Affliction Z: Abandoned Hope (Post Apocalyptic Thriller) (20 page)

The guy cleared his throat. “Derrick.”

“Why are you running with these guys, Derrick?”

“What choice did I have? We knew shit was going down. The
rest of the world didn’t, but we did.”

“So you’re preppers, then.”

Derrick shrugged. “Kinda, I guess. But I’m not saying this
in the sense that we thought something would happen eventually. Phil had
classified information that he showed us. It proved that the government did
some nasty stuff. Man, I mean Geneva Convention violating stuff.”

“Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

Derrick glanced at him, paused and shook his head. “Guess
not.”

“So how long have you been preparing?”

“I’d say four years now. Got two camps set up, plus a
quarantine zone. That’s likely where they’ll put your wife and daughter.”

“The girl’s my daughter, but the woman is a friend. My
wife’s best friend.”

“Where’s your wife?” Derrick asked.

Sean looked out his window. The grass bowed in unison as the
wind swept toward them. The stiff breeze stirred up the smoldering ashes. A
cloud of smoke and human remains that had been reduced to dust blew toward the
truck.

“She was in that pile.”

“She was the one that the boy saw when they were here
earlier then.”

Sean nodded. “I was in the house. Took out one of your guys.
She took out the other three. The last guy, not the one who escaped, but the
one I killed, he nearly took care of her. I finished her off.”

Derrick’s mouth dropped open an inch. He said nothing.

“Wasn’t easy.” Sean used his thumb and forefinger to clear
the sweat from his brow. “Had to be done, though.”

Derrick nodded. “S’pose so.”

“Let’s get moving. You know how to get there, right?”

“Yeah, plus the GPS is programmed.”

Sean shifted in his seat. “What do I need you for then?”

Derrick didn’t look as though he had considered this. He
stammered for a moment, then said, “I’ll help you if you let me live.”

“I’m sure you will, Derrick. Now drive.”

Marcus went into the forest hours ago and hadn’t returned.
In a way, Turk was glad. The mood inside had lifted in the hours since he’d
exiled his brother. He could sense a shift in himself, too. He no longer had to
worry about Marcus doing something stupid and putting them all in danger.

Sooner or later the guy would have hurt or killed someone.
Turk knew that, and when it happened, they’d all blame him for it. That was the
kind of thing that could have led to his exile. More likely, he’d have been
banished to his quarters.

A doubtful thought crossed his mind that maybe that was what
he should have done to Marcus.

A hand fell on his shoulder and squeezed near his neck. He
dropped his head to the side. His wife’s soft skin met his coarse cheek. He
marveled at how well she smelled, even with the end of the world around the
corner.

“You did the right thing,” Elana said.

“Did I?” Turk spun around in his chair to face her. “I sent
my brother to his death.”

“He might make it out there on his own.”

“He’s a dumb ass. He ain’t gonna make it more than a few
days. He’ll run into a pack of those damn things and they’ll tear him limb from
limb.”

Elana’s eyes watered over. “Don’t think like that. I’m sure
he’ll catch on with another group.”

“Another group? Did you just say ‘another group’?” Turk
shook his head. “How many like us do you think are out there? Even the preppers
out there, how many of them do you think got underground before they were
exposed in some way? Yeah, I’m sure there are pockets around the world where
exposure was limited. I doubt there’s anywhere it didn’t reach. Antarctica,
probably. Northern Alaska and Canada, maybe. Here’s the truth, he ain’t making
it to Antarctica. He can head south, but he won’t even make it to Georgia
before someone gets a hold of him.”

“So, what, are you just going to sit here and question
yourself for the next six weeks?”

Turk said nothing. He stared over her shoulder, watching the
light flicker.

“I’ll leave you alone.”

He waited until she left the room and then he spun around in
his chair. A slide of the mouse restored his main monitor. He pulled up the
secure terminal and typed a message.

“Ryder, you there?”

There was no response.

Turk typed a ‘who’ command and saw Sean was connected. Turk
repeated the question, again to no response.

He checked the camera feeds. Marcus had damaged two of the
three cameras he knew about. Fortunately, he left the third alone. Either he
forgot about it, or he planned on checking up through it. Turk found himself
grateful that he didn’t share any information about the configuration of his
solar power system and how his cabling was configured. Marcus could have done
quite a bit of damage with nothing more than a shovel if he had that knowledge.

