Tomorrow's Dawn (Book 2): Fractured Paradise

by Wohlrab, Jeff

  Jensen turned to Jessica. “We have to stick together. If something happens and I get dropped, you need to grab this,” he said, indicating the transmitter hooked to the inside of his plate carrier. “That’s the only way to get into the tub and use the weapons. It’s kind of a failsafe device.” He looked at the already open doors. He could already see cosmetics and other unimportant things lying in the aisles. “It looks like we won’t have to break in at least.”

  They both checked their weapons again. It was a good habit to have before any possible engagement. Jensen finished first and looked over at Jessica to await her signal. She didn’t look nervous. In fact, she looked excited. Her face was just a little bit flushed. When she looked up, she caught his glance and nodded, ready to go.

  He popped the hatch and dropped out, waiting for Jess to do the same before he engaged the locks. Once he heard the satisfying clunks of the metal pieces engaging, he turned toward the store and moved quickly in a crouch with Jessica close behind. He wanted to get out of the open area quickly and into the store; at least there they’d only have people inside to worry about.

  Once inside, he crouched in the first aisle as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimmer light. He could hear Jessica breathing behind him and a soft metallic click as she moved around. Once he could see well enough, he put his hand over his shoulder and motioned forward as he moved. He had been in these stores before. He knew the pharmacy would be in the back corner of the store.

  Jensen looked down each aisle as they passed to make sure nobody was there. When they reached the end of the store, he turned to his left toward where the pharmacy should be. He could see empty shelves and torn open packages littering the ground. It looked like anything valuable had already been taken, but he had to check.

  Still in a fast crouch, he glided toward the dark corner of the store. He didn’t want to, but he had to pull his flashlight and click it on to see clearly. There were just too many shadows and unfamiliar shapes in front of him. He swept his light down the aisle first before shining it on the pharmacy. His heart sank.

  The metal grate had been pried open and the shelves behind were cleaned out. He whispered to Jessica, “Stay at the counter. Watch for anyone coming,” before he slipped over the pharmacist’s counter toward the shelves behind. It only took a moment for him to realize everything was gone. The drugs had been completely cleaned out. He doubted it was a junkie. He figured they’d have ignored most of the useful drugs and tried to find the stuff that would get them high instead. This was probably done by another individual or group just trying to survive.

  Jensen turned and crouched by the counter. “Coming out.” Once he heard the confirmation from Jessica, he slid back over the counter into the store. “Cleared out. Let’s see if there’s anything else we can use on the way out.” As they moved in unison back toward the open doors and daylight, he played his light across the shelves. Everything medical was gone: bandages, pills, tape, everything. Even the shelf stable food was gone. The only things left were office supplies, toys, and other items that could have been useful before the bombs hit, but weren’t now.

  Before crossing back into daylight, Jensen and Jessica crouched in the shadows on either side of the door and scanned for movement. They saw nothing.

  “Psst” Jessica whispered. “Do you want to take your car over there, or should we go on foot?”

  It only took a moment for Jensen to answer. “We take the tub. That way it’s close if we run into trouble.” He reached under his carrier and disengaged the locks.

  “On three. One. Two.” They were moving as he said three. Jessica was in her seat before Jensen. She was a lot quicker and more agile than he had expected. He rolled forward in a big arc toward the second drug store. This time, they got out quickly and moved into the store. They repeated their movements until they got to the pharmacy in the back corner. This one had also been ransacked. There was nothing left on the shelves.

  Jensen had held out some hope whoever had cleaned out the first store would have been satisfied. In hindsight, that seemed silly. He would have done the same. He doubted anyone would be manufacturing pharmaceuticals any time soon. He’d rather have a drug he needed that was past the expiration date than not have it available at all. As they moved toward the exit, he saw the shelves were once again bare. There wasn’t anything of use left in the store; even the candy under the counter was gone.

  Before they reached the door, Jensen paused and held up his hand. He’d heard metal on metal. That was bad. It was a sound he shouldn’t be hearing. He melted down into a crouch. Jessica mirrored his actions. “There may be someone at the tub,” he whispered. “We move forward to the end of the aisle and check it out. Try to stay out of sight.” Jessica tightened her grip on the M4 and nodded.

  As quietly as they could, they moved toward the front of the store. He could definitely hear the scrape of metal on metal coming from just outside. When they reached the front, he peered through an open shelf toward the tub. He could see a man on the vehicle commander’s side using a pry bar to try to open the cockpit. For all he knew, it could be the same bar used to break into the pharmacy. He wasn’t worried the man could do it, he knew better. Nobody but he was getting into the tub. He was more worried the man had backup.

  They watched for several minutes as the man tried different areas of the canopy and cursed in frustration, frequently looking back toward the store to see if they were coming out.

  From the darkness, Jensen yelled, “Step away from the vehicle and put your hands on your head.” Instead, the man dropped the metal bar and crouched on the other side of the tub, tons of metal between him and the pair in the store.

  Jensen called out again. “Move away from the vehicle. We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to get back in and leave.” He heard the man laugh from the other side. “That ain’t gonna happen. You ain’t comin’ outta there alive. Ya see, this is mah trailer and ahm takin’ it back.” He cackled a little bit. “Bobby, show im what ahm talkin’ ‘bout.”

