We stood ready to go in Bernie’s apartment entrance, readied our weapons and carried out an equipment check. I prepared myself mentally for the next few hours and knew there was a very real possibility that we would meet with a hostile force.
Queens Boulevard, where we had abandoned the car, led straight to the bridge that Bernie had identified as our meeting place. So, we retraced our steps and kept our eyes open, the recycle bin was still where we had left it with the rock on top.
“No. Don’t even think about it,” Jack said.
The Ford was still parked in the same position, facing a blockage that barred the whole expressway. We continued along the sidewalk through intermittent tree groups for three hundred yards, until the road appeared to open up again. At the head of the pile-up, the cars were too mangled for driving, but further up the road was a pick-up. We approached cautiously and found it empty with the keys in the ignition.
“I don’t like it,” Bernie said.
I knew what he meant, the smashed cars, debris, and bodies all around us, were a contrast to this clean vehicle.
“Come on, let’s get out of here, I’m not hanging around,” I said and urged Bernie into the driver’s seat.
With Bernie at the wheel, we wove our way through cars and over bodies to within sight of the bridge. The road leading to the bridge was blocked again with vehicles. We had left Bernie’s with enough time to walk to the bridge in case we couldn’t get there by car, so we still had thirty minutes to wait until the meeting. I suggested that we stay in the car for the next twenty-five minutes instead of drawing attention to ourselves by walking around. Bernie turned off the engine and we all instinctively ducked down.
“When we go out there, we’ll wait ten minutes and that’s it,” Bernie whispered from the front of the car.
We were horribly exposed again and I knew that this had been all my idea, so I didn’t try to negotiate a longer waiting period.
“I’m not happy with this, Harry,” Jack said. “We can’t see anyone coming. I am going to sit up and play dead. At least then, we’ll be able to see in one direction.”
None of us spoke as we waited to move.
“Right, time to go,” Bernie eventually said.
We opened up the doors and started walking guardedly towards the bridge. The view of the Manhattan skyline was stunning against the clear blue sky.
As we approached the point of the bridge where it began to cross the East River, we stopped and took cover behind a yellow taxi.
Bernie peered over the hood to get a view of the bridge; I joined him while Jack sat with his back to the taxi covering the rear. In the distance across the bridge, I could hear the noise of an engine revving.
Jack switched his attention to the bridge and aimed his rifle over the top of the vehicle.
“I can’t see a car. Do you think they are signalling us?”
“A signal? It’s a pretty dumb one if it is,” Bernie said.
I wasn’t ready to give up hope just yet.
“We don’t know what their plan is, let’s play it out Bernie,” I replied.
The engine noise was getting closer.
“I can see a vehicle working its way over the bridge,” Jack said.
“How many in the car?” Bernie asked.
“I can’t see at the moment. It’s about one hundred yards from us,” Jack said, then crouched. “What shall we do? Jump out with our weapons pointed at the windshield when they get to within five yards?”
“No,” I replied, “they might shoot first and ask questions later if we take them by surprise. Let’s stand together in a gap, point our weapons towards the car and give them a decent chance of seeing us early. We are in the agreed meeting place, after all.”
“I don’t like it. What if there is only one killer in the car?” Bernie said.
“Then I put an early end to his mission with this rifle,” Jack answered and tapped the stock.
We stood up and moved into a gap between two cars in the middle of the road. I caught a few brief glimpses of the car weaving towards us. It stopped around fifty yards from our position when the driver must have spotted us. Through the gap, we saw the headlights flash a few times. Our presence was being acknowledged.
Within thirty yards, I saw that there were two people in the car. It disappeared again to make its way around a van. I ran towards the car and reached the driver’s window. Inside, was a bald headed man with a red moustache in a pink t-shirt. Beside him, was a female passenger who was resting her elbow on the window frame and looking out the opposite direction. The driver’s window wound down about four inches.
“Thank God, you’re here. I knew you’d turn up,” I shouted.
A hunting knife shot through the gap and stopped about an inch from my eye. The space had just been just too small for the driver’s clenched hand to fit through. I jumped back and pointed the Glock at him.
“What the fuck are you doing? There’s three of us here!”
The car reversed back a few yards before the wheels spun and it came hurtling towards me. I dived out of the way and the car slammed into another vehicle. I heard a loud bang and looked up to see the driver’s window was shattered. The man’s baldhead fell forwards and rested on the horn, which let off a continuous blast of noise. Jack jogged up to the car, put his hand through the window, and pushed the drivers head sideways away from the wheel.
“What the fuck just happened?” Bernie said as he appeared beside me.
“He tried to kill Harry.” Jack replied as he reloaded the rifle.
“What about the woman?” I said.
“Did you notice that she didn’t actually move? I followed you and went to the other side of the car. By the time I had worked it out, the driver had already tried to stab you and was reversing.”
I still wasn’t sure exactly what Jack had worked out, so I walked around to the passenger window for a look. Inside, I could clearly see that the woman was a corpse. She was still in the same position as before, blankly looking out of the car with her elbow on the window frame. I nudged her; she was as stiff as a board.
