by Sourav Deka
“Who the hell are you?” Jonas asked.
Tanner walked up to him and grabbed his neck. “Your time is over,” he said.
Jonas gasped for breath. He tried to stab Tanner with his scissors but the scissors broke, it couldn’t penetrate Tanner’s body. I noticed the watch on his hand, the same watch that we found for him. It made him a superhuman.
“What are you??” Jonas groaned.
“Your end,” Tanner threw Jonas out on the roof and Jonas crashed on the warehouse’s roof. He walked up to us and freed us. “Can you move?” he asked.
“No, I can’t walk, he broke my leg,” I said, touching my leg.
“Me too,” Aaron said.
“Okay, hold me,” Tanner said. “I will fly you up to the ground.”
Aaron and I grabbed him wrapping our hands around his neck. He flew us to the ground. Bristy helped Sam wake up with her magic and they both came up through the stairs.
“The guards?” I asked.
“They are all dead,” Tanner said.
“Thanks, I thought…….we are going to die there.”
He nodded. “You are welcome.”
“What were you doing here?” Aaron asked.
“I was trying to find people, survivors, and I found this. I heard your scream so I stormed in.”
“Thanks.”
“I have a camp a few miles away.”
“A camp?”
“Yeah, I am gathering survivors from everywhere. We have houses, food, water, clothes, and a lot of things. We are trying to start over.”
“Jonas is trying to do that too,” Sam said.
“Who? The guy who was torturing you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, he is like a dictator, lives in the big house, makes his workers sleep outside and work for him. Makes them work for long hours and gives them a little bit of food just to survive.”
“Our camp is different. It’s nothing like Jonas’s. You all can come with me, we need more people. We can all work together and grow food,” Tanner inhaled deeply. “We are focusing on expanding. We need to save humanity, rebuild everything.”
“I have a solution for that,” I said.
“What solution?”
I looked at Ambrose and pointed my finger at him. “He can do it. He made the reanimation drink. He can make it again, and bring back as many people as we want.”
“So you are the one who made that drink,” Tanner stepped closer to Ambrose and punched him. It was so hard that Ambrose crashed into the wall and fainted instantly.
I raised my eyebrows. “What the hell?”
“Don’t worry, he is alive. He will be back,” Tanner shrugged. “I just wanted to do that. He created this apocalypse,” he sniffed. “Stupid kid. I could have killed him now if he didn’t know how to make that stupid drink.”
“Trust me I want to kill him too,” I said. “But for now we need him alive.”
“Are you sure he isn’t dead? You hit him very hard,” Aaron said and walked up to him with his injured leg to check his pulse. “Okay, yeah, still breathing.”
“Pick him up,” Tanner said. “We will leave for our camp.”
“Wait! Let’s go back to Jonas’s place,” I said. “You need more people right? There are many workers and also Luke,” I rubbed my chin. “Tanner might have kept him there. They would happily want to come to your camp.”
“But Jonas has too many people and my magic isn’t working,” Bristy said.
I looked at Tanner. “You can take them out, right?”
Tanner grinned. “Yes, I can,” he shook his wrist. “With this watch, I am superman.”
We left the warehouse and got in a jeep.
“Where is this Jonas’s place?” Tanner asked, starting the engine.
“Just a few miles away, I will show you the way,” I said.
We left for Jonas’s place. My leg was hurting, it swelled up. Same thing happened with Aaron. We could walk but it hurt. We needed medical attention, but first I wanted to end Jonas’s reign. This was our chance to end him for good. Bristy’s magic wasn’t working but Tanner had the watch. He can easily end it in a couple of minutes, and all the workers will be free. They deserved to be free like us and we needed people, it was a win-win situation.
I never thought it would be Tanner who will come to our rescue. He was the last person I could think of. I guess he really changed. He was not the maniac who wanted to use people for his own selfish reasons. The world has changed and he was trying to restart everything, but still I had doubts in my mind. Jonas also promised the same, but he didn’t treat us equally. I guess I will know when I see Tanner’s camp, if it is really better than Jonas’s camp, but for now we had a chance to end Jonas’s rule. I wanted to do that first. With the help of Tanner we can take over his camp.
