Dark New World (Book 1): Dark New World

by Henry G. Foster

  Clods of dirt exploded into the air all around her as bullets struck nearby. Fuck and damn! Those bastards had seen her. Of course they had, she realized. She must have been the one they saw, and here she was standing still. She bolted from her spot, with adrenaline narrowing her vision; she didn’t see the stone that tripped her, but suddenly she was on her face in the dirt. The fall knocked the wind out of her. Gasping for air, she frantically spun over onto her back and looked around. Muzzle flashes could be seen to either side as the people in those buildings fired, mostly at her. Where the fuck was Michael? Oh God, he must have been hit. There was no other explanation for why he wasn’t returning fire from his position in the trees.

  Cassy realized with sudden calm and clarity that she was about to die. Even firing in the dusk light, they would eventually hit her and then it would all be over. She couldn’t crawl because of her shoulder, and if she tried to get up to run they would only have a better target. She lay back and waited with eyes closed, resigned to her fate, and prayed once again to thank whatever god existed that her children had already made it to the far trees. At least she had the foresight to tell Frank how to get to her homestead. The clan would make it. Her children would make it home.

  A bright light shone through her closed eyelids. Confused, she opened her eyes to look around. To the south, where the garage had been, there was now only a mushroom cloud of fire and smoke. She heard screams in the distance, but within seconds they stopped. The muzzle flashes from the northern house petered out and then stopped altogether.

  Thank you, God... Fighting the pain, Cassy rose to her feet still gasping for air, and stumbled toward the tree line and safety. It was slow going with the wind still knocked out of her, but she pushed herself as hard as she could.

  There was a sound to her left. Cassy fearfully turned her head to look, but realized with a start that the noise came from Michael, who was sprinting toward her. He skidded to a stop when he reached her and without a word grabbed her around the waist with his left arm. He half helped, half dragged her toward the trees.

  Moving as fast as she was able, they quickly reached the tree line, but kept going until they were some fifty yards into the woods. The rest of the clan followed along in silence until Michael stopped to gently help Cassy to the leaf-littered ground.

  * * *

  Frank took stock of the situation. Michael had used only half a dozen rounds and was the only one who had fired. That irritated Frank on principle, but he reminded himself that those were Michael’s instructions. Well, Michael knew how to do this stuff better than anyone else, but it still left a sour taste that he’d been unable to really contribute during the riskiest parts. He was sure he could have helped.

  But his initial irritation was overshadowed by the fact that no one following Michael’s plan had been seriously hurt. Jed had fallen into the tree line when a bullet grazed his leg and had a bruised knee that made him limp slightly, but the graze itself was easily bandaged. Cassy’s ankle wasn’t sprained, thankfully—she’d suffered enough lately without that, and they didn’t need her moving any slower than she already did. Nor had her shoulder opened up again when she fell. All good. Most of the kids had started to cry out of fear when they got to the safety of the trees, but none had frozen in place out in the open when the shooting started. Again, all good.

  Michael finished his check of everyone in the group and sat next to Frank with a grunt.

  “Well, your plan worked, Michael. We owe you our lives. Those assholes opened fire without so much as a warning. I hope you killed them all.” Frank’s jaw clenched, and he wished he could go back and kill every damn last one of those bastards again, plus any Michael had missed.

  Michael frowned, and his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at Frank. “No, Frank, I did not. I killed who I had to, and no more. Fact is, we all made it only because the garage had a huge propane tank at the back of the building. Must have been grandfathered in or done without permits, because it sure wasn’t to code. I blew the shit out of that fucker, but propane burns in a flash without so much heat. Even people in the blast could have survived if they weren’t shredded by shrapnel from the tank or from the cinder block wall. But it gave them something more important to worry about than us.”

  Frank didn’t flinch from Michael’s gaze. “That’s too bad. They shot at my people, and I wish we’d been able to do more to them. Like slit every damn one of their throats and watch the light leave their eyes as they died. They shot at kids, and they deserved more than they got.”

