Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series Book 1)

by Quil Carter

  The greywastes mirrored itself, though to wield a more accurate reflection perhaps it should have been called the redwastes. What looked back at you was dull and lifeless but only on the surface. Under its mask was a growling monster ready to eat you in small gnawing bites and coat the grey rocks in blood. The wasteland was only empty to the foolish. Inside there was life, though it was deformed and twisted.

  Living, though perhaps not alive.

  I felt Reaver’s body under my hands. He would protect me, like the mercenaries had on the way to Aras. Though as Reaver had said, Donnely hadn’t been open to the wasters for very long, so hopefully no one would have settled there.

  I squeezed Reaver’s back and buried my head into his neck. The wounds he had gotten on his neck from the blast were just half-healed scabs now. We didn’t bother bandaging it anymore, or cleaning it. Just scratching to relieve some of the itch. I had been demoted from Reaver’s little doctor, to the official back scratcher, but I didn’t mind.

  The greywastes passed around us quickly, I hadn’t been to this side of the wastes yet. My family had come in from the opposite side of Aras, more north around the canyons, and that’s where the legionaries had kidnapped me too. I had never been to the east before. There were a lot more abandoned buildings and more broken up roads. Not occupied though, which was a relief.

  The buildings were in horrible condition. Most had partially collapsed roofs and others were just burnt-out shells. Mountains of greywaste ash and dirt had been blown into every crevice and opening in the houses, filling them to the point where the only shelter they provided would be to the animals.

  I could see bigger houses in the distance but Reaver steered far away from them. I thought they might have been occupied but I wasn’t sure. Some of them looked huge though, old office buildings perhaps, or apartments, all just hazy silhouettes in the beating sun.

  I loved scavenging in apartments, or even better, hotel rooms. My dad had been great at busting into them even if they were boarded up with sheet metal. I had found some really neat and valuable treasures inside. Once I had even found an old soda bottle that still had soda in it. Though Mom wouldn’t let me drink it. I ended selling it in the next town we stayed in. An old collector gave me five dollars for it and a bag of marshmallow bananas.

  I hoped Donnely had apartment buildings or a grocery store. Though I don’t know how much we would be able to carry back on the quad. There was a basket in the front and bungee cables in the back plus I had my bag with me. At least we could bury the stuff we couldn’t carry, like Reaver did with his drug supplies.

  Wow, since I was taking this scavenging mission with Reaver it meant I was helping the block. It’s silly but it took me three hours into our journey for me to realize that. The most I had been able to do was help Doc around the clinic. Besides that I was well… the idiot with the books, rather useless.

  Reaver slowed as he started up a string of rocky slopes. I held onto him harder as we bumped around. It didn’t help the nausea I had been feeling on and off. I tried to hold it back but soon I was desperately patting Reaver’s shoulder.

  He stopped and as soon as he did, I jumped off and threw up behind the quad.

  “I’m going to pull the quad up by that burnt-out farmstead and we can take a break,” I heard Reaver say, then the crunching of gravel and rock as he moved the quad forward.

  I spat before puking my guts out again. I wiped my mouth and tried to cover the puke with dirt before walking towards the burnt house.

  Around us were rusted-out trucks and tractors, and a collapsed barn back behind the remains of a fence. The whole area surrounding us was flat, once holding crops or farm animals, but now covered in yellow grass, bushes, and bits of old fence that sprung from the grass like grave markers.

  Reaver killed the engine and jumped off. He reached into the bag Reno had given him and handed me a bottle of water, taking one for himself. He leaned up against the charred wooden beams and cracked it open.

  I took a drink and rinsed out my mouth before I swallowed it. I bet Reno hadn’t packed me a toothbrush and there was no way I was asking Reaver. He would never let me live it down since his personal hygiene left a lot to be desired. He hadn’t even washed his bulletproof vest yet, it stank of stale blood. At least I had a spare toothbrush in my bag though it was very old. Better than nothing.

