After It Happened (Book 2): Humanity

by Devon C. Ford

  They cleared the building, then led Mike, Ian, Jimmy and Kev to the heavy steel door. Mike started to give instructions to the others to say what he needed, and Dan took Joe outside leaving orders to be called when they were close to getting in.

  Neil was busy pumping the diesel into his tanker, smiling at his creation again. He gave a thumbs up to them as they reappeared.

  “Can you get up there?” Dan asked Joe, pointing at the roof of a police van. Joe nodded and jogged over to get the height advantage and keep watch to protect the mission. The noise started, shaking the whole building.

  Dan went back inside to look for more equipment to augment their kit. He took a number of batons, and six ballistic vests as he only had two for his Rangers currently. Magazine holders and holsters from lockers went into the large bag he was carrying as the noise was replaced with the high-pitched scream of metal being cut. Ash watched him, hoping for food every time he prised open a locker.

  Eventually the noise and vibration stopped, and he heard his name being shouted without urgency. He took the armful of big black kit bags he had emptied, hoping to have enough to fill them.

  The doorway looked like it had exploded, with a pile of rubble pushed to one side. They had exposed the lock housing and mangled it to the point where they could force it open using the hydraulics. Dan wasn’t too happy.

  The racks were mostly empty. There were two Heckler & Koch G36 carbines, four Glocks, no MP5’s, but there were a pair of HK416’s. The carbines had the new sights which had the telescopic part you could flip to the side to use a holographic sight. They both had torch attachments, however all the guns only had two firing selector settings; safe and semi-automatic. Not really worth the energy expended he thought, but better than nothing.

  Ammunition was stacked and spare magazines were found. He was really hoping for more. He picked up the two single-barrelled launcher guns – they basically fired a round like a solid lump of rubber. They were called AEP’s; attenuating energy projectiles. Non-lethal, unless you were seriously unlucky, but bloody painful.

  The bags were loaded, the fuel was siphoned, and they set off home for dinner. Dan was the only one not to be excited; the others thought the haul was impressive.

  All the new weaponry got left in the bags, ready for all the Rangers to strip them in the morning and familiarise themselves before test firing.

  After dinner Dan asked Kyle to step out with him. Kyle was very wary of Ash; he was one of the few people he wouldn’t let touch him which proved to Dan that his dog was a good judge of character. Dan sent Ash off into the bushes so as not to lose Kyle’s attention.

  “Listen, about being a Ranger” he started, glancing sideways at Kyle in the fading light. He did not look happy, as if he knew where the conversation was heading. If he had single brain cell, Dan mused, then he should.

  “It’s not going to happen. It takes previous experience which we all have and we don’t have the infrastructure to train someone from scratch” he said.

  Kyle stopped walking. “Joe doesn’t. Lexi doesn’t. We don’t even know if you do” his anger made him brave. Dan let the weak personal attack pass, knowing that jealousy has a strong pull.

  “Joe and Lexi’s experience was enough for them to be assessed. I assessed them. They are now Rangers.” he said carefully.

  “WELL ASSESS ME THEN!” shouted Kyle. He was shaking and close to tears.

  “Tell me why you want it” instructed Dan, keeping his cool.

  Kyle failed the first test; he failed to control his anger. “Why should you lot get to swan around and do what you want while everyone else works? Cocky bastards. You think you’re better because you got a gun.”

  “Stop now, Kyle” Dan said coldly.

  Kyle failed another test, demonstrating to Dan that he had no sense of self-preservation by carrying on.

  “You pick who you want. Do what you want. You’re a fucking Nazi. You...” Kyle stopped, yelping in terror as Dan grabbed the front of his coat with both hands like a striking animal, pulling him close.

  “Take a good look at my face, you spoilt little shit” he growled at him.

  “Does it look like it was fun? Would you have swapped places with me when I was fighting with the bastard who did this, after he took out two other people who I know for a fact would snap you without breaking a sweat? Would you even have survived this long if we hadn’t taken you in?”

