D.A. & M.P. Wearmouth

FIRST ACTIVATION

Chapter 1 – The Plane

At thirty-six thousand feet high and travelling six hundred miles per hour, our Friday morning flight from Manchester to New York, was making good progress over the Atlantic Ocean. I had been looking forward to this trip for months with my brother, Jack, who was snoring in the aisle seat.

We were due into JFK at two-thirty, and I couldn’t wait to get through the airport and into New York. The cabin crew had just delivered our snack, which was some sort of fancy pizza pocket. I washed it down with a small plastic cup of lukewarm coffee, and then stretched out. We had a free seat in the middle of our row, now covered with redundant iPads, magazines, and water bottles.

I grabbed the free magazine from inside the pouch of the reclined seat in front. It had a fantastic Statue of Liberty picture on the front cover, but inside, there was nothing to pique my interest. Who buys the plastic plane, neck pillow, or branded teddy? In New York, there would be far better things for my hard-earned cash to be spent on.

Nature called, so I edged past Jack and made my way up the aisle towards the vacant bathroom. As I squeezed into the cubicle and locked the door, I decided on a childish plan, and smiled at myself in the mirror. I’d make Jack jump by increasing the volume on his iPod. After two solitary hours, I wanted conversation, and knew he would be eager to talk about the trip and which bar we would hit first.

I splashed my face with water, and then opened the door to find an irritated lady eyeing me as though I had stolen her handbag. I gave her a wry grin and received the crack of a smile in return, as we awkwardly nudged past each other.

Half way down the aisle towards our seats, I felt the plane drop and was thrown off balance into the closest headrest. A sudden jolt of violent turbulence ran through the plane, triggering a ripple of curses from my fellow passengers. The headrest belonged to a surly looking, middle-aged man with a baldhead and white moustache. I shrugged apologetically at the man who gave me a curt nod in reply.

“Sorry, mate,” I said, then walked the short distance back to our row and slid into my seat.

A Steward’s calm voice transmitted through the loudspeaker instructing passengers to return to their seats and buckle up or words to that effect.

“…the fuck was that?” Jack had been jolted awake.

“What do you think it was? I’ll give you two guesses.”

He gave me a dismissive look and continued to rearrange himself in his seat. At least now that he was awake, we could talk about the delights that awaited us upon arrival in America.

“So what are you looking forward to the most? A trip up to the top of the Empire State building? A cruise on the Bay to get a few decent photos of the Statue of Liberty? Times Square?”

“What’s in Times Square?”

“Massive electric billboards and… I’m not exactly sure… but it’s famous and we’ve both heard of it, so we’ll give it a go.”

“Central Park. That’s where I want to go. I’ve seen it in—”

Collective gasps and the general chatter of raised voices filled the cabin after a series of four more jolts hit the plane in rhythmic succession

Jack’s leg began twitching up and down; I could tell he was starting to get nervous. He wasn’t a keen flyer, and any more turbulence would only add to his stress.

“Don’t worry, it’s only natural, just relax.”

Closing his eyes, he laughed, “Relax? There’s nothing natural about flying through the air at hundreds of miles an hour in a piece of metal.”

Before I could reassure Jack any further, another safety announcement sounded through the cabin.

Time seemed to pass in super slow motion, as I sat in my seat waiting to be rocked around again. Nothing happened. The seatbelt light flicked off after ten minutes and was followed by a collective exhalation and the clicking sound of seatbelts being unfastened.

“You sure we can take these off now?” I motioned to our seatbelts with a grin. “After the double warning from the stewardess, I thought they would have made us keep them on for the rest of the trip.”

Jack smiled and nodded as we unbuckled our belts, “They do love their health and safety, don’t they?”

I turned to look through the cabin and saw the middle-aged man whose headrest I had clutched earlier, stand and approach our row.

“For fucks sake,” I mouthed to Jack.

I looked up as he got closer, hoping to brush away any confrontation before it occurred, “Sorry about grabbing your headrest, mate. If I didn’t, I might have fallen into your lap!”

“Oh, forget about it. You seemed to need it a lot more than me. My wife asked me to come and see you, she said I was a bit grumpy when you apologised.”

“It’s fine, no worries.”

“What’s a couple of young guys like you doing in New York? Business or pleasure?”

I couldn’t believe this man was actually starting a conversation with us. Who did that? Still, it was nice to be described as young. It was happening less often to us both, now that we were in our mid-thirties, although Jack would deny it.

“Pleasure,” Jack answered. “We take a weekend every May to cut loose and enjoy ourselves. We’re planning to see the sights, have plenty of beer, and maybe do a food challenge if we can find one. Our friends, Dave and Andy, arrived yesterday, so they’ll have something lined up for us no doubt. We’ve done something like this every year since leaving the army, and it’s now a bit of an institution.”

“If that turbulence is an indication of the weather in New York, you might not be able to see any sights. I live there, and even in the rain, you’ll love it! My wife, Linda, and I, are just returning from a vacation in England. I’m Bernie.”

“I’m Harry, and that’s Jack. Why are you flying from Manchester?”

“Linda loves researching her family tree, so we decided to visit the places her ancestors lived. It’s taken me to places I never thought I’d visit.”

“Where did you go?”

“A couple of small villages in Yorkshire. Don’t ask me to remember the names of them, but I loved the local pubs.”

“As long as you had a good break,” I replied. “I’d love to have a drive around America, but it’s a case of finding the time to do it. Cruising on route sixty-six, stopping in motels, drinking coffee at a diner, you know, ‘The classic American road trip.’”

“Well, our trip was great, but it’s always nice to get back home,” Bernie said.

I nodded.

Bernie continued to chat enthusiastically about some of the more obscure attractions of New York and Jack took some notes. Over Bernie’s shoulder, I could see America on the flight screen at the front of the cabin. We were less than an hour away.

“This is your Captain speaking. Unfortunately, we have had communication problems with JFK, so we haven’t been able to confirm a landing slot. We will be entering a holding pattern shortly and as soon as we get confirmation, I will advise you on an estimated arrival time.”

“What does he mean communication problems? Don’t they have more than one way of speaking to the airport? We’ve been delayed, but he’s just not telling us. I’m going to speak to that god damn pilot,” Bernie said.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Bernie, Air Traffic Control are probably asleep,” Jack shouted along the aisle, as Bernie headed towards the cockpit door.

Figuring this could provide some entertainment, I hopped over Jack into the aisle. He threw his head back and stared at the air conditioning in silence.

As Bernie approached the front of the plane, a male steward stood in his way, “Can I help you, sir?”

“I want to talk to the pilot,” Bernie replied as he tried to edge past.

“You can’t do that, sir.”

The steward put his arm up and calmly blocked Bernie’s access. Bernie wasn’t giving up, he pushed forward, trying to force past the steward’s arm.

“Sir, please go back to your seat.”

The steward was now actively attempting to push Bernie back down the aisle.

I could see this situation escalating, and all of us being arrested at JFK for causing a disturbance.

“Come on. We’ll find out later,” I said, grabbing Bernie by the shoulder and pulling him back.

Bernie turned around, but grumbled as he moved back to his seat about us being treated like cattle.

“Don’t you mean mushrooms?” I said.

“Mushrooms?”

“We’re kept in the dark and fed on shit.”

Bernie burst out laughing and forcefully slapped my back.

“British humour, I love it.”

I returned to my seat and found Jack smiling up at me, “Are we going to spend our time in New York in an airport cell? I bet you managed to annoy at least one person.”

“You’re wrong, actually. I stopped Bernie from getting into trouble. You know how bad behaviour in the sky is viewed nowadays.”

I said the last part with a knowing wink. On our trip last year, Jack had been arrested when we landed in Majorca, for being drunk and taking photographs of random passengers.

“He sounds worse than me, Harry. That’s your good deed for the day then,” Jack laughed.

I sat down and we both looked out of the window. I could now see land in the distance and the flight screen indicated thirty minutes until arrival.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We are still experiencing communication problems with JFK, so we will remain in a holding pattern until contact is re-established.”

The last sentence drew a few nervous laughs. Hopefully, we wouldn’t have long to wait, although it was encouraging that the plane was circling over our destination.

My thoughts drifted to a conversation I had with Andy and Dave the previous day. They had chosen the earlier flight because it was cheaper, and I took great pleasure in teasing them about being thrifty. With the extra hotel cost and expenses, there would be no difference. However, as the delay started to eat into our trip, I imagined the smug grins plastered over their faces at the hotel if they read about our delay.

Jack was shuffling uncomfortably in his seat.

“We’ll be laughing at this tonight, you just wait and see,” I said.

He nodded and started to read the in-flight magazine. I stared out of the window for the next ten minutes, looking at the view below us. Andy and Dave were probably already in a bar, while we were wasting time in the air because of a technical fuck up.

“I wonder if we end up using the full two hours of fuel,” Jack said, as I viewed the still landscape below us.

To distract Jack and chew up a bit of time, I suggested we go through our favourite top ten movies.

“Cool,” said Jack, “I’ll start. Predator.”

“No way! That’s just Arnie running around in the jungle.”

“What about Gladiator, that’s…”

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We are now starting our final descent and will be arriving into New York at three-thirty local time.”

We both grinned at the news.

Ironic cheers rang around the cabin. We must have been allocated a slot. Order had been restored and I could almost taste the first beer of the day. The cabin crew came through the plane to check that we had our seatbelts on and tray tables up. Then, they strapped themselves in for landing. We eventually touched down on the runway and were pulled back into our seats, as we slowed down then turned towards the terminal.

There was no landing announcement, but I didn’t care. We had arrived and that was all that mattered.

“Thank God that’s over, and we’re finally here. I know the delay wasn’t too long, but that flight felt like an eternity,” Jack said.

“Let’s just get through customs and check-in at the hotel. I’ll call Dave and Andy while we wait for our bags and tell them we expect a drink waiting for us in the hotel bar.”

I changed my watch and had brushed off the previous events. An hour delay was nothing and our plane was luxurious, compared to travelling in a Hercules or Chinook.

While moving towards the terminal, the plane juddered to an abrupt halt. I looked through my window and the airport appeared quiet. I couldn’t see any small airport vehicles buzzing around, ground crew directing us in, or any signs of movement from the terminal. Something was not right, and I wasn’t the only person to notice.

“Oh my god!” A lady screamed from two rows behind us.

Other shouts began to fill the cabin.

“What the…?”

“Oh no. Oh Jesus Christ, look over there, at the gate on the corner!”

“Where?”

“The jet bridge.”

I squeezed against the window to get the right angle to see the gate.

Hanging by his neck from the open entrance of the jet bridge, was what seemed to be a member of the ground crew. There was little doubt that he was dead, his arms dangled limply by his sides and he was slowly spinning around in the breeze.

I elbowed Jack, “Swap seats and have a look at this.”

We switched positions and I noticed Bernie looking over from his seat.

“What did you see out there?”

“There’s a man hanging from the gate by his neck! I couldn’t see anyone else.”

“There’s somebody lying below the gate. Are they dead as well? I think I can make out a pool of blood around the body,” Jack said. “Look at the luggage truck next to the gate. There’s a man hanging out of the passenger seat with blood all over his face and someone else slumped over the wheel!”

An anxious steward’s announcement came over the loudspeaker telling all passengers to remain seated, moments later; Bernie arrived at our row and attempted to look over Jack’s shoulder.

“Let me see,” he said, waving for Jack to lean forward.

“Be my guest,” he replied and shifted to one side.

While most of the people around us remained gob-smacked and could only splutter out short sentences of astonishment, Bernie had already developed his own theory, “I think this looks like a terrorist attack. They’ve obviously taken over the whole of JFK airport and killed some of the ground crew.”

The steward’s announcement was repeated, but there was no calming the passengers who had seen the gruesome scene outside the windows.

“They would need a whole terrorist army to get through all of the security at the airport. If that’s what happened, where are they now?” Jack replied.

“The terrorists will be holed up inside with hostages. Homeland Security will be outside now, figuring out how to manage the situation.”

“I can’t see any vehicles around with flashing lights, no helicopters in the air, nothing,” I said.

“Right, that’s it. I am going to see the pilot and no steward is stopping me this time.”

Bernie stormed towards the cockpit, barging past other passengers who had stood to get a view from the window. I decided to follow. He wasn’t the first to have the idea and a small crowd, mostly from business class, had gathered at the front of the plane demanding answers.

The cockpit door slowly opened and the captain appeared, quieting the crowd. I stood on a seat close to the front of the cabin so I could get a good view of the captain. He was a tall, older looking man with grey hair, and looked visibly shaken.

“I can only tell you what I know, but it’s not much more than you’ve already seen. We’re going against procedure by even landing here, but I had to make a decision before we ran out of fuel,” he said.

A chorus of questions all came at once and the captain raised his arms.

“Please, let me tell you what I know. I have no other information beyond that.” This brought silence, “Just after the turbulence, we appeared to lose all communication with the ground. We have heard nothing since. We also lost communication with the planes that landed shortly afterwards, although contact is still possible with other planes in the air. All of this is understandable if the traffic control systems and communications are down. The procedure in these situations is to sit tight and try not to panic.”

“Are the planes being diverted to other airports? In that case, why did we land here?” A passenger shouted.

“No other airports are responding. I honestly don’t know what’s happening.”

Passengers continued to fire questions.

“Why did you stop?”

“How are we supposed to get off?”

“What do we do now?”

“I have already said, I’ve only seen what you’ve seen. I am not going to pull up to a gate with a body hanging off it. Without ground crew, any docking procedure would be risky anyway. We’ll wait for one hour. If no help comes, then we can use the emergency slide to disembark.”

“Then what?” Bernie shouted.

“Emergency services on the ground are not responding. We wait for contact before making any decisions. I’ll keep trying all channels of communication and update you all when I have further information.”

The passengers erupted with shouts and arguments. The captain threw his hands in the air and then disappeared back into the cockpit. Feeling a mix of frustration and disappointment, I hopped back into the aisle and slowly followed the procession of passengers back to my seat, a group stayed to labour the conversation at the front of the cabin. Bernie could be heard shouting about terrorism. Perhaps he was right, after all. The amount of coordination for such an attack was mind-blowing, but what else could it be?

Jack was looking at me as I approached our seats. I shook my head, “The communication problem seems to be widespread. There’s no sign of help at the moment, so the suggestion is that we wait.”

“The captain doesn’t know shit, but we’ve got no other choice,” he replied toying with his mobile.

“For now, yes.”

I started to think about how we could get off the plane. If it was a terrorist attack, then why wait for them to come and capture us? We could escape through the perimeter fence and win our freedom. The alternative might involve being on my knees reading out a forced statement to a video camera before being brutally beheaded by men in balaclavas. I had no intention of waiting around for that to happen.

“I’ve managed to connect to a network,” Jack said as he scrolled through Twitter.

“Are there any updates about JFK?”

“Nothing that I can see, I’ll try calling Andy and Dave, then I’ve got something to show you.”

Jack pressed the screen of his iPhone a few times and twice held the speaker to his ear.

“I got voicemail for both of them, but have a look at this,” he thrust the phone towards me, “a tweet I sent in Manchester about flying here, has had quite a few replies.”

@cfieldhouse Welcome to New York, Jack! Please come and help me, I am in a wheelchair and need assistance at the following address…

@atitlow Jack, want to meet up so I can show you some of the best sites in the state? Come to my farm…

@saggyhr Our friend said you were coming over; please visit me at the following hospital…

The tweets continued, but I’d seen enough. Why did all of these strangers want to meet up with Jack? I decided to update my location quickly on Facebook to JFK airport, in case Andy or Dave checked to see if we had arrived, and then switched my phone off. If we were going to spend hours on the tarmac, one of us should at least conserve our battery.

We waited for another half an hour, debating our next moves with a few other passengers in the seats around us. Bernie and I wanted to mount an escape, and Jack was coming around to our way of thinking. We didn’t want to be sitting ducks, whatever was happening outside. Others viewed this as irresponsible behaviour, saying it would only cause more trouble and confusion for Homeland Security when liberating us. The problem was that we had no idea what they might be liberating us from. There wasn’t a soul in sight, at least not one who was alive.

The staff on the plane handed out the remaining snacks, reminding us that we couldn’t stay here forever. There simply wasn’t enough food to go around. So it was a question of how long we would have to wait before something happened. The answer was not long.

A male passenger a few rows ahead of us shouted, “Look, there’s a security guard walking towards us waving his arms!”

Everyone rushed to our side of the plane and watched as the figure got closer. He had a pistol in his hand and was obviously shouting something. Of course, nobody could hear him. He put the weapon in its holster and held his arms out to his sides, smiling up at us.

“Open the emergency exit and let’s hear what he has to say,” Bernie shouted over to the steward, who had previously stopped him from trying to access the cockpit,

At last, we had some contact with the ground, and the man was wearing official clothing. A sense of relief was already rolling through the cabin. Further encouragement was given to the steward, who then mimed that he was going to talk to the captain and went towards the cockpit.

The captain appeared from the cockpit again and met the steward close to the front of the cabin. They held a hushed conversation for a couple of minutes and then both returned to the emergency exit.

The steward struggled slightly with the door, and then managed to open it, giving us our first taste of fresh air since England. The whole plane fell silent.

“What’s the situation on the ground?” The captain called down.

“Come down, everything is just fine,” the security guard seemed to reply, but I couldn’t hear him clearly.

“What’s happened? Are we all safe?” The steward shouted back.

The security guard was nodding and gesturing towards himself. I couldn’t help but wonder why he was on his own. Did he have any support? Not that it mattered, I think we were all prepared to follow his instructions, because he was the first friendly face we had encountered since landing. Who cared if he wasn’t part of a SWAT team?

The captain whispered into the steward’s ear, who nodded, and then yelled, “Stand back. I am going to deploy the slide.”

The security official gave a reassuring smile and stepped to one side. The slide made a hissing noise as it inflated.

“I will help you all at the bottom. Leave all personal items stowed and remove any shoes with heels or sharp jewellery. When it is your turn, just cross your arms over your chest and jump.”

I almost laughed. They even had instructions of how to go down an inflatable slide. The mood wasn’t quite right for laughing though, as we still didn’t have an explanation of what was really going on.

The steward jumped down and quickly slid to the bottom. I watched through the window as the security guard drew his pistol from the holster, aimed at the side of the steward’s head from point blank range, and pulled the trigger. A red spray covered the tarmac to the side of the steward and he rolled off the slide. Screams and shouts filled the cabin as everybody scrambled to get away from the exit door.

The security official didn’t even look up at us. He crouched down next to the steward and casually checked his pulse. Then without even hesitating, he pointed the pistol under his own chin, pulled the trigger, and collapsed to the ground with a twist.

“Jack, what the fuck was that?”

“You tell me. We’ve have to get off this plane, I’m not waiting around for another person like that.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Please, everybody get back in your seats and try to remain calm,” the captain pleaded through the loudspeaker, desperately trying to regain some sort of control

I could appreciate this was probably procedure, but we were past listening after what we had just seen. The plane was filled with noise and confusion, as passengers frantically checked their windows and positioned themselves away from the emergency door, which was still open.

“This is going downhill rapidly,” I said to Jack, “let’s make a break for it.”

Bernie had been listening to our conversation. He stood, pointed dramatically in our direction and shouted, “These two are military, these two, sitting right here.”

Jack grabbed Bernie’s shoulder and threw him down into a seat before whispering through gritted teeth, “Shut the fuck up.”

Unfortunately, Bernie’s shouting had attracted everyone’s attention, including the captain who now approached our seats.

“Are you an Air Marshal?” The captain said to Jack.

“No, I’m just here for a short break,” Jack protested, his face reddening. It felt like the whole plane was focusing on our seats.

“Captain, we need to get off this plane,” I said. “I suggest we form a small break-out team so we can scout the area. Jack and I will volunteer.”

We both wanted to get clear of the plane, and now we had a potential opening. There was no way of knowing where the safest place to be was, but no matter what was going on, a full plane was a large juicy target.

The captain looked dubious, “Official procedure is for everyone to stay on the plane.”

“Do you really have an official procedure for what we have just seen?”

My reply left the captain speechless. He opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out.

“We’ve done site clearance in the army. We know what we’re doing. If there’s any help out there, we’ll find it,” Jack said.

Our assertiveness had won the captain over and he gave us a resigned nod.

“Can Linda and I come with you? I know my way around the airport, and four people are better than two if we come across any more danger,” Bernie said.

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea, Bernie. Four of us can draw a lot more attention,” Jack replied.

“Come on, guys,” Bernie protested, “I set this up for you, and four will be better than two. I know the airport layout, and Linda used to work here.”

I looked at Linda. She was younger than Bernie, and quite glamorous, with wavy brown hair and expensively labelled, smart clothing. Bernie’s suggestion made sense, having local knowledge would be a bonus for us.

“Okay, you can come with us,” I said, “but no more passengers. Four is more than enough.”

Bernie looked relieved and smiled.

“Can my husband and I come with you as well? We don’t want to stay on here any longer, not after watching what just happened.” A middle-aged lady seated in front of us asked.

Jack and I both looked at each other. Thankfully, Bernie stepped in.

“No, sorry. We’ll go in a small group so there will be less chance of being spotted. But I promise, we will bring you whatever help we can find.”

“Please,”she begged.

“No. I am sorry, but it just isn’t possible.”

The truth was that it was doubtful if anyone even knew what was possible. Nevertheless, we had decided to go for it, so it would be by our rules.

Bernie stood up on his seat and announced our intentions to all of the passengers. He sold us as the breakout party who would find assistance and ensure that nobody was forgotten. Jack and I grabbed the small backpacks that we brought on as hand luggage, shoved in a flashlight, two bottles of water, and a disposable lighter that were provided by other passengers.

As we finished packing the items we thought might be of use, a man in a light brown blazer walked down the aisle towards us. He stopped short and stood in the junction between the two sections of the plane.

“Right, guys, fill me in on what’s happening.”

“Who are you?” Jack growled.

“I’m Morgan. We’ve had a meeting in business class, and I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not coming with us,” I replied. “We’ve already organised a team.”

“We’re not letting you go out there and get us all killed. We’ve got business leaders in our section. What you need is proper strategy and strong negotiation skills. That is why it’s sensible I lead the group.”

“Sorry, but the answer is no,” I replied. “I doubt the security official who murdered the steward, then blew his own brains out would have been swayed by a flashy Power Point presentation.”

Morgan’s eyes narrowed and his top lip curled into a snarl.

“Are you going to allow this?” He barked at the captain.

“I’m sorry, but it’s their call, sir.” He then turned back to us and said, “I’ll go and see if I can find you anything useful from the cockpit.”

“Somebody is going to get sued for this. Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable,” Morgan shouted before storming back towards the front of the plane.

I asked all the passengers to check through the windows for signs of movement. If we could make it to the airport fence without being stopped, go under or over it, and then head around to the short stay car park near the front of the terminal, it would be a good start.

The plan was simple. We figured that once outside the airport itself, we’d be able to make contact with Homeland Security, who was sure to be in the vicinity. Since everything looked deserted around the airport, we assumed the area must have been sealed off.

Bernie, Linda, Jack, and I, walked to the cockpit to brief the captain and co-pilot.

After giving them an outline, I said, “Okay, you know what we’re doing. If we’re not back when it’s starting to get dark, then chances are we may not be coming at all. You might have to try something yourself, but either way, it’s probably best you wait until morning.”

Although concerned with our plan, they seemed resigned to going along with it. The captain had a couple of questions.

“I’m going to seal up all the doors so we will need a sign that it’s you, okay?”

“I’ll turn the flashlight on three times.”

“We’ll keep a lookout. Do you have everything you need? I think—”

“Do we have any weapons?” Bernie interrupted. Turning to Jack, he asked, “Can you use a gun, right?”

Jack nodded, “Yes, I can. So can Harry. When we jump down the slide, I’ll grab the pistol off the security guard. Hopefully, there will still be a few rounds in the magazine. Have we got any others?”

Jack and I had joined the army after leaving school and served six years each, but we’d had technical trades and were not combat troops. I knew how to use firearms, but I didn’t want to raise any kind of expectation, although some training was better than no training.

“There’s a flare gun, if that will be of any use,” the captain replied.

“What? So we can advertise our location to the terrorists,” Bernie scoffed.

Linda disapprovingly pinched his arm.

This was not the time for sarcasm, and we didn’t know what was happening or how useful a flare gun could actually be.

“Bernie, did that man look like an average terrorist? He was dressed like part of the airport staff,” I snapped.

“He might have been undercover,” he replied, looking slightly embarrassed.

Why would a terrorist use a uniform to fool us and then kill himself?

“I’ll take the gun, Captain. You never know, do you? We can always let a flare off in the direction of the plane if we get into a safe area, but can’t return to you. Stay where you are if you see it,” I said.

I was impressed with how confident I sounded. The co-pilot handed me the flare gun with six cartridges attached. It had a simple mechanism, so I didn’t require instructions.

We couldn’t delay any longer if we wanted to make use of the natural light. The captain shook our hands and walked to the open exit in the mid-section of the plane.

Most of the passengers avoided eye contact, although we did receive some nods of encouragement and a few people wished us luck.

One by one, we jumped down the slide. Jack went first and picked up the pistol that was lying by the side of the security guard. I followed next and couldn’t take my eyes off the two corpses that were only a few feet away from where I came to a stop. The sight of them turned my stomach, and I lurched away to avoid touching them. Bernie and Linda followed; they looked immediately away from the corpses, once at the bottom of the slide.

Having my feet on solid ground gave me the sense of regaining at least some control. I thought we could now face whatever was happening, instead of simply awaiting rescue or death on a stationary plane.

Chapter 2 – The Airport

Jack released the magazine in the pistol and visually checked it before making the weapon safe. He pulled back the cocking slide, angled the pistol right, and a round dropped out of the breach. He thumbed the loose round into the top of the magazine, and then slid it back into the pistol grip.

“What type is it?” I asked.

“Sig P229, it doesn’t have a safety catch,” he said, inspecting it from different angles.

“Bernie, you’re the local, lead the way.”

“Okay, follow me around the left hand side. We’ll check the fence over there. If we can get through, we can walk around to the road that leads to the front of the terminal and the short stay car park,” Bernie replied.

He set off with Linda by his side, Jack and I followed, closely looking around at the terminal building and empty runways. I turned to see our stationary plane parked just off the main runway, faces visible at the windows.

Our pace was a fast walk and I looked in every direction for signs of life or potential threats.

I could barely see through the terminal windows, but the building appeared to be empty. The road on the other side of the fence had abandoned cars stretched as far as I could see, nothing around us was moving.

We arrived at the fence and surveyed it for signs of weakness. Jack pulled at the bottom where it was rusty in places, and it came away from the ground.

“There’s a man over there by the green car,” Linda shouted before clamping a hand over her mouth.

We all froze. I quickly looked back towards the road. About two-hundred yards away, where the road curved around towards the front entrance of the terminal, was a green car. Slumped against the side of it was a body. Its face appeared to be covered in blood.

Bernie was crouching down trying to help Jack with the fence.

“There’s two of them,” he said. “You can see another pair of legs at the front.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but they both look dead,” I said, joining Bernie.

The car stretched across both lanes at an angle that suggested that an emergency stop had been performed. A pair of legs, wearing orange shorts and leather sandals, protruded from underneath the front of the vehicle.

“Do you think the terrorists came along this road and killed people as they overtook them? They could be waiting for us anywhere. Shall we go back?” Bernie whispered.

“Quiet, Bernie,” Jack whispered back. “Let’s just stay here and observe.”

He cocked the Sig and looked at me. I nodded.

“Why did they get out of their cars?” Bernie asked.

“We’ll find out soon enough, so leave the guessing for now,” Jack muttered.

Bernie's patience appeared to be similar to Jacks’, and I didn’t want either mind racing when we had more important things to think about. We needed to stay focused on getting around to the front of the terminal. I didn’t want to be unfair to Bernie, but speculating on events would only provide a distraction. If an exclusion zone had been created, it was a big one that stretched well beyond the airport. The only apparent signs of life were unrecognisable, distant, sporadic noises.

Jack started pulling at the fence again, while I organised Bernie and Linda into an all-round defence formation for observation purposes. We all crouched around Jack, collectively covering the arcs around us, searching for signs of movement. I scanned from the terminal to the plane for around five minutes as I heard Jack ripping at the fence behind me, occasionally cursing. The man hanging off the jet bridge took up much of my attention at first, but as I continued my sweeps, I spent less time staring at his corpse.

“Right, we’re in business. Let’s get through here and find out what’s going on,” Jack said.

I turned to see him wriggling through a gap he had created at the bottom of the fence, Bernie and Linda followed, with me bringing up the rear. I stood and looked at Jack.

“That’s the quickest I’ve ever got through customs,” he said.

Nobody commented on his badly timed joke, Jack paused to shake his head. I nodded in the direction of the terminal and Bernie started to walk towards it slowly. We followed in an extended line spaced out over thirty yards, Linda next, and then Jack.

“Which terminal is this?” I said.

“Does it matter?” Jack answered.

“Get back, now,” Bernie shouted. We retreated ten yards and crouched behind a car.

“What did you see, Bernie? What is it?” Linda asked.

“There’s people… lying around the front of the terminal — over cars, on the floor, everywhere!”

“Are they all dead?” Jack said.

“It’s a fucking nightmare.”

Bernie put his head in his hands. Linda wrapped her arm around his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

“Do you want to go back to the plane?” she asked.

We’d come too far now to turn back. The possibility was remote that a large group of armed men could be lying in wait for us. We were on a commercial flight and shouldn’t pose any real threat to whoever had taken out a whole airport. However, I was worried that we might be breathing in some kind of germ. Had a biological weapon been used?

“Let’s take it slow, and try to find some help. A working phone line, anything. Jack, are you okay with that?”

