by James Harden
We both agreed that we needed to get back to the tank tracks before night fall. If we weren’t back by the time the sun went down, we would lose our way and get lost, especially if the cloud cover remained. So far on our journey, the moonlight and the starlight had been bright enough to travel by. But on a dark night, with plenty of cloud cover, we would be lost within minutes.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“Looks like a regular old barn.”
Maria was right. It looked like the tire tracks had led us to a barn full of hay and grain. I guess it was once used for feeding cattle. Must’ve been an important barn because it was absolutely packed full with hay, and there was a fuel pump out the front. Maybe the farmers or whoever used this place would fill up their vehicles here as well. And I guess that’s why the soldiers had deviated off course and broken away from the main convoy.
Fuel.
I was starting to learn that a commodity like fuel was quickly becoming one of the most valuable things in this new world. It was right up there with food and water. It was worth dying for.
I looked through the scope on my rifle again. I noticed that the ground surrounding the barn was absolutely covered in spears.
I blinked. Looked again.
They weren’t spears.
They were harpoons. Fired from a launcher, an experimental weapon. One that set up an Electromagnetic pulse field. The weapon was designed to trap and disable rogue nano-swarms inside the EMP field.
A nano-swarm was made up of microscopic robots, or nano-bots, that were originally designed to fight the Oz virus. They were released into the atmosphere by the military in an operation called, ‘Project Salvation’. But something had gone horribly wrong. The nano-bots had done little to stop the Oz virus, and now the nano-bots were acting outside of their original programming. They were forming rogue nano-swarms. These swarms were becoming aggressive. Deadly. Top of the food chain type predators. And the only way to stop them was with an Electromagnetic Pulse.
There were hundreds of harpoons. They stuck into the desert ground like some sort of weird piece of art. And the fact that there were hundreds of these harpoons, meant the soldiers here had come under attack by a very aggressive swarm. Or maybe multiple swarms.
There were two abandoned Humvees parked out the front of the barn. Satellite dishes mounted on the roof. Another EMP weapon.
The Humvees were covered in black dust and there were holes in their armor, like Swiss cheese, like the metal had been eaten by moths or caterpillars.
“What do you think happened here?” Maria asked.
“Looks like these guys were low on fuel,” I said. “Or maybe they had been charged with loading up for the rest of the vehicles. They must’ve come under attack by a nano-swarm.”
“Looks like it was a suicide mission,” Maria said.
We quickly realized this might not be a safe place. We moved ahead and then crouched down again, behind one of the Humvees.
Watching. Listening.
“Oh my god,” Maria said. “What is that?”
She pointed to the ground, under the front tire of the Humvee.
It was a wild dog. Mutated.
The legs and its claws were enlarged and covered in blood. Its whole body was extremely muscular. The snout was also enlarged and the teeth had grown almost right through the gums and jawbone, giving the impression that it was always growling and snarling. Ready to bite and eat and kill.
Maria was terrified of this thing and I couldn’t blame her. The thing was a nightmare.
She eventually grabbed my arm, pulled me away from it. I must’ve been lost for a moment, in my own world, remembering that night at Daniel’s camp, when we had been attacked by a whole pack of these monsters. We were nearly overrun. Luckily, the security of the camp, the sentry guns and the electrical fence were enough to protect us. But if they had broken through they would’ve killed us. Eaten us alive.
We moved closer to the barn.
“Keep your eyes out for a water source,” I said.
Maria nodded.
On the side of the barn was a message, a note written in blood and maybe charcoal.
I had a dream about freedom. About a world on fire.
I’m not sure what that meant.
We walked through the harpoons. We had to squeeze through in some parts because they were so close together. Whoever had fired these harpoons had done so in a panic.
We peered through the barn door. Apart from the hay, it was empty.
Suddenly we heard voices. They sounded desperate.
The voices were coming from the attic.
Chapter 3
As far as I could tell, the voices belonged to two men. They were talking to each other. We couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“There’s someone up there,” I said, pointing to the barn attic.
“Alive?”
“I think so.”
“Infected?”
“Maybe. What do you think?”
“They could have information,” Maria said. “They could have answers.”
“Only one way to find out.”
I made sure my rifle was loaded. Made sure the safety was off. We made our way inside the barn and we slowly climbed up the ladder that led to the attic. Not surprisingly, the attic was also full of hay.
Sitting amongst the hay, were two men. I couldn’t tell if they were soldiers or civilians. They were covered in blood and black dust and red dust. They were both sitting down. They were sitting directly across from each other.
They were barely alive.
One of them was holding a hand gun.
We stepped up and into the attic of the barn. We were standing in the doorway. But they ignored us completely.
The unarmed guy was sitting down against a stack of hay. “Do it,” he said. “I’m ready.”
The guy with the gun aimed it. Finger on the trigger.
“Whoa, hold up,” I said. “What the hell is going on?”
“Stay back,” they both said at the same time.
The man with the gun took the shot. No hesitation. He put the bullet right between the other guy’s eyes. I guess he was infected.
