The After Days Trilogy (Book 1): After Days

by Scott Medbury

  It bought us the time we needed and suddenly we hit the off ramp without slowing, all three of us thrown into the air, bumping our heads on the ceiling of the cab. Luke and I gripped the dash as we headed for a set of blacked out traffic lights.

  Sonny slowed only slightly as he took a wide turn onto the two lane road that bisected Lincoln and the freeway, and for one sickening moment I thought the truck would tip right over. It didn’t and when it righted itself with a heavy bump, I saw Luke take a quick look back through his broken window.

  “They’re still hot on our tails, the good news though is that their Hummers don’t have machine gun turrets on the top,” he reported.

  I was thankful that he didn’t try to take a potshot at them with his crossbow or the rocket launcher. We couldn’t afford to waste a shot. I felt pretty sure that very soon we were going to need every last projectile we had.

  I was thinking furiously, we had to lose these guys or we were screwed. We couldn’t continue to outrun them, and pretty soon they‘d probably call in air support. I made a quick decision. “Sonny, take a right into the next alley you see.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea? We’ll be trapped if it’s not open at the other end…”

  “We have to try something, we can’t risk air support arriving before we do.”

  “All right, what do you have in mind?”

  “Luke, make sure your rocket launcher is ready to fire, if we can disable the one in front it will block the second from following us. Here, take this one Sonny!” I gestured wildly to the narrow alley coming up fast on our right.

  The tires screeched as he swung us into it and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was open at the other end. The truck narrowly squeezed past a large dumpster and I yelled, “Pull up!”

  Luke and I jumped out just as the first Hummer pulled into the alley. Luke began to bring the rocket launcher up into firing position.

  “Wait! Help me move this dumpster first.”

  We heaved it into the middle of the alley as the second Hummer turned in behind the first. The first squealed to a halt about fifty feet away as we ran back behind the dumpster and Chinese soldiers began to pile out. I turned to scream fire. I didn’t need to. The launcher was already nestled into Luke’s shoulder as he took aim through the sight.

  One of the soldiers managed to squeeze off a burst from their weapon and I ducked as some bullets whizzed by and others thunked into the dumpster. Luke didn’t flinch, and as the panicked soldiers turned to run, he fired. The rocket launcher jerked in his arm and forced him back a foot as the grenade zeroed in on the front grill of the Hummer. There was an almighty whump and a burst of heat as the front of the Hummer exploded, the vehicle flying into the air a few feet before crashing back to the pavement.

  Without exception, all of the soldiers that had jumped from the vehicle were cut down by the blast. The twisted, smoking wreckage of the vehicle now blocked off the alley. I heard shots being fired from behind the smoking wreck. Luke looked a little dazed and I grabbed his arm.

  “Quick! Back to the truck,” I yelled and we both ran for the cab.

  As we passed, I could hear Ben shouting questions from inside the cargo bay and I called back. “Stay down flat on the floor till I give you the all clear!”

  Luke and I piled back into the truck cabin and Sonny had it moving before I had even pulled the door shut. He took a sharp left at the end of the alley and once again the truck lurched treacherously.

  I heard muffled screams in the back and was thankful I wasn’t in the cargo bay. If we managed to get out of this, they would again be a bruised and sorry group of people. It was then I realized that there was something wrong with Luke. I heard him gasp as the truck righted itself.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  Luke was a pale guy at the best of times, but his face now was the color of ash. He smiled ruefully at me and pulled his heavy jacket open.

  “Honey, I forgot to duck…” he said.

  My heart sunk when I saw the bullet wound. The round had taken him in the abdomen and blood was seeping steadily from the wound. At least he was still joking, so maybe that meant it wasn’t too bad. Sonny took another left and Luke flinched. We were headed back to the main road.

  “I don’t think it went through man.”

  He lifted his jacket at the back and turned so I could see. He was right, it hadn’t. I felt helpless. My best friend was shot and we had no way to care for him. I felt tears sting my eyes as I looked at him. His face was pale but his crooked smile was still in place.

  “Don’t worry Chief, it’s going to take more than a little lead to bring me down.”

  “Get something on that to staunch the bleeding,” Sonny ordered, “the first aid kit is in the glove box.”

  We turned right onto the main road and Sonny again floored the accelerator. There was no sign of the second Hummer, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they were tailing us again.

  I pulled out the kit and sopped up the blood as best I could. His wound didn’t seem to be bleeding too badly thankfully, but I knew an abdomen shot was supposed to be one of the worst. I bandaged Luke as best I could, thankful that he didn’t try to crack jokes the whole time.

  “We’re almost out of Lincoln, I think we need to dump the truck. It will be harder for them to trace us on foot.”

  Sonny argued for a driving on, debating that it would be too hard on the wounded, but in the end a pair of headlights in the distance behind us won me the argument.

  Again luck was on our side, one of the last buildings on our side of the street was a three storey office building. We took a left into its underground parking garage and I jumped out along with Sonny and ran to the back of the truck. I answered the rush of questions as best I could and ushered our shaken passengers together.

  Luke was surprisingly mobile considering his wound. Both he and Sonny had been shot and were still trooping on, it made me ashamed of the groaning I had done over my bruised ribs.

