After the Shift: The Complete Series

by Grace Hamilton

  Syd sat silently, knees drawn up in the seat, arms crossed over her chest. The very image of clammed up and I don’t wanna talk about it. Maybe she thought she’d said too much already in predicting the behavior of the scavengers. Perhaps she was steeling herself against the questions she knew would come. Whatever her reasons, Nathan figured he wasn’t going to get far with her until she’d settled down. Maybe she was just getting ready for battle. Though, Nathan really didn’t like the idea of that.

  As he drove, the sky began darkening rapidly. The storm that had been threatening all day was moving in. The trees along the highway were whipping back and forth now, ice crust blowing off and hitting the windshield like thrown grit. Squalls in the road ahead shifted billows of snow, but Nathan didn’t deviate or slow down.

  He was busting through and he was getting home.

  Nathan pushed all the possible potential horror from his head and looked down into the valley. Shots rang out across the distance. Someone in his isolated house was putting up a spirited defense of the property.

  He’d rolled the wrecker down the last hundred yards of snowy road with the engine off, just to avoid alerting the attackers—whoever they might be—but might as well not have bothered. Cyndi and Freeson had two groups of Ski-Doo raiders seemingly pinned down behind their machines, loosely fifty yards from the house.

  There were five machines and seven riders hunkered down, all of them armed, but waiting. They looked miserable and cold as the wind howled on, on their asses in the snow, guns across their thighs. Snow was building up in layers on their beanies and over their feet. They looked restless and mightily pissed, and they didn’t look like people who would put up with this status quo for much longer. A shot came from the house, keeping the scavengers tied down. None of them were willing to risk their heads above their Ski-Doos to return fire. But as the storm raged, and their bodies got cooler, how long would they wait before attacking?

  Syd’s words were ripped away by the wind as she spoke.

  “What?” Nathan bawled into her ear. The storm was huge and mighty, already scouring the land and surrounding trees with dredgers of wind. Snow blew across the valley, and Nathan’s house looked tiny and vulnerable. Already, weak yellow lights were showing at the windows. At least the power had held out this long.

  “I said they’re just waiting for the dark and the storm! Once the snow gets up and the wind comes in, they’ll be able to walk up to the front porch without a worry! No one will see them!”

  Nathan knew she was right. The riders weren’t pinned down and scared of being shot. They were just waiting for the elements to turn the situation in their favor.

  There was no point trying for a conversation here where they were, as the sky roared and ice whipped in, so Nathan pulled Syd back to the Dodge. Once inside, he explained what he was about to do, and finished grimly by saying, “This isn’t your fight, but I could sure do with someone riding shotgun right now.”

  Without hesitation, Syd reached over into the crew cab, past Saber, and picked up an AR-15. She flipped the safety and set her elfin chin forward. “Let’s do it.”

  The scavengers weren’t expecting an attack from behind. The wind and squalling ice kept the Dodge’s approach from their ears until they were almost upon them.

  Nathan knew his land well enough to be able to power the Dodge across the valley floor, off-road, sure in the knowledge that there were no ditches or walls to impede his progress. The wrecker got fifty-yards away before the scavengers, who had been hunkered down, looked around in comedic double-takes. Two got to their feet and pointed their AR-15s at the Dodge, but then had to dive for cover as they were shot at from the house.

  Nathan put his foot down, the Dodge wheels throwing up huge sprays of snow past the vehicle’s side windows. It was like being in a snowy powerboat screaming through the waves of ice.

  “Hold on!” Nathan screamed as the Dodge smashed into the first Ski-Doo, scattering snow and machinery up to get barreled away by the wind. He put the Dodge into a skid then, turning around to bring Syd’s window around to face the scavengers.

  Syd was already winding down the window and pointing the AR-15 she held into the teeth of the wind. Such was the force of the storm now that she had no chance of being in any way accurate, but as her shots bit the air, the scavengers who were already crawling towards their Ski-Doos had to duck again and didn’t get the chance to return fire.

  Two lucky shots burst into the engine of the nearest Ski-Doo, destroying the cowling and sending the scavenger who’d been desperately yanking on the power cord leaping away. He’d jumped away from the green Ski-Doo as if he was being stung by bees, Nathan noted.

