“What kind of research?” Alyssa asked.
“Mostly weapons research,” David replied. He pushed the door further open and led Alyssa into the cool interior. The door hissed shut behind them. “Though there were other projects they would sink money into. My research being one of them. If only they hadn’t dropped those damn bombs. I can’t imagine where I would be today with my research.”
They descended two flights of stairs and emerged onto a carpeted landing. A bank of elevators stood to one side, with hallways branching off to the left and right. A directory lit up as they approached. They were in the main lobby of the facility on the top floor—ten. The floor contained some offices, the cafeteria, and a vehicle bay. Below them were labs, dormitories, a gym, storage, the power plant, hydroponics, and an armory.
“How is this place empty?” Alyssa wondered.
“Most of the people who knew about it probably got caught in one of the cities,” David replied. “Or they tried to get here and were killed along the way. I’m going to see if I can get the vehicle bay open and the wagon inside. Why don’t you head to the cafeteria and see if there is anything edible left?”
David left his wife to explore the cafeteria and headed toward the underground garage. David was surprised to find the garage empty. The company usually had a few vehicles available for use by the research personnel. He stopped at one of the vehicle bays and took a closer look. A briefcase was pushed against the wall, almost hidden by the shadows. Shell casings littered the ground.
“What the hell?” David muttered to himself.
He grabbed the briefcase and grunted at the weight of it. He moved it into the light, placed it on the ground, and opened it.
“Whoever left this behind is going to be upset,” David said, looking at the neatly stacked gold bars. He closed the briefcase and carried it close to the door he had come through. “Now, let’s get that wagon in here.”
An hour later, David had the wagon in the garage and the horses fed and rubbed down. He lifted the briefcase of gold bars into the back of the wagon and spread them out, hiding each one in a different spot. He made his way back to the cafeteria and found Alyssa happily cooking in the kitchen.
“Can we stay?” Alyssa asked.
“For a little while,” David said. “But only long enough to give you a check up and fix the problems.”
“Why can’t we stay—just put down our roots here?” Alyssa asked.
“Because we can’t,” David said. “We can’t stay in one place for a long time, at least not a place like this. There probably won’t be anyone else coming here, but there are some who, if they did survive and they find their way here, won’t be as understanding as we would be in sharing the riches of this place. I would rather we keep moving and not end up like that poor bastard where we found the toilet paper. It’s safer.”
Alyssa looked hurt but nodded her head.
“What have you made us?” David asked, changing the subject.
“Beef stew!” Alyssa said excitedly. “Everything was freeze dried. There is a whole larder full of stuff. Before we leave, we should stock the wagon.” Alyssa ladled stew into two bowls. “There’s even crackers!” She pulled a box of crackers from beneath the counter and placed them between the bowls with a flourish.
“Beef stew and crackers,” David said. “Haven’t had that in a very long time.”
“Almost forgot,” Alyssa said. She placed a jug of yellowish liquid on the counter.
“Is that what I think it is?” David whispered.
“Yep,” Alyssa replied, smiling. “Lemonade.”
David whooped in joy, grabbed his wife in his arms, twirled her around, and kissed her deeply.
“Make sure a case of that mix makes it into the wagon,” David said laughing.
* * *
Over the next week, David and Alyssa worked themselves into a routine. He would run diagnostics on her cybernetic implants and, while he studied the readouts, Alyssa would cook, read, exercise in the gym, or go for a swim in the indoor pool. Later in the day, David would put her in one of the operating rooms and fix whatever problems the diagnostics had found.
“I’m feeling much better,” Alyssa told David after their last session in the operating room.
“We’ll run one more test tomorrow, but I think this should be it,” David said. “The implants all look good. Your leg won’t be bothering you anymore. I replaced a few things with newer parts.”
Alyssa hugged him and kissed his forehead.
“You’re the best husband a woman could ask for,” Alyssa said. “I think I’ll take the mare out this evening for a ride.”
“That would be good for her,” David said. “She hasn’t had a lot of exercise since we arrived here. I should probably take the other two out at some point and run them as well.”
“You could join me,” Alyssa teased.
David typed away at the keyboard, his eyes glued to the screen.
“Tomorrow,” David replied, distracted. “After I’ve finished this.”
“That will be there tomorrow,” Alyssa said. “You’ve done nothing but worry about me this past week. You need a break.”
“I’m fine, darling,” David replied.
“David Navarez,” Alyssa said, her voice serious. “You will saddle up one of those horses this evening, and you will join me on a ride around the lake. Do I make myself clear?”
David looked up at his wife and couldn’t help but smile. She stood, hands on her hips, her head cocked to the side, her face serious. He stood up and embraced her.
“Alright,” David said. “No need to use my full name. I’ll come.”
That evening, they saddled the mare and one of the draft horses and rode out into the woods. The sun was a couple hours from setting, and the sunlight gave the leaves of the trees a golden glow. The cicadas sang their haunting tune, the noise echoing through the woods. They rode the horses down to the lake and dismounted, letting them drink some of the cool water.
