Martin fidgeted. “It’s Corporal Martin.”
Carol’s eyes bore into him. “Milk, three sugars. Kettle’s at the back.”
Martin frowned, went to speak, but then trotted off towards the back of the office, like a good little boy.
Carol raised an eyebrow at Mina once Martin was out of earshot. “That the fella who rescued you?”
“Yes, he saved our lives.”
“Then I’m glad to have him. Now, who’s this little beauty?” Carol knelt in front of Alice, who stared at the floor and said nothing.
“This is Alice,” said Mina. “We… She lost her brother in Hyde Park.”
Carol let out a long, pained sigh. “A big brother, I bet? I had a big brother, too. He’s gone now, died of the cancer four years back. Don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost him at your age. I want to hear all about him, my love. He might be gone, but the more people you tell about him, the more his spirit will live on. I have chocolate in my office. Will you come share it with me while you tell me all about your brother? I want to know everything, starting with his favourite colour.”
“His name was Kyle. He liked blue.”
Carol gave Alice an enormous smile. “An American? I love Americans. So, did Kyle like his baseball?”
“No, he liked ice hockey. Clark took him to see the Montreal Canadiens in Canada once.”
“Clark your daddy?”
“Step-daddy.”
“Right you are. You can tell me all about him too. Come on now, my love.” Carol took Alice’s hand and straightened up. She turned to David. “Big Jimmy will catch you up on things. I’ll be in my office with Alice, but I don’t want to be disturbed. Not much else a woman my age can do but calm a child’s nerves.”
David nodded. “Call me if you need anything.”
“I need good news, but don’t think I’ll get it.”
Carol walked away just as Corporal Martin appeared with a mug of piping tea. She snatched it off him as she passed and left him to stand there looking confused.
Mina chuckled. “Come on, Martin. Let’s find you something to do other than make tea.”
He looked at her and nodded eagerly. “Please do.”
***
Sitting at her computer, Mina realised that things were as bad as Carol had told them. People in Scotland were fleeing to the highlands, and refugees from the cities flooded the British countryside. There were over eighty gates in the U.K., spread wide enough that nowhere was safe. Likewise, America was under attack far and wide, but had a little more land to work with. Some areas did not have gates at all, and it was to these areas, like the greater Chicago area, where survivors were fleeing. It was also true that Africa was doing better than most other places. As Mina streamed the news channels broadcasting out of Somalia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and South Africa, she saw armed militia holding their own against the hordes of creatures. For the first time in history, the whites and blacks in South Africa were fighting alongside each other, instead of against. Mina marvelled at the sight of a little white boy and a black girl holding rifles and standing over the corpse of a demon. Likewise, Al-Jazeera, in the Middle East, gave positive reports of resistance in Iraq, Iran, Jordan, and Israel, but their reputation for propaganda made them less than credible.
The more and more Mina researched, the more she understood that Corporal Martin was right. The nations faring best were the ones where the citizens were armed and fighting alongside the military. Countries with a political climate of unrest, such as Somalia, followed by places like America and Canada where guns were legal, were giving as good as they got. The countries worse off were the ones with the most totalitarian governments, like Russia and China. In those countries, the people at the top seemed happy to scorch the earth to defeat the enemy. Moscow and Shanghai were both burning craters now.
Whatever chance Britain had was unclear, but it was a country famously free of firearms, which meant that it was now almost defenceless. Even the nation’s police force used weapons sparingly. The only ones to use them in any significant capacity was the Army, but its majority was overseas, further contributing to those countries like Iraq who were already fighting back.
Exasperated, Mina glanced around the room.
Andras had gone with Martin to try to liaise with the military. David was working alongside Big Jimmy—an overweight West Country native with a lot of intelligence, but very little personality—to run operations. Mina had taken her orders from Mitchell, the newspaper’s System Support Manager, and had been tasked with gaining insight into the situation worldwide to try and form an overall picture. What she really wanted was to find out what was behind those gates—where did they lead? She thought of the creatures as demons now, even though nothing had confirmed it. What did other people think? Did anybody understand what was going on?
The Internet was ablaze with theories—millions of people hiding in their homes and offering opinions. The two main factions were Aliens vs Demons. One forum online operated only with the understanding that the black stones had opened up inter-dimensional portals and that humanity was being invaded by an alien species. Conversely, those who believed Demons were responsible, pointed out that many of the enemy resembled burned human beings, not aliens. What intelligent species would evolve to have burned flesh? The other side would then rebut with the explanation that the burns were from an unforeseen side effect of travelling through the gates. The theoretical victory tilted more towards the demon theory whenever somebody brought up the giants. That they were flawlessly beautiful and possessed scorched wings upon their backs gave credence to the fact they could indeed be Fallen Angels from the depths of Hell. Mina agreed with that theory, then chided herself for believing in something so absurd. Yet, the more she said the word ‘demon’ the more it lost its potency and supernatural connotations. Now, the word was as real and mundane as ‘dog’ or ‘cat’. It became easier and easier to grasp her new reality every minute, yet harder and harder to accept.
