World War III

by Heath Jannusch

  “Are you guy’s ready?” Jesse asked, as he guided the boat towards the shore.

  “Yep,” answered Cleo, holding a rifle cradled in her arms. She had a handgun strapped to her waist, with the hand-held radio clipped to her belt.

  “I’m gonna drop the anchor here and lower the dinghy,” said Jesse.

  “Why don’t you just dock the boat?” suggested Jillian, pointing to an open spot on the beach.

  “Because I don’t want anyone trying to board us,” said Jesse. “If we drop anchor here they’ll have to swim out to us and by then we’ll see them coming.”

  “Oh,” she said, “good idea.”

  Jesse dropped the anchor and with Lex’s help, lowered the dinghy into the water.

  Lex helped Cleo down into the small dinghy and handed her the backpack. He then turned and shook Jesse’s hand. “Thanks for everything,” he said. “We shouldn’t be gone for more than a couple of hours. If my mom wakes up just tell her we went to get her some medicine and we’ll be right back. Here.” Lex handed Jesse one of the radios.

  “Keep it,” said Jesse, “the two of you might get separated. Besides, the radio below deck still works. Call us if you need anything. We’ll be on channel seven. I’ll have Jillian sit with your mother and keep an eye on the radio, while I stand watch up here.”

  “Thanks,” said Lex, before climbing down into the dinghy. He started the small motor and headed for shore, with Cleo lying at the front of the boat, her rifle held ready. Without slowing their speed, Lex drove the small rubber dinghy straight up onto the sandy beach. With Cleo’s help, he dragged the dinghy behind a cluster of bushes and quickly covered it with branches.

  With the dinghy concealed, Lex and Cleo made their way up the sandy beach, their rifles held ready. No one was in sight, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. After a few minutes of searching, they found a green sign with the words Hyde Street painted in white letters.

  “This is it,” said Cleo. “The hospital should be located on this street, a few blocks to the south.”

  Lex peered down the congested street, littered with abandoned cars and dead bodies. “I don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I,” agreed Cleo, “but what choice do we have?”

  “Stay behind me and watch our six,” advised Lex, as he turned down the street, with Cleo close behind. Walking on the sidewalk, they stayed close to the buildings lining the street, just in case they needed to dart inside of one for cover. The cluttered streets made it slow going, but at least they knew they were headed in the right direction.

  Although the city had not suffered a direct hit from a nuclear bomb, it had been evacuated and showed signs of combat. In every direction, Lex and Cleo saw abandoned vehicles, store fronts with broken windows and bodies of the forsaken dead. In several areas they found hundreds of spent shell casings, signifying that some type of battle had taken place. Pinned to one of the abandoned store fronts they found a note that read…

  Lucy,

  Your father and I left with the soldiers. We’re being taken to a FEMA camp near Oakland. If you get this note then meet us there. Whatever you do, don’t stay in the city. It’s not safe!

  We love you so much!!!

  Mom and Dad

  “That sounds like good advice,” said Lex, after reading the message. He and Cleo left the note where it was pinned and continued down the street in search of the Saint Francis Memorial Hospital. It took them over an hour to reach their destination and not once did they see a single soul. Wild animals appeared to be the only living creatures that still roamed the deserted streets.

  Arriving at the hospital, they found the double-doors shattered and shards of broken glass scattered on the ground. “Someone’s already been here,” observed Cleo.

  “Keep your eyes open,” advised Lex, as he stepped over the glass and into the hospital. Cleo followed close behind, the sound of broken glass crunching beneath her feet.

  The lobby was in disarray, with overturned tables and chairs scattered about. Patient files and medical records were littered throughout the entrance, and the stench from rotting corpses filled the air.

  “Gross!” hissed Cleo, covering her nose to protect it from the foul smell. She immediately reached into the pack strapped to Lex’s back and withdrew two face masks and two pairs of blue gloves. “Here,” she added, handing one of the sets to Lex, before pulling the mask over her face and slipping on the gloves.