“I don’t see what other choices we have. Linda, you and Bernie can always go back to the plane.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Bernie replied. “Linda is staying with us, and we’ll carry on to the front of the terminal building, and then cross to the car park.”

Linda nodded. Jack pulled the Sig in front of him again in a two handed grip, and I loaded a cartridge into the flare gun and kept it in my right hand.

I could understand why Bernie wanted Linda by his side. I doubt either Jack or I would have been part of this endeavour individually.

Jack took the lead as we edged around to the front of the terminal, then all stopped to take in the scene in front of us. I froze, open-mouthed. Bernie’s comment about a nightmare was accurate; it looked like a medieval battlefield.

There must have been over three hundred bodies strewn along the front of the terminal. Some were between stationary cars on the road, but most of them were around the front entrance of the building. I moved closer for a better look. Many of the butchered corpses had improvised weapons close to their hands — a wrench, a broken bottle, or a rock. Others seemed to have turned their weapons on themselves. One young man had fallen backwards over a luggage trolley, and it appeared he died while grasping a knife that had been forced into the roof of his mouth. A well-dressed woman looked as if she had performed some kind of lethal surgery on her neck with a pair of nail scissors.

As we crept past a police car slowly, it appeared that the officers inside had taken part in a quick draw contest. One of them was leaning against a shattered window with a bullet hole in his eye. The winner had decorated the interior ceiling with his brains. I reached into the passenger side of the car, and took the semi-automatic Glock service pistol that was still in the limp hand of the quick draw loser.

I made the Glock safe, stowed the flare gun in my backpack, and then turned to look at the rest of the group. Jack stepped closer to me, I could see Linda’s lips quivering, and Bernie was silently shaking his head, his hand on Linda’s shoulder.

“This is unbelievable. What the hell has happened here?” Jack whispered.

“I’ve got no idea. Did you notice that they all look like they turned on each other?” I said, keeping my voice low.

“Yeah, what do you think kicked it all off?” He had lowered the Sig and stood slumped against a car hood. “Why did they all attack each other? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t know, maybe all these people knew something we didn’t?”

In every visible area I looked, a violent act had taken place.

Jack and I quickly ducked behind a car, Bernie and Linda did the same as a metallic noise rang out on the opposite end of the terminal to where we stood.

“Did you see anything?” Bernie mouthed.

“No, we just heard that noise,” Jack whispered back.

We all peered around the sides of the cars and waited. From around the far corner of the terminal, walked an elderly woman in a green tracksuit.

We looked at Bernie and Linda in surprise. They had seen her too. The woman started to wander slowly amongst the bodies, leaning down and touching each one. It looked like she was checking for signs of life.

“What should we do? There’s no way she caused all of this,” Jack said quietly.

He looked back at the old woman who seemed unmoved by the corpses that surrounded her.

“What if she’s like the security guard at the bottom of the slide?” I whispered.

“We’ll wait until she gets close, jump out, aim our guns at her, and then get her to talk.”

“Okay, you give the signal.”

I looked over to Bernie and gestured for them to stay where they were.

As the elderly woman closed in on our position, I thought about having to shoot her, and felt a bead of sweat run down my temple. I cocked the Glock as slowly and silently as possible, making sure a round went into the chamber.

“Freeze! Put your hands in the air, now,” Jack shouted as he leapt up and aimed his Sig at her.

She continued towards us.

“Take one more step and I’ll shoot,” I shouted, and raised the Glock.

“Thank God, I have found some people alive,” she said.

The woman looked curiously at us, but showed no other signs of emotion, then slowly raised her hands from the elbows upwards.

Bernie and Linda stepped out from behind their car, and he began an immediate cross-examination.

“Where have you come from? What’s your name?”

Good questions, I thought. Let’s see how normal she is.

“My name is Maureen. I’ve come over from Hook Creek. You are the first people I have met today who are alive.”

She now appeared to be scared, which was a strangely positive sign.

“Why did you come to the airport?” Bernie said in an aggressive tone.

“I heard two shots fired from this direction. I was hoping to find someone, anyone.”

Her explanation seemed to make sense, I thought. I’d probably do the same thing. It couldn’t have been very nice for an old lady to suddenly find herself amongst such gruesome surroundings, and the sound of shooting may have been a potential source of rescue, or at least life.

“What’s happened here? What caused it all?” Bernie continued.

“I’d like to know that as well. All of this senseless killing…” She broke off momentarily and looked down. “You probably know more than me. I’ve only just arrived here.”

“Have you seen anything at all in the last few hours?” Bernie replied. I could hear frustration in his voice.

“I was walking in the park on my own. I came back to find my car was stuck in the middle of abandoned vehicles. I heard the gunshots over here and decided to come looking for help. Can you lower your guns, please? You’re frightening me.”

Jack looked at me, I nodded, “Okay, we will, but stay where you are.”

“Thank you.”

She started rummaging in her bag, no doubt for a mint or maybe even a cigarette, and took a step forward. But I was taking no chances.

“I said stay where you are. Get your hands out of the bag.”

“Please, don’t be worried. I have a mobile in here. I can try to get in touch with people for us. It looks like we all need help. I’m not too old for a mobile you know!”

She took a few steps towards us, trying to show us the contents of her bag, humming in a friendly way as she rummaged.

“Do you want to take her back to the plane?” I said turning to Bernie and Linda.

Linda’s eyes widened as she screamed, “Look out.”

I instinctively moved to my left and felt a slash across my right arm just below the shoulder. Maureen had produced a carving knife from the bottom of her bag and lunged at me, a split second was all that she needed. Jack reacted immediately, kicking Maureen in the chest and she fell backwards. We pointed our guns at her again.

This time, I wouldn’t let her out of my sight for a moment.

“You’d better start talking. What the fuck’s going on?”

She was panting and rubbing her ribcage where Jack’s walking boot had connected just under the armpit. She spat on the floor, then sprang up with surprising speed for a lady of advanced years and lunged at Jack. He jumped to his left and crashed his fist into the side of Maureen’s temple, she staggered and tripped backwards over a dead body.

“Shoot her. We can’t keep our distance forever. She’ll get one of us eventually,” Bernie shouted.

“Not yet, unless you want to do the honours?” Jack replied with his eyes fixed firmly on our assailant.

Bernie cracked his knuckles and took a step back.

Maureen regained her footing and started circling us with serious intent on her face. Jack and I kept pace with her to allow Bernie and Linda protection behind us, but she was starting to sense that we might not use the weapons.

“I only want to kill one of you, the other three can leave,” she said in a surprisingly rational tone.

“What’s wrong with you? What will it take to make you stop?” Bernie pleaded over my shoulder.

Maureen ignored Bernie’s question and carried on circling us, she appeared to be looking for a momentary lapse in concentration.

“Bernie, take the Glock for a second, will you?” I said keeping my eyes fixed on Maureen.

“Okay, but I’ll use it if she attacks again.”

He took my place alongside Jack. I ducked behind them, took the flare gun out of my backpack and pulled back the hammer.

“How’s your arm?” Linda asked, and I noticed blood running down my fingers.

“Its fine, don’t worry about it for now.”

The wound only seemed superficial, but it was painful.

“What are you going to do with the flare gun?” she asked.

“We can’t just shoot her; I don’t mind using this to scare her though.”

I held up the gun and pointed it towards Maureen’s face. My intention was to shock her into submission by shooting it close to her head. She might get some slight burns, but it would be worth it to calm her down.

I pulled the trigger and the gun made a loud popping noise as a glowing projectile slammed into the right side of Maureen’s forehead. She dropped like a stone, as the flare lay sizzling on the ground a few feet away.

“Christ, I didn’t know that was going to happen, I thought it shot a ball of fire or something,” I said.

“We don’t want to draw anyone else to us,” Bernie said and kicked the flare underneath a car.

He was probably right. Both living people we had encountered since landing had been maniacs. Whatever had gripped them must also have taken hold of everyone outside the terminal.

Jack approached Maureen and kicked the knife away from her hand, and then reached down to check for signs of life.

“She’s out cold and her head’s a mess.”

“Let’s keep quiet in case anyone heard that,” I said while motioning for us all to get down.

“What shall we do with her now? She won’t stay like this forever,” Bernie whispered.

“Harry, did you see any handcuffs in that police car when you took that Glock?” Jack asked.

“I’ll go and have another look.”

I didn’t want to go rummaging around dead bodies again, but I knew we needed to restrain the unconscious Maureen.

The others waited with Maureen while I ran in a crouch over to the police car. I opened the left door and purposefully tried to avoid looking at the faces of the two officers inside, while rifling through the driver’s belt. I found some handcuffs, extra ammunition, and a can of pepper spray, which all went into the backpack I had taken from the plane.

“Come on, she’s starting to wake up,” Jack was shouting.

I sprinted over and took out the cuffs. They were already in the loaded position, so we turned the groaning old woman over, slipped them on her wrists, and squeezed them tight. We propped her up against the car wheel.

“There’s a police building around the corner, not too far from where that mad woman appeared,” Linda said.

“What are you suggesting?” I asked.

“Well, she might have looked for people there first before coming around the corner. If it’s empty, then there’s probably a cell we can throw her in, it will also get us out of the open.”

“We’ll take it nice and slow,” I said. “Let’s make our way over to the police building. Bernie, you lead the way with Linda. Jack, you take Maureen. I’ll bring up the rear.”

Maureen was now groggily awake and certainly not acting like a sweet old lady. Jack lifted her up by her collar and we started walking in procession towards the police station. As he held her out at arm’s length beside him, she occasionally swung a kick at him, but her legs were too short to make any kind of meaningful contact.

The way ahead was completely blocked with bodies and debris, I couldn’t help but irrationally think that all the dead might just rise up at any moment and attack us. Progress was slow as we attempted to step around twisted figures; it seemed that we were all keen to avoid stepping in blood or some other bodily fluid.

“It’s a good job she’s not a two hundred and fifty pound guy,” Jack said, as he momentarily stopped to adjust his grip. Maureen was small, but she was definitely putting up a fight.

We needed to reassess our tactics when we had time. At that moment, our aim was to get out of sight in case anyone else was nearby. Dumping Maureen where she wouldn’t bother us again was priority number two.

We rounded the corner and approached the police building. It was a concrete, single story, stand-alone structure with a solid front door.

“Do you know what’s inside, Linda?” I asked.

“I think it has a few holding cells for anyone who misbehaves in the airport, but probably not much else. This is where they get thrown until local police come and pick them up.”

It sounded exactly what we needed. We could secure the building, lock up Maureen, and then plan our next moves. I gestured for us all to continue and we broke cover to cross the road towards the entrance. As we approached, I motioned the group to crouch in front of the building and wait.

I gestured that Bernie and I would go in first, swapped the flare gun for the Sig, leaving Jack, Linda, and Maureen, crouched against the front wall. Jack kept the flare gun pointing directly at Maureen’s head.

I turned the handle slowly and found the door was unlocked. Bernie looked at me, raised his eyebrows, kicked the door open, and ran inside with the Glock in front of him. I quickly followed him into a seemingly deserted room. The layout was simple. The room was a rectangle with an internal steel door on the opposite side. There were cupboards along one wall and two workstations behind a long desk.

I indicated to Bernie that we should check the steel door before we brought the others in. Bernie was breathing heavily and after our short clearance work, I guessed he had used up a lot of nervous energy as he was in good shape. I tried the door but it was locked. Moving towards the cupboards, I mimed a cover position to Bernie, who aimed around me as I opened each one in turn.

The place was deserted and I relaxed slightly.

“Bernie, what was that at the door? I was trying to sneak in.”

“If somebody was waiting for us, they’d have had even more time to prepare if you took all day opening the door.”

His explanation was logical, and made sense. However, if we didn’t communicate and work together, we were going to make a mistake. I was certainly glad our first living obstacle so far had been old Maureen.

We sifted through the desk drawers but couldn’t locate any keys that might open the steel door.

“Maybe the guard went outside and joined the battle in front of the terminal. What do you think, Harry?”

“I noticed a few uniforms amongst the bodies. Let’s go and try to find some keys.”

We went back outside and told the others of our plan.

“Just let me go, I don’t want to hurt anyone. I’ve changed my mind,” Maureen began to plead.

“Stay quiet you old bat,” Jack said, moving her with the barrel of the gun.

Maureen spat in his face and the spittle rolled slowly down his cheek. I could see he was furious, but kept his anger controlled, looking away from her and wiping his face. Jack had reacted to less than Maureen’s provocation in previous situations, his intentions were always better than his solutions.

The horrors we had seen in the last hour had left me numb to the dead all around us, but it was taking its toll on Linda, who looked drained and shaken. Bernie also noticed and had his arm around her waist, pulling her towards him protectively. We still needed to see if we could find the keys to the steel door, so Bernie suggested that she stay with Jack in the building and away from the gruesome view.

Bernie and I scanned the bodies in the near vicinity and picked out two potential candidates, by looking for shoulder epaulettes on the uniforms. Each corpse had a set of keys, so we took both and went back into the police building.

“I thought it was going to be harder than this,” I said when the third key I tried opened the lock.

“How could things be any harder?” Bernie replied.

He was right. If somebody had suggested to me on the plane, while I was drinking my lukewarm coffee that I’d soon be thieving from corpses to break into secure areas of police buildings I’d have spat the coffee all over the seat in front of me and laughed.

As soon as we pushed the door open, a male voice shouted, “Who’s there? Who is it?”

We lurched back in fright.

Bernie slammed the door shut and locked it. “Shit, what do you think?”

We still hadn’t discussed how we were going to deal with other people since meeting Maureen.

I locked the front door, closed all of the blinds, and Jack pushed Maureen into a corner while we figured out what to do.

Maureen scrambled to her feet and started shouting, “Help, I’m being kept prisoner. There’s four people here.”

Jack and Bernie ran over and pinned her to the floor. I remembered there was a roll of masking tape in the cupboard, and used it to tape her legs together and her mouth shut. By the time I was done, she was in a foetal position on the floor and could only make muffled noises. It was good enough.

“How are we going to handle this?” Jack said, nodding his head towards the locked steel door.

“We only heard a single voice asking who was there,” I said. “Maureen was scared of our pistols until she thought we weren’t going to use them. I suggest we open the door again and let him know we are armed to the teeth, and will shoot immediately if he tries anything.”

“He might even be in a cell,” Linda suggested.

“Yeah, that’s a good point, he hasn’t tried to burst through the door,” Bernie said.

“Okay, Linda, you watch Maureen. Jack, you take the Glock off Bernie and stand with me. Bernie, you open the door and tell him he’d better stay back.”

Jack and Bernie exchanged weapons. Bernie walked over to the door but before he turned the key, he looked back at me. “What if he jumps out and attacks?”

“We shoot him.”

Everyone in the room agreed, apart from the taped up Maureen whose muffled protests were ignored.

“Go for it, Bernie,” Jack said.

We braced ourselves for action.

Bernie opened up the door slightly.

“Please, help me. I’ve been stuck in here for hours and want some water.”

“If you try to come through the door, we’ll shoot you, do you understand?” Bernie shouted through the gap.

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I’m in a cell. The police arrested me in the airport this morning for being drunk.”

“Push the door open, Bernie,” I said.

It swung open to reveal a prison cage at the end of the room. The cage was split into three individual sections; the cell on the left contained a single adult male. He looked about thirty years of age, had a greasy brown mullet hairstyle, and was wearing a bright blue Hawaiian shirt.

The man behind the bars blinked. “Who are you? You’re not the police.”

“Get to the back of your cage, now, or we’ll shoot,” I shouted.

The man scrambled back, I went up quickly and rattled the door. It was locked.

“Can you let me out, please? I’m sober now.”

None of us were in the mood to believe anything we heard from anyone outside our own group.

“Why? So you can try and kill us?” Bernie shouted.

“What do you mean, kill you? What the fuck are you talking about?” The prisoner replied, raising his arms in the air.

“Get the keys, Jack,” I said. “We’ll throw Maureen in the right hand cell, have a coffee in the other room, and decide what we’re going to do.”

“Can I at least have some water?”

The request fell on deaf ears. He may have been genuine, but we were taking no chances, yet.

After Maureen was safely locked away, Jack shut the steel door and finally sat down in relative safety. Linda made use of the reception area coffee maker and brewed a fresh pot. It was good to have a warm drink and the chance to think.

I stripped off my sweater and t-shirt, and then looked down at my arm, the cut was nasty and probably needed stitches.

“Here, Harry,” Linda said, “I’ve found some bandages in the cupboard.”

She washed my arm with a stinging antiseptic, and blood continued to flow until a large padded bandage was placed over the wound and strapped with tape.

“Thanks, Linda,” I said.

I inspected my arm and slipped my t-shirt back on.

“I think we should just leave the door locked until the police get here. It’s not worth the risk of letting him out, is it?” she said.

“I agree, what good will it do? We’ve seen the results of giving people the benefit of the doubt so far. God only knows what happened outside the terminal. We don’t want to run into more of that,” Bernie said.

“And inside the terminal,” Jack added, “we couldn’t spot any movement, so would you bet against everyone in there being dead? The guy in the cell could be a handful if we let him out and he turned against us.”

“Why don’t we test him?” I said.

“Test him?” Bernie replied with a blank expression on his face.

“We can drag Maureen right up to the edge of his cage and see if he tries to do anything through the gaps. If he’s like her, he’ll probably try to attack.”

“You want to experiment with humans?” Linda replied, with a look of slight disgust.

“Don’t look at it as experimenting, look at it as humane. If the man doesn’t want to kill her, then we’ll find out and save an innocent life. Maureen has already tried to kill us, so if he is like her, then we need to know.”

“Let’s get it out of the way, now then, come on,” Jack said.

I unlocked the steel door and we all walked through into the back room, the prisoner jumped to his feet.

“Guys, let me out. This isn’t funny anymore. Please?”

Jack and I dragged Maureen in front of his section of the cage.

“What the hell are you doing?” the man asked.

I looked between the bars and into his eyes, trying to get a sense of his intent.

“We’ve got something for you,” I said.

“What? Have you brought me some water? Food?”

“Nope, but here’s an old lady’s throat for you to throttle if you like. Can you get your hands through the gaps?”

Maureen was wriggling around and making muffled noises as we pushed her face up to the bars.

“The poor old thing. You guys are hurting her. Let me check her pulse.”

Check her pulse? She was wriggling and moaning.

The man licked his lips, then thrust his hands through the cage and tried to crush each side of Maureen’s windpipe. I smashed the grip of the Sig on his fingers, and he jumped back in pain.

Jack dragged Maureen back into the other caged section.

“So we were right all along,” Bernie said. “Come on; let’s leave these crazy bastards to rot.”

I hadn’t finished yet and crouched in front of the bars.

“Why did you try to kill her?”

“I didn’t. I was trying to check her pulse. You are the ones who have an old lady handcuffed and taped up.”

“Stop bullshitting us. The game’s up. That little old lady tried to kill us, and then you tried to kill her. Why are you doing it?”

Jack grabbed my arm. “You’re wasting your time, Harry. Bernie and Linda are right, we should leave them here.”

They had been right, but I had one more card to play. “I’ve got a deal for you, if you are prepared to listen and speak honestly.”

“A deal? What deal?” He sat up while rubbing his fingers.

“I’ll give you Maureen if you tell us the truth about why you want to kill her. What do you say?”

“No way, Harry,” Bernie shouted, “I cannot allow you to do this. Let’s just get the hell—”

“Give her to me and I’ll tell you afterwards,” the man replied.

We all stood in silence for a moment and stared at him. I think Bernie and Linda were still shocked, but I knew Jack and I were curious about what he had to say.

“Think about the security guard at the bottom of the slide. I’m not saying these people will all act in the same way, but if we give him Maureen first, he might try and kill himself straight after,” Jack said.

“No deal,” I replied to the man. “You either tell us, or we leave you and Maureen to starve to death in here.”

I thought this would put him at his breaking point.

“I am not a killer. Let me out, please.”

“I’m going to the other room. This is a waste of time,” Linda said, and Bernie followed her out.

Jack put his hand on my shoulder. “It was a good try. We nearly had him. Let’s go.”

He had been an inch from cracking and I felt suddenly angry at this man’s death wish.

“Fuck you,” I said, and headed for the door.

I stopped immediately after an anguished cry came from the cell.

“Wait!”

We both turned and walked back to the bars.

“Do you promise to give me that old woman if I tell you everything?”

He was now sweating and looked desperate. Bernie and Linda joined us back in the room.

“Yes, I promise,” I said.

“Harry, you can’t,” Linda gasped.

“Linda, if you or Bernie don’t want to be part of it, leave the room. This is happening whether you like it or not.”

They both stayed, standing silently behind me. I was starting to surprise myself, but the game of life had changed. I knew that even one sign of weakness could make him clam up again.

“You’re not lying, are you? You will give her to me?”

”Look, that crazy old bat tried to kill us. We handcuffed her, taped her up, and I’ve been dragging her around by her hair. She means nothing to us. If you don’t believe us, then we’ll turn around and walk out now. Makes no difference to me. Tell us or that’s it,” Jack replied.

The man dropped his head, ran his fingers through his hair, then looked straight at me. “I’ve got to kill myself.”

“Go on,” I said.

“I’ve got to kill myself as soon as possible.”

He stopped and looked up at me in expectation.

“Come on, there’s more to it than that. Spit it out. You’ve got twenty seconds.”

It didn’t make sense. If the simple goal was suicide, then nothing was stopping him.

“Oh, what have I got to lose?” He continued in a slow, cold voice. “I want to kill myself. The final unstoppable goal is to kill myself. But I cannot kill myself until I kill another person.” He rubbed his face with both hands, “…kill one, kill yourself, kill one, kill yourself… I must use whatever means necessary to do this, and I have to do it as soon as possible.”

A stunned silence followed. I was trying to register what I had just heard.

“You don’t have any other option?” Jack asked.

“There is no other option. This is the only way. Now, please, give me the old woman.”

“I believe him. I mean, it fits exactly with what we have already seen. Right?” Bernie said.

“Can you tell us anything else? How long have you wanted to do this?” I asked.

“No. I’ve been honest with you. My objective is simple.”

I turned and walked past Jack, Bernie, and Linda, into the office area. The man shouted for us to come back and honour our promises, but Jack locked the door. Muffled sounds of screaming and the rattling of the cell door continued for a couple of minutes, then stopped abruptly.

We sat down on the floor and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

“Harry, you could have told us you had no intention of sacrificing Maureen,” Linda said.

“The whole act with him had to look genuine or he would realise that we were bluffing. These people may be focussed on killing, but they’re not completely stupid. Both of them have tried to manipulate us in order to kill.”

“You still should have told us. We would have been convincing. Next time, don’t scare us like that,” Bernie replied.

“There won’t be a next time. We know that Maureen and that guy in the cell wanted to kill someone. The security guard killed the steward, then himself. There’s a pattern.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve seen it yourself, Bernie. Since we landed, everyone we have met has tried to kill. No matter how convincing they have sounded, they can’t be trusted. So yes, I would sacrifice one of them if it meant our safety.”

“We need to plan how to handle these situations in the future,” Jack said, backing me up. “People could be armed, strong, or sneak up on us, giving us only seconds to respond. I think we should go for a zero tolerance approach.”

“We can’t just start shooting people on sight,” Linda said, shaking her head.

“The people with a pulse that we have come across so far have appeared completely normal, until they managed to find an opportunity to kill. We can’t afford to let them get close enough,” Jack replied, looking sympathetically towards her.

“There is one way,” Bernie exclaimed, “we don’t have to shoot if we see two or more people together who are alive.”

“What do you mean, Bernie?” I asked.

“Think about it,” he explained, “if they all need to kill someone before they can kill themselves, they are more likely to kill another person than travel with them. So far, we’ve only come across individuals who were looking for somebody to kill, or who were locked away.”

“If we see two people alive who are thinking like the man in the cage, then the chances are they’d be trying to strangle each other. So, do we need to split up so we are not seen in a group?” Jack said.

“No. It wouldn’t make a difference, would it? It certainly didn’t stop Maureen or that guy behind the door. But if others are out there that have worked out what is going on, then they’ll recognise that we are not trying to murder each other. We should stay together,” I replied.

“How did all of this happen? We know what they are trying to do, but why are they doing this?” Bernie was beginning to sound distraught.

“He said it was the only objective he ever had, that obviously isn’t true, but he believed it. So sometime in the last day, everybody here was affected. It isn’t that much of a stretch to think that the loss of communications might have something to do with it,” I replied.

“But how could this happen?”

It was an impossible question, and I certainly didn’t have the answer.

“I don’t know, Bernie, we’re all working on the same information as you here,” Jack said.

His tone was slightly sarcastic, and although unhelpful, it was understandable in our current position. A short period of awkward silence followed.

“Ninety-nine percent of the people we have seen are already dead. Besides the guard who approached the plane, we have only come across a man who was already locked up and a woman who walked over from a nature reserve. How far do you think this has spread? Could the city be affected?” Linda said, sounding close to breaking point.

I couldn’t help but imagine the scenes in front of the terminal when this deathly impulse took hold of its victims. There must have been stabbings, shootings, suicides, blood and screaming everywhere, everyone with the same purpose.

A thought struck me.

“Jack, those tweets you received right after we landed…”

“Yeah, what about them?”

“They were probably from people trying to draw you in after finding the original message about coming to New York.”

“Why me though?”

“I doubt it was you specifically, I imagine they would have tried anyone they could find after searching twitter for New York.”

Jack was still looking at me blankly.

“Think about it. There was somebody in a wheelchair, a guy in a hospital, and a farm owner. All were in a similar situation to the man in the cell — unable to get their hands on another human. They were in remote locations or unable to move anywhere without putting themselves at risk.”

“I was being stalked on social media, Jesus.”

“Remote locations? Let me have a look,” Bernie said, as he quickly shuffled towards Jack.

Jack pulled out his phone and briefly checked it.

“I’m not picking up any networks, here you go.” He passed the device to Bernie.

As he read the tweets, Bernie’s mouth slowly opened wide.

“What is it, dear?” Linda asked.

“The addresses in the tweets… one of them is in Manhattan. Worse still, the farm is in upstate New York!”

“We’ve got family and friends all over the state, Bernie. Are they all caught up in this too?”

“Don’t think about that now. We’ll get out of here and then we will find them,” he said.

“We’ve two friends in the Manhattan area as well,” Jack said.

Bernie and Linda had lived in New York for years and probably had a whole network of friends and family nearby. Linda was obviously concerned, but neither she nor Bernie were paying much attention to us at the moment.

“The captain said other airports had the same issue. Could this be happening on a wider scale?” Jack asked.

There was no reason to hold back at this stage, but I could have done without the further worry. The thought of our own family and friends being affected was too much at the moment, we had to remain switched on to the situation. I had to hope that whatever we were witnessing, was confined to the state of New York, but my head told me otherwise. Although we didn’t know which airports the captain had tried to contact, the lack of communication made it seem like this was not a local phenomenon.

The plane. We’d all forgotten about it. I ran over to the blinds and created a gap in them with my fingers. It was dark outside. We’d missed our agreed cut off.

“I’m not going out in the dark, no way,” Bernie said.

He was cuddling Linda who had her face buried in the crook of his arm.

Jack also had a quick look through the blinds, “Remember, we told the captain that we’d let them know with a flare if we were still around? Should we fire one off towards the plane?”

We had to let them know we were still in the local area and give them at least a little bit of hope through the night. The people on-board were bound to be hungry and scared. At first light, we could grab some supplies and head back.

“No, you can’t,” Bernie said, “it will only draw attention to all of us. Anyone on the lookout for a kill will immediately come here. I would.”

It was a fair point, but I still wanted to do it.

“I agree, Bernie, but we would be letting the passengers and crew know that all is not lost. Who will be looking for flares over the airport? If one killer sees it, then hopefully another will, and they’ll both wind up dead if they meet each other here.”

“If you insist, but I am just going to end up saying I told you so.”

I ignored Bernie. Our survival was paramount, but people were relying on us. I knew it was a risky strategy and hoped the captain wouldn’t let any strangers on-board — why would he after the incident when we landed? And if killers did turn up, hopefully they’d find each other.

“On my head is it then. Jack, you open the door. I’ll run out, fire the flare in the sky over the plane, and then come back in. No hanging around.”

I ran out of the police building and fired the flare towards the runway, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake. It shot up and must have lit up the whole area around the craft before slowly floating to the ground on the other side of the terminal.

Jack was looking out of the door as I watched the sparks settle.

“Get back in here, will you? It’s not a fireworks display.”

Once I was back inside, we decided to lock the door and turn the lights off to avoid any unwanted attention from potential killers.

We shared the snacks that we found in the cupboard and carried on our discussion by the thin light that was seeping through the blinds from the streetlights outside.

“Imagine if the airport is just a small snapshot of the rest of the globe? If it is, then we are screwed,” Jack said.

“It isn’t worth thinking about. We’ve all got people we love out there. Let’s keep positive. We’re alive, aren’t we?” I replied, attempting to be the voice of reason.

“Why though? What makes us so different?” Linda cried.

“Well, we were in the air when all of this started. Remember, the captain said he lost contact with the planes that had landed shortly after the communications went down? Those who landed were probably sucked into the violence.”

“So only people that were on the ground have been brainwashed?”

“I didn’t quite say that, but it stands to reason that’s why we are not affected. Maybe it was transmitted by something in the air. If that’s the case, there must have been people on the ground that were in oxygen tents, air locks, or other pressurised environments that might have survived. And think of how many thousands of people are in the air flying at any one—”

The front door rattled violently.

We all looked at the door, then back at each other.

“Get down and lie under the windows,” I whispered.

We each slid to the closest side of the room and waited.

