by Mike Kraus
The man looked Aref over with wide eyes and nodded several times. “Yeah, yeah. But you gotta help us first.”
“You need supplies, yes?”
The man nodded. “Desperately.”
Aref glanced nervously at the crowd that was forming around him. “The docks. The dockyard, just to the south. They’re unloading a ship right now. Full of food and medicine. Enough for all of you and plenty more.”
The man watched Aref closely for a few seconds before looking at the others with him. “To the docks! Now!”
Chapter 10
“You can’t do this!” The man shouts through the fence, clutching a bag in each hand. “Where are we supposed to go?” His pleas, like those of the dozens around him, are ignored by the guards inside. They stand watch, weapons in hand, striving not to look those outside the fence in the eye.
“Come on.” A thin man, with long hair places a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “It’s no use.”
“Just because we won’t give up every single possession we have? And follow every single one of their inane rules?”
The long-haired man nods. “Follow me. We have a camp nearby. There’s not much there but you’re welcome to share. I’ll tell you more once we arrive.”
The walk from the airfield to the ‘camp’ takes less than an hour at a slow pace. Children and the injured are among those rejected passage through the airfield to the sanctuary cities beyond. The rejection comes not out of spite but out of necessity. Draconian rules are set to ensure the safety of those within the cities, rules that some refuse to follow.
With lines of people trying to get into the cities longer than ever those who break the rules are kicked out. No exceptions are made. Some are ejected from the cities for accidentally breaking the rules. Some purposefully break them. Of those that purposefully break them there are some who do so on a philosophical basis. These are the most vocal opponents of the cities, the ones who lead the crowds of people struggling to survive outside the sanctuary cities.
“Impossible.” The new group led by the long-haired man arrives at the camp—established in a shopping mall—as a passionate argument is underway. “They wouldn’t do that! Not to civilians!”
“I’m telling you, I have a brother who’s in the Army. He said they were!”
“Bullshit. If you had a brother in the Army then you wouldn’t be here. You’d be sleeping on a cot in a city somewhere instead!”
“It’s not like that, not after the crackdowns. I swear what I’m telling you is true!”
“What’s going on here?” The long-haired man wades into the argument. “What’s all the groaning about?”
The man who shouted “impossible” earlier rolls his eyes. “Jack here claims that he has a brother who’s in the Army who heard that supply drops for survivors outside the cities will be cut off in two days.”
The long-haired man ponders the statement for a long moment before responding. “I’d believe it.”
“Oh please.”
“See? I told you!”
“Impossible!”
“Hold on!” The long-haired man raises his hands and his voice. “Just calm down for a minute. We’ve got a lot of new faces here. Before they have to sit through another one of these arguments let’s get them some food and see if they need anything else, okay?”
A murmur of acquiescence ripples through the crowd sitting and standing in the center of the shopping mall. A few from the crowd break off and greet the new arrivals, showing them to a nearby clothing store that functions as the makeshift dormitory and kitchen. When the new arrivals have left the main room the long-haired man resumes speaking.
“As I was saying, I’d believe it. Before you start with the shouting, let me explain, okay?” The crowd grumbles and nods. “Good. Now, the rules have been rough lately on people but today they kicked out a whole new bunch from the airfield. Said that they had too many belongings on them. All you’re allowed to bring in now is a single change of clothes, one book and one small bag.”
“Christ…” One of the women arguing earlier shakes her head. “Why? What’s the point?”
The long-haired man shrugs. “I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter. If they’re getting stricter then they’re probably preparing for riots. The only reason I can think of they’d be preparing for riots is if they’re starting to consolidate the life-saving supplies around the survivor cities.”
An older man with a thick salt-and-pepper beard nods sagely. “It would be easier on their infrastructure. And then they can stop worrying about anyone outside the cities.”
The long-haired man shakes his head. “This isn’t good. We’re already running low on supplies as it is. We’ll either have to find more or follow the rules and join the nearest city.
“That’s well and good for you if you were never in the city in the first place.” Another person shouts from the crowd. “What about us who were kicked out and told not to come back?”
“Then we have to start searching more. Aggressively. We’ll go in a large group, leave a few here to help guard the children and anyone who’s too sick or frail to go. We gather everything we can and come back here.”
“Why not just send out a few smaller search parties?”
“Strength in numbers.” The man with the long hair shakes his head. “This isn’t a game. This is real life. There are people out there who will kill you for a can of food. If we go then we go en masse. Anyone who tries to hurt us won’t stand a chance.”
There are whispers of agreement amongst the crowd despite the radical nature of the man’s idea. The man with the salt-and-pepper beard approaches the long-haired man and whispers quietly. “Do you really expect to find anything around here? Most everything burned up.”
“I know. But these people need hope more than they need food or water or medicine. Hope will keep them alive. Without hope… they won’t make it.”
The man with the beard places his hand on the long-hair man’s shoulder, sighing wearily. “I hope you’re right about this.”
