Long Lay The World by Sage (PG)

[versaphile.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: sageness
Author Website: Nearly Home
Why this must be read:

A chilling portrait of a worst-case scenario: the end comes, and all Johnny and Bruce can do is keep walking and stay alive. Even in the bleakest future, there's hope at the end of the longest of roads.

It echoes. It echoes through the streets. It's like any of those old movies where the Germans invade, except it isn't the Germans invading.

It isn't anyone invading. We did this to ourselves.

Someone whispers to someone else that they've gotten a few trains running. Someone claims they've pulled some decommissioned steam engines out of a railroad museum. Someone else says they're just old diesels sitting idle in an overgrown rail yard, unaffected by the EMP because they were too old to bother retrofitting with computers. It's possible; they nod to themselves, rubbing their stubbly chins. It's possible.

They ponder back roads and escape routes, they gather information. Along with others, they use their contacts and pull what strings they can. Along with others, nothing happens; the strings fall slack. They take to their feet.

Long Lay The World