  Reaver was looking troubled. He put his goggles up and rested them over his blue bandana he was wearing over his head. His black eyes staring forward.

  “I’m sorry for all this,” I said sullenly.

  “I’ll be okay.” I didn’t really know what else to say.

  His black eyes found mine and I wondered for a second if I could see the brown flecks in the sunlight. “You’re not okay. You just puked your guts out and your heart was racing almost this whole trip.”

  I walked up to him and leaned on the beam beside his. “It’s slower now though.” I looked down at my chest. Since there wasn’t anyone else around, I put my hand over his and squeezed it.

  I gave him a smile, which got me a confused look. Sure enough, I could see the dark brown flecks in his eyes, and even a streak or two from the pieces of hair sticking out of his kerchief. “This is just how life is. I’m a lot more resilient than you think. I was on the road for months with my family when we defected. My father and mother were just as bad as me and… and we made it.”

  Reaver didn’t look convinced. I didn’t blame him; I barely knew what I was saying. I opened my mouth to try and sell my case a bit more, but before I could stop it… I whirled around and threw up again.

  He stifled a laugh. I felt his hand pat my back.

  “So brave!” he mock gasped. I turned around and went to hit him in the shoulder. He smiled and ducked away from it.

  I took another drink of water to rinse the new puke out of my mouth. “The road is all twisted and hilly, it ticked off my stomach,” I said in my defence, though I didn’t even buy that excuse.

  He rolled his eyes and took a drink too, downing almost half the bottle in one gulp. I cringed. I wanted to remind him we had to ration it but maybe Donnely had a water source. Besides, he was the expert at this not me.

  “If you’re up for it, want to try a few buildings farther southeast? Greyson mentioned them the other day, they might have some cool shit in ‘em,” he said, motioning past the farmstead. “We can leave tomorrow for Donnely. For the rest of the day we can explore there and find a shelter nearby. We have more time to kill since the ACL fucks will be doing their thing in Aras today and tomorrow.”

  “Sure,” I said putting the bottle away. “Do you know what places have wasters in them?” I turned to see if I could see any of the buildings from where I was.

  “No, but I don’t expect to see anyone around here. If I do though they’re getting shot,”

  He threw his half-empty bottle into the bag too and disappeared behind the house. I heard his pants unzip. I might as well pee too; Reaver wouldn’t be impressed if I asked him to stop again.

  We carried on past the old barn and away from the farmstead. There were broken remnants of a road in front of us, mostly covered by dirt and rock, but Reaver followed it as best he could. He seemed to be avoiding the steeper hills, and I liked to think he was doing that for me.

  I started to see buildings in the distance. It looked like the outskirts to a small town; suburbs perhaps since this was just a normal road, not a highway. The trees were growing thicker though so it was hard to tell.

  “That’s Donnely,” Reaver shouted, pointing towards the suburbs. “It’s a medium size city, at least two pharmacies in it I bet.” His hand moved to the side and as he pointed I noticed the remains of blue tape. “That’s Skytech’s warning tape. They wrap it around trees and put up medians to show the town’s closed. It was open a couple years ago I think.”

  This I did know. I had seen many trees covered in the familiar blue tape. Usually our chips would start to vibrate as soon as we got near the trees.
The mercenaries stayed far away from anything covered in the tape. We had eaten through most of our iodine pills getting through the badland highways and the dump sites. We didn’t have any to spare to start poking around forbidden areas.

  Reaver slowed the quad down as the road became congested with cars and trucks. He moved further off the road and slowly weaved in between the vehicles. I looked inside and spotted a few skeletons and even some old world suitcases that looked intact. Though I didn’t ask Reaver to stop.

  We passed a bullet-riddled stop sign and a mould-streaked concrete block wall holding back part of a cliff face, and then took a twisted left turn. In front of us was a building with what remained of a parking lot and gas pumps in front of it.

