ACTIVATION

by M. G. GILIBERT

  “Alright, here we are,” Don says. “This is the place.”

  “How do you feel?” John asks.

  “Fine,” Don answers.

  John understands this is a non-answer. And from what he knows of Don, he understands this is not the right time to chat. They stop the car a little further away from the small city and try to hide it under some trees.

  They come back by foot. From what he sees, or whatever remains to be seen, John tries to imagine how life could have been before the destruction. As a reference, he pictures his own village. But this time he adds children to his vision.

  He suddenly begins to feel the same way as when the robots destroyed his village when he came back with Pam and Jack. He is literally boiling inside. Boiling with rage. But he cannot let the steam out. This is not his village. This is not his story.

  The only one who is currently allowed to suffer and express it is standing next to him. John cannot lose his temper and vent his frustration. He has not earned the right to do so. He doesn’t deserve it. It’s not his place to do it. And he also knows that by doing so, he would probably lose all the trust he’s built lately with Don. He will, therefore, remain calm, even though he would love to explode and be confronted right now with the ones responsible for what he’s looking at.

  Don stops in front of what used to be a house.

  John understands they have arrived. This is the starting point of their search and rescue mission. They both hope for the rescue part of the mission. That would mean Don’s wife and son are still alive.

  “Don, I don’t want to sound too blunt, but the people who lived here are either one of two ways. If lucky, they have all been sent to a Metropolis. If unlucky, they are all dead,” John says.

  “I know. But I also know of a third way,” Don says.

  “Which one?” John asks.

  “Well, look in a mirror and you’ll get your answer. You made it out. See? It means there is a possibility Jen and Gabe made it out as well.”

  “Yes, you’re right.”

  John pauses a moment and continues.

  “That’s the first time you mention your wife and kid’s names.”

  “Because I can feel their presence here,” says Don. “My son’s name is Gabriel, but he goes by Gabe. He’s eighteen. And my wife’s name is Jennifer.”

  Don’s answer about feeling his family’s presence causes John to start getting more worried about him and his sanity. Don doesn’t seem as focused as earlier and his emotions are apparently slowly taking over.

  John can now clearly see that Don is hoping for something, hoping for something else than what they are looking at. Desolation.

  And though he understands why, he also knows emotions can take someone to very dark places. Especially when hopes suddenly get crushed by the harsh reality. He wants to avoid that for Don. So he continues to ask him questions. He wants Don to use his brain and focus on answering and on thinking instead of giving too much space to his feelings.

  “What if they have been brought to a Metropolis? How will we know it and what will be the strategy to get them away from there?” John asks, hoping to take Don away from his thoughts and to reactivate his soldier’s reflexes.

  “If I knew for sure they were in a Metropolis, I would go back to the base and gather as much intelligence as I can about it. I would use our satellites, I would work with Henry and the rest of the crew and once we have a clear strategy, I guess we would just implement it,” Don answers.

  It worked.

  John managed to take Don’s mind back to the base, where people work hard to find a solution. He also reminds Don that many people rely on him and they all expect him to come back because as they said it themselves, they love him.

  These words seem to stick and apparently produce the expected effect.

  Don is now back in his soldier’s state of mind and starts planning the research. He tells John he has already been to all familiar places where his wife could have gone. They need to think of something less obvious. A place she could have gone to without Don knowing but that he could think of.

  A hospital, maybe? A church? A place where she could have found shelter? Don decides to go back to the car and get the drones. Maybe they will find something from above that they cannot see from where they stand.

  “You know what to do,” Don says as John throws one drone in the air.

  “It’s already up,” John confirms.

  They watch the screen while Don describes the village to John. But as they fly over Don’s house, John suddenly asks him to stop.

  “What did you say your son’s name was?” he asks.

  “Gabriel, Gabe. Why?” Don asks.

  “Go back to your house and turn the camera around,” John shouts. And as Don executes what sounds like an order from John, he suddenly distinguishes what caused John’s unexpected excitement.

  The word “GAB” is spelled with planks and pieces of wood on what remains of Don’s house.

  Don didn’t notice it at first because the drone was flying over it from the opposite direction, the top of the letters, which made the word appear upside down on the screen. If John did not follow Don’s descriptions on the screen from a different angle, they would probably never have noticed it.

  “Do you know what that means?” John asks.

  Don cannot believe his eyes. He flies over the sign over and over again, trying to find the trace of a human intervention that would prove him it is not just a coincidence. People sometimes see what they want to see. But in this case, the letters are too perfect. They have been formed by someone. That’s a fact.

  As Don hasn’t answered his question, John decides to answer it himself.

  “It means someone is still alive. This sign was built after the robots came to relocate people and after they destroyed the city. Someone came after. Is it possible it was there when you first arrived?” he asks.

  “No, I would have seen it. I used the drones as well. I was looking for body heat signatures. I spent countless hours flying over the house and the surrounding area,” Don answers.

