by Cage, Zion
The End: Fight For Survival
An Emp Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller
Zion Cage
Copyright © 2020 Zion Cage
All rights reserved
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people or real people are used for fiction purposes only. Other names, characters, places, and events are the ultimate product of the author imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Now Available!!
Also By Zion Cage
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Epilogue
About The Author
Coming Soon
Books In This Series
Now Available!!
The End: Into The Past
In events prior to the EMP, Vivien will do anything to please the one she loves. That is until he decides to put her away. Her eyes open and, for once, she realizes the truth. She will have to make a hard decision.
Get Your Free Gift Now!!
Also By Zion Cage
The End: Genesis
The End: Captives
The End: Warzone
The End: Rogue
“It's the end of the world every day, for someone.”
Margaret Atwood
Prologue
24thMarch, 2006
Washington D.C, USA.
“Okay. I want a full status report. And you’d had better have something good to tell me,” Adrik said into the phone. He could hear Vivien gulp in fear. He sighed. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him. “Look, relax. I won’t be able to hurt you from here, would I? Besides, why would I want to hurt you if you’re doing what you’ve been told to do? Just tell me sincerely, how far have you gone with the assignment given to you?”
Vivien Dmitri knew her boss was lying. If she was found to be slacking, they would take her to be irrelevant to the plan and they would kill her. From what she saw while she was being trained back at the base, there were enough replacements for her if she messed up. The organization of the Rising Sun was very interesting though. From Russia, the bosses seemed to want to subtly have their hands in the affairs of other nations. She had somehow become one of the tools by which they gained that dominance. She collected herself before replying.
“Just as you asked, we’ve shipped them all. We’re working on giving them platforms from which they can operate but that’s where we’re having problems. It’s hard to just summon operatives and place them anywhere here. Their names must be approved by the governing council. So far, I’ve found favor with a lot of the members of the governing council. It’s only a matter of time, sir.”
The man on the other end sighed.
“How much time was given to you?” he asked.
“Two weeks, sir.”
“How much time have you used?”
“Tomorrow would make it two weeks, sir.”
“Vivien, I love how you are proactive. I love how you always give detailed reports whenever you’re asked. However, I’m beginning to feel that you’re ineffective on the job and we don’t like that, I put you there because I felt that you would be the most capable to handle this job. Why are you disappointing me?”
The conversation was wearing Vivien out. She was going to ask him to shut up but she knew better than to dare say as such. She couldn’t even cut him off when he was speaking. She waited till she was sure that he was done with talking then she spoke.
“Sir, we’re doing as much as we can. I promise I won’t fail you. Just give me one more week. I can assure you that I’d have at least ten people in the seats as you desire.”
She could feel the man’s smile from a million miles away. She sighed inwardly.
“I miss you Vivien”, he said calmly. Vivien rolled her eyes.
“If you had known you wouldn’t have sent me to the United States, would you?” she asked. She heard him sigh.
“You’re still angry, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Oh no. I don’t dare keep a grudge against my boss,” she replied, trying her best to sound sincere. She wanted to slap herself for letting her emotions get the better of her.
“Oh, sure. Put on the professional demeanor. You’ve always been excellent at what you do. Please understand that I didn’t want to send you that far away but the job required much skill and you were the best person for the job. As much as I love you, the plan must succeed.”
Vivien bit her lips, holding back tears as she walked through the hallway to her office. When she didn’t say anything, he sighed again.
“Take care of yourself, my love. By the way, we sent in another agent to support you. He’ll make sure you’re doing what needs to be done. Keep up the good work.” He said before he finished the call.
Vivien shook her head. Adrik, her boss sure had a way with words. She went to her office and entered. The place was dark. She turned on the lights and approached her desk. The books on her table were neatly arranged and an American flag stood right in the center of the table. She pulled out her journal from the pile of books and began looking through her appointments for the day. That was when she noticed the man in a suit that was standing by her door. She was surprised but she didn’t show any signs of fear.
“Who are you?” she asked as she subtly reached for the gun beneath her desk. The man smiled.
“That’s no way to welcome your new assistant, Ms. Secretary to the White House Chief of Staff. By the way, I am Daan Barackov and I’m good at Economics,” he said, twirling her gun around his fingers.
Chapter One
"There will be a day with no more tears…"
17th November, 2021
5:30am
Belfast, Maine. USA
The car had suddenly gone off but the wheels were still in motion. It tumbled upside down so that she bumped her head hard against the window. The glass broke and the shards lodged themselves in her scalp. The pain was excruciating. Then there was the fire… all-consuming; ensuring that no one survived.
