The After Days Trilogy

by Scott Medbury

  I heard shuffling, and peering over the sofa, I saw him stand. Indigo was pulled hard up against him, one of his arms tight across her chest and, as promised, his pistol against her neck.

  “5…4…”

  I thought frantically for a way out of this mess, but there was no exit…Indigo was all that mattered right then.

  “3…2…”

  “Wait! Wait, okay, don’t shoot…” I stood, leaving my weapon on the floor, holding my hands in the air.

  “The others too!”

  Slowly, both Luke, Ben and Brooke climbed to their feet, hands in the air.

  “Very good,” said Williams.

  He stepped out from behind the table, shuffling along, still holding his gun against Indigo’s neck. Behind him I saw the indicator on the elevator light up. More Homeland Security…I swallowed my bitter disappointment, oh well, at least we had tried. The doors slid open silently.

  “I knew we could work this out without any more unpleasantness,” Williams said in an oily tone.

  I had suddenly lost interest in Williams. It wasn’t more Homeland guards in the lift, it was Meeks. And the big soldier was slowly moving towards the unsuspecting Williams, his army issue knife in hand.

  I knew what I had to do.

  “Well we’ve surrendered, you got what you wanted, now let her go,” I said, attempting to keep Williams occupied.

  “Really, soldier boy? You’re still making demands? You,” he said, pointing at Ben. “Go and get the rest of your group and bring them in here. If you’re not back in 30 seconds I’ll shoot your sister in the head.” Ben didn’t ask any questions, he ran out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him.

  That few seconds gave Meeks the time he needed to close in on his quarry. He quietly stepped up to Williams and put the knife against his throat. I was gratified by the stunned look on Williams face, but also as scared as hell he would pull the trigger.

  “Lower your weapon,” Meeks rasped in a no-nonsense whisper.

  I could almost see Williams weighing up possibilities as he frantically thought of a way out of his situation. “Not going to happen, soldier.”

  “Yes it is, or I’m gonna bleed you out all over this fine timber floor.”

  “No you’re not and you know it. You cut me and I squeeze the trigger. Don’t think I won’t kill this bitch.”

  Now it was Meeks turn to look uncertain, but he didn’t have a chance to work something out. Indigo did it for him. With a swift movement she reached behind her and grabbed Williams’ crotch, twisting her hand violently. The muzzle of his gun slipped away from her neck as he doubled up and Meeks seized his opportunity, grabbing Williams around the neck and ripping him backwards, away from Indigo. She fell to the ground.

  Williams’ face went red as he struggled against Meeks, attempting to bring his gun to bear on the soldier. He fired a shot over his shoulder that punched into the plaster of the ceiling, showering them with white powder and debris. Meeks grabbed Williams’ gun and twisted it in his hands. We all watched, rapt at the struggle that ensued even though I knew we should be moving while we could. At first Williams’ gun moved implacably towards Meeks’ face, but in the end the soldier’s superior position and the lack of oxygen from the hold he had around Williams’ throat began to tell, and the gun slowly started to inch back towards the Homeland Guard’s chin.

  It was over with a shocking bang.

  “I guess he had a bullet with his own name on it,” the soldier said quietly, as he let Williams’ lifeless body fall to the floor and tucked the dead man’s gun into his belt next to his own.

  Ben returned in another few seconds with everyone else. It only took him a second to understand what had happened. “Isaac, we have to go now, we heard lots of yelling—I think they’re out of the room.”

  “You’re going out the main exit, Race?”

  “No, not me, them. I have to get to the control room and open the gate.”

  The girls looked confused.

  “What are you talking about?” asked Indigo.

  “I have to stay. There’s no one else to open the gates. I’ll try and come later.”

  Allie grabbed my arm, but Indigo just looked hurt and confused.

  “You have to come with us, Isaac!” the younger girl pleaded. It started a torrent and soon everyone was talking.

  “Quiet!” yelled Meeks. “I’ll do it. You can’t stay Isaac…if you do they’ll shoot you on the spot. I’ll open the gate. You just be ready to go.” He turned and started heading towards the elevator.

  “Meeks! Wait.” I ran over to him. “How did you know to come up?”

