The Ark Series (Book 2): The Ark of Attrition

by Scott Kotrous

  “What the hell are you doing, Peter, are you nuts?” Simon shouts.

  Kelly and Jason both manage to close the door, struggling because of the wind. They turn to see Dave getting up from under Peter, while pulling him up along the way. Peter brushes off as much snow as he can in an attempt not to make eye contact with anyone.

  Simon studies his son up and down; God only knows what he’s thinking. “Peter, what—what are you thinking!” He grabs him by the shirt and forces Peter to look him in the eye.

  Peter hesitates but knows he has to explain himself. “Just hear me out, Dad. Just hear me out!” His dad lets go, but still tries to look him in his eyes.

  “Son, you need to explain what you were thinking, why did you bring an infected corpse into this house?”

  Peter steps back and wipes the water and snot from his face and flings it on the ground. “Because, Dad . . . I don’t think this thing is dead!”

  “What do you mean you don’t think this thing is dead? It’s completely frozen! What do you think it will come back to life if it thaws ou—” When he cuts himself off mid-word, Peter knows his dad realizes why he’s done this.

  “See, Dad, you know I’m right, just think about it.”

  Simon turns away and starts pacing back and forth while pulling at his beard, contemplating the possibility.

  Dave takes one look at the body and then at Peter. “The kids right, you guys, we need to thaw this thing out and see what happens.”

  Peter turns to Dave and smiles. “Exactly! See, you get it, these things were already dead so they’ll most likely come back to life once they melt.”

  Simon stops pacing when he sees Steph and Mia peeking around the corner and he quickly waves them off, and then turns to face everyone. “You’re absolutely right, son, there is the possibility that they can come back to life after they’ve melted.”

  Kelly looks to Jason for his input, but he says nothing. “So—wait, if it can come back to life after it thaws out, why the hell are we bringing it inside?”

  Peter bobs his head while staring at the body. “Because if it does come back to life, then we need to get the hell out of here.”

  Simons has already moved around the body and positioned himself at the feet. “He’s right. Now someone grab the other end, we need to get it into the bubble and thaw it out.”

  Jason grabs the torso and they drag the body downstairs and get it into the bubble and lay it on the table. Peter runs down the stairs holding a blow dryer shorty after. Just before he goes to plug it in, Simon stops him.

  “There’s no way we can run that right now. We haven’t charged in days, and we’ve been running on reserves ever since.”

  Peter drops the dryer to his side and flops his head back. “Dammit! I forgot the solar panels haven’t seen sun in days. Dammit!”

  Simon exits the bubble, enters the bunker, and goes over to the system monitors. Instantly not liking what he sees, he yells out, “Not a chance.”

  Simon hurries back into the bubble just as Peter reluctantly rolls up the cord. “Okay good, you heard me. Levels are dangerously low. The system’s not doing much more then keeping the heat on.”

  Dave walks into the bubble checking a handgun and then holstering it, and pulls a chair in the corner. “I’ll take first watch. But I think we need to revisit the thought that Pete made . . . we seriously need to discuss the realization that we need to get out of here, and soon. Does anyone else agree with us?”

  Jason throws his hands up and turns to look at his brother. “What! Why?”

  Simon looks at his son while bobbing his head yes, and exhales loudly. “Because they’re right.” He walks over to the tables around the room and begins rearranging things around while everyone else stands there in anticipation.

  Kelly walks into the silent room just in time to break the tension, unaware of what’s causing it. “What’s—up you guys? Is everything okay?”

  Jason goes over to his wife and grabs her hand. “They want to leave the bunker and go somewhere else which hasn’t been discussed.”

  “What! Why would we do that?” She crosses her arms and looks around at no one saying anything. “Is someone going to say something.”

