Affliction Z: Abandoned Hope (Post Apocalyptic Thriller) (11 page)

Addison hit her brakes hard. She realized at that moment
that she hadn’t properly reconnected the front brake. The back of the bike
began to fishtail. A few moments later, she lost control and was thrown from
it. She hit the ground and rolled repeatedly, coming to a stop half on the
road, half on the grass. Her head and right arm and hips seared with pain. She
heard footsteps approaching. Ignoring the pain, she pushed herself off the
ground and reached behind her. The pistol that had been in her waistband was
gone. Worse, the messenger bag had fallen off.

“Get up,” a man said, his voice scratchy.

She pushed her torso off the ground and brought her knees up
under her. The guy blocked out the light. She could tell that he was bigger
than average. He wore work boots that were worn above the toes, revealing a
steel casing around the front of his foot.

“Let me see your hands,” the guy said.

From behind the guy, another man, who appeared to be larger
than the first, said, “What you got over there, Ralph?”

“Just a minute,” Ralph said. He squatted down in front of
Addison, letting the barrel of his rifle come to rest a few inches from her
face. “What’re you doing out here?”

Addison tried to force the lump in her throat down with a
hard swallow. She opened her mouth to speak, but found herself unable to say
anything.

Ralph moved the rifle a few inches to the right so that it
was no longer in her face. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll use it on you.”

She mustered up every last ounce of fight she had and spoke.
“I’m trying to get away from the city. It’s crazy there. Fires, looters, kids
out trying to kill people. My roommate went crazy and I—”

“She was sick?” he said, rising.

Addison shook her head, wondering if she should have left
that out.

“What about you?” He kept his rifle aimed at her head.

“I don’t think so. I haven’t started coughing or feeling bad
or anything like that. I haven’t wanted to kill or eat anyone.” She forced
herself to smile.

Ralph didn’t smile back. “Get up. We’ll figure out if you’re
sick or not.” He waited until Addison was up, then he walked behind her and
jammed the barrel of the rifle into her lower back. “Yeah, we’ll make sure.
Ain’t that right, Phil?”

The other man stepped out of the shadows. He had long salt
and pepper hair with a beard to match. Silver strands seemed to glow in the
artificial light. The smile on his face told Addison that these men were not
the knight in shining armor type. Phil walked up to her. He was thick and wide
with muscles. His body odor caused her to gag. She wondered if he’d showered in
the past week.

“Where you headin’?” Phil asked.

Addison glared up at him and said nothing.

He reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I
asked you where you were headin’. You best answer me.”

She tightened the muscles of her abdomen and thighs. Slowly
she shifted her right foot back a few inches. The guy wasn’t much taller than
her. She could drive her knee into his groin with a slight jump step.

“Just stop it right there,” Phil said. “I see what you’re
doing. I promise you, you won’t like the results.” As he spoke, Ralph jabbed at
her lower back with the rifle.

Addison gave up her plans for attack. She also decided it
was best not to mention her general manager’s property. The guys might head
there and burn it down, too.

“I was heading to my grandparent’s house,” she said.

“Where’s that?” he asked.

“Charlotte.”

“North Carolina?”

“Where else?” she said sarcastically.

“You were going to bike to the other end of North Carolina
during this shit?”

Addison nodded. “And I’d like to get going. I figure
nighttime is the best time to travel.”

“You’re not going to North Carolina,” Phil said. “You’re
coming with us.”

She felt a chill travel through her body. The force of it
made her teeth chatter. She had no escape route. It wasn’t as if she could run
off. Ralph had a rifle to her back. He could fire a round into her before she
got five feet away. She’d have to wait for a more opportune time to make her
break.

“Let’s go,” Phil said, grabbing her elbow and pulling her
forward.

They walked past the line of pickup trucks. Two more men
greeted them. Phil told them to take over. He and Ralph led Addison to a rusty
F-150. Phil climbed into the driver’s seat as Ralph escorted her around the
front of the cab. She got in on the passenger side. The two men sandwiched her.
Their body odor fought for control of her gag reflex.

