Human Nature (Book 1): Human Nature I

by Borthwick, Finlay

  Reed didn’t ask for anyone else’s stories after that revelation. “Guys, I think I see the camp!” Erica stated, everyone rushing ahead to see if it was true. “That’s it!” Elliot was relieved, “I can’t believe it! We made it!” But suddenly from up ahead, the sound of wolf-howling travelled back to the group, as everyone’s grins dropped into frowns of terror. “So, that’s the price which Life is making us pay today. If we want sanctuary, we have to fend off a pack of wolves…”

  Chapter 18

  After a silent journey due to Annabelle’s attempted suicide, her group finally made it to an airport terminal. “Alright, raid this place as much as you like. Once we take off, we may never come back to England ever again.” Annabelle reminded them, as Cora headed directly for the confectionery shop.

  “Annabelle, we need to talk about… What you nearly did,” Keith was concerned for her own safety. “I wasn’t thinking,” she abruptly responded, “Cora saved me, it won’t happen again. Sorry.” She didn’t sound very convincing, but Keith didn’t want to push her over the line again.

  “Oh yes, I love these,” Cora said to herself, picking up several sweet bags from one shelf. In the distance, she could hear footsteps and talking. “Annabelle? Keith? Is that you guys?” She called out to them. After realising the talking had stopped, she worked out it wasn’t her friends at all. As she backed away slowly to go back to the other two, she was apprehended by someone. “You talk, and I’ll slit your throat,” the woman placed a knife against Cora’s neck.

  “Listen, there’s no need for threats, we can just talk about this!” The woman put her other hand over Cora’s mouth, “Miguel! Cody! Hurry up and raid this place before this girl’s group comes looking for her.” Cora tried to speak, but the woman only placed her hand over her mouth even tighter. With no alternative, she began to dribble. “What’s that? Are you… yuck!” She pulled her hand away from her mouth, noticing that Cora had let saliva out onto it.

  Cora winded the woman, taking her knife. Now it was her who apprehended the woman at knifepoint. “Miguel! Cody! If you want your friend to live, then run. Leave this terminal, my group is here now. Just go!” They put their hands out to reason with Cora, “Ok listen, please. Let Vanessa go, she’s done nothing to harm you!” Cora squinted at him, “She just held me at knifepoint, idiot.”

  He nodded to accept that he had made an invalid point, “Look, just let Vanessa come back to us, and we’ll leave.” Cora considered the proposition, “Is it just the three of you?” They nodded desperately, “Excellent. There’s only three of us as well,” She let Vanessa go, but still held the knife out. “So, let’s join forces, and maybe we can work something out…”

  Cora let Vanessa, Miguel and Cody all freely walk towards Keith and Annabelle, however she still had the knife out. Alarmed, Keith stood up. “Cora! What the hell are you doing?” She made sure her new ‘friends’ kept walking towards him. “They’re coming to France with us. If worse comes to worst, we’ll need a new group…”

  For the two groups to join, they needed to sit down and have a civilised conversation. “So then, Vanessa,” Keith began, “Tell us about your group. How far have you travelled? How many more of you are there?” While at first she was reluctant to answer, she knew ultimately it would be in her best interests to do so, “It’s just the three of us. It is now at least anyway. We’ve been travelling all over the country, raiding every single place that we can find. But this far in, there’s not a lot left to survive off of.”

  “You’ve lost people then?” Keith inferred. “I think everyone has lost someone by now,” she raised her tone slightly. “What I mean is, how many? How many people have you lost?” His enquiry was starting to annoy her, “Look, this isn’t a gameshow. I don’t get a million-pound prize for answering your questions, do I?” He shook his head, “No, you don’t, but you can get the equivalent to such worth these days.”

  She looked disbelievingly at him, “Oh yea? What’s that then?” He leant forward to her, “You see, we’re headed back to France. As soon as we find a functional airplane. I’m no pilot, but I took a course in aviation.” Vanessa laughed at him, “A course in aviation? You really think that qualifies you into being a trustworthy pilot?”