I wanted to know what happened to Tanner’s hacker. The hacker was the one who wanted the watch and now Tanner was wearing it.
“What happened to your hacker?” I asked. “He was the one who wanted the watch.”
“He died,” Tanner replied.
“What? How? He had the watch. He could have saved himself from anything.”
Tanner pressed his lips together. “Not from water. He died of dehydration, walked off miles in search of water, but couldn’t find a single drop.”
“Oh god!” I sighed.
“Yeah, he was the last one surviving in his area. Everyone was dead. After a few days he joined them too. I went to find him, but it was too late.”
“We will get him back. We have to bring a lot of people back,” I raised my chin. “My parents too.”
Tanner looked at Ambrose in the car’s rear-view mirror. “Look what you did, you dumb kid?”
“I thought we would benefit from this,” Ambrose said. “I got back my dad, I thought…………”
“You thought everyone should have their loved ones back,” Tanner said. “The world doesn’t work that way kid. Overpopulation depleted Earth’s resources. People killed each other for it. There were wars everywhere. Didn’t you know that?” he sighed. “How stupid can you be?”
“I thought more people would help to produce more resources. I thought…………. there will be a lot of smart people, and we will develop faster.”
“No, overpopulation is a problem, not a solution,” he said in a heavy voice. “Now you have to fix it, all of it.”
We reached Jonas’s place after half an hour of drive and stopped our jeeps at a distance. The workers were working on the farms as usual in the heat wiping their sweat from time to time. The guards were surrounding the whole place. Some were talking and some were playing poker in the courtyard.
“Wait here,” Tanner said. “I will go and finish them up.”
“Not the workers, they are innocent,” I said.
Tanner nodded. “I know,” he got off the jeep.
We hid outside in the crops while Tanner killed every guard one by one. The guards were helpless, their bullets didn’t work on Tanner, and neither did their grenades. Tanner easily took down all of them. Stan tried to do his magic on him but before he could utter any spell Tanner sprinted towards him and grabbed his neck.
“What are you?” Stan’s eyes widened. He noticed the watch on Tanner’s wrist. “The watch! You got it.”
Tanner kicked him and Stan crashed into a jeep. “Yes I did,” he said.
“No, you can’t end me,” Stan groaned. “This is not over. We are supposed to rule, this is Jonas’s land.”
“This is your workers’ land, not yours. They are the ones who do the real hard work,” Tanner choked him with his foot. Stan gasped for breath and after a minute he died.
Luke was scared hiding behind the door.
Tanner walked up to him. “You must be Luke,” he smiled. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to fear me. I am a friend.”
“Who are you?” Luke asked as his lips shivered.
He leaned down towards him. “I am Roland Tanner.”
“You killed them.”
Ta
nner gave a half shrug. “They were bad guys.”
All the guards were dead. It was safe to go. Only the workers were alive. They came out from their farms and were scared by seeing what Tanner could do. Aaron, Bristy, Sam and I came out of our hiding spot.
Luke saw me and ran towards me. “You are okay,” he smiled.
I hugged him. “Yes, I am,” I smiled. “Everything will be okay now.”
All the workers gathered around and stared at us.
I looked at the workers. “They are all dead. Jonas is too,” I said. “You don’t have to be his slave anymore. You all can come with us.”
“He is dead?” one of the workers asked. “He can’t be dead.”
“He is,” I pointed my finger at Tanner. “This guy threw him out of the roof. Jonas is dead. Now you are all free. You can come with us and start a new life in Tanner’s camp.”
“No,” Tanner said. “They don’t need to come.”
“What?” I turned to Tanner. “You told me you needed more people.”
