The Aztec Saga - Hunted

  Chapter Sixteen

  For several hours, we walked along the desolate streets of Melbourne. We dared not speak to each other as our voices would float over the eerily still air. Each noise that sounded in the distance made us jump and caused adrenaline to race through our veins, so we were both exhausted.

  We eventually came across a small real estate office, seemingly unaffected by the chaos. It wasn’t anything special, and I doubted it ever was a vibrant place, but it was now our oasis in the rubble of the city.

  “Do you think we can take five here?” I asked in a flat, dull voice. “I really need to rest.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. There’s probably a back office so we’re not seen from the street. Mind you, we’ve walked for hours and still haven’t crossed a single person,” he said as he stepped through a door of broken glass. “I wish I had a computer so we could access the net and find out what’s going on—a news report or something—but the power is out across the city.”

  I followed behind him, too exhausted to think or to care at this point.

  “There you go, Alex,” Andy said gently. “There’s an office behind the reception area here. You can rest for a while.”

  We moved behind the reception screen into a reasonable sized office. Andy’s face lit up as he exclaimed, “Yes, yes, yes! Look, Alex ... a laptop! A laptop and not a desktop!” he said sitting down at a small desk.

  I looked at him with one eyebrow raised. “Does that matter?”

  “A desktop needs power. A laptop can run on batteries.” His hands flew across the keyboard, as the laptop came to life and responded to his commands.

  “Ah,” I said as I took Andy’s blood-soaked jacket off and slowly lowered myself down to the floor, resting my body against the wall. I was too tired to feel the true extent of the pain.

  “Maybe there’s been a news report uploaded ...” He sounded more hopeful than convincing.

  I looked up to the night sky through the one window on the back wall of the office. The stars twinkled and glimmered as they shone brightly. A deep longing for home crept into me. I closed my eyes as I tried to remember the smell of the rain as it hit the hot, dusty roads.

  Andy stopped what he was doing to move over and sit next to me. He looked up to the sky as well. “Don’t normally see the stars in Melbourne. There are usually too many lights; we can only see them now because of the city’s black out.” I knew he missed Warrangatta as much as I did.

  “How could you live anywhere where you couldn’t see the stars?” To me the stars were, and always would be, freedom. When you can see the stars and feel the night sky hug the Earth, that’s when you’re home.

  As I stared up at them, my eyes drew heavier and heavier. Hours passed before I reopened them.