This is what it’s like to live in a dumpster,
she
thought.

At Ralph’s feet was her bag, which held the pistol she
desperately wanted to reach.

They drove away from the city. Addison asked where they were
going a few times, but neither man answered her. They said nothing at all
during the trip. Phil dodged the occasional stalled car and person, refusing to
stop for those who flagged him down for assistance. Addison was grateful for
that. With no more room in the truck, she shuddered when she imagined what the
two men might do to someone else.

After fifteen or so minutes of driving, Phil cut the lights
and pulled off road. The truck slowly bounced along a dirt path.

Where were they going? What did the two men want with her?

Panic set in and Addison began to plot her next move. In the
dark she could move faster than they could react. Could she act fast enough,
though? An elbow to Ralph’s solar plexus would render him useless for at least
twenty seconds. She wasn’t sure that she could reach her bag in time. And even
if she did, could she get the pistol out fast enough? And delivering a blow to
Phil after Ralph was out of the question. He’d react before she could act,
setting herself up to be an easy target. This was not the time, she decided. If
they were going to do anything to her, they’d do it outside of the truck. She
could better take advantage of the surroundings then.

A couple minutes later, Phil turned the headlights back on.
The path angled to the right about fifty yards ahead. Had he known this? The
men were what she would call backwoods, so maybe they lived or hunted regularly
in the area they were driving through. Finally, after several more minutes,
Ralph stopped the truck and turned off the headlights. Addison saw beams of
light passing through the trees in front of them.

“Where are we?” she asked.

Neither man spoke. Ralph opened his door and slipped out
while aiming the rifle at her. He reached in and grabbed her bag. Then he
motioned for Addison to get out. She glanced over at Phil, who nodded. Addison
slid across the tattered vinyl seat and turned sideways to hop down. Ralph
backed up while she did so. Her feet hit the ground. She turned her head left
and right, but the darkness made it near impossible to see past the glow the
truck’s dome light provided.

She heard Phil’s door open and then close. Leaves crunched
under his feet as he circled around the back of the truck. He stopped a few
feet short of her. His heavy breathing drowned out all other sounds. She
flinched when his hand wrapped around her forearm.

“This way,” he said, pulling her forward. And, as if on cue,
Ralph jammed the rifle into her back again.

They walked toward the flickers of light she saw through the
leaves. What was out there? A house or a cabin? A house in the foothills well
away from the road would fit either of the men. They looked the part.

Phil aimed a flashlight at the ground. They pushed forward,
finally coming to a clearing after an estimated half-mile or so.

As Addison’s eyes adjusted to the sight before her, she
realized that her chances of escape were much less than she anticipated. There
were four rows of tents, six tents to a row. Some were lit up, some were
darkened. Four men stood watch. They were stationed north, south, west and
east. A bit further away, behind the campsite, was a house, perhaps a log
cabin. She couldn’t tell in the dark. She thought she saw the skeletons of
additional houses.

“What’s going on here?” she asked.

“Survival,” Phil said.

“What?” she said, turning toward him.

He glanced down at her. It was too dark to see his eyes. She
didn’t need to, though. “Wait. What is this?”

The man walked away, and said, “Your new home.”

Sean stayed away from the computer for eight painful hours.
He watched recycled news feeds on the television. Several channels no longer
broadcast, and the ones that did had nothing new to report. No live updates. No
live reporters, for that matter.

Emma and Barbara joined him from time to time. They tried to
hide their concern, but he was not fooled. He wondered why, though. Could they
sense the pain and stress he felt? Eventually, they wandered off. Each returned
once, but both turned in early. Marley stayed close to him. Every time Sean
rose, so did the dog. He found it odd that he preferred the dog’s companionship
to the others. That’d change, though. He was sure of it.

He waited until Barbara and Emma spent a solid hour in their
rooms. He moved to the computer. Marley followed him over, whimpering as he sat
down on the cold, bare concrete floor. Sean reached down and scratched the
dog’s head between the ears. Marley rested his head against his thigh and let
out a huffing sigh.

