Desolation (Book 1): Aftermath

by Butler, Simon L.

  “That’s not entirely what I meant.” Her hand reached across to take mine. “But I’ll take it!”

  I smiled warmly, squeezing her hand slightly before speaking. “Honestly, I don’t know if we could have found better than this.” I shrugged. “They seem like good people, it’s a good area, and they seem to be welcoming us.”

  “My thought’s exactly, but I’m just not sure what I can offer them.” She looked down. “I mean Millie is basically a soldier who hunts zombies and raiders, as well as that she knows how to grow food when she’s not doing that. And apparently everyone else there can shoot. Meanwhile, I have no special skills to offer them that they don’t already have, everyone there has a skill of some kind and can contribute in some way. All I have known for a long time is how to survive in a cage with a bunch of bitchy women, while trying not to get raped by the next asshole that came into the shop. I wasn’t even good at that either.” She sniffled wiping away a few tears. “I basically struck the lottery when you walked in Jack, at the time I was terrified and figured ‘here we go another pervert after some tail.’” She laughed to herself. “I figured I would run away the first chance I got, but then you gave me that key and let me go anyway.” She shook her head. “I had a sudden realisation at that moment that I had nowhere to go and no real survival skills, so I took a chance on a man who was kind enough to offer me a choice for the first time in a very long time.”

  I smiled warmly, pulling her closer. “Well, I hope that decision is one you do not grow to regret,” I said warmly, pushing through my own anxieties, adding, “I am absolutely terrified of this myself - growing attached and thinking about the future. I’m fucking terrified that I will fail you in some way, terrified that this world will find a way to destroy whatever this is.”

  Her smile returned, and her fire came through once more. “You are a challenge sometimes, that is true,” she teased, “but I am with you for as long as you’ll put up with me. You’re a good man Jack. I’m terrified as well for the very same reasons; I’m terrified I’ll slow you down or make life harder for you in some way. Hell, at first, I was terrified you would just abandon me in the desert or shoot me, especially after my feet started cooking in those useless shoes.”

  I instinctively gave a sigh of relief, squeezing her hand despite my fears. “Emotions are difficult, as much as letting people close, but I am trying.” I looked down at the sand. “For you, I am trying. I don’t think I even contemplated leaving you behind, and I don’t think I could have found it in me to shoot you.”

  “Because of Amy?” she asked, in a sympathetic tone.

  I shrugged. “I’m all for mercy when it is required, but mercy implies that the one being offered mercy is ready to let go. You were not ready to stop fighting, and that was one of the things that I found so appealing. If your injuries were bad enough, and not just shallow burns on your feet, I might have considered it if you asked. In any case, there is no way I would have let you go back to that life, and even less chance now if I were forced to make a choice.”

  She leant in and kissed my cheek. “I understand,” she replied. “I would do the same for you!”

  I turned and looked her in the eyes. “And it is precisely that attitude, and that fire that drew me to you in the first place.” I laughed, my mind turning over the dirt-covered slave girls face when I first saw her, the anger in her eyes when I picked her out of the crowd as the least likely to kill me. I sighed, changing the subject to the present. “You have my word that you will always have my loyalty and honesty!”

  She just smiled warmly, kissed me once, and let the silence return as we walked. Heading back towards the cabin a short time later.

  Millie keeping watch by the gate while the other two seemed to be resting around the dying fire drinking the last of the coffee. “Are you guys coming?” Millie teased when she saw us, giving a knowing wink to Ashe.

  Ashe answered before I could. “Sure, we are on foot, so how far away are you guys?”

  Natalie shook her head. “Yeah, I figured, we have one spare seat in the truck and a ton of supplies on the back.” She turned to Michael. “Can you get onto Lochlin on the CB and tell him to send another truck to the old Thornton beach safehouse, please!”

  “Honestly, I can walk,” I said. “I don’t mind at all, or I can just ride in the back.”

  “There are far too many zombies around here to risk that Jack,” Natalie said in a firm motherly tone.

  “I have lived with the company of zombies and not much else for nearly twenty years, I’ll be fine.”

