Aftermath (Book 2): Chicago Calling

by Duncan McArdle

  Despite appearances, none of the guards could think of anything worse than denying those unfortunate enough to have lost someone the ability to properly grieve. In fact, they’d all made it clear that they would only try to persuade people from leaving, not force them, but that it was advice they whole-heartedly encouraged everyone to take on board. In light of what had so recently happened, this was enough for most, but for those who still wished to venture to the graves, their minds were quickly changed upon facing out into the open, and having the prospect of being out there alone dawn on them. Nobody there wanted the place to be a dictatorship where their decisions were be made for them, but they understood the reasons for the encouragement, and nobody wanted to see any more blood spilled.

  Having gone through such a traumatic time, and following it up with some reasonably strict rules, a camp meeting was called. All of the guards were keen to give everyone their opportunity to speak, and whilst one person had to remain downstairs – a job Lester immediately requested – it was ensured that every point of discussion was relayed to him afterwards. Several people raised concerns, some even pointed to failings by the guards as reasons for the attack, but others showed their support, and overall the gathering served only to strengthen relations between the camp’s various groups.

  Day by day the reserve of supplies continued to be eroded away, and slowly each of the guards began to grow more and more concerned about what would happen when they finally ran dry. Thankfully however, once November hit, Harvey appeared to be healing up quickly, and so everyone felt reasonably confident that soon enough, they’d be back out raiding once more. In addition, various vegetables had been planted, and whilst few of them would be ready for the foreseeable future, this at least helped give an air of hopefulness to the majority of residents. At this point, there was little more motivational than envisaging being able to eat something that wasn’t canned.

  Whilst all of this was going on, work had begun on the makeshift bridge. Various residents assisted with the transport of supplies up to the penultimate floor, and a makeshift workstation was made in the midst of the tents, a clever tactic utilised to muffle the sound of hammers banging and saws cutting. The residents were so helpful in fact, that John took it upon himself to teach everyone that would listen about the basics of working with wood, and before long he’d built a recently proficient team of people that set to work on the construction. Soon enough the bridge’s early stages began to take shape, and John started counting down the days until they could put it into place.

  Perhaps most importantly of all, work on some upgraded barricades was hastily but very thoroughly carried out. Excess wood not earmarked for use in the bridge was firmly nailed together, and much of it was attached to the underside of the blocking pickups, patching a key vulnerability that the undead had previously exploited. Anything left over was then thrown in with the north-side’s remaining barricade, which received a hearty upgrade courtesy of numerous pieces of rock unearthed during the burials, as well as several wheelbarrow-loads of dirt. It was by no means a sophisticated method of repelling another attack, but it was more than they’d ever had before.

  For the time being, those residents trusted enough to manage the vegetable plantation were regularly escorted from the ground floor entrance to the building next door, a single guard staying with them whilst they were inside at all times. It was a manpower-intensive process at a time when there was little to spare, but everyone appreciated the importance of establishing a sustainable food supply, and so none of the guards took issue with being awoken during their downtime to carry out an escort.

  The reality of the situation was that with Harvey out of action, two guards needed at all times, and another two then being on rest, there was never a spare to go round. But the residents had well and truly stepped up, and before long John felt a sense of pride spreading through everyone in the camp. Some of the more handy folk worked on the bridge, others helped clean and cook, some maintained the crop and the final few able bodied individuals looked after those that were unable to look after themselves. In the space of just a few weeks, the car-park had gone from a rag-tag group of nobodies with little direction and no sophistication, to a well-oiled and functioning community that seemed destined for greater things than cowering out all day and night.

  Few greater victories were there however than that of the day John unpacked his haul of solar-supplies. Within a few hours – and with the help of Andrew, who was surprisingly knowledgeable on the subject – they’d managed to set up a charging station for the long-since dead walkie-talkies, in the form of a series of loosely attached cables just barely trickle charging the devices during the rare bursts of winter sunshine. Such communication would be an invaluable resource when out on runs, and it was even suggested they might someday serve as a replacement for the pat-on-the-wall signalling system, should it ever become less effective.

  Best of all however, was the ingenious way in which they’d manipulated the motion activated lights. Instead of keeping the sensor and light outward facing as intended, the light had been separated out, and attached to the inside of the upper wall, with the sensor remaining on the exterior. What this meant was that they now had a solar powered warning signal when anything stirred in the night, a light bursting into life for the upper guard to see, without making enough of a display to attract unwanted attention. Quickly it became obvious that solar power was going to be incredibly useful.

  Before long though, even with all of their daily triumphs, it became clear that soon there would need to be a few changes. The bridge was coming along nicely, but would need moving to the roof before it was too big to fit through the stairwell, and would then have to continue out in the open air, likely causing unwanted attention that would then need more guards to deal with. The food was slowly but surely beginning to run dry, with no signs of any replacements coming from anywhere in particular, and finally Harvey began to move around freely once more, signalling his ability and willingness to begin pushing forwards once again.