Turk cycled through the outside feeds, watching each long
enough to scan the screen before moving on. Just as he was about to get up, he
spotted Marcus stepping out of the woods.

“What’s he doing?” Turk muttered.

Marcus had no shirt on. His hands were raised over his head.
His right eye appeared to be swollen shut.

Turk leaned forward. There were men behind the trees.

Marcus continued forward, coming to a stop in front of one
the camera he didn’t destroy. The man said something. The absence of sound made
it hard to figure out what Marcus’s message was.

A thick hand appeared from behind Marcus. It hooked him
around the jaw and pulled him back. Turk saw a man standing there, dressed in
fatigues and wearing a hat. The man appeared to be yelling at Marcus. Turk
shifted his gaze to his brother, who tried to scoot backward on his elbows.
Marcus stared up at the man. His chest heaved rapidly.

Turk switched cameras. A few more men had come out from the
cover of the woods. They brandished firearms. One said something and they all
laughed.

Turk switched back.

Marcus was now on his knees. He looked scared. The guy
behind him said something. Turk thought it was, “Smile for the damn camera.”

Marcus’s next words were obvious to Turk. “They gonna kill
me, Turk.”

A minute passed. It felt like an hour. Turk watched as the
man pulled a long serrated knife from a sheath. Before Turk could move, the man
ripped the blade across Marcus’s neck. Blood coated the camera, darkening half
the screen. The man kicked Marcus to the side, leaned forward, and said, “We’ll
be back.”

Turk sat in shock. Condemning Marcus to death was one thing.
Watching it happen was another. It disturbed him that the prevailing feeling
was relief. Marcus was gone, finally, and Turk didn’t have to pull the trigger.
That relief faded, though, as he realized that someone knew they were there.

A half-hour passed. Turk remained in his seat. He cycled
through the remaining cameras covering the property. The men had retreated. How
far, he wasn’t sure. He’d never taken the painstaking time to trench and secure
wiring in resistant conduit further than the edges of the bunker. In
retrospect, he wished he had.

The words of his father passed through his mind. “Wish in
one hand, shit in the other. See which fills up first.”

He smiled at the image of his dad saying that to him at the
age of eight or nine. In some ways, Marcus was the spitting image of their
father. At least as far as looks were concerned. But that’s where the
comparisons ended. Pops was a good man, always on the right side of the law.

Turk leaned forward at the sight of someone emerging from
the woods. He couldn’t tell if they were male or female because of how they
approached. Its shoulders were slumped and its head down.

Another appeared from a few feet away, then another. Turk
stopped counting after fifteen appeared. They weren’t the men that had been out
there earlier. Not even close. Turk had seen people like this up close. And
calling them people was a stretch.

“Christ Almighty,” he said.

They bunched up, mid-way between the woods and the ground
above the bunker. Some looked down, while others craned their necks and looked
toward the sky. One turned in the direction of Marcus’s body. It broke free
from the group. For a moment, at least. Another spotted the first, and joined
it. Then a third, fourth, until all of them were heading toward Marcus.

Turk switched to that camera. The scene was something out of
a nightmare. The camera angled upward, so the beings looked elongated and
alien-like. Their hollow stares were present. He could see discoloration on all
of them, despite the blood-stained and smudged camera.

They descended on Marcus like a pack of vultures. Turk
looked away. He couldn’t handle seeing his brother ripped to pieces.

The door to the room opened.

“Don’t come in here,” he shouted.

“What?” Elana said. “Why?”

“Just trust me. Don’t come in here.” Turk swiveled around in
his chair and reduced the window. He saw one of them tear his brother’s head
off and leap away.

Anger welled inside him. He’d face these things before, he
could do it again. He didn’t care if there were two dozen or so of them out
there. He’d faced more than that in Nigeria.

Elana walked into the room. She took a step back when they
made eye contact.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“They got him,” Turk said.

“What? Marcus? Who got him?”

“First some damn hillbilly rednecks. Then, those things.”

“What things? What rednecks?”

“I don’t know what he did, El. He got in trouble pretty damn
quick though. And he led those guys here. Led them right to the property and
even showed them the damn security camera. Shit. They know we’re here.”

