Managing the Apocalypse

by C. J. Boyle

  Kera was starting to buzz but that didn't mean she wasn't paying attention. She shook her head.

  "I don't know where he is or what he's doing, but I'm sure none of it is good." He leaned back and crossed his legs on the table. "So, uncomplicate things with Brody. In case you didn't notice, this is the apocalypse. Life was short before, it's even shorter now." He suddenly beamed a smile at her, "That's why we should be having sex instead of talking about how you should be having it with Brody. Now why the hell did we come here?"

  She took a drag of her joint and held it. She pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow, "I can't remember."

  Moments later they were in a supply closet. Kera pulled a long box off the shelf and opened it. A prosthetic leg was inside. She took out the piece of paper, "I need one with these measurements." They looked at the boxes.

  Mitchell grabbed one from a high shelf and brought it down, "Here it is."

  Kera took a hit off her joint and then blew the smoke up into the air. They walked back out into the office and sat down. She looked at Mitchell curiously, "Can I ask you a question?"

  "You wanna know how big my dick is, don't you?" Mitchell bounced his eyebrows at her.

  She turned several shades of red, "Mitchell!"

  He laughed, "I'm sorry. I get like this when I think I'm going to die." He eyed his newly rolled joint. "This might have something to do with it too." He sat behind the desk and put his feet on top of it again, "It's nine inches, by the way."

  Kera twisted her face at him, "Good to know."

  "What'd you really want to ask me?"

  "You were one of the guards at New Hope. Yet you don't object to people calling me Warden and making me their unwilling leader." Kera watched him blow smoke circles above him. "You know damn well I was a prisoner there."

  "You wanna know the truth?" Mitchell took his legs down and put them on the floor. "Everyone knows your story and no one cares."

  Kera tilted her head at him, "And what story is that?"

  "You had an abusive shithead of a husband. One day you had enough and... smashed his head in with a baseball bat. You know, Mammy has a really big mouth." He mashed his joint out on the desk. "They follow you because of who you are not what you did."

  * * *

  Brody pulled the truck to a stop. Joseph hung off the side of the truck and jumped down when it stopped. Another Blood jumped down from the other side. Brody and his men got out of the cab. He told one of them to stay with the kids. He scanned the outside of the building and the grounds. Everything looked peaceful with no Links anywhere in sight.

  Joseph walked up to Brody. "They live in the sewers and underground tunnels all through here. You never know when or where they'll pop up." He pointed at the Hoover building. "I know for sure there is a big, gaping hole in the middle of that place. If your people are in there..." He held up a canister of tear gas, "I say we throw this in and see who or what comes out."

  Brody got his gun ready and walked briskly towards the building. "How about we go in shooting, and if we get in over our heads, then we use that shit."

  Joseph looked at the moving van. "Look, you're risking a lot for what? Three people?" Brody stopped walking and looked at the truck for a moment. Then he looked back at the building. His inner turmoil showed all over his face. Joseph nodded, "I get it." He pointed to the building with his gun, "Let's go." As they ran to the building, Joseph instructed one of his men to throw a couple of the canisters of tear gas down the Link hole.

  Brody ran into the building, not really knowing where he was going. This should have been a simple mission and now Kera might be dead. Part of him told him that he couldn't protect her every second of the day, but he couldn't help but feeling guilty that he wasn't there to save her or die with her, whichever the case may be. He almost instantly ran into a pair of Links. He let loose a couple of bursts from his machine gun.

  Down the hall from him, Kera and Mitchell heard the gunfire and jumped out of their seats. They grabbed their guns and ran into the office foyer near the door with the broken glass. Mitchell held his gun up as he slowly approached the window in the door so he could look through. As he got close a Link arm shot through the window and swiped at him. Kera screamed while Mitchell ducked away and shot at the arm.

  Brody heard Kera scream. "Kera! Where are you?"

  "This way Brody!" He ran towards her voice.

  Mitchell grabbed Kera and pulled her away from the door just before bullets came bursting through it. Seconds later the framework fell down as the door was kicked open. Brody took two steps in and got ready to mow down anything that moved. His eyes finally fell on Kera and Mitchell huddled together in the corner of the room. There was that unmistakable odor again. "Have you guys been smokin' weed?" Mitchell and Kera looked at each other for a moment and then ran towards the door.

  A couple of rooms over, Joseph's men pulled the pins on a couple of canisters and tossed them into the Link hole and ran off.

  Brody ran down the hall followed by Mitchell and Kera. Smoke started to fill the hallway in front of them. "Cover your face!" Brody yelled behind him.

  Suddenly Kera stopped cold and looked behind her. She forgot the leg. "Wait!" She ran back down the hall and into the office.

  "Kera, no!" Brody screamed as Links appeared in front of him. "Shit!" He and Mitchell fired wildly ahead of them. The smoke from the tear gas was getting thick and started to viciously sting their eyes and burn their throats. They both ran out of the building and into the sunlight. They turned around and looked at the door. No Kera. Mitchell and Brody looked at each other and then back at the door.