  One November morning, with a cold air running through his hair and glimpses of sunlight breaking through from the east, John made his way up the rooftop. Reaching the open air and then doing a quick survey of the nearby area, he spotted Harvey over in the corner, taking up what was his first watch duty in some time.

  “How’s it feel?”, John asked, approaching the still handsome man, who had never looked especially injured despite the many lacerations around his body, the infection he’d battled his way through, and what may have been cracked ribs courtesy of the many biters that had once piled on top of him.

  “Feels like I’m finally useful again”, Harvey replied, exerting a brief smirk before returning to his usual stoic self.

  “Good”, John said happily, “Because I think we’re gonna need to go on a run soon, and I’d like you to come”.

  Harvey turned and met John’s gaze briefly, considering the proposition before opening his mouth. “You sure you want both of us out at the same time after all this?”, he asked, making a silent but still very evident gesture to the fact that those two men represented the best shooters in the camp.

  “Well”, John began, “I figure you’re not quite at a hundred percent yet, so maybe you’d be better off out getting back into it, and then we can leave some of the more mobile folk here in case things go wrong”.

  “And if things go wrong on the run?”, Harvey asked, apparently unconvinced, “Then what?”.

  “Then we’ll be in the truck, we can get away, and we won’t be responsible for the lives of others while we’re doing it”, John replied.

  Harvey looked away from John and thought the prospect over. The only thing he liked less than leaving the safekeeping of this place up to others was being told it was because he wasn’t the best person to look after it in the first place. Harvey had always prided himself on his ability to keep the place safe, and was fairly confident until recently that he’d be able to do so even if he was the only pers
on there. But much like John had relinquished his own stubbornness on such subjects, he knew it would be for the good of others if he too did the same.

  “Fine”, he said eventually, somewhat quietly as if in the hope John wouldn’t hear.

  “Thank you”, John replied, immediately appreciating that he was coming around to an idea he clearly didn’t like.

  “Who we taking with us?”, Harvey then continued.

  John paused, not ready to divulge the rest of his plan just yet, but now knowing that he had to.

  “I was thinking”, he began, “Maybe nobody”.

  “Nobody?”, Harvey snapped, “Just the two of us?”.

  “I think the camp needs three people, for now at least”, John explained, “It’ll keep people happy and we’ll be worrying less while we’re out there”.

  “Yeah and we’ll be more worried about ourselves”, Harvey pointed out.

  John simply shrugged the point off.

  “You okayed this with the others?”, Harvey asked.

  “I’m okaying it with you”, John replied.

  Harvey looked John up and down, as if sizing up whether or not he thought the man could survive a trip into the wild with only one other person, not least of all that person being him.

  “Fine”, he eventually agreed, “But you need to talk to the others first”.

  “Done”, John replied happily.

  “When we going?”, Harvey continued.

  “Well you’re on watch now, I’m on tonight, so how’s about tomorrow?”, John asked.

  “You sure you wanna go out when one of us has just gotten off a shift?, Harvey replied.

  “The number of guards around here doesn’t show much sign of going up”, John pointed out, “So no matter how we work it, one of us is gonna be about to go on one, or just coming off of one, so we might as well just get it done”, he said.

  “Fair enough”, Harvey replied, looking up briefly as rain began to fall all around, “Tomorrow”, he added, before turning back out to continue his watch.

  John nodded in response, before spinning on the spot and heading back for the stairwell, happy that things were finally getting back on track.

  Chapter 22: Follow the leader

  The morning after the decision to start raiding once again was made, John and Harvey readied up on the ground floor. Harvey was fresh faced, coming off the back of a long sleep through the evening before and feeling the best he’d felt in weeks. John on the other hand had worked through the night watching over the camp, and so felt what could only be described as worn out. That said, nobody stood to benefit from getting back out into the world more than him, so he was simply happy at the opportunity to do so.

  John had spent the early evening before his shift was due to start travelling to each of the guards, making his case for going out on the run. Every single one of them had argued, and suggested they go as well, but John had been adamant that they all remain at the base. Lester was the only one who seemed okay with the idea, most likely as he wouldn’t be going out with them even if they wanted him to, and also because he appreciated being left with two guards this time, instead of just one injured one.

  One caveat that Lester had insisted on however, just moments prior to them leaving, was that rather than them taking the F150 out on their run, they take the red pickup used to block the north-side stairwell instead. The truck’s flat battery had very nearly caused a big issue during the undead assault, and Lester blamed it a little for the last-minute change of plans that had ended in him forgetting the handbrake. Whilst this move hadn’t directly contributed to any loss of life, it had caused Harvey to make his way over and fire his weapon, and that in turn had drawn the attention of the horde. Of course, Lester hadn’t divulged quite so much information, and had instead only asked that they take the truck in order to charge the battery for future use. Seeing no reason not to do so, John had obliged.

