by James Harden
“Our primary objectives are still at large.”
Never returned.
They never made it back. And now the man in the gas mask is on the run again. He is on the loose.
Something is wrong. Something is messed up.
“Where are the rest of your men?” the Evo Agent asks.
Your men.
Daniel shakes his head. “I’m the only survivor.”
The hatch to the outside world is wide open. Why is it open? What about the nuclear fallout?
I remember what the man in the gas mask said to me.
Australia is not a nuclear wasteland. The warheads were detonated in the upper-atmosphere. There will be minimal to zero nuclear fallout.
I’m starting to realize the man in the gas mask, that lying son of a bitch, that murdering psychopath, was telling the truth.
The Evo Agents suddenly point their guns at Daniel.
“What are you doing?” Daniel asks.
“Where is your team?”
“I told you. I’m the only survivor.”
“Where is Kenji Yoshida? Kim Richards? Maria Marsh?”
Daniel hesitates. I don’t know why he hesitates.
And then he lies.
He lies and he says, “They didn’t make it. No one made it. I’m the only survivor.”
Something is wrong.
And these guys are no rescue squad.
Why did Daniel lie?
Trust no one.
“On your knees,” the Evo Agent says to Daniel. “Hands on your head.”
Daniel obeys. He drops to his knees.
“What are they doing?” I whisper to no one, to myself. “What the hell is going on?”
One of the Evo Agents ties Daniel’s hands behind his back. The other Evo Agent draws his sidearm. I can’t see clearly from my vantage point, but the sidearm appears to have a silencer attached to the barrel.
The Evo Agent aims for Daniel’s head.
“No,” I whisper. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be…”
Kenji grabs me, covers my mouth.
And everything happens so fast.
We are powerless to stop it.
And these guys are no rescue team
They are assassins.
The Evo Agent, the heartless, soulless, killer robot, pulls the trigger.
The gunshot is a whisper.
It is silenced.
There is no bang.
No boom.
It makes a weird noise. I can’t describe it.
Daniel slumps over. Motionless
Devoid of all life.
Kenji holds me tight. He is still covering my mouth with his hand so I scream into it.
I struggle. I try and wrestle free.
I bite his hand.
I bite hard. Like an infected person. But Kenji does not flinch.
He holds on.
The Evo Agents unravel a large black bag.
A body bag.
They bag Daniel’s body and they zip him up. They don’t want to risk contamination.
“Target is secure,” the Evo Agent says to I’m not sure who.
And then in a matter of seconds a chopper appears over the Access Point.
But this is not a rescue chopper. And it is not for us.
It is not for us, because we are expendable.
No one is coming for you.
Two ropes are dropped down, and then a stretcher is lowered. The Evo Agents secure Daniel’s body to the stretcher. And then he is hoisted up and out of the Fortress. And just like that, Daniel is gone. He has become a specimen.
They will study him. His body. His blood.
They will harvest his organs.
The company will do this.
YoshidaCorp.
For research.
For profit.
The Evo Agents clip themselves to a rope each. They are pulled up and out of the Fortress by the waiting chopper. The sound of the rotor blades, of the helicopter, fades into the distance.
And once again, we are alone.
Kenji finally releases me and I fall forward. I fall to my knees. And I can’t believe it. I am in shock. Daniel is dead. Executed by his own people. Executed by the company.
No one says a word. No one knows what to do.
The blast doors of the Vehicle Access Point slowly close. Sunlight fades away. And I feel like we are going to be trapped down here forever.
You are lucky. But sooner or later your luck will run out. Sooner or later you will lose someone close to you. You will lose your family.
Daniel tried to warn me. He tried to tell me that eventually I will lose my family. Because it had happened to him. He told me this, he tried to prepare me for this loss, for this heart wrenching, heart breaking, hope-killing loss.
But I am not prepared.
How could anyone ever prepare themselves for something like this?
I become lost in my own thoughts, in my own world.
Everyone is silent. And this silence is a prayer. A mark of respect for a great soldier. A great guy who risked his life for our lives, time and time again.
“This way,” Sarah says, her voice sounding distant, like she is miles away. Worlds away. “The controls for the vehicle platform might still be working.”
She begins walking. I’m not sure if anyone follows her. Kenji puts his arm around me. He pulls me forward.
I close my eyes. I see Daniel. I see him as the first time we met. Back in Los Angeles. He is smiling. He shakes my hand. I thought he would be a jerk. But he wasn’t. He was a good guy. A great guy.
I open my eyes. I am in the desert. We are in the desert. And the sun is blindingly bright.
Sarah had held up her end of the bargain. She had led us to the Vehicle Access Point. And then she had got us out.
She had got us above ground.
And even though she betrayed us and double crossed us, even though I almost suffocated, I want to tell her that I’m sorry. Sorry for lying to you. Sorry for breaking your wrist.
Sorry there is no rescue.
Sorry this is not over.
Because the best we can do right now is escape from the Fortress, from hell. The best we can do is escape back into the desert, back into the apocalypse.
The best we can do is search for a town.
A safe haven.
A home.
A future.
Because there is no fixing this…
There is no escape.
No escape from death.
No escape but death.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Coming Soon in 2015
Secret Apocalypse Book 7
OUT NOW
The Lost Journal of Private Kenji Yoshida
Part 1
Part 2
Ninja Vs Samurai Part 1
Zombie High Part 1
Copyright © 2014 by James Harden
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author.
Table of Contents
No Escape
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Cha
pter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
No Escape but Death