  He shrugged. “I heard you talk in your sleep, then get up. I knew it was the start of your crazy plan. Anyway, I tried to get back to sleep but I couldn’t… so I thought I’d come up and check on you.”

  I shook his hand.

  “Thanks…I’m glad you did. Are you sure about the gate? Randall won’t be happy.”

  “It’s alright,” he grinned. “Life’s boring down here anyway, what difference will a few days in the brig make?”

  He and I both knew that his punishment would be a lot worse than a few days in the lock up, especially after killing Williams. I’m pretty sure there would be CCTV footage of the whole incident.

  “Go!” he yelled. “Give me about ten minutes.”

  Without waiting for an answer, he ran to the still open elevator doors and was gone. We had begun picking up our gear when Toby yelled from the opening, “Someone’s coming!”

  “Go, go, go!” I yelled.

  They all stopped what they were doing and ran. Ben led the way with Brooke and Indigo, the twins carrying guns. Toby and Beau were still helping Ava between them, she appeared to be awake now but was very groggy. I looked around frantically but couldn’t see my gun. Luke had his assegai. He saw I was weaponless and threw me his pistol. We headed through the door. Looking to the left I saw our group disappearing down the long passage, but behind me I heard the implacable and rapid approach of footsteps. Just one pair. I knew before we turned that it was would be Ragg.

  30

  He came at us... fast.

  Again, I was reminded of a terminator from the old James Cameron movies that my dad had watched with me. He ran like a machine, his movement economical and powerful. I decided not to screw around, he was too dangerous. I began to raise my gun and saw Luke in my periphery tense and start to bring his Zulu spear up. Time slowed, and it was like I was trying to raise my arm in a tub of molasses. Too slow…

  I squeezed off a shot but it went over his head as he crashed into us. As a tactic it was super effective. He hit us with such force that I think I blacked out for a second. I was vaguely aware of flying through the air, my gun dropping from my grip as I put out my hand to try and break my fall.

  I hit the floor, my wrist bending at an unnatural angle as I fell onto my arm. It didn’t break, but the sharp pain brought tears to my eyes as I rolled onto my back, skidding along the floor like one of those Moto GP riders coming off their super bikes at 120 miles per hour. I came to a rest a few feet from the impact zone and laid there looking up at the distant white ceiling as I did a quick inventory of my body. I felt like I’d been hit by a runaway boulder but I didn’t feel any breaks.

  I heard groaning. Luke! I shook off my shock and quickly scrambled to my hands and knees, not expecting the woozy feeling that came over me. My vision cleared and I saw Luke on his belly, a bleeding graze on his forehead and cheek, reaching for his assegai, just a few scant inches from where his fingers splayed and twitched on the linoleum floor.

  Ragg was also moving, albeit a little more slowly than he had been just a few seconds ago. He was also on his knees and I saw him looking down at the bloody rip in the fabric of his grey suit jacket, over the right side of his chest. Luke had apparently managed to stab him, but it appeared to be no more than a superficial wound.

  I didn’t like what I saw in the man’s eyes as he climbed the rest of the way
to his feet. Luke was closest and I knew he would look to deal with him first.

  “Watch out, Luke!”

  My friend must have heard something in my voice, because he suddenly came to life and lunged, his hands closing around the shaft of his spear as Ragg rushed at him. I also started running, ducking to pick up the gun in a surprisingly, given my grogginess, nimble movement. I was still feet away when Luke rolled like a snake onto his back, his hand gripping the spear and bringing it to bear on Ragg.

  It was at this point that the Professor, with Bradley, Maddox and a puffing Leroy arrived, sliding to a clumsy halt a safe distance away. I ignored them, turning my gun towards Ragg for the second time in the space of a few minutes. I should have known he wouldn’t just put his hands up.

  As I tried to zero in on him, he leapt headlong onto Luke, pushing the spear away just before impact. The weight of the man caused the breath to whoosh out of Luke as I aimed at the frenetically moving Ragg. I couldn’t shoot. There was no way I could take a shot without the risk of hitting my friend.