  The sign read Greenvalley Gas n Grocery in blue curled paint, but it had fallen off of its rusted chains long ago and was now leaning up against the single-storey brick building. The brick was crumbling but most of it had remained standing. What had broken off had stayed where it had fallen, covered in with dirt, roots, and rocks.

  All of the windows were boarded shut with rust-stained sheet metal over glass long broken. It didn’t look occupied. The cars had spindly bushes growing around them and sapling-sized trees. There were even a few trees growing up out of the rusted gas pumps; I didn’t think people had been here for a long time.

  Reaver steered the quad into a small space between a fallen over median and a steep hill. He turned it around, I’m assuming so we could get away quickly if needed, and turned it off.

  I stepped onto the parking lot, though I wobbled a bit since I wasn’t used to not being in motion. I looked around.

  Windows boarded, door boarded, easy exit if needed, no spray paint or carcasses indicating it had been claimed by ravers. Just faded advertisements for soda and cigarettes and something inside that was ‘2 for 1’.

  I stopped and craned my ears. Everything was quiet, except for a few hoppers. It looked safe.

  I walked across the pavement. Tufts of yellow grass had started growing through the hot surface, alongside remnants of long dead spiny brush. They probably during the rainy seasons only to die once it became dry again. The greenery they once had everywhere before the Fallocaust never got a proper chance to grow here from either drought or radiation. Though it did try but the world kept poisoning it.

  Reaver appeared beside me and handed me my assault rifle and an over the chest holster. I slipped it over my head, and took the combat knife he was also holding. I looked like a Reaver double now. Bulletproof vest, rifle, knife, I was even all dressed in black like he usually was.

  I must admit that did make me feel a bit dangerous, though I probably looked like a moron. Either way, it helped calm my nerves and hopefully my heart rate. How inconvenient it was to have a boyfriend who could hear your heartbeat; I couldn’t hide any emotions from him.

  “One rule,” Reaver said as we walked towards the old gas station. “If I say get to the quad and get the fuck out of here, you do it. No questions, no trying to be a hero. Understand?”

  I didn’t really like that rule at all, but I knew better than to argue with him. “Understood,” I said, though I didn’t know if I would be able to do that if it came to it. I wonder if he felt that way when Greyson ordered him around.

  My boyfriend nodded and stepped onto the front walk of the grocer. He was silent and I could tell he was listening for anyone inside. He must’ve been satisfied that it was empty because a moment later he got out a hatchet from the bag and started prying the sheet metal off of the door, making an awful noise.

  “Sweety…” I said quietly and as submissively as I could manage.

  Reaver paused, making a face. “This better be good if you’re calling me sweety now.”

  I smiled and put my hand over the hatchet and pushed it down. “Why don’t we just unscrew the screws instead of… bashing our way in? It’s quieter and less obvious anyone was here when we leave.” I reached into my bag and pulled out my multi-tool. It had been my father’s.

  Reaver didn’t look like he wanted to take the multi-tool, probably from pride more than not wanting to use it. But he relented after a moment’s contemplation and took it with a grumble under his breath.

  When he unscrewed the sheet metal, I helped him slide it off to the side. Then I put Reno’s night vision goggles on. I turned them on and followed Reaver inside.

  It was like stepping into a different world, a world sealed up when the Fallocaust sent the pulse of radiation that killed off the last of organized society. A world that could only be seen covered in a thick layer of dust and an invisible dose of radiation.

  The old store stretched before us like a musty cave, dark and forgotten, with a grey veil covering the rows and rows of shelves warped and bowed from age. The white paint was long gone, reduced to nothing but curls and chips mixed in with plaster lying on the dirty floor.

  Debris was everywhere. What might’ve been recognizable had been either encased in ash and dirt, or covered in the partially collapsed ceiling. Through my night vision goggles I could see wires, ceiling beams, and puffs of insulation trying to escape from between the breaking gyprock and the attic.

