Begin Again: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure (End Days Book 4)

by E. E. Isherwood

  “What the fuck?” she said while looking at the blackness.

  The ambient light of the city provided enough illumination to see the beach wrap around the harbor. The houses and roadways along the shore were gone, however. The city just stopped, like someone had taken scissors and sliced it away. It was the same thing that happened on the other side of the harbor, where the Sydney Opera House had once stood.

  Was the Majestic still out there?

  Zandre stopped the truck at the edge of the highway.

  “What do we do?” he asked.

  “Drive that way. We have fuck-all chance if we turn around. The boat has to be at the end of that beach.” She pointed into the darkness.

  He put it into gear but turned to her for a second. “Thanks for waiting for me. I won’t forget this.”

  “Thanks for always being there for me over the years. I could always count on you, just like my dad said.” Zandre wasn’t as old as her late father, but he was close. Her dad was a big reason she got into the business of saving animals, and Zandre was the family friend who helped her get started after her father passed. Saving his life was the least she could do to pay him back.

  “No worries, mate. Right now, buckle up. We’re going off-road.”

  She hated being the passenger, but Zandre had lived his whole life out in the bush. There was no one better suited to get them across this mini-wilderness right now.

  In the back, the Duck of Doom squawked one loud call.

  It was almost like it sensed the danger ahead.

  Nebraska

  The aircraft carrier slumped on the muddy field next to the highway like a beached whale. It leaned to the right, so most of the landing deck was visible. It also had two nasty holes on the right side near the front.

  Buck and Connie walked over to a small group of travelers who had gathered next to the highway. Mac stretched the leash as far as it would go, seeming anxious to see and smell new humans.

  “What are they doing?” Connie whispered.

  “I think they’re praying,” he replied.

  Buck was right. As they walked up, one of the men wrapped up a prayer and said Amen. The others repeated the word.

  The group broke up, but Buck caught one of the men.

  “Hey, what’s happening here?”

  The guy stopped, seemingly happy to talk. “A miracle! This ship appeared out of nowhere a few minutes ago, along with a lot of sea water. God is sending us a sign.”

  “A sign for what?” Connie asked in a friendly way.

  “I don’t know Bible verses like those folks do, but that man quoted scripture, saying that when the Book of Revelation is upon us, we will be rejoined with our loved ones. This ship came back as part of that. Soon, people will return. We’ll all live happily ever after…”

  The older gentleman rubbed his gray stubble while looking at the ship. “I sure as hell can’t wait. This is the USS Wasp, which sunk in World War II. My dad was also killed in that war. It means he’s soon to come back!”

  Buck tried not to frown. There was nothing about a rusty aircraft carrier sitting in a Nebraska pasture that screamed, “Relatives are coming back from the dead!”

  But then he looked at Connie, suddenly reminded of her origin.

  She had come back.

  Five

  Sidney, NE

  Buck and Connie walked fifty yards toward the USS Wasp. Mac ran free. They both decided there was little danger for the excitable pup, and they stuck to a small rise in the muddy field to stay out of the worst of the quagmire.

  He thought about the old man’s words the whole way. His silence made Connie notice he wasn’t cutting jokes or opening his yap at all. Even his interactions with Mac were half-hearted.

  “Care to share?” she said, nudging him.

  “What were you doing before you came to my time?” he asked nonchalantly.

  That made her stop. A cool breeze blew against his back as he halted, too. It was as if the giant ship was colder than the rest of the field.

  “Why do you ask?” she inquired skeptically.

  “No reason,” he said in a not-very-convincing way.

  She stuck her hands on her hips just above the fancy belt holding up her jeans.

  “Fine,” he said with exasperation, before laughing briefly. “You’ve got mad interrogation skills. You sure you weren’t in the service? FBI, maybe?”

  “No delaying,” she said in a friendly but determined way.

  Buck pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the road. “That guy said he was waiting for his relatives to show up, like this was some kind of Bible story. I was going to write it off as the ravings of a lunatic, except then I thought you might have died back in your time and then came here.”

  He rubbed his neck. “So, were you in any danger back then?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not dead, Buck. I told you when we met. I was coming back from a writer’s conference. I stayed in that dumpy motel overnight in 2003. When I woke up, I heard you and the manager arguing in 2020.”

  “Thank God,” he said, relieved.

  “I can’t believe you’d listen to some random guy you met in a field.” She took a step closer. “Besides, if I were dead, I’d be in Yellowstone or hiking in Grand Canyon. I wouldn’t be in some shitty field in Nebraska with a World War II battleship—”

  “Carrier,” he corrected.

  She took another step.

  “Carrier. Whatever. Listen, the only thing you have to worry about is getting to your son. Stuff like this,” she pointed to the Wasp, “only serves as distractions. The Bible folks don’t have all the answers. Nor do the scientists. Nor does anyone. All we can count on is each other to get us through this.”

  She was close enough to put her arms around Buck’s neck.

  “So, now I have a question for you,” she said, smiling up at him.

  “Shoot.” He grabbed her waist out of instinct.

