Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV

by Borthwick, Finlay

  “No!” Elliot cried out and dropped to his knees.

  “What?” Sonia pulled her knife out and pushed Olivia back against the tree. “That’s what happened, isn’t it?”

  “Let me go… Let me go!” Elliot begged, as the sky turned to grey, and the sunlight disappeared. Heavy rain began to pour, and thunder began to bellow out.

  “You’re weak, Elliot! That’s why she’s dead! That’s why she will always die in every little ‘What if?’ dream of yours…” Sonia berated him, and then knelt down to join him on the ground.

  Elliot’s eyebrows dipped, as he became cross, “I’m going to kill you one day…”

  Once again, Sonia laughed off his threats. “Good luck with that!” Then, she slashed his throat open with her knife.

  “Elliot!” Nikola tried to steady him; he was shaking vigourously amidst his dream-turned-nightmare.

  Then, he ceased. “N-Nikola?” He recognised her voice. “My eyes…” Elliot held his hands out in front of him; but of course, he could not see them, nor anything at all. “I had it back. My sight was back!” He screamed ferociously, disgruntled at the abrupt ending of his dream. “They’re the only place I can see, Nikola. My dreams.”

  “Uh…” She didn’t know what to say. “Elliot, listen, you need to come with me.”

  “What? Why?” He asked, as he felt Nikola wrap her arm around his. “You’re doing that gently.” He had learnt to figure out what the mood of a situation was just from how sensitive a person’s touch was. “What’s happened? Is mum alright?”

  Nikola sighed. “Just come with me…”

  Everything was quiet and sombre back in the town. Erica and Tina were taking a slow evening stroll.

  “It’s just… It’s not right.” Tina remarked with regards to Gwen. “All that talk Elliot gave us about remembering those we lost; now it looks we’ll be adding our best friend to the list.”

  Erica was just as silent as the atmosphere around her.

  Noticing this, Tina decided to interrupt the quietness with a thoughtful idea. “Maybe we should go and see how Annabelle is doing. Petra’s a lovely lady, but she doesn’t have the same connection to that girl as we do. What do you think?”

  Erica stared at the ground with a blank face, suppressing her emotions, and then nodded in agreement.

  “Well, on the bright side,” Rubin optimistically said to Jázmin, “At least J.V. and his family are down for good. We’ve made some new friends too!”

  “Yeah, yeah we have.” She affirmed and nodded with a light smile; though her eyes suggested she was playing along with an ulterior motive.

  From the end of the corridor, Elliot and Nikola entered from around the corner.

  “Elliot!” Jázmin called out and rushed over to him, taking over from Nikola as his support.

  “Mum. Where’s mum?” He was straight to the point.

  Jázmin looked to Nikola, “Haven’t you told him?”

  “Told me what? What’s going on? Just tell me already!”

  Nikola shook her head, “It’s better if he sees it… Well, senses it, for himself.”

  Elliot’s whole world stopped; the void filled only by his ear drums pounding.

  “Get the door for us.” Jázmin requested of Rubin, who complied.

  Cautiously, Jázmin helped Elliot into the room.

  “Here.” She stretched his arms out one-at-a-time onto Gwen’s torso.

  There were no more words to be said; Elliot was completely shattered.

  “She is frail.” Petra informed Erica and Tina before they entered Annabelle’s room. “As you have said, I do not know her how the two of you know her. I have difficulty with English still, but I think I heard her whispering of a man; ‘Andy’.”

  Erica and Tina looked at each other, realising now just how badly Annabelle was holding up.

  “If help is needed, I am here.” Petra bowed her head respectfully before opening the door for her acquaintances.

  Erica entered the bedroom first.

  On the other side of the bed, Annabelle stood upright, staring out of the window.

  With feet like a ninja, she hastily and quietly made her way to Annabelle’s side, and then deeply embraced her. “Whatever happens, we will always look after you.” She could feel Annabelle trembling in her arms and could hear her snivelling as well.

