Aftermath: The complete collection

by John Wilkinson

  ‘Hey calm down he’s an old man’ I shouted.

  He grabbed the corner of the rug and threw it over revealing the door.

  ‘He’s an old man that thinks he can treat me like a fucking idiot, what do you guys think is going on here?

  See here it is, a trap door, help the old guy lift it over, I’m beginning to lose my fucking patience with you people.’He kicked George to the ground again, each blow taking the wind from his lungs, he was coughing and spluttering on his hands and knees, the man grabbed him by the arm and dragged him across the floor to the trapdoor. I joined him and we lifted the door over, while doing so I looked into George’s eyes, I could see the fire burning in them.

  ‘Old man, get down them stairs, stay in front of me where I can see you, and open the door.’

  I quickly shot a glance at Roy, who had his cup of tea in his hand, I flicked my eyes in the direction of his gang member, and he nodded his comprehension, it was about to go down, my adrenalin was pumping. I listened to George’s footsteps descending the stairs waiting for the moment to attack, my hands were sweating on the work top, a block of knives inches from my fingers. I decided which one I would go for, I made it clear in my mind. The guy watching me was concentrating more on the stairs, Roy was focusing on the other guard. A shotgun blast echoed up the stair well, I grabbed the knife, pulled it out of the wooden block and lunged at the guy. The knife went straight through his throat, blood trickled down the blade, covering my fingers. His mouth was as wide as his eyes, fixed in an expression of shock, he dropped what was left of his drink, the cup smashed on the floor. I let go of the knife and stepped back, I had hit him with that much force the blade was embedded in the wall behind him pinning him in position. George emerged from the stairs clutching the shotgun he had leaned against the cellar door, his clothes covered with blood. Clutching the weapon he walked unsteadily into the dining room where Roy had wrestled the rifle from the final gang member and had the gun trained on him.

  ‘Please man, please don’t kill me, I was just doing what I was told.’

  ‘Does Mr. Torriero know about this place?’ George asked, pointing his shotgun at his head.

  ‘I don’t know Mr. Torriero.’

  George took a cup of boiling hot tea off the table and threw it in the guys face.

  ‘Arrrggghhh God help me please don’t, please, honestly I don’t know Mr. Torriero, I’m a nobody. Jack would deal with him.’

  Was Jack the guy with the glasses?’

  ‘Yeah he would deal with our area, not me. I didn’t want to do this, they made me.’

  ‘How did you find this place?’

  ‘We stopped a couple of blokes on the motorway, Jack lost it and started torturing them, burning their faces on the trucks exhaust, they gave the place up shortly before he killed them. I had nothing to do with any of it, they have my family, they’re making me do it, I just wanna go home to my wife and....’

  ‘Shut up now I need to think’ George said, walking back into the kitchen. While Roy was watching the guy, I went and found my rucksack, pulled my Welrod out, and checked the magazine, which had one bullet left. I clipped it back in, put the safety on and tucked it in my pants.

  ‘Bring him outside’ shouted George, walking through the house, out of the front door and down the wooden stairs. Roy grabbed the man by the neck and frog marched him outside to some waste land at the side of the property were George was waiting with his shotgun. ‘Kneel him down there,’ he said, pointing at the floor in front of him.

  ‘Please, please I promise...’

  ‘Shut up and listen, the Lord our God will commit sentence upon you, not me. I just do his work and will reap his rewards when he sees fit. I want you to go back to Mr. Torriero and....’

  ‘You cannot let him go’ I interrupted, ‘I’m sorry but you just cannot trust him.’

  The man on his knees started crying, ‘I’ve told you everything I know, I won’t bring anyone back here I promise, I’ll just say we never found the property.’

  ‘You’ll never be sure your safe again if you let him go, you cannot live with that constant fear’ I said.

  ‘I won’t talk, I told you. They killed my family too, please I’m begging you don’t kill me.’

  ‘A minute ago you said they had taken your family, now they’re dead? Which is it?’

