Human Nature

by Finlay Borthwick

  Gwen grunted, “Looks like we’re going to have to resort to plan B, Elliot. It’s alright, I’ll take care of him without anyone even noticing.” As she went to leave her caravan, Elliot stood in front of the door. “No… This is my job.” They stared each other down, “You’ve already killed four of the people here. Now it’s my turn to take out just one.”

  She raised her hands and stepped back, “Be my guest, sir.” She referred to his leadership position and smiled at him in a joking manner, though Elliot wasn’t laughing at all.

  “Gwen…” Before he left, he had one more thing to say. “You do realise why we’re doing this, right?” He suspected that she was starting to become modest, “Of course I do. Less people, less mouths to feed, less resources used up. Some die so that the rest can live. Yes, Elliot, I get it.” She put his mind at ease, though he still wasn’t fully convinced.

  Later that day, Raphael came to Elliot’s trailer. “Raphael! Please, sit down…” Elliot nodded at the seat opposite him, as Raphael warily sat down. “I’ll not waste any time at all. You know exactly why I’ve called you here.” He became stern. “Tell me, where does your allegiance lie?” He looked at Elliot amidst confusion. “My allegiance stands to my people. My allegiance stands to this camp. Regardless of who runs the show…”

  Elliot rose from his chair slowly with his hands behind his back, gently pacing the area behind his desk. “That’s not necessarily true though, is it?”

  Raphael squinted at him in bewilderment, “Excuse me? I am dedicated to the people out there, Elliot. Far more than you ever possibly could be,” he kept a low tone, but still didn’t hesitate to scold Elliot.

  “That might be true. But what I want to know is… Why would you betray me just to betray Gwen as well?” He stopped pacing, and looked at Raphael with both eyebrows raised.

  “What?” Raphael shook his head, “What do you mean, betray Gwen? How can I betray someone I hardly even know?”

  Elliot slammed both of his hands on the desk, “The truth’s already out, so start talking. We found the walkie-talkie. Betraying me is fair play, in fact I anticipated and even wanted that to happen… So, why didn’t you trust Gwen? She even gave you the gun to kill me.”

  Yet still, Raphael looked completely dumbfounded. “Ok, alright. Fine. Yes, I doubted you. Yes, I did and still do dislike you, Elliot. You want to know why I didn’t use the gun? Because I had no reason to kill you! Overthrow you? Yes. Kill you? No!” He paused before commenting on the part about Gwen, “Walkie-talkie? I didn’t plant any walkie-talkie anywhere. I swear to it!”

  Elliot couldn’t tell what he was lying about and what he was being honest about, “Two things, Raphael. Firstly, you need to stop lying. Who else could’ve possibly planted the walkie? And secondly, you had no problem with killing Pierre when it came to it! So what changes here?” He glared at him intently.

  Raphael jumped up and planted his hands on the desk as well, “Two things, Elliot,” he mimicked his words, “I have no idea who planted the walkie. Perhaps ask maybe, oh, I don’t know…. The two-hundred plus residents living here?! As for your second point, Pierre wasn’t innocent!”

  Elliot snapped, “Pierre was innocent! How dare you suggest otherwise!” This remark confused Raphael, “Innocent? Murdering four people? Innocent?” Elliot snapped fully now and shouted at him, “It wasn’t Pierre, it was Gwen!”

  Silence fell in the trailer. “Of course it was…” Raphael’s low tone contrasted Elliot’s shouting one. “I should’ve known just from the speed at which he jumped in front of her.” Elliot was frozen after unintentionally exposing Gwen. “Raphael… Wait…” He shook his head with an evil smirk on his face. “Nah… Because now, she’s dead as well. In fact, you all are. Your entire group is going to die for perverting the course of justice!” Raphael sounded happy even. “Whoever planted that walkie, perhaps I should find and befriend them…”

  As he turned to exit the trailer, Elliot pulled out his handgun, “Don’t open that door,” he commanded him in a deep voice. “Why? What’re you gonna do, Elliot? You gonna shoot me?” He taunted him. “Well, by all means, do that. Kill me! Kill me right here! I’d love to see you panic and clean the blood stains off this door. Even better, I’d love to see how you dispose of my corpse!”

