“We suffered like this for about a month, until eventually we hit Mack’s community. They welcomed us and treated us like we were their own. You know the rest.”
“What happened to your mother?” Sophie asked.
“She died of cancer a year ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay.”
“Answer me this: what exactly did you see in my son?” Bill asked.
“Something I didn’t see in my ex: kindness and gentleness.”
***
Bill was the first to wake up. He was feeling lazy. He didn’t even want to open his eyes. He was still under Morpheus’ control. Eventually, however, he found the will to eliminate his laziness. He sat up and opened his eyes. And he couldn’t believe what he saw.
“Hey, there!” Drake Rim said, before he punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.
***
“Bill! Bill!”
As he was regaining his consciousness, Bill could hear Sophie yelling his name.
“Bill, wake up!” Sophie yelled.
Bill woke up completely and realized he was tied to a pole. He looked around and he saw the others in the same situation. They were tied to poles, in the middle of a field. In front of them, there was a river. And they were surrounded by rebels.
Drake Rim approached Bill.
“Are you comfortable, asshole?” he asked.
“Please, just take what you want and let us go,” Bill said.
“Normally, that’s what I would have done. But you, assholes, killed my brother. And you are going to pay for it.”
“Your brother tried to rape me and steal from us,” Sophie said.
“That didn’t give you the right to kill him, you bitch,” Drake said, before slapping her.
“Leave her alone, you fuck,” Bill said.
Drake punched him in the gut.
“Look,” Sophie said, “I am the one who shot your brother. I fired the bullet that killed him. They had nothing to do with it. Please, if you want your vengeance, I am the one you should kill. So just kill me and let the rest go. Please.”
“Wrong,” Drake said. “You killed the only family I still had. So I will kill your family too.”
He took a knife from his belt and pointed it at them.
“Make no mistake, you will die here today. All of you. The problem is I don’t know which one I should kill first. I know who will die last…”
He pointed at Sophie.
“You will watch your family being killed one by one, just as I had to watch my brother lying dead on the ground. And only then, will you die as well. You will die knowing that your family died with you.”
He started walking left to right next to them, trying to decide who to kill first.
“Well, I’ll be damned… I just don’t know who to kill first. I guess we’ll have to let chance choose, huh?”
He pointed the knife at Bill.
“I…”
Then at Sophie.
“Think…”
Then at Thomas.
“I…”
Then at Julie.
“Will…”
Then at Carla.
“Kill…”
He pointed his knife at Julie and said:
“You.”
Julie was crying, scared.
“Mommy, why is he pointing at me?” she said.
“Everything will be okay, Julie,” Sophie said. “Look at me. Just look at me.”
“You leave her alone, you bastard,” Thomas said.
A rebel standing next to him hit him in the gut.
Drake got closer to Julie and put the knife under her throat.
“Say goodbye to your family, you little bitch.”
“Jesus, no!” Bill yelled.
“Take me, you bastard, take me instead,” Thomas yelled.
Sophie started crying and told Julie:
“Julie, look at mommy. Everything is going to be okay, you hear me? Everything will be okay.”
“Say goodbye to your family, little one,” Drake said.
“Mommy!” Julie yelled.
Just as Drake was about to cut her throat, a gunshot was heard and a portion of the ground next to him jumped up, in a cloud of dust and soil.
“What the hell was that?” Drake asked, while the other rebels were looking around, searching for the sniper.
“Let them go, or the next one will be in your head,” a voice from the ridge across the river said.
“Who are you and what’s your business with them?” Drake asked.
“None of your business,” the voice said. “Your concern right now should be that I have your head in my sight. And if you don’t release the prisoners and walk away in the next two minutes, I will blow your brains out.”
Drake was silent for a few seconds. Then, he said:
“Okay. You won. I’ll release them. Boys, cut the ropes!”
Four rebels went behind the five and cut the ropes that held them captive.
“Good,” the voice from across the river said. “Now get into your cars and leave!”
The rebels did just that. They jumped into the cars and left, leaving the five next to the river.
Their savior then crossed the river to greet them.
“Mack!” Carla said, when she saw him. “Thank you for saving us!”
“The pleasure was all mine,” Mack said. “After all, even though you left, you are still part of the community. I couldn’t just let you die. Plus, I had to know what kind of people you left with.”
“How could we repay you?” Sophie asked.
“You still being alive is enough. Go on, now.”
“Thank you, again.” Bill said.
“You’re welcome!”
***
They were on the road again. It was so dark, you couldn’t see your hand in front of you. So they lit torches, in order to see better in front of them.
They hit a stone bridge. Just like the road, it had some abandoned cars on it and it looked fragile. Some portions of it were missing. It was in no shape to be crossed. But they didn’t have a choice.
“Okay,” Bill said. “Here goes nothing.”