The man with the long hair smiles. “Me too.”
***
After three days of searching the few dozen people have found enough food and water to keep themselves alive—barely. Resources are dwindling and the “bullshit” rumor that the military was going to cut off the supply shipments outside the survivor cities is starting to look more and more real. After another day passes without any sign of emergency supplies the group realizes that they need to move on if they want to survive.
They begin moving south through the city, spreading out to comb every building they can find. They find only meager amounts of food and water, enough to keep them alive but not enough to survive on long-term. After a military convoy loaded with supplies passes by on the way to the airport the crowd grows angry. The next day they continue their march to the south, looking for the origin of the convoy.
After nearly giving up hope and starting to turn on one another they find a man left behind by a couple who drives away in a vehicle. The man tells them that one of the docks at the Los Angeles Port is back in operation and supplies are being offloaded from ships on a daily basis before they are transported to the airfield.
Because he has been visiting the port regularly he knows precisely how the crowd can get in and overpower the guards and staff working there. In return for the information the crowd leaves the man lying on the ground, still tied up, shouting at them to let him go. Their sole focus is on their own survival though, and they ignore his pleas.
A few hours later, as the sun turns orange over the horizon, the group storms the port. Those few with firearms in their possession lead the charge, killing several of the guards and half a dozen soldiers before an alarm is triggered. By the time a response is rallied it is already too late. The crowd controls the port.
***
It takes Aref an hour of walking, stumbling, crawling and sliding to find a piece of metal that is both sharp and angled correctly to allow him to s
ever the bonds holding his hands. He rubs his wrists gingerly, wincing at the pain. After collecting himself for a few moments he widens the scope of his thoughts, switching his focus from escape and survival to his responsibilities to his leader.
His abduction by Linda and Frank has delayed his check-in with Farhad Omar which he knows will trigger certain protocols put in place to ensure that compromised assets do not jeopardize the overall operation. He looks at his watch and shakes his head as he realizes he has only a few more hours before his window is up and he is as good as dead.
Aref stands up and begins walking, increasing his speed as he goes along until he breaks into a fast jog. As he heads for his destination, unsure whether he’ll arrive in time or not, he clings to the consolation that his mission was not entirely in vain. Directing the crowd of survivors to the port will no doubt throw a wrench into the fragile rescue infrastructure the military is attempting to set up. It may not change much but any chaos—no matter how large or small—is worth smiling about.
Chapter 11
“Dammit!” Linda slammed her fists against the dash of the SUV again and again, taking out days’ worth of frustration on the plastic. Frank kept his attention on the road, glancing at her now and again out of the corner of his eye as she cursed, growled, grumbled and shook with rage. When she finally sat still in her seat again, her arms crossed as she stared out through the windshield, Frank spoke softly.
“Feel better now?”
“Bite my ass, Frank.”
Frank couldn’t help but chuckle at her response. “This… is better than trying to beat up the car. Still not great but I’ll take any improvement I can get.”
Linda shook her head. “Do you have any idea who we had back there?”
“One of Omar’s lieutenants, right?”
Linda sighed and reclined in her seat as she closed her eyes. “We were a step away from Omar and we blew it. We let him slip through our fingers.” She sighed again. “That’s not fair. I let him slip through my fingers.”
“Eh. Omar keeps his people firewalled, like you were saying. He couldn’t have told us anything anyway.”
“Anything would have been helpful. Literally anything at all. A phone number, a name, a—”
“Hey! Phones!” Frank took his right hand off the wheel and fished around in the back of the SUV for a few seconds before retrieving the satellite phone case. “You were going to send a message to Sarah just before all that stuff happened, right?”
Linda sat up in her seat and opened her eyes as she remembered what Frank was talking about. “Oh!” She grabbed the case and opened it, then pulled out the phone and turned it on. “Screw sending a message. I’ll just call her.”
Linda punched in the numbers for Sarah’s phone. After a several second delay the satellite phone finally connected and Linda heard ringing. The ringing went on for almost a minute and Linda was about to hang up and try again when she heard a click followed by a soft rustling.
“Hello?”
“Did I wake you up?” Linda glanced over at Frank and smiled as she spoke.
“Sort of.” Sarah groaned as she sat up from the couch where she had been resting. “It’s been a while since I heard from you. You have news?”
“Yeah.” Linda spent the next few minutes explaining the events since they touched down at the airfield. When she reached the part of her story where the crowd arrived and they had to leave Aref behind she heard Sarah groan on the other end of the line.
“Of course he got away.”
“Yeah, but the information I got from him is good, right?”
“What information?” Linda started to reply but Sarah continued. “As far as I can tell all you got from him was that they snuck radioactive material into the country—which we already knew—and that they’re making dirty bombs from them—which was a logical progression from knowing about the material in the first place.”
Linda, feeling defensive, shook her head in frustration as she replied. “But we talked to his lieutenant! That’s what you needed, solid proof of what was going on.”
