After It Happened (Book 3): Society

by Devon C. Ford

  As she went back outside to see the others carrying the items they had come for, a noise at the edge of her hearing focused her attention. She couldn’t place it, but something told her that it wasn’t a natural noise, which set her senses on edge.

  She ran to the nearest lorry and climbed on the wheel to reach the bonnet, from there hauling herself easily onto the roof of the cab to give her a commanding view of the area. She could see nothing, but the noise was still there; brought to her ears intermittently by the eddying breeze. Three minutes went by, then four and five, but still nothing came into view. Jimmy saw her looking around like an alert sentry and asked her if everything was ok.

  “Yeah. I can hear something in the distance I think. How long?”

  “Five minutes, then we’ll hit next door for the clothing and bedding” he replied.

  Leah stood watch for another fifteen minutes as the others moved into the next building and began to bring out armfuls of clothing and other things. A flash of movement at the extremity of her vision made her raise the weapon to look down the scope. Whatever it was that had moved was no longer there, but the noise was more pronounced now. She suspected that she heard an engine, maybe more than one. She fought down the urge to call the others back and flee in panic.

  Recalling what Dan had told her, she forced herself to stay calm. “Remember” he had told her, long before she had gained the experience to fully understand the true meaning “we’re probably the scariest things out there, so there’s no need to panic”

  She told herself this over and over, but the feeling of uneasy fear was growing in her belly like a rapid cancer. Jimmy came back and told her that they had filled one of the lorries, but wanted to get the second one stocked from the next shop. She thought for a second before jumping down and pulling out a small pair of binoculars from her vest.

  “Get up high and keep an eye out” she instructed “there’s definitely something moving around out there” Jimmy nodded and she turned to open the third large commercial building to her team. The sliding doors were unlocked, and with the help of the others they were forced the rest of the way open. She repeated the clearing process, conscious not to rush the task and cause more problems. As she reached the extreme of the stock area, a single blast of a shotgun made her heart stop for a moment.

  MAD MAX II

  Leah turned on her heel and sprinted for the entrance to find the three others milling about in mild panic. Her worst fears were alleviated when it became apparent that the shot was for attention, and not aimed at a threat. To her left she saw a handful of motorbikes slowly peeling into the car park and spreading out in a menacing pack. She dropped to one knee in the partial shelter of the entranceway and shouted at the others to get back in the vehicles. They had one shotgun per lorry, and Jimmy was stood on the bonnet of his truck with his legs planted widely. Leah scanned the approaching group through her optic and decided that they did not look friendly.

  The bikes stopped in a line almost perfectly plotted for Leah to strafe the entire group. She stayed put where she was and slowly reloaded a full magazine into the carbine and flicking the fire selector to automatic. The bikes were all canted over onto their stands and one by one the engines were stopped to bring an echoing silence to their small battlefield.

  Leah had no intention of letting her fears rule her, otherwise she would have opened up on them immediately. She decided to see how it played out and gauge if they really were an enemy. She wasn’t hopeful; their clothes were all ragged and they carried long knives and other cruel looking weapons on their bikes. None of them wore a helmet, and the one who seemed to be the leader stepped forward and craned his neck up to Jimmy.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked amicably enough, but a threat hung in his words.

  “Shopping mate. You?” Jimmy replied with his casual cockiness.

  The biker held up his hands in mock defence. “No offence meant” he said without genuine meaning “We’re just being friendly”

  Leah decided that he was not friendly. Not one bit. Jimmy got that impression too.

  “Well we’re just leaving” he said without moving.

  The biker boss tutted and shook his head slowly “No” he said slowly “You’re not. You’re going to come back with us and be our ‘guests’”

  Leah had heard enough, and she reacted as three other decisions were made simultaneously. First, Jimmy swung the barrel of the Remington towards the bikers and brought the butt into his shoulder. As soon as he moved, four of the bikers reached into their jackets and pulled out weapons.

  She didn’t know who fired first.

  “The point of any conflict is to kill them quicker than they can kill us”

  Dan’s words echoed in her mind afterwards, as she replayed what had happened. The bikers were still bunched up in a ragged line facing Jimmy as they drew. Leah had no time to differentiate between those aiming weapons; she just had to drop them quicker than they could drop Jimmy. She fired. Five short bursts before she switched her aim to the last one. As she did so he flew backwards; upper body bending unnaturally as he was thrown down by the huge impact of the shotgun. Conscious thought that he was already hit heavily did not enter her mind as she stitched a further line of bullets into him as he fell.

  She rose to her feet, hands moving with much practiced ease as she reloaded without looking. “COMING OUT” she yelled, not wanting Jimmy to panic and shoot her in case he was in shock. She went along the line of downed bikers. All dead with the exception of one trying to stem the thick flow of blood from the hole in his neck. He looked at her mutely, mouth opening and closing soundlessly, as he struggled to stop the arterial gush. His eyes went vacant in a second, and the hand relaxed to allow the last weak spurts pour out with the rapidly decreasing pressure of his failing heart.

  She turned away and looked to Jimmy.

