Children of the After: The Complete Series

by Jeremy Laszlo

  Many have perished from all sides of the conflict.

  “Have you seen any other people?” This time it was Will’s turn to ask a question.

  Not in a long time.

  Will pondered the words written on the page. She talked funny, or rather, she wrote funny. Maybe she was from Mexico or Canada or something. Her skin was kind of an olive color and her eyes were bright. Like weird bright. More or less she hadn’t told them much of anything they hadn’t already figured out. She was obviously hungry. She probably hadn’t eaten in a while. She was alone, and so far as he could tell she was nice. She didn’t have to help them last night but she had.

  What bothered Will, was the fact that she said she hadn’t seen people in a long time. That was scary. He sure hoped they could find more people, and was about to ask her when the last time was, when Jack began questioning her again.

  “Do you know why they attacked? What they want?”

  No.

  “Have you heard that there are more people to the south in St. Louis? We were told there are resistance fighters there,” Jack continued.

  There were people to the south.

  That was months ago when I came north.

  I don’t know about now.

  There were people. Were. That was good enough for Will. If Tammy had seen the people then she might know where to find them. Putting together the only pieces of the puzzle that really mattered, Will looked to the mute girl and asked her what he thought would be a pretty easy question.

  “We’re going south to find people. Do you want to come with us?” he blurted without any thought of consulting his siblings.

  Will watched as several emotions played across Tammy’s face. She put the marker to the page only to lift it again more than once. Looking to each of them, as if uncertain if they all wanted her to come, she lowered her head, her shoulders slumping as she drummed her fingers on the page in contemplation.

  * * * * *

  Tammy didn’t know what to do. The last time she had dealt with people things didn’t go well. There was fighting. Her parents were taken. She had barely escaped herself. But these three seemed different. They seemed nice. But maybe it was a trick. She felt so conflicted. They were just kids like her. They claimed they didn’t have parents, just like her, and new friends would be nice. Her own parents were very religious and didn’t trust outsiders, but she wasn’t home anymore and wasn’t with her family. She had to fend for herself and had to admit that these kids’ supplies proved they were better at survival than she was. All she had eaten in more than five days was paper. The very paper she was now writing on to communicate. Eating paper was miserable. She could at least join them for a time. Feel the situation out and see if they deserved her trust.

  Looking to each of their expectant faces once more, she nodded slowly. Filled with anxiety and elation, she didn’t know how to feel. All she could do was keep her faith and hope that nothing went wrong.

  “Now that that is settled, what do you know about those monkey things that were chasing us last night?” the boy named Jack asked her.

  They are fast and strong.

  They see with their eyes, but not like us.

  Light blinds them, burns their skin.

  Very aggressive.

  “Why were they chasing us?”

  They weren’t.

  They would have stayed to find you if they were chasing.

  They were running from something.

  “What could scare them? What could be worse?” Jack continued as Will realized he wasn’t sure if he wanted to read the answer.

  There are worse than those on earth now.

  If we are going to leave, we should do so now.

  Chapter Five

  Jack chewed his food absently, thinking over Tammy’s last words. There were worse things out there than the ape creatures. Worse things. Things the apes would run from and be afraid of. He didn’t even have to ask if Tammy thought they were safe here in the kiln. She had obviously already decided that whatever was chasing the apes would locate them here. She said they needed to leave. Like now. And that was scarier than anything else she said. Leaving now without knowing what was behind them was more frightening to Jack than knowing the monkey things were chasing them. This would put him and his siblings between the monkey creatures and whatever had frightened them. It really wasn’t a choice at all. If they couldn’t stay then they had to leave. Period.

  Snatching up a Mason jar from the floor, he screwed on the ring that secured the lid in place before placing the jar in his pack. One after another he began collecting their food supplies as Tammy rose from the floor and crossed the small space. She knelt down then, and began rummaging through the pile of miscellaneous items there. Pulling on what appeared to be a partially singed varsity letter jacket, Tammy collected a few small trinkets and stuffed them in her pockets.

  Loosening the laces of his boot, Jack cautiously pulled it over the makeshift splint that wrapped under his foot and up both sides of his injured ankle. He didn’t know what would come of the day. He didn’t know if they would have to run. Wincing as the boot slid into place, he laced it up tightly in hopes that he wouldn’t end up injuring it further.

  Turning, he watched Sam apply the final swoosh of black eyeliner to her eyes before puckering and putting on lipstick as well. Makeup. Now. Really? Shaking his head at her vanity, Jack zipped up his pack as Will stuck his small head outside to look around. When he pulled himself back through the door he gave them a thumbs up, and Jack supposed that it was their cue. It was time to leave yet another suitable location. Sighing, he shouldered his pack before putting his hand on Will’s shoulder to guide him out the door.

