Children of the After: The Complete Series: A Young Adult Postapocalyptic Action and Adventure series (19 page)

Morning came much like any other and Jack awoke with a dull throbbing in his head for the second day in a row. Looking around the back of the truck he noted he wasn’t the first awake but neither was he the last, as he smiled in Tammy’s direction. She was sitting patiently with her legs crossed and her back against the wall. Pulling himself up to a seated position, Jack winced as the pain in his head increased. He had avoided it yesterday as a means to save supplies, but grabbing his bag he began digging for the small first aid kit they had brought from the vault. Locating it he removed the small bottle of pills and unscrewed the cap. Pouring out two of the matching capsules, he returned the cap to the bottle and the bottle to the small metal box before picking out another bottle from his bag. Tilting his head, he tossed the pills back into this throat and washed them down with the bottle of water.

It wasn’t until he looked back in Tammy’s direction that he found her watching his actions, and grinned embarrassedly as their eyes met yet again. Thankfully, Sam began stretching as was her morning routine, and sighing, she rolled onto her side and looked from Jack to Tammy and back again.

“So. You two just sittin’ here in the dark, all alone, huh?” Sam asked.

“We’re not all alone,” Jack replied, and realized he’d fallen for her trap. She was just goading him to see what he would do, and he had jumped to the defensive.

Sam flashed him a knowing smile and winked. He couldn’t believe he had fallen for it. This headache really had him off his game. Not that it really mattered. Just because he didn’t mind looking at Tammy, didn’t mean anything. She was attractive, who wouldn’t look at her? Sam was sure to play it up and make it out to be more than it was if she had the opportunity. She would prod and poke him, pushing his buttons just to tease him, but at least Jack knew it was coming. He couldn’t see any way to flip this around on her either. He was just going to have to take the ridicule.

Beginning to pull jars of food from his pack, he watched as Sam sat up and scooted to Tammy’s side before whispering in the other girl’s ear. Both smiled and looked right at him, and he could feel the hot blood rising to his cheeks and quickly looked away. What was Sam doing now? What had she said? She was gonna pay for this.

Forcing his attention to his task again, he pulled out another half dozen jars and their few eating utensils. He didn’t feel hungry with his head pounding, but knew he needed to eat. Hopefully, by the time they finished breakfast the pain would go away and he could think more clearly.

Even with his headache, Jack had an amusing idea, and twisting off the top of one of the jars he scooted himself across the floor, next to Will’s sleeping form. Raising one finger, he got the girls’ attention and proceeded with his plan. Waving the open jar beneath Will’s nose, the reaction was almost instantaneous.

With his eyes popping open, his little brother stretched, licking the dryness away from his lips before swallowing and without even looking at Jack he spoke.

“Did somebody say breakfast?” Will asked.

Jack and Sam burst out laughing and looking to Tammy he could see that she was covering her mouth tightly, bobbing up and down with her pale green eyes sparkling.

“I had a feeling you might say that, little man,” Jack said after a moment.

“I dunno what you guys did to me, but if I have whip cream or something on my face I’m gonna be mad,” Will pouted.

“No you won’t,” Sam said. “You’d just eat it.”

Will thought about it for precisely two seconds and nodded his agreement to which they all laughed this time, before finally settling in to eat their breakfast. Within an hour they had their meal and other belongings all packed up, and Jack pulled up the door at the back of the truck in preparation of leaving. It was once again time for their favorite past time. Walking. Yippy.

* * * * *

Sam was smiling as they climbed a rise in the road. Everyone seemed a bit more spunky today, picking on one another and having a good time. It felt good to be able to joke, and even better to make Jack blush over and over. She knew he had a growing crush on Tammy, whether he would admit it or not. Sam didn’t intend to push him to the point of anger, but it was nice to have this new ammunition. Usually it was him picking on her, but now the tables had turned.

Peaking the rise in the road Sam looked down upon a large cluster of vehicles, each charred, and many smashed, appearing to have piled up in a mass collision when the event happened. Invasion. Not event. She could call it what it was now. One semi laid on its side, and vehicles of every sort were gathered around it facing in all directions in various states of destruction. As they walked down the slope towards the wreckage she could see that, just like everywhere else, all the windows were broken and many of the plastic pieces of the cars had melted and burned away as the metal had buckled and warped from heat.

