by M C Rooney
The professor, the lying bastard, had only informed him and his brother of the lightning strike ability of the suit. He never mentioned this amazing ability of digging into the ground. Who knew what else this suit could do.
He wondered how deep the suit would dig if he kept his fingers on the button. Would it continue until he reached the other side of the world? How long would it take? Was the earth flat, as some of his tribe said?
But then, as he was enjoying himself, he saw some of his tribe running towards him from the distance. He didn’t know whether they had seen him yet or not, but he knew two things for a certainty: One, that as these men had bows, he couldn’t be certain of killing all six of them before being filled with arrows, and two, that he could definitely not outrun them. So he did the only thing he could, he hit the buttons and made a sinkhole one metre wide and five metres deep and hid in the darkness and hoped not to be seen.
It worked. In fact, to his private amusement, he heard one tribe member scream, and judging by the sudden silence of the scream, he must have broken his neck in the fall. Rodent laughed out loud, wishing he had seen that up close; he then spent the next five minutes worrying about whether they had heard him laughing. But after the runners commiserated on their friend’s bad luck, they must have ran onwards, as Rodent hadn’t seen or heard of them since.
He was safe. He was trapped.
For the next few hours, he pushed every button on his sleeve in any random order in the hope of getting out of this hole, but apart from one button that seemed to cause so much vibrations that Rodent thought there was an earthquake coming, he was still stuck in this hole, which he was beginning to think may end up being his grave. He was also starting to feel very claustrophobic in this small area, and his helmet and goggles made it worse.
“Might try to see if the lightning still works,” he grumbled to himself and fired up the well-used button on his arm.
The lightning built up through his shoes and entered his entire suit as it always did, except this time, he didn’t release a lightning bolt straight upwards, as who knows who would have seen it.
As he held in the electricity, he thought he began to feel very light-headed as his body was not feeling very stable. He looked down at his shoes and noticed a blue-coloured type of energy was building up underneath him, and … he was being lifted upwards.
“I can’t believe this.” He cackled as he banged his head against dirt, pebbles, and rock at the side of the sinkhole. He looked up and saw the top of the sinkhole was getting closer and closer.
“Hang in there, suit,” he said. “We are almost there.”
Within another minute, Rodent was thrown out of the sinkhole.
He stood up and breathed in the free air. Well, as much as he could with a helmet on, he thought with a relieved laugh.
“Yes!” he roared and finally sent a blue thunderbolt up his raised arm and into the sky. It hit the clouds and made a thunderous noise that almost felled him. “Shit,” he said. “That was a bit too loud.”
He started to run away from the sinkhole, not thinking that he may well fall into another. Darkness was closing in, and he needed to find somewhere to sleep the night, so he ran away, fast.
South!
Alex stood with Ian from a safe distance to the east and watched as Rodent sent a massive arc of blue light smashing into the clouds.
“So he was behind us, then,” shouted Ian as he held his hands against his ears.
“Yep,” replied Alex, still in awe of what he had just witnessed. His ears were still ringing as well.
“And we are going to try to kill Rodent?” said Ian apprehensively.
“Sam is going to set a trap for him,” Alex said quietly, though he was now having serious doubts anybody could stop that.
“It might need to be a big trap, I think,” replied Ian.
“Yep,” said Alex.
“Why is he running south? He must have heard poor Bill fall down the hole and us talking about him?” asked Ian.
“He’s Rodent; he doesn’t think much,” replied Alex.
“Hmm,” Ian murmured and started to scratch at his head again.
Alex looked around at his three men and steadied himself.
“We need to meet with the four in the west in the morning and then start herding Rodent southwards,” Alex ordered.
“Not too close, though, hey, Alex?” said Ian nervously.
“No, mate, definitely not too close,” replied Alex. Sam, I hope you know what you are doing.
Sam and his companions, who now numbered only ten, had been tracking non-stop for the last two hours, and still no sign of Rodent was found. That made it a long day, with ten hours spent hunting him. Who would have thought that he could stay undetected for so long? Sam had been confident they would have his head—and suit—by now.
“He must be behind us,” said Jeremiah, who was now completely out of breath.
“Agreed,” said Sam. “We’ll set up camp here tonight; no doubt the little bastard will be sleeping right now. So we should be too.”
“I’ll take first watch,” said Jeremiah.
Sam was about to say thanks when a man came crashing through the native vegetation. Everybody raised their weapons, and Sam thought the first watch should have begun a few minutes earlier, but it was clear, even though it was now dusk, that this man was seriously injured.
“Who are you?” Sam shouted as the man fell to the floor.
“He has an arrow in his shoulder,” said Jeremiah.
“Yes, I can see that,” replied Sam. “Have you decided to take Ian’s place whilst he is away?”
“No need to get all shitty with me,” replied Jeremiah.
“Sorry, mate,” said Sam with a sigh. “It’s been a long day.” Plus, he didn’t want Jeremiah to try to punch him right now.
