The Next World Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Olah, Jeff

  Kevin laughed in his head. If you only knew. Then said, “Is that right?”

  “A few of us found an emergency room last week that hadn’t been touched. Pretty much fully stocked. We were able to bring back almost everything, even grabbed the keys to an ambulance.”

  That had him thinking of his friend and everything else from the last day, and right now he wanted to think about something else. He’d prayed for Owen more times than he could recall, and now needed to focus on something else, just for a few minutes.

  “You boys find this place on your own, or someone else bring you here?”

  Alex looked at Bryce and shrugged. “You wanna tell him?”

  “I think it’s your turn.”

  Alex looked like he had just been given a gift, like it was his birthday and he couldn’t contain himself another second. He let his rifle hang from its strap and quarter-turned toward Kevin as he walked. “We didn’t find it, but we were the first ones here.”

  “Oh?” Kevin feigned interest, thought it was better than the alternative.

  “Yeah, we cleared the back gate first. There were three of them wandering around, so it was pretty easy. Then we walked the parking lot and the perimeter of the structure. No infected, but there was a homeless guy that ran off when he saw us, don’t know where he went.”

  “I think I remember this place,” Kevin said. “It had already been abandoned, was locked down pretty tight by the city.”

  Bryce looked over his shoulder. “Yes it was.”

  “How’d you know?”

  Alex looked at Bryce, his confusion evident as he turned back. “Uh …”

  “You said you didn’t find it, but that you were the first ones here. I’m assuming it was someone else who told you about this place,” Kevin slowed his stride and felt the need to cover his weapon, but then decided to let it play out. “And that someone is no longer with us?”

  Bryce let out a stilted laugh, looked like he knew where Kevin was headed. “We’re not sure. We were told he’s dead, but we really can’t be too sure.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Alex and I shared an office space with Dr. Lockwood. He was an odd guy, and on the day this all broke out, he disappeared. He left a note and an address, told us we’d be safe here, and where to find his ex-wife.”

  “His ex-wife?”

  “His only request was that we get to her and bring her here. He said that we’d be safe here and that he’d return when he could. He said that he was going to save the world.”

  “And?” Kevin was actually interested now. He’d heard of Eugene Lockwood and what he’d done at BXF. There was no way these men were lying.

  “And,” Bryce said, “we don’t know. We found Mary Lockwood and brought her here. We did what he asked and now we’re just waiting for him to show up and save the world.”

  That would be nice, Kevin thought. But in the meantime, he just wanted someone to save his friend.

  The walkie on Alex’s hip chirped. “You guys still out there?”

  “We’re going around section two, be there in five. Why?”

  “You got someone named Kevin Rodgers with you?”

  Alex turned to him. “He’s right here.”

  “Okay, they want him to get to the second floor ASAP, but …”

  Bryce reached for the radio, keyed the mic. “But what?”

  “We’ve also got movement out by the highway again, could be nothing. But we might want to check it out.”

  117

  Owen’s world was black.

  No shapes, no shades, no lights, no darks, and no colors. Not even a hint.

  There was no pain, no discomfort, no real sensation at all. He felt as if he were floating, like he was in a dream. He had the sense that there were others around him. They were close and he could hear their voices, but their volume and their tone was nearly identical.

  “Is he breathing?”

  “Yes, and without any help.”

  “Is he awake?”

  “Only enough that he’s functioning on his own. He can’t feel anything, and won’t remember any of this.”

  Oh yes I will. Speaking into his head was odd. He heard his voice and the words as he tried to mouth them, but he sounded like the others.

  “Is he going to be alright, I mean like the old Owen? Or is he going to be different, could this change him?”

  “I think we got it in time.”

  “So, what does he need, what’s next?”

  “We have two options.”

  “That many huh?”

  “We can wait, let him rest, and watch. He should be fine if we can keep the swelling down and monitor the antibiotics. Or we can try what we talked about earlier.”

