Adam stood on the edge of the roof, staring out at the remnants of the once great city. It spread out beneath him on three sides, divided only by the glowing green murk that was once The Hudson.

  The island had once been a crowning jewel of human civilization. Tall columns of steel and glass had risen into the sky while millions of tightly packed people buzzed through its metallic warrens like self-important ants.

  Now, it was nearly reclaimed by nature.

  Massive trees sprouted from where buildings once stood, dwarfing their remaining manmade neighbors. Vines the size of city buses rolled and coiled through streets, attached to flowers that put circus tents to shame. The island had gone mad with life.

  It had taken nearly a year to reach the city. A year of unfamiliar landscapes and hostile wildlife, some native, most alien, and all desperate.

  According to the odometers on their vehicles they had crossed nearly four thousand miles of constantly shifting terrain, almost five times the distance the trip had previously taken. Through some trick of physics, or the lack thereof, The Voice had warped the landscape into a seemingly endless wilderness, dotted with the remnants of civilization.

  So, much for saving it, he thought. It doesn’t seem like there’s much left to save.

  “Is today the day?” LaRoche asked, drawing his attention back to the present.

  “Hm?” Adam said, stepping away from the edge, suddenly reminded of the last time he’d been on a building this high.

  “That you jump. You’ve been staring at that edge like you wanted to ask it to dinner.” LaRoche shrugged. “Any time I’ve seen a man stare at something like that, he eventually ends up going after it.”

  Adam smirked. “No, nothing like that. I was just admiring the view. I used to be afraid of heights.”

  He’d gotten to know the man pretty well over the last year, and while he wasn’t sure they’d ever be friends, he respected him. LaRoche had a way of seeing through things that Adam wasn’t sure had anything to do with the changes they had all endured.

  “Come on, tell him!” Samantha said, joining them near the ledge. “Adam thinks he can fly.”

  He groaned and shook his head. “God damn it. No. I don’t think I can fly. Just… maybe not, you know, splat.”

  “Splat? I assume you’re not talking about the physical changes,” LaRoche said. “This is something else then?”

  Samantha opened her mouth to speak but LaRoche put up a hand. “Before you start, I took several courses in physics and mathematics in college, so if it’s science based, go ahead. But if you’re going to get into the Hoodoo side of things, you should just save your breath.”

  She beamed and nodded. “Nope. It’s science. Well, mostly.” She paused. “We’ll call it fifty-fifty.”

  “Alright,” LaRoche said, sounding unconvinced.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Would you two like a moment to discuss me and my abilities? I can wait over there or something.”

  “Adam can create ionic winds,” Samantha said quickly.

  LaRoche turned and stared at him, lowering his ever-present sunglasses. “You’re serious? The air force had been working on ion propulsion for years with only limited success. I guess there was that one test flight in New Jersey a few years back, but it crashed and they convinced everyone that it was a UFO.”

  Adam wasn’t sure if he was more amused that LaRoche was sharing military secrets, or that the government had lied about UFOs to cover up experimental technology. He supposed given that there was no military or government left to speak of, it didn’t really matter.

  “Can you create thrust with your gift?” LaRoche asked, a thoughtful expression on his face.

  Adam made a so-so gesture, then held out his hand, palm up. He focused for a moment and a stream of bright blue particles erupted from his palm, flickering and flashing wildly. Concentrating he brought the stream under control a degree at a time until the jet stopped flickering and stabilized.

  LaRoche whistled. “I’ll be damned. How long did it take you to come up with that little trick?”

  “Longer than I care to admit. And I’m not very good at it,” Adam said, shrugging. He closed his hand and the glow disappeared.

  “Yet!” Samantha chirped. “It’s a little unfair though. All I can do is blow stuff up.”

  “To be fair you blow stuff up really well,” Adam offered. “And you can make shields.”

  “True,” she said thoughtfully.

  “And you can move things with your mind, and then there’s the runes…”

  “Okay, okay. I get your point.”

  LaRoche’s radio crackled three times, the established sign to clear the channel. He thumbed the talk button. “Go for LaRoche, over.”

  The radio crackled again, “Unit four reporting heavy Incoming,” followed by a roar and the staccato of gunfire.

  “Unit four, location and ETA?” LaRoche said, apparently forgetting the over.

  Samantha suddenly looked stricken. “Natalie went out as the replacement medic for unit four this morning.”

  “Was that the group checking the bridge north of here?” Adam asked, glancing at the only partially intact bridge still leading to the island.

  The growing sound of gunfire reached them as the radio crackled back to life. “Less than one minute to home, coming in hot. Swarm of Paper Tigers right on our ass.”

  Adam’s stomach dropped. “Oh… fuck me. A swarm?”

  The creatures nicknamed ‘Paper Tigers’ were feline looking monstrosities. They were rail thin, razor sharp, and emitted a rising whistle as they picked up speed.

  Luckily, they were herbivores. Unluckily, they were highly territorial.

  “They must have stumbled into a nest.” Adam ran his hand through his hair. “Do we even have enough people on the ground to defend against a swarm?”

  “Not a chance. They’ll be on top of us before we can get enough people out of the building,” LaRoche said. He switched channels and clicked the radio three times. “I need every available body at basecamp and ready for incoming. Yesterday. Swarm of hostiles incoming.”

  The radio exploded in a rapid fire of acknowledgement clicks and the sound of gunfire grew louder by the second.

  Adam looked over the edge and could see the truck tearing down the street. Following closely behind was a small sea of gray and black shapes, slicing across the pavement like a wave of knives.

  The gun mounted on the back of the truck fired into the horde, causing the swarm to slow, but it quickly split before the hail of bullets and then reformed to continue the chase.

  He looked to LaRoche, but the man was already in motion, hauling ass toward the stairs with Samantha hot on his heels. She paused when she saw Adam hadn’t moved from the ledge.

  “What are you doing?! We have to go!” she yelled.

  “They’re going to need us down there in thirty seconds or someone’s going to die,” he called back. “There’s no way we’ll make it to the ground in time.”

  Adam peered over the edge and then glanced backward, giving her a grim smile. “Some shit never changes. Get down there as soon as you can, okay? We’ll need your firepower.”

  Her eyes grew wide as his meaning dawned on her. “Oh no. No, no, no, no. There’s no way. You can’t! We’re sixty stories up!”

  “Too late!” he yelled and vaulted over the edge.