Final Dawn: Season 3 (The Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Series) (4 page)

Leonard McComb | Nancy Sims

4:18 PM, April 21, 2038

For what felt like the hundredth time in a day, Nancy was once again overwhelmed by the magnitude of the vessel she was on. Having been given nearly free reign to go wherever she wanted on the sub, she had taken to wandering the corridors while Leonard rested. Exploring the vast interior of the submarine was a strange experience for Nancy, who had never dreamed that a craft as large as the Arkhangelsk could have existed, let alone be capable of traveling at such incredible speeds underwater. After exploring the ship for a few hours, Nancy finally found her way back to the dining room, where half of the small crew—including Commander Krylov—were gathered for a meal.

Nancy walked slowly through the dining room until she caught Krylov’s eye. He quickly waved her over and she sat down next to him. A moment later a plate of steaming food was deposited in front of her along with a drink, napkin and utensils. While the food was less than appetizing, she dug into it with gusto, having only had a few sips of water and military rations since arriving on the sub.

“How is Mr. McComb doing, Ms. Sims?”

Nancy wiped some crumbs from the corner of her mouth and cleared her throat. “He was sleeping when I checked in on him last. I was going to go bring him some food. I don’t think he’s had much at all to eat.”

Krylov waved his hand dismissingly at her. “No, no, he’s being well looked after. The doctor is ensuring he’s getting everything he needs. What about yourself? Was your exploration of the Arkhangelsk illuminating?”

Nancy nodded and laughed lightly. “It was nothing short of astonishing, Commander. It’s like a city under the water. There aren’t that many people, though. It looks like hundreds could fit in here.”

“One hundred and sixty is the recommended complement, but she can hold far more, it’s true.” Krylov said. Nancy had finished eating and Krylov stood up, motioning for Nancy to follow him. They walked together out of the dining room down the hallway as Krylov continued to talk. “Of course, when we left port, we already had a small crew, but losing two landing parties to those things up there cut us down to what you see now.”

Krylov’s heavy sigh weighed on Nancy and she looked at him closely, noticing the dark circles under his eyes and worry lines etched into his forehead. “Have you ever taken command of a submarine before?”

“I’m afraid not.” Krylov snorted. “I wasn’t going to be up for a promotion for quite a long time. Losing Commander Alexeyev has been… difficult. On all of us. This nano-robot business, though, and the whole end of the world situation, that’s going to be even harder to break to the crew.”

“You mean they don’t know about it?”

“Not all of them, no. A select few who I trust to be discrete have been informed. They’re the ones who worked on decrypting the data stick and who accessed the satellite, among other things. The rest of the men don’t need to know yet. Knowing that their country has been obliterated would do little to invigorate then for the journey ahead, and we’ll need every man’s full attention to see this through to the end successfully.”

Nancy was quiet for a moment as she digested what Krylov had told her. When she spoke again, her voice was softer. “You said the country’s been obliterated. Is that because…”

“Yes. As the satellite was passing over, I examined the imagery quite closely. We wouldn’t be en route to your country if mine wasn’t all but wiped off the face of the earth.” Krylov’s tone had a sting near the end, putting Nancy on the defensive.

“Commander, you realize that we were hurt just as much as you, right? I’ve seen more death and destruction than I could have ever imagined just in the few places we’ve been. You’re not the only one who’s suffered losses.”

“No, Ms. Sims, we aren’t. But we also aren’t the ones who started this disaster.” Krylov’s eyes and voice started to fill with anger, though as he looked at Nancy it quickly died out. He sighed again and stopped, leaning against the wall in the empty corridor. “You have my apologies. You are no more responsible for this than I am.”

Nancy placed her hand on Krylov’s shoulder, smiling grimly at him. “There’s no need for apologies, Commander. None of us expected to be in this situation. I, for one, am glad that we found you, and I know Leonard is as well. If Marcus and Rachel fail, then you and your crew are the last hope for all of us.”

Krylov closed his eyes momentarily and nodded solemnly before pushing off the wall and continuing his walk. Nancy stayed next to him as they wound their way to the medical ward where Leonard was sleeping.

“If you’ll excuse me, Ms. Sims, I need to tend to my duties. Please don’t hesitate to call for someone if you or Mr. McComb need anything.”

Rachel Walsh | Marcus Warden | David Landry

2:18 PM, April 23, 2038

Three strong individuals with experience, determination and a healthy dose of gumption could easily have replaced thirty feet of railroad track in far less than a day. Three inexperienced, injured and exhausted individuals struggling against all odds, though,   took quite a lot longer. After consuming a healthy dose of painkillers that did little to diminish their discomfort, Marcus, Rachel and David set to work, committing to the only course of action open to them. The first few hours of the repair started with an argument between Rachel and David that lasted well into the afternoon. As Marcus slowly pushed load after load of gravel from the boxcars to the crater in a wheelbarrow he had found in a pile of other tools, he listened to Rachel trying to convince David that repairing the track was their only shot at getting out of their current predicament. David argued ferociously, citing their injuries, their lack of knowledge on the subject and listing off as many different reasons why it wouldn’t work as he could think of.