  “Thanks,” said Lex, accepting the mask and gloves. “I guess these came in handy after all.”

  “Totally,” agreed Cleo, her voice slightly muffled by the mask covering her nose and mouth.

  They cautiously made their way deeper into the building, not sure what they’d find. Bullet holes covered the walls, with hundreds of shell casings scattered on the floor throughout the lobby and along the corridor. The smell of rotten flesh was so putrid that Lex felt nauseous, despite the mask covering his face. The hallway was littered with decomposing bodies, some of which had already been picked over by wild animals.

  They followed signs leading to the pharmacy, stepping over bodies along the way. When they finally rounded a corner and found the pharmacy, Lex’s heart sank in his chest. The pharmacy had already been broken into and ransacked.

  “No!”

  “Don’t worry love,” said Cleo, trying to reassure him. “There’s bound to be something left.”

  They immediately spread out and began searching through the remaining stock of medicine, picking up bottles from off the floor and scooping pills into empty containers. Most of the pain pills had already been taken, but Lex managed to find a few that had been overlooked. He was rummaging through a drawer, when he heard Cleo squeal with excitement.

  “Are you alright?” he asked, reaching for his gun.

  “I found it!” cheered Cleo, full of excitement. She turned and tossed a small bottle of pills to Lex.

  Lex caught the bottle and looked at the white label. “Penicillin,” he said, reading the label out loud. “Thank you God!!!” He dropped the bottle into his pack and said, “Let’s go!”

  “Wait,” cautioned Cleo. “Shouldn’t we take everything that we can carry while we’re here? There’s no telling what other types of medicine we may need going forward.”

  “You’re right,” agreed Lex. The two of them quickly gathered as much medicine as they could carry and then headed for the exit.

  Stepping outside into the fresh air, they immediately removed their masks and gloves. Lex took a deep breath, filling his lungs with clean air, before turning and heading back towards the beach and the dinghy. The return trip didn’t take as long and within thirty minutes the beach was in sight. Lex could see the mast of the Shooting Star floating in the distance.

  “Look, we’re almost there!” He said, turning slightly to look at Cleo.

  As Lex turned, a bullet flew passed his head and shattered the windshield of an abandoned car. The report from a rifle followed a second after. If Lex had turned just an instant later, the bullet would have blown his head off. Without hesitation, he dove behind the car that had taken the shot meant for him.

  “Cleo! Are you okay?” He shouted, crouching behind the car.

  “Yeah,” she called back. “Are you?”

  “Yes,” answered Lex. “Thank God I turned when I did!”

  “See,” teased Cleo, “it pays to have God on your side!”

  “Where’s the shooter?” asked Lex.

  “I’m not sure,” replied Cleo. “I won’t be able to tell until he takes another shot.”

  “Great!” Lex said, gripping the rifle tight in his hands and chambering a round. “Should I draw his attention?”

  “Yes, but be careful!”

  Lex glanced around and noticed the body of a teenage boy lying on the pavement next to him. Reaching over, he snatched the ball cap from off of the boy’s head. “Ready?” He asked, placing the hat on the barrel of his rifle.

  “Ready!”

  Lex lift
ed his gun so that the top of the hat popped up from behind the hood of the car. A bullet sliced through the hat and smashed into the pavement a few feet away.

  “Did it work?” Lex asked, as he lowered the gun.

  “Yeah,” said Cleo. “He’s located on top of a roof, on the southwest corner of the street.”

  “Can you get a clear shot?” asked Lex.

  Cleo peered around the corner of the building she was hiding behind, when a bullet smashed into the wall, sending fragments of concrete flying. “No,” she called out. “The bloody bastard has me pinned down!”

  Moving to the rear of the vehicle, Lex tried to get a better view of the sniper. He started to lift his head, but then ducked, as several bullets smashed into the car’s trunk, shattering a taillight. “I can’t even see him!”

  Lex looked at the open space between him and the beach, trying to judge the distance and likelihood of making a run for it without getting shot. He didn’t like his odds.

