Trees were uprooting all around them, so they had to do their best to keep from getting crushed. One of those trees came smashed down just yards in front of them blocking their path. These trees weren’t tiny in stature either. They were old, tall, heavy, and had a lot of limbs. Jessica looked in Andrew’s direction, and she could see he was already calculating what they would have to do next.
He looked at Jess, "It's too big to go around, and we have to climb it!" With that, Andrew went first to find a suitable path that they could all get over it by. He laid his pack on the ground and looked for a good point of attack. He quickly found it. Then he jumped up and grabbed a large branch. With one swift motion, he pulled himself up onto the massive trunk, and then he surveyed the area. "There," he yelled, as he pointed to a lower branch. "It's not too bad once you get on the trunk."
Jessica led Gracie to the tree, and Andrew climbed down a few branches to aid Gracie in her journey. She might have been a little young, but she already knew what it is that she had to do. She began to climb the tree, but the feat was too tall. Jupiter came to assist with their situation. He reached down and wrapped his strong arms around her waist. Then up she went, as he placed her on his shoulders, "Go, on, Gracie, reach."
She extended her arms, and her tiny fingers fumbled around to find something to grasp. The unfolding scene started to remind Jessica of when her sister was out of their window, and reaching for the pipe. Jessica watched, as her fingers finally fell onto a limb of the tree, and just above her was Andrew with his outstretched hand. Exhausted, Jupiter hiked her up a little more, and that made the difference. Andrew clutched her tiny delicate hand, "Gotcha," he said, as he pulled her up to safety.
Barry turned, and looked at Jessica, “Now you Jess.”
"Okay," she answered, as she readied herself to climb this mountain of a tree. Jessica looked above and found the same branch Gracie used to reach Andrew. She crouched down and then leaped into the air with both hands like she was grabbing for the monkey bars out at recess. Recess would be good right now come to think of it, she began to think, then she was snapped out of her brief daydream, as she felt the branch with its rough bark, and pointy outer branches that spawned off of it like little thorns. She knew she couldn’t let go, no matter how much her hands hurt. She could feel them begin to get wet, and she knew what it was; it was blood.
Jessica closed her eyes and used all her strength to yank herself up. With eyes closed and the hope of getting herself to the trunk of the tree, she felt an outstretched hand. Jessica opened her eyes to see Andrew's willing hand and his encouraging smile shining down on her.
“Come on Jess, take it,” he said, as he reached a little further down to her.
"I've almost got it…just a few more inches," she exclaimed, as her outstretched reached for his. She could swear she heard her shoulder pop when she grabbed his hand. She didn't care, the sensation of him pulling her up to Gracie, and safety felt amazing. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was now in the trunk of the tree with Gracie and Andrew. They looked down to see Jupiter and Barry.
“We’ll meet you at the gate in a bit, you guys go on ahead, “Barry hollered.
Andrew waved them off and then turned his attention back to Gracie and Jess. "Okay – Now we're just going to make our way down this tree, limb, by limb," he instructed. He was the first one to go, then Gracie, and finally Jessica followed behind them, to make sure Gracie got down. Surprisingly the going down part was much easier than the climbing up portion. Jessica watched as Andrew was just about to reach the ground, and as Gracie navigated her way right behind him. Once she saw that Gracie had made it to the ground with Andrew, she could now concentrate getting herself there.
Eventually, she did make it to the bottom branch, leaped off, and landed on the ground with a mighty thud, then tumbled to a roll. She didn't realize how much momentum she had going for herself, as she jumped off towards the ground. Andrew ran over to her aid, as she stood up, "Are you okay," he asked.
Jessica wiped herself down, getting all the debris off, and then answered, “I’m fine. How’s Gracie?”
“She’s fine, but we’ve got to keep moving. C’mon, this way,” he said, and then ran towards the direction of the west side main gate.
