Chapter 12: Lindale

November 24, 2023 11:25 AM

Isabella slowed the jeep as it came into sight of the exit ramp leading to Lindale. She was about a mile outside of Rome on an old highway that passed by the town. Old rusted vehicles littered the edges of the highway along with badly rusted signs. All the cars showed signs of damage from the crashes that had stopped them. Isabella couldn't help wonder just how many people had lost their lives simply because they had been driving when the Shrink Disaster had happened. Poor commuters were lucky if they had died in the crash and not been forced to suffer through a slow death trapped in their car. She dearly hoped whatever Chinese official had been behind the Shrink weapon had been driving as well.

She took out her notepad and flipped it to the random page she had written the numbers down on.  Seven, nine, two, thirty-two, eighty-five, twelve... Six numbers were the only clue she had to finding...something in this small town. A something she still had no idea what it was. It was a fool's errand, she knew, but she owed the Doctor the courtesy to at least try. She would do her best to make sure his dying act was not in vain.

Isabella sped the jeep up a bit as she headed down the exit ramp and onto the road leading into Lindale. The road was a small, two lane road flanked by old, slowly crumbling houses. All of the houses looked to be old homes that had, most likely, been on their last foundation even before the Shrink. Now...now they were practically condemned death traps just waiting for someone stupid enough to enter into them. Isabella keep headed down the road, avoiding the occasional old wrecks, and passed a badly rusted sign that welcomed her to Lindale.

Isabella brought the jeep to a stop as she looked at the map of Lindale she had copied off Alice's map. The mill Alice had spoke about was close to the middle of town and much of town's infrastructure seemed to radiate out from it. A single, small, shopping center was a few yards from the mill with an old rail-yard between the two structures. Past the shopping center was the town's old Elementary and High School, apparently having been built nearly right next to each other. The town's Middle School, however, was about a mile further out for whatever reason. The rest of the town was marked as either residential or small business locations.

Nothing on the map jumped out at her, sadly. No obvious numbers or streets that had all the numbers. Sure there were a few streets that had one of the numbers in it, but Isabella figured that was just coincidence rather than a clue. She sighed as she put away the map and took the wheel again. She was just going to have to do this the old fashioned way.

Isabella moved the jeep into the town and through a small residential area. The houses here looked no better off than the ones before and Isabella dearly hoped whatever Doctor Manchent had sent her to find was not inside one. She did her best to inspect each house's number, but many had their number lost to the many years of disrepair. Those that didn't brought her no closer to her objective.

After a few minutes of traveling, she came down a small hill and toward the old mill. It was a large facility of about three buildings. Old chimney stacks sprouted off each one, their vents empty of anything save normal air. The old brick and mortar buildings were holding up better than the wood houses, but it was clearly beginning to show signs of succumbing to time's assault. Bits of brick and rotted mortar were flaking off its sides and nearly every window it had was without glass. The old chain length fence that once blocked access into its area now rested on the ground save a for a few stubborn portions.

Isabella pulled up to the mill and looked over its outside. The factories name had once been painted on its front but was now so badly faded to be illegible. Its doors were cracked open and slowed creaked in the wind. She debated going inside, but decided not to. If the inside of the mill looked anything like the outside, it was going to be a dangerous place. Best not to go in there unless she had no choice.

She pulled away from the mill and continued into the town decided to head toward the shopping center. Looking at the major landmarks first then exploring the outside parts of the town sounded like a good enough plan for now. As she headed down the road she passed an old gas station. She was about to just ignore it when something caught her attention. She looked up at the gas prices on the slowly crumbling sign and shook her head. Seven dollars and twelve cents for a gallon?! No wonder this town was dying even be-

Her eyes shot open as she slammed the jeep to a halt with a screeching skid. She took out her notepad and looked at the numbers. Sure enough, seven and twelve were numbers the Doctor had said. Was this what she was looking for?

Isabella turned off the jeep as she climbed out of it. She shivered a bit in the biting cold, but pulled her jacket tighter to keep it off. The old gas station was in bad shape to be sure, but still looked safe enough. She turned on her energy shield just in case as she passed the old, rusted beyond repair, gas pumps. She moved up to the glass doors leading inside and looked in.