  “What are we going to do?” Cleo asked.

  The hand-held radios strapped to their belts suddenly came to life and they heard Jesse’s voice. “This is the Shooting Star calling the Stowaway, do you copy, over?”

  “Stowaway,” mumbled Lex, as he fumbled to grab the radio. “Is that the best name he could come up with?”

  Several more shots riddled the car that Lex was crouched behind, showering him with broken shards of glass. This time Lex counted the seconds between the bullets impact and the report from the rifle. Three seconds in between, which meant the sniper was about three hundred yards away.

  “Are you sure there’s only one of them?” Lex asked, as he brushed pieces of glass off his shoulder.

  “No,” admitted Cleo, “but that’s all I saw!”

  Lying amongst the shattered glass at Lex’s feet was a jagged piece of mirror, a remnant from one of the car’s side-mirrors. Using the broken mirror, Lex scanned the buildings behind him without exposing his head. A flash from the seventh floor of a bank, followed by the report of a rifle, sent another bullet smashing into the car.

  “Either he moved to the seventh floor, or there are two of them!” Lex called out.

  Cleo peeked around the corner of the building where she was hiding, as several more bullets thudded into the pavement around her. “Nope,” she said, “he’s still there!”

  “Shooting Star calling Stowaway, do you copy, over?”

  “Hello Shooting Star,” answered Lex into his radio, “this is Stowaway. We read you loud and clear, over.”

  “Are you guys alright?” asked Jesse. “We’ve been hearing gun shots, over.”

  “At least two snipers have us pinned down on Hyde Street,” replied Lex. “We can’t make it back to the beach without getting shot, over.”

  “Where are the snipers located, over?”

  “One of them is on the roof of the bank at the southwest corner of the street,” said Lex. “The other is on the seventh floor of the same building, over.”

  “Alright,” said Jesse, “hang tight. I’ve got a plan, over.”

  “Hurry,” said Lex, “it won’t take them long to figure out that one of them can keep us pinned down, while the other finds a better line of sight, over!”

  From the deck of the Shooting Star, Jesse couldn’t see the building in question nor could he see Lex or Cleo. Trees and shrubs blocked his view.

  “What are we going to do?” Jillian asked, peering through the binoculars.

  “I need my rifle from below deck,” answered Jesse, as he quickly hoisted the anchor.

  “We can’t leave them!”

  “We’re not,” said Jesse, securing the anchor and starting the engine. “I need that rifle now!”

  Jillian disappeared below deck and returned a few seconds later with a .50 caliber assault rifle cradled in her arms. “Here,” she said, handing the gun to Jesse. “It’s so heavy!”

  “Thanks,” said Jesse, steering the boat with one hand, while reaching out to accept the rifle with the other. “I need you to be my spotter.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” confessed Jillian.

  “I need you to use the binoculars to locate the snipers, while I take them out,” explained Jesse.

  When the boat was in position, Jesse killed the engine and dropped the anchor. “There,” he said, pointing to the building on the southwest corner of the street. “That’s where Lex said the snipers are located. One of them is on the roof and the other is on the seventh floor. I need you to locate them with the binoculars and keep me apprised of their movements.”

  “Okay,” said Jillian, as she scanned the building.

  Jesse sat down on the deck to stabilize the rifle. He rested the .50 caliber on his knees and peered into the scope. It only took seconds to find Lex pinned down behind an abandoned car and Cleo hiding behind a building a few feet away. “I’ve got Lex and Cleo in my sights. Any sign of the snipers?”

  “Yes,” replied Jillian. “I can see the one on the roof as clear as day. He’s located at the northeast corner of the building.”

  Using the rifle’s scope, Jesse found the building and tilted the barrel up until the sniper was in sight. “Got him,” he said. “Now, where’s the other one?”

  Jillian counted the floors from the bottom up and then scanned the seventh floor, searching for the second sniper. He was much harder to find, but after a moment she saw a flicker of movement. “There!” She said, as excited as a child on an Easter egg hunt. “I found him!”