He was the first to step on it. The rest followed him closely. They were walking cautiously, because pieces of it would fall every time they stepped on it.
Suddenly, a chunk of rock fell from under Sophie’s feet. She almost fell, if it wasn’t for Bill. He caught her and prevented her from falling to her death.
“Jesus Christ!” she said. “Thank you!”
“That’s what husbands are for,” Bill said. Sophie smiled.
As they neared the other end, they heard a woman screaming in the ravine. They hid behind the bridge’s lateral fence and looked cautiously underneath them.
“What the hell was that?” Carla asked.
“I don’t know,” Thomas said. “But it definitely didn’t sound good.”
As they kept watching the ravine, they could hardly distinguish some silhouettes in the darkness. They were running from someone. And soon enough, the attackers, two rebels with torches in their hands, could be seen too. They came from underneath the bridge.
“Shit. Kill the torches. Quickly!” Bill said.
They took a can of water and spilled it on the torches. They continued to watch as the rebels shot both runners in the legs. They approached them and started kicking them in the gut. One of them took the woman and started ripping her clothes off her. She was screaming and begging him not to do this, but it seemed like her begging was only arousing him even more. He continued to rip her clothes and occasionally hit her as she tried to fight him off.
Thomas put his hand over Julie’s eyes.
“Fucking sadistic bastards,” Bill said.
“Come on. Let’s go!” Sophie said.
“Wait!” Carla said. “You’re not going to help them?”
“Help them? We don’t even know the poor bastards,” Bill said.
“That’s not
a reason to just walk away. They obviously need our help.”
“Look, missy, I feel sorry for them, but I am not going to waste my time, energy, and ammo on someone I know nothing about. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
“No! The world needs to be changed. And the only way we’re going to do that is by helping people, whether someone close, or a total stranger.”
“That’s what Mack was teaching you? To think with your feelings instead of your reason? That’s the problem with your community. They didn’t understand that feelings are dead, that they died during The Alignment. Well, thankfully, I see that. And my reason, the one that keeps me alive, tells me that I shouldn’t waste my time and ammo for a total stranger. Now pull your shit together and let’s get the hell out of here, before they see us too.”
“No! You can do whatever you want. You can leave me here, for all I care, but I am going to make a difference. I am going to save them.”
Carla took her gun out of her holster and sneaked down into the ravine.
“Well shit!” Bill said, frowning.
And after telling the rest of his family to stay put, he went down the ravine behind Carla.
After he was done with the poor woman, the rebel got up and pulled his gun, which he aimed at her head.
“No! Please no!” the poor woman begged.
The rebel fired. She died instantly.
“No! You bastards! You fucking bastards! Why?” the man started yelling. He tried to get up, but the bullet wound on his leg wanted otherwise and he collapsed back on the ground. The rebels started laughing and hitting him again.
A gunshot rang out and one of the rebels fell to the ground. The other one turned around to see who fired. Right after he did that, he too got shot in the head. He collapsed in a pool of blood.
Carla put her gun in the holster and ran toward the man. She kneeled in front of him and took off her backpack. She took a rag from it and started cleaning the blood from his face.
“Relax, okay? Everything will be just fine,” she told him.
“Thank you!” the man said. “Who are you?”
“My name is Carla and I’ll take care of you today. What about you? What’s your name?”
“Kevin. Kevin Nildward.”
“Nice to meet you, Kevin.”
She nodded at the dead woman.
“Was that your wife?”
Kevin started crying.
“Yes. She was my wife for eleven years. We got married a day before The Alignment. And we were always there for each other… for better or worse. She was the best woman in the world. And the motherfuckers killed her. Why, God? Why?”
“I am sorry for her. I really am,” Carla said. “But right now, we need to focus on keeping you alive.”
Bill joined them.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
“Bill, thank God you are here. Light a torch. I am going to need the light.”
Bill complied and lit a torch, which he put next to Kevin’s foot.
“Who is he?” Kevin asked.
“It’s okay,” Carla reassured him. “He is with me.”
“I’m Bill.”
“I’m Kevin.”
Carla searched her backpack and took some surgical instruments.
“Okay, Kevin, I’m going to extract the bullet, stitch you up and put on some bandages. The first part is going to hurt.”
She took the tweezers in her hand.
“Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
She then penetrated the wound with the tweezers. Kevin screamed in agony, as she tried to reach the bullet. She eventually found it and pulled it out. She then stitched him and bandaged him.
“You obviously won’t be able to walk for a while,” Carla said. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll improvise a crutch for you. Now, we need to get some rest. Especially you.”
“I’ll go call the rest of us,” Bill said.
“There’s more of you?” Kevin asked.
“There’s five of us,” Carla said.
***
Coincidentally or not, they woke up at three o’clock, just when the sun came up. Bill, Sophie, Thomas, Julie and Kevin opened up some cans of beans for breakfast, while Carla went in search for an improvised crutch for Kevin. She returned about half an hour later, with a stick which was about half-meter long and two and a half inches wide.