I heard footsteps outside that continued around the side of the building. It sounded like hands were being pressed onto the window above me. The glass shuddered with a bang. Bernie was holding Linda’s mouth closed and whispering in her ear. I could see her shaking, and there were tears rolling down her face. The footsteps went back to the front door and it shook violently again, followed by loud thuds.

“Come out. I heard voices. I’m here to help you.”

Bernie looked at me through the gloom, and we both shook our heads. I realised my Sig was still on the reception desk and looked over to Jack. He was pointing the Glock towards the door.

“If you don’t come out now, I’ll burn the fucking building down.”

This time the voice was angry.

“Last chance mother-fuckers.”

The footsteps went around to the side of the building again, followed by two loud bangs on the window.

I tensed, ready to jump up and fight if necessary, but prayed that whoever it was would go away. There were three repeated bangs on the window, followed by what sounded like a rock being thrown against it. The glass must have been thick, as it held.

A minute later, I heard footsteps fade away from the building.

Chapter 3 – Departure

We lay in silence for what felt like hours after the man had left, but heard nothing more.

“I think he’s gone,” I whispered.

“That was because of you and that fucking flare. I told you not to do that,” Bernie said.

“He could have been bluffing about burning us out… he’s gone hasn’t he?”

Linda suddenly jumped over to the desk and picked up the phone.

“I’m sick of this, I’m calling 911.”

Had she lost her mind?

“Bernie, sort her out will you?” Jack snapped.

“Just let her do it,” he tiredly replied.

Linda punched in the three numbers, put the call on speakerphone and waited. The tones echoed in the silence of the room. Nobody would answer, surely…

After four rings, somebody did pick up at the other end.

“Err… Hello?”

“Please come and help us. Terrible things have been happening.”

“What is your location, please?”

“We’re at the airport. We’re inside the—”

Jack jumped up, lifted the receiver, and slammed it back down, cutting off the call. “Linda, are you stupid?”

Bernie rushed over to where Jack was standing and grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare speak to my wife like that.”

“Linda, who answers 911 by saying, ‘Err… hello?’ And well done, Bernie, you two have just fired out a flare as well.”

“Everyone just calm down. Let’s try and get some rest before sunrise. We’ll take turns being on watch, an hour each,” I said, as I walked over to where the three of them were standing.

“I can’t sleep, Harry,” Linda replied.

“Just sit down with Bernie; we need our strength for tomorrow. Jack and I will take the first few hours.”

Bernie guided Linda into the far corner of the room and they settled down in silence.

Despite my plan, none of us slept much before sunrise. We were all way out of our depth. I resolved to make more allowances for Bernie, and remember that the pressures we were dealing with would affect us all differently.

At first light, we decided on a plan to rush into the terminal, grab some food from the closest outlet, and then make our way back to the plane. There wasn’t any point in thinking of anything more elaborate than that. Jack and I took the two pistols and Bernie carried the flare gun. For some reason, neither Jack nor I could convince Bernie to take a pistol from one of the corpses outside.

We cautiously made our way out of the police building and crept in formation towards the front of the terminal. The place was designed to be welcoming and all of the usual infrastructure and advertising was still in place. A female corpse wedged the entrance door to the front of the terminal open for us with a rag stuffed into her mouth; her eyes were fixed in a wide look of terror. The gunshot wounds, stabbings, and beatings were awful to look at, but there was something horribly forced about this particular death. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why this one stood out so much, but it was one of the hardest to forget from the airport.

Inside the terminal, the scenes of horror were no less gruesome. Whatever happened must have started around a busy lunchtime period. Bodies lay thick in all directions, the sight was almost unbearable. Strange formations of corpses had been created where passengers had lined up to check-in for their flights, only to turn on one another. Some appeared to have ripped the extendable handles off their suitcases to use as weapons; I noticed a metal rod had been plunged into an eye socket of one unfortunate victim. The improvised weapon had proven a popular choice around the check-in desks. The check-in assistant lay dead where the suitcases were supposed to be weighed, the electronic display registered her as one hundred and twenty pounds.

A group of three people surrounded an ATM; one man looked like he’d been beaten severely before slicing his own wrists with a broken shaving mirror from his suitcase. A woman lay strangled by a shoulder strap of a handbag, next to her was a large man dressed in a white linen suit; he appeared to have no visible injuries. One moment, they had been obediently waiting their turn, the next, in deadly combat.

The route towards the security gate was blocked with corpses, but here, many of the dead had gunshot wounds. Armed officials must have acted first, and then others must have taken advantage of the weapons while the magazines still contained rounds.

“Jack, come and look at these three,” I pointed to a group of corpses on the floor.

“No thanks.”

“No, just look!”

“So what? They were all trying to kill each other.”

I called Bernie and Linda over, “Is that the guy from Oceans Eleven?”

”Sure is,” Bernie breathed.

We walked further into the madness of the terminal and shuffled slowly towards the shopping area. I glanced to my left over Linda’s shoulder and felt an electric shock of horror. The large man in the white linen suit rose silently like a ghost, and ran straight at us, his face contorted in fury, a machete raised above his head.

“Look out,” I shouted.

Bernie, Linda, and Jack, spun to face me, but the man was only yards away coming from behind them. Jack must have heard the approaching footsteps as he twisted around, Bernie and Linda froze. I tried to aim the Sig but couldn’t get a clear shot past the group.

I leapt to one side, fired twice, and hit him in the shoulder and neck, it was too late though, and had little effect as his momentum carried him forward.

The man let out a gurgled scream as he buried his machete into the top of Linda’s head, splitting it down to eye level. He then kicked her in the back to free the blade; Linda dropped to her knees, and then fell onto her face. Her legs violently twitched three times, and a pool of blood started to surround her head.

“Linda,” Bernie shouted.

I fired twice again into the arm and hip of the man, who sank to his knees and raised the machete with his uninjured arm. Stepping forward, I kicked the blade wielding hand, knocking the weapon free, and then kneed him in the head. Jack dived forward, forcing the man backwards and pinned him to the ground.

Looking around, I realised that if the attacker was playing dead, then there could be others. The vast terminal building suddenly felt claustrophobic, as I scanned all the bodies to see if there were any more murderers among them.

Bernie sank to his knees next to Linda. At first, he shook her shoulders and shouted her name, but even he could see that the chances of reviving her were non-existent. Finally, he hugged her close to his chest and started crying. Linda’s blood was all over his hands, shirt, and right cheek. I couldn’t look at the heart breaking scene, so I turned my attention back to the killer.

“Jack, we need to sort this out quick, there could be others like him.”

He wriggled under Jack’s hold, but was weakening, probably through blood loss as large expanding red patches soaked his linen suit.

“Leave me alone. I’m going to kill myself anyway,” the attacker mumbled.

“You don’t get to choose, fuck-face,” Jack spat.

I looked across at Bernie who was quietly sobbing.

“Bernie, do you want us to kill him for you? We can’t stay around here,” Jack said.

Bernie looked up slowly, his devastated face changing into an expression of hatred. “Keep holding him there.”

Seeing Bernie approach, the man tried desperately to wriggle out of our grip. Bernie walked to the machete and picked it up; he looked at the blood gleaming on the blade and wiped the tears from his eyes.

Coming back to us, he pulled the machete over his head and brought it down straight across the attacker’s head, with a sickly crunching noise. There was no need for restraint anymore, so Jack and I rolled away quickly to avoid being covered in blood or hit by a rogue thrust from Bernie. He continued smashing the blade downwards several more times before sinking to his knees with a vacant look in his eyes. The machete dropped from his shaking hand and he started to sob.

I stood up and placed my hand on Bernie’s shoulder to offer some comfort.

He looked up at me with a loathing gaze. “Get the fuck away from me, you two. It’s all your fault.”

I backed away and glanced quickly around again at all of the corpses on the ground, none were moving, but it didn’t prove a thing, after what we had just witnessed. Jack tried to put his arm around Bernie but was immediately shaken off.

“Come on, he took us all by surprise. It could have been any one of us. I’m sorry. Is there anything we can do?” Jack asked.

”Yes, I want you both to fuck off,” Bernie said before looking directly at me. “If you hadn’t fired that flare and brought him here, Linda would still be alive.”

I didn’t want to point out that it could just have easily been Linda’s call to 911 that brought the killer here, so I knelt down next to Bernie, “We don’t know that. No matter what, we can’t stay here.”

Bernie pushed both Jack and I away and pointed the flare gun at us. “I’m staying with my wife, have you got a problem with that?”

Jack held both of his palms towards Bernie.

“No. No, we haven’t,” he said. “Do what you have to do. We’ll grab some supplies.”

We both retreated to a safe distance.

I could see the strain showing on Jack’s face.

“Jack, there’s a newsstand over there by the information desk. Let’s empty a couple of suitcases and fill them with food and water for the passengers. It will give Bernie a few minutes with Linda and get us out of here faster.”

“Okay, we can see what kind of state Bernie’s in after that, but I’m not hanging around all day waiting for him. There’s hundreds lying here, any one of them could be waiting for a moment of weakness.”

It sounded callous, but Jack was right. As hard as it was, we had to get Bernie back to safety.

We gathered supplies in a pair of suitcases on wheels and hung around the newsstand for another ten minutes, the area was free from bodies within thirty yards, so nobody would be taking us by surprise. I flicked through a newspaper from yesterday morning to see if I could find a hint of what might have caused the mayhem, while Jack maintained watch. There was nothing specific but a few stories stood out that would get a conspiracy theorist’s juices flowing. Iran had apparently sent a chimp into space. Had they secretly developed a chemical weapon, which they then released over the US? A large explosion had been reported in the Middle East, which was nothing new. A meteor shower had lit up the sky. Should we be thinking aliens? No, if this was an alien attack, where were they? I was getting hungry, so I put the paper down and decided to have a bar of chocolate.

“Shall we go and see how he is?” Jack said, looking over at Bernie.

I wasn’t sure how long we should give him to mourn before trying to pull him away. “Why don’t you call over? We can keep our distance that way.”

“Bernie, are you okay? Can we come over?” Jack shouted.

“Fuck you,” Bernie replied and pointed the flare gun directly at us.

A bright projectile shot from the barrel and passed straight between Jack and me, slamming into the newsstand.

“Jesus Christ, Bernie, what the fuck are you doing?” I shouted as we both scrambled behind a check-in desk.

Within a matter of seconds, the newsstand was alight, as piles of papers and magazines caught fire. The fire alarm started to sound and seemed to bring Bernie back to his senses.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t… I don’t …” Bernie said, lowering the gun.

Tears were still streaming down his face and were quickly joined by the water from the sprinkler system, which petered out almost instantly.

With our free hands we grabbed Bernie by the arms and started pulling him towards the exit, in our other hands were the suitcases.

“Let’s get out of here,” I shouted.

“No, I’m not leaving Linda. Get the fuck off me.”

“We’ll come back, Bernie,” Jack said, angry now, “but we need to get out of here. The place is on fire and the sprinklers have stopped, if you don’t want to die as well, get moving.”

There was no time to be nice. Bernie tried to resist, but it was little more than a gesture. He probably knew deep down that he couldn’t stay.

Once outside, Bernie looked back into the terminal that was now starting to fill with smoke.

“Linda,” he said with quiet emotion. I felt a knot in my stomach and my eyes started to fill.

“Come on. Let’s get to the gap in the fence as quick as we can,” I said, grabbing Bernie’s arm again.

We both ran after Jack who was ahead of us with the other suitcase.

Ten yards along the path, a wiry old man sprang out from behind a car holding a golf club. Jack immediately raised the Glock and shot him in the forehead. A cloud of red mist appeared as he collapsed with a grunt.

Yesterday, both of us would have hesitated or tried to tackle the person without killing them. But running past the body, I knew that I was prepared to do the same thing. A single person showing danger signs would require an immediate response.

“He might have been innocent,” Bernie said.

I was out of breath from pulling him and the suitcase, but we couldn’t stop. “Sorry, Bernie, should we have questioned him?”

“No,” he admitted.

Once we reached the gap in the fence, we all crawled through with the cases and sat down on the other side, panting.

Bernie stared back at the terminal, smoke drifted from it into the clear blue morning sky. The fire alarm could still be faintly heard, ringing in the distance.

He shifted around to face me and said in a stern voice, “Zero tolerance.”

I knew what Bernie meant. Who could blame him?

“Agreed, and I’m truly sorry about Linda.”

I didn’t say this just to comfort Bernie, I was sorry.

“Thanks, I’ll grab myself a gun at the next available opportunity.”

He turned back and stared at the terminal.

I was concerned about Bernie. He had taken a shot at us in the airport. What if he still thought that we played a part in Linda’s death? I decided to keep a close eye on him.

“Time to take our supplies over to the plane. They’ll be starving and wanting to hear some news,” I said, getting to my feet.

We made our way over the tarmac towards the plane, which was clearly visible still parked just off the runway. Other planes could be seen dotted around the runways in an unusual pattern, but no other people were visible. As we approached our plane, I could see more bodies around the bottom of the slide. In addition to the steward and the security guard, there were perhaps another four or five. The captain’s head appeared from the emergency exit door and he waved. I felt immense relief that people were still alive, but the news we had wasn’t great, so I resisted the urge to wave back.

When we reached the plane, I looked up at the captain who was still standing at the open entrance.

“There’s only three of you, what happened?” The captain frowned.

Bernie shook his head.

“Do you have any rope?” Jack shouted up.

“Yes, why?”

“Can you drag these cases up the slide? We’ve some drinks and chocolate for the passengers. Once we get this stuff up, we’ll give you a full debrief,” I shouted.

The captain was about to reply but appeared distracted by something behind us. I turned to see thick black smoke belching into the air from the terminal. So much for remaining inconspicuous.

He looked back down at us, and then shook his head before disappearing back into the cabin for the required rope. The suitcases were dragged up, then Jack, Bernie, and I climbed the slide and stood in the entrance, four people appeared behind the captain.

“We had a terrible time last night. After your flare, we had a stream of visitors. The first one said he had a bus waiting for us at the front of the terminal. We told him to stay at the bottom of the slide. Another man sneaked up on him from nowhere, and stabbed him in the chest before slicing his own throat. Shortly after that, another man turned up, he said he thought he had heard voices coming from the police building and wanted us to help him investigate. When we refused, he started to get angry and threatened to set fire to the plane. He ended up being strangled with a bootlace by a large lady, who then took the knife from the other body and forced it into her own eye,” the captain said.

“Where is everyone?” Jack said.

“There’s only four others left on board now. Most fled at first light after the experiences of last night. That guy, Morgan, led them through the gap you created in the fence, and they headed towards the safety cordon.”

I was looking at Bernie who didn’t seem to be hearing a word the captain said.

“What safety cordon?” I asked.

“The general consensus was that a terrorist attack had taken place. Morgan stirred up the rest of the passengers claiming your flare was a signal that you had reached the safety cordon. He led them all out, despite my protests, and they disappeared along the road towards the city. I wouldn’t leave, as four passengers decided to remain on board. So Lieutenant Marsden accompanied the group.”

The captain’s words chilled me. Bernie had planted the terrorist seed, but I fired the flare that Morgan used to talk most passengers into leaving. Who knows what they were going to find or how many would survive? I knew we weren’t completely to blame for the passengers making a break for it, but I couldn’t help feeling partly responsible.

The four passengers behind the captain were made up of an elderly couple, who couldn’t have travelled very far on foot even if they wanted to, and their adult children. They told us they were from Long Island.

While Jack and I recounted our story, the small audience looked visibly horrified. We told them about the front of the terminal, our encounter with Maureen, finding the man in the cells, and what had just happened inside the terminal.

They were clearly moved by the story of Linda’s death; Bernie kept quiet despite their condolences. The confession in the police building created the most astonishment. It seemed to explain what they had witnessed at the bottom of the slide and overnight.

Once we finished our debrief, I had a few questions of my own for the captain.

“You said you were communicating with other planes in the air, what happened to those?”

“I was the first to land here. When I saw the deserted runways and then the scene by the gate, I advised all the other planes in the vicinity to try another airport.”

“Have you heard from any of them since we left yesterday?”

“Yes, a couple of planes landed at Newark and it sounded like they encountered pretty much the same thing we did.”

The captain still seemed to be holding back.

“Then what?” I probed.

“Most passengers left the planes on foot and tried to find Homeland Security. They all came to the same conclusion we had.”

If the rest of our plane had waited to hear what we managed to discover, at least we could have alerted them to the dangers they might face. I was angry with Morgan for leading them away before our return, but could understand their need to search for safety.

“How far do you think this has spread?” I asked.

The captain looked nervous. “Honestly?”

“There’s no point hiding anything from us. We’ve been out there, we’ve seen what has happened. Tell us. How far do you think this has spread?” Jack replied.

“I honestly don’t know, but I would say it goes a lot further than New York. One of the pilots who landed in Newark managed to connect on the emergency frequency with a plane trying to land at Heathrow. He said they were having similar problems.”

Jack put his head in his hands and said what I was thinking.

“Fuck.”

“Do you think this is global?” the old man asked.

“Why not,” Bernie said, finally joining in, “it could hardly be a coincidence that all of this has happened. We’re all screwed.”

“We can’t stay here any longer,” I said. “If the flare last night attracted quite a few killers, then imagine what the tower of smoke from the terminal will do. We know there are a few hundred people from the plane wandering around the New York area; I say we make our way into the city. That way, we’ll be close to supplies and have a few places to hide if the killers come after us.”

“Killers? Is that what they are called?” The old man from Long Island asked.

“I don’t think they have a specific name, but I can’t think of a better description. Can you? Besides, ‘they’, are just people who happened to be on the ground when it all went wrong.”

The four remaining passengers talked quietly between themselves for a moment.

“We don’t want to go into the city,” the younger man said. “We’re going to take our parents home.”

The old couple probably didn’t want to be ducking around the streets and scavenging for supplies. They probably just wanted to get back to a familiar environment. Who could blame them?

“Can you drive?” I asked, thinking about the abandoned cars on the road to the terminal.

“I’ll drive them to Long Island,” the captain said. “I need to get home and find my family, too.”

As much as I feared for their safety, I was relieved that we didn’t have to bring them all along with us, smaller groups would be much more mobile and easier to manage. I had actually been hoping that Bernie would drive them to Long Island. We hadn’t had a proper conversation since Linda died, and I could feel that things were awkward between us.

Jack was also keen to get things moving. “Let’s get out of here now. The longer we hang around discussing our options, the more likely it is that a killer will turn up.”

“So, it’s just the three of us then?” Bernie asked.

“We’ll be alright, Bernie. Zero tolerance, remember?” Jack nodded.

The eight of us jumped down the slide and made our way to the gap in the fence. I could feel the heat from the terminal building, as we got closer.

A shot rang out and the captain was propelled backwards, I dived for cover and pushed the other passengers down. Jack nudged me and pointed to a silver car on the other side of the fence. Behind it was a bearded man in a lumberjack shirt, holding what appeared to be a bolt-action rifle. He started to reload.

I looked across at the captain who was breathing heavily.

“Where have you been hit?” I asked.

“I don’t think I am. The shot just knocked off my epaulette and the force threw me back.”

“Pretend you’re dead.”

“What?”

“Pretend you’re dead, now,” I said.

He closed his eyes and let his head loll sideways.

I didn’t want this killer taking any more pot shots at us with his rifle. I moved over to the captain slowly, and pretended to take his pulse, expecting a shot to be fired at any moment.

“Stay down. I am going to try something,” I whispered to the group.

I sprang up, ran over to the fence and shouted, “You’ve fucking killed him. You’ve killed him. What are you doing?”

The man behind the car watched my antics for a few seconds before placing the rifle muzzle in his mouth. He strained to reach the trigger with his fingertips, then gagged as he forced the barrel further down his throat. There was no hesitation once he could reach the trigger, and he fired down his throat, wobbled for two seconds with his arms outstretched, and then crumpled to the ground.

I grabbed the fence to keep myself steady.

“Right, everyone, let’s go,” Jack stood and waved the group along.

We all crawled through the hole in the fence and made for the cars on the road.

“How did you know he was going to do that?” Bernie asked, as he came alongside me.

“I thought it might work, but I didn’t know. They seem to need confirmation that their victim is dead before they can kill themselves. I tried to give him that. Anyway, if we didn’t do something, he could have taken us all out from that range. Our pistols would have been useless.”

Jack went over to our assailant and took the rifle and a pouch of ammunition. He opened the car door next to the body, climbed in, and started the engine.

“This one’s a runner,” Jack said as he jumped out of the car.

“You five take it,” Bernie said to the captain and family.

They didn’t need to be convinced, and quickly got into the car and shut the doors. The captain rolled the driver side window down, as I approached.

“Good luck. Hopefully, we’ll meet again,” he said.

I couldn’t let them leave without some form of defence, and held the Sig out to him by the barrel.

“Take this. You might need it.”

“Thanks,” the captain nodded.

I gave him a quick lesson on how to use the Sig through the open window, and then said my farewells. Jack and Bernie did the same.

The car moved off, weaving through the stationary traffic away from the airport. I was glad the captain had some protection but as they disappeared into the distance, I thought it might not be enough.

“That was generous of you, especially after we just acquired a rifle,” Jack said. “Well done for fooling that killer, by the way. Here, take the Glock.”

“Okay guys, I have an apartment in Elmhurst. I want to collect some of Linda’s things from it. It’s not that far and I’d appreciate the company…”

I could think of better options, but kept my face neutral as I looked to Jack who was staring off towards the burning terminal…

“How many entrances does the apartment have? Can we be seen through the windows?” I asked.

“Look, it’s a basement apartment in a quiet suburb with a solid front door, when I close the blinds, nobody can see in. We’ll be safe.”

“Do you have any alcohol or smokes in your apartment?” Jack asked.

“Why does that matter?” Bernie frowned.

“Because we’ve all been through a lot, and I am sure we could all use some stress relief,” Jack replied.

“You want to get drunk? This is hardly the situation—”

“Bernie, he means rest and recuperation. If we don’t have some downtime soon, then we're going to start making stupid mistakes. We need a secure place where we can work out what the hell is going on and what to do next,” I explained.

“Okay, I get what you mean. That could be my place. I’ve a couple of bottles of vodka and 18 Marlboro cigarettes that have been in the kitchen drawer for about a year.”

“Sounds good. Let’s find a car and go.”

Jack took a deep breath and gave Bernie a friendly pat on the arm.

It took us ten minutes to find a relatively clean Ford with keys in the ignition and not too much blood plastered inside, our choices were limited. We pulled out the corpses and placed them respectfully a short distance away.

“You’re the local here, you can drive,” I said.

Bernie nodded and we climbed into the car. I took the back seat.

Chapter 4 – Elmhurst, Queens

I was under no illusion that we had escaped, but driving away from the confines of the airport, felt like a huge relief. As we headed north, Bernie told us that we were picking up the Van Wyk expressway, which led pretty close to his suburb.

“What about Andy and Dave?” Jack said.

“I don't want to talk about them,” I replied. “The three of us are the priority now. Once we get ourselves established somewhere safe, we can start looking for others.”

“Well, we’re going to have to find out how far this thing has spread,” Jack said.

From what we had seen at the airport, I thought that very few people had survived this. Even if there were people that hadn’t been affected, they would still struggle to survive in a city full of killers. The chances of Andy or Dave being alive were next to nothing. If they weren’t dead, they’d probably want to kill us anyway, so I half hoped that they’d met a swift end.

Bernie slowly bumped and picked his way along the Van Wyck Expressway. Vehicles had been abandoned and crashed on the road as far as I could see. There seemed to be no way through the chaos, but inch by inch, we continued forward. My gut wrenched as we bumped over another obstacle that I realised must have been a dead body. Bernie nosed the Ford through a group of smashed and charred cars that were spread around a fallen tanker. As we drove clear of the tanker, Bernie slowed to a stop, and we got out scanning the road and surrounding area. On the opposite side of the expressway, a station wagon was at the head of a pile-up that completely blocked the road. The driver was hanging out of his window, with a fist-sized chunk of skull missing from the top of his head. Further behind, bodies lay all around the cars in a scene similar to the airport terminal. Sporadic noises echoed in the distance, but the immediate vicinity was quiet.

There was now no doubt that the massacre was widespread. In the distance, several towers of smoke rose from the city. Bernie looked broken and scared. Jack was clearly exhausted. His hair was flattened down, and his shoulders were hunched. Both were smeared with blood. We looked at each other without speaking.

“Come on, Bernie. Let’s get back to your place,” I eventually managed to say.

We trooped back to the car. Jack tried the radio but couldn’t pick up a station.

I sat back and stared at the light fixture in the roof above me. Twenty-four hours ago, these people were in hell. What was a reasonable human being actually capable of? The man in the cell told us what he needed to do, but it was a general demand rather than specific instructions. People had carried out this need to kill in any way possible to reach their goal of suicide.

Our only goal was to survive. Perhaps we were beginning to change too. Jack had already shot a man in the head at close range, and I had tricked another into killing himself. In a few hours, would we be engaged in a similar battle to the death?

I snapped back into the real world when Bernie suddenly jerked the car to a stop. I put my head between the two front seats. “What is it?”

“The exit’s blocked. We’ll have to go on foot from here.”

“How far is it?” Jack asked, staring out of the front window.

“It’s only a five minute walk at a brisk pace.”

I would have preferred not to be out in the open, but it was easy to imagine driving on any two-lane road would be difficult, even if we could get off the expressway. A five-minute walk didn’t seem too bad, as long as we kept switched on.

We made our weapons ready and got out of the car; I twisted my head in all directions, looking for movement. I could hear dogs barking and alarms sounding in the distance.

We walked close together on the sidewalk, twitching at every sound.

Jack had the rifle tucked into his shoulder, I was holding the Glock by my side and Bernie held the flare gun out in front of him with both hands. He led the way onto a street that took us into suburbia.

“Oh, my God,” Bernie said, pointing the flare gun towards a Golden Retriever that bounded towards us from the other side of the road.

“Put your gun down, Bernie,” Jack said, and stepped forward to offer the dog the back of his hand to smell. The dog disregarded the outstretched hand and excitedly jumped up. “What’s your name, boy? Hey? What the hell have you seen?”

The dog seemed in good spirits as it licked Jack’s face, then bounded around us while loudly barking. Seeing it react to us so normally made me feel safer. I have no idea why.

Jack read the dog’s collar and stroked its back. “He’s called Bouncer.”

Bouncer appeared to hear something in the distance only a dog could recognise and bounded off. We watched it disappear before following Bernie again.

We crept along the road for a further two minutes until we all stopped in horror. By the entrance to a house, were two bodies. The first was a boy who must have had his head repeatedly smashed against the step as his face was barely recognisable, and the concrete was stained with blood. The second was woman, hanging by her neck from the doorframe.

“Guys, get moving,” Bernie encouraged us away, but I noticed something flicker behind a curtain in the house.

“Not yet, Bernie. I think there’s somebody in there.” I pointed to the left of the front entrance.

“So what? Do you want to wait for them to attack us?”

“They could have attacked us already. If the person in the house was armed, then they would have taken a shot by now, wouldn’t they?”

“Harry, we’re only a couple of minutes away from Bernie’s place. Why bother?” Jack replied.

I still had some hope that we would find people who weren’t transformed into killers. There must have been some survivors or other plane passengers around, although the chances were pretty slim.

“We’re not here to hurt anyone,” I called out. “Look, there are three of us and we’re not attacking each other. It’s safe to come out.”

There was no reply, perhaps the curtain had just been twitching in the breeze. We started to walk away.

“Please, come and help me,” a young girl’s voice cried out.

“Well done, dickhead. Now look what you’ve got us into,” Jack said, as he turned back towards the house.

“Come out with your hands up so we can see them,” he shouted.

“I’m too scared. Please help me,” the voice replied.

We all looked at each other, waiting for somebody to speak.

“We’re all armed, right? So why should we be scared of a little girl?” Bernie said.

“Okay, let’s creep up to the door. Bernie, you open it, Jack and I will cover you. Jack, help me move the woman from the door frame,” I whispered.

“Okay, no worries.”

We sneaked up to the front entrance, freed the woman’s body and moved her to one side.

Bernie looked at us. “Ready?”

Jack and I nodded. Bernie pulled down the handle and kicked the door wide open. The entrance hall looked empty. He looked back at us from the side of the door, I shook my head. He crouched down and slowly looked around the doorframe into the house.

A little girl suddenly appeared from inside and smashed a plate on the top of Bernie’s head. It would have been the kind of thing I laughed at on YouTube a couple of days ago, but it wasn’t funny now, as she bent down and picked up what looked like a cheese knife. Jack ran forward and kicked her in the arm. She dropped the knife and started crying. Bernie picked her up, she started screaming and squirming under his arm. Blood trickled from the top of his head down his cheek, but he didn’t seem badly injured.

“How do you suggest we deal with this?” he asked.

“Can we find a room to lock her in?” I replied.

“So much for zero tolerance.”

He was right, although I don’t think any of us had this in mind when we agreed on it.

“Bernie, hold her there for a minute while I have a quick look around the house,” I said.

I figured she was on her own, otherwise, I doubt she’d be alive. I searched every room hoping to find a lockable door. The only one I found was inside the bathroom.

I made my way back to the entrance hall where the girl was pleading with Bernie and Jack. “Please, let me go. Please? I promise to run away, and you’ll never see me again.”

There was an obvious way to deal with her, but nobody would say it. Jack offered an alternative. “Let’s put her in the recycling bin I saw at the side of the house.”

“You want to put her in a garbage can?” Bernie said.

“We can’t take her with us and I doubt any of us would volunteer to kill her. So, we have to do something so she doesn’t follow us. If we put her in the bin and she cries out, another killer might come along. So she’ll keep quiet. She’ll be able to escape soon enough by rocking about, by then we’ll be long gone.”

