Inside the pharmacy, Reed, Andy and Annabelle waited for Olivia to come back around. “She seems to breathing fine,” Andy remarked, “Her pulse is pretty fast. I think she’s going to be alrigh –” Annabelle interrupted him, “Don’t say it. Don’t jinx her.” He made the mouth-zipping gesture. “So tell us about yourself Reed,” she turned to him, “Like, how long have you and your dad been living in this town?” He shrugged in thought, “Well, for as long as I can remember really. I was raised here as a kid, I moved away for a bit, but I came back. I had to… What about you? You’re Welsh for starters, what brought you this far into England?” She nodded towards Andy, “He did. Right at the start of all this, he saved my family. The four of us came over to England, we thought it would be better here. But obviously it was just as bad. Everyone was still dying… In fact, have you ever really thought about that? What caused all this in the first place?” He shook his head, “I haven’t. Not really. I’ve just accepted it. My father believes it was something in the air though. Possibly an airborne pandemic made by the government. Or aliens even.” She snorted in laughter, “Aliens? Really?” But Reed slightly believed his father, “You really think it’s outside the realm of possibilities? If you went back in time and said to someone the world was going to end in 2026, you’d be marked down as crazy – but you’d also be right. It’s the same with aliens, you might think my dad and I are crazy – but they do exist, regardless the state of our own world.
Elliot threw the axe behind him. “Out of respect, hands only.” Vincent agreed to his terms, “May the best man win.” Elliot nodded and repeated those words, “May the best man win…” And with that, they charged at each other. Elliot dropped to the ground when they got close, and stuck his leg out to trip Vincent up. Grabbing him by back of his jacket, Elliot launched him into the nearest tree, causing Vincent to shield his head. Vincent kicked at Elliot’s kneecap, knocking him to the ground. He dashed towards the axe. Picking it up, he spun around; but Elliot had disappeared. “And you told me to come out and fight like a man.” He stood still, listening to all the movement around him. Elliot was behind the tree, and threw a stick at him. Turning to tree, Vincent smiled evilly and headed towards to it. As he raised the axe, Elliot jumped out from behind it and tackled Vincent to the ground. “Hands only I said!” He punched his head into the ground several times. “Why did you make it come to this!” He continued to punch his face. Scrambling his hand around, Vincent gripped the axe, and swung it into Elliot’s shoulder, he winced out in pain and rolled back. Getting on his feet, Vincent wiped his mouth and stood over Elliot.
Olivia made several grunting noises, as Annabelle jumped up to help her. “Olivia? Can you hear me? Hello?” She brushed Olivia’s hair out of her face as she began to open her eyes. “She’s alive!” Annabelle announced, relieving Andy and Reed. “Get my mum!” Annabelle ordered Reed before turning back to Olivia. “Welcome back sleepy head.” When her eyes were fully open, she surveyed the room, “Elliot… Where…” She whispered. Andy and Annabelle looked at each other, “He’ll be back soon. Remember, he promised you he would come back. Remember that?” She tried to keep her awake, but it wasn’t working, as Olivia closed her eyes again and stopped grunting. “Olivia no! Wake up! Stay with us!” She checked her pulse, and fortunately it was still going, and she was still breathing.
“I’ll look after them. I’ll even look after Olivia as your consolation prize.” Vincent looked down at Elliot, who had seemingly given up. He raised the axe, preparing to bring it down on Elliot… but he was counting on this, Elliot pulled himself up with a grip on his knife and inserted it into Vincent’s leg. Dropping the axe, he clenched his leg and fell back against the tree. Picking the axe up, Elliot stared at Vincent who tried to get back up. Elliot swung the axe at his other leg, causing him to drop back to the ground in agony. “Why don’t you just finish me already,” Vincent caught his breath. “We’ll see…” Elliot kicked his head back against the tree, rendering him unconscious.
Around an hour had passed, but Olivia had not woken up again. “What do we do Andy?” Annabelle confided in him, but he didn’t know. From outside, they heard Gwen call out “Elliot!” They looked at each other, then rushed outside quickly. It was obvious that Elliot had learnt a lesson from Gwen, he came down the road pushing Vincent along in a wheelbarrow.
