by Tom Cain
"Yeah yeah coming up man" Marko grabs a few glasses and started pulling the pumps. The pub dog starts to bark at some of the guys playing pool and everyone laughs.
"Ha ha Johnson, another creature that doesn't like you" one of the girls says to the embarrassed man.
“Who do you think you are dog? shut up your yipping” Johnson says partially drunk to the dog.
“Don’t you speak like that to Rosie. That’s my bitch right there.” Marko finished pouring the drinks and placed them on the bar.
“Sorry Marky, it’s the drink talking” one of the girls said dragging Johnson away.
Suddenly the ground starts to shake, and everybody laughs again apart from Marko and the bar staff. Then a giant flash of green light passes through the bar and for a few seconds that's all that can be seen. The lights in the bar pop, glasses shatter and a high pitched shriek, almost ear piercing forces Marko to the ground. The light fades and leaves only Marko and one other person on the floor. All the others had gone, vanished, only singed remains of clothes laid on the floor where people had stood just moments ago playing pool and getting drunk.
"What the hell just happened?" the girl asked.
"I don't know" Marko stumbled to his feet.
"what the fu.." his hand stretched out and touched the door as it swings open and with a blinding flash of an overcharging and bursting street light reveals a baron wasteland before his eyes, cars overturned and a few surviving people crawling around on the ground and across the roads. No dead bodies, no ashes, no remains whatsoever, just devastation in the wake of a green screen of light that came so fast and took everything away in a blink.
Marko looks back at the destruction in the bar, his business gone in seconds.
"Wha…where has everyone gone? What do we do" calling back into the bar to the woman.
"I don't know, my friends, they were just here and now they are".
"Gone" Marko interrupted.
"Yeah this is unreal".
"And that was it for me man, I did a whole lot of searching but there was no one for me to find. Well not that I knew anyways." Marko poked the now sizable fire burning in a metal bin.
"Have you been back to the bar since?" Burke asked.
"Yeah I went back a couple of years ago but marauders had their way with it and scrapped it from top to bottom".
John tilts his hat over his face further to avoid the same question being asked of him. Burke stares over in John's direction and smirked.
“So what about you Test?".
"What about me?" John says from under his hat.
"Hey leave it alone Burke", "no no come on Test I am interested" Burke asserted. John now tilts his hat back up and gives Burke an irritated stare.
"Woah ok ok I will drop it John, dammit I just thought it would a good story" Burke said nervously.
Burke lays down facing the other way and Marko does the same, they all shuffle around a bit to get comfortable. Burke’s question gets John thinking about his experience with the green flash.
"Hey can I get that drink then babe?" John asks his wife who is playing ball with their daughter in the back garden of their terrace house.
"What did your last slave die of?" Karen replied.
"Not doing what I asked" John laughs.
"Ha ha ok ok I will go get you one, but we got to swap".
John gets up from his perch and grabs the ball out of his daughter's hand, she immediately grabs it back and scowls at him.
"Hey that's mine" she shouts.
"You know what Kimmy?" he asks.
"What daddy?" she chirps.
"You're just like your old man, I don't take shit of anyone either".
"Hey watch your language around her she's only six years old!" Karen tells John Sternly putting his beer down on the little white side table.
"Hey woah I am sorry, sometimes I forget who I am dealing with" John said grabbing Karen by the hip and sweeping her into his arms and kissing her passionately.
Kim grabs John's leg.
"Let her go daddy ha ha".
"Hey what you doing little miss?" John grabs Kim's jumper and lifts her off the ground and cuddles her.
"Let me down daddy I wanna play".
"All right all right" John submits to her demands and puts her back on the lawn.
Karen sits down on the patio seat John had originally been perched on and watches. John picks up the ball and takes a few steps back, Kim begins to sing
"I'm a little teapot, short and stout, here's my handle and here's my" she stops suddenly and looks towards the horizon.
"What you doing kimmy, you know the next bit, you sang it only this morning with no…" John stops talking and looks concerned.
The ground begins to shake and a rumble is heard in the distance. Karen stands up from her seat and slowly walks towards John and Kim.
"John what's going on?". She asks staring into the distance.
"I don't know Karen, just wait a sec".
A huge wave of green rises extremely quickly in the distance, there is phasing of green energy back and forth like clouds inside a bubble. The humming, buzzing and droning sound of the explosive energy getting closer and closer.
John grabs Kim and covers her, Karen grabs onto John’s back and screams.
"John what's happening?".
The green engulfs the neighbors houses silencing their screams and quickly makes its horrifying way to theirs.
"Hold onto me Kimmy just hold on" John said.
The light takes Karen and Kim instantly from John grasp leaving nothing but air.
"Huh?" John shocked.
Stunned he sees no daughter and he feels no wife, he looks to his right and sees his arm is burning with green flames. John drops face first to the ground head in hands.
"Kimmy? Karen? no".
The flames still burn and John passes out.