The inside of the gas station was a mess of torn wrappers, knocked over cans, and general chaos. It looked as if people, either Resistance or just wanderers, had tried to get some of the food still on its shelves. Most of the food wrappers had parts or all the food inside missing and many of the bottles of water and cans of drinks had leaked some of their content onto the floor. Even the cash register looked to have been raided and parts of the money inside ripped apart for any number of reasons.

Isabella pushed on the glass door and had to strain a bit to get the old door to move. After a bit of struggling, she managed to force it open. Inside it was a bit warmer than it was outside, but still rather cold. She sniffed and covered her nose as the smell of rotten food and spoiled products filled the air. She pushed down a cough as she walked further into the store. She moved through the mess-covered aisles looking for anything out of the ordinary that might give her some hint to what she was looking for. All she found, though, was more ripped bags, spoiled food, and gunk to get stuck to her shoe.

Isabella frowned as she came back to the entrance to the store. There had to be something here, that sign was too odd to be just a coincidence. She moved behind the counter and looked around it for anything. Like with the aisles, however, nothing jumped out at her or looked out of place. That only left the storage area of the store to search in.

Isabella headed for the swinging door leading into the storage room and found it to still be working. She pushed the door aside as she moved into the rather small storage room. She was about to give the place a good looking over when she stopped dead in her tracks. Just to her side, only a few feet away from her, was a miniature town made from old cardboard boxes and wood taken from palettes.

Most of the "buildings" barely reached her ankles and looked to be on the verge of collapse. A thick layer of dust had settled over everything and there was no sign of anyone having lived her in a long time. Isabella moved toward it and squatted down to get a better look. She picked up one of the cardboard houses and looked under it. A collapsed pile of wood that might have been a table was on the floor along with a number of animal pelts that had been used as flooring, but were now dirty beyond use. A large pile of straw was set near where a corner was, perhaps some kind of bedding. It was looking like this had been a town at some point, but was now long abandoned.

She wished Aviel and Sanders were here to go through the town properly and look for any clues, but she was determined to keep them out of this. She would just have to explore it the non-proper way. She began removing more cardboard houses, searched through their innards for anything that could be useful. Some, like the first, had the cardboard for the roof and walls. Others, however, were still closed boxes and had cardboard floors. She had to shake out the contents of those buildings, which caused quite a mess in her hands, but she was determined to find something here.

She had searched about half the houses when she picked up another house without a proper floor. She was about to start rummaging through the house when something caught her eye. In what had been the corner of the house sat a tiny woman with her arms wrapped around an even smaller child. Both were dressed in tattered rags and were covered in filth, dirt, and dust. The two of them stared up at Isabella in complete terror as Isabella stared back in stunned silence. Someone was actually LIVING in this horrid place, and with a child no less.

The tiny woman clutched her child even closer to herself as she pushed the child's head into her shoulder. She stared up at Isabella with a mixture of fear and determination as she stole a few glances around. Isabella looked down at them and wondered if they were part of the Resistance. They didn't look like it considering their clothes and condition looked far worse than any Resistance members she had ever seen. Perhaps they were just some wanderers who had stopped in the abandoned village to rest...or...

"Stay calm, I don't want to hurt you. Just stay there," Isabella said in a soft and calm voice. She lowered her hand out, palm up, to try and coax them to get on, but the motion was enough to get the woman to tear off running. Isabella cursed in her head as the woman headed for another building. Isabella was quicker, though, and circled her arms around the woman's escape route. The woman stopped and spun around to try and find an exit, but there was nowhere to go. Instead, she simply backed away from Isabella's face and clutched her girl even tighter.

Isabella felt horrid scaring this poor mother and child, but she didn't have a choice. They might be the only clue she had to finding what Manchent had tried to tell them.

"Please, just calm down. I won't hurt either of you, I promise. I just want to ask you some questions, that is all," Isabella said as softly as she could. The mother stared up at her, but stopped backing away. She nodded, warily, as her grip around her child loosened a bit. Isabella smiled down at her nod and slowly picked up her hands to show she didn't mean any harm. The woman didn't make any moves to run as Isabella untrapped her.

Isabella was about to ask her first question when she noticed movement just at the corner of her eye. She looked up to see a tiny figure peering out from behind one of the buildings and raising something up to point at the woman. Reacting on pure instinct, Isabella slammed her hand down behind the woman, causing her and the child to scream in terror. But it also saved their life as a small bullet bounced off the energy shield around Isabella's hand. Isabella knew she was going to scare the two of them worse for doing this, but she would rather scare them than let them be killed. She moved her hand forward and snatched them up as gently as she could before standing up.

