“But not one with a guaranteed result. Worth a stop though since it’s on the way.” Katie was using a brush to untangle her hair as they talked; days of fighting with only the replenishing rain to clean had left it a tangled mess, but she paused for a moment. “I’ll have to stay here with Sarah.”
Which meant Drew would have to go out alone, “Yeah, we’ll need you to seal it up again and we shouldn’t leave her alone, just in case she wakes up.”
“Here, slot the gravitas, it’ll help you get over the highway faster,” Katie said, pulling up her interface and giving the xatherite to Drew. “Should probably slot that and the mana sight, might help you see anything dangerous.”
“You sure?” Drew asked, looking at the two xatherite. He then traded metallurgy and heat shield to Katie, “Here, take these. That way we each get two. We’ll owe Sarah.” If she woke up, otherwise they couldn’t risk losing the xatherite.
Katie said, “Wait, where are you going to slot them?”
“Gravitas in the constellation with storm; hopefully it will give me a gravity storm spell. It’s the only linked skill I can think of.” Drew says glancing at the grid. “Maybe something with mana guard, but I don’t think that’s really likely.”
“As for mana sight…I can combo it with either blink step or mana guard and blade barrier. I don’t see any of those last two creating a linked skill. So, it’s kind of a tossup, I guess. Whether I want to try to complete a constellation or go for an improbable linked skill with blink step.”
“You’re probably right for gravitas; gravity storm sounds useful. I can’t think of anything for mana sight either.” Agreed on his course of action, Drew cast refresh on Katie again, “Bedtime.” He laid down next to Sarah and slotted the two xatherite, confirming the prompt as everything then went dark.
Chapter Seventeen — Sight
Drew awoke to a world vastly different from the one he had previously known. He remembered the day they’d bought his father color correcting glasses, allowing him to see the reds and greens that he had never been able to see before. He had been in sheer awe at what he had been missing, and this was like that.
He spent seconds just looking around him, amazed at all the things that he’d been missing. His jaw was slack as he watched the ebb and flow of mana in millions of different colors that he had no names for.