  A couple more rainy seasons and the roof might collapse, though we got such little rain for all I knew it might last another hundred years. The climate had an uncanny way of preserving things now. Killing the rain and the plants seemed to do that.

  Reaver stepped in first and I followed behind. Our boots crunched against the chunks of drywall and brick. We both froze at the same time and listened, but still there was only silence.

  I walked down one of the aisles, shelves of various objects on either side of me. It didn’t look like this place had been scavenged in a long time, and definitely not picked clean.

  I saw a few dusted cans that looked like they might contain food. I had brought a couple of packages of Dek’ko foodsafe drops and I wanted to save them for something good. Even if the radiation on this side of the greywastes had been declared safe many years ago, it was still smart to mix the drops in with the canned food you found. Better safe than radiation poisoning. Our Geigerchips could only do so much.

  I picked up one of the cans and tried to wipe the dust away, but the label was bleached and unreadable, falling off with even the gentlest of touches.

  I sighed. Mystery food again. We had eaten a lot of that on the way to Aras. I tucked two cans into my bag for later.

  I walked down the aisles and turned a corner. A row of metal shelving that took up an entire back wall was filled with what looked like pre-Fallocaust electronics and machinery. One looked like a fan, the other might be a motor. I was about to get a closer look when Reaver made a clicking noise to grab my attention.

  “Stay close to me,” he said. I looked longingly at the shelves but obeyed and followed his footsteps as he walked around the blind spots of the old store. He was pushing aside debris with the tip of his silenced M16, and kicking the insulation and plaster away with his foot.

  When he heard me beside him, he handed me a cylindrical object.

  “We need to save the batteries on the goggles, you’ll see better with the flashlight,” Reaver said. He picked up an object and dusted it off. It looked like a video cassette. He, of course, needed no help seeing in the dark. I envied him.

  I looked at the box where he had picked up the video and saw several others tucked inside. I started to thumb through them but the tape looked like it had wrinkled. Still I picked out a few to give to Reno as a present. I didn’t know what ones I was picking out, the labels had worn like the ones on the cans but well… any new video would probably be a treat for him.

  I coughed into my sleeve as the dust flew up into the air and then closed the box of videos so the next person could look through them. I followed Reaver through the aisles.

  As we got to the back end of the store, we saw what obviously had been someone’s shelter at one time, though not for many years. There was a radrat eaten mattress, a threadbare blanket, and some
empty cans and spoons. As I poked around I found a few books, but they had also been radrat eaten. I could barely read the writing.

  I shone the flashlight towards where I thought Reaver was and yelped in surprise.

  There was a pile of bones in what used to be the bathroom, with a skull sitting in the sink, shreds of brittle hair still clinging to the scalp.

  Reaver turned around and was by me in three steps. He looked to where I was staring and gave a chuckle.

  “Well, there he is,” Reaver said amused, he walked into the bathroom probably looking for a medicine cabinet. “Radiation must have gotten him.”

  “He was murdered,” I said nervously. I shone the flashlight in every corner of the store. Seeing the skeleton had made me nervous; this place had gotten a lot scarier in a short period of time.

  “What makes you say that?” Reaver said. He gave the dry bones a nudge before stepping out of the bathroom. He started walking back to the area he had just come from.

  “How else did his skull get into the sink?” I said, running up so I could be close to him, still shining my flashlight everywhere. The light reflected off of an old coke cooler and blinded me for a second. I lowered the light and stuck close to my partner.

  “Good point,” he admitted. “But those bones are years and years old, the murderer is long gone.”

  “I guess,” I mumbled. I still kept an ear out though. I looked down and noticed my flashlight was shining on a blue plastic milk crate. I knelt down and pulled it out.

  Reaver disappeared into a doorway in the back, leaving me with the box. I picked it up and slammed it onto the wooden shelf. A shower of white paint chips fell onto the dirty floor.

  I let out a little squeak as I looked inside of the box. Right on top of it were several bars of ivory soap!