Part 3-
The wheels of the BEARCAT rumbled over the weeds that grew freely along the sides of the highway remnants. Every so often I felt a small bump as we ran over some object. Usually, the bumps were chunks of asphalt, fallen from the road as it decayed. Other times the bumps were rocks or other pieces of debris scattered about by fallen automobiles as they slowly decayed in the spring sun. Every so often the bumps would be the remains of some poor soul who had succumbed to the plague.
I sat in the front seat with Zee as he drove us towards the edge of a city. I could see the broken outline ahead of us, painted against the fading blue of the sky as the sun began to set. We were making another supply run, using a map that Zee had made before the outbreak of the plague. He had painstakingly marked as many locations as possible that might contain supplies we would need to carry on. The plan was to investigate a police station on the outskirts of the next city. With any luck, we would find supplies and even ammunition. Worst case, we could shelter in a secure location for the night and search the city in the morning.
We reached the city as dusk was setting in. The police station appeared to be in fairly good condition, considering the amount of time that had passed since the outbreak of pandemonium. The large grey walls of concrete loomed overhead, painted with shadows from the chainlink fence, cast by the headlights of our caravan of vehicles.
The chainlink fence was in good condition, nothing appeared to be torn or bent out of shape. It appeared no one had tried to enter by force. The gate stood on a pair of wheels but was open as if the occupants had left willingly, without plans to return.
Darkness was setting in rapidly and the glow from our headlights became brighter as we pulled up to the entrance. Killing the engine, Zee opened the driver-side door and jumped to the ground. I followed suit and stood there in the darkness outside the vehicle looking back towards the city as the other vehicles in our caravan began to file in and park.
In the past months, we had begun to collect vehicles and other people who wanted to join us in our mission to start the New World. Now we had about a dozen in our group, which made travel much safer and opened up more possibilities for exploration.
As the last vehicle parked and turned off its lights, the darkness returned to envelop us. The only light came from the headlights of the BEARCAT that I stood next to.
"Hey, cut those fucking lights!" hissed Eli as he stepped out of the driver's side of a dark off-road SUV.
"If they're out there, they already know we're here," replied Zee, lighting a cigarette, "Hopefully the poor bastards aren't stupid enough to try and fuck with us."
I looked out through the darkness at the expanse of broken shapes that made up the inner city. Most of the larger buildings still stood intact, but now instead of electric lights streaming from their windows, fires flickered inside the lower windows, presumably where people lucky enough to be alive sheltered at night.
There seemed to be a haze of smoke in the night air, wafting out of the city on the light breeze that was blowing. The smoke had the smell of death; it was a smell with plenty to go around these days.
"Smells like dead bodies burning," called out one of the female group members, "Maybe someone's trying to burn the bodies to prevent the plague from spreading."
"Hah, good luck," replied one of the others.
"Unless you have that shot he gave us, it's just a matter of time until you're just another rotter," called another voice in the dark.
I ignored their talk, it was irrelevant to my current thoughts. I had more important things to worry about. This was the city the girl I had been infatuated with had moved to after college. It had been years since the events that sparked off everything, but I still had a clear image of her in my mind. If there was any chance that she was still alive, I wanted to bring her to the New World with us. Maybe it was a selfish thought, but I couldn't bear her dying again, even if her death had been an event in some alternate reality shown to me by the other-self. The only problem was having no way to tell if she was still here...
A firm hand on my shoulder interrupted my brooding thoughts, "We have one of our teams checking out the building and hunting down supplies," said Zee before taking a drag on his cigarette from his free hand.
I replied as I continued to stare towards the fires, "Good, it's best if we leave this city as quickly as possible. I'm getting a bad vibe from it."
Zee released my shoulder, "Agreed. Let me grab the map and we can talk about our next move."
I was left to my thoughts as Zee walked back to the BEARCAT to retrieve one of his many maps. The breeze continued to blow past me as I stood there, smelling the smells of the dead city. Behind me, the breeze rustled through the flames of the small fires the group had begun to light, in the station's parking lot, in order to cook food and provide heat. After a moment of further contemplation on the state of the city, I turned to stare into the flames. As I returned to my thoughts, I listened to the curses and laughs of the group as they told stories around the fire in the darkness. The smell of their cooking food temporarily overcame the stench of smoke from the city until the breeze blew again.
My thoughts returned to the girl. Maybe it would be worth stopping by her house, just to see if she was still there. It couldn't be too far away from our current location.
The crunch of boots across gravel and pieces of glass once again broke my train of thought. Zee placed a black milk crate down on the ground and sat down. Taking out a flashlight and a large creased map he motioned me over next to him. I bent down on one knee and watched as he pulled the map open with a flourish as he leaned back slightly to make it easier for me to read alongside him.
The map had a dark marker spot at the top of the far left corner. Several other areas had been labeled in a similar fashion, all in different colors. The marks gave the impression of a strange abstract work of pointillism on the surface of the map.
