I grabbed the two shovels from the shed, threw one at Lea, and said, “Start digging.”
She didn’t hesitate and I slung my rifle to join her after instructing Jerry to sit.
Twenty minutes later, Jack said, “I’ll take over, you watch Jerry.”
He took my shovel and position in the developing hole and continued the work.
I looked across to Jerry who was just starting to open his mouth, “Don’t you say a fucking word, not now.”
To Lea’s credit, she didn’t complain even when we swapped again a couple of times, leaving her to dig without a break. We eventually finished, and I rolled Bernie into the grave.
I looked at Jack, he nodded, and I started to shovel the earth back in. Lea helped me and we silently filled the grave. The silence could have made Bernie’s burial quite solemn, but tension was building between the four of us and a confrontation was inevitable. I had no idea what Lea was thinking, but if her story wasn’t good enough, then she would be in for a very uncomfortable ride – perhaps in the trunk with Jerry.
“Come on, let’s get moving,” Jack said, “I don’t want to hang around here any longer.”
I could tell he was upset about Bernie, I think we all were apart from Jerry. Lea looked like she would attack him at any moment, and I was surprised she didn’t take a swing at him with the shovel.
“Right, let’s get going to Hermitage. What’s the address?” I said.
“Hogback Road, it’s not far from the highway. It’s a big place that’s set back from the road,” Jerry replied.
“You’re not leading us into a trap are you?” Jack asked.
“Do you think I am fucking telepathic?”
Jack screwed up his face, stepped towards Jerry but managed to hold himself back from whatever he was intending to do. It seemed that Jerry and Jack had quickly built up a mutual and passionate hatred of each other. It was understandable.
“He’s given us the address, we don’t need him now,” Lea said.
“We? There is no ‘we’ at the moment,” I replied. “You can sit in the front with Jack, where I can see you. I’ll take the back with Jerry.”
She rolled her eyes and slumped into the passenger seat, I got into the back with Jerry.
“There’s Sat Nav in this one,” Jack said, “Hogback Road?”
“How many times does he need to be told?” Jerry replied.
“Jerry, do you ever stop?” I said, shaking my head.
Jack fiddled with the control panel and found our destination. It registered as being just over six hours. That was definitely wishful thinking due to the state of the roads, but at least we had something to aim for. The house was near the only junction on the road, so it would be easy to find if we had to go on foot.
“Right, start talking,” I said to Lea as we pulled onto Interstate 84.
“You have to give me a chance to tell the full story before judging me, please,” she said.
“You’ve got an opportunity right now. Jerry, you can keep your mouth shut.”
“How do you know Ron?” Jack asked.
“You already know that. His niece is my partner.”
“Whatever, get to the important part.”
“That is the important part to me; I left Martina after we had an argument. I am praying that Ron has kept her alive.”
“He’s not going to kill his own niece is he?” I replied.
“I doubt it, but Ron is a bit of a funny character.”
“Come on, Lea, what do you know about all this?” Jack said.
“I met Martina two years ago. She lives with Ron because her mother died of some kind of cancer. She doesn’t know who her dad was.”
“This sounds just like a Jackie Collins novel,” Jerry spitefully chuckled.
“Jerry, this is your last chance. Any more from you and you’re spending the rest of the journey in the trunk, got it?” I said.
“Okay, I love listening to liars anyway.”
I pushed the muzzle of my rifle into Jerry’s side and he winced but remained silent.
“After we’d been together a few months, Martina scored me a job working for Genesis Alliance.”
“Doing what?” I asked.
“He needed an Administrator and Logistics Coordinator. It was easy work and paid well. Ron was a bit odd though.”
“Anyone who turns people into murdering, suicidal maniacs, is more than a bit odd,” Jack replied. “What did the job involve?”
“Ron owns a small warehouse on the edge of Monroe; he would tell me when and where the containers within it needed to be shipped. My job was to arrange a courier to ship specific units to worldwide locations, I could do it all from home.”
“So you distributed the devices around the world?” I asked.
“I didn’t know I was doing that. The description on the packing slip was always ‘Scientific Testing Equipment’, I’ve no interest in science. It was just a job. Would you question it?”
“No,” I admitted.
“There was nothing suspicious about that part. I visited the warehouse once, it had a security guard and the inside was nothing special, just lots of large boxes stacked in columns. I’m trying to think of a place where we didn’t send one of those things.”
“Fair enough, was that all you did?”
“I had to do some other general admin work. One of the tasks was looking after the company’s online banking. At first, I couldn’t believe how much money went through the account. I asked Ron about it and he told me it was normal for an import/export business to have that kind of turnover. I don’t really know much about business, so I just went with it.”
“What about Ron? What’s he like?” Jack asked.
“He’s a bit of a creepy bastard. But he kept giving me pay raises and I took lots of vacations. I didn’t want to cause trouble, as I was onto a good thing. Martina really loves him.”
“Creepy?”
