Apocalyptic Visions Super Boxset

by James Hunt

  “It’ll take a full day to deliver all the messages, and we can’t risk missing a curfew check or roll call at the factory without raising suspicions,” Emma said. “Our old hunter delivered the messages before.”

  “Why don’t you just give your data to the President?” Alex asked.

  “Look around you, Alex,” Todd said. “The President approved the Coalition in the first place. Outside of this room, there are only a few people I would trust with this information. And the President, or anyone that works for the Coalition, aren’t among them.”

  “Please,” Emma said. “We can’t do this without you, Alex.”

  Never in Alex’s entire life did he want to tell them everything he knew. But now wasn’t the time. He still had no word from Sydney about his father getting his community to safety, and if Emma’s brother was two days away, it wouldn’t give him enough time to get to Meeko. The moment Gordon found out about what Alex did, he’d kill them all out of spite.

  “I’ll do it,” Alex said.

  Chapter 11

  Before Alex made it back to the house, he made sure to bury the bag of messages beyond the front gate so he could pick them up after he checked out. He knew the sentries wouldn’t say anything regardless, but he couldn’t tell Todd that.

  Alex walked into his room to check the laptop before he left, and a surge of hope came over him when he read the message Sydney sent him. A picture of the signed order to have troops invade his community was the only content. But that was all Alex needed to see. He closed the laptop without powering it down and shoved it back under his mattress, but he was in such a hurry he failed to completely tuck it all the way underneath. A small sliver of the computer was still visible, something he failed to notice in his rush out of the room.

  The sentries gave him a few questionable looks since he was leaving again, but that was as far as it went. The morning was clear and cool, and about an hour in, he made it to his first drop off. A small cluster of rocks sat six hundred yards from the first community Alex visited. He removed the three rocks in the center just as Todd described and placed the small piece of parchment inside and positioned the rocks back in the formation he found them. The landmark was fairly easy to spot, and he hoped that it would continue for the rest.

  ***

  Alex crunched on a protein stick that he couldn’t feel through the thickness of his gloves and scooted closer to the fire. Each breath that Alex exhaled sent a frosty mist into the air. He pulled the bag of messages over to the compact piece of dirt that he lay on, sifting through them. Only two left. He reached for one of the pair and pulled it out.

  The parchment Todd had used was old. The paper was brittle, and Alex thought the paper would disintegrate right there in front of him if he pressed it too hard. After the delivery of eighteen messages, his curiosity had grown. Each landmark had seemed to have its own unique identification.

  Did Todd have hunters in all these communities? No. All of the drop off locations for the messages were close enough for anyone in the community to sneak out late at night to check. Todd just needed one hunter in his community to get the other messages close enough to the other communities, so his contacts there could make the trip in one night.

  The landscape provided an interesting backdrop for his walk. Despite the ravages of GMO-24, Alex could see the potential for natural beauty still etched upon the rolling hills and mountaintops in the distance. The grey ash hadn’t polluted all of the lakes, and a few that Alex passed still had that clean shine that reflected the sky above like a mirror. It was the first time since before the soil crisis that he’d seen anything like that.

  And then, in the middle of the lake, a small swirl appeared and rippled through the water, breaking the calm glass around it. At first Alex thought it was the first drop of rain, but the sky above offered no clouds to prove the claim. The ripple repeated itself again, this time closer to the shoreline, and Alex saw the distinct flash of a tail fin. Even now, looking back on what he’d seen, the thought brought a smile to his face, which quickly diminished the moment he heard the click of a revolver’s hammer snap backwards.

  “Don’t move, asshole.”

  Alex lay there frozen. He slowly closed his fist around the parchment in his hand. Through the flames, he could see three faces appear from the other side of the fire. All three of them were too small for their clothes and despite the masks they wore, Alex could still see the indentations from the hollowness of their cheeks. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the butt of his rifle lying next to him. As quickly as his hand hit the stock, the tip of the revolver pressed against his skull.

  “I said, don’t move.”

  One of the men came around and picked up the rifle while the other two flanked him on his right. The pressure from the gun on the back of his head eased.

  “On your feet.”

  Alex pushed himself off the ground, keeping his fist closed around the parchment with both hands in the air. The two men on his right immediately patted Alex down and rummaged through the sack he had with him. The man who held the revolver to his head walked around Alex to face him.

  The man’s mouth and nose was covered with a dark bandana, and the fire glowing behind him cast the rest of his face in darkness.

  “Nenaasestse!” The word came from one of the men rummaging through the bag. At first Alex thought it was just gibberish, but when the two started going back and forth speaking in odd tongues, Alex knew it was more than just sounds. Both of them were looking at one of the parchments in the bag. The man brought it over to Alex and shoved it in his face.

  The man yanked down his bandana, revealing the dark, tanned face of a Native American. “Where did you get this?” Still Alex remained silent. Finally, the man pressed the barrel of the revolver on Alex’s forehead and Alex watched the man’s finger slide over the trigger. “Where did you get this?”

  “Todd,” Alex said. “It was given to me by him.”