John wakes up with a deep breath in, he feels a droplet of sweat trickle down his forehead and a lump forming in his throat. He sits up clearly disturbed and takes quick look around at his companions who are now sleeping deeply. Gently he gets up to his feet and brushes off the dust that has gathered on his jacket. He walks away from the camp for a while until he can no longer see the light of the campfire, John thinks back to the day he lost his family, to the green flash and whether or not he could have done anything differently.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE TRUTH
It’s noon and a few days have passed. The Cargo-Bike roars to a halt outside Harks base and Marko pulls a dead body off the rack. John heads in first and is stopped by Gooner.
"I got something for Hark" John said sternly.
"He's just in the back office, he's in a pretty bad mood though after the announcement" Gooner replied.
"What announcement?" Marko asked reshuffling the body over his shoulder to a more comfortable position.
"Doctor Ahiro's radio announcement, didn't you hear it?" The guard said looking at the dead body. "Who is that?".
"That was Zero. Excuse me" John said moving the Gooner out the way with a hand and heading passed the wooden broken desks of the old bank and through the steel reinforced back doors into a corridor and finally to the old bank manager's office where Hark resided.
"Hark, I have number Zero of several of your problems" John said with a deep breath out.
"John that's great but we got bigger problems right now to deal with" Hark replied with a concerned face.
"Did you not hear the announcement? It was played over the loudspeakers about an hour ago" Hark continued, getting up from his seat.
"What announcement? We have been lugging Zero around from Zone three over the last couple of days" John closed the door behind him.
Hark put both hands down on the table and looked deadly serious.
"It was Ahiro John, he wants the four parts of the DMER switch in order to re-make the device that caused the flash. He has told everyone in all zones that he will order one town, every day to be raided and raise
d to the ground if he does not get the parts delivered to the FADE Lab building".
"No-one can get near that building, what do you mean?" John clearly frustrated.
"Let me just play you the announcement recording John it may make it easier." Hark picks up an old tape recording device and presses play.
A short crackle is followed by the announcement, a dark, old and menacing voice booms through the speakers.
"People of New Kansas, This is Katsu Ahiro. I am calling out to all the inhabitants of the forsaken land to deliver me the four parts of the device. You know who you are, and you know where they are. If you do not deliver the parts to the labs in a timely manner, we will destroy one town every day until you do. I will unleash a menace you will have wished you have never seen if I do not receive those parts. To make myself perfectly clear, I am going to heal you all. I am going to take back the wrong that I caused and cleanse the land of this nuisance so nature can take up its rightful place as ruler of the Earth. I will recreate the particle explosion that cursed this place and eradicate the disease. Humans no longer deserve to be here, we have had long enough to comply. Get me those parts and it will be faster than you can think, do not, and it's going to be terrible beyond fathom".
Buzzing and another crackle end the recording, Hark still staring intently at John. Marko bursts through the door.
"I heard that all, what the hell is going on? I thought Doctor Ahiro was in hiding?".
"Obviously not, but now my concern is with the towns around here. Not that I care too much for most of the people out there, but we can't just let Ahiro do that. But more so we got to stop the townsfolk giving him the parts to save their measly hides in the meantime. Ah shit this is a difficult one." John deliberated.
"It gets worse Johnny boy, Three has already taken a building in Zone Five hostage, and I guess this is the first town to get taken at the good doctor's request." Hark makes his way over to a bookcase which now contained ammo.
“Which town?” Marko asked.
"I think it’s the old Bettle building. Will you go and get number Three for me John?" Hark says picking up a few rounds and rolling them between his thumb and finger.
John looks at Marko and Marko nods.
"We will go and get Three for ya Reilly, but listen, this ain't about the bounty anymore, this is bigger than that. It's going to affect us all now. I am going to need things from you, starting with your contact in Little London." John meant business.
Hark pulled out a large green metal container from the bookshelf and slammed it on the table in front of John, he rummaged through the box through hundreds of large calibre bullets to pull out three old hand radios.
"These will keep a fix on you for up to fifteen miles, you can get me always on channel four, but in the meantime you will want to keep trying channel six and ask for Ron Shaw, he runs Little London. But he's hard to get a hold of as they move the town so much down there. John listen, you know, the doctor and Swiss could really do some damage here, maybe we should think about what the doctors saying. New start for the world and all that" Said Hark.
“That isn’t an option Hark, why would you even think that?” John asked curiously.
“Look, it’s a horrible world out here, nowhere is safe around here.” Said Hark thinking about the horrible things he has done.
"OK, Burke go and get the bike started, we are leaving shortly. Marko grab any weapons you can find, but try and keep it light we don't want to be weighing too much when we get there. Hark you got any food?" John put out the orders.
"I am sorry John I don't, we aren't expect another trade caravan for two days and have only enough to feed my boys. There is the old super market about five or six miles from here, to the west, in the direction you need to be heading I would guess. Have a look see in there, you might still find some sealed rice." Hark putting the box back up on the shelf and taking out his own chrome pistol.
"Good luck Johnny boy. But have a think about it yeah?". Said Hark.
John steps out of the room and makes his way up and out of the old bank and back into the street where Burke is looking over the running bike for faults.
"We are not out of gas yet John but we should probably stop in the next ten or so miles to refill. Plus I think when we hit that pothole back on the main road we damaged some of the exchanges." Burke stated.