“They can’t get in, though, right? And what things, Turk?”

Turk interlaced and locked his fingers behind his head. He
leaned back and shouted inarticulately.

“You’re scaring me, Sweetie.”

He took a deep breath, exhaled through his nose. “The men
left in a hurry. Maybe thirty minutes later, I saw something pass through the
woods. It came out. More followed. Before I knew it, there were twenty or so
out there, all huddled up. One found Marcus’s body. He couldn’t keep it a
secret from the others. They…” He stopped, closed his eyes and searched for the
best way to phrase it. “Marcus isn’t there anymore.”

Elena gasped as she brought her hand to her mouth. Perhaps
she, too, was able to separate herself from the act of exiling Turk’s brother.
It was surreal in a way, after all. But this, faced with the fact that he’d
been murdered and then devoured, might be too much to bear.

“What can we do?” she asked.

Turk shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think this tells us three
things. Those things are near. They can smell blood. And we’ve got another band
of survivors who ain’t so friendly close by.”

Tears rolled down Elana’s cheeks.

“I’ve got to go out there,” Turk said.

“What?”

“They know we’re here. I’ve got to disassemble everything we
have out there, then cut the security.”

“I thought the doors were sealed for weeks?”

Turk shook his head as he walked toward her. He placed his
hands on her shoulder, tucked his chin an inch, and looked her in the eye.
“Everything can be overridden by me. Simple as that.”

“But if you take out the cameras, we’ll have no way of
knowing what’s going on.”

He nodded.

“Is that smart?”

He shook his head. “They’ll be back. And when they come
back, they’re gonna destroy everything they can find. Worse, if they’re smart,
they’ll follow the trail, which will lead them close enough to where they can
figure out where we are.”

“But this place is impenetrable, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Look, don’t worry. I’m just being cautious. I’m gonna
go out there and dismantle all but one. I think I can keep one active and it
won’t hurt us.”

“You’re not going now, are you?”

“No. Tonight. I might bring one person along to spot for
me.” He paused a moment. “Go back to Layla. I need to start preparing.”

He waited for his wife to leave. She crossed the room. The
door slammed shut with a thud. Turk inhaled deeply, held it, and exhaled
through his nose.

“Why was I so stupid,” he muttered.

He pulled up the server. Sean still hadn’t responded. Turk
typed another message. “Location compromised. May need to evacuate. Make
alternate plans. Do not come here until I give the okay.”

Turk leaned back in his chair. All of this was his fault.
He’d considered building a holding cell, but hadn’t. Waste of space, he’d
thought at the time. With the number of people he might need to house, he
wanted every inch to be usable in the bunker. Because of that decision, he’d
sent Marcus into the new world, and now trouble, perhaps rightfully so, had
found him. But the others didn’t deserve it.

And that’s why, tonight, he wasn’t going out to disable the
security feeds.

Turk planned to go hunting.

The draft followed the floor. Addison figured that out
quickly. She also determined that the room slanted downward, away from the walk
outside her cell. So when she had lain down, she did so near the front of the
cell. The breeze that passed was cool and calming. Everything else had her
feeling unsure and panicked.

The men across from her ignored her. They had their own
problems, she figured. As did everyone down here. No one spoke. A few cried. It
seemed everyone had accepted that this was their fate in this shadow of a world
they now inhabited.

A thump at the end of the hall indicated the door had
opened. She listened for the sounds of footsteps. Muffled, they grew louder.
She pressed the side of her face against the rusted iron bars and closed her
left eye. Through her right, she saw a man escorting two females. Both were
average height, although one looked young.

Addison’s cell was the only one that wasn’t full, so she had
a feeling they’d be her new roommates. They couldn’t be any worse than Carla,
especially at the end.

“Get back,” the man said, stopping in front of her cell.

Addison scooted back to the wall, avoiding the corner where
she had urinated when she couldn’t hold it any longer.

The lock slid back. The door swung open on rusted hinges.
The sound made the hair on her neck stand up. The young woman was pushed in
first. The older one followed, pulling the first close to her and moving to the
side opposite Addison.

Addison waited until the man locked the door and left. She
introduced herself. “How did you end up here? The roadblock?”