  There was a break, at least ten seconds where no one spoke. And then, “I wish I could help, I’m sorry.”

  “He’s already going to be upset by what we were doing, so as long as you can guarantee that it won’t hurt Noah, maybe we can talk about it.”

  “The procedure is as safe as getting a vaccination. It’ll be over in less than thirty minutes and Noah won’t even be talking about it a few days from now.”

  Owen again felt like he was fading. The voices were in and out now, their volume going from about a five to a one and then back.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Stay here, sit with him, and think it over. But really it’s a straightforward procedure. And I promise that either way, he’ll pull through.”

  “Thank you Dominic.”

  And then it was quiet. The sound of faint footfalls and the whoosh of a door. A loneliness he couldn’t shake and the feeling that he was being watched. Through the blackness, a glint that grew brighter by the second. It filled his eyes and gave him a warmth that wasn’t there before.

  “Owen …”

  Natalie placed her hand in his. He felt her lips and her breath against his face. There were so many things he wanted to say, so many ways he wanted to apologize, too many things he still wanted to do. His children, he wanted them here as well, he wanted to feel them, he wanted to listen to their voices, to see them running, and laughing, and fighting. He wanted it all, even if it would be the very last time.

  “I know you can’t hear me, but I love you.”

  I love you too, Nat. His voice, again only in his own head.

  “You’re gonna be okay, I promise.”

  He wasn’t so sure.

  “I want you back, baby. More than anything else. We can’t do this without you, none of this. Please …”

  His wife was strong, much stronger than he. She would be fine, even without him. But he wasn’t done. Not by a long shot.

  Owen took a mental breath and then let everything else slip away. He thought only of her and focused what little strength was left in his wrecked body on tightening his grip around her hand. It felt weak, like she hadn’t noticed. He wasn’t sure if this was just part of his dream, or if he was already gone, and this was simply part of the process.

  “Nat … I …” It was only two words, but they sounded different. They were his, but they were no longer only inside his head.

  “Owen?”

  His hand was still in hers; however, his grip was beginning to fail. He was there in the room with her, and then he was once again falling. His body was cold and he sensed that the room was closing in around him.

  “Owen, baby, hold on.” Natalie was at his side, but she was moving away. He felt his hand—now empty—dropping to his side. Then the whoosh of the door and his wife’s voice, barely distinguishable through the low hum filling his head.

  “Dominic, please … where’s Dr. Gentry? We need him, Owen needs him.”

  118

  “He’s been sitting here all morning.”

  Kevin knelt beside Zeus, his hand combing back the German Shepherd’s dense coat. He looked to Thomas, the tall young man from the street, and offered a quick grin. “He give you any trouble?”

  Thomas sat beside Travis, and now look
ed more at ease. It had done him good to join the larger group at the abandoned mall. And although the former college athlete hadn’t slept, his belly was full and for the first time in days, he wasn’t having to watch over his shoulder. “Nah, he’s been good.”

  Kevin pulled back the gauze over Zeus’s injury and kissed his forehead. “Looks good boy, you’ll be back to giving me headaches in no time.”

  Lucas, Ava, and Harper had taken seats around the opposite table and spoke quietly amongst themselves. Lucas watched the upper floor as if he was waiting to be summoned. “Any word yet?”

  Kevin shook his head. He kept his eyes low and avoided turning toward Ava. “Not yet.”

  Lucas looked like he instantly regretted his question. He rocked in his chair, dropped his head, and let out a long sigh. But before the moment turned awkward, he slid his chair toward hers, and sat up straight. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s alright.” Her face said it wasn’t. Ava hadn’t spoken more than a handful of times since her brother joined her father in that old mattress store, and even now, used as few words as possible.

  Kevin groaned as he slid a chair in close and pushed to stand. “Hey, your dad is gonna be fine.” The others all looked up. “He’s a tough dude, and trust me, what Gentry is doing is really no big deal. He’ll be as good as new in a few days.”

