by Tom Lewis
“Thanks,” Paige smiled to Mike, before turning to Jesse. “You guys are Rangers,” she said, nodding with a smile.
“How’d you know that?” Jesse asked.
“Your patch,” she replied, nodding to the curved patch on his sleeve. “My dad was a Ranger captain.”
“No shit?” Jesse smiled, “then it really is a pleasure to meet you.”
Suddenly gunshots echoed from the tunnel, followed by ferocious howls. Everyone hit the ground, aiming their rifles at the tunnel.
The two soldiers sprinted from the tunnel, diving for cover behind rocks. And seconds later a monstrous hybrid stormed out.
The Rangers all opened fire, throwing everything they had at that thing. But it wasn’t going down under the small arms fire. It spun towards Paige and the soldiers.
“Kurt!” shouted Jesse.
Kurt had hoisted the RPG to his shoulder. He fired off the rocket. It whizzed towards the hybrid, and blasted it into gooey chunks.
Then a second hybrid bounded from the tunnel. From the ridge above, Wes unleashed the 50 cal on it, spitting out armor piercing rounds longer than Paige’s hand. It ripped the thing to shreds.
Everyone waited for a moment, seeing if any more were coming.
“Any more?” Jesse hollered to Russell, one of the Rangers who’d ventured into the tunnel.
“That’s it,” Russell hollered back. “Just two.”
“Kurt,” Jesse turned to the Ranger who’d fired the RPG. “Have Danny and Todd seal that entrance.”
“Yes, sir,” Kurt hollered back, racing over a ridge. He returned moments later with two more soldiers Paige and Chad hadn’t met yet. Paige assumed there were probably a lot more out there as well.
These soldiers raced over to the tunnel, and heaved heavy backpacks through the opening.
“Fire in the hole!” hollered one of them, as everyone ducked for cover.
Seconds later, a thunderous blast blew the tunnel entrance into rubble and dust, as huge chunks of rock crashed down over the entrance. No more hybrids would be getting through this morning.
Paige and Chad rose, dusting off their clothes. She turned, checking out the rock slide. They really could have used all of this firepower back in the city.
“Hey, is your name Paige?” a soldier hollered from the top of a ridge.
“Yeah,” she hollered back.
“Your friend wants to see you.”
Paige jogged over the top of the ridge, and was immediately met by Trish, who grabbed her in a hug. Her eyes were filled with tears.
“Trish?” Paige asked. “What is it?”
Trish just shook her head, and ran off. Then she noticed Randy, just sitting on a rock, and kicking at the ground.
Paige followed the soldier over the side of the ridge, and what she saw almost made her heart stop.
It was Drew. And he was laying there, with a massive blood spot on his chest. A medic stood nearby. But even from this distance, she could tell there was just too much blood.
“Drew,” she cried, rushing over, and kneeling beside him.
“Hey, Rambo,” he whispered, managing a grin. But she could see the pain in his eyes.
She looked at all that blood. It was everywhere. She turned to the medic, her eyes pleading for hope. But he could only shake his head.
Tears rapidly filled her eyes as she turned back to Drew. “Does it hurt?” she asked, wanting so desperately for there to be a way for her to comfort him.
“Not anymore,” he whispered back. His breathing was getting shallower.
“I’m so sorry,” she cried, sniffing back a tear.
“Don’t be,” he whispered. “We did good back there.”
She buried her face in his shoulder, and wept.
He reached over, and gently stroked her head. “Don’t be afraid to let people in, Paige O’Connor,” he whispered to her in a voice that was quickly fading.
She leaned up. “I won’t,” she whispered back, her eyes now completely filled with tears. “I had this homeless boy who taught me how.”
She saw the slightest trace of a smile in his eyes. He was struggling, but he knew she needed it. Like so much he’d done since they’d met, it was for her. “He sounds cool,” he whispered, in what would be his final words.
“He is,” she smiled back at him.
There was a lump in her throat, threatening to choke her. She knew there were only moments left.
She leaned in, pressing her lips against his, and kissed him with a tenderness and love she had never allowed herself to express before. Or to feel.
Then she leaned over to his ear, whispering softly, “I love you, Drew Hamilton.”
She leaned back, and through her own tear filled eyes, watched his lips curl in a smile, that sparkled from the light now fading in those blue eyes. She returned that smile, letting it be the last thing he saw. She cared.
And Drew Hamilton died knowing that.
The anguish she felt at that moment was inconsolable. She pounded the ground, crying and shaking. It hurt so bad, she just wanted to die.
