Apocalyptic Fears II: Select Bestsellers: A Multi-Author Box Set

by Greg Dragon

“Sure. Sorry. And thanks.”

  “What for?”

  “For, you know... caring.”

  “Come here you.”

  Aiden walked over to Edsel cautiously, looking like he was expecting a scolding. Edsel put his arms around the boy and hugged him tight.

  “You’re getting fish all over you,” laughed Aiden, returning the hug best he could while holding onto his catch.

  “Some things are more important than fish,” said Edsel.

  Much more important. I think I need this more than he does. Feels good.

  “Doesn’t it hurt though? Hurt your skin.”

  “Like you wouldn’t believe buddy, like you wouldn’t believe. Some things are more important than that too.” Edsel held the young fisherman at arms length and got serious. “Just be careful okay? And we need to talk. A proper talk, after breakfast. But first, I’m afraid it’s time for a wash and to brush our teeth. I don’t know about you but my mouth feels like a cat’s bum has been rubbing over my tongue then someone stuffed moldy bread in and left it there overnight. And added in some worms just for good measure.”

  “Ugh, that’s gross.”

  “Tell me about it,” said Edsel, smiling. “Now, where is your bag with all the gear from Boots in it?”

  Aiden ran off to grab it while Edsel got the carton out of his bag that he’d filled with water what felt like a lifetime ago. He undid the cap and sniffed.

  Ugh, still smells like gone-off milk. It’ll do to brush our teeth though.

  After some rather hesitant scrubbing of teeth and foul-tasting rinsing, Edsel reluctantly stripped off and lowered himself slowly, and very carefully into the lake, gritting his teeth and asking for the soap. He told Aiden not to watch, but it seemed they were both past caring about modesty or getting freaked out by the abomination that was now Edsel’s skin — it had got even worse through the night. He moved his tongue over his teeth.

  Feels good, clean. Bet they dazzle.

  “How’s the water?” asked Aiden.

  “Not too bad actually, once you get in. Refreshing.”

  After a doubtful look, Aiden slowly stripped down to his underwear and lowered his legs into the water. “Ooh ooh ooh. It’s freezing!”

  “Yeah, well, it might be a little on the fresh side. Good for the soul though. Teaches you... um, how to be cold and wet.”

  Aiden splashed at Edsel accusingly, smiling despite the freezing water.

  “Gee, thanks for that, very profound.”

  “I do try my best.” Edsel smiled back, secretly thankful for the freezing water — if his body was numb then at least it wasn’t in pain. The kid needed to be clean too, and this would wake them both up properly, make them alert and ready for what was going to be a long, and if it went the way he hoped, then bloody day too. He just needed to chat with Aiden about a few things first.

  In less than a minute Aiden pronounced himself thoroughly clean and climbed out, his pale skin covered in goosebumps. He poked at the fire, dropping wood on and shouting back that they were both stupid for not getting it going better before they jumped into the water.

  He’s smarter than me; I need to get my act together.

  While Aiden prepared the fish and got them cooking, Edsel slowly took stock of his body and tried to clean himself up. The aloe was gone now, so he needed to look after his skin the best he could. With a little lather from the soap he sat on the side of the lake and cleaned his body. His skin felt gross, like some kind of animal hide. Most of it was now rough with scabs, but they were beginning to heal a little.

  I’m like a bloody rhino, just a red one.

  The worst seemed to be over; he could see that the thick scabs were beginning to grow translucent in places and flake off naturally, but it was obvious that it would leave him with incredibly patchy and weird looking flesh.

  Better than being dead, and at least they didn’t get my face. God, they would have done my eyelids, my ears, even my lips. Ugh!

  The worst bits were the soles of his feet, between his toes, his groin, the backs of his knees — what were they called? Knee-pits? — and under his arms. Anywhere that chafed or got naturally sweaty was the worst affected. But it was where The Ink had been applied to the boniest parts of his body that actually ached in a way that felt like they must have penetrated right down to the marrow. The thin skin covering his ankles, knees, elbows and who knew how many other parts of his body as it all blurred into one deep ache, felt so sensitive that he could imagine the skin peeling away revealing bone that was no longer white but as red as the rest of him. Blood red inside and out, that’s what he must be.