  ‘Er, they did take them, then they killed them, I just want to find somewhere safe.’

  The guys story was changing every time he opened his mouth, we couldn’t trust anything he said. George was struggling with the situation, I’m not sure if it was his God or his morals, but I had no such problem. I knew what had to happen, there was no other way, this was the world we were living in now. As I walked over to him, he was panicking, pleading with me. He grabbed my legs as I pulled back the bolt and placed the gun to his sweating forehead. He was looking up at me, crying, as I fired my last bullet, blood sprayed out of the exit wound as he collapsed onto the floor.

  ‘This place is comprised if anyone knows about its existence’ I said. ‘He had to die, there was no way around it.’

  ‘God has protected us this far’ replied George.

  ‘If we hadn’t been here today, I’m not sure what would have happened’ I replied. ‘You need more men and more weapons.’

  ‘The lord will...’

  ‘Not be able to protect an old man and a group of women against a gang of ruthless, armed men.’

  ‘He’s right George’ said Roy ‘Your faith is strong but this ain’t a fair world any more, you need to think rationally about it. Do you have a plan B? Should this place get discovered, do you know somewhere else you can take everyone?’

  ‘I have another place should I need it’ George responded. ‘But that journey itself would be too dangerous.’

  Roy picked up a shovel that was leaning against one of the outhouses and started to dig a hole in the frozen ground for the bodies, while George and I went inside to move them. First we went down the stairs to the cellar, so George could tell the ladies what had happened. I picked up the man’s black rimmed glasses and folded them up, putting them in his pocket. I grabbed his arms and George held his feet, as we carried him outside and threw him on top of the other body. The other man was still pinned to the wall in the kitchen, I held him with my arm as I pulled the knife out of his neck, and let his body fall to the floor. We carried him outside and threw him into the hole Roy had dug, the other two bodies were thrown on top and we covered them with soil. When we got back into the house, the females were hard at work cleaning the blood up, after a couple of hours we were all sat in the living room like nothing had happened. Before I went to sleep, I did take some time to sit back and observe the house, and how it works. There was so many reasons to be optimistic, the house truly did work as a family, with everyone chipping in. But I’m not sure it’s the right place for Emma, I’m concerned about their security should something like this happen again. I do hope George doesn’t put to much reliance in his God, there’s nothing wrong with faith, so long as it doesn’t cloud his judgement.

  Chapter SEVEN

  14/11/2027 - Time 11:00

  I must have fallen asleep sat in front of the fire last night, the warmth sending me off as I filled in my diary. I woke up in a bed, with no recollection of how I got there, Roy reported to me the same thing had happened to him, with his wounded hand treated and re-bandaged. My bed looked like it hadn’t been slept in, so comfortable I must have been, the covers had barely moved. I sat up and looked around the little room, there were some clothes in a neat pile on the floor, although they were not mine. There was a light blue bath towel on the edge of my bed, and a small leather Bible on the bedside table. I picked it up and opened it where its bookmark sat, there was a entry that took my eye, I will repeat it here as it seemed quite pertinent.

  Matthew
23:3

  “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”

  Sometimes I wish I could regain my faith, I’m just not sure it’s possible any more June and the ladies made Roy and myself a hot bath when we got up, something I thought I would never get the opportunity to enjoy again, I don’t think I ever truly appreciated the simplicity of a bath, but right then it felt amazing. I just lay there watching the heat rising off the water, my fingers beginning to prune. I could feel weeks of dirt and grime washing off my skin, my hair and my beard. By the end, the bath water was as black and dirty as the sky. Over breakfast Roy and I discussed what we would do today and agreed a day of recuperating was the best idea, we had suffered greatly over the past few days and we knew the conditions towards Edinburgh were only going to get worse.