  A tear formed in Tina’s eye as she watched Annabelle bury her head into Erica’s shoulder.

  “I will give you time.” Petra whispered, closing the door on them.

  While Jázmin had exited the room again, Elliot was still holding on tightly to his stepmother. “Is she going to die?” His voice cracked as he asked this, fearful of the truth.

  The room became suspiciously quiet.

  “I know you’re still in here.” Elliot commented. “Is my mother going to die?”

  “…Your mother could live.” The man responded from the other side of the room, currently observing Alek’s vital signs. “Your friend here may live as well.” He added optimistically, trying to draw away from the possibility of death.

  “Were you a doctor? Before, I mean…” Though part of him genuinely wanted to know this, he was also trying to distract himself as well.

  “Not quite. I was a shrink.” He corrected Elliot.

  Elliot nodded, “Of course. That explains why you answered a different question to the one answered.” He referred to how the man had said the two ‘patients’ may live, despite asking if they would die.

  “The name’s Emile, by the way.” He was about to go over to Elliot and offer a handshake, but then remembered he was blind upon looking up and seeing his cold grey eyes.

  “I’m Elliot, but I’m guessing someone told you that already.” He deduced.

  “Yep.”

  “That accent… What is that?” Again, while still genuinely curious, Elliot was also trying to distract himself.

  Emile laughed. “If you’re wondering where I’m from, the answer is Denmark. My accent is one-of-a-kind; a ‘perk’ of being born to an English mother and a Danish father, if you will.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by the door opening.

  “Jázmin? Is that you?” Elliot asked, still stretching his arms out to keep physical contact with Gwen.

  “Uh…” A female voice replied, though it was not a familiar one. “Who are you again?”

  “His name is Elliot.” Emile answered for him. “Elliot, meet Marianne. My best friend in the whole wide world.”

  Elliot grunted; for his best friend was currently dying underneath his hands.

  “There’s over twenty of us in this place.” Emile revealed. “Most of the folks have run back to their families now that the Valerinos are extinct.”

  “And you two? Why are you still here?” Elliot asked seemingly ungratefully, but in truth, he was just very much confused as to why Emile and Marianne were trying to save two total strangers that would’ve killed them in a heartbeat less than an hour ago.

  “The father of my child left me long before the world ended,” Marianne answered first. “My son meant everything to me. It didn’t matter how young I was, I loved him from birth until--”

  Elliot nodded, understanding how that sentence was going to end. “And you?” He addressed Emile.

  “A similar story. My family was only ever one person, but he’s long gone now. I’ve got nobody to go back to… But I know that she does.” He pointed to Gwen, though Elliot could only figure this out from his emphasis on the pronoun.

  “I’m sorry.” Elliot struggled to say these words, but ultimately, everybody in this room was human and had emotions. “For your losses. I’m sorry.”

  “What about you?” Marianne turned the question around. “Apart from your mother, I mean; you got anyone else these days?”

  Elliot began to nod his head in reference to Annabelle, but then stopped, scared for how she would react to this news, “My sister…”

  “Your mother is strong.” Erica reassured Annabelle wh
ile brushing her arm. “But you already know that. She’ll be okay, I promise.”

  Annabelle’s face was still completely white; she had been through a lot in the past week.

  “And you know who else is strong? Elliot.” Tina added. “He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He loves her as much as you do.”

  “Tina! Erica!” Petra burst into the room, interrupting the tender moment.

  They both spun around instantly. “Petra? What is it?”

  “Look!” She ran into the room and leapt over the bed, opening the window, and pointing upwards to the sky.

  A faint mechanical whirring filled the room.

  Erica and Tina looked at each other fearfully, then jumped up to the window.

  “Everyone is hearing it!” Petra commented, pointing towards the road alongside the river where many members of the community had stepped outside their houses and were now looking up into the sapphire evening sky.

  The noise grew louder, though Annabelle remained completely unfazed.

  The three women at the window looked up and were all blown away.

