The bunkers had been redecorated to make them more habitable for the survivors. Everyone regularly met in Elliot’s one as it was the midpoint for everyone else’s. “I think he knows we’re working against him,” Pierre, a new French ally of the group’s, was distressed, “I agree. It seemed a bit weird he would suddenly make an announcement like that,” Gwen added. “No, it doesn’t. He doesn’t suspect us at all. The most likely scenario is that another group is about to be brought in,” Elliot tried to reassure them. “To this day November,” Olivia referred to Elliot by his codename, “I’m still unnerved by you in that suit.” They looked at each other quirkily. At the bunker door, there was a knock, turning everyone’s heads. Cautiously, Reed opened it – it was Golf. “Golf! – or Zach, if I may – Where have you been?” Elliot had been waiting for his arrival, “I’m sorry,” Golf/Zach was French also, “Foxtrot wanted to ask me a few things.” While everyone dismissed his excuse, Elliot had taken note of what he had just said.
In Reed’s bunker, he was curled up on his bed. Still he had nightmares about the parasites and his father – whose head was currently in a jar somewhere else in the base. He very rarely attended the group meetings. “Son,” he looked at his desk, hallucinating his father sitting in the chair, “What’s on your mind, boy?” He was only slightly comforted by his vision. “Come on Reed. Remember, you can always tell me anything. Anything at all.” The hallucination knelt down next to his bed. He uncurled himself, and sat upright. “It’s the parasites father. Those worm things…” ‘Ethan’ nodded, “The others are worried about you, Reed. You know they are,” the sound of his own thoughts in his father’s voice also was not very comforting. He looked down at his father, “I miss you, dad. I miss you so much,” he began to cry. ‘Ethan’ got up, and leant in to hug his son. As Reed moved in to accept the embrace, he ended up clutching himself with his own arms. Opening his eyes again through his tears, he looked around, remembering his father was just a memory. Grabbing the pills and the glass of water from his desk, he lobbed two of them in his mouth, downing the entire glass.
After the group had concluded their meeting, Elliot asked for Zach to stay behind. “Zach, you’re on our side remember, not theirs’.” He nodded at him in agreement, “I know Elliot. I know that.” As he went to leave, Elliot wasn’t finished, “What did Foxtrot ask you? Earlier on.” Zach stopped and turned back around. “Oh, just general things. You know like, how much I miss my brother and that sort of stuff.” His ambiguity was not fooling Elliot at all. “Ok nice. Now tell me what he really asked you about, Zach.” He sighed, and drew the breath to answer Elliot’s question. But before he could, a knock at the door interrupted them. “Get that,” Elliot nodded to the door. Zach opened it, revealing Foxtrot. “Ah! Agents Golf and November. How are you two this evening?” Zach smiled whilst looking at Elliot still, “Fine, sir. Perfectly fine.” Foxtrot looked over to Elliot, “November? Is everything ok?” He noticed a look of distrust on Elliot’s face, directed at Zach. Turning back to ‘Golf’, he realised something wasn’t right. “What’s going on with you two then? Come on, we’re all allies here aren’t we? Open up about it, please. I can’t sleep properly knowing two of my most skilled agents are being bothered by something.” As Elliot continued to look distrustfully, Zach answered the question for them, “It’s just… well…” He had to think off a bluff quickly, “We were wondering when the next supply run is going out. We’d really like to be a part of it because…” He hadn’t thought out his bluff too well, “We really like these French cookies! That’s why! I came to see Elliot to ask if he had any.” Foxtrot breathed believingly, “My dear chaps, of course you can come on the next supply run! The team goes out in two days. Why didn’t you just ask me that in the first place Agent November?” Trying to go along with the lie, Elliot turned his distrusting expression into a more upbeat one, “Oh… because, I thought it was… a bit embarrassing. For a special request, I mean.” Foxtrot laughed, “Nothing is too embarrassing nowadays my friend… anyways, I wish a goodnight’s sleep to the both of you.” He bowed, and then left the room. Zach followed him out, leaving Elliot with a look of concern.