  I took the rocket launcher and last grenade from Luke. He didn’t argue and I knew he was hurting more than he was letting on. Brooke fussed over him and he allayed her fears, telling her it hadn’t hit bones or anything vital, but hurt like Hell. Indigo looked concerned and put a hand on my arm, asking if I was alright. I nodded and asked her the same.

  “Yeah, shaken but not stirred,” she said with a small smile, before going back to the others.

  We gathered what we could carry from the truck and I led my people to the rear of the small parking garage. We took fire stairs up into the laneway behind the building and began walking. My people. I think I had finally come to terms with the fact that I had a new place to belong. Well not a place exactly, but a family.

  It’s funny how adversity can bring strangers closer than blood. My musings were interrupted when we heard the engine of the second Hummer speeding down the main street. We all froze until it had passed and faded into the distance.

  We continued to follow the lane as it ran parallel to the main road. We had been travelling for about ten minutes when we heard the rumble of a motor, this time coming from the opposite direction. We ducked down behind a fence at the rear of the property we were behind as the headlights came over a rise. It was the same Hummer.

  It was travelling much slower now, the occupants obviously scanning the area as they headed back into Lincoln. I waved everyone to their feet about two minutes after it had passed. Another ten minutes later and we passed the last of the houses that lined the highway. The road continued into light forest and began to climb uphill almost immediately. We moved into the tree line so that we could have cover but still follow the road.

  Even with our wounded people and loaded up with what we were carrying, the walk up the mountain was not as bad as I thought it would be. Despite the relative ease, I could see Luke’s strength beginning to fade.

  I moved in beside him and ordered him to put his arm around my shoulder. He looked like he was going to
protest but did as I asked. We walked on and I prayed desperately that the safe haven we had travelled so far for actually existed...we had no backup plan. It had to be there.

  24

  It had been snowing lightly ever since we had arrived in Lincoln and now, as we trudged through the trees, our shoes crunching through about six inches of snow, it began to fall harder. That was when I heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter coming from the direction of the small city we had left behind. I shook my head in resignation as we all stopped and looked back down the mountain and over Lincoln. Brooke pointed out the searchlight that seemed to be sweeping from left to right as it followed the highway through the small city.

  Luke reached over, wincing at the movement, and tapped the rocket launcher. “You might need this soon,” he whispered.

  I nodded and we all set off again, a little more purpose in our steps. I tried not to look back as the noise of the chopper got closer and closer, but eventually the sound changed slightly and I realized that it was now taking a more direct route. Straight up the mountain.

  We were all puffing hard, both through exertion and fear, when we finally reached a sign post proclaiming Drake Mountain Ski Resort. We left the tree line of the highway and hurried across a long concrete bridge. The chopper sounded even closer now and when I looked back I could also see the splash of headlights illuminating the trees from road level. The second Hummer. Goddammit! We were so close!

  Once we crossed the bridge, we rounded a bend and there it was. The ski lodge sat a couple of hundred yards away in a natural depression. Its windows were dark, some of them broken. It was clearly abandoned. I heard Brooke begin to cry as Luke whispered a swearword.

  Feeling as hopeless as anyone, I urged them all on with Sonny bringing up the rear, shouting words of reassurance. Even if the safe haven didn’t exist, we still needed the protection that the abandoned lodge would afford us.

  We had made the open gates in the stone fence of the Lodge when I heard the chopper’s engine whine as it picked up speed. They had spotted our tracks crossing the bridge. It roared towards us. “Keep going!” I screamed at the others as Luke and I turned to face the enemy. Sonny paused but I told him to get the others to shelter.

  “Be careful Isaac!” Indigo called as she passed me. I looked at her, wondering if it was for the last time.

  “Help me get this thing loaded, Luke.”

  We squatted on the ground and I handed Luke the grenade. Even though clearly suffering, he deftly loaded the weapon and pulled out the sight before falling onto his backside, panting. He pointed at the trigger.

  “Don’t pull it too soon, and aim a little above the chopper… the trajectory… will drop after the initial…blast.”

  The chopper was closing in and the circle of light from the spotlight trailed over the uneven ground, heading right towards us. I placed the rocket launcher against my shoulder. I heard Luke groan. The effort of the climb had been too much and he collapsed face down on the ground, a bloom of blood soaking into the snow around him.

  At the sight of my friend, a sob wrenched my throat and my eyes blurred with tears. I took aim at the chopper. I heard the distant screech of tires as the Hummer turned from the highway but didn’t allow my concentration to waver, even as its headlights illuminated the bridge.

  I squeezed the trigger and was knocked down by the concussion of the blast. As I fell to my butt with my ears ringing, the weapon fell from my hands and sizzled in the snow beside me. The grenade flew at the chopper…and missed it completely. Frustration and anger burned through me as it’s fiery trail etched a line across the night sky before it arced back to earth and exploded harmlessly in the forest.

  I was already climbing to my feet as the chopper pilot veered needlessly away from the wayward shot. The aircraft steadied and its spotlight found me. I had had enough. I was done. I pulled the revolver from my pocket and stalked towards the chopper, firing shot after shot at it until the firing mechanism was clicking on empty chambers…even then I continued pulling the trigger. I screamed up at it.

