August 2nd, 2027, 11:45 AM

You didn’t know where you were at first.

A single glance around you told you that the setting was foreign to you. But still, the rubble-strewn streets, cracked and faulted pavement, and crumbling buildings had that vague familiar feeling, as if you may have passed through here before. You knew better than the trust that feeling though, because rubble had a funny way of looking alike, and even though you felt that you may have ventured through the area before, the complete lack of any recognizable landmarks told you that this was someplace new, and you did not have the slightest idea of where you were.

Or how long you had been walking.

The last thing you remember was trying to fall asleep. The sun had set already, and the clouds had blackened the sky for some hours earlier. You lay against the floor, as you had yet to find a cot or mattress to pad your hearth, but you had the benefit of having a smelly old blanket, one that served its critical purpose of keeping you warm through the frigid nights. The last thing you remembered as turning to your left and seeing the familiar body of Lily, the golden retriever you had grown to love, curled up in the corner.

Then you awoke here.

Though clouds obscured the sun, you could tell that it was approaching midday, as the light seemed to come almost directly overhead. To the west, you could smell the sea. That must be the Hudson River pouring into the bay. A glance around told you that you were standing outside of downtown proper, as the buildings here—or at least, what was left of them—did not jut out so magnanimously into the sky. Older brick buildings stood in their place, often with entire stories and walls obliterated from the bombings. You saw trees against ruined storefronts, with their windows shattered and their inventory looted. There was a quaintness here was absent at home, almost as if this part of town was the quieter, slower district before the bombs fell.

A brisk breeze blew through your layers, and even though you wore several sweatshirts, the air chilled you to the bone. Worse than the thought of the long trek home and the fear of walkers, you knew that this region was Banner territory, and the last thing you wanted was to face one of them. Most of your hegemon experience came against the Crimson Saber, when you lived in Central Park, but you had heard many stories of the notoriously ruthless Golden Banner, and you hoped, more than you ever remembered hoping for anything, to avoid seeing one of them today.

There was nothing left for you to do but walk.