It was a great idea that saved us from making a potentially terrible decision.

“No, no, please don’t put me in with the recycling, please,” she cried.

We walked around to the side of the house. Jack opened the bin and Bernie dropped the girl into the large plastic container and closed the lid. I put a heavy rock on top to slow down her escape time, and we walked cautiously back to the road.

“Straight to your apartment, Bernie. I can hear that vodka calling us,” I said.

Bernie had been right about his apartment being safe, it was solidly built and the windows were below street level. The thick hardwood front door had a five point locking system and would be impenetrable to anything other than heavy force. It provided the right kind of protection we wanted for the night.

Inside, the apartment was neat and simply laid out. The kitchen and living area were both part of one long room with a separate bathroom and bedroom towards the back. For some reason, I thought Bernie was wealthy. I had no reason for this assumption whatsoever, apart from the fact that the couple wore expensive clothes and were well spoken. The two couches in the living room looked inviting when compared to the cold floor of the police building where we had spent last night. I was tempted to lie down and sleep right then.

Bernie was stood staring at a picture on the wall of Linda and him on a beach. I joined him.

“Where was that taken?”

“Fort Lauderdale in 2008. It was the best holiday we ever had,” he sighed, “are you married?”

“No, I’m engaged.”

“What’s she called?” Bernie replied.

I quickly glanced at Jack who shook his head, then looked back at the photo on the wall. “You both look happy. At least you can cherish those memories. That’s what we’ll all have to do now.”

“I suppose you two would like something to eat and a drink?” Bernie murmured.

“Now you’re talking,” Jack replied.

I went over to the couch and sat next to Jack while Bernie went through his cupboards in the kitchen area. The light was fading outside and Bernie reflexively flicked on a light, illuminating the kitchen area. As we still had electricity, I switched on the TV with a remote placed carefully on the couch arm. There was no signal on any of the channels, I tried the digital radio but again received no transmission.

“Turn the lights off, Bernie, we’re lighting up our location for all the loons out there,” Jack said.

“Bernie, do you have internet access?” I asked, ignoring Jack.

“Yes, but isn’t the network down?”

“The mobile network. We can still try to access the internet through your cable connection.”

Bernie switched off the kitchen light before he walked over to a desk behind the couch Jack was seated on, and switched on a computer. On his way back to the kitchen, he dropped a bottle of vodka in Jack’s lap and said, “Enjoy.”

“Thanks, Bernie,” Jack said. “I’ll get a couple of glasses. Harry, fire up the internet and I’ll join you in a minute.”

I opened up a browser while Jack opened the vodka. All of the major news sites were accessible, but had not been updated since yesterday lunchtime. It was a dead end.

“Let me try twitter again,” Jack said, pulling the keyboard towards him.

He logged in to his account and found more tweets from strangers. They appeared sinister now that we knew their intention and were safe in Bernie’s apartment with drinks in our hands.

@ljnookie Jack, I’m a sexy lady who is dying to show you a good time in New York. Let’s hook up. Direct message me.

@pizzalover23 Hope you have a good time in the big apple. Interested in some free Giants tickets? Meet me at Port Jervis train station.

@bcat1975 You have been invited to a surprise party. Details will be provided at 4pm on the corner of 27th and 8th.

Jack searched for ‘New York’ and we started reading through the tweets. Quite a few of the most recent ones were claiming to be at JFK, asking for information and assistance. This couldn’t actually be the case, as there was no mobile coverage out there, however, I didn’t really have a clue how to spot if any were genuine.

“I’ll type in Newark and check for tweets from around the time we landed until an hour or so afterwards. We can look at the profiles of the ones that look genuine, and then see if they have tweeted afterwards,” Jack said.

It was good thinking, two planes landed at Newark and we knew the passengers had made it off on foot. It would just be a case of trying to spot which ones were not killers, and hoping that some of them had the twitter addiction Jack did.

A few had tweeted updates just after landing but nothing since then. Only one user stood out from the lists.

@LeaAsh Landed at Newark, What’s happening? Help us, we are stuck at Newark.

Jack clicked on the profile. I expected it to be like all the rest and see no further updates, but there were three more tweets, two of which had been posted today.

@LeaAsh Managed to make it into New York City. Please, please, get in contact with the army or whoever, New York is under attack, there’s no one left.

@LeaAsh There’s 3 of us in a Manhattan apartment. I am not giving our location away, but we need help.

@LeaAsh Is there anybody out there who isn’t trying to kill me? #GA

“Send her one of those direct messages, Jack, quickly.”

“I can’t. She has to be following me to be able to do that. The tweet will be public, so what shall I write?”

I thought for a few seconds.

“Tell her that three of us are coming to Manhattan tomorrow, we’re currently in an outer suburb and arrived on a flight into JFK yesterday afternoon.”

“Are we going to Manhattan tomorrow?” Jack said, raising his eyebrows.

“If we get a reply, then yes. Don’t you agree?”

“Not sure, we have a secure base here, so why risk travelling in the open? I’ll ask her to follow me so we can get more information.”

Jack @Swankey1974 to @LeaAsh Also a group of three but arrived on a JFK flight. We are in an outer suburb at the moment.

Jack @Swankey1974 to @LeaAsh Please follow me so we can direct message. What have you got to lose? What have any of us?

We watched for the next 10 minutes, naively expecting an immediate response. It was more in hope than expectation; Lea Ash was unlikely to be checking Twitter constantly. The best we could really wish for was a response before tomorrow morning.

“The food’s ready. You’d better get me a glass for a vodka as well,” Bernie called from the kitchen.

“No problem at all. You’re allowed to drink your own spirits, but I’ll only get you a glass if you fetch those Marlboro you’ve hidden in a drawer somewhere,” Jack smiled.

“I’ve never allowed smoking in my apartment, but what difference does it make now? As long as you let me eat first.”

Jack and I sat down on the same couch and Bernie handed us each a bowl of baked beans.

“Bernie, you really know how to roll out the red carpet,” Jack said.

“You don’t have to eat it, you ungrateful prick.”

“I’m sorry, Bernie. I didn’t mean…” Jack stammered and trailed off.

After our baked bean dinner, Jack pulled three cigarettes out of the packet. It turned out that the three of us had smoked at some point in the past. Jack and I had smoked in the army, while Bernie said he sometimes had an occasional sneaky one — but not for a year because Linda hated it. There was no sign of guilt from any of us as we coughed our way through the first cigarette. It was oddly calming to sit smoking in companionable silence, all apparently lost in our own thoughts.

Jack had found a bean can to use as an ashtray, then poured us all a large vodka as we sat back and discussed what to do next. Bernie was comfortable at the apartment and wasn’t keen on going into Manhattan, even if we received a response on Twitter.

“We’re safe here. Why put ourselves at more risk by trying to find three people who may even be dead by tomorrow?”

“If we can find three more people and get everyone armed, then we’ll have a strong group,” I said. “Maybe then we can secure a building with plenty of supplies. As we are, the three of us would have trouble holding anywhere with more than one door.”

“We can get supplies and bring them back here. It seems pretty quiet in the area and there are a couple of big stores a few blocks away. Imagine what kind of state Manhattan is in? It will be full of danger, corpses, and killers.”

“If we get a response on Twitter, then let’s at least consider it? If we get no reply, then we’ll stay here for a while.”

“Come on, Bernie,” Jack said, “we don’t even have to hang around in Manhattan if it’s too dangerous. I can’t decide if many killers would actually be there anyway. Remember, their mission is not to get killed by somebody else. If we make it in, Harry and I can have a quick check for Andy and Dave as well. Don’t worry, we won’t be messing around.”

“I’d go where I thought I had the best chance of success,” Bernie said. “There are lots of places to hide in Manhattan and over a million people would have been there yesterday. Think about how many killers we could be exposing ourselves to? There are thousands of windows in the city that look onto the streets. All anyone would need was a gun and a bit of patience.”

“This debate might be pointless anyway,” I said. “We might not even get a response. We can make our minds up tomorrow morning after checking online.”

The mixture of vodka and lack of sleep was starting to loosen me up, and I started speculating on the motivation behind whatever was going on.

“Maybe all of this is the result of a secretly developed weapon. If you wanted to destroy your enemies, would there be a better way to do it? Divide and conquer, you get to keep your hands clean while they wipe themselves out. An invasion afterwards, would simply be a case of rounding up stragglers.”

“Why not just get people to kill themselves? Why bother making them kill somebody else first?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe to ensure those who weren’t affected would face terrible odds? Or to take care of anyone who was incapable of finding a way to complete their own mission?”

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed as a chillingly, effective idea to spread.

“How would the terrorists keep themselves immune from the effect?” Bernie said.

“Maybe they all got into planes. If it was airborne, they could have put on respirators. Or perhaps there’s an antidote, or they just didn’t expose their own geographic area.”

“I hadn’t thought about an invasion before. Who would do something like that?” Jack replied, shifting uneasily in his seat.

We chatted for another half an hour, going around in circles. The only thing that made sense was that it couldn’t have been an accident. Who did it, how they did it, and what they planned to do next, was a mystery. Jack suggested that we all get some sleep, Bernie and I agreed. I stretched out on one of the couches and closed my eyes.

Jack nudged me awake.

“Harry, get up. We’ve got a reply!”

I was disorientated for a few seconds, but quickly recognised Bernie’s apartment and heard Jack behind me tapping on a keyboard. I must have managed a few good hours of sleep, as it was now light outside.

“What does it say?”

“Come and look.”

Bernie appeared from the bedroom in a white vest and briefs; he plodded over to peer at the monitor.

Direct messages from @Lea Ash

Where did you fly from? How can we trust you? There are only 2 of us now.

“How do we know we can trust her? She could be anyone,” Bernie grunted.

“We don’t know,” I said. “At the moment, this is our most realistic chance of making contact with someone who isn’t a killer. Maybe whoever it is, will know where the other passengers from Newark are heading. An organised group would have a far better chance of fighting off the killers’ attacks, once a base has been established.”

“A larger group provides a bigger target as well.”

“True, but let’s try one more message and see what we get back.” I sat at the computer and hit the reply button. “Bernie, where can we see each other from a reasonably safe distance?”

“The Queensboro Bridge I suppose, it’s close to here and leads over into Manhattan. We could stand at either end. If they don’t show, then we come back here. Deal?”

Jack and I both nodded.

Direct messages to @LeaAsh

We left Manchester in England, you will have to trust us as much as we will you. Come to the Queensboro Bridge at 11, we’ll be on the other side.

We had three hours to have something to eat, have a wash, and get to the bridge. I usually showered every day as a routine, although I didn’t shave as regularly, so the hot water and soap left me feeling revitalised for the first time in days. Unfortunately, Bernie was a few sizes smaller than me so I put my old clothes back on with a grimace. I left the door of the bathroom open for Jack who eagerly walked in and closed the door. Bernie said he wasn’t going to bother, instead he warmed up cans of beans and made some coffee.

The beans tasted pleasant enough and I began to think that Bernie might have been right after all. What if we could sit the whole thing out in his apartment? The symptoms people were suffering might not last forever. At least here, we had warm food, relative safety, and no need to risk ourselves unless we were getting supplies. Jack swiped his beans from the kitchen and took them towards the desk to eat and check the computer.

“Harry, Bernie, we’ve got a reply, it says they’ll try to get there.”

Bernie and I walked over to Jack and looked at the message over his shoulders.

“I’m still not sure about this, guys,” Bernie said.

“Totally agree, it’s a risk, but I think we need to find other people,” I replied.

“I agree with Harry,” Jack turned back to us. “We have two potentially important people here, they may know more than we do and can hold guns and cover our backs.”

Bernie walked back to his bedroom.

“You coming then, Bernie?” Jack called

“Do I have a choice?” his muffled reply came back.

We stood ready to go in Bernie’s apartment entrance, readied our weapons and carried out an equipment check. I prepared myself mentally for the next few hours and knew there was a very real possibility that we would meet with a hostile force.

Queens Boulevard, where we had abandoned the car, led straight to the bridge that Bernie had identified as our meeting place. So, we retraced our steps and kept our eyes open, the recycle bin was still where we had left it with the rock on top.

“No. Don’t even think about it,” Jack said.

The Ford was still parked in the same position, facing a blockage that barred the whole expressway. We continued along the sidewalk through intermittent tree groups for three hundred yards, until the road appeared to open up again. At the head of the pile-up, the cars were too mangled for driving, but further up the road was a pick-up. We approached cautiously and found it empty with the keys in the ignition.

“I don’t like it,” Bernie said.

I knew what he meant, the smashed cars, debris, and bodies all around us, were a contrast to this clean vehicle.

“Come on, let’s get out of here, I’m not hanging around,” I said and urged Bernie into the driver’s seat.

With Bernie at the wheel, we wove our way through cars and over bodies to within sight of the bridge. The road leading to the bridge was blocked again with vehicles. We had left Bernie’s with enough time to walk to the bridge in case we couldn’t get there by car, so we still had thirty minutes to wait until the meeting. I suggested that we stay in the car for the next twenty-five minutes instead of drawing attention to ourselves by walking around. Bernie turned off the engine and we all instinctively ducked down.

“When we go out there, we’ll wait ten minutes and that’s it,” Bernie whispered from the front of the car.

We were horribly exposed again and I knew that this had been all my idea, so I didn’t try to negotiate a longer waiting period.

“I’m not happy with this, Harry,” Jack said. “We can’t see anyone coming. I am going to sit up and play dead. At least then, we’ll be able to see in one direction.”

None of us spoke as we waited to move.

“Right, time to go,” Bernie eventually said.

We opened up the doors and started walking guardedly towards the bridge. The view of the Manhattan skyline was stunning against the clear blue sky.

As we approached the point of the bridge where it began to cross the East River, we stopped and took cover behind a yellow taxi.

Bernie peered over the hood to get a view of the bridge; I joined him while Jack sat with his back to the taxi covering the rear. In the distance across the bridge, I could hear the noise of an engine revving.

Jack switched his attention to the bridge and aimed his rifle over the top of the vehicle.

“I can’t see a car. Do you think they are signalling us?”

“A signal? It’s a pretty dumb one if it is,” Bernie said.

I wasn’t ready to give up hope just yet.

“We don’t know what their plan is, let’s play it out Bernie,” I replied.

The engine noise was getting closer.

“I can see a vehicle working its way over the bridge,” Jack said.

“How many in the car?” Bernie asked.

“I can’t see at the moment. It’s about one hundred yards from us,” Jack said, then crouched. “What shall we do? Jump out with our weapons pointed at the windshield when they get to within five yards?”

“No,” I replied, “they might shoot first and ask questions later if we take them by surprise. Let’s stand together in a gap, point our weapons towards the car and give them a decent chance of seeing us early. We are in the agreed meeting place, after all.”

“I don’t like it. What if there is only one killer in the car?” Bernie said.

“Then I put an early end to his mission with this rifle,” Jack answered and tapped the stock.

We stood up and moved into a gap between two cars in the middle of the road. I caught a few brief glimpses of the car weaving towards us. It stopped around fifty yards from our position when the driver must have spotted us. Through the gap, we saw the headlights flash a few times. Our presence was being acknowledged.

Within thirty yards, I saw that there were two people in the car. It disappeared again to make its way around a van. I ran towards the car and reached the driver’s window. Inside, was a bald headed man with a red moustache in a pink t-shirt. Beside him, was a female passenger who was resting her elbow on the window frame and looking out the opposite direction. The driver’s window wound down about four inches.

“Thank God, you’re here. I knew you’d turn up,” I shouted.

A hunting knife shot through the gap and stopped about an inch from my eye. The space had just been just too small for the driver’s clenched hand to fit through. I jumped back and pointed the Glock at him.

“What the fuck are you doing? There’s three of us here!”

The car reversed back a few yards before the wheels spun and it came hurtling towards me. I dived out of the way and the car slammed into another vehicle. I heard a loud bang and looked up to see the driver’s window was shattered. The man’s baldhead fell forwards and rested on the horn, which let off a continuous blast of noise. Jack jogged up to the car, put his hand through the window, and pushed the drivers head sideways away from the wheel.

“What the fuck just happened?” Bernie said as he appeared beside me.

“He tried to kill Harry.” Jack replied as he reloaded the rifle.

“What about the woman?” I said.

“Did you notice that she didn’t actually move? I followed you and went to the other side of the car. By the time I had worked it out, the driver had already tried to stab you and was reversing.”

I still wasn’t sure exactly what Jack had worked out, so I walked around to the passenger window for a look. Inside, I could clearly see that the woman was a corpse. She was still in the same position as before, blankly looking out of the car with her elbow on the window frame. I nudged her; she was as stiff as a board.

This killer had used cunning and knowledge of the situation in his attempt to attack us, which meant these people were conscious of their instructions and could plan how to achieve them. Bernie had little doubt about what had happened after looking through the car.

“Well, that’s your Lea Ash. He was just like the others. Let’s get out of here and back to my place. That shot and the horn blast will have been heard for miles.”

“Back to your place then, Bernie, and no stopping,” Jack said.

We ran back to the car and Bernie started to pick his way back towards Elmhurst. I watched for signs of movement out of the window, but inwardly cursed the failure of our mission. It didn’t take long to arrive back at the vehicle blockade and Bernie stopped the pick-up close to the side of the road. We checked our weapons again and headed out onto the street in a half crouch, with Bernie in the lead and Jack bringing up the rear.

There was no escape from the mangled vehicles, corpses, and devastation, as we headed back to the safety of Bernie’s apartment along an alternative route. The dead seemed to cloy at me and I wondered if we could survive through constant attacks. Lost in my own thoughts, I jumped at the sound of gunfire and saw a puff of dust on the road about two yards in front of me.

“Quick, behind the car,” I shouted.

“For God’s sake, what now?” Bernie said.

“Someone is trying to kill us,” Jack replied dryly.

Bernie’s face was red; he said through gritted teeth, “I fucking know that.”

I looked around the side of the car and saw the girl we had trapped in the recycling bin appear from behind a mailbox. She was pointing a pistol towards us with both hands, and fired again. The round hit a tyre of the car we were hiding behind, and it quickly deflated.

“It’s the girl from before. She’s coming towards us with a pistol,” I shouted.

“We’ve no other options now. Shoot her, shoot her now,” Bernie replied frantically.

Jack started to shake and fumbled with his rifle. “I can’t, I can’t… fuck. Fuck!”

Another shot thudded into the cars bodywork.

“One of us will be dead if someone doesn’t do something,” Bernie shouted, grabbing my arm and shaking it.

I looked at Jack; he had his rifle on his shoulder and was looking at me.

“I am going to hell for this.” He stood up and fired before quickly sitting back down against the wheel of the car.

“Did you get her?” Bernie asked.

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Jack said in a low voice.

Both Bernie and I stood up and saw the body lying in the road about ten yards away. I looked back down at Jack who was just staring straight ahead.

Bernie held out his hand for Jack to haul himself up with. “Back to my place guys, before anyone else turns up.”

We ran, not jumping over puddles or avoiding corpses, but just straight for the apartment with the desperate need for safety. Bernie opened the door in an instant and we piled through, slamming it shut. We all slumped down on the couches and sat staring in silence for ten minutes.

“You did the right thing back there,” I said to Jack. “If you hadn’t shot her, there would only be two of us sitting here now.”

“It’s done, and I want to forget it,” he replied.

Chapter 5 – Temptations

We had landed at JFK forty-eight hours ago, but it felt like weeks. I had witnessed and experienced enough horror in two days to last several lifetimes. If we didn’t get some control back, I knew we wouldn’t make it another two days with killers ready to hide, deceive, and attack us.

Jack hadn’t said a word for the last hour, he seemed troubled after the shooting this morning. I couldn’t leave the tough jobs to Jack, it would put an unfair toll on him. Bernie needed to be armed with more than a flare gun.

“Bernie, your menu seems a little limited,” I half joked, as he handed me another bowl of baked beans.

“Do you buy lots of fresh food just before going on holiday, in case things like this happen?” He said stiffly, as he pointed towards the window.

“Did you have a job before?” I asked.

Bernie sat down on the couch opposite me with a bowl of beans balanced on his knee. “Yes. I was a plumber for the last thirty years and built up a pretty strong business locally. I had twelve staff on the books and I had started to take things easy. We have a place up in Orange County and for the last few years, had started to travel outside the States. I can’t see the phone ringing anytime soon, so that’s me retired. What about you two?”

“We both spent time in the army as you know. Jack worked on missile defence systems, and I was in communications. Although the army always tells you that you are a soldier first, so we do have combat training. For the last five years, we’ve run a landscaping business, but like you say, we’re now retired. Did you have any hobbies?”

“My only real hobby was spending time with Linda. We would eat out, go to the movies, and watch the Jets together. We led a quiet, happy life; none of it involved firing guns.”

“Come on, Bernie, I thought all yanks had at least a hand gun for defence?”

“Nah, New York is the safest city in the world.”

I smiled at his response. If we came across anyone expecting to be rescued and led to a safety zone by three members of Delta Force, they were going to be sorely disappointed. All we could offer at the moment, was a bowl of baked beans in a basement apartment and some speculative arguments.

“Bernie, you said there were a couple of big stores close by?”

“Not again, Harry, I’ve enough food to last us for another couple of days,” he replied.

“I think we should go this afternoon. Then we won’t have to move for a while after that. Let’s just get it out of the way. We can also find you a weapon as well.” I paused and waited for Bernie’s reaction.

“I haven’t seen you kill anyone yet,” he replied, maintaining eye contact.

“It’s not a competition, Bernie; we all need to be armed if we’re going to stay alive,” I said, wondering if he still blamed me for Linda’s death.

Jack had been quiet during our conversation and was fiddling on the computer.

“Are you up for a trip to get some food and drink, Jack?” I called over to him.

“Yeah, whatever,” he replied quietly and carried on surfing the net.

“Have you found any new updates from anyone since we landed?”

I joined Jack at the desk.

“No, it’s all still the same old shit from a couple of days ago. None of the news sites have even changed.”

“Have you checked twitter yet?”

He sighed, typed in the address, and logged in. We had a direct message.

Direct message from Lea Ash

Was that shooting on the bridge something to do with you? We were on our way there and saw a man on the bridge get into a car.

We hung around for a few minutes then heard a shot. Are you ok? We want to get out of the city now, what is your location?

“What do you make of this?” I called over to Bernie, trying not to sound excited.

“This person could still be a killer. They just didn’t get to us first,” he replied, after gazing at the screen.

“Why didn’t she try to take out the other killer on the bridge, then?” I snapped.

“Fine,” Bernie hit back. “We can give them one more chance, but I am not going anywhere near Manhattan. Your friends are dead, just like Linda.”

I hadn’t even been thinking about Andy and Dave. To be honest, I’d already given them up. I didn’t want the argument to escalate, so I turned to Jack, “What do you think?”

“Let’s tell them we’re in Elmhurst, but that they have to find a place here and make contact if they want to meet us.”

“Why not give them a false address and we can watch it from a distance?” Bernie said.

“That’s not a great way to meet,” I said. “We could be leading them into potential danger. Would they ever trust us after that? I prefer Jack’s plan.”

Jack typed out:

Direct messages from Jack

That was us on the bridge. A car came over to our side and the driver had a corpse in the passenger seat so be careful.

Come to Elmhurst and then make contact. We have a safe place and are just going to get some supplies.

“We can’t all fit in here if there are two of them,” Bernie grumbled.

Jack rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. I could see he was getting irritated. “They won’t be expecting the fucking Ritz-Carlton, Bernie. Besides, I’m not sure if it serves bowls of baked beans for lunch.”

I bit my tongue. There was no need to add to what had just been said.

Bernie sat down on the couch. “I’m not having any more shit from you about my food. You’re choosing what we pick up when we get there.”

”I will choose and even cook it for you tonight, are there any gun shops around here?” Jack asked.

“I wouldn’t even know where the nearest is. We should go to my local food mart, it’s only three blocks away and we can get there without attracting any attention.”

“Okay, Bernie, weapons check, then lead the way,” I said.

We opened the door and stepped into the street, I knew this was risky, but staying inside after this morning would be giving up. We had to tackle the situation head on and get control; otherwise, we would end up hidden in Bernie’s apartment with no hope.

As we left the apartment, I urged everyone to stay quiet, keep in the shadows of the adjacent buildings, and stay alert. Within minutes, we had arrived opposite our location and crouched to scout the entrance.

“How many entry points?” I whispered.

“Not a hundred percent sure, but I think there’s only one entrance, but I’ve never really scoped it before.”

Outside the store entrance, a dog was licking the head of a lady whose skull had been crushed, I could see a bloodied hammer by her side.

“Should we try and befriend the dog? It might come in useful as an extra pair of eyes and ears,” Bernie said.

“No, it’s just another mouth to feed. What if we can’t control it? It might start barking like crazy,” I replied.

“Come on, Harry, let’s give it a try,” Jack said.

I knew Jack would support the idea; he had two spaniels at home who were devoted to him.

I patted the sidewalk a couple of times to attract the dog’s attention.

“Here boy, here…”

The dog looked up and ran away; at least not everyone was out to get us.

I put a finger to my lips, and then gestured with the same finger that we should cross the street to the store. We approached cautiously around a pair of corpses who looked like they had been duelling with garden tools. One had been stabbed through the neck with a garden fork, and lay clutching the implement impaled in her neck. The other, who must have carried out the assault, had a large slice across his throat, some pruning shears lay next to him.

Bernie slowly entered the store and immediately sprang back out, “There’s somebody in there. I heard groaning.”

We all raised our weapons.

“Did you see anyone?” Jack asked.

“No, but whoever it was sounded in poor shape.”

I looked around and noticed that there were no other corpses in the near vicinity of the woman with the crushed skull.

“Do you think it’s the person who killed her?” I said, pointing at the woman.

Jack and Bernie shrugged.

“Bernie, you cover us with the flare gun. We’ll burst in and clear the store. It might be a trap,” Jack said.

“No. Jack, give me your rifle, and you take the flare gun. I know the store layout, so I’ll go first. Harry, you cover us from behind.”

I didn’t want Jack to swap weapons with Bernie, it felt a lot safer for Jack to have a rifle compared to a flare gun. Jack exchanged weapons with Bernie, and we all took up our positions around the store entrance. I planned to retrieve the pistol that was used against us in the morning as soon as our shopping trip was finished. Nobody had wanted to approach the body earlier, but Jack being handed the flare gun, suddenly made getting another pistol a priority.

“Now,” Jack said, as he pulled open the door. Both Jack and Bernie vanished into the store.

I stood with my back to the store, staring out onto the street, it suddenly felt like a lonely place and I shivered at the thought of watching eyes.

“Harry, come in. It’s safe,” Jack eventually called.

I walked inside the store, which was a complete mess; the shelves of food had been spilled in every direction. I found Jack and Bernie standing over a man in a condiment aisle that also had canned vegetables and dried foods. He was holding onto a broken bottle that he must have thrust into his eye.

“Is she? Is she? Help me, the bottle… Finish it. I haven't the strength,” he mumbled.

“What do you want?” Bernie said.

“He wants us to help him complete his mission, doesn’t he?” I said.

“Grab my hands… push the bottle,” the man groaned.

“That wouldn’t be suicide if we help. He’ll die soon enough anyway. There’s nothing we can do for him,” Jack said.

“Perhaps we should help him? It would be like putting down a sick animal,” Bernie said, looking at me.

“Let’s have a think about it while we grab some supplies. I don’t want to hang around here all day.”

I was hoping that the man would die while we filled bags with food.

I packed cans of soup, chili, fruit, and some bottles of cola into two plastic bags and met Bernie and Jack back where the injured man was lying.

“Please, end it now,” he moaned.

Bernie pointed the rifle he had at the man’s head and closed his eyes.

“No, don’t do it. It will draw attention to us,” I whispered.

“I can’t just leave him to die like this. I can’t do it.”

“This man probably caved in the skull of the lady outside with a hammer. He would have done the same to you or me if we were in her shoes. Let him die.”

“Fuck this,” Jack said, stepping towards the man.

He stamped on the bottle, forcing it deeper into the eye socket; a thick purple stream of blood ran down the side of the man’s face. He let out a long breath, and his head flopped to the left.

Bernie looked over at Jack with fear in his eyes. Jack picked up his shopping bags and headed for the entrance.

“We need to stop debating and start making decisions,” he said over his shoulder.

Jack had ended the man’s suffering and given him what he wanted, but it still didn’t sit easily with me. There was no realistic way to imagine him being any kind of threat, so we should have left him alone. He could also have been an easy victim for any other killer heading in our direction. That would have taken care of another potential threat.

As we made our way back to Bernie’s apartment, I scanned the area, which was made up of housing blocks in a grid system.

“What’s the view like from the roof of your apartment block?” I asked Bernie.

“Pretty good. You can see quite far around. Why?”

“I am sick of feeling like we are constantly being hunted. It’s time to get a handle on our situation.”

“What are you thinking?” Jack asked.

“We need a diversion, some way of attracting attention. If killers turn up and take each other out, then it’s less for us to deal with.”

“What has this got to do with the roof?” Bernie asked.

“We pick a spot that we can observe from the roof,” I explained, “find a car, and turn on some loud music or set fire to it. We can then watch what happens from relative safety to see if there’s any kind of pattern or behaviour.”

“But that means we are drawing the killers to us as well. Isn’t it risky to create a loud noise in case there’s somebody in the vicinity already?”

“We observe an area that is a reasonable distance away for a couple of hours,” I answered, “and if there’s no movement, we run down to it, create the signal, come back, and watch what happens from the safety of the roof.”

“Wouldn’t smoke attract killers from miles around?”

“We don’t set anything on fire then,” Jack jumped in eagerly, “we just create a loud enough noise that can be heard in the local area. Let’s go up to the roof now and have a look.”

