Final Dawn: Season 2 (The Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Series)

by Mike Kraus

  “One more connection and I think that’ll do it!”

  David’s voice was excited, and both he and Rachel showed no signs of weariness despite having worked straight through the night. Although Bertha was only joined to the building through a pair of thick connectors, each pair contained dozens of different sets of wires, all of which needed to be disconnected in a certain order to prevent Bertha from locking up. The security measures built into the EMP generator were formidable, and there were more than a few that Rachel and David had run into that they weren’t completely familiar with.

  Due to Bertha’s immense power, the department in charge of securing it had been usurped on more than one occasion for specialized equipment to be installed on the device. The result led to a more protected environment for Bertha, but ended up delaying David and Rachel’s attempts to disconnect it from the building. With a handheld computer, David had confirmed that Bertha had fully recharged and was ready to be moved, aside from the thick bundles of wires that snaked off through the room.

  As far as David could tell, most of the electronics in the laboratory building had been fried by the blast, aside from the few rooms whose EMP shielding was still intact. David had left most of his equipment in the shielded storage locker, taking only the handheld computer down with him. All of the cameras in the building were out, so Marcus had spent the first hour keeping careful watch on the door while Rachel and David worked. After it became clear that any surviving creatures weren’t coming after them, Marcus had slacked off, falling asleep against his better judgment while Sam did the same, resting his head on Marcus’s lap.

  With his headache starting to recede, Marcus stood slowly and walked to Rachel and David who were deep in conversation about some small mechanism on the side of Bertha.

  “Do you two need any help?”

  Slightly startled, Rachel and David both turned to Marcus, with Rachel being the first to answer.

  “I don’t think so. In fact, once we get past this last security device, we’ll be ready to transport Bertha out of here.”

  Marcus stooped down to where Rachel and David were sitting and eyed the small black box on the side of Bertha. Nondescript and featureless, it didn’t appear to Marcus like it would be much of a hindrance, though David and Rachel were still stumped by it. Shrugging his shoulders, Marcus got up and retrieved two bags of chips from his backpack, dumping one out on the floor for Sam while he ate the other one himself. Empty bottles of water were strewn across the floor, indicating that David and Rachel had eaten while Marcus was sleeping, so he didn’t bother offering them anything.

  “I’m going to take a quick look down the hall, just to make sure nothing’s waiting for us.” Marcus only received a faint murmur of acknowledgment from David and Rachel before walking out, with Sam trailing behind him. With an EL light in one hand and his pistol in the other, Marcus went down the hall in the opposite direction from where he and Rachel had approached, to a spot he hadn’t recalled traveling to before.

  Fifty paces from Bertha’s room was a doorway leading to a carpeted hall. Not quite as fancy as the ones on higher floors, it was quite a step up from the semi-industrial look of the hallways where Bertha’s room was located. Marcus glanced at Sam, who was acting normally, and decided to do a bit of exploring. The door into the carpeted hallway swung open noiselessly and Marcus jammed a piece of drywall under its edge, forcing it to stay open so he could make a quick retreat if necessary.

  Where the high-value office space in the upper floors of the building had crown molding, elaborate paintings and expensive furniture dotting their halls, Marcus noted that a few cheap chairs and a muted burgundy paint job were the only truly “fancy” parts of the hall he was in. Offices branched off from the hall almost immediately inside the door, each one containing a desk with a computer and two monitors, a chair and a few personalized knick-knacks hanging on the walls or sitting on the desk.

  After passing by a few clean offices, Marcus happened upon one that had suffered some minor damage during the building’s destruction. Papers were scattered about on the desk and floor, some with photographs on them and some with text. Curious, Marcus eased into the office, coaxing Sam in along with him before gently closing the door. Stooping down, Marcus picked up some of the photographs on the floor and deposited them on the desk, taking a seat on the chair to get a closer look at them.

  Between the text and photographs, Marcus quickly realized that the office he was in was that of some sort of analyst, charged with reviewing aerial photographs of some sort. Extremely high resolution photos were accompanied with handwritten notes in permanent marker with circles around license plates, buildings and even individual people. What astonished Marcus the most was not the fact that the photographs existed, but that they were of such high quality.

  Lost in his rifling through the papers on the desk, Marcus didn’t notice when the hairs on the back of Sam’s neck began to bristle. Sam stood and walked to the door, staring at it as he tilted his head, his ears perked as he listened to some noise far off in the hall. Several minutes ticked past before Marcus looked up from the paperwork and noticed Sam still standing at the door. Picking up his pistol from the desk next to him, Marcus switched off the EL light and moved to the door next to Sam. Though the EL light had been fully extinguished, the room was still partially lit, though now it was from light with a bluish tinge instead of white.

  Somewhere in South Dakota

  The roar of an engine stirs the man from his light slumber. He blinks several times as he awakens, not realizing that he fell asleep in the moments after setting up his rifle. Though the roar is still far off in the distance, the man can hear it quite clearly, and there is no mistake: it is the intruders. The sound of the engine has been lodged in the man’s head since the night the intruders came to him under the cover of darkness, brought in by one of his flock to help lead the village to victory over the demon hordes.