  “Come on!”

  I waited for the hot lead to tear me apart…and then the world exploded. I stared dumbfounded. The helicopter was in flames and as it plummeted to the ground, I noticed white clad figures running in from all directions, one of them carrying a rocket launcher.

  I didn’t hang around to look closer, I dropped the revolver and ran back to Luke, falling on him as the chopper hit the ground a hundred yards from us, throwing up debris and snow.

  When I felt it was safe, I started to climb off Luke and suddenly found myself staring into the muzzle of a machine gun. I looked up expecting to see a Chinese face standing over me. It wasn’t. It was a middle-aged American man. The first non-Chinese person over the age of sixteen that I had seen in more than a month.

  “Do not move!” he screamed down at me as I looked up at him with wide eyes.

  Behind him I saw the Chinese Hummer pull to a stop as soldiers began to exit their vehicle. I was surprised that the man in front of me didn’t turn his attention to them.

  It became obvious why soon enough. The Chinese soldiers weren’t aware of the threat, they hadn’t spotted the interlopers. The firefight was over quickly. The invading soldiers were cut down mercilessly by the men in white camouflage, who immediately secured the area.

  “Throw down your weapons and place your hands on your heads!” yelled a gruff voice from the direction of the lodge.

  I looked over; my people were placing their guns on the ground and putting their hands in the air as the men in white closed in on them. “Do it now!”

  I could see that Sonny still held his semi-automatic and I held my breath, not exhaling until he finally bent over and placed it carefully on the concrete in front of him. I snuck a closer look at the man standing over me. He was armed with what looked to me like a US military issue M16 and also had the telltale haircut of a military man.

  These guys were US army. But how could they be? I tried to stop him when he bent over Luke and reached for his throat, but he brushed me away.

  “Easy Son,” he felt for Luke’s pulse and immediately called out. “We have a casualty over here! I need a medic and a stretcher!”

  Two men materialized with a fold up stretcher and I watched them carefully lift my friend onto it as the man guarding me led me over to the rest of my group. As I reached them, still with their hands in the air, the two men carried Luke past us and through the open door of the Lodge.

  “Where are they taking him?” Sonny asked.

  “He’s in good hands, if he can be saved the Doc will save him,” said the gray haired man who appeared to be giving the orders.

  “We came because we heard the Morse code message on the radio,” I called, as I was pushed into the huddle. “We are looking for sanctuary, not trouble.”

  Looking at the men I reassessed my initial impression, these men were not all soldiers, not by any stretch.

  “They're spies, Randall!” a voice yelled.

  I looked across at the owner. He had a long bushy beard and I could see his gut straining against the material of his white camouflage.

  “Hell they led the fuckers right to us! They even brought a chink with them, we should waste them now!”

  “Shut up, Leroy,” the man he had called Randall snapped. The fat one held his stare for only a few seconds before looking down at his feet. “We're going to take them to the Professor, just like we were ordered to if anybody answered the signal.”

  Randall looked back at us with piercing blue eyes. He was by far the oldest man in the group, and clearly military or ex-military. He looked fit and hard and was obviously the leader.

  “You all stay right where you are and a couple of my men are going to come and search you. If you make any move at all that I consider threatening, I'll order you shot down like dogs, do you understand me?”

  We all nodded. I understood the words, of course, but was struggling to understand why this was h
appening... had the message been a trap all along? Or where they just being overly cautious?

  As the men came in to search us, I realized that they were a real mix. Some white, some black, at least one of them looked Hispanic. There were no Chinese men among them, not even a vaguely Asian looking person. There were also no women for that matter.

  My brain worked furiously, trying to figure this out. Had these people not been exposed to the Pongyang flu, or were they somehow immune? Could there be some sort of vaccine against it? I had hoped that we might find safety and answers here at Drake Mountain, but so far it was only danger and more questions.

  The men efficiently patted us all down and checked our bags, confiscating blades and anything else that might be used against them, before collecting our firearms from the floor. Sonny soon had a scattering of knives and shuriken on floor by his feet. Indigo's revolver was taken away as well.

  While we were being searched I noticed another group of men cleaning up the mess left by the firefight. I had to admit they looked to be quick and efficient, clearly they wanted no trace left of the firefight if the Chinese came looking for the missing soldiers and helicopter.

  We were directed through the front entrance of the lodge and overhead lights were switched on. We shaded our eyes as the leader, Randall, came forward. “Zip tie their hands and black bag them. We're taking them through the mountain to the Vale.”

  “Surely there is no need for that? We’re on your side...!”

  Sonny protested and took a half step toward Randall. There was a sound. A sort of a click-fzzzz, and suddenly Sonny stood up straight, his arms locked at his sides, and he jerked spasmodically for a moment before the humming sound faded and he collapsed in a twitching heap on the floor.

  The man standing behind him, Leroy, had a TASER in his hand, the wires running to small prongs in Sonny's back. Brooke began to cry and enraged, I took a step forward, only to feel the hand of one of my captors grip my shoulder firmly. The guns of the men around us kept the others at bay.