  “Are you ever going to kiss me? We’ve spent two nights together, and I tempted you with that shower towel. We snuggled in the cold last night—”

  “It’s a hundred degrees outside,” he shot back.

  “It’s ten in your sleeper,” she retorted playfully.

  He was going to argue some more, but she put a finger over his lips for a moment. “I didn’t come here to be a distraction, Buck. As I said, we have to find your son.”

  He chuckled and pulled her up against his body. “Oh, you’ve been a huge distraction. I’m usually a man of action, but this time I’ve been torn by a little voice in my head saying you are going to disappear the second I make a move. You know what I mean? I don’t want that to happen.”

  “So, if we kissed, this ship, the weird weather, and rogue biker gangs would go away?”

  Buck gazed at her smiling face. “Of course, I could stand to lose that crap, but I couldn’t handle losing you with them.”

  Her ocean-blue eyes melted.

  They leaned in the last few inches and kissed with fiery passion on the muddy field. Time seemed to bleed away as Buck enjoyed being with the woman who’d been instrumental in helping him stay on track toward Garth. Now that he finally had her to himself, he was going to savor it.

  Seconds after they locked lips, Mac became restless and nudged his leg. Buck tried to gently push him away, just for a few more seconds, but Connie seemed to notice the commotion, and they both came up for air.

  “The dog. He’s, uh…”

  She pecked him on the lips. “He needs you.”

  After an instant of admiring her, he finally looked at Mac. The Golden faced the Peterbilt back on the highway and whined a warning as if he believed Buck had left the iron on.

  “Well, shit. There goes the neighborhood.”

  He and Connie separated just enough they could both look at the interstate.

  Cars peeled out from where they’d pulled over. People who lingered near the shoulder to take pictures of the ship now ran for their cars. Some of the vehicles slow
ing down to park suddenly accelerated away.

  “What the fuck is their problem?” Buck turned around to look at the ship, halfway expecting it to be rolling toward him, but it appeared exactly as it did a minute earlier.

  “We should go find out,” Connie said with sadness. “I’m sure it isn’t good.”

  She pulled him toward the Peterbilt, but he planted his feet.

  “What is it?” she probed.

  “Before we get back to reality, I just want to say that even if you disappear in five minutes, kissing you was worth the risk of making you vanish back to your own time. We make a great team. Thanks for sticking with me.”

  She stood on her toes and kissed him briefly on the lips. “That goes double for me. But I should warn you: If I do go back to 2003, I’m going to bide my time and come looking for you in 2020.”

  “I’ll watch for you!” He laughed.

  He and Connie walked together.

  “Come here, Mac,” she called to the Golden. After hopping a big mud puddle, he ran over and allowed her to secure the leash again.

  “I think he listens to you better than he does me,” he said, pointing at the little rascal.

  “Of course, he does. He knows you’re with me.”

  “You mean he knows you’re with me,” he joked.

  “Oh, that’s how it’s gonna be?” She pretended to be hurt.

  They walked quickly back to the roadway. Most of the spectators were already in their cars, but a few people, including his friends in the convoy, stood in a small group.

  When they got close, Eve ran over to them.

  “Guys! Big news. There have been nuclear explosions in Nevada and New Mexico!”

  “Where in New Mexico?” Connie asked immediately. That was where she was from.

  The young recruiter looked flustered. “That’s all I know. It literally happened a few minutes ago. That’s why everyone took off.”

  He and Connie joined hands.

  “There could be more,” he said dryly.

  They all ran for their trucks.

  Louisville, KY

  Garth hurriedly walked Lydia where he wanted to go.

  “Come on. We have to keep moving,” he said under his breath so as not to scare the other shoppers. Lots of people had heard the woman scream, but he figured if he walked calmly away from where she had yelled the news, the rest of the mall would be unaware.

  “They bombed Las Vegas!” a man shouted as he ran deeper into the mall. Numerous people came out of stores after the guy went by.

  “Dammit,” Garth said quietly. It appeared he was the only person who didn’t want to spread the panic.

  “What is going on?” Lydia asked. “Why is everyone frightened? Even you?”

  That made him take a deep breath. “I’m not scared. It’s that I’m trying to think of what I should be doing before I do it. Dad would want me to keep my head, even when everyone else is losing theirs. It’s kind of his thing.”

  “So there is reason to be scared?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied. “If the woman was right and there was a nuclear bomb, it would be a million times worse than a little radiation falling from the sky. On the other hand, from what I learned at school and from my dad, there isn’t much you can do to prepare for a bomb if it’s going to hit you.”

  He and Lydia trotted through the mall, on the lookout for the familiar logo of his cell phone company. However, running with her made him realize he wasn’t ready to burn up in a nuclear inferno. Not just because he didn’t want to die, either. He liked hanging out with her.

  “Shouldn’t we leave?” she asked.

  That would be the sensible play—get in the taxi and get as far away from Louisville as possible. Yet, he didn’t want to run when he was so close to getting his dad’s number. If there was something big coming down on the cities, he might never have another chance to contact him.

  “We will. We just have to find—” He saw the distinctive orange banner in a small annex near a side door. “There!”

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward it at a fast jog.

