“Oh, hi Cassie.”
“I’ll wait to walk you down.”
“Uh, huh.”
“There’s no way you’d make it yourself.”
“Okay… you might be right.” Amanda wobbled side-to-side as she spoke, feeling lightheaded. Cassie came to help.
“And, there are no working elevators.”
“No elevator service? Even for the president? What kinda college are they running here?”
Surprised, Amanda found it difficult a minute later to even make the first few steps without Cassie’s outstretched arm.
CHAPTER 7.12-Decay
“Pittsburgh took a beating, McLeod.”
“I wouldn’t know, Mac. Didn’t come this way my trip out west.”
Connor handed the binoculars over on a gorgeous September twentieth morning. Golden yellow sunlight cut across the clear sky above Pittsburgh, reflecting off countless cars and trucks discarded and abandoned on the cluttered Veteran’s Bridge. Edging into the city from the north, they were tucked in at a good defensive position on the elevated access ramp. Sunlight sparkled across a slew of unbroken skyscraper windows spattered throughout the city. Fifth Avenue Place, a newer landmark in the center of town had remained mostly intact with its protruding center roof antenna still sticking defiantly out the top. And, the centerpiece of the city, the famous U. S. Steel Building stood tall, black and sturdy, aside from a fire that had obviously burned inside on several floors. Long scorch marks ran up the sides and many windows were blown out. But, even damaged, the beautiful city looked ready for rebirth.
“What a kick-ass city.”
“Ahh, I wouldn’t know.”
“Nah, no problem. It’s not your city, John, Pittsburgh’s mine. Born and raised here.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep.”
“Huh.”
Connor studied the city noting that several intense military battles had certainly taken place downtown. Discarded military vehicles were scattered everywhere, plugging up many downtown streets. But, right now, there was little in the way of human activity. In fact, Pittsburgh was a ghost town.
“I think the ’Burgh’s taken the Sickness harder than most,” said Connor. He stared at the city, saddened.
John McLeod decided to explore the obvious emotions bubbling beneath the surface.
“In what way? What are you referencing?”
“Nothing specific yet, but most of the buildings here are pretty banged up. From what I can see, the majority of bridges are destroyed. There were tons of military engagements. And, I don’t see too much in signs of life right now.”
“Oh. Yeah, there is that,” said McLeod, “No regrouping of people into an evident population center.”
“Least not from what we can see from here.”
The team caught up fast, except for BB, Marty and Jason, running the protective bubble behind them. Jackson and Jude rode horses as rear cover while Rhonda and Roger strolled with the reins of McLeod’s and BB’s horses fifteen yards in front of them. Focused and intense, Rhonda was peppering Roger with comments on some subject. And, off to their right Cody rode Jason’s gentle palomino, wide-eyed, as he caught sight of the huge city visible above the Veteran’s Bridge guardrail.
“We gonna pass through or skirt this city, Mac?” asked McLeod, “We’ve not yet talked this part through.”
“Umm, I dunno. It’ll save us at least two day’s travel if we can walk straight through it, maybe into those Liberty Tunnels onto Route 51, if it’s not blocked or set up to trap.”
“You want to enter the city? We’re going in the city?”
“Ahh, let’s scope it out, but, yeah, I think we might give it a shot if it seems fairly safe.”
“Huh. You know I don’t personally like moving around in the bigger cities anymore.”
“I know, John.”
“The trip out west taught me that.”
“I’m with ya. Don’t favor them myself.”
“Cleveland’s reinforced the point, don’t you think?”
“Hah. Yep, sure did.”
As the group gazed toward the city, each pointed out different points of interest.
“The river’s so clear,” said Roger, “Wasn’t Pittsburgh supposed to be a shithole, dirty city?”
“Bite your tongue.”
“There’s a bunch of army tanks down there, see? Right there,” said Cody.
He pointed to their immediate right, on the north side, fairly close to their position.
“I see it,” said Connor, “Yep, I think some army pricks made an effort to surround Allegheny General Hospital, maybe protect it, at some point early on in this mess.”
“Oh.”
The fire-blackened tanks and green motorized military equipment sat decrepit in heavy weeds and rubble near the wrecked hospital. The streets were barely recognizable. At least fifteen tanks had apparently guarded the wide city roads that wrapped around the huge hospital complex; the main hospital campus had seen better days. Nearby buildings were half crumbled, huge holes blown open to advertise the innards of several floors; nearby businesses fared no better.”
“What the hell do think happened there, McLeod?” mumbled Connor.
“Dunno. You say that’s a hospital?”
“Yeah. A big one. One of the best in the country. We had some heavy hitter docs. Dr. Maroon for one.”
“Well, I dunno then… maybe they were working on a fast cure and people caught wind of it. Maybe they’d set up a perimeter.”
“Didn’t work so well for them, if that’s the case,” said Roger.
“Yeah, didn’t work so well for too many of us, honey,” said Rhonda. She hugged his forearm tight at the comment; leaned further on the concrete guardrail.
“Hey! I see a few boats moving… over there,” said Cody.
“More than a few,” said Jackson.
“Yep, they’re hanging around the Point, I wonder where they find the gas,” said Connor, “Don’t plan to find out.” Taking the binoculars back from McLeod, he studied the city in earnest and took his time with the area nearest to them, mapping out their safest probable route. After a few moments, his scan broadened. With the binoculars still held to his eyes, he smiled. “Ahh, yeah, that’s where Primanti’s would be. Over there.”
“What?”
“Oh, there used to be a restaurant called Primanti’s over in the warehouse strip district that makes a fantastic sandwich. I was just thinking about it.”
“Oh. A pretty good one you say?”
“Yeah.”
The team listened with rapt attention at the mention of freshly prepared food.
“Sorry guys. I was just reminiscing, you know, about a Primanti’s sandwich.”
“Huh,” said Jackson.
“They make them in the ’Burgh. A specialty. Damn, now I’m thinking of Pasta Too and Carbonara’s, oh, man, now those were two Italian restaurants that had the best damn pizza and fettuccini on this planet.”
“Tell me more about this Primanti’s sandwich,” asked Jackson. He slid off his horse, his eyes never stopping on one point of interest too long.
“Sure, a Primanti sandwich is loaded with tons and tons of sliced meat, cheese, and tomatoes.”
“Yeah, so do plenty of other sandwiches, so what?”
“And, it has Cole slaw and French fries sitting right on the sandwich.”
“Oh.” Jackson was not impressed, “Sounds rather gross.”
“No, I’m serious! Wish you coulda had one. You’d think you died and went to heaven. Especially at two in the morning.”
Connor and John settled back to scan the next 200 yards of their forward travel to help establish the safest route. Based on their blossoming plan to enter the city proper, they needed to strategize with the entire team.