  Simon stops rummaging around and turns to look at Kelly and explains why they came to the conclusion that they need to leave. First pointing out the very immanent fact that they’ll soon lose power and have no heat unless the storm breaks and the sun comes out. He’s quick to remind them what the double edge could be, if the sun is charging the panels, then they are also melting the infected, reinforcing Peter’s reasons for wanting to thaw out a body. Because they all know how Colorado weather can go from a blizzard one day to fifty degrees the next, melting away all that snow within days. The reality of the situation sets in for everyone, and they all eventually come to the same conclusion.

  Water drips off the body, and the tension in the room becomes palpable. Every drop that hits the ground is like a ticking reminder of the inevitable . . . they’re running out of time.

  Hours later and they know they’re getting close to it completely thawing out—Dave pulls out his knife and then checks his gun in anticipation for the worst. And then it happens . . . its appendages begin to twitch followed by the entire body doing the same. Dave hovers over the head while holding the knife, and when it’s eyes open and it comes back to life, Dave instantly plunges his knife into it’s skull and the shaking stops. He pulls his knife out and turns to look at the shocked faces standing behind him.

  “We need to get the fuck outta here.”

  Chapter 10

  John brushes Kate’s hair back and then nuzzles his nose behind her ear. He wraps his arm around her after pressing his naked body next to hers and spoons her. He almost feels guilty allowing pleasure to enter his world and suspects Kate feels the same. The undeniable disconnect between them has now unfortunately made its way into the bedroom and has invaded their once passionate and intimate aspect of their relationship. What was once considered making love has turned into almost an essential carnal act of reproduction—for the survival of the human race.

  They don’t say a word while they just lay there, perfectly succinct like spoons lying in a drawer, yet feeling so far apart. Was their relationship becoming just another casualty of these tragic times, just another victim of circumstance? Or was it that they hadn’t even discussed the fact that he was leaving soon to go on a rescue mission. Was he abandoning his family in this time of need, or was he doing what he knows is right and going to hopefully save a loved one? He knows they need to talk about these things before he leaves, but he’s just not sure how to bring them up. Even though he’s leaving his family in quite possibly the safest environment known to man, he was still risking his life. And it didn’t matter how many reasons he had, or how many answers he could come up with, when it boiled down to it, he couldn’t argue the fact that he was putting his life at risk, and potentially abandoning his family forever.

  So they continue to lay there, neither one saying a word, just holding onto each other like it was their last night together . . . because they both knew . . . any day could be their last.

  Weeks later and John, Adam, and Sasha are summoned back to the testing facility by Evgeni. They’re able to get in contact with him on the radio this time, so they know exactly where he is. They meet up with him this time down on the extraordinarily life-like Colorado landscape testing track. Everyone’s a little hesitant yet eager at the same time to know what they are doing.

  They walk up behind Evgeni, and he turns as soon as they get close. “Well hello—hello, nice to see you. Please come—come, we have much to do today.”

  He leads them away from the track, down a corridor and into a giant garage where they come upon three huge vehicles, obviously the Havocs, and one smaller vehicle with a much pointier front end. John’s smile grows from ear to ear at the sight, like a kid on Christmas morning.

  Evgeni walks them around the sides of one of the Havo
cs and then leads them to the rear of the vehicle. As soon as they walk into the Havoc, John’s smile some how gets even bigger, much to the amazement of everyone else.

  The hull is reminiscent of that of a submarine, with multiple computer stations along the sides that are practically covered with monitors. Evgeni walks them through each station explaining their purpose—everything from systems monitoring to weapons and defensive capabilities.

  John marvels at how technologically advanced everything is, far exceeding his expectations. Even though he was well briefed on it’s details and was shown schematics numerous times, he didn’t expect it to be like this. Almost every feature that was explained to them at their first meeting is the same, except for the sonic boom disk, and the retractable circular saw blades that were supposed to surround the vehicle. But with the short amount of time they had to get everything ready and fully tested, they just weren’t able to accommodate these features.

