“Yes, there’s only two of us. Harry, you tell him the story.”
I wondered why Jack told Jerry there were only two of us, but went along with it. I told Jerry what we had experienced since landing at JFK, our meeting Maureen and what happened in the police building. I skimmed over the details of our time in Elmhurst, and then told him about our trip to Montgomery. Jerry looked slightly shocked at the tale and mopped his brow a couple of times with a handkerchief.
“When did you see the vapour trail again? Did you actually see anything in the sky?”
“Today, and no,” Jack replied.
“Who was the guy you met from Maybrook? Did you get a name?”
“He was called Greg. Do you know him?” I answered.
“Greg from Maybrook? Can’t say I do. So you’re at the Watson’s place?”
“If that’s the name of the couple we buried in the back garden, then yes. It’s the big white house half a mile up the road,” Jack said.
“That’s the Watson’s; I noticed you’re both wearing his clothes. So what do you plan to do now?”
Jerry seemed to be getting a lot of information from us without giving much back in return, I wanted to know his story, so I ignored his question.
“Jerry, take us through what you experienced since Friday.”
He sighed.
“There’s nothing much to tell, really. I thought there’d been a small earthquake or something last Friday. I went out of my front door to have a look around and received a blow to the back of my head; I think I was out for a while. When I regained consciousness, a dead man was lying next to me, it was like he was looking into my eyes.”
Jerry shuddered and hugged himself.
“Did you know him?” Jack asked.
“No, I don’t really mix with anyone, that’s one of the reasons I moved out here.”
“Did you feel any strange urges?”
“If you mean did I want to kill anyone? No I didn’t. I moved the body away from the house and tried to call the police, but I couldn’t get a signal on my mobile. I tried to get in touch with people online, but it was like nothing had been updated since I felt those tremors, nobody was responding. There wasn’t anything on the TV or Radio.”
“So you just sat tight here?” I asked.
“I didn’t know what else to do. I had an idea that something dangerous was going down, so I decided to keep out of the way of whatever it was. After a couple of days, the power went and I fired up the back-up generator. You two are the first people I’ve seen alive since Friday. I was starting to think I was on my own.”
Jerry was the first person that we had come across who could remember the last few days and explain what he had seen. It wasn’t that much.
I started to become conscious of the time and didn’t want Bernie or Lea to notice that we were gone.
“Can we come and see you tomorrow, around lunchtime? We’re a bit tired and could do with some sleep,” I said.
He agreed and we left on pleasant terms. I was quite confident now that killers were no longer a threat.
“Why did you tell Jerry there were only two of us?” I said, on our way back to the house.
“Because we know nothing about him. I’m finding it hard to trust anyone we don’t know at the moment.”
“He seems okay, a bit of a geek, but that’s hardly a crime.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We might even get a decent lunch out of him tomorrow,” Jack laughed.
When we arrived back at the house, Lea was sitting on the porch. I waved as we approached, but she appeared far from happy.
“Where the hell have you two been?”
“The farm you pointed out to us earlier,” I answered. “We went to try and find supplies.”
“And you had no problems leaving us unprotected?”
“We met a man there called Jerry. Do you know him?” Jack asked.
“No.”
“We told him there were only two of us,” I felt compelled to admit.
Lea rubbed her face in frustration.
“Do you ever learn from your mistakes?”
“He’ll understand. You did, after all,” I shrugged.
Lea seemed angry with us and I couldn’t quite figure out why. We weren’t noticeably drunk.
“Whatever. It’s still probably a good idea to be a little cautious. You should at least tell me next time. Did you plan to sneak away as soon as I went upstairs?”
“No, we decided to go after you went upstairs. There’s no harm done. We’ll make sure we consult you next time,” Jack snapped.
Lea shook her head and went back inside the house.
Jack and I stayed out on the porch, trying to keep ourselves awake. We talked through all the events since landing to see if we had missed anything of note, but we couldn’t think of anything new. Eventually, Jack dropped off.
I lit another cigar and smoked it slowly to help keep myself awake. I thought about Jerry’s farm and how well he seemed to be doing. Maybe he could help us get power to our house with a generator. He could be a very useful person to know in the area.
It was approaching Bernie’s shift, so I woke Jack up by shaking his shoulder.
“Time for bed. Come on. Let’s go.”
“How long have I been asleep?” Jack groaned.
“About an hour. We could both do with some rest in proper beds though, so off you go.”
I walked slowly up the stairs, and found the room Bernie was sleeping in.
“Bernie, are you okay to take watch now?” I shouted through the door.
“Yeah, give me five minutes.”
I waited in the upstairs landing until Bernie shuffled out of the bedroom.
“Did anything happen while I was asleep?”
I quickly told Bernie about Jerry’s farm. He wanted me to elaborate, but I was too tired and said I’d fill him in properly in the morning. I found an empty bedroom, stripped, jumped straight into bed, and almost immediately fell asleep.