Now standing, she could see a large number of small figures weaving through the buildings she had not searched. Her HUD patch zoomed in on a few and they all had the ragged, but capable, appearance of the Resistance. Worse, they all had either guns or rockets in hand, ready to use. If she had been alone Isabella could easily have defeated them, but with her two passengers in her hand... No, she couldn't risk hurting them during the fight. Isabella turned back to the swinging door and rushed out of it before the Resistance members had time to send any rockets her way. She came out into the main area of the store only to find a large number of small vehicles sitting right outside the door leading into the store.

Isabella's HUD-patch highlighted a massive amount of people moving through the area and working on what looked to be modified RC cars, redesigned toy trucks, and a heavily modified skateboard-turned mobile base. She might have been able to handle the group inside, but this many Resistance would bring her down before she managed to get them all. Isabella didn't give them time to react to her sudden appearance, though, and took off running for her jeep. She watched as the Resistance members tried to grab weapons, but were too slow as she raced past, kicking a few of the vehicles as she passed just for good measure. She wasn't sure how many she had stepped on, but was sure it was a drop in the bucket as her shield began to report numerous hits to her rear. She jumped into her jeep and quickly gunned it as the small convoy of Resistance vehicles began to regroup and turn their vehicle-mounted guns on her. She had almost forgotten she was deep in Resistance territory and near one of their main bases of operation. She should have expected something like that and been more on guard.

Isabella didn't stop to check on her two passengers till she was out of sight of the gas station. Finally, she slowed her speeding jeep down as she opened her right palm. The two were safe, the mother still clutching the now crying and shaking girl. Isabella felt a massive pang of guilt hit her chest as she saw how terrified the poor girl was.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't want to do that, but there were people trying to kill you. I didn't have a choice," Isabella explained. Her patch zoomed in to let her see the mother's face and she expected to see a look of disgust and anger. Instead, her face was devoid of all emotion as she nodded in understanding.

"Is there some place safe I can take you?" Isabella asked looking back and forth from her to the road. The woman said something, but it was lost over the noise of the engine. Isabella was so used to her scouts having headsets on them that she had forgotten this woman didn't have one.

"Hold on," she said before stopping the jeep. She rummaged through the small supply case in between the two seats and brought out a very small case from it. She set the tiny case on her hand and then nodded for the woman to open it. The woman eyed the case with some suspicion, but moved over to it, still holding the child. She opened it and took out one of the spare tiny headsets inside before putting it on.

"Try talking now," Isabella said as she shut the case and put it back. If Sanders had done his job properly, it would already be set on the proper channel.

"H-Hello? Is it working?" the woman said, this time coming in nice and clear through Isabella's headset.

"Yes it is. Now, is there someplace safe I can take you two?" Isabella asked again. She tried to put her must comforting smile on as she looked down at them in her hand. The woman looked up at Isabella and shook her head.

"No. Those marauders have destroyed every town outside Rome," the woman said looking like she was about to cry. The little girl started to cry again too as the mother tried to comfort her. Isabella had heard that there were bandits and pillagers outside the cities, but never that they were that well equipped. Was this how the Resistance got their equipment and numbers?

Isabella put such thoughts aside as she tried to figure out what to do with these two. Taking them back to Atlanta would be the safest place for them, but there were problems with that plan. With Manchent's death, people were very suspicious of newcomers and a sort of witch-hunt for Resistance members had gripped the city. The chance of these two being viewed as spies was far too high. Which was the second problem, if they really WERE spies. The Resistance had used such sob story tactics before. No it was simply too risky either way to take them there.

"If I drop you off near Rome, can you get into the city?" Isabella asked. The woman shook her head again.

"The Romans wouldn't let us in. They turn away anyone now unless they have a tribute of resources or a special skill they need," the woman said sounding more depressed by the second. This was news to Isabella as she had assumed Rome to be more open then that and the area around it to be...well civil. Instead it sounded more like...well more like Atlanta only for the Resistance. She filed that back for later as she focused on what to do with these two. After a few moments of thinking, Isabella got an idea.

"Is there someplace near here that people rarely go to? A place that doesn't have anything useful and is off the usual routes people take?" Isabella asked. The woman looked up, confused, but thought about it for a second.