  “It’s here!” he said excitedly as he neared the kiosk.

  Two scruffy-looking young men trotted by, carrying a long flat-panel television box between them. They watched him intently as if they were worried he was going to try to stop them, but his only response was to use his arm to hold back Lydia so she didn’t run into them.

  One of the guys nodded what might have been a thank you, and he repeated it back to him. They might have been stealing, but at least they were polite about it.

  A distant pop sound reminded him of gunfire.

  “This is what I’ve been looking for.” A table and chair stood alone in the middle of the walkway. It was designed to force visitors to see the logo of the cell phone company and encourage them to sign up. An ancient personal computer system sat below the table, hidden from view by the vinyl banner tied between two legs. “But there is no one here.”

  Lydia searched all around. “How is this table going to help you contact your dad? There isn’t even one of your telephones here.”

  “It will take me too long to explain.”

  A woman’s shriek from several stores down made him wince in sympathy. Whatever was happening out there, he had to hurry.

  “So, what are you going to do?”

  He bent down and hit the power button for the computer.

  “I’m going to pretend I work here.”

  “What good will that do?” she said, sounding exasperated. “Garth, we should leave.”

  “I know, and we will. I only need two minutes.”

  He took a seat and watched the screen load. The boot-up routine for the Windows computer had never seemed longer.

  A woman walked by dragging a young boy behind her. He was ten or eleven, the best Garth could guess. The kid kicked and bucked against her firm grip, but he was also crying like a baby. The mother-figure didn’t look back at him as she pulled him out the doors.

  A male voice spoke through the speakers on the ceiling. “Attention, shoppers. The Saint Matthews Mall will be closing immediately. Please exit safely. Good luck, and God speed to you.”

  The lights flashed on and off several times, another sign the place was closing.

  “Come on!” He half-kicked the computer.

  It finally booted to the login screen, but Garth realized he was about to be defeated.

  “Shit! I can’t get in.”

  Lydia peered at the computer screen, then looked behind it. “Where is the light coming from?”

  He didn’t have time for her wonderment, even though he would love to show her everything he could on the internet. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he could find pictures of the Oregon Trail. She might recognize the sights.

  “These tables are run by kids. I’m sure they wouldn’t remember their passwords. It has to be written down somewhere.”

  He searched around for a few seconds, but there wasn’t anything on the table besides the screen, keyboard, or mouse. He lifted the keyboard and mouse, hoping to see the password scrawled on the plastic, but that was a bust.

  Garth checked under the monitor but came up just as empty.

  He looked under the mouse and keyboard a second time, giving them a closer scrutiny. He was certain he was right.

  “Garth, there is a police person coming this way.”

  He looked up for two seconds. The security guard had come back, evidently without the guys he’d been chasing. He now ushered shoppers toward the exit. The gates on the stores dropped closed behind him. This time, he had backup. Two armed police officers escorted the guard as he paced down the concourse.

  “Come on!” he demanded of the computer.

  The keyboard had a small battery compartment on the underside. He snapped it off and saw two gold-colored batteries inside.

  “Dammit again!”

  He’d come up empty.

  The guard and his friends were close. Garth was almost
certain he’d been spotted.

  “What’s that say?” Lydia pointed to the lid for the battery slot. The long piece of plastic had fallen to the table, but a piece of paper had been taped to the back side.

  “Lydia, I love you!” He picked up the paper. “The password is Mobile0000001.”

  He righted the keyboard, then typed it in.

  The guard peeled off from the police and came toward the table. He was twenty feet away when he said, “Hey, kids. Time to move along. That computer isn’t for shoppers. Get out of here. Get home.”

  “I’m in,” he said to himself.

  He had no idea where to go inside the computer system once he was there. Most of his computer experience involved loading games he wanted to play. Programming and operating business programs wasn’t his thing.

  Garth looked at Lydia over his shoulder.

  No help there.

  He laughed at the futility and started clicking.

  Six

  Search for Nuclear, Astrophysical, and Kronometric Extremes (SNAKE). Red Mesa, Colorado

  “Bob, tell them it isn’t true. We aren’t going to be killed for knowing what happened here.”

  The guy in the back seemed surprised. “Oh, he’s here? Shit.”

  “Yes, he’s here. He was trying to get away, and he got his nose broken for his troubles. I highly doubt he planned that.”

  “Yeah,” Bob finally replied, “I have nothing to do with any of these people. It seems like the military finally made it here in force. A little too much force, if you want my opinion.”

  Faith felt better, knowing Bob’s place. If he betrayed her again, things were going to get nasty between them. As it was, he was almost bearable. She found that to be much preferable to their usual antagonism.

  “Faith, where are you?”

  “Donald? Oh, no. They brought you here, too?” She patted Bob on the arm. “I’ll be right back. I just want to check on him, okay?”

  “Yeah, no problem. I’ll be fine.” His strained voice suggested the opposite, but she had to know if Donald was all right.

  “Talk to me, Donald. I’m coming over.”

  She tripped her way through the people in other chairs until she heard Dr. Perkins’ voice next to her face. She reached out to find his hands searching for her.