Final Dread: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller (Surviving Book 3)

by Ryan Westfield

  She’d just chuckled at them when they’d told her that.

  Everyone who gave her advice had done so with good intentions. She realized that. And when she’d been in college, she’d realized that there really were some real dangers with some of her plans. For instance, after college, she fully intended to join the Peace Corps in a far-flung part of the world, some area where the safety of a young American woman wasn’t the first concern of the local police.

  So she’d taken extensive lessons in Krav Maga, slowly, semester by semester, climbing through the various ranks of belts, starting from just a plain white belt and ending up at a very confident brown belt level, preparing to test for her black belt the following semester.

  So she’d taken some precautions.

  But she knew that it wasn’t about not being prepared. Not really. It was about her mindset. She didn’t know why she was like that. She just always tended to see that every stranger had the potential to be good.

  When she’d met Jessica, for instance, she shouldn’t have acted the way she had. Jessica had pointed a gun at her, and very well could have shot her. But Maddy had somehow had the gut feeling that Jessica was good, and not only that she needed help.

  Even Maddy realized that she was perhaps taking things a little too far in helping Jessica. But she just couldn’t help herself. It was part of her character.

  But Maddy was young, and they always said that young people were overconfident in themselves and their abilities, even if they were intelligent and capable in other ways, and even if they considered themselves fair judges of their own character.

  Maddy may have taken a risk helping Jessica. But she also had a foolproof way to avoid these bikers.

  By going from house to house, she’d completely fooled them in the past. She’d go into one house, and then simply exit through a window or something. Then she’d find her way into the next house. And the next. And the next.

  The real trick to it was to remain indoors as much as possible. And to not simply go from one neighboring house to the next, but to mix it up. Heading across the street, for instance, was more useful than going to the neighboring house. Going catty-corner was even better. Maddy also tried to wait for varying amounts of time within different houses, which introduced more randomness to the pattern, making it harder to track. That was something she’d picked up from a class on cybercrime, a course she’d been told would be useful in a career as a pro bono lawyer, something she’d been considering for further down the road.

  Of course, all those dreams were dead now. Maddy was smart enough to know that civilization wasn’t coming back anytime soon. Not unless something miraculous happened. And from what she’d seen so far, people were getting more savage and violent by the day, rather than more civilized.

  But that didn’t mean she couldn’t help people.

  Maybe she was delirious from the lack of regular food, or the drinking water that may or may not have been OK to drink. But maybe she could eventually start something up. Some kind of reorganization. Something similar to a nonprofit of the pre-EMP days. Maybe she could, in her own small way, start to help rebuild civilization. Maybe she wouldn’t see the results in her own lifetime, however long it managed to be. But maybe there’d be something for future generations.

  Or maybe she was just completely delusional. And maybe narcissistic on top of it.

  Or maybe not.

  After all, here she was, already helping a complete stranger. She was the first person that Maddy was helping. And she wouldn’t be the last.

  Maddy was smart. Smart enough to avoid the thugs. Smart enough to avoid the dangers of the post-EMP world. Her parents had been right. She was unusually intelligent. Special, even. After all, her childhood bedroom had been filled with trophies, certifications, and awards.

  “What do we do now?” said Jessica, a look of intense anxiety written all over her face.

  Maddy had always considered herself, perhaps above all else, a sensitive individual. Very sensitive. Sensitive to the pain of others. Sensitive to the pains of the world. Sensitive to injustice and sadness. When people had told her that the world was full of hardship, and that’s just the way it was, she’d argue back vehemently that it didn’t have to be like that.

  Even in these crazy times, it pained Maddy to see her new friend so worried, in so much emotional pain.

  “Don’t worry,” said Maddy, putting her arm around Jessica’s thin back and shoulder. “It’s going to be OK. We outsmarted them. They have no idea we’re in here.”

  Jessica shrugged off Maddy’s arm. Somewhat violently too. And she turned to Maddy, glaring at her. “Are you serious?” she said. She sounded annoyed. Even angry.

  Maddy wasn’t used to having people be angry with her. Already, she felt somewhat hurt by it. After all, wasn’t she doing everything she could to help and comfort her new friend?

  “Of course I’m serious,” said Maddy, speaking in a serious but comforting voice. “Everything’s going to be OK.”

  “You think you fooled them with that trick, don’t you? You think we’re OK here.”

  Jessica was clutching her gun tightly, her eyes darting around the room. She seemed paranoid. Highly anxious. Textbook case of... something or other. It was something from Maddy’s psych class, but she must have been organizing her sit-in protest of the cafeteria lunch food the day that they’d covered whatever syndrome Maddy’s new friend undoubtedly had.

  “Yeah, of course we fooled them. I’ve done this before.”

  “I know that. A couple of times, right?”

  “Yeah, and it worked each time. Why wouldn’t it work now?”

  “Did you ever consider the possibility that they might have eventually caught onto your trick?”

  Maddy chuckled. “Come on. They’re just bikers. They’re not exactly the smartest. They just ride around on bikes all day, right? I doubt they even went to college.” Maddy suddenly realized her error when she saw the look on Jessica’s face. “Oh...” she added, awkwardly. “I mean... of course, not everyone has to go to college.”

