Dark Apocalypse: A Post-Apocalyptic Family Saga

by Gabriel Alexander

***

  The two rebels were coming down the hill, on a run for supplies. Suddenly, one of them told the other:

  “Dude, there’s a house. And there’s light inside it.”

  “Where?” the other rebel asked.

  “Down in the valley. Over there,” he said, while pointing with his finger.

  He took the binoculars and looked. Indeed, the moonlight showed him a house in the valley, where a flickering light was burning.

  “You’re right. Let’s go see if we find something in it.”

  “I’m right behind you, man.”

  The two rebels went down the hill. When they reached the house, one of them said:

  “Let’s check the area, to see if it’s clear.”

  “Got it.”

  The two searched the area around the house and, after making sure that it’s clear, and finding nothing of interest, they decided to go inside. They took their guns out of their holsters and opened the door slowly.

  One of them had a flashlight, which he lit. They walked slowly, to make sure they didn’t disturb any “guests” inside.

  They entered the living room first. They found nothing of interest, so they decided to go to the kitchen. Inside, there was a man, sleeping on the floor.

  “Let’s waste him and see what he’s got,” one of the rebels said.

  “The pleasure will be all mine,” the second one said.

  They approached the man and put the gun to his head.

  ***

  Bill was awakened by banging in the door. Three loud bangs, like a battering ram hitting it.

  He took his rifle and headed toward the door. The banging continued, in a succession of threes. He was walking slowly toward the door, as he was listening to the bangs.

  “Please, God, don’t let there be rebels. I’m begging you,” he thought.

  He got close to the door. He pointed his rifle at it and, ready for the worst, he opened it.

  “Kevin? What the hell?”

  Kevin was holding his right arm, which was bleeding. He was also panting.

  “I just killed two rebels down stairs. I checked the area. There aren’t any more. Just thought you should know. Go back to sleep.”

  “Yeah. If I can,” Bill said, before closing the door and going back toward his sleeping spot.

  ***

  Kevin bashed the door. He limped inside and started shaking the two.

  “Wake up!” he shouted. “Wake up immediately!”

  “What is it?” Bill asked. “What’s going on?”

  “Rebels. Tons of them,” Kevin answered. “Wake Carla and your kids and get out of here. Hurry!”

  “Rebels? How far away?” Bill asked.

  “Come. I’ll show you.”

  Kevin took Sophie and Bill to the kitchen and showed them to the window. Bill looked out the window. And indeed, about a mile away, he saw headlights heading in their direction.

  “He is right. There are tons of them. And they are heading this way.”

  “I’ll go wake the others,” Sophie said.

  Sophie went upstairs and awoke the others.

  “What’s going on, mommy?” Julie asked.

  “Yeah, mom, what’s going on?” Thomas asked.

  “A whole convoy of rebels is heading this way. Pack up. We have to leave now.”

  Everyone started packing. Then, they went downstairs, where they found Kevin with his weapon in his hand.

  “What are you doing?” Sophie asked.

  “I’ll stall them for you. Go!”

  “No, you won’t. You’re coming with us,” Bill said.

  “If I don’t hold them off, they will catch up with you in an hour and you will be dead. But if I keep them busy, I will give you a three hours advance. What’s it going to be?”

  “There are hundreds of them and only one of you. Plus, you’re also wounded. Calculate your odds, for Christ’s sake.”

  “Look… my wife was the only one keeping me alive in this God forsaken world. The moment she died, I lost everything. Including my sole reason to live. I’ve got nothing to lose if I die. You, however, have tons to lose if you die. All of you. Now go. Now!”

  “Okay,” Bill said, after a few seconds of silence. “I’m glad I met you, Kevin.”

  “I’m glad I met you too, guys. Go!” Good luck!”

  “Thank you. Good luck to you too,” Sophie said.

