Nobody stops them when they leave the city. Anne almost thought someone might, thought Greta's claim that it's the city what keeps them here, rather than anyone in it, was too ridiculous to believe. But no one seems to care what they do. They follow the tracks out into the more open space beyond, the first part of the journey done, too easy and with too many unknowns still to cross.
Anne hunches her shoulders tight against the cold, part of her wanting to pull close to Jack for both the comfort and the warmth, but she keeps a slight distance. If something happens and she needs to draw her weapons, to protect him, she'll need freedom of movement. Not sure what could happen out here, but it's that which keeps her ready, on a constant alert and she scans their strange surroundings, hardly more relaxed out here than she was in the city itself. It is quieter out here, but still unfamiliar, still an open question. Anything might happen to them after yesterday, when they endured the impossible.
Looking ahead, there is no visible change in the horizon, but there's little solace in that. Just as she cannot anticipate what dangers they might find, she knows too readily that this 'barrier' may take a form they don't recognize. And there's another question underlying even all that: if they can breach it, what next? How do they return home the way they came, when the way they came was an eye-blink across time and oceans?
These questions are better pondered by Jack. Anne can scarcely keep up with them. But Jack is silent beside her, and while ordinarily their shared silence is a comfort, now it is difficult to bear. Her mind grasps for some sort of focus, lost in the swirl of this mad thing that's happened to them. It's the same for him, no doubt. But she wishes he would talk about it, if only to quiet her own disordered thoughts. The awareness that she doesn't and can't know what to expect weighs down on her, a heavy pressure on her back, a burden she can't hope to ease on her own. She shivers with cold and omnipresent tension.
Finally, needing something, she just grunts and speaks the obvious: "Don't see any wall out there." Even if Jack has no further thoughts on that than those she's had already, she wants to hear him put them forward. To listen to him try to untangle it, instead of trying on her own.
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Anne hunches her shoulders tight against the cold, part of her wanting to pull close to Jack for both the comfort and the warmth, but she keeps a slight distance. If something happens and she needs to draw her weapons, to protect him, she'll need freedom of movement. Not sure what could happen out here, but it's that which keeps her ready, on a constant alert and she scans their strange surroundings, hardly more relaxed out here than she was in the city itself. It is quieter out here, but still unfamiliar, still an open question. Anything might happen to them after yesterday, when they endured the impossible.
Looking ahead, there is no visible change in the horizon, but there's little solace in that. Just as she cannot anticipate what dangers they might find, she knows too readily that this 'barrier' may take a form they don't recognize. And there's another question underlying even all that: if they can breach it, what next? How do they return home the way they came, when the way they came was an eye-blink across time and oceans?
These questions are better pondered by Jack. Anne can scarcely keep up with them. But Jack is silent beside her, and while ordinarily their shared silence is a comfort, now it is difficult to bear. Her mind grasps for some sort of focus, lost in the swirl of this mad thing that's happened to them. It's the same for him, no doubt. But she wishes he would talk about it, if only to quiet her own disordered thoughts. The awareness that she doesn't and can't know what to expect weighs down on her, a heavy pressure on her back, a burden she can't hope to ease on her own. She shivers with cold and omnipresent tension.
Finally, needing something, she just grunts and speaks the obvious: "Don't see any wall out there." Even if Jack has no further thoughts on that than those she's had already, she wants to hear him put them forward. To listen to him try to untangle it, instead of trying on her own.