They were being invaded by demons.
She listed the things she knew for sure:
Black stones opened gates.
Demons (?) came through.
Giants are in charge of the demons?
Need to fight back. Everyone must fight back.
Humanity must fight back.
Fight.
Fight.
Fight.
Mina sighed as she realised that she had so little to offer anybody who might read the newspaper’s website. Everyone needed to understand that they were at war, but even if they did, what should they do? This wasn’t like watching Iraq on the news and remarking upon the politics of it all. This was war on people’s doorstep, outside the local McDonalds. There could be no pacifists in this. Everyone needed to be ready to kill the enemy.
But could ordinary people become killers—soldiers?
And would that even be enough?
Mina leaned back over the keyboard and typed a message onto the front page of their website:
NOTICE: Please post anything you know about the creatures. Have you seen one die? How? What do you know that might help others? Please, please share whatever you know, wherever and whoever you are. Please share. We need to help each other.
It was nothing more than a shot in the dark, but just maybe somebody would share something helpful that she could share.
Ring!
Mina flinched as her phone rang. She had forgotten she’d switched it back on earlier to check for messages. There had been a couple of texts from a handful of friends, but most of them just wanted her to tell them what was going on. The only thing she sent them back in reply was: Find weapons. Fight. It was short and a tad dramatic, but there was no time to caress people’s sensibilities. Millions were probably already dead, and those remaining would have to go from nought to sixty in a single second. As Mina looked at her phone now, she saw that her father was calling her. It was 7AM, and maybe he’d just woken up. She was the first thing he had thought about. That
affected her in a strange way. Made her want to cry.
“Hello, dad. I sent you a text. I’m safe, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Mina, I will stop worrying about you when you are home. Where are you?”
“I’m at work.”
“You need to come home.”
“No. I’m working.”
“Bloody goddammit.”
“Do you realise what’s going on, dad? The world is being attacked. It doesn’t matter if I’m at home or work. Nowhere is safe. At least here I can do some good.”
“You can do good at home with your father. I need you here.”
“For what? To look after you? Don’t be so pissing selfish. Do you know how many people have died in the last twenty-four hours?”
“You swear at your own father?”
“Yes, I do swear when you’re acting like a moron. I love you, dad, but I’m not coming home. In fact, there’s a chance you might never see me again. I was there in London; I saw it all. Maybe that’s why I understand and you don’t. Now is not the time to argue with the people you love. The office is two miles away; if you want to see me, dad, then come here.”
“You order me to come see you? I am your father, and I have bid you to come home.”
“You are my father, yes, but not my master. I’ll be here if you want me, but if not, then just keep safe and prepare for the worst. I love you, dad. I really do.”
Silence.
Mina looked at her phone and realised her father had hung up on her. Exactly when, she did not know. Twenty-four hours ago, she would never have dared speak to him like she just had. Even now, in her mid-twenties, she feared the strict man who was still more than willing to strike her. Yet, gradually, over the years, she had started resisting him, placing just a little more of that distance between herself and his cloying rules. The conversation she’d just had with him was the final snare on her independence being torn away, sped up by the events in London, but always inevitable. She loved her father, but she had also resigned herself to never speaking to him again. She knew that, one day, she would rebel, and that their future relationship would depend very much on his ability to let her go willingly. It was just a pity that, with the way things were, he would have to make his peace quickly, for there might not be a chance later.
Mina stood up from her computer and went to make herself a cup of tea. She needed to wipe her mind and start again.
She met Andras over by the kettle. “Things are bad,” he told her. “Corporal Martin keeps shouting and kicking things. I don’t think the Army is doing well.”
Mina wearily poured some milk and threw in a tea bag. She would need sleep soon, or she’d pass out where she stood. “I don’t think wars ever go well,” she said. “It’s how they end that matters. We need to make sure we do whatever we can to help. We’re in a position of authority. People will look to the media to inform them about what to do. We have to make sure that anyone who finds us gets the best information available. We have to rally people to fight.”
“You think they will? I mean, when you found me, I was lying in the road, terrified. I’m afraid I’m a coward when it comes to violence.”
Mina thought for a moment, then said, “That was different. When those kids mugged you, you had the option to lie down. When you have to face the demons, that option won’t be there. You’ll fight. We all must fight.”
“Perhaps you’re right. Still, seems pretty hopeless.”
“You’re alive, Andras, same as yesterday and the day before that. So what’s hopeless? Hope only dies when we die. So don’t die.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“And I’ll do mine.” She then went on to ask him, “Do you need to call anyone? Everybody has been making calls home to check on friends and family, but I haven’t seen you make a call.”
“I have nobody to call.”
“No one?”
“No one. I’m new here; came to start again. Some fresh start, huh?”
Mina gave him a lopsided grin. “I guess I don’t have anyone to call either. Not sure if that’s a blessing right now.”
Andras put his hand on her arm and squeezed. She liked it. “Better to have loved and lost, they say, but what do they know? The only people I have to worry about are in this room. Thank you for helping me, Mina. I’m so glad I’m not alone right now.”
