The Darkest Night: Book 7 of the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series: (Surviving the Fall Series - Book 7)

by Mike Kraus

  The seventeen massive, newly-built skyscrapers near the center of Kansas City were famous across the country as testaments to the rapid changes that had taken place. As Rick, Jane and Dr. Evans neared the city though, Rick cocked his head in confusion. “Aren’t there supposed to be seventeen of those?”

  “The skyscrapers?” Jane opened her eyes and leaned up in the back seat, peering through the windshield. “Uh… where are they?”

  “I count seven. Not seventeen.” Dr. Evans rubbed his eyes and looked again, wondering if he had somehow miscounted. “Yes. Definitely seven. What on earth could have happened to the others?”

  Rick shook his head, a feeling of dread rising in his gut. “I don’t know. Should we just go around?”

  “That will add a significant delay to our journey.” Dr. Evans scrolled through the map built into the car’s central display. “If this is anywhere close to a recent version of the layout of the area then most of the roads will pass through the greater Kansas City metropolitan area no matter what. We’d need to backtrack a hundred miles to find a fast route to go around.” Dr. Evans shook his head. “No, we must press on through the city and out on the other side.”

  “Great.” Rick swallowed hard and sighed. “Find me the best way through the city.”

  “That… may be difficult.” Dr. Evans peered out the window at a highway that branched off from the one they were on. It slowly rose into the sky, passing over homes and businesses on the outskirts of town. What he was looking at wasn’t the elevated highway itself, though, but the massive chunks of it that had come loose from the structure as a whole, crashing to the ground and crushing everything beneath them.

  “What the…” Rick took his eyes off the road for a few seconds, staring at amazement at the highway before the bump strip at the edge of the road brought his attention back on driving.

  Jane pressed her nose against the back window. “What happened out there?”

  “I have no earthly idea.” Dr. Evans whispered as he studied the massive structure. “An earthquake, perhaps?”

  “That’d have to be a pretty major earthquake, wouldn’t it?”

  Dr. Evans nodded. “It would indeed.”

  “So where should I go?”

  “I would stay on this road as long as possible. It should pass through the city and out the other side without getting us stuck in the mishmash of small streets.”

  As the trio drove along they all stared in wonder and fear as the signs of destruction increased both in scope and magnitude. Long cracks ran along large buildings and roadways, pieces of buildings’ facades lay strewn along the streets and strange shallow holes were visible in more than a few locations. Thin trails of smoke rose across the landscape, though whether they were from fires started by survivors or remnants of whatever disaster had befallen the area was impossible to say.

  “This is creepy as hell.” Jane whispered from the back of the car, switching between the left and right windows as she gazed out at the destruction. “It looks like somebody shook the city half apart.”

  “Is Kansas City on a fault line?” Rick wondered aloud.

  “No idea.” Dr. Evans shrugged. “But this type of tectonic activity is less surprising than you might think.”

  “Come again?” Rick glanced at Dr. Evans.

  “When I was on Air Force One, before we crashed, I remember hearing people talking about mild to moderate earthquakes that were happening around the country. I have to wonder if Damocles had something to do with it. Perhaps by reversing pipeline flows, increasing the flow rate of fluids being pumped into the ground in exploratory wells or pressurized oil retrieval operations or other similar things.”

  “Oh, great.” Jane rolled her eyes. “So this thing can cause earthquakes now, too?”

  “That’s not entirely accurate.” Dr. Evans replied. “Damocles is an asymmetric weapon of war. It’s designed with countless types of attack methods ranging from direct to subtle. We know that certain types of widespread artificial underground activity can manifest earth tremors so it’s well within the realm of possibility that Damocles decided to ramp up that type of attack in some areas of the country.”

  “At least the main road through the city seems relatively clear.” Rick said. While Jane and Dr. Evans had been busy watching their surroundings Rick had been focused on getting them through the city as quickly as possible. As they approached the center of the city Rick noticed that the number of intact vehicles was starting to increase. Most of them were burned out but there were more than a few that were still intact, which made him realize that they should take full advantage of the opportunity.

