First Activation: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller

by D. A. Wearmouth

  Jack and Lea nodded.

  We walked off the highway, crossed another minor road, and started hiking through the long clearing, below the overhead wires. I heard a rumble of thunder in the distance.

  As we reached a bend, I paused and raised my hand, Jack and Lea stopped behind me. I edged forward and could see the road about half a mile ahead of us.

  “Through the trees from here guys.”

  The breeze through the trees was creating a light background noise; this enabled us to move quite quickly without fear of being heard from a distance.

  A twig snapped behind me on the ground, I turned to look, Lea had paused.

  “It’s not a landmine, keep moving,” Jack whispered from behind her.

  A few minutes later, I could see the road ahead through the trees. I crouched down and crept closer, ducking between the trees as I went. The junction was about forty yards to our right, according to Jerry’s directions; the house was just beyond it. I could see where the tree line stopped, so he was probably telling the truth, at least about a property being there. I wondered if he would be making his way here to warn Anthony and set-up a trap for us.

  I waved Jack and Lea forward.

  “I think that’s the entrance to the place over there.”

  “It’s quiet, let’s go over and have a look through the trees on the other side of the road,” Jack said.

  I nodded and led the way, running in a low position diagonally over the road, and into the trees on the other side of the junction. We slowed our pace and crept towards our destination. After two minutes, we reached the edge of a property.

  I looked through a gap and saw a two-storey rectangular house, brick built with timber boarding around the first floor, set back a hundred yards from the road. To the left hand side, a gravel drive overgrown with grass led to a double garage. Parked forty yards in front of it was a black Range Rover. I looked to my left where the cover went far enough along the side of the property for Jack and Lea to carry out the flanking move.

  We crouched in a huddle.

  “We’ll stick with the plan. You get into position, and then I’ll walk casually over and see what happens, I don’t plan on getting too close and will try to keep the Range Rover between myself and the house. If there’s no sight of him, then we move in from different directions.”

  “Right. If the shit hits the fan, we’ll R.V back at the Chevy,” Jack said.

  “R.V?” Lea asked.

  “Rendezvous, meet back there. Harry, give us five minutes to get there and find a decent angle to attack.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Cheers, same to you.”

  Jack and Lea disappeared amongst the trees and I waited.

  I watched the second hand rotate around my watch five times, stood, and walked back to the road. I tried to look as casual as possible, appearing in front of the property, stopping and looking towards the house.

  I started wandering down the driveway, trying to look through windows but could only see reflections. I looked over towards the garage as Jack and Lea crept from the trees, and stood with their backs against the wall, out of view from the house.

  I pulled out a bag of nachos, opened it, and started eating. If I was being watched, the bait wasn’t being taken yet, so I decided to provoke a reaction. I walked to the Range Rover, still putting nachos in my mouth at regular intervals and started looking through the windows; the keys were in the ignition. I pulled open the driver’s door and heard the house door open behind me.

  “Stop right there. Put your hands up.”

  I pretended to drop the bag of nachos in surprise, slipped the bag off my wrist, and placed it sideways on the ground next to me. I raised my arms and turned around. During the turn, I glanced over at the garage, Jack held his thumb up and started to edge backwards.

  “Don’t shoot. I’m just trying to find other people.”

  Lea’s comparison of Anthony to Larry David was a good one. He had an AR-15 on his shoulder, looking through the sights directly at me. He moved forwards slowly.

  “Finding people or taking their wheels?”

  “You’re only the third person I’ve met who isn’t dead. I’ve a car a mile down the road. I was just looking to see if I could find a radio, anything.”

  “And before Monday? What were you doing?”

  “I’ve no idea what day it is. One minute, I was on holiday at the Great Lakes, the next, I’m on the side of a highway with dead people everywhere. I’m not from around here.”

  I was thinking on my feet, hoping he’d swallow my story. He lowered the rifle slightly and looked over the sights.