  Seconds later, a glass bottle came flying through the air from outside and landed one aisle over. Someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail. It wasn’t the first time he’d been on the receiving end of one. This one hadn’t broken open with a flaming whoosh as the last one had though, so he knew he had a moment. With one last look to make sure the first man was still hiding behind the tub, he dashed into the next aisle and picked up the flaming bottle.

  He could smell the fumes coming from the wick. He wasn’t going to be able to put it out, so he simply threw it back outside. Seconds later, it erupted with a loud boom as the flames reached the liquid inside. Oily black smoke peeled off it as it burned.

  Jensen was pissed. This had to be the guy Aaron had warned them about. The one that got away from the ambush. The man cackled again. “That’s a nahce throw boy! We got more, doh.” Another firebomb flew inside. This one broke open as it landed on the hard floor and flames poured out. They licked hungrily at the shelves inside.

  “Ya ain’t got much tahm now. How ‘bout a li’l agreement? You send the li’l lady out ‘n we’ll let ya go.”

  Jensen almost laughed, that was about as likely as politicians not being corrupt. He knew without a doubt there were at least two hillbillies out there. The one from the ambush and another named Bobby. He chose to focus on Bobby first.

  Jensen firmly believed in the ideals of moving quickly and aggressively. As soon as he decided on his target, he was moving. The good ol’ boy was still hiding behind the tub, so he was as good as invisible to his foes as he rushed to the front door. Jensen had plenty of experience figuring out the point of origin, or POO, of incoming rockets and mortars. It was simple to judge where Bobby would be within a few degrees.

  His gun was already up and pointing almost directly at the man as he cleared the door. The surprise in his face was evident as he saw the armed former soldier rush out with his gun at his shoulder. Bobby had both hands busy lighting another cocktail and co
uld do nothing as two rounds from Jensen’s rifle smashed through his face and out the back of his head. The flames from the lit wick licked at his clothing before the bottle blew and the fuel helped the fire melt his clothing to his skin.

  Jensen scanned the area and saw no more threats. Maybe it was just the two of them. One of them now. Jensen said loudly, mocking the man who had ‘masterminded’ this little attack, “How ‘bout a li’l agreement son? You get the fuck out of here and I let you live!” He was answered by the sound of pounding feet as the man started running.

  He started moving toward the front of the tub, but heard two loud cracks followed by another a second later. Jessica had already dropped the target. He turned to thank her, but was met with a fierce face. She raged, “You were honestly going to just let him go?”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “No. I was just fucking with him. I was going to kill him.”

  She seemed to calm slightly. “That fucker is a rapist and a murderer. I want to kill him again.” She walked a few feet toward the body and shot it three more times for good measure. “What a piece of shit!”

  After they had left Clayton, Jessica asked, “So why did you run out there?”

  Jensen thought for a moment, trying to find the words. He looked at Jess. “The quicker you can gain the upper hand through mobility and surprise, the more likely you’ll end the battle quickly and win. The longer you let it go, the more chance you have of catching a bullet.” He sighed, “You’ve got to be decisive and aggressive.”

  Jessica thought back to the attack in Elberton when Jensen had rammed an up-armored Humvee with his tub and stepped out onto it. With only his Bushmaster AR, he’d walked onto the Humvee and shot the soldier out of his machine-gun turret. Then he’d turned that same turret onto the other two vehicles and killed both of those gunners as well.

  It had only worked because he had been aggressive and decisive. By all rights, he should be dead. She’d been a little bit scared of him for a while after that, not because she felt in any danger, but because it had seemed insane at the time. She didn’t understand why a man would leave an armored vehicle and step out into possible death by machine gun.

  Now she was beginning to understand. It was the first time she’d been in a real firefight. Literally. The man had been throwing Molotov cocktails at them! She had been busy thinking through possible courses of action when Jensen had gone forward and eliminated the first threat. After that, he’d been confident enough to taunt the second man, fully intending to kill him anyway.

  Jensen wasn’t insane, he was a warrior. He took calculated risks to gain a decisive advantage. “Why did you drive over his face on the way out?”

  Jensen looked apologetic as he said, “It probably wasn’t the right thing to do, but he was a rapist and a murderer. I don’t like either.”

  Jessica disagreed. “Oh, it was the right thing to do, but you should have backed up and done it again.”

  Jensen’s look disappeared and he grinned. “Maybe when we go to plan B.”

  Jessica smiled. “It’s a date!”

  Jensen was very confused. Jessica had seemed flirty when they first met, but then she’d seemed to avoid him after that. He had no idea what he’d done to offend her before or what had changed now. He was confused, but he went with it. “It’s a date. There’s a fair chance we’ll die though.”

  She smiled a little wider, comfortable Jensen wouldn’t let that happen. “Not if you want a second date.”

  Chapter 20

  Jensen fulfilled his promise and ran over the redneck’s head again as they drove back through Clayton. He didn’t feel bad about it—he didn’t feel good about it. It was just an action. He’d have killed anyone who did such a thing to one of his friends. He’d have killed them slowly and with great pain, but he didn’t feel anything about desecrating this body. The man had been a monster.

