“Suspect moving East on Bridge 207. Driving a 2053 silver Audi,” hissed the radio on the dash board. Riley punched the gas on her brand new, government issue, black Dodge. It lurched forward with a roar.

“I see him. I’m closing in,” she whispered as her Dodge climbed to 85mph.

“We’ve got Bridge 212 blocked off. Try to chase him over here.” She immediately recognized the voice ringing in her ear piece. Her partner Kyle was on the other line. He had been the one to train her when she first started working for the LA Fresh Water Locator Service, or FWLS for short, two years ago. She focused her attention on the set of tail lights 500, 400, 200, and now merely 50 yards away. Her heart was a humming bird beating in her chest waiting to be released. Her fingers tingled with the familiar rush of adrenaline.
This suspect had been caught stealing fresh water, a very serious crime. Ever since the floods nearly 50 years ago, all fresh water sources became contaminated by salt water. The only fresh water came from a man-made filtering system. The filtering system used all of the city’s energy and, as a result, leaves LA cold and dark. Not to mention that the water tasted like metal and was so expensive that very few can afford some.
Riley pulled up to the left side of the Audi, forcing it to turn right on Bridge 212; the direction of the blockade. The cars ran into each other as they turned, and sparks flew like confetti, lighting up the night. Riley glanced over her left shoulder at the water far below her. It was dark a desolate. The floods left the city of Los Angeles underwater and all that was left were the hundreds of towers. Now, Los Angeles was a city built above a city. Bridges connected towers to other towers, and houses were built on the flat roofs of buildings. The streets were no longer streets, but rivers, and buildings were now just foundations for new construction. She kept an eye on the edge of the bridge as she drove.
Suddenly the Audi veered left and the front tire of Riley’s Dodge slipped over the edge. The Dodge rumbled and groaned. Sparks flew up against the wind shield covering it in a blanket of fire. Riley screamed until her throat burned like the fire covering her wind shield.
Relax. She thought to herself. Suddenly she remembered the propulsion button on her steering wheel. She pressed it and the Dodge pitched forward at high speed. Too late. Both front tires had swerved off the bridge during the skid and the Dodge shot off the bridge like a rocket. Riley’s stomach jumped to her throat, and she felt sick. The world was turning in every direction. She fell into a dark abyss.
The impact of the water threw Riley forward in her seat. The seat belt dug into her skin, trying desperately to stop her body from careening forward into the steering wheel. The air bags blasted open like a puff of white cloud, and for a moment her vision was speckled with twinkling stars. Murky water crept up along the wind shield and passenger windows, threatening to swallow her whole. Riley sat in the driver’s seat in a daze. She watched the shadowy water edge over the top of the car and begin to descend her towards the bottom of the canal.
It was then the panic set in. Riley threw herself against the window, pounding and yelling at the window, then begged it to open. Icy water lapped around her calves and slithered up around her waist. Riley rapidly unbuckled her seat belt and scrambled into the backseat. She searched the floors desperately trying to find something, anything, to help her break the windows. Nothing. The water was at her chest now and its chill sent goose bumps racing across her flesh. The driver’s seat was completely submerged in water. Her breath came out in gasps and her pulse pounded in her ears. The water pooled around her neck and tickled her ears.
An idea suddenly formed in her mind. Riley took one deep breath and went under. She pulled herself into the front seat of the dodge and felt around for her keys. She brushed her hands over the steering wheel and down the right side where the keys should be. She stopped when her finger tips grazed the familiar indented pattern of her metal keys. She slid out the car key and placed three of keys between each finger of her right hand. She closed her hand into a fist and each key poked out between each knuckle. She drew her fist back and punched the driver seat window with all the strength she could muster. The window didn’t budge. She punched it again. This time, a crack formed. Her fist ached, but she drew it back once more, delivering a final blow. The glass shattered. Riley pulled herself through the broken window, careful of the glass that judged out from the window frame.

Riley began to swim franticly towards the surface. Her lungs burned, desperate for air. She was no longer swimming, but pulling herself through the water towards the surface. The dim water gripped her in its icy clutches, trying to drag her down into the bottomless chasm. She opened her mouth ever so slightly, releasing a few bubbles of air, then watched them float up to the surface.
Her limbs felt like dead weights, and her chest felt like it might it explode. Then her hand broke the surface. Riley coughed and sputtered. She breathed heavily taking oxygen into her lungs. When her breathing began to slow, she put a hand up to her ear piece to test it.
“Kyle?” she asked “Are you there?” She waited for a response, but heard nothing. She sighed and began to take in her surroundings.
Each side of the river was lined with ancient towers of varying sizes. Some rose high above the water while others were merely 20 feet above the surface. She stared in awe at medium sized tower that was once almost entirely covered windows. However the windows had broken after years of wear and tear, and left the building as an eerie skeleton. Her gaze fell upon a massive, sturdy structure made of concrete. It only had two sets of windows. The windows wove around the entire building creating two single strips. One set was about 3 feet above the water, and the other was at the very top of the tower.
Perfect, Riley thought to herself as she made her way to the tower. Her teeth chattered as she swam, and she felt exhaustion begin to set in. When she reached the lower set of broken windows, Riley placed both hands on the lower portion of the window pane and pulled herself up. She winced as tiny bits of broken glass dug into her palms and her muscles strained. She sat on the window pane and stared into the tower. Far below her were metal stairs coated in dust. To the right, the stairs spiraled upward out of sight. She guessed that this building had not housed people, but was built to protect something. Perhaps it was built to protect some type of technology used before the floods. Riley took a deep breath and pushed herself from the window. Her stomach fluttered as she fell and rolled to soften the impact. She rolled across the floor and finally stopped when her back smacked into the railing along the edge of the stairs. She groaned and straightened herself before heading down the stairs.

Riley was past the point of exhaustion. Her legs were numb and she felt as if she was drifting down the stairs like a ghost. She had begun her seventh flight of stairs when her shoes stepped in something wet and warm. She snorted when she noticed the water lapping at her feet. She had had enough of water for today. She turned and began to make her way back up the steps, but stopped short.

Was that water warm? Riley turned on her heel and ran back to water. She dipped her hand in the water and wiggled her fingers. Her frozen fingers began to tingle as the water heated them. Then she lowered her nose to the water and sniffed it curiously. It smelled like emptiness. Then she took a tiny sip of the water. Just a taste. It tasted like nothing. A wonderful nothing! Riley couldn’t believe it. She jumped and hollered with joy.
“I found it!” She screamed, “I finally found it!” She admired the beautiful black body of water. The building was at least 25 stories high, and was a least halfway submerged in the river. Subtracting the 7 stories she traveled down, that left at least 5 stories of fresh water stored in the tower. It must have come from an underground hot spring that opened up somehow. She clicked on her ear piece, praying that it might work.

“Kyle,” she spoke, “Kyle, I found it. I found it!” The ear piece cut in and out of static, but she was able to make out a familiar voice from underneath the noise.

“Riley? Is that you?” She heard him gasp, “We thought you were dead!”

“I can assure you I am not dead.”

“Where are you? Are you ok? I’ll send a team out there as soon as you tell me where you are.”

“I found it Kyle.”

“What? Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Ask me.”

“Ask you what?”

“Ask me what I found.”

“Alright,” she heard him sigh like he was annoyed with her, but Riley knew he was eager to hear what she found. “What did you find?”

“Fresh,” she whispered, “I found fresh!”