  Michael slowly shook his head, disapproving. “Frank, they’re civilians. They are scared of people taking what little they have, and they probably haven’t eaten more than a candy bar in days, with no light at the end of that tunnel. They were doing exactly what we are—taking care of their own, as best they can. If your kid was starving, I’d kill anyone I could just on the chance they had something for your kid to eat. Same for the rest of us. Frank, someday you’ll understand that we aren’t any better than them. Just luckier.”

  Frank finally looked away from Michael’s iron gaze and stared at the ground in front of him. Michael’s words made sense, and Frank tried to reconcile himself to what his friend had said. But deep inside, he just knew Michael was wrong. We are better than them, he insisted, and tried to convince himself that he would never do what Michael had said, no matter what. Deep inside, though, he worried that Michael was right, and hated himself for admitting it.

  * * *

  Sweating from the pace, Jaz was relieved when Michael finally said they were far enough away to rest safely for a time. In the days since the lights went out she had done so much walking and running, not to mention carrying a heavy backpack, that she had lost several pounds. Better yet, it was all fat; her muscles were getting more toned. But the blisters on her feet were gross. She had found better shoes, but they were so not pretty. Blisters and ugly shoes, OMG, it wasn’t her. It wasn’t.

  Jaz looked around the group, thankful that everyone had made it through the little skirmish. She saw Cassy sitting with Michael and his wife, no doubt talking about prepper stuff as usual. Cassy wasn’t exactly friendly yet, but at least now she didn’t feel like Cassy wanted to cut her throat while she slept. And she only took a backpack from Cassy. So build a bridge and get over it, already.

  Jed’s wife Amber was talking to Ethan. Well, Jaz had been around long enough to know what was going on there, even if Jed and Ethan didn’t. Men. They all wanted it, and none of them had a clue. Amber was bored of Jed and ready to get into Ethan. Men were dumb and never seemed to know when a girl was into them even if she made it totally obvious. But that was cool—let the two of them talk. That left Jed sitting off to the side by himself, which suited Jaz just fine.

  Jaz plopped down beside Jed, her arm brushing against his, and he turned to smile at her. “Heya girlie, how you doin’?” His eyes briefly roamed over her before locking with her own eyes.

  A thrill went through her then. Men almost always did that, unless they were gay—her gay friends never did that unless it was to check out her outfit—and she usually didn’t even notice anymore. It was just what men did. But when Jed looked at her, she felt her heart beat just a little faster. It had been awhile since any guy got a rise out of her, she suddenly realized. Maybe something was wrong with her.

  “I’m okay,” she told Jed. “Like, not totally okay because you scared the shit out of me out there when the bullets started buzzing around, but I’m holding up.” She looked into his eyes, his blue eyes that sorta swallowed her up, and counted to three before looking away with a smile. That was being coy, her mom had taught her. It often worked. “I thought you got shot,” she added, putting a little wobble into her voice.

  “Oh, and that worried you, did it? Best be careful or a man will get to thinkin’ you like him or something.”

  Again with that smile of his. And it seemed to drown out all her worries, all her bad memories and hidden secrets. Maybe she really did like him.
Yeah, the more she thought about it the more she thought maybe she “like liked” him. But he was married...

  “Of course I like you, Jed. You’re strong, and good, and rough around the edges. You’re, like, a good friend maybe. I hope you are. But you know you have other responsibilities. I don’t know if Amber is okay with you having a friend like me.”

  Jed looked far away and was silent for a long moment. Finally he said, “Jaz, me ’n Amber haven’t been what you call ‘close’ in years. Not since we lost our other son, drowned in the crick. She blames me. I reckon she stays with my sorry ass out of love for the kids. She surely does love them, you know. But I seen how she looks at Ethan. Same as she used to look at me before I asked her out the first time. And he’s a good man, that Ethan. I think we’ll all be in this together for longer than we might think, and I reckon I don’t much worry about what she and Ethan do together down the road. But right now isn’t the time, and not all secretive and sneaky when they do. I hope.”