He wanted to check the house feeds and see how Kathy was
doing. He pulled up the secure server instead. Turk was connected. Sean sent
him a message.

“Kathy’s here.”

“10-4,” Turk replied. “Good thing, too. Couldn’t make it to
the airport today. All roads were blocked. Tried to off-road it, but quickly
found out that was a bad idea.”

“What do you mean blocked? How?”

“Cars, trash, bodies…” There was a long delay. “You name it,
Ryder, it was out there. Half of it on fire, too.”

Sean leaned back in his chair. Marley rolled his head and
looked up at him. With one hand, Sean typed, “And what about off-road?”

“That’s gonna be a bitch in any urban or suburban
environment. How many backyards can you drive through, you know?”

Sean nodded, feeling foolish immediately afterward since
Turk couldn’t see him make the gesture. “If the roads are blocked there, they
probably are in most places. Right?”

“Suppose so.”

“How am I going to get us down there?”

“Come on, PJ. You were Special Forces. One of the elite.”

Sean hadn’t thought of himself as an Air Force Pararescueman
in a long time. He no longer felt elite. “That was years ago, Turk. And a left
leg ago.”

Turk messaged back, “If anyone can do it, you can. Hole up
for as long as possible. I’m thinking that the longer you wait, the better. The
majority of these assholes are gonna die off soon. We know what’s going to
happen with some others, but you’re already aware of the signs, and you know
what to do to stop them. Of the remaining, we just have to hope that most are
intent on surviving together, and not in opposition of one another. I think
that’s going to be the greatest danger after the initial wave of the virus.
But, again, you know the signs, and you’re well trained, whereas most of them
are gonna be weekend warrior types.”

Sean had considered this already, but had not spent a lot of
time dwelling on it. Survivors would fall into different categories, with
predators banding together and taking advantage of the weak. These were the
types he had to avoid at all costs. Knowing himself, he had to avoid those who
would be taken advantage of, too. Otherwise, he’d end up with an army of
helpless survivors following him like some kind of post-apocalyptic Moses. He
imagined himself parting a red sea of blood.

First and foremost, he had to get his family through the
first stages of the outbreak. With Kathy being potentially sick, he felt he was
already on shaky ground. Once they left the bunker, he’d be traveling with his
daughter and Barbara, who wasn’t much of a survivalist. The journey would be
tricky if they couldn’t rely on automobile travel. They’d be the perfect target
out on the open road, a handicapped man with two women and a dog.

Fortunately, he didn’t consider himself handicapped, and he
knew he could handle most anyone.

“So you think we should stay put another two or three
weeks?” he asked.

“Longer if you can,” Turk replied. “I think if you can
travel during winter, your chances will be better.”

“Better? The risk is magnified by ten, Turk. If we have to
make the majority of this journey by foot, the sooner we leave the better.”

“Pick your poison, Ryder.”

He sat back again and contemplated the situation. He decided
that now was not the time to make a decision. That would come soon enough.
“What news is out there?”

“I only know what’s on TV now, man. My whole network’s gone
dark.”

“All right, I’ll be in touch.”

Sean exited out of the server. The mouse pointer hovered
over the minimized surveillance camera window. Sean pushed back in his chair,
rose and went to the kitchen. He threw back a cool glass of water, and then
moved to the far end of the room. There he waited silently, listening for any
noise from behind the closed bedroom doors. Marley’s panting was the only sound
he heard.

Satisfied Emma and Barbara were asleep, Sean went back to
the computer. The dog’s toenails tapped against the hard floor as he followed
close behind.

Sean took a deep breath and then restored the security feed.
Kathy had returned to the garage. She sat facing the camera, resting against
the displaced workbench. The red streaks around her eyes and the circles
underneath them remained. Her forehead glistened with sweat. He wondered why
she hadn’t remained inside and turned the air conditioning on. Maybe the
electricity had gone out.