  Brody took a few steps toward the door but Mitchell stopped him. "Wait. Just wait a minute."

  "That's a minute too long!" Brody pulled his arm away from him and walked back toward the door.

  Kera suddenly ran through the smoke. She was coughing and choking. She dropped the leg she was carrying and ripped off her jacket like it was on fire. She fell to her knees coughing so hard she almost vomited. Mucus dripped from her nose and the skin around her eyes was bright red. Then she took off her pants revealing black leggings.

  Joseph looked at Brody. "What the hell is she doing?"

  Brody ignored him. He took off his backpack and rummaged through it until he found a bottle of water and gave it to her. She grabbed it, tilted her head back, and poured it over her eyes and face.

  Mitchell stepped toward Joseph. "The tear gas has a powder that settles on clothes. It could get on other people or even stirred up and activated later. It's best to just leave it here. She obviously got a good bit of it."

  Someone handed Brody a blanket. He went over to Kera and wrapped it around her. "Are you okay?"

  Her eyes were mashed shut and blisters were forming around them. She half yelled and half cried, "No!"

  He picked her up. "Someone get that damn leg." He brought her over to the moving van and placed her in the back.

  She moaned in pain, "Someone just kill me, please!"

  His radio started talking to him. "Brody, this is Dr. Wallace, you there?"

  "This is Brody. I guess Carl and JoJo got the repeater set up, huh?"

  "Yes. He just called me. He wanted me to try to contact you. Is everything okay?"

  "No, not really," Brody motioned for everyone to get back on the truck. "We're coming back with injuries." He didn't want to elaborate, but he knew Wallace would have follow up questions.

  Joseph put his hand behind his neck and rubbed. "Look, man, will you tell Carl I'm sorry?"

  Brody couldn't help feeling like he may have misjudged Joseph. "Yeah, man." He held out his hand to him. "Thanks for your help." They shook hands and then Joseph took off with his men.

  Brody watched Mitchell as he headed for the cab of the truck. He walked up to him. "Tell me something, did you guys start smokin' before or after Dave was killed?"

  Mitchell narrowed his eyes at Brody, "Ooo, that was low. Don't say that to Kera, okay? She took it pretty hard.
"

  Chapter Five

  The False Link

  Dr. Wallace wrapped Kera's eyes and made sure she was comfortable. He had given her a sedative that made her sleep. Brody stood at the end of her bed with a concerned look on his face.

  "I don't understand, Doctor. Why did it affect her this way?" Brody moved to her side and held her hand. "Tear gas is really, really unpleasant but I thought it didn't do this to people."

  The Doctor watched Brody rub Kera's hand. If you had asked his opinion about Brody a few months ago, he would have given you a very different assessment. He viewed Brody as nothing more than a big, dumb jock. He knew early on that he had taken a liking to Kera and that upset him greatly. Now he saw Brody as a smart and caring man who perhaps chose the wrong woman to have feelings for. He knew that if Kera ended up hurt it wouldn't be because Brody messed up. "It's just like any other drug or food. It will react in a relatively harmless way with most people and nearly kill others." He smoothed back the hair on her head. "Blisters just like those are in her mouth and throat too." He saw the concern on Brody's face. "She'll be okay. You don't have to worry."

  Brody sighed and looked at Wallace. "That's easier said than done."

  Dr. Wallace laughed. "Agreed."

  * * *

  A few hours later Dr. Wallace sat in front of his laptop computer looking at Martha's concerned face. "I can't believe we're actually video chatting. That's something we didn't even do before The Turn." She smiled at him.

  "Well, it's all thanks to a man named JoJo. He's a wizard." Dr. Wallace smiled back.

  Their conversation seemed to fade into the background as Kera's thoughts started to rise to the surface of consciousness. She felt cold and warm at the same time. Her body was warm, but her face and arms felt a cool breeze. It seemed like she was floating on mildly turbulent waters. She became slightly aware that someone was holding her left hand. In her mind-fog, she at first thought it was her rescuer. Someone who was trying to pull her out of the brink and back to shore. She concentrated on her breathing and the warmth of the hand that caressed hers. She started to hear familiar voices.

  "She's what we've been calling a 'false Link'. As Melissa told you, she got a bone marrow transplant just after the virus started to spread. At that point, her donor probably didn't even know he was a Link. She doesn't even look like the Links did before The Turn. She has just enough to know she isn't exactly human." It sounded like Martha's voice to Kera. "I assume your cancer was completely cured?"

  "Yes, ma'am." Kera assumed this was the voice of the 'false' Link they were talking about.

  "Melissa, would you like me to send a chopper to pick you up?" If that was really Martha's voice, she hoped the woman would answer no.

  "No ma'am." 'Good girl, Melissa,' Kera thought.

  "Carl, why don't you take her to get cleaned up? And get her some food." It was her Uncle Shawn's voice. She loved him like a father. Their relationship was extremely complicated, but above all else, she had mostly good memories of him. She knew she was a great disappointment to him and hated feeling like that.

