Into the Dust Storm

by Logan Brookfield

  Janelle shook her head, still unable to comprehend what just happened.

  ‘I don’t have the facilities here to carry out a full post-mortem. I might be able to get an idea from a simple blood test and by examining the contents of the stomach,’ Doctor Russell said.

  Edmond and O’Connor entered the room. ‘What happened?’ O’Connor asked.

  The doctor stood up. ‘No idea, I found them like this. Something killed all three almost instantly.’

  Captain O’Connor looked at the drinking vessels sitting on the table. ‘Check the contents of that water. Look…those three drank half of their allocation while it looks like Janelle’s was untouched.’

  ‘Can you shed any light on this, Janelle?’ Edmond asked.

  Janelle got up off the floor. ‘It’s true I didn’t drink anything, I haven’t felt thirsty. We were just relaxing; I did see them take sips of water before we all lay down to rest. I was dreaming about our mission and woke up and heard Smith coughing, and then they all seemed to choke at the same time.’

  O’Connor placed his hands on his hips. ‘We’ll make sure they’re buried with the appropriate ceremony based on their service and sacrifice. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Who were they?’ Edmond asked.

  Janelle pointed to each in turn. ‘Smith was the communications officer, Abbot was tactical and Dubois was the helm officer. I knew them all very well; they were committed and capable officers. I’ve known Smith since he was in the academy. I can’t believe they’ve all gone,’ she said, placing her head in her hands.

  ‘Doctor Russell picked up the first glass of water and placed it to her nose, then held it up to the light. ‘Again, I’ve only got basic provisions here, not a full toxicology kit but I’ll run some tests and see what we find.’

  ‘Don’t let that liquid out of your sight, Doctor,’ Edmond said, pointing. ‘I need to know as soon as possible what we’re dealing with. If this is foul play then we’ve got bigger problems on our hands.’

  ‘I can’t see why anyone would do something like this,’ O’Connor said. ‘It’s more likely that their digestive systems couldn’t handle the water after such a long period of time, causing them to choke. Surely that’s evidenced by Janelle’s continued good health as she hasn’t eaten or drunk anything since she woke.’

  ‘They are people, Captain, regardless of changes they may or may not have undergone, and young people don’t just drop dead for no reason,’ Edmond said. ‘I need to rule out all other possibilities and be absolutely sure this was natural causes, if that’s what it was.’

  ‘I understand,’ O’Connor said. ‘But we really need to finish setting up base camp and ensuring our perimeter is secure before nightfall. We can’t stay here for long. We’re all dead if we don’t find some viable source of food and water.’

  Edmond walked over to Doctor Russell. ‘Doctor, please secure this water, take blood samples from the deceased and run some basic tests. Give me some results as soon as you can. The bodies will need to stay here until we bury them. Place a security team here to make sure nobody tampers with them. I need to know why they died; our own lives could depend on it.’

  Chapter Ten

  ‘Did you hear the storm last night?’ Amy said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

  Carl stood looking out of the window. ‘It blew up in the early hours; the window kept rattling, which woke me up a couple of times. But that’s still the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time, and that bed is so comfortable.’

  ‘I didn’t hear a thing,’ Amy said. ‘I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I’ve never slept on anything so comfortable in all my life, and certainly never with clean cotton sheets. Do you think he’d miss them…if we took the sheets with us?’

  Carl looked around and raised his eyebrows. ‘I’m not stealing sheets from our host. We might not have much more than the clothes on our backs but we’re not thieves.’

  ‘Maybe.’ Amy shrugged. ‘But you were happy to take stuff from the Crystal City. We can ask their permission if it makes you feel better.’

  ‘That’s different. The rich people in the city threw it away. All I did was recycle their garbage and make some use of it. They had more than enough to go round…anyway, come on, let’s see if we can find out a bit more about this place,’ Carl said, walking towards the door.