"Well...the middle school is far from any major roads and my husband said it was dry when it came to supplies," the woman said. She looked a bit pained having to bring up her husband. Isabella didn't press her on the matter and, instead, tried to move the conversation away from it.

"Alright, I will take you two there," Isabella said.

"Why? There is nothing there. No food or water or...or shelter," she said giving Isabella a slightly angered look. Isabella had almost forgotten she had, quite literally, ripped their home away from them. She may have saved their life, but she took away their home as well.

"I will give you a new shelter and provide you with enough food and water to last for a few months at least. I said I wouldn't hurt you and I meant both physically and quality of life," Isabella said. She had a few spare water bottles that would be more than enough water for these two and her rations, while leaving a lot to be desired taste-wise, were long lasting, nutritious, and more than enough to feed them for a long time. As for shelter, she had a tiny-sized tent in her supplies for use in case of emergencies along with winter gear. It was not perfect, but would be better than a cardboard box.

The woman looked suspicious of this, but didn't say anything more. Her child had stopped crying and was now staring up at Isabella. Isabella couldn't help but feel a small bit of jealousy for the woman. As horrid as her state was, she still had her child and... She shook the thoughts away. Isabella was not going to let petty jealousy compromise what she knew was right.

After a few minutes of driving in silence, and getting lost once or twice, Isabella arrived at the old middle school. The mother had been right that it was off the beaten path and much of the roads that led to it were badly weathered and slowly falling apart. While this made getting there a bit of a chore it, also, meant that any shrunken people would have an even tougher time getting to it. Hopefully, that would keep these two safe from those marauders.

Isabella pulled the car into the pickup area of the school. Old rusted husks of cars were scattered everywhere. A number of buses, now nothing more than scrap heaps, were lined up along the pick up area still waiting for kids that would never come. Two of the buses were further past the line and looked to have crashed into a part of the school. It seemed that the Shrink Disaster had hit right as school was letting out. Isabella could only imagine the terror those poor kids had gone through. How many of them managed to make it home, how many were on those first two buses, how many of their unmarked graves were in amongst these rusting hulks? 

Isabella sighed to herself as she lowered her hand for the mother and child to climb on. The mother climbed on, still holding the child in her arms, and sat down in the middle of Isabella's palm. Isabella cupped her hand to try and keep them from falling as she slowly climbed out of the jeep. She made her way through the maze of ruined cars till she arrived at the front door to the school. She twisted the handle and found it to be unlocked. It took a few pulls to get the old door to finally work, but it gave way with a screech of rusted metal.

Isabella entered the school to find the hallways covered in papers, rotting away bookbags, slowly molded books, bits and pieces of cut apart fabric, and other assorted school supplies. Every so often, Isabella would catch a glimpse of dried blood between some of the supplies and get a pang of pity. Poor kids were crushed by their own school supplies... She turned away from the grizzly scene and headed deeper into the school.

The school was much like any other. Long hallways lined with lockers, broken up by the occasional classroom door. It was a bit warmer inside without the wind, but it was still cold enough to cause a chill. Of course, now its floors were badly cracked, its walls slowly crumbling, and its lockers a rusted mess. More junk was scattered all over the ground and Isabella was having to be careful where she stepped lest she trip. After a few minutes of wondering, she stopped at a classroom and pushed the door open.

The classroom was a mess of ruined desks, paper, and general chaos. Most of the desks showed signs of being sawed on and harvested by small people. Those few that were not looked to be very badly rotted and liable to fall apart with a stiff breeze. A single plastic desk was the only thing still standing and on top of it were a number of molded books and classroom decorations. Isabella smiled at the plastic desk as she moved to it. With a quick sweep of her free arm, she sent the books and junk falling off the desk. She lowered her hand and let the mother and child get off onto the plastic desk.

"This place should be safe enough. Its too high for any shrunken people to get onto and the plastic won't rot away anytime soon," she paused as she reached into her pocket and took out the shrunken-sized tent's box, "Here, this has a tent in it along with some winter weather clothing you can use for shelter till I can bring something more permanent."

The woman, finally, sat down her child and moved to the box. She opened it and took out a few of the tent's parts. She looked at them with disbelief in her face as her girl came over and began to dig through it as well.

"I...Why are you doing this? I mean...I am grateful, but to do all this for someone you don't even know," the woman asked as she looked back up to Isabella. Isabella was caught off-guard by the question and began to wonder why she was doing this too. She had come out here to find what Manchent had meant with those numbers, but was now saving a random mother and child she had just met. A mother and child who would have been murdered or slowly died if she hadn't helped...and there was her answer.

