by T A Williams
“Don’t get me wrong, Alec, if you would have just sat back and did nothing then,” she paused and her face scrunched up. Malcolm sat beside her and he clenched his jaw. “Well, I either wouldn’t be alive or I would just be a shell. What I’m trying to ask is if you are willing to take the chance that Centralia and New Hope will be wiped off the map if we fail?”
He wasn’t trying to advocate for them to fight back, he had merely been giving an opposing view point, but regardless he felt the same helpless feeling that Whitford had obviously been feeling. “I’m not, at least not yet.”
“Whitford brought up a good point, we should put up a scout on the two roads leading here. If the patrols get close they can warn us,” Freddie said.
“And then what?” Trevor asked.
“We try to lead them away,” Freddie said.
“I’ll gather some of our best riders. If we see something we can cut across the fields and get here before they get close. Even our best road is rough enough they will need to go slow in order to get here.”
They sat in silence for a few moments. Malcolm gathered himself. “Well if there is nothing else to say there is no reason for us to be sitting in here.”
Alec walked out of the house in a daze. Things looked like they were only going to get worse and there was nothing they could do. He was so lost in his own head he nearly ran smack into Mark. Bethany’s father stood before him with determination on his face.
“Do you care for my daughter?”
Alec was immediately knocked out of his haze but the only reaction he could come up with was to stand in front of the man with his mouth agape.
“I’m not dumb. I see how you look at her and I see that way she looks at you.”
Alec glanced around for reinforcements but he was all alone. He gathered himself. “I do like her…I mean care for her.”
“Do you want to protect her from harm?”
“What? Mark what are you talking about?”
“Centralia is a powder-keg just waiting to explode. One wrong move and all hell is going to break loose and don’t kid yourself this place isn’t going to be in the cross-hairs.”
“Mark, listen-“
“She’s convinced this place is safe and you know better,” Mark’s face grew red. “It’s only a matter of time before they find this place.”
“I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Alec said but he could see the words bouncing off of Mark’s ears.
“And when they find us?”
“They took two cows from Centralia. That’s it. Sure there is a chance things get worse but until they do I’m not about to start panicking!” Alec realized too late that he was shouting.
Mark’s jaw clenched but he nodded his head slowly. “My job is to protect my daughter, even if that means I have to protect her from herself. If you cared for her you wouldn’t want her in harm’s way.”
“I don’t want her in harm’s way and right now she isn’t,” Alec said as calmly as possible.
“When the shit hits the fan we are out of here.” Mark turned and walked away.
Alec stood there dumbfounded. He took a few breaths, gathered himself and walked over to the horses’ lot. The red mare he had been riding, Margie called her Sheba, saw him coming and slowly walked over. Alec smiled and laid his hand on her head and she lowered it so he could scratch by her ears. He had once been completely terrified of these creatures but now he went to them whenever he needed to calm his nerves. He wasn’t an idiot, things were probably going to get worse and when they did he would be willing to make the tough choices.
“I’m sorry.” Bethany’s voice startled him and he banged his hand against the fence. “Sorry for that too, didn’t mean to scare you.”
Alec smiled and rubbed his hand. “Me? Scared? I was just trying to swat a fly.” She smiled. Alec looked to Sheba. “Thanks for the heads up by the way.” The horse snorted.
“I’m sorry about my father,” she began again.
“There is nothing to be sorry about, he’s just trying to protect you.” Alec was saying this more to himself than to her. “I would probably do the same.”
“I’m not leaving,” she said defiantly. The sun began to set behind them and Alec watched as the horizon turned a soft pink color. Bethany followed his gaze and noticed. Her shoulders fell. “I’m not leaving this place,” she said softly.
“I don’t want you to leave either.”
Bethany turned back to him and their eyes met. With the setting sun as their backdrop they leaned into each other and their lips touched. Electricity shot through Alec’s body and every trouble and care he had was burned from his body. For a long time his eyes remained closed but when he finally opened them again she was standing there in front of him with a faraway smile on her face.
“I’m sorry,” Alec said. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
Bethany’s eyes focused and she raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t, I did.”
Alec thought back, he honestly couldn’t say for certain who had leaned in first. “I’m pretty sure I did,” he said jokingly.
“Are you really sorry?” she asked seriously.
“No,” he answered truthfully.
Bethany moved over next to him and laid her head on his shoulder. They stood there leaning against the fence and watched the sun dip below the horizon.
Ben
“I’m telling you, dude, B is cold blooded. He took out those two dudes without batting an eyelid,” Ty said to the other soldier with him.
Ben was walking ahead of them alongside Mason and Zima and pretended he couldn’t hear them. The way Ty told the story Ben was a modern day Rambo who had taken down half of the Chinese Army with nothing more than a gun with two bullets in it. Ben didn’t want to admit it but he enjoyed the way Ty told the story. It filled him with confidence while the actual thing still filled him with fear. All it would have taken was a single bullet.