We dumped our supplies in Bernie’s apartment and went to the elevator that would take us to the top floor. Jack pressed the button and nothing happened. We both looked at Bernie.

“There must be a problem with the power,” he said.

Jack ran back to Bernie’s apartment. “There’s no power in here either, all of the appliances are off.”

I had wondered how long electricity would last if nobody was maintaining the system. We had no communications with the outside world now, and were on our own.

“We’ll have to go out again for some candles and a camping stove,” I said.

“I’ve candles. We can have cold food tonight and pick something up from a sporting goods store tomorrow,” Bernie replied.

We all trudged up the stairs discussing what the possible effects of no electricity would be. I remembered hearing that the Hoover Dam would continue to provide electricity for 100 years without any human contact. That obviously didn’t extend to suburban New York.

Out on the roof, we had a good view of the surrounding area and surveyed the immediate vicinity looking for a potential ambush location.

“Bernie, what’s that space over there with a few cars, between those two large buildings?” Jack said.

“It’s a parking lot for the two stores. That would work, I suppose.”

It was workable for what I had in mind. It was just over half a mile away, and we had a good view of the whole area.

“Let’s watch it for a few hours, and then go over and ramp up the volume in one of the cars,” I said. “I’ll take one of your Celine Dion CDs, Bernie — although that racket might scare people away!”

“That was Linda’s CD.”

“Sorry, Bernie, I didn’t know.”

“Fine, Harry, It’s not like we have anything better to do, there’s still a few hours of light left.”

For the next hour, we watched the parking lot and surrounding area in three arcs, but didn’t see any signs of life.

“Time to get things moving,” I said. “Jack can you stay on the roof and cover us?”

“The chances of hitting the killer are slim from this range, but I can at least give you a warning.”

“Good enough, Bernie and I will scoot down there, get the music turned on, and then run like mad. You okay with that, Bernie?”

He nodded back.

Bernie and I descended the apartment block steps and walked onto the street; I tapped his shoulder and set off towards the pistol on Queens Boulevard. Neither of us said a word as I retrieved the Glock, carried out a make-safe procedure, and checked the magazine. I slid the magazine back into the pistol grip and handed it to Bernie. He nodded and immediately cocked it.

Bernie led the way to the parking lot. Once there, I looked up for the top of our apartment block. Jack was visible and we waved at each other.

“Harry, this one is open and has the keys in the ignition,” Bernie called over from a Honda.

It seemed the owner had jumped out in a rush and was one of the two corpses a few yards away. One had been strangled, judging by the marks on her neck. The attacker was lying face down next to her in a pool of his own blood.

Bernie started the car and the engine roared into life.

“Quick, put this in the CD player and turn it up full blast, we’ll jog back the way we came,” I said.

The engine noise was drowned out by ‘My Heart Will Go On’, by Celine Dion, taking both of us by surprise. It was loud, very loud.

“Come on, Bernie. Let’s get out of here,” I shouted.

As we left the car park, I heard the sound of gunfire in the distance; we both stopped and looked around. Nobody was in sight, but I changed my mind about our pace.

“Run.”

Bernie kept up a strong pace, and eventually, I was struggling to keep up with him. We made it back to the apartment block and crashed through the door.

With the door behind us, I bent double with the exertion and breathed in heavily. Bernie was sweating and leant against the internal wall. I nodded and we slowly climbed the stairs, catching our breath, and back out onto the roof.

I struggled to get my words out to Jack. “Who was it? Where were they? Did you hit them?”

“I didn’t see anyone and didn’t fire that shot. I think it came from a few blocks to the right,” Jack replied.

“So who fired the shot?” Bernie wheezed.

“Who cares as long as they didn’t shoot at us or see us? Hopefully, it was a killer finishing themselves off,” I replied.

Both Bernie and I sat down next to the wall with Jack and looked over at the parking lot. I could hear the music drifting over from the distant Honda. Nothing happened for the next hour, the running engine would prevent draining of the car battery as long as the car had fuel. This could go on all night, although we wouldn’t be able to see anything in the dark.

“Look! Down there to the left of the parking lot by the row of trees. There’s somebody behind the furthest one on the left,” Bernie pointed.

I scanned along the trees and saw a man with his hand out in front of him and close to his face. It appeared he was armed and watching the parking lot. He ducked from one tree into a doorway, and then cautiously entered the parking lot. He checked the bodies lying on the ground, opened the driver’s door, and pointed his weapon inside.

“Don’t turn the music off,” Jack said.

The man didn’t adjust the volume, instead, he crouched behind the car. He had turned our trap into his trap, which was exactly what I wanted. Now there were four of us waiting.

“This is working well so far,” Jack said.

“What do you think, Bernie?” I said, after nodding agreement.

He was looking down to the right, the opposite direction from which the killer had come, and didn’t say anything at first.

“Oh, God…” he replied, “…I think we’ve fucked up.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Behind the blue van, over there.”

I looked down and was horrified to see two people stooped behind a blue van. One male and one female, both carried pistols.

“They might just be having a look and don’t want to get too close, would you?” I said, more out of hope than belief.

“If I received a message to come to Elmhurst, I might see it as a signal,” Jack replied. “Could this be Lea Ash? Maybe they fired the earlier shot.”

The pair moved up behind the next stationary vehicle. They had around six vehicles and forty yards between themselves and the parking lot. There was no mistaking which way they were heading now, as they moved up to the next car.

“Oh shit, how can we warn them? Jack, fire a warning shot,” I said.

“It won’t do any good and we would be risking our own position,” Bernie said.

Shouting a warning or firing a flare would be even worse ideas, they would both bring unwanted attention onto our position. I didn’t have time to run down and head them off, so we had no sensible options.

I looked back out to the road. It was too late anyway. The man and woman were now hiding behind the last car and looking over at the lot. I felt helpless as I watched the scene unfold.

“They have already survived for at least a few days in this madness, and then made it to Elmhurst. They might be alright…” Bernie said.

The pair slowly entered the parking lot and started to look around.

“Do you think you could hit the killer from here if we see him first?” I asked Jack.

“No,” Jack replied, “and I’ve already said that we don’t want to be attracting people here.”

Bernie had been right. This was a fuck-up.

“Come on, come on. He’s behind the car. He’s behind the car,” I caught myself murmuring aloud.

It looked like the man sent the woman around the back of the car, while he approached the passenger window. I took a deep breath.

We saw the man slump backwards onto the ground with both arms outstretched as the delayed sound of a shot echoed up to us. The woman was still crouched behind the back of the car when we heard the second shot. The woman ran around to check on her partner and knelt next to his body. I looked down and closed my eyes.

“What do we do now?” Jack said.

Bernie looked at me.

“Those two shots will have attracted even more interest than the music. It’s going to be dangerous down there,” he said.

I had to do something.

“You two stay here and keep a look-out; I’m going to get her. I’ll look this way when I get down there. Direct me if she moves Jack, if you see a killer nearby, then hold your rifle above your head with both hands.”

Before Bernie or Jack could argue, I ran for the stairs and quickly descended them.

Once outside, I ran towards the parking lot. I knew from our first trip that it was around three minutes away, and was hoping that the woman would still be there. It seemed unlikely that she would stay, but I knew that finding her once she went into hiding, would be difficult and dangerous — especially on my own.

Just before I reached the parking lot, I looked up at Bernie’s apartment block. Jack was holding his rifle above his head with both arms.

I waved an acknowledgement and cocked the Glock, Jack pointed towards the trees that the first killer had approached from. I was suddenly confused, as I gave the instructions in a rush before heading down the stairs. I didn’t know if Jack meant the woman had gone towards the trees, or if that was where the killer was. I thought of what I would have done in his shoes and decided he was pointing towards the killer.

I moved quickly into the parking lot and saw the woman kneeling about twenty yards away, over the body of her partner.

“Lea Ash?” I whispered loudly.

Her head shot up, “Who the fuck are you?”

She raised a silver Beretta and pointed it at me.

I put my finger to my lips and gestured towards the trees to the left of the parking lot.

“Shhh. There’s somebody coming to try and kill us.”

“Stay the fuck back,” she shouted. “How do I know that you aren’t the one trying to kill me?”

“We’ll have to do this quickly. Look up there. You see my brother holding a rifle above his head? That means he can see a killer,” I said.

“That could be a dummy for all I know. They’ve tried to fool us before.” She stepped towards me, keeping a two handed grip on her weapon.

“A dummy with two mechanical arms?” I snapped.

I looked back up at Jack who was now waving frantically.

“Look,” I said, “you can kill me after if you still don’t trust me, but for now, there’s danger coming our way and I would rather not die. Get behind the car.”

I picked up my weapon, held it by my side in a non-threatening way and walked behind the car. The killer was slumped against the door with an entry wound in his temple. I took the revolver out of his limp hand; it was empty of rounds, so I quickly discarded it.

“Hands up,” the woman screamed from the other side of the car.

“Get around here or you’ll be dead in a minute. I could have shot you by now if that was what I wanted,” I shouted.

I looked back up at Jack who seemed to be aiming his rifle just to the left of the parking lot. Using my moment of distraction, the woman ran around the side of the car and put her Beretta against the side of my head.

“How do you know my name, are you one of them?” she asked.

I couldn’t blame her for acting like she did, we were in a crazy world. I needed to convince her quickly, to improve our situation.

“We were the ones on twitter,” I said. “Can I pick up my Glock now? There’s somebody coming.”

“Were you watching when Chris was shot?” she shouted at me again. I ignored the question.

I could now hear footsteps coming towards us. I turned and looked at the left-hand side of the parking lot. A large man in a dirty white vest, holding a steel pipe, came around the corner and walked towards us.

“Don’t trust that man, missy, he killed my friend,” he shouted.

He must have heard some of the argument and was trying to use it to his advantage.

“Is this true?” she said, and pointed her weapon at my head again.

I was starting to think I might have to shoot both of them; the time for being reasonable was over.

“If I am the fucking killer and I killed his friend, why didn’t I kill myself straight afterwards?” I snapped.

“Okay, I believe you,” she said.

She backed away from me, pointing her Beretta in my direction.

“Will you help me kill him?” she said to the newcomer.

What was she doing?

“Don’t do this, please,” I said, shaking my head.

As the man got within five yards of her, he raised the pipe behind his head. I raised the Glock, but before I had a chance to fire, Lea span around and shot him in the face. The round passed through his cheek and he collapsed backwards, before making a strange snorting noise. We both looked at each other, I went over to where the snorting man who still held the pipe was lying, pointed the Glock at his forehead, and pulled the trigger.

“There, are you happy now?”

There was no time to hang around, my trap had been effective, but I was standing in the middle of it. There were three fresh bodies on the ground; the problem was that one of them hadn’t been a killer.

“We need to get out of here. The music and the shots will attract more of these people. We’ve an apartment a short distance away that’s been safe so far. Are you coming or not?”

“I don’t see what choice I have,” she said.

As we made our way to Bernie’s, I considered giving her more reassurance, but we were still in the open and the threat level was high. We reached the entrance door that I had foolishly left open and I led her into Bernie’s basement apartment.

“Wait here, I’ll go and get the other two guys.”

“Don’t leave me on my own here, please.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I replied. “Nobody can get through the door once you lock it from the inside, and the windows are not visible from street level. We’ll knock three times so you know it’s us.”

It was impossible to be completely reassuring in our current environment, but it was the best I could do. I closed the door and ran upstairs to where Bernie and Jack were waiting.

“Where’s the girl? What happened down there?” Bernie said when I arrived on the roof.

I explained what had happened and thanked Jack for the warning.

“I was going to take a shot at him if you two didn’t start paying attention,” he said. “I wouldn’t have hit him though, so it’s a good job you managed to convince her.”

“I don’t think we can let Lea know they walked into a set-up,” I said.

“Why not?” Bernie asked. “We were only trying to draw in killers. Our intentions were good.”

“We don’t know the relationship they had or what they have been through. We told them to come to Elmhurst and our trap has just killed one of them. How do you think she would feel about us if she knew?”

“If I was in her shoes and I found out,” Jack said, “I would be annoyed. I agree with Harry. We’ll just say we heard the music and came up to the roof to see what was happening.”

I went downstairs to collect Lea and bring her up to the roof to meet Jack and Bernie. There were still a couple of hours of daylight left to continue to watch the parking lot.

I knocked three times on the door and a voice came from behind it saying, “Hello, is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me, my name’s Harry. Come on up to the roof where the other two are. We thought we should keep an eye on what was happening in the parking lot. You’ll be safe.”

I led the way up to the roof and she silently followed. When we arrived at the top, Jack and Bernie both stood up. I introduced them and they each shook Lea’s hand.

“Sorry about your friend over there,” Jack said, and held his arm out in the direction of the parking lot.

Lea walked over to the edge of the roof and looked at the parking lot; she sat down with her back against the wall and put her head in her hands. Jack, Bernie, and I, looked at each other uncomfortably.

“How long were you watching?” Lea said.

“Watching what?” Bernie replied.

“Watching down there,” she shouted, “where do you think? Did you put that music on?”

I could see the tears welling up in her eyes again. This was going to be hard work.

“We heard the music and came up here to try and see what was happening,” Jack said. “By the time we saw you, it was too late.”

She was eyeing us all with suspicion.

“Lea, we’ll all go downstairs in an hour or so and we can talk about our experiences from the last few days then,” I said. “But for now, we want to keep watching the parking lot to see if anybody else gets drawn in.”

“Drawn in?” she replied.

“Somebody has created a lot of noise down there. It’s attracting attention. So we want to watch to see if we can learn anything else about the way the killers work, or if we could possibly try the same thing in the future to draw killers to each other,” I answered.

“We honestly would have warned you if we could,” Bernie piped up earnestly.

“You call them killers?” Lea asked.

“Yes, why? Do you have a better name?” I answered.

“We didn’t have a name for them,” Lea replied. “It’s just been awful since I landed at Newark; I never expected any of this.”

I shook my head in agreement with her and gave an empty, “Yeah, I know.”

I was thinking about how to tell our story to Lea when we got downstairs and wondered what she had gone through. Comparing notes was going to be interesting.

“Look! Down there by the trees again, in the same place we saw the first one,” Jack said.

Lea jumped up and stared at Jack, anger etched across her face.

“The first one? What you mean ‘the first one’?” she snapped.

“Err… I mean the first killer we saw from up here… the one with the pipe that came to attack you and Harry,” Jack stuttered.

“So where was the second one, if he was the first?”

“There wasn’t a second one; all we saw was one killer. So he was the first. This one is the second,” Bernie replied unconvincingly.

“Why was it too late when you saw us at the parking lot?” She pointed at Jack and shouted, “How did you know it was too late?”

Seeing us all stunned and unable to answer, she spun her accusing hand towards Bernie. “He said he couldn’t warn us. That means you knew there was something to warn us about.”

I was starting to feel ashamed, but stuck to our lie.

“We were speaking with the benefit of hindsight. We couldn’t warn you because we didn’t know anyone was there. The first time we knew a killer was there was when we saw the shooting. The first time any of us actually saw him was when I came down to the parking lot.”

“He’s approaching the parking lot,” Bernie said.

Strangely, having the distraction of a killer below, came as a welcome relief from our rooftop interrogation.

The killer was a woman who had made her way up to the car and was inspecting all of the bodies. She picked up the pistol that Lea’s friend had been carrying and disappeared behind the Honda, the CD was still playing.

“See, Lea, we couldn’t see the position of the killer that attacked your friend,” Jack said. “This is the view we had when we came onto the roof. You were just approaching the car.”

I wished that Jack hadn’t added the extra coating of sugar onto our bullshit. It was starting to sound as if we were trying too hard. Lea didn’t seem stupid, and I was sure she would see straight through us if this went any further.

“Can we just forget it now, please?” I replied.

“Easy for you to say, I’ve been to hell and back,” Lea hissed.

“Yes, it is easy for us to say,” Jack said with an irritated edge to his voice. “We’ve had a picnic since getting off the plane. It was especially fun when Bernie’s wife was killed right in front of us with a machete.”

Bernie stared down at his shoes, Lea looked surprised. It wasn’t the most subtle thing Jack could have said, but at least it shut everyone up again. We all went back watching the ground below us.

There wasn’t much conversation during the next hour. I didn’t want to get into any more question and answer sessions with Lea, and guessed Jack and Bernie thought the same.

The killer didn’t move from behind the car.

“Here’s another one. Do you think they’ll try to bluff each other or just go straight for it?” I said as I saw a man sneaking through the cars towards the parking lot.

“How do we know either of them are actually killers?” Bernie said.

“Do you want to go down and ask them politely?” Lea responded.

I let out a snigger. I looked at Jack and he was smiling as well. Bernie sighed.

The man walked towards the Honda, but stopped about 10 yards short of it. He had one hand behind his back, and it looked like he was carrying a knife. The woman behind the car suddenly stepped out and shot at him. The impact knocked the man sideways, but he was still on his feet. He rushed towards the woman who looked like she was struggling with her weapon. Before she managed to resolve whatever issue she had with the gun, the man plunged his knife into her midriff. She fell backwards; he crouched on her chest, repeatedly stabbing her for around thirty seconds. He picked up her weapon and started fiddling with it himself. He was clearly more competent, as in a matter of seconds; he shot himself in the head.

“She probably had a stoppage in the chamber,” Jack murmured.

“So what do you make of that then?” Bernie said, looking at us all.

“What do we make of what?” Lea replied. “I knew what was going to happen, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but we—”

“Are you surprised by what you saw? Did you expect anything else?” Lea replied.

“No, not really, but we’ve learned a few things about the killers in the last couple of days. The more information we can get on them, the better. I’ll explain it all downstairs,” I said.

At least, we’d explain most things.

I turned to Bernie. “Come on, let’s get back to your apartment and get those candles out before its pitch black and we can’t see what we are lighting.”

Chapter 6 – Both sides

Now that there was no electricity, any building with bright lighting would be easy for killers to spot. The candles suited our needs.

“Would anybody like half a can of cold chili, a glass of vodka, and a cigarette?” Jack said.

A few days ago, Jack’s offer would have seemed laughable and a bit odd, considering he was a guest here too. Now it sounded welcoming and nobody refused.

I went to help Jack in the kitchen area and left Bernie and Lea sitting opposite each other on the two couches. They weren’t saying anything to each other but did exchange the odd, awkward glance and false smile. I had been hoping they’d strike up a conversation so I could talk to Jack about what had happened during the day.

We took the food and drinks over to the couches. Jack sat next to Lea, and I sat with Bernie as we tucked into our cold dinner. All that could be heard for the next two minutes was the noise of spoons clinking on porcelain bowls. After we finished, Jack passed around the cigarettes and I poured the vodka. It was time to share our stories, and learn a little bit more about Lea. She looked about 25 years old, brown haired, had a pretty but sensible face, and her body shape was hidden beneath combat trousers and a wool sweater.

“So, tell us about your experiences since landing… if it’s not too painful,” I said.

“You don’t have to tread on egg shells around me because I am a woman,” she replied. “I’m sure you’ve seen some pretty nasty things as well.”

“Okay, we won’t then,” Jack said.

It was hard to tell whether Lea’s smile was because she enjoyed the comeback, or because she thought we were a trio of clowns.

“You tell me what happened from JFK first,” she said.

We told Lea what had happened from our arrival on the tarmac to just before we set the trap in the parking lot, which of course we left out. She seemed unsurprised by what had happened with the steward and then with Maureen, but the man in the cell was different. Lea hadn’t had the chance to speak to a killer the way we had, and what we said probably helped her piece a few things together.

Bernie spoke with emotion about Linda’s death, and I could see genuine concern on Lea’s face. I then continued with what happened when we returned to the plane, how the captain had been shot at and how we managed to convince a killer to shoot himself. Then, reluctantly, we told of the girl and the recycling bin.

Jack talked coldly about our experience at the Queensboro Bridge and the shootout afterwards with the same girl. I knew he was probably hiding his real feelings, but then the other two probably noticed that as well. Nobody changes from a gardener or plumber to a cold-hearted killer in forty-eight hours, whatever the circumstances.

Jack had been attached to the Parachute Regiment and deployed to Afghanistan. He had never really discussed in public any experiences of active service, other than throwaway jokes about women and drinking. It was a defence mechanism I also used to avoid awkward conversations. We talked privately about incidents we had been involved in; some things were best kept behind closed doors. At least, the Jack and Harry doors anyway.

Finally, I told Lea about our shopping trip, and then poured us all another drink.

Lea had listened intently throughout and appeared much more relaxed, “Did you learn anything else from the killers besides their aims and that under certain circumstances, they can be fooled?”

Bernie answered before I could speak. “They don’t seem to acknowledge that the world around them is in chaos and slowly being destroyed. We—”

“Did you get any strange messages on Twitter?” I interrupted. “Jack had invites to parties and an offer of free football tickets. We worked out that these must have been killers trying to lure their prey. I mean, who could realistically believe that the Giants would still be playing on Sunday after seeing any of the stuff we have seen?”

“I received some weird messages along similar lines. Have you seen anything else online?”

Jack, Bernie, and I, all looked at each other but said nothing. I shook my head.

“So, what’s your story then?” Bernie said.

“I’m from Michigan. I boarded a flight from Detroit to JFK to meet up with an old college friend in Manhattan on Friday. I hadn’t seen him for years, but really needed his advice, as I had fallen out with my partner.”

Lea paused and raised her eyebrows. I wasn’t sure what she was expecting us to say.

“Did you notice anything on the plane?” I asked.

“No, we had a relatively short flight. There was a bit of turbulence, but nothing unusual until the Captain told us that the plane was diverting to Newark. As you can imagine, we all started to get worried. There was no more information and the plane landed, but stopped short of the terminal. We waited for help but the whole place was deserted and loads of passengers started to panic…”

“So the captain didn’t say what was happening? How did you get off the plane?” Bernie asked.

“We were told that there was a temporary lock-down due to a terrorist attack and we needed to sit tight until it was safe to disembark. We all believed it at first, why would you doubt it? Could there be any other explanation?”

The last comment hung in the air as Lea seemed to search our face for answers.

“Your story sounds similar to ours so far. What happened next?” Jack replied.

“We all spent the first night on the plane in total darkness. I was sat in a window seat with a couple of teachers called Chris and Mike next to me, they were from Detroit. Chris grabbed a bottle of wine from their bag and they debated the quality of local schools, mixed with stupid stories about kids they taught. I kept quiet and only spoke when they asked me a couple of questions about my own life. Their constant droning almost made me scream.”

I was starting to wonder about the relevance, but kept quiet. Bernie was less obliging.

“You wanted to scream because people were talking? Come on, Lea.”

“You know some people are so concerned by their own little nests, they are oblivious to what’s going on around them. Listening to Chris and Mike, I knew they were so secure and in their own little world. I wished I could feel the same, but somehow, I knew that it was all much more serious than a lock-down.”

“Fair enough, carry on,” I quickly said, before Bernie could reply.

“I managed to sleep for a couple of hours once the teachers had exhausted their conversation. At first light, there was still no news. With the passengers now thoroughly pissed, the captain made an announcement. He told us there was no contact with anyone on the ground with the exception of a few others planes that had landed around the same time as us. Well, the whole plane erupted in shouts and screams, people started to get up and bump into each other, some started fighting and other crazy shit. It all settled down with repeated pleas from the loudspeaker and the appearance of an Air Marshal.”

“We never had one of those on our plane, but I was asked if I was one,” Jack replied.

I topped up all of our glasses apart from Lea’s. She picked up her glass, swallowed the vodka with a single gulp and held her glass towards me. I smiled, poured her a drink, and she continued with her story.

“The Air Marshal spoke with authority and told us that he would go to the terminal building and use their long-range radio. He jumped down from the front entrance and I saw him walking towards the building, he never came back.”

“Sounds like we had more luck than the Air Marshal,” I said.

“You think?” Bernie replied.

I thought for a moment and shook my head.

Lea looked at us both, probably waiting to see if I was going to answer Bernie with a verbal reply. I didn’t.

She continued, “Chaos broke out again, this time a group forced their way out of the plane after deploying a slide. They ran away from the terminal towards the perimeter fence. The captain repeated his pleas to stay in the plane but all control had been lost, and some groups started to make a break for it. Chris and Mike were annoyed at the behaviour of other passengers, but agreed to form a small group with some of the surrounding people and head towards Manhattan. I joined them thinking it was better than sitting on the plane, and we headed out. I reckon at least half of the passengers remained on the plane when we left, a few I spoke to, thought an extended cordon was in place.”

“I wonder who gave them that idea,” Jack said.

Lea paused again and looked at the three of us.

“Go on,” I nodded.

“There were twelve of us in a pretty mixed group. Most started to panic once we left the airport, bodies were everywhere. Chris thought it must have been a dirty bomb, it seemed to make sense. We walked along an overpass when a good-looking man in a flashy suit appeared from behind a vehicle. He was friendly at first, and offered to lead us to safety…”

“I think I know what’s coming,” Bernie said.

“When an old lady from our group approached him, he pulled half a brick from inside his jacket and smashed her skull open. He was like a fucking wild animal. Before anyone could blink, he hurled himself off the bridge head first onto the highway below.”

“That figures,” Jack said.

“Yeah, it does now, but back then, I stood in shock. The lady’s husband fell to the ground before reaching the body, we couldn’t bring him around. He might have had a heart attack or something. Mike was sick all over my shoes; Chris ran over to the old lady and confirmed she was dead. We were stuck in the open and scared, two couples ran back towards the airport.”

“Why did they do that?” I asked.

“I’ve got no idea. Before they reached the end of the overpass, a screaming man appeared; he pushed one of the females straight onto the road below. Her partner started fighting with the man but he was killed as well…”

“Wait a minute, this mad-man killed two people?” Jack asked.

“Yes, the guy had a knife and stabbed him in the neck a few times.”

“What did he do after that?” Jack said.

“He ran away after that towards the airport.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“None of it makes any sense, Jack,” I replied. “Maybe he was only half affected?”

“Why would anyone be only half affected? We haven’t seen that anywhere else?”

“I don’t know. But it doesn’t really change anything, he still killed. We don’t let anyone close.”

Jack nodded.

“I don’t get why he ran away, what happened after that?” Bernie asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine. The other couple both huddled against the wall, I think they just froze or couldn’t take it anymore. Chris suggested that we had to find some shelter. I called to the couple to join us and get moving, but they told me they were going it alone and waved us away. Only six of us made it to Manhattan.”

“What was that like?” I asked.

“What do you think? A woman came sprinting out of an alley holding a bread knife and headed straight for us. I turned and started running as fast as I could, I had no idea where I was going. When I stopped to catch my breath, only Chris and a lady called Deb were with me. The others must have made-off in other directions. I looked down the street and she was still coming for us.”

“Shit, what happened next?” I said.

“A man stepped out of an entrance to an apartment block and hit her in the face with a baseball bat. He smashed her head all over the sidewalk with another few swings. He was like a fucking machine. I tried to thank him, but he ignored me, picked up the dead woman’s bread knife and sawed at his own throat until blood was pouring out. He dropped to his knees, and then fell face first onto the sidewalk.”

“Did you start to see a pattern?” Bernie asked.

”I wasn’t really thinking straight, but looking back I can. We ran into the apartment block the man had come from and found a door open on the second floor. We sneaked inside and searched the apartment for any signs of life, it was empty, so I locked the door, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.”

“It was like that when we got to Bernie’s. Is that where you tweeted from?” I replied.

“Yeah, it had internet access, food and drink, so we decided to wait there until we could figure out what was happening. Chris was really worried about Mike, and Deb wouldn’t stop talking about conspiracy theories. In the end, we both told her to shut up.”

“Did you see or hear anything outside?” Bernie said.

“No, none of us looked out of the window in case it brought some unwanted attention, if you know what I mean?”

I nodded.

“A fire alarm close by prevented us from hearing anything outside, I heard a few loud bangs near the apartment, but we kept the lights off and curtains closed. Just after we had dinner, there was a loud banging at the door—”

“Here we go,” Jack said.

“Chris looked through the spyglass and saw a man in a blue uniform. He said he was building security and wanted to come in so he could check that everybody was okay.”

“Right,” Bernie said, shaking his head.

“We didn’t know did we? In hindsight, we should have ignored him, but at the time, we were desperate to reach out for any kind of help. Chris put the chain on the door and opened it up. The man kicked the door really hard, it flew open and sent Chris flying backwards into Deb and me. The man came inside, he had a large tool or something like that above his head, you know? Like what a mechanic has.”

“A wrench?” Bernie replied.

“Whatever. He swung it down towards Chris’ face. Chris rolled out of the way to avoid being hit, but he exposed Deb, who took the full force of the blow to the side of her head. I wriggled backwards to get away from what was happening, it took me a few seconds to get my feet free from under Deb’s body. I was screaming, the man carried on hitting Deb’s head with the tool. Chris tried to grab his leg, but was kneed in the face. The man checked Deb’s pulse; I don’t know why, half her head was caved in. He walked out and I heard a window smash.”

Lea paused and drank her vodka.

“I’m sorry, Lea that sounds horrific, you’re lucky to be alive. What happened after that?” I asked.

“The guy had jumped out head first onto the sidewalk. We saw him again when we left the apartment to come and meet you. Chris blamed himself for Deb’s death. If he hadn’t rolled away, then she would still have been alive, he said. I tried to reason with him saying it was a natural reaction to avoid something like that, he wouldn’t listen. He kept repeating it over and over again until late into the night. He wrapped Deb’s body in a blanket from the spare room and sat with it all night. I don’t think he knew her at all, but he had started to lose control.”

“I suppose different people react in different ways,” I said, without giving it much thought.

Lea stared at me for a few seconds, and then continued.