  “Have you all seen anyone as we’ve been driving through?” Rick started easing up on the gas as he looked for a likely candidate vehicle in a safe location.

  “Nobody. Unless that smoke is people, but I’m not convinced.” Jane put her chin on the back of Rick’s seat. “Why? You got an idea?”

  “I’m just noticing that there are a decent number of vehicles that look intact around here. I know this thing only sips fuel but I hate letting a good stash of the stuff go to waste. What if we stop, siphon some gas from one of these cars and look around for some more supplies and maybe a gun or two while we’re at it? It’s a long drive to Washington and I don’t know how long it’ll be till we have an opportunity to stop again.”

  Dr. Evans nodded. “Excellent point. I loathe the idea of stopping here but I think you’re right.”

  “Jane?” Rick looked in the rearview mirror, not wanting to make a decision on stopping without it being unanimous.

  “Absolutely. I need to stretch my legs anyway.”

  “Perfect.” Rick pointed out through the right window. “I saw a cluster of vehicles over there a minute ago. I’ll swing back around. It looked like there were a few shops nearby so we can do a bit of supply searching, too.”

  Rick tapped on the touchscreen and turned off the gasoline engine, switching their car over to run solely off of the electric batteries so that they could move around without being heard as easily. At the next intersection he turned right off of the main road and wound the car along the street until he got to the parking lot he had seen previously. When he pulled in he realized why there were so many intact cars and he laughed at the sight.

  “Ha! Look at those!” Half the parking lot was filled with burned-out wrecks of modern vehicles that had been destroyed by Damocles. The other half, though, was filled with pristine—albeit filthy from all the soot and smoke in the air—cars from the thirties through the seventies. The classic car meetup was a staple for the downtown area and it had gone from a once-per-month tradition to something that was almost continuously ongoing in some form or fashion.

  Rick drove slowly down the line of cars, soaking in the sharp edges and gorgeous curves that were staples of the older designs. Dr. Evans and Jane had their eyes glued to the windows as well and Dr. Evans finally spoke up. “Can’t we take one of these instead?”

  “I sure as hell wish we could.” Rick nodded. “The gas mileage on them is going to be abysmal, though. Plus this electric motor and our solar panels—”

  “Yes, yes.” Dr. Evans sighed. “I know. These things are just gorgeous, though.”

  “You won’t get any argument from me on that one. Come on, let’s find a hose and get to siphoning.”

  “Should we split up?” Jane asked. “One of us can get the tank topped off while the other two go look for supplies?”

  “No.” Rick’s reply was firm and immediate. “We’re sticking together, not splitting up. The last thing we need is to have one of us get hurt or into a bad situation on their own. That’s doubly true because we’ve got no weapons to speak of right now.”

  “That’s not entirely true.” Dr. Evans reached under his seat and pulled out a thin, narrow plastic case. He popped it open to reveal a small semiautomatic pistol along with two seven-round magazines. “I found this under the seat while you were napping in the back earlier today.”
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br />   Rick’s eyes widened at the sight of the gun. “And you were just going to tell me about it now?!”

  Dr. Evans shrugged as he closed the case back up. “It slipped my mind. My apologies. But at least we have something, right?”

  “Absolutely! You know how to handle a gun?”

  “Not… very well.” Dr. Evans shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I’ve never been a big fan of them. I suppose there’s no better time to change that point of view than now, eh?”

  “Yeah, I’d say so.” Rick eased to a stop and shut off the car, unbuckled his seatbelt and accepted the case from Dr. Evans as he looked between him and Jane in the backseat. “Look, here are the basics. Just in case we get into trouble.” Rick popped open the case and demonstrated how to load the pistol, eject a round from the magazine, where the safety was and how to hold and fire the weapon. When he finished he slipped the small .380 into his right pants pocket and put the spare magazine into the left. “First priority right now is fuel. We won’t make it to DC without it. Once we have that we’ll go look for more food, water and weapons. I doubt we’ll find much of anything but given that all these cars are still here it’s possible there are small pockets of the city that have been untouched.”