“It’s beautiful,” Alyssa said. “I can’t remember the last time we were able to enjoy something like this.”
“Neither can I,” David said. “I’m glad I came.”
They sat and watched the lake for a while, the setting sun reflecting off the water, the occasional ripple as a fish or turtle surfaced. They forgot about everything that had happened since the world ended and lived in the moment.
“We should be heading back,” David said. “Sun will be setting soon.”
They let the horses amble along, losing themselves in small talk about the world that was, remembering the good times before the bombs fell and the world changed. The sun dropped lower in the sky, casting long shadows, and the woods around them began to come alive with the sounds of night—the chirrup of insects, the croaking of frogs looking for a mate, and the song of the birds that feasted in those twilight hours.
Alyssa smiled at David. “Catch me if you can,” she shouted.
She pushed her horse into a gallop with a yell of joy, and they rocketed down the path. David laughed and pushed his horse to follow. Down the darkening, wooded trail they rode, trying to beat each other back to the facility. Alyssa pulled ahead with a whoop and disappeared into the gloom.
The scream of the mare from the darkening wood tore into David. He bellowed, unlimbered the rifle slung across his back, leaned forward, and dug his heels into the sides of the horse. They raced through the twilight landscape and burst onto a clearing. The mare lay on the ground thrashing, whinnying in pain. Four men, dressed in robes, were dragging Alyssa into a cart.
David roared and brought the rifle to his shoulder. He squeezed the trigger, and one of the men fell, his face ruined as the heavy rifle round entered the back of his head and exited the front. The other men looked up in alarm at the sudden attack. Two of them broke off from dragging Alyssa and charged toward David, their crude weapons raised above their heads.
David slid from the horse, which darted away from the clearing and i
nto the woods. He brought the rifle around and fired again, taking one of the charging men in the chest. The man stumbled, fell, and rolled across the ground. The other man reached David and brought the axe he was carrying down in an overhead slash. David brought the rifle up and caught the axe on the heavy synthetic stock. The impact jarred the axe loose from the man’s hand.
David brought the rifle around, the butt slamming into the man’s jaw, while slipping a leg behind him. The man tumbled to the ground, his lips smashed, blood pouring from his face, unconscious. David looked up frantically, but the cart, Alyssa, and the man were gone. David ran toward where the cart had been and followed the trail into the woods. He eventually gave up, as the night closed in.
Back in the clearing, the unconscious man started to stir. With a groan, he opened his eyes to find David standing over him, pointing the rifle at his face.
“You’ve got some questions to answer,” David said, and brought the rifle butt down onto the man’s face, knocking him out.
* * *
The man woke up strapped to an exam table in an operating room, various electrodes attached to his body and head. Overhead lights washed out everything around him in a blinding white glare. He strained against the bindings holding him, grunting with the effort.
“You won’t get out of those,” David said behind him.
“You’ll pay for this, sinner!” the man screamed. “God’s judgement will come for you!”
“I try to be a good man,” David said. “Before the bombs fell, I tried to be a good man. I did my best to give my wife a good life. I love her with my whole being. If the accident hadn’t happened, we’d have had kids, and I would have devoted myself to them utterly, but the bombs fell.”
The man strained against the bindings, muttering about God’s judgement. David walked out of the shadows and stood so that he could look down into the stranger’s face.
“Even in this fallen world we live in, I try to be a good man,” David continued. “I help those I can, putting my skills and knowledge to use to alleviate some of the suffering. I only kill when I have to, when I am forced to by evil men.”
“You are the evil in this world,” the man spat. “God brought his judgement down on your kind with his holy fire, and we will continue that holy work.”
David pressed a button on the control pad he carried in his left hand, and 50,000 volts of electricity shot through the man’s body, making it strain against the bindings, as every muscle contracted at once. After ten seconds, David deactivated the voltage, and the man sagged back onto the exam table.
“You only talk when I ask you questions,” David said. “Understand?”
“Yes,” the man said through gritted teeth.
“This is really simple,” David said. “You are going to tell me where they took my wife, and I won’t hurt you. If you fail to do this, I will hurt you. Eventually, you will tell me where they took my wife. If you lie, I will hurt you, and yes, I can tell when you are lying, so right now, the truth is the most important thing in your life.”
“I’ll never tell you where they’ve taken her, filthy tech whore!” the man spat.
David pushed the button and opened the circuit so the electrical current raced through the man’s body. He slowly walked a complete circle around the table before turning it off. The man’s body sagged back onto the table, and he panted in pain.
“I can keep you alive for a very long time,” David said. “Tell me where my wife is, and this can end.”
“Your wife goes to be judged, to see if she is worthy to accept the grace of our Lord,” the man said.
David pushed the button and electrocuted the man again.
“Where did they take her?” David demanded.
“To the House of Judgement,” the man gasped.
“Where?” David said and pushed the button again.
The man arched against the bindings, a groan of pain escaping out of his clenched jaws.
“Where?” David demanded.
“Five miles to the east,” the man groaned.
