The Towers

It shouldn't be much longer now, thought Todd, as he huffed into his hands and rubbed them together. It was a cold night, and he'd been waiting for hours, but he was sure she'd be coming out soon.

He'd left work early so he could go by the house and get the last of their things. He'd wanted to make sure he had plenty of time, but things had gone smoothly and there hadn't been much traffic, so it had just left him with a lot of time and nothing to do. So he thought about what they'd done, and as the the sky grew dark, and the time ticked by, and the air grew crisp, Todd huffed, and wondered, and waited.

He was sure he could find his way out to their cabin, even in the dark, and he felt safe that with the supplies they had stored there, and the things he'd packed, they should be fine for at least a few months, maybe more if they were careful about how they rationed. As long as no one followed them out there. As long as things in the city didn't spill out into the countryside, at least not much. Finally he saw the door open, and he fired up the old charger as Sarah walked out to the car.

“Did you remember everything?” she asked as she glanced in the back seat and tossed her purse on top of the bags.

“Yep.” replied Todd. He pulled out onto the empty street and headed for the freeway. “You need to stop for anything before we leave town? We don't have a lot of time, but I can stop if you need me too.”

“No, I'm fine.” Sarah imagined how packed the empty streets would be in just a few hours. It was a good thing they'd planned ahead, four hours later, no one would be getting to the freeway in a hurry.

They were quiet as they sped down the dark road, past exists and billboards. Sarah reached over and turned on the stereo. She flipped past sports highlights, and newscast, and some talk show about shadow people who controlled the government, until she landed on an old rock station. They listened to Jon tell his story about Tommy and Gina for a while. As they drove further away from the city the signal faded and Todd switched it back off. It was a long drive, but about twenty munutes after they passed the last tower, Todd turned the car down a rural road and Sarah got the hand written directions out of the glove box.

They'd bought the cabin last year before everything had been set in motion. In a way, buying it was the first step towards this night. Since they'd purchased it, they hadn't been out there. They didn't want anyone to know about their cabin in the country, so they'd been using private couriers to deliver supplies and equipment to the property. Whatever they couldn't order they'd slowly stockpiled at home, until they had an '94 charger's worth of spam and rice. As they puled off the gravel road and onto the asphalt drive leading behind the garage, Todd looked down at his watch.

“It should have started by now. Let's get this stuff inside and then we can find out what's going on.” He killed the ignition and grabbed one of the bags out of the back seat before heading up to unlock the house.

It took a while for them to get all the bags inside, and then Sarah flicked on the tube.

“...all over the city. Information has been hard to come by. Officials seem unsure about the source and even nature of the disturbance or disturbances, and emergency services are currently overwhelmed with calls. Even though people are being asked to stay in their homes, all arteries leading out of the city are clogged. Please stand by for more information as we receive it. We are currently efforting the Mayor for an official response to this developing situation.” It continued in that vein, and Todd went into the kitchen to make them some sandwiches.

“There are numerous reports of looting and violence, although at this time, we can not confirm anything specific. We have numerous crews in the field, but retrieving their reports has been challenging. All cellular networks appear to be down, and communication has become difficult.”

“It looks like things are more or less as we expected.” Sarah called into the kitchen.

“Have they figured out what's going on yet?” Todd called back as he cut the crust off the sandwiches.

“They don't have any idea what's happening.” She replied as he walked in and handed her one of the two plates.

Todd sat down next to her on the couch and watched the coverage with her. They both knew that the television stations would only be reporting for a short while before they too went off. By this time tomorrow there wouldn't be any kind of electronic communications.

It had all started three years ago. They were driving through the city when they passed one of the towers. It had begun as a kind of passing fancy. Taking down the towers. It was pure silliness of course. No one could, and why would you want to? Without the towers people would lose everything. The towers were more than just communication. They were energy. They were everything. Why would anyone want to take them down?

But what started as a joke became an obsession. Over time, ideas were considered and discarded, and occasionally evolved into new better ideas. For two years they plotted, just the two of them, on exactly how it could be done. The more they considered their plan, the more committed to it they became. Todd ended his planned engagement and Sarah quit returning her parents calls. They were pulled into their mutual obsession, they lived for it. And after two years of planning, they set things in motion when they bought the cabin.