“He’s one of us,” said Jeremiah, looking at his clothes, or lack of. “Why was he so far south, anyway?”
Sam looked at their newest arrival.
“Can you hear us, mate?” he said, looking down at the man.
“He’s about to cark it,” said Jeremiah.
The man whispered, “Twelve of us.”
“Twelve of us, doing what?” Sam replied.
“Hockey sent us south … computers,” the man said.
“Computers?” said Jeremiah. “Why?”
“Knowledge, no doubt,” Sam replied. He was aware that the tower knowledge was kept secret by the professor.
Hockey had considered torturing him for that knowledge, but given his age, he thought torture just might kill him, and they couldn’t afford to risk that.
“Who did this?” he asked, as he pointed to the arrow that had entered his shoulder and was coming through his chest.
“Three strangers in green jackets,” the man whispered. “Killed us all … riding beasts … so fast … so fast…” he managed, before he went limp as death took him.
“Only three,” said Jeremiah in awe. “Riding beasts!”
“Killed twelve of them!” replied Sam in disbelief. “That isn’t possible!”
Suddenly, a monstrous crash of lightning went off miles to the north, which made Sam and Jeremiah fall to the ground.
“What was that?” said Jeremiah in complete fear.
“It can’t be,” Sam said.
“Can’t be what?” Jeremiah replied.
Sam looked at his friend. “Rodent,” was all he said, and hoped his brother was all right at this moment.
“Rodent never had that much power,” said Jeremiah, who had gone completely pale in the face.
“He does now,” replied Sam, and suddenly, he realised they were stuck in between a Lightning Lord and three strangers riding beasts from the south who had killed twelve well-armed men very quickly. Sam felt like he had gone from being the hunter to the hunted.
Hobart, Mayor’s Office
Lily allowed herself to be examined by Doctor Pertwee for the first time since his arrival three days earlier. The
doctor was an elderly man of sixty-seven years, who told her he had been a so-called intern at the Hobart Hospital at the time of the Collapse. He said on that day, the hospital was overrun, and he fled and ran over the bridge to the eastern shore in search of his parents. But he found them dead, or undead as the case may be, and decided to keep heading east, until he found himself in one of the small townships hours away from Hobart. He hid there, and over the years, a small community of survivors was formed. He married a woman he described as the love of his life and had six children. They all lived happy and peaceful lives, apart from the obligatory zombie killings they had to do; then, last year, an outbreak of a feverish disease killed one in four of their community. Included were his wife, one child, and two grandchildren. Only in the late stages of the fast-spreading epidemic did he realise that isolation was the best way of stopping the disease, and as always, a healthy body was your best way of fighting it. He had heard rumours of the disease killing people in Hobart and headed straight here as fast as he could.
“You still don’t trust me,” the doctor said.
“I find it hard to trust any strangers, Doctor. Please try not to be offended. It’s nothing personal,” Lily replied.
But it was personal, Lily thought to herself in all honesty. The doctor seemed to be a nice man, who had helped with her sick people, and his cause was honourable, but there was something about him she didn’t like.
Looking at him as he used his instruments to check her health—he was now putting something around her arm and pumping it full of air of all things—she observed he had a pleasant face, but his hair was bald on top and short at the sides, and he insisted on being presentable when visiting patients so always wore a nice suit and tie. She just didn’t like the way he looked and could not put any definitive reason on it. It puzzled her, as she didn’t like acting illogically.
“Then why do you have one of your rangers follow me all day long?” he replied.
“Just a precaution,” she said.
“And why is one in the office with us now?”
Lily looked over at Jerry Cazaly standing by the door. He was a middle-aged man who liked to shave his hair completely bald and was one of the most experienced rangers left in Hobart now that Locke had gone north.
“He is just waiting on the okay from you so he can head north with the four other rangers you have already checked,” Lily replied. “They need to help the defences of one of our new communities.”
And to also meet up with and replace Locke, Renee, and Tom, so they could continue their journey north.
What a strange day it had been when a man called Greg Hurst arrived, asking for her help against raiders from the west. Mr Hurst told her, nearly in tears, about the twelve Westerners coming south and what they had done to his niece. Lily was glad that justice was served, and she was proud of Tom and Renee for handling their first battle so well.
His small community had also been struck by the same disease as Hobart, and he told her how best to fight it, which fortunately, was similar to the plans Lily already had in place to prevent the disease from spreading.
Then, later the same day, this doctor arrived asking if he could help, and he also agreed that isolation was the best defence against this disease. A coincidence it was, but a well-needed and fortunate one, nonetheless.
“I can only check their basic health and look for any sign of a fever,” the doctor replied with a stern look. “I cannot let you know if he has the virus or not. It could be sitting in his body for all we know, just waiting for his immune system to get rundown, and then it would start to take him over.”