  “I told you to shoot above their heads! What are you doing?”

  “I disagreed.”

  Seeing the beginnings of a retreat, Nathan pulled Syd back from the window, but she held tight to the gun and Saber growled with menace.

  “Just fire overhead! Understand? They’re going!”

  There were only three Ski-Doos in working order, and now that the storm was blowing in fully, Nathan’s vision was almost completely obscured, but he could still hear the engines starting. There were seven men to get on those three Ski-Doos, and without the storm, it would have been a turkey shoot for Syd, but somehow the Ski-Doos got their cargo of attackers away into the blizzard.

  “Go after them! Go after them!” Syd shouted, firing into the swirling snow. Saber barked. He approved of the idea.

  “No, let them go. I’m no murderer!” Nathan said. “I don’t shoot people in the back. Roll up the window. Let’s get inside.”

  Syd did as she was told, but Nathan could feel her burning disappointment in the cab as he rolled the Dodge across the fifty remaining yards to the house.

  The boom of the storm and the razoring winds assailed them as they ran across the snowbound lawn and made it to the porch. As Nathan opened the door, Syd turned and fired off three more shots defiantly into the storm.

  Nathan ripped the gun from Syd’s grasp and pushed her against the wall by the door. Snow and ice littered from her hair and shoulders, a look of shock on her face. It was the first time she’d looked less like a hard-nosed killer and more like a scared little girl. “What they hell are you doing?” he demanded. “I told you we’re just going to scare them away!”

  Syd tried to recover her composure. “They don’t scare! They’ll be back. We kill them or they kill us!”

  Nathan’s anger boiled. Saber barked and bared her teeth, and Syd pushed herself from the wall as the door swung open and Cyndi, wide-eyed, her cheeks streaked with tears, shouted, “Stop it, both of you!”

  The knowledge that his wife had been crying dissipated the red mist of anger and Nathan’s vision cleared a little.

  What was I thinking?

  Priorities.

  Nathan hugged his wife and, when he’d squeezed all the love he had to spare into her frame, he let her lead him, Syd, and the dog inside the house.

  “How about we get some introductions done before we all kill each other?” Cyndi asked, wiping the last of the tears from her cheeks.

  “H-h-have they gone?”

  Tony’s voice made Nathan turn around. His boy was clinging to Free on the other side of the room, his face creased with worry. Free didn’t look much better, it had to be said. He had Nathan’s Winchester in his hands and Nathan could see the trembling of Free’s arms being transmitted through the barrel, even from this distance.

  The sight of them took the wind completely from Nathan’s sails. Anger with Syd and her desire to kill everything that moved could wait.

  Nathan stomped across the room and took his son in his arms. He breathed into his hair and nodded, catching his breath. “Yes. They’ve gone. We’re safe.”

  Nathan flashed a look at Syd as she snorted derisively but didn’t rise to the bait.

  Cyndi put her hands on her hips and put on her best apple-pie-mom face. “You both look wired and frozen. Let’s get some food
in everyone. Calm things down. The dangers are all outside, and we need to keep things civil.”

  Syd held her hand out to Cyndi. “I’m Syd and this is Saber.”

  It was the first thing Syd had said since they’d gotten to the house that didn’t make Nathan want to throw her back out into the storm, so he took it as the start of an uneasy truce.

  Cyndi introduced Tony and Freeson to the girl and her dog, and the evening quickly settled into a Xerox of normality, if not exactly the real thing—especially with the storm raging outside, the threat of scavengers, and a homicidal girl lounging by the fire with an enormous dog resting its head on her lap. Out of her cold weather clothes, Syd looked a little too thin for comfort, like someone who hadn’t had a square meal in a couple of months. Her hands never seemed to rest, full of nervous energy, playing with her own hair or the dog’s fur, her fingers rarely still. Even as she warmed up and was fed, the girl looked cold. Like it was coming from within.

  “That sure is a big dog,” Tony said, approaching tentatively.

  “She’s a Malamute,” Syd told him. “Sled dog. But I don’t have a sled. You can pet her.”