  Elliot’s hands began to shake, “If you tell anyone about Gwen, a war will break out. I can’t risk losing another member of my group. You know that my team are skilled enough to wipe you all out.”

  Raphael laughed, “Really? Alright then, let’s have a little look at your ‘team’, shall we?” He thought to himself for several moments, “You and Gwen, maybe. Perhaps you two are skilful indeed. But against 200 of us? Good luck!”

  Elliot lowered his gun slightly, using Raphael’s own logic against him, “Let’s see how many tactical people you have on your side then. Louis, you, well, I’m sure you two will manage. Your guards are rubbish by the way. Whenever a stranger approaches your gates, you should always shoot them.”

  Raphael laughed again, pulling out his knife and charging at Elliot unexpectedly. “Bastard!” Elliot pulled the trigger, knocking Raphael to the ground. He clenched the gunshot wound on his shoulder. Elliot noticed the exit wound was on the side of his leg.

  The trailer door swung open – it was William and Louis. “What the hell!” He slid down next to his bleeding-out son. “Louis! Get all of the medical staff over here! Right now!” He obeyed and ran out in a panic.

  Elliot stood against the wall, still holding the gun despite how much he was shaking. William looked up at him through his tears, “W-why… Why did you have to do this!” Elliot couldn’t answer, feeling he only had one choice open to him…

  Elliot realigned the gun, aiming it at William. His breathing intensified, as he prepared to squeeze the trigger.

  “Elliot!” Before he could pull it, Olivia appeared at the door. She looked around the trailer distressfully. “What the hell!” She too was flurried. “Olivia… Listen to me,” A tear rolled out from Elliot’s eye, “It’s not what you think. You don’t understand,” as he went to put his hand over her arm, she shook it off, “Don’t! How could you, Elliot? These people trusted you! I trusted you! You’ve just gotten all of us killed!”

  “No…” William looked up, red in the face. “T-tell you friends, Olivia… You are welcome to stay.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Under one condition…” She appeared worried again. “He must die!”

  Day 15+

  The following morning, crowds gathered around, awaiting to hear the news and witness the execution. “Citizens, friends,” William addressed the camp openly. “I am pleased to inform you that my son has indeed survived the attempt on his life, and he will recover shortly.” There was a united sigh of relief. “The two nurses Tina and Erica were able to save his life with the help of our own surviving medics. Because of this, the group shall be allowed to stay…” Everyone mumbled to each other in confusion.

  “However!” He bellowed as everyone went silent again. “The criminal most certainly shall not go unpunished! It was only two weeks ago when he assimilated the position of co-leader. Now, only two weeks later, has he abused his privileges. The first killer from the new group was killed in front of all of you, at the hands of my son… Now, the second killer from the new group shall also be killed in front of all of you. Except this time, at my own hands…”

  In the crowd, Reed held Olivia back firmly in case she made a daring attempt to save Elliot.

  “Bring him out!” William commanded, turning back to the caravan where Elliot had been held all night. The crowds began to cheer, boo and hiss as the two guards brought Elliot out.

  As Elliot grew nearer to William, they engaged looks of hatred at each other. “Put him on his knees!” William commanded, as one of the guards whacked his shins with a baton. Again, this prompted cheers from the crowd.

  Olivia turned away to Reed’s chest, unable to watch the events which were about to happen. Reed rubbed her back a
s he continued to watch the execution.

  “Let this be an example… To all of those who even consider betraying this camp! Any final words, Elliot?” He looked down at him, as Elliot looked over at Olivia who had turned away. He then looked up to the sky, “I’m on my way…” he whispered.

  William nodded at the guard next to him. He produced the pistol from his side, handing it to William. William held the pistol up, “For all of you to see… There is no trickery here! I assure you this weapon is real! For those in doubt, the blood shall prove my words…”

  Olivia continued to hide her face in Reed’s chest. She was startled as a gunshot rang out. For a few moments she froze, she then bawled her eyes out, still hiding her face in Reed’s chest…

  Tobin and Emilia had taken Annabelle’s group back to the campfire. Upon their return, he noticed that Ellie, Gisela and James had all vanished – though for their own safety, he did not mention this to Annabelle and her friends.

