Aftermath (After the Fall Dystopian Series Book 1)

by Tom Lewis

“Hey,” he managed to groan back, as he struggled to sit up.

  “Easy there,” she said, handing him the water. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like hell,” he responded, propping himself up. Then his eyes drifted down to his leg, wrapped in duct tape. He smiled, shaking his head. “Nice.”

  “Told ya we’d need that stuff.”

  “How is it out there?” he asked.

  “Crappy,” she replied, “but at least it’s quiet. That thunder noise happened a couple hours ago, so now everyone’s looking around all dumb.”

  Her bluntness got a chuckle out of him. “We should get going,” he said, struggling to stand.

  “Get your butt back down, Harding,” she shot back. “You’re staying right there, and resting that leg.” She pulled the gun from her pants, and handed it to him. “Here, take this.”

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “I’ve got that guy’s address, so I’m gonna get those guns he said he had. I’m also gonna get some antibiotics for that leg.”

  “You’re going alone?”

  “It’s not like I’ve got a choice,” she replied.

  Chad nodded, giving her a smile. This girl was a rock star. “You’re a crazy girl, O’Connor. You know that?”

  She smiled, nodding. “I’ve heard it a few times.”

  “So how’re you feeling?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I’ll live.”

  Despite the strong front she was putting up, it was pretty obvious this girl was hurting. And Chad knew her well enough to sense this. “It’s okay to grieve, Paige. No one’s gonna think any lesser of you.”

  Paige just shook her head. “No. I appreciate it, but I can handle it.”

  “You shouldn’t have to.”

  She exhaled. “I can’t, Harding. Cause I’m pretty sure once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop.”

  Chad looked at her, then nodded. He got it. “Did you get any sleep?” he finally asked.

  “Not really. Those things were making a lot noise. And I also had to keep watch over my traveling buddy, who managed to get himself stabbed.”

  Chad chuckled. “Why don’t you get some rest now? Wait till it’s dark to go out.”

  “Cause that leg of yours isn’t gonna make it till dark. We need to get you some antibiotics, STAT.”

  Chad glanced down at his taped up leg. He nodded. “Okay, doc. But you take the gun.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ve got the bow.”

  “Have you ever shot one?”

  “No. But I think I get the general idea. You slide the long thing with the feathers against this string thing over here.”

  “Just bite me,” she interrupted his smart ass reply, as she headed for the door. “Try not to get stabbed in your good leg while I’m out.”

  “Try not to shoot your butt off with that gun,” he grinned back, nodding to where she’d shoved the gun down the back of her pants. Then he added, “Be safe out there, Paige.”

  She smiled, giving him a nod. Her way of saying thanks. And then she was off.

  ***

  Paige pedaled down what had once been a vibrant commercial street. She maneuvered through piles of debris and rubble, which until two days ago had been the walls of coffee shops and restaurants.

  She passed charred and crushed cars, many of which still had the corpses of their drivers inside. And there seemed to be way more corpses on the street than she had seen the day before. All victims of the Crazies, she assumed.

  If the Invaders’ goal was to annihilate her species, they were well on their way. She had no idea how many people were left in the city at that point, but it couldn’t be that many. In a way, this almost came as a relief. It meant less people trying to kill her if their rage triggered again.

  ***

  Paige pedaled across a lonely bridge spanning over one of LA’s many freeways. She glanced below, where six lanes of charred and wrecked cars stretched on forever.

  Absolutely nothing moved below. It was almost like staring at a 3-D snapshot. Just cars, and more cars. Just there. And not moving. The freeway had been jammed, as usual, on the Saturday afternoon when the attack occurred. And now those cars would be forever locked in that traffic jam.

  And there were bodies. She could see some of them leaning out their windows. Others were laying on the pavement between lanes. She was crossing over a graveyard.

  She reached the far side of the bridge, and continued on. Up ahead on the right stood what had once been a nice three-storied apartment complex. And now most of it had been reduced to rubble.

