The Gates: An Apocalyptic Novel (21 page)

When Mina awoke, the day
was in full swing and approaching late afternoon. She felt refreshed for a few
moments, but then the grogginess hit her and she craved coffee. She got up off
the floor, knees and elbows clicking, and went out into the office. It was as
frantic now as it had been when she sneaked off to take a nap. David was in the
centre of the room directing things, having apparently taken control away from
Big Jimmy.

Andras stood at the kettle, and Mina went and joined
him. “You seem to spend a lot of time here. I’d love a coffee,” she said.

“Coming right up. It’s the only thing I’m good at apparently.”

“They won’t let you help, huh?”

“Nope.” He made her the coffee and handed it over.
“It’s not that they won’t let me help, it’s more that I don’t really have any
way to help. I don’t have a network of contacts to call.”

“You can help me,” said Mina. “I’m used to being
treated like a spare part around here. Nobody ever wants help from a
photographer.”

“So what are you working on?”

“Updating the website with information people can
use. We need to get people fighting back. It’s our only chance.”

Andras smiled at her. “I’m all yours.”

Mina had a thought. “Where’s Alice?”

“Asleep in Carol’s office. Carol’s taking a nap
too. David’s in charge at the moment, I think.”

“I’d imagine he is. Go over to my computer, Andras.
I’ll join you in five minutes. I want to check in with David and see where
we’re at.”

“Sure thing.”

Mina interrupted David in the midst of giving
orders to the paper’s sports editor. The bump on the side of his head had
turned a sickly green colour. “Ah, Mina,” he said when he saw her. “Back in the
land of the living?”

She ignored that he had gone off for a nap too. “I
needed sleep.”

“The news never sleeps.”

“What’s the latest?” she asked.

“Much the same as before. The demons—that’s what
we’re officially calling them now—have formed up into three main armies within
the U.K. Most of the smaller groups merged together, and the largest army is
now currently south of Luton. It’s being led by the same giant we encountered
in Hyde Park. As such, we’ve started referring to him as Hyde. The second largest
army is based outside Carlisle, on the Scottish border. It, too, is being led
by one of the giant beings. We call this one-”

“Let me guess,
Carlisle
?”

“No, we call it Hex, for the gate it came out of
was in Hexham. The third giant has been moving around Wales and is currently
outside of Cardiff. We call him Aberdare. His army is the largest by far, and it’s
yet to meet any real resistance.”

Mina filed the names away. “Hyde, Hex, and Aberdare,
okay. So the giants are definitely leading these armies?”

“Undoubtedly. We’ve been gathering reports from
all over the country—local police stations, other newspaper offices, et cetera.
People are blogging on the Internet like crazy, can you believe it? The world
is at war, and people are sharing it all over the web like the latest Game of
Thrones episode.”

“People are probably trying to keep themselves
occupied. So what have we learned?”

“After the initial attacks, the demons converged
to the three main locations I mentioned, each headed by one of the giants.
There are outcroppings of smaller groups around, but they seem to be exercising
guerrilla tactics—attacking randomly to cause disarray. What’s left of the
British Army upper Brass believes that the three main armies are intended to
destroy us. Similar armies are gathering abroad too, from what we can gather.”

“Are we fighting back?”

“Just trying to rally at this point. The Army made
a dent in the enemy foot soldiers, but nothing has scratched the giants. People
are calling them angels. If that’s the truth, then there may not be a way to
take them down unless drastic action is taken.”

“Like what?”

“Nukes. The Government is already discussing a
scorched earth policy. If it comes down to the survival of the human race, I
don’t see what choice they’ll have. Hope they give us fair warning first. Would
hate to look out the window and spot a bomb falling out the sky.”

Mina’s opinions on nuclear weapons had never
changed since learning about them during her college days. The grainy video
footage of Hiroshima had convinced her that atomic weapons were barbaric and
invited calamity. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“Do we have any chance, David?”

“We’re still alive, aren’t we?” He surprised her
by putting a hand on her shoulder. “You and I made it through Hell together.
Oxford Street was the enemy’s opening gambit. They won’t get a jump on us like
that again. The worst has happened, but now we dust ourselves off and fight
back. You and I, Mina, will do our part.”

