The City That Never Slept...

Bellman's POV

Bellman and the convoy are on the road again after a good night's rest. He knows his squad and himself slept with their ears perked listening for any sound of Pales. Bellman didn't know what to expect in New York but he had an idea from what he's seen in the last ten years.

The buildings would be shelled, due to the war with Pales from before the collapse. Debris might be everywhere as well. New York had been a hot battle for control of the city back in the day.

He hadn't been stationed to fight there but heard the stories. The stories of men struggling to take control of the city. The operations that went bad. It had been a hellhole to fight in. Not many conscripts survived or lived to tell tales of New York. Only the smartest survived and that wasn't many. Boston had been one of the few cities not shelled, and humans had regained control of the city, but not everything lasts forever.

Boston had been safe for years but that was through hardened individuals working hard to secure it. Individuals who had adapted to the world around them and fought to secure what little peace they had. But in this new world it doesn't take long to lose everything you loved. We were approaching New York now and Bellman could see it in the distance.

The tops of the skyscrapers were missing, having been shelled. The skyscrapers still intact had their windows blown out. There was concrete dust everywhere and shelling had left gaps in the roads. There weren't many cars left in the city so the only thing we would have to dodge is potholes. This city wasn't as beautiful as Boston.

Boston had thrived because humans regained control of the city and kept that way for ten years. Now it belonged to the Pales again. Bellman could only imagine how the wildlife would suffer due to that.

The convoy is starting to get close to New York now and what was once a thriving city of abundance was empty and desolate. The city that never sleeps had become a city where no one sleeps, except for Pales perhaps.

Bellman had heard mention of two different alphas in the city that had been the source of conflict in which the military had been fighting against. He assumed they were still here only they were competing with each other for resources. They could have multiplied since the collapse eight years ago but he wouldn't know until they entered the city.

Bellman had no idea what to expect once the convoy entered the city. He, a hardened veteran and survivor of ten years. He highly doubted any humans resided in the city anymore, there would be no food or way to farm.

On top of that there would be no place to shelter themselves at night from the Pales. Bellman estimated they could lose at least eight people if the convoy did not move through the city quickly. The convoy definitely wasn't here to sight see.

They were inside the city now, dodging potholes and abandoned military equipment. The sight of an endless amount of abandoned military equipment was alarming. There are barricades which have been knocked over, they consist of sandbags and mounted guns with spotlights either standing or knocked down.

They were rusted and eroded. We could see spent shells on the ground around these barricades. Bellman could easily imagine the struggle to hold the Pales back in the areas we saw these fortifications. He had been in the same situations many times and survived.

He saw that there were gashes in the armor of most equipment. The sandbags which had been knocked down had some gashes as well and were bloodstained. Bellman noticed rusted equipment such as rifles and pistols, laying there discarded.

The mounted weapons were there too, they were left behind. He saw discarded ammunition boxes that were rusted as well. Some still contained ammunition and he took note of that.

As the convoy drove further into the city, Bellman noticed there was less and less military equipment and fortifications. By the time the military had arrived Bellman presumed it was too late and the population of the Pales had increased by too much. He knew the military had been late to mobilize, which had been why the collapse occurred. Having been included in the fight before the collapse Bellman knew the military reacted late to the issue.

Pales were smart, from my earliest encounters he learned they could use tactics such as flanking and ambushing and using the terrain to their advantage. Bellman remembered from the last year before the collapse that when you are walking in an urban environment, you have to keep eyes and ears open for even the slightest scrape on concrete.

Bellman had no doubt the Pales in this city, if any were around, were cannibalizing each other to survive. It was a horrifying thought and it made him realize they are fresh meat in the city, it also made him conclude they didn't want to stay long.

Suddenly a radio transmission came over the Humvee radio from one of his squadmates in the rear Humvee:

"Requesting a stop, our Humvee is smoking."

Before Bellman could respond Daniel's voice came over the radio:

"Roger that, we are pulling over now." He sounded confident in his decision, whereas I was not confident to stop here.

This made Bellman think that Daniels still felt like he was in charge and he was undermining Bellman's authority. He picked up the radio and told them:

"Fellas, I feel it's not safe to stop here. Is there a way it can last until we leave New York?"

"Negative, Bellman, it's smoking hard over here."

Jhonny, Jake and Noah were in that vehicle. Jake was requesting the stop. Bellman knew they had to stop but he had this terrible gut feeling about it. It was early in the day but a repair could take all day. And he did NOT want to be here at night. He would have to see the damage to the engine of the Humvee himself.

All four of the Humvees slowed to a stop and they proceeded to exit them. Amongst the civilians there is confusion as to why we stopped. All four of them were drowsy, so Bellman got the idea they were sleeping. They began to ask questions:

"Why are we stopped in the middle of New York?" Amy asked, very frightened.

"We just need to repair a Humvee." Daniels reassured her calmly.

"Well I can help, I was a mechanic before the collapse. I just got the grease from that off my body two years ago." Michael said confidently.

"Well you can help." Daniels told him.

"Alright I'll get to it." Michael told Daniels.

He and Daniels walked to the Humvee in the rear. Bellman had a bad feeling about this so he gathered his team. Bellman began to give them orders on what to do:

"Johnny, I want you in a building with a good view. Charlie I want you near the rear. Elijah I want you at the front. Noah setup somewhere with good cover. Jake, I want you to listen for Alpha Pales. Oliver you're with Johnny. Alright let's set it up!" They all respond to my orders with "roger" and begin to set up.

He watched as Johnny and Oliver headed into the nearest building that was the tallest. Charlie headed to the rear of the Humvee convoy and set himself beside it at the rear. Elijah set himself up over the Humvee hood and positioned his SMG down the road.

Noah put himself in a building opposite of Johnny. Jake positioned himself inside the mid Humvee and opened the gunner roof roof, with his light machine gun .

Bellman walked up to Daniels and Michael to see what the situation was. They have the hood propped up and are looking at the engine, waving the smoke away.

"So what's the problem boys?" Bellman asked them.

"We don't know yet, but a smoking vehicle normally means malfunctioning fuel pressure. Or it could mean leaky or clogged fuel injectors." Michael told him.

"Okay we got a spare or no?" Bellman inquired.

"Well we got no spare. So we may need to go down the road and get one from a Humvee." Michael responded.

"Alright so Daniels, do you want to send a team down to the last Humvee we saw?" Bellman requested.

"Yea I could send a team, I'll get them ready." He replied back.

"Alright five minutes, then they head out." Bellman told him with authority.