Aftermath (After the Fall Dystopian Series Book 1)

by Tom Lewis

“You did,” Paige nodded.

  Valerie chuckled. “So how do we get in there, and get your friend out?”

  “I think Drew and I could sneak in if we were dressed as guards,” Paige replied.

  “Do they have female guards?” Valerie asked.

  “Hope so,” Paige shrugged.

  “Okay, then,” Valerie nodded along, thinking. “So we need two guard uniforms. How tall is Drew?”

  “I dunno,” Paige shrugged. “Five ten, five eleven. I’m five two. I wore a size two, back when they had stores.”

  Valerie thought about it for a moment. She looked up at Paige. “I don’t know if they’ll have them that small.”

  Paige nodded. “Yeah. I thought that might be a problem.”

  “Guess it’s worth checking,” Valerie added.

  “So how do we do this?” Paige asked.

  “Pretty much the same way our ancestors did,” Valerie grinned.

  She reached up, and tugged off an ear of corn. She ripped off a leaf, and pressing it against the ground, began using her fingernail to carve words into the leaf.

  Paige watched, completely blown away. This girl was impressive. “Damn, Val,” she exclaimed. “McGyver ain’t got shit on you.”

  Valerie laughed, finishing up the last of her note. “Tony and I came up with this idea so we could communicate back and forth,” Valerie said, folding up the “note.” “There’s a rock we hide them under at the edge of the field.”

  “O’Connor, Turner, get out here!” the task master hollered.

  Oh, crap, Paige thought, as she and Valerie exchanged worried looks.

  The girls stepped out from behind the corn stalks, trying their best not to look suspicious.

  “What was going on back there?” he demanded.

  “Uhm, nothing really,” Valerie responded, looking nervous.

  “I had to pee,” Paige shot out.

  “Yeah, me too,” Valerie jumped in.

  “You both had to pee together?” he asked.

  “Sure. Why not,” Paige shrugged. “Don’t tell me you didn’t have any sisters.”

  The task master shook his head. “Just get back to work,” he barked. “And from now on you’re to ask permission before you go pee.”

  “Got it,” Paige responded, flipping him “the finger” from the hand she held behind her back. The girls turned, and headed back to their spots.

  ***

  The rest of the afternoon was just more of the same old, same old. Paige felt it seemed to drag on even more than usual. Maybe it was just her nerves, going over all the possible things that could wrong with their crazy rescue operation.

  The task master finally blew his whistle, signaling that it was time to call it quits for the day.

  Valerie caught up to Paige, as the two headed down the row toward the dirt road that fronted the field.

  “How do we do this?” Paige whispered.

  “I just need to wait till he’s not looking,” Valerie whispered back.

  Both girls crept along, keeping an eye on him. This guy seemed like a machine, as he made sure all of the slaves stayed in line.

  Then finally he looked away, just long enough to climb down from his tower.

  Valerie quickly ducked away, disappearing through the stalks. It was so sudden and quiet, Paige barely even noticed.

  Paige kept moving along with the throng of workers, as they flowed from the row and onto the dirt path. This continued on for several nerve wracking minutes. Paige stole an occasional glance through the corn, seeing if she could spot Valerie. But there was nothing.

  Suddenly the task master spun to his right. “Turner!” he shouted, then blew his whistle!

  Something bad had happened. Paige sped up her pace, squeezing past the other workers. The task master had disappeared to her left - the direction Valerie had headed.

  Paige ducked off through the corn, pushing corn stalks aside as she sprinted past. She squeezed through several stalks, and came out on another row, running parallel to the one she had been on. At the end of the row, towards the dirt path, the task master had Valerie on the ground, beating her with his night stick.

  “NO!” Paige hollered, racing as fast as she could. She leaped the last few feet onto the task master, her momentum knocking the two of them onto the ground.

  Paige sprang to her feet, kicking the task master hard in the head. His head snapped back, knocking him over. Paige jumped on top of him, punching him furiously.

  Five guards raced over, grabbing Paige, and heaving her to the ground. She sprang up, dove at a guard’s legs, tackling him backwards. Two other guards pulled her off, throwing her to the ground.

  “Stop! Don’t hurt her!” Valerie shouted, staggering to her feet.

  The guards snapped up their rifles, preparing to shoot, when they were pounced on by dozens of workers who had been watching the fight. The workers took them down, yanked away their rifles, and opened fire.

  Paige rushed over to Valerie, wiping blood from her nose. “Come on!” Paige shouted. “We gotta go!”

  The girls sprinted off down the dirt path, as shots echoed through the field behind them. It was becoming a full on revolt.

  ***

  The sun was setting beyond the pyramids of the city, as Paige and Valerie raced across the field, and through the rubble surrounding the tunnel entrance.

  “You need to get out of here, Val. They’ll be looking for you.”

  “They’ll be looking for both of us,” Valerie panted, catching her breath.

  “I know,” Paige replied, catching her breath. “I’ll be coming later.”

  “But we didn’t get those uniforms.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Paige shook her head. “I’ll just fake like I’m one of the shamblers. But you need to get through the tunnels, and find those soldiers.”

