“Calm down, baby. Just breathe,” Sam was urging.
Jack had seen Will’s terrified face. He knew kind and sweet words wouldn’t be enough this time. Digging through his pack he located the inhaler and popped off the cap. Pressing it to his little brother’s lips, he watched as Will fought through the fear and nodded. Jack pressed down on the canister. Nothing happened.
Pressing the small can inside the inhaler over and over, Jack found to his dismay that it was empty. There was no medicine left. Or was there?
Dropping the useless device, he snatched Will off the ground and climbed to his feet. Without thought he crushed the inhaler beneath him as he turned and fled as fast as he could run. Dimly he noted the sounds of both Tammy’s and Sam’s footsteps behind, but they began to fade fast. Jack was a runner. He had been built to run and had practiced for years, winning state and regional championship trophies time and again.
Sprinting for all he was worth, Jack burst forth from between the hangers and turned left towards the doorway they had entered earlier. Paying no mind to the still raging pandemonium around them, he darted through the door and into the dimly lit hallway. Clinging the small body of his brother to his chest, he plunged through the door into the large medical room to be met by the surprised and panicked stare of the nurse turned doctor.
“Asthma attack!” Jack shouted, laying the now unconscious form of Will on one of the cots.
While he watched as the woman fumbled with two small vials, she rushed to Will’s side and drew each clear liquid into the same syringe, one after the other, before plunging it into Will’s thigh. Pulling the needle free, she tossed it down on a small stainless steel tray before beginning mouth to mouth on Will. To Jack the whole thing was surreal, as if moving in slow motion. He wanted her to hurry, but dared not rush her lest she make a mistake. Even now, he couldn’t recall the run from the alley to the room where he stood, yet his heart pounded and calves tensed.
Looking to his little brother, he shook his head as the nurse tried again and again to force air into the small boy’s lungs through lips already turning blue. This couldn’t be happening. Not again, and certainly not now. Jack couldn’t lose Will. He just couldn’t. He had promised their dad to look after him and keep him safe, and he was doing the best he could. The nurse slowed in her attempts, she was tiring. Giving up.
Through the door came Sam and Tammy but Jack couldn’t look at them. Couldn’t bear their eyes upon him. He didn’t want to see his own pain on either of their faces. Didn’t want them to see he was a failure. The nurse backed away from Will, only for a moment, catching her own breath. Will’s face had gone gray.
“Noooo!” Jack shouted, turning his angry glare upon the woman who was supposed to save Will. “You don’t give up. Keep going!”
The young woman didn’t hesitate, taking his order to heart she again sealed her mouth around Will’s. More moments passed and Jack’s vision swam, his head feeling too heavy as the world seemed to suddenly jump to full speed again. Jack knew it was over. Something inside him broke as tears streamed from his eyes and sobs erupted from somewhere deep in his chest. He had lost him. He had failed Will and Sam and their father. He hadn’t done enough to keep Will safe. Jack fell to his knees.
Looking up with pleading eyes, he dimly witnessed as again the nurse sat back, raising the back of her hand to her forehead as Tammy shoved her aside, stepping in to breathe for Will.
Tammy gave Will a long and slow breath, pressing her fingers to his neck before beginning to press down hard in the center of his chest with the palm of her hands over and over again. Another breath, and again she shoved his ribs down hard. A strange popping sound came from Will’s chest and Jack felt bile rise up in his throat. Was she breaking his ribs? Crushing them?
Another breath. Will coughed a shallow cough and Tammy pressed her ear to his mouth, smiling wide as her eyes lit up. Feeling his neck again with her fingertips, she nodded, her wide smile growing even wider. Jack collapsed to the floor, all energy having been sapped from him. He sobbed loudly, not even trying to fight the emotion that sought to break free of him.
* * * * *
Like lead had been poured into Sam’s legs, she watched on helplessly as Tammy turned and smiled, signaling that Will would be OK. She watched as Jack collapsed before her, hitting the concrete floor so hard his entire body was jarred by it. Though never in her life could she recall having seen Jack cry, not really, not even in those first weeks in the vault, today she witnessed as his soul was laid bare before her. With tears streaming down his cheeks unchecked, he cried loudly, his shoulders bouncing with his sobs. In that moment Sam realized something she had never really seen before.