  “Ok. So someone came after you left. And it must be your wife or your son, or them both. Who else would write your son’s name on your house?” John asks.

  And then it hit them. Why just the boy’s name and not his wife’s? Has something happened to her?

  They prefer not to think about it and quickly reject this possibility.

  What matters is that his son is out there, probably alone and they need to find him.

  “Maybe it’s a clue,” says John. “Is there a place where Gabe usually goes, alone or with his friends?”

  “Not that I am aware of. They usually hang out by the river, near the old power plant, but I’ve been there and looked everywhere. There was no sign of human presence,” Don answers.

  “Maybe they have moved from place to place. I think it is worth a shot. We should get there,” John says.

  “I doubt it. But let’s send the drones. It’s preferable we don’t walk around too much,” Don says.

  As Don expected, there is nothing near the river. The old plant looks exactly the same as he remembers it from last time. Nothing has been moved or seems to have changed position. And shifting his camera mode to infrared, hoping it will capture body heat, produces the same effect. There is still nothing.

  “Will you notice the heat signature if they were underground? In a basement or something?” John asks.

  “No, the camera wouldn’t be powerful enough,” Don answers.

  As Don looks disappointed, John wants to keep him motivated and redirects the conversation to their finding.

  “Well, it’s definitely related to your son Gabriel. Think about everything you can remember. What is the last thing your son told you or the last thing your wife told you about your son?” asks John.

  Don spends a few long minutes thinking with his eyes closed. He is concentrating on every bit of conversation he can remember from his wife and son. He tries to
recall the slightest details, even the ones that seem irrelevant.

  John can see that Don is talking to himself. He seems to weigh in every possible option and to decide whether they make sense or not. But what he can also make of Don’s movements is that most of the options he’s coming up with are rejected.

  Until he hears something different from the series of dismissals he’s been hearing until now.

  Something that starts with a silence, followed by what seems to be a little hesitation from Don, to finally conclude with a “no way …”

  And then, Don’s face suddenly lights up while turning to John.

  “I think I know where they are!”

  CHAPTER 19

  “Where are they?” John asks as he tries to keep up with the pace set by Don.

  “A few blocks down, I think,” Don answers.

  They slow down. Don tries to remember where exactly the house he’s looking for used to be. As he looks around he also explains to John how he came up with the potential location of his family.

  A few days before Don and the soldiers left the base to find their families, he received a phone call from Jen. She sounded very upset. Their son Gabe apparently had a serious argument with a neighbor. So serious that it almost ended in a fight. The old man hit Gabe with his cane. But as far as Jen knew, Gabe didn’t fight back and just left. Even though Don couldn’t stand any kind of violent behavior towards his son, he appreciated the fact that Gabe didn’t hit the old man back. It could have been bad given Gabe’s natural strength and the combat skills his father taught him. And Don also knew the neighbor. He was an old guy. Of the cantankerous type, to be polite. The kind of person who never seems to be happy and always finds a reason, usually bad, to be angry at something or someone. As far as Don remembers, the man was spending the best part of his days looking through his window and screaming at whoever was passing in front of his house.

  Surprisingly, this man was married to the loveliest little lady. She, on the other hand, was always kind to everyone. Especially children. They did not have any. People could feel she genuinely loved kids. Each time she was walking down the street and met one of the neighborhood’s many kids, she always greeted them by their first name and sometimes even a nickname she had especially created for them. If it wasn’t for her, Don would already have had a serious discussion with her husband. All the good that was naturally coming out of her always managed to eclipse the bad feelings people could hold against her husband.

  Anyway, according to Jen, the husband was growing angrier at Gabe lately. For no apparent reason. It became very common for Jen to see Gabe very upset after school. At first, she thought he had problems in high school. Teenagers can sometimes be mean with those who don’t fit in the irrelevant rules established by just a few at school. But Gabriel’s school was not this kind of establishment. Such behavior was not tolerated and always severely repressed. Gabe was nicely integrated, just like every kid in school.

  It is only after a few days of questioning that Gabe finally gave his mom the real cause of his frustration. As he said, everything was fine at school. The problem was actually on the way from school. The problem was living nearby and was driving Gabe very angry.

  Gabe explained that the old man was literally screaming at him every day. He was either pretending Gabe stole flowers from his garden when he was on foot, or that he was making too much noise when he was riding his bicycle. Gabe is a good son, and his parents know he would never do such things. And they honestly believe he is a bit too old for this kind of behavior.

  Long story short, one day Gabe had enough and decided to confront the old man. He didn’t have any bad intentions. He just wanted the man to stop and to let him know that no matter what, he would go to college soon and the old man would not see him anymore. But the old man decided to argue with Gabe. Voices raised and he hit Gabe with his cane. Gabe went back home and didn’t tell anything to his mother. But the following day, Jen heard about what happened at the house, and she asked Gabe for some explanations.

