After the Fall- The Complete series Box Set

by Charlie Dalton

  “It’s just the heat,” Jeff said, mumbling.

  He didn’t know to whom he spoke. Jeff squeezed his eyes shut, took in a deep breath, and found, to his relief, that his vision and mind cleared when he opened them.

  Lines of soldiers ran in organized rows, crying out synchronized commands in echo to their leader. A large caravan of jeeps pulled down the narrow road, their engines roaring above the sounds of military life. Jeff swallowed heavily as he avoided getting hit by a jeep.

  A sharp blast of air conditioning slammed into Jeff’s face. The chill left him blinking, disoriented, but it was strong enough to dispel the confusion in his mind. Jeff blinked and saw the inside of the rec center and felt a wave of relief ground him.

  It didn’t last long.

  A large number of soldiers hung around the rec center’s television sets. The usual empty seats around the ping-pong tables were filled up with chattering men in green. Jeff’s shoulders sagged when he spotted the long queue near the wall of phones.

  Jeff rubbed another trickle of blood from his nose and shuffled close to the end of the queue, nodding an acknowledgement to the soldier in front of him.

  Time trudged on at a slow pace, teasing the corners of Jeff’s mind, which struggled, fading in and out with every inch he approached. His body’s complaints grew louder, drawing out haggard breaths, tight grunts from his throat. Shivers racked over every inch of his flesh, shaking where the air conditioning kissed his sweat-slicked skin.

  Jeff stuffed his hands in his pockets to control the trembling in his body and ducked his head when standing straight proved too difficult.

  “Hey man, you all right?” someone said.

  Jeff was getting sick of being asked that. He glanced up to meet eyes with the soldier standing before him. He looked worried.

  “Your nose is bleeding,” he said.

  Jeff wiped under his nose with a clammy palm. Blood greeted him, bright and red. Not again. He sighed and just nodded at the soldier.

  “I’m fine,” Jeff said.

  His hands padded his pockets for tissues. A pack was offered to him. Jeff blinked with bloodshot eyes. The soldier gave him a sympathetic shrug.

  “Buddy of mine’s been dealing with it too,” he said.

  Jeff took the proffered tissues in muted thanks.

  “Don’t mention it,” the soldier said.

  Jeff busied his shaking fingers into forming the tissues into strips. His nose felt hot stuffed with tissues, but the blood was gone and that was what mattered.

  “You wouldn’t happen to have any cough drops, would you?” Jeff said. “My throat is killing me.”

  The soldier checked his pockets.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I think you can buy some by the pool tables.”

  Jeff rubbed his eyes, tired. He doubted he would make it that far before he collapsed flat on his face.

  “Thanks, I’ll do that,” he said.

  When his turn finally came, Jeff dragged his feet toward the open phone booth. He had a fierce desire to turn and head back, but Jeff bit back on the grunt of misery he felt. He pulled out the calling card his superior officer gave him when he had first arrived in Korea. A low rumble shook above their heads. Jeff glanced toward the high windows of the military building. Pale gray clouds and a spray of rain slapped against them. Great.

  “Hello?”

  Alice’s voice startled him, filling him with hope at the same time. He turned away from the windows to lean against the booth.

  “Alice!” Jeff said into the microphone, “It’s me, Jeff!”

  “Oh, thank God!” Alice said.

  Jeff heard something clatter in the background.

  “How are you?” Alice said. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”

  “I’ve been busy,” Jeff said, a warm smirk pulling at his lips. He instantly felt energized. “How are you? How’s Tori and Lewis?”

  “Tori’s been busy, not unlike you,” Alice said with a sigh.

  It reminded him of their mother. The thought sent warmth into Jeff’s heart.

  “I don’t know if he’s written you, but he made it into the Junior Varsity Volleyball team,” Alice said.

  “No kidding?” Jeff said. “I thought he wasn’t going to try out.”

  “Well, he’s sure now,” Alice said. “He’s really missing you too, even if he doesn’t want to show it.”

  “He’s a teenager,” Jeff said.

  Another rumbling boomed overhead, sending vibrations through Jeff’s chest. He chanced a glance at the windows. The rain was coming in harder. A storm was coming.