“This will be your crutch,” she told Kevin.
“Thank you!” he said.
After finishing their breakfast, they got up and hit the road again. Kevin leaned on his improvised crutch.
“So, Kevin,” Sophie said, “tell us about yourself.”
“Well, I was born in Michigan. I had quite a nice childhood, living on a farm surrounded by animals. I remember I used to pet each and every single one every morning after I got up. I didn’t even eat before. That was my greatest concern every morning, after I got up: petting the animals. That’s how much I loved them. Anyway, I went to Detroit University after I turned eighteen. I graduated magna cum laude with a law degree. But fate decided that I wouldn’t become a lawyer. Instead, I became a marine.”
“Wow!” Thomas said. “Did you go to war?”
“As a matter in fact, yes, I did. I participated at the invasion of Iraq, in 2003. I was there when Baghdad fell into the hands of American forces. And I was among those that captured Saddam Hussein.”
“Now that’s impressive,” Thomas said. “You must have quite some stories to tell.”
“I don’t like to talk about it. Contrary to what some people believe, war is anything but fun. War is not just exchanging bullets with the enemy army. War is also about civilians being killed, raped, or left homeless. It’s about innocents dying in someone else’s fights. It’s about someone’s father, someone’s mother, brother, sister, being killed for someone else’s ambition. That’s what war is all about.”
“How true,” Carla said.
“Mommy, what’s Iraq? And who is Saddam Hussein?” Julie asked.
Sophie laughed and said:
“Iraq was a country. And Saddam Hussein was its leader.”
“So what did you do after the war?” Thomas asked.
“I came home and I met my wife at a friend’s party.”
Tears started dripping from his eyes.
“She was the most beautiful woman there. I remember going to her and talking. I don’t remember the subject. But I fell in love with her instantly. And she fell in love with me. After four years of dating, I proposed to her. She said “yes” instantly. And then we spent the next eleven years together. The most beautiful eleven years of my life. And yesterday, those bastards took her away from me. My consolation is that she is in a better place now.”
“I’m sorry,” Bill said.
“We lost our house during The Alignment. Not even that didn’t separate us. Ever since then, we took care of each other. We fed each other, we kept each other warm, we protected each other… We were a team.”
“Like you said, she is in a better place now,” Sophie said.
“Yes. That’s true.”
They kept walking until they hit a two-story high, blue house on the edge of the road.
“This is where we’ll stay for tonight,” Bill said.
Weird enough, the house looked pretty decent on the outside, except for some broken windows and broken boards. The paint was still intact and the windows were miraculously still standing. But when they got inside, they saw a huge mess: chairs scattered everywhere, torn couches, and carpets and dust all over the place.
“Well,” Bill said, “not exactly luxurious, but it will do for tonight.”
Bill, Sophie, Thomas, Julie and Carla went upstairs to choose the rooms where they will sleep in and leave their backpacks there. Kevin stayed downstairs in the kitchen.
They made a fire in the middle of the kitchen and they cooked a delicious vegetable stew. After eating, Bill, Sophie, Carla and Julie went upstairs. When Thomas got up
and wanted to go upstairs as well, Kevin grabbed him by his hand.
“Wait, kid!” he said. “There is something I want you to have.”
“What?”
Kevin reached for his pocket and took out a Swiss army knife. He gave it to Thomas.
“Thanks!” Thomas said, after taking it and putting it in his pocket.
He then tried to go upstairs, but Kevin grabbed his hand.
“Hold your horses, boy. Where is the rush? There is still a good half hour until darkness arrives. Let’s talk a bit.”
“Okay.”
Thomas sat down next to Kevin.
“Tell me, Thomas, are you a religious man?” Kevin asked.
Thomas waited a few seconds, then answered:
“Yeah. I guess so. Why?”
“Did you read the Bible?”
“Yes, I did, but I was very little. I don’t remember it all.”
“Do you remember the book of John? The Apocalypse?”
“Vaguely. Why?”
“Well, I believe we are living it. Right now.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, it does mention that at the end of days, there will be earthquakes and suffering. And of course, darkness. Lots of it. Which is what we are experiencing right now.”
“Yeah, but… what about the rapture? That didn’t occur.”
“That’s because there was no one to be taken by it. We are all sinners. We’ve all lost our faith, our decency, our common sense. The rapture was supposed to occur for those who haven’t. But evil took its toll on us and so… there was no reason for the rapture to occur.”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
“Call me crazy, kid, but I expect to see Jesus coming on a cloud one day to separate the meek few from the evil many.”
“If the last eleven years of my life taught me anything, it’s that crazy people are often the wisest.”
“You’ve spoken wise words.”
Dark Apocalypse: A Post-Apocalyptic Family Saga Page 11