The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide to Disillusionment

Gyaros

Our generation is lucky to have been born into the Interconnected culture. Everything comes easy to us. So when you meet a survivor of The Great Tide, go easy on them. They have all lost too much.

– The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide, Vol. 6, excerpt from line 172

By the time the roads were passable again, everything had turned to mud. Mem and Avra were safe with Paley and most of the rest of the Sunshine Klatsch in Tarrytown. They collected three aggressive looking trucks with extra battery packs and Paley's son, Bing, who had returned from overseas a year earlier, gathered an armed group to accompany Bryan back to Croton to look for Jake and any survivors at the Zadeka compound. Bryan was beside himself with worry and self loathing. They didn't let him drive, as his state of mind made him reckless. Bing's friends were all ex-military. Everyone was sufficiently armed and ready.

The roads were in terrible shape. Frost heaves had broken up most of the pavement and trees were down everywhere. It was slow going. They tried the old Taconic, but it was in worse shape, so they worked their way up Route 9, clearing away what they could and avoiding the rest.

Somewhere between Scarborough and Ossining, some people ran out from behind a brownstone building to meet them, thinking they might be from the government. They were half a dozen men and women in rough shape. Bing sussed them up in time to keep his gang from opening fire. They weren't armed.

"Do you know what's going on?" asked a woman in a brown hoodie, her hair curly and gray, her arms around a boy, maybe seven.

"Not much," replied Bing. "How are you holding up here?"

"Not too good," the woman replied. "The flu or something tore through our community something awful. The cold made it worse. A lot of us died. Too many. Where are you coming from?"

"We're down south of Sleepy Hollow," replied Bing. "We had it bad too. The worst of it seems to have passed."

"Have you heard anything from the governor or anyone from the state or federal?" she asked. "They can't just leave us to fend for ourselves forever, can they?"

"Dunno, ma'am," Bing said; his soldier's demeanor had kicked in. "We're just out here looking for some friends who ran into trouble with some gang or other. Do you know anything about that?"

The woman looked confused. "There's no gang here," she said. "We're just people."

"I like your car," the boy in her arms said.

"I like your jacket," replied Bing. "Yankees fan?"

The boy looked confused.

"Anyway, we need to head north a few more miles. Anything you can tell us we should know about that direction?"

"There were fires up there," the woman said. "We saw them from here. Maybe a month ago. Since then, we've not seen anything."

"Well, we appreciate the help," Bing said, getting ready to move on.

"Wait! Where you're from, are you, do you have more... I mean, can we get any help?"

"We're all struggling like you are, ma'am, but maybe we have an idea of how to get things put right. It couldn't hurt to combine our efforts, certainly. We're just a few miles down the road. Sleepy Hollow. Tarrytown. Find the Lester Sunshine Inn just south of the Tapp. Ask for my mom. Her name is Paley. It only makes sense we should stay in touch with our neighbors and try to rebuild."

"Thank you, we will," said a man behind the woman with the boy. "Good luck to you!"

"You too," said Bing, and he started up the road again.