Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 137 by Neil Clarke

Author:Neil Clarke [Clarke, Neil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: magazine, science fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction And Fantasy, science fiction magazine, short fiction, short stories, short story
Publisher: Wyrm Publishing
Published: 2018-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

3

The next day, Fortune packed his things and prepared to leave. Just then, it began to rain heavily. As he watched water sluice down the sides of the buildings, he said worriedly, “I’m afraid this rain may keep up for some time. We can’t go anywhere in this weather.”

“It’s nothing serious,” said Handsome, his voice anxious. “Brother Fortune, you’ve stockpiled so many things. Surely you kept some rain gear. Get it out and we’ll brave the rain.”

“Do you think I’m Doraemon?” said Fortune. “Saving everything I get my paws on?”

“It’s raining too hard,” Beauty chimed in. “If we should catch cold, we have no medicine. We won’t make it. Handsome, you’ll just have to wait a few days.”

Handsome looked at me, and so did Fortune and Beauty. I glanced around and asked, “Have any of you seen Innocence?”

They shook their heads.

“Then let’s wait a few days for her,” I said.

Thus, we decided to delay our departure until the rain stopped. I went back to my place. These days, the concept of “home” no longer existed—my place of residence was a hidden cellar. Beauty had chosen the lobby of a forty-story office building, and Fortune frequently changed locations, sometimes residing beneath bridges, sometimes in cars. All five of us knew where each other lived. Most of the city’s towering housing complexes had been abandoned, notwithstanding occasional holdouts—homeowners who had paid through the nose for their apartments and could not bear to leave. Despite the lack of water and power and the unbearable stench, they were prepared to defend their apartments to the last.

I lay in bed, not wanting to do anything, and waited for Innocence to return. Her warmth still lingered in my blanket. I curled inside it, as though surrounded on all sides by her body.

Suddenly, there was a knock at my door.

Handsome sidled into the room and sat down on the edge of my bed. I gave him a sidelong glance, but did not get up. After a moment, I heard him say, “Mediocre, are you waiting for Innocence? I’m telling you, she isn’t coming back. Do you think she’s really so pure? That’s only window dressing. With the world in the shape it’s in, no one is pure anymore. Many times I saw her go alone to look for Fortune. Maybe he and Innocence are planning to slip away together and leave us behind.”

I sat up, remembering the sight of her receding figure, like a pale glow in thick fog. Indeed, I had promised her we would go south together. But compared to Fortune’s actual power, my words meant nothing.

“And you?” I asked, eyeing Handsome. “Why have you come to find me?”

“Let’s go together! Mediocre, I’m telling you, we can’t count on Fortune. He is ruthless, an unscrupulous businessman, unreliable. Haven’t you been helping him move food these past few days? Come on, we’ll help ourselves to some of it, and then hop on a couple of bicycles and sneak out of the city at night. With me leading the way, it won’t take long to get to the south.

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