He reached for his headset and extended the microphone.
“Kathy?”

Her eyes fluttered open. She straightened up and smiled.

“How’re you feeling?”

She shrugged. “Okay, I guess.” Her lips drew tight and her
eyes bugged. She heaved up and down. Her attempts at stifling her coughing
attack did not last long. She tucked her face into the crook of her arm and
coughed for close to a minute. After the attack had passed, she said, “Maybe
not okay.”

Sean said nothing.

“What’s going to happen to me?” she asked. “Shoot me
straight, okay? I want to know what I’m dealing with here.”

He thought back to the description of the virus the doctor
had given to him years ago inside the compound. He offered her the best
explanation he could.

“The outlook is not promising,” he said. “Basically, and
understand that there is a lot of scientific stuff I don’t really know how to
describe, but what is happening is that your cells are at war with one another.
At some point, the bad cells inside one of your organs are going to swell,
explode, and kill off the others there. Eventually, you are going to die. It
might take a few hours, it might take a few days. It definitely won’t last a
couple weeks.”

Kathy began to cry. “So that’s it? I’m good as dead?”

Sean said nothing.

“What about those things I saw on the news? They looked
human, but they acted like monsters. Is that what’s in store for me?”

“No. If that was going to happen, it would have been right
away. You either get sick or you change.” He kept his eyes fixed on hers
despite his lie.

She nodded and took a deep breath, seemingly accepting her
fate. “Does Emma know I’m out here?”

Sean shook his head.

“Don’t let her know. Okay? Don’t tell her.”

“I won’t.” He didn’t plan on telling his daughter anyway.

They sat in silence, staring at each other. The dog whined
as he nudged Sean’s hand with his cold, wet nose. Sean wondered if the dog
could catch the virus. That’d be ironic, he thought. To build an underground
bunker only to have it infiltrated by a virus-carrying dog.

“Sean?”

He straightened up in his seat. “Yeah?”

“Can you come see me?”

He hesitated before answering. “It’s not possible. I don’t
know… I’m not sure how long the incubation period on this virus is once it hits
you. I know they were working on making it fast acting, so it could, you know,
be targeted at communities and not spread. But they obviously never got there.”

Kathy looked away and said nothing.

“I want to, Kathy. I do. But I can’t risk getting sick now.
I’ve got Emma and Barbara to take care of.”

“What about me?” Emma said.

Sean locked the computer, set his headphones on the desk and
spun around in his chair. Emma stood across the room, a few feet from her open
door. “Em, what are you doing up?”

She shrugged. “Couldn’t fall back to sleep and I’m hungry.
Who were you talking to and what did you say about me?”

Sean rose and met her by the sink. “Turk, the man we’re
going to meet up with soon. We’re trying to figure out the best time for us to
leave. If it were just me, any time would be fine, but I’ve got to keep you and
Barbara in mind.”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Dad.”

“Yes, I do. We don’t know what we’re going to face out
there.”

“I remember everything you taught me,” she said. “I can
handle myself. Together we can get Barbara through this.”

Sean smiled at his daughter and took note of how mature her
words made her sound. He admired her bravery. He nodded and said, “I agree.
Now, hurry up and get back to your room. I need to finish my conversation and
get to bed too.”

Emma quickly made a sandwich and took it back to her room.
Sean waited until she closed the door, then he went back to the computer. He
pulled up the security feed as he put on his headphones. Kathy was not anywhere
to be found, though. He pulled up the multi-window view and checked each feed
in the house. Every room appeared to be empty.

“Where are you?” he muttered, switching to the outside
cameras. He scanned them quickly at first, nearly missing the image of who he
assumed was his wife, walking toward the barn. He cursed as he realized he
hadn’t reset the password for the lock to the tunnel entrance under the barn.
He watched on as Kathy entered the building, then he switched to the camera
feed from within the structure. Kathy immediately went to the hidden hatch in
the floor and lifted it. In a few minutes she’d be heading toward them.