“Stay back!” the man repeated.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “Are you infected? Was he infected?”
“I’m dying. He was dying. We drew straws. I lost. It was my duty to put him out of his misery.”
The man was holding a revolver. And old cowboy style revolver.
He put the barrel of the gun against the underside of his chin. He squeezed the trigger.
Click.
He looked at the gun. Heartbroken.
He swore.
He felt around his pockets. Searching each one. Slowly, clumsily. His fingers and most of his hands were black, like he was suffering from frostbite.
“What are you looking for?” Maria asked.
“I’m gone,” the man answered. “I’m too far gone.”
“Have you been bitten?”
“No. But the swarm got to us. It’s hard to breathe. Can’t move my legs.”
His fingers were black. His skin was discolored and bruised, like he had been beaten, like he was bleeding internally.
His muscles, his neck muscles, and shoulders, and mouth, were twitching.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked.
“I know, right?” he answered. “Why would anyone come out here?” he paused. “Before the world ended, I was a FIFO worker.”
“A what?”
“FIFO. Fly In, Fly Out. I worked all over the outback. South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland. Lived in Melbourne. Was hardly ever home. Had a girlfriend. A great girl. She was too good for me. Treated me like a king. And I… I didn’t treat her like anything. I cheated on her so many times. I didn’t even think twice about it. I just… I couldn’t stop. Do you believe in Karma? Am I being punished? I just hope she didn’t suffer.”
Melbourne. Ben
told us that when they lost control, when the virus took over, they started herding people together like cattle. Killing people like cattle. Did she suffer?
Probably.
“Too far gone,” he repeated.
“What are you looking for?” I asked again.
“A bullet.”
He then leant to the side and threw up. The vomit was black, like oil.
He looked up at us, at me. Looked at the rifle in my hands. “Hey, that thing loaded? That’s a military grade rifle. Where the hell did you get that? No way you’re a soldier.”
“I found it.”
“Finders keepers,” he whispered, struggling to speak. “That’s the way it is now.”
“I guess so.”
He tossed the revolver over to me. It landed at my feet. “Take it. Who knows, maybe you will find some bullets for it.”
Maria leant down and picked it up. “It’s kinda heavy for a small hand gun.”
“Take this as well,” he said as he produced a hand grenade. “It’s not much. But it might help.”
“Is that an EMP grenade?” I asked.
“Impressive. How do you know that? You must’ve been through some shit.”
I nodded. “You could say that.”
He dropped the grenade accidentally and it rolled away from him, his fingers tensed up and twitched. “Goddamn. It’s getting worse.”
I wanted to tell this guy that everything was going to be all right. I think it was just a reflex, trying to comfort someone in pain. But the truth was, everything was not going to be all right. Especially not for this guy.
“What happened here?” I asked even though I had a pretty good idea of what happened. But I figured if I could get this guy talking, it might keep him alive just a little bit longer. It might take his mind off the pain.
“We were ambushed,” he said. “It was waiting for us in the barn. It was hiding. It knew.”
“It?”
“The swarm. Took us by surprise. Two more flanked us. Surrounded us. They were so fast. Too damn fast. There was nothing we could do. We couldn’t get a clear shot. Not with three of them out there. We couldn’t trap them.”
“Were you part of the tank convoy that came through here?” I asked.
“Eight days,” he whispered, ignoring my question. “Eight goddamn days. Longer than a week. You can't be gone longer than a week. You’re gone a week, you're gone for good.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I guess because it was a rescue mission, I figured we'd be out of harm’s way. Not like volunteering to go out with the recon teams. Survival rate for those missions was practically zero. There was a rumor floating around that the teams would use civilians as bait. Can you believe that?”
Yeah, I could.
“Bait?” Maria asked. “For what?”
“For the infected. And the other things. And the black clouds. That's what got us. They hunted us down. It’s the only way to describe it. I wonder if the swarms got the rest of the convoy before they made it back.”
“So you were part of the convoy?” I repeated.
“Yeah. We went to a small town. Not far from here. About a hundred miles or so. Apparently the Special Forces soldiers had vital intel from the surveillance drones. Apparently they had identified a target. I don't know who the target was. They never tell us civilians anything. There was a rumor going around about a girl. Immune to the Oz virus. This is why I volunteered. I wanted to help. If there really was someone immune to the virus, then we needed to go and get them. Make sure they were safe. But we didn't find a girl. We found a guy. A teenager. He was alone. Dehydrated.”
“Jack,” Maria whispered under her breath.
The man looked down at his hands. He tried to move his fingers. “I can't believe we risked all this for one kid. So many people died on this mission. I'm starting to think they left us to die out here on purpose.”
“So where did they take this guy?” Maria asked, desperate for any information. Desperate for answers.
“Back to base. Apparently he was still considered important. They wanted to use him.” He shook his head again. “Don't know why. Doesn't make sense.”
It did make sense, I thought.