Walking amongst the devastation, Sam dragged the palm of her hand across the surface of one of the cars, watching the blistered paint break and flake away beneath her hand. Then she stopped. They had found a dead end in the maze of cars, but it wasn’t as if they were stuck. Watching as Jack climbed atop the hood of a nearby sedan, she saw as he reached down and helped Tammy to join him. Sam turned and lifted Will up to the hood before taking Jack’s hand as well. Watching as Jack hopped off the other side of the car, it was obvious that his intentions were to continue on down the road, but apparently Will had another idea entirely. Running from car to car, their younger brother shouted in glee as he hopped from one steel surface to the next. Within seconds, all of them were running atop the cars instead of amongst them, dancing and yelling and having fun, just acting like kids.

Within a few minutes the game became something between tag and keep away, with everyone trying to block the others by getting in their way, forcing them to change directions, and Sam took a second to pause and just enjoy the view. Both her siblings bounded this way and that along with their new friend, hopping from one vehicle to the next. It was obvious that Will was working towards the higher ground of the toppled semi, but because it was obvious, both Jack and Tammy were working to cut him off. Changing directions time and again, it appeared that Will would make it to his destination, but Tammy managed to drive him to a location just a short distance from where Sam was now standing, watching the show.

In a row of three collided cars ahead, Jack and Tammy had Will trapped between them on the middle car. Sam watched as both of them closed in on the smaller boy, moving slowly, grinning, sure they had him trapped. Will began to back up towards Jack behind him. Then, with a yell, the small boy took three running strides forward and turning just before colliding with Tammy, he leapt off the side of the car. In what looked like an impossible feat, Sam watched her younger brother sail through the air like an Olympic jumper. Twisting in the air he stretched out his arms and fell, his tiny fingertips grasping the edge of the top of the semi’s trailer. His body slamming against the side, he began kicking his little legs and managed to pull himself up and scramble over the edge. Sam stood with her mouth open, not believing what she had just seen.

Like a boxer in the ring who had just won the championship, Will bounced up and down on his toes with both arms in the air, spinning in a circle. The sounds of his feet echoed across the cars and Sam realized she was now smiling. She was proud of him. It had been dangerous and stupid, but she was proud.

“Holy crap, Will,” Jack shouted.

Sam couldn’t help but shake her head as Tammy curtsied, looking as if she were standing before her child king, clapping her approval of his noble deeds. The semi’s trailer door fell open, slamming into the road below with a loud clang that rang in their ears. Bodies crawled from beneath the other door, their eyes turning up to find Sam and those with her as their happy laughs fell silent.

* * * * *

Will felt the vibration in the trailer and froze. He had heard the bang, but couldn’t see what it had come from. Was the trailer collapsing? Cautiously moving towards its edge he saw Sam’s face and knew they were in danger. She was afraid, her eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open as if in disbelief. He had to protect her, it was boys’ job to protect girls. He pulled the crowbar free from the loop in his backpack and crept in the direction of Sam’s stare.

Looking out over the edge of the trailer he couldn’t see what it was that held Sam’s attention. Jack moved among the cars, striding confidently atop them towards their sister. Tammy remained where she was. She didn’t move. It was danger. It had to be danger. Will moved towards the back of the trailer cautiously, silently, and watched as three heads appeared below. Raising the crowbar, he knew Mom wouldn’t like what he was about to do, but Dad would be proud he protected Sam. Bending his knees, Will prepared to jump atop the things below.

“Will!” Jack shouted at him, both freezing him and ruining his surprise attack.

Looking to his older brother, he watched as Jack held up his hand telling him not to jump. Confused, Will looked down to see three faces peering back up at him. Three human faces. Three more boys, probably near Sam and Jack’s ages. More people!

Things were looking up.

“Hey there, guys,” Jack said, lowering the pipe in his own hand. “Sorry if we caught you off guard.”

“It’s OK,” one of the boys said. “I’ll take a couple people over some meat heads any day.”

“You the same guys in the pickup?” Jack asked.

“You mean ole Bessy? Yeah, she’s back there behind the semi,” another boy replied.

Will turned and looked the opposite way. Sure enough. There was the truck from yesterday. A truck. No walking. Oh, he hoped they were friendly.

“We saw you yesterday, but weren’t sure what you were all about,” Jack admitted.

“It is safer to be careful these days. Especially when you don’t know what you’re seeing until it’s right in front of you,” the second boy responded again.

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “If you don’t mind my asking, what are you guys up to?”

“Were out looking for supplies. Anything we can use or re-purpose really,” one of the strangers answered.

“Do you know where there are more people?” Will shouted down as the boys below turned back to face him.

“Yeah, kid. We’re from down near St. Louis. We’re long range scouts and scavengers for the resistance,” the biggest boy answered, as all three of them raised their arms to show a scrap of red cloth tied around their biceps.