I awoke with daylight streaming through the bedroom window and turned over to snooze. However, as I remembered last night’s events, I threw back the covers and rolled out of bed. My window had a view of the front driveway area and all seemed quiet. I pulled on the retro tracksuit and walked downstairs. Lea and Bernie were in the dining room.
“Morning, Harry. Have you had a good sleep?” Bernie beamed.
“What time is it?”
“It’s nearly eleven; we decided not to disturb you.”
I still felt a bit worse for wear, probably because of the alcohol and cigars from the previous night, but I appreciated the fact that Lea and Bernie had left me to sleep. Bernie poured me a coffee and I sat down to join them at the table, Jack came downstairs and joined us.
“Shall we drive over to Maybrook and see how Greg is getting on?” Bernie asked.
“Fine by me,” I replied, “but I need a wash first. And as long as it’s a quick visit. Jack and I have an appointment at lunchtime.”
Bernie smiled. “I heard all about that from Lea.”
Lea shook her head and screwed her face up.
“We’ll go and see Greg, then Harry and I can meet with Jerry as agreed. I’ll tell him the truth now that we’ve established a tiny bit of trust. Leave it with us, it’ll be fine,” Jack sighed.
“I suppose you two want breakfast?” Bernie replied, changing the subject.
We nodded enthusiastically and Bernie used the last of the eggs to make us each an omelette.
After we were all fed, watered, and washed, we made our way out to the SUV.
“So I guess we’re not going to the airport for our flight?” Jack joked.
Bernie laughed, “I could take you there if you like, but I’ve heard there’s a lot of delays.”
He jumped in the driver’s side, and soon we were headed towards Maybrook. We were still armed, as a precautionary measure, but I was confident we’d be able to talk our way out of any situation we were likely to come across. After all
, we were some of the only people that could partially explain the events of the last three days. The people who came around were suddenly faced with carnage, without having a clue as to what had happened.
We drove into Maybrook along Homestead Avenue, I looked for signs of life and for the address Greg had given us. Bernie pulled over and retrieved a local map he had found in our new house.
“We’re already here; there it is, on the right! Aristotle Drive,” Lea called out.
In the distance, I could see another vehicle coming towards us.
Jack must have noticed it too, because he said, “Get down!”
Bernie turned off the engine and we all ducked.
“Why are we hiding? It’s over, isn’t it?” Lea asked.
“I just want to make sure. It’s only been twenty four hours since we first suspected that the brainwashing had worn off. We don’t know the recovery rate. It might not happen at the same time for everybody,” Jack said.
He was less confident this morning without the whisky inside him.
“Jack, you’re just being paranoid,” Bernie replied. “They might drive right past and then we’ll have missed the chance to meet more survivors.”
“We’ve all the time in the world to find people. Being cautious isn’t going to hurt us, being reckless might,” I said, while thinking about the inconsistencies in behaviour we had seen.
I peeped out of my window and saw a black Range Rover approaching.
“It’s slowing down. Do you think they’ve seen us?” Bernie said.
“Has it stopped?” Lea asked.
“No, it’s turning into Aristotle Drive… There’s two people… They’ve pulled up outside the second house on the right.”
We were all watching now. Nothing happened for two minutes. Eventually, two men jumped out wearing black trousers and black sweaters. The first man who approached the door was overweight and carried a silver revolver behind his back. The other man had a long beard and crouched in front of the garage to cover the first with a rifle. The overweight man knocked on the door.
It appeared that he was having a conversation with somebody behind it. The whole picture was not too dissimilar to the way Jack and I approached Jerry’s yesterday evening. After a few minutes, the door opened. Greg appeared and offered his hand.
The man pulled the revolver from behind his back and pushed a confused Greg to the front of the garage, where the bearded man tied his arms behind his back, they both forced him to his knees.
“Let your window down slightly. Let’s see if we can hear what they are saying,” I whispered to Jack.
Bernie twisted the key to activate the electrics in the vehicle. Jack pushed the button gingerly and the window slid down an inch.
“Please, I don’t know anything. What do you want?” Greg shouted.
“Tell us the location and we’ll let you go,” the man with the revolver replied.
“What location? I haven’t found anyone alive.”
“This is your last chance. I’m giving you five seconds,” the bearded man shouted.
“Please, there’s nobody left alive, I’ve…”
The overweight man raised his revolver to Greg’s forehead and fired. A red splash appeared on the white garage door as Greg slumped backwards and lay motionless on the ground.
“What the fuck?” Bernie said in quiet amazement.
The men started to look around, presumably to see if anyone had noticed the gunshot, so we ducked back down.
“Who are they looking for? Why did they kill him?” Lea panted.
“I don’t like this one bit. They executed him,” Jack said.
The Range Rover revved its engine loudly and then sped past us in the direction of the house and Jerry’s farm.
“Why did they kill a survivor?” Bernie asked.
“I don’t know who the fuck they are, but we should go and warn Jerry. He’s the only other person alive we know in the area.” I replied.
“We’ll drive to Jerry’s now. It will just have to be a surprise that Lea and I are with you,” Bernie said, sitting up.