  As John and Harvey made their last few pre-leaving checks, Lester pushed the older Nissan back from the door and then placed the Ford in position to fill in as blockade. Having done this, he then connected up the two vehicles’ batteries and jump started the Nissan, sending plumes of black smoke barrelling out from its rear. Happy that he’d gotten things moving again – and that the base had a different truck in its place while the Nissan was out – Lester then made his way over to the entrance.

  After John and Harvey had said their goodbyes to those that were awake and climbed into the now running Nissan, and Andrew – who was on rooftop watch – had given the all clear, Lester then conducted one final check of the area outside the entrance, and then waved them off. This was the first time anybody had left on a run in some time, and watching the truck roll off into the distance, Lester couldn’t help but feel worry that it might end in an even remotely similar way to the last time.

  Back in the truck the duo were packing light. Both had brought a rifle and pistol, as well as one of the walkie-talkies that were now ready to use, but that was all. The camp’s most dangerously stocked supply was food, and so rather than bring fuel cans to fill up or go out searching for large construction supplies, they were keeping as much space free as they could for consumables. Of course they would also benefit from bringing back water, but thanks to the massive lake they sat alongside of, they could always boil some from there if necessary, albeit at the expense of some of their fuel stocks.

  Until now water had been less of an issue. From the start, Lester and Sonja had managed to build up huge supplies, and even nowadays, when water was found in a store or market, it was usually found in bulk. But there was no telling when local resources would begin to run dry, and so just like with their food, it was becoming more and more important to look at more sustainable means.

  As they thought over the potential haul from the day ahead, the two men drove on, John at the wheel and Harvey in the passenger seat, the marina soon coming into view on the right-hand side. Nobody noticed the sun rising beautifully into the sky, nobody even noticed that it had stopped raining, and most importantly, nobody noticed the figures sat in the old station wagon on the left hand side of the road, a vehicle that had not been there the day before, and figures that were most certainly not dead. As the pickup drove past without so much as a second take, the brown station wagon’s engine kicked into life.

  * * *

  The target for the day – a discount supermarket located further inland along East Capitol Drive – was more than likely going to be in a sorry state. Such stores were stocked using a just-in-time approach, which meant that they were unlikely to have much inside even before things hit the fan, but John was keen to try all the same. Its location along the same road that they had already begun raiding meant they could simply skip a few blocks down to the store, and then scavenge their way back up again, until daylight started to dwindle. John of course was the driving force behind the decision to raid some houses afterwards, whilst the other guards had been the ones to insist they check the supermarket first.

  The Nissan made its way along East Capitol Drive, passing by the houses John had looted with the others a few weeks prior, as well as the gas station in which they’d found the trapped man, and before long they were crossing the Milwaukee River once again. In the journey that followed they passed by hotels, furniture stores, countless empty or near-empty open air car-parks, and an untold number of fast food chains, all of them just as useless this far into the apocalypse as each other.

  Shortly before arriving at their destination, John caught sight of a sign for another superstore, and hopefully glanced to his left. What he saw however was the burnt out remains of a once giant nationwide chain, now present as nothing more than a metallic shell and a huge pile of ash. Suddenly his hope that their target was still standing began to dwindle.

  But much to John’s surprise, as the truck moved through yet another crossroad, passing by large groupings of empty vehicles and scorched road, the store came into sight. Both John and Harvey suddenly felt incredibly ha
ppy to see that not only was their destination still standing, it seemed to be in near perfect condition.

  The Nissan pulled into the store’s car-park, and cautiously approached the entrance. Much like he had done so many times before, John turned the truck round so it was ready for a quick getaway, and then briefly surveyed the area. The place seemed deserted, only a few vehicles remained and there appeared to be little to no debris scattered around, which was normally a good sign. In fact, there was only one thing of interest in the whole area.

  “Is that a Tesla?”, Harvey asked, himself looking to a particularly good looking car on the far side of the property.

  “Looks like it”, John confirmed, as he too laid eyes on the electric sports car, before shutting off their own truck’s engine now that he was happy the place seemed safe.

  “Who spends a hundred thousand dollars on a car and then shops at a discount grocery store?”, Harvey asked.

  “Probably someone who got to where they were by being good with money”, John pointed out.

  Harvey nodded in agreement, just before a lightbulb suddenly flicked on in his head.

  “You don’t think”, Harvey started, “I mean, with that, we could-“.

  “There aren’t enough solar panels in the world for us to charge that thing up Harvey”, John answered, knowing what the man was going to ask. “Maybe someday we’ll be forced to look at it, but not until we’ve used up every last gallon of gas we can find”.

  Having heard stories of how long such cars needed charging even with reliable electricity – a luxury they most certainly did not have – Harvey knew John was right, and so pushed the idea out of his mind.