“We’re headed to St. Louis. We heard the resistance was there. We’re looking for some answers,” Jack said cautiously.

“Well, you can ride with us if ole Bessy holds out. She’s been actin up. Grant always prefers people over supplies.”

“Who’s Grant?” Jack asked.

“He’s the leader of our regiment. Used to be military before all this happened.”

“How many people do you stay with?” Jack asked, and Will tried to be cautious not to get too hopeful.

“A few hundred.”

It wasn’t what Will wanted to hear. Thousands. Millions would have been good, but a few hundred? The chances of finding Mom and Dad with only a few hundred people left wasn’t too good. Even Will realized that. Still, a few hundred would have a lot of answers. Answers they could use to find their parents. Will’s mind was made up, he was ready to leave.

* * * * *

Tammy watched on as the boys introduced themselves to Jack, who in turn introduced himself as well as Sam, Will, and her. Something about these new boys didn’t feel right. She didn’t trust them. They didn’t look threatening, and it felt like what they were saying was true, but something was off. She felt in her gut that something bad was going to happen and couldn’t shake the feeling.

Before she knew it, they were all loading up into the back of the truck. The largest of the new boys tried unsuccessfully to start the vehicle several times, but finally the motor began to sputter and cough as black smoke poured out around them.

Tammy sat on the floor of the bed with Sam and Will, but Jack stood with one of the other boys, holding on to a metal bar that rose from the bed to just above the cab before returning down on the opposite side.

They started off slow, maneuvering around the mass of mangled and destroyed vehicles, but once they were clear they picked up speed, dodging and weaving abandoned cars where necessary.

Though she still felt uneasy, eventually she simply let her mind drift as it was caught up in the wind and the hum of the vehicle. It was too loud to hear what the boys were saying up near the cab, even though she could tell they were practically shouting. Sam sat opposite her, and would smile when their eyes met, but it was obvious that many things were going on behind her eyes. She was distracted. Will sat next to Sam, his head on her shoulder, seemingly peaceful and enjoying the view.

Maybe it was just her. Maybe her past was tainting her mood. Not all people were the same. Jack, Sam, and Will were proof of that. Just because her parents were gone, didn’t mean the same would happen again. This time had to be different.

Jack sped along looking over the top of the pickup truck with the wind in his too long hair. He had tried to have a conversation with the other boy, Steve, but the wind was too loud in his ears. His head still hurt, making it difficult to concentrate, let alone keep his eyes open in the bright daylight. Even so, he was in a great mood.

Not only had they found people, but they found transportation that was leading them towards
more
people. Civilization. Sure, they weren’t exactly returning to the old world and how things were, but this was a vast improvement to where they had started the day from. He had managed to glean, at least, that by tonight they would be among people, and that, he supposed was good enough for now. They could finally get some answers.

It was perhaps an hour and around sixty miles later when Jack caught the odd scent that caused him to look over the cab to see puffs of steam escaping around the hood of the truck. The driver, Tom, the biggest of the new boys, must have noticed too, as the truck began slowing dramatically as the engine wound down to a series of chugs and hiccups. Inevitably they slowed, rolling finally to a stop. Without the wind roaring past, it was obvious they were having some engine trouble as clouds of steam now poured out every seam and gap in the front end of the truck.

Jack watched as the driver climbed out of the cab coughing, his wide shoulders bouncing with the action as he raised the hood in a thick cloud of steam. Jack imagined the boy must have been a football player before all this happened. He was built like one at least. Not knowing a thing about cars, Jack didn’t bother offering to help. Not that it mattered. A moment later the verdict was in, as Tom appeared from out of the steam shaking his head.

“We’re gonna have to limp back home, folks. Ole Bessy’s radiator hose has split and she’sa over heatin’.”

“Do you think one of the other cars on the road might have a hose that could fit?” Jack asked, uncertain if it was even possible. “There are some cars up there.”

Jack pointed down the road, perhaps half a mile, to a small cluster of ruined vehicles. It was obvious none of them were older late model pickups, but he assumed that one engine had to be pretty much like another.

“We might could rig somethin’,” Tom admitted with a nod and a grin.

Watching the other two boys nod as well Jack hopped out of the truck, followed by Steve, the other boy who had rode in the back.

“Cole, you stay here with the girls and the rest of us will go and look for a hose,” Tom spoke again.

Yup, Jack decided, Tom was definitely a football player. He had the jock swagger that the other boys envied, and they followed his orders without question. Or perhaps now that these boys belonged to the resistance, they had some sort of ranking system in place. Peering at their arm bands, Jack looked for any insignias that might be a sign of rank, but found nothing.

