Jack pulled the rag out of Jerry’s mouth, who shouted, “They’re in Michigan, you dick.”
“So what? We can drive there.”
“You think you can get there in one piece?”
Jack grabbed Jerry’s hair, “Why don’t you tell us what’s happening, where in Michigan?”
“Fuck you.”
Jack shook his head and walked over to the water jugs.
“Harry, stretch the t-shirt over his head so it’s covering his face, and hold his head still.”
Jack poured water on the towels to make them damp, and then returned to the table, “Jerry, I am definitely going to enjoy this a lot more than you are.”
Before he could reply, I stretched the t-shirt over his face and held his head still; Jack laid the wet towels over the top and started pouring more water on top of them. Initially, Jerry was quite still. I thought he was trying to play it cool. He would quickly change his mind.
After twenty seconds of Jack pouring the water onto the towels, Jerry started to struggle wildly.
“Harry,” he said softly so Jerry wouldn’t hear, “when I pull the towels off, rip the t-shirt up, but not all the way off his head. It’s going back on pretty much straight away.”
We quickly removed the towels and t-shirt, Jerry gasped for air.
“Did you like that?” Jack asked.
Jerry didn’t get a chance to answer. As he was desperately gulping for air, Jack nodded at me. I pulled the t-shirt back over Jerry’s face and Jack laid down the towels and started pouring water again. This time it took less than ten seconds for Jerry to start struggling.
“Same again, Harry.”
We pulled off the covering again. Jerry was wild-eyed and panicking.
Jack leaned down and laughed in his face. “Third time lucky, you piece of shit.”
I nodded to Jack; it was all part of the act.
I pulled the t-shirt back over Jerry’s head, and Jack repeated his procedure. This time it was only a matter of seconds before Jerry was trying to rip off his limbs to escape. Jack nodded at me, and we revealed his face again.
“I am going to carry on doing this until you talk. Trust me, I can go for hours. Can you?” Jack said.
Oddly, I knew Jack wasn’t bluffing. Jerry had a lot of explaining to do, and we were going to use any means necessary to get information out of him. Though I hoped, I didn’t have to use the bolt cutters.
“Please… Please… No more,” Jerry spluttered.
“I bet you didn’t know we could do so much with water and linen,” Jack said.
We both looked at Jerry who was breathing heavily and staring at the roof. He didn’t seem as cocky and defiant as he had a few minutes ago.
“Talk now, Jerry, or we carry on,” I snapped.
“I’m not the only one, there’s others,” Jerry said nervously.
“No shit, do you think we believed that you masterminded everything? We heard you on the radio and took out that patrol,” Jack replied, pointing towards the direction of the road through the barn doors.
“You saw the consequences of the first activation on Friday. You can’t fight it.”
“First Activation?” I said. “Activation of what?”
“You can’t stop anything, even if you knew.”
“Harry, put the t-shirt back over this cock sucker’s face.”
I stretched it back over; Jack put the towels on again and poured the remaining water over where Jerry’s nose and mouth would be. As I clamped his head, I felt him wretch a couple of times. We unmasked him and he desperately gulped for air.
“Stop fucking around,” Jack growled at Jerry who nodded, “or next time, we’ll give you a five minute session.”
This could kill him, but what did we have to lose? Jerry had information and we had to know more. Any feelings of humanity towards him were quickly overridden by images of Bernie.
“You can’t… please…”
“Why can’t we?” I responded.
“Will you call the police? Oh, that’s right; you helped fucking kill all of them,” Jack said.
He slapped Jerry across the face.
Jerry scowled at me, so I raised the soaking t-shirt.
“No, no, wait,” he stammered. “Anthony knows more than me, he’s higher up the pecking order and knew about the first activation well before I did. I only found out on Thursday evening.”
“You knew what would happen? Do you realise what you’ve done?” I shouted.
I was struggling to keep my anger controlled at his apparent lack of guilt. It sounded like Jerry was also now trying to sell out one of his own to save himself.
“Where is Anthony? What does he know?”
“He’s lives in Hermitage, and always gets to know things before me, if you want to know what’s happening next, untie me, and I’ll take you to him. It’s just less than four hundred miles away.”
“Yeah, right, Jerry, if you didn’t want to reveal all before, you do now,” Jack replied.
Jack picked up the bolt cutters and tapped Jerry’s shoe, which seemed to give Jerry another nudge.
“The device in the corner of the barn, it’s part of the North American grid. That’s what transmitted the first activation. Don’t ask me about the technology, but it works.”
“We’ll smash it up then,” Jack said.
“It wouldn’t make a difference. The radius of each device overlaps to ensure all areas are covered if one malfunctions.”
“Where are the other devices? Do you have a map?” I said, grabbing Jerry by the ear.
“No. They’ve all been placed in position over the last few years. That one has been in my barn for two years. I know Anthony has one in his garage, he might know the other locations.”
Jack’s anger showed no signs of weakening. He was staring down at Jerry with vicious intent in his eyes.
“Who has been placing these devices? Who has the technology to create them?” I said.
Jerry laughed again.
“That’s the point you fucking retards.”