  Bill, Sophie, Thomas, Julie and Carla went outside and started walking again in the dark, on the long road. Half an hour later, they started hearing gunshots behind them. Bam, bam, bam, like fireworks. None of them, however, turned back or stopped to listen. They kept walking. Like always.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  They saw a mall at the edge of the road. Nothing could make them happier. New clothes, new food, new weapons were now available. Just for them.

  Sophie opened the door cautiously, with her rifle aimed forward. The others followed her, with their rifles ready to cause damage in their turn. They split up and started searching for supplies. Carla went searching for clothes, Bill went searching for ammunition for their weapons and the rest were searching for food.

  Thomas went to the food department with Sophie and Julie. They started filling their backpacks with whatever cans that were not already taken by others before them.

  Suddenly, they heard a noise in the storage area. It sounded like someone dropped something.

  “What was that?” Thomas asked.

  “I don’t know,” Sophie replied.

  “Julie, stay right here, you understand?”

  “Yes, Thomas, I understand.”

  “Mom, you come with me!”

  Sophie and Thomas started heading slowly toward the storage area, with their weapons ready. When they reached it, they bashed the door and aimed their weapons inside. They relaxed, however, when they saw who made the noise. It was an old lady, aged about seventy, with grey hair, wrinkles on her face and ragged clothes on her.

  “Please, please don’t shoot me!” the scared old woman said.

  Thomas and Sophie put their guns down.

  “Don’t worry, ma’am, we’re not going to shoot you,” Thomas said.

  “You’re not rebels?” the old woman asked.

  “No, ma’am. We’re just scavengers, like you.”

  Bill and Carla joined them.

  “What’s going on here?” Bill asked.

  “We found someone,” Sophie said.

  “I thought you were rebels,” the old woman said. “When I saw you opening the door, I hid here, to avoid being seen. I thought I was a goner, for sure.”

  “Don’t worry. We’re not going to hurt you,” Bill said.

  “I’ve never seen you around before. What community are you from?” the old woman asked.

  “We’re not part of any community, ma’am,” Bill said. “We’re all by ourselves.”

  “All by yourselves? And how did you manage to survive out there all by yourselves? You know… with the rebels and the wild beasts and…”

  “We stayed united. Plus, we’re resourceful people. We can take care of ourselves,” Sophie said.

  “Why don’t you come to my community?” the old woman asked. “We’re hospitable people, you know. We have plenty of food, plenty of places to rest and wash… you’ll be treated like kings, you’ll see.”

  “Sounds good. Why not?” Bill said.

  “Lead the way!” Thomas said.

  “Very well, then!” Follow me! Oh, and by the way, my name is Matilda.”

  “Nice to meet you, Matilda. I am Bill. This is Sophie, Julie, Thomas and Carla.”

  “Nice to meet you all. Now come. Let me show you to my community.”

  After about an hour of walking, they reached the gates of Matilda’s community. From the outside, it didn’t look different from the rest of the communities they’ve seen before. The walls and gates were made out of iron, and on both sides, watch towers with armed guards were offering protection.

  “Open up!” a guar
d from the wall yelled. “It’s Matilda.”

  “Hey, Jeff!” Matilda yelled at the guard. “How are you today?”

  “I’m fine, Matilda, thank you. Who are the people you are coming with?”

  “Guests.”

  The gates opened and Matilda and her five guests entered. At a first glance, the community didn’t look bad. It had tall, multiple stories high houses, people who seemed to be doing just fine by growing crops and animals, and even an irrigation system. It looked like heaven on earth. At a first glance.

  “This looks decent,” Bill said.

  “That’s because it is decent,” Matilda said. “We’ve got everything we need in this community: gardens to grow vegetables, our own irrigation system… and some handy people who know a bit about everything: tailors, shoe makers, doctors. What else could we possibly want?”

  “Electricity, maybe?” Thomas joked.

  “Very funny,” Matilda said.

  They walked for a few more yards until they reached in front of an old house.

  “This one is yours,” Matilda said. “Make yourselves at home and at seven o’clock, you are all invited to the play, at the stage in the center of our settlement.”