  The man sneers as he remembers the first moment he realized the truth, when the wool was lifted from his eyes and he saw the intruders for what they were: demons in human clothing. Instead of working with the villagers, the intruders had betrayed them, helping to weaken the defenses and faith of the small community. “My community,” the man thinks, “The one that I built through ceaseless toil and work, has been torn away.

  “Never mind, though. I will bring down the wrath of the Almighty above upon their heads and smite them from this earth.”

  The roar of the engine grows louder and the man settles on the gun, sliding his face closer to the scope to get a clear view. With a magnification of over nineteen power, objects in the distance spring forward as he sweeps the area, looking for the source of the sound. Finally, after a moment of searching, he spots it. Riding in through a field and back onto the highway, a squat rectangular vehicle painted in a camouflage pattern swings wide past a collection of cars sitting on the road.

  At its current distance, the APC is well within range of the powerful rifle, though the man hesitated to shoot while it was still moving for fear of not being able to kill them before they drove away. Knowing that their supplies are limited, the man holds his fire, hoping they will stop at one of the stores nearby. A cold smile spreads across his face as the APC slows down, turning into a parking lot across the highway from the electronics store he is hidden in.

  The APC turns around to the side of the building, hidden from sight, but the engine cuts off immediately afterward, signaling that the occupants are disembarking to enter the store. With the APC protected, the man immediately jumps up and takes the gun outside, crouching low behind a row of hedges as he runs to the side, looking for a better position from which to shoot. A hundred feet along, he stops as the APC and loading docks of the back of the store come into view.

  The man places the gun’s bipod on the hood of a parked car and steadies his aim, recalculating the new range to his target. Scanning the APC and loading dock, he sees no signs of the intruders, so he runs back to his prev
ious position for a clear view of the front windows of the store. The interior is dark, but light streams in from behind him, illuminating the store aisles enough for him to look for the intruders.

  Movement catches his eye and he spots one of the intruders, the husband, the one who slugged him in the jaw. Still pained by the injury, the man doesn’t hesitate. His finger squeezes the trigger, sending a round rocketing out of the muzzle of the rifle at nearly three thousand feet per second, smashing through the store window and exploding near the target inside. The man’s shot is close, but not dead on, and the intruders immediately start scrambling for cover. Firing a few more shots, the man loses sight of the intruders as they escape through the back, frantically trying to flee back to their vehicle.

  Swinging the rifle onto his shoulder, the man runs back to where he can see the loading dock and sets his aim on the vehicle, preparing to shoot out the rear tire. A flurry of movement on the loading dock catches his eye, making him pause for a few seconds. Both intruders are present, working to get into their vehicle without losing the shopping cart load of food that they are carrying with them. As the female intruder flees into the vehicle, the man takes shots at her husband, coming closer to hitting on target with each subsequent shot.

  Seconds later, though, both intruders are safely inside their vehicle along with their supplies, and the man wastes no time in expending the last of his rounds at them. The armored vehicle tears through the parking lot, making it difficult to track, but one round finally impacts on the side of the car, though it quickly speeds away before the man can tell whether or not he did any serious damage. As he listens to the sound of the APC’s engine grow faint in the distance, the man grits his teeth, closing his eyes at the pain in his jaw.

  Picking the heavy gun up and balancing it on his shoulder, he walks back to his vehicle and packs his gear up, undaunted by the failure of his first attempt at killing the intruders. Confident that more attempts will present themselves, he says a quick prayer before climbing into the vehicle, looking for guidance on his mission of revenge.

  Leonard McComb | Nancy Sims

  9:41 AM, April 12, 2038

  Running through the back of the store, Leonard and Nancy received a final few shots from the unknown assailant before disappearing through the door into the employees-only section. Dragging the shopping cart behind him, Leonard nearly tipped it over on more than one occasion. Together with Nancy, Leonard propelled the cart out onto the loading dock, running down to the area closest to the APC.

  “Hold the cart!” Leonard jumped down off the loading dock as he shouted at Nancy, running toward the APC to get it started up. Only a trickle of fuel was left running through the plastic tubing, so Leonard jerked it up and flung it under the driver’s seat, ignoring the splash of diesel that landed in the APC and on his clothing. After quickly screwing the cap back on the fuel tank, Leonard hopped into the driver’s seat and started the engine, noting that the fuel gauge was now just below the halfway point.

  Not bothering to put his harness on, Leonard put the APC into reverse and drove back toward the loading dock, trying to move as quickly as possible before the unknown shooter changed position to get a clean shot at them. Stopping just a few feet from the loading dock, Leonard parked the APC and jumped out, not bothering to turn off the engine as he ran around to the back of the vehicle. Nancy was already down off of the loading dock and had opened the doors to the APC, preparing to load in the supplies from the grocery cart.