“No, we don’t need to panic him with this story and the fact that we lied at the same time. We can drive back home and Jack and I will just cut across the fields to get to Jerry’s farm.”
“You two stay out of sight at the house, and wait for us there. We’ll take the flare gun and fire it if we see any danger coming towards you,” Jack added.
“Shouldn’t we all stick together in case there’s any trouble?” Lea asked. “Four would be better than two if we come across those people. I am coming with you to Jerry’s.”
“No, we’ll be okay,” I replied. “You stay in the house and surprise them if they come knocking. Shoot first; ask questions later. Jack and I will go on foot to Jerry’s; we won’t bump into anyone in a vehicle that way.”
Lea carried on insisting that she should come to the farm with us, but my mind was made up.
With a plan quickly formulated, Bernie sped back to the house and parked the SUV in the back garden to keep it away from the road. I took the flare gun and made sure it was loaded. Next, I checked my Glock to make sure it was ready; Jack checked his rifle.
“We’ll keep watch from the upstairs front window,” Lea said.
She disappeared with Bernie through the back door.
Jack and I moved off quickly and went straight into the fields on the other side of the road, turning right towards Jerry’s farm. We kept low as we hurried along, jumping over fences and trying to remain hidden until we reached the outskirts of Jerry’s property.
“Let’s sneak around the far side of the barn instead of just walking in,” I said to Jack. “For all we know, the Range Rover might already be there.”
“You lead the way.”
Once we reached the back of Jerry’s barn, we slowly edged our way around the side of it to give us a view of the front of Jerry’s house. Parked outside the window we had first seen Jerry through, was the black Range Rover.
“They’re already here,” I whispered.
“Can you see any movement?”
I looked around the front edge of the barn.
“I can see some figures through the window,” I said.
“Can you see what they’re doing? Are they threatening him?”
“I don’t know, it looks like they’re just talking.”
“Shall we go in and surprise them?”
If we managed to catch them off guard, then we could disarm them at gunpoint. But if things didn’t go according to plan, and they gained the upper hand in a shootout, we would be in big trouble. The bearded man has a rifle.
“Let’s just wait. They didn’t mess about before.”
“What about Jerry?” Jack said.
“We hardly know him,” I said, surprising myself with my detachment.
We barely knew Bernie and Lea, but they were now the closest thing we had to a family. Keeping that family safe was the priority for me. If we did take on these people, then I wanted to make sure we had the upper hand.
We carried on waiting, as the conversation continued inside. Five minutes later, there was movement.
“Jack, they’re leaving the room.”
My heart was pounding against my chest now, and I felt a trickle of sweat run down the side of my face.
The two men in black left the house with Jerry and they all climbed into the Range Rover.
“Jerry didn’t look under pressure or frightened. They were all just talking, he went with them willingly,” I said to Jack, as the Range Rover pulled away.
Jack’s eyes widened. He started opening and closing his mouth, but no words were coming out.
“Spit it out, quickly.”
“We told Jerry about Greg in Maybrook last night.”
“Yeah, so what?”
“What if the fat fucker told them about him? What if they are now coming for us?”
“He knows where we are staying,” I said.
“Let’s go, now
.”
“Wait two seconds.”
I pointed the flare gun into the sky towards our house and fired. The red projectile arced through the air and I hoped that Bernie and Lea would understand the warning.
We ran as fast as our legs could carry us along the road until we saw the Range Rover. It was parked thirty yards in front of our house and seemed empty. Using the cover of the trees around the driveway, we snuck up behind it. Through the glass, we could see some figures standing roughly in front of the house. Bernie was kneeling on the edge of the lawn; the overweight man in black was pointing his revolver at the back of his head. The bearded man was pointing his rifle towards the house, and Jerry was standing next to him.
We ducked back behind the Range Rover.
“Christ, what the fuck do we do now?” Jack said.
“I’m not sure. But whatever we decide, we need to do it quickly.”
Jack nodded.
We were both squatting and breathing heavily.
“You aim for the man with the rifle,” I said hurriedly. “He’s probably the most dangerous. Can you hit him from here? At this range I could easily hit Bernie.”
“Yes. Then what?”
“Then take out the one with the revolver trained on Bernie. Hopefully, they’ll freeze.”
“Right, let’s do it now.”
We didn’t have time for any intricate planning. The situation could have escalated at any second and we had to intervene.
Jack lay down by the side of the Range Rover to make himself a smaller target for any return fire. He looked up at me.
“Ready?”
I nodded, Jack took aim and fired.
The bearded man staggered back clear of Bernie, he dropped to his knees and clutched his chest. I fired three more shots in his direction. One of them hit him in the neck, and he dropped to the ground with a gurgled scream.
Jerry and the other man spun to face us as we trained our weapons on them. Bernie tried to get up, but Jerry put his arm on Bernie’s shoulder and forced him back down saying, “Back on your fucking knees.”
The other man mouthed obscenities at us, but kept his pistol aimed at Bernie’s head.
“You said there were only two of you?” Jerry shouted.
First Activation: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller Page 15