  “Not a chance in hell,” she declared holding up her hand to stop me. “We do not leave our own out with the zombies.”

  Ashe laughed, realising I had been defeated. “She’s right, Jack. Let them help!”

  Then Michael’s voice suddenly chirped from the driver’s seat of the truck. “Guys, we have a large heard come up from Petersham, maybe two kilometres south-east.”

  “Ah fuck?” Natalie sighed. “How many?”

  “Luke called it in; apparently, he and Michelle were out on another trade run. He said there’s about a hundred or more.”

  Natalie looked at me, blankly, taking in a deep breath. “Look after your own, Natalie. Take Ashe with you and I’ll meet you guys in Thornton when the herd passes.”

  “Don’t you dare Jack,” Ashe growled. “I will not leave you out here alone.”

  “Ashe,” I said firmly to stop her. “I have done this before, you go with Natalie, and I will meet you guys in a day or two when they pass.”

  “I’ve got to go with Ashe on this, Jack. Get in the back of the back of the truck and hold on,” Natalie said forcefully.

  “Guys,” Michael said, getting our attention. “We have another herd coming from the west as well, get in the damn truck!” He pointed to the north-west where several dozen more zombies, ambled slowly along the old highway. They still hadn’t seen us, but they soon would if we didn’t leave immediately.

  “Fuck it!” I sighed, climbing into the back of the truck. I had a hard-enough time in the damn cab let alone balancing on the back of one of these things.

  “Get in now,” Michael ordered the girls, Millie climbed into the truck followed by Natalie and Ashe seconds later.

  The truck reversed onto the highway, stopping for just a moment as I gripped a metal bar on the back of the main cab holding on tightly in the utility trey as the truck lunged forward suddenly.

  The small herd to the west still hadn’t spotted us despite being less than fifty meters away, or if they had, they made no moves to give chase. They moved slowly, but with purpose as if they were heading somewhere. On the horizon, to the south-east, I could make out what looked like rising clouds of dust lifting in the distance. The herd was big, probably numbered well over a thousand, not hundreds as had been claimed previously.

  The truck moved quickly along the side of the highway, moving in a south-east direction towards the ruins of Thornton. It looked as though someone had tried to fortify the town at one point with sturdy metal fencing having been erected around a large part of the town but had long since been left to the elements. The truck turned sharply onto a dirt road heading north towards the hills. The herd was still a little way off and did not seem to make any moves to give chase. But the relief was short-lived.

  The truck approached a small but seemingly well-maintained bridge, which passed over the top of a small flowing river. Then just as we crossed the bridge, the burst of gunfire rippled around us; the sound difficult to pinpoint before several more bursts echoed around us, seemingly coming from multiple directions. “Ambush!” I yelled before I lost my grip on the bar. It was like I had been kicked in the shoulder and thrown before blacking out.

  Chapter 11 - (Nowhere to hide)

  My mind was in a daze and my head was ringing when I woke up on the side of the dirt road surrounded in thick grass. The truck had rolled, and the bags of supplies were scattered all along the road. I went to sit up and felt an
instant burning pain in my shoulder and across my face. “Ah, fuck!” I hissed, clutching my shoulder, my fingertips finding a bullet hole just below my collarbone. I searched my back, quickly finding another hole, giving me hope that the bullet had simply passed through. The thought gave me some confidence that my body would hold up, so I sat up, gritting my teeth through the pain. As I slowly climbed to my feet, I felt a harsh sting on the side of my face. I felt around a large gash on the side of my face, trying to assess the damage. A bullet had grazed my cheek, taking with it a sizeable piece of flesh on the left side of my face. It certainly explained the ringing in my ear.