  Evgeni also explains how they had to come up with another fuel source since solar power could be limited if not nonexistent, and they didn’t want to solely rely on the Alternator Axle technology that still wasn’t fully tested in a vehicle of this size. So they came up with a system that utilizes hemp, which they have been growing in the Ark for years. He tries to explain how they’ve come up with a way to compress the hemp into extremely dense blocks, making them easy for transporting. The blocks will be transported in a trailer towed by the last Havoc and should be enough to go much farther then their destination.

  Evgeni can tell John is impressed and a bit overwhelmed just from the look on his face, and by his limited verbal expression. “I can tell you’re all impressed by what you see, but if you all take seat and strap in, we will venture outside to test vehicles in snow.”

  John looks at Adam and Sasha for their response, but they just nod and exchange a quick glance. John looks back to Evgeni, fumbling for words.

  “Ah—ah—okay, let’s do it.”

  Evgeni gives them a nod and tells them to buckle up and put on the headsets. He then walks to the front of the vehicle and straps himself into the passenger seat. Once everyone confirms they are ready, Evgeni gives the go ahead over the radio. The Havoc fires up with a rumble and surprisingly stimulating vibration.

  Evgeni identifies the first vehicle as being called the Piercer, named after what it does, pierce through not only the snow but most other obstacles as well. It was built mainly for torque and power and will blaze a trail for the Havocs.

  They pull out after the Piercer, followed by another Havoc towing the trailer. Their view is limited so they have to rely on the cameras from the Piercer and Havoc’s exterior. The caravan slowly drives up a long corridor that circles around the exterior of the Ark’s interior. They eventually arrive at a massive set of blast doors two stories high and wait for conformation from security.

  Flashing lights and an alarm sounding is immediately followed by the doors opening and their camera feeds are instantly blinded by the blowing snow. Once the snow falling from above the doors slows, the Piercer rolls out and dives into what looks like at least six feet of snow.

  The camera view from the Piercer is like looking through snow with goggles, or if it was possible to swim through, making John wish he was on top of that mountain snowboarding down that fluffy campaign powder.

  The Havocs follow close behind the Piercer as they circle around the town and make their way toward the wide open and mostly undeveloped base area. They run through a number of different tests and scenarios including the battery ram test. When the piercer gets stuck, the Havocs link up with the Piercer and create a train that uses all three vehicles power. The test proved that they should have no problem plowing through trees or anything else in their way.

  After testing some of the weapons systems on prebuilt targets spread throughout, they conclude that it was a very successful outing, and so they head back to the Ark.

  Chapter 11

  Maggie paces back and forth in front of the radio station, growing more frustrated each day. She forgets if she was pacing out of frustration or just to stay warm, so she stops and storms upstairs closely followed by Kristie. They walk into the living room and see Sam, Jen, Nate, and Eric all huddled around the fireplace playing Monopoly. She clears her throat while she stands over them waiting for them to stop giggling.

  “Pardon all the fun, guys, but we still haven’t heard back from Brock and I think we need to go back over there and give him one of our walkie-talkies.”

  Eric drops his head, sits up, and then crosses his legs Indian style. “What do you mean we? You mean Nate and I?”

  “Well yeah, naturally.”

  Nate exhales loudly and then sits up. “When would you like us to do that?”

  Kristie slightly steps in front of Maggie with her hands on her hips. “How ‘bout when you’re done your little game with your new friends. How does that sound.”

  Nate shakes his head and looks away. “Well it’ll be dark soon, so are you sure you want us to go now.”

  Kristie turns and looks at Maggie for an answer to their backfiring plan. Maggie’s eyes blink rapidly, unsure what to say. “Ah—no, not today. You can go sometime midday tomorrow. We also need more firewood, so you can get it at the same time.” She starts to walk away but then stops herself and turns back toward everyone. “You know what, I’m probably just overacting. Let’s give it a few more days and if we haven’t heard from him by then, then you guys can go over. Okay?”