  “A play? What play?” Sophie asked.

  “Hamlet.”

  “Awesome. We’ll be there.”

  “I’ll be waiting for you.”

  After she said that, Matilda left them. The five entered the house, unpacked, undressed and rested.

  ***

  At seven o’clock, just as they promised, they came to the center of the settlement to see Hamlet. The stage was made out of scavenged wood. A red curtain was separating it from the backstage and torches were used for illumination. They sat down and waited for the actors to show up. For some reason, the play started after a bit of delay. Which didn’t bother them, given the fact that this gave them the opportunity to introduce themselves to other members of the community and mingle.

  When the play did start, they enjoyed every moment of it. At the end of the play, they got up from the chairs along with the rest of the community and applauded the actors loudly. As a “thank you,” the actors bowed in front of them and sent kisses toward the crowd. Then, everybody went home, including the five.

  ***

  “Rise and shine, you two,” a voice said.

  Sophie and Bill were awakened by these words. They opened their eyes and turned to see who was disturbing them. They saw three men standing at the foot of their bed with rifles pointed at them.

  “What’s going on here? What is this?” Bill asked.

  “Get up and get dressed, you two,” one of the men said. “We are going on a trip today.”

  They got up from the bed and started getting dressed. Suddenly, they saw Julie, Thomas and Carla being pushed along the hallway by two more armed men.

  “Mom, dad, what’s going on?” Thomas asked.

  “I don’t know, Thomas. But everything is going to be just fine, you hear me? Just fine,” Sophie said.

  After they got dressed, the three men took them outside, at gun point. When they got out, they saw people flanking them from both directions, yelling at them and waving their fists. One of the three men grabbed their hands and tied them behind their backs. Then, he told them:

  “Start walking!”

  They started walking through the flanking crowd, which kept yelling and waving their fists at them. They saw Thomas, Julie and Carla in front of them. They too had their hands tied behind them. Julie started crying.

  “Mommy, what’s going on? I’m scared. What is this?”

  “It’s okay, honey. Everything will be just fine,” Sophie reassured her.

  Matilda suddenly appeared before them.

  “What is this?” Bill asked. “What did we do to deserve this? Why are you doing this to us?”

  “Yes, it is true. You deserve an explanation,” Matilda said. “You see, ever since after The Alignment, we tried everything to persuade God to bring back our twelve-hour-a-day sunlight. We gave him prayers, promises, masses, everything. Nothing worked. Until one day, when it struck us. How about giving him sacrifices? So that’s what we started doing. At first, we started with animals: goats, sheep, cats. But since that didn’t work either, we switched to humans. So that’s where we’re taking you. You should be honored. You will be taken to be sacrificed to God.”

  “What?! That’s outrageous,” Sophie said.

  “It’s the means to an end,” Matilda said. “Okay, everyone. Grab your weapons and let’s go!”

  The members of the community grabbed their weapons. Then, they aligned themselves into two parallel lines and opened the gates. They got out, heading toward the place where they would bring their sacrifices to God. The five followed them at gunpoint.

  ***

  At three o’clock in the afternoon, just as usual, there was light. After five hours of walking, the five were exhausted. They were tired and thirsty. They were feeling like their feet were about to collapse under them.

  Suddenly, Sophie’s feet gave up on her and she collapsed. The man behind her started hitting her with his legs, urging her to get up. Bill came to her rescue.

  “Stop hitting her, for Christ’s sake! Can’t you see she is exhausted?”

  The man punched him in the face for daring to speak. Matilda came quickly and intervened.

  “Leave them alone!” she said.

  The man got back, in submission. Then, Matilda took her water canteen and gave Sophie a few sips.

  “Here. Better?”

  “Better. Thank you! Listen, you don’t have to do this. God clearly says in the Bible that he doesn’t want any sacrifices. “Thou shall not kill,” remember? All he wants is prayers and trust in His Son for salvation. You really think you will bring the longer daylight back if you kill us? What The Alignment did cannot be reversed. If God wanted to give us our daylight back, he would have done so eleven years ago. You won’t change a thing if you kill people.”