  “Are you ok?” she asked him. He looked directly at her and gave a small nod, clearly horrified by the speed of what had just unfolded.

  “Everyone else ok?” she shouted. The other three emerged from the lorries unharmed. They were fine.

  “Right, clear the last building quickly and let’s get the hell out of here” she instructed them.

  She didn’t know why she did that, but the focus of completing a task quickly brought them all back into the present and they scurried away to comply. Leah checked the bodies of the bikers she had ventilated, taking poor quality and badly maintained weapons from them. She recovered a revolver, a Glock and three sawn-off shotguns, leaving the large machetes and knives. The bike belonging to the leader had curious markings on the tank, and as she studied them closer she was horrified.

  Line after line of stick men and women were painted on with something that looked like tipex; the realisation that this was the same as pilots in World War two painting the outlines of planes they had shot down on their aircraft made her feel sick. These were bad people, and they deserved to die.

  She thought about that for a second, changing her mind about the declaration she had just made to herself.

  Her group deserve to live, and these people wanted to change that. That’s why they’re dead and she isn’t. She stood up, straightened herself and shook off the brief, violent encounter. She climbed back to her perch on the lorry and scanned for more danger as the others came out of the shop with the valuable supplies. With deft hands, she replenished her weapon with a full magazine without looking.

  Leah was calm. She was shaking slightly, but she recognised the physical reaction to adrenaline and knew that it would fade soon. She sat on her right foot and rested the carbine on her raised left knee, slowly scanning the horizon and breathing slowly to return her body to normal.

  She was calm, she was effective, and she was a leader.

  She wouldn’t recognise it herself, nor would she probably like to admit it, but she was also the most dangerous person in over fifty square miles.

  AFTER ACTION REPORT

  Leah’s convoy made i
t back in the afternoon. She had called home on the radio ten miles out, reporting a successful trip and a contact. Dan snatched the radio from Jack and asked for details, the nervous strain evident in his voice. Leah assured him that they were all fine and that she would give him a full report as soon as they were back.

  She rolled down the drive and up to the front of the house to find Dan stood outside with Ash at his heel. The lorries peeled off to the stores shutters as she pulled up and reverse parked next to Dan’s Discovery.

  She readied herself to weather the storm of his questions, to account for the failings she had repeatedly cursed herself for on the return journey. She climbed down and saw him striding towards her with a taught look on his face. He didn’t stop when he got to her, but carried on and threw his arms around her picking her up easily. He held her tightly and breathed hard, relief washing over him. She fought out of his grip until he put her down.

  “Air!” she gasped theatrically.

  “Are you ok?” he asked, full of concern.

  “I’m fine” she said “Coffee?”

  They went inside and Dan poured a coffee for them each. They sat at the table where she began to strip down her carbine just as Rich came in. He took the weapon from her.

  “I’ll clean that. You two talk” he said kindly and went leave the room. Leah stopped him and threw him the keys to her Defender.

  “Recovered some weapons on the front seat; they’re in bad shape I think” she said.

  “From the beginning” Dan said, more calm now.

  “Got there fine, cleared two buildings and I got up high to keep watch” she paused, sipping the hot liquid.

  “I thought I could hear noises – engine noises – but saw nothing. I cleared the third building after leaving a lookout and Jimmy fired a shot to get me back outside. Six men on motorbikes, not friendly” she stopped again, cooling the coffee by blowing over the lip of the cup.

  “And?” Dan said, impatience creeping into his voice.

  “I had the angle on them” she said, demonstrating the oblique lines with her hands “and they drew on Jimmy after refusing to let us go. They didn’t know I was there and they all went down. The others cleared the last building and we came home”

  So matter of fact. So emotionless.

  Dan didn’t know whether to be impressed with her cool or worried that she was a psychopath.

  “Go on” he said.

  “Bursts into each one. The last one I hit had taken one high in the chest from Jimmy’s Remington. He had twenty-six stick men drawn on his bike. Some were women and some were smaller than the others…” she trailed off.

  Dan knew exactly what that meant, and strongly suspected that she did too.

  “Any others?” he asked, getting back to business.

  “No. I got back up high and saw nobody else. I put in two ambushes on the way home and didn’t see a thing”

  She had done well. Very well, he thought.

  “You stayed after the contact to clear more supplies?” he asked, finally clicking with what she had said earlier.

  “Yes. The others were in a panic and I thought that giving them a job to do would settle their nerves and they were less likely to crash on the way home”

  Dan could see the logic in that, but even he wasn’t sure if he had the guts to make that decision. The instinct to clear out of the area following a contact was so strong and ingrained that he knew his thought processes were different from hers on the subject. He regarded her as she loosened and removed her vest before picking up her coffee again.

  Dan sighed. “Ok, get a shower and see Marie please”

  The lazy sketch of a salute again, and her personality broke through the curtain of his stress. She had been weighed and measured; and she had not been found wanting.

  She transferred her Walther to the hip holster she wore when of duty and stowed the rest of her gear as Dan drank his coffee before she left to clean up.

