by Cage, Zion
“Guys, please be careful. Come out in an orderly fashion.”
People obeyed the instruction but the worry in their hearts was visible in their eyes.
“What’s happening?” Everyone asked the men the same question. One of the men in uniform, the tall dark one, motioned for them to calm down. When they did, he spoke.
“Guys, I’m sorry to say this but the United States has just been attacked. What you just witnessed was the effect of an EMP. I was just listening to the radio before it went off and we’ve all been instructed to move to New York. If you live afar, don’t bother going back. Every car is broken down. You’ll never be able to make it.”
Everywhere burst into an uproar at that. The man had to calm them down again.
“As I said, we all have to go to New York. We don’t know what’s coming next and so, we’d better hurry.”
Nia had stopped listening. She left the group to go and search for the girls. Her stomach had begun to hurt. She had an ulcer that hurt whenever she hadn’t eaten something in a long time. However, she knew the pain wasn’t because of hunger. Worry had overcome her. She got to the carousel. There was no one there. She shouted:
“Prim! Grayson!” No one responded. She put her hand to her stomach in a bit to assuage the pain.
They have to be somewhere!
She bent over. The pain was increasing. A guard accosted her from behind.
“Ma’am, is there a problem?” he asked.
Nia looked up at him with pleading eyes.
“My girls. I can’t find them.”
11:50am
North Orchard, Chicago, Illinois.
USA.
Harper had had a stressful day. Pulling people out of wreckage wasn’t an easy job. Somehow, though, it felt like a dream. Could the U.S really be under attack? Were they all really in danger?
She had decided to take a stroll alone after they had moved all the survivors in that area to the lower halls of Lincoln Park high school. Most of the work had been done. But there was so much uncertainty that her heart was also burdened. She couldn’t keep telling everyone that it was alright when she wasn’t too sure of it herself. She needed some alone time to reflect.
Suddenly she heard a thud, as though two surfaces were being slammed against each other. She shook her head. That wasn’t possible. They had evacuated every survivor and had even double checked the whole area. She stilled herself and listened for the sound again. It didn’t come. It was all eerily quiet. There was no one.
She sighed. Even in isolation, she couldn’t help but hear people in need of help. She decided to turn back to the shelter. That was when she heard the sound of a car door opening. She turned in the direction of the sound and stopped someone falling out of the car on his back.
Suddenly, the person let out a groan and Harper was sure he was in pain. She ran in his direction. She noticed him leaning against his car. From the distance, she couldn’t tell what he was doing. Suddenly he fell to the ground and shouted in pain again. She suddenly felt sorry for him. When she got close enough, she realized it was a young man. He was sitting on the ground with a broken stick next to him.
“Mister! We didn’t know that there were more survivors out here,” the she said as she removed her coat and draped it across his body. She noticed the way he was looking at her and she suddenly became self-conscious. Work had gotten her looking filthy meanwhile the young man looked great in his three piece suit- if one didn’t count the blood that was matted to his head. The self-consciousness disappeared the moment that she caught a glance of his leg as she covered him.
“Oh, that looks nasty! We need to get you to the health care center. Carlisle might be able to help you there. You haven’t been walking on it, have you?”
“I didn’t particularly have a choice to,” the young man said grumpily. She wondered what was eating him. It was either he had never heard of manners before or he was too burdened to use them. She moved to help him.
“Ah, I see,” she said as she nodded her head. “Well, it ain’t too far, not where we’re going.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
She was surprised by that. Did he want to die? “Now, why would you say something stupid like that? Obviously, you are unless you have a death wish.” The boy was turning her sass on. She placed her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow up at him.
“I’m looking for someone.”
Now that made more sense. Whoever he was looking for was probably dead already. He was trying to raise false hopes for himself.
“Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, sweetie, but they’re probably gone at this point. I doubt you’d even be able to find their bodies if you were looking. Now, come on,” she urged him, beginning to reach for his arm but he jerked his arm away.
“They’re not dead,” he stated with a stern voice.
“How can you be so sure?” she raised an eyebrow up at him. “When was the last time you saw this person?” she wasn’t sure of how many people they were talking about any more.
She noticed the look on his face the moment she asked the question. It was obvious he didn’t know the answer. He was struggling with denial.
“Well,” she asked, growing impatient.
“I don’t know,” he answered, his words cold.
“Don’t go snapping at me because you can’t handle the truth,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “Who is it that you’re looking for?”
He sighed before answering. “My sister and her friend.”
“And just how old are they?”
“Eleven.”
The woman nodded her head. “Are the three of you from here? From Chicago?”
“Yes. But not from this neighborhood.”
“Why did you stop here?”
“It’s my sister’s birthday. I was supposed to pick her and her friend from the amusement park. Look, why does any of this matter?”
“I suppose it doesn’t.” she said, giving him some of the attitude he had giving her at first.
Before either of them could say anything else, the sound of a loud growl interrupted them, making the boy’s eyes widen as he quickly looked around them. The sound had seemed too close to be a good sign. Since she had been hearing voices all day long, this one hardly bothered her. However, it obviously made the young man swallow.