  When she called Don, she told him they were planning on going to the house to meet the old man and clarify the situation once and for all.

  This is the reason why Don now believes it’s possible his family was there when the robots arrived.

  “That’s a bit far-fetched, don’t you think? And what’s the difference between being at the neighbors’ and being at your place? The robots are supposedly going from house to house,” John says.

  “There is a major difference. And here is the best part. The old guy has an underground bunker in his backyard. The thing is that he doesn’t trust anyone. And above all, he doesn’t trust the government. He had it built a long time ago, thinking that when the time comes, all of the ‘losers’ around, the ones who don’t see what is happening, will regret they didn’t do the same. And then it will be too late for them,” Don explains.

  “Ok. I get it now. You believe your family is in the bunker. That is starting to make sense,” John says.

  They are now in front of where Don believes the old couple’s house used to stand. They walk through what is left of it and go straight to the backyard. John doesn’t know what he is looking for exactly, but he knows he needs to look on the ground. He’s searching for some kind of opening, a door maybe.

  Suddenly, Don asks him to come. He has found something.

  “Look, that’s the entrance,” Don says.

  “How do we open it?” John asks.

  “I don’t think we can. It’s probably locked from the inside. Let’s just knock,” Don says.

  And by ‘knock’ Don actually means ‘bang’. They both look for something to hit against the heavy steel door. Something that will make enough noise for the people inside to hear it.

  They each find a brick and start hitting the door frantically.

  After almost five minutes without any reaction coming from the door, they decide to stop.

  John is starting to have doubts and he can see in Don’s eyes that he is feeling the same way. John shouts Jen and Gabe’s names, but Don asks him to stop. It will not help as there are probably a few feet of reinforced concrete between them and whoever may be inside the bunker.

  “Can we use the machine gun from the car to blow this door open?” John asks.

  “If there were an enemy inside, I wouldn’t hesitate for one second. But my family is probably down there and I don’t want to take the chance of hitting them with a bullet,” Don answers.

  They need to think of a different approach to get this door open.

  And then John has some kind of epiphany.

  If Don were underground, and if he knew what had happened to the village, would he open the door to people banging at it like they just did?

  “You’re right. I would most likely go even deeper instead, and look for something to defend myself,” Don says.

  “Exactly. If there is someone down there, I’m sure we just scared them. We need to be smarter and find a way to send a message to whoever is inside,” John says.

  “Morse,” Don says right away.

  “Morse?” John asks.

  “Let’s use Morse. I taught it to Gabe in the past. If he remembers it, he will know I’m outside,” Don says.

  Don and John will hit the door together at the same time to make more noise and have a better chance of being heard from inside.

  They will start with something easy.

  Two long, one short. Then one short, one long. Then one long, three short. And finally one short. Don explains it is Morse code for ‘GABE’. This way, if Gabe is there, he will know the message is for him. They will do it two or three times and then they will spell the word ‘DAD’. Long-short-short, then short-long, then long-short-short again. Here again, if Gabe remembers his Morse alphabet, he will know his dad is here.

  “What if Gabe is not there, or doesn’t remember how to spell words?” John asks.

  “Should be fine as well. If my family is down there they will understand it’
s Morse code and they’ll know it’s coming from me,” Don answers.

  They start hitting the door again. But this time they are not frantic. This time they are sending a message.

  After each try, they stop and press their ears to the door, hoping to hear a response. But they don’t hear anything.

  They are about to lose faith and John is already thinking about new questions he could ask Don to redirect the search when they suddenly hear a metallic grating coming from inside the bunker. It seems to be a rotating movement. There is someone inside and they are apparently trying to open the door.

  Indeed, the door slowly opens up. Don and John only see an arm first, but it is quickly followed by a head. It’s Gabe’s. Don dives to him and pulls him up. He takes him outside of the hole he was buried in. And then comes Jen. She is here as well. John helps her out and places her in her husband’s arms.

  The family is reunited. Against all odds. They are together again. John can see in their eyes that they know that everything is going to be fine now. They are both very skinny and almost disappear inside Don’s arms.

  After a few minutes holding them tight, Don starts talking, softly. He asks them how they feel but he can see they are both exhausted and seem to have limited strength. He makes a quick sign to John who understands he needs to run to the car and bring them something to eat and to drink.

  John takes everything that will help the mother and her son get back on their feet. He carries boxes filled with the now famous, and actually not so bad, dehydrated meals, protein mixes, and several bottles of water.

  As he arrives, the little family has not moved an inch. They don’t seem able to let go of each other yet.

  Jen faintly pronounces a few words. The first words coming from her mouth, and apparently requiring an extenuating effort on her behalf to just expel enough air from her lungs to produce a sound.

  “Mary … Down there … Not well …”

  “Go check,” Don says to John who promptly drops the supplies on the ground and runs straight towards the bunker’s entrance.