Final Dawn: Season 1 (The Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Series) (13 page)

7:30 AM, March 31, 2038

Rachel Walsh

Though Rachel knew she was out of danger, she stayed behind the overturned car overnight with Sam huddled next to her. Occasionally she dozed off as she sat on the hard ground, then started awake again, panic gripping her momentarily as she woke up.

Rachel’s nausea began to wane, replaced by a frustration and dismay. The grisly scene was still fresh in her mind, and had been replaying for hours as she sat motionless on the ground.
Those men all died because of me. It was my fault. I could have stopped it, stopped all of this.

 No, that’s not true,
she thought, arguing in her mind as she gathered the strength to stand.
It wasn’t all your fault. You did your best.

Best?! Bullshit. I could have stopped this before and I could have saved those three. Protocol be damned, there’s already been too many dead. If I had told them what I know from the start, then maybe—

Maybe what? Maybe I could have kept them alive for a few more hours, until another one of those things found us? Better they die now than prolong their inevitable death.

It’s still not right, dammit! It was my fault!

Rachel stood slowly, walking to the Humvee, avoiding the bits of cloth strewn on the ground next to the passenger’s door. The Humvee was still intact, the only damage being the stains on the backseat from Russell.

Rachel felt guilt start to rise in her again as she saw Russell’s glasses lying on the floor of the Humvee, broken when he stepped on them in his writhing agony. She pushed the emotion down again, though it still bubbled close to the surface, threatening to overwhelm her at any moment.
I’ve got a job to do. I have to get it done.

Rachel walked to the driver’s door of the Humvee, climbing inside and reaching for the ignition. She realized that the keys had been removed, and looked back at where Russell had been seated. She climbed into the back seat, hunting for the keys. After a few moments of searching, she found what was left of them: a plastic keyring with the very ends of the keys still left on it. The rest of each of the two remnants looked as though they had been sheared off with a laser cutter. She cursed loudly as she threw the keyring out the window, smashing her hand against the roof of the Humvee repeatedly in frustration. “Shit! Dammit, Waters, why did you have to let him hold the keys!?”

With no way to start the Humvee, she was back to square one, forced to walk the rest of the way to Richmond. Rachel sat still for a few moments, contemplating her next move, then she remembered the map that Waters and Roche were studying before they took off. Rachel climbed back into the driver’s seat and grabbed the map out of the dashboard, spreading it out over the passenger’s seat. While they weren’t near any road signs on this particular part of the highway, she remembered them passing a turnoff for a town called Gastonia shortly before they stopped. She studied the map, poring over the route until she found the town.
Gastonia… looks like a suburb of Charlotte. Great, another big town. That explains the condition of the road.

During the drive from outside Atlanta through to where she was now seated, they had passed through several large and small towns, all with varying degrees of damage that forced them to stop, move debris blocking their way, go off-road and more. Each time they passed through a densely populated area, the destruction was similar to that in Atlanta, signaling that a bomb had leveled the area. More rural areas seemed to get more of a pass, sustaining only minor damage from the bombs.

As she stared at the map, Rachel’s eyes moved up to an area that had been circled with a red marker, with some notes scrawled next to it in barely legible handwriting. She leaned in closer, squinting her eyes as she looked at the notes next to the circle.
I guess Richmond is where they were going. But why?

L400 – RV & recon.

Retrieve weapons cache.

Proceed to Norfolk.

Rachel wasn’t familiar with whatever “L400” was, but the rest was clear. They had planned on entering Richmond to retrieve a weapons cache, and then move to Norfolk, probably to the military base there. Rachel folded the map and jumped out of the Humvee, moving to the back where her gear was stowed. Sam followed her from the opposite side of the vehicle, giving the remains of the two soldiers a wide berth as though he was afraid of them.

 “It’s okay boy.” Rachel patted him on the head a few times then opened the back of the Humvee. She pulled out her gear and loaded it back on again, getting a drink of water as she did. As Rachel began to walk away from the Humvee, she stopped near the front and lowered her head, thinking of the two soldiers and the scientist who had died, stuck between blaming herself for not doing enough and being angry that she couldn’t do more.

The trip to Washington had been made much shorter by the hours spent driving, but she was still a long ways away no matter how she sliced it. While she had originally been against stopping in Virginia, she figured that Richmond was close enough on the route anyway that she would pass through and try to find the cache that the solders wrote about on their map. Maybe, if she was extremely lucky, she’d be able to find another Humvee that had been shielded from the EMPs.
It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do
, she thought.

Rachel turned from the Humvee and began walking north, following the highway once again. She felt stripped of energy from what she had witnessed, but between having her family torn from her and watching three people brutally torn apart mere feet away, her resolve was stronger than ever.