“Yeah, I went away with him to one of his meetings in Florida. I didn’t attend the meeting, but he tried to book us into a double room and said it was the only one available. When I checked with reception, they had a few spare, so I took one of those. He was wasted in the hotel bar that night and tried to persuade me to go up to his room, and offered me fifty bucks to give him a back massage.”
Jerry laughed, I looked across at him.
“I didn’t say a word,” he smirked.
“Carry on, Lea, how did you meet Jerry?” Jack said.
“It’s pretty much like he said. Ron took me to a few meetings; one was at Jerry’s barn. Martina came down with me and we had a weekend in Manhattan afterwards.”
“Why did he take you to meetings?” I replied.
“I took bank details from people after the meetings and set-up payments to them through the company account. Jerry’s account received thousands of dollars from Genesis Alliance. He was one of the people I met who stuck in my mind.”
“I can understand that,” Jack nodded.
“So how many were on the payroll?” I asked.
“I can’t remember, maybe a few hundred. I tried to keep clear of Ron after what happened in Florida, that’s why I tried to get Martina along. It was difficult; she covered Latin America, so she was often on trips abroad. It started to put a strain on our relationship.”
“Do you think she knew more about this? Did you tell her about Ron?”
“We didn’t really talk about work; I found it all pretty boring. She might know more, as Ron and her are close. I was scared that if I told Martina about him, she’d dump me. She worships Ron and if I made it a choice between him or me…”
“Was there anything else? Thinking back can you think of anything suspicious?” Jack replied.
“No, that’s just about it. If you were in my shoes, would you have guessed what was going to happen?”
“I’ve no idea, probably not. So how did you end up on a flight to New York? I’m surprised Martina would let you go if she had any feelings for you.�
��
“I had a massive argument with her on Thursday night. Ron had planned a company party somewhere out of town, I refused to go and she went crazy. I was in a bit of a state and booked a New York flight to go and see a friend for the weekend. I needed a shoulder to cry on. Martina called me on Friday morning and was really pissed. I was already at the airport by then.”
“What did she say?” I asked.
“She wanted me to go straight to Ron’s house. She said I was letting down the company at an important time and they needed me back in Monroe. I hung up and switched off my mobile.”
“It sounds to me like she knew what was going to happen.”
“I don’t want to believe that yet. When the plane landed and I saw what was happening, I didn’t connect any of it with Genesis Alliance. I had shipped boxes and set up some payments. Would you get suspicious off the back of that?”
“I suppose not,” Jack replied.
“I was going to try and find my friend in Manhattan; I hoped that he could help me. That’s why I joined the group on their trek into the city. But in the apartment, I decided my friend was probably dead.”
“Did you hear from Martina?”
“I received two direct messages from her on twitter. She told me in the first not to tweet anything about G.A and asked me to stay indoors for the next seventy-two hours. That’s when I first started to become suspicious. I replied asking what was going on. The second message told me not to answer the door to anyone and keep it locked.”
“She sounds like she definitely knew what was going on,” I replied.
“You don’t know that, she might have asked Ron after it all started.”
“Yeah right. Come on, Lea, you’re blinded by love. What happened next?”
She shook her head.
“This is where you guys came in. After Chris was killed, and you turned up at the parking lot, I thought you might have been one of them. I needed help to get to Jerry’s farm. If Genesis Alliance had anything to do with what was happening, I thought he might have some answers, it was the closest meeting place to Bernie’s I could remember. I still didn’t believe it though. I also wanted to get back to Martina.”
“So you used us?” Jack said.
“We all wanted to leave. All three of us are finding out what’s happening, right?”
“It was four of us.”
“I’m just as upset about Bernie as you are. Give me a fucking break.”
“Hold on, why didn’t you go straight to the farm when we arrived in Orange County?” I asked.
“I planned to sneak out and confront Jerry if he was still alive.”
“When?”
“I was making my way out the first night, but you two were outside chatting. You weren’t leaving the front of the house any time soon and started giving me whisky. I watched you leave the house from the upstairs window and started to get nervous. I was relieved to see you both made it back in one piece. When you told me Jerry was alive, I wanted to sneak away the next morning, but Bernie wouldn’t go to bed after his shift.”
“Why didn’t you tell us any of this?” Jack replied.
“I was convincing myself that Genesis Alliance had nothing to with it. It would mean that I played a part if it was true. When Jerry attacked the house and Bernie was killed, I couldn’t deny it to myself anymore.”
Lea leaned back in her seat, put both of her hands on her head and closed her eyes.
Jerry started slowly clapping his feet.
“Ten out of ten for acting, what a crock of shit.”
I ignored him and thought about what we had just been told.
If the whole story was true, and it was certainly plausible, then I could understand Lea’s actions. Most people had ignored an inconvenient truth or two before, especially if it meant having an easier life. Perhaps not ignoring something as big as the plans of Genesis Alliance, but who was I to judge? After mulling it over, I was satisfied with most of what Lea said, but was still annoyed with her for all the lies. As far as I was concerned, we had a bigger fish to fry in Hermitage and needed to stay together as a team.
“So what do you think?” I said to Jack.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” he replied.
He didn’t sound too upset, so I guessed he was probably thinking the same as me.