  There, in the sky, five fighter jets flew overhead. They were in a perfect V-shaped formation, all at an unchanging constant speed.

  “How....How is—How’s that even possible?” Erica was at a total loss for words.

  Tina shook her head, still transfixed on the aircrafts as they passed into the horizon.

  “The army?” Petra suggested.

  “Pfft.” Tina scoffed and stepped back from the window as the jets went out of view again. “What army?”

  “Czechian army!” She presumed, given their location.

  “I don’t think so…” Erica rebutted this notion. “We’ve scouted for miles and miles in any given direction around this place and not once have we found any signs of a military presence. If it is the army, then they’ll be from somewhere else without a doubt.”

  “People!” Petra was feeling overjoyed by this revelation. “There is hope. There is a future! The world is not over!”

  “Whoa, whoa, don’t get ahead of yourself.” Tina raised her hands in a gesture that meant ‘Stop’. “We don’t know what we just saw. For all we know, they could be evil. They may not even be an official army!”

  “I agree. I think they’re a militia if anything.” Erica added.

  “Where is Annabelle?” Petra asked, looking down at the bed, noticing their quiet friend had vanished.

  “Uh…” Erica looked back outside; there were many people out there still, but none of them were Annabelle.

  “Annabelle!” Tina called out as she went to search the house.

  KIELCE, POLAND

  LATER THAT DAY…

  The young lad had been told to wait in the barracks all day for a call from his commanding officer; he was the only one in his platoon who was fluent in both English and Polish, and as such, was perfect for the task.

  Finally, the phone rang out. It was vintage and hooked up with a wire, just like it was straight out of the 1950s.

  The lad wiped his palms down his trousers and then hesitantly picked the phone up. “Hello?”

  On the wall in front of his desk there was a large wooden board. The sheet of paper pinned to the centre of the board read ‘PROJECT ZODIAC’. Above this sign, there was a photo of space station with several portraits of its’ crew members around it; the station was labelled as ‘GEMINI’.

  There were other projects on either side of the board as well, labelled as ‘AQUARIUS’, ‘CAPRICORN’ and ‘LIBRA’.

  “Yes sir, I understand…” The lad complied with ease, as his eyes drew up to the bottom of the wooden board in front of him to a photo of a stealth bomber aircraft. “Operation Libra is greenlit…”

  Chapter 3: New Arrivals

  DUNMORE EAST, IRELAND

  In spite of how late in the day it was, it was never too late for a fresh cup of coffee. With an entire factory at hand, Corey was able to brew whatever he had a craving for.

  He set up his deck chair on the coastline and gently lowered himself into it. Wrapped up in multiple layers, he inhaled the steam emanating from his coffee.

  Just as he prepared to take a sip, a rather large and ominous noise began echoing out from the misty ocean in front. Corey squinted in an attempt to get a visual on what the noise was.

  Then, lights came into view from the distance. By tracing the lighting and the darkened areas around it, he quickly figured out that the noise-in-question was coming from a boat; a boat that was headed for his coastline.

  He quickly shot up from his chair and rushed over to the nearby table which had a transceiver on it.

  He pressed the ‘talk’ button down, and slowly pulled the microphone up to his lips.

  “Breaker, breaker… This is Dunmore East to unregistered vessel; please respond, over.”

  He lifted his finger and listened to the static for several seconds. But then, “Dunmore East!” The static was interrupted by a jovial female voice. “This is Captain Tanika Bell of the S.S. Aquarius, receiving you, over.”

  Corey’s entire face lit up, resulting in a bright smile. “Copy that, Aquarius. Must confess, it’s good to hear from another soul after quite some time. Over.” He responded and then laughed to himself.

  “I can relate to that, over.”

  “I say that accent…” He hadn’t heard any voices aside from his own for quite some time now, let alone a foreign one. “Am I speaking to an American? Over.”

  “Aw, and there I was thinking people were done making that mistake! Correction, I’m from Newfoundland, in Canada.”