  Valerie shook her head. Everything was happening so fast. “I need to get Trevor and Lucas. I can’t just leave them.”

  “Don’t worry about them,” Paige replied. “I’ll let them know. But you need to go.”

  And that was pretty much it. The last of Valerie’s objections. She looked at Paige, the closest thing she had ever had to a sister, realizing this could be the last time she ever saw her. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”

  “I promise,” Paige said.

  The girls wrapped their arms around each other in a tight hug, and just held each other for a moment.

  When they finally released each other, both of their eyes were misty. “Give them hell, Paige,” Valerie said, just before she disappeared into the bunker.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  A Calm Before the Storm

  Paige hurried down the cold stone hallway of her apartment building, reaching Drew’s door. She knocked several times, praying he hadn’t already left for the dining hall. It had taken her over an hour to get back from the tunnels, ducking behind bushes and around corners every time she spotted a guard.

  The door clicked open, and Drew looked out. “Hey, I need to hide here,” she panted, as he stepped aside letting her in.

  “What happened?” he asked, looking at her cuts and bruises.

  Paige gave him the rundown on the evening’s events. The fight. The workers’ revolt. And Valerie leaving.

  “You’re a bad ass,” he nodded. “Glad you’re on my side.”

  She mustered up enough energy to return a smile.

  “So you actually kicked him in the face?” Randy asked.

  “Yeah,” she nodded.

  “Cool.”

  Paige smiled, then turned back to Drew. “Can you go get Trish?” she asked. “I’m pretty sure they’ll be looking for me, after they sort out what happened out there.”

  “You got it,” Drew replied, and headed out the door.

  He returned a few minutes later, with Trish in tow. She ran over, and gave Paige a hug. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Paige nodded. “I’ll be fine. But I need you and Randy to do something for me.�
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  “Okay,” Trish nodded. “What is it?”

  “Remember that guy we met last night?” Paige asked.

  “The Outlaw guy?”

  “Yeah,” Paige grinned. “I need you to go to the dining hall, and find him. Tell him that Valerie left through the tunnels.”

  “She did?” asked Trish.

  “Yeah. And tell him we’ll be leaving tonight too.”

  “Cool!” Randy exclaimed.

  “Are you still going to look for your friend?”

  Paige nodded. “Yeah.”

  “And you’re going with her, right,” Trish said, turning to Drew.

  “Do I have a choice?” he grinned.

  “No,” replied Trish, once again folding her arms across her chest. She had that gesture down.

  Drew laughed. “Looks like I’m going then.”

  “So you want us to go to the dining hall now?” Randy asked.

  “Yeah,” Paige replied. “And be ready to leave when we get back.”

  “I’ve been ready since we got here,” Randy said, as he and Trish headed out the door.

  When they had gone, Paige shuffled over to the bunk, and plopped down. Drew and Randy’s apartment was a mirror image of Paige and Trish’s, but without the window. That made it feel smaller, even though Paige was sure they were the same size.

  “So what’s the new plan?” Drew asked, heading into the bathroom.

  “We wait for that foghorn sound,” Paige replied, “then try to blend in with the shamblers.

  Drew chuckled, as he returned from the bathroom with a wet washcloth. “You think there’ll be another one tonight?” he asked, sitting down on the bunk beside her.

  “I hope so,” she replied. “They’ve had it the past two nights, so I think it might be a routine.”

  “May I?” he smiled, waving the washcloth.

  “What?” she asked, before realizing. “Oh, no. You don’t have to?”

  “Stop being such a pain,” he laughed. “Let people help you.”

  She turned to him, looking him in the eye. He was smiling, with those beautiful blue eyes of his.

  “Okay,” she said, letting him take her arm.

  He gently brushed the washcloth down her arm, washing the dirt from her scratches.

  “You look like a wreck, Paige O’Connor,” he grinned.

  “I thought you said I was cute,” she grinned back at him, slowly feeling those walls around her crumbling.

  “Well, yeah. That too.”

  She sat there for a moment, just feeling the warmth and tenderness of his touch. She decided it was finally time to get to know this guy, the real him, and take a chance stepping out from behind her walls.

  “So what was it like, you know, growing up in a foster home?” she asked.

  Drew thought about it for a second, before finally responding. “If I had to pick one word, I’d say lonely.”

  She wasn’t expecting that kind of honesty. She turned to look at him. “But there were other kids, weren’t there?”

  “Yeah,” he replied, looking down. “And Trish was great. Our foster parents took her in when she was five, and she and I became like our own little family.”

  “It was just the two of you?” she asked, shifting around so he could take her other arm.

  “They had three kids of their own. But, you know, we never really felt like we were part of their family.”

  As she listened, memories stirred of her own family. How could she have been so cruel to them. Here this amazing guy would’ve given anything to have had what she had, and she just abused it.

  “What about your real parents,” she continued, “if it’s okay to ask.”

  He thought about it for a few seconds, and Paige worried she had crossed the line.

  “I’m sorry,” she added. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “No, it’s okay,” he replied. “It’s a part of me. And I think it’s cool you want to get to know me.”