“No,” the girl said. “We were —”

The woman wrapped her hand around the girl’s head and
silenced her.

Addison looked toward the cell opposite hers. The three men
sat on the floor staring at each other.

“It’s okay,” she said. “We’re all in the same boat. You
don’t have to tell me what happened if you don’t feel comfortable. At least let
me know your names.”

The girl looked back at the woman, who nodded. “That’s
Barbara, and I’m Emma. We were separated from my father. Some men took us. I
don’t know what happened to him, but there was a fire and bodies and…”

Addison touched the girl’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about your
father.” She glanced at Barbara. “And your husband.”

“He’s not my husband. I was his wife’s best friend. She was
away when this all started. She made it home, but she was…”

Addison looked toward Emma. The girl turned her head. A tear
fell from her eye.

“I’m sure your father is out there. Maybe they’ll bring him
here and you’ll be reunited.”

“I hope they don’t,” Emma said. “I don’t want him to be
captured.”

Addison took note of the fear in the girl’s voice. She told
her, “This is just a place they keep people until they can tell they aren’t
sick. After that, they’ll bring you into their group. You’ll be able to live a
normal life again.”

“How long have you been in here?” Emma asked.

“Not long. I was out there, but I did something stupid.”

“What?”

“Ran away.”

“So you’ve been down here twice?” Emma asked.

“No,” Addison said.

“Then you were here when it all happened?”

“No. They brought me here when they came upon me on the
road.”

“But you didn’t come down here first.”

Addison shook her head. The girl was sharp.

“So they don’t just put people down here to make sure they
aren’t sick first.” Emma pulled away from Barbara and went to the front of the
cell. “I bet everyone in here did something to be put in here. Whether they
challenged someone, or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They
aren’t worried about them being sick.”

“I’ve got a friend out there. She’s…” Addison stopped
herself from revealing Jenny and her connection to Phil. “She can be helpful.
I’m sure word of my capture has gotten around the camp and hopefully to her. I
expect her to visit soon. She may be able to help us.”

“May?” Barbara said. “I can’t pin hope on ‘may.’”

Addison glanced toward Emma, who faced away from them. “You
better, lady. It’s all we have anymore.”

The cell filled with bright light. The women looked down and
covered their eyes.

“What the hell is that?” Barbara said. “Where’s it coming
from?”

Addison blinked hard a few times and let her eyes adjust.
She pointed toward the ceiling. “Up there. They’ve got some kind of a tube
thing. My grandparents have a few in their house. The sun hits a mirror and,
whatever, it makes it bright. Best I can figure, they covered it with sod or
something and randomly pull it away.”

“Does anything happen after they do?”

Addison shrugged. “Have only seen it a couple times now.
Nothing happened either time.”

Barbara rubbed her eyes with her palms. “That hurts.”

“Wait until it goes dark again.” She noticed Barbara’s gaze
travel to back corner where there was a hole in the floor. “Yeah, it’s what you
think it is.”

Barbara shuddered. “How did this happen? How did the world
end up like this?”

Addison thought back to a conversation she’d had with her
dad on the subject of the end of the world. She paraphrased what he had said.
“Bound to happen at some point, right? We all live in our little sheltered
worlds, no matter how good or bad. We often fail to look at the big picture.
There are bad people out there. And then there are people worse than them. The
bad people aren’t afraid to do what’s necessary to eliminate those that pose a
threat to them. They, too, often fail to see the big picture. The end result is
this. Everyone’s fucked.”

Barbara glanced at Emma. “Not in front of the girl.”

“I’ve heard it before, Barb. You know my father.”

Barbara sighed. “Yeah, guess so.”

“Think he’s out there?” Emma asked.

“You know he is. He’ll make it here and rescue us.”

“There’s so many of them,” Addison said.

“You don’t know Sean,” Barbara said. “Former Special Forces.
Air Force PJ. Know what that means?”

Addison shook her head.

“He’d jump in from thirty thousand feet with nothing but a
pistol to rescue someone with half their body shot off. If anyone got in his
way, he’d eliminate them. Trust me, when he gets here, we’ll all be better off
for it.”

“His name’s Sean?” Addison asked.

Emma and Barbara nodded.

“Ryder,” Barbara added.

“Well Sean Ryder, I hope you know what you’re doing.”