When Elliot finally got to them, they had taken him into the pharmacy to see Olivia. “Please wake up for me…” He held her hand, “We’ve got the whole world to explore still.” Although she was still breathing, she was motionless beyond that. “That’s it,” picking up the axe again, he headed over to the wheelbarrow Vincent was in. “Whoa, Elliot. Stop!” Andy stood between them. “Listen to me, you don’t want to do this.” He tilted his head slightly, “Um… I think I do. Get out of the way.” But Andy didn’t move. “Look he did wrong, ok? He messed up, well, more than messed up. I get it. But you’re no better yourself! Remember how you stabbed Steven?” He raised the axe, “Firstly, that was out of self-defence. And secondly, he was the one trying to kill me. Olivia on the other hand is just an innocent woman he wanted to kill. I don’t care that he wanted to kill both of us, he wanted to kill her. That’s why I have to do this. He’s not safe to be around anymore.” Andy gave him a proposition, “Then send him away instead! How about that? Don’t kill him, just leave him behind. I think that’s fair, right?” Elliot disagreed, “He’ll just come after us again. No.” He physically pushed Andy aside now, but he just stepped right back in between the two men. “Do you want to die as well or something?” Elliot lowered the axe again. “If you kill Vincent, you’ll have to kill me too. Good luck getting along with Gwen after that. She’ll kick you right out of this group. Trust me.” Elliot breathed in, and debated his choices in his mind. “If she dies, he dies. If she lives, he lives – but he is sent away from the rest of us. Deal?” Andy nodded straight away, “Ok, yes. Fine.”
Yet another hour passed, and still Olivia remained out. It was night time now. Elliot was growing impatient, whilst everyone else had gone to rest elsewhere. Atop the hill, Elliot heard a car pulling up. Taking the revolver from Olivia’s belt, he looked at her momentarily, then ventured outside. It was too dark to make out what kind of car it was; however, he could make out two silhouettes amongst the darkness. The two shadows slid down the hill onto the beach, as Elliot ducked behind an advertisement stand for cover. They were heading towards the town for sure, which slightly concerned Elliot, as he believed he could see rifles on both of them.
Once they had passed the pharmacy, Elliot jumped out pointing the revolver at them. “Alright hands up, and drop the weapons. I don’t have time to be messing with anyone right now.” The two figures seemed to face each other, before turning fully around – they did not drop their weapons however. “I said drop them!” He aimed his revolver at the one slightly closer to him. “Elliot?” He was shocked to hear one of them call his name. “Yes… Who- Who is that?” She stepped towards the pharmacy, once she was close enough, Elliot worked out who it was, “Erica? What are you doing here?” She looked back at her friend, nodding for her to come over as well. “You remember the nurse right? Tina?” Elliot greeted her with a smile and nodded, “Of course.” Erica got back to answering his question, “Most people fled London. I heard that you guys took off in a hurry, and we decided to come after you. Guess we’re lucky we went the right way. Although we had a feeling you went this way because Steven’s little boat had disappeared. You went after Olivia, I gather.” Elliot nodded, but his face told a different story, “What’s happened? Is she alright?” He went back inside the pharmacy, Erica and Tina following him in.
Erica was impressed with how well she had been treated, “Whoever it was, they must have experience in medicine. Possibly a doctor or a nurse like Tina here maybe.” Elliot breathed a sigh of relief, “So she’s going to make it?” Erica happily nodded, “Putting unexpected complications aside, yes.” But then he breathed in concerned again, “Unexpected complic
ations?” She looked deeply at him, “Although there is an exit wound, the bullet still could’ve ruptured something inside. She might have internal bleeding. But that’s a huge might, if this were the case, she would likely have reacted massively. It’s normal to be unconscious for this long. For some shooting victims they can be out for days. Don’t worry, Elliot. Tina and I are here now, as well as that other medically-experienced person. She’ll be fine!” As Erica comforted him, again he breathed a sigh of relief.
The following morning, Elliot was still awake. The entire night he had not slept despite being advised to by Erica. He waited all night for Olivia to wake up – but still she hadn’t. Behind him, he heard someone enter the pharmacy. He turned around, thankful it was a friend, “Morning Gwen.” She was concerned by how bloodshot his eyes were. “Christ Elliot, have you slept at all?” He drowsily shook his head. “Alright that settles it. Go and have a lie down, if she wakes up, I promise I’ll wake you as well straightaway.” Again, he drowsily shook his head. “Elliot, please.” She insisted, and at last he gave in.
Andy had not slept either. All night he had been protecting Vincent – who now finally came around again, rubbing his eyes. Upon finding himself in a room rather than the woods, he startled and crawled against the wall. “It’s ok, it’s ok! You’re safe here. You’re with me now,” Andy reassured him, Vincent breathing a sigh of relief. “Elliot’s not gonna hurt you. He doesn’t even know you’re in here, and he won’t do. But that comes at a price.” Vincent looked troubled, yet tired still. “You need to go, now. If you don’t run, Elliot will kill you.” He dismissed Andy’s warning and closed his eyes again. “Vincent please. I’m not kidding. Olivia still hasn’t come around. Even if she does, we can’t be too sure how merciful Elliot is.” Their conversation was diverted by a sound echoing out from across the horizon. Vincent got up again, both men looked dazed at each other and headed for the window.