It was my fault
,
Rachel thought.

But I’m going to make it right.
 

11:14 AM, March 31, 2038

Nancy Sims

Hours passed and Nancy’s arms grew sorer until they finally lost all feeling, the blood flow slowing enough that she couldn’t feel the pain of the ropes any longer. James and Nancy exchanged a few words, thankful to have a comrade in their situation, but both were concerned about what lay ahead of them.

The silence was broken by a slam as a door was opened, followed by the creaking of stairs as a set of feet stomped down. Nancy heard a figure behind her, sniffing her neck, then there was a pressure at the back of her head and the sack came off in a blur.

The room was dark, except for light streaming in from the room above. In the darkness, she could make out another figure, James, hanging by his hands from a rafter on the ceiling in the corner of the room. The sniffing resumed on her neck and she felt hands taking her hair, rubbing it between the fingers. Hot breath passed over her ear and into her nose, foul and smelling like rotten food and alcohol.

“Well, pretty lady, you weren’t quite what we had in mind, but you’ll have to do, I suppose.”

Richard’s voice hissed in her ear, and she felt small droplets of saliva hit her cheek. She tried to turn her head away, disgusted by the smell and the sound, but she felt herself being rotated on the rope, turning to face the man.

He licked his lips, running his eyes up and down her body, and she shuddered, trying to contain a scream. She glanced to the corner and saw James looking at her, pity in his eyes.
Help me,
she thought. But what could he do, tied up as she was? Richard caught Nancy’s gaze and snarled, turning around to face James. Before his eyes could train on the man, James had lowered his head against his chest, feigning unconsciousness once again.

Richard cackled, the sound of insanity playing at the edges of the wild laugh. “What, him? He can’t save you, pretty lady! You’re in our world now.” He reached out to touch Nancy, then a voice cracked from above.

“Richard! What did I tell you?”

Richard immediately cowered and slunk back at the sound of Joshua’s voice. The slow, even footsteps of the older of the brothers came from behind Nancy, and he was soon at her side. Richard stood in the corner, half bent over, staring at his brother.

“Please, excuse my brother, little missy. He can be a bit… rude at times.”

Nancy felt rage well up inside of her, and she spat at Joshua. “Screw you, asshole.”

Nancy was expecting some type of reaction from Joshua, but none appeared. His eyes remained cool and steady, and he simply reached up to wipe the spit from his cheek, brushing it away on his pants leg.

“Tsk, tsk, my dear. I’ve gone to every length to be courteous and polite, and this is how you act? What a disappointment.”

Nancy looked up at her bonds. “Is that what you call this? ‘Courteous?’”

Joshua chuckled as he fingered the ropes around Nancy’s hands, then leaned in close to her face. His gaze grew cold and strict and his lips thinned. When he spoke, the voice was different, icier and harder, with malice and the same hint of insanity playing around it that she heard in Richard’s voice. In the corner, his brother giggled as Joshua spoke, swaying back and forth with glee.

“Reduction of circulation and feeling in the hands and feet lends certain… benefits to what we do best.”

With that, Joshua pulled out a long, slender knife from a sheath on his hip.

“Richard, light!”

Richard jumped up, running over to Joshua, and produced a small flashlight from his pocket. He shone it on Nancy’s face, making her squint from the sudden brightness. Nancy watched in horror as Joshua began to slowly bring the knife closer to her face, his smile filling her vision, the pearl-white teeth shining in the light.

“Hold still, now, little missy. It’ll hurt less that way.”

4:38 AM, March 30, 2038

Marcus Warden

Marcus remained still, trying to keep his heart rate low and his breathing as quiet as possible. The breathing in the cave was noisy, and he could hear quiet shuffling as the thing down below moved around in the darkness. The cavern was nearly pitch black, with the moon dimmed by the clouds in the sky and the entrance too small for light to enter.

As Marcus steadied his breathing, he tried to get a handle on the situation, fighting the overwhelming panic.
It followed me… that thing followed me in here, and now it’s waiting for me or searching for me.
Marcus was used to the outdoors and accustomed to using caution around wild animals, and he felt comfortable enough around them to feel at ease when he was in the middle of nowhere camping.

This was a different feeling, though. This… thing, whatever it was in the cavern, was most definitely not any kind of natural woodland creature. Not even a bear or a cougar made the types of noises that Marcus was hearing. The scariest thing to him was not knowing what it was, especially when he had been having such vivid nightmares about it.

Marcus lay still for several moments, hoping that the creature would exit the cavern. When it became clear that it was going to stay, he began to think up a plan. The creature was blocking the only exit from the cavern, and as tired as he was, Marcus wasn’t sure he was up for a fight against an unknown opponent.

