4 Strong
(reread one of my old stories in lieu of writers' block, one of my favs to date)
The further out they went, the more it was becoming apparent that the situation extended well beyond New York proper. Natasha’s earlier assessment proved disastrously true. Whatever had taken out the city’s electronics had not been cowed by the Hudson.
They were covering ground fast. Kate was in decent shape and numbed down enough by the previous day’s events to push through the exhaustion, but the walking tour so far was a revolving picture wheel of what they already knew. No power, no working machinery, ergo, no reinforcements.
They’d met a unit of five, Army, previously stationed at Fort Hamilton, who confirmed her theory. Comms went down from one moment to the next, temporally lining up with Stark’s ride up to the portal. Crowd control had been impossible to organize once command was suspended, and after their CO got mauled by enemy forces, they’d given up on trying to maintain any kind of order. With no word coming from higher up they’d joined the ranks of the walking dazed, shuffling along interstates and freeways in hope of a greater force bailing them out. There was talk about disaster camps spread out across the state line, but there was no official communication yet.
Natasha deftly disentangled herself from the conversation before one of the other troopers managed to convince Kate that age was just a number. She made sure to put a safe distance between them before she agreed to another break.
“We’d have a better chance of finding out what was going on if we actually stuck to the crowds,” the girl argued tiredly, wiping mud off her sneakers. “Plus, you know, asphalt.”
“Crowds are dangerous,” said Natasha. “Especially in a situation like this.”
“There’s never been a situation like this,” Kate countered.
Natasha sighed. Naive girl. No idea how vicious the world could really be when it was scared and hungry. No idea at all.
She hoped Kate wouldn’t have to learn the hard way.
But she was already bracing for it.