  “We men are hardly expressive at that age,” Jeff said.

  “You can take your macho attitude and shove it,” Alice said, voice twinkling with laughter. “My son is very in touch with his feelings.”

  “I’m sure,” Jeff said.

  He felt better already. That was the thing about Alice. She always made Jeff feel a little better even on his worse days.

  “How’s Lewis?” he said. “I haven’t heard from him in a while.”

  “He’s all right,” Alice said.

  But there was something there he recognized, a tightness in her voice.

  “What is it?” Jeff said.

  “He’s just sick,” Alice said. “Has been for a few days now.”

  Jeff felt his stomach stiffen with an unfamiliar feeling.

  “Is it serious?” he said.

  “I’m not sure,” Alice said. “I’ve taken him to the doctor, but they said he just needs to rest.”

  “I’m sure that’s all it is,” Jeff said.

  The unsettling feeling didn’t leave him, bunching up like a fist in his sternum. Jeff rubbed the back of his neck and dragged his fingers over his scalp.

  “If it’s not, and it’s something more serious. . .” Alice said. “I don’t know what to do. Listen to me, gibbering on about the boys when you shoud be telling me everything that’s up with you.”

  Jeff chuckled. His laughter stopped short when his throat closed tight. Jeff ducked his chin into his jacket and heaved with the force of a violent cough. A flood of bitter salt and copper filled Jeff’s mouth. He groaned and swallowed it down.

  “You okay?” Alice said. “You sound like Lewis.”

  “I’m fine,” Jeff said, rubbing his nose to see red on his skin again.

  He plucked the soaked tissues from his nostrils and tossed them in the nearest trashcan.

  “It’s just a bug that’s doing the rounds,” Jeff said. “A lot of the guys here are starting to get it. I’m all right though.”

  “Jeff, I’m getting a bad feeling about this,” Alice said. “I don’t know what it is but. . . I think maybe you should come home. It’s not just Lewis and you. A lot of people are getting sick. It’s been on the news. People are talking about an outbreak.”

  “Hey, hey,” Jeff said, lowering his voice to sound soothing. His mind spun. “Don’t worry about it, Al. It’s just a bug. These things always blow over with time. Remember the ebola scare? Everyone was freaking out because a few people contracted it.”

  “And a lot of people nearly died in the riots,” Alice said with a grunt.

  “Fifteen is not a lot of people,” Jeff said.

  “It is when you’re a parent,” Alice said.

  Jeff paused for a moment, unsure what to say to that.

  “I’m sorry, Jeff,” Alice said, shaking her head. “I’m really stressed. I’m worried about Lewis and this whole thing with you being over there.”

  “It’s going to be fine, Al,” Jeff said. “You’ll see.”

  “Love you, doofus,” Alice said.

  “Love you too, dummy,” Jeff said. “You take care of yourself, and Lewis. Maybe you should listen to that crazy herbalist friend of yours. You know, the one with the essential oils.”

  “Try not to get blown up,” Alice said.

  “I won’t,” Jeff said.

  He held onto the receiver long after he heard Alice say goodbye. The dia
l tone followed and an automated voice asked in Korean if he wanted to make another call.

  Jeff ducked his head again to cough, this time a splatter of red spewing against the back of his teeth. Jeff hung up and pressed his forehead to the booth’s wall. His mind wouldn’t stop spinning. When it passed, he straightened with a sluggish push.

  Jeff’s ears rung. He blinked through the haze and heaved a sigh when it cleared. Another rumble crashed overhead. How bad was this storm? Jeff didn’t know nor found it in him to care, wanting nothing more than to find a cot to lie in.

  Someone shoved his shoulder. Jeff stumbled. When he glanced up, the soldiers around him were hurrying over to the main door. The dull roar of their chatter had turned tense and anxious.

  Jeff’s brows dipped into a scowl. Soldiers ran under the spray of cold rain, the frenzy enough to attract the attention of the men inside. Someone burst inside the building, shouting.

  “They’re attacking! The North are attacking!”

  Soldiers exploded into action. Ping-pong paddles and television remotes clattered to the ground amidst the roar of hundreds of boots slapping the floor. Jeff stifled a groan when someone pushed him. He lacked the power to prevent getting swept along with the rest.

