Shards of the Moon, Chapter 5

The boarded up windows leaked bits of light, but not like the sheer wall of brightness that hit when the double doors at the end of the hall opened, near blinding. Even Rhada had to cover his eyes for a second before they adjusted to the brilliant desert sun. After her eyes had adjusted, Madison saw that the outside of the building they were in was just as ragged as the interior, the windows all but boarded up and closed off, graffiti and damage. Nearby was a once-proud sign, that if the letters were complete, would have read 'Boulder City High School'.
The old high school? That's where he was hiding? It's a wonder she hadn't run into him before.
Down a bit of disused concrete path led them around the far side of the building, where the current living city of Boulder City was visible, dots of people moving in the distance. An early tanker caravan was on it's way into the city, leaving an impressive dust cloud behind them.
“So, where we're going, is it close?” Madison asked, catching up to Rhada's longer stride.
“Fairly, it shouldn't take more than a couple hours round trip.” Rhada answered, heading towards the back of the building, a part of the structure with big, white doors.
“Are we going to be, um, riding horses? Because I should tell you that I can't ride.” Madison admitted. Horses were a typical means of transport these days, hearty animals, and good for the long haul without the ridiculous these-days costs of fuel, or even a working vehicle.
“You're in luck then!” Rhada said with a bit of flair and a smile, before he pulled his keys from his pocket, and unlocked the door, before sliding it upward. Revealed with a small cloud of dust and the eventual pierce of the sunlight, was a pair of wide-spaced headlights, a sturdy brush guard, and a steel-cable winch, before her eyes adjusted to see the mammoth of a vehicle they belonged to.
It was unlike anything she had seen in her life. She'd seen plenty of trucks and haulers, Boulder City was the main stopping point before the Long Road, but this was something else altogether. Dark green, boxy, and massive.
“What--” Madison said, laughing a bit at it's appearance.
“What?” Rhada asked, laughing back a bit at her reaction.
“What -is- this thing?” she asked.
“I call it 'troop transport', but civvies call it a Humvee. Practically indestructible, as long as it's got fuel.” Rhada chuckled, before heading into the small garage, and climbing in.
With a quick whinny and a roar, the truck comes to life, sending a spray of dust to the sides from beneath it, before Madison climbs into the spacious truck herself. Within seconds they're out of the garage, through a short field, then on the hill down towards Boulder City, which was actually quite close. The school was up in the abandoned sections, maybe half a mile out, which was a quick trip for the vehicle.
Unfortunately the only route to where they had to go lead through Boulder City itself, something he wasn't exactly happy about, but it was unavoidable. The city streets cleared as the truck came through, Rhada slowing to avoid causing a dust storm through the streets. If they could get through unnoticed or unaccosted, it would be preferable, but with this trader town, and a truck they've never seen, it was practically impossible. People came out from their booths carrying whatever they could, offering sale or trade, Rhada turning them down at length.  Madison was watching her home town come to life with the prospect of trading to travelers, but felt a quiet twinge of disappointment when most of them didn't recognize her.
There was someone Rhada saw though, as the route brought them past the crowds heading in for Mass at the church, a man standing at the door, his voice booming to the people in earshot, telling of how God would protect them from the monsters as they always had, how that it was their duty to weed out those with the signs and bring them to a proper deliverance.
As Rhada passed by, he tried to continue speaking with the traders and refusing the offers, but when he looked back up to the passing church, the preacher there was now staring at him, right at him. Maybe he simply had a problem with strangers, but this seemed deeper, he was -focused- on him. Eventually, Rhada turned back to the road and sped up a bit, making for the North exit to town, towards the ruins of Vegas.
“That priest...” Rhada said, resetting his seat and speeding up a bit, leaving the dusty town behind.
“That was Reverend Cohen, he's the town preacher, and a good man. He was a friend of my parents, actually. Of the whole town.” Madison responded.
“He was giving me a look, does he have a problem with strangers?” Rhada asked, taking a quick glimpse of the town in his rear-view mirror.
