The Wasteland: Book 6 of The After The Event Series

by Williams, T. A.

  Ally laid her head back and stared at the pallet covering their only means of escape. She was afraid but that wasn’t a bad thing, she told herself. Zhang was right, she was strong. She was a survivor.

  Ben

  “For how long?” Elly asked as she stood at the doorway of her house.

  “Not sure,” Ben said. “A couple of days at most.”

  “Be careful,” Elly said.

  Her five–year-old daughter, Eliza, ran to the door and peeked out at Ben from Elly’s side.

  “Hi Ben,” she squeaked.

  He smiled, “Hey Eliza, how are you?”

  She ducked back behind her mother for a second then peeked back out. “Good. Are we going on another walk?”

  “Not today,” Elly said. “Ben is going to work for a couple of days.”

  They had gone on the tour, and several more tours over the next couple of days. Elly was amazing. She was smart, resourceful and totally out of his league. But she was nice enough to at least be his friend.

  “I promise when I return we can go on another long walk,” Ben said.

  Eliza smiled and ran back into the house. Elly’s daughter was a breath of fresh air. She was always happy, always asking a million questions and always getting into things she shouldn’t be. She reminded Ben a lot of his little sister.

  “I’m not good at this sort of thing,” Elly said. She stepped forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Just be careful.”

  Ben froze. He felt his face going red but couldn’t find the strength to turn away. That wasn’t something that friends did, was it?

  Elly looked embarrassed but gave a gentle laugh. “I know we just met but...but just be careful.”

  “I will,” Ben said softly. Then he just stood there. Not because he didn’t want to leave but because his brain wasn’t working well enough to tell his feet to move. Elly looked at him strangely for a moment, until he was able to finally stagger away.

  His mind struggled to grasp what had just happened, and he nearly ran over Ty. The man stood there with a large smile on his face.

  “Damn, B. We haven’t even been here a minute and you already found yourself a girl.”

  Ben noticed Crimson standing a few feet away with a large smile plastered on her face.

  “Shut it,” he told them both as he walked past.

  “Shut what?” Crimson asked gleefully. “I haven’t even said anything--yet.”

  The three of them made their way to the helipad and got loaded into one of the helicopters. Dex, Vick and Chavez were already on the helicopter waiting for them. Dex gave Ben a knowing smile.

  “Just saying some goodbyes?” he asked.

  Ben looked around and noticed the same smile on Vick and Chavez. “You all really need to find something else to fill your free time.”

  The Helo took flight, leading them to their next operation.

  “All right, what’s the plan?” Ben asked through the headsets.

  Crimson sat forward, immediately serious. “Remove the last Op from your memory banks. This one is real. This base has been operating with no outside help and has been supplying the enemy for quite a while. They are well equipped and there are plenty of them.”

  “Supplying what? Food?” Ty asked.

  “Coal,” Crimson said. “Pre-war this was a coal mining operation and once the war started they took it over and started it back up. The mining operation is to the north and there is a separate camp just south that supplies food, wood and everything they need to keep operating.”

  “I take it a bombing run is not a part of this Op?” Dex asked.

  “You are correct. Unlike our last Op, we have confirmation of prisoners. They are the ones doing all the hard work.”

  “POWS?” Ben asked.

  Crimson shrugged. “Not sure. They could be captured soldiers or simply civilians. I wouldn’t go in expecting any of them to help. Reports are that they are malnourished.”

  “So we going in alone or with help?” Ben asked.

  “We are Red squad and will be dropped off a few miles north of the mining camp, along with Blue squad. Our mission is to secure the mining camp and eliminate any resistance. Black squad and Green squad are going to be dropped off south of the supply camp and will secure it.”

  “Air support?” Vick asked.

  “Two Apache helicopters. They will come in hot, as our scouts identified at least a couple of buildings that are only used by the enemy. They will light those up, which should hopefully take out a chunk of their manpower. Any questions?”

  “What’s her name?” Dex asked.

  They all looked at Ben. It took him a second to realize what they were asking.

  “No questions,” Ben said, holding back a smile. He took off his headset, sat back and closed his eyes. Even without his headset he could hear them laughing.

  Ally

  Zhang carefully pushed the wooden pallet to the side and peered out the hole. Ally waited to hear barking or growling or the sudden movement of the waiting dogs. Instead, it was quiet. After a few moments Zhang put the pallet back over the hole and shrugged his shoulders. Ally had been afraid of that. Her stomach screamed for food; she was dirty, tired and ready to escape from this hell hole; but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to risk venturing out to where she was nearly eaten alive. Zhang limped over to his area and began to pack up his belongings. When she didn’t move he looked over at her with confusion on his face.

  Ally took in a deep breath. “Yeah, okay.”

  She walked over to her area and picked up her canteen and the sharp rock she had been using as a weapon. She was ready to go.

  Zhang called out to her and she turned. In his hand were the remnants of her bow, broken cleanly into two pieces. A feeling of loss washed over Ally. She would have preferred to just believe she had lost it instead of seeing it like this. Zhang noticed the look on her face and then reached back down behind some rocks and pulled out two arrows. He offered them to her with a smile on his face.