  Jaz froze. Oh god, he’d never opened up like that before, not in any of their sometimes long talks along the way. The guy was hurt, but still only wanted Amber to be happy! She’d have to seriously reconsider this guy. Maybe he wasn’t so rough around the edges after all. And Jed said he and Amber had been distant for years. Long enough for him to come to grips with it. No need for rebounding, maybe. Oh, what the hell was she thinking? Did she really like him like that?

  “Jed, it like, hurts me to hear that. She’s a good person, but so are you. I think both of you should have a chance to be happy. If you’re okay with her kicking it with Ethan, maybe she’ll, like, be okay with us being friends? I kinda think maybe we could be... Really close friends. I want to be.”

  Jed slid an arm around her waist, and she rested her head on his shoulder. Jed let out a long, deep breath. “Jaz, you got more in your head than just friends. I think. I been thinkin’ about that too, for a while now. I haven’t smiled a real smile in a long, long time before you came along. I like being around you, girlie. You make me smile again. Let’s ease into it and see how Amber deals with us being friends. Okay?”

  With that, Jed stood and strode over to Michael and Cassy without a look back. Jaz had an avalanche of thoughts all tumbling around in her head, and she stared into the trees, thinking. Then she glanced around when she realized she’d spaced out. Jed and Michael were talking about something or other, but not Cassy. Sitting by Michael, Cassy stared at Jaz with one eyebrow half-raised, and she felt her cheeks flush red. Cassy made one curt nod and then turned away to Michael and Jed’s conversation.

  Jaz was once more alone with her thoughts, wondering what Cassy meant when she nodded at her like that.

  * * *

  Just before the sun went down completely, Cassy and the others finished preparing the make-shift encampment; latrine dug, coals burning merrily, and wool blankets set up as lean-tos around the fire, with another wool blanket under each lean-to set atop a bed of leaves and needles to insulate them from the ground. Sleeping in the rough with comfort, Cassy smiled to herself.

  To the south was the town of Devault; occasional gunshots could be heard from there, faint reports carried on the wind. Cassy and the others had already been briefed for the next day’s run, because Michael insisted everyone know the plan just in case they had to flee during the night. Everyone could meet up at the next day’s encampment spot, if necessary, even if they split up and traveled alone. In the morning they would travel along the I-76 greenbelt to the west until it ran out in a few miles, then bypass the town of Eagle by diverting north, and then, by the end of tomorrow, they should be in a thick greenbelt west of the little village of Ludwig’s Corner.

  Cassy sat next to her mother, staying quiet for several minutes. She enjoyed Mandy’s company, but at the moment she was just glad her mom, along with her kids, had survived long enough for Cassy to meet back up with them. Things had gotten dicey a few times on her way back.

  Mandy shifted and looked at Cassy. “So what’s on your mind, sweetie? I know when you’re thinking about something bothersome.”

  Cassy pursed her lips and nodded once. “Yeah. Well, I want your advice. I am worried about a situation that might blow up on us down the road, and I’m letting my own feelings get in the way of my judgment, I can feel it happening.” She paused and added, “I know I can trust you not to be a gossip. It bothers me that Jaz and Jed are getting closer than they ought to, him being married and all. But Jed’s wife Amber is spending more time than she ought to with Ethan. It’s hard to feel bad for her about Jed when she’s doing the same thing with Ethan. It feels like a soap opera without any commercials for going to the bathroom. Should I even bring it up? Leave it alone? I don’t know what’s best, Mom.”

  Mandy was quiet for a minute, and Cassy saw her brow furrow. Her mom always did that when she was working through a tough moral issue in her mind. Finally Mandy said, “Well, Jed and Amber had problems before all this started, I gather. Seems reasonable they’d have even more now. Ethan and Jaz are both single, and scared like the rest of us. Everyone wants someone to comfort them, I think. And I think that if Amber makes a move on Ethan before Jaz moves on Jed, all will be well.”

  She looked over at her daughter and added, “The world is different now, and people want different things than they did when they could distract themselves with TV and the Internet. There’s nothing wrong with people realigning themselves, and God will forgive ‘em if they handle it with honor and honesty. That’s all I can really say about that, sweetie.”