Suddenly, she was behind the bleachers in school with her sweetheart, Jackson. He held her head in a vice-like grip. “Come on, Ali. I know you want me as bad as I want you. Everyone who loved you is dead now. I’m the only one who still does. Too bad you pushed them all away. Don’t repeat your past mistakes. Just open up,” he said as he pressed his lips to hers and tried to force her. Aaliyah tried to scream but his lips were hard on hers and he was stronger. He had her pinned to the wall so she couldn’t push him off. She struggled and tried to shout but her breath caught in her throat. No words came out.
Then a hand touched her thigh and she jerked up, finally able to let out the scream. She looked around. It was still dark. The air was chilly but she was sweating. Some of the other migrants had woken up because of her screams. They were all staring at her. A hand was still on her thigh. It belonged to her grandmother, Marcia, who was kneeling by her.
“Are you okay, Ali? That must have been quite a nightmare,” Marcia said in a whisper. Aaliyah took a moment to clear her head before getting up and walking away without answering her grandmother. She walked to the waterfront and sat there, staring at the calm
waters. Without permission, tears began to flow from her eyes. She sobbed quietly so that no one would be able to hear but she sobbed nonetheless. She couldn’t hold back the grief.
Marcia came and sat quietly beside her. Slowly, she put her arm around Aaliyah. Aaliyah didn’t shrug her away; instead, Aaliyah rested her head on Marcia’s shoulder. When she had cried to her satisfaction, Marcia spoke.
“You’ve been crying a lot these days, you know.”
Aaliyah didn’t respond.
“You’ve been too quiet, Aaliyah. Something has been eating you up for years now. To worsen it, this tragedy has happened. Child, you can’t continue bottling up the pain. You have to let it go. You need to say something.”
Aaliyah didn’t know what to say. So many thoughts were running through her head at the same time. She just wanted to think them through to put them in order, the way she liked all her things to be.
“Granny, can you just sing me one of your songs?”
“What songs?”
“You know, those ones you said they used to sing back in the day at church.”
Marcia laughed- then coughed.
“Oh, my. Why would you ask for them now? I haven’t had reasons to sing those in days.” Then she began to sing in her sweet alto voice: “But I hold on to this hope and the promise that he brings that there will be a place with no more suffering. There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears. There will be a day when the burdens of this place will be no more…”
As Aaliyah listened to her grandmother’s voice, sleep took her. She loved the numbness of sleep. She hoped it would last forever.
6:50 am
Aaliyah poured a bucket of water over the fireplace, putting out the flames. The team of migrants had to begin moving as it was morning again. The day before, soldiers had come to their homes to inform them of the governments instructions to move from their homes to New York where a ship would take them to Spain. Aaliyah would have preferred to die in the comfort of her house than to trek all the way to New York. Luckily it was just a journey of about six days. From what she had heard, some people would have to trek for over ten days to get to salvation. Marcia sat close-by doing nothing. Her health was frail and so she was unable to handle the community tasks that the others had to do. Before the EMP ruined all life as Aaliyah had known it, Marcia had been a diabetic. She had also suffered from Arthritis. Those two illnesses alone made life difficult for her grandmother without adding the extra problem of trekking long distances for about eighteen hours every day. But Marcia was strong. That was one thing Aaliyah loved about her grandmother. Marcia never complained. She just kept going.
Aaliyah went on to pack up the sleeping materials she shared with Marcia. She pretended as though she didn’t see the stares of the other people. Everyone knew her as the girl that had nightmares every other night and never talked to anyone. She was naturally an introvert. She was also very thoughtful. Her mother had told her that if she had a penny for every time she got lost in thought she would probably be the richest girl in the world; which was quite true, though. Those used to be virtues until she started dating Jackson in her senior year. She pushed the thoughts aside. It was too early for her day to be spoiled.
Sergeant Graham, the leader of their team of migrants stood on an elevated rock and called for everyone to gather around him. He, along with three other soldiers had been delegated to lead that team of migrants to New York. He was quite the leader: wise and intimidating. Besides, the soldiers had guns. No one disobeyed a gun.
“Okay, folks. We’ve got ourselves an empty town here. We’ll be leaving in about an hour time. Use this time productively. If you want to eat, eat now. If you need to hunt for supplies, do it now. The moment we get going, no one stops till the midday rest. Is that clear?”
Murmurs danced over the heads of the crowd. Apparently, the sergeant took it as a yes.
“Good. Now scram. But be careful. It’s been reported that some people are missing. Let’s not get ourselves in any trouble,” he said as he jumped down from the podium and went to where his team were waiting.
