Chapter 4 When Forever Is Lost
An hour had passed, and like The General had said, we were leaving the prison on our way to the Capitol building. And because my mind still lingered on what had happened in the Warden’s office, I was still holding onto my anger at his abrupt dismissal of me.
Hence why I refused to look anywhere other than the back of the driver’s seat.
My focus was fixated on every single intricate thread of those woven fibers.
It wasn’t like there was much else to see ahead of me, with the two large figures sitting in the front seats.
Their large frames filled most of my field of vision, with Astor driving the Jeep we were in and The General in the passenger side.
We were heading out of the prison gates and making our way toward the city center. To my right was my uncle, who I gathered The General had invited along to put me at ease. Not that it was working because my mind was spinning with everything I had learned in the last few hours.
It was so much easier back when The General had been nothing but the villain.
Back when that line had been firmly drawn in my mind.
But now those lines were blurred, and instead of chastising myself for not following Riley when he jumped, I found myself grateful for that single moment of reluctance.
However, my mind was still in turmoil, and I had no doubt The General knew it.
Instead of filling the silence, I opened my mouth and concentrated on making circles with my bottom jaw, trying to alleviate the pain I had caused from tensing it.
Because, despite The General being the one who had saved my uncle, it still felt wrong to witness how friendly they were with one another.
It was as if my uncle had chosen the dark side of this war or something.
I knew how unfair that assessment was, but too much had happened in the years between to simply flip the switch. The one that made me trust The General as easily as my uncle obviously did.
It was like the setup to a bad joke had come to life, ‘A minotaur, a General, and a dead uncle were sitting in a Jeep…’ but I didn’t want to know how the joke panned out. Not when I had run out of patience to wait for the punchline.
In my peripheral vision, I could see The General’s dark, brooding eyes move in my direction, and they caught my sulking form in the mirror on the visor, which was cutting off the direct sunlight ahead.
Doing my best to ignore him, I watched as we drove through the city, down abandoned streets, taking no heed of the traffic lights that hadn’t seen power for quite some time.
It was a depressing sight to say the least. At least in the country, you could sometimes almost convince yourself that life carried on.
But, here, it was blindingly obvious what had happened, and the city had long ago been forsaken.
Office buildings, shops, and restaurants stood lifeless like forgotten tomes of the past. Open signs hung in windows like they were mocking a lost civilization, just like the abandoned cars we navigated our way around.
Taxis and buses were parked and left without purpose.
Roads were cracked and patches sunken from years of weather degradation without being repaired.
But unlike most towns I had traveled through in my time after the Rift, the startling difference to this city was the lack of apocalyptic evidence.
It was as if everyone just up and left, without it first being plundered by looters. There were no corpses littering the streets like the death that had lingered elsewhere. It was more like a city captured in a time capsule and protected from the rest of the ravaged state.
I wanted to ask how, but then we turned onto the main street leading to the Capitol Building, and there it stood in all its glory at the end of the road.
Like a gleaming white beacon growing bigger the closer we traveled.
The building was a work of art, with stunning symmetrical architecture of a central pavilion.
Two wings spread out on either side, making me realize just how big the building was as we started to pull up to its front entrance.
It reminded me of the White House, but on a much bigger scale.
The dominating feature was the pale sandstone dome, which sat atop a crown of columns.
A copper statue of an eagle was perched atop the central dome, its wings touching the clouds as the sun crept over the horizon.
This emphasized the slight golden hue of the quarried sandstone of the pavilion beneath it.
The Jeep came to a stop just in front of the steps leading up to the grand columned entrance, and the suspension let out a groan of relief as Aster and The General were first to get out. I let out a sigh of relief that I knew would be short-lived as I was expected to follow.
Something my uncle confirmed when he said, “Come on, kid, it’s time you get some more of your answers.”
I knew what he meant, of course.
After leaving the Warden’s office, I found my uncle where I had left him in the courtyard back in the prison.
He had been chatting to a woman who was tending to a rose bush at the time, before excusing himself the second he saw me.
We had then talked more about our time spent apart and how much our lives had changed since that day.
Something that made me understand his friendship with The General even more.
Especially considering how integral my uncle had been in aiding him with helping survivors make a life here.
But even he couldn’t explain exactly what The General needed me for.
Which was, hopefully, why we were here and why I followed my uncle’s example by exiting the car.
Because it was obvious that The General had something he wanted to show me, and I could only hope it was the answers I needed.
As we followed the two men up the granite steps to the grand entrance, I couldn’t help but notice when The General paused long enough to look back at me.
Clearly, he had no fear that I would run, so that hadn’t been the reason for the concern, making me wonder what had prompted it.
Could he pick up on my unease? On these warring feelings I continued to battle out in my mind?
I didn’t know.
But I did know that I couldn’t keep his gaze for long before I looked away.
My eyes lifted up to take in the stunning Corinthian columns and solid wooden doors that welcomed us.
I couldn’t help but feel the elegant, majestic building no longer fit in this broken world.
It would have made more sense for it to be dilapidated.
A nondescript building that didn’t make me yearn for normality.
But just like the rest of the city, it had remained untouched by the effect of the Rift.
Upon entering, we were greeted by at least a dozen stationary armed guards.
Human-like men that were all wearing matching armor and were obviously part of the army The General had brought with him through the Rift.
Each was clad in gleaming silver, etched with intricate designs I couldn’t quite make out.
The armor they wore was nearly blinding from the reflected light above.
They all stood like living chess pieces around the edge of an expansive circular entrance hall, making me suck back a startled breath at the sight.
That familiar tensed ache coursed through my neck as I looked up at the natural light that emanated from the oculus above.
Light that illuminated the space and highlighted the compass rose feature on the hall floor.
Any other time, I would be in complete awe of the beauty within this gorgeous historic building The General had brought me to.
Today, however, my only focus was one of discovery, and to say that I was eager to get to that point was an understatement.
Although I had to say, I was at least thankful that he had healed my leg because, otherwise, all these stairs would be a lot harder to navigate, seeing as we were heading to the second floor.
It was like a circular marble maze, one that The General obviously knew well, and we all continued to follow him until we were standing outside an office door.
“Aster, why don’t you take Rick to the Senate Chamber?
We will be along shortly,” The General said, causing a deep chill to creep down my spine at the sound of his deep, authoritative voice.
A commanding tone that made Astor bow his head in compliance, and prompting my uncle to give my shoulder a squeeze.
I watched as they continued on, making their way up to the next level as The General and I walked toward the door. My nerves multiplied at the thought of being alone with him once more. I didn’t know who I distrusted more, this dark, formidable knight or my shameful reactions to him.
The gold letters above the wooden frame told me the space had once been the office of the Attorney General. Which I thought was quite apt, considering who had commandeered the space.
He held the door open for me and jerked his head, silently motioning me to enter.
We entered a hallway that split left and right, which likely led to other offices.
However, we walked straight ahead and through the double doors that led into the biggest office, which was clearly reserved for the man himself.
Once inside, it was as I would have expected for a government space, with mahogany furniture framing the room and a large desk in front of the windows.
Old-fashioned soft furnishings added color to the room, with a low-pile carpet of green swirls, and gold drapes tied back with tasseled rope.
But other than that, any personal effects that might have decorated the desk, shelves, and walls had been removed.