  Walking was easier today. The swelling in his foot and ankle had gone down dramatically and the splint within his boot gave enough added support that he could bear his weight on it without assistance. Leaving the kiln behind, Jack looked at their peculiar surroundings. Here was door after identical door, marking the entrance to multiple kilns all along what he had thought was a street the night before. But it wasn’t really a street. It was more or less just part of a large industrial complex at the edge of the small town. There were racks and racks of bricks outside, many of them toppled over and spilled, and behind the row of kilns was a larger building with a large sign upon its side labeling the building as Black’s Masonry and Brick Company.

  Tammy led them away from the complex and to a proper street, pointing out the only points of interest the town still had, including what was obviously one of her favorite places, an old burned out library. Jack wondered if that was where she had gotten the books piled in the kiln, but didn’t bother asking as it just didn’t seem relevant now that they had left the books behind. No use dwelling on the past.

  It was less than an hour later when they made it to the southern edge of town, but once there, Jack realized that they shouldn’t leave yet.

  “Hold on, guys,” he said, bringing them all to a halt. “I think we should find some weapons. Who’s to say we don’t run into something out there we don’t want to? We need to be able to defend ourselves. Maybe there’s something in these cars ahead that we can use, or maybe in that building,” Jack said, pointing to what looked like it might have been a storefront before the event.

  “Good thinking,” Sam said.

  “Yeah, I hope I find a sword,” added Will.

  Tammy nodded her own approval, and Jack left the girls and Will to look through the cars as he made his way to where was once a door on the front of the building that he hoped would contain something useful. Stepping through the door, he was happy to find that the building had been built on a concrete slab instead of a basement. Though interior wooden structures had been burned and destroyed, the brick shell of the building was almost entirely intact. Rows and rows of blackened metal shelves lined the inside of the large one-room store. Some had toppled and others appeared to have been shoved into strategic locations in front of the shop’s windows as if to block them
off.

  Charred timbers lay here and there where they had fallen from above or toppled out of the walls, but more or less it was quite easy to traverse the building. Metal signs clung to many of the shelves and a few dangled from the ceiling, hanging onto what few beams had not burned through. Light filtered through the dust that Jack kicked up with every step as he walked among the rows of empty shelves.

  It reminded him of the security vault those last few days they were home. Shelf after empty shelf, offering nothing of use to protect nor sustain them. It wasn’t until he reached the back wall of the building that he found something useful. There, attached to the wall, were spools that once contained things like wire, rope, or chain. Now empty, all that remained were the spools, suspended by a length of pipe that ran through their core, and a chain that attached it all to the wall. Looking them over, it was apparent that most were unusable. Some of the pipes were too thick and unwieldy to handle, and others holding the smallest spools were too small to really do any damage. One, however, looked like a perfect fit for the task.

  Reaching up to unsecure the chain from a hook bolted to the wall, he stepped back and let it swing down as the pipe and spool slid off the chain to clang and clatter upon the concrete floor. Impressed, he found himself with two weapons. He had thought the chain had simply attached to the pipe somehow, but instead it went through and through the pipe to exit the other side where it attached to the wall. Reaching up to unhook the opposite end, he found himself with four to five feet of heavy chain and a three foot length of pipe which he tested, swinging like a baseball bat a few times. Yup. This would do it. Turning back the way he had come, Jack left the ruins of what was once a hardware store and returned to the street to find his siblings and Tammy.

  When he got back to the street he found that their search had concluded as well, and looking as he approached he could see there was a problem of some sort. Sam was standing with her hands on her hips, her mouth moving a mile a minute, stopping only when she saw him approaching.

  “Jack. Tell Will he cannot have that,” Sam said jabbing her finger towards Will.

  Looking at his younger brother he couldn’t help but smile. Holy crap. He did find a sword. It wasn’t a sword exactly, but a long machete that in his small hands certainly looked like a sword, but even though Will looked to him with hopeful eyes, obviously proud of his find, Jack knew he couldn’t keep it.

  * * * * *

  Sam still couldn’t believe it. Out of all the things her little brother could have found, he had actually stumbled across a dang sword. It didn’t feel fair taking it away from him, but she knew he’d wind up hurting himself.

  “Stop smiling and tell him, Jack,” Sam said, angered by Jack’s grin.

  “She’s right, buddy. You shouldn’t have that.”

  “But I found it and it’s mine,” Will pleaded.

  “You did find it, and that is a good job too, but it isn’t a toy. It is dangerous,” Jack replied, sounding just a bit like Dad.

  “But I know how to use a sword,” Will said, brandishing the blade and swinging it like a light saber. “I can chop up the aliens,” he added, making sound effects with his mouth as he fought invisible enemies.

  “You’ll probably end up chopping off your own face,” Jack joked. “C’mon, little man, let me have it.”

  “C’mon, Jack. Let me keep it, I won’t hurt myself. I promise.”

  “Will.” Jack used his stern voice.

  “Please?”

  “Nope. Hand it over.”