  “Where?” asked Jesse, still watching the first sniper, who appeared to be speaking into a radio attached to his ear.

  “He moved,” said Jillian. “He’s no longer on the seventh floor. Now he’s on the third floor.”

  “The third floor?” Jesse repeated the words, as if they’d make more sense if spoken aloud. “Why would he do that? It gives him a less clear view, especially of Lex and Cleo.”

  The answer suddenly came to Jesse and his heart skipped a beat. “Get down!” He shouted, knocking Jillian to the deck, a split second before a bullet thudded into the wood where she was standing.

  “Stay down!” Jesse shouted, rolling to his belly and bringing the rifle to bear on the sniper. He found the sniper in his scope and saw a flash from the end of his barrel. A bullet struck the helm above Jesse, showering him in splinters.

  On the one hand, Jesse was grateful for the constant up and down movement of the boat because it made them moving targets and much harder to hit. But on the other hand, it also made it hard for him to make an accurate shot.

  Taking careful aim at the sniper on the third floor, Jesse filled his lungs with air. He tried to relax and allow his body to become one with the boat, as it rocked up and down. He slowly exhaled the air in his lungs, before squeezing the trigger. The powerful assault rifle leapt in his hands. Peering through the scope he saw the sniper’s body jerk from the impact, as the bullet found its target.

  “I got him!”

  “Which one?” Asked Jillian, still lying flat on her stomach.

  “The one on the third floor,” replied Jesse, already taking aim at the sniper on the roof.

  Jillian climbed to her knees and scanned the area with the binoculars. “Um, Jesse?”

  “Hold on,” said Jesse, “I’ve almost got him in my sights.”

  “Jesse!”

  “What?” He asked, looking at Jillian.

  “Look!” She said, pointing towards Lex and Cleo.

  Jesse lowered the scope and found Lex and Cleo still hiding where they were before. “What is it?” He asked, but before Jillian could reply he found the answer. At least fifty Russian soldiers were making their way north on Hyde Street, headed directly for Lex and Cleo.

  “Get on the radio and warn them!” Jesse shouted, as he took careful aim at the sniper on the roof. Unlike the other sniper, this one was better concealed and Jesse couldn’t get a clear shot unless he lifted his head.

  “Tell them that one of the snipers is dead, with the one on
the roof remaining. I need them to make a run for it, so that he lifts his head to take a shot,” advised Jesse.

  Jillian quickly did as instructed and relayed the message to Lex and Cleo. She also warned them of the approaching Russian soldiers.

  “But what if Jesse misses the shot,” replied Lex. “Then one of us might get hit, over.”

  “It’s your only choice,” said Jillian. “If you don’t make a run for it, you’ll be surrounded by enemy soldiers in a matter of minutes, over!”

  “Alright,” said Lex, “tell us when, over. Are you ready for this Cleo?”

  “Yes!” She shouted back. “When we get to the beach I’ll guard our six, while you pull the dinghy into the water.”

  “Okay,” shouted Lex.

  “On the count of three,” said Jillian. “One!”

  Lex crawled to a crouching positing with his rifle held ready and the pack full of medicine strapped to his back. Cleo checked her rifle, making sure that a round was chambered and ready to fire.

  “Two!”

  Peering through the scope on his rifle, Jesse ignored the dozens of enemy troops advancing up the street toward his friends. He instead directed all of his attention at the roof of the bank, focusing in on the sniper. The top of the sniper’s helmet slowly rose and fell in the scope’s crosshairs, as waves lifted the boat up and down.

  “Three!” Jillian shouted over the radio.

  Lex and Cleo simultaneously sprinted from their hiding places and darted towards the beach. As they emerged from cover so did the sniper, lifting his head to take a shot. The boat was rising up when the sniper’s face appeared in Jesse’s crosshairs. He squeezed the trigger and saw the sniper’s head disappear from his shoulders. The rifle fell from his lifeless hands over the side of the building, dropping over a hundred feet to the concrete below.