The following morning, Elliot and Olivia had gone to the hidden-away tiger enclosure. The agents had been breeding a pack of tigers for the past three years, ever since the apocalypse initially began. Inside the cage, there was now only one adult – the other of course having been slain by Elliot in a duel – looking after three cubs. “You know I’m not sure who to feel worse for: the next man that gets killed by one of those tigers, or the next one of those tigers that gets killed by a man.” Olivia could see Elliot felt remorse for having to kill the tiger which he did. “Hey,” She put his hand over his on the wooden slab. “You did what you had to. If you didn’t kill it, then it would’ve killed you.” He still appeared to be saddened, “Do you reckon that other one knows? Do you reckon it remembers?” Elliot nodded towards the remaining adult, it was quietly looking after the cubs. “I honestly don’t know,” Olivia responded. “But I mean… Which one of us truly deserved to live? The tiger was doing everything within its’ natural objectives. Hunting, killing, preying, all that. That’s not us, ‘Liv. Right before I murdered Vincent… he had gone crazy. I didn’t even see a man within him anymore. He wanted to kill me so badly he yanked at the chain like an animal. What if I’m no better?” She put her other hand on his shoulder, “Again, you did what you had to do. If you spared Vincent a second time, he may’ve even shot me again. It took me a couple of weeks to readjust with no walking stick, remember? Thanks to these idiots who didn’t sedate it and test it as well,” she joked, prompting him to laugh slightly. “The thing is, Olivia… When I held that hammer, and looked upon Vincent, all I could think of was you.” Elliot’s hands connected with hers. “I remember the look on your face when you got shot. My instant thought was ‘What if this happens again?’ Except what if the next time, he shot you higher up. What if I lost you?” His eyes became watery, she placed her finger over his lips, “But you didn’t… And you never will. Not now. You took care of him. Because of that, I’m still alive.” She brushed a small tear off of his eye, as they went in for a hug.
Reed had now moved onto the floor again, leaning against his bed frame, still looking mortified. “They get into your brain, don’t they?” The hallucination of his father appeared again. “They burrow right through the skull,” the hallucination was voicing his thoughts on the parasites’ function, “Those slimy buggers. They don’t just get into your brain though do they? They take control of it. All of your humanly processes, victimised by an invader.” Reed nodded, his face deathly frozen still. “But if you shut the brain off, like pulling the plug, the parasite can’t restart it again, nor can it burrow back out. It dies.” He fixated on the words of his ‘father’ – what in reality was actually his own thoughts.
Leaving his bunker, Reed headed down the stairs which lead under the airfield. Travelling through the labs, the blue lighting made him feel a lot drearier. He approached a lab labelled as ‘LAB 32’ on the door. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and entered the room. There, on a podium in front of him, there was a large glass cylinder filled with a lime-coloured liquid. Inside that cylinder was also his father’s head; Reed had deduced the lime liquid was preventing it from decaying. His father’s head however was still active – the jaw was still moving, the nose twitching, the eyes rolling around. It was though he was still alive, but Reed knew he wasn’t. It was just a parasite which had burrowed into his head and reanimated it post-death. Pulling his knife out from his side, Reed looked down on his father’s head, “I love you, dad,” In his mind, the head spoke back to him ‘I love you too son’. Because of this hallucination, he was hesitant to stab the head. Raising the knife up and wiping his eye with his cuff, he thought he was now ready to let Ethan go…
“Reed? What is this?” Elliot appeared from behind him. “I saw you leave your bunker. You looked pretty upset. I had to follow, I was concerned.�
�� Stepping aside from the jar, Reed waited for Elliot’s reaction. “What the hell?” Rather than flinching like many would, Elliot edged closer to the jar, interested by it. “How is that possible?” He turned to Reed. “This is what’s been worrying me the entire time,” his voice was rigid and hoarse, “It’s a parasite.” Elliot’s eyes widened with shock, now he backed away from the jar.
Elliot had helped Reed back to his bunker. “You knew about this the whole time? You knew they had parasites here?” He nodded in fear. “Well, what are they like? Are they big? Small? Are they bugs? What are they?” Reed cleared his throat, “They’re worms. Supersized worms. About five and a half, maybe six inches in length. They drill into your brain through your skull. Even if you’re dead, they can control your corpse.” Elliot put his hands over his head, “I honestly cannot believe this. Just as we thought the apocalypse couldn’t get any worse!” Reed looked over at the door, hallucinating his father again. “What would he do?” He quietly asked out loud. “I’m sorry? What would who do?” Obviously, Elliot could not see the vision of Ethan. “My father…” Reed turned away from the door and back to Elliot. “He always hated the Government. He was the most anti-patriotic Englishman ever. Elliot, even if these people aren’t a real government, we have to shut this place down. It’s been a year, have we not gained their trust enough yet?” He shook his head, “I thought we had. But Foxtrot may be wary of us after all… Zach, I’m referring to. I think he may’ve sold us out.” Reed leant his head back. “Elliot, we have to act now. By tomorrow morning, they might even have deployed the parasites into our ears while we sleep.” Elliot put his hands out, “Don’t think about that, Reed. I know you’re afraid, ok? But we can’t anticipate something like that happening.” Reed curled up again, “We need my father. We need him.” Elliot rolled his eyes, and threw Reed his pills, “Take them.”