Jack swung the bolt cutters into Jerry’s forehead and his head slammed back onto the table.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist it,” Jack said, he grabbed Jerry’s chin and shook it. “He’s out cold.”
We’d have to wait to speak to Jerry again. In the meantime, we inspected the device. It didn’t appear to be anything special. It was just a shaped piece of metal that could have been seen in any trendy furniture shop. When Jack tried to push it over so we could check the bottom for markings, he couldn’t. It seemed to weigh a ton. We both grabbed the chrome pole protruding from the black box and managed to pull the whole thing over after a couple of heaves.
The only thing on the bottom of the box was a line of unrecognisable symbols.
“Do you think its code?” Jack said.
“I’ve no idea. I’m guessing whoever made this wouldn’t exactly advertise themselves on it, so maybe you’re right. Who could create such a thing?”
“I don’t know, but I am going to smash it open. We might find some names on the parts inside.”
Jack found an axe in the corner and started attacking the large, heavy, black box. I could see that he was putting all his strength behind the blows, but he struggled even to put a dent in the cover.
“Christ, it must be made of titanium,” he said.
“You keep going at that,” I replied, “I’m going to have a look around the barn.”
I left Jack chopping away as I went back to the radio. I recognised it as a HF radio because of the frequency range on the dial. This meant Jerry might not have been lying about Control being in Michigan, as distance was no object, especially during daylight hours.
Lying on the desk next to the receiver was a sheet of white paper. Jerry had been drawing childish pictures of naked women on it with a pen.
“Jack, you’ve got to see this.”
Jack stopped chopping at the black box, turned to look at me, “Genesis Alliance?”
“No, look at these pictures Jerry has been scribbling, the desperate pervert.”
As I turned the sheet of paper around to show Jack, I saw the other side.
Genesis Alliance – Voice Procedure for Operatives
The page contained basic procedures for radio conversation along the lines of what we had heard Jerry using. It was pretty standard stuff, but at least we now had a name for the people who were behind all this.
“Did you have any luck with that device?” I asked.
“No, breaking into Fort Knox would be easier.”
“Okay, let’s wake him up and find out who this organisation is.”
Jack took a bottle of water from the stockpile, opened it, and poured it over Jerry’s face.
He came around, thrashing and shouting, “No!”
“We’re not waterboarding you, yet. Who are Genesis Alliance?” I said.
Jerry’s eyes widened. “Who told you about that?”
“The sheet of paper by the radio. The one you had been scribbling dirty drawings on. Did they place the devices?”
“Maybe.”
Jack slapped him across the face.
“I mean yes. Yes, it was Genesis Alliance.”
“Why? Who are they?” Jack replied.
“You’re going to kill me. Why should I keep talking?”
“We’ll let you go if you tell us everything you know,” I said.
“Do you expect me to believe that? You’re even more stupid than you look.”
He must have realised by now that we were not joking, but whenever we gave him a short break, he slipped straight back into being an arrogant bastard.
“I guess it is time for phase two, Jerry,” Jack said before pulling the right shoe and sock off his foot.
He held the bolt cutters open by Jerry’s little toe.
“Stop,” Jerry screeched. “They activate the devices remotely. It’s done from a place just south of Detroit, called Monroe. That’s where Control is.”
Jack squeezed the bolt cutters around Jerry’s big toe, I leant close to his face, “Who are they?”
“Genesis Alliance. There’s no way you can take them out.”
“What is the distribution area of these devices?”
Jerry looked straight into my eyes.
“Global. I’ve told you, its taken years to build the network.”
I put my hands over my face and shouted, “Fuck!”
Jerry had confirmed our worst fears about the scale of these events. I looked at Jack who was repetitively shaking his head. Lea had been peeking her head through the door and was open mouthed.
I grabbed Jack by the arm and led him out of the barn. He, Lea, and I, all stood in silence for a minute, contemplating what Jerry had just said.
“What do we do now?” Jack asked.
“He’s given us two locations, should we go?” Lea replied.
I looked back into the barn.
“We need addresses. I also want to know why this is happening. He hasn’t explained that yet either.”
“Are we going to take that dick with us?” Jack replied, looking back into the barn.
“You want to bring him along?” Lea said uncertainly.
“He could be useful. We can use him to find the other locations, and possibly as bait. I think we should pay Anthony a visit, and then take it from there,” I answered.
“You flew from Detroit, didn’t you? How far is it to Monroe?” Jack asked Lea.
“It’s around six hundred miles from here,” Lea replied. “Hermitage is on the way.”
“If we’re going to both places, at least they’re in the same direction,” Jack said, “I agree with Harry, let’s see if we can get any more out of Jerry, and then go and ambush his mate.”
“That’s settled then,” I said. “Let’s get back in there and get him talking, we can decide on our Hermitage tactics based on his information.”
Happy at least to have a vague plan, Jack and I walked back into the barn. After picking up the bolt cutters again, Jack rested them on Jerry’s leg.
“You’ve two minutes to tell us all about Genesis Alliance and give us the addresses of Anthony and Control,” Jack said. “Otherwise, you can kiss goodbye to one of your toes for every minute you don’t talk.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“I assure you, we are not. Bernie is reason alone for us to do it, never mind the fact that you are partly responsible for wiping out millions, if not billions, of people. Don’t test me,” Jack replied.
