Apotheosis: Stories of Human Survival After the Rise of the Elder Gods Read Online Free Page A

They might even know just from us talking here. We have to start walking and maybe, just maybe, they won’t know what we’re up to until we’re at the wall.”
    I close my eyes for a moment and picture the ring, safe under the floorboard. It is all I have left, but if they kill me, it won’t matter. If they bring us back, they won’t find it on me. If we escape, maybe I won’t need it.
    “Alright. We go now.”
     
    *             *             *             *
 
    Walking to the wall, we do our best to look nonchalant. It gets harder as we get close because the smell from the wall is thick and heavy. As we get closer there are fewer people around until we are the only ones. Both of us have our collars turned up so we can cover our noses from the dense rot that stinks over the whole area. But no one stops us; no smiling people seem to be around. Maybe without so many people here, they don’t have much interest.
    When we reach the wall itself, it is hard not to retch. The smell is deep here; I can feel it seeping into my clothes and sticking to the inside of my nostrils. It towers above us, a pile of detritus and effluent. The remains of an entire civilization has been used to build it. There are bodies there, so many I can’t count. Each is mummified after years encased here. Some seem to reach out as if they might have been alive before they became part of it. There are animals in there too, and bones. But the construction is not entirely organic. Rusted girders, rubble from destroyed buildings, and even a few vehicles have been used as materials. The whole construction is held together by a green and yellow mucus that has set almost as hard as cement. However, even now, the outer layers of it somehow remain sticky and soft to the touch.
    Tom and I grit our teeth and begin to climb. It isn’t a difficult climb in many ways. There are so many handholds, and the angle isn’t as steep as it might be. My damaged hand is a problem, but not an insurmountable one. But the smell is overpowering, and everything I touch is disgusting. Dead eyes stare out at me as we climb, and my feet keep slipping on God knows what as I push up each step. With each breath, I want to throw up. It feels so high that I wonder if I’ll ever reach the top.
    I don’t know how long it takes us to climb the wall, but it must have been hours. The night has deepened as we crawl up to the apex, but we can still see by the light from the city behind us. It feels empty up here, far from everything. When I look back, I think I see something moving below us, but it is too far away. Is it a smiling person? I can’t tell, but I’m not sure if they can see us up here from down there. We are both exhausted and take a moment to rest, spread out on this jagged ridge. The climb down should be easier, but with the worst over, we both take a moment. Tom smiles at me, but it is too early to think we are safe yet.
    Given the darkness, it is hard to see very far, even from here. But the sky bathes the land in a soft glow of sickly mauve and green. I can’t see anything but barren land, though. There is nothing out there as far as the eye can see. In the distance, mountains rise up to the clouds and here and there, the shapes of tentacles wave frond-like from the sky. Where they touch the ground, they seem to be grazing on the dust that remains.
    “Beyond those mountains. That’s where they’ll be,” says Tom, his hope failing to infect me. I don’t answer him. Looking out here, I can’t imagine there is anything else left. I’m not even sure without provisions we could make it past the mountains. But I can’t destroy his last hope, and I want to believe him. I want to believe him so badly I’m still ready to risk my life here.
    After we’ve taken a moment to catch our breath, we start to make the climb down. As we stand to begin the decent, there is a screech and something falls from the sky a few feet from us. It looks