  When they returned to the mountain with the trailer, Brent had been the only one to notice the small splash of blood across the titanium plate protecting the motor in the front wheel. Brent also noticed a new energy between the two blonde, blue-eyed occupants of the tub that hadn’t been there when they left. After looking them both over for injuries, he asked “Problems?”

  Jensen responded, “You could say that. The hospital was more of a clinic. We couldn’t get much of what was on the list.”

  Brent inclined his head toward the blood on the armored vehicle. “I was talking about that.”

  Jensen looked where Brent’s eyes were pointing and noticed the blood. “Oh that. We stopped at the pharmacies in Clayton looking for antivirals. The dude that got away from down the street and one of his buddies found us. They tried to burn us out with Molotov cocktails.”

  Brent nodded. “I suppose they won’t be a threat anymore?”

  Jessica answered that question with finality, “No, they won’t.”

  Brent next asked, “Any luck with the pharmacies?”

  Jensen shook his head sadly. “Nothing. They were completely cleaned out. We were behind the curve on that one.” He thought for a second. “And I’m pretty sure one of them is completely burned out by now. We didn’t see any fire extinguishers in there, and the flames were getting pretty hot. We had to bug out.”

  After a moment, he changed the subject. Jensen indicated the cabin. “How are they holding up?”

  Jessica’s eyes grew concerned. “Are they doing okay?”

  Dave and Daniel were two of her long-time friends. They’d served together while in the military, Daniel and Jessica in the Air Force, Dave in the Marine Corps.

  Brent’s face clouded over a little. “They’re doing okay. Fevers have gone up, but they don’t seem to be getting any worse.”

  Jensen suspected there was more. Brent’s words didn’t match his expression.

  Jensen extended his thumb toward the trailer. “We’ve got some monitoring machines, but there wasn’t a lot there. Let’s get them in and hooked up.” He moved toward the back of the trailer and opened the gates. In the shabby trailer, the machines looked like they had been picked up from a garage sale, not a functioning hospital. He said over his shoulder “We’ll need to get them all into the living room where we have power.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Jess said, suddenly backing him up in everything. It was a nice feeling. Then she said, “Let’s make sure this stuff works before we make them move though.”

  Another good idea. If this stuff was fried, he thought, there’s no point in moving the beds out. “Let’s power it up then.”

  The little filing cabinets with medical supplies were at the back of the trailer, so he simply moved them out of the way to get to the first machine. Jensen rolled it to the back of the trailer, but found he had to lift it to move it over the rough ground to the cabin. He set it down to open the door and was almost overwhelmed with the scent of sickness.

  He couldn’t put his finger on it. Vomit, feces—no—some combination of those, but something else. It felt like a dark cloud. Jensen wanted to turn around and stay in the fresh air, but he lifted the machine again and wheeled it into the room. It had a little basket with a blood pressure cuff on it and a thermometer in a holster. The little box of probe protectors appeared to be almost full.

  “Sheila, where do you want this?” She didn’t reply at first, so he picked a spot on the far wall that appeared long enough for a couple of beds and found an outlet. He plugged the machine in and searched for the power button. After finding it, he waited a moment. Jensen felt a palpable sense of relief when the screen flashed and it powered on.

  Behind him, he heard Sheila say, “That’s good. Let’s go see what else you managed to find.”

  Jensen felt a little shame when he said, “It wasn’t much. It wasn’t a real hospital, more of a clinic.”

  She put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s more than we had before. Thank you.” When they approached the trailer, she appraised the few machines and the cabinets. “I can make this work.” There were thr
ee more of the vital signs monitors and an EKG. Scattered among the cabinets were bedpans, gloves, masks, and bleach. That was all. She expertly noted the taped-on labels of the rolling drawers. “These will help, too. Did you have any luck with the antivirals?”

  Jensen seemed to deflate a little. “No. There was nothing at the hospital and the two pharmacies we checked were completely cleaned out.”

  Sheila’s shoulders slumped. “We’ll do what we can. Without those drugs … it’s going to be a battle.”

  The decision was made for Jensen. He locked gazes with Jessica and nodded. They would go with plan B.

  “Let’s get these inside and hooked up,” he said. “We need to get your patients moved out into the living room. That’s our new clinic.” Once they had wheeled the rest of the machines inside, Jensen and Dave moved the sofa into the kitchen and cleared the middle of the room. It was awkward, but they needed the space.

  Jensen had a cynical moment, thinking to himself, It would be awkward for a week, two at the most. By then, Sheila would save them—or they would die.

  He would do all he could to help her though. It took them almost an hour to get the beds situated in the living room. Daniel was so weak, Jensen had to help him to the king-sized bed on one side of the room. It was the only bed he would fit on at six foot four. At Daniel’s request, Jensen used couch cushions to help prop him up so he could breathe better. As he did so, he could hear the air wheezing through the big man’s airways.

  It had only been a day since he’d taken ill, and his breathing was already clearly labored. “Did you manage to find any antivirals?” The hope on Daniel’s face was almost too much to bear.