by Mike Kraus
“If she comes back, you mean.”
David raised an eyebrow, genuinely concerned by Marcus’s words and tone. “You’re being quite pessimistic.”
Marcus’s sigh made it clear that he didn’t mean what he said. Frustration and an overwhelming restlessness were gnawing at him. Though Marcus had no romantic feelings toward Rachel, he cared about her greatly despite the times they spent rubbing each other the wrong way. Aside from his parents, he hadn’t been so trusting and dependent on another person in a very long time.
Rachel’s long absence made him nervous, but every time he worked himself up enough to take off down the tunnel after her, he remembered that he had no choice but to sit and wait. David was helpless against any creatures, and though Marcus wasn’t sure about the strange woman, he knew that Bertha was the most important thing to keep safe.
Distant barks echoed through the tunnel as Marcus continued to pace. He froze in place, looking down the tunnels, having difficulty determining where it was coming from. David had told Marcus that the tunnel system was likely extremely complex, given that it was used not only for transport but also for getting VIPs to and from destinations in a safe and direct route. The five tunnels that branched off from their current location could all lead to separate destinations or they might loop around and branch off for miles in all directions before ending at the same location. It was impossible to tell without a map or blueprint.
Pinpoints of light bloomed rapidly into view, drawing closer at a rapid pace. Just a few minutes after initially hearing Sam’s barks, Rachel skidded the cart to a stop. The squeal of rubber against the tunnel floor stood in stark contrast to the nearly silent electric motor of the cart. Before David or Marcus could say anything, Rachel hopped out of the cart and stood behind them, pointing down the tunnel where she had come from.
“Get ready to shoot; I found our other friends down there!”
Instantly forgetting about his anger at Rachel as well as his relief at seeing her again, Marcus dropped to one knee and held his rifle up, aiming it down the center of the tunnel. The trio stood in silence for several moments, watching for any signs of a blue glow that would betray the presence of more creatures. After nothing surfaced, Marcus slowly lowered the rifle and glanced at Rachel.
“Are you sure they were following you?”
“Of course I’m sure! I must have lost them, though. This little cart’s got quite the top speed.”
The initial rush caused by Rachel’s reappearance was fading and Marcus felt his anger return in full force.
“Well they’re obviously not here, are they Rachel?” Marcus’s voice was full of sarcasm. Rachel looked at him and shook her head as a frown formed.
“What are you on about?”
Lifting his head, Marcus pointed at his neck. “Does this ring any bells? Maybe I just don’t trust someone who coldcocks me and runs off. Maybe you made up the creatures to cover your ass when you got back!”
Undeterred by Marcus’s shouting, Rachel matched his volume, stepping forward until she was just inches from his face.
“Fuck off, Marcus! I got us a vehicle, didn’t I?”
Marcus didn’t back down from Rachel’s intimidating stance as he shouted back. “The next time you pull a stunt like that, I swear it’ll be the last time. I don’t care what’s going on; you’d better never jump me like that again.”
Rachel and Marcus stood silent for several seconds, staring unblinking into each other’s eyes. Rachel made the first move to back down, taking a half step back and turning her head away.
“Fine.” Her voice was quiet now, though still prideful, with the slightest trace of regret.
Stepping forward, David moved between Rachel and Marcus, pushing them gently apart as he went to examine the vehicle Rachel had brought.
“This… this looks like one of those old transport carts. Workers used them to haul machinery around through the tunnels, but….”
David reached under the seat of the transport cart and felt around, giving a quiet shout as he pulled out a small plastic container.
“Yes! It’s still here!”
A final glance was exchanged between Marcus and Rachel before they moved up to see what David had found. Their expressions were equal parts anger and regret with neither of them feeling completely comfortable with each other.
Leonard McComb | Nancy Sims
7:19 PM, April 13, 2038
“Leonard… they’re gaining on us…”
Nancy tried to keep her voice calm, but the sight of several creatures chasing behind the APC caused her voice to rise in pitch. After their narrow escape from Samuel, Nancy and Leonard got turned around in the city as they tried to find their way west toward the Missouri River. The dark night, the confusing layout of the city, and the fact that they were both still chilled to the core had led them down more than one wrong turn.
The APC was faster than the creatures, but the narrow city streets slowed the vehicle to a crawl. For a short while, Leonard had driven them east, only to quickly turn around at the first sight of glistening silver from the bodies of creatures ahead of them. Their about-face wasn’t fast enough to avoid detection though, and they quickly picked up a dozen or so creatures, all of which were relentlessly pursuing the noisy vehicle.
As one narrow street led into another, Leonard kept glancing to the left and right, hoping to spot a break in the buildings that would lead them back onto the main highway they had used to originally enter the city. Seeing a chance, he braked hard, turning the wheel to the right before gunning the engine again. A collapsed building revealed that the highway Leonard and Nancy sought was merely a block away, with the most direct route being over and through the rubble in front of them.