He put the bolt cutters around Jerry’s big toe and squeezed. Jerry screamed as Jack drew blood.
“Stop! Fucking stop. I’ll talk.”
Jerry composed himself, “Genesis Alliance is dedicated to ensuring the survival of the human race. There are around two thousand of us.”
“Survival of the human race? You’ve got to be kidding?” I blurted.
“No, I’m deadly serious. The only way we could guarantee at least limited human survival, was to assist with the plan. Genesis Alliance has saved the human race, you just don’t realise it yet.”
Jerry didn’t appear to be lying, but I was still struggling to absorb what he was saying.
“Limited human survival? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You’ve seen the effectiveness of the technology first hand. Do you seriously think you can beat that?”
I looked at Jack who was now staring at Jerry in amazement.
“So we are being attacked?” Jack asked.
“It appears we have a genius in the barn, you didn’t think Bill Gates designed that device over there did you?” Jerry answered with a sarcastic smile.
Jack gritted his teeth and squeezed the bolt cutters around Jerry’s big toe. He screamed as blood started to run down his foot and formed a small pool on the table. I was surprised by the action but kept my feelings hidden; Jack was probably doing it for Bernie.
It was difficult to believe what Jerry was saying, but it did provide an explanation of sorts. We needed to know more.
I looked down sternly.
“So now that you know we are not bluffing, Jerry, you can keep the sarcasm to a minimum. You said that there are only two thousand of you. How was it even possible, on a global scale, to do what you did?”
Sweat was pouring down Jerry’s face, and his chest was quickly raising and lowering.
“I told you, the devices were activated remotely. Mine is a small portable one. I know that two were placed in Africa in the middle of the desert. They can cover the whole continent and back each other up in case of failure. It was the same for Australia. Some have even been built into major constructions – there’s one in the roof of the Shard in London. None of this was done overnight.”
“How did you get the devices? Who built them?”
“All I know is that the smaller ones were delivered to Michigan, and then sent out to people like me. The larger ones were constructed by a special team from Genesis Alliance.”
“You mean, they were put in position and not a single person noticed?” Jack replied.
“Who would believe an African tribesman or an Australian farmer if they said they saw a team constructing such a thing? I saw a couple of pictures of the larger devices and they are well camouflaged. It was all done right under peoples noses, they just couldn’t see it.”
“So you’ve a number of patrols here in New York, there will obviously be Genesis Alliance people in Michigan and we know about Anthony. That’s a few hundred right? How can you cover the planet with only two thousand people?” I said.
“No, it’s two thousand in America, I don’t know how many are spread around the world, there’s probably a hundred thousand for all I know.”
“What’s the timetable for all of this?”
“I’ll take you to Anthony, he’ll know more than me,” Jerry replied.
Jack started taking Jerry’s other shoe and sock off. Jerry didn’t require further prompting.
�
�Okay! I haven’t been fully briefed on the next steps yet. The key to the success of the organisation is in the drip-feeding of information. Genesis Alliance can’t afford to have hundreds of people walking around with the full timetable, so we only get told one step at a time. I have radio contact with control, but get the specifics off Anthony; he emailed me on Thursday night to tell me about Friday.”
“Email? You’re joking? How did you avoid being turned into a killer?”
“Why is that a joke? I put on a respirator and ear defenders – one of the sets that are over there. You must have been okay, because of either the altitude or the cabin pressure. I honestly don’t know, and I don’t think most members of Genesis Alliance really know either. That is why we wear both kinds of protection.”
Jerry looked in the direction of the equipment we had seen earlier in the barn. There were five of each item. Enough for all of us if we found out about any future activations and felt inclined to save him. However, I hadn’t decided yet what we would do with Jerry.
“Lea, have you been listening to this?” I shouted.
“Yes, I heard it all, but I still can’t get my head around it.”
“Same here,” Jack replied, then said to Jerry, “If this is true, you’ve just done all of their dirty work. How do you know that you’ll be left in peace? If whoever they are can quite happily destroy ninety nine percent of humanity, why would they let you off the hook?”
“Because I helped them. If this was going to happen anyway, wasn’t it better that at least some of us survived to maintain human existence?”
“Jerry, you really are an idiot,” I said. “No matter how you see it, you’ve been used. And look at what you’ve done.”
“No I haven’t, I get to live. Ron guaranteed it.”
“Who is Ron?”
Jerry didn’t say anything and closed his eyes.
“Who is Ron? Spit it out,” Jack shouted.
“Do it.” I said, gesturing towards Jerry’s foot.
I was bluffing and hoped for a quick response. Jerry opened his eyes.
“No wait. Ron leads Genesis Alliance. He is Control in Monroe. Somebody raised the same concern with him three months ago at one of our meetings. He assured us that we would live like kings.”
“I take it you haven’t seen the state of the City? How do you expect to live like kings now that all of our systems are down? Not to mention, who will be your servants? Certainly not the people lying dead all over the country.”
First Activation: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller Page 17