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

by Mike Kraus

  The intense noise and movement was not unnoticed by the creatures nearby, several of whom leapt to the top of a nearby eighteen-wheeler to peer down at the source of the noise. Upon seeing the APC, the creatures snarled and jumped down, tearing toward the vehicle at a breakneck pace. Panicking, Leonard twisted the wheel, sending them crashing through a small car behind the eighteen-wheelers. Directly behind them, through a few more rows of cars, sat the train tracks, with dozens more creatures loading supplies onto the boxcars. Leonard jerked the steering wheel again, sending the APC skidding until it was pointing toward the checkpoint. He tugged at his seatbelt, reassuring himself that it was in place before he gunned the engine, sending the APC flying into the thick of the parked cars.

  With a low-slung front bumper that was built with extra levels of reinforcement, the APC was able to cleanly push its way through the consumer-grade cars with ease, even at a speed of over thirty miles per hour. As the lanes of cars grew closer together, though, Leonard could see that even their militarized vehicle would be unable to stand against the sheer mass of the dozens of cars blocking its path. He glanced over to the right side, where the train was located, and saw a small dirt road running alongside the tracks, past a chain link fence.

  “Hold on!” Once again Leonard turned the APC sharply, bringing it through two sedans and one pickup truck, all of which were either crushed or pushed aside by the bulk of Leonard and Nancy’s vehicle. After smashing through the chain link fence, Leonard turned back to the left, sliding the APC onto the dirt road. The pursuing creatures were close on their tail, using their hands to help them slide around corners as they ran after their newly acquired target.

  “Move! Move!” Nancy’s eyes were glued to the side window as they flew past the stationary train, watching the creatures gathered around and near each boxcar stare at them as they drove past. A few of the creatures remained near the train but the majority split off as Leonard and Nancy went by, joining their brethren who were already on the hunt.

  The train itself turned out to be longer than Nancy or Leonard had thought, stretching far into the distance even as the dirt road began to rapidly turn toward the city and away from the track. Now well past the border and the groups of vehicles blocking the path, Leonard focused his attention on losing the dozens of creatures who were still on their tail.

  Though the APC was a veritable tank, it was not maneuverable, so Leonard had to brake hard as he went around corners, reducing their speed enough that creatures were able to touch the back bumper on more than one occasion. Frantically searching for the main road that led north from the border crossing, Leonard finally spotted it in the middle of town and headed straight towards it, ignoring virtually every obstacle in his path.

  “How’re we doing back there?” Leonard dared not take his eyes off of the narrow side streets he was navigating toward the main highway.

  “Not good. We haven’t lost any of them yet.” Nancy glanced between the passenger’s and driver’s side mirrors, grimacing at the nearness of the creatures reflected in the glass. Unlike previous occasions where they had a long stretch of road to get up to speed to escape pursuers, they had been forced to drive slower on the small city streets, allowing the creatures to get frightfully close. Leonard’s hope was that once they broke through a wooden fence ahead of them and got onto the highway, they could pull off another fast escape and get out of the area without being harmed by the creatures.

  Wood splintered across the windshield of the APC and both Leonard and Nancy blinked instinctively. Hitting a slight incline, the wheels left the ground a few inches below and the pair bounced in their seats as they touched back down, skidding on the asphalt of the main highway. Without thinking, Leonard immediately hit the gas, starting them down the main road and weaving in and out of the vehicles in their way. As he looked down the road beyond the cars and trucks in their immediate path, though, he pushed both feet down on the brake pedal, sending the APC into a sliding stop, the antilock system throbbing mightily through the floor.

  “What’s wrong?” Nancy asked the question at the same time as she looked up to where Leonard was staring, suddenly in no more need of an answer. Ahead of them, just a few hundred feet away, the train was visible again, its long trail of boxcars having extended along the track that passed through the town. With creatures closing in on them from behind and several positioned in front of them at the train, Leonard looked around frantically, trying to find some quick way out of the trap they found themselves caught in.

  Rachel Walsh | Marcus Warden | David Landry

  1:43 PM, April 14, 2038

  “Plug this in to that spot on the dash, would you?”

  David held a long cord over the edge of Marcus’s seat as he pointed to the location on the APC’s dashboard that held the small port. Marcus dutifully obliged, connecting the cord to the specified location. “What’s up with this, David?”

  The sound of keys being rapidly depressed came from the back of the vehicle along with David’s reply. “Combination power/data connection. I’m hooking in to the APC’s computers to try to establish a connection with a satellite so we can reach our friends on the other side of the country.”

  With his handheld computer powered off and daisy-chained to the power connection, David worked directly from a small laptop he had saved. The computer was both faster and easier to work with due to the fact that it had a physical keyboard, not to mention the additional software as well. Containing a satellite uplink kit that was more powerful than the portable one David had grabbed from the lab, the APC was more than capable of bouncing a transmission around the world, to say nothing of communicating halfway across the country.

