Children of the After: The Complete Series

by Jeremy Laszlo

  Not knowing what he had done, Sam turned to see the stark white of his tighty-whities aimed directly at her as he busted out laughing.

  “Pull up your pants, you gross little twerp,” she spat as he yanked his pants upwards before turning to confront her.

  “What you doing, looking at my butt?” A smile split his small face.

  “That’s enough, Will. Ha ha. You got me. Now where is your book-bag?”

  Sam watched as Will looked around halfheartedly before his eyes settled upon her once more.

  “It should have been on my doorknob, but it’s not,” he stated matter-of-factly.

  “Good enough, pumpkin. Then I guess we’ll just have to do without.”

  Reaching out for his hand once more she waited as he stooped down to collect the toys he had gathered, and taking his hand she left the room with him in one hand and his clothes packed under her other arm. They were halfway down the hall when Will paused and turned back the way they had come.

  “There it is!” he said excitedly as he released her hand.

  Turning, Sam watched as Will dashed back down the hall to where a giant steel girder protruded down from what was once the ceiling above. Beneath it, where its jagged tip rested upon the floor of their apartment, was his small school bag. She took a breath to warn him away from it, but it was too late, as he slid to a stop and in one motion he ducked down grasping at the colored canvas of the bag before giving it a single yank. Then the building around them seemed to groan as a nightmare sprang to life right before Sam’s eyes. As her heart hammered in her chest, her breath caught in her lungs, holding for just an instant the scream that raged within her.

  * * * * *

  Though he had already passed the thing, Will suddenly realized what it was that he had seen down the hall. Turning, he released Sam’s hand and ran back towards his room. It had been there the whole time, but covered in dust, he just now realized it. Bending down, he grabbed at the strap of his bag and feeling it resist, he pulled with all the might his little body could muster. Like a feat one of the super heroes upon his wall might do to save a damsel in distress, he dragged the backpack free from beneath the iron girder that began to slide towards him.

  As the girder moved, it dug into the floor below with a loud cracking sound and the building groaned and screeched around them. Turning to run, Will lost his footing as the floor vanished beneath him as dust exploded into the air. Plummeting down, something hit him hard, making his ears ring as his scream of pain matched Sam’s scream of panic from above.

  Hitting a solid base somewhere below, the air was knocked from his lungs as he peered up through the dust to see the girder falling above him. Down and down the giant piece of steel came tumbling in what appeared to be slow motion, but no matter how much time it seemed he had, Will could not get his arms or legs to do what he wanted as the breath seemed to catch in his chest. Not now. He couldn’t have an attack now.

  Down the girder came, wrapping itself in wires as it tumbled, but they did not seem to slow its descent. One jagged end of the girder slammed to the floor to Will’s left, the building jolting again with a groan as the girder leaned precariously over him, threatening to topple. And it did.

  Tipping as gravity forced its will on the giant steel beam, it fell, the electrical wires around it becoming taut and catching it, holding it fast. His heart hammered, but his chest relaxed. Will took a breath. Pulling himself back to his feet, he looked himself over. He had scratches and scrapes here and there, but otherwise seemed OK. If he cried over the scratches he would get attention for sure, but he wasn’t a baby anymore.

  Scrunching up his face, he dusted himself off and turned to look back up to the floor above when something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Though dust filled the air making it hard enough to breath let alone see, he swore that something moved at the opposite end of the room from him. Leaning forward and peering into his dust-filled surroundings he watched, ignoring the shouts from above. And there it was again. Like a shadow in the dust he could see it move as if on all fours, slinking away from him awkwardly. Though it moved differently to any animal he had ever seen, and was nearly indistinguishable, it was there nonetheless. Then, just as he had seen it, it was gone around a corner.

  Blinking his eyes several times, he looked again and watched patiently but saw nothing of note even as the dust began to settle. Shaking his head, he cleared it of fanciful alien monsters and turned his attention to the shouts from above.