Gracie grabbed Jessica's hand, and they both took off after him. They made their way through the falling wreckage that was white-hot fire, massive fallen trees, and unpredictable crumbling cement. As they dodged and hustled, Andrew looked back, and told them, “We’re almost there, just a few more yards ahead!” He wasn’t lying; they could see the gate through the debris, and crowds of people running for their lives in a confused state. She looked at the gate, and they were closed, she thought to herself, no, this couldn’t be. We made it this far, we can’t be stuck in here, there has to be a way out.
The closed gate didn't seem to deter Andrew from making his way to them. He kept running towards the gate with great determination. If he was going to them, so were they. Yet once they reached the gate, Jessica looked around, assessed the situation; it wasn't good. There were people lying dead on the ground, some burning, some just a pile of ashes while others were trying to save their own lives by dodging the fires, trees, and debris. They were trapped like rats in a cage, except their cage was on fire, and the exits were locked.
Jessica was calm before climbing the giant fallen tree, and she was okay after they got out of the tree, but now, now she was losing it. She turned to Andrew, and sarcastically yelled over to him, "What's your plan now problem solver?" She could tell he was a bit frazzled but had it together more than she did.
“I don’t know, let me think. If we had two soldier’s IDs then we could override the main controls, and the gate would open. It’s two, so no soldier goes out alone. For what it’s worth, I’ve got one, but that’s it,” he explained.
“So, we’re stuck here,” she replied.
“I’m afraid so,” he said softly, as he slid down the cracking wall like he has giving up.
Once she saw this, her lapse of lunacy and craziness was quickly replaced by her levelheadedness that her father had instilled in her. She slouched down the wall next to Andrew and held his hand. "There's got to be another way," she suggested gently, and with a motherly tone.
"No Jess, there isn't. The gates are six feet thick. Without the second ID, this gate wasn't opening."
Small chunks of concrete began raining down on them like ash from the fire, but heavier. The chunks weren’t large enough to hurt, but it meant that the walls were next to give out, and she knew at that moment, this was it, this was how they were going to die. Not the zombie apocalypse, not the air raids, but this stupid earthquake. She held Gracie's hand tightly and told her it was going to be all right, as she comforted her by rocking her, and rubbing her head. With her other hand, she held Andrew's, and he held hers back. Jessica leaned her head back against the concrete wall, and she closed her eyes.
The following moments that passed felt like days. Would this damn wall crumble already, and just get it over with, she thought. Comforting Gracie had a weird way of comforting Jessica at the same time. Such a small life, just like her sister, too young to leave this earth, she guessed everyone was right when they said life wasn’t fair, but why her, why Gracie? She never hurt anyone, she reason in her mind, as pieces of the wall kept plunking her off her head.
“Hey you three taking a nap here,” a man’s voice said.
Jessica looked up and saw Barry and Jupiter standing above them. She quickly got to her feet and hugged both of them. She froze for a moment, and then realized something important. She looked to Barry, and asked, "You're a soldier right?"
“Last time I checked,” he answered.
“You have an ID on you?”
He then pulled out a lanyard that was inside his shirt, and around his neck. Attached to it was his badge. “Right here,” Barry exclaimed.
Now Andrew got to his feet, “They’re locked.”
"Of course, they
are," Barry snickered.
“You know,” Andrew asked.
"Sure, it's protocol to keep the flesh-eaters out, in the case of a catastrophe."
“We can open them with two badges.”
Barry looked at Andrew, as if he was losing his mind, “I know, that’s why I’m here. Okay, one on each door. But hurry, we’ve got minutes before this thing gives out, along with all the other walls.”
Barry took one gate while Andrew ran to the other gate. Barry started the countdown with his fingers beginning with three, then two, and then one. When he had no more fingers left to countdown on, they both swiped their cards. Jessica waited for her life for the reader to accept the cards. There was a moment of nothingness, then the red light on the readers turned green, and the gate slowly started opening with a deep growl.
They waited in line formation so that they didn't leave anyone behind. The growling doors of cement slowed to a halt. The gate was stuck, with only a narrow opening between the ground, and the bottom of the gate remained open, like a slit in a piece of paper. “What’s happening,” she asked.