  Cold rain slapped his face as soon as he emerged outside. The prickling sensation snapped his mind into focus. Adrenaline burst through his sore and stiff muscles, making them easier to use. Jeff welcomed the well-earned kick out of autopilot.

  Orders were shouted left and right. The crowd of soldiers rushed over to where the rumblings were more consistent, jarring vibrations in the earth and concrete.

  Despite the chaos, Jeff could read the motions of the men like a book, spotting commanding officers and uniting squads with no effort. He gravitated toward one shouting officer beneath an umbrella.

  “Squadron A-151 convene near the control tower!” a voice over the speaker system said. “Squadrons B-55 and 58 move to the front! Squadrons. . . !”

  The rest was lost of Jeff as a blanket of white suppressed his thoughts. When he came to, his mouth tasted of blood and dirt. He tried to shake his head from the haze, feet sloshing through puddles and mud. A familiar face among the crowd filled Jeff’s chest with a surge of relief.

  “Sae-Kyun!” Jeff said.

  He threw his hand up in the air in a frantic wave. The Korean soldier whirled around, faced stained with rain.

  “Jeff, they’re pushing the front!” Sae-Kyun said as he waved back.

  A moment of clarity overcame Jeff as he stared at the scene before him. Yards ahead, near the meridian, North soldiers were swinging arms and legs over the concrete and barbed wire.

  A tall pillar of black smoke loomed behind them like an ominous shadow. That’s when Jeff spotted the immense hole in the wall, like a wide mouth, spewing flames and smoke from between its teeth. They bombed the wall.

  A fierce spark of anger took Jeff by surprise. Jeff gritted his teeth, knees unsteady despite his urge to swing into action. Gotta keep moving.

  “We’re receiving fire!” someone else shouted into a radio. “Return fire!”

  “Amtracks heading our way, fifty meters at our five o’clock!” another soldier shouted.

  Pandemonium.

  “—requesting immediate backup, boundary line is hot! I repeat—” the speaker said.

  Sae-Kyun turned and tossed him a rifle. It collided hard against Jeff’s chest but he didn’t complain. For the first time in days, Jeff’s hands were still as he shoved ammunition into the mouth of his rifle’s clip. He relished the clarity, for however long it was going to last.

  Another explosion shook the ground beneath them. Jeff and Sae-Kyun fell to the ground, ducking their heads from a shower of dirt. He focused on pumping hard breaths into his lungs, willing strength into his shaking legs.

  “Let’s go!” Sae-Kyun’s voice was warbled, performing somersaults in his ears.

  Jeff gave him a firm nod and heaved himself to his feet. Water stung his face, making it difficult to see. Jeff focused on Sae-Kyun’s retreating back. The Korean soldier threw Jeff a glance over his shoulder, mouth parted in a scream that failed to reach Jeff’s ears.

  The sky above them exploded.

  Jeff was weightless. His body spun for an infinite moment until his mind caught up and he saw the Earth come up beneath him far too fast. His body struck the hard ground. The taste of copper invaded Jeff’s tongue.

  The world snapped back into place with a gasp. Jeff spat out blood and dirt. He coughed until his chest ached and his head screamed in pain.

  Feet away, Sae-Kyun lay motionless, eyes staring at the sky. A trickle of blood leaked from the man’s mouth. Jeff crawled toward his friend, heart in his throat.

  “Sae-Kyun. . .” Jeff said, blinking away rainwater.

  He reached over and pressed a shaking hand against Sae-Kyun’s throat, seeking a pulse. There was none.

  “No. . .” he said. “No. Please.”

  Jeff rose to his knees and pulled his friend’s body close. They weren’t close, but they had been friends, and the shock of it was what rocked him to the core.

  The madness around Jeff swelled with violence. Jeff tore his eyes from Sae-Kyun’s lifeless face. He spotted the rain of bullets that fell from the South soldier weapons. Jeff’s ears rung, unable to hear the explosions and gunshots around him.

  There was too much happening, too much that made no sense. Bodies of the North soldiers fell, riddled with bullets, blood spraying into the air. But then they pushed back up, faces covered in blood and black ichor. Jeff couldn’t make sense of it.