Jack was strong. He had borne the weight of their safety, of their lives, on his shoulders for months without a single complaint. He had taken their father’s final words and wrapped them about himself like armor in order to bear the burden of their little family’s survival. He had led them out of security into the unknown and been threatened with them at every turn and still he brought them back from the brink time and again. How he must feel that the world was stacked against him. And even though they had each other, she knew that he must feel alone in this burden.
Ripping her leaden legs free from their apparent moorings, she strode to her brother’s side and fell beside him, wrapping her arms about his head and neck. He was crying because for a moment, just a moment, he believed he had failed and that failure had threatened to consume him. He was crying not because he had been weak, but because he had been too strong to realize that failure was an option. He was crying because he loved them, even if he barely said it, and Sam understood it all too well.
Looking up as Tammy collected Will from the table, she reached up and gathered both of them into her arms as well, and together all four shared several moments. Eventually calming themselves, they all hugged each other tightly in a thick mass of tangled limbs and helped each other to rise.
As they met the doctor’s eyes, it was apparent that she felt for them, even though she didn’t know their story, and for that Sam felt bad for judging her. And just when Sam thought that all the drama was over, yells and shouts began from down the hall.
She didn’t know if the creatures had made it inside the walls of the building or what was going on, but Sam realized that the sirens had stopped. Unable to do anything else, Sam pulled her tire iron from her belt loop and raised it over her shoulder, noting that those with her did likewise. Even Will, though weak and obviously confused, pulled his weapon out and held it at the ready. Whatever it was, they weren’t going down without a fight.
The screams of pain and yells continued growing louder, but Sam still could not see their source. Without warning, Grant appeared at the doorway with an injured boy’s arm over his shoulder. As he helped the teenager into the room, it was apparent that the kid’s leg was broken, the appendage dragging at an odd angle. The resistance’s leader himself had a wide gash above his eye where blood oozed down his face.
Sam lowered her weapon and helped Jack as they took the burden of the injured teen from Grant, and helped him to one of the cots. Turning, as Grant sat himself atop another cot, a procession of injured children and teens began flowing into the room. The battle was over, and by the looks of it they had taken some serious injuries. Sam couldn’t help but wonder if the world had been like this for months, and if so, how many had they lost? She was beginning to see something different here. No wonder they needed to keep the doctor in good health. Perhaps she had judged them prematurely. Sam was ashamed of herself.
* * * * *
Will’s chest hurt, like way worse than ever before. His lungs and throat burned as if singed by fire, and a weird bitter taste filled his mouth as if he had fallen asleep with sour gum in there somewhere. Sour gum. Now that was something he hadn’t thought about in a while. It was way better than thinking about what he had just been through. Again, for like the third time in a week, he had let them down. He had to do bette
r. He had to control his attacks. He had stopped one before, but this time he had been caught by surprise and afraid. Still it was no excuse. They had been worried over him again and fussing over him. With so much wrong in the world, Will didn’t want to be another problem. Dad was strong and Jack was strong and Will could be strong too, he just needed to try harder.
Though he felt like he had been stomped on by an elephant, he moved out of the way with his siblings and Tammy as injured kids, both big and small, began to filter into the room. There were a lot of them, like twenty or more. Where were all the adults? Why were there so few? Something about this place was weird. Will found it strange that every time they found an answer he had so many more questions. He was about to voice his discovery when the scary leader of the resistance cut him short.
“You kids alright?” Grant asked, looking in their direction, appearing to meet all of their eyes like one of those creepy paintings at the museum.
“Yeah, we’re good,” Jack answered him.
“Good. Tom, you out there?” Grant asked, looking towards the door where Tom suddenly appeared as if out of thin air.
“Yes’ir.”
“Take the new kids to see Darvski…”
“But he’s crazy,” Tom interrupted.
“That’s enough, Tom. Just take them there. He’ll be able to answer their questions while I get this cut patched up and get sick bay organized and get a casualty count.”