As Elliot prepared to leave Reed’s bunker, there was a rather slow then long knock at the door. The two men looked at each other. The knock happened again, “Three short and three long… It’s Morse code! An S.O.S signal!” Elliot dashed over to the door, however when he opened it, no one was there. Underneath where the door was, a piece of paper had been left up. Elliot picked it up and closed the door again, reading it carefully. “What does it say?” Reed asked. “Meet me at the Tiger cage in one hour.” Reed looked curious, “Does it say who it’s from?” Elliot nodded alarmingly, “Yes… Zach…”
Chapter 9
In the time which had passed, Erica had taught Andy and Annabelle how to fish. They still used the same river which they had crashed into a year ago. “Oh it’s a big one!” Andy struggled to keep hold of his rod. “Not a rock again is it, Andy?” Annabelle joked. Erica rushed over to help him reel it up. With all their strength, they were knocked back, as the force on the other hand ceased suddenly. Reeling the net quickly back in, Andy’s catch had escaped. He sighed out of annoyance, looking in his still-empty bucket. Annabelle however could not help but laugh at him. “Well we’ve been going for forty-five minutes now. Annabelle has…” Erica counted the amount of fish in her bucket, “Nine! How impressive! Andy on the other hand has…” She mocked him by pretending to count the non-existent fish in the empty bucket, “Wow! A grand total of zero! A distinct winner here!” Again, the two women had to laugh at him. Andy however looked annoyed still. “Cheer up Andy, you can have two of mine for dinner. No trouble for me.”
Although it seemed like a joke at the time, Annabelle had actually given Andy two fish to eat. Still sitting at the river bank, they watched as the sun set over a bridge in the distance. “Two for you as well Erica,” Annabelle handed her the bucket as Erica took her pick. “Not sure if I can get through all of these remaining fish. If anyone wants the leftovers, you’re welcome to them. Especially you Andy,” She couldn’t help but taunt him again.
As they continued to tuck into the fish and watch the epitome, Andy had to mention what the other two were thinking. “What do you reckon Gwen and Elliot are doing right now? And Vincent of course,” Annabelle shrugged. “My mum is probably worrying about me still, even now. Imagine if she knew that over the past year we’ve raided: an entire city,” she began counting on her fingers, “an entire zoo, an entire hospital, an entire warehouse, and even an airport terminal.” Upon hearing it put like that, they all felt impressed with themselves. “I bet Elliot just happens to know a safe-zone in Paris or something,” Andy jokingly referred to how Elliot knew about London. “Maybe there’s a fantastic medic there,” Erica compared a hypothetical nurse to herself. “Vincent… I’ll be honest, I doubt he’s alive right now,” Andy accepted this possibility, “Given what he did to Olivia and what he tried to do to Elliot, I would imagine justice was served. I still hope that maybe Elliot showed him mercy, or he escaped perhaps.” For the first time today, Annabelle communicated with Andy outside of a comedic manner, “I’m sorry Andy. Just have faith that maybe, just maybe, wherever Vincent is now, it’s where he deserves to be. If he deserves to be in hell, then let us hope Elliot swiftly ended his life. If he deserves to remain alive on this planet, then let us hope he was indeed granted mercy.” She rubbed his back, “Do you think we’ll ever see them again?” He had to ask this as well. “My mum always had something special planned for my nineteenth birthday for some reason. She must be absolutely gutted she’s missed it now. It could’ve happened at any point in the past year, and we don’t even know when.” The other two opened up about their ages as well. “I’m just shy of fifty now, as is your mother,” Andy confessed. They turned to Erica now, “Alright fine… I’m forty” Both of their jaws dropped, “Forty?” She looked at them sarcastically, “Oh, thanks…” Andy shook his head to defend himself, “Oh no, no! I don’t mean it like that. I mean the opposite! You look stunning for forty!” She slightly smiled at that remark, “Heck yea I am.” As Andy and Erica looked at each other, Annabelle felt slightly awkward by their interaction. “How old is Elliot do you think?” She changed the subject with the first question that came to mind. “Didn’t he say he was twenty-six?” Andy responded, “And Olivia is the same age as him to. So given that around a year has passed, they’re both twenty-seven now.” Annabelle remembered this, but Erica never knew, “I thought he was younger than that. He looked more like Annabelle’s age to me. Same with Olivia as well. Actually, now that I think about them… I mean I don’t remember their faces too well, but I can kind of see them being that age… yea actually, I suppose he was telling the truth about that.”