“Yes, we need people. We can take over this area as all of Jonas’s men are dead. They can live in his house. They will have freedom. They will have more food for themselves,” he turned to the workers. “Whatever you grow will be yours, only yours,” he raised his voice. “Jonas is not going to come back. He can’t interfere anymore. Make this place your home, a real home.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, we were thinking about expansion and this is our chance. More people, more resources. I will send some of my people here too. There is plenty of land here. We will build more houses, grow more crops.”
I turned to the workers. “What do you think?”
“We always wanted to be free from Jonas,” One of the workers said. “If he is really dead, then it’s like a miracle.”
“Yeah, we can finally live like normal people,” another worker said. “We will have a roof over our head, enough food to eat. It’s like the old days,” he folded his hands and bowed down. “Thank you for doing this.”
Tanner walked up to them. “You don’t have to fear now,” he said. “You all are not slaves. You are free, this land, this house, this crops, everything is yours.”
The workers cheered and clapped. Finally they were free from Jonas and his men. They couldn’t ask for more. Their dark days were gone. For them Tanner was like an angel who came out of nowhere and saved them. All of them thanked him. Like me they thought that they would never escape this and will live there like slaves for their entire lives, but now suddenly their life turned around. Some of them even cried in joy, they couldn’t believe that it was happening.
Tanner smiled. “It will be a new beginning. I will provide you more resources. Some of my people will come here.”
“Thank you, thank you so much,” a worker said grabbing Tanner’s feet. “You are like an angel. You saved us. My child was going to die, she is sick but Jonas still made her work.”
Tanner smiled. “Don’t worry. I have some doctors in my camp. I will send them here. They will treat her.”
“Thank you,” the worker cried, folding her hands.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said softly holding her arms. “Everything will be fine.”
“You are not slaves anymore,” I said. “You can live like the way you want.”
All of the workers got inside the house and ate like animals. They haven’t eaten well in months. Jonas only used to give them a little bit of food, but now they celebrated. They danced, cheered. It was a feast for them. They ate everything they could. It was their hard work and Jonas used to enjoy it, but now everything changed, they were getting what they deserved.
I looked at Tanner. “Take us to your camp,” I said.
Tanner nodded.
“I am going to stay here,” Bristy said.
“What? Why?” I asked.
“I will help these people. I can help them with my magic.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“I will stay too,” Sam said.
“What are you going to do?” Aaron asked.
“Same thing, start over, help them. You two go,” he looked at Ambrose. “Make sure this bastard makes the reanimation drink and help you all.”
“We will,” I said.
Aaron, Ambrose and I got in the jeep with Tanner and left for his camp while Bristy and Sam watched us from Jonas’s camp. It was good to see Bristy and Sam getting along with me and Aaron. I never imagined us working together as we were enemies for so long, but now there was no point in fighting each other. Now we needed to heal the world and restart the civilization and we all were going to work for it.
“How far is it?” I asked.
“A few miles away,” Tanner replied. “There is someone in the camp you know.”
“Who?”
Tanner grinned. “You will see.”
I chuckled. “Come on, tell me.”
“Have patience, you will see.”
After half an hour, we reached Tanner’s camp. It was a big one with five hundred people living there. They had crop fields, solar panels, wells, animals, houses, stables, even small playgrounds. It was much bigger than Jonas's camp. It felt like I stepped into the old world where I used to live. Tanner wasn’t lying. It was really the start of a new civilization. People had smiles on their faces, they talked and worked together. Some children were playing outside the house like the old days when there were no computers and cell phones, when there was no internet.
Aaron’s jaw dropped. “Wow! It’s awesome,” he said.
“This is the beginning of a new era,” Tanner said.
I nodded. “We will rebuild everything.”
Our swollen legs turned red. Tanner looked at them. “This doesn’t look good,” he said. “You need a doctor.”
Two people came running towards us.
“Take them to our doctor,” Tanner said.
“You coming?”
Tanner shook his head, and grabbed Ambrose’s arm. “I will take Ambrose to my house. He has to make the reanimation drink.”
