The After Days Trilogy

by Scott Medbury

  I swiped myself in and ran to the grill, grabbing a chair on the way. Even standing on the chair, the grill of the vent was still a bit higher than face level.

  “Luke,” I called. Nothing. What is taking him so long?

  I called once more and when I didn’t get a response I stepped down from the chair. I started to panic. I had finally begun to think things might be going our way, but Luke had been gone for hours now. What if he’d been discovered and locked up like Sonny? I went to the shape under the blankets of Luke’s bunk and felt it just in case he was under there. He wasn’t. Anxiety and frustration erupted in me and I kicked out blindly at the chair that I had just placed back under the table. It flew into the wall under the vent.

  It was then I heard a cluttering sliding sound from the vent.

  “Luke?!”

  I dashed over and grabbed the upended chair and positioned it under the vent. I climbed up and strained to see into the duct. I could hear panting and scraping and a few seconds later I saw the pale face of my friend under a sheen of dirt and sweat pressed up against the grill. His appearance shocked me, his long curly hair had been hacked off crudely. For a moment I was puzzled then I remembered the hair on his pillow mock-up.

  I looked around frantically for the knife to undo the screws.

  “Under Ben’s pillow,” his hollow voice echoed from above me.

  I snatched it from its hiding place, jumped back up and began working on the screws. I hurriedly put them in my pockets as I unscrewed them and cursed when I inevitably dropped one. I left it, worried by Luke’s lack of communication. I finally pulled the grill off and jumped down, propping it against the wall. I quickly retrieved the dropped screw before climbing back up to help Luke crawl out of the duct.

  Under the dirt and sweat, there was something about his demeanor that gave me a sick feeling in my stomach. Haunted is probably the best word I can use to describe it.

  Shirtless, and wearing only a pair of black briefs, Luke began to squeeze headfirst out of the vent. I jumped down from the chair and waited for him to emerge far enough for me to grab his shoulders. I barely had a hold on him when his sweaty semi-naked body fell onto me and we both went down in a heap. It wasn’t pretty but I managed to break his fall. At any other time, we might have laughed, but I could tell something was seriously wrong.

  Now that I could see all of him, he looked a sight. Apart from his briefs, the only item of clothing he wore were his rubber soled, facility issue shoes. He was filthy with dust and the bandage on his wound was soaked with blood. I helped him to his feet and he promptly swooned, falling against me. I held him up and walked him over to the bunk.

  “I’m alright…” he gasped, as he sat down and caught his breath. I passed him a cup of water that was sitting on the table beside his bunk. He guzzled it down and then coughed.

  I waited patiently. After a few seconds he looked up at me with haunted eyes.

  “Sonny’s dead.”

  The lights suddenly went out and a shrill alarm sounded.

  20

  “What?”

  I heard what he had said, but asking the question was like a dumb reflex. In the dim emergency lighting, I saw tears streaming down his face.

  “He’s dead!” he yelled over the incessant beeping. “It’s why I took so long…I…got there just before. He was sick, real sick…and that freak just fucking killed him in cold blood.”

  “No, it can’t be,” I choked. “I only just saw him a few days ago.”

  I felt so many things right then that I didn’t know how to think. Rage, grief and regret hit me like a tsunami and red clouded my vision. Through the fog I saw that Luke was holding his head in his hands.

  “That alarm will be for me. I couldn’t stop them…I wanted to but I saw that he was already gone before…before…anyway, they heard me in the vent.”

  “Who was it?” I asked in a cold voice, already knowing the answer.

  “The guy you talked about, the short nerdy one.”

  A coldness suddenly replaced all the fiery emotions I was feeling.

  “Did they see you?”

  “No,” he shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Wipe your face and body and get under your covers,” I ordered.

  The hard edge of my voice seemed to cut through the emotions Luke was feeling too and he was already wiping his face as I snatched up the grill and put it into place before efficiently securing it. I jumped down when I was finished and threw him the knife. I had no more time to waste, I headed to the door.