Aaliyah sighed. Their community was quite a mixed group since everyone, whether poor or rich, had to move together. Some people had survival skills and were good at hunting and making campfires. They were thriving well. There were also the others, like Aaliyah, who knew nothing of the outdoors and would have to learn the hard way. Her father and her younger brother used to go camping during the summer vacation. Her father would encourage her to join them but she always turned down the invitations. A while ago, she turned them down simply because she wanted to be with her friends within the boundaries of civilization. Later on, it was because she felt too dirty to have friends… because she just wanted to be alone. Well, whatever her reasons had been, now she wished she had joined her father all those years ago. She had no one and so she had to fend for herself and her grandmother.
She along with a couple of other people had developed a way to survive though. They broke into empty homes and took whatever useful thing they could find- what they called ‘hunting for supplies’. Since the owners of the homes wouldn’t be returning anytime soon, that could hardly be counted as stealing. Her supplies were running out. She needed to get food for herself and her grandmother. If she was lucky enough, she would be able to find pain killers for her grandmother. She walked over to Marcia.
“Granny, I’m going to step out and find something for us, okay? Just stay put and I’ll be back in no time.”
Marcia looked up at her in worry.
“I appreciate all that you do, Ali, but don’t you think it would be easier and safer for us if we just join another family making the trip. I know some families from church that would gladly help us. You don’t have to do this on your own.”
“Granny, we’ve talked about this before. We can’t trust anyone. People are desperate to have their way. If we put ourselves into their hands, they will use us the way they want to and throw us away when they are done. We can’t hand ourselves over to people that cheaply. We can do this, granny. Trust me on this,” Aaliyah said as she wrapped a blanket around Marcia.
Marcia looked at Aaliyah in surprise. Aaliyah was nonplussed.
“What?”
“Well, it’s partly that, I can’t remember the last time you aired the thoughts that ran through your mind. I miss hearing about your philosophies. But, more than that, I’m bothered by the philosophies themselves. They’ve changed and become pessimistic. What makes you think that way - that everyone would betray us?”
Aaliyah sighed. The dream had really shaken her up. Her emotions were all over the place.
“Don’t worry about it, granny. Just wait for me, please. Will you?”
Marcia sighed too but then she smiled and nodded.
“The only reason I’m going to let you go out there on your own is that I don’t want the money your father spent on martial art classes to be a waste. You’d better use it to take good care of yourself,” she said.
Marcia tilted her head and smiled. “Okay, grandma.” With that, she drew her hood over her head and ran off towards the town. Marcia smiled as she watched Aaliyah go. She was grateful that not everyone was taken away. True, it hurt to lose her daughter, son-in-law, and the entire family. But she was glad that Aaliyah stayed. Aaliyah had always been sweet and thoughtful. If there was anyone who would take it upon themselves to care for her, it was Aaliyah. The little girl would even insist on taking her to church so that she didn’t miss out on her life because of her health. Suddenly, barely one year ago, Aaliyah had changed and become a recluse. She would come back from school and go straight to her room without even spending time with Marcia as she used to do in the past. Everyone, including her friends from church, tried to talk to her to no avail. Soon they all gave up but Marcia kept praying for the sweet child. Then one day, she announced that she wanted to take martial art classes. Everyone had thought that she was back to her bright cheerful self. They were wrong.
She only became a self-confident recluse. Marcia sighed and said a silent prayer for her granddaughter.
Barely a second later, a young man walked up to her.
“Hello, Ms. Marcia. It’s been a while,” he said. She looked into his moss-green eyes and she smiled. It was Ted Hankins, the lead guitarist from the church.
“Oh my, it’s truly been a while. You know my health no longer allows me to move around alone. That’s why I had to stop coming.”
Ted took her hand and held it in his.
“Well, am I glad to see you. It’s a miracle we’re alive, you know. Where’s the rest of your family? It’s weird that you’re all alone out here.”
Marcia’s smiled dropped and he got the message.
“Oh,” he said slowly. “I’m so sorry. How have you been moving all this time then?”
Marcie smiled again; this time ruefully.
“Well, my granddaughter was not in the car with them. We were at home when the EMP hit. She’s been fending for me all this time. In fact, she just went to get us something to eat.”
“You mean Aaliyah?”
“Yes. You remember her!”
When he smiled, his cheeks turned red.
“Well, I do actually.” There was a brief silence and then Ted piped up again. “Hey, you know what? Why don’t you guys join my family? We could all work together to survive the trek. And it’ll be good for company too. We’re having canned beans for breakfast. There’s plenty to go round.”
Marcia’s eyes lit up.
“That will be splendid. I kept telling Ali that we should find a friend to pair up with but she’s such a lone ranger.”
Ted laughed with her.