“Don’t mention it.” She yawned. “Hey, will you find David for me and tell him I’ve gone to take a nap?”
“He already went and did the same. I saw him sleeping on a sofa in the waiting room.”
Mina rolled her eyes. “Nice of him to tell me. Well, you’ll find me somewhere nice and quiet for the next few hours, if such a place still exists.”
“I’ll wake you if anything happens.”
“Thanks, Andras.” She headed off toward one of the unused offices, of which there were several. Web-based news had led to less and less boots-on-the-ground reporters, and by the time Mina had got the job at the Echo, Carol said she was lucky to find work at all.
There was no soft furniture in the empty office she chose, but that was okay. She nestled down in the corner and closed her eyes as if the worn carpet were a silk sheet. Before she fell to dreams, she hoped against hope that somebody out there would find a way to fight back. She also hoped that her father would call back, but perhaps that was too much to ask.
~RICK BASTION~
Devonshire, England
Rick awoke with a headache, but it was nothing new. For a few, blurry seconds he lay on the couch in his living room and didn’t remember that anything was wrong. He was just waking up with a hangover like he had a thousand times before. Then it came flooding back.
He turned and saw Maddy asleep on the floor next to him, and he saw Diane and Steven sprawled out on the other, larger sofa. His new companions, he reminded himself—his partners from last night’s battle against the minions of Hell. The thought made him wish he could go right back to sleep. But he couldn’t.
He swung his legs down onto the carpet and rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms. His head throbbed, his mouth was dry, but before he went into the kitchen to get a glass of water, he wanted to check on something first. Before going to bed last night, he had overridden the alarm to keep it from beeping, but he had left the monitor switched on. When he went over to it now, he saw the creatures still lined up outside his front gate. There were more of them now, standing shoulder to shoulder and filling the entire video screen. And there, right in the middle of them, was a corpse with long, black hair.
Rick narrowed his eyes as he recognised the demon that had killed Sarah. It glared directly into the camera as if it knew Rick was watching it.
Rick felt his fists clench.
“He’s been there all morning,” came his brother’s voice. Keith stood behind him with a mug of tea in each hand. He handed one over, which Rick took gladly. “How’s your head?” he asked. “You were blind drunk by the time you fell asleep.”
Rick took a sip of tea and shrugged. “I can handle a hangover. I had an expert father to show me how. You were drinking pretty heavily yourself up until we made it back here.”
“Difference is: I stopped. Well, at least I did this time.”
Rick turned to his brother and saw there was something different about him this morning. His shoulders were lower, his chin raised less proudly. “What is it, Keith? Has something happened?”
He sipped his tea, sighed, then said, “I used your laptop this morning. I had an email from Marcy, sent about an hour after I left to come visit you. She told me she was taking Max to stay with her mother in Gloucester for a few days.” He seemed to be holding back tears as he spoke. “Gloucester is hit pretty bad apparently. BBC news is trying to sugar coat it, but when you search the smaller news sites, you get the real truth. There’s a newspaper in Slough which has posted a list of the gates that have opened. Gloucester is on the list.”
Rick squinted, his head still banging, but now he was
confused as well. “I don’t understand. Why did Marcy go to her mother’s?”
“Because I cheated on her with my secretary.”
“Oh God, Keith, seriously? That’s so fucking clichéd.”
Keith’s face screwed up in anger, but he seemed to force it away and stared down into his mug of tea as if trying to channel his rage into the liquid instead of his brother. “I’ve been drinking heavily and… I don’t know. I wasn’t in my right mind. My secretary ended up causing me all kinds of bother. She called Marcy in the middle of the night and told her I was leaving her and was going to get a divorce. Crazy bitch. All the shit I give you, huh, Rick? Makes me a hypocrite.”
This was Rick’s chance. The opportunity to finally tell his big brother what a self-centred prick he was. It had been a long time coming, and he savoured the moment.
But he couldn’t do it. “I guess there’s a bit of dad in both of us. Impulse control has never been a strength of the men in our family.”
Keith chuckled, a tear forming in his eye. “You know, I never thought about other women before, but lately I’ve just started feeling so… unfulfilled. You lived your dream, Rick, even if it was fleeting. What did I ever do?”
Rick placed his tea down on a side table and folded his arms. “Are you kidding me? You’ve always got whatever you’ve wanted. You’re a rich accountant with a beautiful wife and a genius son.”
Keith shook his head. “No, Rick. I’m a rich accountant who used to have a beautiful wife and genius son. Now they’re dead, and it’s all because of me. If I hadn’t cheated, we’d all be together at home now. I sent Marcy and Max to their deaths.”
Rick put his arm around his older brother and let him sob into his shoulder. “You don’t know they’re hurt, Keith. Look at us: We were attacked and made it through okay.”
Keith eased away, wiped his eyes with the crook of his elbow. “Wake up, little brother. We’re not okay. It’s a stay of execution, that’s all. Those things have us surrounded.”
The Gates: An Apocalyptic Novel Page 17