  Hearing her leave, Rich emerged from Dan’s old bedroom and came to sit with him.

  “Well?” he asked.

  Dan sighed again and looked to the ceiling, tilting his head back and rubbing his face.

  “She took out six armed men who, I reckon, were quite accustomed to violence. You tell me”

  “That’s our girl” Rich said, smiling.

  ~

  “How do you feel about it now?” Marie asked, leaning forward slightly in her chair.

  Leah shrugged.

  “Fine. I had to do it, or the five of us would probably be dead by now and the supplies wouldn’t be here” she replied. She wanted to say that she wasn’t uncaring about it; she knew she had killed people which is fundamentally wrong but it was either them or her. There was no simpler way to explain it.

  “If they were friendly I wouldn’t have done it, you know that right?” she asked Marie, mimicking her posture in the chair.

  “Yes, I know that” Marie answered with a soft smile “I just want to be sure that you know that”

  “Well, yeah. Obviously. I know you all think I’m cold about it, but it’s us or them; I chose us. Honestly, I think Jimmy needs you more than I do right now”

  “Ok, but promise me you’ll come to me to talk about any feelings you have about it?” Marie said.

  “I promise. I’m fine about it; it’s just one of those things that happens now”

  Leah helped herself to another biscuit as she got up to leave. She had skipped the shower, and decided on going for a run. She put on shorts and a t-shirt, tying the waistband tight to hold the holstered Walther inside by the small of her back. She laced her trainers tight and went back downstairs, poking her head into Ops where Dan still sat.

  “That dog of yours need a run?” she asked.

  “Yes” Dan replied “He’s keeps farting and it smells like a dead badger; by all means take him!” he never minded letting Ash go with her as he felt better that she had backup even though she wouldn’t leave the immediate area.

  “You carrying?” he asked as she patted her legs for Ash’s attention.

  In response she turned and showed him her back without a word. Dan nodded at her.

  “Go on then, stinky…” he said as his dog went to her with his tail wagging.

  “…and you Ash” he finished, as she knew he would say.

  She ran across the fields to the gardens, Ash loping by her side but still looking up at her expectantly. She stopped at the road and looked both ways, surprising herself at the ridiculous gesture deeply ingrained into her mind.

  After a mile she had to stop and wait for his ridiculous ritual of sniffing desperately before returning to the first spot to deliver his payload. He scratched all four feet backwards in turn, digging at the ground before bounding after her with renewed energy at his immediate weight loss. She set a brisk pace, making her breathe hard as she ran. Ash kept up effortlessly, still hoping for a treat of some description.

  She stopped after a few miles of cross country circuits to catch her breath. She worried herself a little bit if she was honest; why wasn’t she affected by killing people? Would everyone be happier if she burst into tears and wept for the loss of life at her hands?

  No, she decided. She wouldn’t fake emotions just for other people to feel happier, and if she was to take control in the future then she must be strong. That, she knew she wasn’t faking. She was strong. She wasn’t upset about killing those men, but then again she didn’t enjoy it either. It was a task. A job. It needed doing and she did it.

  Which is exactly what she would always do to keep these people safe.

  She started to run again, taking a long route back to the house she set a faster pace, pushing herself.

  EAT, SLEEP, TEST, REPEAT

  Emma’s eyes were dry. The air conditioned atmosphere in the bunker was something that she had forgotten, but now the memory of how it made her feel ill flooded back. She was tired, she needed fresh air and sunlight.

  She made herself a drink and took it outs
ide into the blustery Scottish summer evening. The wind blew hard against her, making her wrap the fleece around her body. She let the cool air blow away the claustrophobia. So far she had tested almost every blood sample she had. Other than finding some unrelated differences, likely congenital issues which had nothing to do with the virus or whatever it was, there was no difference. She had yet to isolate exactly what it was, but she found nothing in the samples of those who had died in front of her.

  As she stood and enjoyed the breeze, the undeniable realisation became more and more clear. There had to be something, otherwise everyone would still be alive and life would be normal. Logically then, the fact that each sample showed no difference must mean that each sample was relatively the same. That meant, that every sample of blood she had tested was exposed to the same infection.

  “We all have it” she said out loud to herself.

  Nobody answered, as she knew they wouldn’t. She lacked the knowledge or the equipment to test DNA, so couldn’t even begin to isolate any possible reasons why the survivors were immune.

  She had drawn a blank. As far as she could tell, everyone was exposed to ‘it’ but some just survived where most others didn’t. Exasperated, she threw the remaining half of her drink into the grass and went back inside. She wandered into the lab and decided to pack up her research as there was nothing new she could learn. As she moved her large notebook she saw a scribbled note on a desk pad by a computer terminal. It read;

  “H_FLE181. Password: SC13nceGEek1973. Desktop file ‘TOP SECRET’”

  Emma stared at the note, not believing that she hadn’t seen it before. She carefully moved her bundle of notes to the side and settled in front of the computer terminal. She pressed the power button and watched patiently as the lights and sounds started up. Eventually she was faced with a login screen. She selected the correct user, and carefully replicated the password.