[ WP ] I watched the mighty skyline fall

I stared at the grizzled old man from across the campfire. 
 
 The others had long since gone to bed, but I found the reluctant speaker to be fascinating. The stories he tells about the stars at bed time were the stuff of legend. Even Alfred, who can barely remember his name, is able to recite the stories word for word they ’ re that good. 
 
 Finding him had been a stroke of luck, or perhaps misfortune for him. Our gang is small, barely five of us, and with no place to really call home we ’ re easy targets for the larger groups. But I ’ m hoping he can help change that for us. 
 
 “ You ’ ve been there? ” I finally summoned the courage to ask. “ You ’ ve been inside. ” 
 
 The way he stared at me chilled me to the core. I could barely breathe let alone move under such a gaze. 
 
 It wasn ’ t an angry gaze. It wasn ’ t fear that pinned me. I don ’ t even really know how to describe it. It was like there was this immense knowledge, wisdom, and understanding? Like all the knowledge of the world was just a breath away. Whether it was contained behind his eyes, or … I don ’ t know. There was a hint of pity as well. Like a thin outline on tissue paper, it gave that depth of understanding a bitterness. 
 
 That ’ s what pinned me there for the longest time. I swear the moon passed overhead before he finally took a breath and spoke. 
 
 “ You flee the other clans. You think to seek refuge in the city. ” 
 
 “ No one goes there. We ’ d be safe. Out here, we ’ re outnumbered. Out played. They ’ re picking us off one by one. Our group used to be ten times this size. ” 
 
 He stared at me. “ The city is not a solution. ” 
 
 “ Neither is staying out here in the forest. You could show us - ” 
 
 “ The city. Is not. A solution. ” 
 
 “ Why not? ” 
 
 “ It ’ s a tomb. Better to surrender to another gang. ” 
 
 “ They ’ d kill us for our supplies. Meager though they are. There has to be a way in. ” 
 
 “ Oh there ’ s plenty of ways in, ” he replied. “ But no way out. ” 
 
 “ Why? ” 
 
 “ It ’ s a fly trap. You can ’ t see it from outside, but once you step across the ‘ horizon ’ you ’ re as good as dead. ” 
 
 “ But not dead? ” 
 
 “ Better to be dead than part of the city. ” 
 
 “ What is it? ” 
 
 He looked at me. “ It ’ s, hard to explain to someone who ’ s never gone to school. ” 
 
 “ I know how to read and write. I can do basic math. ” I was extremely proud of that fact. Dad had drilled me every night growing up. Not many could do that anymore. I had hoped we ’ d find someplace to settle down. Some place safe, that I might be able to teach my own kids someday. 
 
 That was looking more and more like a pipe dream. 
 
 After the last long winter, resources were even harder to come by. The gangs fought for their territory even more fiercely. We ’ d had to flee our own ground when dad died last year – now…. If the city wasn ’ t an option, I wasn ’ t sure what we would do. 
 
 “ Basic math, ” the man sighed. “ You won ’ t understand, but….when I was a child, younger than your youngest, the world was full of marvelous things. Enormous knowledge. We could talk to people around the world. Even see them. ” 
 
 “ We even built machines that built other machines. With a push of a button you could create art, trinkets, tools. ” 
 
 “ That ’ s where it started anyway. The replication got out of hand though. A virus in one of the “ machines that build machines ” when global. Like a bomb. It grew over the entire city. Replicating and consuming everything it touched. ” 
 
 “ The city is still there though, I ’ ve seen it! ” I replied. “ Is this another one of your stories? ” 
 
 He looked at me. Square in the eye. “ No, this isn ’ t another one of my ‘ stories ’. The city still exists. The ‘ virus bot ’ still exists. Still lives. But the city is just a shell. The shell of an enormous organism that, is probably still trying to escape its prison. ” 
 
 “ Prison? ” I asked. 
 
 “ We stopped the virus. Eventually. It moved fast, but someone must have planned for this contingency. Some device, planted in the center of the city keeps pulling the bots back. Like it ’ s on a leash. We were lucky here, there ’ s still some cultivatable land. Other continents, countries, states had nothing. ” 
 
 The embers of the fire died to nothing. His faint outline slumped over. 
 
 If we weren ’ t going to be able to get into the city, I needed to start making other plans. 
 
 “ Is there anywhere else we can go? Is there any place safe? ” 
 
 “ I ’ m sorry son, this park is the only safe place left. ” 

