The Last Orchard (Prequel): Surviving the Collapse

by Hunt, James

  “Jesus,” Liz said, the word escaping in a breathless whisper.

  “We managed to find some old Humvees at the base that still worked, and our CO told us to head into Seattle and secure the city. He figured that’s where most of the damage would be done.”

  “We barely made it out of there alive,” Liz said.

  Adelyn grew fussy, and Sarah struggled to calm her down.

  “Ma’am, you can have her lie down in the Humvee if you want,” the lieutenant said.

  “Thank you.” Sarah smiled then walked over, escorted by one of the soldiers.

  “Well, we’d offer you a ride, but I don’t think you’d enjoy the destination. But—” He spun around and grabbed a bottle of water out of one of his men’s packs. “We’ll get you loaded up with some rations.”

  Charlie was just about to protest and tell the lieutenant that he was already close to home when the first gunshot erupted in the night.

  “Get down!” The lieutenant immediately shoved both Charlie and Liz toward the protection of the Humvee. And while he screamed a few other orders at them, Charlie couldn’t hear it over the roar of the gunfire.

  He and Liz ducked low next to the aged armored vehicle, both of them covering their heads with their hands. With his back against the door, Charlie felt the vibrations from bullets, and when he looked toward the front of the vehicle, he found the headlights highlighting two soldiers that had already fallen in the firefight. And Sarah.

  It took a moment for Charlie to realize that Adelyn was still on the ground, next to her mother, screaming her head off, but he scrambled to the front and yanked the little girl out of harm’s way.

  Liz grabbed hold of Charlie’s shoulder, turned him around, and screamed in his face, though he could barely hear her. “We need to go!”

  Charlie nodded in response, keeping Adelyn close to his chest while the little girl screamed for her mother.

  He poked his head over the doors and peered through the windows on their retreat, and he saw the flashes of the gun muzzles in the fight. “There’s too many.” Charlie pulled Liz back from the rear of the Humvee, shaking his head. “We won’t make it!”

  “Well, we can’t just sit here!” she said, ducking from a bullet ricochet off the Humvee’s roof.

  “We don’t have a choice!” he said, screaming. “There’s too much random fire!”

  A few more minutes into the firefight, the lieutenant returned behind the cover of the Humvee, breathless and reloading his rifle, accompanied by only three of his men.

  “I’m out, Lieutenant!”

  The lieutenant tossed a magazine past Liz and Charlie’s faces, and the solider quickly reloaded.

  “You guys need to make a run for it,” the lieutenant said. “I don’t know how many are out there, but we won’t be able to hold them off for much longer.”

  Charlie and Liz hesitated, and more bullets thudded against the Humvee. Liz grabbed hold of Charlie’s hand, and he reached for the revolver in his belt.

  “We’ll give you some cover fire,” the lieutenant said, positioning himself at the back of the Humvee. “On three!”

  Adelyn screamed, and Liz’s grip on Charlie’s hand tightened.

  “One!”

  Charlie tensed.

  “Two!”

  More gunfire made Charlie shudder, and he twitched forward in a false start.

  “Three!”

  With one hand holding Adelyn and the other holding Liz’s, he didn’t let go of either as they sprinted toward the forest.

  “This way!” Charlie steered them to the left of the old gas station, the cacophony of gunfire still tearing apart the night air, and when they veered in that direction, Charlie felt Liz stumble, yanking his arm back.

  She didn’t yelp or scream, and Charlie simply tugged at her arm, pulling her forward.

  “C’mon! Don’t stop!” He knew that they were both tired, but they needed to keep going. They needed to escape.

  Pavement gave way to grass and rocks, and Charlie led them into the woods and to the safety of the thick cover of trees, which also slowed their pace.

  “Charlie,” Liz said, her voice faint.

  “C’mon. We need to keep going.” He felt her hand go limp in his, but he clamped down harder. “Just keep moving!” But he only made it a few more steps before Liz finally collapsed, dragging Charlie and Adelyn down with him.

  On the ground, Adelyn squirmed out of Charlie’s reach, and he spun around and found Liz on her side. He slid down the rocky terrain and dropped by her side.