  “I can tell you’re not. Who were these other two people?”

  Over his shoulder, I saw Jack move across to the left wall of the house, he was close enough now to take Anthony out. I could pretend to duck and tie my lace, giving Jack a clear torso shot. He was cornered; it was now just a case of choosing the right time to strike.

  “Have you been out and seen anything? It’s crazy out there.”

  “Who were these other two, answer me.”

  “A couple heading to New York, they didn’t know what was happening either. They thought it might a dirty bomb attack or something.”

  “Why didn’t you go with them? Why did you come here?”

  “They were on a motorbike; they said it was easier to travel that way. I’ve been to a few houses around here… What’s with all the questions anyway?”

  I had previously toyed with the idea of a motorbike, but dismissed it as being too unsafe on roads filled with debris, and the potential of killers being around. A car was a much safer option.

  “You can’t stay here, I can’t help you.”

  I tried to look offended and picked up my bag. He slung his rifle by his side and started walking back to the house. I glanced across; Jack was hidden behind the wall.

  “Hold on, can you help me with directions? I’ll just get my map,” I said.

  Anthony turned back, shrugged his shoulders, and appeared bored. He looked up after a rumble of distant thunder.

  During his brief moment of distraction, I pulled the Beretta out and pointed at his face in a single movement.

  “Hello, Anthony.”

  His eyes widened and he took a couple of steps back, grasping the rifle with his right hand.

  Jack appeared to his left and shouted, “One more false move and you’re dead, your turn to reach for the sky.”

  He held up his hands, “You’ve got this all wrong, that’s not my name.”

  “The AR-15, the black Range Rover, the questions? Fuck off. You’re Anthony from Genesis Alliance,” I replied.

  Lea ran up and stood behind him. He jerked his head to one side as he heard her footsteps approach, but kept his eyes on me.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about; I’m just a regular guy who got through all of this by staying inside.”

  “Is there anybody else in the house?” Jack said.

  “No.”

  “Put your hands behind your back and kneel.”

  He complied; I could see his hands shaking.

  “There’s someone you might like to meet,” I said.

  He nervously looked at me. Lea walked around and faced him at my side.

  “Oh shit,” he gasped.

  “That’s him, that’s Anthony.”

  Jack walked towards Anthony and smashed him in the face with the butt of his rifle. He fell and lay moaning on the ground.

  “Who are you? What do you want?”

  “You’re going to find out soon enough. Tie him up, Jack,” I said.

  Jack bound his wrists together and pulled him up to his feet.

  “Where shall we do this?” Jack said.

  “That garage. That’s where Jerry said he had a device, so we might find more things in there,” I replied.

  “The fucking lizard. I knew it,” Anthony screamed, saliva sprayed from his mouth.

  “You need to talk, Anthony, these gu
ys are serious,” Lea said.

  “Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?”

  “Oh, come on, why do you think we are doing this?” Jack replied as he marched Anthony to the garage.

  I swung open one of the large double doors and looked inside. In the far corner was a device, the same size as the one in Jerry’s barn. Along one side were typical garage contents, a mower, a hoe, a barbeque on wheels. On the other side, were stocks of food, water, and a desk at the end of the room. I walked over to the desk and found an impressive looking hunting knife and a Ruger LCR placed neatly on the right hand side. I checked the cylinder of the Ruger and it was fully loaded with five rounds.

  “Jack, I’ve got us a pocket-pistol.”

  “Nice one. I’ll take that.”

  I placed both weapons in my bag, and then looked at a whiteboard hanging above the desk. Spidery writing in marker-pen was scrawled across it, but the codes and writing didn’t seem to mean anything. It would be easier to make Anthony talk, than attempting to make sense of his writing.

  “Sit him down, Jack.” I said.

  Jack pulled Anthony down by his shoulders and he dropped to his knees. Anthony looked across to Lea.

  “Get these two to back-off and I’ll sort this out with Ron.”

  Lea shook her head and took a step back.