The sound could be heard from the pharmacy as well. Startled, Gwen dashed to the window, hearing the echo of – what sounded like – a helicopter. “Get away from the window!” Ethan advised her. “Is that really what I think it is? How is it possible?” Gwen was worried, and backed away from the window indeed. “It’s the backstabbers that started all this in the first place. It’s the Government…”
The helicopter came into view, hovering over the sea and headed in the group’s direction. As the sound became louder, everyone became increasingly more worried. The helicopter flew directly over the town, as everyone silently watched away from the windows. It was completely black, and had a turret mounted on the front of it. The propeller blades were perhaps twice as large as a standard one, the back section was more elongated as well, as if there was cargo inside it.
Once the sight and sound of the helicopter had faded away, everyone instinctively rushed down to the pharmacy. Everyone was eager for an answer from Ethan. “It happens every week or so,” he started, “Reid and I always hide from their view. We hear the turret in the distance sometimes, possibly activating on some poor surviving soul. Now I was in the army for six years, and I know a helicopter like that belongs to a special ops unit, and every special ops unit I knew of was directly lead by the government themselves. Whoever is in that thing, they’re no friend of ours.” Everyone looked at each other. “How can you be sure?” Annabelle was sceptical, “I mean, even if you’re right, who’s to say it hasn’t just been stolen?” Ethan turned his entire body to face her, “Two years into the apocalypse, how could some survivor be fortunate enough to just stumble across fuel for an entire helicopter? That thing is fully functional which means it has a fuel source somewhere. The only way that’s possible is in a fully functional base, or perhaps even an oil rig. The latter seems more likely. After all, this sea here leads out into the vast ocean itself.” She still wasn’t fully convinced.
Outside, Vincent was making a break for it. Although Andy had applied patches over the stab wounds on his legs, he was still limping on both of them trying to head for the hill. On the beach, he tripped up, and opted to crawl the rest of the way. He was shocked when he felt himself being picked up by the back of his shirt. “Leaving us so soon?” Elliot still looked tired and fatigued, but that wouldn’t stop him from stopping Vincent. “Elliot…” he struggled to breathe, “Please. Just let me go,” he begged, “You won’t ever have to see me again, I swear. I wanted to kill you and Olivia together, I never meant for her to suffer”. He tried to throw him at the ground again, but he was too weak, so Vincent simply fell. Using this to his advantage, Vincent kicked Elliot to send him onto the ground too. He debated whether he should kill Elliot there and then or continue with his escape. Opting for the latter, he continued to crawl away before anyone else could notice him.
Away from everyone else, Ethan was in contact with someone over a radio, wearing headphones to listen in as if he was hiding something. “Yes, I understand that. Believe me, we’ve hit the jackpot here… How many? Well at first there was just one woman, but then her five friends came looking for her, and then their two friends came looking for them… Yes, the catch of the day today is eight, sir… Ok… Yes, sir, I’ll be waiting, over and out.”
It had taken a while before anyone noticed Elliot lying face down on the beach. Erica and Gwen hasted towards him in an instant. “Just as I thought, still sleep-deprived. He can’t live forever without sleep Gwen; we have to get him to a proper bed.” The two women hoisted him up, finding the most suitable place to put him.
Inside the pharmacy, Tina was giving Olivia important information. “Obviously you’ve survived which is the good news,” Tina began, “But unfortunately, you’re going to need this for a while.” She handed Olivia a walking stick which had been made out a tree log, “It’s the best we can do for now, sorry.” She accepted the stick, and then used it to support herself with getting off the counter. “There you go! Well done!” Tina patronised her. “What was all that helicopter nonsense about earlier? And where’s Elliot?” Upon asking these questions, Tina prompted her to sit back on the counter again, “Just take it easy and worry about yourself for now dear. Elliot’s fine, and don’t worry about that helicopter. You’re safe in here.” She wasn’t fully convinced however, “I didn’t arrive here too long before Elliot’s group did. Ethan and Reed were weary of me at first, but when I explained my story, they gave me the rowing boat to get away. Something worth noting is that before I tried to leave, I saw Ethan communicating with someone over a radio.” Tina looked oddly at her, “You mean to say, he’s in contact with someone?” She looked at her sternly in approval.