  “What’s wrong?” But then his eyes traveled down to her hand, which was clamped down over the right side of her abdomen.

  “Just go,” Liz said, and she started to cry.

  Charlie reached for Liz’s hand and slowly peeled it off to reveal the blood blotching her shirt.

  11

  The scent of blood was thick in the air. Every breath that Charlie inhaled was heavy with the metallic heat that had splashed over Liz’s stomach and onto his hands, which he studied with horrific fascination. Even with the glow of the moonlight and stars overhead, it was hard to see the blood in the dark. But he could feel it, and he could smell it, and when he rolled his fingertips together—

  Gunfire pivoted Charlie’s attention to the south. The flesh around his eyes twitched, and it wasn’t until the second round of rapid gunshots that he ended his paralysis. He turned back to Liz, who wouldn’t stop shaking and gasping for breath. He grabbed hold of her hand, the blood slick and warm against both of their palms.

  Charlie quickly pressed her hand back over the wound, keeping his own hand over hers, and applied pressure. “You’re going to be okay.”

  Liz winced, and her body started to go into shock. “I don’t… think…”

  “Tell me what I need to do.” Charlie’s voice danced between excited and nervous. She was a nurse. She could just give him instructions. “Tell me how I can help you.”

  Liz shut her eyes, and even under the moonlight, she looked extremely pale. “Keep pressure.” She opened her eyes and stared at Charlie, and he saw blood forming at the corner of her mouth. “I won’t make it without a doctor.”

  “There’s a doctor near the orchard. He’s a vet, but he’ll be able to help.”

  “I can’t walk that far.”

  “We’re not going to walk.” Charlie reached for her other hand and placed it firmly over hers.

  He rushed over and found Adelyn still crying in the woods. He picked her up, trying to soothe her but failing, then placed her next to Liz. “I’ll be back.”

  “Hur-ry…” Liz choked out the word.

  He squeezed one final time then released her hand and turned quickly in the dirt and leaves of the forest. Every gunshot that thundered on the road below pounded through his chest. The heavy drum of war hastened his pace, and he weaved through the trees, careful of the steep decline of the hillside.

  Soil and loose rocks gave way, and Charlie slid a few feet before catching himself on a nearby tree trunk. He straightened, checked his footing, then returned to his descent, leaving behind his bloody handprint in the darkness.

  Through the dense brush and trees, Charlie saw the back of the abandoned gas station where the soldiers had found them. Closer to the fighting, Charlie heard shouts echoing during the lulls in gunfire, coming from both sides, though he couldn’t understand any of them.

  He left a trail of blood as he gently ran his hand over the rear wall of the gas station on his path toward the road. He slowed as he neared the corner, carefully craning his head around to get a better look.

  The Humvee was positioned at the intersection of perpendicular roads that traveled in front of the gas station. He turned back toward the woods where he’d left Liz and Adelyn. He didn’t have time to waste.

  Charlie scanned the area one last time, still unable to see the enemy firing from cover, and sprinted for the Humvee.

  He was only aware of his steps, his breaths, and the gunfire on his spr
int. Bullets zipped past and collided with the rusted pumps and metal garage doors of the station. On the run, Charlie forgot to grab the weapons from the soldiers and focused only on the man leaned up against the Humvee, reloading a magazine into his rifle.

  Charlie slammed against the Humvee doors, the pain numbed by the adrenaline caused by the bullets vibrating against the other side of the armored military vehicle.

  Beads of sweat covered the last soldier’s face, and Charlie gawked at him, the rush of battle and the fear of death so intense that he had forgotten why he’d come here in the first place.

  It wasn’t until the soldier grabbed Charlie by the collar, pulled him close enough to smell the stink of his breath, and screamed, that he realized it was the lieutenant.

  “Grab one of the guns!” The lieutenant shoved Charlie off him then positioned himself near the Humvee’s tailgate, having to move aside another of his fallen comrades to be in a position where he could return fire.

  Charlie watched the lieutenant’s body vibrate from the recoil of the rifle then spun around to where the second pair of soldiers lay in the road. His side scraped against the rough metal doors, and he half crouched, half crawled toward the Humvee’s front bumper.