“You got it,” Tom replied, turning as he rolled his eyes, expecting them to follow.
Answered questions. That sounded even better than sour gum.
Following Tom down the hall and out of the building, they turned and walked to the entrance of the other hangar, stopping at the doorway.
“Darvski mighta be sayin’ some of his craziness, but don’t ya’ll be buyin' it. I’ll stick around, just outside ‘ere and you can com’in git me if’e gits too nutty. K?”
Try as he might, even as exhausted as he was, Will couldn’t help but giggle just a little. Tom sure talked funny. With a smattering of nods they each walked past Tom and into the hangar, where Will expected to see the same as they had in the other. That was certainly not the case, however, and entering he looked around the large vaulted room with cables strewn haphazardly about the floor, running from one machine to another. The lights here were brighter than the other hangar and various equipment had flashing red, yellow, and green LEDs and some of them beeped in various tones. Wall to wall the equipment stood without a sign of another person in the room’s great expanse. Across from them a closed doorway could be seen, and even now Jack led them towards it, cautiously stepping over the wires and cables that crisscrossed everywhere.
Will followed, holding both Sam and Tammy’s hands as the crossed the room. The nearer they got to the other side they began hearing sounds from the room beyond. The sounds grew louder and more distinct and Will hoped that whatever it was that the scientist was doing in there was something cool. Coming to the door they stopped a moment as Jack knocked, and waited longer still as he knocked louder after several moments’ delay. Will doubted anyone on the other side could hear with all the commotion coming from in there, and apparently Jack felt the same. Without permission, Will watched Jack reach for the knob of the door and, twisting it, he shoved the door open as they all reeled from the loud noise and smell from beyond. Stepping through the door, Will was both disgusted and amazed as his senses reeled and bile rose into his throat.
* * * * *
Tammy should have known. All the clues were there. The boy called Cole had said they were doing tests, but this… this was something else altogether. Like the previous room, this one was as wide as the hangar and from here she couldn’t see the other side, her view was obscured by a scene of horrific nightmares. Before her and her companions, was row after row of large cages with the different species of invaders in various states of health. Some were obviously injured and crying out in pain. Others were pulling at the bars, screaming and hooting, while others moved about, seemingly blindly smashing bodily into the bars of their prisons. The room was pandemonium and reeked of feces, urine, and decay.
Tammy couldn’t believe that anyone could treat any creatures like this. Enemies or not, it was cruel and torturous. She felt sick to her stomach and tears welled up in her eyes and she would have screamed, but she couldn’t. No. Instead she had to remind herself not to judge the actions of other people, for it was not her duty to do so. Here the world was torn and afraid and everyone fought for the same thing. Survival. As twisted and wrong as it might be, they were looking for the answers that everyone sought. Justifying it didn’t make it right, but Tammy couldn’t think of one thing that was right. Not anymore.
Even though it pained and disgusted her, she forced herself to look among the cages and see what, if anything, she could learn. In the first row were the ape-like creatures she had grown accustomed to seeing over the last month, and in the next row was a more hominid version that stood more upright. Though mostly covered in thick fur, these ones watched with intelligent eyes, many of them standing and gripping the bars of their cages in silence while others of their kind hooted and grunted. She had seen these ones before as well, and paid them little attention.
Jack began to move again, his own eyes darting from cage to cage, and Tammy followed him and his siblings between the rows of metallic prisons. They passed a third row of big hulking creatures that resembled gorillas, and then another row with very human like aliens. These she had seen before as well. Apart from their bulbous eyes and long three fingered hands, they shared many similar features to man, but even though all three of her companions gasped and stared at each new row, they continued on among the cages.
Two more rows of vaguely humanoid creatures passed, and Tammy fought not to look down to the floor in shame. It was obvious that these were not creatures. They were people. Maybe not from here, not from earth, but people nonetheless. And they were caged like animals. Passing the latest collection of prisoners, Tammy noted that the next row of cages held a recently familiar sight. Here, the insect creatures from last night buzzed about in their cages, crashing into the bars, and bouncing off the ceilings in a chaotic mess. She had never seen them in daytime before, and with the lighting in the room they looked completely different from what she had imagined she had seen in the darkness.