“Not that I've seen, he's... how did my father say it? 'Fire-and-brimstone', his teachings are a little harsh, but it's keeping the town together, I think. People need something to believe in.” Madison explained.
“You a believer?” Rhada asked, as neutrally as he could with a hammer-type question like that was. Belief was always a heavy subject, but when it was the only thing keeping some people from completely losing their minds, it was an even heavier subject.
“I... I went to his sermons when I was a kid, my parents brought me, they were always deeply religious, as long as I could remember.” Madison responded, looking out her side of the vehicle to the desolate landscape, at the sights she hadn't seen before. There wasn't much to see, but still.
“That's not what I asked.” Rhada spun.
“... Honestly I don't know. I know everything they told me, but that's all it's ever really summed up to for me, a story. It taught me good morals and how to be a good person, as far as I know, but...” Madison trailed, still looking out the window.
“... I, uh,” Rhada started, breaking the semi-silence of the drive. “I haven't told you where we're going, have I?”

The roads into the southeast side of Vegas were a mess, carcasses of cars scattered about the roadways, some burned, some torn completely apart. Despite all of this, a lot of it was still intact. Buildings still stood proud, the old parts of smaller casinos still looked like they would light up given enough juice. It was a ghost of itself on permanent display, but not to be touched.
Despite everything she had to see, despite how beautiful everything looked, there was something that she noticed, there was a complete deficit of people. It really -was- a ghost town.
“Nobody lives here?” Madison asked, pulling her head back in the vehicle as Rhada navigated the clutter and cars dotting the tight roadways of the suburb.
“Not since -they- came around. Originally there was supposed to be a big National Guard setup here, but just like everything else, it all fell to pieces. People inherently knew that smaller towns were the only way to protect themselves, to try and shy the monsters appetites away. Less prey means less chance to eat, right?” Rhada explained, turning onto one of the side roads, watching the sight-lines and signs, trying to find what he needed.
“I guess that makes sense. Boulder City is pretty young but we defend ourselves well enough.” Madison presented.
“By barring doors, spreading bleach and saying prayers at bedtime.” Rhada said, almost sarcastically.
“It keeps us alive.” Madison said with an unamused tone. “Not all of us are like you.” Rhada kept reading the signs, quieter now. “... I'm sorry, that wasn't--”
“It's alright, I deserved it. Sometimes I forget what it was like not being able to defend myself, either. There we go.” Rhada said, smiling and pulling up to the curb, before turning the engine off and getting out slowly, his eyes still keen on the rooftops nearby.
“Rhada, I'm sorry.” Madison repeated.
Rhada, after a second, turned to her and smiled. “It's alright, I started it, heh. We're here.”
The tattered sign they had parked next to read in big square letters “PAWN SHOP”. The windows were broken, things were totally scattered about, just an absolute mess.
“We're... where?” Madison asked, looking into the dark of the building. Rhada grabbed a flashlight, it cutting through the dusty dark of the destroyed building, showcasing the scattered items, the toppled shelves, broken glass.
“We are at a prime spot to find some silver.” Rhada said, stepping through the doorway with a long step. “Mind the glass”
“Silver? Here?” Madison asked, watching her step as she made her way into the building behind him.
“Absolutely. See, the really nice thing is that when the looting was going on, all these small places got broken into and robbed of anything of value. People stole TVs, computers, and all the gems and gold they could carry. The really expensive stuff, actually. No one cared about anything else, really. Fortunately, Silver at that time wasn't worth -nearly- as much as gold was, so it tended to get forgotten ab—ah, there we go.” Rhada explained then exclaimed, as he saw a broken-through display, with boxes of things on display. He brought a few of them, up onto a steady part of the counter, before pulling a plastic bag out of his pocket, a shopping bag. “Lovely.” he said, as he opened and examined the boxes.
Madison eventually made her way over to him, to see what he was going on about. As she approached, she saw that he was looking over boxes of... rings. Dozens of rings in nice lines, different styles. “Oh, pretty!” she exclaimed. Rhada almost broke apart laughing. “What?” she asked.