Andrew replied, “It’s the integrity of the wall, it won’t allow the doors open anymore.”
“Anymore? Then we need to get through that opening,” she quickly replied. Jessica grabbed Gracie by the arm, and led her to the opening, “Go through, I promise I will be there on the other side.” Gracie was hesitant at first, but then she made her way through with ease. “Who’s next,” Jess asked.
“You, are, Jess,” Jupiter said.
“If you don’t go, and hurry, then we all die,” Barry explained to her.
She walked over to the slightly opened gate and pressed her body against the cold, hard cement wall. She then shimmied her way through the opening feeling the walls pressing on her chest, making it hard to breathe. Like the gate giving birth, she spilled out on the other side of the walls, and fell to the ground, as she lost her balance. Gracie came to her attention.
On the other side of the gate, the boys were about to make their way through the opening. Pieces of the wall were coming down in bigger hunks now. Andrew helped Jupiter go next. Jupiter crouched down on all fours, and then he laid on his stomach as flat as could be. Andrew watched, as Jupiter’s skinny body slid under the gate with ease.
Next was Barry. He fought with Andrew for a bit about who should go last, but once he saw the larger chunks of heavy cement crashing down around them more intensely, he headed for the slot under the gate. He was the biggest of the group, so he had to struggle to make it through. Once Andrew knew he was through, he tried his hand at making it under. As he shimmied under, he soon realized how much of a tight fit it actually was, but with a little bit of muscle, he surprisingly I ended up on the other side.
The air was clearer, and the ground was still shaking, but no real destruction had taken place... yet. Jessica took a look at the outer walls that surrounded the Cluster and saw that it was about to collapse. "Everyone, run towards the forest, these walls are going to collapse," she screamed.
Gracie grabbed her hand, and Jessica watched Andrew, and again like always, he was last to follow. The woods were only a couple hundred yards ahead of them; it looked as if it was enough distance to be out of the harm of the crashing walls. She hurried along, with Gracie in tow. The ground was quaking, pounding, and shaking harder than before. She turned around just in time to see the entire Cluster caving in on itself.
From the collapse, came a rolling of dust, and debris; like a bomb went off. Jessica had to make it to the trees before they were consumed by the danger that was chasing them down. She held on tightly to Gracie's arm and then dove into some bushes that were on the edge of the tree line. The wave of debris blew with great force right through them, shaking them to the core, but they were shielded by the brush the best they could be. With all the commotion, Jessica lost track of Gracie. All her senses told her to go look for her, but her primal instinct told her to lay low, and stay alive.
Wave after wave, the force of the debris lessened, until it was gone. Coughing from all the dust in her lungs, she got up and searched for Gracie. She called out to her, "Gracie, Gracie!” There was no answer, so she called out again, “Gracie, where are you,” she called, as she wiped her eyes that were dried, and filled with dust; making it hard to see. Over near a bush, next to a tree, she saw what appeared to be an arm coming out from another bush.
She rushed over to the bush, grabbed the cold, lifeless hand, and pulled a body from the thickets. Jess scooped her up, and she held her tightly in her arms. Gracie's tattered clothing draped over her half naked bloodied body. She immediately checked for a pulse, but there wasn't one. From there, she laid her on the ground and started to administer C.P.R.
Chest compression after chest compression, she kept delivering them to her. It seemed like she had been administrating the compressions for so long, and she knew she had heard a few ribs break. Someone’s hand cupped her shoulder, and a soft voice gently said, “She’s gone.” Jess kept the compressions up, and the hand on her shoulder gripped tighter. Again she heard the same voice, “Jess, Gracie is gone.”
She realized Gracie was gone, yet she wanted to keep trying, but the hand on her shoulder made her realize that it was the end… it was over. Jessica stopped the chest compressions, and sat back on her feet, and looked up to see Andrew standing over her. It was his hand that was comforting her in her time of need; unknowingly telling her that it was okay to let Gracie go.