  Unfortunately, as David quickly discovered, the bumps and bruises suffered by the vehicle had done more than a small amount of damage to its delicate electronics. Some of them had completely burned out while others were refusing to boot, returning hardware or software error codes when David tried to tap into them. After several minutes of work, David was finally able to connect directly to the satellite uplink module in the APC. Flipping a switch on the side of the laptop, he spoke loudly and clearly into a built-in microphone on the front.

  “Leonard and Nancy, come in!”

  The transmission generated by the laptop and passed through the APC was bounced toward the sky at the speed of light. Received by an orbiting satellite, the signal was re-broadcast back at the more westerly portion of the country, in the approximate location where David thought Leonard and Nancy might have gotten to. Communicating between both vehicles—assuming Leonard and Nancy’s APC had its satellite uplink intact—required that the initial transmission be targeted, hence the need for David to connect to the uplink directly. Once the satellite was pointed in the right general area, though, no more special equipment was necessary.

  As he repeated his request for a response, David began to download low-resolution images that the satellite had captured of the country, showing the updated movement patterns of the cloud cover that was gradually beginning to fill the globe. Filled with static, a response came sooner than David had anticipated. The voice on the other end was frantic and David could just barely make out the sounds of tires shrieking on pavement along with the howl of creatures in the background.

  “We’re kind of busy at the moment, David!” A large thump broke through the static and David could hear Leonard’s cursing combined with Nancy’s scream. The transmission broke off seconds later, terminated on the opposite end. Locking his gaze with Marcus, David’s eyes grew wide. He motioned toward the radio in the front of the vehicle, gesturing wildly. “Quick, try to get them on the radio again!”

  Turning back to his computer, David terminated his image downloads and opened a live camera feed from the satellite overhead. Minutes passed slowly as he tried to locate Leonard and Nancy. It was no small task considering the area he had to search, but he couldn’t think of anything else to try to do. In the front seats, Rachel and Marcus both took turns attempting
to raise Leonard and Nancy on the radio, failing each time but still not giving up.

  Leonard McComb | Nancy Sims

  1:47 PM, April 14, 2038

  Leonard was startled enough by the crackle of the radio that he hit his head on the top of the APC. Sitting in a small Canadian town, surrounded by creatures and cut off from their main avenue of escape, the last thing he and Nancy expected to hear was the radio come to life. A voice filtered through over the static, cutting in and out in contrast to the clearness that previous transmissions had possessed.

  “Leonard and Nancy, come in!” Leonard and Nancy looked at each other, hopeful expressions on their faces before the creatures struck. Instead of merely pursuing them, the pack of creatures from the train station had steadily pushed the vehicle into an area with very few options for escape. In addition to this, several creatures had stationed themselves behind vehicles and buildings lining the roadway, preparing for the APC’s arrival.

  As the transmission from David came through and Nancy picked up the microphone to respond, two separate cars from opposite sides of the road suddenly moved, tumbling toward Leonard and Nancy. Having been looking in the direction of one of the cars already, Leonard’s reaction to it was fast and he stepped on the gas, pushing the APC forward just far enough that the tumbling cars missed them.

  “We’re kind of busy at the moment, David!” Nancy held on to the microphone with one hand as she clung to her seat with the other, fighting to stay upright as Leonard tore the APC up the road. Multiple creatures emerged from their hiding spots around the roadway and closed in on Leonard and Nancy. A sickening thud came from out of nowhere on the right side of the vehicle, sending them bouncing in their seats. The microphone slipped out of Nancy’s hand and fell to the floor from the impact and she turned to see what had hit them.

  “Shit!” Leonard yelled as Nancy screamed, shocked and surprised by the violent impact. At first Nancy thought that the window had been knocked out of the door of the armored car and that something was stuck in its place due to the lack of light coming in. A second later, though, the dark shape covering the small window moved and Nancy realized that a creature had thrown itself at the vehicle and managed to latch on. A mixture of flesh and silver roiled as the creature kicked at the door, trying to force its way in before leaning its head down to leer at them through the window.

  No trace of humanity was left in the creature’s face as it peered at them with its eyeless features. The silver teeth and stump of a tongue smashed against the glass as the creature tried to find a way to bite through to its targets inside the vehicle. Nancy instinctively tried to push herself away from the door to get as far away from the terrifying sight as possible, but her harness held her tightly to her seat. Glancing over to see what was happening, Leonard’s face grew pale.

  “Hold on!” Fifty feet ahead, a good two hundred feet from the train that was blocking the path out of the city, a row of cars was stopped at the train crossing. Leonard aimed just to the left of them and, when they came up next to the first one, he swerved hard to the right, trying to scrape the creature off the side of their vehicle. The creature howled in pain as pieces of its body were sheared off by the impact, but it doggedly clung to the side of the APC, refusing to let go even as its torso was being reduced to shreds.

