The New World

by Toby Neighbors

  Lana entered the room and picked up another pair of binoculars.

  “Do you think they're dangerous?” she asked, her voice tight with the strain of fear.

  “No, they look like they need help,” Daniel reassured her. “Will you wake up Dakota and get medical supplies ready downstairs?”

  “You're going to let them in?” her eyes looking desperate.

  “Not without making sure that it’s safe,” Daniel said. “But this is what we're here for, to help people. We won't turn them away unless we're sure they’re dangerous.”

  Lana seemed to swallow a giant lump, her eyes were teary, but she was holding herself together. She turned and began walking quickly from the room. Daniel hoped she was going to wake Dakota, not hide in her own room.

  As the group of refugees approached, Daniel stepped out onto the portico.

  “Hello,” Daniel called down to the group, who stopped and looked up at him.

  “We need help,” said one of the refugees, a slightly balding man in a ragged business suit.

  “I need you to lay down any weapons you have and step away from them,” Daniel said.

  “We don’t have any weapons,” the man replied. “Please help us. Dean is hurt and needs medical attention. Is the president still alive?”

  Daniel decided not to reveal everything just yet. “Hang on a minute, I’m coming down,” he said. He made his way quickly down to the ground floor and found Lana with Dakota waiting for him.

  “They’re hurt,” he said.

  “I’ll get some first aid supplies from the clinic,” Dakota said.

  Daniel had been surprised to find a small doctor’s office in the White House when he had explored the famous residence. It made sense to have a doctor ready at all times, but the clinic was very much like any doctor’s office you might find, with a reception area and exam room.

  Daniel opened the door and found the group waiting several feet away from the entrance. One man stood at the front, and it seemed that the others were gathered around someone in the middle. They were dirty, some of their clothes were torn, several of them had been limping, and now Daniel could see bruises, cuts, and scrapes.

  “I’m Scott,” said the man in the front.

  “I’m Daniel, what’s happened to you people?”

  “We were attacked,” said one lady in the group. Her voice was high and shaky.

  “There was a group on the outskirts of the city,” Scott explained. “They seemed friendly enough at first. When I told them we were coming to the White House, things got ugly. They blamed the government for the plague and said we needed to stay with them. We refused and a couple of the men tried to force us, to force the women, really, to stay. I don’t know what we’d have done without Dean; he fought them off almost single handed.”

  “It looks like he’s bad off,” Daniel said.

  “Yeah, they ganged up on him in the end. We pulled him away from the monsters, but I think he’s got some internal bleeding, but I’m not a doctor.”

  “We don’t have a doctor, but we’ve got medical supplies,” Daniel explained. “Why don’t you bring him in and we’ll get you all some food.”

  “Thank you, Daniel,” Scott said, the look of relief on his face made Daniel smile.

  “I’m sorry things have been so hard for you.” He led the group inside the Diplomatic Reception Room, where most of them moved quickly to the ornate, antique furniture. Some looked around the room in awe, but most simply closed their eyes. It was as if the pent up anxiety had been finally released and the group collapsed like a deflated tire.

  Daniel helped Scott get Dean onto a small sofa where Dakota began to clean the small cuts and scrapes. His knuckles were bruised and swollen. His eyes were only half open, but he didn’t seem to be aware of what was happening. Daniel looked for Lana, but she was no longer in the room.

  “I’m from Baltimore,” Scott said.

  “I’m from Arkansas,” Daniel said, “but I was living here in D.C. when the plague hit.”

  Just then Lana appeared pushing a rolling cart laden with food and drinks. There were cold sodas and bottles of water. She had made sandwiches and there were small bags of potato chips. There were also Twinkies, boxes of them; the happy design on the boxes clashed with the somber mood of the room, but the exhausted group looked up expectantly. Daniel figured they probably hadn’t had a decent meal in a while.

  “There’s plenty of room here for everyone,” he said, purposefully avoiding Lana. He didn’t want to see her reaction to that statement. “I’m sure you are all hungry, so go ahead and get a sandwich, and after you’ve eaten we’ll get you settled upstairs.”

  The group moved in around the food cart quickly, while Daniel and Scott moved Dean to the exam room in the little clinic. When he got back he searched for Lana, but she was gone again. He sighed wearily, the burden of responsibility weighed heavily, but these people needed help and that’s what he had come here for.

  Chapter 14

  They spent the afternoon getting everyone settled on the third floor of the White House. There were plenty of nameless bedrooms, and soon most of the new group was resting comfortably. Scott was sitting with Daniel in one of the exam rooms on the ground floor. The injured man, Dean, was sleeping after a dose of painkillers had taken effect. Lana had returned to her post in the security room. Daniel would need to relieve her before long, but he wanted to talk to Scott first.

  “So, what's the plan here?” Scott asked.

  “We're hoping that survivors will show up and we can begin to rebuild things.”

  “Sounds like a good plan. Do you need someone to handle PR for you?”

  Daniel laughed and Scott, still grimy and road weary, smiled. It looked as though he hadn't smiled in a long time.

