Rise

Chapter Eight: The Smudge

Matt had determined that the smudge on his map was indeed a city as they neared the high walls, cobbled together much like those of Scrap Metal, just taller and seemingly thicker. The metal was a dull silver and grey, not like the rusted plates of the small settlement, suggesting they were maintained and repaired when the need arose. This only solidified Matt's understanding that it had to be a city. It was only logical.

It wasn't long before the walls loomed high above Matt and his companions, shining in the light of the rising sun. Where's the entrance? Matt thought as he stared upwards, squinting from the glare. Contorting his mouth as he pondered their next move, Matt weighed his options. They could simply choose a direction and walk, hoping they'd come to the gate at some point, or they could call out and see if there was anyone atop or behind the walls.

 "So, what are we gonna do?" Emma asked, her tone impatient. Matt ignored her for the moment, running the events over in his head. The previous day's events had instilled a new level of caution within him for he was not eager to be put in such a predicament ever again. Emma's "nothing to lose" attitude didn't help much either.

"We will walk the perimeter of this wall, try and find the gate. I feel like this place is important. It was smudged out on my map, so clearly my father wanted it's existence hidden, at least from anyone that would find his map. I know it could be dangerous, but this is the last landmark I know of. It's worth checking out," Matt explained, running his finger along the map, showing their route.

Emma gave him a curt nod, holding out her arms in a sarcastic gesture of her giving Matt the right of way. The boy simply ignored her attitude, hoping it would fade as it did a few days past. The day before had been stressful, and he understood her pain. He would ignore it for a time, he concluded, but if she remained frustrated and grumpy he would have to confront her, for such moods were dangerous, for all in the party.

So they began to march along the circumference of the circular fortification, Matt alternating his gaze between the wall and the horizon, always wary for bandits or soldiers. The landscape did not provide anything interesting to distract they eye, both to Matt's pleasure and dismay. While the lack of any real scenery made it easier to watch for potential enemies, it also lulled Matt's eyes into a trance, for the unbroken, brown sea eventually melded into an indiscernable sight if stared at for too long.

The journey around the wall proved uneventful and uninteresting, but Matt was not upset. The silence gave him time to clear his head, and have some time where he didn't have to think. Emma was quiet as well but telling by the look etched onto her stony face, her mood only grew more sour with each passing minute.

Eventually, Matt and his companions reached a break in the otherwise perfect circle of the metal wall, a gap twenty feet across and sixty feet high. Within this gap was a gate, welded together from the same shining metal but not perfectly smooth. Rather, it was rough with a clockwork of gears and bars, no doubt the mechanism that would facilitate its opening.

Matt simply stared at it for a time, one hand gripped around his walking stick and the other rested on a hip. Furrowing his brow, Matt contemplated how best to approach this new situation. Now that they found the gate, what were they to do? Were they to simply knock, ask for entrance? That would be assuming people still inhabited the city, people willing to accept visitors that is.

"So, do we knock? Is there a password? Open sesame? We've found your 'smudge', now what do we do Matt?" Emma asked, her voice grating against Matt's brain.

"I'll bang your head against the walls and if that doesn't work, I'll at least be allowed some quiet to think in!"  Matt snapped back, his voice reverberating through the still mid-morning air. Emma just stood there, staring at him, the silence thick in the air, palpable. Twice she opened her mouth as if to speak and twice she closed it, no words escaping her lips.