  Kyle didn’t answer, just tried to keep himself from crying in temper.

  “No, Kyle. The answer is no. You aren’t capable not only because you aren’t trained, but because you only want it to show off. I have no use for you and I will never put a gun in your hand. Am I understood?” he said savagely. At the tone of Dan’s voice, Ash had crept out of the dark and began to growl menacingly behind Kyle. He edged away, casting a fearful look at the dog, then ran back to the house.

  “Fuck it” he said to himself before adding “Well, that went well” aloud to Ash.

  LIFE GOES ON

  The next weeks went by slowly. The old house got very cold, and gas heaters had to be used to stop people freezing. Everyone was wearing gloves and hats inside. Only two more trips were made out. One heavily protected detail visited an ambulance station now that Kate had got her medical stocks in order with Steve, Joe and Dan going as protection whilst Lexi stayed behind as she took the longest to heal from her injuries.

  The other was to the closest vets as Sera had set up a small surgery on the farm and needed more supplies. With a little more instruction from Steve, Leah was becoming very good with maps and plotted the route easily.

  Both trips were, thankfully, uneventful. Dan tried to develop some kind of routine, but felt increasingly restless as time wore on. He wanted to be out, finding more people but most of the group were happy to sit tight and let the cold pass. A few of them got ill, but Kate took the precaution of keeping a very close eye on them and quarantining those with viruses. She insisted that everyone take vitamin supplements with breakfast to try and avoid the colds too.

  Dan received lots of sullen looks from Kyle, but he clearly lacked the conviction to make any trouble. Jack had started to spend his days either tinkering with the radio in the small hope that there was anyone on the other end, and taking trips with Pete to hunt game.

  One of the cows died and with the help of the Discovery’s winch and a trailer, it was butchered and brought back to the house. They had a variation on steak every day for a month, it was tough meat but it was food and nobody complained.

  Dan noticed that some curious pairings had started to form. Mark had given up on Lexi and had moved on to try and impress Cara. She had other ideas and seemed to have a soft spot for Matty. The effect of this was that he stayed overweight due to her cakes and extras from the kitchen.

  Chris and Ana spent most days together, and in early November they moved into one of the living quarters together. Penny wanted to object, but she held her tongue at the tactful suggestions of others. Mark moved on to Eve, who seemed receptive but could barely get away from the traumatised child who clung to her legs constantly. She still hadn’t spoken. Mark gave up on Eve and tried to get close to Sera, who slapped him down. Literally. Sera spent most of her free time with Kate, which most people thought nothing of but then most people hadn’t noticed what Dan had.

  Lexi still tried to get time with Dan, but he tried to make it clear that it wasn’t going to happen.

  They had a frank conversation one evening, and he told her “I’m responsible for keeping you safe. Think about the hospital; if I hadn’t been thinking straight because we were an item, then that pyscho could’ve killed us all”

  It was a weak argument, but one that she accepted.

  On the whole, people were happy. Even more so one day when a large, scruffy black cat visited the gatehouse. Ash immediately went for it, and Dan had to resort to screaming at him in German for the first time in weeks before he came away. The cat sat on the bonnet of the Discovery and hissed
at the dog, who whined pitifully at being so outsmarted by a simple height advantage. Leah insisted that the cat be fed and join them. She called it Mollie, but Dan was sure it was a male and looked more of a Boris than a Mollie.

  Leah would have none of it; this evil cat who taunted the dogs and scratched everyone else adored her. It would curl up on her lap in Ops and even got a bed on top of the boxed ammo where it spent the day sleeping and being fed. If he had to stereotype the cat as a person, he was pretty sure this one had done some time in jail and wasn’t to be crossed lightly.