  It took less than an hour for the trio to locate some plastic tubing—taken from the fish section of a pet supply store—and siphon out enough gas to fill up the tank on the general’s car. When they finished they began searching the shops in the area surrounding the parking lot. Water and food were their priorities but Rick knew how much more valuable weapons would be especially since they had a working vehicle with enormous range.

  Rick took point on the search, leading them up and down streets and sidewalks as they searched through the area. Every once in a while they found a bottle of water here or an unopened candy bar there; nothing could be found in large quantities but the small finds slowly began to add up. It was the early evening when they had strayed half a mile from the original parking lot when they found themselves standing in front of a big-box grocery store set smack dab in the middle of the downtown district. While normally a bargain-priced store filled with cheap, shoddy overseas merchandise and food with questionable origins, the store had received fresh branding for its location in the heart of the metro area. The parent company was experimenting with offering its usual products with an upscale feel and a higher price-point and had decked out the building in spades.

  An underground parking garage with a thousand spaces sat beneath the store, ensuring that customers would be able to visit with ease. The store itself was four stories tall and encompassed nearly a full city block. Constructed of brown brick and large glass panels, Rick was taken in by the pleasantness of the design until he noticed the cracks and broken glass in various places.

  “Looks like the same kind of damage we saw on other buildings.” Dr. Evans pointed at the cracks. “This absolutely looks like seismic activity.”

  “I haven’t felt any tremors since we got here. Have you?” Rick replied.

  “No, but that doesn’t mean anything. If we’re going to search inside for supplies then we should be quick about it. We don’t want the place coming down on top of our heads.”

  “Shouldn’t we have brought the car?” Jane looked both directions down the street. “We’ve got a bit of a hike to get back.”

  Rick shook his head. “I’d rather not get cornered somewhere while driving it. On foot we can move faster in all of the mess on the roads. Plus, while the electric motor doesn’t make any noise, the three of us on foot will attract less attention than that thing will.”

  “Let’s get inside, then.” Jane rubbed her arms through her jacket, feeling a chill despite its warmth. “I don’t like being out here.”

  As they walked into the store Rick was taken aback by the amount of natural sunlight inside. As he looked up at the ceiling and walls, though, he quickly discovered the source. A transparent roof coupled with a complex mirror system redirected and redistributed sunlight through the building. What was once a feature that provided shoppers with a feeling of being in a natural environment now ensured that Rick, Jane and Dr. Evans could browse through the store at ease despite their lack of flashlights.

  “Okay, now we spread out a bit. No more than an aisle or three between us, though.” Rick looked at Jane and Dr. Evans. “Stay on the same floor. Let’s try to keep the noise down, too. No telling who might be around.”

  The trio each grabbed a shopping cart near the front of the store and began browsing, staying close to each other and communicating through loud whispers instead of shouts. It was apparent that the store had been looted, though whoever had done so hadn’t been very thorough about it. Stacks of batteries and flashlights went into their carts along with the occasional package or can of food, a few jugs of water and clothing that—while dirty and smelling vaguely of smoke—was still in good condition.

  While the bounty of the store was more than welcome, the more time they spent inside the building the more nervous Rick and Dr. Evans grew about the integrity of the structure. The cracks to the outside of the building were just as pronounced inside and in some areas they ran from the floor all the way to the ceiling. Bits of glass and metal from the roof and levels above were scattered across the floor though there had thankfully been no sign of anything fresh falling while they were walking around inside.

  “Dr. Evans.” Rick stopped his cart at the end of the aisle and whispered. “Let’s get Jane and consolidate what we’ve found. I don’t like the look of this place and we need to get out of here soon.”

