After The End

by Jamie Campbell

  There is trash everywhere. Empty boxes and loose pieces of paper. They are all severely degraded and any writing can’t actually be read anymore. It’s going to be a lucky dip if we do find some.

  Garlind pulls a flattened box from a high shelf and opens it. There is a tray of tablets inside. It’s the silver on the tray that he can still read. “Amoxicillin.”

  “Have you heard of it before?” I ask, hopeful.

  He shakes his head. “Take it anyway?”

  “Yeah.”

  Clare can decide whether she wants to take it later, if she’s well enough. It’s better taking it than leaving it behind. We scrounge around for a while longer and manage to grab a few boxes of white tablets. The names mean nothing to me.

  Once we’re certain we’ve got everything from the drug store, we head back the way we came. The building we slept in last night shows no sign of being occupied. Hopefully that means anybody else that passes by will keep going.

  Clare is sitting up when we reach her. I immediately kneel down to be at her eye level. “How are you feeling?”

  She shrugs her shoulders. She looks frail, much more fragile that I’ve ever seen her before. “My head hurts.” Her gaze travels up to meet mine. “River said you saved my life yesterday. Thank you.”

  “I didn’t do anything but keep you on your side. I wish I could have done more.”

  “Do you have any idea what happened to me?”

  “I think you had some kind of a fit. Has anything like that happened to you before?”

  “No, never.” That’s not good. It means something new is happening to her. Something that might lead to worse things. What happens to the brain after going through a few fits? Does it completely fry?

  She doesn’t need to hear my concerns right now. “At least you’re feeling better now. We found some pills at the drug store but we don’t know what they do.”

  Garlind shows her the tablets which she turns over in her hands a few times. “Should I take them?” She looks to me for an answer. As if I suddenly received a medical degree from a prestigious university.

  “I really don’t know,” I have to admit. “They might help or they might have side effects.”

  River takes them from her and studies the names. “Amoxicillin. I think that’s like an antibiotic. I remember my mom having some once. She kept a stash of it from before. It might help.”

  Clare’s eyes drill into him next. “If you think I should take it…”

  “I do,” he says, never blinking. “I’ll get you some water.”

  He hurries for a water bottle and hands it to her. She doesn’t hesitate in taking one of the pills. The trust between them is absolute. I wonder if this is how couples are supposed to be. I know my parents trusted one another. But that level of trust must take years to develop.

  I think I trust Garlind like that. If he told me to take those tablets, I wouldn’t question him either. How is that possible when I’ve only known him for little more than a week?

  There are so many things in this world I don’t understand. I thought I knew it all when I was in the bunker. But now? I’m not sure about anything.

  Clare settles down to sleep some more while the rest of us are left to twiddle our thumbs. There isn’t much to do in the dilapidated building. It’s much safer up here than it is outside so I don’t feel like going for a walk again. That animal we saw earlier is still out there somewhere—it’s enough to give me nightmares.

  River lights a fire next to the largest window that opens and we sit around it after the sky has fallen into darkness. It provides a comforting warmth that I relish. Clare is still asleep, leaving me with the two boys.

  The conversation moves from food we’d like to eat to our pasts. Maybe it’s the fire that’s making us all pensive. Maybe it’s the few crackers settling our stomachs. Whatever it is, I’m glad to have something to take my mind off everything else.

  “My parents both worked for the government,” River says as he looks into the fire. I can see the flames reflected in his dark eyes. “They thought the president would look after them, being federal employees and all. But in the end, when the meteorite came, it was every man for himself.”

  “What did they do?” Garlind asks. “Go underground?”

  “They had a neighbor who had built a small bunker in his backyard when he first heard the news. They were allowed to stay there for a few months before the food ran out. Then we came aboveground. I was two at the time.”

  “How did they survive the radiation?” I can’t help but asking. The radiation is always on my mind. Sometimes I’m certain I can feel it in the atmosphere, even though my parents said that was impossible.

  River shrugs one shoulder. “I don’t know, I was just a little kid. All I know was that they died a few years later. They’d found my aunt by then and she raised me until she died about ten years old. I’ve been on my own since then.”

  I quickly do the math in my head. If he was about two years old when the meteorite hit, that makes him nineteen now. Which means he was only about nine when he was left on his own. That’s a very young age to be completely looking after yourself. I guess that makes two of us now.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper.

  He sniffs and his cool demeanor slips back into place. It’s like he’s replaced the mask he normally wears now. “Don’t be. I met Clare shortly afterwards and we’ve been together ever since. It’s all worked out.”

  Except, he might be losing Clare now. That thought alone is enough to send my heart into contractions. I know he’s thinking the same thing which is why he had to replace his mask before we saw his fear. Fear is weakness in this new world.

  If he doesn’t want to talk about it any longer, I will do him the curtesy of changing the subject. “What do you think happened to the president?” I ask.

  Garlind snorts. “He’s probably still in his same bunker underground somewhere, living a luxurious life. He didn’t care about his people. He just saved himself. My parents said he did nothing to help others. He just disappeared a few days before the meteorite hit and nobody saw him since.”