The impact of two creatures on the back of the APC sent the vehicle sliding several inches to the side and jostled Leonard and Nancy in their seats. “Go, Leonard, go!” Nancy screamed, partially out of surprise and partially out of fear of the creatures. The APC was well armored enough that the creatures would have a tough time getting in, but hearing them claw and scrape at the vehicle was terrifying despite that fact.
Leonard pushed the APC up and over the rubble, a smaller pile than the one he and Nancy had hidden in previously, but large enough that the APC struggled. The knobby tires bit into the chunks of brick and concrete sending them flying back as the vehicle bounced back and forth, struggling to overcome the obstacle. Finally, after a few breathless moments, the APC tilted forward and slid down the other side of the collapsed building, knocking two cars off of the road along its way. Bouncing across a small service road where the collapsed building ended, the APC continued down a dirt slope, finally thudding to a halt in the middle of the highway that Leonard and Nancy had been searching for.
As the rocking of the APC died down, Leonard and Nancy sat frozen in place, then slowly turned to look at each other.
“Huh. I guess that’s one way to get down, eh?”
Nancy nodded, her eyes wide, then she pointed back up the slope. “You might want to get us moving again.”
The creatures that had been pursuing them were momentarily delayed by the rapid descent of the APC, but were already on the dirt slope themselves, running toward Leonard and Nancy. Gunning the engine, Leonard plowed through the center median and headed toward a clear stretch of road that was devoid of any obstacles. Now that they were back on a proper road, the creatures pursuing them quickly fell behind, giving up the chase and returning to their march to the east.
Already near the western side of the city, it only took Leonard and Nancy a few minutes to reach the bridge. Leonard slowed the APC to a crawl before they reached the bridge proper, trying to judge whether or not it was safe to cross. The structure of the suspension bridge was still intact. It had been far enough away from the closest blast that it had received a minimum amount of damage, unlike other portions of the city. A few of its cables had snapped and sections of the roadway had fallen into the river below, but it was the only ch
oice Leonard and Nancy had for getting across the river without driving even farther off course.
“Keep an eye out on your side and warn me if you see anything I need to avoid. We’ll just take this nice and easy and we’ll be on the other side before you know it.”
Nancy’s tight grip on the dashboard in front of her matched the panic in her voice as she stared over the side, watching reflections of lightning in the dark, distant waters below. “This is probably a bad time to tell you this, but I’m not all that great with heights.”
Leonard’s bemused snort from the driver’s seat went unnoticed by Nancy, and he chuckled softly. “A crazed cultist chasing us, an insane storm above and mutated creatures roaming around, and you’re worried about the bridge?”
Ignoring Leonard’s comment, Nancy focused on the bridge and pavement, trying her best to keep her eyes off of the waters below. Though the river wasn’t very wide at the point where the bridge was located, sporadic and dramatic flooding had drastically eroded the banks over the last several years in many of the rivers in the region. Coupled with an increase in traffic, the state had paid for a series of suspension bridges to be built over the river that stretched far beyond the erosion.
In the lighting provided by the storm overhead, Nancy could see that the water level was low in the river, far below any point it had been before. A sudden jostle from the APC pushed her face closer to the window, and she stifled a scream as a large chunk of asphalt dropped out from under the front right tire, plummeting down into the water. Leonard pulled the vehicle hard to the left, keeping the back tire from passing through the hole that was now in the bridge, then increased their speed.
“Okay, so maybe this wasn’t the best idea.” Leonard expertly played with the steering wheel, avoiding downed suspension cables, missing pieces of road, and vehicles that were stuck in their path. A rumble from behind them made Nancy crane her head to see what was going on. As they were already more than halfway across the suspension bridge, Nancy could see quite clearly that a large piece of the central support of the bridge was unstable, and that the vibrations from the APC had dislodged it from its precarious position. Crashing downward and cutting through cables and asphalt like they were butter, the collapse of the support spelled doom for the bridge as a whole.
“Move, Leonard!” Nancy grabbed Leonard’s arm and squeezed tightly, looking ahead of them on both sides to watch the previously taut cables begin to snap. Flailing about like worms on the end of a hook, the cables carved through every obstacle in their path as their built up tension was loosed in a fraction of a second. The road under the APC lurched and tilted to one side as Leonard struggled to keep the vehicle from sliding off of what small section of the bridge remained.
With a final push on the gas pedal, Leonard pushed the APC forward on the bridge just far enough that there was land below them instead of water. A steep slope rapidly approached as the bridge collapsed, carrying them down with it. Instead of landing in the river, though, the section of the bridge holding the APC landed neatly on the slope. Though Leonard couldn’t see anything in front of him due to a huge plume of dirt kicked up by the collapsing bridge, he kept the accelerator pinned to the floor. The slope was steep, but the APC’s tires effortlessly gripped the cracked asphalt.
