I look at the outside carefully, nobody can be seen in the darkness. Vorarin stares at the building as well. Just like a culprit who looks at his halter to be sure it is real, he looks at the building and gulp his saliva once in a while. His face doesn’t show off the nervous mood and it is not so much to makes him play with his hand or bite his lips.
I see nobody in the street. It’s time to move. But, before we go, for we have at least a loophole, I’ll enter the building through the main door, you from the other side. This way, if one of us get caught, would be able to inform the other.
It is not the best way, because if they have held the building, certainly they have thought about that as well. Most importantly, they keep their eyes on us. I put my knapsack on my shoulders and move ahead of Vorarin. I move counter to the way in which the two soldiers passed, while I keep close to the car, and then monitor the boulevard through the disjoined door of the car. Vorarine comes to me by my hand signal and after a while stands beside the opposite car. He also signals me in the same way to reach the building. I wait for Vorarin beside the entry door.
Vorarin passes the last car and stands by me in the darkness. His face is calm and he plays with his lips once in a while. This is not the first time that he does it. It seems to be his habit, but it makes his face attractive and funny.
I enter through here. You should enter by the next building. Surely you’ll have no difficulty to enter because the wall between these two buildings has collapsed. You stay there till I inform you. You, too, make me aware in case of you see something suspicious, with the insignia.
He stops playing with his lips, looks around nervously and wends while he takes a deep breath. He manages to enter the building through a big hole within thirty seconds.
When he fades away in the darkness of the possessed building, I step into the building after taking a deep breath. My body tickles a bit and a cold wave passes through my body off and on. I reach into the building close to the wall like a lizard.
There is no difference between inside and outside of the building. The walls are like the shredded body and everywhere is full of the bricks. The four pillars form a quadrangle and the elevator is in the middle of it. The wires of the elevator are cut and its cabin is like a crushed cube, as if it fell down swiftly. This is a big building which has stairs in both sides. There can be seen the bent iron beams and can be heard the sound of the wind which associates the winter. Everything is gray; even the elevator seems like a hallucinous coffin. The ashes and the dust on the ground may help us. These shows some foot tracks but faded. I approach them.
The radiated rays from the moon which pass through the holes on the wall and reaches here, show the floating dust in the air. A soft but cold breeze passing through the holes makes the fearsome sounds too.
I sit on my feet and keep my balance putting my hands on the ground, while I am on alert for any sound around me. I feel a shooting pain in my breast and back. But at least I am lucky that the wounds on my feet are healed. Though I feel pain, I bend down to have a look at the foot tracks. Most of them are faded away and just few of them are intact. There also can be seen some palm tracks that seems to be someone’s intention to clear the foot tracks. The remained tracks seem similar and are only toward the stairs and the hole on the wall at the end of the building, yet no one can be seen and no sound can be heard and just the sound of landslide from the upstairs can be heard once in a while.
Suddenly I remember the letters. I forgot them and that I came here with them. I feel my heart beats in my breast. A weakness engulfs my body. I curse myself for my neglect. I should be free of care about them. I look around until I meet a mass of debris which is heaped on a corner. I put the letters into the debris and cover them with some bricks. Then I attach my insignia with a pin on my breast under my shirt to make it easier to use. Next, I press its button:
Nothing much is happening here for the nonce, what about you, Vorarin?
A weak hiss, which only I can hear it, and then Vorarin’s voice is heard:
No, I see nothing suspicious as well. Everywhere is calm.
Catch me up.
Then I push the button again and wait in the darkness until I hear a foot step after less than one minute. Surely he is Vorarin, yet I don’t throw caution into the wind. When he comes close to here, he takes his steps slowly until he reaches the edge of the wall. After a while a black body is seen who is looking around. He seeks refuge in the edges like me and as he takes step toward me, he says:
Zairas…Zairas…Zairas…
I reply him with a soft and short whistle. He turns his head toward me like a sharp eyed eagle and after a pause he comes to me.
I think nobody is here.
Don’t you see the foot tracks? The enemy always waits in ambush.
Where? Where’s it?
Then he looks along my forefinger and after watching for a while he says in wonder:
How did you find them? They seems to be old.
I shake my head and say:
No, you’re completely wrong. They’re not old but whoever he was or they were, tried to clean the tracks. This causes one to be doubted since it isn’t clear that the track is left from one guy or more.
Well, what do you intend to do now?
Nothing special comes to my mind and I just follow the same common way.
Nothing. Just the same usual way. I go upstairs, you stay here. If the situation seems under control there, I’ll inform you.
I reach to the left side stairs through the debris and ruins and take step cautiously. I feel landslide under my feet and with each step the groaning sound of the stairs can be heard. All of the walls are gray, like the war-torn regions.