"Will it run to Zone Five?" John said bluntly.
"Oh sure it will run John it will definitely run, but I will need to have a look at it the next time we stop, before we head out again." replied Burke nodding his head.
Marko appears at the front door with a dark blue duffle bag clearly filled with an assortment of weapons. Burke takes the duffle bag from Marko and struggles to get it secured to one of the fastenings on the side of the bike, he checks the fuel cans are secure and the connectors are still safe. All three clamber on the bike, John driving, Burke on the back of the cart and Marko on the front. A cloud of dust is thrown behind them as the ride off into the green gloom of the early evening.
"We should really take the river to Zone Five, it's the best way to cross without being seen by the shits guarding the roads" Marko shouts over the booming of the cargo-bike engine.
"The Squire River has pirates in it, they can be worse than the BCC Marko" said Burke.
"Yeah but they don't have John Test do they? Ha ha ha" Marko laughs.
"Still, we should be careful." Burke turns back around to face backwards again and stare into the clouds of dust they are kicking up.
"If someone drives up behind us I am not going to see them until the last minute you know".
"Burke if you see someone coming that close, you just shoot first and think later" John said sternly.
The trio whilst cruising along the main road notice the supermarket that Hark mentioned coming up on the right hand side. The building was still standing and in good structural shape, the bricks, car park and roof however were overgrown and rusty.
Supermarkets were known to house all sorts of mutants and bandits as they generally had a good supply of food stocks. The tinned food had gone by now but sealed rice, powdered milk and dried beans could last a long time and when they ran out the Greeners would eat each other or move onto another area to find food. Food was an issue for anyone living in the whole of Lochwell and therefore precious. Many of the major towns and cities had hydroponics or farms, all extremely heavily guarded at all times.
The surrounding area seemed quiet and there looked as though there was no activity for a while. John pulled the bike up about twenty yards from the entrance and stared into the metal framed glass front doors.
"Doesn't look like much is going on in there" Marko said.
"Yeah but that's what makes me nervous" John replied.
"Ok guys I will stay here and make sure no one bothers the bike ok?" Burke said nervously.
"No Burke you are coming in with us, we might need your head" Marko demanded as he unbuckled and got out of the bike.
John turned off the engine and listened for a moment, he could hear something inside, the sound of scurrying echoed into his ears. Marko grabbed the bag and pulled out an MP5 automatic and a pistol, hung the machine gun around his chest with the black fibre strap and stuffed the gun into his trousers. John took a shotgun from the bag and scowled at the building as he cocked it. Burke picked up a small revolver and a knife and looked shaky.
"Are you guys sure you don't want me to stay with the bike? I would hate to have to walk the rest of the way to the river".
"Burke, you are coming inside the damned shop or I will kill you myself, the bike will be fine, no one has been up this road for a while, plus the dust covers a lot of our tracks" Marko set Burke straight, and pushed him towards the building.
The three slowly crept forward towards the main entrance, John still alerted to the sound of scurrying inside. Marko reaches the sliding doors first, squeezes his fingers into the gap in-between the panes of glass and manages to move them a foot apart. John now
grabs one of the sides and they both wrench the doors open with a slow grinding screech. The scurrying noise stops, John can no longer hear it, even with his amped hearing. They step inside, the aisles are empty, it is dark and damp and dingy, their footsteps echo across the large room as they step further inside. A tin falls from a shelf several aisles away, John turns quickly to meet the sound with the nose of his shotgun. Nothing. John nods at Marko to take the east side of the market and make a clean sweep of the area, he will get the west.
"Burke you are with me" Marko whispered moving off to the right with Burke in tow.
Marko moved quietly into the darkness, Burke followed closely with his revolver pointing in random directions. They could make out a light coming from several aisles away; the pale white light was flickering from a distance. The sound of a fridge door being slammed jolted Burke and made him let off a shot into an old bag of rice sitting on a shelf. The shot echoed through silence.
"What the hell Burke!?" Marko said with a strong whisper.
"I am sorry I thought, I thought, I don't know what I thought" Burke noticing the now leaking rice packet.
"Just get down, shut up and follow me, if anyone is here then they know we are too, we need to keep quiet Burke, do you understand?" Marko now holding Burke by the scruff of the neck in a crouched position.
"Yes, yes I get it Marko I get it, I'm sorry. It just went off in my hand, I was frightened”
"Ok, let's just keep moving. That light is coming from a fridge I think, and I don't want to go near it to be honest, it smells like a trap." replied Marko straightening out Burkes collar.
Marko and Burke stay low and creep along the back wall checking down each row for any activity. A male scream is suddenly heard from the far side of the supermarket, Marko stops and grabs Burke then gestures.
"Be quiet". Marko whispers staring into the darkness.
Footsteps are heard from the back, hard boots hitting the tiled floor, followed by a dragging sound.
"I can feel you here outsider" a booming voice echoes across the darkened void.
The footsteps stop and so do the dragging sounds. Marko grabs Burke again and continues to crouch and creep along the back wall, very cautiously keeping an eye of the direction of the sounds. A shotgun fires in the dark, on the other side of the supermarket and then deadly silence.