  Luke was no walkover and tried to wrestle his assailant off him even as he sucked air back into his lungs. It was to no avail—Ragg, while shorter than Luke, was all hard muscle and soon maneuvered himself into a position that saw them both on their side, with the Professor’s man lying behind Luke, his arm around his neck.

  “Put the gun down.”

  The threat was implicit in the four words that the normally silent Ragg uttered. If I didn’t obey, he would snap Luke’s neck. I was defeated. Ragg knew it. The men watching knew it. I froze, unwilling to admit defeat. Until Ragg jerked his arm tighter and Luke’s face began to turn purple.

  “Okay, okay,” I said, holding up one hand in surrender as I bent and awkwardly placed the gun on the floor. “Don’t hurt him please.”

  Ragg slowly released Luke, who began to draw deep lungful’s of air. The Professor’s man then began to rise to his feet, his intense gaze burning into me. There was some noise from the direction of the Professor and his Homeland guards. I turned to look, fully aware that Ragg had not released me from his death stare.

  Leroy had started walking towards us only to find the Professor’s hand on his chest.

  “Stay put,” the older man said grimly, before looking back to Mr. Ragg. “Kill him. Kill both of them.”

  Ragg stepped over Luke. Resignation washed over me and I spread my feet, ready for my final battle. Ragg took a step towards me and…his face suddenly contorted in agony. He stood up straight like he’d been electrocuted, his right arm reaching blindly behind him. Confused, I looked around him to see Luke, so recently incapacitated, rising to his own knees, concentrating as he twisted his assegai.

  Ragg opened his mouth, but didn’t scream.

  “The gun Isaac, get the gun!” Luke grunted through gritted teeth, struggling to keep the flailing hand of Ragg away from the spear embedded in the killer’s right buttock.

  His desperate shout roused me from my torpor and I bent over and picked up the gun, holding it on Ragg. In my peripheral vision I saw one of the Homeland guards take a step forward. I turned the gun on them.

  “Fuck off!” I yelled, and fired a shot over their heads.

  Unsurprisingly, it was the bully Leroy who broke ranks first, he turned and ran without another look. Maddox, clearly braver than the more recent Homeland recruit, stepped in front of the Professor, while Bradley grabbed the older man’s arm and attempted to lead him away.

  “What are you going to do, young Isaac?” yelled the Professor stridently, shaking off Bradley’s hand and stepping around Maddox. He held his hands out, his fingers splayed as though playing to a crowd. “Are you going to shoot me!?”

  I pulled the trigger, giving him his answer. Why waste breath on words? The Professor didn’t flinch. In fact, surprisingly, he laughed. In shock, he apparently hadn’t felt the bullet go through his right hand, just missing officer Bradley’s head and painting his face with blood and bone chips. It wasn’t until he heard the moaning from Bradley and saw Maddox’s horrified look that the older man realised he’d been shot.

  The effect was instantaneous, his face turned an unhealthy shade of grey and he began to scream as he looked at his ruined hand. Maddox grabbed him again and this time the Professor allowed himself to be led away.

  “Come on, Luke. We need to go now,” I said, turning back and warily holding my gun on Ragg.

  Luke released the spear, but left it embedded in Ragg.

  “Something for your ass to remember me by, you prick,” he said, ruffling the man’s hair as he stood and stepped around him.

  Apparently Luke wasn’t the only actor amongst us. As the smiling Luke took a step past Ragg, the injured man’s hand shot out and gripped Luke’s left wrist, twisting it viciously. Luke fell to one knee in agony. I quickly stepped up and put the muzzle of my gun against Ragg’s forehead as Luke struggled to break his assailant’s grip.

  “Let him go,” I said.

  “No, you drop the gun.”

  The gall of the guy was breathtaking. He looked calm, only a light sheen of sweat on his forehead giving away his discomfort. I pressed the muzzle of the gun harder against his skull. “Let him go.”

  He didn’t. What he did do was twist his hand viciously and I heard Luke’s wrist break with a horrible, meaty crack. He shrieked as Ragg released him and then fell to his knees cradling his dangling hand. I pulled the trigger. Click. Empty! I pulled it again. Click. Nothing. I saw the corners of Ragg’s mouth begin to curl into a smile, and in frustration I smashed the butt of the gun’s handle into his right temple.