Lit by lightning flashes as it slowly climbed to the top of riverbank, the APC resembled a primordial creature rising from a swamp more than it did a vehicle. From across the river, on the east side to the north of the city, a man stood atop a smaller vehicle, his arms and chest wrapped in bandages and a pair of binoculars at his eyes. He saw the APC rise from the destruction of the bridge with a grim look on his face, watching it drive down the highway, visible for only a moment before it vanished into the darkness.
Bering Strait
April 14, 2038
Sitting in his room, Pavel Krylov slowly turns a tumbler on the table in front of him, watching the amber-colored liquid swirl inside. The smell of peat and oak fills the air of the small chamber, permeating into his clothing and bedding from the endless nights spent nursing glass after glass of the vintage liquor. Day after day of sitting at the bottom of the ocean without outside contact has worn on the acting commander of the Arkhangelsk, though his crew is suffering more than he.
Rumors of an imminent mutiny have trickled down to Pavel, though nothing concrete has solidified yet. A man with little command experience, he knows that he has to make a move before his crew reaches a breaking point, but he is unsure what the move is to be.
A final swirl of the glass comes before he tilts his head back, throwing the last of the amber liquid over his tongue. It coats his throat, burning the entire way down, leaving the taste of grass, dirt, peat, antiseptic and oak lingering in his mouth and lungs.
Exiting his room, Pavel begins his slow walk to the bridge. He taps on doors as he goes, motioning for his crewmembers to follow him. Those that are working at their stations are summoned by their comrades, curious about their leader’s abrupt change of habit. For a full week Pavel has barely left his room, exiting only to retrieve paperwork or visit the head. His uniform is disheveled and sweat-stained from hours of sitting in the same position, his short hair is curled and greasy at the ends.
The Arkhangelsk’s skeleton crew easily fits onto the spacious bridge of the vessel with more than enough room for everyone to spread out. Clusters of two and three men group together, whispering to each other to avoid being heard by the man seated in his chair before them. He looks each of them in the eyes, noting with some disappointment that few meet his gaze. Most turn away, looking instead at the floor or at their neighbors.
The moments pass in agonizingly slow silence before Pavel speaks. His voice is clear, despite his drinking, and he speaks loudly.
“I am no fool, my brothers. I know what many of you are planning.” A shuffle of feet comes from the groups around the bridge.
“Truth be told, I do not blame you. For weeks we have sat here under the ice, waiting to make our move, hoping that we would receive word from our superiors about what has happened to the world outside.
“Were I in your position, I think that I would not hesitate to rebel against the commander. Endless days of hopeless waiting have taken their toll on all of us, but I urge you to restrain yourselves.” More shuffling of feet is accompanied by murmurs as Pavel continues.
“Our shipmates were taken from us, by something unknown. Those who we knew well and those who we barely knew at all have all been stripped from us. Our constant line to our country, the lifeline that instructs us and keeps us whole, that is gone as well.
“Brothers, at this moment, the only things we have left are ourselves and our self-imposed order. If you—no. If we allow ourselves to have this last remnant of ourselves stripped away, it will surely be our undoing.”
A shout goes up from the opposite side of the room. Pavel cranes his head to see the speaker, but his view is blocked by monitors hanging from the ceiling.
“What would you have us do? We’ve been sitting on the floor of this damned strait for nearly two weeks, Commander!”
Pavel nods slowly, waiting for the grumbles of agreement to subside in the men surrounding him.
“My comrades and my brothers, we must hold our course. But that does not mean that we shall not ready ourselves for whatever is out there.”
Pavel stands, slowly circling the room as he continues. “Starting tomorrow morning, we will begin limited surface runs. We will maintain position within one kilometer inside the strait. Our goal will be to bring the Arkhangelsk back up to full operating power, in preparation for a fast run back to our home.”
Excitement ripples through the men as they stand taller, invigorated by Pavel’s speech.
“We will make this fast run only when I have deemed it safe, which will not be for some time. Our standing orders are still to hold position, and I will not break those orders, especially under these unusual circumstances.”
Pavel quickly cuts off the gro
ans of disappointment from his men. “However, as part of our preparations, I am authorizing limited target practice on the deck, to be conducted in short intervals until we can determine the safety of our immediate surroundings.
“If we, comrades and brothers, are not prepared, then our ship is not prepared. We still know nothing of what has happened in the world, but it is time that we begin to search for the answers and prepare ourselves for whatever we find.”
Rachel Walsh | Marcus Warden | David Landry
8:00 PM, April 13, 2038
David clawed at the lid of the white plastic container, snapping it open and revealing the contents inside. A small device with an LCD screen sat in the center of the container along with two memory chips and a power cord that was tightly bundled up in one corner. Ignoring the device and its power cord, David removed the memory chips from the container and inserted them into his handheld computer.