  “Pretend you’re asleep and play dumb if they come to question you.”

  I headed out the door and began to run back towards the cafeteria when a voice behind me called my name. It was Bowman.

  “Isaac! Where have you been? What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I was just visiting Luke to make sure he was okay when the alarms started going off.”

  No sooner had I said the words than the alarm was silenced and the normal lighting came back on. My relief at the termination of the high-pitched alarm was short lived as we heard shouting and the sound of running feet coming towards us from the direction of the Square.

  Bowman, obviously unsure of what was happening, drew his pistol and I followed suit. I noticed his hands trembling slightly and prayed he didn’t shoot on sight. When Ragg burst around the corner and pulled to a sharp stop I suddenly changed that prayer. His eyes fell on me immediately. A second later, he didn’t even flinch as Williams and another Homeland guard rounded the corner, just about crashing into him. They both put their hands to their weapons when they saw us and Bowman raised one hand, and carefully put his sidearm away.

  Ragg’s eyes still burned into mine and I thought briefly of shooting him between the eyes before I too holstered mine. The two Homeland guys relaxed.

  “What’s going on?” Bowman asked.

  Williams shrugged and looked to Ragg, who didn’t answer. He simply regarded me a few seconds longer and then, without a word, pushed between us and stalked up the corridor. We all followed, me with a sinking feeling in my gut. I knew where he was heading.

  Less than a minute later we arrived at the door to Luke’s dormitory. Ragg swiped his card and pushed through the door without pausing. He was followed by Williams and the other Homeland guard. Both of the uniformed men had drawn their weapons, and I followed suit. I was prepared to shoot any or all of them in the back to protect Luke.

  Ragg paused, his head moving this way and that, appearing to take in every detail of the room. It was funny, despite the Homeland officers being armed, I thought the unarmed Ragg with his compact, deliberate movements looked by far the most dangerous of the three men. He didn’t pause long before he stalked to Luke’s bed and reefed the covers down off his face.

  “Wharrr?” Luke blinked into the light.

  Still wearing only his briefs, he looked vulnerable and angry all at the same time. It was his turn under the microscope of Ragg’s scrutiny, but he didn’t shrink from it. “What the fuck asshole? I’m trying to sleep!” he spat venomously and slapped at the man’s hand.

  Luke’s hand found only air as Ragg snatched his wrist, viciously twisting it and jamming it into the mattress. Luke groaned, turning onto his side to alleviate the pain. I pushed between Williams and his buddy and holstered my gun, pulling out my Taser as I rushed the bow tied bastard.

  He must have heard me coming, and twisted sharply to face me. This time Luke screamed in agony as his arm was pulled viciously up behind his back. The sound stopped me in my tracks even as I waved my Taser back and forth in front of me, the blue electricity arcing between the electrodes.

  We faced off. The determined look on his face almost inviting me to do my worst…welcoming it. I knew he would try and disable Luke before dealing with me and I had to strike before he did. I saw him tense and…

  “Ragg!”

  Sonny’s killer froze and looked past me.

  “Release the boy
.”

  I saw a flash of something that could have been frustrated fury in Ragg’s cold eyes. I didn’t relax until he released his grip on Luke’s wrist. Once I was sure he wasn’t going to act, I turned slowly. Ragg stood up and adjusted his bow tie beside me as though nothing had happened.

  “Asshole…” breathed Luke.

  The Professor stood behind Williams and I felt flames of anger licking at me when I set eyes upon his condescending face. I know what you’ve done. While Ragg may have been the one who had killed Sonny, it was this man who had facilitated it and I wanted to hurt him more badly than I had ever wanted to hurt anyone. It would have to wait though, for now I had to pretend that I didn’t know anything about what had happened.

  “Sorry for the interruption boys, we’re a little on edge, someone breached our security a little while ago. How long have you been in this room?”