This killer had used cunning and knowledge of the situation in his attempt to attack us, which meant these people were conscious of their instructions and could plan how to achieve them. Bernie had little doubt about what had happened after looking through the car.
“Well, that’s your Lea Ash. He was just like the others. Let’s get out of here and back to my place. That shot and the horn blast will have been heard for miles.”
“Back to your place then, Bernie, and no stopping,” Jack said.
We ran back to the car and Bernie started to pick his way back towards Elmhurst. I watched for signs of movement out of the window, but inwardly cursed the failure of our mission. It didn’t take long to arrive back at the vehicle blockade and Bernie stopped the pick-up close to the side of the road. We checked our weapons again and headed out onto the street in a half crouch, with Bernie in the lead and Jack bringing up the rear.
There was no escape from the mangled vehicles, corpses, and devastation, as we headed back to the safety of Bernie’s apartment along an alternative route. The dead seemed to cloy at me and I wondered if we could survive through constant attacks. Lost in my own thoughts, I jumped at the sound of gunfire and saw a puff of dust on the road about two yards in front of me.
“Quick, behind the car,” I shouted.
“For God’s sake, what now?” Bernie said.
“Someone is trying to kill us,” Jack replied dryly.
Bernie’s face was red; he said through gritted teeth, “I fucking know that.”
I looked around the side of the car and saw the girl we had trapped in the recycling bin appear from behind a mailbox. She was pointing a pistol towards us with both hands, and fired again. The round hit a tyre of the car we were hiding behind, and it quickly deflated.
“It’s the girl from before. She’s coming towards us with a pistol,” I shouted.
“We’ve
no other options now. Shoot her, shoot her now,” Bernie replied frantically.
Jack started to shake and fumbled with his rifle. “I can’t, I can’t… fuck. Fuck!”
Another shot thudded into the cars bodywork.
“One of us will be dead if someone doesn’t do something,” Bernie shouted, grabbing my arm and shaking it.
I looked at Jack; he had his rifle on his shoulder and was looking at me.
“I am going to hell for this.” He stood up and fired before quickly sitting back down against the wheel of the car.
“Did you get her?” Bernie asked.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Jack said in a low voice.
Both Bernie and I stood up and saw the body lying in the road about ten yards away. I looked back down at Jack who was just staring straight ahead.
Bernie held out his hand for Jack to haul himself up with. “Back to my place guys, before anyone else turns up.”
We ran, not jumping over puddles or avoiding corpses, but just straight for the apartment with the desperate need for safety. Bernie opened the door in an instant and we piled through, slamming it shut. We all slumped down on the couches and sat staring in silence for ten minutes.
“You did the right thing back there,” I said to Jack. “If you hadn’t shot her, there would only be two of us sitting here now.”
“It’s done, and I want to forget it,” he replied.
Chapter 5 – Temptations
We had landed at JFK forty-eight hours ago, but it felt like weeks. I had witnessed and experienced enough horror in two days to last several lifetimes. If we didn’t get some control back, I knew we wouldn’t make it another two days with killers ready to hide, deceive, and attack us.
Jack hadn’t said a word for the last hour, he seemed troubled after the shooting this morning. I couldn’t leave the tough jobs to Jack, it would put an unfair toll on him. Bernie needed to be armed with more than a flare gun.
“Bernie, your menu seems a little limited,” I half joked, as he handed me another bowl of baked beans.
“Do you buy lots of fresh food just before going on holiday, in case things like this happen?” He said stiffly, as he pointed towards the window.
“Did you have a job before?” I asked.
Bernie sat down on the couch opposite me with a bowl of beans balanced on his knee. “Yes. I was a plumber for the last thirty years and built up a pretty strong business locally. I had twelve staff on the books and I had started to take things easy. We have a place up in Orange County and for the last few years, had started to travel outside the States. I can’t see the phone ringing anytime soon, so that’s me retired. What about you two?”
“We both spent time in the army as you know. Jack worked on missile defence systems, and I was in communications. Although the army always tells you that you are a soldier first, so we do have combat training. For the last five years, we’ve run a landscaping business, but like you say, we’re now retired. Did you have any hobbies?”
“My only real hobby was spending time with Linda. We would eat out, go to the movies, and watch the Jets together. We led a quiet, happy life; none of it involved firing guns.”
“Come on, Bernie, I thought all yanks had at least a hand gun for defence?”
“Nah, New York is the safest city in the world.”
I smiled at his response. If we came across anyone expecting to be rescued and led to a safety zone by three members of Delta Force, they were going to be sorely disappointed. All we could offer at the moment, was a bowl of baked beans in a basement apartment and some speculative arguments.
“Bernie, you said there were a couple of big stores close by?”
“Not again, Harry, I’ve enough food to last us for another couple of days,” he replied.
“I think we should go this afternoon. Then we won’t have to move for a while after that. Let’s just get it out of the way. We can also find you a weapon as well.” I paused and waited for Bernie’s reaction.
“I haven’t seen you kill anyone yet,” he replied, maintaining eye contact.
“It’s not a competition, Bernie; we all need to be armed if we’re going to stay alive,” I said, wondering if he still blamed me for Linda’s death.