  Carl stepped into the kitchen area. ‘Hello,’ he called out, but there was no reply. The dwelling appeared empty and Elias was nowhere in sight. He opened the front door and looked out onto the town, which seemed deserted. It was a stark contrast to the busy and bustling community which greeted them yesterday.

  They walked into the street and looked both ways. A thin layer of sand covered everything like a blanket, and a strange orange mist seemed to hang in the air. They both coughed as the dusty particles hit the back of their throats.

  ‘Where is everyone?’ Amy asked while wiping her watery eyes.

  ‘No idea. Yesterday there were people everywhere and today it looks like a ghost town.’

  Amy’s eyes started to stream. ‘What is this stuff? It’s like trying to breathe the air back in the city.’

  Carl cleared his throat. ‘It must be all the dirt and dust kicked up by the storm. Maybe that’s why everyone’s hiding away.’

  They started to walk down the middle of the street, past dwellings which had their curtains drawn or shutters closed, until they came to the blacksmith’s. The front door was open and Carl peered inside. Sand had blown in creating a drift that crept halfway up the wall covering everything.

  On the porch of a nearby house sat the old lady, still weaving her baskets. Amy walked towards her. ‘Good morning, I wondered if you could tell me where everyone is today. Have you seen Elias?’

  The old lady stopped weaving and looked up and smiled. ‘You’d think he’d stop making all that noise on such a nice day, wouldn’t you, dear.’

  Amy looked around. ‘What noise? I don’t hear anything.’

  The old lady looked back down to her work and continued weaving.

  Amy looked at Carl. ‘She said exactly the same thing as she did yesterday. She’s even sitting in the same spot. She thinks it’s too noisy and this is a nice day.’

  Carl shook his head. ‘Maybe she’s old and confused or something,’ he whispered. ‘She looks like she’s been out here all night. She’s covered in dust.’

  Amy stepped back and shrugged. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this place; things just aren’t right here. We should get our stuff and leave as soon as we can.’

  Carl nodded. ‘I agree, but it looks like the main gates are still locked and unmanned so maybe we should find Elias, thank him for his hospitality and leave on good terms, perhaps with some supplies too. He’s been welcoming and kind to us so far.’

  ‘Apart from bringing us here at gunpoint,’ Amy said.

  ‘I think that was just a security precaution. There’s no way we could have left last night with that storm and with no supplies. Let’s head further into town and see if we can find him. Then we’ll leave, I promise,’ Carl said, pointing towards a side street.

  The narrow road stretched as far as the eye could see in the orange haze and was carpeted in sand which kicked up mini dust clouds with every step. They walked past rows of single- and double- storey dwellings, most with their shutters closed and with no sign of life anywhere.

  Amy stopped and looked through one window. ‘Do you think they all deserted the city over night for some reason?’

  ‘I can’t see how a whole town of people could up and move without us hearing them. Surely if they had to leave in a hurry they’d have told us…wait a sec, looks like the population just doubled,’ Carl said.

  On a corner was an old man with neatly combed white hair. He was wearing a cream-coloured shirt and brown trousers held up with braces. He was hunched over a broomstick and making a sweeping motion, but the end of the broom was missing.

  ‘It’ll take me all day to clean this m
ess up,’ the old man said looking up.

  ‘What happened to your broom?’ Carl asked.

  ‘It’s not for me to worry about, I just clean the place. Dust and dirt and more dust and more dirt, that’s my life for what’s it’s worth.’

  ‘He’s not making any sense either,’ Amy whispered.

  Carl shook his head slowly. ‘The whole town has either disappeared or gone mad.’

  The old man stopped the sweeping action and lifted his stick, pointing it down the street. ‘You can find them down there. It’s Justice Day and they’ll be in the town centre. I’ve got to clean this up before dinner or there’ll be hell to pay.’

  ‘Right, thank you,’ Carl said, looking down at the stick. He took Amy’s hand and started walking down the street towards the town centre. ‘The more people we talk to, the more confused I’m getting,’ he said.