“I didn’t get much sleep that night; I was too scared to close my eyes. In fact, I haven’t really slept at all since landing. Next morning, Chris and I were both completely worn out and he was making me despair at our situation. I felt like we were going to be killed at any moment, more in desperation, I checked twitter and saw your reply. Your tweets had been the only ones I received that stood out as being genuine. Chris was in a mess, I needed some confidence that I could actually get through all of this in one piece. That was when I replied and agreed to meet you at the bridge.”

We all nodded.

“Chris didn’t want to leave the apartment, but I convinced him that we needed to find more people if we wanted to survive, he eventually agreed. I found a map in the apartment and the bridge wasn’t far—”

“I’ve been waiting to hear this,” Bernie said.

Lea rolled her eyes.

”We crept along to the bridge and it was pretty quiet, but within fifty yards, I saw a man walking across the bridge from the Manhattan side. He jumped into a car and started driving through the stationary traffic away from us. There was no way I could warn you. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, Lea, we probably wouldn’t have recognised a warning even if you tried,” Jack replied.

“We waited to see what would happen as I knew you might be at the other end. I heard a shot then a long blast of a car horn. We sprinted back to the apartment and I still didn’t know if you had survived or were even genuine.”

“Well, here we are. What did you do after that?” I asked.

“Back at the apartment, I started to feel really desperate, and sent another tweet without much hope of reply. Chris had become manic, saying that we were going to die and that our last hope had gone. He wouldn’t eat and seriously considered just wandering the streets to find Mike. We agreed to stay in the apartment, purely because it seemed safer than any alternative.”

“What alternatives did you consider?” Bernie said.

“Not that many really, we were thinking about getting a boat and anchoring in the harbour, or heading to the end of Long Island. But once you replied on twitter, I wanted to hook up in Elmhurst regardless of what Chris wanted to do. I had a map that covered the area and was just about to send you another tweet confirming I was on my way, when the power died. Chris refused to leave at first. I ended up slapping him and shouting that he was risking both our lives by wanting to stay. If he wanted to do something stupid, I told him, he could do it after we had found other people.”

“So he went along with it?” Bernie asked.

“When I asked him what Mike would have wanted, he agreed to leave with me and head to Elmhurst. We didn’t come across anyone while making our way over the Queensboro Bridge, although we did manage to get an automatic each from a crowd of corpses.”

“You know how to use one?” Jack said.

“I have used guns before. An ex-partner had a weird obsession with them and used to take me to a range.”

“And when you crossed the bridge?” Bernie replied.

“We crept along following the directions on my map. When we turned towards the heart of Elmhurst and walked a couple hundred yards, the music started a few blocks away. Chris decided that it must have been you letting us know your location, and that you were guiding us in. Just in case, we checked our guns. I let off a shot by accident.”

“I think we heard that.” I said, it was probably the shot that caused Bernie and me to start running from the scene of the trap.

“We crept up to the parking lot, you know the rest.”

We all sat in silence. While telling us her story, Lea showed she obviously had strength, otherwise, she wouldn’t have made it this far, and the incident in the parking lot when she shot the killer had proved that. Lea had shown no hesitation when the danger became clear.

“So why didn’t you leave the parking lot after the killer shot Chris?” Jack asked. “From what I saw, you just knelt in the same place until Harry arrived.”

“I thought I was on my own. Also, I figured that I’d been fooled on twitter by a killer, and Chris’ death was my fault. I didn’t know what to do next.”

“You know now it wasn’t your fault, and you’re not on your own either. You’re welcome to stay with us,” Bernie said.

We waited for Lea’s response, but she didn’t give one, perhaps she still didn’t trust us. I could understand that. But her options were limited, leaving our group and making her own way would be a lot more dangerous than staying with numbers.

The four of us finished off the bottle of vodka while we decided what we should do in the morning. Bernie wanted to find a camping stove so we could make some hot food. Jack and I were happy to go along with his suggestion, but were a little wary of heading anywhere that would take us around the parking lot. Lea was mostly quiet, but didn’t seem all that eager to revisit the parking lot either. Bernie played the gracious host and offered Lea his bedroom, which she gladly accepted and disappeared, closing the door. Relegated to the living room with us, he took a pillow and blanket and settled on the floor between the couches.

“What do you think about Lea?” I whispered.

“She seems a bit of a loose cannon, we just need to make sure she’s strapped to the deck,” Jack replied.

“I like her,” Bernie said, “if we have Lea with us, then it’s a bit more cover when we are in the open.”

“I agree, let’s sleep on our next moves,” I said.

As the room filled with Bernie and Jack’s snoring, I lay awake and started to think about our future options. Between the four of us, we had a reasonable mobile team capable of getting somewhere safe with readily available supplies. I wrestled with the problem of where to go as I fell asleep.

Early the next morning, I awoke to see dawn through the gaps in the blinds. Bernie was snoring on the floor, and Jack was curled up in a foetal position on the other couch.

I stood up and stretched, feeling a tightness in my thighs from the running yesterday, and then nudged Jack, whispering, “Get up. Let’s go up to the roof for a chat.”

Jack nodded his head and stretched quietly before getting up. Once he was awake, we grabbed our weapons, falling back into habits learned in the army. . We silently left the apartment and started climbing the stairs. We hadn’t had the chance for much of a chat recently, and I wanted to get his thoughts on Bernie, Lea, and our current situation.

As we neared the door to the roof, Jack noticed it was slightly ajar and grabbed my shoulder.

“Stop,” he whispered into my ear, “I closed that door last night when we came down. There’s no way it could have opened by itself.”

“Could it be Lea? We didn’t check the bedroom,” I replied.

“Maybe. Or it could be a killer.”

“If there is somebody up here, they will have heard us coming upstairs.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” he said before he called out, “Lea… Lea?”

There was no reply…

We couldn’t just turn around and go back down the stairs. If our apartment haven wasn’t safe anymore, we needed to know. Jack and I had to find out what was behind that door. If it was a threat, it had to be removed.

I could see through the gap between the doorframe and the door that it was starting to get brighter outside.

“You kick the door open quickly, and cover me with your rifle. I’ll crouch in front of you and go in low so we can both have a shot if needed,” I said.

“Okay, ready?”

I nodded, “Let’s do it.”

Jack kicked the door open and we heard a cry of pain from a male voice as the door bounced back towards us. Bernie was definitely still sleeping downstairs, so the man on the roof must have been behind the door, waiting for us to walk out so he could attack us from behind.

“Come out in front of the door with your hands up, there’s two of us here and we’re both armed,” I shouted.

“I’m armed as well. I promise I won’t hurt you. Throw down your weapons and show yourselves,” a voice shouted back.

“Bullshit,” Jack shouted, then said to me, “let’s just bolt the door and leave the prick locked up here.”

That would mean losing our observation post, but would solve the immediate problem. The door had swung back half way after hitting the man, so I kept low and slowly stretched out my arm to grab the handle. As I did, I looked down at the gap underneath the door and saw the edge of a shoe. The man was standing right up against the door on the other side.

I shifted the Glock into my right hand quickly, dropped onto the floor, and fired through the door. There was a scream of pain and frustration and the sound of a body hitting the ground, as the man immediately sank. I could now see the top of his head around the edge of the door and fired twice again. The first round hit the top left side of his forehead and sent it spinning back. The next round hit him straight under the chin, and I saw red spray appear behind him as the bullet exited the top of his head.

We waited for another twenty seconds to make sure the killer was dead before going onto the roof, even though I was more than confident that he was. When we did eventually walk out and look around, a nasty surprise was waiting for us. There was another body on the roof. This one had been hacked to death with something sharp.

“Shit, have I killed an innocent man?”

“I don’t know,” Jack replied.

We inspected the man I had shot for clues.

”I doubt he killed that other person,” Jack said, “he’d be covered head to toe in blood if he did. The blood on his clothes is only around where you shot him.”

I nodded. Next to him was an MP40, I slipped the magazine out of the grip, took out the eight rounds to confirm the matching calibre and loaded them into my own.

We walked over to the other body, which was a young woman. It looked like she had been stabbed several times in the chest and throat.

“Harry, look. There’s a trail of blood leading to the edge of the roof.”

I looked down at the droplets on the floor that led to roughly where we had been sitting the previous day. We followed the trail and looked over the edge of the building. A corpse was sprawled out on the pavement below us, another suicide mission completed successfully.

I was almost certain that the man waiting for us behind the door hadn’t killed the woman on the roof, but this confirmed it.

“Why did three of them all come up here?” I asked.

“I don’t know, they might have seen us up here yesterday? Maybe they came up for a view of the surroundings to try and spot a victim.”

Whatever had happened, three killers had all visited the top of our apartment block between dusk and dawn.

I looked over at the parking lot. The music was no longer playing but four more bodies were lying there. I pointed it out to Jack, “Just how many of these bloody killers are there around here?”

Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. We might have attracted more than we expected. Whatever is going on, I don’t think we can stay here any longer.”

I agreed. It could have been possible that we attracted attention to ourselves somehow with our trap, but I doubted it. I also doubted that there were that many people hiding in Elmhurst. Killers may have started to go looking for prey.

We took the opportunity while we were still on the roof to discuss Bernie and Lea. Bernie had not yet fired a shot and had instructed us to do so a number of times, but he didn’t shy away from going in first, as he had proved in the police building at the airport and his local store. He had also provided a sanctuary for a couple of nights after leaving the airport. Lea had shown good assertiveness and survival instincts by making her way to Elmhurst to find other people. She had shot the man at the parking lot and hadn’t shown any remorse. The memory of it was probably ingrained in her mind, but that was the same as many of the things the rest of us had seen or done. Jack and I both agreed that we had the makings of a good team.

“Come on, let’s get back downstairs and make the other two some cold breakfast. They might be up and wondering where we are,” Jack said.

“We’ll also have to discuss our next move with them. We can’t stay here and need some options,” I replied.

We walked down the stairs and knocked on the apartment door three times. Bernie opened it almost immediately; Lea was standing behind him, looking ready to pounce.

“Where the hell have you been? We both woke up to the sound of gunfire,” Bernie said.

“It’s a long story,” Jack answered, “we’ll tell you over breakfast.”

We told them about what had happened on the roof and what we saw in the parking lot while we all ate cold tinned tomatoes.

Lea was in little doubt about what we should do next.

“We should head out into the countryside today and find ourselves a quiet place with good all round views. I know a nice farm in Orange County. I visited it last summer with my partner, I’m sure it will be well stocked.”

“I know Orange County,” Bernie replied, “but we don’t have to leave the apartment for at least a few days.”

“I think we should go now,” Jack said. “It’s coming up to three days since this thing first started and there is no end in sight as far as I can see. Let’s get out of here.”

If we stayed in the apartment, there was a risk of being trapped. Killers could have already been heading our way after hearing the shots from the roof. If we had to shoot more of them, we might run out of ammunition and be sitting ducks. Personally, I agreed with Jack and Lea. We might go undetected over the course of a few days, but it was probably wishful thinking.

Lea’s idea was appealing. The countryside would surely be quieter. If we found a decent house in a remote place, then we could build it up defensively and our prospects would be better. The risk was that we would have to travel a reasonable distance and would almost certainly have to tackle some killers on the way.

In the end, I sided with Lea. “You’re out-voted three to one, Bernie. I take it you are still coming with us?”

“Of course I’m coming with you. We’re a team aren’t we?” Bernie replied irritably.

I was glad that the vote hadn’t been split right down the middle and Bernie was willing to go with the majority. For now though, we had to prepare for a trip to the countryside.

“Lea, where’s the farm?” Bernie asked.

“It’s just outside Montgomery when you exit the highway, near a big old white house. Do you know it?”

“I think I know exactly where you mean. We drove past that house a few times when visiting Linda’s parents and always talked about living there. It was our dream place.”

“What’s it like for us?” I asked.

“Great, it’s big, surrounded by a large garden, and it’s just off the main route. I think we should go there and not the farm.”

“How far is it from here?”

“About seventy miles, not far,” Bernie replied.

“Okay, it sounds good. We can take a car from Queens Boulevard and drive directly there.”

“Guys, I know the way there, nearly the entire route is on highways,” Bernie said, sounding more enthusiastic about leaving the apartment.

“I still think we should go to the farm. It’s going to be better for supplies,” Lea replied.

“We don’t know that. Besides, we’re leaving today for Orange County and the farm will be close by, at least give Bernie a choice of location,” I said.

“Yeah, give Bernie the choice. He’s agreed to come along,” Jack added.

“Fine,” Lea said rolling her eyes. Bernie smiled.

“Right, let’s get ready,” Jack replied.

I checked my weapon, put yesterday’s shopping in my backpack and moved towards the door, “Come on then, there’s no point hanging around.”

Once we left the apartment and started heading towards Queens Boulevard, I knew we had made the right decision. The air was thick with the stench of death. It would only get worse in the more heavily populated areas. Most corpses were now three days old. I looked at one whose skin was beginning to become discoloured; the body looked unnaturally swollen in the morning sun. The city would be unbearable in another two days.

Once on the road and heading away from Manhattan, we approached a right hand drive SUV that had pulled to the side of the road. Two people were sprawled outside the passenger door. One with gouges in his face and neck, surrounded by a pool of congealed blood. The other, with blood all over his hands had vicious red-scarred flesh around his mouth and a can of lighter fluid near his hand.

Jack found the keys on the ground next to the driver’s feet. The ignition key was crusted in blood and had a piece of twisted flesh hanging off it. He used the driver’s sweater to wipe the key clean and started the vehicle’s engine. It rolled over smoothly and the dashboard indicated that the fuel tank was three quarters full. Bernie drove again, I took the other front seat, Jack and Lea jumped into the back.

I surveyed the scene on the opposite side of the road as we turned on to the Long Island Expressway, this was new territory, but it had a similar feel to Queens Boulevard. Some cars had been used as weapons, others had pulled over, and corpses were spread in and amongst them. I stared at a man with a shredded face, his upper torso was hanging through a car windshield and a hawk was sitting on his head. Bernie brought the SUV to an abrupt, screeching, halt, causing the hawk to fly away and I felt myself strain against the seat belt.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking for signs of danger.

Jack poked his head between the front seats, “What is it, Bernie?”

“Guys, look down there to the right, there’s two men standing outside Aldi.”

“I can see them, they’re carrying shotguns.” Lea pointed from the back seat.

I looked down to the right of the vehicle and saw the two men staring over at us. They were about seventy yards away in front of the store entrance. Around thirty corpses were piled in the middle of the car park close by. The shotguns were pointed in our direction.

“What shall we do? Do you reckon they’re like us?” Bernie asked.

“At this range, they could still be dangerous, I have a feeling that if there are two just standing on guard, then others will be close by,” Jack said.

“I don’t know. Remember that man on the bridge I told you about? He killed two people and ran away. There are other bad people out here,” Lea replied.

Lea’s earlier revelation suggested that not everyone had been affected in the same way. We thought we had the pattern worked out, kill-suicide, perhaps there was another trend we were yet to discover. The one common theme was the need to kill, but the men below weren’t showing any signs of this.

“I’m going to get out and call over to them; we should at least give them a chance,” I said.

“I’m coming with you; it will show them there are two of us,” Jack replied.

“Are you sure about this guys?” Bernie said.

“Let’s go,” I said, and detached my seatbelt. Jack did the same.

I exited the SUV and walked to the side of the road, Jack joined me. We were in an elevated position above the two men, whose shotguns were still aimed in our direction. I heard the noise of electric windows being lowered behind us.

“Lower your weapons, we don’t mean you any harm,” I shouted over.

“There’s four of us here, we’re not trying to kill anyone,” Jack added.

One man lowered his weapon, and I felt a rush of excitement. He said something to the other man, and then walked towards us, holding out the shotgun to one side in his right hand.

“Did you fly from Manchester?” he said. I was just about to reply when the man shouted, “Hey, you’re those two guys from the plane, the ones that went to the terminal, but never came back.”

“We did come back, you didn’t wait long enough,” Jack replied, I could hear slight anger in his voice.

He walked further towards us and stood beneath the road around twenty yards away. He spoke in a British accent, was quite short with brown hair and a faded tattoo on his right forearm.

“It’s been crazy since we left the airport. Thirty of us split from the main group after someone drove at us in a fire truck. I don’t know where the rest of them are.”

“There’s thirty of you here?” I asked.

“There’s only twenty two of us left.”

“What happened to the others?” Jack replied.

The man looked down for a moment.

“They didn’t make it here. We barricaded ourselves in the store. A few people tried to break in, but whenever someone else showed up, they fought each other to death. We haven’t seen anyone for the last few hours.”

“How did you manage to take a store?” I asked.

“We just rushed in, locked the doors, and secured the back entrance. There was only one person alive in there, she slashed Morgan across the eye, but he managed to beat her brains out with a small fire extinguisher.”

“He was that dick in business class, brown blazer?” Jack said.

“Yeah, that’s him. He figured that somewhere with supplies would be the best place to hide out. Nobody will get through the back and we can see anyone coming from the front. We started moving the dead an hour ago.”

Without warning, the man crouched and aimed his shotgun to the left, a plastic bag drifted along the concrete past him. He looked back at us and puffed his cheeks.

“Do you have any idea what’s happened?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Jack replied.

I gestured to Lea and Bernie. They joined us at the edge of the road.

“Did you hear all that?” I asked.

They both nodded.

“Hey,” The man called up in greeting.

“Sounds like you’ve had a rough time. Do you plan on staying here?” Bernie replied.

“Do you have any better ideas?”

“We’re heading away from the city…”

Bernie paused and looked towards the store.

Two men were carrying out a corpse. I recognised one as Morgan; he was wearing a makeshift eye-patch. Morgan noticed us, let go of the corpse, and its head hit the ground with a dull thud. He came striding over to where the armed man was standing.

“Who are you?” he barked, looking up at us.

“I’m Harry, that’s Jack, Lea, and Bernie.”

“You’re those two cretins from the flight. Thanks for nothing.”

“Are you serious?” Jack replied.

“Mister Morgan, come on, these…”

“Oh shut up, Harris, I’ll take the negotiations from here. Go and help Tweedle clear the store.”

The man took a step back behind Morgan, looked up, shrugged his shoulders, and then walked away.

“What do you want?”

“We’re not here to negotiate anything. I’m just happy to meet others who are alive and not trying to kill us,” I replied.

“What are you doing here then? Where are you going?”

Morgan’s tone was irritating me and his attitude was surprising, considering the situation we were all in.

“Away from the city. Can we get some supplies?” Lea asked.

“I thought you said you weren’t here to negotiate anything?” Morgan said, looking at me.

“Fucking hell, Morgan, get a grip, why…”

My reply was cut short by Morgan’s reaction. He took a pace back, his eyes widened, he turned, and sprinted for the store entrance shouting, “Harris, Harris.”

Jack looked at me and frowned, I heard footsteps below us.

A woman appeared from underneath the expressway holding an axe above her head. She was slow but chased Morgan, who disappeared into the store entrance along with the other man who was still outside. They must have locked the door as the woman rattled it a few times, and then chopped at it with the axe, cracking the glass panels but not breaking them.

She paused, turned, and looked directly at us.

“Holy shit,” Bernie gasped.

I glanced back at the SUV. Something moved in my peripheral vision. I looked along the road in the direction we had come from, around two hundred yards away, a figure darted from behind one car to another.

“Let’s get out of here,” I shouted.

Jack had turned and noticed as well, “Move!”

He aimed his rifle.

“That woman’s coming,” Lea screamed.

We jumped back into the SUV, Jack and Lea pointed their weapons out of the open windows from the back seats. I looked across and saw Bernie struggling to get the key in the ignition, his hand was shaking.

“Drive, Bernie, bloody drive,” Jack shouted.

“I’m trying,” Bernie frantically replied. The engine turned over and the SUV quickly jerked forward.

I looked back through the rear window as we moved away. A short, fat man had abandoned stealth and was now running towards the SUV; luckily, Bernie managed to pick his way through the stationary obstacles on the road faster than our pursuers speed. He stopped when he arrived opposite the Aldi. He must have seen the woman with the axe as he jumped off the side of the expressway. For now, the immediate danger had gone.

“We need to make sure we keep our guard up at all times,” I said.

“Yeah, imagine if the woman with the axe didn’t turn up? How close would he have got?” Lea replied.

“I would have taken him out,” Jack said.

Perhaps Jack would have, but it was an important lesson for us to remain vigilant.

We drove in silence towards Interstate 684, we had agreed for the time being that we shouldn’t stop again unless it was an emergency. I was maintaining a careful watch outside of the SUV, as we slowly picked our way through stationary traffic and over the occasional body along the Hutchinson River Parkway. Once there, the vehicles thinned out, which allowed Bernie to increase our speed out of the city.

“Fucking Morgan,” Jack eventually said.

“What’s wrong Jack?” Lea asked.

“It’s people like him that likely caused all this, and there he is trying to take control and create a little empire. We should go back and take him out.”

“What? And start killing everyone we meet who annoys you?” Bernie said.

“You know what I mean, Bernie. If there are people left, we should be working together or the world will end up like a Mad Max movie.”

I stayed quiet; even though Jack had a fair point, we couldn’t start taking the law into our own hands. Who were we to make the rules? If by some chance we managed to make it through the next few weeks, then we could start trying to piece together a community with other survivors. It’s human nature though to create a pyramid and at the top are always the wrong people. Lions led by donkeys was the First World War epitaph, but the truth lies somewhere in between. In any social group, even a hippie commune, there will be a group who try and control things. I couldn’t think of the sociology we faced, so I changed the subject.

“So what’s Orange County like then?”

“It’s a great area to live,” Bernie enthused, “I’ve always felt at home there away from the city. Have you ever been to the fair, Lea?”

“No, I haven’t really spent much time there, but I agree it’s a great place for us to head now.”

“What places have you been to?”

“Forget that, someone’s following us,” Lea replied.

I looked back and saw a blue car snaking through the traffic about a hundred yards behind us.

“We can’t let it follow us all the way to Montgomery, can we?” Bernie said.

Jack had his rifle aimed out of the back window.

“Try to get a bit further ahead. We can stop and have time to find some cover. Maybe we can ambush them,” I replied.

“Wouldn’t they see us stop and guess what was coming?” Lea said.

“So what? They either want to speak to us or kill us. We handle both exactly the same way, with caution and force if needed,” Jack said.

Bernie increased our speed. By the time the driver of the blue car reacted, we had gained enough ground to stop and set up our safety zone.

“Stop here, quickly,” I shouted.

Bernie slammed on the brakes and we came to a halt just behind what appeared to be a head on collision between two cars.

We took cover behind a red car that had stopped in the outside lane. The windows were so spattered with blood, that we could only just see outline figures inside the car. The blue car came to a stop around thirty yards away. There was a single woman inside and no sign of any weapons.

She exited the vehicle, put her arms in the air and cried out, “Please, help me. I’m on my own.”

The woman was in her twenties and was wearing jeans and a vest. Her hair was matted with blood; she didn’t appear to be armed with anything and dropped to her knees with hands in the air.

“Where have you come from? What have you been doing in the last three days?” I said.

She looked at me and seemed to be shaking with fear.

“I don’t know. I’ve been in a car accident. The last thing I remember, is a car skidding in front of me and smashing into it. I must have been unconscious for a long time. When I woke up a few hours ago, all the cars around me on the road had stopped.”

“The cars had just stopped? No dead people around? Have you come across anybody else?” Bernie asked.

“No, I haven’t seen anybody. And of course I have seen fucking dead people. How could you miss them?”

“Is this an acknowledgement of events, or a killer’s attempt to give us what we want to hear?” I whispered to the group.

“I haven’t a clue, but I don’t want to go near her,” Bernie replied.

“Ask her more questions,” Lea said, without breaking to look at any of us.

“Why did you follow us? What’s your plan?” Jack asked.

“I don’t have a plan. I just wanted to find somebody who was alive. If you doubt me because my car isn’t wrecked,” she pointed back towards the vehicle she had approached in, “this isn’t my car. Mine couldn’t be driven after the accident. Check the documents inside if you don’t believe me.”

“The documents don’t prove anything,” Bernie shouted back.

“I’m not sure how we are going to resolve the situation,” I whispered.

The woman remained kneeling on the road.

“She could come along with us, but we keep her under armed guard until we build up some trust,” Lea replied in a lowered voice.

“No way. Why risk letting her get close to us?” Jack said.

“Please, guys, stop fucking around,” The woman cried.

“Why don’t we send her away in the opposite direction? It might give us enough time to shake her off,” Bernie said.

“She could quite easily turn around and start following us again in a different car as soon as we were out of sight. Let’s ask her some more questions, but not take all day about it,” Jack replied.

“Okay, I’ll ask her a few more, but if she comes for us, we shoot, right?” I said.

Everyone behind the car nodded in agreement.

“If you want to kill us, you’re welcome to try. But one of us will then kill you, so there is no chance that you will be able to kill yourself. Do you understand?” I shouted.

“Why would I want to kill you or myself? What are you talking about? Is that what’s been happening?”

“Strip to your underwear,” Jack shouted.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Lea whispered.

“I am just making sure she has no concealed weapons.”

Lea shook her head. “Are you trying to get a cheap thrill?”

“Fuck you,” the woman answered.

“There’s another car coming towards us,” Bernie said.

In the distance, from the direction we had travelled, was a silver car.

“Let’s see if the next car can sort it out with her,” Jack said.

“What do you mean?” Bernie asked.

“We stay where we are and let the car approach. The woman and the other driver can talk, and we’ll see what happens.”

“What if she isn’t a killer and the other person is?” Lea said.

“We’ll shoot whoever attacks. If they are killers, one of them will slip if they get close to each other.”

“You’re going to use me as bait?” the woman screamed.

We all looked at her, then each other.

“Please, let me come behind that car with you.”

“Stay where you are or we’ll shoot,” I shouted.

The silver car approached slowly and pulled up alongside the woman. Inside sat an elderly looking man. He took a moment to look at us pointing our weapons at him and at the woman on her knees in front of us.

He wound down his window and shouted, “What the hell are you doing? Lower your guns.”

The shout seemed to be directed towards us.

“You don’t fool us, make one false move and I’ll blow your brains out,” Jack shouted back.

“Don’t be so absurd man, now lower your weapons,” he replied.

The woman jumped up and ran up to the driver’s window.

“Please let me come with you. These fucking perverts wanted me to strip-off at gunpoint. Please help me.”

I watched in astonishment as the woman jumped into the passenger seat and the car started to move away.

As it passed us, the elderly man leaned out of the window, “Haven’t you seen the mess around you? You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

The woman raised her middle finger out of the passenger window, and the car disappeared into the distance.

“What was that? They didn’t to want to kill each other,” Bernie said.

I was trying to think of a logical reason behind it.

“Had they both been on flights like we had?” Jack replied.

“The woman said the last thing she remembered was being in a car crash. Maybe being unconscious had left her unaffected and the man had been on a plane? I don’t know, it seems unlikely,” I said.

“Do you think the killer thing has stopped?” Lea said.

“If everyone is okay again, shall we go back to my place?” Bernie said.

“Guys, don’t forget what happened on the Long Island Expressway,” I replied, “I think we need to come across more people before coming to any hasty conclusions.”

“There’s no way I am going back to the City,” Jack added. “The place is in a complete mess and will be absolutely stinking in a day or two.”

I looked around for any other moving vehicles but couldn’t see any. I turned to face the group who were still stood by our cover vehicle, “We stick with the plan and keep heading to the countryside. It will keep us away from the smell of thousands of rotting corpses and gets us into an area of low population.”

“Agreed,” Bernie nodded.

“I said I wanted to go to the farm in the first place,” Lea shrugged.

Bernie drove us away from the scene of the incident, which seemed to have left us all confused, but I comforted myself with the thought that is was actually a positive sign. The others might have been feeling the same, judging by the silence in the car. If it really was over, it would mean facing up to the state of the world we were left in, which would be a different kind of challenge.

As we turned onto Interstate 84 on the final leg of our journey, Bernie excitedly shouted, “Look up in the sky, can you see that vapour trail?”

Streaking across the sky was a white fluffy line. It was a definitive sign that an aircraft had recently been flying above us.

“What do you reckon it was? A flight to safety?” he continued.

“Maybe it was from an area that hadn’t been affected and they were having a look about?” Lea replied.

“I wonder if it could be invaders on a scouting mission to check on the results of whatever they initially deployed,” Jack said, bringing an abrupt halt to the conversation from the back seat.

We’d have to wait and see. I certainly wasn’t going to go looking for any trouble just to prove a theory, not in the immediate future anyway. All we wanted was a secure and safe place to live.

For an hour, we drove without further incident. Bernie still had to weave through stationary vehicles and at regular intervals, we still had views of corpses in various distorted shapes, but the threat level seemed to have lowered.

As we drove past Stewart International Airport, we saw a man in the distance. He was standing at the side of the road and started waving both of his arms when he saw us. He was holding a knife in his right hand.

Bernie stopped the car fifty yards away and said, “What shall we do?”

“Let’s get a bit closer and see what he has to say,” Lea replied. “If the effects have worn off, I’d prefer to know as soon as possible so we can finally relax.”

Bernie pulled up within thirty yards of the man at a slight angle. This allowed Jack and me to aim our weapons out of the car windows.

“What do you want?” Jack shouted.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, I’ve been so scared since this morning. I don’t know what’s happening here, but I just want to get home. Can you give me a ride to Maybrook?”

“What are you doing out here with a knife? Why don’t you take a car yourself?” I asked.

“I can’t drive. I woke up this morning in a ditch by the airport with this knife.” He held it up, “I kept hold of it because of what I’ve seen around here. What’s happening?”

“Where’s Maybrook?” Jack asked Bernie.

“It’s quite close to where we are going. You’re not thinking of letting him come with us, are you?”