“Good,” David said, looking down at the display on the tablet he carried. “You are telling the truth. Now, how many of you are there?”
“We are legion!” the man screamed. “We will cleanse this world!”
David pushed the button again and watched the man writhe on the table.
“Tell me, and it stops,” David growled.
“Thirty,” the man managed to scream. David stopped the flow of electricity and looked the man in the eyes with a cold smile.
“How are you armed?” David asked. “Do you have firearms, or is everyone armed as you four were?”
The man turned his head away from David and prayed.
“You know what happens when you don’t talk,” David said. “Why not make this easy on yourself? You don’t have to suffer.”
“My suffering is nothing, compared to the suffering you will experience when my Brothers and Sisters send you to Hell,” the man spat.
“Thirty is quite a lot of you in one place,” David said to himself. “Well, twenty-seven now. Yeah, this is doable.”
“Our Lord protects us!” the man ranted. “You filthy technologists brought down the doom upon your heads. It is our duty to cleanse the world of your evil, and we shall.”
“I’m really starting to get annoyed by all that,” David said. “Now, what should I do with you?”
“Free me, and we will let you live, after you have atoned for your sins,” the man said. “I will take you to your wife, and both of you can join us, to live your life as the Lord intended, free of the evils of technology.”
David glared down at the man.
“I think my cyborg wife would disagree with that,” David said.
“Unholy abomination!” the man shrieked. “They will cleanse her of the evil, so she may enter the kingdom of our Lord with a pure soul.”
“That won’t do,” David said. He approached the exam table, set the tablet on the instrument tray next to it, and picked up a syringe filled with a dark green liquid. He very gently pulled the cap off the needle.
“When you go and stand before God,” David said. “Don’t be surprised when he is a bit pissed by your behavior.” He pushed the needle into the man’s neck and depressed the plunger, pushing the dark green liquor into the man.
“What was that?” the man asked, panicked.
“Death,” David said.
The man started to ask a question, but his body was wracked by a violent spasm. His mouth clamped shut, his teeth cutting the tip of his tongue off. David cringed as he heard the man’s teeth grind and begin to crack as the toxin killed him. The man’s body strained against the bonds, and blood trickled from his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.
Crackling and a snap caused David to wince, but the man’s body sagged back onto the table, his eyes wide, staring off into space. David picked up the tablet and checked the man’s vitals to be sure he was dead. The toxin had worked just as the chem-warfare guys had told him it would, all those years ago when he was a young research scientist getting his feet wet, right out of college.
He pushed the exam table toward the wall, where a door opened to a chute that led to a furnace three levels down. David opened the chute door and used the controls to tip the body into it.
In the armory, David looked at the array of rifles, shotguns, handguns, explosives, grenades, drones, and other types of weapons whose function he wasn’t sure of. He donned body armor and added a webbed vest over it, which he filled with magazines for the rifle and handgun he picked out. Into a bag, he stuffed frag grenades, more loaded magazines, a battle medic’s kit, and a case of attack drones.
“I’m coming,” David whispered.
* * *
Alyssa watched the strange men and women gather round the pyre from the cage they had placed her in when they brought her into the compound. There were other people in more cages—men, women, and children. Most of the men were injured, and a few of the women spor
ted busted lips or bruised faces.
“What are they doing?” Alyssa whispered to the man in the cage next to hers.
“Getting ready to sacrifice us to their god most likely,” the man hissed back. “Gods be damned Ludds.”
“Ludds?” Alyssa asked.
“Luddites. They hate technology,” the man whispered. “Blame it for the bombs dropping. Believe that once they eliminate all of it, God will return and turn the world into some kind of Eden for the true believers to live in.”
“That’s insane,” Alyssa said.
“There ain’t a whole lot in this world that ain’t insane lady,” the man said. “Don’t know where you are from, but the Ludds are big trouble around here. Moved in from somewhere farther north and west. Destroy any technology that goes beyond things humans can do for themselves if they run across it.”
Alyssa looked at the men and women praying around the pyre and shivered.
“What if you have implants?” Alyssa asked, her voice low and scared.
“I’d recommend fighting and making them kill you,” the man said sadly. “Heard stories about it. They pull the implants out and leave the person. Say that it is up to God if they live or die.”
The blood drained from Alyssa’s face. She turned away from the man, hiding her face and the tears that started to fall.
“Why?” Alyssa whispered. “Why would they do that? Because we have a machine, a piece of technology inside of us that helps keep us alive, that somehow makes us less than human?”
“Sorry, lady,” the man said. He tapped his chest. “I got an implant. Happened before the bombs fell. I’ve been on borrowed time anyway. When they come to take it out of me, I’m going to make them work for it.”
Alyssa tried to sleep, but the night was filled with the screams of those the cultists took from the cages. They would come, open a cage, and take the person inside. They would take them into a building, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours, but there were always sounds of pain coming from the building. Eventually, they would leave the building, either walking and wearing the clothing of the cultists, or they would be returned to their cage, beaten and bloody.
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