Although they stood upright, their legs stuck out of what would be their hip joints at a more horizontal angle than humans. Shaped like a human’s, their legs had a thigh and a knee, followed by another segment of leg that did resemble those of men, but instead of an ankle and foot, they had another knee-like joint and section of leg that ended at a blunted point.
Their torso looked like a human’s, except that under their two primary arms were smaller appendages in a row on each side, like the legs of centipedes only longer. Their arms were shaped like a person’s, except that their hands only consisted of two hooked fingers. Thought they didn’t have any antennae, their head really did resemble that of an ant, with short mandibles and multi-faceted eyes. Even more odd, their entire body was covered in a hard, shell-like skin, but was also covered by very thin, almost ghostly hair over much of their bodies minus their faces. Tammy shivered, remembering their encounter with one of the creatures the night before.
Shaking off the memory, she noted as her companions’ heads all turned slightly. Looking in the same direction as they, she watched as a man approached with Cole in tow from between the rows of cages ahead. He was tall and thin with a sparse beard and dirty hair that clung to his scalp in loose curls. Like the doctor he wore a lab coat, though his was stained with filth, nearly in entirety. Beneath his lab coat were black slacks and a pair of what looked to be loafers that might have once been tan or light brown. Now they were too stained to be certain.
Nearing, the man smiled, but so dark were the rings around his eyes, and so slumped were his shoulders that the look showed no real joy. His eyes darted this way and that, almost nervously, b
ut Tammy could see uncommon intelligence there. She wondered what he knew that others didn’t. Though his methods were barbaric, what could he have gleaned over the previous months? What truths had he unlocked?
A moment of awkward silence passed as his beady, sunken eyes fell upon each of them one at a time, but eventually the man called Darvski split his natural frown with a monotonous voice that hinted at exhaustion.
Chapter Eleven
“I know what you are thinking,” Darvski admitted. “But please, do not judge my actions out of context. Every life here has either been captured while attacking our community, or trying to infiltrate it. Before the war I did my research much differently than now, and I do not like it any more than your faces show that you do.”
Jack heard the pain in the man’s words and knew them to be true. He too knew that this was inhumane. Whether the creatures were mindless killers, or thinking feeling species of man like people didn’t matter. This was evil. Immoral.
There were so many questions in his head fighting for dominance that the scientist before him must have read the confusion on his face for exactly what it was.
“Cole has told me about finding you four on the road. You are lucky to have crossed paths. I understand you must have a lot of questions, but I must ask you to contain yourselves. I will tell you all I can about the invasion and my theories, and I will tell you what I have discovered since then. If you have more questions when we are finished, and I have time, I will answer what I can. Will that suffice?”
“Yes, thank you,” Jack answered for all of them.
“Good. Then I will begin with the invasion. We first realized that the ships were here when planes began exploding in midair. Their technology is far superior to our own. Our radar could not locate them. Their ships were all but invisible. Even thermal scans would show nothing out of the ordinary. For weeks we knew they were out there, but we couldn’t accurately track them. Our best clue was mass bird deaths. Birds kept flying into their ships and breaking their necks. It wasn’t until some Canadian crop dusters went up with tanks full of paint and began spraying that we finally got a look at one of their ships. They were huge. Bigger than our cities, and they just floated there, like they had been there forever. People panicked. What else could they do? Every military around the world began attacking the ships, but to no avail. We spent every technology we had. Even nuclear. Nothing happened to them, but we still had no idea why they had come or what they wanted. Then they retaliated. As far as we can guess, every one of their ships all around the globe attacked at precisely the same moment. It was instantaneous. With a single pulse of energy they destroyed everything. We don’t know exactly what it was, but think of it like a radio broadcast signal. They broadcast a signal so strong, that it generated extremely high electrical currents into every metal structure in the world. The wiring of our houses superheated, catching everything on fire. Vehicles caught fire or exploded. Our warships were destroyed. Aircraft plummeted out of the sky. Gone. Our missile silos exploded, military drones rained down around the world. Everything was gone in an instant.”
Children of the After: The Complete Series Page 21