Jack had been quiet during our conversation and was fiddling on the computer.
“Are you up for a trip to get some food and drink, Jack?” I called over to him.
“Yeah, whatever,” he replied quietly and carried on surfing the net.
“Have you found any new updates from anyone since we landed?”
I joined Jack at the desk.
“No, it’s all still the same old shit from a couple of days ago. None of the news sites have even changed.”
“Have you checked twitter yet?”
He sighed, typed in the address, and logged in. We had a direct message.
Direct message from Lea Ash
Was that shooting on the bridge something to do with you? We were on our way there and saw a man on the bridge get into a car.
We hung around for a few minutes then heard a shot. Are you ok? We want to get out of the city now, what is your location?
“What do you make of this?” I called over to Bernie, trying not to sound excited.
.
“This person could still be a killer. They just didn’t get to us first,” he replied, after gazing at the screen.
“Why didn’t she try to take out the other killer on the bridge, then?” I snapped.
“Fine,” Bernie hit back. “We can give them one more chance, but I am not going anywhere near Manhattan. Your friends are dead, just like Linda.”
I hadn’t even been thinking about Andy and Dave. To be honest, I’d already given them up. I didn’t want the argument to escalate, so I turned to Jack, “What do you think?”
“Let’s tell them we’re in Elmhurst, but that they have to find a place here and make contact if they want to meet us.”
“Why not give them a false address and we can watch it from a distance?” Bernie said.
“That’s not a great way to meet,” I said. “We could be leading them into potential danger. Would they ever trust us after that? I prefer Jack’s plan.”
Jack typed out:
Direct messages from Jack
That was us on the bridge. A car came over to our side and the driver had a corpse in the passenger seat so be careful.
Come to Elmhurst and then make contact. We have a safe place and are just going to get some supplies.
“We can’t all fit in here if there are two of them,” Bernie grumbled.
Jack rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. I could see he was getting irritated. “They won’t be expecting the fucking Ritz-Carlton, Bernie. Besides, I’m not sure if it serves bowls of baked beans for lunch.”
I bit my tongue. There was no need to add to what had just been said.
Bernie sat down on the couch. “I’m not having any more shit from you about my food. You’re choosing what we pick up when we get there.”
”I will choose and even cook it for you tonight, are there any gun shops around here?” Jack asked.
“I wouldn’t even know where the nearest is. We should go to my local food mart, it’s only three blocks away and we can get there without attracting any attention.”
“Okay, Bernie, weapons check, then lead the way,” I said.
We opened the door and stepped into the street, I knew this was risky, but staying inside after this morning would be giving up. We had to tackle the situation head on and get control; otherwise, we would end up hidden in Bernie’s apartment with no hope.
As we left the apartment, I urged everyone to stay quiet, keep in the shadows of the adjacent buildings, and stay alert. Within minutes, we had arrived opposite our location and crouched to scout the entrance.
“How many entry points?” I whispered.
“Not a hundred percent sure, but I think there’s only one entrance, but I’ve never really
scoped it before.”
Outside the store entrance, a dog was licking the head of a lady whose skull had been crushed, I could see a bloodied hammer by her side.
“Should we try and befriend the dog? It might come in useful as an extra pair of eyes and ears,” Bernie said.
“No, it’s just another mouth to feed. What if we can’t control it? It might start barking like crazy,” I replied.
“Come on, Harry, let’s give it a try,” Jack said.
I knew Jack would support the idea; he had two spaniels at home who were devoted to him.
I patted the sidewalk a couple of times to attract the dog’s attention.
“Here boy, here…”
The dog looked up and ran away; at least not everyone was out to get us.
I put a finger to my lips, and then gestured with the same finger that we should cross the street to the store. We approached cautiously around a pair of corpses who looked like they had been duelling with garden tools. One had been stabbed through the neck with a garden fork, and lay clutching the implement impaled in her neck. The other, who must have carried out the assault, had a large slice across his throat, some pruning shears lay next to him.
Bernie slowly entered the store and immediately sprang back out, “There’s somebody in there. I heard groaning.”
We all raised our weapons.
“Did you see anyone?” Jack asked.
“No, but whoever it was sounded in poor shape.”
I looked around and noticed that there were no other corpses in the near vicinity of the woman with the crushed skull.
“Do you think it’s the person who killed her?” I said, pointing at the woman.
Jack and Bernie shrugged.
“Bernie, you cover us with the flare gun. We’ll burst in and clear the store. It might be a trap,” Jack said.
“No. Jack, give me your rifle, and you take the flare gun. I know the store layout, so I’ll go first. Harry, you cover us from behind.”
I didn’t want Jack to swap weapons with Bernie, it felt a lot safer for Jack to have a rifle compared to a flare gun. Jack exchanged weapons with Bernie, and we all took up our positions around the store entrance. I planned to retrieve the pistol that was used against us in the morning as soon as our shopping trip was finished. Nobody had wanted to approach the body earlier, but Jack being handed the flare gun, suddenly made getting another pistol a priority.
First Activation: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller Page 8