  Lucas and Ava had the same look. They both smiled, but obviously for different reasons. Ava didn’t need him to reassure her, but it was nice that he tried. And Lucas appreciated that Kevin pulled the attention away from his monumentally insensitive and poorly timed question.

  There were a few seconds where the group just sat in silence, the mood of the room hanging in the balance. But then Travis slid down in his chair and put his hands behind his head. “Anyone see that kitchen?’

  Kevin eased back into the chair and moved his legs aside so Zeus could lay at his feet. “If I can get my hands on that stovetop, you’re all going to get to taste the best pancakes you’ve ever had.”

  Harper finally looked up, like she’d remembered something. “You obviously haven’t tried mine. A bit of cinnamon and a splash of banana extract and you’ll be begging me to make them every single morning. I can promise you that.”

  Travis stared at the glass-lined ceiling, watching as the clouds began to part, and let out a stilted snicker. “I’d pay good money for even a halfway decent pancake.” He eyed Harper. “But where the hell am I supposed to find banana extract at this hour?”

  The group broke into unrestrained laughter. Kevin soaked it in; he needed it. They all did. There weren’t more than a handful of times over the last several weeks when there was anything to smile about, and even less with each passing day.

  “I’m going to gain fifty pounds by the end of the week.” Kevin patted his stomach and Zeus looked up. “I can’t control myself around anything related to breakfast … or lunch … or dinn—”

  The group finished his thought. “Dinner.”

  “Bacon,” Lucas said. “I think I’ll miss that the most. Bacon and eggs, bacon cheeseburgers, bacon bits, really anything at all with bacon. Or just a plate of bacon all by itself. I need it to be crispy though.”

  “Yeah,” Harper added. “None of that floppy, fat filled stuff.”

  Travis continued to stare at the ceiling, watching as the day’s first light began to fill the former food court. “Yeah, turkey bacon and egg whites. Some whole grain toast and—”

  Harper leaned to the right, shaking her head as she smacked Travis on the shoulder. “You have to go, get out. There will be no talk of that healthy crap around here, especially not before I eat something that’s gonna add ten pounds to my rear end.”

  Kevin tried to keep a straight face. “Waffles and an entire bottle of syrup. French toast, powdered sugar, and orange juice. I could go on forever, but if we’re listing our favorites, I’ve got to go with a lean ten ounce tri tip and four eggs, over easy.”

  “And caffeine,” Lucas said. “From absolutely anywhere.”

  Ava had been watching the back and forth, but finally unfolded her arms and sat up in her chair. “Breakfast burritos.”

  Kevin reached out and offered her a high five. He could see that she needed it. And when she responded in kind, he nodded. “Now you’re talking, but I gotta have mine with everything. Cheese, onions, peppers, steak, eggs, and a ton of hot sauce.”

  Ava began to smile, but shook her head. “Ewwwww. No onions, not ever. If I become President, I’m outlawing them. And no peppers or hot sauce. But I’m definitely stuffing it full of hash browns, and scrambled eggs, and cheese. Maybe even some sour cream and … avocado.” Her voice cracked.

  Ava turned away from the others and looked toward the second floor. “My dad … he had to have sour cream and avocado on his breakfast burrito. Always. He’d even go to the store just to buy those, even if we were all starving. I used to tell him that he was crazy and that it wasn’t worth it, that I didn’t like my breakfast burritos like that.”

  Ava wiped at her eyes. “I told him that because he knew that I would like it, even before I tried it. He laughed the first time I ate one because he could tell, even though I made a weird face, that I thought it was the best thing I’d ever eaten.” She paused. “I just want my dad to cook for me … one more time.”

  As Ava dropped her head, and again wiped her face with her sleeve, Kevin rested his hand on her shoulder. “Your dad’s going to be okay—he’s strong. We’ll get him back into that kitchen, fixing us all breakfast burritos in no time, whether he likes it or not.”