  A final turn of the wheel sent the creature’s lower half spinning off, followed quickly by its still-snarling upper half. Two of its fellow creatures descended upon it, though the rest kept in hot pursuit of the APC which swerved to the left to avoid colliding with the train that was only a few dozen feet away. Following along with the track on a small service road, Leonard saw that their path was about to dead end at a small building near the railroad track, next to several boxcars that were standing still with their doors wide open. With thick woods to their left and ahead of them and the train to the right, their options for escape had dwindled to nothing.

  There was no time to consider the high probability of failure of what he was about to do. Leonard didn’t hit the brakes but instead pressed down on the accelerator. Sliding the APC to the far left edge of the service road, he kept one eye on the empty boxcars to his left, waiting until just before they drew even with one to swing hard to the right, nearly tipping the vehicle over in the process. Nancy’s surprised shriek was deafening in the confined space, but Leonard didn’t notice it, focused as he was.

  Being constructed mostly of lightweight aluminum and wood, the only steel in the boxcars was located in their undercarriage and wheels to help give them more durability. Despite this fact—and thanks in no small part to the aluminum and wood—the boxcar Leonard chose to ram was no match for the incredible armor of the APC. Mass-produced consumer grade aluminum and wood tore apart like tissue paper as the APC’s large wheels virtually grabbed the steel base and drove over it, crushing the body of the train car underneath.

  Loud pops came from both sides of the APC as its weight broke the railway couplings on both ends of the boxcar and shattered the axles straight down the middle. Leonard and Nancy could hear the sides of the APC squeal in protest as the thick aluminum and steel was dragged the full length of the vehicle, though nothing seemed to penetrate into the interior. Beyond the train car was a small field that bordered the main highway and Leonard turned toward it, keeping all of his attention focused solely on getting them out of town.

  The sudden turn of their target in an unexpected direction momentarily confused the creatures, who slowed down to a walk while they tried to process what had just happened. A few of the more responsive ones crossed the train tracks to pursue Leonard and Nancy, but the APC was already long gone, having made it to the road where its superior speed made it impossible for the creatures to catch.

  Driving quietly for a moment, Leonard and Nancy both waited for the ringing in their ears to die down before they looked at each other, scarcely believing that they had been able to escape. Before either of them could speak, they heard a faraway voice cutting through static from the radio, fading in and out as they drove along.

  “Leonard? Nancy! Please respond! What’s your status?”

  Picking up the microphone from where it rested at his feet, Leonard spoke into it as he smoothly maneuvered the APC down the road.

  “Rachel, this is Leonard. Sorry about that. We ran into a spot of trouble, but we’re okay now.”

  Rachel’s relieved sigh flooded the radio and Nancy couldn’t help but smile, despite what had just happened. Far from Samuel, past the creatures and heading for the wilderness, she started to believe that maybe—just maybe—they would make it to their goal.

  Undisclosed Location

  Mr. Doe rises from his final hour of slumber that he will take in his secured bunker. Impeccably dressed, as always, he does a final check of his small briefcase, the contents of which he has spent the last several hours preparing. Satisfied that things are in order, he places the briefcase near the elevator door and takes a final walk through the rooms in his small bunker. Drives are erased, lights are turned off, computers shut down and all sensitive information is eradicated from the premises. Though Mr. Doe knows that it would be impossible for anyone to breach his bunker after he leaves, he is not one to take chances on such a thing ever happening, even in the distant future.

  Mr. Doe does not look back as he walks to the elevator door and retrieves his briefcase. He presses a small button next to the door, which glows with a dim yellow light. The far-off sound of a whirring mechanism comes through the doors, growing louder as the elevator car descends to the bunker at a dizzying speed. A moment after pressing the call button the elevator door opens, sliding aside to reveal a silver elevator just barely large enough to fit one man. As Mr. Doe steps inside the elevator, the door closes automatically and the car begins to rise.

  The car reaches the top of the elevator shaft with a slight bump and the door opens, though this door is slower to open than the one down in the bunker. Mr. Doe raises a white cloth to his face, blocking his nose and mout
h from inhaling the thick layers of dust that pour into the elevator. With a slight grimace, Mr. Doe steps out of the elevator and hurries down a damaged corridor, crouching under pieces of ceiling that have collapsed and climbing quickly over piles of rubble on the floor. Streams of water pour past him as he hurries down the hall, flowing toward some unseen drain far away that keeps the tunnel from filling to the brim.

  Built years prior by a select group of contractors, Mr. Doe’s bunker is buried deep beneath the Potomac River. Linked to the surface by a narrow elevator, it takes just a few minutes to travel through the tunnel joining Mr. Doe’s former office with the elevator shaft down to the bunker. Since his building was one of those that was destroyed, though, Mr. Doe skips the turn that leads to his office and continues forward where the water grows deeper.

  At the end of the narrow passage there is a steep slope up, past a large grating where the water pours through. Mr. Doe hops over the grating and jogs to the top of the tunnel, where he is greeted with his first true sight of daylight in many days. Standing at the edge of the river, Mr. Doe looks around to get his bearings before proceeding south along the bank. He walks for several minutes until he reaches a large grey warehouse with no markings that is nearly hidden amongst the trees.