  At least three feet of open space lay between Charlie and the rifle lying across the dead soldier’s chest. The lieutenant was the only man left.

  Charlie shut his eyes, and the tension in his muscles grew painful as he hesitated before his attempt at the final push. Finally, he lunged, scrambling for the rifle in a mad dash.

  The three feet of open road between the rifle and the Humvee exposed him to the enemy, and bullets puffed up bits of asphalt in Charlie’s peripheral.

  He fumbled his fingers around the rifle’s stock and gave it a hard yank as he quickly retreated back toward the safety of the Humvee. But just when Charlie stepped behind the Humvee’s engine, a harsh tug yanked him back into the kill zone.

  At first, Charlie thought the soldier had woken, but the soldier was still dead, and Charlie saw that the rifle’s shoulder strap had caught on the corpse’s arm.

  The soldier’s face was turned away, but Charlie caught the stench of death and blood, which covered the dead man’s arms and legs and torso as he hastily removed the snag with one final yank.

  More gunfire and bullets shredded the soldier’s leg, and Charlie ducked back down and checked the weapon. It took him a moment to find the chamber, but he opened it, cleared the jam, then shut it. He squeezed the weapon tight, as if his strength could crush the steel and carbon in his hands.

  “We need to leave!” the lieutenant shouted from the Humvee’s tailgate. “We’re overrun!”

  “The woman I was with! She’s been shot! We need a ride east to my farm!”

  The soldier squat-walked over the dead and joined Charlie near the front. “Nearest working medical facility is back at the base.” He reached for the chests of his fallen comrades and yanked the dog tags from their necks then reached over Charlie and snagged another then shoved them into his pocket.

  “She won’t make it that far,” Charlie said. “My neighbor is a vet, retired, but he’d be able to help.” More gunfire, and Charlie ducked.

  “Where is she?”

  He gestured toward the woods behind the old gas station.

  The soldier nodded. “All right. Go grab her.” He reached around to his pack and removed a red stick with a clear plastic cap on the end. “Just pop this when you’re ready for pickup.” He pointed to the left side of the gas station. “Extraction point is there. Got it?”

  Charlie gripped the flare in one hand and nodded.

  Then the gunfire ended, and a foreign voice emerged from the dark forest on either side of the road.

  The soldier smacked Charlie’s shoulder. “Go!”

  Charlie sprinted toward the gas station, sliding his arm through the rifle strap, and kept low, attempting to dodge the bullets. He didn’t look back on his run, and he made sure to keep the gas station between himself and the gunfire.

  On hands and knees, he climbed his way back up the mountainside. The night made it difficult to see, and a moment of panic gripped him when he couldn’t find them again, but luckily, Adelyn was still crying.

  Charlie followed the child’s voice then dropped to his knees at Liz’s side. Adelyn quickly crawled into Charlie’s lap, burying her face into his chest. “It’s all right, sweetheart.” He gave Liz a gentle shake. Her eyes were shut. “Liz, are you still with me? Liz?”

  She opened her eyelids only a sliver. “Is Adelyn—”

  “She’s fine,” Charlie said then placed his hand over Liz’s wound. “I just need you to hang strong for a few more minutes. All right?”

  He knew that he’d have to carry both of them, and he was lucky Liz was small. He positioned Adelyn in one arm then heaved Liz over his shoulder, her arms and head lolling lazily and without control. “Just hang on.”

  Charlie moved as quickly down the mountain as he could but chose his footing carefully because he knew a tumble down the mountainside this time could be deadly for all of them.

  Gunfire then a heavy percussive blast stole Charlie’s attention from his path down the side of the mountain, and he saw a plume of smoke rise off somewhere in the trees.

  With his arms burning, and struggling to balance Liz and Adelyn, Charlie veered toward the extraction point.

  He waited until he reached the bottom of the hillside before he set Liz and Adelyn down then popped the flare.

  Red smoke plumed into the air, then the gunfire was silenced by the roar of the Humvee’s engine.

  Charlie craned his head around the corner and saw the Humvee reverse. He scooped Adelyn back up in his arms again and waited until the back of the Humvee was past the back of the building.