  The pistol remained pointed at Alex, but the man had removed his finger from the trigger. He spoke to the others in the same dialect as before, and the men lowered their masks. All of them were Native Americans. Their leader handed the parchment back to Alex.

  “I’m sorry. We haven’t seen or heard from Billy in over a month. We didn’t know what happened.”

  “The other hunter?” Alex asked.

  “Yes.”

  The man pulled off the bag around his back and pulled out a fresh package of meat. “Deer. Killed this morning. I’m sure it’s better than what I saw you eating earlier.”

  Alex hesitated. He had no idea if these men had a connection with Todd, and he didn’t know what they were doing here. The Indians weren’t spared in the relocation efforts when the Coalition came along, so they were here illegally.

  “Take it,” the man said. “A peace offering.”

  Alex grabbed it and stuffed it into his bag. “Thanks.”

  “What are you doing?” the man asked.

  “I thought it was a peace offering.”

  “It was. But I’m also hungry.” He slapped Alex on the shoulder, and the five of them sat around the fire, which crackled as juices from the deer meat dripped into the flames while it roasted.

  The four of them had met Todd when he first moved out here. They traded goods and supplies and were able to give Todd tips on the surrounding area in regards to soil, which Todd was thankful for.

  “When the Coalition came here, Todd was the first to warn us. It gave us enough time to prepare. Once the winds carried the disease here, it wasn’t long before we could no longer live off the land that our people had done for hundreds of years. Food grew scarce. Todd helped us work with the local hunters to provide food for our families. He is a great man.”

  Each of them had similar stories. All were centered around Todd and how he helped them in some way. The more he heard about it, the more Alex was thankful that he’d had a chance to meet the man. But tomorrow he would deliver the rest of the messages, then
rush back to steal the very thing that Todd had worked so hard to create. He just hoped that doing this before handing over the data was enough to balance the scales.

  ***

  It’d been almost a full day since Alex had left. Todd joined the rest of the community on their walk from the factory up to their housing. The tired, worn faces rubbed their pricked, bloodied fingers and shuffled through the dirt on Main Street. Todd glanced back at the sentries at the main gate and the few that lined the side of the street, watching their exhausted dogs make their way back to the kennels.

  The sun was sinking behind him and Todd knew that most of the messages should have been delivered by now. His focus was distracted when he felt a nudge in his ribs.

  “Hey,” Emma said.

  “We should know by tonight,” Todd replied, knowing full well that she was just as anxious as he was. Probably more so.

  “I went and saw her today,” Emma said.

  “You did?”

  “I know I haven’t done it in a while. It’s shameful really. I guess I just didn’t want to go back with nothing to show for it.”

  The first month after they buried their daughter was hard for both of them, but Emma completely shut down. She turned into a zombie. She didn’t eat. She didn’t sleep. She didn’t talk, or smile or laugh or cry. She simply decayed into nothing. And then one day, she just snapped out of her trance, like the spell that had been cast on her was suddenly lifted. Slowly, she started eating again, sleeping, talking. But even though Todd watched her claw back from the brink, her eyes weren’t the same as before.

  “I understand,” Todd said. “You wanted to be able to show her something, to tell her something worthwhile. That doesn’t make you shameful.”

  Emma leaned her head onto Todd’s arm, and for a moment he let himself believe that they weren’t walking from their slave labor jobs, or that the dirty ground underneath their feet didn’t seep into their worn shoes and splatter against their legs and ankles. He let himself pretend that they’d be able to go home together and the kitchen cabinets would be stocked with the ingredients for tonight’s supper. He let himself back into a world where he could feel warmth radiating from within him and contributing to the world around him. Then Todd opened his eyes and the feeling dissipated. His entire body was filthy. They would go to separate houses, and there was no food for them to cook.

  Once the cluster of community members made it to their designated housing, Emma gave Todd a smile and then started to head over to her group. Todd walked with Ray and Nelson up to their house and settled in for a long night of waiting.

  ***

  Todd rolled over to the side of the bed and reached for the watch on the nightstand. It was almost midnight. Todd twisted himself off the mattress and made his way to the back door where Nelson and Ray were already waiting.

  “You think it’ll happen tonight?” Ray asked.

  “If it doesn’t, then I don’t think it will,” Todd answered.

  The three men stepped quietly out of the back door and into the chilly night air. They looked to the north where the signal would appear. Todd could see Emma and Ben on the back steps of their houses, looking to the north. Everyone was eager to see if Alex was able to deliver.

  “Christ, it’s cold,” Ray said.

  Their mouths puffed the frigid night air and their hands ran over their arms quickly to try and create any type of warmth they could. Todd was the only one that kept still. His eyes wouldn’t turn away from the northern horizon. Everything had come down to this. If they couldn’t get the rest of the communities on board at the same time, then they wouldn’t have the manpower to accomplish their objective. Their spark of rebellion would be snuffed out before it even started.

  “Maybe he didn’t make it?” Ray asked.

  “He made it,” Todd said.

  “What time is it? Shouldn’t it have happened by now?” Ray added.