Reed had generously allowed Elliot to be placed on his own bed for the time being. “Thank you for letting us stay,” Gwen told him, “As soon as he’s slept properly, we’ll be on our way again.” But Erica didn’t conform with this part, “We can’t just leave, Gwen. You saw that helicopter, we all did. There’s something bigger going on here. London was too inland, which means wherever the chopper is going it can’t be too far from here. If we leave, we could miss our journey to a utopia!” Reed butted in, “It’s a utopia for them; the Government. Not us. If my father is right about the cause of the apocalypse being a Government pandemic, you really think they’ll just let you in with open arms?” Gwen put her hands up, “Alright let’s just slow down a bit. Look I know the Government had many cover-ups in the old days, but even this is a bit farfetched for them isn’t it? What would the end of the world do for them?” Before they could continue their debate, they were distracted by an unfamiliar man casually walking into the room. He was dressed in black trousers and a black jacket, sporting a white shirt and a black tie underneath. “Afternoon my fellow survivors,” he bowed his head, as Reed, Gwen and Erica all looked plainly at him amidst confusion.
Back down in the pharmacy, another strange man dressed in the same attire had entered the room. “How goes the day there my friends?” He too bowed his head, as Olivia and Tina looked perplexed as well. “I say, do either of you happen to know what this ob
ject is?” He produced an abnormally-designed pistol, with a magazine on the side of it. Tina noticed there appeared to be sized-down tranquiliser darts in the spare clip, “Is it a tranquiliser gun maybe?” She examined it from a distance, “Correct. Let me show you how it works,” The man shot a dart at Tina’s neck. As she tried to pull it out, she dozed off onto the floor. Leaping behind it, Olivia hid behind the counter. “You can hide as long as you want dear, you’ll never get away from us. My name – well, my codename anyway – is ‘Whisky’ by the way. At your service.”
Reed had worked out who this man was fairly quickly. “Do any of you three happen to know what this object is?” As he produced the pistol, Reed tackled him towards the far wall. Upon doing so, the man’s reflexes had forced him into pulling the trigger, sending the dart into Erica. As Gwen caught her, she pulled the dart off of her, but Erica had already been knocked out. The man pushed Reed off of him, “Foxtrot, at your service,” he mocked. As Reed went in to tackle Foxtrot again, his opponent was quick enough to shoot a dart at him. Within seconds, he too was knocked out. Foxtrot adjusted his cuffs, and then pointed the pistol as Gwen, “Come on, we’re all survivors here right? All on the same side!” He sounded unnervingly cheerful. From underneath the mass of bed covers, Elliot jumped out with a revolver, “Looks like we have ourselves a standoff,” despite how tired he was, he still gripped the pistol firmly. Looking at Elliot and then Gwen and back at Elliot again, Foxtrot laughed, “Really? This isn’t just a catch of the day, it’s the pushover of the day!” But Elliot still looked stern and serious, pulling the revolver trigger and shooting Foxtrot in the chest. “This time, I won’t be the curse. I’m going to be the saviour,” He still gripped the revolver aiming it at Foxtrot, who was now slouched against the wall.
In the room with the radio, Ethan felt partially guilty, but also knew he did what had to be done. Behind him, the door swung open wildly. “Mister Jones,” a female voice began, prompting him to twist his seat around. “Agent Sierra. Lovely to see you again,” he quipped. “Firstly, I would like to thank you for this. I promise I will put all nine test subjects to good use.” Ethan froze momentarily, “Nine?” She pulled out a pistol, except this was a real one rather than a tranquiliser gun. “We’re taking Reed as well. We need him for something else.” Ethan’s breathing became heavy and irregular, “No, please. You can’t. He’s my son, just let him be!” Sierra brought her pistol up to Ethan’s head. “Sorry Ethan, but I did always warn you I’d get you back for shooting Tango that one time.” He put his hands up and tried to reason with her, “Look I didn’t mean to shoot Tango. He approached me with a gun! What was I supposed to do? Everything worked out in the end though didn’t it? Tango still lived. And think of how many test subjects I’ve delivered you!” She didn’t deter at all still. “That’s why I’m making sure Reed gets something better than a standard test subject classification. Your head will be a big part of his ‘reaction’ test.” Lowering his hands, Ethan finally gave in, “Heave my warning, Sierra. Among that group you’re taking, there is a cold-blooded killer. I could see it in his eyes the moment his group arrived. You harm anyone in his group, may god help you.” She passed his remark off in a comedic way, “I’ll consider that advice… And then I’ll filter it right out.” She pulled the trigger unforgivingly, and left him with a malicious smile.
Human Nature (Book 1): Human Nature I Page 7