  Paige pedaled up to the apartment complex, and parked her bike alongside the outdoor stairwell. She pulled the construction worker’s driver’s license from her pocket, and took another look at the address. It was on the second floor. She headed up the stairs.

  ***

  Paige ducked beneath sections of ceiling, which barely clung to tangled nests of wires in the dim hallway. She avoided several bodies, as she worked her way down, checking apartment numbers as she went. Then she stopped at one. The door was cracked open, but she could read the number on it. Apartment 203. She took another glance at the address on the construction worker’s driver’s license. This was it.

  Paige stepped into the apartment. Plaster debris and chunks of ceiling lay everywhere. She slid the pistol from the back of her pants, then quietly crossed the living room to the short hallway. It went in two directions. To the left was the bathroom, and to the right was the bedroom. She veered right into the bedroom, easing in the door, and giving it a quick scan. The place was in shambles, with chunks of ceiling piled on the bed and carpet.

  She crouched down, searching beneath the bed. It seemed like the obvious place to hide a gun. But there was nothing. She turned, and headed over to the closet, shoving aside piles of clothes which had fallen from their hangers. There she found them. Buried beneath the clothes were several boxes of ammo, two rifles, a pair of binoculars, and another pistol. She shoved the pistol, ammo, and binoculars in her backpack.

  Suddenly hands grabbed her from behind! She was pulled from the closet, and thrown to the floor. She briefly caught a look at the terrified woman, before the woman pounced on her, and wrestled the pistol from her hand. The woman rose to her feet, keeping the pistol trained on Paige.

  “Who the hell are you?” the woman demanded, as Paige slowly propped herself up.

  “Woah. Lady. It’s okay,” Paige responded, holding her hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I thought the place was empty.”

  “Liar!” the woman shouted, waiving the pistol dangerously in Paige’s direction. “You’re one of them.”

  “No,” Paige replied, shaking her head. “I swear, I’m not. Look. I’ll leave.”

  “Like hell you will,” the woman snorted back. “I’m calling the cops.”

  Paige stared at her for a moment. “Lady. Uhm, ma’am. There are no cops. Have you seen what’s going on outside?”

  The woman shook her head, keeping the pistol trained on Paige. “Ain’t seen nothin’ since my husband knocked me out cold. Went all crazy on me.”

  “Just look out the window. I’ll stay right here.”

  “Don’t you move,” the woman ordered, waiving the pistol to show she meant business.

  “I won’t.”

  The woman cautiously approached the window, keeping an eye on Paige. She pulled aside the heavy drapes, and stared out. Her hand with the gun slowly lowered. “What the hell happened?”

  “We’ve been invaded,” Paige replied, slowly rising to her feet.

  “By who?” asked the woman.

  “Look in the sky.”

  The woman angled around, twisting her head to see the sky. And then she froze. She’d seen the ships. She stood like that for several minutes, just staring at the sky.

  “They from outer space?” she finally asked.

  “I think so,” replied Paige.

  The woman headed over to the bed, and sank dow
n on it. She looked in shock.

  “Can I lower my hands?” Paige asked.

  The woman just nodded.

  “You should try to get out of the city,” Paige said, lowering her hands. “What you said about your husband attacking you, it’s happening everywhere.”

  Again, the woman just nodded.

  Then a new sound boomed through the city. Like a giant fog horn, it echoed off the buildings. The woman snapped to her feet, dropping the gun. Paige jumped back. But the woman just stood there, staring into space. Like in a trance. Paige braced herself, ready to fight or run. Then the woman took a step forward, turned, and proceeded out the door. It was like watching someone in a trance. Without saying a word, she headed down the hallway, and into the living room. Paige snatched the gun and her backpack off the floor, then followed the woman into the living room.

  The woman headed out the apartment door, and into the hallway. There she joined a few other residents, as they filed down the hallway, and out the exit at the end. None of them saying a word, or even aware of each other’s presence.