  “We’ve been all over,” Annabelle began, firmly engaging her eyes on Tobin, “All over the country, I mean. Desperately searching for people. We did find some. Many spoke English, not all, but many. We interviewed people, we asked them all about their stories. The most important ones to me are what people were doing on Day Zero. I know it seems like forever since that day now, but most can indeed remember. So here’s the deal, you tell us your past, and we’ll tell you ours. Just a little bit of chitchat, then we’ll take your stuff and be on our way. That’s how we work, after all.”

  Tobin and Emilia looked at each other, neither of them answering Annabelle. “Or we could just skip the storytelling and get to the part where we claim everything which you have. I just think that stories give it a bit more flavour, that’s all. Don’t you agree?” Despite how hard Annabelle tried to make conversation, neither of them responded. “Fine. Miguel, Vanessa, search them once more. I have the woman’s bag right here.” They headed over to them, patting them down and searching.

  Tobin looked at Emilia and nodded. Raising his hands above his head, Tobin brought his fists down on the back of Miguel’s neck. Emilia raised her knee with force, knocking Vanessa back. They grabbed their counterparts and threw them back over at Annabelle.

  “Leave us alone! We don’t want any trouble!” Tobin ordered. Vanessa and Miguel caught their breaths as Annabelle stood up. “What you’re really saying is… You just don’t want to fight because you don’t have any weapons. Well, that’s too bad. I had hoped we could’ve gotten some stories from you two. I guess not,” Annabelle pulled out her handgun.

  “No!” Miguel jumped in front of the barrel. “Jesus, Miguel! That was a bit close, wasn’t it? Do you see how close I am to squeezing the trigger?” He nodded to apologise, but didn’t move out of the way. “You said it yourself. We need to get their stories from them. We don’t have to kill them!” Miguel’s sudden change of heart confused her, therefore she spared them to see his attitude develop, “Alright then, fine. You two, sit back down. Or I’ll kill both of you even if just one of you runs.” She kept her pistol out.

  Tobin and Emilia looked at each other, before sitting down opposite Annabelle’s group again. “What do you want to know about us?” Tobin asked her. She thought to herself for several moments.

  “Day Zero. Tell me what you were doing on the day everything first went to shit.” Tobin nodded, and took a deep breath. “Well…”

  …Ellie stood in front of her mother’s grave, wiping her eyes with a tissue. The wind blew through strands of her hair, making it flow crazily. “Every time I think about you… I… I just think of you and dad. I think of the argument. I just, I want you to forgive him, mum,” She looked at the flower over the grave. “Please, you need to forgive him because I know that I never will be able to. If he’d have known that was the last time you two were going to speak, it wouldn’t have been the same. Mum, you know he didn’t mean anything he said…”

  She stopped talking upon hearing someone approaching from behind. She didn’t even need to turn around to know it was her father. “Six months, huh? It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?” Tobin went to put his arm around his daughter, but she pushed him away. “Don’t… don’t you dare, dad,” Ellie couldn’t even look at him. “Please… Ellie… Do you really blame me?” She nodded unforgivingly, “Yes! It’s your fault! It’s all your fault!” As she began to raise her voice, she looked to her left, noticing a funeral taking place further off in the graveyard. “It’s all your fault,” she repeated her words in a lower tone as not to disturb the funeral. “Ellie… It was nobody’s fault. I regret everything I said, sure, but there were a million factors which played in to your mother’s death. And I am not –”

  Ellie walked away from her father, unwilling to hear his excuse. “Ellie! Please!” He walked behind her. “Just leave me alone, dad.” He tugged at her as she turned around and slapped him, “I said leave me alone!”

  They both stopped, as a deep scream emitted from behind them. Turning around, they noticed one the funeral attendees grasping his face, as he dropped to his knees. His entire face and hands went purple. The others all panicked. Some stepped back in horror, others went in to help, others called an ambulance.

  A second funeral attendee started grasping his head as well, going purple and collapsing too. A third and fourth followed.

  “Hey!” Tobin ran over to help. Ellie shook her head, “There we go again. Always putting me last…” She ran out of the graveyard.