It was difficult, with just the two of them, but early on they realized that two was already one to many to keep a secret, and no one else could be trusted with an idea like this. So they kept their conspiracy small. Just the two of them. And over the last year, they'd slowly put everything in place, all in preparation for tonight.

Just as they knew would happen, the television stations went off the air a short time later. They listened on the radios after that, but they knew those wouldn't last either.

After that, they only had themselves. They knew that without the towers the power would go, but they'd planned for that with generators and propane heaters and lamps. It was trickier getting their hands on propane generators then they'd expected. With the towers, most people didn't need them anymore, and finding some for sale had been challenging. But like all their other supplies, they had purchased and had delivered several of them months before they moved to the cabin.

Their days became more or less the same. Canned food. Books. Sitting outside. Sometimes they wondered what was happening in the city, but most of the time they just waited. Eventually they would run out of supplies. Their hope was that before that happened the power would come back on. That would tell them that the towers were back up and it was safe to return to the city.

They weren't really terrorists. They were just curious. Any two people, given enough time, could obsess over a thing. Could make it their only goal in life. They didn't have an agenda. They didn't have an endgame. They didn't even have a plan beyond taking down the towers and moving to the cabin. The towers were the plan. By the time they came to the cabin, it was already over.

So they waited. After a few weeks they were getting bored with spam and rice, so they started opening the cans of instant soup they'd stocked up. The television hadn't come back on yet, but they didn't expect it too so soon, so they weren't concerned. It wouldn't be until later that it would occur to them that it might not come back on.

After a few months, they still hadn't heard anything, and Sarah was starting to get antsy. Todd kept reminding her to be patient, but the towers were what brought them together. Now that that was over, their conspiracy was as well. Living in the cabin was part of the plan, but their obsession had been fulfilled, and now they were empty. Sarah wanted to know what was happening outside. Not knowing was filling the place in her where her obsession had been. One morning Todd woke up, and Sarah and the charger were gone.

She was back that afternoon, but she wouldn't talk about what she'd seen. She just told him he needed to go with her to the city so he could see it too. At first, Todd was uninterested on going on her little adventure, but eventually he came around, thinking, hell, she made it there and back, it's only a few hours, and getting out of this place wouldn't hurt either.

They drove back, down the rural road to the freeway, past the towers, and towards the city. On the way, Todd tried at first to question her about what she'd seen, but soon her silence was answer enough, and he simply gave up.

When they reached the edge of the city, the first thing Todd noticed was the buildings. Most had some damage, and several were ruined, but almost all of them seemed empty. Almost dead inside. It was like people had just given up and walked away from the city. As they drove down the empty streets, Todd realized they were all alone.

He wondered where all the people had gone. Had they died in some civil upheaval? Had the lack of power caused mass starvation? Had the government moved them out of the area? He asked Sarah, but she just shook her head. She didn't have the answer either.

They continued towards the center of the city, and still their were no people. The houses seemed empty. The vehicles parked on the road seemed like they had been abandoned wherever they sat. The buildings were still dark. Most of all there was the silence. It was like their charger was the only island of life in the entire city.

At the center of town they found it. It was on the fountain. A plaque, made of stone, with words etched into its face. The words that explained the empty city. The words that explained what had come of their obsession.

“God has forsaken us. The towers have failed. Those of us who survived have left. There is nothing left for us here. Perhaps there is something for us somewhere else.”

“They gave up.” Sarah sounded strangely distant. “They just gave up. It's why the tv never came back on. They didn't even try to determine why they failed. They didn't try to repair them. They just gave up and left.”

She was right, Todd could see that. It didn't make sense, but there it was. All that planning, all those nights considering and discarding idea after idea. Considering what challenges they might face and how to overcome them. Their obsession, and everyone else had just given up.

Suddenly Todd became angry. Taking down the towers was a great achievement. They had sacrificed everything for it, and the people of the city had just given up. It wasn't fair. His obsession, and they're ambivalence. It wasn't fair.

But there it was. Todd raised his eyes to the heavens and screamed all his frustration at the sky. Sarah just looked past him at nothing, and Todd screamed until his voice grew hoarse. He howled and she stared, and the city answered them with silence.