  Paige followed them from a distance, as they headed down the stairway mounted to the outside of the apartments, then proceeded off down the street. Paige hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time. She reached the flat roof top deck, then hurried across it to the edge. She removed the binoculars from her backpack, and used them to scan across the city.

  Below, hundreds of people filed from buildings, and shuffled off across the city like zombies.

  As she watched them go, a new sound echoed across the city. This one sounding eerily like a whale’s siren. While hundreds of people continued their march into the city, others began grabbing chunks of rubble, and hauling it away.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The Guards

  Just when Paige had thought the day couldn’t get any stranger, it had taken another turn towards the bizarre. As she pedaled her way through the debris strewn streets, all around her men were grabbing chunks of rubble and hauling them away. Each of them were in that same zoned out trance as the woman. Only instead of marching away towards the city, they seemed to be tasked with cleaning it up.

  She pulled up to a group of men shoveling debris into wheel barrows, and carting them off.

  “Hey,” she said, trying to get one of their attention. “Can you guys hear me?”

  Nothing about their behavior indicated they could. Instead, they continued like robots. Shovel, dump. Shovel, dump.

  “Hey! You on the bike!”

  Paige spun around to see a guy in a military-style uniform heading her way. In his hands he carried a machine gun, pointed right at her. For lack of a better term, this guy was the first of what Paige would come to call the Guards.

  “Dismount the bike, and keep your hands where I can see them,” the guard ordered.

  “Okay, I’m doing it. Just don’t shoot,” Paige responded, climbing off her bike.

  “What’s in the backpack?” he continued, his finger tight on the trigger.

  Oh, shit, she thought to herself, remembering the guns in the backpack. Just try to act cool.

  “Just… you know… stuff,” she responded, doubtful that would suffice.

  It didn’t. He approached, keeping his machine gun trained on her. “Set it on the ground,” he ordered, “and unzip the top.”

  Paige complied, slowly unzipping the top, but trying to keep it as closed as possible. Maybe this guy wouldn’t look inside.

  “Now step away,” he ordered, relaxing just ever so slightly.

  Again Paige complied, slowly backing away from the backpack. She took a quick assessment of her possibilities at this point. Try to make a run for it? Bad idea, unless she wanted to get shot in the back.

  “Why weren’t you responding to the summons,” he asked, using the barrel of his rifle to nudge open the top of the backpack.

  “I… uhm… I don’t think I heard it?” her reply sounded stupid even to her. But it didn’t matter - he had spotted the guns.

  “On the ground now!” he ordered. He took a whistle hung from the his neck, and blew it hard. Alerting other guards in the area.

  Paige didn’t have time to think. It was react, or get shot. She stepped in, and kicked the side of his knee as hard as she could. As he fell, she grabbed her backpack, and swung it at the gun’s barrel. The barrel spun around, firing a burst of shots through the air.

  Paige scrambled back, but he caught her foot, yanking it out from beneath her. She fell to the pavement, catching herself on her elbows. She grabbed the other pistol from the back of her pants, and fired two shots at the guard. He collapsed, releasing her foot. She took a quick glance around at the work crew, expecting a reaction. But they continued shoveling debris, completely oblivious to what had happened.

  Paige shoved the pistol back in her pants, then grabbed the guard’s machine gun. She scrambled onto her bike, pumping her legs as hard as she could.

  Suddenly a squad of guards rounded the corner at the far end of the block. “You there, on the bike! Freeze!” they hollered.

  An instant later, bullets sprayed across the rubble around her.

  Paige hopped off the bike, and dove behind a pile of rubble. She pointed the machine gun around the edge, and fired a burst of shots. The guards dove for cover.

  Paige hopped on her bike, and pedaled off as fast as she could. Behind her, the guards scrambled out from the rubble, now joined by other guards, and chased after her.

  ***

  Paige kept turning down streets, trying to put as many corners between her and the guards as possible. She had the advantage with her bike, and was able to put some distance between them.