Each argument was shot down by Rachel until, finally, Marcus ended the whole conversation by sticking his head in the doorway of the locomotive and whistling loudly.

“Hey, assholes. I got the hole filled in. Do you two want to come help, or would you rather dick around some more while I finish it all up myself?”

Initially, David wore an angered expression, at least until he glanced past Marcus to see a pile of gravel filling the shallow crater where Mr. Doe had destroyed the track. This combined with the fact that Marcus’s arm was still in a sling broke David’s resistance and his anger fell, replaced with equal parts shame and acceptance. For her part, Rachel was apologetic, having completely lost track of time as she had argued nonstop with David. Marcus waved them away, rolling his eyes as he slowly pushed a final load of gravel to its destination. Rachel and David joined him and, together, the three evaluated Marcus’s work in the light of the electrical storm overhead. Over the course of the next day and a half, Rachel and David threw their backs into the work alongside Marcus. Remaining uncharacteristically quiet, David said nothing negative about Marcus the entire time, having gained a healthy dose of respect for the man that he had shown incredible disdain towards just a few days prior.

The end of the second day of work brought renewed hope to the trio as they sat around a small fire just outside the lead locomotive, rewarding themselves for their hard work with a night of rest. Marcus stroked Sam’s back as the dog laid sprawled out in front of the fire, dozing with an expression of ecstasy on his face.

“How much more do you figure we have to go before it’s done?” David’s question was the most he had spoken since the end of his argument with Rachel. Looking at Marcus briefly, Rachel cleared her throat and took a sip from her bottle of water.

“I think we’ve done all we can for laying out the ties. That was a hell of a job, by the way; we should all be proud of that.” Marcus nodded and smiled in agreement as she continued. “Now that the damaged ends of track are gone, we have to decide how to put down more of it. The way I see it, since we don’t have nearly enough ties out there, we’ll want to use the longer sections of track over the shorter ones.”

“The disadvantage,” Marcus interrupted, “is that they’re much heavier and harder to handle than the shorter pieces.”

“Exactly. So that’s what we have to decide. I
think
the longer sections will offer us more stability when we actually try to get across them, but it’s going to take a while to put them in. If we use the shorter sections without having more ties, though, then I think that has a much greater likelihood of falling apart when it comes time to test it out.”

Rachel looked at David, whose gaze was transfixed on the flickering fire. “What do you think, David?”

David blinked several times and took in a sharp, quick breath as he looked up at her. “Sorry, what?”

“Are you all right, David?” Marcus put his hand out on David’s shoulder, feeling the man pull away ever so slightly at the touch.

“Sorry, yeah I’m fine. Just distracted, that’s all.”

Rachel tilted her head and furrowed her brow. “What’s going on?”

“Right now we have no way of contacting Leonard and Nancy, assuming they’re still alive and made it to the sub. The only satellite radio uplink that I know of was in the APC, and that’s long since gone.”

“Doesn’t the train have a radio of some sort?” Marcus resumed stroking Sam’s fur, keeping an eye on David as he did so.

“I assume so, but that’s just a standard high power transmitter. The range on that will be limited to a few hundred miles, if we’re extremely lucky and can boost the power, too.”

Rachel closed her eyes, imagining how far such a transmission range would get them. “Damn. That’s a decent distance, but not very far.”

“Especially when you’re trying to coordinate a nuclear launch.”

“Well,” Marcus said, trying his best to be cheerful, “it shouldn’t come to that, right? Bertha’s going to make the need for more nukes something to not even worry about.”

“One can only hope so.” The dread and uncertainty that permeated David’s words was lost on neither Marcus nor Rachel. As the group fell silent, Marcus lay back on the ground and closed his eyes. As he fell quickly to sleep, a thought tickled the back of his mind, making him feel even more nervous. If they couldn’t reach Leonard and Nancy to tell them to launch the missiles, then they would also be unable to reach them to
keep
the missiles from launching.

Leonard McComb | Nancy Sims

1:22 PM, April 23, 2038

Nancy had not slept soundly for the last two nights in the medical ward. Despite the extra blankets and pillows provided to her by Commander Krylov, every time she closed her eyes, she couldn’t help imagining the waters just outside the hull, pushing inward with a frightening amount of force. When she was able to sleep, it wasn’t soundly, and she found herself waking at the slightest noises. While the normal disturbances were the creak of the hull, a crewman walking down the corridor or the doctor periodically coming to check up on Leonard, the latest agitation came from the sound of rubber tapping along upon metal.

Nancy opened one eye, searching the room to find the source of the noise when she saw Leonard’s empty bed. Springing out of her cot, she looked frantically around the room to see where Leonard had gone.