  A chopper flew overhead, bearing the painted American flag on its belly. Men leapt from the mouth of the chopper, swinging down on ropes and bearing machine guns and automatic rifles. It should have been enough, more than enough, to overwhelm the enemy.

  But the bodies of their opponents kept getting back to their feet, kept lunging with unholy screams and shrieks that sounded less than human. Men screeched as they were tackled to the ground.

  Jeff felt something hit the side of his head with a loud blow.

  Jeff’s veins boiled with fire and hatred, a rage that offered no relief, only hunger. Molten fire leaked from his eyes and nose, and squirmed between his teeth. Jeff’s mouth parted in a snarl. He stood, Sae-Kyun’s body forgotten.

  Everything was forgotten.

  Jeff charged. There was nothing but rage and hatred in him now. He couldn’t see, wasn’t even aware of what he could see. But he could feel the body in his hands, felt the scream that burst from a throat.

  Death leaked from Jeff’s mouth, spread around his hands as he squeezed—and squeezed—and squeezed until it popped.

  Kill them all.

  Jeff fell to the madness and the living hell around him, fighting indiscriminately. Everyone was an enemy.

  18.

  ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

  ALICE ROSWELL sighed as she hung up the phone from her call with Jeff and leaned on the kitchen counter. She glanced with tired eyes at the clock on the oven. 2:33 AM.

  Alice dragged her fingers against her temples to ease the headache that squeezed her eyes. No matter what she did, she couldn’t shake off the unsettling sensation that weighed on her heart.

  Talking to Jeff had brought a wave of relief and happiness that had underlined the entire length of the phone call. As soon as her thumb tapped the ‘end call’ button, the brightness in her heart pooled against her throat and escaped in a slow sigh.

  The foreboding in her stomach made her shudder and shake with an unexpected chill. The feeling irritated her. If she couldn’t ascertain the cause, then there was no cause. With a huff, Alice turned and pulled out a kettle and filled it with water.

  Alice’s fingers snapped the dials of her oven over a medium-heat. She set the kettle on it. She waited for some time, hips braced against the edge of the counter as she waited for the kettle to whistle and the water to boil. The promise of a warm cup of hot chocolate didn’t ease the cr
ease of her furrowed brow. She just hoped the chocolate would offer some respite from the throbbing in her temples.

  Alice glanced back at her phone, discarded over the kitchen counter in silence. Her teeth sank over her lower lip and nibbled indents over the pale flesh. She hadn’t told Jeff the entire truth about Lewis. It ate at her now.

  The doctors did know what was wrong with Lewis, they just didn’t know how to stop it.

  It was a virus of unknown origin. Lewis wasn’t the only infected.

  The clinic was stuffed to the point of bursting when Alice had left with Lewis. Frantic expressions took the faces of parents and children, their fear palpable. Alice had walked away with gritted teeth and a bottle of painkillers. She didn’t know what to do and at this point she was scared about what might happen.

  Smash.

  Something made of glass had shattered. Alice rushed in the direction of the sound, alarm in her veins. She was out of the kitchen in seconds, bare feet slapping against the rug and hardwood floors.

  Tori appeared from around the corner without warning. Alice jumped with a small shriek, barely avoiding crashing into him.

  “Mom!” Tori said.

  “Tori,” Alice said with a gasp, calming down. “Where’s the broken glass?”

  “What broken glass?” Tori said.

  Another smash, louder this time, followed by a thud. Alice turned and ran down the corridor in the direction of Lewis’s room.

  “Lewis!” Alice said.

  Alice shouldered her weight against Lewis’s door, knocking it open with a single blow. The inside of Lewis’s room was pitch black and swallowed in shadow. A low hissing and growling came from the direction of Lewis’s bed.

  Alice’s hands slid across the wall, failing to find the light switch. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness until she spotted a black shadow by the bed. A gasp wedged in her throat. It spun round and lunged straight for her.

  “Mom, look out!” Tori said.

  Alice was too slow, and flew onto her back. Her skull cracked against the floor, taking her breath. She scrambled in an attempt to find her feet. A figure was already on top of her, but was then thrown off as Tori pushed the figure.