  He opened the back door and set Adelyn inside first as gunfire peppered the Humvee’s front.

  “C’mon, man. Hurry it up!” The lieutenant was frantic behind the wheel, keeping low behind the dash. The windshield was nearly shattered, making it almost impossible to see anything out of it.

  Charlie scooped Liz off the ground and laid her down in the back and jumped in. “Go!” He slammed the back door shut as they sped forward and kept both himself and Adelyn ducked low, keeping one hand on Liz to keep her stable.

  “Just keep your head down!” the lieutenant screamed up front.

  The gunfire eventually faded, and Charlie poked his head up to check the view from the back window. A pair of men emerged from the thick haze of smoke, firing as they grew smaller in the distance until they vanished.

  “How’s she doing?” the lieutenant called from up front.

  “She’s lost a lot of blood.” Charlie checked her pulse and found a faint beat. “She’s unconscious.” He lowered his ear to her nose, where he felt puffs of air from her nostrils. “But she’s breathing.”

  “Just make sure she stays that way,” the soldier shouted. “You know CPR?”

  “Yeah.” Charlie turned around so he could face the soldier.

  “There’s a first aid kit tucked back there somewhere,” the soldier said. “Has some gauze and clotting powder.”

  Adelyn screamed while Charlie searched the back of the Humvee and found the red first aid box underneath a spare flak jacket. He flipped the top and ripped the bag of the clot powder open. “I just pour this stuff over the wound?”

  “That’s the idea,” the lieutenant answered.

  Charlie ripped open Sarah’s shirt and wiped away some of the blood. He dumped the powder in, and Liz groaned, her stomach contracting as if it stung.

  “How long do I keep on this road?” the lieutenant asked.

  “Until the next intersection,” Charlie answered, setting aside the bag of powder, then picked up a red-faced Adelyn and gently patted her back. The child was so overwhelmed that she didn’t even know why she was crying anymore. “Then you’ll take a right. After that, you’ll want to stop at the second house on the left.”

  “Copy!�
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  Charlie slowly rocked Adelyn back and forth. “It’s all right, sweetheart.”

  “Mommy!” Adelyn cried. “I want Mommy!”

  The words cut through Charlie’s heart as he remembered Sarah’s body lying on the asphalt behind them.

  “Shh. It’s okay,” Charlie said then looked at Liz. “We’re okay.”

  The lieutenant kept his foot on the gas, and with no traffic on the roads and not many roadblocks, they made good time.

  The Humvee chewed up the miles quickly, and it wasn’t long before they turned down Dr. Wilburn’s drive.

  The lieutenant was out his door first and hurried around back to help Charlie.

  “Take the kid,” Charlie said, passing Adelyn over to the soldier.

  With his hands finally free, Charlie scooped Liz from the Humvee then rushed toward the front door. “Doc!”

  The adrenaline that Charlie had used to push himself this far started to wane, and his grip on Liz slipped.

  The door opened, and Dr. Wilburn tied closed his robe, fatigue and confusion spread over his face upon seeing the motley crew on his doorstep. “Charlie? Oh my god. What happened?” He stepped aside without protest as Charlie and the lieutenant entered.

  “She was shot,” Charlie answered. “The bullet is still inside.”

  “Let’s get her out to the table,” Doc said, hurrying toward the back of the house, then he led them outside to the small barn that acted as his operating table for the animals.

  Doc quickly laid a blanket down over the steel top and gestured for Charlie to put her down. He checked her pulse then examined the wound. “Clotting powder?”

  “Yeah,” Charlie answered, breathless.

  “Okay.” Doc stepped away. “Keep an eye on her while I get my tools. Either of you have any medical experience?”

  “No,” Charlie answered.

  “Limited,” the lieutenant replied.

  “Sterilize your arms,” Doc said. “Hot water and soap.”

  Doc stepped out, and the lieutenant set a still-crying Adelyn down then washed up in the sink.

  Charlie approached the table and reached for Liz’s hand. The past twelve hours replayed in his mind like a broken record. He squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, Liz.” He lingered by her side until Doc returned with his tools and his wife, Ellen.