  “He’d be old now, right?”

  “In his eighties.”

  “He’s probably dead,” I say. Living to that age seems impossible in this world. Although…he probably took doctors into his bunker with him. I guess it is possible he’s still out there somewhere. He’s certainly not going to help us now, though.

  “Probably,” River agrees.

  I turn my attention to Garlind. “What did your parents do before?’

  “My father worked at a bank and my mother worked at an aged care facility,” he replies. “They didn’t know much about the meteorite, only that they needed to get away from it quickly. That’s why they went as far underground as they could get.”

  “It must have been scary coming back up again afterwards.”

  “They said that was the easy part. It was going into the caves that was the hardest. You know what they did with all the old people in the aged care facility?”

  I suddenly don’t want to know. Yet I nod anyway.

  “Yeah, they killed them all. Most were too sick to make it out of the home and those that could make the journey probably wouldn’t have survived very long in the difficult conditions.” Garlind’s eyes moisten before he wipes at them. “It almost killed her knowing what they were doing. She had no say about it, but still…just the thought of it tears me apart. I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been for her. Dad said she was never the same afterwards.”

  There are definitely moments in our lives that have the ability to change us forever. For Garlind’s mother, it was that very act of…compassion? Is that what they would have called it to justify murder? I truly hope we don’t have to experience any of those moments any time soon.

  Although, something tells me life isn’t that simple anymore.

  One of those moments could be around any corner.

  Chapter 10

  G
arlind is warm against me as I stir from my sleep. Sunlight is already making its way through the dirty window to cast rays on the broken floor.

  I don’t want to move in case I wake him. His arm rests over my waist. I know if was awake, he’d never touch me like that. He must have moved in his sleep and gathered me against him for the warmth my body offered.

  It’s a nice feeling.

  Having Garlind so close feels reassuring. Like I’m not alone now and might never be again. Before he showed up at my bunker door, it had been nine years since I’d been hugged. Since I’d seen or spoken to another human being. I don’t want to be without him again.

  And it’s not just that he’s another human being. It’s the fact that he’s kind and generous with a sense of humor that I get. It’s not just anyone that makes me feel this way, it’s everything that makes up Garlind.

  His eyelids flutter open and catches me staring at him. I look away quickly, hoping he didn’t see. I know he did, though. And he knows I know. I shift away from him so we’re no longer touching.

  “Good morning,” I say. “I was waiting for you to wake up so we can eat breakfast.”

  He stretches his long arms and yawns. His brown skin looks like warm chocolate in the sunlight. “You could have eaten without me. I wouldn’t mind.”

  “The crackers are in your backpack.”

  “You could have taken them.”

  Doesn’t the boy know I’m just trying to find an excuse for waiting for him to wake up? He’s making it difficult for me to hold onto some dignity. “You’re awake now so we may as well eat. Then I don’t have to touch anything that could be lingering in your pack.”

  He smiles and I swear it brightens up his entire face. “Okay. Whatever you say, Maisy Rayne.”

  We nibble on some crackers in silence. Like every meal, it’s never enough food and my stomach hungers for more. I dream of feasting on the burgers I’d seen faded pictures of yesterday. I have no idea what they would taste like but I bet they beat animal crackers any day.

  River and Clare whisper between themselves while they have breakfast. All too soon, we’ve decided we need to move today and stand on the pavement downstairs. I’m hyper-aware of any sounds that could indicate the animal from yesterday is still around. If there is one, there has to be more. A whole heard of them could be stalking us and waiting for a good moment to attack.

  Clare is unsteady on her feet as we set off. She holds onto River’s arm for support but walks terribly slow. Being up and mobile has to be a good sign for her recovery but it’s not going to get us very far.

  “Maybe we should wait another day,” I say. “There’s no real hurry, anyway, is there?”

  “We have to move. Staying anywhere too long is dangerous,” River replies without even looking at me. He’s steeled his gaze forward and is focused only on where we’re going. He doesn’t leave any room for arguments.

  “I’m okay,” Clare squeaks. Her unsteady gait tells me otherwise, but I don’t mention it. They’ve obviously decided today is the day and won’t let anything stop them.

  Garlind steps up beside Clare and takes her other arm in his. He shoulders a lot of her weight which helps her to walk properly. We speed up slightly.

  I walk beside the trio, unable to help in any way.

  We make our way through the small town—including the drug store we raided yesterday. Everything beyond that is new territory. Like everywhere else we’ve been, the village is dilapidated to the point of ruin. Vines and plants are taking over, covering walls and claiming roofs.

  It’s very quiet except for the light breeze that makes the leaves rustle. Thankfully, the sky is cloudless and blue. No chance of rain anytime soon.

  I wonder what my parents would make of the world today outside the bunker? Would they be happy that the meteorite didn’t wipe the country off the planet? Or would they hate to see the state of things, after knowing how they used to be? Maybe, in a way, we’re the lucky ones without any knowledge of how the world was before. At least we can’t grieve for everything that has been lost. This to us is just…normal.