  I’m the stained man. I’m marked for life. But I’m still alive and I am a man.

  “Breakfast’s ready,” shouted Aiden.

  “Coming.”

  ***

  After breakfast, and with the fire roaring higher than it safely should be so they could dry off fast, Edsel had approached the subject of what Aiden really wanted to do.

  He tried his best to not make it seem like he wanted to abandon the young boy — which he didn’t. Much as he was still reeling from the death of Kathy, and if he thought about it too much he knew he’d be no good to anybody, especially himself, he knew that Kathy and Aiden would have gotten on so well. She would have loved the cheeky little chappy, so he felt a responsibility partly because no twelve year old should be alone, and partly because he knew that Kathy would have loved Aiden.

  We could have been like a proper little family. Even kept Martha too.

  The best thing he could think of to do was simply to be honest. So they sat by the fire and talked.

  It didn’t really come as much of a surprise that Aiden absolutely didn’t want to go back to his home, or be taken anywhere else where he would be alone for that matter. He wanted to stay with Edsel, even if he was red. Edsel had to smile at that, his Ink was about the only constant there was at the moment. He was red, would always be red, and there was not a damn thing he could do about it.

  Apart from have my revenge.

  Slowly through the night a tentative plan of sorts had formed, but if he was honest with himself it wasn’t much of one — the chances of him coming out of it alive were not really very optimistic. He was a young man that had no experience fighting, kept to himself most of the time, out of necessity really all through his last few teenage years and beyond, and didn’t really know what he was doing half the time — just your average guy that found himself living through the Apocalypse, albeit a rather subdued one.

  But he had to try. He simply had to at least attempt to have his revenge, whatever the cost to himself personally.

  But Aiden? What about Aiden?

  All of this was explained — he held nothing back. Friendships were based on honesty, and if he had to be the adult then he needed to say things to Aiden like he was too — the kid was old beyond his years anyway, that was more than obvious.

  “Watch,” said Aiden, part way through their conversation. He pointed at the fire.

  Edsel scampered backward quickly as the fire roared higher for a second, then returned to its normal intensity.

  “I’m not just a normal twelve year old.”

  “Well, um, yeah, I can see that. How’d you do it?”

  “It’s hard to explain. I can kind of see the fire. Not see it — ‘see’ it. Not just in the normal way; I can see that it feeds off oxygen and that the more oxygen there is the hotter it will burn, so I can sort of... I can kind of send it sort of energy through The Noise, but it’s my energy. Ugh, it’s hard to explain. I don’t really know, but I can release what’s in the wood maybe, or give it more oxygen, I’m not exactly sure, but I can influence some things. Sometimes. But it’s tiring, and it makes me incredibly hungry, so I don’t do it much.”

  Wish I could just point my fingers at The Eventuals like a magician and watch them burst into flames, that would solve everything.

  “Okay, point taken then. You aren’t just a normal kid and you have magic po
wers and you can bend reality. What a pair eh?” Edsel chuckled at the absurdity of the situation. The Lethargy really had changed humanity forever. Maybe it was something brought down by God to put mankind on a new path. If so then it was no God he wanted to be friends with — it was kind of an extreme way to reset the evolutionary clock.

  “Let’s catch another couple of fish then be on our way. There’s no telling when we will get to eat next.”

  “I’ll do it, I’m good at fishing.” Aiden ran off to catch their second breakfast, leaving Edsel to ponder the actions of the child that he’d just witnessed.

  From everything he knew about The Awoken, and admittedly it was limited, doing what Aiden had just done was an outlier even for the lucky few. Manipulating matter in that way was not what most could do. It was more of a cerebral thing, focused on minds and energies that were unknown before The Lethargy to all but the Enlightened few. It was about the life-force of all things, the matter that made up the Universe, not physically changing things as the boy had demonstrated.

  He wondered what on earth he would be like once he grew to become a man. Let alone if he turned out to be an angry and moody teenager.