“Sounds like you have a fan,” Zima whispered to Ben.
“No, sounds like someone just likes the sound of his own voice.” Ben replied.
Their encounter with the soldiers wasn’t the only one in their area and as a result their patrols had been increased. Today they found themselves just north of Central Park scouting the area and looking for any other signs of trouble. Zima and Mason were in charge while Ben, Ty and a soldier he hadn’t met yet followed along. They entered an apartment building and made their way up thirty levels of stairs in order to get a good vantage point of the area. By the time they got to the top everyone there was covered in sweat.
They posted up in a large penthouse that overlooked the area. Despite being abandoned for years the place still had a feeling of elegance.
“I probably would have ended up living here if things hadn’t changed,” Ty said nudging him.
They all sat near the windows and surveyed the surrounding area. Papers blew across the street like tumbleweeds, cars sat abandoned and rusting in the streets and Mother Nature climbed her way up the sides of buildings. It was sad and beautiful at the same time. Ben noticed a deer casually walking down the street.
“I could probably hit that from here if you guys want some venison tonight,” the new soldier said looking to Mason.
Mason’s forehead wrinkled. “We’re here scouting. That means remaining silent.”
The new soldier nodded his head. The soldier was older than Ty and Ben but was greener than the both of them combined.
“What’s your name again?” Ty asked him.
“Eric.”
“Where you from?”
“Ohio.”
Ty smiled. “Eric from Ohio. Alright, I’ll call you Ohio.”
“You don’t have to call me Ohio; my name is Eric.”
“Ohio, you don’t get to pick your own name here.”
Ohio looked to Zima and Mason for support but they pretended they didn’t hear them. He sighed and nodded his head.
The deer walked slowly down the
street but as it past a dark alleyway something lurched forward on top of it. Ohio let out a yelp from beside him. A large lion sat on top of the deer and began to feast.
“Hold the hell up….is that a freaking lion? Ohio asked.
Ty pretended like he hadn’t been watching the entire thing. “Oh that? Yeah, that’s a lion.”
“Wait, you all have lions here?”
“Yeah, we have lions here. What, you don’t have lions in Ohio?” Ty asked.
“No we don’t have lions in Ohio! There shouldn’t be freaking lions in New York!” Ohio’s voice came out in a high-pitched shrill.
“Well…..Ohio, if we don’t have lions in New York what the hell is that?” Ty asked casually.
“The Zoo.” Zima said with a smile, coming to Ohio’s rescue. “Someone released a bunch of the animals from the Zoo.”
Ben hadn’t known that but he was glad it was Ohio that had asked.
“That’s what I was saying,” Ty said.
A distant rumble interrupted them and a flock of birds in the distance took flight.
“The hell was that?” Ty asked.
Another rumble, this time it shook their building. Below them the lion abandoned the deer and fled back into the dark alleyway. In the distance rose dark streaks. They went higher and higher than began to get closer and closer. At first there were just a few, than those few became a dozen and those dozen multiplied until the sky was full of them.
“Everybody get to the ground floor now!” Mason shouted and the room erupted into chaos.
Ben watched as one of the streaks struck a skyscraper in the distance and the side of the building erupted into flames. They were missiles.
Ben jumped to his feet and fled the room. Mason, Zima, Ty and Ohio scrambled in front of him. They ran through the hallways and had begun their descent down the flight of stairs when the air was filled with the sound of explosions. Some sounded like they hit miles away while others sounded like they were coming from right outside their building. Each one caused their building to shake and tremble.
Thirtieth floor.
Twenty-fifth floor.
Fifteenth floor.
Ben’s legs screamed for a rest but he pushed through the burning sensation. His side ached but he fought to remain focused.
Tenth floor.
Seventh floor.
They were on the sixth floor when their building was struck. The entire building lurched to the left sending them all careening into the wall. They tumbled down the stairs until the wall at the bottom of the sixth floor stopped their momentum. The missile hit towards the top of the building and the sound of the explosion shot down at them and the heat from the blast washed over them like a wave.
“Get up and get out!” Mason screamed over the roar of the explosions.
They all got to their feet and stumbled down the rest of the stairs until they got to the street. Ben staggered out of the building and the first thing his eyes caught was a skyscraper six or seven blocks away. It had been hit several times as nearly the entire side was orange with flames and before he turned it began to collapse in on itself. The entire ground shook as if there was an earthquake and Ben watched in horror as the building disappeared from sight. Then a giant white wave rolled out from where the building once stood straight towards them. Ty grabbed him by the arm and Ben turned to see everyone running in the opposite direction. He ran towards them and was nearly caught up when the white wave engulfed him. It rolled over and around him until his sight was filled with nothing but white. Ty’s hand slipped away and Ben kept running until he finally tripped and landed hard on the ground. He started to look all around until his eyes began to burn and he shut them. He felt the ground continue to shake every few seconds, he heard the impact and explosions of missile strikes and his nose was filled with the smell of burning and dust. Then a pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him to his feet.