  Jessica shot her a look but ignored the comment. “We’ve got to get out of here,” she said. “Come on.”

  “That’s really not a good idea. It’s dark out there now. We’re much better off just staying in here.”

  “Staying in here until they come for us? Are you nuts? If I wasn’t in so much pain, I would have realized how dumb this plan was earlier. But now I can feel my brain starting to work again. The pain has subsided. And you know what I’m realizing now that I can think again?”

  “What’s that?”

  “That this is some dumb shit, that’s what.”

  Maddy gasped. “I can’t believe you’d say that about my plan!” Her feelings were really hurt now.

  “I’m not the type to mince words,” said Jessica. “I appreciate your help up until now. But this plan of yours is going to get us both killed. I’m feeling and thinking a little more clearly now. So you helped me. Now it’s my turn to help you.”

  “You’re going to help me?” said Maddy, her voice rising. She was incredulous. This beat-up, bedraggled woman here in front of her really thought she was going to help Maddy? This woman who hadn’t even attended college? This woman who seemed to be overwhelmed with an unrealistic sense of fear?

  “That’s right,” said Jessica, her voice calm and level. There was a steeliness in her eyes that unnerved Maddy.

  Maddy swung the little flashlight around to get a better look at Jessica’s face.

  It looked weary. Dirty. The eye was worse than she’d thought.

  That was enough information for Maddy. That was all the information she needed.

  “I’m OK, thank you very much,” said Maddy. “But I think I’ll be fine right here. I guess if you want to risk your life leaving at this time of night, then that’s your business, but I strongly advise against it.” Maddy was speaking in her most “advanced” and “educated” tones, as part of a last-ditch effort to show t
his poor delusional woman that she really did know what she was talking about. Maybe once Jessica realized that, she’d come to her senses and finally listen to Maddy.

  “You’re an idiot if you don’t come with me,” said Jessica, starting to stand up, somewhat unsteadily.

  Maddy let out a sound halfway between a scoff and a sigh. She wasn’t used to being talked to so abruptly.

  Maddy watched as Jessica started walking across the basement, off into the center where the darkness started to envelop her.

  As Jessica’s body disappeared from view, Maddy felt fear bubbling up from her stomach. She didn’t want to admit that it was there, not even to herself. But it was. It was definitely there.

  But that didn’t mean she was wrong in staying there.

  No, it didn’t mean she was wrong.

  She just needed to keep telling herself that.

  15

  Aly

  The sun was quickly setting. It had already sunk below the horizon. There wasn’t much time left until it got dark. Really dark. There wasn’t going to be much, if any, moonlight to rely on tonight.

  If they’d had a choice, tonight would have been a night to lay low. To hide away somewhere and sleep. Put one or two people on watch duty. Really, it would have been more like “listen duty,” since there wouldn’t have been anything much to see at all.

  But that wasn’t an option.

  If Jim was alive, he’d hopefully have enough sense to stay put at the pharmacy.

  Aly didn’t know if she could even trust herself to hope.

  Maybe she should just assume that her husband was already dead. Dead and gone. Not coming back.

  There were too many possibilities to sort through. She and Rob could get to the pharmacy only to find nothing at all. No trace of Jim. Then what would they do? Wait there for a few days, if they could afford to, she guessed.

  And then what? Nothing, that’s what. There’d be nothing to do. No second steps to locate Jim, except maybe checking a few nearby places to see if he was lying injured somewhere in hiding, unable to move, or to see whether they could find his corpse.

  If Jim was there, there was a good chance it’d just be his body. Given the number of hours that had passed, rigor mortis would have started to set in. His body would be stiffening. His eyes would be open. His bowels and bladder would have evacuated. It wouldn’t smell good. And the corpse wouldn’t look nice, not like when you went to an open casket funeral and the body had been done up by the morticians. It’d be nothing like that. He’d have his wounds, whatever had killed him. Maybe his skull would be bashed in.

  “What are you thinking about, Aly?” said Rob.

  They were walking side by side on the right side of the road. Walking on the pavement was less fatiguing than walking along even slightly uneven grass and dirt.

  “Jim,” said Aly.

  Rob nodded. “I guess there’s nothing we can do except wait and see.”

  “You think he’ll be there? Alive?”

  “I don’t want to give you any false hope.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “Not a lot of things are good these days.”

  They walked in silence for another couple of minutes. Aly found herself looking up at the darkening sky. The seemingly ever-present clouds were still there. They’d been gray all day, but now in the afterglow of the day, they took on a slightly pink color that Aly hadn’t seen in a long time. “It’s pretty,” she said.

  Rob nodded silently, only glancing ever so briefly up at the sky.

  There was something different about him. Sure, he’d lost more weight than the rest of them since the EMP, and he’d had the weight to spare. But there was a new change, something less physical. Or maybe she’d just noticed it. There was something like steely resolve in his eyes, etched onto his face.

  “You know,” said Rob, speaking slowly, as if he was thinking very carefully about what he was saying. “Jim and I were talking. About a week ago or so. And... I just wanted to let you know that he was concerned about you, should something ever happen to him. And so I just wanted to let you know... that if something does happen to Jim, I promised him that I’d look out for you as best I could.”