  Before he was finished, Ava tilted her head and looked up toward the second floor only a second before the others. The doors to the former mattress store parted and Natalie ran to the railing. She was searching the floor below and came to a stop when she spotted Ava.

  “Sweetheart, I need you to come up here, it’s your dad.”

  119

  Day ninety-six...

  “Welcome to Harbor Crest.”

  The man seated in the chair six feet from his bed smiled. He was familiar, although Owen couldn’t recall from where. He was tall and good looking, had the jawline of a movie star, and the shoulder width of someone who was familiar with the weight room. He wore a black long-sleeved t-shirt, blue jeans, and dusty brown leather work boots. He looked like there was more that he wanted to say, but he appeared to be waiting for a response.

  “Hello?” Owen’s voice came out thick, his throat sore, and his mouth warm. He took in a slow breath and looked around the room. It was also familiar, but again he didn’t know why.

  “Where am I?”

  The man sat forward and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Give it a minute, it’ll come to you.”

  Owen looked from the beds on his left and on his right, to the medical supply cart at the foot of his bed, and then to the doors.

  And it hit him, but not all of it, only bits and pieces. The most horrible images coming one right after another. His wife, his children. The men in the street, a severely disfigured Jerome Declan. The weapons firing all at once. The concrete and asphalt peppering the side of the pickup. The men bound in the bed of the truck being slaughtered by their own, and the faces of his family as they watched him die. “I don’t understand.”

  “You’ve been in and out for the last few days, but …” the man paused, looking toward the doors. “You know, this would probably be easier if I brought them back in.”

  “Who are you?”

  The man had begun to stand and walk toward the door, but then paused and shook his head. “I’m sorry, where are my manners?” The man offered his hand, waiting for Owen to remember how to use his own. “My name is Ethan Runner, it’s good to meet you … again.”

  “Again?”

  “Yeah, how about we bring the others back in here and get you up to speed?”

  He wanted to ask, but wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer. “My wife, Natalie?”

  Ethan Runner reached for the door, pushing it o
pen as he turned to look back. “Just give me a second.”

  As the man disappeared to wherever it was that he went, Owen again tried to recall the memories. He may not like what he found, but he liked surprises even less.

  There was the bed of the truck and Gentry’s warning. The long ride in the backseat of Lucas’s SUV and then the last few images of the woman he loved more than anything, and the pain that was there one second and gone the next.

  It was a puzzle for which he wasn’t sure he had all the pieces. He could feel his heart beating in his chest, a dull ache along the left side of his head, and a pulling in his armpit, but he was wondering if it was even real, if this was just another level of his own personal hell he had yet to explore.

  Owen closed his eyes, attempting to call up an image of her face. “Nat, what is this? Where am I?”

  A whoosh and then quick footsteps. “Baby?”

  Owen opened his eyes, his heart skipping at the sight of her. She looked good, healthy. Her face had color and her eyes looked brighter than he remembered. She smiled big, her full lips framing her perfect teeth. He wanted to touch her, to hold her. He wanted to talk to her, hear her silky voice and swim in her beauty. And although he’d seen this woman more than a million times, it was like he was looking through a new set of eyes.

  “Nat, I love you.”

  “I love you too baby, how do you feel? Your head, your arm?”

  “Probably about as good as I look.”

  Now Gentry walked through the set of double doors. He was followed by a woman. She looked serious, but kind. She was petite but looked like she could hold her own. Like she knew who she was, confident, smart, maybe someone in charge. She had shoulder length dark hair, steel blue eyes, and hands that looked strong.

  “Owen,” Gentry said. “What do you remember?”

  “Wow, okay, right to it huh?”

  Natalie took his hand and stepped to his side. “It’s okay, he’s just—”

  “I’m sorry, Owen, it’s just that time is short and we’ve been through this a few times. I just need to get a read on how much of this you’re getting, how much is staying with you.”