[FICTION] Tales from Port Astor | The Sea Wall of Port Astor

                 In 1930, a mysterious disease overtook the western city of Port Astor, in the state of Jefferson. During its run, it killed one in five; nearly one-hundred thousand. Where it came from and how it started are hotly debated topics by local historians, but the official story is that it came via ship from the Far East. During that time, however, there were no similar outbreaks in the ports of East Asia. The situation garnered national attention when federal forces, sent to the city to enforce a quarantine, opened fire, and shelled the John Astor Bridge, killing dozens and maiming hundreds, when they tried to flee the city.

                The most affected area was the neighborhood of John’s Landing. One of the oldest parts of the city, it featured tight, narrow and twisting streets. After the plague, much of the neighborhood was abandoned, and buildings condemned due to damage, or fear of the disease that might linger; a haunting warren of brick and cobblestone.

                With much of the district empty, the city seized many of the properties to build works to help with the regular tidal flooding that had wreaked havoc in the area for generations, along the Athapaskan Channel. Though, rather than the proposed series of levies that similar cities had done for similar problems, the city build an enormous fortress-like structure; The Port Astor Sea Wall. It encompasses nearly all of the southeastern shore of the island, and houses a great number of city utilities; water treatment plants, it’s desalinization project, substations, and more. Even the top of the structure is used as the southeast part of the Island Loop Freeway that circles all of Port Astor.

                It is said, however, that there is more. Below the freeway, below the water treatment and utilities, below it all still lays the old narrow pathways of John’s Landing; the structure above acting as mausoleum for tens of thousands dead. The city denies this, of course. But every year, dozens of would-be explorers go missing trying to find the lost district, to see if the legend of the Port Astor Plague Tunnels are real. To date, none have returned.

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From the author: Thank you for catching the first part of a three part series! Make sure to check back in next Saturday for part two!