  ‘You’re right there, once we find Elias we’ll tell him we’re leaving,’ Amy said.

  As they neared the end of the road they could hear Elias’s raised voice. They followed the sound, down a side street and along a narrow alleyway until they emerged into what looked like a market square full of people. Elias was in the centre with one hand raised pointing to the sky. Nearby was a set of raised wooden gallows on top of a platform where a young man stood on top. He had a cloth stuffed into his mouth and a noose around his neck.

  ‘Citizens of Hope Point I thank you for coming out on this bleak morning…this day of judgement,’ Elias said, turning around slowly so everyone could see him. ‘As you know we have endured several terrorist attacks recently, resulting in loss of life and a reduction in productivity. These are not only an attack on our community but they threaten our very existence.’

  The crowd nodded and jeered as the man on the gallows shook with fear and tried to talk through his gagged mouth. His muffled noises were drowned out by the crowd, who jeered him each time he tried to speak and defend himself.

  Amy craned her neck for a better view. ‘They’re not going to hang that poor man, are they?’

  ‘Looks like it. Maybe this is how they deal with their criminals,’ Carl said.

  Elias pointed at the condemned man. ‘You had a choice, you could have lived in harmony with us but you chose to oppose everything we stand for. Not only that you chose to attack us, which resulted in loss of life, which is the gravest of crimes in our town. You knew your actions had consequences.’

  The man shook uncontrollably and tried to cry out. He shook his head and contorted his face, trying to answer the charges.

  ‘Why don’t they let him answer?’ Amy said.

  Carl shook his head in disbelief. ‘He looks familiar…I’m sure he’s from the Crystal City. I’ve seen him in our sector.’

  The mayor held up a bunch of papers. ‘I’ve examined all the evidence, taken witness statements and listened to his account of events,’ he said, removing a black cloth from his pocket and placing it on his head. ‘There is no doubt this man committed these crimes, it’s beyond any shadow of doubt. I therefore sentence him to be dropped through that trapdoor and hanged by the neck until all life is extinguished. This is the sentence on this judgment day.’

  Nearby a woman dressed smartly sat behind a small wooden desk and typed into a machine everything that was being said.

  The crowd started to jeer and call out as the anticipation grew. Amy and Carl felt like they were being crushed as they tried to find their way out of the mass of people.

  ‘Oh my God, I can’t watch this,’ Amy said, covering her mouth.

  Elias walked towards the gallows and nodded to the hangman, who placed a hand on the lever. The hangman was dressed in a black suit and had a black hood hiding his face. He flexed his fingers around the wooden handle and pulled. The trapdoor swung away from beneath the man’s feet and he plunged through, dropping like a dead weight until he hit the floor in a crumpled heap as the rope broke.

  The mayor looked on, horrified, and some of the crowd screamed as the man stood up and spat the cloth from his mouth. ‘It’s all lies, don’t believe him, it’s all fake it’s…’ The rifle butt thudded into the back of his head as he collapsed forward, face first into the dirt. Two men dragged him back up the wooden steps, onto the gallows while a third hastily rigged another noose.

  ‘Settle down, settle down,’ Elias said to the baying crowd. ‘It’s just a technical malfunction; we’ll have the execution underway shortly.’

  The men placed the unconscious prisoner’s head into another noose and held him up, while the hangman pulled the lever again. The man dropped through the trapdoor, stopping just short of the ground as the rope snapped tight and broke his neck. He struggled for a brief moment, legs and body convulsing violently like a puppet on a string, dancing around much to the amusement of the onlookers who laughed and pointed.

  Carl pulled Amy away. ‘What are they doing here? This is supposed to be a place of safety,’ she said.

  Carl continued walking backwards away from the cheering group until he backed into someone.

  ‘Hello you two, hope you enjoyed the show. Come with me, Elias wants to see you right away,’ Vincent said.

