Fore dated to the 20th. p>
Word Count → 527
The city of Halifax was an impressive sight from the water, towering concrete shells mixed with smaller buildings that looked squat alongside the giant structures, but were still far larger than anything the Luperci could build. Neela found the sight both humbling and rather creepy as her boat slid through the water, giving her a front row seat to the broken shell of the human city.
Still as creepy as Neela found the place from the waterfront it served an important purpose, providing the Luperci with many things that they lacked the technology to create themselves and Neela intended to take advantage of that purpose. While many Luperci were limited to taking what they could carry over long distances from the ruins Neela had no such limitations; while the Meria wasn't specialised in hauling cargo she could certainly carry a large amount of supplies if Neela packed everything carefully.
Still before she got that far ahead Neela needed to actually get the Meria docked, which was easier said than done along the human docks, which were either wrecked or built for much larger vessels in most places. Eventually Neela found a small set of stairs set into a high concrete wall which lead down to water level that looked suitable. After throwing some padding over the side, dropping anchor and throwing hook ropes onto just about everything she could see Neela felt that she was ready and rolled out her plank to disembark.
Moving swiftly Neela slung a large, black duffel bag over her shoulder and picked up a medium sized barrel, balancing this on her shoulder. The duffel bag would be used to carry smaller salvage, but at the moment carried several blankets and a pillow, the barrel had salted fish and fruit in it. Neela made her way up the steps swiftly and started looking around for a suitable building to sleep and store her things in for the time she was here.
A building was quickly found, a mostly hollowed out shell of a shop with a fairly intact back room which would make a decent shelter and storage, and the barrel and bag were left there, a quick spray of scent by the door warning any intruder away from the building.
It was when Neela was making her second trip up the stairs that disaster struck. This time she was carrying two barrels balanced on her shoulders, one filled with fresh water and the other containing the processed remains of the two deer she had caught. These barrels were much heavier each than the first one and Neela was having to concentrate hard to keep her balance as she made her way up the narrow, slippery stairs. It would have been an impossible feat for a less nimble canine and Neela was noly just managing.
Unfortunately Neela was paying so much attention to her balance that she didn’t notice a chunk torn out of the top step and directed her foot into it. The unexpected drop threw Neela off balance and with no hands free to catch herself all Neela could do was let out a shriek as she felt herself tipping backwards.
