The wind whipped at my hair, blowing in from the biggest body of water I’d ever seen. The lake stretched away until it met the sky, and dark waves rose and fell, breaking against the rocks.
On the edge of the lake, rising into the clouds, the city of Old Chicago loomed over everything. Back in New Covington, the three vampire towers were the most prominent buildings in the city, standing proudly over the rest. But the Chicago skyline had buildings that dwarfed even the vampire towers, and there were a lot more of them, even shattered and crumbling as they were. It reminded me of a mouthful of broken teeth, grinning madly against the night sky.
Behind me, Zeke blew out a short breath, tickling my ear. “Wow, it’s huge,” he said. “How are we supposed to find anything in that?”
“We’ll find them,” I said, hoping I wasn’t making empty promises. “Just look for the huge band of raiders led by a vampire. How hard can it be?”
I ate my words a few minutes later.
Old Chicago was even more sprawling and massive up close than viewed from afar. It felt as if it went on forever, miles of broken pavement, dead cars and empty buildings. Cruising through the rubble-filled streets, the monstrous skyscrapers looming above us, I wondered what the city had been like when it was alive. How many people had lived here to justify so many buildings packed this close, reaching up to the sky? I couldn’t even imagine.
We followed the road until we turned a corner and found the path blocked by the remains of a huge skyscraper. I pulled the bike to a stop and gazed around, trying to get my bearings.
“This is hopeless,” Zeke said, looking past me at the collapsed building. “It’s too big. We could be searching this place for weeks, months even. And by then who knows what they’ll do to everyone?”
“We can’t give up, Zeke,” I said, turning the bike around. “They’re here somewhere. We just have to keep—”
I stopped then, because something else had turned that corner and was coming toward us. A pair of raiders on long, sleek bikes, their handlebars sweeping up like horns, roared out of the shadows, catching us in their headlights. I stiffened, and Zeke tensed as the men pulled to a stop a few yards away, regarding us curiously. One of them had a woman sitting behind him, her frizzy hair tangled by the wind.
One biker jerked his head at us. “Heading to the Floating Pit, huh? Guess you heard the news.”
The what? “Um…yeah,” I replied, shrugging. “We did. Is that where you’re going?”
“Yep.” He turned and spit on the pavement. “Should be a good show tonight.” He eyed us then, forehead creasing. “Haven’t seen you two around before,” he said. “You new to the Pit, little girl?”
Zeke’s arms around me tightened. I hoped he wouldn’t lose it. I was about to make up something about being new to Old Chicago, when the woman on the other bike slapped her driver’s shoulder. “We’re going to be late,” she whined, and the man rolled his eyes. “Jackal promised us a show, and I don’t wanna miss it. Let’s go, already.”
“Shut up, Irene.” Her raider scowled but jerked his head at the man who’d spoken to us. “Come on, Mike. Talk to the rookies later. Let’s go.” He gunned his engine, drove the bike up a ramp that went through the skeletal skyscraper, and was gone. The other raider rolled his eyes and started to follow.
“Mind if we follow you into the Pit?” I asked pleasantly. He glanced at me, surprised, but shrugged.
“Shit, I don’t care, rookie. Just try to keep up.”
*
THE FLOATING PIT, I quickly learned, lived up to its name.
We followed the raiders through the streets of Old Chicago, zooming around dead cars, rubble and more fallen skyscrapers, going faster than we probably needed to. The roar of the engines echoed off the buildings, and sometimes we barely cleared a wall, a tunnel or an overturned vehicle, passing so close I could’ve reached out and touched it. I loved this, though Zeke wasn’t quite as thrilled. His cheek pressed into my back and his arms were locked tightly around my waist, making me glad I didn’t have to take a breath.
Finally, we rolled to a stop on the back of another fallen giant, looking over what I guessed had been downtown Chicago, once upon a time. The skyscrapers here defied belief, even skeletal and crumbling as they were. One tower had lurched to the side and was now leaning precariously against another, shortening the lifespan of both. There were several gaps in the skyline where it looked as if buildings had already fallen, but it was impressive nonetheless.