  He was asking both of us, the adrenalin coursing through my system made it difficult for me to come up with an immediate answer and I was glad when I heard Bowman speak in an even tone.

  “Isaac and I were on patrol sir. We arrived here with your men. Luke was in bed sleeping.”

  The Professor seemed to weigh this up.

  “I see. What have you been doing today young Luke?”

  “I’ve been in bed,” said Luke, now sitting on his bed holding his arm. “I was sleeping, at least I was until your watchdog decided he wanted a piece of me.”

  The Professor watched Luke carefully as he spoke and then for a few seconds after. I was probably paranoid, but I got the feeling he knew exactly what we’d been up to.

  “Very well. If you’re not feeling well enough to get out of your bed tomorrow, report to Dr Radisson again please. Come Mr. Ragg. Let’s leave this boy in peace.” He turned on his heel and began walking to the door. I couldn’t just let it go at that.

  “Professor…before you go. When can I see Sonny?”

  He stopped a step from the door and took a moment before turning back to me. His face was unreadable.

  “Soon. He is not feeling well at the moment, it seems he has caught some sort of bug. I’ll find out from the doctor when you may be able to visit.”

  That he could stand there and lie to my face disgusted me. I held my tongue and prayed that Luke would do the same. In fact, I didn’t trust myself to say a word. I just nodded and turned away. The Professor left and was followed out by Williams and the other Homeland guard. Ragg gazed at me for a few seconds more and even when Luke said, “You heard your boss asshole, leave us in peace.” He left a few heartbeats later and I exhaled heavily.

  I was conscious of Bowman in the doorway. “I’ll finish our shift, you see to your friend.” I nodded my thanks and waved as he closed the door. It was then that I heard Luke’s sobbing. I went to him. He rolled onto his back with his hands over his face.

  I struggled to keep my emotions in check. I sat beside him on the bunk and patted his shoulder awkwardly. “We all feel the same way, Luke. Sonny was a good man, and he deserved better than being locked up by his own countrymen and…murdered.”

  “We have to do something about those bastards, Isaac,” he said, finally lowering his hands. He dragged them down his face, leaving livid red marks.

  “I know that!” It was too much. Luke’s pain and my own rage and loss burned me. “What the hell can we do about it? He holds all the cards. We’re just a bunch of stupid kids!”

  I stood up and smashed my fist down on the table as tears of frustration and grief stung my eyes. I felt powerless and even though I knew it wasn’t my fault, I somehow felt responsible for what had happened to Sonny. I felt I had failed by not being more insistent when he was first separated from us. I vowed not to make the same mistake with the girls.

  We were both quiet for a while, dealing with our grief separately.

  “We’ll find a way,” said Luke, after a few minutes.

  “Sure we will,” I said, sarcastically. I immediately regretted it when I saw the hurt in his eyes. “Look sorry, we will. I know we will.”

  I got up feeling a little more focused and knelt beside his bunk. I stared down at the floor.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ll survive. What about you? How is the wound?”

  He lifted the cover and showed me the bloody bandage.

  “I think it’s worse than it looks.” He quickly pulled down the bandage to reveal the wound. Most of it was still fleshy pink fresh scar tissue, but there was a tiny amount of blood seeping from the center.

  “Come on, I’ll take you to the showers and you can wash it and change the bandage. You do have more right?

  “Yeah, the Doc gave me three.”

  “Good, come on. After that you should get something to eat.”

  “No, I think I’ll just stay here…”

  “Come on, you can’t just shut down and hide in here, it will make them suspect it was you that witnessed what happened.”

  I had never seen him looking so down, but he nodded and stood up before gathering his stuff. I headed to the door but he called me back. He was pulling something from under his mattress and produced a charger and the iPhone. I pocketed both items. I only found out later he had stashed the iPhone in his underwear as he crawled through the ducts. The fact that he failed to pull the phone theatrically from his underpants (or even mention it) when he gave it to me told me how upset he was after witnessing Sonny’s murder.