Immune system, Lily thought. She had only heard of that saying in a book a few days ago. How much could this man help them if he passed on his knowledge?
“Have you given consideration to my request for a new training school for doctors?” she asked, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice.
“Of course I would be honoured,” he replied with a smile “but it will be a very basic tutelage. I’m afraid that in the old days, it would take years of schooling to become a doctor; the courses I could arrange would not be up to the old standards.”
“But it’s a start,” replied Lily.
“Yes, we need to rebuild, and generally, rebuilding is from the ground up,” said the doctor. “And, of course, there are no university fees to charge the youth, so the sky is the limit,” he finished with a laugh.
Lily let out a relieved sigh; whatever dislike she had for the man had now gone. This man was indeed a blessing for her town.
“Can you hazard a guess as to what was the cause of this illness?” she asked.
The doctor didn’t reply; he just removed whatever it was he had around her arm and looked at a type of watch.
“Blood pressure normal,” he murmured.
Coming back to the conversation, he gave her a small shrug of his shoulders.
“I think half a million corpses dead or undead may be the answer,” he replied, “but that is only a guess, mind you. Diseases do evolve; this could be something new entirely,” he finished with a direct look at her.
“But say you had some hospital equipment, could you find the cause of the disease?” asked Lily.
“Maybe I could,” the doctor replied with big sigh. “We used to take a patient’s blood in a needle, and we had all sorts of equipment that would test the blood for any sorts of illnesses.” He looked again at the mayor. “But those days are long gone and may never return. We do what we can now and hope for the best.” He now took a funny-shaped metal instrument out of his bag; he placed one round part against her heart and two in his ears.
He really looks quite sad now, Lily thought. Perhaps she was being too harsh on him. She then gave a shiver, as the part against her chest was very cold.
Lily decided to confide in him and give him some reason to hope. Also, the doctor may have an answer as to whether their own hopes were warranted. He was from the old days, after all.
“I have sent three rangers to the Midlands to see if certain rumours are true,” she said.
“What rumours?” he replied with an enquiring look. “Please lift your shirt just a little.” He moved the round, cold part of the instrument from her chest to her stomach.
“There is a tower in the Midlands that we believe may provide electricity,” she replied.
“But that can’t be true, as our electrical equipment doesn’t work anymore. Mayor,” he replied, “that power source stopped decades ago, when I was a young man.” He now held up her wrist and felt her pulse. He seemed to be counting under his breath now.
The doctor had been to his old hospital when he first arrived. He said it brought back many dark memories, but he was surprised by how untouched and new the equipment still looked.
Lily took a deep breath; she really needed the doctor to provide her with some hope she realised.
“The tower sends electricity through the air, and maybe through the ground as well,” Lily said.
The doctor’s face went pale.
“Wireless energy!” he said in surprise.
“Is that what it is called?” replied Lily keenly.
“Yes,” said the doctor, “but it was only used for small things such as a Holophone or a person’s own home computer.”
What on earth was a Holophone? she wondered.
“Would it work on larger equipments?” she continued.
“I’m not sure,” the doctor replied. “Technology like what you are saying was free. Institutions in the old days liked to charge citizens money for energy use.” The doctor sighed. “I never heard of a large energy source other than what we already had. Except for solar power of course, but even that was powered into the grid. Are you sure this ‘tower’ could power a whole city?”
Lily wasn’t sure what a grid was, but she felt a little bit of hope with this conversation.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “That’s why I sent some of my people out there to investigate.”
> “Just a moment, if you please,” the doctor said and went back to counting her pulse on her wrist and placing the cold instrument against her stomach once again. It looked to Lily like he was listening to her stomach. She hoped he hadn’t detected anything wrong in her internal organs; she had felt a bit nauseated lately.
“Hmm,” the doctor said finally as he let go of her hand and removed the cold listening device, or whatever it was called, from her stomach.
He looked at her for a long moment and turned to the ranger standing next to the door.
“Well, you and your four can go north,” he said to Cazaly, “but be cautious, mind. Any sneezing, coughs, or fevers and you need to rest immediately.”
“Yes, Doctor,” Cazaly replied with a big smile. He was looking forward to his new assignment.
“Don’t forget to take the copied books before you go,” said Lily. “I want those new recruits smart as well as lethal.”
“Yes, Mayor,” Cazaly replied and ran a hand over his bald head. “Any messages for The Breaker?” he enquired.
“Just … just, tell him to be careful,” she replied. She really wanted Cazaly to tell Locke that she loved him, but those words were always hard for her to express.
“Your husband?” the doctor enquired.
“Sort of,” she replied with a blush. They never really talked about such things.
“Well, I think you do need to tell him the good news,” the doctor said with a smile.
“What good news?” she replied in confusion.
“You’re pregnant,” the doctor replied.
Lily felt another surge of nausea coming on.
East Coast, Tasmania
Molly looked out at the waves crashing against the shore. “So beautiful,” she murmured for the hundredth time.