  Todd broke his concentration to check his watch. It was already two minutes past midnight. “Give it another minute. The time is just a parameter, it’s not exact.” But with each second that ticked by, Todd could feel the clouds of doubt growing. He checked his watch again. Now five past midnight. Come on. Do it. Todd felt his body lean forward, as if trying to lean in a few inches to look at a signal fired twenty miles away would allow him to see it better.

  “Maybe something happened?” Ray asked. “He could have been picked up by a sentry unit.”

  “If he was picked up by a sentry unit, we would have heard about it by now,” Todd answered, absentmindedly still looking into the distance. Todd checked his watch again. Eight past midnight. Come on.

  And then, cutting through the night sky was the faintest orange glow of a flare. Todd’s heart rose to his throat as it floated across the horizon. Alex did it.

  Chapter 12

  The side of Jake’s face was still swollen, but at least he could see out of both eyes now. The first sentry that asked him what happened was met with a vicious punch to the face. No one asked any questions after that. Despite the wounds, Jake had found out something very important. There was definitely a connection between what was happening in Wyoming and the United States military. He just wasn’t sure how far the connection went.

  Sydney almost fell out of his chair when Jake knocked on the door. “If you ask me what happened, I will shove the biggest test tube I can find up your ass and then smash it with the hammer so it breaks while still inside you.”

  “I-I wasn’t going to say anything.”

  “Where’s Alex at with the lab?”

  “Um, nothing. Nothing yet.”

  Jake left, still nursing his face with a bag of ice. When he made it back to his office, he turned on his computer and saw that there indeed hadn’t been any messages sent. He tossed the bag of ice on his desk and reached into the bottom drawer and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. He had just pulled the cap off when his Class 2 sentry knocked.

  “Sir?” the Class 2 asked. “You wanted me to keep an eye on the scientist’s communications?”

  “Yeah, what do you have?”

  “Well, sir, I’m not exactly sure. I put a tracker and blocking software on his computer and Coalition log-in information, and there hasn’t been any activity there for the past two days. But the other day our satellite link had two unknown pieces of data travel to two separate locations. The IP addresses were encrypted, so I don’t know who sent it, but I was able to find the general locations of where their destination was located.”

  “Where?”

  “A Coalition community in Wyoming, and another in Topeka, Kansas.”

  ***

  The stack of reports piling on Jared’s desk coming out of the Gulf Coast began to topple over. One by one, the fishing villages across Louisiana and Mississippi were falling under Coalition control. The door to Jared’s office remained open, and he could hear an increase of hurried voices and feet stomping across the hallways. Then the echo of gunshots rippled through the office and the hurried voices were replaced with screams.

  Jared immediately pulled the bottom desk drawer open and lifted a small black case with a fingerprint access code embedded on top. He placed his right hand over the indentation, and the small red light that signaled the case was locked turned green and granted him access. Inside the case was a Glock 9mm along with three fully loaded magazines. Jared shoved one of the magazines in the pistol and placed the other two in his pocket when Marcus came rushing in and closed the door behind him, sealing off the panic-stricken voices beyond the walls.

  “What’s going on?” Jared asked.

  “Gordon sent a unit of sentries here.”

  “How many?”

  “I don’t know, but I have a helicopter waiting for you out back. We need to hurry.”

  The two men rushed to the office door and cracked it open to get a better look at what was happening, but their view was blocked by the flurry of legs and feet that stormed through the hallway. More gunshots sounded, and one of the women r
unning collapsed to the ground right in front of the door. Her eyes were still open and her dead gaze rested upon Jared, who recognized the girl as a member of their accounting team. Marcus quickly shut the door and leaned back up against it. “They’re too close.”

  A single window offered escape to the outside, and Jared quickly picked up his office chair and slammed it into the thick paned glass. The first blow did little but crack the window, but each repeated blow after that sent the cracks traveling up the glass like spiders crawling to escape the heel of a boot. The chair finally burst through and landed on the outside of the building, and Jared quickly jumped out. Marcus was right behind him when Jared suddenly stopped, turned, then headed back into the office through the shattered window.

  “What are you doing?” Marcus asked, his voice harsh and low.

  Jared went to the computer on his desk and quickly started to search for files. He dragged a few select pieces of information into a folder and then uploaded it to his thumb drive. A loud thump at Jared’s office door caused both Marcus and Jared to look up. Another harsh blow caused the wood to splinter. The loading bar was at sixty percent.

  “Jared, we have to go now!”

  The next kick swung the door open, and Jared aimed and fired his pistol at the two sentries that barreled inside. The first few bullets hit the sentry’s Kevlar, and Jared ducked behind his desk for cover as the sentries returned fire. The reports on the top of his desk were sent flying into the air. He jumped back up and fired again, this time sending a bullet right through the eye of one of the sentries and another into the neck of the sentry’s partner. Both of them collapsed to the ground. The files finished their upload and Jared removed the thumb drive and headed out the window as the sound of more boots echoed behind them.

  The scene outside was just as chaotic. The unit of sentries that Gordon had sent over had swarmed the area. A cluster of his workers were herded together and forced to kneel in front of a firing squad. Jared turned his head just in time to miss the bullets that killed them. Sights like that were happening everywhere. Gordon wasn’t taking any prisoners.