  “No, but given how minute the population is now, I may very well be the best living pilot on this entire planet. Take your chances with me, or take your chances here with those mutated creatures outside,” he engaged her sternly with his eyes, as she backed down. “Now then, let’s try this one more time. How many people have you lost?”

  She hesitated for a few seconds, then began her answer, “I lost count… We were part of a group, you see, and not a small group like yours, we were part of a rather large group. We found a safe-zone in the Midlands. Trouble is, it didn’t hold for too long after we arrived. We were attacked by another group. A threat which we couldn’t afford to take lightly.”

  Again, Annabelle’s memories were being set off once again. Now, back to the time when the Bandits invaded London…

  … “Mum, you were going to let him kill you,” Annabelle was in shock after seeing her mother nearly executed, “If Olivia wasn’t standing where she was, you would’ve died there and then.” Gwen remained silent. “Mum, I really don’t know what I would’ve done without you. If Kyle got his way, I would’ve killed him myself. But forever I would be regretting not killing him when I had the chance. Even now, I still do.” Gwen was too upset to even look at her daughter.

  “Gwen. Annabelle,” Elliot came over to them having just been discharged from the medical bay by Erica, he didn’t sound too upbeat. “I see you’ve come around quickly there, Elliot,” Annabelle noticed the bandage around his arm. “It was nothing. Just a scratch,” he looked down at Gwen whilst keeping her trigger-happy secret. “Listen, I promise you two we can catch up later on, but right now I need to go and see Olivia. Something terrible has happened.” As he went to run off, Annabelle pulled him back, “Something terrible? What? Tell us, Elliot.” He gently pulled his arm out of her grip, “I’m sorry I’ve really got to find her as soon as possible. Ask someone else about it. Erica, Vincent, whoever…”

  … This time, no one had noticed Annabelle fading back into her memories. “So out of the thirty-two people you had in that large group, how many of them died?” Keith suspected he already knew the answer, but had to be absolutely certain. “Twenty-nine,” Vanessa bluntly responded, “I bet you can’t guess which three survived,” she jokingly remarked, looking up at her comrades Cody and Miguel. “What about you, then?” Now Vanessa played the role of the interrogator.

  “Oh, well I personally haven’t lost too many. Some people have died, but the only one who truly mattered to me, she’s out there somewhere. Unless you see someone die, they’re not dead. That’s what I believe.” Everyone felt that Keith’s optimism was misplaced, but said nothing against it, “I guess belief is all you really have these days,” Vanessa remarked.

  Annabelle stepped forward, eager to unload certain people off of her mind, “We have a bigger group, back in France. It’s not just us three. That’s why we’re desperate to get back there. Come with us, and we’ll rebuild Life together.” She had unintentionally digressed into a tangent. “We need to build our numbers back up,” Now, she got back to her point, “After Andy. After Vincent. After the guaranteed someone else who’s died in the time we’ve been gone for.” Vanessa was intrigued by the proposition, and the use of names by Annabelle indicated how passionate she was. “Excuse us,” Vanessa got up, speaking to her two friends in private.

  Keith and Cora noticed Annabelle’s trance-like expression again. “Annabelle! No! Listen to me, this is not the time to freeze up!” Keith shook her, but she wouldn’t respond.

  Looking out to the other side of the terminal, Annabelle could see her mother’s disappointed expression again. “I didn’t fail you…” She had blocked out her physical surroundings, and now focused directly on the hallucination. “You failed me, mum. You wanted
to protect me from the harsh reality of this world, and you couldn’t. You let Vincent in. That is what caused Andy’s death, not me.” She sternly looked at her mother, whose expression of disappointment turned in to one of remorse and guilt. “Exactly. You can’t guilt-trip me anymore,” Annabelle was starting to forget the hallucination was just her own darkest thoughts, “Elliot did what he had to do. I did what I had to do. Even Kyle did what he had to do. I dread to think how dad would react to you if he was still here; and to that extent, perhaps it’s better that he’s not…” Her mother nodded remorsefully at her, before fading away slowly into nothingness…

  After the two groups had agreed to ally themselves with each other, they headed for one of the hangars on the far side of the airport. “Remember, keep absolutely silent. There could be mutations anywhere and everywhere,” Keith advised them. “Hey, what caused that?” Cody whispered to him, pointing at the large claw mark going through his shirt. “Oh,” Keith whispered back to him, “Let’s just say I’m the alpha male in the lion pride now.” Keith’s confidence endeared Cody to him more than he would admit.