  By mid-November, Leah had compiled a long list of special items people wanted to give as Christmas presents. Dan called a council meeting – they weren’t always weekly by now as there was nothing much to report by anyone as they were in a semi-hibernation – and proposed an outing to the shopping centre where he and Lexi had found Joe and Mark. It was accepted without argument, which he found strange, and he found himself almost brokering the case against going as nobody else objected. Unanimous agreement unsettled him. It felt like complacency, and complacency would get someone killed.

  In the end, it was decided that two trips were to be made. Dan and Lexi would take one with Jimmy and Kev, and Steve and Joe would take another with Adam and Andrew. Joe knew the shopping centre well anyway, and Dan trusted Steve more than anyone but himself to keep them safe.

  Leah pleaded with him to go. She was obviously getting bored. He agreed, thinking that it would do her good to get out. She must be nearly thirteen now – she had dropped her pretence of being fifteen by pure accident on the day they had found Lexi and the others – and Dan thought that she was old enough to learn some survival skills.

  He started to take her out with him to exercise Ash, and after she had learned not to bounce alongside him asking questions, he started to teach her some skills.

  They approached buildings he knew to be empty, starting with the gym, and got her to practice watching the building before entering it. He gave her an empty Glock to practice weapon handling and was impressed with her. He didn’t know if she was naturally good, or just naturally good at mimicking him.

  He was often told that his only real skill was replicating what he saw others do; and for years took it as an insult until he saw her doing the same. He even let her fire a few rounds, but she struggled with the recoil and the noise, letting out a scream and dropping the gun once as the slide pinched her hand. He had nothing smaller to let her use, not that anything smaller would stop a cuddly toy let alone a person.

  Her pleading got through to him, and he promised to keep teaching her. In the interim, he taught her how to strip and clean all the weapons they had with the exception of the large machine gun.

  The news of the shopping trips went round quickly, and others asked to come. This also went to the council, and again people were happy for ‘civilians’ to go as long as they were adequately protected. In the end, Neil stayed home for both trips and all four Rangers accompanied a small group to the shopping centre twice.

  Dan showed concern throughout the trips, as he felt that everyone was being too happy and not considering the dangers. Lexi told him he was being grumpy, which he conceded that he was. Probably.

  Leah brought back next year’s calendar for Ops, with large boxes to write things in. It was adorned with pictures of kittens.

  December arrived and a wave of excitement buzzed through the cold survivors. Pete had brought in a small conifer tree one day, and Jay mounted it in a large flat slice of oak he had used as a chopping block when splitting the wood. A box of decorations was found in an office – they still had lots of unused rooms to clear out – and the place took on a happier feel. A fire burned all day in the lounge, where people had taken to congregating as there was less work to do. The library was being well used too, probably far more so than it had ever been.

  CHRISTMAS

  Christmas loomed. Pete and Jack had brought down four Canada geese ready for the large meal. One of these had fallen into the lake and one of his dogs, either Tot or Dram as Dan could never tell them apart, almost froze to death after she jumped in and towed it to the shore. Her more sensible sister took it from her on dry land and proudly presented it to their master.

  The wet dog was wrapped in a blanket and cuddled in shifts by the fire until Pete put an end to her pampering and took her back to work the next day, much to her disgust.

  Extra hands were recruited into the kitchen to prepare, and Penny came to Dan with a rare request of frivolity. She looked drawn and thinner in the face, but did her best to maintain her standards and presence.

  “It’s something of a tradition, you see.” She started uncertainly “I’ve checked with Andrew and he is quite certain that we have no sherry at all” she carried on with blustery explanations but he stopped her, smiling.

  “Penny, if you want sherry for Christmas I will go and get some on one condition” he said kindly

  “Which is?” Penny asked, concerned

  “That you check there are no more Christmas requests before I leave in an hour!” he replied. She smiled and disappeared, returning thirty minutes later with a list.

  Dan stood and unlocked his over-stocked armoury. He took his M4 and loaded the standard five magazines he carried. As he was slowly adding the 5.56 rounds to the magazines, Leah walked in carrying the very fat ‘Mollie’ who yowled threateningly at Ash.