Then a tiny hand pressed gently on her shoulder. Trish had quietly approached during Drew’s final moments. Paige took Trish’s hand, and led her down beside her. Only the soothing presence of that little girl could ease the break in Paige’s heart. The girls wrapped their arms around each other, and together they wept bitterly.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
A New Home
The fresh smell of pines filled the air, as Paige, her friends, and the militia trotted into camp on horses supplied by the militia. Drew was wrapped in a blanket, and draped over the saddle of a horse.
The camp, located high in the mountains of central California, was a collection of dozens of camouflaged tents hidden beneath the dense cover of trees. Dozens of soldiers, in addition to those riding in on horseback, patrolled the area.
This was their new home. And Paige felt safe.
***
It had been four months since the Fall. That was the term the remnants of humanity were using to refer to the day civilization collapsed. And like its Biblical reference, mankind had again been thrown from its place on the Earth.
The camp that had become a new home for Paige and her friends had grown, as the soldiers located other pockets of survivors, and established contact with other military units.
One of the new members of the camp was a girl named Misty. Paige had met her when she first arrived. She was about Paige's age, and seemed friendly enough, if not shy. But the soldiers had taken an interest in Misty for tactical reasons. Apparently she knew something about the enemy, and that knowledge gave the soldiers an advantage in the counterattack they were planning.
Paige was letting her hair grow long again, and it now reached well past her shoulders. She still saw herself as a rebel, but now that energy was focused on humanity’s common enemy. It gave her a purpose. And a cause.
One of the soldiers had given her a notepad and pen, and for the past two months she’d been keeping a diary. It was helping her process things.
She wandered a little ways from camp, and over to a dirt mound with a wooden cross planted in the ground at the head of it. This was the final resting place of Drew Hamilton.
“Hey,” she nodded, as she brushed away some pine needles, and sat down next to the grave. She pulled a small flower from her pocket, and set it on the grave.
She just sat there for a moment, allowing the cool mountain breeze to brush her face. The sun was warm, and the birds were chirping, and she wanted to spend some alone time in thought.
“So I started keeping this diary,” she finally continued, removing the diary from her pocket. “It’s mostly about all that stuff we talked about, and stuff I was feeling, and it’s really helping me work through some things. A big one of those being my people skills, or lack thereof, as I’m sure you’d call it.” She caught herself smiling at the thought.
“I just want you to know that you helped me so much, Drew. And it wasn’t just with my
crazy rescue missions and stuff. You helped me learn about me. And I just hope I was able to give you even a little of what you gave me,” she continued, wiping a tear from her eye.
“So I guess you’re probably up there right now making God laugh,” she continued, a smile breaking on her face. This was definitely something she could picture him doing.
“If you get a chance, can you ask Him to send us some help,” she added. “We’re gonna be attacking the city, and we’ll need all the help we can get.” She looked over at the wooden cross she and Trish had made. “We’re gonna take this planet back, Drew. For us. For you. For everyone that’s died. And for humanity.”
She folded up the diary, and stuck it in her pocket.
“Anyway, I just wanted to say ‘hey,’ and let you know I was thinking about you. I just really miss you a lot.”
She kissed her finger, and pressed it against the grave.
“Wish us luck.”
And at that she rose, and headed off towards the camp.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
If you’re reading this “About Me” page, that probably means you read the book to the end. So first of all, a huge thank you!
Here’s a bit about me. I served in the Marines, before going to college, and then law school. I practice entertainment law, which means I draft contracts for movies.
I’ve written several screenplays, but “Aftermath” is my first novel. It’s loosely based on a story I came up with about a year ago, that I teamed up with some friends to shoot as a short film. That short film won an award at a festival last summer.
I was really into the story, and the main character, Paige, so back in February 2015 I decided to turn it into a novel. I wanted to keep the story focused on Paige, and not have it veer off into some crazy aliens attack Earth epic. It had to be about this girl, and her personal struggle for survival in the wake of civilization’s collapse, and humanity's domination by this alien race of beings. The epic part’s still there, but we’re taking the journey through it with Paige.
I live near the beach in California, and right now I’m outlining the next book in the series. It’s going to be explosive, so I hope you’ll come back.
I’d love to hear from readers. You guys rock! You can email me at [email protected]. And feel free to friend me on Facebook.
And finally, if you enjoyed the book, please consider posting a review on Amazon. They're a huge help to us writers.
Thanks again!
Tom Lewis