They had surveillance of Jack. And Kim must’ve known about it somehow. If I had to guess, I'd say she would've convinced the powers to be, the military commanders and Doctor Hunter that Jack was worth saving.
“I'm such an idiot,” the man said. “Should’ve stayed low. I was wrong. There is no hope left. Not in the desert. Not out here. Not anywhere.”
He was grimacing in pain. I noticed he had a barcode on his wrist. Like the dreadlocked woman. Like Ben.
“What's the deal with the barcode?” I asked.
He looked at his wrist. “That was my ticket to freedom. It's irrelevant now. It's useless. I was a guest. Now I'm an outcast. I don't know why I volunteered. So stupid. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Although I suppose we are all screwed now. Code Black. It's over.”
“Code Black?” I said.
“Yeah. Can you believe it? How does this keep happening?”
“What the hell is a Code Black?” Maria asked. “What are you talking about?”
The man retrieved a small walkie-talkie from his top pocket. “Shh. Listen.” He turned it on. Fiddled with the knobs, tuned it to a specific frequency.
We heard a soothing female voice. Emotionless. Almost robotic. It was a recorded message. “A Code Black has been issued for the following areas: Residential. And. Research. That is all. Code Black initiates Lockdown procedure and evacuation. Please be advised of evacuation protocol. The time for evacuation has expired. Code Black. Code Black. Code Black.”
The message repeated again and again. Over and over. I got the impression that the message had been playing for awhile, like a broken record.
Then we heard another voice. A male voice. He was calm and serene like the recorded voice. But with more authority and more menace. It was not a recording.
“Turn that off,” the voice said. “Tell the men there will be no evacuation. Tell the men there is no turning back. We will win this war. We do not need an army. We only need the brave, the committed.”
“Who is that?” Maria asked.
The man held up his black fingers, telling us to be quiet. He had a look of anger and concentration on his face.
“I want napalm,” the voice said. “Lots of napalm”
“Napalm, sir? Inside?”
“Yes. Lots of napalm. We need to burn it. Burn the air.”
Static took over and the voices faded away.
The man’s hand seized up and he dropped the walkie-talkie. “See? It's over. Code Black. The entire residential area is in Lockdown. Same with the research area. They were working on a cure. I guess they failed. Another goddamn containment failure. How? How does this keep happening? This virus is pure death.”
Blood began bubbling out of his lips as he spoke. His voice sounded rough and coarse, like it had been dragged over a gravel road.
He was dying.
“Who was that?” Maria asked. “On the radio?”
“That was General Spears. He's in charge.”
“General Spears?” I asked. “Wait, was that transmission, was that coming from the Fortress?”
“Yeah. I’d never thought the Fortress would be compromised. It had been an oasis in this desert. An oasis in this goddamn apocalypse.”
“But if we can hear the transmission,” I said. “That means it has to be close, right?”
The man shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You heard the message. Code Black. Lockdown. It’s over. No one gets in. No one.”
“What is a Code Black?” Maria asked.
“Code Black is infection. An outbreak. How? The Fortress is so goddamn secure. How the hell did the virus get loose? They have so many security measures. So many fail safes.”
“Are we close?” I asked. “Do you know where it is?”
He nodded
. “Yeah. You’re close. Less than a day. But you won’t find it. Hell, I wouldn’t even be able to find it. And you should stay the hell away from it. You heard. Code Black. Lockdown. It’s all over. See?” he said, pointing out the barn window.
“What?”
“He’s watching.”
Maria and I moved slowly over to the window. We had to look really hard and shield our eyes from the dull glare of the overcast sky. And even then, the damn thing looked like a bird, a large eagle. But it wasn’t. It was the Predator drone we had seen earlier.
“There’s one of the drones,” the man said. “They are always watching. He is always watching. But he doesn't send help. He never sends help.”
“We have to find it,” I said. “We have friends there. We need to get them out.”
“No. Forget them. They’re already dead.”
I stepped forward. “We are not leaving them behind! Tell us where it is.”
His head drooped forward. “No.”
“Tell me! Where is it?”
I leant down, grabbed his collar. “Look at me! Where is the goddamn Fortress!?”
“Rebecca, calm down,” Maria said.
“No. I will not calm down. This guy is gonna tell me where the Fortress is or else.”
“Or else what?” she asked.
“I’ll ask the hard way. Ben taught me a few things. I can ask pretty hard.” I shook him by the collar again. “Do you want that?”
“Rebecca, stop! Look at him. He’s dying. He’s been through hell.”
Just then I thought I saw a black mark move under his collar bone, into his chest. Like a moving bruise or a shadow or something. I let go of him and jumped back. His shoulder seemed to spasm and twitch.
The man’s eyes rolled back into his skull. He was gone.
Chapter 4
We were back to square one. We would have to find the tank tracks again, keep following them. Hopefully they would lead somewhere. Hopefully they weren’t just leading us to our deaths.
“What the hell was that?” I asked about the moving bruise. “Did you see that?”