“What was that?” he asked, turning around to face Harper.
She was looking into the distance, her eyes scanning for something before she checked behind her. When her brown eyes came back to meet his, he could see the worry clouding them before she coughed and cleared her throat. “My guess is a bear.”
She knew it was most likely the bear. When the EMP hit Chicago, it put out all of the power supply. Most cages in Lincoln Park zoo had been operated electronically. Since the power was out, all the doors had opened and all the animals had gotten free- Leo the lion, the pretty family of jay birds, the crazy monkeys, just name them. The zoo attendants and the police had worked on recapturing most of the wild animals so that they didn’t do any damage. The other animals like the birds and monkeys were allowed to go free. However, one dangerous animal was still roaming the streets, as free as the birds. Bart the Bear had managed to evade all their efforts to track her. When she was caged, she was stubborn and ruthless. Now that she was free…
The snakes were also still loose but no one bothered looking for them. It would be almost impossible to find them.
“Maybe it’s just me but I don’t remember reading about wild bears running free around this area otherwise I may have picked a different amusement park.”
She rolled her eyes. “They’re not wild.”
“Circus then?”
“When the electromagnetic pulse hit, all of the power went out. Lincoln Park is known for its zoo.”
“So, all of the animals…?”
She smiled. He wasn’t so dumb after all.
“All of them got out.”
His lips separated, as he let out a shaky b
reath before shaking his head, attempting to get up. “I have to go then. I have to find them. Only God knows where they are now.” His effort to get up failed as he began to fall down. She caught him just before he hit the ground and prepped him up, allowing him to lean against her for support.
“Then, we’ll help you,” she said, turning her head to meet his gaze.
“Why?”
“The apocalypse didn’t exactly take away our hearts,” she told him, offering him a small smile. “Not all of ours anyway.” It was a terrible joke, but it lightened his mood, even if only a bit. “But, first we have to get that leg checked out by Carlisle. You won’t be any help to them if you can’t even walk.”
He debated arguing before letting out a groan of defeat. “Fine, but let’s make it fast. Time isn’t exactly on our side.”
As Harper led him towards the shelter, she wondered at how she had found him. She didn’t even realize she had forgotten to ask for his name.
12:10pm
Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois.
USA.
Grayson woke up slowly. She took in her surroundings. There were trees everywhere. She couldn’t remember anything. Why was she in a forest? Suddenly, the pieces began to fall into place. She remembered the carousel stopping. Everyone had begun to get frantic because of the news of some EMP. Some animals had escaped. She and Prim had gone to find Nia. On their way they had been accosted by two men who had offered to take them to Nia. The men had taken them to a lonely place and had sprayed something on their faces that made them sleep. Her head ached.
Something stirred beside her, causing her to turn her head slightly. It was Prim. Prim was still asleep. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed there was someone else. She strained her neck to see a boy. They were all tied to a tree and their mouths were gagged. She shifted in a bid to wake Prim up.
“Prim, wake up. We’ve got to get away,” she tried to say. Unfortunately, it all came out in muffles. She gave up and hung her head. Her blond hair fell loose around her neck. She wondered where her ribbon was. Looking up again, she spotted the pink ribbon in the snow close to a tree that stood opposite them in the distance. A foot trampled on it. Grayson looked up to see two men walking towards her. One was small and wiry. The other was huge. They were the men who had kidnapped her. She tried to shout at them but the hankie tied around her mouth wouldn’t let her.
Once the men came close enough, the burly one pulled out a mini tablet from his jacket and holding it in front of her.
Morgan looked at the blonde girl. She was the only one awake. He needed to send the pictures for vetting. “Stay put while I take your pictures,” He said to her. He took the pictures of the three children and sent them to the organization. He turned to Daan when he finished.
“I’ve sent their pictures in. I did it in both of our names. Let’s just hope that we moved fast enough.”
Daan nodded his head after which he sighed. Maddock walked to where Daan stood. They had just come back from clearing their tracks. They had tried to be stealthy as they moved from the Park to the woods. Since most people were moving towards the administration center, they had gone the other way, passing by a flower shop that stood opposite the woods. He was sure no one had seen them.
“So, we’re going to turn these ones in immediately or we go out for more first?” Daan asked, staring into empty space.
“We’ll wait for headquarter response first. It should come in in a couple of hours. If it’s a yes, then we move first thing in the morning. Who knows, we might find some others on the road. I just feel that the longer we stay here, the more risk we run of getting caught. I heard that soldiers have been sent out to disperse the information. They know nothing about this plan. We can’t afford to be spotted by them.”
“Wisely said, bro,” Daan said before his mind wandered. He wasn’t always a terrorist, if he would be honest enough to call himself that. Life had been simple for him. Not until the fall of the World Trade Centre…
Chapter Three
“That’s the whole point of suicide bombing, isn’t it? …”
4th December, 2001
8:15pm
Derbent, Republic of Dagestan, Russia
“Well, you claim to be her father, don’t you?” Nadia screamed at Daan. “Give her something to eat. She’s been sick for a day now. Get her drugs. Is she going to die? Aren’t you going to do something?”