  My vision was fuzzy, and my head pounded from what was obviously a severe concussion. I could see Michael still in the driver’s seat of the truck. Half of his face was gone as his body hung lifeless and limp behind the wheel of the upturned truck. The three girls were nowhere to be seen, and thankfully the zombies did not seem to have found the truck. I walked unsteadily to the truck as panic sunk into my chest. “Ashe?” I called out, my voice barely above a whisper, but there was no sign of her or any of the other girls. The CB radio was a mess, but Michael had a handheld radio still attached to his belt. Its range was probably not great, but I hoped that it might at least raise someone. I reached into the truck t gather the radio then fell backwards onto the grass. I seemed that my ankle didn’t appear to be in good shape either, but since my whole leg was still a little numb, I hadn’t noticed until trying to put weight on it that there was likely a pretty severe fracture. I didn’t dare remove my boot to check.

  I turned on the radio as I lay in the grass, speaking into it in a pained voice. “Hello, hello, is anyone out there?”

  There was static for a long moment before a somewhat familiar deep voice said, “Hey Jack, long time no see! I’m you could make it, here I thought you were dead, and I was going to have all the fun with these lovely ladies without an audience. But that’s fine! Hey, listen, I’m trying to decide which one to have for dinner tonight and which one of share my bed with. What would you suggest?”

  All feeling shot out from me; my own pain was forgotten as the thought of what he would do Ashe flashed across my mind. “Where are you? You can have me if you let them all go,” I growled into the radio.

  “Now-now, Jack, there’s no rush – I mean, I don’t have to eat all your pretty girlfriend in one sitting, just an arm will do, or maybe one of those sexy thighs. Hell, this redhead of yours has put on some meat since I saw you last.” His voice carried a tone intended to torment and torture, “I could just keep her for my bed and just take bits off as I need to on my way back to New Alice. Especially after you made me drive all this fuckin way.” My blood was boiling in a way that I had not felt before as adrenaline and rage flooded my body from head to toe. Panic soon gave way to the rage and anger, as I listened. “Are you still with me Jack? You better stay with me buddy; you get a front-row seat. Say hello, honey,” he said sadistically.

  “Jack, help please!” Ashe cried through the radio, before letting out a blood-curdling scream.

  I had no words as something in my mind snapped, and all I could manage was a low snarl. My sense sharpening as the adrenaline took full effect. Then I heard waves crashing coming through the radio faintly between another scream from Ashe. “Stop! You sick fuck.” Natalie yelled in the background. They were in an enclosed area by the beach, one of the cabins maybe?

  They surely would not have gone back to the same cabin. Either way, it was the first place to check as I picked up my rifle from the grass and headed back towards the town as quickly as I could move on my shattered ankle. Once I got to the highway, I noticed a dirt road heading south with fresh tyre tracks. It led towards an old camping area not far from the cabin we had stayed in just south of the Thornton ruins. “Damn Jack, you have fattened this one up nicely for me.” Sam said sadistically as he chewed through the radio, licking his lips. “Damn that’s fuckin’ good, but we’re going to need a few more slices for tonight. Stay still, honey!” Another scream came through the radio before I heard Millie and Natalie scream and curse for him to stop.

  I ran with a limp along the dirt road, trying desperately to block the pain of my ankle, ignoring the gathering of zombies that followed me close behind. I paralleled the road through a line of trees approaching a small clearing. An area that was once used for camping just a few hundred meters along the road. I saw one man standing guard, his face was not familiar, and he had probably been a replacement for one of the men I had killed. There was another drinking a bottle of alcohol at the cabin door, enjoying whatever he was seeing. I realised it could easily have been an ambush – but then again, these guys were not terribly intelligent when it came to tactics, and my concern for Ashe had trumped my reason on this one. They were slavers, not soldiers, after all, then I heard another scream through the radio, this time from Millie who let out a scream of anger as if throwing punches. “No! You pig, NO!” she cried out in pain. My veins turned to ice as her screams echoed, not just from the radio.

  “You are all going to die,” I snarled into the radio.