With his finger, Zee pointed to a spot on the map, "We're here, somewhere off the Southside of the city, if the remaining street signs I saw are correct."
I nodded, "What's the plan for exiting the city, once we collect the gear we need?"
"Well, that's where things get complicated," sighed Zee, "We can't take the major interstates, those will all be blocked off, or possibly set with traps, maybe even tank mines or IEDs."
Pausing for a second I thought about Zee's words, "Agreed. So what do you think about major roads then?"
"I think we'll just have to take them with caution and see how that turns out. We should have enough equipment and firepower to survive any attacks against us, as long as they don't have an anti-tank rocket or mines."
"I figure most people out to get us are going to be dead in a week or two," I said in a musing tone, staring off at the people still gathered at the fires.
"That's true," replied Zee, "That makes them far more dangerous though. They know they're slated for death, so what makes the difference to them if they just end up dead a few days earlier?"
"Maybe so, but before we leave the city, there's a stop I want to make."
Zee shifted his weight on the milk crate as he reached into his shirt to grab his pack of cigarettes, "Want one?"
"Sure," I reached down and took a cigarette from the flip-top pack held open in his outstretched hand. The light from the fire danced across the pack, as Zee pulled out a cigarette, shadows formed around the pack briefly and disappeared with equal ease.
I pulled a lighter from my pocket and lit my cigarette with a smooth motion before turning to hand it to Zee. After we had both lit our cigarettes we sat there in silence and enjoyed the first inhale, relishing one of the small pleasures left in this dark world.
Exhaling a breath of smoke Zee spoke, "So where is it that we're going?"
"I want to see if this girl I used to know is still alive. I've been thinking about her again recently, I know she moved somewhere in this city after college." I paused to inhale from the cigarette sharply, "She moved here with her boyfriend."
Zee chuckled, " A bit of the old social media stalking, eh?"
"Yea," I replied sheepishly, "back in the day, before everything went to shit."
"It's cool man, I get it," said Zee inhaling on his cigarette, "Chances are though that she's one of three things. She's either gone, dead, or dying. But if you really want to go..."
I nodded firmly in reply, "It is."
Zee stood up and stretched his back, pulling his arms behind him, "Alright, I'll let the others know. I've got to go check in with our search team. They should be back by now. I'll see you in the morning."
With a farewell wave, Zee walked away towards the dim light of the fires, cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, trailing smoke as he departed.
I gave a wave in return, before turning my gaze on the fires again as I worked on my cigarette with slow deliberate puffs.
"Spare one?" said a new, yet familiar voice behind me.
I turned my head slightly, revealing the outline of a standing figure wearing a dark-colored hoodie. The hood was pulled up, masking the recognizable features of the figure as the fire created a silhouette, but I knew who it was.
I pulled a crumpled pack from my jacket pocket and handed it to him without a word. The figure reached into the pack and fished out one of the cigarettes, lighting it with a lighter, before handing me back the pack.
"I was wondering when you were going to come back," I said, focusing my gaze on the fire instead of the figure.
"Well, here I am," chuckled the figure before dragging the cigarette.
"Is this about the cure? The world to come? Maybe about your plan?" I fired off questions in rapid succession, knowing the outcome wouldn't change.
"No, none of that," replied the figure in a deliberate tone, "It's about that detour you're planning to take."
"What of it?" I hissed angrily, "I'm well aware that you already know the outcome. Haven't you done enough damage to me?"
The figure shifted his weight as he exhaled, turning to stare at me with a piercing gaze,
"That may be true. Even so, I came to warn you. When you find the child, leave it. Don't bring it with you, no matter what the circumstances are.
If you take the child with you into the New World, I will leave you someday, then mankind falls a second time amidst the crumbling ruins of your New World.
No Saviour will be there to guide them, for you will be dead. Everyone you save in the New World will perish with you. By taking the child you decide the fate of your people. Don't topple the existence of man, as so many blocks, simply for the salvation of a single child."
I sat there, taking in the words of the other-self as I finished my cigarette. When he finished speaking I inquired, "Why is this child so important to you?"
The other-self huffed, "It won't matter to you."
"Then I can't make you any promises," I replied cooly, flicking away the spent cigarette butt.
"You've been warned," replied the other-self in a calmer tone, "I won't stop your self-destruction."
"Time will tell if destruction or glory awaits me in this future," I shot back with irritation.
"Yes, for you, time will tell," laughed the other-self.
Suddenly Zee's voice called from across the fires, breaking the brief silence, "Hey, the team's back!"
I looked up as Zee began to walk around the fire towards me, stopping a few feet away. Behind him trailed a group of dirty and scarred characters.
"Well, what did you find?" I inquired.
"Basic ordinances, ammo, some freeze-dried food caches, boots, and fuel for the road."
I gave a brief nod of approval in their direction, "Good job, any trouble tonight?"