  A spray of concrete from the loading dock made Nancy scream in surprise, and she and Leonard covered their heads as a small fire erupted just a few yards away. Glancing at the cart and then back at the open back of the APC, Leonard pushed Nancy around to the passenger’s side. “Get in! I’ve got this!”

  Leonard pulled himself up onto the loading dock, rolling to the side as another spray of concrete and fire erupted, this time only a few feet away. Standing up, Leonard pulled the cart back a few feet and launched it forward, aiming for the back of the APC. The loading dock was only a few feet high, and Leonard guessed that it was only six to twelve inches higher than the back of the APC parked just a few feet away. The heavy load in the cart made it impossible to get down off of the loading dock onto the ground without spilling its contents, especially with someone firing a high-caliber rifle close by.

  To his surprise, Leonard’s attempt at launching the cart into the back of the APC actually worked. Sailing through the air, the top of the cart clipped the upper portion of the APC’s interior, shattering the plastic as it slid forward and came to a halt fully inside the vehicle. A third eruption of concrete and heat came hot on Leonard’s heels as he jumped off of the loading dock and quickly closed the rear doors on the vehicle.

  Without hesitation, Leonard hustled back around to the front and climbed in behind the wheel, slamming his door shut and pressed his foot down on the accelerator. The APC lurched forward and Leonard struggled with the wheel as a deafening clanging came from a bullet impact on the heavy armor plating.

  “Drive! Faster!” Nancy exclaimed, holding tight to her seat as Leonard snaked through the parking lot, seeking the entrance they had come through. Car windows shattered around them as more rounds were fired, though thankfully no more of them actually connected with the APC itself. The seconds it took for Leonard to find his way out of the parking lot seemed to stretch into an agonizing infinity until Nancy raised her hand, pointing off to one side.

  “There’s the highway!”

  Not wanting to bother with any more of the parking lot, Leonard pushed the APC harder, riding it up and over a high curb that separated the lot from the highway. The thick knobbed wheels of the armored transport took the minor obstacle in stride, and a moment later Leonard and Nancy were on the highway, using the APC’s heavy bulk to plow through any disabled vehicles that they couldn’t maneuver around. The distant echo of shots being fired disappeared behind them and Leonard and Nancy began to catch their breath as their racing hearts slowed down.

  “Who the hell was shooting at us?” Nancy’s voice was a mixture of terror and rage as she brushed bits of pulverized concrete from her clothing.

  “I have no idea.” Leonard shook his head. “But whoever it was, they weren’t half bad with whatever they were shooting.” Reaching down, Leonard felt the still-warm rear of his shoe, poking at the rubber that had partially melted from the heat of an incendiary round that impacted where he was standing right after he leapt off the loading dock.

  “So are we safe now?”

  “Absolutely not. Whatever they were shooting, it sounded big, and it’s probably got a huge range. Plus, we have no idea if they’re mobile or not, so it’s no use poking around here anymore. We need to get back on the road for a few hours before we try to stop again.”

  Nancy looked back, seeing the metal bars of the shopping cart pressed up against the passage between the front seats and the back of the APC. “Hey, at least we got food and water, right?”

  Leonard gave Nancy a half-hearted smile before focusing his full attention back on the road. While he didn’t say anything directly to her, a sinking feeling had been settling in his gut ever since the first shot was fired at them inside the store. Though Leonard had no evidence to support his feeling, a nagging voice at the back of his head told him exactly who was after them.

  It’s got to be Samuel. He had enough weapons to do this kind of damage, and I didn’t exactly put a bullet through this head. But how could he have made it out of there without the muties ripping him apart?

  While it seemed inconceivable that Samuel could have followed Nancy and Leonard to Sioux Falls, the more Leonard thought about it, the more he realized how possible it really was. If any of the horses at the village had survived the creatures’ attack, then Samuel could have easily made better time to the city than the APC, particularly if he guessed where they were going. It was the largest city to the west of the village, after all, and while the APC had stuck to the roads, Leonard could imagine
a more direct path from the village to Sioux Falls that would have shaved a few hours off of the trip.

  “What is it, Leonard?”

  Startled from his thoughts, Leonard realized that his grip on the steering wheel had tightened until his hands were white while he had been thinking about Samuel. Relaxing his hands, Leonard tried to force a smile, wanting desperately to lie to Nancy about his suspicions so that he wouldn’t have to put her through more than she had already been through. Not one to be easily fooled by such a poor attempt at lying, Nancy wasn’t put off her line of questioning so easily.

  “Oh, it’s nothing. Just thinking about whoever was shooting at us.”

  “That’s not the whole story and you know it. Out with it, Leonard; what’s wrong?”

  Leonard sighed heavily. “The person shooting at us… I just get the strangest feeling that it’s Samuel.”

  Nancy was quiet and Leonard glanced over at her, seeing her stare out the front window after hearing his response. When she finally spoke, she was quiet and reserved, and Leonard could sense the anger that threatened to spill out after every utterance of Samuel’s name.