Ever so slowly and carefully, Marcus began to roll over, moving incredibly slowly in an effort to avoid making any noise. As he turned from his back to his right side, the breathing of the creature remained steady.
Hopefully it doesn’t know I’m up here… maybe I can get the element of surprise
. The creature, from a distance, looked human-like in appearance, though he was disturbed more by how it had appeared in his dreams than how it did from miles away in real life.

Marcus lay on his side for several more minutes, listening as the creature’s breathing began to slow, and the shuffling finally stopped. A faint hope rose in his chest as he realized that the creature must have dozed off while roaming the cavern. There was no way for him to climb down and escape without waking it, but as Marcus struggled to remember the layout of the cavern, he began to formulate a plan.

At the edge of the outcropping where he was at, a rock was perched rather precariously and conveniently near the edge, though he had no idea whether or not it was loose or part of the outcropping itself.
This is going to be a hell of a long shot
, Marcus thought.
But it’s the only shot I’ve got
.

He finished rolling himself up onto his stomach, and gingerly pushed himself up onto his hands. He began to crawl forward ever so slowly toward the boulder on the outcropping. Marcus paused after every few centimeters, listening for any subtle changes in the creature’s breathing or movement.
So far, so good
. 

When Marcus reached the boulder, he pushed on it with his shoulder, feeling it move slightly under the pressure. He eased off of it, being cautious to not let it roll in any direction, then relaxed as he lay down on the outcropping, preparing himself for his next move.

Marcus’s plan was relatively simple. Once the creature had been asleep for a while longer, he would get his flashlight and use the red beam to quickly scan the cavern and locate the beast. If it was close enough to the outcropping, he would try to push the boulder on top of it, hopefully crushing its chest or at least breaking one of its limbs, giving him a fighting chance to escape.
If it’s on the other side of the cave… well, worst case I’ll die trying to escape instead of waiting for the brute to find me
.

Half an hour passed and Marcus was feeling more confident in his plan. It was foolhardy, dangerous and could mean his nearly instant death, but he was stuck between a literal rock and a figurative hard place. He had managed to get his flashlight wriggled out of the side pouch of his backpack without making any noise, and he was ready to carry out his plan.

Marcus slid to the edge of the outcropping, peering into the inky blackness below, where he could barely make out outlines of rocks on the floor. He shook his head, muttering to himself in disbelief that he was actually going to do this, then switched the flashlight on.

A bright red beam tore through the room, lighting it up like Christmas. In the space of half a second, Marcus scanned the room, looking for the source of the steady breathing. His eyes settled on a spot halfway in the middle of the room, where the form of a man lay curled on the floor in the fetal position, breathing softly. He quickly shut off the flashlight and waited, silently. A moment passed, then another, and after several more, he realized that the creature was still asleep.

Thank heaven for small favors. I hope that carries over to plan B, though
. The creature was far enough out in the cavern that Marcus wouldn’t be able to drop the boulder straight on top of it like he had hoped, so he would have to lure it over to where he was, instead.

With a gulp, Marcus gently scrapped the end of the aluminum flashlight against the side of the boulder, shuddering as the sound echoed loudly through the chamber. Though the sound had lasted for only a fraction of a second, it was enough. The low, steady breathing quickened, and he heard the sound of rustling below him, drawing closer to the outcropping.
Shit, that didn’t take long. Was he even sleeping?

Marcus winced as the creature drew closer, the breathing becoming deeper and raspier. It was too late to change plans now. With a grunt, he shoved himself upward into a kneeling position and aimed the flashlight at the direction of the grunting. He clicked the back twice, turning on the normal white light, this time in flashing mode, in an effort to temporarily blind the creature.

As Marcus turned on the flashlight, the beast howled in pain and he saw, through the glint of the silver and brightness reflected back into his eyes, the creature covering its eyes with its arms, shielding them from the bright flashing. The creature had moved close enough to the outcropping that Marcus wagered that he could drop the boulder square on its head.

Marcus dug his heels into the outcropping and pushed on the boulder, feeling it give under the pressure, rolling towards the edge and then off of it, landing with a solid
THUNK
on the floor of the cavern.

Confused, Marcus looked at where the creature was, the flashlight still pulsating in its eyes. This time, its arms were down, and it was staring straight at him, its silver eyes unblinking in the face of the flashing. The boulder lay a few inches in front of it; the creature had moved backwards ever so slightly, avoiding being hit by Marcus’s trap.

Marcus realized what had happened. “You set me up.”

The creature’s pale, white lips began to part, and in the flashing silver, Marcus could swear that he saw a trail of smoke curling from its mouth that was forming a tight, grim, ever-so-slight smile.