At a leisure pace, a trio comprised of a young man, and two birds traveled through the woods. He had ditched his backpack in favor of a canvas rucksack, realizing there was not a lot value holding onto in his pack. Aside from a few remaining cigarettes, some food for the road, and his rescue knife, there was little else worth taking. Money had lost its use, there was not much point in confirming his ident.i.ty to people, and who was going to stop him for driving without a license? His gifted sword slung over his shoulder, Val traveled with far greater confidence than he did a couple weeks prior."Hey, Muninn, how far did you say it was to the survivors?" Val asked.
"At this pace, a few hours at most." She replied.
"Hmm…" Val thought about where they were, recalling the towns and cities nearby. It used to be a fairly populous area, he even had a few friends who lived out here.
Coming out to a highway, Val figured out where they were by some of the posted signs. Not liking the idea of walking everywhere on hard roads, he started heading off in a more southeastern direction.
"Boy, wrong way, that road will lead us closer to goblin activity and away from our destination." Huginn called.
"A few goblins aren"t concerning. You can fly, I can"t, I need wheels." Val retorted with indifference.
Huginn had a mocking tone in his voice. "What good will it do to find a car? Even if you find one that works, there"s too many abandoned or wrecked vehicles on the road to drive one. I"m not hanging around if you knock yourself out for a few days again."
"Relax, I"m not looking for a car. I knew a guy from work who was into bikes. He lived out here and if he survived, I doubt he had time to take all his stuff with him." Val said with an excited grin on his face.
Traveling along the highway, they arrived at a suburban town with a variety of houses all built in a sprawling, non-uniform fashion. Hilly in some areas, the cracked roads were winding and turning with chunks of loose asphalt lying around. Few houses were completely intact, many showing obvious signs of the aftermath of earthquakes and hurricanes. The few that were, had broken windows or stripped roof shingles, often both. Turned over garbage bins decorated driveways and contributed to the occasional unpleasant smell. Val"s heightened senses were far less appreciated in such situations.
Climbing a steep street, Val found the house he was looking for. It was a fairly plain two story home that was largely intact. The only detail that made this house standout was an expanded garage almost as big as the house itself.
The house, like all the others on the street clearly looked abandoned. Though the front door was locked, Val could see the deadbolt in the s.p.a.ce between the frame and the door, with his strength now, a wooden door did little to stand in his way.
"I suppose we"re past the days of knocking politely." Val said to himself as he casually kicked down the door and walked in. Dust formed a film along the laminate flooring, and sections of baseboard along the walls showed sign of rot and water damage.
"Hey! Kalvin! You home? I need to borrow a bike!" He shouted into the house. He was not expecting an answer but the action removed what little guilt he felt about breaking and entering into his old coworkers home.
"And just what do you intend to do when he finds out you"ve kicked down his door and stolen his bike? He"s your friend is he not?" Huginn eyed Val curiously.
"If I find him, he"ll be happier knowing I took care of it for him." Replying dismissively, Val did not immediately head for the garage, instead he walked into the kitchen.
"…What are you doing?" Huginn asked with a tone of annoyance.
"What"s it look like? Eating." Val was rifling through the cabinets, and drawers, picking out some cans of food that caught his interest, as well as a can opener and utensils.
"We *have* food." Huginn was now visibly annoyed by the repeated detours.
"We have bread, and a few pieces of dried venison. All I"ve been eating for days is venison, bread, and various vegetables and grains. Mind you, the food was great, but I"m a little sick of oats for breakfast and some arrangement of deer for the rest. I"m sure it"s better food but sometimes I need some junk in my diet, you"ll have to ignore my "modern sensibilities"." Val explained sarcastically.
Val set his things down and took a seat, casually helping himself to a meal of baked beans, canned fruit, and corned beef. At one point he offered some to the birds, Huginn turned away with disgust but Muninn took to sampling a bit before scampering off to inspect other parts of the house.
Finished with his meal, Val opened the door to the garage. Satisfaction appeared in his eyes as he inspected five bikes in good condition. Shelves filled with tools and equipment lined the walls of the garage, much of it having fallen off during the earthquakes. There were a few different makes and models, but he had one in particular he was interested in for his purposes.
Three of them looked like new models, another was a very iconic American cruiser, but the fifth bike was his goal. In the corner sat a KTM 950 from the mid 2000s, the frame had some bulk to it but it resembled the shape of a dirtbike. Largely silver in appearance, the bike had red and white accents professionally added to the body. At the foot of a shelf nearby, Val picked up the fallen keys and tested the ignition. In a moment, the engine rumbled and thrummed to life. Satisfied, Val cut the engine and left the keys in the ignition. He started searching the shelves for compatible saddlebags and fitted four sizable additions to the vehicle.
Huginn eyed Val curiously. "How did you know this one would work? Aren"t most of the vehicles dead?"
"Actually, most cars and bikes should be in decent condition, a lot of them have been ruined by hurricanes or they"ve gone and crashed when the EMPs struck. If they were on when it struck, it might short out and stall, but they should restart just fine. Problem is, newer rides like my car are chock full of fancy electronic gadgets and computers. Older vehicles before the late 2000s like this one, with conventional ignition fuses and few if any microprocessors, will survive just fine. h.e.l.l, the EMP might have refreshed the battery life on some of these guys." Val explained.