  Chapter Eleven

  The sun started to rise above the rocky horizon and cast its warm life-giving glow across the land. Long shadows turned to short ones as it rose higher in the sky, and any moisture quickly evaporated.

  Not far from the escape capsule three mounds of dirt marked the place where the three crew now rested. A small dip in the land gave shelter to the graves and some protection from the harsh wind that whipped across the surface, shredding and eroding everything in its path. Three spades became makeshift headstones carrying the names and rank of each man.

  Carlton Smith – Engineering Officer, aged 29

  Charles Abbot – Tactical Officer, aged 30

  Anton Dubois – Second Officer, aged 43

  A small crowd gathered around the edge of the grave to pay their respects. The outside temperature was becoming almost unbearable, but it was still early morning and it was cooler than it would be at noon.

  Edmond stepped forward, placed his glasses on the end of his nose and opened a small black notebook. ‘We gather here today with heavy hearts but also a feeling of pride and admiration. Thank you for joining me to honour our fallen comrades. I’d much rather be pinning a medal on their chests and offering them promotion than having to celebrate their lives in this way.’

  Janelle stood with her hands clasped together in front of her, looking at the ground. She didn’t know whether to cry out loud or sink to her knees. In reality she felt like doing both and it took all her concentration to stay upright, but she had to remain respectful. It was the least her colleagues deserved.

  Edmond cleared his throat. ‘As leader of the Cloud people, I call upon all those present to remain silent for one minute in appreciation of our fallen heroes.’

  The seconds ticked by and only the sound of the breeze stirring the dust and sand around their feet could be heard. Those who were religious mouthed their prayers and those who were not quietly contemplated everything that had recently happened, evaluating their own mortality and chance of survival.

  ‘We send their mortal flesh and bones back to the dust of the earth from which they came,’ Edmond said. ‘All things are created from the dust and all things return to it…eventually. I don’t have details of their individual beliefs but if they did believe in a god, I’m sure that by now they are seated at his or her table, receiving the blessed passage that they so deserved. For those who do not believe, then they’ll become one again with the land, a place where most Earth dwellers have ended their days, being absorbed back into the very fabric of our planet.’

  Three soldiers stepped forward and raised their automatic weapons, adjusting them for single-fire mode. Captain O’Connor nodded and a short burst of gunfire quickly followed. The group flinched in unison as the sound of the 9mm rounds echoed across the land.

  Edmond turned to Janelle. ‘Wou
ld you like to say anything?’

  Janelle shook her head. ‘No thank you,’ she mouthed, keeping her eyes firmly fixed to the floor.

  ‘Thank you everybody,’ Edmond said, raising his hands as a signal for people to disperse.

  ‘Edmond, do you have a moment, please?’ Doctor Russell said, slowing her pace down so she was now walking alongside him.

  ‘Of course, do you have any news for me?’

  The doctor stepped closer and leaned in, lowering her voice. ‘It’s not good news, it’s as you suspected. The three were poisoned using a yet unknown substance. The mouth, throat and stomach had signs of severe burning and irritation. I’ve tested the water and the chemical was added to their drinking vessels. Whatever it was it was highly toxic, designed to cause death and was probably made worse by their bodies not being used to food or water for such a long time.’

  Edmond removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. ‘Will this madness ever stop? Why are people hell-bent on killing us all. How can we flourish if those amongst us plot and murder?’

  ‘I don’t know, Edmond, but someone in our ranks wants the crew from the last mission dead. Could it be Janelle, do you think?’

  Edmond exhaled heavily. ‘I’ve no idea, but it wouldn’t make sense. She’s a survivor too, and I presume the only reason she’s not in the ground with her friends is that she didn’t drink the water.’

  The doctor nodded. ‘It’s true that her water contained the same chemical, but her not drinking it could be a cover, to make it seem like she’s innocent.’

  ‘I could really do without this extra stress right now. As if we’ve not got enough to deal with,’ Edmond said, looking to the sky for inspiration. ‘I have a plan which might help us locate the source of the chemical.’