  “Sure Maggie, whatever you wanna do.” Nate turns back toward the game and they go back to playing. Maggie doesn’t say anything before turning and going into the kitchen to prepare dinner, Kristie right by her side. They cook a decent meal out of canned and freeze dried food, grateful they still had spices for seasoning.

  They finish the meal with the same plea from Eric and Nate to be able to sleep in the same bed with their girlfriends, but Maggie and Kristie kindly say no and tell them they will be sticking to the sleeping arrangement of the two of them sleeping in the same bed, and Jen and Sam in the same bed in the adjacent room, with the doors left open for heat. And the guys will stay on the couch and keep the fire going throughout the night.

  After the same weak argument from the guys, it eventually comes to an end. They all hangout for a little while longer before everyone heads to bed. Maggie makes sure the fire has plenty of wood, and then stokes it a few times to really get it going just in case the guys fall asleep.

  She heads upstairs, and does her bathroom routine before one last check on everyone and then gets into bed and says goodnight to Kristie. They girl-talk for a while before they both fall asleep.

  Maggie awakes in the middle of the night to a sound she can’t identify. She lifts her head up to listen, but doesn’t hear anything. She sits up once she hears what must have woke her, the sound of a giggle coming from downstairs . . . a familiar giggle. Kristie wakes and mumbles something, but Maggie just shushes her and sits in silence until she hears the same giggle.

  “Kristie, wake up, did you hear that? It sounds like the same giggle from one of the girls like when they were playing the board game.” She gets out of bed and fumbles for the lighter on her nightstand, lights a candle, and then puts on her robe and slippers. She looks at Kristie who has her arm over her face, not saying a word.

  “Kristie wake up, we need to go downstairs.”

  Kristie mumbles something, pulls the covers over her head, and doesn’t move. Maggie tries to wake her again but eventually gives up and decides to go down by herself. She slowly walks down the stairs as quietly as possible, knowing just where to step on the stairs in order to minimize the squeaks. She gets to the bottom and waits before she hears more female giggling followed by voices shushing her.

  She turns the corner and looks into the living room, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the sight of her boyfriend, Nate, Jen, and Sam closely huddled around the fire passing a bong. Maggie doesn’t even recognize her boyfriend as he sits pressed right u
p to Sam, giggling while they flirt. It reminds her of how he used to flirt with her when they first met, long before they dated. She thinks to herself how much it would have bothered her maybe just a year or two ago, but she doesn’t even get upset.

  Maggie clears her throat very loudly and walks into the room. Both Eric and Nate drop their heads, and Sam and Jen just turn to look who it is. “Ah—what the hell’r you guys doing?”

  Sam quickly moves away from Eric and jumps up and puts her arms out. “Maggie! Come join us!”

  “Ah—no. I will not be joining you. Ah—Eric, can I please speak with you in the other room.”

  Nate looks over at Eric not moving, so he quickly jumps up. “Maggie, please don’t tell Kris about this. She’s already super pissed at me from the other day.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, Nate, I won’t tell her anything . . . but you will.” She turns to look around Nate. “Eric, may I please speak to you in the other room.”

  Eric throws down the lighter and gets up off the ground, purposely trying not to make eye contact with Samantha. He moves around a silent Nate and follows Maggie into the other room. Before she can even turn around, Eric begins to shoot his mouth off in an apologetic fit, so she has to cut him off.

  “Enough! I don’t even wanna hear it! I can’t even begin to tell you how pissed I am right now, Eric! But I guess this explains why you’ve been so lethargic the last few days. You’ve been getting high with Miss Silicon Valley!”

  They argue for a little while longer before Sam and Jen pass by them apologizing along the way upstairs.

  “Is there something going on that I should know about, Eric? You seem to be real chummy with Sam.” Maggie attempts to make eye contact with him, but he keeps his head down and never looks her in the eye.

  “No, there’s nothing going on. We were just having some fun and letting loose a little. We had to do it at night because we knew you and Kristie would be pissed at us.” He lifts his head to make brief eye contact, but then immediately drops it again when he sees the look on her face.