  Cassy stared into the burning coals in the fire pit. Maybe her mother was right. It was a new way of looking at things. The trick would be to see whether Amber stepped out on her marriage before Jed did, and the best way to make sure it happened that way was to try to keep Jaz away from Jed, at least for now. Running for their lives was not the right time for all this to happen anyway.

  When Mandy rose to attend the kids, Cassy didn’t even notice, lost in her own thoughts again.

  * * *

  1800 HOURS - ZERO DAY +7

  Cassy stopped with the others at the day’s destination, and immediately took another Percocet, chewing it to get faster pain relief. Her shoulder throbbed constantly now, and for the last mile or two every step had driven a sharp, fiery stake through her injured shoulder joint. It had been all she could do not to cry out, and now she was pale and noticeably shaking.

  At least they were done walking for the day now. The sun would set in an hour, according to Ethan, and they had made it without incident to their designated stop point, an area of thick foliage just west of a village called Ludwig’s Corner. Along the way, they had seen burning houses, and bodies sprawled here and there almost always showing evidence of a violent death. Michael had said those were just the tip of the iceberg. The corpses they couldn’t see, tucked away in houses and in looted stores, probably vastly outnumbered the few bodies they had noticed. It bothered Cassy that she seemed to be getting used to the bodies of strangers.

  Twice they had been approached by small groups of people who Cassy thought looked like families, and begged them for food or water. The Clan was well-armed, and they had left without violence when Michael ordered them away. His military bark probably would have kept those timid souls away even without the guns, Cassy thought, but to hell with taking chances. Any one of them might have slipped a knife into their throats for food, Cassy figured, so she had no moral problem with the others pointing guns at the beggars.

  “Well,” Ethan said as he and Michael began the process of organizing an encampment, “I think pretty soon the only ones left will be farmers and people with guns, like us.”

  “But, don’t you think the railroads still work?” Grandma Mandy asked. “The engines don’t use electricity, right? They’ll be rolling food out from Iowa or wherever, real soon.”

  Cassy thought Mandy sounded more hopeful than certain. “Mom, the trains may run on diesel, but they have computers and circuits to control everything
. They’re as fried as the rest of the grid. And without working trucks to get the food to the railways, how would the trains load and unload anyway? We’re on our own.”

  Ethan grunted. “The sooner we get used to the idea that this is going to get much worse before it gets better, the safer we’ll be. And don’t forget about the invaders. They’re attacking through Alaska, Florida, and as we know, New York. There may be other places as well. Nothing gets better until they’re kicked the fuck off U.S. soil.”

  Michael grinned and said, “Yeah, but every damn American has a gun, practically. I bet good ol’ boys are harassing them every time they step outside.”

  “Well, let’s hope so,” Cassy said. “The more soldiers who get tied up in New York the better off we’ll be in Pennsylvania. And, unfortunately, the faster people starve off the safer we’ll be on my farm, when we get there.”

  Cassy saw Mandy staring at her with her jaw open in disbelief. She couldn’t look her mom in the eyes so she turned away to string up her shelter for the night. She heard Michael tell Mandy, “Don’t look at her like that. She’s being practical. You want your grandkids to live long enough to have families of their own? You better get practical, too.”

  Mandy spun on her heels and strode away, but not before Cassy heard her mutter, “God will punish the cruel and wicked.”

  Cassy hoped she was right, but she had in mind a different set of cruel people. “Save God’s wrath for the invaders, Mom,” she called after Mandy. To herself she added, “They’re the ones who did this to us. If there’s a God, then He will know.”

  Ethan shook his head. “God’s not in right now. Can I take a message?”

  * * *

  Peter Ixin fumed in his camp. For the last half-hour he had kept his prey in his rifle sight, rehearsing in his mind the look she would have on her face when death came for her as his bullet pierced her icy heart. He prayed she would live just long enough to realize her end had come. It took all of his will not to shoot her then and there, a second-by-second struggle between his head and his heart.