Her tiredness wore off. “I’ll do whatever I can to
make those monsters pay.”

David smiled. “Then get people ready. The hits on
the website have started to rise. Other websites are linking to us and we’re making
waves.”

“Really? That’s great. I’ll get right on it.”

“What are you waiting for then?”

“Right.” She hurried to her cubicle with renewed
energy. Her work was important; people were reading her words and looking at
the pictures she’d taken. People might have a chance of staying alive because
of her.

Andras was waiting at her desk and pulled up a
chair for her. “Ready for your command, mistress.”

Mina blushed and giggled. “Thank you, Andras. We
need to update the website with anything we learn about the demons. What did we
find out while I was asleep?”

“David told you about the three armies?”

Mina nodded.

“Okay, did you know there are three different
types of demons?”

She leaned forward. “No, tell me.”

“Okay, well, um, there seems to be three different
types of demons. There’s the extra crispy kind—the burn victims. They are the
most common and strong as bulls. They can also talk and use weapons, but they die
as easily as us.”

“Okay, what are the other two types?”

“There are the corpses—like zombies, except they
aren’t braindead. They can also talk, but don’t die as easily as the burn victims.
You can damage them, and they keep on coming. Damage them badly enough, though,
and they’ll die. The third kind are less like human beings. They’re the ones that
are hunched over like apes and have those nasty claws. They’re as agile as
spider monkeys and can disembowel with a swipe, but they die easiest of all.
The biggest problem with all three is their numbers. They just keep on coming
through those gates. Mankind keeps dying, but the demons keep getting
stronger.”

“So, to stand a chance, we need to find a way to
close the gates. Has anybody tried yet?”

“Nobody has even got close. The gates are the
enemy’s strong points, and the Army isn’t in any shape to stage an attack on
them.”

“Then that’s what we focus on: Closing the gates.”

Andras raised an eyebrow. “No big thing then?”

“We aim high, or we lose.”

“I understand the stakes, Mina. We all have to do whatever
is necessary to survive.”

Mina scrolled through the website and saw updates
she hadn’t put there, as well as some of her photos. The picture she had taken
of the stray Labrador had over a thousand views. “I assume David added these
extra bits?”

Andras shrugged. “He told everyone to add whatever
they could verify. I know Corporal Martin added a few things about how to kill
the different demons. David added something about iron being helpful.”

“Iron?”

“Yeah, he got an email from some girl in Crapstone.”

Mina accessed the website emails and located an
email from someone called Diane Potter. The subject-heading read:
The demons
can’t pass iron barriers!!!

She opened the email and read a hastily typed
message from what seemed to be a teenage girl. There was a group of survivors in
Crapstone where one of the gates had opened. They had taken refuge at a retired
pop star’s house surrounded by big iron gates. Apparently, the demons couldn’t
pass the iron bars or even touch them.

David had already posted about it on the website,
and Mina found comments piling up. People cited their own stories of survival,
thanks to the tip. A group of survivors in Stockport had fled to a local church
after reading the website and were now safe behind its old iron doors. Another group
was hiding out at a scrapyard, constructing barriers of their own from the iron
junk collected there. People were surviving because of the website.

“It’s working,” said Mina. “Iron works against the
demons and word is spreading. This is how we win, Andras. We find out the
enemy’s weaknesses, and we spread the word.”

Andras seemed troubled when she looked at him, but
he changed his expression to a smile. “I guess humanity has a chance after all—especially
with a woman like you looking out for it.”

A brief flutter of butterfly wings in her belly
made Mina blush. “I…”

Andras blushed too and turned away embarrassed. “Not
really a good time to flirt, is it? Sorry.”

“No, no, don’t be sorry. Tell you the truth, it’s
been a long time since a guy flirted with me. If it takes the end of the world,
then so be it.”

Andras patted her on the knee and gave it a
furtive squeeze. He nodded to her coffee cup. “Time for a refill. Allow me.”