  “What’s happening?” Tobin nagged several of the remaining attendees, looking down at the purple faces. “Oh my word!” He noticed the stillness of all of them. “Are they… dead?” Everyone fell silent, looking at Tobin. “Everyone leave the graveyard now! Keep away from one another, you need all the space you can get in case of an attack like these poor souls! Go! Everyone!” They all ran in a flurry, some crying, some tripping up…

  … “That’s what happened, pretty much. Half of the funeral attendees died right there in that very minute. Of course, we all know how global this ‘virus’ was.”

  Annabelle raised her finger, “It wasn’t a virus. It was many things at once.” Tobin and Emilia looked at her, intrigued. “What do you mean by ‘many things at once’?” She shrugged, “I’ve absolutely no idea. At first we thought it was something in the air, then we thought it was something in the water, then parasites, then toxic spores, and now we think it’s a combination of everything. We think everything happened at once. Do you know what combines all of these factors?” They looked blankly at her. “Parasites, toxic spores, water infection, viruses, pandemics – they’re all connected to Nature…”

  Emilia shivered, “Nature? You mean, everything that’s happened… it was caused by the Earth itself?” Annabelle shrugged, “Well, who’s to say?”

  Tobin laughed and shook his head, “What a load of crap! You seriously think that Nature independently woke up one day and decided, ‘Oh, I think I’ll wipe out the human race today!’”

  Annabelle laughed back at him, “Considering everything that’s happened over the past three years, you’re the idiot for still being in denial. At least I’m willing to accept all the possibilities. Even more so, I’m willing to accept all of them at the same time.”

  This lead Emilia to raise another point, “What caused all the giant animals then? All the really bulky strong animals? One day, they just randomly showed up. We found a tiger with knife-shaped teeth. Crikey it was a huge beast!” Tobin nodded, “I’d like to know that as well. Anymore crap – sorry, I mean – theories from within your mind, Annabelle?”

  She stared sarcastically at Tobin for several moments before facing Emilia and giving her an answer. “Radiation.” Surprisingly, Tobin didn’t dismiss this, in fact he unfolded his arms and appeared to listen more closely. “Just like Chernobyl. The radiation lead to mutations, it leads to animals having abnormalities. Where it came from, I’ve no idea. Though one of my old friends suspected it was a missile.”

  Now, Tobin turned aw
ay again. “A missile? Seriously? You think someone will just happen to have a fully functional missile this far into the apocalypse? At the beginning, maybe. But now? Come on!” He tutted.

  “I believe her,” Emilia admitted. “Can you think of a better explanation?” She caught Tobin out, as he stuttered. “Alright fine, sure, let’s run with what you’re saying. Why on earth would someone willingly launch a missile anyway? What would that achieve in this new age?”

  Yet again Annabelle shrugged. “I don’t know; why don’t you ask whoever fired it?” They exchanged looks of conflict at each other. “Well, it’s been fun to talking to you. Why don’t you two go to sleep? By the morning, we’ll have simply vanished and you will never ever see us again. Sound good?”

  Tobin stood up, “No! We’re not going to be the victims of a daylight robbery!” Annabelle raised her finger a second time, “Well firstly, that’s not actually what a daylight robbery is. And secondly, it’s night time.” He threw his hands up, “Whatever! The point is… Well, screw you! That’s what! I’m staying awake until you give our things back, even if I die from sleep deprivation!” Annabelle rolled her eyes, “Fine then. As you wish…”

  Despite how hard he tried to keep awake, Tobin had fallen asleep at some point in the night anyway, as had Emilia. Miguel and Annabelle silently woke Vanessa up, ‘Let’s go!’ They mimed to her. Quietly, they tiptoed towards the forest. Once they had gotten under the cover of the trees, they ran as fast as they could – they had indeed stolen everything from Tobin and Emilia. Unknown to them however, Tobin had opened his eyes, watching them run away. He got up, preparing to chase after them.

  “Hold up!” Vanessa slowed down, needing to catch her breath. “Seriously, V? Now is not the time! Come on!” Miguel tried to hurry her. “Look, I’m carrying two rucksacks and I can still run, so –”

  All three of them turned around in a specific direction, hearing the roar of a bear. “In France? What?” Annabelle whispered in confusion and fright. “I hate bears!” Vanessa remarked. “Yea well, today’s your unlucky day. This isn’t just a bear; this is a mutated bear!” Miguel had intended to come off as a dark comedian, instead he had only unnerved Vanessa even more.