  “Will! Will! Can you hear me, buddy?” Jack shouted.

  “C’mon, baby, please answer,” Sam yelled from above.

  “Yeah, I’m OK,” Will shouted back. “And I’m not a baby.”

  There was silence for a second and he was sure he heard Sam sob loudly, but within little more than a few seconds their calls began anew.

  “Are you hurt?” Jack shouted.”

  “You OK?” Sam said at the same time.

  “Yes I’m OK,” he replied, and looked around him as he noticed his backpack just feet away. “I got my backpack too!”

  “That’s good, buddy. Just stay where you are.”

  Though he still couldn’t see them with the thick cloud of dust raining down from above, he looked up at the girder that stretched from the floor nearly up to the ceiling above. Against the advice of his brother, he tested his weight on the girder, and the wires suspending the higher end of the thing seemed to hold. Snatching up his backpack and the toys he dropped in the plunge, he prepared to climb.

  “Did you hear me?” Jack shouted.

  “Yeah, I’m right here,“ Will replied with a smile, topping the girder to look his older siblings in the face. “And guess what?”

  “What?” Sam asked, her face torn between tears and a smile.

  “I found a way down,” he said grinning.

  Chapter Five

  Helping Will from atop the steel girder, Jack sighed loudly before taking a deep breath to calm himself before talking.

  “Let’s just get our stuff and get out of here, like yesterday.”

  “Agreed,” Sam said.

  Within minutes they had Will’s stuff all packed up into his backpack and were ready to descend. Wanting to test the girder’s ability to hold their weight, Jack went first to assure himself that Sam would be safe. Sitting upon the edge of the hole ripped through their caved-in floor, he placed his feet on the girder and carefully shifted his weight onto it. Though it swayed slightly upon the wires that suspended it, it seemed to hold. Reaching out to grab the wires for balance, he moved all of his weight to the beam and began to half climb, half slide down its steep surface.

  Once at the bottom he watched as Sam dropped all three of their bags, which he caught one by one before placing them out of the way. Next it was Will’s turn. Looking up and blinking as dust fell into his face, he watched as Sam helped Will to step across the gap and onto the beam. Sitting down, Will shuffled down the steel like some sort of caterpillar, moving his feet, then sliding his bottom, before repositioning his hands and repeating. It was slow, but he made it down without mishap and once he was low enough Jack lifted him off the girder and lowered him to the floor.

  “You OK?”

  “Yup,” Will replied with a nod.

  Next came Sam, as she reached out with a toe to begin transferring her weight as well. The girder swayed, causing her to shift uneasily as she made the transition from floor to angular steel, but she maintained her balance after squeaking oddly and, sitting, she duplicated Will’s method nearly perfectly.

  Taking her hand to help her off the girder, Jack turned to look upon their surroundings for the first time, to discover an apartment he had never been in before.

  Here and there cracks split the walls, as doors hung crookedly in their jambs. The floor was buckled in places and like above, the northern corner of the apartment was missing altogether. Shards of glass lay scattered everywhere, making some surfaces dangerous to cross as the pieces slid easily beneath their
feet. Though much below was the same as above, this apartment had a totally different floor plan. Where the kitchen had been in their home, Jack guessed a bedroom or two had been ripped away when the corner of the building had collapsed. It only took them seconds to find their way into the still largely complete kitchen and begin digging through the already open cabinets.

  Looking across the island in the center of the kitchen, Jack watched as Sam stood upon her toes, looking into the cabinets above as Will clawed his way like a rampaging puppy through those below. Assured that they would find any and all available food, he began searching through drawers, digging and discarding anything he did not need. On the third drawer he found what he was looking for. It was not ideal. The blade was narrow and flimsy, designed for filleting fish, but it had a case to protect him from accidental injury. Unfastening his belt, he threaded it through the knife’s case before buckling it once more. Satisfied, he turned his attention back to his siblings to see what they had discovered, only to find a pair of disheartened faces staring back at him.