“Are you hit?” Ben opened his eyes and saw Mason standing in front of him. The man’s face was covered in the white dust. “Ben, are you hit?”
“No, I just fell.”
Mason kept hold of his arm and began to walk. The white cloud had begun to thin out revealing orange flames on the roadway and the movement of the others in a nearby alleyway. Mason led him into the alley and they stopped there. Everyone seemed ok. Ohio had a small trickle of blood coming from his hairline but it had all but stopped.
A loud shriek cut across the sky as a jet came screaming overhead. Seconds later two more passed by.
“Are those ours or theirs?” Ty asked.
“Right now it doesn’t matter!” Mason yelled. “We need to head back to base.”
As the city burned and missiles fell from the sky they jogged through the wreckage towards their base. Years ago the power had gone out in a single moment and afterwards people referred to it as The Day the World Went Black. While it wasn’t entirely accurate it did carry some truth. In the days that followed the missile strike, people gave that day a name as well: The Day We Lost the War.
Alec
Hell had broken loose.
Freddie had been in Centralia for a few days helping out with a few things and Alec hadn’t expected him back for at least another week. He had come back early, though, with news that was not good. That was why Alec now found himself on top of a creature he had just recently made peace with, doing something he had not yet made peace with, riding at full speed. He tried to relax and allow his body to stay in stride with the horse’s but he still found himself flopping about and doing everything he could to hang on for dear life. Ahead, Freddie was on another horse and was leading him through the open fields with nothing but the moonlight to illuminate their way. They finally pulled up just outside of town. Freddie hopped off and tied his horse to a post on a nearby fence, and Alec did the same.
“Hurry,” was all Freddie said before he took off towards the center of town.
Alec followed fighting the aches and pains emanating from the inside of his legs. His body still wasn’t used to riding horses. It was a minor pain but he tried to focus on that instead of the real problem. Freddie had ridden up and told them that the soldiers had arrested Whitford, and when they tried to question why the soldiers’ guns had been drawn. The balance had been broken.
He had figured they would cut through the center of town in order to get to the fairgrounds to see what they could do, but it wasn’t necessary. Torches lined the town center followed by Humvees and soldiers with their guns at the ready. The middle of the town square was filled with Whitford’s people, they were quiet and staring towards something set up at the far end. They got closer and at the far end Alec could make out the General along with his translator and his heart sunk when he made out the third man kneeling by them. It was Whitford or what was left of him. The man had been beaten to a bloody pulp. Both of his eyes were swelled shut, black and blue bruises were all over his face and dried blood covered his clothing. The Chinese were on the road just off the town square facing everyone with several Humvees lined up behind them.
“Jesus,” was all Alec could say.
“They are going to kill him,” Freddie said.
Alec ran through the center and stopped just in front of the soldiers, several of them pointed their guns in his direction.
“Please, I just want to know what he did,” Alec pleaded.
The translator stepped forward, the concern clearly written on his face. “This man is guilty of inciting unrest.”
Alec waited for more but nothing followed. “Inciting unrest? What the hell does that mean?”
The translator paused for a second then looked to the General and relayed the question. The General regarded him as Alec imagined he would regard an ant. The man’s eyes appeared bored and a look of disgust was evident.
He answered and the translator spoke. “This man was advised that we were in need of more supplies and he would be paid back more than generously but he threatened us.”
Alec looked to Whitford but the m
an didn’t move and the swelling on his face prevented Alec from making out any expressions. “What are you going to do to him?”
“He has been punished accordingly as this was his first offense. The second offense will be his life.”
“You’re monsters!” someone in the crowd yelled out.
The General looked out into the crowd and said something to the translator who said something back quickly. The shared a brief conversation and the translator’s face fell. He stepped forward and addressed the crowd.
“A great darkness has fallen over your country and we are here to help you rebuild. We will provide protection and soon supplies to help you survive.” The General said something else. “But if you try to cause disorder there will be swift punishment. Until things are back we are the law.”
There was murmuring in the crowd and then another voice rose up. “You are invaders.”
The translator did not turn to the General but Gao spoke and it was obvious he was asking what was said. The translator’s face scrunched up and he took in a deep breath and translated. The General’s face darkened and he said something else very slowly and deliberately. The translator turned around in a panic and two soldiers stepped forward and pointed their guns into the crowd. Screams rose up and Alec raised his hands above his head and stepped back.
The translator’s words came out in a fury and he stepped in front of the General with his hands together pleading with him. The General stared at him unblinking and said something to the soldiers. The translator stepped back and stumbled over his own feet onto the ground. The two soldiers redirected their weapons at the translator. The General pulled the translator up by the arm and drug him out before the crowd before he finally dropped him. The skinny man got back to his knees and laid his head on the man’s boots. The General said something but the translator shook his head no and Alec could hear the sobs coming from the man. The General turned and another soldier stepped forth and stood beside the General.