Chapter 16: The City

They traveled to the outskirts of the city on back roads and trails that ran roughly parallel to the old Interstate highway. To lower the risk of detection, only one dog, Ralph, accompanied them. Late in the day, when the first deteriorating suburbs of the city came into sight, Emil began to search for a safe place to camp and soon found a large stand of fir trees that would provide cover. At one time these trees might have been planted commercially, but now, after years of neglect, they grew thick and so close together that only a small path, just wide enough for the horses wound between them. A clearing where lightning or insect attack had long ago felled a number of the trees provided a safe grassy resting place.

With Ralph on alert, they made camp and built a small, smokeless fire over which they warmed their evening meal. A dark gloom settled over the dense fir thicket at almost the instant the sun set, and with little to do except gaze silently at the fire, Emil and Diana soon curled together and slept. It seemed to Diana that she had just closed her eyes when Emil was shaking her shoulder. "Wake up love, time to go," he whispered.

They saddled their horses in silence, moving clumsily in the darkness. The moon had risen, but it cast little light into the thicket where they had camped. They carefully made their way, leading the horses down the winding path between the trees. When they finally reached the edge of the stand of fir, the contrast between the gloom under the thick trees and the light from the moon in the almost cloudless sky caused them to pause for a moment while their eyes readjusted. It was a very bright night and they'd have to move carefully.

They rode cautiously toward the city, Diana pointing out the way. They had avoided roads before, but now there was no alternative. The unfamiliar noise of the horses' hoofs on pavement seemed so loud that Emil wondered how they would manage to go undetected. He was concerned, but they did not hesitate and moved steadily down what had been a major thoroughfare entering the city. Debris and rusting vehicles lined the edges of the road, and the asphalt and concrete of the pavement itself had begun to decay. Weeds and even small trees sprung up at frequent intervals through cracks in the road surface. There was no sign of life and no sound other than the steady clop, clop of the horses' hooves.

After almost a half hour of riding they came to an area where tall buildings still stood. Slowly they threaded their way down the dark canyon formed by the shells of the long abandoned buildings, dodging the rusting hulks of automobiles, wrecked military vehicles and the chunks of concrete and steel that must have been blown from the old buildings in some long ago battle.

They had just made a turn and were beginning to leave the gloomy canyon when Ralph issued a low warning growl and the hair on his back stood. Emil and Diana brought their horses to a halt and listened. At first they heard nothing, but then, faintly echoing in the distance they detected a strange droning sound that seemed to raise and lower in pitch melodically. Cautiously they moved onward, and as they did, the noise slowly increased in intensity. They rode on for almost a mile, with the sound growing ever louder, and as it became clearer, they were able to determine that they were hearing a strange kind of music. The timbre was wild and the rhythm was exciting. It was a simple march, but a foreboding drone underscored the melody. Now, the hairs on the back of Emil's neck stood too. They had now entered an area that had once been strip malls, mom and pop stores and automobile dealerships. Most buildings seemed to have burned at one time, and no window held even a single pane of glass. When they came to a clearing that appeared at one time to have been a park or an athletic field they spotted a small bonfire.

There, marching back and forth in front of the fire was a tall, gangly gray-haired man with a long beard. His steps were even and he moved to the rhythm of the strange music. Under his arm was a bag of some type and he appeared to be blowing into a tube attached to the bag. The music he was making was horrible yet thrilling.

"Bagpipes!" Diana whispered as she pulled her horse to a halt. "I read about them."

"Whatever they are, they make a hell of a noise," Emil responded. "You know the city. Should we talk to him or keep going?"

Diana shook her head. "I don't know. I've never seen anything like this." Then she laughed. "I guess if there was any danger, he wouldn't be standing in an empty field in the middle of the night making that horrible noise."

Emil's curiosity finally got the better of him, and he urged Charlie forward toward the fire. "Hello friend," Emil shouted as he neared the piper. At first the man paid no attention, and then the pipe slipped from his lips and he looked around in confusion, finally squinting into the darkness in Emil's direction.

"Who's there?" the piper shouted. "Is someone there?"

"I'm a friend," Emil spoke in a more normal tone as he rode into the light shed by the fire.

For a moment the man just stared in confusion, but then he found his voice. "You startled me. I thought I was the only one around. I ain't seen hide nor hair of another soul in over a week."

As the man spoke, Ralph moved out of the shadows and toward the man, cautiously, but not aggressively. When the man saw Ralph, he went to one knee and extended a hand, which Ralph immediately gave a good sniff and then a lick. When Ralph's tail began to wag, the man smiled.

"I ain't seen a human in over a week, but I ain't seen a dog in years. Used to have dogs myself, but they all died."

The man seemed harmless enough, so Emil waved Diana toward the fire and then dismounted. "I'm Emil," he said, and then he pointed toward Diana. "This is my wife, Diana."