I reach the first floor. Everything is untouched and nothing special can’t be seen. The elevator also passes through here, and closing to the edges, downstairs can be seen. So many corridors are there which the origin of all is the elevator. There is also a long counter in the left side. No furniture and equipment can be found in the building, and there can be seen just some rusted and useless metals. Also, there are stairs to the upper floors from four sides.
I take the insignia off my breast and activate the A-2 address. The lamp begins blinking and makes a beep sound. I turn it all around like a compass until its light and the beep sound become extended.
The beep sound becomes extended and the light blinks so fast toward the right side, just where I am. The set shows me an oblique direction in which I should pass through a corridor to reach him.
I enter the corridor and go forward slowly along the right side. There is no foot track. Although the fresh air enters here easily, everything smells musty. The sound of the wind just can be heard which passes through the holes on the walls and roars like a dragon. I wish I were wind, and I could inspect everywhere swimmingly.
Finally I reach where I intended to. The signals guide me to one of the room on the left side which is just in front of me. There is no door and I can see inside the room easily without I enter it. It seems that an earthquake have occurred in this room since everything is scattered and ruined on the ground: the file cabinets, the broken chairs and tables, the lampshade, half burned books. And I see the splinter glass for the first time.
Since the dust which has covered everything is untouched and shows no foot track or sign, it proves that my act is foolish, yet I relocate things with my feet. Again, I check my insignia set, but it shows just here.
Where does your insignia point at, Vorarin?
Maybe my insignia shows wrong.
Wait!
The sound of pushing some buttons is heard. Then he says:
Aha, found. As I see, it should be where you went up, just that side. Only there the beep sound becomes extended. Did you find something?
Not yet. Here’s nothing but an empty room. I’m just in this position, yet nobody is here.
Maybe they left their insignia here but there is no sign of their entrance. Here is just like a crypt where nobody has
get in there for many years. All of a sudden the hiss sound from the insignia is heard and Vorarin says excitedly:
Hey, this set just shows the direction not the height, I guess. That is, he may be in upper floors.
What he says makes sense to me. I return toward the stairs and enter the second floor through the steps which are collapsed almost alternately. My voice echoes through the building as in a cave. Here is similar to the first floor but here, the direction of the corridors is different.
When I look at the insignia, I see that it beeps at the same direction, but now in the second floor, continuously. So Vorarin’s assumption comes true. This time I find another corridor and I go toward the direction that the insignia shows. Here again, the signal comes from inside of a room. I enter and look around. Here, just like the downstairs, everything is untouched and a five-millimeter layer of the ashes has covered everywhere.
The insignia points at the wall. I enter the other room but it shows again the same wall. Then I go to the third floor but there is just an empty space where the insignia points at, and no room or corridor can be seen. No need to look for, and the location, which the insignia shows, can be seen easily.
What’s up? Did you find anything?
Anxiety and worriment can be felt in his voice.
I’m in third floor but nobody is here. He should be in upper floors.
I’m coming up.
I wait until I see him finally on the stairs. There is still a little anxiety in his face which disappears when he comes close to me.
There are nine floors in this building. He might be in each of them. Except for the foot tracks in the first floor, there’s no sign of human beings. I think we don’t need to be so cautious.
Don’t be deceived by appearance. It’s like the sea which is calm now and becomes stormy one hour later. Here makes me feel the same. I go ahead of you, and you keep your distance.
He accepts indisputably and waits until I move. I go up the stairs and reach the fourth floor. I stand beside the stairs until Vorarin joins me. Here is also calm and its design is similar to the first floor, but there is no corridor on the left side where I am now. There are only a series of rooms which are next to each other.
Suddenly I hear the sound of collapsing and a sharp scream bears bad news. I turn back but I can’t see Vorarin. I try each step before I pass through. Four steps have collapsed together. The perpetual screams are heard. I see Vorarin’s hand which has grabbed the edge and he tries to do the same with his other hand.
Keep calm, I catch you now. Hang in there a bit.
I reach him with the help of the gray and curved banister near the stairs and I see his hand which trembles and his fingers which release the edge little by little. I try to take his hand several times but he is at a rather long distance from me.
Again I hear an earsplitting scream but I manage to grab his hand at the last second, while I hold the banister with my other hand. The banister groans under the weight of our body. According to his puniness, his weight is low but he pulls me down so that I am nearly fall. I still hold the banister with my hand and pull him up a little, but he can’t grab the edge and his body pulls us downward. The banister makes a cry-like sound and one of its pillars severs.
I count to three, then I pull you up. You should grab the edge unless the banister will sever.
I feel the falling sands under my feet. A weak quake shakes the stairs and, like the aftershocks, warns a big quake. I fix my foothold, then, after a deep breath, I count to three and pull him up. All of a sudden I feel like a hot iron is put on my waist and my breast.