I guessed that Jack was. He, like Lea, was keen to find out if people had returned to a normal state.

“Drop the knife and come closer. We don’t mean you any harm,” I said.

He threw the knife to the side of the road and approached the car. “Thank God. I was beginning to think I was the only one alive around here.”

“That’s close enough,” I replied as he got within five yards. “What have you been doing in the last three days?”

“I remember being at home, having a day off, then waking up here. Besides that, I have a very vague memory of wanting to find people.”

“Do you know what day it is?” I asked.

“Saturday?”

It was Monday afternoon; three days had passed since we landed at JFK. The man’s response was a positive sign.

“We’ll take you to Maybrook,” I said, “but you’ll have to come along at gun-point. We’ll explain why once we get going. One false move and you’re dead.”

The man nodded, and Jack opened up his door. He sat directly behind me, I pointed my Glock around the side of the seat and Jack pointed his rifle towards the man’s chin.

“What’s your name?” Lea asked.

“Greg.”

During the short ride to Maybrook, we gave Greg a brief outline of what we had seen since landing on Friday afternoon. It was a huge shock to him, and we quickly realised that he probably wasn’t a killer, at least not anymore.

“So, I haven’t killed anyone?” he asked.

“If you had killed anyone then you’d already be dead,” Bernie answered.

“How many have survived?”

The second question was more difficult for us to answer with any kind of accuracy.

“We know of at least twenty four people who are still alive, most are in the city, but we’ve seen two on our way here,” Lea replied. “There must be others all over the place that are coming back to themselves now. It’s only fair to warn you, not to get your hopes up about your own family and friends, we haven’t come across anywhere yet that wasn’t affected.”

Greg looked down and closed his eyes. This was a lot for anyone to take in, especially in just a few minutes. He had seen some of the carnage around Stewart International Airport but thought it was a terrible local accident.

“Seriously? The entire city? I can’t believe it.” He said, putting his hand on top of his head.

“It’s all true, JFK, Queens, Manhattan, and all the way here. It’s all fucked,” Jack replied.

“Where are you going?”

“A big old white house on the road to Montgomery. It’s…” Bernie answered.

“Near a farmhouse with a big barn next to it,” Lea said.

“I know that place,” Greg replied. “If home turns out to be a mess, you might find me knocking at your door.”

“Seriously, Greg, be careful, we don’t know what’s going to happen. Maybrook is probably going to look like a war zone, so you need to be prepared,” I said.

“Yeah, stay alert, find out what you can and if you need us, come to the house,” Jack added.

“Okay, thanks.”

We arrived at the exit for Maybrook and Bernie slowed down.

“Pull over guys, I’d like to walk from here and have a look around,” Greg said.

Before he left, Greg thanked us for the ride and promised to visit once he had been home.

He probably didn’t realise I was more thankful for meeting him.

Chapter 7 – The House

“We’ll be there in ten minutes,” Bernie said as he pulled away.

“Do you think Greg will be alright?” Lea asked.

“Nice guy, but he’s going to be in for some bad news when he gets home. I can’t imagine he will be in any danger if it’s all over. You know? The killer thing,” Bernie replied.

“After we set ourselves up in the house, why don’t we find a spot closer to town where we can try and draw people in? We can observe from a safe distance just to make sure,” Jack suggested.

“Haven’t you tried this one before guys?” Lea replied.

We had, but hadn’t admitted it to Lea yet.

I ignored Lea and answered Jack. “Yeah, why not. We can also have a drive around and see if we can find anyone.”

We passed the black skeleton of a burnt out property on our right, a number of corpses littered the roadside, but the journey was now relatively quiet.

“Over there. That’s the farm I was telling you about,” Lea said.

I looked across and saw a tree lined road that led down to an impressive house with a large wooden barn by the side of it.

“We can go and have a look later on if you like?” I said.

Lea shrugged and brushed a hand through her hair.

Minutes later, Bernie turned right onto a crunchy gravel drive.

“Here it is!”

The house was stunning. It was the kind of place that I thought I’d only see on television in a period drama. It was a large white two-storey building, with a fantastic old porch around the front. If the danger had really subsided and the owners of the house were not alive, I could definitely be comfortable in these kinds of surroundings.

We parked at the end of the driveway and checked the outside areas first. Jack and Lea headed around the right hand side of the house, Bernie and me to the left. We met at the back having seen nothing to worry us. There was a large shed in the back corner of the garden, I approached, looked through a side window, and saw that it contained gardening tools.

I nodded over to the other three who started looking through the house windows.

“Here, in the kitchen,” Bernie called out.

I walked over to Bernie and looked over his shoulder. Lying on the kitchen floor were two bodies, a woman and man, they must have killed each other with kitchen knives judging by the state of their bodies. It was difficult to know who had killed whom, as both had gaping wounds in their necks.

“These two are probably the owners. Let’s get the bodies out of the house and make sure the rest is clear,” I said.

“What shall we do with the bodies?” Lea asked.

“After we clear the house, Harry and I will bury them in the back garden. You and Bernie secure the windows and doors,” Jack said.

Bernie tried the back door, and it clicked open. We slowly entered the house and crept together from room to room looking for any survivors. This really was a beautiful place, expensive fittings and furniture adorned every corner, upstairs, the bedrooms looked inviting. It felt like a long time since I’d slept in a proper bed, and was looking forward to getting some well deserved rest. We finally returned to the kitchen, which was starting to become a health hazard.

“Change of plan,” I said to Bernie and Lea. “Why don’t you make the kitchen clean and find out what supplies we have first? Jack and I will take care of the bodies.”

Lea started checking the cupboards for cleaning materials, as Jack and I dragged the two corpses out onto the back lawn, and then fetched two shovels from the shed.

“I bet you’d thought you’d dug your last garden,” I said.

“Can’t we just burn the bodies?” He shrugged.

I would have agreed, but was still concerned about drawing attention to our location.

“Come on,” I replied, “let’s get on with it, once we’ve finished, we can relax on those sun loungers over there.”

Jack nodded. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

He thrust his shovel into the ground to pull up a chunk of turf and we both set to work.

Digging a grave was tiring, although it was a good feeling to do some hard, honest work. I made quick progress as the bottled up emotions of the last few days were taken out on the earth.

Jack threw down his spade and stretched his back with a groan.

“I feel like I’ve been in a sauna,” he said, wiping his forehead.

“Me too, we can have a shower and change of clothes when we finish,” I said, as we took a quick break.

Before Jack could answer, Lea called from an upstairs window, “Keep up the good work, boys.”

We finished digging the graves to a depth of around four feet, and then rolled in the bodies.

“Shall we say something?” I said.

“Rest in peace,” he replied, and then began to scrape earth into the grave.

The task became much more palatable once the corpses were finally under a layer of soil. Jack was silently plugging away beside me — we still had work to do and could talk properly once we had time to relax.

We finished at roughly the same time and sat on the two sun loungers for a well-deserved rest.

“Can you hear that?” I said to Jack as I lay back.

“Hear what? I can’t hear anything?”

“Exactly. No gunshots, no screaming, no running.”

We were both lying back now and stayed there in silence for the next five minutes. The only noticeable sound was the muffled chatter from inside the house.

I stood to avoid nodding off and tapped Jack on the arm.

“Come on, let’s get cleaned up and have something to eat.”

“I could sleep for days,” Jack replied, and groaned as he rose from the lounger to follow me.

We entered the kitchen to find out how Lea and Bernie had been progressing. Bernie was standing over a camping stove watching it boil a large pan of water.

“You’re Brits,” he said, “I suppose you two would like a cup of tea. There’s some eggs and bread here that are still edible as well, so I’ll make you a fried egg sandwich afterwards.”

“That’s music to my ears, Bernie, thanks,” Jack replied enthusiastically.

“How are the windows and doors looking?” I asked Lea.

“All of the windows are now locked; I’ve placed piles of coins on each frame.” She smiled, “Saw it on TV; we’ll hear if anyone breaks in, even if they don’t smash the glass. The external doors are all pretty solid. We’ll just have to lock them when we go to sleep.”

“Actually,” I said, “I don’t think that we should all sleep at the same time. With a house this size and an area we all aren’t familiar with, it’s probably best to take turns on watch — two hours each, from midnight until eight. That way we can all get a proper rest for at least a while.”

“Are you sleeping downstairs?” Bernie asked and placed a steaming cup of tea on the table in front of me.

“No, I intend to sleep in a bed tonight, but I’ll take one of the graveyard shifts. If that is alright with everyone?”

Lea wanted an early night, so we let her take the last watch and get a good length of time in bed. Jack and I said we’d be up late anyway, so we would take the first two. This left Bernie with the four till six shift, but he didn’t care, as he said he’d sleep like a log no matter what.

After our tea, Bernie made everyone a fried egg sandwich as promised, which was even more welcome than the hot drink.

Bernie and Lea had emptied the cupboards of anything we could use and put bottles of water, cans of tinned meat, jam, cake, carrots, and potatoes on the table.

“I can make a stew with the vegetables and a couple of those cans,” Lea said.

“Sounds good to me, I’m going to clean my arm and put on a new dressing,” I replied.

The grave digging had slightly opened the wound again and I was conscious that I needed to keep it clean. I walked upstairs to the bathroom and peeled off my t-shirt and the bandage. I wiped my arm with a sponge; blood seeped slowly from the cut down my arm. I checked the cabinets and discovered a small roll of bandage, then wrapped it around the healing wound. I headed back into the kitchen and found Bernie peeling a carrot, with Lea leaning over a large pan on the camping stove.

“Jack’s outside on the lounger, go join him if you want?” Bernie said.

“Are you sure? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“What is it you guys say? Too many cooks spoil the broth. Go join Jack, you deserve a rest.”

“Cheers, Bernie.”

I walked outside and sat on the spare lounger next to Jack, he passed me an open tin of pineapple chunks and a spoon.

“It feels strange chilling out, I feel like I should be doing something,” he said.

“I know what you mean, but we need some down time.”

Jack nodded and folded an arm behind his head, he was reading, ‘Day of the Triffids’, which he had picked up from the bookcase inside earlier.

I settled back on the lounger and started watching a brightly coloured bird, busily hopping around a tree. As I wondered what species it might be, the smell of cooking wafted over from the kitchen and my mouth watered. I momentarily closed my eyes and tried to capture this single moment, away from the events of the last few days. I felt calm until I opened my eyes again and caught sight of the two graves in my peripheral vision.

We still needed to stay alert, so I walked around the house, enjoying the breeze on my face and the sound of the wind whispering through the trees. With space around us, an apparent lack of people, a reasonable amount of supplies in the kitchen, and a secure house, I started to believe our long term prospects were good.

I returned to the lounger and said to Jack, “It’s a great place. Maybe we should forget about trying to find other survivors for a while?”

“To deprive a gregarious creature of companionship is to maim it, to outrage its nature,” Jack smiled.

“You’ve just read that haven’t you?” I laughed.

Jack nodded.

As the light began to fade, Lea called from the kitchen, “Are you guys ready to eat?”

We both enthusiastically nodded and made our way back inside, Lea directed us to the dining room.

Bernie lit the candles on the dining room table and we sat in the comfortable seats eating bowls of stew. The food was good and we ate in companionable silence.

We discussed the plan for the next day after dinner. The general agreement was that we should rest, scout the area, and take some time to recover.

“Once we have acclimatised, I think we should try to find others who survived,” I said.

Jack nodded and puffed out a smoke ring from his cigar.

“We should go and see how Greg is getting on, if he hasn’t come over by tomorrow night,” Bernie replied.

”Fine with me guys, but I’d like to head into the centre of Montgomery and get more supplies,” Lea said.

“There’s plenty here for the moment,” Jack replied.

“Not for what I need,” Lea said and narrowed her eyes.

Bernie, Jack, and I, looked at each other then realised what she meant. Jack changed the subject.

“We need to confirm it’s over, so why not set fire to a car and observe it from a distance?”

I didn’t think this plan would cause too much harm, but Lea and Bernie were both against it.

“If one or two killers are still around, then we shouldn’t give them any encouragement to get near us,” Bernie replied.

“It would get us off on the wrong foot with anyone we met if they knew we’d spied on them,” Lea added.

“I’m just pleased to be relatively safe for the time being. Let’s visit Greg in the morning and then have a scouting trip around the edge of town. If it looks safe, we could then go in further as Lea suggested,” I said.

“Right, time for a cold shower and then some whisky,” Jack said.

He walked upstairs and left the three of us around the table.

Lea started talking to Bernie about Linda, so I decided to have a dig around in some of the drawers that were in both corners of the room. I thought it was good for Bernie that he had somebody to talk to, other than Jack and me. It was much better that he talk about Linda with an understanding woman, than the two people he had initially blamed for her death.

I couldn’t find anything of interest in the dining room cabinets, just ornaments, coasters, silverware and china, — I decided to go upstairs and see if there was another bathroom free. I found an en suite in the master bedroom, so I stripped and jumped into the shower. The water was freezing, but I quickly acclimatised, happy to be clean again.

While drying myself with a towel that I found hanging on the wall, Jack shouted through the door, “I’ve put some fresh clothes for you on the bed. See you downstairs.”

“Thanks,” I called back.

My old clothes were balled on the floor, so I scooped them up to take downstairs and clean. I opened the en suite door and found a grey velour tracksuit laid out on the bed with socks, underpants and t-shirt. I laughed at the sight of the tracksuit; something like this would only be available in charity shops back home. The clothes were clean though, and I was grateful for a change. I grabbed the Glock and headed downstairs.

Jack was sitting in the dining room with a whisky in hand and another waiting for me. He was wearing a cream shirt with a bright purple cravat and a pair of trousers that were about 2 inches short. He took one look at me in my stylish velour and we both broke out into laughter.

Bernie and Lea didn’t understand the joke and gave us a disapproving look. The army gallows humour was something Jack and I would just have to share.

“I’m taking a shower, and then going to bed,” Lea said. “I’ve hardly slept since landing in Newark.”

“Me too. Are you guys okay?” Bernie yawned.

It was only eight in the evening, which meant our watch would last an extra 4 hours, but after all the cleaning and cooking, it seemed fair.

“You two have a good night’s sleep,” Jack replied. “Bernie, we’ll be waking you up at four in the morning, so don’t try to strangle us!”

“I won’t.”

Both he and Lea left the room and went upstairs.

“Leave the doors of the bedrooms you’re not using open,” Jack shouted after them.

“Let’s go out onto the porch and have a drink,” I said to Jack, holding my whiskey up to clink with his.

We settled into the two comfortable chairs out front with our glasses and the bottle of whiskey on a small table between us.

“So what do you think happened to Dave and Andy? They wouldn’t have had much of a chance in Manhattan,” I said.

“I’m almost one hundred percent sure they are dead, I accepted that over a day ago.”

“Yeah, I agree. After what we saw around the city, and heard from Lea, I doubt they would have lasted long. One of them might have even killed the other.”

“Family and friends? Do you think anyone back home made it?” Jack said, as he poured another whisky.

“I don’t know. If back home was the same as here, then I doubt it. In fact, I think we should assume that they didn’t pull through. To find out otherwise would be a bonus.”

We both sat quietly, reflecting on this and sipping our whisky. It was the first time I had thought about what the long-term future had in store, and who was going to be around to share it. Until now, my main concern had been surviving each individual day, now our prospects seemed healthier.

Would we ever get back home? Perhaps not, but was there even anything for us to go back to? Probably not. Could the survivors manage to form a new community together? I couldn’t imagine how people would find each other if they were spread out all over the country.

“Do you think we should stay here for a few months?” I asked.

“Yes, definitely until all of the corpses have rotted away. Or until we hear something from another survivor that convinces us it’s best to move on.”

“I agree. We can go on scouting trips to try to find out news. For the time being though, we’ll stay here. We’ve a few more bottles here to enjoy and can scavenge a few more home comforts from town, or neighbouring properties.”

“Do you think Bernie and Lea will stay with us?” Jack said, lowering his voice.

“I’m not sure; I personally don’t think Lea trusts us after what happened with Chris. She might go as soon as she comes across a better option. Bernie might want to have a look for some of the people he knew. We’ll have to see. But for now, I think we are stronger together.”

Jack topped our drinks up again. I was starting to be light headed, but was feeling relaxed for the first time in days.

“Go and grab us a couple of cigars from the cabinet,” I said.

Jack jumped to his feet and headed towards the front door before stopping and peering through the glass.

“Who’s that?”

Lea slowly walked through the door with a blank look on her face.

“How long have you been standing there?” I asked.

“The last five minutes.”

“I’m off to get the cigars,” Jack said, escaping the potentially awkward situation.

Lea probably heard everything. As far as I could remember, neither Jack nor I had said anything bad about her. I speculated about what she thought about us and what she might do next, but her silence seemed to hold more than that. I decided it was best to get things out in the open before we went any further.

“Lea, I’ve a confession to make, and you’re not going to like it.”

She scowled at me.

“Do you think I didn’t know you started the music?”

“Pardon?” I stuttered.

“You three couldn’t act to save your lives. I knew pretty much straight away on the roof of Bernie’s apartment block. You were all so sheepish and pathetic. Then back in the apartment, you all clammed up and came out with silly answers whenever the subject was discussed.”

I looked up at Lea for a few seconds, and then stood up.

“Lea, I’m really sorry. It was my idea, don’t blame Jack or Bernie. All we were trying to do was draw killers towards each other, so they’d stay away from us. It went badly wrong, we never intended for you two to walk into the trap.”

Jack came back out of the front door, “I’ve got the…”

He sensed the tension on the porch and looked at Lea then me.

Lea’s face softened and she shook her head.

“If you’d have just told me right at the start that you set up that trap, I would have understood.”

“Are you sure? You were going mental on the roof,” Jack replied.

“Yes, of course I’m sure. I was convinced that I wouldn’t last long with just Chris as company and desperate to find others who were not killers. I can understand what you did then, but you should have some faith in me.”

“What do you mean?” I answered.

“You think that I will leave as soon as an opportunity comes along. I heard you from behind the front door.”

“That was a bit sneaky, wasn’t it?” Jack frowned.

“Well, you’ve hardly inspired complete trust, have you?”

“We weren’t exactly in a world full of trust at the time, Lea. Now, we’ve a bit more time to think and reflect, it’s easier to judge with the benefit of hindsight.”

“Join us for a drink,” I said, and noticed a conciliatory look appear across her face.

Lea agreed, and I fetched another glass. For the next two hours, Jack, Lea, and I, talked while finishing off the bottle of whisky. She understood the way we reacted after everything was explained - the car, the music, and the awful turn of events. We were all miles from home, not knowing whom to trust, and had the very real threat of death at any minute.

Lea had heard our plan to stay at the house for a few months unless something made us move. We speculated on what kind of news that would be. Perhaps a survivor group being formed in a town, news of transportation available to an unaffected place overseas, or worst of all, an invasion.

The only new developments were the vapour trail in the sky and that the brainwashing had seemed to run its course. Neither of those two things helped explain anything.

We were passing a cigar around, almost like a peace pipe, and coughing on the smoke when we all heard what sounded like a spray of gunfire in the far distance.

“How close do you think that was?” Lea said.

“I don’t know,” Jack answered, “a few miles at least, I would say. Nothing that should bother us tonight. That’s the first thing we’ve heard like that since arriving. There’s bound to be a few frightened and confused people walking around, so it doesn’t surprise me.”

“Let’s not get too jumpy, we’ll deal with any immediate threats,” I added.

Lea decided to get some rest and left us out on the porch.

We sat sipping whiskey for ten minutes until Jack had a suggestion. He was looking towards the front right-hand side of the property.

“Fancy a walk to that farm we passed on the way? I liked the look of it and I’m in the mood for a bit of exploring.”

“Shouldn’t we wait until the morning? We’d be leaving nobody on watch, and its dark,” I replied.

“We haven’t come across anyone for miles, apart from Greg. They’ll be alright. It’s only about a mile away.”

Jack stood, picked up his rifle, and checked it was loaded before continuing, “I’m confident this killer thing has ended. Let’s see if we can get some fresh supplies. There might be chickens, vegetables, and all kinds of stuff. We could surprise Bernie and Lea with our bounty. Are you game?”

“Let’s do it,” I said. “They’ll both be none the wiser as long as we get back before Bernie’s shift.”

As we walked towards the road, I thought that we could potentially be making a big mistake. Had the alcohol given us too much courage? Were we acting too quickly on a rashly made assumption? I didn’t know, and my legs felt slightly unsteady.

“Are you sure about this?” I said.

“Why not? What have we to lose?” he whispered, smiling.

I didn’t want to answer that.

We turned right along the road and started walking towards the farm. As we neared the property, I realised there was a light coming from a farmhouse window. Somebody must have turned it on recently with an alternative electricity source.

We crept along a tree-lined road that led to the farm gate. I could hear the noise of a generator coming from somewhere inside the adjacent barn. Within thirty yards of the window, we pulled up flat against the barn’s side.

“Whoever is in there, is not exactly trying to keep a low profile,” I whispered.

“How shall we handle it?”

“Let’s sneak up to the window and have a look inside. If there is anyone in there, I’ll knock on the door and you keep watching through the window to see if they pick up any weapons. If they do, we’ll shout a warning.”

“There could be a few, what if they shoot first?”

“I’ll stand by the side of the door, and you crouch below the window. If they want to try something like that, they won’t see us until it’s too late. We have the element of surprise. If there’s an armed squad, we’ll come back in the morning with a white flag.”

We slowly made our way to the window and looked inside. A medium sized, middle-aged man with a bulbous nose was sitting in the room reading a book. I nodded at Jack, and then crept towards the door, knocked loudly three times and stood to the right-hand side with my Glock ready.

“He’s coming straight to the door. I don’t think he’s armed,” Jack whispered.

“Who is it? Who’s there?” a voice called out from behind the door.

“It’s your new neighbours. There are two of us here,” I said.

“Two of you? Why did you come here? What do you want?”

Jack slid up to the other side of the door, “We don’t want any trouble. We’ve had a bad few days and wanted to check if you were okay. This is the first place we’ve seen with a light on since the power went out almost two days ago.”

“Why do you want to know if I am okay? I’m just fine.”

I took a deep breath, and then moved left, making my profile visible through the small glass square in the door. I could see the outline of the man’s head.

He took a step back, so I stood closer to the glass.

“We just want to talk, that’s all. Haven’t you noticed anything strange in the last few days?”

“Yes, but how do I know I can trust you?”

“We could say the same thing to you,” Jack replied.

“We could have just shot you through the door if we wanted, or through the window while you were reading your book,” I said, peering through the glass.

“You were watching me?” He paused for a moment then said, “We can carry on talking here.”

“We could, but I think I’d rather kick your bloody door down,” Jack snapped.

I didn’t think his threat would be helpful, but surprisingly, after another ten seconds of silence, the door unbolted and the man opened it up.

“I don’t want any trouble. You have to understand, I had to make sure.”

We lowered our weapons and I held out my hand, “I’m Harry and this is my brother, Jack. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Jerry. Come in.” He said, shaking both our hands.

Jerry led us to the room he had been sitting in before and offered us a seat.

“I would offer you both a drink, but you smell like you’ve already had a few.”

“Thanks, a couple of beers would be good,” Jack replied.

Jerry brought us a can each and sat down in his chair. He was evidently well supplied, as he brought out a bowl of pretzels for us to nibble on.

We sat in an awkward silence as Jack and I opened up our can and had a few of the snacks provided.

“So, Jerry, what have you been doing for the last few days?” I said.

“I’d love to know what you’ve been doing. Where have you come from? What have you seen? Are there only two of you?”

“Yes, there’s only two of us. Harry, you tell him the story.”

I wondered why Jack told Jerry there were only two of us, but went along with it. I told Jerry what we had experienced since landing at JFK, our meeting Maureen and what happened in the police building. I skimmed over the details of our time in Elmhurst, and then told him about our trip to Montgomery. Jerry looked slightly shocked at the tale and mopped his brow a couple of times with a handkerchief.

“When did you see the vapour trail again? Did you actually see anything in the sky?”

“Today, and no,” Jack replied.

“Who was the guy you met from Maybrook? Did you get a name?”

“He was called Greg. Do you know him?” I answered.

“Greg from Maybrook? Can’t say I do. So you’re at the Watson’s place?”

“If that’s the name of the couple we buried in the back garden, then yes. It’s the big white house half a mile up the road,” Jack said.

“That’s the Watson’s; I noticed you’re both wearing his clothes. So what do you plan to do now?”

Jerry seemed to be getting a lot of information from us without giving much back in return, I wanted to know his story, so I ignored his question.

“Jerry, take us through what you experienced since Friday.”

He sighed.

“There’s nothing much to tell, really. I thought there’d been a small earthquake or something last Friday. I went out of my front door to have a look around and received a blow to the back of my head; I think I was out for a while. When I regained consciousness, a dead man was lying next to me, it was like he was looking into my eyes.”

Jerry shuddered and hugged himself.

“Did you know him?” Jack asked.

“No, I don’t really mix with anyone, that’s one of the reasons I moved out here.”

“Did you feel any strange urges?”

“If you mean did I want to kill anyone? No I didn’t. I moved the body away from the house and tried to call the police, but I couldn’t get a signal on my mobile. I tried to get in touch with people online, but it was like nothing had been updated since I felt those tremors, nobody was responding. There wasn’t anything on the TV or Radio.”

“So you just sat tight here?” I asked.

“I didn’t know what else to do. I had an idea that something dangerous was going down, so I decided to keep out of the way of whatever it was. After a couple of days, the power went and I fired up the back-up generator. You two are the first people I’ve seen alive since Friday. I was starting to think I was on my own.”

Jerry was the first person that we had come across who could remember the last few days and explain what he had seen. It wasn’t that much.

I started to become conscious of the time and didn’t want Bernie or Lea to notice that we were gone.

“Can we come and see you tomorrow, around lunchtime? We’re a bit tired and could do with some sleep,” I said.

He agreed and we left on pleasant terms. I was quite confident now that killers were no longer a threat.

“Why did you tell Jerry there were only two of us?” I said, on our way back to the house.

“Because we know nothing about him. I’m finding it hard to trust anyone we don’t know at the moment.”

“He seems okay, a bit of a geek, but that’s hardly a crime.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We might even get a decent lunch out of him tomorrow,” Jack laughed.

When we arrived back at the house, Lea was sitting on the porch. I waved as we approached, but she appeared far from happy.

“Where the hell have you two been?”

“The farm you pointed out to us earlier,” I answered. “We went to try and find supplies.”

“And you had no problems leaving us unprotected?”

“We met a man there called Jerry. Do you know him?” Jack asked.

“No.”

“We told him there were only two of us,” I felt compelled to admit.

Lea rubbed her face in frustration.

“Do you ever learn from your mistakes?”

“He’ll understand. You did, after all,” I shrugged.

Lea seemed angry with us and I couldn’t quite figure out why. We weren’t noticeably drunk.

“Whatever. It’s still probably a good idea to be a little cautious. You should at least tell me next time. Did you plan to sneak away as soon as I went upstairs?”

“No, we decided to go after you went upstairs. There’s no harm done. We’ll make sure we consult you next time,” Jack snapped.

Lea shook her head and went back inside the house.

Jack and I stayed out on the porch, trying to keep ourselves awake. We talked through all the events since landing to see if we had missed anything of note, but we couldn’t think of anything new. Eventually, Jack dropped off.

I lit another cigar and smoked it slowly to help keep myself awake. I thought about Jerry’s farm and how well he seemed to be doing. Maybe he could help us get power to our house with a generator. He could be a very useful person to know in the area.

It was approaching Bernie’s shift, so I woke Jack up by shaking his shoulder.

“Time for bed. Come on. Let’s go.”

“How long have I been asleep?” Jack groaned.

“About an hour. We could both do with some rest in proper beds though, so off you go.”

I walked slowly up the stairs, and found the room Bernie was sleeping in.

“Bernie, are you okay to take watch now?” I shouted through the door.

“Yeah, give me five minutes.”

I waited in the upstairs landing until Bernie shuffled out of the bedroom.

“Did anything happen while I was asleep?”

I quickly told Bernie about Jerry’s farm. He wanted me to elaborate, but I was too tired and said I’d fill him in properly in the morning. I found an empty bedroom, stripped, jumped straight into bed, and almost immediately fell asleep.

I awoke with daylight streaming through the bedroom window and turned over to snooze. However, as I remembered last night’s events, I threw back the covers and rolled out of bed. My window had a view of the front driveway area and all seemed quiet. I pulled on the retro tracksuit and walked downstairs. Lea and Bernie were in the dining room.

“Morning, Harry. Have you had a good sleep?” Bernie beamed.

“What time is it?”

“It’s nearly eleven; we decided not to disturb you.”

I still felt a bit worse for wear, probably because of the alcohol and cigars from the previous night, but I appreciated the fact that Lea and Bernie had left me to sleep. Bernie poured me a coffee and I sat down to join them at the table, Jack came downstairs and joined us.

“Shall we drive over to Maybrook and see how Greg is getting on?” Bernie asked.

“Fine by me,” I replied, “but I need a wash first. And as long as it’s a quick visit. Jack and I have an appointment at lunchtime.”

Bernie smiled. “I heard all about that from Lea.”

Lea shook her head and screwed her face up.

“We’ll go and see Greg, then Harry and I can meet with Jerry as agreed. I’ll tell him the truth now that we’ve established a tiny bit of trust. Leave it with us, it’ll be fine,” Jack sighed.

“I suppose you two want breakfast?” Bernie replied, changing the subject.

We nodded enthusiastically and Bernie used the last of the eggs to make us each an omelette.

After we were all fed, watered, and washed, we made our way out to the SUV.

“So I guess we’re not going to the airport for our flight?” Jack joked.

Bernie laughed, “I could take you there if you like, but I’ve heard there’s a lot of delays.”