  “It’s locked!” No matter how hard they tried, there was no way of getting into the hangar. “Dammit! Well we can’t use any of the ones out here, they won’t have any fuel in them!” Miguel slammed the hangar door. “We don’t need to use any of the ones out here,” Keith smiled in relief, pointing at another hangar closer to the terminal, with its large door open. “Why didn’t we check that one first?” Cora hit herself.

  The group were in luck, as this plane was a small jet. It had five seats on the left side of the cabin, and five seats on the right. “Excellent! There’s twice as many seats as passengers!” Vanessa remarked, as they all sat down.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Keith mocked the classic take-off speech over the plane’s intercom. “This is Captain Keith speaking. Please ensure your seatbelts are tightened properly, as we prepare to take off. Our destination this afternoon is France of course!” Everyone laughed at Keith’s mockery – except for Annabelle. To her, the entire situation did not seem possible.

  In the cockpit, Keith took in a deep breath, “Alright, here we go,” he attempted to start the engine – but nothing happened, “Oh come on, please!” He tried it a second time and yet still nothing happened, he was starting to get concerned now, “Please no, not after all this!” Again he breathed in deeply, then started the engine a third time – now, it finally revved up. He could hear everyone behind him cheering in the cabin.

  “Alright everyone, sit back and relax, as we prepared to take off. Captain Keith out.” While the rest of the group were jovial, Annabelle still couldn’t help but worry. The motion of the plane caught her off guard. She looked out the window at the airport around them. Specifically, looking through the terminal window, she noticed the hallucination of her mother waving her off. While at first she felt emotionless, she lightly smiled back at her, “I’m coming home now. I’m coming back to you…” She placed her hand against the glass, as the plane began to accelerate rapidly.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we have successfully taken off!” Keith was pleased to announce several minutes later, again hearing the cheers behind him. He was struggling to maintain the plane, as his knowledge of the controls was slightly rusty. Certain things however would always be embedded in his brain.

  One thing however that he didn’t remember, was giant red-eyed birds flying past. He noticed a flock of them, perhaps half the size of the jet itself, flying past ahead of him. He decided to swerve away from the direction the birds had travelled in, afraid they would attack.

  He believed he had evaded them, but then suddenly, the plane jolted up viciously. “No! Not again!” Keith was fed up of radiated-mutants attacking him. He tried his best to control the plane, but it kept bumping up and now.

  In the cabin, everyone blamed the turbulence on Keith being a rubbish pilot. Annabelle however noticed something peculiar out of the window next to her. “Look!” She drew everyone’s attention to the flock of giant red-eye birds slamming themselves into the side of the plane. “They’re literally killing themselves to try and down us! That’s how mindless these mutants are!”

  Everyone’s cheers had turned into screams of panic. Annabelle closed her eyes, trying to escape from the horror of reality by getting stuck in her memories again…

  Chapter 19

  “Quick! Everyone up here!” Elliot lead his group up the hill, to hide behind a formation of rocks. “Keep low!” He gestured for everyone to lay down behind them, “We wait for the wolves to pass, make sure you have a weapon ready in case they attack us.” Everyone either gripped their firearms or their melee weapons more tightly.

  “Elliot,” Erica whispered to him, “I think I know why you haven’t been affected by the radiation.” He put his finger over her lip, “Wait until the wolves pass!” He whispered back. Throw a crevice between two of the rocks, Elliot could see the pack slowly strolling past. Each of the wolves ranged in size. Some were only slightly above regular size, while two of them appeared to be around nine or ten foot big. Their sizes sent shockwaves through everyone.

  “Take note of their red-eyes everyone!” Elliot pointed out, still in a whisper,

  “And remember my theory!” This was hard to do however as most of the group didn’t even understand his theory when he said it to them.