  Tony reached out a hand to stroke the dog, and Nathan felt himself tensing, but didn’t intervene. His fatherly instinct of wanting to make sure his son stayed safe in the presence of an unknown quantity like Saber was strong, but he also realized that perhaps there was a bridge to be built with Syd, and maybe Tony could be the foundation of that construction. Plus, the dog’s first act upon meeting Nate had been to lick him in the face, so on some level, it was easier to trust the dog than the girl.

  Saber moved her head towards Tony’s hand, completing the circuit, and a big smile spread across the boy’s face as he scratched behind her ears and the dog nuzzled against him.

  With Tony distracted and apparently safe, Nate joined Cyndi in the kitchen where she was preparing dinner, looking to her for a recap of what had happened, and so Cyndi began explaining what they’d missed. “We saw the lights coming over the ridge, and as soon as we saw they were on Ski-Doos, we reckoned they might be a raiding party like the ones you ran into the other night.”

  “And today again,” Nathan said grimly, though he’d decided against telling Cyndi, Free, and especially Tony about the details of the fight in the mall, and the murderous intent of Orange and Yellow-black. He didn’t want to raise the tension and anxieties of his family any more than he had to.

  “We already had the guns ready just in case. Free and I went out onto the porch. They got to within fifty yards and opened up. There was no pretense to try to talk to us. They were just bent on taking the house.”

  Nathan felt the anger rising in his gut as he listened. So much for keeping tension and anxieties under control.

  “We got back inside and held them off as best we could, through the windows. Only had time to send the one message on the radio. Thank goodness the girl was there to take my call.” Cyndi flicked her eyes to Syd, who was still talking enthusiastically to Tony about Saber. “If it wasn’t for the storm rising and their hot-headed, shoot first and ask questions afterwards attitude, they’d have overrun us without any trouble. I guess they’re just desperate for food and supplies—hunger makes people crazy. You came back at exactly the right time, honey.”

  Nathan only shook his head. This was a terrible situation. Although the storm was blowing hard, battering the house and keeping the human dangers at bay, there was going to be a time when there would be no storm as distraction, and if these scavengers were anything like Orange and Yellow-black, they’d be back for a reckoning.

  Cyndi turned away from the food she’d been prepping and hugged Nathan hard. “Don’t worry. We got this.”

  Nathan put his hand on her belly and squeezed a little, looking into the eyes of the woman he loved more than anything, except maybe Tony. “I hope so,” he said.

  Cyndi produced a dinner of chicken and mashed potatoes that tumbled into Nathan’s stomach like Christmas, and afterwards a beer helped him feel a little more relaxed, but he still felt his eyes flickering towards any sound outside the house that could be interpreted as anything other than those created by the storm.

  While Free cleared the dinner things and kept his own council, Cyndi sat with Syd and Tony; on the surface, she was fussing over the dog, but Nathan could see she was also into building a bridge with the girl.

  “So you’re not from Glens Falls,” Cyndi commented after some more talk of Saber had passed.

  “Nope.”

  “Albany?”

  “We walked through Albany.”

  Tony stroked one of Saber’s paws and the dog flinched a little. Not nastily, but enough to show she wasn’t comfortable. “Foot sore,” said Syd. “We’ve done a lot of miles.”

  Tony took off his own socks and put them gently over Saber’s front paws. The dog licked his hand and rolled over, offering him her belly to rub. Syd grinned. It was the first time she’d shown such easy expression since she’d arrived. “Thanks, kid.”

  “How long have you been on the road?” Cyndi asked.

  Syd’s eyes flashed among them. “Look, why the questions? I’m just here. I was hitching. Nathan picked me and Saber up. It’s no big deal.”

  “But you know those guys, right?” Nathan got up and wandered from the table to the fire. Hunching down and rubbing Saber’s belly like Tony was.

  “I don’t think so…”

  “Come on, Syd, we’re all in the same situation,” he told her quietly. “Any information you can give us to help would be welcome. We have to trust you, and you have to trust us.”

  Nathan could see Syd felt cornered and wasn’t likely to roll over and show her own belly any time soon.

