Rayne entered the Inner City late in the afternoon, slipped into the shadows of the towering, shiny skyscrapers and dodged from building to building. Her chances of finding Rawn were slim to none, but she had to try. The pain in her legs sapped her, hunger gnawed at her, and she stopped at taps to drink. The water eased her stomach ache, but added nothing to her dwindling strength. Twice, she spotted police patrols and hid in dark doorways until they passed.
At dusk, she rested in a ruined office building, on a battered sofa that had somehow survived the destructive effects of the pollution that ravaged the planet. She stared out of a grimy window at the dismal street, raising her gaze once more to the grey clouds. The cuts in greenhouse gas output had been too little and far too late. The vast amount of gas already released caused irreparable damage to the ozone layer as it rose into the upper atmosphere. Combined with the methane cattle farms produced and the destruction of the world’s forests, the end result was predictably disastrous.
The ozone layer was almost gone now, making exposure to the sun hazardous; even a few hours could cause skin cancer. The acid rain ate into everything. It soaked into the ground and killed the trees and few struggling weeds. Once filtered by the soil, it was safe to drink. Sometimes thick yellow smog enveloped everything, burnt eyes and skin and left behind a layer of soot.
The once-beautiful blue oceans were mere legend now. Brown seas foamed on filthy beaches like a massive sewer. No one lived beside it anymore; the stench of rot and noxious bacterial secretions were strong enough to make people sick. A thick blanket of green algae covered the sluggish waves. Adapted to saline conditions, it thrived on the toxic soup of chemicals and pollutants. The sea had turned into the very thing humans had used it for: a cesspit.
Rayne sighed and rose, wincing. The prospect of stumbling through the darkening city did not appeal to her, but necessity drove her. If she failed to find Rawn, she was not sure she would survive; she would have great difficulty running, and she had to find food before she became too weak.