Daan bowed his head in his hands. Shame filled him so much that he couldn’t look up at his wife again. He had graduated from the University of Dagestan with a B.Sc. in Economics only two years ago. He had met Nadia in school. She had been studying music and was in her first year when he was in his second year. Their relationship had blossomed instantly. They agreed to get married once he graduated. Sure enough, as he advanced through the classes, tuition became more and more difficult however he made it to the end. The day he graduated, he had felt on top of the world. His parents had been so proud of him. Since his father was a fisherman and his mother was a cook, they didn’t have much to their name. A son who had just graduated was a great accolade to them. At least he’d get a job and help them raise his younger brother and sister.
With the little savings he had managed to keep throughout his stay in school, he got married to Nadia a month after the graduation. It was a small wedding. Only family members were invited. He stayed with his father and, just like the old times, he helped his father in the family business, fishing. Then Nadia got pregnant and gave birth to a girl nine months after. The presence of the baby had filled him with joy but it had also left him feeling uneasy. He wanted his child to grow and be successful. He wanted to be able to provide all his daughter would need to achieve her dreams. He couldn’t do that as a fisherman. He decided to push for more. Despite his family’s protest, he made up his mind to move to the city since there were not enough jobs in that region of Russia. In fact, there was almost no need for economists there.
Somehow, life didn’t seem to smile on him. Before moving to the city of Moscow to get a job, Daan had promised his new bride that he was going to come back and take the whole family to the big city where they would live large. By the time he got to Moscow, he searched for a job with all his heart to no avail. All that time, he had stayed with a far cousin.
He didn’t find a job till that year was over. That wasn’t the worst of what happened to him. In December that year, he received a mail from Derbent. It was from his wife. At first, he had frowned, thinking it would be one of the usual messages his wife would send, begging him to come home. However, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of urgency as he held the letter in his hand. He read the letter. When he finished, he sunk to the floor in tears. His father had been out fishing when a rainstorm hit. A week later, they had found his bloated carcass. Sea creatures had eaten parts of his eyes and skin. His mother was sick and was demanding that he returned home immediately.
He wasted no time going back to Derbent. His mother was already close to death. He remained by her side for two days before she finally gave up the ghost. She had told him that her greatest regret was not being alive to watch him become the great man she knew he would be. He had spent the rest of the week clearing out his parent’s house, knowing that there was almost no chance of returning to Moscow. Life was no longer as beautiful as he had imagined it would be with a Certificate.
Things worsened further when his wife began to give him an attitude. She had become tired of the lack. Since Daan had no job, he had simply taken over his father’s trade of fishing to take care of his younger ones and his own family. The returns were not much but they were enough to meet the most basic needs. Unfortunately, his wife would have none of that. Nadia believed she had married an economist and not a fisherman. She kept using her words to pierce him. It hurt him because he wanted her to be happy. Clearly, she wasn’t.
That day was no different from the others. She was at it again, reminding him of all the reasons why he was a failure. Their daughter had fallen
seriously ill but he didn’t have enough to take her to a standard hospital. Apart from fish, there was nothing else in the house to eat. His siblings were out playing with friends. The two of them were alone in the sitting room of his parent’s house. He had tried to touch her but she brashly refused him and accused him of not caring for his family.
“How can you say that? Have I ever acted like I don’t care?” he had asked.
“Look at Gretel, your daughter. Well, you claim to be her father, don’t you? Give her something to eat. She’s been sick for a day now. Get her drugs. Is she going to die? Aren’t you going to do something? Your siblings are depending on us. Let them get a life,” she had screamed at him.
After covering his face with his palms, tears flowed freely down his face. Unable to say a word, he had left the house and headed straight to the nearest bar.
He almost never went to bars. He believed that was for the low lives. But something hit him the moment those words left his wife’s mouth. He just needed to forget in the meantime. He needed to sleep over the sorrows. He’d wake up the next day and sort the problems out.
When he got to the bar, he ordered a large mug of beer. He had a little cash on him. He had planned to use it for a new pair of slippers but beer seemed more important at that moment. He sat at the counter and waited till the attendant brought the mug to him.
“You’re sure this will knock me out?” He asked.
“I doubt you’ll even be able to finish it before you crash. It’s tested and tried. Makes you forget your sorrows in the first two gulps,” the lady said with a wink.
Daan smiled ruefully.
“Well, that’s great. Thanks. It’s all I have money for anyway,” he said as he dropped a hundred Ruble on the counter.
He took a long swig and set the mug down. It had a sharp taste. Before long it made his head swim. Just as he was about to take another swig, someone placed a hand on his shoulder. Surprise, he turned to see a white haired man standing behind him. The man wore wire rimmed glasses and a brown waistcoat over a white shirt.