  God help us.

  Edsel smiled at the thought of a fire wielding mopey teenage boy.

  Jeez, that doesn’t bear thinking about.

  Life was different. Very different. He wondered what it would be like hundreds of years from now; it had only been seven since the world had changed so dramatically.

  If there would be anyone left by then anyway.

  He had his doubts about the next few years, let alone centuries.

  And for me? Maybe days if I’m lucky.

  Edsel caught himself just as he was about to scratch at a naked armpit.

  Bad idea dude, very bad idea.

  He gritted his teeth and waited for the day to warm up.

  HOPE

  The fuel tank on the Seat was relatively low, but Edsel estimated they would have no problem making it back to the city, even with a few stops along the way. The first and most important thing was that he needed clothes. He felt extremely self-conscious about his naked torso, and he kept catching Aiden staring at his skin, clearly very uncomfortable about it.

  I look like I just stepped out of a burning building, and look at all these damn flakes.

  He didn’t blame him, he looked like a damn mangled lobster, all red and like he’d been thrown on the barbecue but simply forgotten about until he’d gone all crispy. The warmth of the car had dried out his skin and already it was beginning to itch with a vengeance again.

  Is there no end to this bloody nightmare?

  The skin wasn’t bubbling like it had been though, which was something, and the scabs weren’t as thick and crusty. They were a lot flakier however. He looked down at his lap and the only comparison he could make was that he’d been eating chips and rather a lot had spilled into his lap. Or bits of torn red paper, scattered on his trousers like some kind of sick confetti after a marriage that definitely wasn’t going to end with a happily ever after.

  “I know, gross right?”

  “Absolutely,” grinned Aiden. “You look like a salamander.”

  “You know about salamanders?” Edsel was surprised.

  With a look that would wilt the most confident of men, Aiden said, “I can read you know? There’s not a lot else to do.”

  “Yeah, right. Of course, sorry.”

  “S’all right, but Daddy taught me lots of things, I can take care of myself. Dad, I sound like a baby keep saying Daddy.”

  Edsel focused on driving, they were in quiet lanes now and the going was tough — the overgrown hedges a real hindrance. “I don’t doubt it for a minute. You’re a lot smarter than me. And you keep right on saying Daddy, there’s no hurry to grow up.”

  “Don’t be silly, I’m still only twelve so aren’t smarter than you, but I really can look after myself. And thanks.”

  “I know. I’m just sorry I got you into this mess.” Edsel stole a glance over at Aiden, just to check he was holding up. “You doing okay buddy?”

  “I’m fine. Where we going?”

  “Well, I need some clothes, so hopefully there will be something suitable in one of the houses. Look, here’s one now.” Edsel pulled up to a large wooden gate, hopped out and opened it up, then jumped back in and drove slowly up to the small house. He figured it would be a more fruitful search out in the countryside on the outskirts of the city than in the city itself, where looters had gone door to door repeatedly the first few years since The Lethargy. The scenery was a lot nicer too.

  All seemed quiet, so they got out and wandered around the grounds of the house. Edsel actually felt more comfortable without anything covering his upper torso, but the day promised to be a warm one and he didn’t even want to think about what it would feel like to have strong sunlight on his skin.

  I’ll probably burst into flames like a vampire.

  They skirted around the side of the old brick and flint cottage, roses, clematis and a huge wisteria clinging to the house delighting with their strong perfume and color.

  Like none of it ever happened. Like some old man will be stooped over his roses, his wife calling him for a cup of tea and a biscuit.

  He knew it wouldn’t be like that though, but maybe, just maybe it would. Not everyone was dead, there were probably still hundreds of thousands of people left alive in the UK, or tens of thousands anyway. He didn’t really know, he wondered if anyone did. But there were Whole people living in cities and he guessed that more and more of them had abandoned the urban sprawl and left to live as quiet a life as they possibly could — grow vegetables, raise some animals, get on with life the best they knew how.