  Will was totally and completely empty handed, and Sam held up a can of beanless chili and a small jar of spaghetti sauce. Hardly what they had hoped for. And then it struck him. If the city had been destroyed almost instantly, then likely the people that lived here would have had more in their cupboards than this. Wouldn’t they? But the cabinets had already been open. Someone had already gone through them. Another scavenger? If it had been, then that meant that after the event, but before now, there had been a way up to this floor. He already knew the area that led to the corner of the building where the stairs and elevator were was missing. Back-tracking through the apartment to where the fire escape should be, Jack stuffed his head out of the curtains, careful not to brush against any of the broken glass that still clung to the window frame. Sure enough, the fire escape was still usable here. Looking down, it appeared it still spanned several floors before damage again made it inaccessible below. Jack pulled his head back in the window.

  “Bag it and let’s look down below,” he said to his siblings, before sticking a leg out the window.

  Pulling himself outside, he stood and looked across at the neighboring building. It was burned, nearly in entirety, its empty windows staring back at him like the empty eye sockets of a skull. Shuddering at the thought, he turned to lift Will through the broken window before helping Sam as well. Cautiously they began to climb down the rusted stairs.

  * * * * *

  Following Jack down the fire escape with Will in between them, Sam watched as Jack disappeared into the window on the next floor. After a moment to look around, he returned and she helped Will climb through into their brother’s waiting arms before she too carefully passed through the shattered maw of glass and metal. Once inside they were forced to circumvent half of the apartment, only to double back through a broken wall in order to find yet another kitchen. A quick search revealed only a can of tomato paste and three boxes of corn muffin mix, all of which they bagged up before leaving.

  Down another floor they climbed before repeating the process for no food at all, and then back to the fire escape again to descend yet another floor. Here the fire escape ended, as for several floors below it had fallen away, taking some of the brick siding of the building with it. They would have to find another way down.

  Once inside what was left of this apartment, it was readily apparent that they would not have any luck seeking food here. With a near identical floor plan as their own, minus the security vault, the area where the kitchen should have been had collapsed into the floor below. No longer was that particular corner of the building missing, however, and as such she wondered if they could make their way to the building’s staircase. Much of the apartment here was charred, showing proof of the fire that nearly claimed it from below.

  “Do you think we can get to the stairs?” she asked Jack.

  “I was wondering that too. I don’t think we can on this floor, but it looks like we might be able below.”

  Looking down, she saw what he meant. The collapse of the kitchen here had piled lots of debris in front of the exit door in the apartment below. Wind blew up through the void in the floor and the musty scent of an old fire filled it as it swirled about them. Looking around, she saw no way to climb down in the room beneath them, and held fast to Will to be certain he stayed away from the edge. Looking to her older brother, she could tell he was trying to work out the same problem without any luck.

  Feeling her hand tug several times, she looked down to see Will testing the floor by bouncing up and down. Though it did seem to move with his motions it held, thankfully, and she gave him a pair of eyes that quickly stopped his actions. And then it hit her.

  Looking up, not down, she found the answer to their problem. In the previous floor there were several bedrooms surrounding a great void that went two floors up. In the floor above that was the same. In those rooms were mattresses that could easily be tossed down through the floors which they could then use to drop down onto without injury. It was genius! Though she wouldn’t mention that it was Will’s bouncing that gave her the idea.

  Explaining her plan, it was less than an hour later when they stood in the same spot looking down upon a mound of various mattresses sprawled throughout the kitchen below. Again it was Jack who went first and Sam watched, holding her hair back tight with both hands, nervous beyond belief.

  Sitting himself on the edge of the hole, Jack used his hands and pushed himself off the edge to plummet down several feet before landing atop the mound and half rolling, half bouncing to the bottom. Standing with a wicked grin, he gave a thumbs up and quickly made some adjustments to the mattresses. There was no guiding Will this time. As soon as he saw that Jack was done making adjustments, over the edge he leapt to land upon his back below giggling and laughing as if it were an amusement park. Next it was Sam’s turn.

