Expeditionary Log

Day 72 

It seems that my sleeping troubles have returned. Last night, my mind raced with a chain of meandering thoughts that have haunted me for quite awhile. I thought about the old world. What a beautiful thing it msut have been. What a treachery it was to waste in the heat of a passionate hatred. Men have forever doomed themselves. I see it now, even after such a terrible genecide. I stayed awake anticipiating the journey inward. What is waiting for us? How i lon…
…We left today after hearing some veyr strange noises and seeing some strange lights from the direction of the city. Very mechanical in nature, it sent a wave of hope and fear about us simultaneously. ….
…e had only walked for about 2 hours when we reached the remains of a suspended freeway system. It had held up well against the explosions. A folded piece of sheet metal dangled from a nearby guard rail, taunting us. Two men approached it, and began to unfold it, exposing its green interior. It was littered with bold white letters and numbers, all in english. Only one of us could read such a language, and he did so poorly. “mawn–haw-tawn” he read aloud. “manhattan?…really?” i thought to myself. It really wasn’t a surprise to any of us. In fact, many of the others had all but assured this was so over 18 hours ago. I examined the grey and black mountain-like city-scape in the distance and couldnt help but think to myself how it all looked like a cluttered line of tombstones from here. We began the long towards the desolate waste land. No m….can say what we saw….

…orever. As the buildings got bigger and bigger, the sky got redder and redder. We were within 2 miles of the heartland. The ground here is covered in a thick red weed. Every so often, an uprising flower-like stalk with a dark brown capsule can be found. I have avoided contact with this floral oddity. These plants emit a strange odor, not so much rank as pungeant. Our boots are dusted with a thick red powder. No one really knows what they are. The distraction these weeds provided allowd the city to sneak up on me. “look!” i heard a man say. Ahead of us was the final bridge to the island, and the clearest view we had yet of the city. A sudden wave of an indescribable emotion came across me as i noticed something peculiar. Dare i say, movement, could be seen. It was slight. But it seemed as though a large group of ants was scattering to their hiding places. No other said anything, so i kept it to myself . howev……

….en the bridge had collapsed. The mid section had given way, falling to the ocean below. Most of the men fell with it, a good 250-300 ft fall no one could survive. even if you could last through the fall, the swim to shore would have been impossible through the tyrrant waves below. The road behind us once again destroyed, we had no choice but to go on and hope for divine intervention. Only 8 of us remained. We were silent with grief. It was clear now. We were going to die here. Upon accepting this, the lock on my chest gave way. I wouldnt say i was happy. Or that i was no longer sad or in fear. I just felt a kind of greater understanding. I felt a calm i have never felt. There was a peace i could not explain. It wasnt just me. The others felt it too. We were all unexplainably lax. The fear of death, i realized, was the most invalid thing that i have ever felt. In order to go on, we had to know, not fear, that we were going to die. I look to the sky, an almost flourescant blood red. An Icewind blew across my face with traces of heat laced within. Something was moving in Manhattan. I watched a small figure, an ant in relative size, dissaper into the distance. I looked around to discover the others all doing the same. We all got up and walked on.

The city got more and more distinguishable, the streets more and more deserted, to my dismay. I stepped off of the bridge and took the first steps into Manhattan. Many of the buildings were still entirely intact. The roads, perfectly preserved, like a snow globe on a childs headboard. How could this be, seeing as this was supposed ot have been directly hit? In the distance, i could see a wall of destrcution, providing some sense to the equation. Perhaps the explosion was at the far end of the island…or perhaps it had missed entirely and hit the ocean, only providing secondary detsruction. We walked towards the detsroyed side of City, which got more and more littered and destroyed. There was a distinct whirring sound that we had simultaneously become aware of. A dim light peered out from the left corner blocks, about 8 blocks ahead. We kept walking. Noises were now commonplace. There was definitely some sort of activity ahead. Just 4 blocks to goo…

The light was now a bright white….just peeking around the corner. The whirring was almost deafening now. Every now and then a loud crash would interrupt it, causing us all to jump quite frightfully. We urged onward. There was a wind accompanying the light and noise. 1 more block. Shadows broke the luminescance. There was movement just around the next block. Another crash. 20 more feet. We walked to the corner, turned left, and we saw it.