  “It’s worth the shot,” Matilda said. “Plus, you’re wrong. God wanted prayers and trust in Jesus before The Alignment. After it, everything has changed, including His demands. Look around you. The world has worsened. You really think that prayers will be enough now, with people being even more evil than before? Oh no, child. He wants more than prayers from us now. Now he wants our blood. Now come on. You had your rest. Get up and keep moving!”

  Sophie had no choice but to comply. She got up and started walking with the rest of the group.

  After about thirty more minutes of walking, they reached a field. In the middle of it, there was a platform, raised about two feet from the ground, with three more prisoners on it and with their head-covered executioner waiting next to them for the kill order. The crowd gathered in front of the platform. Matilda took out a knife and pointed it at the five.

  “Come on, now,” she said. “Up the platform.”

  The five obeyed. They climbed the stairs up the platform and got in line with the other three prisoners. Matilda got up on the platform too. She raised her hand to get the people’s attention, and, after silence settled, she started talking:

  “Welcome, everyone. Today, we stand before our almighty God, in our attempt to please Him, so that he will bring our day back. We hope that by sacrificing these people to Him, He will listen to us and he will end the darkness in which we live in. Let us pray now.”

  She pointed her hands up toward the sky.

  “Dear God, we hereby bring you these sacrifices, hoping that by doing so, You will become merciful and Your wrath, which came upon us, will be minimized.”

  She then looked at the executioner and said:

  “Kill them!”

  The executioner took a knife from the sheath on his waist and came closer to the first prisoner.

  “Please no! I’m begging you, no! Please!” the poor guy said.

  But the executioner was not impressed. He put his knife on his throat and cut it. The crowd yelled, as the poor bastard collapsed
in a pool of blood.

  “I love you,” Carla told Thomas. Little did she know that Thomas had a trick up his sleeve. Literally.

  “I love you too,” Thomas said, before pulling Kevin’s Swiss army knife out his sleeve. He then started cutting the rope.

  The executioner approached the second prisoner, who spit on him, before he could execute him. The executioner wiped the spit off his face, put the knife on his throat, and cut it. He collapsed, dead.

  “I just want you to know that I love you all,” Sophie said. “And it was an honor being your wife and mother.”

  “I love you too, honey,” Bill said. “I love you too, kids.”

  “I’m scared, mommy and daddy,” Julie said.

  “Don’t be, Julie. Nothing is going to happen to you. You’ll see,” Thomas said, as he was still cutting the rope.

  The executioner approached the third prisoner, who was crying. He wasn’t impressed with his tears. He cut his throat in an instant. Then, he got close to Thomas.

  “Don’t be afraid, Thomas. Just close your eyes and it will be over quick,” Bill said.

  “Trust me, dad, I’m not afraid,” Thomas said.

  After he said that, he punched the executioner in the gut and ran toward Matilda. He grabbed her from behind and pointed his Swiss army knife at her throat. Everyone in the crowd grabbed their weapons and aimed at them.

  “Nobody move, or else your leader dies,” Thomas said. “Drop your weapons!”

  “Do as he says,” Matilda desperately said.

  Everyone dropped their weapons. Thomas then looked at the executioner.

  “You! Cut them loose!”

  The executioner hesitated.

  “Do it!”

  He eventually complied. He cut Carla, Bill, Sophie, and Julie loose.

  “Mom, dad, Julie, Carla, get ready to run,” Thomas said.

  He kicked Matilda off the platform.

  “Now. Run!”

  The five jumped off the platform and started running toward the woods nearby. The crowd started chasing them, while shooting at them at the same time.

  The five entered the woods, while bullets were whizzing next to their heads.

  “Keep running!” Bill said. “Don’t stop or you die.”

  They kept running downhill, with the crowd still chasing them and shooting at them.