  Sam’s cold laugh came through as I raised my rifle and fired again and again without a second thought, killing one of the men instantly while the other was shot through the neck and lay screaming on the ground. The sounds coming through the radio driving me forward. I moved into cover as the large herd of zombies following me along the dirt road neared. It looked clear, so I ran for the cabin, hoping to get the jump of him when a gunshot rang out to my right, just before something hit me in the shoulder again, just meters from the cabin door. I looked up in time to see another man approaching from a position amongst the surrounding trees. The noise in the radio stopped, and the door swung open to the cabin. Sam walked out his pants still not properly tied up as I caught sight of Millie, naked and curdled up in the corner of the small room, I couldn’t see Ashe or Natalie. But rage took over as my body flooded with adrenaline yet again. I unclipped my knife, leant up, and hurled it at the one approaching with the rifle, striking him in the chest with the blade.

  I looked up at the man that had been on our trail for weeks, the look on his face seemed to go from sadistic torturer to scared boy as he spotted the nearing herd of zombies. The man looked around, sensing the danger before glaring down at me and growling, “You are one stubborn motherfucker; I can’t help but respect it!” He pulled out a pistol and aimed a pistol at my chest as he stood above me. “I Just want you to know that none of this is personal for me, Jack. It’s been great fun hunting you, and when I present your head to Malcolm Bishop, I will be fucking rich and tell him all about the settlement here not only will I be rich, I’ll fucking run this place.” I glared up at him as he prepared to fire his gun. “You can thank those fuckin’ farmers out west, I thought I’d lost you honestly. But god damn the old man talked after I started making jerky with his son. They were good and healthy too. The wife was a bit tough; it must be said. But that girl in there is nice and tender.” He smiled sadistically.

  Then as quickly as his words finished, I saw Ashe crawl up behind him, holding a piece of broken glass. She jammed it deep into the back of his knee, causing him to drop to the ground just long enough for me to climb to my feet and slam my knee up into his chest and head over and over until of felt his body crumble beneath me. I savagely kicked him when he fell to the ground only to be brought back to reality by Ashe, whose pained voice broke through. “Jack! Get inside!” I looked up in time to see the zombies charging across the campground. I picked up Ashe under her shoulders, dragging her into the cabin and closing the door, barricading it with a sturdy table under the handle. The front porch of the cabin was raised just like the one we had stayed in. Some windows overlooked the beach below, but they were raised above the ground level making it inaccessible except inside the cabin. Moments later, the unmistakable rasp of zombies filled the air, their smell was unmistakable as I heard the slaver scream as the zombies piled on top of his body. Natalie was tied to a steel pipe
, her face and body covered in cuts and bruises. Millie, on the other hand, still had not moved, her body naked and exposed, covered in bruises and a large gash from a knife on her stomach. Ashe sat against the table and the door, the look on her face was nothing short of agony. Her thigh had a large chunk of flesh missing, which had been cut away, as she sucked in a long series of deep breaths as if trying desperately not to scream and let our company know we were in the cabin. I crawled over to her, putting my hand on her cheek, leaning in to kiss her, whispering, “I’m sorry!”

  She shook her head. “Don’t be sorry, Jack, it’s not your fault. They just got the jump on us!” I held her for a long moment, her arms wrapped tightly around me. “Help Millie,” she whispered through gritted teeth.

  The girl still hadn’t moved, Natalie looked over at Ashe and me apologetically, unable to free herself. I slowly approached Millie, who backed away, pressing herself back against the wall when she saw me. “Hey, it’s okay, It’s me, Jack,” I said softly, stopping just in front of her. “It’s okay, you’re okay!” I pulled off my shirt and handed it to her to cover her naked and ravaged body, her clothes were torn and destroyed on the ground beside her, having been cut away by her attacker. She seemed to have a few bruises, a black eye, and a small knife wound on her stomach, but physically she seemed okay. She took the shirt putting it over herself, her tears flowing. “It’s okay now,” I whispered as I reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

  Ashe crawled over, trying not to move her leg too much as each sudden movement brought with it more blood. The second Millie made eye contact with Ashe she seemed to return to the moment, her eyes full of panic and shame, her words making little sense. “I… I… I have never had sex before…” she cried, collapsing into Ashe's arms.

  Ashe held the girl and whispered, “It was rape, not sex – you have nothing to be ashamed of.”