Finally, he was able to bring himself back together enough to answer.
“I'm sorry, that was just totally unexpected. I usually don't think like that when I come silver-shopping. Just hearing someone say that tickled me. Did-did you want one?” Rhada offered.
“Oh no, I couldn't.” Madison politely refused.
“Sure you can, no one's here to stop you, they've been sitting here without use for the last twenty years and to be honest, all of these are going to be melted down. Go ahead, pick one, save it from obliteration. Please.” Rhada pleaded.
With a mix of a frown and a smile, Madison looked down at the beautiful silver rings, looking at their shapes, some set with colored stones, some with creatures adorning them, but one that really caught her eye. A petite little ring, with a single clear gem, it's shape offset from the circle it would form a bit, to hold the gem.
It was perfect and Madison was quick to snatch it up from the display box, testing to find which finger it would fit. Her right-hand ring finger was a perfect fit for it, after which she laughed a little.
“Thank you!” she exclaimed.
Rhada scooped the rest of the rings out and into the small bag he had, emptying three boxes of rings, a few big coins and some solid nuggets into it, giving it a final jingle to test it's weight, then smiling as his eyes set on something else in the display case.
“Oh, wow, I haven't seen one of these in -years-!” Rhada exclaimed, before setting the silver bag aside to dig back into the treasure trove, and brought up something angular and plastic, which had Rhada not only smiling, but chuckling a bit as he looked it over and played with it.
“What is it?” Madison asked, looking interested.
“I wonder if it still works?” Rhada asked himself, as he snatched the silver bag, and a few squarish boxes that had been next to it, before quickly making his way out to the Humvee. He was definitely excited, she could see, and followed him. The trunk of the Humvee was open and Rhada was tinkering, opening a cover on it and putting some batteries in.
“Rhada, what--” Madison started with an interested smile. That's all she got to say before she experienced something unlike anything she had before. Rhada had brought whatever it was up to his face, before a piercing white light filled her eyes, and a loud click sounded out. She practically screamed in surprise afterward, and had even recoiled, which made Rhada start laughing all over again. “What-What in the world!?” Madison asked, almost angry at the surprise.
Again, it took a few seconds for Rhada to regain his breath from how funny her reaction had been, but finally did. “I'm-I'm sorry Madison, I couldn't resist.” He was still fighting off the chuckle as he had something in his hand, waving it gently.
“What... what did you do?” She asked, starting to calm down.
“Here, look.” Rhada handed the white square to her, showing a faint outline of something against a greyish hue, but after a few seconds, an image started to appear on the slip, and after a few more, it made her feel as if she was looking into a mirror that didn't move. She was watching it with confusion. She was looking at herself! “How... what...”
“I'm sorry, Madison, I didn't mean to scare you. This is a Polaroid camera. This is an ancient thing, even by -my- standards, but it still works. Here, you try.” Rhada explained, before moving up to her and turning the camera about. As she looked through the aperture, she could see everything a bit differently, like through a cup. “Then just find something you want to see again.” Madison took over now, holding it, and turning about, looking through the viewfinder, and eventually finding a big casino sign in the background.
“O-okay,” She said.
“Now just press down on that button under your thumb.” Rhada instructed.
CLICK! So loud, she recoiled her face from it and dropped it, it skipping across the ground, with another of the white slips with gray sticking out of it. Rhada laughed again.
To her surprise, she took the white slip out and gave it a similar wave as Rhada did and a shape started to form. It was the sign she had seen, just as she had seen it!
She gently picked the camera back up and turned around to Rhada with a smile. “This is fantastic!”
“People in the old world used to take thousands and thousands of pictures with better cameras and technology than that. Nothing produced instant snapshots like that one, though. Why do you keep it? I'm sure there's a few things you'd like to keep forever memories of, right?” Rhada asked.
With that, the camera came back up and with an embarrassed smile, Rhada half-looked away.
CLICK!