The Woodlands

“I’m so sorry,” Careen said as she patted my arm gently. I stared down at her arm in confusion. I was starting to think she was a bit more than batty.

I shrugged her off and changed the subject. I needed some information from her anyway. I was thinking about the end of summer. We really needed to find or build shelter in that time, before winter hit. To do that, we needed some tools that I couldn’t fashion from sticks. I asked her whether she had seen anything resembling a tool shed or shop.

“No, but there is a big building with different commercial sections. There might be something in there.” Her eyes slid up my body with scrutiny. “We could get you some new clothes too.”

I ignored her condescending assessment of my appearance and went back to tell the others my idea. There were arguments, of course. About one thing I was adamant—we couldn’t stay in the city. We would get supplies and walk through to the other side, see what the terrain was like, and make a plan from there. For once, Alexei and Joseph agreed with me. Apella wasn’t sure, still holding on to the ludicrous idea that there were people hiding somewhere in the rubble. There was no evidence that anyone had been here in hundreds of years. It was completely overrun by nature. Careen said she would go along with anything and Deshi pursed his mouth shrewdly and shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

I agreed to let Apella stay with Hessa by the fire. We took knives and Careen’s spear with us. She said if we stuck to the more open parts, wider roads and lower buildings, the lynxes would not be a problem. The creatures with the yellow eyes only came out at night.

She led us back to the end of the railway line and over a bridge. It was a great stone and iron structure that had stood the test of time where other constructions had not. Its strong archways looped in and out of the water like a snake, reflecting against the water on this clear, su

Alexei was enthusiastic, to say the least, talking about the history of the town, a name I couldn’t pronounce.

“Iratusk…what?” I said crankily.

“Irkutsk,” Alexei corrected me. “Yes, apparently this bridge took ten years to build in 1950, quite impressive really given the technology of the time.” I felt sorry that I had engaged him. He prattled on and Deshi and Joseph humored him, pretending to listen. Careen was bounding ahead like an excitable toddler. Peering over the edge every now and then, beckoning with her hands, “Hurry up, fellas. We’re nearly there.”

When we arrived at the other side, Careen stopped, trying to remember which direction to go. Like she flipped a coin in her head, she picked a street randomly and skipped off.

I found it hard to keep up, waddling like I was carrying several balloons full of water under my shirt. Thankfully, Joseph stayed with me. He curled his fingers in mine and we walked peacefully, forgetting, for a moment, where we were. If you didn’t think about the death and destruction, the yellow-eyed creatures and the feral, attacking cats, the city was quite beautiful. On this side of the bridge, the buildings were larger. They climbed up to the sky, all carved stone and metal, with pillowy, rounded roofs made of copper turned green with age. These buildings bordered a wide, stone-paved street that had lanterns attached to iron poles sticking out of the footpath.

The other three rounded a corner ahead of us and for a few minutes we were alone. I stopped for a breath. Putting my hands in the small of my back, I stretched backwards, staring at the sky, watching the clouds blow south with speed. When I straightened, he swiftly bent down and put his lips to mine, transferring the heat of gold and electricity through my mouth and down my spine. I kissed him back briefly, smiling as I extricated myself from his arms.

“You know, with all this romance, I’m liable to faint,” I said, rolling my eyes as I put the back of my hand to my forehead.

“I’ll always catch you,” Joseph said with a wink.

I fa

A dark face poked out from behind the corner. Squinting in the sunlight, Deshi said, “Guys, you need to see this,” and then his head disappeared. I would have run, but in my current state the most I could manage was a brisk walk. We rounded the corner and were faced with a towering structure of latticed metal and broken glass. On the top of the building were six-foot-high letters, spelling out words I didn’t understand. We caught up to the others as Careen was climbing up the concrete stairs that led into the building.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Deshi asked nervously. His voice echoed around the tall entrance foyer we were standing in.

“It’s fine, I’ve been in a couple of times. It’s well worth it, come on.” Careen tugged on Deshi’s shirt and pulled him toward some grated metal stairs, her long legs making easy work of them. She bounded up, her short hair swaying softly as she jumped from stair to stair. They led onto one another in a zigzag, reaching at least six or seven stories high.

We climbed two sets and then Careen dragged us down a dusty hallway. Shady entrances were cluttered with rubbish on every side. She grabbed Joseph’s hand, pulled him through a gap in the rubbish, and they disappeared into the darkness. Deshi turned on his torch. The light cut a line through the dark, illuminating metal racks from which strange items of clothing were hanging: shiny plastic bodices, shimmering pants, revealing tops, and underwear in plastic packets. What provocative clothes the people wore back then. Careen held up a black plastic top on a hanger, tight and low cut. “Here, try this on,” she said blithely.

I gagged, “There is no way I would fit into that!” Nor would I want to. It looked more like underwear than clothes to wear in public.

“What about this?” Careen suggested, holding up what looked like a see-through nightdress. All made of nylon and plastic. It seemed it was the only material that had held together. Then it hit me, what kind of shop this was. I had been in one back in Pau, when I turned twelve and my mother took me to buy a bra. That shop was more dainty cotton and lace but the idea was the same.

“Let’s save that kind of thing for after the baby’s born,” Joseph said, gri

I froze. I had thought a lot about how our relationship would change after I had the baby but I hadn’t even considered the physical side of things. I could feel the blood racing to my face.

Deshi and Joseph were chuckling away. Alexei looked extremely uncomfortable, propping and then re-propping his elbow against the doorway. Careen looked oblivious to the underlying implications of what Joseph had said.

“It’s all right, Rosa,” Joseph said between fits of laughter. “I was only joking.” I stormed passed them both, pushing their shoulders, hard. I wanted to knock their heads together but it would only make them laugh more. I stood in the cluttered hall, looking back and forth. Surely, there had to be something more useful in here other than plastic sex clothes.

Picking up a pack of underwear wrapped in plastic off the dusty floor, I realized that was what I needed to be looking for. I rummaged through other shop openings and found some cotton, button-down, shirts sealed in plastic. I grabbed one for each of us and kept looking. I found leather bags that were still mostly intact, some socks, and even some leather gloves. I searched around for something for Hessa and found a few packets of socks, a jumpsuit that looked way too big and some singlets. It would be good to give him some clothes so he didn’t have to be swaddled in cut-up blankets all the time. It seemed the people of yesterday were big on wrapping their clothes in plastic.