"Do we really have to go north?" Iris asked, her voice uncertain.
"Yes! We've been following my dream since the start of this calamity. We can't just ignore it now just because it doesn't fit our liking," Thomas explained firmly.
"I wish we could bring the whole building into the pink fog. We'd still be protected then," Nevin muttered with a sigh.
"Wait. I think we can do that!" Bryan suddenly stood up, as if a thought had just struck him.
He tore open one of the sealed boxes.
"Not this… not this…" He shuffled through until he reached the weapons box, pulling items out one by one.
"What are you looking for, Bryan?" Thomas asked, puzzled.
"Something strong and sharp. Something that can break the meteor. This!" Bryan held up a crowbar, raising it like he had just found treasure.
He grinned, clearly pleased with himself, but the others only stared in silence.
"You don't get it? This crowbar… the meteor?" Bryan repeated, looking from face to face.
"Ohhh…" Iris's eyes lit up, finally catching on.
"Ohh!" Thomas nodded quickly, copying her reaction.
Nevin only frowned, still lost.
"Thomas, stop pretending you understand. I know you don't," Bryan said, catching him in the act.
"Alright, alright. What do you plan to do?" Thomas admitted, scratching his head.
"He's going to break off a piece of the meteor," Iris answered before Bryan could, showing she fully understood his idea.
"Exactly! I knew you'd get it," Bryan said with a proud smile. "We'll take part of the meteor with us."
"Why?" Nevin asked, still confused.
"Think about it. The meteor is why we have a safe zone. If we take a piece of it, we can carry the safe zone with us," Bryan explained.
"Ohhh!!" Nevin and Thomas said together, finally understanding.
"But how much of the meteor do we need?" Iris asked carefully.
"Based on my calculation, judging from the distance between this building and the edge of the pink fog, which is about five hundred meters, a piece the size of a baseball should be enough to protect us," Bryan answered, sounding excited.
With a piece that small, even the people below would never notice. The meteor's space would shrink by less than half a meter at most. The idea was solid, but the execution was not. No matter how many times Bryan struck the meteor with the crowbar, nothing happened.
"Let me try," Thomas said, stepping forward.
He swung once. A chunk of meteor broke free, exactly the size they needed.
They had what they came for. That same day, they packed their belongings, ate their fill, and rested for one last night in the room that had been their home. Tomorrow, they would leave.
It had been three months since the meteor fall, three months of sharing that single room. Thomas and Bryan asked Iris and Nevin once more if they truly wanted to come with them to the north. They gave them the option to stay below with the others, even suggesting they could fake a story to make it seem like they had returned from the fog. Iris and Nevin did not hesitate. They had already decided. They would go north together.
Their food would last only a week, but they were confident they could find more along the way.
The next morning, after their final breakfast, they opened the sealed hole from the sixteenth to the fifteenth floor and got to work. Boxes were lowered one by one.
On the fifteenth floor, they rigged a pulley with rope tied to the railing then they stacked the boxes onto the cart, tying them down with rope so nothing would slide off.
They did not have many boxes left, but some were heavy, especially the weapons and the remaining containers of water. Thomas lifted the heavy ones himself, while the others moved the lighter boxes and kept everything balanced.
Two full runs were enough to lower everything. By the end, their arms and shoulders ached, but the work was done.
From the ground floor, they loaded their supplies onto a cart and brought it all to the basement.
"Why are we here? Are we driving? Are we going to use one of these trucks?" Nevin asked, pointing at the delivery trucks parked in the basement.
"Yes, we're driving," Thomas answered, "but not with those trucks. We'll be using that." He pointed toward an old truck in the corner, the one with no wheels.
"Are you kidding me?" Nevin asked, confused.
"No. Just wait."
Thomas and Bryan pulled open the truck door, removing the junk piled inside. The pipes that seemed to stretch across the whole bed were actually cut into shorter pieces. They only looked six meters long to anyone who didn't know better. Piece by piece, they cleared the space, until what was hidden inside came into view.
"This is where the little money we had went," Thomas explained as he began pushing. "If we didn't buy this, we could've stocked more food."
With almost inhuman strength, Thomas slowly rolled it out of hiding. The others only watched as the vehicle finally revealed itself.
A hammer truck. Not the standard version either, but one heavily modified.
It looked closer to an armored bank truck. The bumpers had been reinforced, the wheels fitted with armor plating. The body panels had been replaced with stronger material, and even the windows were changed.
Bryan climbed into the truck and carefully placed the meteor piece in the center, securing it in place. By his calculation, that much should be enough to cover the whole vehicle. With it, they could travel through the pink fog inside the truck.
"So… how do we get out?" Iris asked once everything was loaded inside.
A few moments later, the people outside heard a noise. The sealed gate of the basement began to open slowly. The building had backup power, but Thomas hadn't used the elevator earlier because he didn't want anyone outside to hear them.
The crowd turned their heads toward the basement, trying to see what was inside the dark space. They kept their distance, afraid to step closer. Their leader and his group were still out in the pink fog gathering supplies, and without them the rest didn't have the courage to investigate. Even so, some of them picked up long steel pipes, gripping them just in case.
Then came the sound of an engine.
"VROOOOM! VROOOOM!"
A car was revving inside the building. The noise grew louder until the vehicle shot forward toward the basement passage. The people scattered aside, still clutching their makeshift weapons, their eyes wide with fear and confusion.
"SCREEECH!" "WHOOSH!"
The vehicle burst out of the basement, almost flying as it hit the ramp to the street. No one reacted fast enough. They only managed to catch a glimpse of its back as it turned the corner at high speed.
Everyone who lived nearby had heard it. Everyone saw it. In a time like this, when no one had the luxury of fuel or machines, the sight of a car racing through the safe zone left them stunned. Most thought whoever was driving would circle back soon. But to their surprise, the vehicle didn't stop. It headed straight toward the edge, and without slowing, it drove directly into the pink fog.
"This is it! I hope my calculation is correct!" Bryan shouted from the driver's seat.
Thomas gripped the wheel of the hammer truck, his focus locked ahead. Iris and Nevin sat at the back, holding on tightly as they watched everything unfold.
Together, they crossed into the pink fog.
Contrary to their expectations, nothing happened when they entered the pink fog. There was no noise, no sparks, nothing to show they had crossed into danger.
"Thomas, open your eyes!" Bryan shouted. Thomas had shut them the moment they drove in.
Thomas blinked quickly, steadied himself, and drove a few more meters before hitting the brakes.
"Everybody okay?" Bryan asked, glancing back at the others before checking outside.
Around the truck, a faint bubble shimmered. The pink fog bent away from it, leaving them untouched.
"Alright! We're good!" Bryan cheered. Relief swept through them, and the tension broke. He pushed open his door and stepped halfway out. The bubble extended three feet beyond the truck, enough space to walk around freely. Thomas opened his door as well and found the same safe margin.
Excitement spread through the group.
"Since we're good, it's time. We're going north. Hope City, here we come!" Thomas declared.
The others joined in, smiling as they thought back on the three long months inside their base. For the first time, they felt like they were truly moving forward.
"Let's go!" the three of them answered in unison, their voices filled with energy.
But the celebration ended too soon.
Only a few minutes after driving, the hammer truck came to a sudden stop. Wrecked cars blocked the road ahead. That wasn't the real problem.
Standing in front of them were two Fades, staring directly at the vehicle. One of them tilted its head, saliva dripping from its mouth as it watched.