"I see…"
"I"d take a car if not for the fact that the roads are cluttered with abandoned vehicles. I"m not going to waste my time clearing the road, to say nothing of the condition of some of these roads. Kalvin had good taste, suspension on these have a lot of give, I can take this one off-road no problem if I have to."
"Good, let"s go then, we"ve wasted enough time as it is. Muninn and I will be fine, but you don"t want to be rolling into a city full of ghouls at night." Huginn said impatiently.
"Just relax, we"ll get there in no time with this." Val returned to the kitchen and started raiding the cabinets for additional supplies, filling the saddlebags to the brim.
"Hey, Muninn, you find the bedroom?" Val called up the stairs.
"Yes. Up here."
Heading into the bedroom, Val searched through the closet, eventually pulling out a dark brown leather jacket with a satisfied grin.
He put on the jacket, it was not a perfect fit, being slightly larger, but it fit well enough regardless.
Taking a pair of shades from the kitchen counter top, he grabbed his things, returned to the garage and lifted the gate.
Huginn perched behind Val, gripping some netting wrapped around the seat, while Muninn perched on the middle of the handlebars, eying the dials on the dashboard. Val did not mind her blocking his view of it considering there was no one enforcing the speed limits on the road anyway.
"Just to be certain, you *have* handled one of these before, yes?" Huginn asked with some concern.
"Eh, once, maybe twice, it was a while ago." Val casually remarked.
Huginn did not reply, but the sound of talons clawing into the leather seat was enough of an answer.
Turning the ignition and twisting the throttle, the bike lurched forward suddenly as Val unsteadily took it out of the driveway and into the road.
. . .
Fifteen minutes of traveling along the roads, Val had a much better grasp on the handling of the bike, easily maneuvering around the occasional abandoned car. As he had expected, the bike had no problems with the occasional crack or fissure in the road. Wind swept his hair back as he sped along the broken roads.
"At this pace we should be there in another ten minutes. Take the next offramp." Muninn instructed.
"Don"t worry, I know where we"re going, San Rafael right?" Val asked.
"How did you know?"
"Figured it out from where we were earlier, the only city the size and distance you described out here would be San Rafael. More supplies to live off of, and relatively self sufficient if they can repair and staff the facilities. Makes sense to me for a place to gather survivors."
"You know the city? Any friends of yours there?" Muninn seemed to show some concern as she studied Val"s expression.
"Not in the city proper, no, but I pa.s.sed through there a few times. Hard place to miss if you"re traveling up to the Pacific Northwest. I doubt I know anyone there, but who knows. I expect my friends down south would have head east into Nevada if they survived, doubt anyone tried to go north considering how bad the Bay looked."
"I see… I hope they survived."
"What, worried I"ll run into someone I know as a ghoul or something?"
"It"s a possibility."
"If I did, it"s more likely someone else"s soul possessing their body right?"
"Yes, but it"s still their body and image."
"Don"t worry, I"m not that naive. Even if it was their soul in their own dead body, best thing I can do for them is cut them down and send them on to the afterlife." Val a.s.sured her. The thought had occurred to him, and it did indeed bother him a bit, but he was not so foolish to think he could bring them back. Knowing he could at least send them to a better place replaced his hesitation with resolve.
Pa.s.sing a city limits sign, a city lacking any tall buildings appeared in the distance. The area seemed pretty well intact, many buildings would be considered ruined but only a few had completely collapsed.
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It was mid afternoon when they arrived. Cars lined and cluttered the streets, abandoned and left to weather the elements. Driving slowly, Val maneuvered between perpetual traffic jams, eying the surroundings carefully. Muninn had warned him that the larger buildings with less light exposure would be most likely to house ghouls. He wanted to take a look at one but was not particularly thrilled about riling up an entire nest of starving corpses. Huginn remained alert, taking in his surroundings and looking to catch the slightest movement.
"Hey, which way to the warehouse?" Val asked.
"Follow this street, take a right onto 1st Street, then turn down the second street on your left." Muninn instructed.
Doing as she instructed, he saw a large wholesale retail warehouse at the end of the road. The survivors had parked cars sideways, blocking the entrances to a large parking lot. All the warehouse gates appeared closed, many tents were erected in the otherwise empty lot. Were it under different conditions, he might have thought it was preparation for a weekend farmer"s market of some kind.
He drove up onto the sidewalk and squeezed the bike through a gap, driving into the lot when he saw a couple men in police uniforms moving in his direction.
One of them drew a handgun. Val felt his muscles tighten and his body warm as he reflexively reacted to danger. Trying to bring his body under control, he instructed the two ravens to stay put. Cutting the engine and dropping the kick stand, he dismounted and approached the two men casually.
"Stop! You don"t look like one of ours. Who are you and what is your business here?" The policeman who had not drawn his firearm asked.
Annoyed, but not surprised, Val folded his arms.
"My name"s Val, I hear you have a ghoul problem."