He grabs the edge and pulls himself up. Suddenly the step under my feet collapses but I manage to save myself. I pull the banister like a rope and lay myself on the ground in the fourth floor. My breast goes up and down ceaselessly. Vorarin is also on the floor on all fours and he coughs. He is dusty cap a pie. I find out why he doesn’t shout anymore; he pours out his salvia to empty his mouth of dust.
Are you ok?
He shakes his head but his face says something else.
Five other floors still remain.
He wipes off his mouth with his sleeves and says:
Damn, I wish I stayed in the first floor.
Yeah, you informed all the world with this much fuss you made. We don’t need to hide ourselves anymore. If there is anybody here, now he is aware of us. Just God grant nobody heard us from outside. We should hurry up.
I go toward the room which the signal comes from, and open the door slowly. This is a rather big room in which nothing is seen, as if ransacked by brigands. The signal comes from behind the wall which there is no way to reach there. Yet this is the only room in which can’t be seen so much ashes, and it has almost its own dark brown color. My mind is so confused that I return to Vorarin immediately. He shakes his head regretfully and then he rises. Before going up the stairs, he says:
I’m really sorry, I couldn’t help it. I go ahead of you and try the stairs to be safe.
My fear is doubled, and I feel my muscles become constricted. I experience a strange weakness in my body. I decide to go back, but it is too late. It might be a trap from the very beginning. Though nothing has changed, revealing our presence along with Vorarin’s shouts have affected me spontaneously.
I want to get out of here as soon as possible. But now there is no way to return. He tries the stairs at a distance of five steps ahead of me, and I move only with his permission. We find nothing and see nobody in the fifth floor too. Here is like an untouched cake, it seems unlikely that some have made a trap here for us. My mind is so confused that I can’t understand what Vorarin says and where we go.
At the end of the fifth floor, moon shines on us and like a savior it saves me from my thought. Vorarin finds its reason; it seems as if they have exploded a bomb in sixth floor, it is has been ruined completely. There can’t be seen any wall or window. There is no way to upstairs and the sixth floor is just the roof of the downstairs. I don’t know why I haven’t seen the destruction of this floor.
There are some short wall up to our breasts. The fresh air and a cold breeze can be felt, which enters my clothes, makes my body tremble and then gets out. It seems that the moon scatters the seeds of cold air by its soft light. Looking at the moon makes me feel cold.
From up here the landscapes make us calm and dazzle for a short time. It is dark but I can see the remnants of the dead buildings which seem like a cemetery that all of its gravestones are broken. The wind is like a wail which rises from them and seeks help. This view robs everything from my mind and calms my mind for few seconds.
It’s too gloomy.
Vorarin looks regretfully. The town is thoroughly gray; the town which its darkness is darker than darkness and its silence is more deadly than every other silence. I can hear death steps in the streets of the town. His usher, the wind, accompanies him. Suddenly a hand moves in front of my face and distracts me, that is to say, draws me out of the marsh.
It looks like you burn your farm with your own hands. This shows the human selfishness. He’s ready to destroy everything and of course himself to prevent others from having something. I always thought what could hell look like, but now the hell is just in front me.
He points at the opposite street:
I wish there was a delicatessen I could buy a sandwich.
He points at the street again:
You think what would the town look like if it was rebuild?
He doesn’t wait for my reply:
Probably the heights of the buildings wouldn’t allow us to see the horizon line. Everywhere would be full of colored lamps, big billboards, red, blue and green. So many cars in the streets, and the sound of the horns would show that the town is alive. Sidewalks would be full of passengers who jostle you. Why things went the way they did?
Then he becomes quiet, and I say:
We are expiating our previous generations. The nature is also revenging.
Do you know exactly how th
e world destroyed?
The elders says when they woke up, the sun was too angry. All people died of skin cancer. Those who survived, suffered from cataract and then become blind. All of their products destroyed and all of the animals died. No tree stayed alive. All nations destroyed themselves in atomic world war, instead of they try to improve the situation. We remained and a hell. For this we wear glassy clothes, sleep all day and are active night time.
Till when it should be like this?
Till we want this. I wish God and nature forgive us.
The “Hope” group members are doing their best. We’re here for this.
To save the world? How we should save this frozen desert?
Maybe, I don’t know. Maybe we shouldn’t allow the world becomes worse than this.
I look at his eyes and ask him:
Is it supposed to make war again?
I hope not.
So what are the blue and red groups doing here? What are they looking for?
I don’t know. Nothing is clear, but they broke the borders.
The reds are double-crossing.
He takes a deep breath and says:
We can’t say this. It isn’t clear yet why they’re here.
It’s so important that these three groups are facing each other after too many years. The blue group kept themselves to themselves. I hadn’t even seen a blue-eye at close range., And also the reds who came here because of losing their lives.