"Because you would have died if I hadn't and...that is the only reason, really. I don't want anyone dieing because of my actions or inactions, ever. Doubly so when that person is a fellow widow," Isabella said with a smile. The woman looked at Isabella for a moment before returning the smile.

"So you-"

"Yes...I could tell," Isabella interrupted her with a knowing smile. She, also, knew the woman would not want to talk about that anymore than necessary. The woman returned the smile and nodded as her daughter came over with some of the tent parts in her hand. She asked something that Isabella didn't catch and the mother nodded. The girl went off further from the edge of the desk with some of the parts.

"At least you have her still..." Isabella said feeling the same jealousy come up again. She hated that she felt it, but couldn't help it.

"Yes...she keeps me going despite everything. At little piece of her father," the woman said as she closed her eyes. Isabella felt the same pain she was feeling as memories of Jeremy flooded back. His smile, his scent, his laughter, his death...

Isabella took out two water bottles she had brought and poked a hole near the bottom of each. She left the small pin inside each to prevent the water bottle from spilling out and then placed their caps right below each hole. When she removed the pins, the water poured right into the caps and it was simple to push them back even, even for the smaller woman. Her ration bars were far easier to handle as all they needed was a small tear in the wrapper for the mother and child to get into. With shelter, water, and food all taken care of the mother and child should be set for a few days till Isabella could come back with better supplies.

"Thank you, really and truly thank you. To do all this and...and I don't even know your name," the woman said looking like she was about to cry in joy.

"Its Isabella Raim, and you are more than welcome Mrs?" Isabella asked with a bright smile. For the first time in a long time she was truly happy about being this big compared to most people.

"I am Madyson Orinda and my daughter is named Christina" Madyson answered. Christina looked up from messing with some of the tent parts at hearing her name, but went back to fiddling with them once she realized she wasn't be called over.

"Well, Madyson and Christina, keep safe and I will be back in a few days with some better supplies," Isabella said as she rose up and turned to leave. The two smaller people waved as she left the room and headed back out to her jeep.

She got outside and noticed that the sun was beginning to get low in the sky. It looked like she had spent most of the day helping those two and not finding whatever Manchent wanted her to find. She even forgot to ask them if they knew anything. She debated going back, but decided it could wait a few days. Drilling them with questions while they were trying to get resettled would not have been very nice. Instead, she got back in her jeep and began to make the long trip back to Atlanta. 

As she drove she remembered that Sanders said he and Aviel were going to visit his parents for the holiday. After seeing that mother and child she suddenly felt a keen sense of loneliness. Maybe she should see if they wouldn't mind visiting with her too.

    Article on towns outside Atlanta:
Despite having been in contact with many villages and towns outside Atlanta before the Resistance formation, the current living conditions and lifestyle of people outside Atlanta is mostly unknown. While most people outside Atlanta used to live in small villages and towns usually built inside of old structures, the Society reports this practice has fallen out of favor. For those towns that joined the Resistance the cause is easy enough to understand. Such towns were easy to find and thus easy to destroy so they were moved. For those that did not join, however, it is most likely to hide from bandits, marauders, and Resistance fighters.

Current Society intel has shown nearly all neutral villages have been whipped out by bandits or forced to join the Resistance. Those few that do remain have either moved further away from Atlanta to escape the war or gone deep into hiding. Their current lifestyle and locations all remain a mystery, however the Society reports many bandit groups have been seen following them.

Resistance towns are, usually, hidden underground where the Society have a more difficult time reaching. Such towns are, by the Society's reports, disease-ridden and absent of all amenities. The people of the towns life in squalor and barely scrap out a living. Despite the poor condition of the common folks, the terrorists live in orderly, clean barracks and given every amenity. These men and women are keep healthy and strong to allow them to continue their war of terror against Atlanta. Many question why the common folk allow this to continue, but the answer is obvious. With them so sick and weak, they have no will to try and change their lot in life and, instead, simply toil away in silence.

Some have suggested attempting to free these people to help fight the Resistance, however, all such attempts have proven unsuccessful. Despite their horrid conditions, most of them truly do believe they are in the right and view the Society and Atlanta as evil. For these people, the only way to stop their attacks is execution.