  “Agreed.” Dr. Evans stood from where he was pawing through a pile of sweaters and pushed his cart, following Rick down a couple more aisles. Jane was standing at the end of the aisle going through an endcap when Rick tapped on her shoulder.

  “Get your cart and let’s consolidate what we have.”

  Jane nodded and retrieved her cart and the three of them stood whispering while they compared what they found. There hadn’t been much food but with what they found and what they already had there was enough to make it all the way to Washington and back. Water was more plentiful, though, and they had an adequate amount to see them through at least the next few days. Dr. Evans had picked up a few dozen disposable lighters and a couple packs of firestarters and Rick found some empty containers that could be used to store some excess gasoline. Jane’s cart was mostly empty, but when she pushed aside the underwear, socks and shirts she grabbed, she revealed a find that made Rick’s eyes grow wide with excitement.

  “Where did you find these?!” Rick reached down into her cart and pulled out a pair of 9mm pistols along with five boxes of ammunition. He passed one of the guns to Dr. Evans and looked at Jane. “Seriously, where did you get these?”

  Jane shrugged. “You two seemed like you had the food and water in hand so I headed over to sporting goods.”

  “You went off by yourself?” Rick shook his head. “Dammit, we were supposed to stick together.”

  “Yeah, yeah. You didn’t even notice. Anyway, all the display cases were smashed in and looted. They even took the stuff near the paintball section. These and the ammo boxes, though, were in a locked cabinet underneath the counter with a note on them saying they were being held for some guy who I guess never came in.”

  “Wow.” Rick nodded, impressed by Jane’s attention to detail and creative thinking. “Nicely done on this find. Five hundred rounds will go a long way, too. We can spare a couple magazines for you two to get used to shooting them.”

  “Oh yeah. There were some other things under there, too. I guess whoever wanted this stuff put on hold needed the whole kit and caboodle.” Jane lifted a pair of waistband holsters from the cart, four extra magazines, two flashlight and laser sight attachments and a pack of spare batteries.

  Rick quickly loaded both pistols and slipped one of them into his waistband before looking at Jane and Dr. Evans. “Which of you feels more comfortable with this?”

  Dr. Evans
held out his hand. “I’ll carry it, if you like.”

  “Sure thing.” Rick passed the weapon to Dr. Evans before pulling out his pocket .380 and holding it out to Jane. “That means you get this.”

  “It’s cute!” She took the pistol and turned it over in her hand.

  “Cute but deadly.” Rick eyed Jane as she examined the pistol. “Just keep it tucked away and don’t shoot anything unless it’s a life or death situation. We only have a couple of mags for it.”

  Jane nodded and put it into her back pocket. The three then picked through the supplies in the carts as they tried to decide what to take with them. They stood over the carts talking in low voices for several minutes before a low, barely perceptible rumble was swiftly followed by the distant sound of breaking glass.

  “What was that?” Rick whirled around, looking in all directions for the source of the sound. It was far enough away that he couldn’t pinpoint the source and he looked at Jane and Dr. Evans. “Any idea where that came from?” Before either of them could answer there was another crash, this one of glass and metal together, and much closer than the first.

  “Spread out!” Dr. Evans whispered, pointing down the main aisle of the store. “Don’t all stand in one place in case it’s an earthquake!”

  Jane and Rick moved several feet away from Dr. Evans and then Jane moved even farther down and squatted next to the broken remains of a center display that, before the event, once held hundreds of cans of fruit. As Jane looked warily between the ceiling and the entrance of the store on the opposite side of the building she swore she saw something moving near the front doors where she, Dr. Evans and Rick had entered.

  “Rick!” Jane swiveled her head and whispered, her expression a cross between confusion and outright fear.

  “What is it?” Rick felt goosebumps rising on his arms as she spoke.

  “I saw something down there!”

  Chapter 6

  The Water’s Homestead

  Outside Ellisville, VA