  “The roads coming out of D.C. are totally jammed,” Scott said. “We felt we would be safer walking, but that took a toll on us, more than we expected it would. And the grief, I've never felt such overwhelming emotional turmoil. The women have been basket cases almost nonstop. They all lost husbands, some of them little children, too. It's just all so crazy.”

  Daniel nodded, not really sure what to say.

  “So, you've been here a while?”

  “Yes,” Daniel said.

  “So, what happened to us? Surely someone here knew what was happening.”

  “We haven't found any records that anyone knew.”

  “Come on, I've heard some wild stuff, mostly that the military created something they couldn't control. My theory is that the religious fanatics in the Middle East finally found a way to wipe us out.”

  “I don't think so,” Daniel said, trying to be sure that he didn't say too much, too soon. He needed to be sure that Scott was trustworthy before telling him all that there was to know about his time in the White House.

  “I did read the president's journal.”

  “No way!”

  “Yeah, I was trying to find out what happened, but he didn't know. It said that he thought the officials in the Pentagon weren't telling him everything.”

  “Makes sense if they were responsible.”

  “I don't know, those spheres weren't like any technology I've ever heard of,” Daniel said.

  “Oh, you’re an alien believer, huh?”

  “Never thought I was till now, but those spheres, the way they moved through the air. I saw them and they were alien, just completely foreign, and I mean not human. Plus, have you noticed anything strange about the people who died?”

  “No, not other than they just seemed to go to sleep and not wake up.”

  “You were walking for a long time. You must have seen a lot of bodies,” Daniel said.

  “Yeah, I guess we did,” Scott said, frowning. “We tried to steer clear of them though, as much as we could.”

  “Did you ever smell them?”

  Scott frowned even more, as if the question was totally detestable. He looked at Daniel, who just stared back and him. Then the businessman thought
about the question.

  “I can't remember smelling them,” Scott said.

  “Strange, isn't it?”

  “Yes it is. Why didn't we smell them?”

  “I don't know. We had a run-in with a couple of crazies here. One killed the other, and I was forced to take down the one who survived.” Daniel saw the questions in Scott's eyes, but he didn't stop to give the man a chance to ask his questions. “Those guys were stinking within twenty-four hours. Their bodies swelled and they took on a waxy, dead look. The servicemen I found here in the White House didn't. I moved them outside and left them there for almost a week before I got around to cremating them. They never showed any signs of decay.”

  “That's weird…creepy even,” Scott said. “I never thought about it before.”

  “What about your family?”

  “I didn't have any. My folks both passed away and I never married. I didn't even have a girlfriend, really. I was married to my job, worked 85 to 90 hours a week. I just didn't have time for relationships.”

  Daniel nodded. “I came here to be a speechwriter. While congress was in session, I spent about 15 hours a day working. That's no way to live.”

  “You’re telling me. I can't believe it took the apocalypse to make me see it.”

  “Well, we aren't going to solve all the riddles facing us today. And you need to get some rest.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Scott said. “I just hate to leave Dean. He saved us, took out a guy almost twice his size, before another guy with a knife tried to kill him. It was a miracle that we got away at all. I just wish there was more that we could do for him.”

  “Hopefully Jason McPherson will be back soon. He's a Lieutenant, Special Forces. He would probably know what to do to treat these kinds of wounds.”

  “You said hopefully?”

  “Yeah, we were expecting him back yesterday, but he hasn't made it yet.”

  “I hope he doesn't run into the people we did.”

  “Well, if he does, they'll regret it. He was armed and I'm sure he can handle himself.”

  Daniel stood up and stretched. He put his hand on the older man's shoulder. Scott had short hair that was dark, with speckles of gray. He was a little overweight, but not bad. He was wearing tattered and dirty slacks, a polo shirt underneath a lightweight windbreaker jacket. His shoes were badly scuffed wing tips, and his face was sporting a heavy growth of beard that looked stringy and out of place. There were bags under his eyes and a few little pink cuts here and there. He was shorter than Daniel, and although he was obviously exhausted, he didn't look bad.

  “I'm glad you're here,” Daniel said. Scott looked up at him and smiled. “If I can't talk you into going to your room, you could at least catch a nap on one of the sofas in the reception room.”

  “It's weird, isn't it?” Scott said. “I mean, having a doctor's office in the White House. I never knew there was a doctor's office here.”

  “Me either.”

  Daniel left the two men and headed down to the Security Office. Lana was there, she had four separate images pulled up on the main monitor. Two were views of the White House lawn and driveways, one north and the other south. A third showed the view of the third floor main hallway, and the fourth was of the clinic where Scott and Dean were. Daniel noticed that Scott had pulled in the big desk chair from the doctor's private office and had propped his feet on the end of Dean’s bed.

  “Keeping your eye on me, I see,” Daniel said.

  “I don't think you should share so much with people you hardly know,” Lana said as she stood up from the console.

  “This coming from a woman who rode the rails and started a new life in East St. Louis on a dare?”

  “That was different, there were rules then.”

  “Rules that were broken all the time. There were evil people before the plague, and you were probably in much more dangerous places than this.”