  His face slackened and his glasses flew off his head as he fell sideways, his head smacking into the floor with a crack. He didn’t get back up.

  Knowing time was our enemy now, I quickly helped Luke to his feet. He was moaning in agony, the hand he supported was rapidly turning red.

  “Fuck, Isaac, he broke it. The bastard broke my wrist.”

  “I know, we have to move though. Sorry man, we’ll look at it once we’re safely out of here. Come on.”

  I helped him up and urged him down the corridor, looking back once to check that the little bastard Ragg was still down. I knew a blow to the temple like that could kill a man, but I hadn’t had time to check his pulse.

  Like the time he climbed the mountain with a bullet wound, Luke again seemed to dig deep and we managed a decent pace. It didn’t take as much time as I thought and we turned a corner and found ourselves in a larger chamber, a cool wind howling through the open inner and outer gates thirty feet away.

  The view of the outside was underwhelming. The night was dark. Inky. And I could make out nothing apart from the few feet of trail lit by the fluorescent lights of the chamber.

  “Isaac! Luke!” It was Ben.

  He ran towards us followed by Brooke and Toby. Indigo stood where she was, looking extremely kick ass with her T-shirt still tied up over her breasts and pointing her gun at the two guards on the floor in front of her. They had their hands behind their heads, looking extremely unhappy. Ben told me later that one had been asleep at the desk and the other one had been pleasantly taken aback at the appearance of Indigo, who had approached him the same way she had surprised Williams and the Homeland guards. The gun in his face had soon sobered him very quickly.

  “She really is a smiling assassin, you know?”

  The rest of the group were around a large supply cupboard. It was to the left of the inner gate and its contents were strewn over the floor. They were quickly donning the heavy, military winter coats that were hanging neatly in a line, as if they’d been left there just for us. The chill of the night was dissipated somewhat when I saw Paul doing up the too large coat that he had helped his sister put on.

  As Ben and Brooke reached Luke and me, the shrill beeping of the alarm pierced the quiet of the facility. I ran over to Indigo and took the gun from her and pointed to the others.

  “Quickly, you should put on a coat. I’ll watch these tw
o.”

  “Are you okay?” she yelled over the siren.

  I nodded. “Yeah, Luke isn’t though. His wrist is pretty bad.”

  As if to prove my point, right then he screamed in agony as Brook and Ben helped him into one of the coats. Indigo ran over and I called out to Beau who was waiting for the others.

  “Can you bring my backpack?”

  We secured the two soldiers’ wrists then pushed them back to the floor. I caught the coat Ben threw me as we ran back.

  “We have to go now!”

  Each beep of that alarm seemed to touch a raw nerve in my head, it was almost like a countdown and I began to physically push those closest to me towards the gates. They soon got the message. As I went through the inner gate into the staging area, I looked up and caught sight of one of the CCTV cameras. I don’t know if Meeks was watching, but I gave the thumbs up before I turned and began running to the outer gate. Sure enough, I heard a buzz and both gates began to close.

  The cold of the mountain night blowing in through the outer gate cooled the sweat soaked T-shirt I wore, and I found myself shivering, not having had the chance to put on the coat yet. The doors were closing fast when I spotted Luke’s iPhone on the deck about fifteen feet away. He must have dropped it, he would never have thrown it away.

  As prepared as I thought we had been, clearly we had not planned perfectly. The dark of the night told me one thing, we would need some sort of light. If we didn’t, we would end up stopping through lack of visibility until the sun rose, huddled in the night, just waiting for the Drake Mountain people to come and pluck us off the mountain … or worse, some of us could fall to our deaths.

  I looked backed to the door, then made my decision. From the outside I heard someone scream my name as I sprinted for the iPhone, scooping it up one handed and running like a maniac for the outer gate. I wouldn’t make it…I would make it…yes! I was going to make it. I turned sideways and planted my right foot, jumping and flying through the gap. My shoulder banged hard against the three inch thick metal as I tumbled out and landed in a clumsy heap on the cold dirt and rock. I heard Indigo’s voice nearby.