  That sounded nice; maybe they could move here after he’d done what he had to do? Grow cabbages, watch tomatoes ripen in the erratic sunshine. Find a chicken and name it Martha II; get some pigs, maybe cows. Mmm. Steak! What he wouldn’t give for a nice juicy rare stake with onion rings and—

  “Ow! What the hell?” A fiery explosion sent shockwaves spreading out from his ribs. Aiden had elbowed him hard. “Waddya doing?”

  “Look,” said Aiden, pointing ahead. “We have company.”

  “Don’t you move one goddamn muscle or I’ll blow your bloody heads clean off. I mean it, you better not mess with me. I was in the war you know?”

  “You look like you died in it too,” said Edsel. “What are you, like a hundred or something?”

  This is just what we need, some gung-ho old veteran. Looks like that shotgun is older than him.

  “You cheeky bugger. Gerrof my land, this is private property I’ll have you know. I’ve dealt with your sort before,” the man scowled at Edsel’s blistering body, “and I’m not afraid to do it again.”

  “Look, sorry,” said Edsel, “didn’t mean to be rude. It’s been a long couple of days is all. We don’t mean you any harm, and if you mean The Eventuals, then I’m not one of them. I escaped before they finished the job. Honest.” Edsel held out his hands, palms pointing to the blue sky as an act of submission, then realized it probably just made matters worse showing just how much Ink he had.

  Idiot. What’s wrong with you?

  “Honest mister, we are the good guys,” said Aiden, in such a pathetic, sad tone of voice that Edsel stared at him like the boy he knew had been swapped for another one. Aiden gave him a wink before resuming. “This big lobster here is telling the truth. He saved me, although we lost Martha, and The Eventuals are after him. After us.” The old man looked around worriedly so Aiden said hurriedly, “Oh, it’s all right, we got away. They didn’t follow us, we stole their car. I smashed a pole over one of their heads and we went fishing and we made a fire and Edsel...”

  “Okay, okay. Gee whiz, what do I look like, your damn priest?”

  Gee whiz!? He really is from another century. But he’s chilling out. Good. He could’ve had our heads off with that old shotgun.

  The old man lowered his weapon and stared
at them warily. “Why’d you come here? What do you want?”

  “To tell the truth,” admitted Edsel, “we just drove down the lanes and stopped at the first house we saw. I, um, lost some of my clothes, and I’m not exactly a nice thing to look at currently. Little bit crusty.”

  “You can say that again,” said the old man gruffly. “You look like my tomatoes if it rains too much and they split.”

  “Hehe, he does, doesn’t he?”

  “Hey, how about a bit of sympathy here? Have you any idea what they did to me? How much this hurts? I feel like I’m constantly on fire and you think it’s funny?”

  Damn, what’s this? A new bloody double-act.

  “Sorry.”

  The old man shuffled about a bit in his slippers and pajamas. “Sorry.”

  “Yeah, well.”

  “You sure you’re not murderers or thieves?” The old man began to lift his shotgun again, looking like he’d been duped somehow.

  Edsel sighed. “Do we look like we are? Do we look like we are here to murder you and take your slippers or your split tomatoes? I just wanted a sweater, a shirt, anything. We assumed the place was, you know, not currently occupied by the living. Or by anyone that would care anyway.”

  “Well, I may be old, but I ain’t dead yet.”

  The man turned and shuffled slowly around the back of the house, kicking gravel noisily as he moved, the gun dangling loosely in a thick calloused hand. He shouted over his shoulder, “You comin’ or what? The kettle’s on.”

  Aiden and Edsel stared at each other. With a shrug of the shoulders, and a few nudges back and forth, they followed the old man into the house, for whatever passed as a morning cuppa to the old man.

  ***

  Their host introduced himself as he poured the coffee. “I’m Bob.”

  “I’m Edsel, this is Aiden. Pleased to meet you Bob.”

  “Nice to meet you Bob.”

  “Yeah, well. You too I guess. Maybe.” Bob busied himself in the compact kitchen where every surface seemed to have some kind of knick-knack, and the walls were covered in shelves with blue and white plates on display. Bob shuffled over and placed two mugs of coffee down on the table, then went back to get his own. He returned and with a sigh he carefully lowered himself into a chair.