They didn’t keep aloof so that you think. They delimit for themselves and they sent their flag for us too.
I ask in wonder:
I’d never heard about it.
They intended to trade with us. They asked us to delimit and send them our flag. They have progressed a good deal after the world destruction. They turned a ruined town to an alive and well town.
They parted company with us from the beginning.
What do you mean?
A cold wind trembles my body. I say:
After that the world destroyed, those who stayed alive seek refuge in the shelters. More than ninety five percent of the people died. The distance caused the remained people to divide into different groups. There were the big shelters around the world. After passing the age of “vacuity”, two big shelters parted company with us entirely.
You mean the red and the blue groups?
Exactly. Nobody knows what happened that their eyes and their blood turned into blue and red. All say that it’s because of the radioactive materials, but it’s simply enough you refer to the old books and see that this isn’t the A-bomb effects.
So what it could be?
Nobody knows but themselves.
It means…
All of a sudden Vorarin cuts his word halfway, looks behind me over my shoulder, and says:
What’s that!?
I turn back but I see nothing. He points with his finger. There are two small black box of the size of matches box are mounted on the walls of the stairs. Suddenly my body becomes loose. I look toward where Vorarin stared at. As I guessed, there are four shadows who are coming toward us. I feel so much energy and as I begin to run, I say:
Hurry up! We should get out of here. Move it!
Vorarin looks at me like the possessed, he is shocked a little. He follows me running without any question. We move slowly, but faster than before, on the stairs. We wouldn’t get chance to get out of here. So we should find somewhere to hide. The walls of the fifth floor are full of holes and there is no intact wall. We have to go to the fourth floor.
We hear the sound of people talking to each other which echoes through the building. I look down through the stairs. The lights of their torches are searching everywhere. They break doors, if any, and search everywhere. Two of them are coming to the second floor.
Damn! They’re coming up. We should hide somewhere.
Vorarin becomes pale. He, while tries to hide his voice tremor, says:
They’ll find us. We can’t hide ourselves anywhere.
It’s better than they come and find us easily.
I go toward the first door I see and open it slowly. But there is no way; there are just some windows which are useless because of their heights, nevertheless Vorarin goes toward a window and examine there. From his nervous face, I realize that there is no loophole.
I look around to find something to close the door, but there is nothing. The only hope for us is destroyed. There is no way to return as well. Breaking each door is like a sledgehammer which is pounded on my head. I can hear footsteps and the sound of equipment caused by movement.
It is like the death knell is ringing to announce our death. Both of us stand near the door. Maybe we could do anything. The footsteps come closer every second. I have held my breath insomuch that I feel I am suffocating. Vorarin has clasped and hugged the wall tightly so that he wants to hide himself into it.
It is like I pass through one hundred years until their footsteps echo through fourth floor. Then the sound of breaking a door is heard. It makes me feel the earth under my feet collapsed. Vorarin loses his patience and comes to me.
They’re coming, what do we do?
The sound of another door, which is metallic, is heard. Vorarin goes away from the door. I go toward him and take some bricks off the wall. Vorarin takes a rod off the ground too and stands by me. He gulps his saliva once in a while.
All of a sudden I lose my balance and pull his shirt. He bends on his knees along with me. My right leg burns and makes me wince.
My leg stuck in the hole of first floor. It seems to be collapsed because of being loose. I try to pull my leg out of the hole but it stuck tightly. Vorarin comes to help me and relocates my foot slowly, but it doesn’t come out. Meanwhile, I hear the sound of door breaking. I look at the door but it is not the door of this room. My heart almost stops beating. My nostrils quiver intensely. I feel pain and fear together. I shake and relocate my leg faster and this makes me feel more pain, but I don’t care; this pain is better than death.
I hold my breath for the last time and try to pull out my leg. It seems that my soul wants to leave my body through the big toe. The strange weakness stops me. It nauseates me. My body trembles, and I can’t keep my balance.
I stay in this way for a while. Then I remember our insignias. We should destroy them, but I have not energy to open my mouth and tell it to Vorarin. I hear their footsteps who are approaching us. All of a sudden an idea springs to my mind. My hands stop trembling and my vertigo ends automatically. I unlace my shoes, hold my breath and pull my leg out of the hole. Anxiety blocks mind and prevents us to make a correct decision.
The sounds of those soldiers’ footsteps don’t give me a chance to think of the pain. They stop behind the door. It seems my soul is leaving my body. I get up and go toward the wall. Maybe there is a loophole that I haven’t seen it yet. But there is just a wall. I return and look at the door with Vorarin.
Suddenly, along with breaking the door, a hand covers my mouth and I feel that I am pulled back.
Chapter 17
A-2