  Ash in response, as the savage animal he was, whimpered as he back-pedalled and hid behind Dan’s chair. That would explain the scratches on his nose the day before.

  “Kid?” Dan said to her “Put that fleabag down and help me, please”

  “She isn’t a fleabag!” She replied indignantly, but put the cat on its perch anyway.

  “Yes, he is. Sera said so, and she would know because she got scratched giving him flea medication!” he said to goad her.

  “She” answered Leah flatly, bored of the same needling comments from him.

  He slid a Sig to her and three magazines. “Load them with 9mm for me?” he asked nonchalantly.

  Leah was understandably excited; she was being trusted with real ammunition. She deftly loaded the magazines with fifteen rounds each, then picked up the gun. He watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye, making sure she didn’t accidentally shoot him. She checked the safety, seated the magazine then slid it home with a click – not slapping it in like they do in films and damaging the housing. She then held the gun to the ground and chambered a bullet. She checked the safety again and then neatly arranged the gun and magazines on the table.

  “Very good” said Dan, trying to keep it casual. “Now fetch a Glock check the actions and load one mag” he said, pretending to concentrate on loading his own rounds.

  Leah was confused, but did as she was asked. She finished at around the same time as Dan stood and went across the entrance hall to his room. It was too early for Christmas, but still. On their trip to the police station he had brought back some ballistic body armour. As he had searched the lockers, he stumbled across the kit of what must have been the smallest policewoman ever. She can’t have been much bigger than Leah, who was very tall for her age at nearly five and a half feet, but still very small in the torso. He had removed the police badging out of principle, and got Lou to secretly sew a pistol holster to the front cover with a double mag pouch on the lower left side. He had done this just after he had started training Leah, and hoped she would be happy with it. He had even attached a sheath holding a short four-inch knife on the front of the left shoulder just like his own.

  He donned his own armour vest, and dumped the small back one on the table in front of her. She looked at it incredulously, mouth open, too scared of disappointment to believe what she saw.

  Dan feigned a surprised look at her and said “Well? Kit up kid, we haven’t got all day”

  It was probably the greatest moment of her life, possibly even before everyone she knew had died.

  Lexi was duty that day, and he told her they wer
e going out and expected to be back by nightfall. He gave her the nearby location they were going to with orders to come in force if not back when the sun was down and no radio contact had been made.

  Lexi smiled at Dan’s kindness and helped Leah tighten the vest over her coat. She picked up the Glock with some ceremony, checked the safety was on and pulled the topslide back slightly to see brass, just as he had taught her. Her hands were too small to do it with one hand as he did when he was showing off. She secured the weapon in the holster, which covered most of her chest, and tried her hardest not to beam with happiness.

  Dan took his E&E bag, called Ash to heel, and they drove out.

  Leah was at her most grown up as they rode. Her eyes were alert, and her questions were minimal. He wasn’t sure if she was actually looking or just being seen to be looking, he didn’t mind either way as she was trying.

  Truth was, he could’ve done this short trip alone with just Ash, but it pays to prepare and she had to get out at some point or she would die of boredom.

  They found the shop they wanted after a short drive, and although Dan had personally cleared the same building three times now, he went through the full drill just as he had trained her. He mimed that she should draw her gun but not release the safety – they had discussed this in the car; she was only to take the safety off if he explicitly told her to shoot something.

  He sat Ash at the door and told him to stay. He wasn’t overly bothered as he had done this so many times before. With their rear covered, he and Leah searched the small building. It was actually an old fuel station which had been turned into a Sainsbury’s Local shop, and Leah moved silently as she had been taught and covered his back as he moved. He smiled to himself as she exaggerated the semi-crouch she had seen him use. The kid was a natural. Turning this into a real-life scenario where she might have to shoot a person was some way off, but if these skills were ingrained now then she would be better than all of them when she was grown up.