  “You’re talking like he’s already dead.”

  “That’s not what I mean at all.”

  “And you’re also talking as if I can’t take care of myself. As if I’m just some helpless...”

  “It’s not that,” said Rob. “Just look at it this way. We’re all more likely to survive if we stick together. Jim sort of brought us all together, but if...”

  “OK,” said Aly. “I think I get the point. You think Jim’s dead, and that we should stick together. Don’t forget that there’s still Jessica out there, too, right?”

  They’d already discussed the subject of Jessica at length, and they’d figured that the best thing to do was to look for Jim first. In the best-case scenario, Jim was there, healthy and his body intact, waiting for them. The three of them would set off together and find Jessica.

  It sounded more like a fairy tale than a plan.

  “Of course I know she’s out there,” said Rob. “I’m not forgetting about anyone.”

  He spoke in a confident way that didn’t really sound like him.

  “You sound different or something,” Aly started to say, but she cut herself off, losing her train of thought as her thoughts once again turned to her husband. There wasn’t any point in not trying to imagine his mangled body.

  She could anticipate it all. She could do her best to brace herself for the worst. But she knew full well that when she was eventually face-to-face with reality, it would all feel too powerful. There was no amount of mental preparation that would accomplish anything at all.

  There were some more moments of complete silence. And it really sounded like silence, the ever-present hum of the pre-EMP world industry was completely gone. And nature, for the moment, was silent as well. Birds and insects had, apparently, nothing to say.

  Night fell. The sun was completely gone, and the moon was only a small sliver that the clouds covered almost completely.

  Gradually, their eyes did adapt. But only so far. It was difficult to see, and visibility wasn’t good.

  “Too bad the flashlight batteries are all dead,” muttered Aly, as she narrowly missed walking right into a street sign that she almost didn’t see in time. “What about those flares? Didn’t you bring them along?”

  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” said Rob.

  “Why not? It’s almost as good as a flashlight, right? I can barely see anything. For all I know, I’m about to walk off a cliff or something. Or worse, we’ll actually be walking into some real trouble. If someone’s up there on the road, waiting, gun in hand, we’re not going to be able to see them.”

  “That’s why we have to be quiet and listen.”

  “It’s not like they’re going to announce their presence.”

  “Still better to be quiet.”

  “Come on, get out those flares.” Aly’s anxiety about Jim was coming to the forefront. Probably not making her think clearly. But for a moment it seemed that if she could get some light, if she could see through the darkness, that it would somehow help Jim.

  “What’s a flare for?” said Rob. “It’s not so you can see other stuff. It’s so that people can see you. It’s to increase your visibility... when you get stuck on the side of the road because your transmission drops out of your car and you don’t want tractor-trailers slamming into you... that’s what flares are for. What they’re not good for is when you’re walking at night through a post-apocalyptic world, hoping that no bad guys spot you and decide that you’re an easy target because you’re incredibly tired and hungry and just barely scraping beneath the point of absolute utter exhaustion.”

  “Uh, good point.” She was too tired to say much more than that. It was all true.

  “Hey, what’s that?”

  “What?”

  “Look
, don’t you see it?”

  She could vaguely see the outline of Rob’s arm as he pointed up and ahead of them.

  “Oh, yeah, what is that?”

  It was a strange sight. Like glimmering lights in the distance. Orange and red. Maybe some blue in there too?

  “It’s fire,” said Rob. His voice sounded somewhat distant, as if his mind was in a faraway place.

  “Fire? What’s burning?”

  “It’s really far off. Who knows? The cities? Forests? Could be anything. Come on, let’s get going.”

  It was an eerie sight. The flames remained very small and far away. They weren’t growing because they were already large. They only looked small because they were at a great distance from them. But even so, knowing that they’d never reach them, it felt strange to be intentionally walking towards them.

  In a way, the lights of the fire were a blessing. At least for some brief moments, Aly’s thoughts turned towards the massive suffering of the multitudes of people that still clung to life, rather than whether or not her husband was alive.

  16

  Rod

  “I don’t get it. Why don’t we just go grab ’em right now?” said Bill. “Why delay the fun any longer?”

  The sun had sunk down below the horizon and they were left in the darkness. Their eyes had adapted as much as they were going to. At least an hour had passed. They couldn’t see much, but they could see enough.

  The darkness made Rod feel excited. Excited about the chase. About the hunt. It reminded him of Halloween night when he’d been a teenager, just coming into the world, just starting to seriously cause some damage, spread some havoc. There was just something about the night. There always had been. It was when the good guys went to sleep and the bad guys came out. And it was, at least as far as Rod understood it, the time of predators, animals who had to hunt to stay alive. That was the way Rod saw himself—a human, like the rest of them, but a predator, unlike the rest of the herd. For whatever reason, he’d been born differently. He’d been cast from a different mold, with his brain simply wired to need to conquer, to revel in the chaos that he enjoyed creating. He wasn’t someone who would have ever been content in a traditional job. He’d have gone to prison within the first week, that was for sure.