  14/11/2027 - Time 20:00

  I’m writing today’s final diary entry before an early night in preparation for the last thirty mile walk tomorrow, hopefully completing the journey to my farm on the foot of the Pentland hills in the central belt. We will set off at nine a.m. for an eleven to twelve hour walk, the conditions are going to get harder but we will be as prepared as possible. After our bath this morning, I got my map from my rucksack and laid it out on the dining table, it was a bit damp and the edges were stuck together but it had held up well. I showed George the location of the creature’s body as accurately as possible and he marked it on his own map. I left mine open on the table to dry, I also pulled the hanky out of my bag containing the chip I cut out of the creatures head, George was fascinated with it, so I gave it him as a thank you for this hospitality. He told me he would drive us to the junction where the A702 leaves the M6 tomorrow morning, it’s only ten minutes by vehicle over the fields and he needed to go on a supplies run. After we were treated to another home cooked dinner, the whole household started work on improving the buildings security, the females started by removing all signs that June was living in the house, clothes, makeup, even her toothbrush. Everything was moved downstairs, where she will now sleep, it’s safer for her to be completely removed from the house. From the front facing bedroom window, it’s possible to see anyone approaching from some distance away. You can never predicted when or where an attack might come, so it was agreed a watcher was needed full time. A roster was drawn up giving everyone the role in four hour shifts, using torch lights as a signal. Weapons were concealed in every room in the house, mainly knives taped under tables, beds, inside draws, this was mainly as a last resort but necessary none the less. At the back of the house, we backed an old tractor up against the cellar door, you could still get in and out but you would be required to crawl on your belly, and it hid the door from anyone approaching from outside. When we came to move the truck the men had arrived in, we realised we must have buried the keys with them, and we weren’t about to dig their bodies up. I lifted the hand break off and George, Roy and myself pushed it into the largest outhouse, and covered it with tarpaulin. In the afternoon, Roy and I wrapped up for the conditions, and went to the outer reaches of the farm to cut some fire wood, while George picked a chicken for the stew. A storm had felled nine trees along the south west side of the property, they had laid there for the past few weeks and needed cutting down so they could be dried out in one of the outhouses. Armed with an axe, we chopped them up and threw them onto the back of a trailer. When we approached the buildings, I took the torch out of my pocket and flashed it three times, finishing with one long one. The look out flashed back two long flashes, we loaded the logs into the north facing outhouse, there will be enough to last a few weeks, George told us they would need around a week to dry out. In the same room, our clothes were hung up alongside a weeks worth of women’s clothes drying on a washing line, strung from one side of the building to the other, after being washed yesterday while we slept. When we got back inside we were greeted to an amazing smell as soon as we opened the front door, the stew was boiling on the fire and the smells hit our nostrils as soon as we entered, nothing better after a hard days work. We all sat down in front of the fire and listened to a few stories from our house guests before the food was ready, George asked Roy what his plans were after we had found Emma. ‘To be honest, I haven’t given it much thought yet’ Roy explained. ‘We haven’t talked much about what’s going to happen when we get there, with the different situations that could arise.’

  ‘I’ve been that desperate to get there,’ I interrupted. ‘I haven’t thought about what I would do if she wasn’t there, I don’t really know what I would do. I don’t think I would be able to continue not knowing, it would be more merciful to find her dead, at least I would know.’

  June came over to give me a hug, and said ‘You will find her Nathan, and when you do, you are welcome back here.’ I could hear other voices of agreement, this was as close to a home as I think I could ever find.

  ‘There will always be a place for you here’ said George, ‘We could do with some extra men, to help with security and the physical jobs.

  ‘But what are we doing to fight back?’ Roy asked, ‘I don’t want to just accept what’s happening here, I want to fight back. I cannot just sit around making broth while the fate of humanity is decided for us. Who is prepared to fight?’

  ‘We are all fighting’ George shouted.

  ‘I’m sorry George I mean you no disrespect, what you are doing is incredibly brave, but what I mean is an army, forming an army that can fight back, stop these creatures before its too late, who has got that kind of power?’

  ‘There’s no government or army left’ I said.

  ‘I know’ said Roy. ‘I’m just so fucking angry about...’