“Annabelle… honey,” Gwen’s voice echoed in a black void. “Mum?” Annabelle called out, but she couldn’t see herself or her mother. “There you are sweetheart, I found you!” She tried looking around, but everything was black. “It’s ok, you’re going to be just fine now. Elliot and I are here again.” She breathed out in relief, but then tensed up again. “Why can’t I see you?” Her mother hushed her, “Don’t worry. Even if it’s all your fault, I still love you dear.” She could feel her heartrate increasing, “Mum? Do you blame me? For what happened in London? Because I killed the Bandits?” Her mum laughed, “Oh honey, I don’t just blame you, I condemn you. All those innocent people, killed,” She could feel herself crying as well, “And you believe that Vincent belongs in Hell… you can’t really speak though my dear. After the things you’ve done, perhaps it should be you in the fiery inferno as well…” Annabelle’s own tears echoed out…
…Jumping up, she let out a low grunt. Feeling tears running down her eyes, she dabbed them away. Slowing down her breathing rate, she looked to her left. Erica and Andy were still in the super large tent with her. Upon noticing that they were alive and well, she laid back down; but was too scared to fall asleep again.
Back in the airfield, Elliot had followed Zach’s request. He waited for him outside the tiger cage, taking caution not to wake them up and draw attention. Before Zach had arrived, Elliot could see his silhouette approaching. “Zach. Tell me what’s going on. Please.” Elliot begged. Firstly, he looked around t
o make sure there was no one else nearby, “I would imagine you’ve suspected it already, and it’s true. Foxtrot is on to you.” Elliot sighed, and thought to himself ‘I knew it’. There was more however, “The speech earlier, it was a subtle attempt to deter you from vengeance. He knows that at any minute, you could turn against all the agents. He’s given permission to the soldiers to kill you if they suspect anything. It’s worse than that though, if just one of you acts out of line, the others will all be executed as well. You just have to act casual for the next week, and he might recollect his qualms. I wouldn’t count on it though…” Elliot put his hands on his hips and looked up, shaking his head, “Some form of living this is – an omnipresent threat of execution.” But Zach had a solution for him, “Listen, Elliot. I know a way to get you out of here without drawing any attention. But just you. Any more people, and we’ll be seen. I promise to get at least one other of your friends out later tonight as well.” Elliot shook his head to deny the request, “Are you mad Zach? I can’t just leave my friends here! It’s too dangerous! He was whispering rather loudly now. He was worried that one of the tigers may’ve woken up, but it turned out to just be stretching in its’ sleep.
“Ok listen, you need to be silent. If we draw even the slightest attention from anyone, Foxtrot will likely send a slaughter squadron after you. Maybe even a gun-mounted helicopter.” Elliot looked confused and curious, “What reason would he have to do that though?” Zach pulled out a map, “This is the best I can do. I’ve lived in this country for all fourteen years of my life, I know this area like the back of my hand. It’s a rough drawing, but it’s good enough. Make sure you get to the point marked as ‘X’. There’s people living underground. Find the manhole cover with the star-shaped rock ornament next to it. It’s a big giveaway for someone on the ground, yet it blends in for someone not looking for it – like the government agents.” It made sense to Elliot now, “You mean, every time you snuck out and I suspected you… You were actually trying to help us?” He nodded in conformation, “Correct! I’ve developed quite a bond with these people. They’re stocked food and water wise, but when it comes to weapons, they don’t have anything beyond knives and hatchets. Hence why they haven’t tried taking this armed and fortified place yet. Tell them I sent you, or even just say ‘Zach’ if the situation is dire. They’ll sort you out.” Elliot smiled warmly, “Thank you Zach. I guess there really are good people left in this world.” He smiled back at him, “Oh and by the way, only two of the five of them speak English. But don’t worry, they’ll sort you out language-wise as well.” Elliot sighed, “Fluent in English, Conversational in Spanish, yet I know nothing in French beyond ‘Bonjour’.” Wasting no more time, Zach guided him to the secret escape route.
Human Nature (Book 1): Human Nature I Page 10