Within seconds he and two of the three other boys were walking up the road towards the cluster of vehicles ahead. Though his headache refused to relent, his head was swimming with questions. Turning to look first at Steve to his right, Jack found the boy trudging along with his head down, a blank expression on his face. He really wasn’t much to look at. He was unremarkable in almost every way. All of his features and even his size couldn’t be described as anything other than average. He had light brown, almost sandy hair and hazel eyes that hinted at little else than defeat. Had Jack gone to school with the boy, he probably wouldn’t have even noticed him.

Deciding that any question he asked would probably be answered by the larger boy anyway, Jack turned his attention to his opposite side and found Tom already looking back at him in return.

“So what’s your story?” Tom asked unexpectedly.

“What do you mean?” questioned Jack.

“Well, we done told ya’ll bout us, and the resistance, but we don’t really know nothin’ bout you,” Tom answered.

Yup. Corn fed Jock. Holy redneck. At least it explained the old pickup and his ability to get it running.

“We’re from Chicago. When all this happened…” Jack waved his arms through the air to gesture at everything in general, “We were already locked in a survival shelter. We just came out, maybe a week ago.”

“Ain’t that bout perfect?” Tom asked, though Jack wasn’t certain if there was a proper response. “You mean that you four missed everything that happened? Like everything?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Jack answered.

“You’re lucky then,” said Steve, causing Jack’s head to swivel around.

“What’s that mean?” Tom asked, cutting Jack’s own reply short.

“They didn’t see’em all. They didn’t watch it all burn. They haven’t been runnin’ and hidin’ for months just hoping to find food.”

Jack watched expecting more, but both of his new companions walked on in silence for the remainder of their trip, jaws locked, with vacant expressions on their faces. Reaching the cluster of cars they went to work opening the hoods and inspecting the hoses within under Tom’s supervision. Out of the six cars, four hoses were melted and the fifth, Tom explained, was air-cooled. Within seconds of prying open the final hood, Tom began shaking his head.

“Shoulda know’d it. All these import do-jabs got tiny motors. The hoses are too danged small,” Tom complained, kicking at the air as he turned away from the car.

“Can we use these smaller hoses to repair the bigger one?” Jack asked.

“No. If they was bigger hoses, we might could do it. Not with these’ins though. If we had something to wrap around the split in the hose to seal it up, it might hold for a while.”

“Can’t we cut a piece of one of these hoses and wrap it around Bessy’s?” Jack asked.

“Naw, they’re all too stiff. We need something more flexy like.”

“Like an inner tube?” Jack asked.

“That’d do it, man. But car tires ain’t got none.”

Turning, Jack strode just a few paces to the trunk of a car they had already inspected. Pushing the trunk lid up, he revealed the bicycle tire within, which he had noticed when passing it moments earlier. Both Tom and Steve grinned at him.

“Now we’ll just haveta git some these hose clamps off these cars to hold it in place. You got a screwdriver?” Tom asked, pointing towards Jack’s bag, still upon his back.

“Yeah, I think there’s one in here,” he said pulling the bag from his back.

As they worked to remove what Tom called hose clamps from the vehicles, and scrape off any melted or charred rubber from them, Tom rattled on about muscle cars and motors. None of which meant anything to Jack, but even so, he listened intently not wanting to offend the other boy, hoping the conversation would eventually turn back to the events that had occurred over the last several months.

* * * * *

Sam sat silently with Will across from Tammy in the back of the truck watching Jack walk away with the other boys. Cole stood like a fence post in the middle of the street, the only sign that he was alive was his head turning this way and that. Sam wanted to talk to him. Wanted to ask every question raging within her, but something held her back. She didn’t know this boy. She didn’t know where to begin. She didn’t want to upset him by asking something that might be painful. All in all it was that awkward moment at a funeral when you wanted to speak up but were afraid that someone might take offence. She weighed out how best to ask her questions, as Jack and the other boys grew further away, reaching the cars ahead, finally deciding that a subtle nudge might get the boy talking enough to get some information without being intrusive.

“Hey, Cole,” Sam said, watching as the boy turned to face her in the truck.

He was different from the other two boys. She could tell. He was dressed differently, wearing khakis instead of jeans, and a polo shirt instead of a tee. His dark hair was parted into two separate but equal sides showing both intent and care, and in his eyes was a sparkle. She could see the gears turning in there as he looked at her, trying to puzzle her out just as she tried to size him up in return. He was smart.