  She finally turned down an alley behind the ruins of what had been a strip mall. The back door to a laundromat was propped open. She hopped off the bike, and drug it inside, pulling the door closed behind her.

  The main room of the laudromat was filled with unclaimed clothes hanging from racks, and overturned machines. Paige threw a pile of clothes over the bike, then ducked behind a machine. She waited there, fearing to breath, as the clamor and ruckus of the guards stormed past the store.

  She slowly eased over to the edge of the splintered boards that had once been the counter. She peeked her head around it, then yanked it back quickly. A guard stood outside the broken window.

  Ever so quietly, she squeezed back behind the overturned machine, saying a silent prayer that he hadn’t seen her. Then shouts came from down the block. She listened, as the guard’s footsteps ran off to whatever the new problem was.

  ***

  The sun sank over the skeletons of the once proud skyscrapers as Paige wheeled her bike to the end of the alley. Rapid bursts of gunfire echoed in the distance. Paige was certain it was the guards. But at least it sounded like they weren’t anywhere close.

  She slipped over to the corner, then peeked around it. Other than the burnt bulks of several cars, the street was clear.

  Paige climbed on her bike, then pedaled off.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Trish

  Paige pedaled up to the loading dock of what had once been a large chain drug store. She hid her bike beside the dock, then crept in through the large bay door.

  Once inside, she found the interior of the store in shambles. A third of the roof had caved in, overturning shelves, and scattering items across the floor. She stepped around these, as she headed to the pharmacy.

  Like everything else in the city, she found the pharmacy door unlocked. The attack had happened during the day, when most stores were open, so it wasn’t surprising to find doors unlocked. It also wasn’t surprising to find dead bodies, which is what she found when she stepped through the door and into the pharmacy.

  The body was of a young woman, maybe mid-twenties. She’d probably been mauled by the pharmacist when that first tone hit two days ago. Two days? Paige shook her head. Had it only been that long?

  She stepped around the body, and headed for the shelves. She was looking for anyth
ing that sounded like an antibiotic. She seemed to recall that they ended in “lin.” Like penicillin, or methacylin. Fortunately, several bottles had already been bagged, with dosage instructions written on the outside. She grabbed several bottles, and shoved them in her backpack. Then she shoved some ointment in as well. Maybe some of these other pills could come in handy as well she wondered, as she scanned the different bottles.

  Then a noise came from the store just outside the pharmacy window. Someone was moving around out there. Paige slid her knife from her belt, then crawled over to the pharmacy door. She peeked around it, then ducked back. Something was approaching.

  Paige, tensed, gripping the knife. She would have to be fast. Slowly the shuffling approached the door. Paige braced herself, ready to make the lunge. The sound reached the door, and she lunged!

  Paige came down on top of a young girl, no more than nine. Her name was Trish, and from the looks of her outfit, this girl had been living on the streets long before the world as they knew it had ended.

  “Wait, please,” the young girl pleaded, stark terror in her eyes.

  Paige pulled back. “Who are you?” she asked.

  “Trish,” came the meek response.

  “You’re okay?” Paige asked, scanning the girl for any sort of weapon.

  Trish nodded, casting a worried look at the knife still in Paige’s hand. “Are you gonna stab me?” she asked.

  Paige looked down at the knife. “No,” she responded, sliding the knife back in her belt.

  “You’re not one of them?” Trish asked, looking a little more relaxed.

  “One of who?”

  “The soldiers. They’re after me.”

  Paige pulled Trish back inside the pharmacy, eased the door shut. “Did they follow you?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “How many were there?” Paige asked, taking a peek over the pharmacy counter. The store looked clear.

  “It was like, twelve. Maybe more. They were shooting people.”

  “I know,” Paige nodded. “They tried to shoot me.”

  “Why are they doing this?”

  “They’re being controlled,” Paige responded. Then something dawned on her. “Let me see your ear.”