Chapter 15: The Signal
They left the small house at dusk, melting back into the gray world of twilight. The brief rest had done little to restore Quinn’s energy, but it had sharpened his focus. They could not stay in the suburbs. The houses were too isolated, the supplies too scarce. They needed to find a more strategic position.
As darkness fell, the landscape changed. The neat rows of single-family homes gave way to strip malls and low-rise office buildings. The streets were wider, littered with more cars, more bodies. The density of the infected increased with the density of the population. They moved in small, scattered groups, their dark silhouettes framed against the dying light.
Quinn held Lily’s hand, his grip a firm, reassuring anchor in the chaos. He found a temporary hiding spot in the narrow alley between a closed-down laundromat and a pizza place, its windows smashed and its tables overturned. He let Lily rest while he kept watch, his eyes scanning the horizon.
That is when he saw it.
Far in the distance, rising above the low rooftops, was a tall apartment building. It was maybe fifteen or twenty stories high, a dark monolith against the bruised purple sky. And on one of the upper floors, a light flickered.
It was not a fire. It was too controlled, too deliberate. It was a faint, intermittent pulse. On, off. On, off. A signal.
He watched it for a long time, debating. It could be other survivors, a beacon of hope in the darkness. It could be a trap, a lure set by people who had become more dangerous than the infected. Or it could be nothing, a shorting electrical circuit, a random fluke.
He looked down at Lily. She had fallen into a fitful sleep, her small face pale and smudged with dirt. She was hungry. Their meager supply of crackers and canned beans would not last long. Their water was running low. Hope was a dangerous thing in this new world, but desperation was a powerful motivator. He made a decision. The potential for help, for supplies, for a defensible position, was a risk worth taking.
"Lily," he whispered, gently waking her. "We have a new destination. See that light?" He pointed to the distant building. "We’re going to see if there are other treasure hunters there."