  Ally fought back a tear and walked over to grab her broken bow and two arrows. “Where....you found them?”

  Zhang stared at her for a moment then gestured at the ceiling and made a motion toward the ground.

  “You found them after we fell down here?”

  Zhang made the same motion. Ally had been convinced the man was going to attack and overpower her until just recently, while in reality the man had had two sharp arrows he could have used to take her out whenever he wanted. Strangely, that made her feel a little better. Ally handed him the other arrow and made a stabbing motion.

  “In case we need to defend ourselves,” she said.

  Zhang nodded.

  Ally took one last look around the dark room she had been trapped in for what felt like years. She wasn’t going to miss anything about it. Zhang went back to the hole and carefully removed the wooden pallet and peered out into the darkness. Zhang turned back to her and said something she was sure was supposed to be reassuring and then he pulled himself through the hole and onto the other side.

  Silence.

  Ally held tight to her arrow and then climbed up and jumped into the darkness. She hit the ground hard and her bad ankle gave her a twinge of pain but held up. As her eyes fought to adjust to the darkness she stood there, frozen in fear. When Zhang grabbed her shoulder she nearly stabbed him with her arrow but caught herself just before. Zhang’s face came into focus next to her, and he gave her a nervous smile. He nodded toward the curve of the tunnel and led the way. Their footsteps echoed throughout the tunnel and reminded her of what it sounded like when her father hammered nails into their old house. They rounded the corner and once again she saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Each step seemed to only get them inches closer and every sound reminded her of a dog giving chase, but they never came and they made their way to the end of the tunnel.

  The light was blinding but the feeling of the cool air on her skin was exhilarating. The sound of a dog barking a few blocks away echo
ed down the streets and Ally snapped back to reality. Quickly she surveyed the surrounding area. Across the street the rear of a military Humvee stuck out from an apartment building. The front end had disappeared inside and part of the building had collapsed on top of it. There was no way they could get through that but the debris did provide them with a stairway to get up to the second floor. She glanced down the far side of the road and could make out movement.

  “This way,” Ally said to Zhang.

  Zhang limped as quickly as he could just as the animals burst out from around the corner. One of the animals let out a hair-raising howl and the others burst out in snarls and barks. Ally glanced to the building. It seemed so far away. She glanced back to Zhang; he was moving too slowly. The thought ran through her mind and sat there for longer than she wanted to admit.

  “I’m not leaving you,” Ally said, more to herself than to him, as she grabbed his hand and tried to pull him along.

  They got to the Humvee and she climbed on top and grabbed his hand to pull him up. Zhang stepped on the rim and pulled himself on top just as the first dog slammed into the car, causing it to let out a yelp and Ally to fall to her side. The other dogs tripped over their fallen friend, giving Ally enough time to get to her feet and climb up the rubble to the second floor. Zhang yelled something at her as he climbed on all fours over the debris toward her. One of the dogs managed to get on top of the Humvee but its claws slipped on something, sending it falling back down on the others. Ally got up to the second floor and slammed her shoulder into the first door she found. The door was already partially open so she went sprawling face-first into the apartment room and fell hard on her stomach, causing the air to expel from her lungs. As Ally lay there gasping for breath, Zhang began to scream from outside. She pulled herself up, still struggling for breath, and ran back outside, where she saw Zhang in the hallway on all fours, and one of the dogs had his leg firmly in its jaws. Zhang kicked out with his free leg toward the dog but it didn’t budge. Ally held tight to her arrow and charged the dog. The animal saw her coming at the last second and as it let go of Zhang’s leg Ally jammed the arrow into its neck. The animal snapped down on her wrist and Ally let out a scream as its teeth pierced her skin. The bite only lasted a second as the arrow sticking out from the dog finally registered in its mind and it let out a howl and scrambled away.

  Ally lay on her side on the dirty hallway and looked down at her right wrist, which was covered in blood. She wasn’t sure how much of it was hers and how much of it was the dog’s. She looked up and saw that two more of the dogs had managed to climb up onto the Humvee and were making their way across the debris toward her. Ally’s arrow was gone, still in the neck of the first dog, so she watched as the two dogs jumped onto the second floor hallway and looked right to her. Zhang’s arm wrapped itself across her chest and she felt herself being lifted just as the dogs burst forth. The world spun and Ally was thrown into the room and heard the door slam shut and then get slammed by the dogs as they tried to get inside. Ally got to her knees and looked up and saw Zhang sitting against the closed door.

  They had made it.

  Zhang pointed at her arm and kept repeating something urgently. Ally looked down at her bloody arm and waved him away.

  “I’m ok, Zhang. We’re ok.”

  Alec

  The days passed slowly after that. Mason--Alec was still struggling to remember to call him by this name--woke up every morning and went to their job site and returned every night. The time in between was all Alec’s. He still couldn’t sit up for more than a few hours before the world began to spin all around him, so the time in between was spent sleeping or thinking. He thought about his family. He thought about the people back in New Hope, and he thought about the people he had lost here. He didn’t like being alone with his thoughts.

