The street was slick and muddy from rainwater and Auran runoff. Its bricks split and spread. The whole surface was uneven and lumpy, and it was littered with debris. Carts sprawled overturned and broken; the mostly dismembered and long decayed cropses of horses and dogs were scattered into piles od sticky bone, loosely connected by stringy, green-gray tissue.<br/>Sage swiveled her head slowly left, right, then center; not being able to see far in any direction. Between the dimness and the concentrated, thickened air, no more than half a block could be discerned at once. Which way the streets ran, there was no telling. North and south, east and west, none of it meant anything without the sun to guess it by.<br/>Not even the faintest gust of air ruggled Sage's or Jackson's hair. There were no sounds of birds or even the drip of water. Nothing moved. Finally, Sage moved forward silently, buildings surrounding them on every side except for behind them. Leading with her left hand, she kept it pressed against the wall of the brick building to her left. Staying close against the building as she took slow and careful steps.<br/>They were standing on an incline, and she could see a place downhill where the incline increased sharply-dropping off and out of sight. At the edges of the drop-off there were stalls filled with empty bins. And off to the side, and up, as Sage explored the scene with her eyes, she saw the remains of a half-toppled sign and an enormous clock without any hands. Knowing the city well, she knew exactly where they were. 'It must be the market..so im near Lark street..' she thought quietly. Stopping and looking back to check that Jackson was keeping up.<br/>The building to her back must face Oakley Avenue or would but now it ran alongside the Wall. For the next few blocks, any of the streets that paralleled Lark would taker her in roughly the direction she'd chosen. Heading uphill ever so slightly, she worked her way away from the wall but was sure to take it slow as she waited to feel the presence of Jackson behind her. Removing the shotgun from its holster, she held it in front of her as they walked slowly. Vapor clung to one of the inside lenses in her mask and she flexed her cheek, trying to shake the condensation and make it gather or roll.<br/>The vampor clung to the mask.<br/>Sage sighed softly in irritation and a second sigh gave it a funny echo. Confused, she stopped dead still and put her hand out for Jackson to stop as well. It couldve been anything that made that noise. Her or Jackson's boots scraping unexpectedly against a jagged piece of stone or it couldve been her hair scraping against her mask. It was so quiet, anyway. Hardly a sound at all, really.<br/>Yet, her feet wouldnt move. Neither would her arms, or her hands locked around the shotgun. Even her neck would barely turn, lest she recreate the noise, or fail to. The only thing worse than hearing it again would be to hear it again and know it didnt come from her or Jackson's careful movements.<br/>Slowly, she motioned for Jackson to back away as slowly as possible while she did as well. Taking a step maybe every minute or so as she backed away. Freezing even before her or Jackson made it back to the original building they had been against, the sound came again. There was a whistle to it, and a moan. It was almost a hiss, and it couldve been a strangled gasp. Above all, it was quiet, and it seemed to have no source.<br/>It whispered. Sage tried to place the sound, and she decided, now the she heard it again and could be certian she hadnt imagined it, that it came from somewhere to their left, down toward the Wall. The whisper rose to a him, and then stopped. Sage motioned for Jackson to stay completely still as she did herself. She wanted to make herself inaudible and invisible, but there was nowhere to hide- not in their immediate range of vision. The building behind them had no windows or doors. Any shop that did close to them, had been barred with boards nailed tight around them.<br/>The noise came to a sudden stop. This new knd of quiet was even more frightening than the old kind, which had simply been empty. Now it was worse, because the foggy, cluttered landscape was not merely silent. Now it was holding its breath, and listening. Sage moved her right hand from the rifle and pressed it against Jackson's chest. Pushing him gently and slowly back towards the wall of the building they had originally been on.