She stared at Gracie’s lifeless body on the ground, covered in gray dust, and debris. She leaned forward, and placed her face into her hands, and began to cry. How could I have let this happen? I told her I would protect her, and her she is, laying in the dirt, covered in concrete dust, and… Dead. She battled with these thoughts in her head while crying uncontrollably. Andrew sat down next to her and put his arm around her for comfort
“You did the best you could’ve.”
Trying to hold back the tears, she replied, “I should’ve done more. Now she’s gone.”
“She made it further with you, than without,” he reasoned.
Hysterically she was crying, as she held Gracie’s body close to her chest. She looked down at her face, waiting for her eyes to open… But there is nothing, nothing opening, not even a flicker, this is when she knew she was gone. Jess looked up to Andrew, and pleaded, “We just can’t leave her here, the flesh-eaters will get her. We have to giver her a proper burial – Please, Andrew she deserves that much.”
He looked around, and saw that most of the threat from the collapse of the Cluster had been contained, but with all this commotion; flesh-eaters would surely be on their way. They always came running at any loud sound. He then looked down at Gracie and Jessica, "Okay, but it has to be quick. I'm positive eaters are already on their way."
Jessica agreed, and mouthed the words, thank you, to him, and then she got up in search for some loose soil. It wasn’t hard to find due to the explosion from the collapse of the Cluster’s walls. The spot was near a red berry bush, just like the ones she had been given by Jessica earlier. Jess got on her knees, hunched over, and then sank her two hands into the soil, and pulled out the first clump of scorched earth. The tears wouldn’t stop coming, and she knew she had to collect herself if she was going to keep up with these guys.
Jupiter slowly spat out, "Jess, you, shouldn't be, doing, this. Here, let, me."
Her cold heart warmed a bit knowing she still had friends to live for. Her hands stopped digging, and she backed away from the hole, as she gave control over to Jupiter. He began digging, and soon, Andrew and Barry joined in too. Jessica sat down on the ground with her back propped up against a tree.
Within no time, with the three guys doing the job, it was finished. She just looked at Gracie’s body ready to be placed into that hole, and she had realized that she couldn’t be the one to do it. She didn’t know if it was her body language, facial expressions, or the emptiness in her eyes that gave it away, but Andrew read
it correctly.
He and Barry both gently picked up Gracie’s body, and gracefully lowered her into the makeshift grave. This was an image that she would never forget. It was so powerful to see such a tiny girl being laid to rest in a forest, with no family around, except for four Cluster members. This made two sisters Jessica had lost in this thing called the apocalypse, she now knew, she had nothing left to lose.
“Come on Jess. We’ve got to get moving, those things will be here shortly,” Andrew said.
She got up off the ground, hugged him for what he has done for her up to this point, and she didn’t even care he wasn’t hugging her back; it just felt right. The hug only lasted for a few moments, and she released him from her one-way grasp.
“What was that for,” he asked.
"Gracie," she said, and then walked away towards the opposite direction of the burning, and crumbled Cluster. With only smoke and devastation at her back, she pledges to herself to live… to live for Gracie.
A New Face
In the control room at The United Front, there were many soldiers sitting in front of computers. They were all looking at the screens in front of them. Directly towards the front of the room, was a large screen with a smoking pile of smoldering rubble on it. Two steel doors open with a WHOOSH, and in walked a tall man, dressed in fatigues, with medals on his left chest showing that he was ranked very highly.
General McHale was a large man in stature, reaching well over the six-foot mark, and he had to be in the 250-pound range, with just a small amount of body fat. He was in charge of most of The United Front defense sector. McHale was one of the founding fathers after the airstrikes had finished, and the world was turned upside down. The Clusters were a brainchild of his, and another General’s.
When he entered the room, the soldiers that were at their desks stood, and saluted him. He acknowledged their sign of respect and then ordered them at ease. They sat down and continued working at what they were doing before he had come in. McHale walked over to the command post, and said, "Brief me."
A Regressive World: Book One Page 5