  From the background of Tanika’s radio, a rather angry man could be heard storming onto the scene, though his words were inaudible from that distance.

  “I say.” Corey remarked to himself. “Was that another voice I just heard? How many passengers do you have? Over.”

  Then, the channel fell silent for several moments; Corey knew that whoever else was on the approaching ship must have been distrusting of him.

  “Apologies.” Tanika eventually replied. “Excluding myself, there are seven passengers on board. Over.”

  “My goodness, eight new souls!” Corey rejoiced, including Tanika in his count. “Allow me to prepare for your immediate arrival.” He threw his coffee away, causing it to splash onto the grass. “See you in five! Over and out.”

  The S.S. Aquarius slowly pulled up at the dock. Corey assisted with reeling it in.

  Once the ship was tightly secured, the passengers all began to disembark one by one.

  Cora was the first to step off. Before she moved up the pier, she took a deep breath in and out purely to gather herself.

  “Tanika!” Corey erroneously called out to her as he jogged down the pier.

  “Uh… Not me, I’m afraid.” She amended.

  But this didn’t change how Corey felt. He ceased jogging just ahead of her and held out his hand, “The name’s Corey. And you, little lady, are who exactly?”

  She didn’t shake his hand but answered his question nevertheless, “Cora.”

  “Well, what do you know? Corey and Cora!” He bantered with her, but she was not in a light-hearted mood.

  Kieran was the next to step off of the boat, and instantly made his way towards Cora.

  “Good evening there!” Corey tipped his hat to Kieran, who completely blanked him.

  “Cora, hey,” he tapped her on the shoulder, “I’ve checked half-a-dozen times. Naomi definitely wasn’t on board. Tanika knows more than she’s letting on.”

  Corey overheard this exchange. “Begging your pardon friends, but, what’s all this about a passenger of yours not being on board?”

  Kieran nudged Cora, prompting the two to step out of earshot. His attention was quickly redirected upon seeing Richard and Mac disembark from the ship, carrying the unconscious Tanika by her arms and legs.

  “What about Worm?” Cora asked Kieran.

  He took a deep and grave breath. “That’s why I came rushing onto the de
ck asking for your friend; I think Worm’s dead and she killed him. There was blood on the railings.”

  Cora laughed, “Are you serious?”

  Kieran switched his rifle into fully automatic mode without breaking eye contact. “Deadly serious.”

  She threw her hands up. “Nope. No way, no! Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t just throw around ridiculous accusations like that!”

  Still, he didn’t look away from her. “If she’s innocent, then where is she?”

  Cora looked over at the rest of the group; Richard and Mac were carrying Tanika still, whilst Corey pestered them, and Valorie had only just stepped off of the ship.

  “Well?”

  “Well… She’s still on board obviously.” Cora asserted.

  “She did a pretty good job at hiding if I’m being honest. She was the one person I didn’t encounter once whilst I did the rounds. Why is that?” He tightened the grip on his rifle.

  “Okay, stop.” Cora wrapped her hand around the rifle barrel and lightly pushed it back against Kieran’s side. “If you’re right, which I very much doubt, then at least let me do this my way. Aoife is my friend, and I won’t let you kill her irrespective of what she has or has not done.”

  Kieran took a moment to think and then nodded. “Just remember, she’s probably not your ‘friend’.”

  Cora dismissed this remark. “I’ll find her. She trusts me. You just focus on explaining our situation to… Whatever that guy’s name was.”

  Again, Kieran nodded. “Don’t be a fool, Cora.” He forebodingly warned her.

  With everybody else off of the ship, Cora headed back on board and loudly searched it; completely disregarding Kieran’s advice.

  “Aoife?” She yelled out. “You still on board?”

  The underdeck creaked as the ship lightly bobbed up and down from the waves outside.

  First, she entered the nearest sports lounge, then she headed through the accommodation area which led her downstairs into the kitchen. If Kieran had really searched the entire ship, then where could Aoife possibly have been to avoid him?