  “Why don’t you tell us something about you? That’s the way people build trust—getting to know each other,” Cyndi said, and Nathan swelled with love all over, glancing over with a nod for her wiser and more measured approach.

  “My name is Syd B4…”

  “Beefore?” Nathan asked, confused.

  “No. The letter B, number 4.”

  He bristled, glaring back at her. “So, you’re building trust by not even telling us your real name?”

  “You can call yourself whatever you want,” Cyndi smoothed out. “Everything’s changed now. Why B4?”

  “Number of our apartment. Where I lived before all this. Kinda my nickname. It stuck. The world isn’t what it was before, except, with the name, I can keep some of it on me all the time.”

  Cyndi smiled. “I get that. Makes sense.”

  It didn’t to Nathan, but he let Cyndi go on.

  “You said ‘our apartment’…”

  Syd looked away, into the fire.

  “So not just you and Saber?”

  Syd shook her head. “My mom. She died.”

  Nathan’s throat closed up a little as Cyndi answered, “I’m sorry.”

  There was silence for a while. The fire crackled, Tony stroked the dog, and they could hear Free moving around in the kitchen stacking plates.

  “Mom… needed stuff. Stuff to stay well.”

  “She was ill?”

  “Kinda. But addicted. You know?”

  “And as everything changed, you couldn’t get what she needed anymore?” Cyndi asked gently.

  Syd looked at Nathan, her face flushing. “The guys in the mall, they were looking for me. I… After Mom died, I ripped them off… because they wanted… well, they wanted more for the food I needed than I could… or wanted to give.”

  Syd didn’t need to elaborate; Nathan and Cyndi, exchanging a look, knew exactly what she was driving at.

  “I was starving. Hadn’t eaten in days. I went to their place in Queens and their top dog, Danny, started perving me bad. All slime and drool. You know how guys can get…”

  Nathan looked down, feeling guilty just for being a guy. “Yeah. I know.”

  “The others had gone to wherever they stored their stuff. I knocked Danny unconscious with a pipe and got away w
ith the gun, ammo, and a backpack of food. I stiffed them good. Hit the road with Saber. Jacked abandoned cars where I could, hitched a bit, walked, and traded. I guess they picked up my trail and sent those assholes out to track me down…”

  “For a backpack of food and a bump on the head?”

  “New York is dying, man. They’ll have to all get out of there sooner or later.”

  “Still, sending guys all this way, just because of a small-time rip-off?”

  “Danny… he’s… not the kind of guy to let this go. He’s got his ideas and his plans. A punk girl and a big dog traveling alone aren’t going to be that difficult to find. I just hadn’t figured he’d send so many. Seven guys isn’t a huge chunk of his gang, but it’s a lot. They caught up with me in Albany. I’d just scored a case of corned beef for me and Saber from a burned-out grocery store. I jacked a Buick and got out of town. Just. But… Danny’s royally pissed. More because I hit him, I guess, than because of the food and ammo. He’s big on face. Getting jumped by a girl…”

  She finished with a shrug, but Nathan was going elsewhere. He stood up and paced. “So, these guys wouldn’t be here in Glens Falls, shooting at my family, if it wasn’t for you?” His voice was hard and accusatory.

  Cyndi raised a placating hand. “Nate…”

  Nate could see she was disappointed he’d let his anger get the better of him again. Syd got up, hugging herself tight. “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow. As soon as the storm passes, I’ll get back on the road. They’ll come after me and leave you alone.”

  Nathan clenched his fist. “There’s no guarantee they’ll leave us alone. Remember what happened in the mall?” To make his point, Nathan thumped his fist into his hand.

  “I’m leaving tomorrow, too. You’re welcome to come with me, Syd. All of you are.”

  Four heads turned towards the kitchen. Free was there in the doorway, drying his hands on a towel.

  The mechanic had kept his own counsel all evening, listening by the fire, only speaking to insist that a frostbitten toe wouldn’t stop him from helping out after dinner in the kitchen. Nate looked at him now like he’d started speaking Bulgarian. “Free? What? What do you mean?”