Chapter 18: The Endless Empire
When the sun came up, Charlie and Camila ended their slumber party. They used the elevation of the office building to view the coast and chart a course through the rest of the city. From their vantage point, they could see that the waterfront condominiums looked to be in pretty good shape. The poor condition of the downtown office buildings and lowrise apartments that transitioned the suburbs into the city had been weighing on Charlie’s psyche. They hoped there would be some friendly people on the waterfront.
They had seen dozens of people by themselves or in groups of two or three, and all of them fled as soon as they noticed the pair. All of them except the group of bandit trolls, at least. Camila thought there must have been violence between people in the city to make them so skittish.
As they traveled, another pack of wolves tried to ambush them, but Charlie repeated her wind weaving to create a tornado, catching all of them. Before they were destroyed by the tornado one of them was killed by an extremely powerful Assassin’s Execution, revealing the presence of their least favorite party member. He just loved to use his one shot, one kill ability, even when it was complete overkill.
Parker sauntered out from the shadows and called out to them, “What would you have done if I was an enemy? You’re so hopeless without me.”
“I would have smashed your face in,” Camila responded confidently. He just laughed it off, moving to put his arm around Charlie’s shoulders.
“It took me a while to catch up to you, didn’t you miss me?” He directed toward Charlie.
She shifted away and avoided the question, “Did you find a settlement?”
“No, I was hurrying to meet with you.” He leered at her. “I think the other guys might have had some luck, I’ve been watching the artifacts and they haven’t moved much. We should go to them!” He suggested.
The look on Camila’s face said she wanted to go in the opposite direction of their party members, but, since they were trying to find a settlement for the relative safety it would provide for people like Charlie’s parents, she motioned for him to lead the way. He tried strutting but it was ruined when she made him pick up the pace.
A few miles and a few wolves later, they were stopped at a checkpoint that had been created by cutting a hole into a semi truck trailer as a passage. The trailer blocked access to the next intersection, making the block a deadend other than the checkpoint. A group of people sat on top looking menacing while a pair stood in front of the passageway. The bearded guard in front of the passage demanded they identify themselves.
Despite leading them there, Parker put the girls between him and the guard, forcing them to figure it out. Camila simply took charge by returning the demand.
“Who’s asking?” Camila asked, taking a familiar stance of defiance.