  ‘With all respect to what happened to your wife,’ interrupted George. ‘There are ladies present in the room, if you don’t mind toning the language down a bit.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ replied Roy, looking around the room for some sympathy. ‘I’m just so angry at the creatures for taking my wife from me, I still cannot accept what’s happened. Why would any humans help these creatures? What kind of people are they? Why would anyone help orchestrate the demise of the human race?’

  ‘There’s some desperate people around’ replied George, ‘Each one with different motivations.’

  ‘I want to kill them all, I want to brutalize them like they brutalized Nancy. I want them to feel the pain they afflicted on others, before they die.’

  ‘It’s not a good idea to carry that much hatred around with you son, it will end up being your downfall.’

  ‘I don’t care about dying, what have I got left to live for? I want to take my revenge, and take out as many of them as I can.’

  ‘You need to find another way to vent that anger, I cannot have anything endangering what we’re trying to do here.’

  ‘I appreciate that George, I wouldn’t. It’s hard, I just cannot get a handle on anything any more I need something to focus on, I have spent my whole life concerned with the well-being of one person, and now they have been taken away from me, I don’t know what to do any more, I’m lost.’ Roy was quickly surrounded by a group of females, all wanting to comfort him. Right now, I cannot think that far into the future, all I’m focused on is finding out what happened to Emma.

  15/11/2027 - time - 9:17

  Sorry if this entry is a bit messy, I’m currently sat in the back of George’s truck heading towards the A702 junction, the bumpy terrain is making it hard for me to write. I’m reminded of childhood memories, riding around on the back of my dads tractor, thrown around as he ploughed the fields. The ash cloud cover is getting darker black the further north east I look, the direction we will soon be walking in. The temperature has plummeted, although as yet there’s no snow in the sky and the wind had dropped. The house had been woken in the early hours by a loud noise, the ground was shaking, and rumbling. We assumed it was an earthquake, and s
at up to listen as the sounds slowly reduced to a low rumble, and continued for around ten minutes. I’m not sure what it was but I’ve never heard or felt anything quite like it before. Neither Roy, George or June knew what it was either, and all had been awoken by it. Before we set off, George and June replenished our water, lighter fluid and gave us enough food to last a few days. Our clothes had been washed and dried, and a new set of blankets and towels packed. My map had dried out, so I folded it back together and put it back in my rucksack. We left in good spirits, feeling as good as we have since all this happened, with a promise to return in a few days. The females gave us a real send off, I haven’t had that many kisses since my wedding day. I couldn’t speak to Roy as we made our way towards the drop off point, the sound of the old diesel engine was deafening, we just sat in silence looking out over the scorched land wondering how the day would pan out.

  15/11/2027 - Time 22:30

  Roy and I are taking shelter five hundred yards from the nuclear bomb shelter I constructed, in an old stone outhouse on the outskirts of next doors farm. My farm has been occupied by a group, I don’t know if they are Torriero’s men or just as worryingly, not. We are waiting until the early hours before we make an attempt to gain entry to the shelter, with men walking around the property, it’s presently too risky. I have absolutely no idea if Emma is in the shelter, or if she is even alive, but I’m becoming increasingly anxious to find out. It’s hard sitting this close to where she could be safely hidden, she could be asleep at this very moment. I had thought about this moment and what I would do, and think. I had convinced myself it would be better if she was dead, better for her, I couldn’t keep her safe in this world. But I was wrong, I want nothing more than her to be alive, it might be selfish but she has to be, or I will have no reason to be, the possibility she is alive is the only sane thing I have left to hang onto. As with all our time on the road, today’s journey was full of incident. As the truck came to a stop thirty yards from the junction, I jumped out of the back and Roy threw the rucksacks to me. I put them on the floor by my feet as Roy climbed down from the truck and George stepped out of the cab. He walked over to us handing me a metal flask ‘June made you some coffee’ he said. ‘It should stay hot for most of your journey.’