  And that was it. With his excitement crushed, Will’s small shoulders slumped as he handed the blade to Jack. Looking around, Sam appraised their supplies. Jack now had a large pipe in one hand, Will’s sword in the other, and a piece of chain draped over his shoulders. She had found a tire iron and a screwdriver, and Tammy was holding what appeared to be a crowbar.

  “So who gets what?” Sam asked.

  “I dunno,” Jack replied, while Tammy shook her head.

  “Well then, let’s put everything in a pile and take turns picking,” Sam offered, and then decided to try and make it up to Will. “Will can have first pick, but can’t have the sword.”

  “It’s a machete,” Jack corrected.

  “Whatever.”

  Rolling her eyes, she put her newfound items on the street and watched as everyone else did the same. It didn’t take long for Will to start digging in and testing out the feel of different implements, and after a minute or two he picked up the crowbar and gripped it in both hands.

  “Got mine,” he said with a grin.

  “Tammy, why don’t you pick next,” Jack offered.

  Tammy didn’t hesitate, reaching down and collecting the chain that Will had found, and experimenting for a moment, she wrapped it about her shoulder and under her arm like a purse. Easy enough. Sam was next and didn’t want the sword. Hitting someone? Fine. Chopping off pieces? No way, too gross. Picking up the small tire iron with a point on one end and a socket for the wheels on the other, she tested its weight. She would have preferred the crowbar, but figured Will would get tired of carrying it eventually anyway, and she could trade him then.

  After she made her pick, Jack collected the machete and pipe, and Sam ducked to pick up the screwdriver. You never know when you might need one. Stuffing it down Dolly’s throat she zipped up her mouth and turned to begin walking down the road. Again. To the south… Again.

  Carrying the tire iron seemed like a bit much so eventually she tucked it through a belt loop and let it dangle, bouncing against her thigh with every step. Looking about, she found that even south of the city the forest was burned but the road was relatively clear, and with the sun high in the sky they walked at a fair pace that wasn’t too much for Will’s short legs or Jack’s injured ankle.

  It was probably an hour or more before Sam noticed Tammy digging through her pockets to eventually produce the marker she had used earlier. Then, reaching beneath the jacket, she removed the notebook which had apparently been stored in the waistband of her jeans. Flipping the notebook open, she began to write in her meticulous manner, carefully creating the letters one by one. It took only moments for her to finish the words on the page and holding it up to Sam, she asked her question.

  How do you not know what happened?

  Did you just arrive?

  “Arrive?” What the heck. The girl was weird. “No. We were locked in a vault since before the event and just came out a few days ago,” Sam explained simply, and watched as Tammy began writing anew.

  What is the vault?

  “It’s a survival shelter that was hidden in our home. My dad designed it and it had food and water and electricity. Everything we needed to live on for a long time.”

  Your dad was very smart to know this was coming.

  “Oh, thanks, but he didn’t build it for this,” Sam said, waving her arms towards the blackened stumps. “At least, I don’t think this is what he had in mind. What about you? How did you and your family make it through the event?”

  We tried not to get noticed.

  Kept to ourselves.

  Stayed quiet and hidden.

  It didn’t work though.

  We were found eventually.

  “I’m sorry that happened, but at least you aren’t alone now,” Sam said, trying to cheer her up, even if she was weird.

  Watching Tammy nod and smile halfheartedly, Sam pondered what it must have been like when the aliens first arrived. The world had obviously been in a panic and tried to fight them off. It was apparent that they had been unsuccessful, but still didn’t explain why the aliens had come in the first place. Were they out there sucking the oceans dry or loading up on oil and other natural resources? She couldn’t help but wonder if any of them had been captured over the last months and interrogated. Had humans found a way to question the aliens and learn their motives? Had humans thwarted the aliens’ efforts enough to scare them away, abandoning some of their forces on the ground? There were still so many questi
ons that needed answering. Hopefully they could find more people further south and beyond that, hopefully more people meant more answers.

  * * * * *

  It was already growing dark again when Will noticed that ahead the burned trees were replaced by living, thriving forest. Even though they had been walking for several hours, he wasn’t feeling too tired, probably because he had slept half the day away. He wondered if it was Sunday. He used to sleep in on Sundays. Mom would come and wake him up by snuggling with him in his bed, and she would fix him breakfast and they would eat together. Though they usually ate alone, because Dad would be at work and Jack and Sam would already be out with friends or too busy with their phones or computers. If it was Sunday, he hoped that Mom was out there somewhere thinking about him too.

  Night came and with it darkness settled upon them, but even without conversation they kept moving. They didn’t hear any sounds of pursuit from behind like previous nights, nor did they hear the ape aliens ahead, and Will couldn’t help but think that both were good signs. The rider had told them to avoid night time because the monsters were out at night, but he had probably just been talking about the monkey ones. Tammy had said there were worse ones. He wished he knew if they hated the sun too.

  “Tammy,” Will broke the silence. “If there might be more monsters chasing the monkey aliens, do you think they are afraid of the sun too?”