“Whoa there! What’s wrong?” Leaning up against a wall, Leonard had crutches under his arms as he balanced on one leg. He hobbled back towards her, moving slowly as he was still growing accustomed to this new way of getting around.

“You shouldn’t be up!” Nancy rushed to his side and put her arm around him, but he shrugged her off, giving her a smile as she watched him walk around the room.

“It’s okay, Nancy. I’m just getting used to these damned things. Are you all right? You jumped up pretty quickly there.”

Nancy sank back down on the cot and held her head as she was overcome with a wave of dizziness. Leonard sat down next to her and leaned his crutches against the wall. They slipped almost as soon as he let them go, clattering to the floor out of reach. Leonard sighed and shook his head, laughing softly to himself. He patted his right leg gently, smiling at Nancy as she looked at him in concern.

“This sure has turned out to be one interesting trip we’ve taken. I have to say, though, that I didn’t expect to lose a leg along the way.”

Nancy started to smile but stopped, feeling bad about it the second the corners of her mouth started to turn upward. Leonard took her hand and grasped it tightly. “Don’t be afraid to laugh, even in the face of all of this.”

Nancy tried to force a smile as she stood up. “You really shouldn’t be up and around right now… if you were in a hospital, they’d make you—”

“I’m not in a hospital, am I? Besides, I’m not going to be much use to you all if I’m lying around with my foot in the air. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

Leonard pushed himself up on his good leg and stood at the edge of the bed, one hand on the upper bunk as he watched Nancy closely. Tears welled in her eyes and ran down her cheeks as she felt overcome with sorrow for Leonard and the position they were in. Leonard held out his arms and she hugged him tightly, trying to fight the steady tide of emotion. A few moments passed in silence before she pulled away, only to have Leonard hold her shoulders and look her closely in the eye.

“We’re almost done with this, Nancy.” Leonard’s voice was an island of calm stability. “Just hang on a bit longer.”

The door to the medical ward slammed open and two crewmen rushed in, out of breath and with red faces. Nancy quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and collected the crutches from the floor, giving them to Leonard who tucked them under his arms. After taking a deep breath, the first of the two crewman tried to explain something to Leonard and Nancy, though a combination of poor language skills and having run nearly the full length of the ship made him difficult to understand.

“Commander! You come! Hurry!”

The two crewmen ducked back out into the hallway and resumed their run, their footsteps echoing down the corridor until they were heard no more. Nancy and Leonard looked at each other and Leonard shrugged and began to hop forward on his crutches. Nancy put out a hand to stop him but he shook his head and kept going forward, moving faster with each step he took. “It sounds like they want both of us. Let’s get moving.”

Though Leonard had to slow down as he and Nancy passed through each bulkhead, he virtually flew down the corridor, swinging his leg to get as much speed and momentum from the crutches as possible. Just as his arms began to burn from the exercise, they arrived at the command deck. Commander Krylov was seated in a chair in the center of the room studying a sheet of paper while the rest of the crew worked dutifully at their stations. The atmosphere on the command deck was different than it had been over the last few days; more electric and alive. Nancy and Leonard could sense anticipation building in the crew for some unknown event.

“Commander Krylov? Some of your crew came to the medical ward and said you wanted to see us?”

Krylov straightened in his chair and swiveled around at the sound of Nancy’s voice. “Ms. Sims. Mr. McComb? What on earth are you doing out of bed?” Krylov rose and hurried to Leonard’s side, helping Nancy ease the injured man into a nearby seat.

“Thanks for that.” Leonard said hoarsely. Out of breath from their mad dash to the command deck, he gasped loudly for a moment, feeling the blood pound through his heart and injured leg. Krylov started to call the doctor over, but Leonard refused, holding his hand up and shaking his head. “No, I’m fine. What did you want to see us about?”

Krylov kept a nervous eye on Leonard as he addressed the pair, somewhat worried about whether Leonard might collapse to the floor. “I’m terribly sorry that the request for your presence was delivered in such an apparently urgent manner. I just wanted to show Ms. Sims some new satellite imagery we obtained so that she and you could give us your opinions of it, Mr. McComb.”

Krylov picked up a laptop and held it out for Nancy, who took it and sat down next to Leonard. The two of them looked at the satellite imagery on the screen, unsure of what they were seeing at first. “What are we looking at?”

“This is imagery from forty-five minutes ago at the canal, where we’ll be crossing in a day or so. Zoom in on the lower half, and tell me what you see clustered on and around the bridge.”

Leonard tapped a few keys and the image changed, magnifying the location Krylov specified. A bridge was visible, stretching high over the canal. Four lanes wide, it was not empty or filled with vehicles, as Leonard and Nancy were expecting, but instead it was filled with bodies. Thousands of creatures packed together as they streamed across the bridge. Creatures were spread out across every square inch of visible land on both ends of the bridge, and from a series of images taken a few moments apart, it was clear that they were moving rapidly northward as they disregarded every obstacle in their path.