  “Just to let you know up-front, we water boarded Jerry, and cut his toes off with a pair of bolt-cutters to get him to talk. Don’t even think about wasting our time,” I said.

  He didn’t know that Jerry still had all of his extremities attached and only suffered minor wounds.

  “Are you going to kill me?”

  “We’re not murderers like you. Tell us the Genesis Alliance plan or we move to stage one,” Jack replied.

  “I can’t, he’ll…”

  Anthony closed his eyes and rapidly nodded his head.

  “If that’s how you want to play it,” Jack replied.

  He reached into my backpack and pulled out the can of pepper spray.

  “Any plastic bags around here?” Jack said.

  Lea found one full of seeds, emptied it, and handed it to Jack. He walked around to the back of Anthony.

  “Last chance, tell us about Genesis Alliance,” he said.

  “I can’t, please you must understand.”

  Jack sprayed the can across the front of Anthony’s face, and then covered his head with the plastic bag, holding it airtight around his neck. Anthony bucked violently and sucked all the air out of the bag, causing it to tighten around his face. After twenty seconds, Jack released him and he collapsed on the floor gasping for oxygen.

  As he looked up in fear with bloodshot, streaming eyes, Jack picked up a roll of masking tape from the garage floor and held it up.

  “I’ll tie his legs together, Harry, you take his shoe and sock off.”

  “What do you want to know? I’ll talk.”

  Anthony cracked a lot quicker than Jerry. I positioned myself in front of him and leaned down.

  “What’s going to happen next, is there going to be another one of those activations?”

  “Yes, tomorrow, but I can help you. Get me that-”

  “Tomorrow? What time?” Jack snapped.

  “Eleven in the morning, I only found out yesterday.”

  “I don’t give a shit when you found out. Is it triggered by Ron in Monroe?”

  “Yes, did Jerry tell you that?”

  He looked at Lea suspiciously.

  “Don’t look at her, look at me. You said you can help, how?” I replied.

  “I can neutralise you, it’s a simple procedure, trust me.”

  “Trust you? As if we would let you carry out any procedure on us. What about the next activation, and the one after that? We’ll never know when it ends,” Jack said.

  “It’s a one-time procedure. Over there, in the corner, the cattle prod. Just zap yourselves on the head, it works.”

  “Christ, you must think we’re all stupid.”

  Anthony shook his head.

  Jack was right, Anthony’s suggestion seemed ridiculous. We had found out that another activation was on its way and I couldn’t put my faith in him to help us avoid the consequences. He may have not been as openly offensive as Jerry, but I had to keep in mind what these people had done. I rubbed my eyes as I thought of what would happen to us, and any other survivor if we were hit with another activation. I turned to Lea.

  “How far is Monroe from here?”

  “About two hundred miles. We’d easily make it.”

  I looked at Jack who nodded.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I said.

  “Yeah, we need to deal with the organ grinder, not his monkeys. There’s no point wasting our time here with him.”

  “I can help you. Seriously,” Anthony protested.

  “Jack, tape his legs up.”

  He nodded, pushed Anthony forward, and pulled his legs together.

  “Lea, grab that masking tape and wrap it around his ankles and knees,” Jack said.

  “What are you going to do with me?”

  As both of them secured Anthony, I found two dog bowls amongst the clutter along the left hand side of the garage. I filled one of them with three cans of peaches and poured two bottles of water into the other.

  “I’ll give you a clue; we’re not taking you to Splash Universe,” I said.

  I headed out of the garage and over to the Range Rover, placing the dog bowls on the back seat.

  “Make sure he’s secured and put him in the back,” I said.

  Jack and Lea heaved him into the Range Rover as Anthony pleaded for mercy. I opened the driver’s side, took the keys, stabbed each tyre, and then opened the rear door by Anthony’s head.

  “We’re leaving you with some food and water. If we don’t manage to stop the activation, at least the food will keep you going until somebody turns up and kills you.”