  One of the wolves looked up, and growled slightly, prompting Reed to move his shotgun up slightly. “Reed!” Elliot whispered his name quickly, “Don’t!” But he ignored Elliot’s warning, and pulled the shotgun up further just in case.

  The wolf which had growled looked at the area around it. Everyone had copied Reed’s tactic of pulling their weapons further up. “Stop it! All of you!” Elliot’s command was futile though, as they positioned their weapon between the rocks.

  After looking around for long enough and noticing nothing unordinary, the wolf continued to follow its’ pack. Everyone breathed quiet sighs of relief. “I told you!” Elliot rolled over and berated his group, “Just trust me for once!” They didn’t respond to him, knowing they were in the wrong. “Give it a few minutes, and they’ll be out of range. Then we can move out again! The base is just down there!”

  After a few minutes had passed, the wolves had not moved up much further. They were still visible on the road ahead. “Erica,” Elliot whispered to her, but she put her finger on his lip, mimicking and mocking what he had done minutes prior. “Very funny,” he gently pushed her hand away, “You said you know why I’m not affected… Why?”

  She rolled onto her side. “Not many people know this, but since the year… I think it was about thirty-five years ago so that’s around… Mid 1990s maybe?” Elliot continued to stare eagerly at her, “Basically, around that time, there were odd things going on in the blood of many new-borns. It was a rare occurrence, around as little as every 1 in 10 million babies were born with it.” Still Elliot was waiting for her to get to the point. “Some new form of bacteria I think many scientists suspected it to be. I was rather young at the time so I don’t remember it too well when it happened, but it was a case I did for Science A-Level when I was sixteen long after it began.” She was beginning to procrastinate, frustrating Elliot.

  “Anyway, the point is, this new form of bacteria in their blood made them resistant to certain environmental factors. Most notably, Radiation.” Elliot could tell where this was headed. “It didn’t stop there though, ever since the 1990s, right up until the end of the world, babies were being born with this bizarre immunity. The statistic over time increased to every 1 in 9 million, and presumably as the first immune ones grew up and reproduced, this statistic increased even further. I guess it won’t anymore though. But the point is Elliot, I think you are in that 1% minority. I think you may be Radiation Resistant.”

  He understood the logic, and felt slightly privileged. “So,” he had many questions, but chose to ask the least relevant one, “Are you saying that if I was in Hiroshima during the atomi
c bomb dropping, I could’ve survived standing out in the open?” Erica nodded, “I guess so. I mean, you survived whatever the hell Sierra put in her missile with no side effects…” Towards the end of her sentence, Erica became lethargic, coughing slightly. “Erica?” Elliot tried to get a response out of her, but she began to cough more wildly.

  Elliot looked up, the wolves began to turn back around, “Shit! Tina! Get over here now!” Elliot summoned her, “I think the radiation is getting to Erica! Keep her alive!” Tina was distraught by her lover’s situation, “I will,” She was unwilling to let Erica die.

  “Reed!” Elliot crawled over to him, “If you’re gonna use that shotgun, use it now.” He smiled fiendishly, “With pleasure!” He hopped to his feet in an instant, sliding down the hill.

  Noticing Reed, the Wolves growled, as half of the pack broke off into the woods on the other side. Elliot watched them do so, “So, pack-hunting is it? I guess two can play at that game.” Elliot turned around, “Everyone! Arm yourselves! Someone’s gotta teach this rival pack whose territory this is…”

  Erica knew how to slow down her coughing, therefore she had not go on to the choking phase yet. “It’s alright! I know exactly what to do,” Tina tried her best, but had to lie to reassure Erica. In Erica’s bag, Tina noticed the case of syringes – with everyone’s blood samples inside. She pulled it out of the bag and opened it, searching for the syringe with Elliot’s blood inside. “Bingo!” She pulled it out, inserting it into Erica’s arm, “Hold still,” She injected Elliot’s blood into her, “Pure blood should help you a bit… I think,” Tina didn’t truthfully know what would happen, but thought it logical to assume the makeshift-transfusion would sustain her life force a while longer.