“You and the other boys meet in the resistance?” Sam asked, assured of Cole’s attention.

“Yeah,” he responded simply.

Sam supposed he wasn’t used to chit chat, at least not these days. Perhaps he was a loner, but that just didn’t seem to fit. She was going to try yet another direct question, but then thinking better of it, she changed her tactic.

“How come you do what Tom says when it’s obvious that you are smarter than he is?”

Watching, Sam grinned flirtatiously as Cole’s expression changed first to an awkward embarrassed grin, and then to something much more serious.

“They don’t really want me along,” he said with a shrug. “It’s why they took Jack with them and left me here.”

“How come?” Sam asked, feeling Will sit up to pay closer attention himself.

“Cause of my dad.”

“Let’s pretend I’ve been under a rock for a while,” Sam said jokingly. “Is your dad a criminal or something?”

“No actually he is… was... a scientist at Harvard.”

“Oh, wow. I’m sorry you lost him. We lost our parents too,” Sam admitted.

There it was, that creepy embarrassing funeral feeling she had hoped to avoid, but nope. Smacked herself right in the face with it. At least the conversation could only go up from here. Right?

“I didn’t lose him, just Harvard is gone so it’s weird to say that he works there when there is no there. Ya know?” Cole admitted.

“Yeah, I get it,” Sam answered, conversational catastrophe averted. “But that still doesn’t explain why you think the other boys don’t like you.”

“Oh, it’s more than think. They all say my dad is crazy, but I’ve seen him run the tests a million times. They can’t all be wrong.”

Sam looked back down the road, the boys were already returning. They were jogging and their heads were held high. A good sign. She turned her attention back to her conversation.

“Wait. What? What tests?”

“Oh, well, my dad is a geneticist, and he has been studying the DNA of them,” Cole answered, gesturing to the sky.

“What did the tests say?” Sam asked, happy to be learning something about what was going on.

“Well.  Um…” Cole looked around nervously, obviously looking for the right words. He paced a little, turning towards her several times as she waited, letting him work out the answer. His hesitation spoke volumes.

“C’mon, Cole. I won’t judge you,” she encouraged him as the other boys trotted up. “What did your dad’s tests show?”

“That he’s friggin’ crazy, that’s what,” Tom answered, panting slightly.

Sam could actually see Cole shut down. The light in his eyes went out as Tom, Jack, and Steve gathered under the hood of the pickup. Still, she wanted the answer.

“It can’t be that bad, Cole. Tell me, please.”

It took a long moment of silence, but then Cole turned back to her with a look of defeat on his face. Meeting her eyes with his own, he took several strides towards her and leaned in almost as if to whisper so the other boys wouldn’t hear.

“You would hear it from one of them anyway,” he jerked his head towards the front of the truck. “Don’t get me wrong, the equipment my dad managed to salvage is the bare minimum to perform such tests, and he isn’t exactly working in a sterile lab either, but after testing their DNA over and over he gets the same results every single time.”

“And?” Sam asked as Will twisted beside her to hear better, and even Tammy leaned in closer to listen.

“And they share a common ancestor with us. All of them do. Every one.”

Sam couldn’t believe her ears. Could it be true? Had she understood him correctly? A common ancestor? Like the creatures were from here? Genetically engineered or something? She looked up into his eyes again, a million new questions forming on her lips, but Tom’s voice came from the front of the truck once more and Sam knew the conversation was over.

“That’s enough, Cole. Don’tcha be fillin’ them lil girls’ heads with your daddy’s lunatics. There, that should do it. Let’s get ole Bessy back on the road.”

The hood to the truck slammed closed.

* * * * *

Will didn’t know what a geneticist was, or really even what DNA was. But he knew what the words ‘common ancestor’ meant. In his last two weeks of school, Mrs Cameron Paige had taught them about anthropology and fossils. They had learned about everything from dinosaurs to cavemen. He had even gotten to hold a Megalodon tooth, which was super cool. Mrs Paige had said that humans shared common ancestors with monkeys, and that fossils showed how people had evolved over millions of years. It was by far Will’s favorite thing they had ever studied in school. Second to recess, of course. And now, after not having given it a moment’s thought for months, he tried to recall every word she had said about common ancestors.

After several minutes of reflection, Will realized they were moving down the road again, but couldn’t recall anything of further use from his lessons in anthropology. What Cole had said, at least in Will’s mind, was that the aliens shared a great-grandparent with humans somewhere like a gazillion family tree branches in the past. Having seen the monkey men that had chased them, Will imagined it wasn’t out of the realm of reality, but still left a lot of unanswered questions.