Mina grabbed his hand. “Your job fetching the
coffee is over. I’ll make this one.”

Andras smiled. “Milk, three sugars.”

“Wow, you like it sweet.”

“What’s life without the senses?”

On her way to get the drinks, Mina swung by to say
hello to Corporal Martin. The soldier looked ready to drop, wobbling on his
feet and rubbing at his eyes every couple of seconds. “You look ready to fall
into a coma, Martin. You should get some sleep.”

He smiled at her. “I keep meaning to call it a
day, but something else pops up that I need to deal with and another hour
passes by.”

“Are you still in contact with the Army?”

He nodded. “I assumed they would call me back to base,
but Command has asked me to remain here and pass on any intel you folks get.”

“Makes sense,” she admitted. “I’ll let you know
whatever I find. You know about the iron, right?”

“Yes, I passed it up the chain of command. They’re
already looking at ways to make use of it. Maybe setting up a central base
surrounded by iron fences, or fashioning ammunition out of it, I don’t know. If
only it wasn’t such an outdated substance. Wooden stakes would be better.”

“Like in the movies?”

“Yep. We have plenty of wood, but not so much iron.
Would make the war a lot easier if people could just grab the nearest chair
leg.”

“When is war ever easy?”

“I suppose you’re right. Still, most wars aren’t
against supernatural creatures that aren’t supposed to even exist. A little
help would be fair enough in my book.”

Mina’s phone rang. She pulled it out her pocket
and sighed. It was her father again. “I have to take this.”

Corporal Martin nodded. “Of course.”

Mina headed away to get some privacy. The newsroom
was still a chaotic hive, so she headed out the exit into the waiting area.
There was a chair behind the reception desk, so she sat as she answered the
call.

“Dad, I didn’t expect to hear from you again.”

“Mina, you are safe?”

“Yes. I’m fine, dad. Are you oka—”

“The monsters are here, Mina. Mrs Patel next door
is screaming. I can hear her. Mina, what should I do?”

Mina bolted to her feet, clutching the phone and
wishing she could yank her father right through it. “Hide, dad. You need to hide.”

“But your website says to fight. Should I go help Mrs
Patel?”

Mina almost got stuck on the fact that her father
had been reading her website, but she knew there was no time for pride. Her
father was in danger. Could she really tell him to hide when she knew it was
the wrong thing to do?

“How many are there, dad?”

“Hundreds. They just appeared in the streets,
dragging people from their houses. They will be here soon, Mina. My God, Mrs
Patel, has stopped screaming. I think they killed her.”

“Hide, dad. You need to hide, and I’ll find a way
to come get you.”

There was silence on the line. Then: “No, Mina. I
cannot hide. You are out there helping people and facing the evil. How can I hide
when my daughter is so brave? I will not hide. I must fight the monsters so
that there are less of them for you to face in the days ahead.”

“Dad, listen to me-”

“I love you, Mina. I am proud. And I am sorry.”

Mina shouted down the phone, but was forced to listen
to her father’s manic shouts as he entered some unseen battle. She heard the
shrieks of monsters, the screams of victims. Then the line went dead.

“Dad? Dad?” She knew it was of no use, but she
couldn’t help it. She kept on shouting. “Dad?”

“Whoa, what’s wrong?” Andras came into the waiting
room, two coffees in his hands. When he saw the state she was in, he placed
them down on the reception desk and went over to her. “What’s happened?”

“My dad. H-he was attacked. I…” She shook her head
as tears came.

Andras put his arms around her and pulled her
close. “I’m sorry.” He left it at that.

“He said he was proud of me.”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t he be?”

She huffed. “You never knew my father. I’ve never
seen him be proud of me, ever.”

“Then at least he got to be proud of you before he
died. You’re helping people.”

“That’s what he said.”

“Well, it’s true. People are already fighting back
because of your website.”

Mina’s phone went again. She snatched it up to her
ear. “Dad? Dad? Oh, it’s you, David. Yeah, I’m in the reception area. I… What?
No, I didn’t. I was just there, and everything was… Jesus. I’ll get back on it
right away.”