Mitch heard Lisa's question, but was still staring at the remains of the city, too shocked by what they saw to answer.
Buildings were worn and crumbling, abandoned cars were rusted and strewn about the streets, trash and debris scattered everywhere... and not a single person was seen... anywhere.
Looking behind them, they got a look at the building that topped the basement levels they had just emerged from. Done up in off white marble, with tall broken windows and a couple of pillars flanking the huge double doors, the overhang of the facade had the words, 'Historical Archive Society' chiseled into the stone. The rotunda in the middle of the structure was topped with a dome of copper, now dulled from its former shiny burnt orange tinge to a bland oxidized mixture of light and dark greens.
Taking Lisa's hand, Mitch started walking down the sidewalk, mesmerized by the level of decay and the absence of anything living. They carefully picked their way around trash and junk that used to be people's belongings, and avoided areas where shards of broken glass and metal were splayed over the cement walks.
They passed store fronts with smashed windows and faded plastic signs and posters affixed to whatever solid surface was still intact. Doors to buildings, be they businesses or apartments, were missing or left open and plastic bags and crates of personal items were lying about in front of the structures.
The whole section of the city looked like a ghost town, unused and uninhabited... for years.
"Mitch?"
He finally turned to Lisa and answered her question, "I don't know. It looks like..." He wasn't sure how to describe what he and Lisa were seeing; he had never seen the like before, except in old photos of ruin cities after a war destroyed them. But the buildings didn't look like they sustained any type of damage from weaponry; none of them were hit with any bullets or shrapnel from grenades or bombs. They just looked deserted, as if abandoned years ago.
Mitch stepped ahead of Lisa and, taking a deep breath, shouted, "Helloooooo!" The echo of his shout ran down the street and bounced off the buildings, and he listened carefully once it died.
Nothing.
Lisa turned in the opposite direction and shouted, her cry bouncing back at her as well, with the same result. She edged back over to Mitch and curled her arm around his, shivering.
"Mitch... there's nobody here."
Mitch noticed something else. Not only did no one answer his call, not a single living thing was scared out of its roost. No birds, no dogs or cats, not even a single mouse. He looked up to see if anything flying could be seen, but the only thing drifting above them was a dingy sky. The light blue of the atmosphere had a tinge of light tan to it, and what clouds could be seen were tinted in sickly shades of brown and ocher.
"Let's keep looking," he said, holding Lisa close to his side.
They continued down the walk and peered into smashed windows and opened doors, looking for any sign of inhabitants and, so far, seeing none.
Lisa jerked her head to the side when she heard something; the sound of something fallen or kicked. Mitch heard it, too. It came from one of the rusted vehicles in the road. Hoping there was someone still in the city, Lisa darted towards the car she thought the noise came from. Mitch tried to stop her, but didn't reach her until she was already at the vehicle's side window.
He saw her face, frozen in shock, and her chest heaving up and down with every labored pant. He looked into the open window of the car, and saw...
In the back seat, two skeletons were lying next to each other. One was cradling the other, the smaller one obviously belonging to a child no more than seven, maybe eight years old. The larger of the two, a parent no doubt, was trying to protect their child from... what? The sound they both heard was the clatter of bones collapsing in on each other.
Mitch backed away from the horrid sight, but Lisa was still frozen in place unable to avert her eyes from the ghastly scene in the car.
"Lisa," he said, touching her shoulder. Then, more forcefully, he squeezed her arm and made her look at him, "Lisa..."
"They're dead," she whispered, a tear running down her face.
Mitch nodded, "I know, Honey; they're dead. Come away from there; c'mon, right now."
Stiffly, she moved away from the car and let Mitch guide her back to the sidewalk. He idly noticed that the car didn't have any tires; in fact, none of them did when he looked more carefully and saw thin strands of wire around the hubs where rubber should be. Lisa clung to his arm as they went on with their search, tightening her grip when they came upon a few more skeletal remains lying in the street and across the walk.
"There has to be somebody around here," Mitch remarked, still searching around the cars and structures, "They can't all be dead."
Lisa only heard half of what Mitch was saying, for she was still scared at the scenes laid out before them. Views of abandoned building and cars seemed endless as they made their way through the city, and the remains of people scattered about like so many leaves from a dead tree.
Mitch stopped in front of a store and scanned the interior, Lisa cautiously trying to see what caught his attention.
"Let's go in here," he said, heading for the open door with Lisa still clinging to him.
The store was a clothes shop, or at least it used to be. Empty hangers hung from walls and floor racks, with equally empty shelves along the back. Mitch went over to the counter and saw another skeleton lying on the floor behind it, old and partially crumbling. The register was open, but the only thing in it was change and what looked like tiny red and blue fibers.
"Hey," Lisa called out, getting his attention, "looks like we caught a break."
Mitch went over to her, seeing her point to the shelves. There were a few pairs of shoes and sandals still on one of them; the rest were empty. They both donned pairs of tennis shoes that were close to their sizes, and relaxed a little knowing they didn't have to worry too much about stepping on something with their bare feet and getting hurt.
Mitch felt a little more at ease when he heard Lisa snicker, and turned to her waiting for the reason.
"We look a little silly, walking about butt naked with only a pair of shoes on."
Mitch smiled back at her, "Well, you're the one with the exhibitionist's streak in her; now's your chance to show it all off."