Trapped in a moving vehicle together with Jerry and Lea, we couldn’t openly discuss our thoughts, so I tapped Lea on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it. I can understand why you did what you did. None of us have any secrets anymore. Let’s just move on and make sure we take care of business.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about Bernie, either,” Jack said. “You didn’t know it was going to happen. We’ve all made mistakes since Friday.”
“Thank God. I knew you’d understand once I’d explained.”
“You guys really are stupid. She won’t let you screw her you know?”
“Jack, pull over, I’ve had enough of him,” I snapped.
“What are you going to do?” Jerry nervously muttered.
“I’m going to gag you; you’ve had plenty of warnings.”
“I promise, I won’t say another word. Don’t you think I’ve had enough?”
The Range Rover stopped.
I opened up the back of the vehicle and took out a folded bed sheet from the corner, and then cut a long piece from the edge. Jack held Jerry’s shoulders firmly against the seat as I tied it around his head, covering his mouth.
Jerry gave a muffled shout; probably an insult but the gag had done its job. Jack climbed back into the driver’s seat and we pulled away.
Jack looked across to Lea.
“So, what do you know about Hermitage? Did you go to a meeting at Hogback Road?”
“I knew about the place because I sent a couple of boxes there, but I never visited. Anthony might be part of Ron’s management team; I think he came along to the team-building day at the Splash Universe a few months ago.”
“Splash Universe?”
“It’s a waterpark.”
“Jesus. A team-building day at a waterpark to organise the end of the world?”
“No, it was an attached hotel that was part of the complex. We had a weekend there and I didn’t hear any talk of killing people. Looking back it feels a bit ridiculous, but at the time, it was just a company event. That’s how Ron ran things, he’s normally pretty casual, but only if you play by his rules.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I only saw a couple of people cross him during the last two years. And I mean, just disagree with him over minor detail, and they’d be fired.”
“Being fired from Genesis Alliance isn’t the worst thing in the world,” Jack said.
“I said fired because that’s what I thought, nobody ever saw them again.”
“What do you remember about Anthony?” I said.
Jerry moaned furiously for a few seconds, we all ignored him.
“I didn’t really talk to him. He was in Ron’s huddle at the bar most of the time. He kind of looks like Larry David, have you seen him on TV?”
“The skinny, bald guy with glasses?” Jack replied.
“Yeah, that’s him, he never really acknowledged me, but that suited both of us. I used to laugh with Martina about all of Ron’s freaky associates.”
We were starting to build a small picture of Genesis Alliance, although it still didn’t make sense. To find out more about Anthony, we’d have to get Jerry talking again. A task that would be difficult to manage when he seemed to thrive on insulting Lea and winding up Jack.
The satellite navigation system chose a route that would keep us on Interstate Highways all the way to Hermitage. Killers were seemingly no longer a problem, so the main obstacles were stationary vehicles and other debris that lay on various parts of the road. The smell of decomposition filled the air in waves, but became almost unbearable as we approached Scranton. We decided to keep the windows rolled up and jus
t use the air conditioning.
As we picked up Interstate 81 away from the city, the highway ahead was blocked with a demolition derby style pile-up. Jack turned the Range Rover around and took us back to the previous exit, there was no chance now of a head on collision. Daylight had completely vanished and the vehicle lights were on full beam.
The Sat Nav automatically recalculated our route and we ended up looping around on the Pennsylvania turnpike and joined Interstate 81 again just past Dupont.
“Jack, are you still okay driving? Shall we stop for the night?” Lea asked.
“No, I’m fine. I grabbed some decent sleep last night, so I can go for another few hours at least.”
“I’m alright as well, you and Bernie let us stay in bed, remember?”
Despite what I told Lea, I was beginning to feel tired. The adrenalin for the last few days was ebbing away and concentrating on the road at night was hard, I could only imagine what it was like for Jack at the wheel. But Lea and Jerry were still a concern. Lea’s story was believable, but being linked to Genesis Alliance and Ron’s niece, made me question what decisions she might take. If it came to Jack and me, or Genesis Alliance and Martina, I still wasn’t sure which way she’d go. Jerry was a snake, but we needed him, he knew Hermitage and probably a lot more.
We joined Interstate 80 and I hoped there would be no major blockages from here to Hermitage.
“Pull in at the next station, Jack, we can get some cigarettes, Red Bull and maybe some food,” I said.
“Sounds good to me,” Jack replied, “although the last two we’ve seen have been smouldering ruins.”
Half an hour later, I saw a sign indicating a station one mile ahead.
This was going to take some planning. Jerry couldn’t be left on his own, and neither could Lea, we still couldn’t trust her one hundred percent, but we were nearly there.
“Jack, pull over.”
I decided on a plan and briefed the group.
“Jerry, I’m going to tie your legs together, you’re staying in here. Jack, you take Lea, go into the store, and grab as much stuff as you can. See if you can find a tube so we can syphon petrol and a flash light, use your imagination. I’ll have a look around outside to see if I can find anything.”
First Activation: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller Page 19