  Tossing down their bags, she looked over the edge nervously, picking out the spot she wanted to hit. Taking a step back to ease her nerves, she closed her eyes and hopped over the edge in a seated position, hoping to land on her bottom. Unfortunately she overshot her mark.

  Hitting the mattress below, her eyes popped open as she bounced forward, not up as Will had done, and rocketed into Jack’s legs who toppled over her. In a mass of twisted arms and legs Sam fought to disentangle herself from Jack when Will, thinking it good fun, jumped atop them both yelling “Weeee!”, as he tackled them. Sam wanted to berate him for it, but was simply happy he was being a kid. He hadn’t mentioned Mom or Dad a single time since they began this little journey, and she was glad his expectations had not been destroyed.

  Finally free after a short bout of tickling Will, Sam climbed to her feet as Jack shoved their little brother, who fell backwards to bounce upon the mattresses once again with a squee of delight. Then it was back to business. As Jack crossed the room to inspect the door and clear what debris he could, Sam took to the cupboards, to be quickly joined by Will. Pulling open one small wooden door after another, it was obvious that once again they wouldn’t be finding much in the way of food. Even so she was sure to look thoroughly, locating two cans of mixed vegetables. Once the cupboards were exhausted, Sam looked to Jack as he pried the door open for what must have been the twentieth time. Apparently having better success than on previous attempts, he shouted in victory as he kicked a wide piece of wood into the doorway to hold the door open before plunging his head through.

  Rustling Will’s straw colored hair, she motioned towards the door and together they joined their older brother expectantly.

  “How does it look?” Sam asked.

  “From here it looks good. We’ll just have to see how far it will take us,” Jack replied.

  “Do you think we’ll find a good spot to stop for lunch?” Will asked with wide eyes.

  “We’ll try, little man, but let’s get outside first,” Jack said.

  With that they each took turns ducking through the door and climbed atop the debris outside. From
the door they had a fairly unobstructed view of the stairwell which circled the elevator shaft all the way to the ground floor. From the apartment door it looked accessible and structurally intact, and nearing it, Sam’s opinion didn’t change.

  Though the old subway tiled walls surrounding the stairwell were cracked, and the steps were littered with broken tiles, dust and other small debris, it appeared that at least the first flight down to the floor below was fine. She hoped they would have it easy from here on out.

  * * * * *

  For the first few flights of stairs, Will bounced down with both feet until he realized that the stairs just kept going and going. Stairs sucked big time. In all his years he could never remember having taken the stairs. Mom usually took him down the elevator, and Dad always said he didn’t have time to take the stairs. Now Will could see why. What a pain in the butt!

  Floor after floor they climbed down, but after the first two there was nothing really to look at. Once they reached each new floor, all they could see was the steel beams of the building and dangling wires with bits and pieces of floor or wall here and there. Everything was charred black and every surface, even the stairs, was coated with a thick black, almost slimy residue that reminded Will of his water color paints for some reason. The whole place stunk like Will’s track bag, but overall they didn’t run into any major obstacles.

  Nearing the ground floor of the building, there was a section of the steel and concrete stairs that had fallen away that they had to jump to cross. Then one full rotation down the staircase they were forced to climb over the broken pieces of stair that had fallen from above.

  Finally reaching the ground floor, they passed what was left of the wall of metal mail boxes and stepped right through the still closed, glass front doors of the building.

  Outside was even worse than inside, and Will shivered at the sight. He used to walk this road every morning with either Mom or Dad to catch the bus to school at the corner, but now it was almost unrecognizable. Glass from the buildings surrounding them covered the sidewalk and street and everything in between, in a glittering and shimmering layer of jagged edges. The trees planted at regular intervals along the road were nothing more than gnarled, charred posts rising up from blackened earth. And cars littered the streets and sidewalks at random, burned to useless lumps, the metal and plastic of their structures having crumpled and melted under whatever heat had burned them.