Sarah sighed deeply, pressing her thumb and forefinger against the bridge of her nose. “Take a step back, Linda. That’s not proof. If you had been able to bring him in then that would have been something. All you’ve got is confirmation of what we already suspected.”
Linda closed her eyes and put her head back against the headrest. “We can go after him.”
Frank, having kept quiet through the conversation so far, nearly exploded. “Are you insane?! If that crowd didn’t eat him alive then he’s who knows how many miles away by now!”
“Give Frank my regards.” Sarah chuckled, amused by his outburst. “He’s right, though. Aref’s undoubtedly gone.” She hesitated. “However…”
“However what?”
“I presume you remember the young woman who helped you, one Casey Schultz.”
“Yeah, why?”
“Head back to the airfield. I’m going to make a few calls. When you get there, find her and explain what’s going on. I’m going to make contact with a few other people and see if Aref’s name rings enough alarm bells to get some support out and about.”
“Sounds good, we’ll—” The line went dead in the middle of Linda’s sentence and she pulled the phone away from her ear to see that the call had been disconnected. “Oh. Yeah. Thanks. Goodbye to you too.”
“She can be blunt at times.” Frank glanced at Linda.
“No kidding.”
“Back to the airfield, then?”
Linda shrugged. “Yep, sounds like it.”
“Fantastic. And then we get to do our best impression of not being paranoid conspiracy theorists as we explain a secret plan to detonate dirty bombs across the… wait a second.” Frank’s face turned ashen as what he was saying started to click in his mind.
“What?” Linda was only half paying attention to him but his abrupt change in tone got her attention.
“Linda. The dirty bombs. Did Aref specifically say that they were going to use the material to make dozens of dirty bombs?”
“He didn’t use the word ‘dozens’ but he did say they were making multiple dirty bombs, yes.”
“Get Sarah back on the phone. Right now.”
“What’s going on?”
Frank pressed down on the accelerator, pushing the SUV even faster as they wove their way through the city streets toward the airfield. “Just do it.”
Linda dutifully dialed Sarah’s number. The phone rang several times before she answered. “I hope to hell this is important, Linda, because I was—”
“Sarah?” Frank grabbed the phone and held it up to his ear. “Shut up and listen for a second. How detailed were the records you had about those nuclear materials that went through the port?”
“I don’t follow.”
“Is there any way to estimate how many city-covering dirty bombs could be manufactured out of the material that made it into the country?”
“I… I don’t know. Maybe. My expertise isn’t in that field but I could make some guesses. What’s this all about?”
Frank took a deep breath as he glanced over at Linda’s questioning face, answering the question that Sarah had posed and Linda was silently wondering.
“He’s sending the bombs to the survivor cities.”
Linda couldn’t remember a time when Sarah had been rendered speechless and in the back of her mind she wished that she could see Sarah’s face during the long pause that followed Frank’s revelation. When Sarah finally responded her tone was unnervingly level. “Get to the airfield. I’ll be in touch.”
The line went dead again and Frank handed the phone to Linda. She took it and put it away in the case as she thought about Frank’s statement. They rode along in silence for a few minutes before Frank spoke. “I guess she thought I might be right, eh?”
Linda nodded slowly. “Yeah. It makes everything else make sense, too.”
“How do you mean?”
�
�If this is Omar’s endgame then he’s done a damned fine job of making sure that as many people will die from them as possible. First the attacks to cripple the infrastructure, then the targeted biological attacks, then he waits for the sanctuary cities to be established and survivors to populate them.”
Frank finished her thought. “Then he detonates the bombs and kills… millions?”
“At least.”
The scale of death and destruction that Frank and Linda were discussing was incomprehensible to him. His mind reeled as he tried to imagine the scope of what Omar was planning but found it difficult to form thoughts, emotions or even words to describe the situation. He and Linda drove on in silence until they neared the airport when she sat up in her seat, squinting out through the windshield.
“What’s going on up there?” Though they were still a few blocks from the edge of the airfield Linda could see columns of smoke rising into the air. When Frank made a final turn onto the road leading along the edge of the airfield he abruptly stopped the SUV and stared at what was going on.
Several vehicles sat just inside the airfield’s perimeter, having been driven through the fence a short time earlier. Most of the vehicles were riddled with bullet holes and were on fire after having been shot at by the soldiers and airmen on duty at the airfield. Unfortunately, though, this did nothing to stop the swarms of looters who descended upon the airfield from the cover of the buildings across the street. They used the holes in the fences from the vehicles to make their way onto the airfield where they spread out, heading to the various buildings and vehicles on the airfield grounds.
A few of the people shot at the soldiers and airmen but the majority of the people ignored them, choosing instead to run and loot instead of risk getting into a firefight. While the guards felt justified in destroying the vehicles that had crashed through the fence they hesitated to open fire on those who were unarmed. The few that tried to open fire on the guards were instantly gunned down but once a handful of them had been killed the rest of the group that had been armed dropped their weapons and ran.