  Mason came back right before it got dark, like usual, and brought Alec his bowl of porridge, only this time he wasn’t alone. Mason stepped into the room, laid Alec’s bowl of porridge to the side and then put himself between Alec and the door to their cell. Before Alec could ask what was wrong he saw the soldiers standing outside. They stood there at attention and then Xu stepped out from behind them.

  The world jolted and began to shudder, and it was all Alec could do not to pass out. He closed his eyes for a moment to gather himself. When he opened them back up Xu was still there.

  Xu’s face was one of genuine shock. “You still here.” The man smiled. “I told you that you couldn’t die until I told you to.” Xu noticed Mason sitting between the two of them and said something to one of the soldiers. The soldier raised his gun and pointed it at Mason. “Move,” Xu snarled.

  “He’s still weak; what do you want?”

  Alec put his hand on Mason and tried to push him to the side. The man didn’t budge. “Mason, I’m ok.”

  Mason grudgingly moved to the side.

  “Still think you the hero,” Xu said. He turned to Mason. “You have one job. You make sure he gets better. I have big plans for the hero. If he dies, then you die. Understand?”

  Mason didn’t say anything. The man just sat there and stared at Xu. His cold eyes were hard. Xu ignored them.

  “You get better, hero. We will be spending a lot of time together soon.”

  With that said, Xu was gone. The world slowly began to steady and Alec felt himself relax. He closed his eyes and took a few steadying breaths. When he opened them Mason was sitting beside him with a look of concern on his face.

  “You all right?” Mason asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Mason clenched his jaw tightly. “I’ll figure something out. He isn’t going to touch you again.”

  From his frame it was obvious that Mason had once been a large man, but his time at the camp had taken his size and his strength. Every day he came back from work looking like he was on the verge of collapse. He had healed but he was still a shell of a man. There wasn’t anything Mason could do; there wasn’t anything anyone could do. Alec would either not be able to recover and would die, or he would get better and Xu would have his way with him. Alec laid his head gently back against the wall and thought about his loved ones.

  “Right before they captured me I think I fell in love,” Alec said. He opened his eyes and saw a smile on Mason’s face.

  “Is that so?”

  “I guess,” Alec said, shrugging. “I’ve had a girlfriend or two before the world ended but I never felt that way about them.”

  “What was her name?”

  “Bethany.” Alec could see her black curly hair and her bright green eyes. He could almost remember her smell but it rested just out of reach of his memory.

  “Did she know how you felt?”

  Alec remembered the night they had spent together. He could recall every detail. He had woken up before her and could remember how peaceful she looked while she was sleeping. “Yeah, she knew. We were together when I got captured.”

  “She is still there waiting for you.”

  “I hope so.” Alec hoped she was still safe. His thoughts then turned to the people he loved most of all. “I lost my entire family after the world went dark.”

  Mason’s jaw tightened again. “I…I’m sorry.”

  “There was a group of people that lived near us, bad people who refused to take care of themselves and instead stole from the rest of us. They came to our home, killed my youngest brother and then kidnapped my sister.” Alec felt the tears but didn’t try to fight them. “We fought them and my father was killed. My sister escaped with one of the prisoners and I never saw her again. I tried to find her...but I couldn’t. When I returned my brother had left. I don’t know if it was because he was mad at me or if he just thought I wouldn’t ever return.”

  Mason’s face was completely blank. “You said you’re from Missouri?”

  Alec nodded. “I stayed at our house and we tried to create our own little community. It was really starting to turn into one but the Chinese soldiers arrived and began taking ever
ything.”

  “What...what was your brother’s name?”

  “Joseph and Ben. Joseph is the one that was shot. My sister’s name is Ally.”

  “You’re from Centralia?”

  Alec hadn’t told him that. He looked up at Mason, and the man had a look of shock on his face. “How did you now that?”

  “I’ve been there...I fought alongside your brother Ben.”

  The world started to spin out of control again. Alec closed his eyes but could still feel it twisting and turning, but he refused to black out. “Ho…how? Ben...is alive?” He felt Mason’s hands on his shoulders.

  “Yes, he was fine. We were under attack but he escaped. He saved dozens, if not over a hundred, refugees. He is a hell of a soldier.”

  “Soldier?” Alec took a few breaths and the spinning stopped. “He is…was…just a kid. Ben is okay?” He opened his eyes and saw tears streaming down Mason’s face.

  “He’s fine and he’s alive. He should be far away from all the fighting. Your brother is still alive.”

  As his emotions began to swell again so did the unsteady world, but before he could do anything about it the entire building shook as an explosion rocked the camp.

  Ben

  Even a mile out the sulfuric smell of the mine stung Ben’s nose. He couldn’t imagine what the smell must be like within the mine itself. He tried to keep his attention on the smell and what he needed to do to prevent the fear from creeping into his thoughts. This wasn’t his first operation and he had lived in a city where the possibility of a missile landing in his lap at any second was a reality. The fear came because of her. For the first time he actually had something to lose. They had only just met and this might not even be anything serious, but it was something Ben had never had before. He wanted at least a chance to see what it could become.