  “You can’t leave me like this, please.”

  “Yes we can,” Jack replied.

  “You’ll be digging your own graves.”

  I ignored Anthony, slammed the door closed, and then passed Jack the Ruger from my bag.

  “Cheers, I’ve always wanted one of these.”

  Anthony shouted from inside the Range Rover for help but we ignored him. It had started to rain, so we all jogged back to the garage.

  “Let’s search the garage and house, if you find anything of use, then bring it out to the front. We need to find and disable any comms equipment,” I said.

  I headed into the house with Lea, leaving Jack in the garage. The door opened easily and I motioned for Lea to search upstairs. The lounge area had a stone effect fireplace along one wall, some couches, and a bookcase. I leafed through the bookcase pulling out random books and shaking them for any hidden papers. It felt like a waste of time, so I pulled over the bookcase and kicked around the debris with my foot, but found nothing of interest. The kitchen was sparse and clean, I couldn’t find anything to help us other than the sealed food, which would come in handy for brunch. The dining room on the other side of the staircase contained a table and six chairs, there were pictures on the wall of interest and I took down a framed photo of a fishing group. In the centre, was a man holding up a large fish, the brass plate on the timber frame read ‘Ron’s catch of the day.’ Interesting, I thought and tucked it under my arm. I kicked over a bureau and rifled through it, but found nothing else. I walked to the door as Lea came down the stairs shaking her head.

  “Only the usual kind of stuff up there.”

  Outside, Jack was still making noise in the garage, I approached to see him hammering away at the activation device.

  “Leave it, Jack.”

  He turned with sweat pouring down his forehead, surrounded by a mess of garage contents, now smashed in pieces.

  “Let’s torch it. For all we know, there are weapons, radios, anything hidden. I’ve found a radio but these fuckers are slippery,” Jack said.
r />   It made sense; Jack threw me a box of safety matches.

  I picked up the lawnmower, opened the fuel tank, and emptied it onto the garage floor. Inside the house, I opened the gas supply to the stove in the kitchen, set fire to the curtains in the dining room, and walked out. We regrouped at the garage. I lit a match and tossed it onto the fuel that had been spread around.

  Lea had been quiet and looked uncomfortable. I considered this was probably because she thought our techniques for gaining information were questionable. To me, they were completely justified considering the circumstances.

  We jogged back to the trees opposite the house and headed back down the highway.

  “What’s that under your arm?” Jack asked.

  “Let’s get to the car, and I’ll show you.”

  We slowed towards the road and edged round to check all angles for movement before getting back into the Chevy.

  I passed the picture to Jack who took the back seat.

  As I pulled away, a huge explosion sounded in the distance and a thick black cloud was visible above the trees.

  “So this is Ron?” Jack called from the back seat and passed the picture to Lea.

  “Yeah, that’s him.”

  “Anyone else on there you know, apart from Anthony and Ron?” I said.

  “That’s Martina on the left.”

  She pressed her finger against the glass and kept it there for a few moments.

  “So you think she’s still innocent?” I said, raising my eyebrows.

  “What if you saw a picture of me with those guys at the team building? Would that make me guilty?”

  “You have to admit…”

  “So, we’re really going? I’m surprised you didn’t ask Anthony more questions,” Lea said, changing the subject.

  “Yes, we’re going. We can’t waste any time. It might only be two hundred miles, but we don’t know the state of the roads or how many detours we might have to make,” I replied.

  “What’s your plan for Ron?”

  Jack popped his head between the seats.

  “He’ll see.”

  We were now in Ohio after travelling in silence for an hour, picking our way along the highway at a reasonable pace, I think we were all contemplating our next showdown. Sometime later, as we passed by Cleveland, the obstacles on the road started to increase. We had slowed significantly and had to keep stopping to move obstructions from the road, or to swap to other vehicles beyond them. It was time consuming, but we’d left ourselves a generous buffer.