"The scouts reported blockades down the major roads, some further in the city too. That's in line with what we expected to find though, so it looks like we have a decent shot at making the base by the major roads still. Besides the blockades, everything is clear for at least five miles."
"Sounds good to me," I studied their faces carefully as I asked my next question, "What about survivors?"
"None that tried to attack us at least. You've got the usual, a pleasant spread of dead and dying rotters, but surprisingly no clean ones."
"What about signs of clean survivors?"
"We had trouble finding what we got tonight. It seems like there are very few resources remaining here. It could be all those other people who were here left after they ran out of shit to loot and eat. Maybe they headed out to try and find something better."
"They could be trying to find a safe place," I mused.
"If they are, we'll probably run into them on the major roads, or we might see them on the interstates. There's no telling how many other vehicles still run and have fuel to burn."
"One last thing," I said, "Where's Screw? Didn't he go on patrol?"
Zee nodded in reply, "He did. It sounds like he made a detour stop on the way back with a couple of the scouts. They should be back anytime now."
Just then I heard the whining noise of a small motorized vehicle approaching the camp from the distant darkness. The sound grew into a low growl as the vehicle approached. I could now hear the crunching noise of tires churning up dirt and pieces of debris at high velocity. Then three white lights came racing into view, heading straight for the gate of the police station. As the lights approached I could hear the sound of someone hitting the horn on one of the vehicles.
The distant shouting of the lead driver reached us shortly, "Whooo! Fuck yea!"
Zee laughed, "Speak of Screw, and he shall appear."
I chuckled, it was Screw alright.
"So that was what his detour was for?" I asked.
"Yeah, it seemed to be a good idea." replied Zee calmly, "This way we have increased surveillance capabilities, and we can send scouts further ahead of the convoy."
I grunted in approval, "Seems like solid logic to me."
At the gate, Screw was impatiently revving the engine of his ATV, waiting for the barricade to be moved. As soon as two of the people had moved it far enough for the ATVs to pass, Screw gunned the engine hard, spraying a stream of loose dirt from the back tires before skidding through the opening, followed closely by the other two drivers.
Screw drove the ATV at full speed towards the fires we were standing at, coming to a sliding stop at the last possible second, landing the ATV at an uncomfortably close distance to me.
Hoping off the still idling ATV, Screw stood in front of me with a big grin on his face as the dust began to settle around us. A lit cigarette was clenched in his teeth, excitement filled his eyes as he greeted me, "Haha! Check 'em out! Whadya think?"
I smiled, "Not bad, Screw. They're sweet machines. Should help us reach that base."
"Only as long as I get to keep point!" laughed Screw, "I fucking love the rush from a run and gun!"
I snorted, "Speaking of which, do you need more ammo, wild man?"
"Naw chief," replied Screw, "I've been working on my hand to hand combat tonight."
"Jesus, Screw, they told me there weren't any attacks tonight."
"There wasn't," said Screw slowly, "But when I saw these, I had to bring 'em back."
Screw stuck a thumb in the direction of the ATVs, "When I went with those two to get them, a couple of guys tried to ambush us."
"Who was with you?" I asked out of curiosity, knowing the nature of Screw.
"The guy we picked up a town back and one of the newer ones from our way into this town," replied Screw casually.
"How did they do?"
"The one guy's fucking vicious, man!" chattered Screw excitedly, "He sawed the head off the leader of the group that ambushed us. The guy was still alive! There was blood spraying everywhere and the dude kept clawing at him while he was doing it! But he kept on sawing, right through the guy's neck! When I heard his spine being severed it made this sick crunching noise, like stepping on dry branches. The guy didn't even flinch once, he just had this fucking look on his face."
Screw paused mid reenactment for dramatic effect, his hands still held mid-air. He had a look of savage glee painted into his grinning face.
I grimaced in disgust, "I get the picture, that's enough..."
"My bad, I wasn't trying to sound all psycho," said Screw, still smiling as he dropped his hands, " It was just some real Taliban style shit!"
"Did anyone from our side get hurt?"
"Nah, nothing serious," replied Screw with a lack of concern.
"Alright then," I said turning my attention away from Screw, "Go get it patched up, make sure the new guys get the shot, they've earned their place in the New World.
With a flourishing wave of his hand Screw shouted, "New guys, let's go!" before climbing back on the ATV and rocketing off across the parking lot.
I watched them for a second longer before turning and leaving the group. With deliberation, I headed for the side of the BEARCAT where a small olive tent had been set up. Reaching it, I fumbled with the zipper as I opened it and slipped inside. Closing it behind me, I found the sleeping bag laid out on the ground and climbed in. I sighed as I lay down inside of the bag. It had been a crazy ride so far. Who was the child the other-self was talking about? Did the girl leave the city? Was she dead now, leaving me to chase a ghost? Better yet, if she was still alive, would she follow me into the New World?
These thoughts circled, ever unanswered in my head as I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.