I took out the seeds which I took from the crops. “You will need this,” I said.
Tanner took it. “I also have some. We are growing these seeds here.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I want to stay immortal, Ross, that’s why I was searching for it in the first place. You know that. The seeds are very important to me,” he left with Ambrose to his house.
I saw hope. Tanner did a great job setting up the camp. He had the seeds which could treat anyone and now with Ambrose he would be able to bring people back from dead. His guys took us to a guy. We reached a house made of bamboo, and the guys knocked on the door. A white man with a beard opened the door.
“John, they are hurt,” one of the guys said.
“Bring them in,” he said.
They brought us inside and we sat on the couch.
He looked at our legs. “Did a car run over your leg?” he asked.
“No, a crazy guy beat me with his hammer, same with my brother too,” I said.
He stared at my injury. “It has swollen,” he looked at the guys who brought us. “Bring the juice.”
They went to bring the juice.
“Who hit you that badly?” The doctor asked.
“A guy who lives a few miles away, he made us his slaves,” I sighed. “We escaped but he caught us and did this.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh my god!”
“Yeah, but he is dead now, thanks to Tanner,” Aaron said.
He nodded lightly. “Don’t worry, you will heal up. We have the immortal drink.”
We nodded. “I am Ross,” I forwarded my hand.
“John,” he shook my hand.
“I am Aaron,” Aaron shook his hand.
“It’s good that you are here. We need people, our society has to grow,” he said.
“It will. We also acquired the place of Jonas. There are some people too, about fifty people.”
“Jonas???”
I pressed my lips. “The crazy guy who did this to us.”
“Oh.”
Two guys came with two glasses of immortal drink and gave it to me and Aaron. We gulped it down in one go.
“Ohhhhhh,” I exhaled deeply. My foot stopped swelling and became normal, its redness was gone and I could feel my foot again. We stood up and moved our legs. We were back to normal again. Our legs were healed.
“Feeling better?” the bearded guy asked.
“Yeah, like old me,” I walked some steps to confirm it.
A white man wearing a coat entered the house. My mood lightened up as soon as I saw him. It was Michael. He had survived and was living in the camp. I never heard from him since everything went to hell. It was so nice to see him after a long time. I guess that’s the surprise Tanner was talking about.
Michael hugged me and Aaron. “I knew you two would survive,” he said.
I smiled. “I am glad that you are okay. But you said you were going to leave town.”
“I was………but my helicopter crashed. Luckily Tanner saved me and brought me to his camp,” he pressed his lips. “I didn’t trust him at first..……but I guess he is not the same man he was before.”
“Yeah, he changed. He helped us too.”
He looked at our legs. “I heard you were injured.”
“A psychopath, don’t worry, he is dead now,” I sat on the couch. “Tanner killed him.”
He sighed and sat in front of me. “Many people went crazy after this happened. So many people died.”
“Yeah, maybe this camp is a hope. We all can start over.”
“Yeah, we can.”
CHAPTER 12
As Tanner promised, he sent some of his people at Jonas's camp to help the people there. Michael was in the camp with his family from the first when there were a few people. They altogether made it grow, found new people and expanded over time. Michael didn’t want to trust Tanner at first but as time passed by he saw what Tanner was really trying to do and believed in him.
I told Tanner the location of Michael’s farm. He brought a lot of crops from there and started growing it in the camp. They made more juice from it and started stocking it. They also brought Keith and Rowena’s dead bodies from the farm. Their bodies were not in good condition. Some of their parts were eaten by crows. We kept their bodies safe in coffins until Ambrose makes reanimation drinks to reanimate them. The seeds were not the only ingredient to make reanimation drinks. It required some other ingredients too. We collected all the other ingredients in a few weeks and gave it to Ambrose. He made a lot of reanimation drinks within a month. Now it was time to test the reanimation drink. We were going to bring back Rowena and Keith.