  “Did you ever think that maybe that's why I'm so cautious now?” She wrapped her arms around him. “Scott's probably harmless, but we need to make sure that we don't let our guard down. The next group that comes in might not be as safe.”

  “Alright, I will try and be more careful.”

  “Thank you,” she said. Then she kissed him, her lips soft and delicate. The warm feelings of emotion and desire rolled over Daniel like a Caribbean wave.

  “I better go cook,” Lana said, her voice a little husky. Daniel thought he noticed her cheeks flush a little bit in the dim lighting of the security room.

  “We could cook a little in here,” Daniel said.

  “You're on duty,” Lana said, her voice teasing.

  “I'd like to be on you.”

  “Stop it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, we can't-”

  Daniel pulled her to him again. This time the kiss was longer, deeper, more passionate. His pulse quickened and she didn't pull away. He took a step forward and she leaned back, forcing him to hold her up. She tried to step back, her natural reaction was to pull away, but Daniel held her close and she grabbed on to him tightly. He was lowering her to the floor when a light on the console began to flash and a beeping sounded. They both jumped up and looked at the monitor. Daniel pushed a button and the image filled the whole screen. The sun was setting and the shadows were long, but the image was very clear.

  “Oh man, that's a lot of people,” Daniel said.

  “What are we going to do?” Lana asked.

  “Find out what they want.”

  “What if they want to kill us?”

  “Then we'll have to show them how very bad an idea that is. You stay here and keep me informed on the radio. I'll get Dakota and take my position in the Blue Room.”

  “You be careful,” Lana said.

  Daniel grabbed her and kissed her again, but her lips were firm, almost hard. Her body was rigid under his hands. He smacked loudly then smiled.

  “Yes, dear.”

  Chapter 15

  Daniel woke Dakota again and told her to follow him to the Blue Room. They raced down and retrieved their weapons. When Daniel looked out of the window, he was amazed at the number of vehicles that were flooding toward the White House.

  “How many do you think that is?” Dakota asked.

  “I don't know.”

  “Where are we going to put them all?”

  “I don't know.”

  “Is that Jason?”

  A man had climbed from the driver’s side of a black hummer and was waving his arms. Daniel looked through the binoculars and smiled.

  “Yes, I think it is.”

  The radio that Daniel had clipped to his belt crackled to life.

  “Daniel, that's Jason,” said Lana's voice over the radio.

  “That's what we were thinking,” Daniel said. “Stay there, I'll go down and meet him.”

  “I'll go with you,” Dakota said.

  “No, stay here, just in case. And keep your radio turned on, I'll call you down as soon as I make sure everything's okay.”

  Dakota frowned but nodded. Daniel had noticed how she had thrown herself into her duties since Jason had left. He had hoped that her crush would have eased a bit, but it seemed like perhaps it had only intensified.

  Daniel shoved the thought from his mind as he ran down the staircase. He reached the main doors just a Jason did. He opened them, keeping his rifle behind the doorframe.

  “Hello, sir,” Jason said, saluting reflexively. “Sorry I'm late.”

  “We're just glad you're back,” Daniel said.

  “Well, I ran into a few friends.”

  “Are you saying they're friendly?”

  “Yes, sir, they were wandering pretty aimlessly when I found them. Most of them were walking.”

  “Yeah, I heard that the roads were pretty clogged leading out of D.C.”

  “You've got visitors?”

  “Just a few, they came in earlier this afternoon.”

  Jason nodded. “I've been with these folks almost two
days now, they seem peaceful, just scared mostly.”

  “You know where we'll have to put them. Are you sure about this?”

  “You mean move them into the bunker?” Jason shrugged his shoulders. “I just don't know, we could maybe put them into one of the hotels, but there's bound to be all kinds of bodies there. Plus, most of the places I've been through have lost electricity. That's bound to happen here soon.”

  “Okay, but let's get some sort of idea who everyone is and what they do. And you're in charge of security.”

  “Yes, sir, I'll get right on it.”

  “And form them up on the lawn. I think it's time we laid some ground rules if we're all going to be living under one roof, so to speak.”

  “I agree, I'll get them together.”

  Daniel turned back into the White House. He pushed the talk button on his radio and spoke into the little receiver.

  “Dakota, we're going to be moving everyone out onto the lawn. I want our new guests out there, too. Will you wake them up and get them moving?”

  “You got it,” she said.

  “Lana, you read me?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Will you meet me in the Blue Room?”

  “I'm on my way.”

  Daniel walked back up the stairway. He needed to outline some rules and do it fast. In his mind, he felt it was necessary to establish some sort of leadership to settle disputes and make sure that everyone pitched in. He also wanted to keep the majority of people out of the security, satellite, and war rooms. They would need to select a leader and a few other people to help run things, but they would also need time to get to know each other before any kind of confident election could take place.

  As he walked into the Blue Room, he felt himself drafting the first speech of his career in his mind. It was an odd sensation, he had dreamed of what it would be like to give a speech from the White House. Now he was about to fulfill that dream, and he suddenly wished he could go back to his old life. He didn't want to be here, in front of what looked like possibly hundreds of desperate people, all of whom would soon be his problem to deal with.