  Normal is a very fluid concept these days.

  When River speaks, he startles me. “So, these ship things. They have doctors on them, right?”

  “My dad said they have fully equipped hospitals with doctors and surgeons. He said they can cope with any kind of medical problem,” Garlind replies. He’s always so confident about the Generation Ships. I wish we could all share that same optimism.

  “So, they’ll help Clare?”

  “I think so.”

  “You only think so? We’re not walking all this way across the frickin’ country just on a hunch.” River spits the words out like they are poison. “I need some proof. Some evidence.”

  “I don’t have anything,” Garlind says coolly. “Nobody is asking you to come along. You don’t have to follow us. We can leave you right here.”

  “We’re chasing a frickin’ fairy tale,” River huffs out. I know his anger comes from feeling powerless about Clare’s condition but he doesn’t need to take it out on Garlind. It’s nobody’s fault that she had a fit. Not even Clare’s.

  “The ships are real,” Garlind growls back.

  “According to you.”

  “Do you have a problem?”

  The boys stop, which means Clare and I stop too. I really wish we could just keep going. I hate it when the boys snark at each other. After seeing River’s softer side yesterday, I’d hoped we were past that. But apparently not.

  “Yeah, I have a problem. We’re all following you blindly to these ships that could be all in your head.”

  “Nobody asked you to!”

  “And yet here we are!”

  “We’re wasting time,” Clare interjects calmly. She turns on River. “We didn’t have any other options, did we? So, it doesn’t matter if we’re wasting time chasing these ships.” Next, she spins on Garlind. “How certain are you that they are real?”

  He’s taken aback for a moment. We haven’t seen this version of Clare for a while. “I’m one hundred percent certain. My parents believed in them and I trust my parents. They knew a lot of details that they couldn’t have just made up.”

  “Okay then. That’s good enough for me. Let’s keep going.” Clare takes their arms and starts walking, tugging them along. She might be unwell, but her inner strength hasn’t wavered.

  A smile creeps over my lips as I follow along. She’s successfully put the boys in their place. So much so they don’t say another word on the subject.

  It’s boring walking in silence but it’s better than having them fighting. I can still feel all the angry words lingering on the tip of their tongues but they manage to hold them.

  We don’t stop long for lunch. When we do, it’s just a short rest on the road. I like the way the tar gets warmed by the sun so when I sit on it, everything gets hotter. It’s enough to give me some energy to continue for the afternoon.

  I always keep a watchful eye on Clare. I’m waiting to see signs of another fit, like her body will just crumple to the ground at any minute. The boys have both her arms so she won’t reach the heated tar, but I imagine it that way anyway.

  We could cover double the distance if she was back to her normal self. I don’t feel a need to rush like Garlind does, so it doesn’t bother me. It probably worries him, though. He thinks the sooner we find a ship, the sooner we’ll be rescued. River shares his urgency too now.

  A faded billboard is perched by the side of the road. A vine grows over most of it. All I can see is the partially-hidden face of a clown grinning like he’s the happiest person on earth. I’ve never seen a clown in real life but my father said many people were afraid of them. I don’t know how it’s possible to be so afraid of something so happy.

  “An amusement park is coming up,” Clare squeals as she points toward the board. “We have to go! We have to!”

  “It’ll take too much time,” River replies. It was exactly what I was expecting
him to say.

  Clare stops dead still in her tracks. “We have to go. Please, River, please. We can’t be this close and not go. I really want to see it. I’ve never been to one before.”

  I can see his resolve melting away as he stares at her big, pleading eyes. After seeing her in such a vicarious state recently, it doesn’t surprise me when he caves. “Fine. We’ll make a short detour but we won’t stay very long. Just a quick look and then we’ll need to keep going.”

  Garlind opens his mouth to protest but I shake my head. We should let Clare have this visit. Just in case she doesn’t get a chance to see another one. It’s the least we can do for her, really. Another fit could happen at any time and she might not be so lucky to survive the next one.

  With the decision made, we take the next exit ramp and keep following the signs along the side of the road until we’re standing outside the creepiest looking place I’ve ever seen.

  Huge rides sit completely still beyond the high fences. The welcome sign has fallen off so it’s more like a doormat than an entrance. It’s rusted and claimed by foliage now, it no longer belongs to the human race.

  We have to climb over the stuck turnstile to get inside. The ground inside was once covered in concrete but is now cracked with weeds as tall as me growing through them. I almost step on a giant rat as it scurries through the overgrown weeds.

  Clare seems oblivious to it all. She twirls around slowly with her arms flung open, embracing the entire park. “This is amazing. Can you imagine what it would have looked like before? So beautiful. Everything.”

  I wish I could see it through her eyes. All I see are rusted rides that could very well be haunted by all the people that used to come here and have since died. I can feel their presence still lingering, having a good time as they enjoy a fun day out.

  There is no part about being here that I like. It only makes me sad to think how all that happiness and good times are lost now. That nobody will ever experience the park like it was ever again. That we don’t live in a world where we can go to an amusement park and have fun.