  20

  It was almost 1600 when I dropped Luke off at the shower block. I told him I would meet him back at the Rec room after I went and helped Bowman hand over to the next patrol. I ran into Bowman in the corridor leading to the lobby.

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, he’s okay,” I said. I had to be careful not to say too much, all that Bowman knew was that my friend had been accosted by Ragg. “Thanks for covering for me back there.”

  He nodded as we stepped into the lift, as much to say no problem.

  As we rode down the lift I patted the iPhone in my pocket. I had carried it with me for a few days before giving it back to Luke but hadn’t had the opportunity to use it. Now, after what had happened, it seemed imperative to find a schematic of the facility and get a picture of it to Luke as soon as possible.

  It wasn’t even a matter of hoping for things to improve now; one of our own had been killed and our situation was untenable. We had to get out. I thought about where I might be able to locate a schematic. I hadn’t seen one in Colonel Randall’s office, not anywhere obvious anyway. If it was in the control room I wouldn’t be able to access it, period. However the logical place for it, and one where I should be able to access without any serious dramas, was the situation room.

  Bowman and I nodded to the two guys on the new shift before we signed in at the front desk, Bowman writing a brief note regarding the situation with the alarm and what had happened in Luke’s room. The duty sergeant, Dawes, read it and signed it off.

  “Busy day huh, boys? We thought the Chinese were invading for a minute there, the whole floor was armed and about to come to your rescue before it was called off. What the hell was it?”

  “Ask the Professor,” Bowman said. “He said someone breached security but wouldn’t give us any details.”

  “Well screw that bastard then. They can sort out their own issues.”

  “Yeah.” Bowman walked off.

  I needed to shake Bowman off if I was going to check the situation room, so I quickly asked the sergeant if it was his family in the picture behind him. He picked it up.

  “Sure is, my wife Beth, and my two boys...” his voice hitched and I saw tears well in his eyes. “…Ron and James…”

  I felt like a low dog for upsetting him, barely comforted by the fact that I was doing it for a good cause. “Sorry…they… they looked like a great family.”

  “They were, they were the greatest. Thanks for asking about them, I don’t think of them as much as I should these days.”

  With a
sniff he turned and put the portrait back on the shelf. We spent a few minutes talking, I told him briefly about my family and by the time we finished, I felt I had a pretty good grasp on the type of man he was. A good man. Thankfully Bowman had disappeared after waiting at the door for a while. When I felt enough time had passed, I told the sergeant I would see him later and left, looking briefly over my shoulder to make sure Dawes wasn’t looking, before turning right instead of left.

  I briskly headed towards the situation room. If I was intercepted I would say I was going to see Colonel Randall about something. It seemed that luck was on my side though, I didn’t run across anybody, which was pretty unusual at that time of day. I made it all the way to Randall’s office and then sprinted quietly the last few feet to the situation room. I paused for a second, listening for the sounds of conversation through the door. Nothing. I swiped my card, praying that it would be configured to open this door. It was (obviously they didn’t think there was anything too sensitive in there) and I opened the door quickly and went in.

  The dimly lit room actually looked like a war room. There were pin boards everywhere and most were covered with sheets of butchers paper, drawings and maps. Taking up one complete board was a satellite image of mountain terrain giving way to green hills and a small town. The town was marked Lincoln and the facility had been drawn in with a marker pen north of it, over the top of Drake Mountain. I could see green and red pins dotted around and in the town and assumed they were places the Drake Mountain teams had already visited or were to visit. I snapped a quick picture of it before moving around the room quickly.

  As I moved on, my heart was beating fast with adrenalin. Every second I was in there increased my chance of discovery. Finally, on the opposite side of the room, I found what I was looking for. Three large squares of paper, each showing a different level of the facility. All three levels were in the same cross configuration, the Midlevel lines and markings looking much as I had pictured it in my head from walking around and learning the layout. The details of the other two levels would be very handy indeed though. I took a picture of each of them, slipped the iPhone into my pocket and headed to the door.