  Paige turned, looking him in the eyes. And she saw it there. He wasn’t playing her. This guy was being one hundred percent honest. “I do,” she nodded.

  “The thing is, I really don’t know that much about them. My mom was seventeen when she had me, and who knows who my dad was. She put me up for adoption, but I guess that didn’t work out. So I was in foster care pretty much my whole life.”

  As Paige looked into his eyes, she noticed a sadness there she had never seen before. He was always this happy guy, with that killer smile, and flirtatious twinkle in his eyes. But here he was now, trusting her enough to expose himself like this to her. “Do you want to talk about something else?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No. No, it’s okay. It actually feels good to talk about it.”

  “So why did you feel lonely?” she asked.

  “I think it was just the whole idea of being in this house with this family, and knowing they’re doing it because they’re paid to.”

  “You don’t think they cared about you?” She asked.

  “I never really felt like they did. At least not like a real family. I don’t think Trish did either. That’s why we ran away when I turned eighteen.”

  She just sat there for a moment, watching him. Experiencing a closeness she never felt comfortable allowing herself to feel before.

  Then the moment was broken, as that foghorn like sound slowly welled up over the city.

  Paige could feel the moment slipping away, but she wasn’t going to let it go entirely. She leaned over, kissing him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, “for sharing all of that with me.”

  “Thanks for caring,” he smiled, nodding back.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Into the Lion's Den

  Paige and Drew stepped from the relative security of their pyramid apartment, and into the warm night air. They had decided it was best to use the back exit, since the guards were usually posted out front. They weren’t sure how convincing their Shambler impersonations would be, so the less exposure they had to non-tranced out people, the better.

  Paige slid a rock in the doorway, keeping it propped open just a crack. If everything went like they were hoping, they would need this door to get back inside later that night.

  The two then stood there, side by side, as the Shamblers shuffled past. As before, they seemed oblivious to anything other than their summons to that temple.

  Then Paige did something that surprised her. She reached over, and grabbed Drew’s hand, slipping her fingers through his. She looked up at him, at the same time he looked down at her. There was no need for words. It was there between them. Unspoken. What she had come to realize was this unconditional commitment he had to protecting her. She still didn’t fully understand it, but after the brief moments they’d shared together in his room, she knew it was real. He wanted someone to care for, and hoped in turn that person would care for him. And sometime over the course of the past fews days, she had become that person.

  She gave his hand a squeeze. They were about to journey off to the lion’s den, with no one to rely on but each other. This thought made her realize how grateful she was to have him with her. Without him, she would be alone.

  “You ready?” he whispered.

  “Yes,” she nodded, releasing his hand. And at that they joined the flow of Shamblers.

  ***

  The journey to the temple was agonizing. Paige thought of times she’d sat in the waiting room at her doctor’s office, and the knot she always had in her stomach. If you times’d that by two billion, that was how she felt.

  None of the guards they passed seemed to notice anything suspicious about their Shambler imitations. It wasn’t as zombie-like as she had first thought, but more coordinated. And of course there was none of the groaning you heard in movies or TV shows. The only sounds were the footsteps, hundred of them, and occasional shuffle as a step was misplaced.

  They were soon leaving the city, and crossing the rugged stretch of des
ert that led to the crater. There were no more guards along this stretch, just the endless flow of Shamblers.

  As they reached the crater, the ground grew more rugged. Paige and Drew were careful to watch their steps, but the tranced-out Shamblers seemed to have no difficulty with the change in terrain.

  And then they were descending into the crater. The point of no return. The knot in her stomach felt like she’d been punched in the gut. Please don’t let me puke, she thought to herself, as they shuffled down the slope.

  The boulders they’d hidden behind last night were now high above them, and Paige was fighting this nagging urge in her gut to turn back. This trek to the temple wasn’t even the hard part. That would come once they were inside the place. How would they find Chad? How would they escape? What would happen to them if they were caught?

  For the millionth time that night, she found herself so grateful that Drew was there with her. Beside her. Her partner in crime. She couldn’t imagine how scared and alone she would be feeling right now without him.

  She thought of Valerie, and envied her for being out of this place. Paige was determined to get through this, and have something to spend long hours recounting with Valerie. Maybe those soldiers even knew how to distill liquor.

  And Chad. That knot in her gut almost exploded when her thoughts drifted to him. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she’d left him to get the guns and antibiotics. Was he even still alive? Or worse? No, she told herself. She wasn’t going to allow her imagination to go there.

  The steep incline gradually rolled onto the crater’s floor. They were crossing it now, with that massive temple looming ahead. The guards were there, stationed at intervals along the parade of Shamblers. Paige put on that blank stare, her eyes focused only on what was immediately ahead.

  As they finally closed the last twenty yards to the temple, she repressed a shudder. The immense size of it was terrifying, as it loomed darkly against the night sky. But it was the aura she felt that made her skin crawl. This place was evil. It felt living, and hungry, and alien. No amount of design or engravings could remove that stain. It was constructed of stone, but that stone emanated a presence. And that presence was vile, and hating. Aware of its own supremacy, and without compassion or empathy, it lorded over the humans in the crater below.