340. A cold weather, 7

(Rose)

I slid down on dry rubbles, inside a partially collapsed warehouse. Two stories below the surface, the rope I was attached to reached its end knot, while there was still depth below me.

I threw my torchlight, also tied to a string, further down what was an elevator shaft I think. It goes deeper but it's too damaged to go through this way. In front of me are heavy doors without knobs. I crank them open, pushing them to slide on their sides..

It's noisy and dusty. Then I land into to a dusty doorway. I set the first footprints into this layer of dust shrouded by the ambient obscurity. I untie myself from the rope leading outside. I stick the torchlight onto one of my shoulder straps.

Then I draw my sword and begin exploring this buried vault.

~

There is not too much decay, but a thick layer of dust is everywhere, like soft sand or snow under my feet.

I venture for hours in these monochromatic caves. I open the boxes I come around, desk drawers and lockers. I find century old magazines and newspaper in a language I can't read.

I found and took stairways heading even further down into the ruins of this old world.

This building had collapsed mostly straight, inside an underground level it had been standing over, from the looks of it. Unless it always was meant to be a mostly underground building, in which case it is indeed the first real access to the undergrounds we could find. We had found damaged clues it existed, but didn't found a good entrance so far.

Who knows what an abandoned network of metropolitan could hold? Troglodytes probably.

It wasn't today's goal anyway. But that's a place to check still. And eventually I lucked out and found what I was looking for here of all places. An electrical circular saw. In a tool shed so far below and halfway collapsed, I couldn't tell if it had been part of the building or the tunnels network.

It wasn't a big blade, and with teeth made for something else than wood, probably stone or metal, but it would do.

I took the electric cord along. We'll have to find a way to generate the right electricity for this, but at least we got the tool.

One step closer to our dream.

I pack the power tool inside my bag and leave soon after. I don't see anything else useful.

I climb back the dusty place, seeing only my previous footsteps marking the centimetre thick dust. Nothing whimsical here.

I reach the rope with the dim daylight far above and began climbing toward the exit.

~

We had found an engine turning gaz into electricity before.

We had no gaz to feed and no use for it, so we left it where it was. Now we went back to get it together.

We would burn some of the alcoholic attempts Bleue is making with our excess of fruits. It will work. I'm quite confident.

As we were pushing painfully the heavy machine through the fragmented roads and streets, we noticed that our kites flying high above began behaving oddly. Either they tried to rise far above the usual height, or fell to the ground in a snap. That was odd. Something was happening up there in the air.

Bleue whistled, calling Ana.

An hour or so later, Ana found us. We were still half a day away from home.

B - What is happening to the weather Ana?

A - Pattern changing. Different season. Will be cold first. Very hot after. I think. Sea birds are flying north for shelter. They are all going now.

R - Migration north.... I forgot some birds do that. They will return next year.

B - How hot is very hot for Summer?

A - Don't know.

Ana left us to follow the birds over the sea for a day or two. She would see where they are heading and discover at the same time how the land looks like on the north west of our domain. We haven't pushed exploration very far beyond the city limits in that direction so far.

Meanwhile, Bleue and I struggled to bring the generator home.

But in the end, we'll be able to start working wood.

We kept an eye on the remaining kites announcing a change in the weather.

~

Ana was right about her forecast.

And she didn't return in time. We hope she found safe haven near the other birds for now.

As the winds changed above the city, first strong icy winds fell over us from very high, swiping every bit of warmth from the land, down to a freezing point. A last surge of winter to end the season.

After a few days of dry cold weather, storms covered the sky without respite.

Thunder and rain destroyed all the remaining kites and challenged our installations solidity. Thunder was striking the city all night long.

And then, the air that chased the water was burning hot, and replaced it just as painfully.

The air was hard to breathe outside, and sparked fires here and there across the city with ease. The damp ground from the storm was burnt dry and cracked into clay where you walked.

This new atmosphere settling in was heavier, warmer and drying everything accessible.

Plants began to dry where they stood.

They would then spontaneously catch fire during the day, for no apparent reason.

Our monstrous field wasn't spared, despite our best attempts at protecting it.

We tried to cover it with cloth to give it some shed and keep humidity.

But in a matter of a week or so under that unchanging weather, our crops were disappearing regardless of what we did.

We were obviously going to lose them all rapidly.

We potted what we could inside the building that remained with cool atmosphere and temperature.

We worked day and night to preserve what we could and fight against fires.

The situation grew very difficult. Not yet hopeless, but certainly hard.

The sea receded. That was a little worryingly unexpected.

The sea level dropped by a good metre. It was revealing a huge land usually wet, and made the air over the central city even more dry.

With what we saved from the fields and transferred inside the factory, we should be able to survive.

We flooded some parts of the undergrounds and basements to store some water when we began to notice that the flow of our source was diminishing.

Summer was drying our source in the distant southern mountains. Soon, it's likely to stop flowing and we have to be ready for the drought.

Moreover now that the sea was a good kilometre further away.

This is going to be a difficult summer.

We spent further days digging tunnels, and nights channelling water back through the city.

I wanted to flood the undergrounds we sea water if possible.

But it was two kilometres or so to dig to reach the entrance building I knew. Digging trenches in the sand might be feasible, but digging through walls of concrete... We have to find some way.

And we're working against the receding sea.

Should we succeed, we would have an artificial reservoir, with sea water maybe, but water at least and at cooler temperature.

We could later dig wells into the reservoir..

It's was our best bet I thought then.

So we exhausted ourselves trying to make it real, before the drought would be completely set.

~