  "Are you sure?" Even if his name hadn't been spoken, Kera would still have known it was Carl.

  "Don't worry. It'll be fine." Her Uncle sounded convincing. She heard footsteps and some shuffling. Kera assumed Carl and Melissa, the false Link, had left. "Do you still think the Link virus affected us too?"

  "Yes. I'm afraid so. But as to how? That hasn't revealed itself yet." It was Martha again. There was always friction between them and she didn't know why. Martha never really liked her and just wanted her to go away.

  "When it finally does, I'm sure it won't be good." Her Uncle was obviously worried about what the change might mean.

  Whoever held her left hand lifted it slightly. She felt a small rush of warm air on her knuckles and then...was that a kiss? Still in her fog and only knowing of Martha and her Uncle being in the room, she hoped that it wasn't either one of them. She reasoned that it couldn't have been because both of their voices came from her right side and from further away. It could only be one person. Her heart fluttered and she felt warmth run through her.

  "I think it would help if I knew exactly why some of the people changed and some of them didn't." Martha's voice broke up slightly but Kera was able to piece together what she was saying. "You're a doctor. You have a scientific mind. What do you think?"

  "Did I miss something?" Kera wasn't sure if she spoke for real or imagined it. "Isn't it obvious?"

  Martha's voice finally broke a silence that seemed to last forever. "Please, enlighten me, Kera."

  Kera's throat hurt. She tried to clear it several times. "Survival of the fittest." She lifted her right hand and gestured with it. "They're supposed to survive, we aren't." She cleared her throat again. "Haven't you noticed that there were no elderly or disabled Links?"

  "Son of a bitch," was the colorful response she got from Martha.

  She didn't like the silences. She felt around her eyes with her right hand. They were bandaged. 'What happened to me?'

  "We knew it must have been related to DNA." Her Uncle sounded closer. He must have moved to check on her.

  "If it's survival of the fittest and genetic then why I am I still here? I mean, look at me?" Brody's voice confirmed what she already knew. He was the one holding her hand. He was the one who kissed her hand. She squeezed his hand and turned her head towards him. She wanted to look at him but it was impossible because of her bandages.

  "No offense, Brody, but you're obviously a mutant." Dr. Wallace laughed, "You never work out but you look like a WWF fighter. You probably lack a protein that inhibits muscle growth."

  "That's news to me, Doc." Brody sounded tired to her.

  "This theory would certainly explain a few things." Martha sounded upset. "I have to go. I love you."

  * * *

  "I love you too, Marty." Dr. Wallace watched the video screen until it went dark. He got up and closed the gap between himself and Kera. "How are you feeling?" He put his hand on her shoulder. "Do you need more pain medicine?" When she didn't answer, he rubbed her arm. "Kera?" He looked at Brody. "She's out again. You might as well go eat."

  "I'm not a mutant," Brody complained.

  Dr. Wallace grinned, "Apparently, we're all mutants."

  Brody let go of Kera's hand. He held his radio up to the doctor. "Call me if anything happens."

  Brody met up with Carl, Melissa, and JoJo in the cafeteria. Some of the people decided to decorate it with Christmas lights. They removed some of the tables and benches that were bolted down and brought in couches and cushioned chairs. Brody leaned against the wall near a couch where Melissa sat by Carl. Carl couldn't take his eyes off of Melissa. She was obviously nervous. The people that walked by them didn't hide the fact that they were staring. Carl tried to make her feel better. "Don't worry. Once everyone sees that you're hanging with the cool kids, they'll accept you."

  Melissa furrowed her brow, "When that woman, Martha, offered to send the chopper, why did you shake your head like that?"

  "She's with the military. You're better off here." Both Brody and Carl nodded their heads. "Besides, I'd be sad if you left." Carl beamed a smile at her. Melissa blushed and played with her hair.

  JoJo looked up at Brody, "If I had known I'd cause this much trouble, I would have said don't bother."

  Brody shook his head. "She would have done it no matter what." Brody's eyes fell on Mitchell. He wanted to twist his head off and play basketball with it.

  Mitchell walked over to him with a big smile on his face. "Hey man, do you know where Kera is? I still have the pot and the Southern Comfort from earlier and I wanted to see if I could get some, you know, some southern comfort." He made a V with his hands in front of his crotch. "If you know what I mean."

  "How are you that brave?" Carl's mouth dropped open, "I mean, seriously, do you have some sort of disorder where things look smaller than they actually are?" He motioned to Brody's obvious muscular physique.


  Brody stared Mitchell in the eyes. Mitchell just smiled and appeared to be having the time of his life. "Maybe I'll try to find her myself."

  Brody put his hand to Mitchell's chest to stop him from leaving. "She's in the infirmary and YOU, are not going there."

  The smile drained away from his face, "She was hurt that bad?" He looked down at JoJo who was looking up at the two of them as if he was about to see a fantastic battle. "You must be the one that Kera was shopping for. My name is Mitchell." He stepped away from Brody and held his hand out to JoJo.