He jumped in the driver’s side, and soon we were headed towards Maybrook. We were still armed, as a precautionary measure, but I was confident we’d be able to talk our way out of any situation we were likely to come across. After all, we were some of the only people that could partially explain the events of the last three days. The people who came around were suddenly faced with carnage, without having a clue as to what had happened.

We drove into Maybrook along Homestead Avenue, I looked for signs of life and for the address Greg had given us. Bernie pulled over and retrieved a local map he had found in our new house.

“We’re already here; there it is, on the right! Aristotle Drive,” Lea called out.

In the distance, I could see another vehicle coming towards us.

Jack must have noticed it too, because he said, “Get down!”

Bernie turned off the engine and we all ducked.

“Why are we hiding? It’s over, isn’t it?” Lea asked.

“I just want to make sure. It’s only been twenty four hours since we first suspected that the brainwashing had worn off. We don’t know the recovery rate. It might not happen at the same time for everybody,” Jack said.

He was less confident this morning without the whisky inside him.

“Jack, you’re just being paranoid,” Bernie replied. “They might drive right past and then we’ll have missed the chance to meet more survivors.”

“We’ve all the time in the world to find people. Being cautious isn’t going to hurt us, being reckless might,” I said, while thinking about the inconsistencies in behaviour we had seen.

I peeped out of my window and saw a black Range Rover approaching.

“It’s slowing down. Do you think they’ve seen us?” Bernie said.

“Has it stopped?” Lea asked.

“No, it’s turning into Aristotle Drive… There’s two people… They’ve pulled up outside the second house on the right.”

We were all watching now. Nothing happened for two minutes. Eventually, two men jumped out wearing black trousers and black sweaters. The first man who approached the door was overweight and carried a silver revolver behind his back. The other man had a long beard and crouched in front of the garage to cover the first with a rifle. The overweight man knocked on the door.

It appeared that he was having a conversation with somebody behind it. The whole picture was not too dissimilar to the way Jack and I approached Jerry’s yesterday evening. After a few minutes, the door opened. Greg appeared and offered his hand.

The man pulled the revolver from behind his back and pushed a confused Greg to the front of the garage, where the bearded man tied his arms behind his back, they both forced him to his knees.

“Let your window down slightly. Let’s see if we can hear what they are saying,” I whispered to Jack.

Bernie twisted the key to activate the electrics in the vehicle. Jack pushed the button gingerly and the window slid down an inch.

“Please, I don’t know anything. What do you want?” Greg shouted.

“Tell us the location and we’ll let you go,” the man with the revolver replied.

“What location? I haven’t found anyone alive.”

“This is your last chance. I’m giving you five seconds,” the bearded man shouted.

“Please, there’s nobody left alive, I’ve…”

The overweight man raised his revolver to Greg’s forehead and fired. A red splash appeared on the white garage door as Greg slumped backwards and lay motionless on the ground.

“What the fuck?” Bernie said in quiet amazement.

The men started to look around, presumably to see if anyone had noticed the gunshot, so we ducked back down.

“Who are they looking for? Why did they kill him?” Lea panted.

“I don’t like this one bit. They executed him,” Jack said.

The Range Rover revved its engine loudly and then sped past us in the direction of the house and Jerry’s farm.

“Why did they kill a survivor?” Bernie asked.

“I don’t know who the fuck they are, but we should go and warn Jerry. He’s the only other person alive we know in the area.” I replied.

“We’ll drive to Jerry’s now. It will just have to be a surprise that Lea and I are with you,” Bernie said, sitting up.

“No, we don’t need to panic him with this story and the fact that we lied at the same time. We can drive back home and Jack and I will just cut across the fields to get to Jerry’s farm.”

“You two stay out of sight at the house, and wait for us there. We’ll take the flare gun and fire it if we see any danger coming towards you,” Jack added.

“Shouldn’t we all stick together in case there’s any trouble?” Lea asked. “Four would be better than two if we come across those people. I am coming with you to Jerry’s.”

“No, we’ll be okay,” I replied. “You stay in the house and surprise them if they come knocking. Shoot first; ask questions later. Jack and I will go on foot to Jerry’s; we won’t bump into anyone in a vehicle that way.”

Lea carried on insisting that she should come to the farm with us, but my mind was made up.

With a plan quickly formulated, Bernie sped back to the house and parked the SUV in the back garden to keep it away from the road. I took the flare gun and made sure it was loaded. Next, I checked my Glock to make sure it was ready; Jack checked his rifle.

“We’ll keep watch from the upstairs front window,” Lea said.

She disappeared with Bernie through the back door.

Jack and I moved off quickly and went straight into the fields on the other side of the road, turning right towards Jerry’s farm. We kept low as we hurried along, jumping over fences and trying to remain hidden until we reached the outskirts of Jerry’s property.

“Let’s sneak around the far side of the barn instead of just walking in,” I said to Jack. “For all we know, the Range Rover might already be there.”

“You lead the way.”

Once we reached the back of Jerry’s barn, we slowly edged our way around the side of it to give us a view of the front of Jerry’s house. Parked outside the window we had first seen Jerry through, was the black Range Rover.

“They’re already here,” I whispered.

“Can you see any movement?”

I looked around the front edge of the barn.

“I can see some figures through the window,” I said.

“Can you see what they’re doing? Are they threatening him?”

“I don’t know, it looks like they’re just talking.”

“Shall we go in and surprise them?”

If we managed to catch them off guard, then we could disarm them at gunpoint. But if things didn’t go according to plan, and they gained the upper hand in a shootout, we would be in big trouble. The bearded man has a rifle.

“Let’s just wait. They didn’t mess about before.”

“What about Jerry?” Jack said.

“We hardly know him,” I said, surprising myself with my detachment.

We barely knew Bernie and Lea, but they were now the closest thing we had to a family. Keeping that family safe was the priority for me. If we did take on these people, then I wanted to make sure we had the upper hand.

We carried on waiting, as the conversation continued inside. Five minutes later, there was movement.

“Jack, they’re leaving the room.”

My heart was pounding against my chest now, and I felt a trickle of sweat run down the side of my face.

The two men in black left the house with Jerry and they all climbed into the Range Rover.

“Jerry didn’t look under pressure or frightened. They were all just talking, he went with them willingly,” I said to Jack, as the Range Rover pulled away.

Jack’s eyes widened. He started opening and closing his mouth, but no words were coming out.

“Spit it out, quickly.”

“We told Jerry about Greg in Maybrook last night.”

“Yeah, so what?”

“What if the fat fucker told them about him? What if they are now coming for us?”

“He knows where we are staying,” I said.

“Let’s go, now.”

“Wait two seconds.”

I pointed the flare gun into the sky towards our house and fired. The red projectile arced through the air and I hoped that Bernie and Lea would understand the warning.

We ran as fast as our legs could carry us along the road until we saw the Range Rover. It was parked thirty yards in front of our house and seemed empty. Using the cover of the trees around the driveway, we snuck up behind it. Through the glass, we could see some figures standing roughly in front of the house. Bernie was kneeling on the edge of the lawn; the overweight man in black was pointing his revolver at the back of his head. The bearded man was pointing his rifle towards the house, and Jerry was standing next to him.

We ducked back behind the Range Rover.

“Christ, what the fuck do we do now?” Jack said.

“I’m not sure. But whatever we decide, we need to do it quickly.”

Jack nodded.

We were both squatting and breathing heavily.

“You aim for the man with the rifle,” I said hurriedly. “He’s probably the most dangerous. Can you hit him from here? At this range I could easily hit Bernie.”

“Yes. Then what?”

“Then take out the one with the revolver trained on Bernie. Hopefully, they’ll freeze.”

“Right, let’s do it now.”

We didn’t have time for any intricate planning. The situation could have escalated at any second and we had to intervene.

Jack lay down by the side of the Range Rover to make himself a smaller target for any return fire. He looked up at me.

“Ready?”

I nodded, Jack took aim and fired.

The bearded man staggered back clear of Bernie, he dropped to his knees and clutched his chest. I fired three more shots in his direction. One of them hit him in the neck, and he dropped to the ground with a gurgled scream.

Jerry and the other man spun to face us as we trained our weapons on them. Bernie tried to get up, but Jerry put his arm on Bernie’s shoulder and forced him back down saying, “Back on your fucking knees.”

The other man mouthed obscenities at us, but kept his pistol aimed at Bernie’s head.

“You said there were only two of you?” Jerry shouted.

“I lied. Just like you did, you snake,” I yelled back.

“You two were the gullible ones who fell for my story. Hit on the head and waking up next to a corpse? You pair of stupid fucks,” he laughed. “We just want to talk.”

“Yeah, it looks like it,” Jack called back. “We saw what happened to Greg in Maybrook as well. I take it you gave away his location?”

Jerry’s face turned into a foul expression.

“If you fire one more shot, your friend gets it in the back of the head.”

“You’ve one revolver, and we’re both aiming straight at you. You are in no position to negotiate,” I shouted.

Bernie stared at us with frightened expression.

“Guys, I’m sorry. He came to the house and shouted, ‘It’s Jerry, come out.’ I came to the door and then saw the flare. As I was looking up, they smashed me in the face and dragged me out.”

Jerry glared at us.

“There are more people coming this way. If you don’t drop your weapons and give yourselves up now, you’re dead. We just want the bitch in the house.”

“Do you think you can hit the other man in black?” I whispered to Jack.

If we could get rid of him, he wouldn’t have a chance to exact revenge for his fallen partner. Then we’d only be left with Jerry.

Jack nodded and quietly reloaded his bolt-action rifle.

“This is your last chance to let him go, Jerry. You seem to be in charge, so we’re going to shoot you next,” I shouted.

“You haven’t the guts. You’re too worried about your friend,” Jerry laughed.

“And you’d have killed him already if you thought you could,” I replied. “He’s your last bargaining chip. Use it wisely.”

“We can just wait here until the others arrive. They’re heavily armed and already know this location. You, however, might not like that option.”

“What do you want out of this? Let Bernie go and you can both walk away,” I said.

“No, this prick is our insurance. We’ll let him go if you give us the bitch whose at the first floor window. Then we will take her in the Range Rover and leave you two alone.”

They must have seen Lea through a window. There was no way any man would give up a woman to a person as disgusting as Jerry. I guessed his intentions for Lea would be far from honourable.

“Not a chance,” I replied. “Let Bernie go now, or we’ll shoot.”

Jerry said something quietly to the man who nodded with a smile.

“No!” Bernie shouted.

The overweight man aiming at the back of Bernie’s head pulled the trigger and a puff of red mist appeared in front of Bernie’s face, before he quickly sank to the ground. I stood in shock as Jerry and the assassin used our hesitation to run towards the fields.

Jack and I started firing. One of us hit the shooter in the thigh, and he dropped to his knees. I ran out of ammunition just as Jerry made it over the fence and started running through the field in the direction of his farm. Jack quickly reloaded and shot the fallen man before he could turn his pistol on us. The force of the impact ripped the jawbone from the right side of his face. He slumped lifelessly against a fence post.

I ran up to Bernie shouting his name. When I reached him, I pulled up short; realising there was nothing we could do. The front section of Bernie’s skull was missing and some of his brain was visible around the exit wound.

“Fucking hell,” Jack said, joining me.

Lea came running out of the house.

“Is he dead? Is Bernie dead?” she cried. When she reached us, she put her hands over her mouth. “Oh, my God, no.”

We stood there for a few minutes looking at each other and then at the ground, anywhere but at Bernie. Everyone had tears in their eyes.

“Jerry.” Jack said, gritting his teeth.

I looked at Jack and felt rage bubbling up inside me.

“That sly fucker.” I said.

Jack ran over to pick up the bearded man’s rifle and tossed it to me, an AR-15. I carried out a make-safe procedure on it and placed the loose round back into the top of the magazine, which now contained a full thirty rounds.

“Let’s go.” I said, as I cocked the rifle.

All three of us jumped over the fence and started running across the field towards Jerry’s farm. He was going to pay.

I was in a furious rage, we had been completely fooled and the price we paid was Bernie’s life. Jerry had a head start on us, so I didn’t expect to see him as we approached his property.

We slowed down as we neared the barn; I said to Lea and Jack, “I want that bastard alive.”

“Fuck that,” Jack answered, “he’s going to have a long, slow, painful death.”

“That’s fine with me,” I replied. “You can do what you like with him after we get him to talk. I would say there’s enough evidence to believe he knows what’s going on, and I want some answers.”

Chapter 8 – The Barn

We approached Jerry’s barn from the same direction as earlier. He would probably be lying in wait for us somewhere, so we couldn’t just going to walk through the front gate.

As we sneaked up to the back of the building, I could hear a muffled voice coming from inside and turned to Jack and Lea, putting a finger to my lips. We all crept closer and listened through gaps in the timber cladding.

“Control, this is NY three. Do you copy?”

A crackly voice replied, “This is control. Please reconfirm the numbers.”

“This is NY three. There are three of them, and they’re all armed.”

“What happened to NY patrol six?”

“Those fuckers shot them. They’ll be coming here soon. I’ll hide in the barn until you send assistance.”

“I’ll go around to the front with Lea,” I whispered to Jack, “you take the side door.”

Lea and I walked around to the large double doors at the front of the barn. One of them was slightly open. I indicated for Lea to stay outside and then quickly slipped in, pointing the Glock in front of me. Jerry was seated with his back to me, wearing a headset and leaning into a radio transmitter.

“Thanks,” he said. “Tell them to come here first, but to be on the lookout.”

“Roger. Control out.”

Jerry took off the headset and turned around. I was standing about five yards away from him pointing the Glock at his face.

“Hello, Jerry. Fancy seeing you here.”

A look of shock flashed across Jerry’s face, and he immediately ran for the side door. As he swung it open, Jack stepped in and smashed the butt of his rifle into Jerry’s forehead. Jerry dropped to the floor, and Jack followed up with two firm blows to the top of his head. Jerry lay motionless.

“Good job,” I said, “but please don’t tell me you’ve killed him?”

Jack checked Jerry’s pulse.

“No, he’s just out cold.”

I scanned the barn and saw a long table against the rear wall.

“Jack, give me a hand pulling that table into the middle of the barn. Lea, you find some rope.”

“What are we going to do with it?” She nervously replied.

I could see pure anger in Jack’s eyes and I felt the same emotion, Bernie did not deserve his fate.

“We’re going to strap the bastard to the table.”

Jack and I hauled the heavy wooden table into position and then lifted Jerry onto it. He was a lot heavier than he looked and it took three attempts to get him in place. Lea brought some thin rope that had been wrapped around a barrel. We cut four long pieces then tied each of Jerry’s limbs to the table legs so he was spread across the table and unable to escape.

With Jerry secure, we could have a closer look around the barn. Stacked high against the left wall were crates of bottled water and piles of various food items, mostly in cans. On the workbench, were five respirators and an equal number of ear defenders. It was also where Jerry had left a rifle. He’d regret not keeping that by his side. In the right hand corner of the barn was a large, black metal object in the shape of a rectangle. It was about half the size of a single bed and had a chrome pole protruding out of the top to make the total height around six feet tall.

Jack picked up the rifle and checked the magazine. He clicked it back into place.

“It’s an AR-15 with a full mag. The same as yours.”

“When do you think the other people are going to arrive?” Lea asked.

“Soon I reckon. Did you hear Control say, ‘What happened to NY patrol six’? That must mean there are a few patrols in the area, but it’s unlikely they will be all based here. Still one of us had better keep watch outside the barn,” I answered.

“No,” Jack disagreed, “we should set up an ambush behind a couple of trees on the road leading to the gate. I bet they’ll drive right in here if they’re as stupid as patrol six.”

“What do you mean stupid?” Lea said.

“They drove right up to Greg’s house. He might not have been expecting what it, but it still wasn’t exactly subtle. At our place, they didn’t shoot Bernie straight away. If I were them, in a hostile situation, I’d have taken Bernie out immediately and picked off Lea from range with the rifle.”

“Charming,” she said, looking slightly surprised.

“They weren’t even watching out for us,” Jack continued, “even though Jerry probably told them of our existence as soon as he saw Bernie.”

“We’ll set up the ambush and wait,” I said.

“What shall we do with him?” Lea said, pointing at Jerry.

Jack picked up a dirty rag from next to the generator, walked over to Jerry who was just starting to regain consciousness and stuffed it into his mouth. His eyes opened wide when he realised he was restrained.

Jack leant down, “Just you wait.”

As we walked away, Jerry spat out the rag and shouted, “Fuck you.”

Jack turned back, ran to the table and smashed his fist into Jerry’s left eye. His head hit the table, and he looked dazed. He then grabbed Jerry’s hair and forced the rag back into his mouth as he struggled and tried to wriggle free. We had done a good job restraining him, he didn’t have a chance. I grabbed an extra piece of rope and wrapped it around his head, tying it around his mouth to stop him from spitting the rag out again. We didn’t need Jerry calling out when his backup arrived.

We ran to the top of the road and spotted three decent sized trees that would provide a good hiding place to spring our ambush. They were within a few yards of each other, on the left side of the road.

We waited in silence for the next hour in case anyone approached on foot.

“What shall we do about Bernie? We can’t just leave him lying on the front lawn of the house,” Lea said.

“We can go back and give Bernie a burial after we’ve finished here,” I replied.

Jack held his arm in the air.

“Quiet. I think I can hear the sound of an engine.”

We waited and listened. Something was approaching. A minute later, a black Range Rover appeared in the distance.

“Jack, you and I will empty our magazines into the windows and doors. Lea, you run out and finish them off if required. Are we all okay with that?”

They both nodded.

As the Range Rover approached the turn off into Jerry’s drive, it slowed to a stop. I glanced around the tree and saw that two people dressed in black were in the vehicle. One was a man wearing thick glasses and the other a woman with her hair pulled back severely from her face. This certainly was a coordinated effort, but I had the feeling that we weren’t exactly dealing with elite soldiers. The Range Rover turned into the driveway and came slowly towards us. The woman in the passenger seat was holding a rifle up to her chest, from that position; she wouldn’t have time to react.

As the driver’s window came level with me, I shouted, “Now!”

Jack and I stepped out from behind our trees and started firing into the driver’s side window. It shattered, and then collapsed. We’d scored a number of direct hits into the side of the driver’s head and body. He was slumped sideways towards the passenger who was also motionless as the Range Rover rolled past us and came to a halt. Lea ran around to the passenger’s window and fired two shots. A spray of blood covered the interior of the windshield.

She looked back at us, “Her eyes were moving.”

“Let’s get them out of the way in case anyone else is coming,” I said.

We dragged the corpses out and put them into the back seats before taking the magazines out of their rifles and reloading ours, they were all the same type, AR-15’s, confirming these people were probably all part of the same group. I put the Range Rover into neutral and we rolled it around the side of Jerry’s house, out of view from the road.

“Come on, back in position in case any more of these amateurs show up,” I said.

We waited by the trees for the next two hours, but no one else appeared. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. The killers we encountered had been extremely dangerous and a serious weapon had been used to turn normal people into killing machines. I could imagine that a complex and coordinated attack of this scale would require huge resources and skills. However, what we had since seen didn’t match this level of competence. It was time to start making Jerry talk. We needed answers, and I wanted them now.

Lea volunteered to keep watch from outside the barn in case anyone else showed up, Jack and I both agreed. Lea would possibly disagree with our methods of obtaining information from Jerry, and I was going to suggest she stay outside of the barn anyway. I was quite confident, now we had a couple of loaded rifles that we’d be able to take out any other patrols, even if they saw us first from a distance. The evidence so far suggested that we were far more dangerous than they were.

I walked into the barn and untied the rope around Jerry’s head, pulling the rag out of his mouth at the same time.

“You’re going to fucking die. I am going to make sure of that. You all are,” he shouted, then spat in my face.

I resisted a strong urge to punch Jerry in the mouth. His words, not his actions would dictate his fate.

“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Jack asked.

“I’ve already told you the good news,” Jerry laughed.

“No, the good news is that we have killed your latest patrol. You probably heard the gunshots,” I said.

“There’s more where they came from,” Jerry replied. “You won’t get away with it. Even if they don’t get you, you’re still dead.”

“You didn’t ask me what the bad news was, Jerry.” When he remained silent, Jack continued, “We’re going to torture you.”

He didn’t laugh at the response this time.

“What? What are you going to do?”

“That depends on how cooperative you are,” I replied.

Both Jack and I knew a few different techniques from our days in the army.

Jack turned to me, “Do you think Jerry will enjoy waterboarding? Can you go into this piece of shit’s house and fetch me a t-shirt, two towels, and a few jugs of water.”

I nodded. I wasn’t sure if Jack was openly threatening Jerry to try and make him speak or if he was serious. If Jerry wasn’t prepared to speak to us, then I wouldn’t have a problem assisting Jack with waterboarding, it was the least that Jerry deserved after what happened to Bernie.

When I arrived back with two jugs of water and a couple of towels, Jerry was struggling violently.

“You fucking prick,” he hissed at Jack.

“Just tell me all you know,” I shouted at Jerry. “We’ll get it out of you eventually, so you’ll be saving yourself a lot of suffering if you talk now.”

Jerry had a spiteful and defiant smile across his face.

“You won’t kill me because you need information. Do your worst.”

Jack patted him on the head.

“Jerry, I don’t want to kill you, I want to know everything you do. The waterboarding is just the start. When I have finished with you, you’ll be singing like a canary.”

Leaning against one of the piles of food cans was a pair of bolt cutters; Jack walked over, picked them up, and then placed them on the table next to Jerry.

“You don’t scare me. Keep me here as long as you like — you’re dead anyway.”

I circled the table while maintaining a stare into Jerry’s eyes.

“I don’t think so. We can fight off the fools that get sent here for months, and every time we do, they bring us more weapons and ammunition.”

Jerry started laughing again.

“You have no idea what you are up against. You’re toast, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Let’s get started on him,” Jack sighed.

The radio crackled, I immediately spun to face it.

“This is Control. NY three. Please confirm the patrol has arrived. We have lost contact.”

“If I don’t respond, they’ll know something is wrong, and then all hell will be unleashed,” Jerry said smugly.

“Shall we respond? You could pretend to be Jerry,” Jack said.

“It’s worth a try. Gag him.”

Jerry tried to shout as Jack stuffed the rag back in his mouth and held it there. I sat in front of the radio, put on the headset and pressed the transmit button.

“This is NY three. The patrol has arrived,” I said, attempting to mimic Jerry’s Boston sounding accent.

“You are not NY three. Confirm your call-sign,” A crackled voice replied after around twenty seconds.

“I am NY three. The patrol has arrived.”

“What is the pass-code for today?”

I looked back at Jack who shrugged his shoulders, our cover was blown and there was no point trying to pretend anymore.

“Jerry’s told us all about you. I know where you are and I’m coming for you.”

I waited at the radio for two minutes, but there was no response. I walked over to Jack who was still holding the rag in Jerry’s mouth.

“Oh dear, Jerry, Control now thinks you’ve talked. They also won’t come and save you as they think I’m on my way to get them. For all they know, you’re dead,” I said and patted his shoulder.

Jack pulled the rag out of Jerry’s mouth, who shouted, “They’re in Michigan, you dick.”

“So what? We can drive there.”

“You think you can get there in one piece?”

Jack grabbed Jerry’s hair, “Why don’t you tell us what’s happening, where in Michigan?”

“Fuck you.”

Jack shook his head and walked over to the water jugs.

“Harry, stretch the t-shirt over his head so it’s covering his face, and hold his head still.”

Jack poured water on the towels to make them damp, and then returned to the table, “Jerry, I am definitely going to enjoy this a lot more than you are.”

Before he could reply, I stretched the t-shirt over his face and held his head still; Jack laid the wet towels over the top and started pouring more water on top of them. Initially, Jerry was quite still. I thought he was trying to play it cool. He would quickly change his mind.

After twenty seconds of Jack pouring the water onto the towels, Jerry started to struggle wildly.

“Harry,” he said softly so Jerry wouldn’t hear, “when I pull the towels off, rip the t-shirt up, but not all the way off his head. It’s going back on pretty much straight away.”

We quickly removed the towels and t-shirt, Jerry gasped for air.

“Did you like that?” Jack asked.

Jerry didn’t get a chance to answer. As he was desperately gulping for air, Jack nodded at me. I pulled the t-shirt back over Jerry’s face and Jack laid down the towels and started pouring water again. This time it took less than ten seconds for Jerry to start struggling.

“Same again, Harry.”

We pulled off the covering again. Jerry was wild-eyed and panicking.

Jack leaned down and laughed in his face. “Third time lucky, you piece of shit.”

I nodded to Jack; it was all part of the act.

I pulled the t-shirt back over Jerry’s head, and Jack repeated his procedure. This time it was only a matter of seconds before Jerry was trying to rip off his limbs to escape. Jack nodded at me, and we revealed his face again.

“I am going to carry on doing this until you talk. Trust me, I can go for hours. Can you?” Jack said.

Oddly, I knew Jack wasn’t bluffing. Jerry had a lot of explaining to do, and we were going to use any means necessary to get information out of him. Though I hoped, I didn’t have to use the bolt cutters.

“Please… Please… No more,” Jerry spluttered.

“I bet you didn’t know we could do so much with water and linen,” Jack said.

We both looked at Jerry who was breathing heavily and staring at the roof. He didn’t seem as cocky and defiant as he had a few minutes ago.

“Talk now, Jerry, or we carry on,” I snapped.

“I’m not the only one, there’s others,” Jerry said nervously.

“No shit, do you think we believed that you masterminded everything? We heard you on the radio and took out that patrol,” Jack replied, pointing towards the direction of the road through the barn doors.

“You saw the consequences of the first activation on Friday. You can’t fight it.”

“First Activation?” I said. “Activation of what?”

“You can’t stop anything, even if you knew.”

“Harry, put the t-shirt back over this cock sucker’s face.”

I stretched it back over; Jack put the towels on again and poured the remaining water over where Jerry’s nose and mouth would be. As I clamped his head, I felt him wretch a couple of times. We unmasked him and he desperately gulped for air.

“Stop fucking around,” Jack growled at Jerry who nodded, “or next time, we’ll give you a five minute session.”

This could kill him, but what did we have to lose? Jerry had information and we had to know more. Any feelings of humanity towards him were quickly overridden by images of Bernie.

“You can’t… please…”

“Why can’t we?” I responded.

“Will you call the police? Oh, that’s right; you helped fucking kill all of them,” Jack said.

He slapped Jerry across the face.

Jerry scowled at me, so I raised the soaking t-shirt.

“No, no, wait,” he stammered. “Anthony knows more than me, he’s higher up the pecking order and knew about the first activation well before I did. I only found out on Thursday evening.”

“You knew what would happen? Do you realise what you’ve done?” I shouted.

I was struggling to keep my anger controlled at his apparent lack of guilt. It sounded like Jerry was also now trying to sell out one of his own to save himself.

“Where is Anthony? What does he know?”

“He’s lives in Hermitage, and always gets to know things before me, if you want to know what’s happening next, untie me, and I’ll take you to him. It’s just less than four hundred miles away.”

“Yeah, right, Jerry, if you didn’t want to reveal all before, you do now,” Jack replied.

Jack picked up the bolt cutters and tapped Jerry’s shoe, which seemed to give Jerry another nudge.

“The device in the corner of the barn, it’s part of the North American grid. That’s what transmitted the first activation. Don’t ask me about the technology, but it works.”

“We’ll smash it up then,” Jack said.

“It wouldn’t make a difference. The radius of each device overlaps to ensure all areas are covered if one malfunctions.”

“Where are the other devices? Do you have a map?” I said, grabbing Jerry by the ear.

“No. They’ve all been placed in position over the last few years. That one has been in my barn for two years. I know Anthony has one in his garage, he might know the other locations.”

Jack’s anger showed no signs of weakening. He was staring down at Jerry with vicious intent in his eyes.

“Who has been placing these devices? Who has the technology to create them?” I said.

Jerry laughed again.

“That’s the point you fucking retards.”

Jack swung the bolt cutters into Jerry’s forehead and his head slammed back onto the table.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist it,” Jack said, he grabbed Jerry’s chin and shook it. “He’s out cold.”

We’d have to wait to speak to Jerry again. In the meantime, we inspected the device. It didn’t appear to be anything special. It was just a shaped piece of metal that could have been seen in any trendy furniture shop. When Jack tried to push it over so we could check the bottom for markings, he couldn’t. It seemed to weigh a ton. We both grabbed the chrome pole protruding from the black box and managed to pull the whole thing over after a couple of heaves.

The only thing on the bottom of the box was a line of unrecognisable symbols.

“Do you think its code?” Jack said.

“I’ve no idea. I’m guessing whoever made this wouldn’t exactly advertise themselves on it, so maybe you’re right. Who could create such a thing?”

“I don’t know, but I am going to smash it open. We might find some names on the parts inside.”

Jack found an axe in the corner and started attacking the large, heavy, black box. I could see that he was putting all his strength behind the blows, but he struggled even to put a dent in the cover.

“Christ, it must be made of titanium,” he said.

“You keep going at that,” I replied, “I’m going to have a look around the barn.”

I left Jack chopping away as I went back to the radio. I recognised it as a HF radio because of the frequency range on the dial. This meant Jerry might not have been lying about Control being in Michigan, as distance was no object, especially during daylight hours.

Lying on the desk next to the receiver was a sheet of white paper. Jerry had been drawing childish pictures of naked women on it with a pen.

“Jack, you’ve got to see this.”

Jack stopped chopping at the black box, turned to look at me, “Genesis Alliance?”

“No, look at these pictures Jerry has been scribbling, the desperate pervert.”

As I turned the sheet of paper around to show Jack, I saw the other side.

Genesis Alliance — Voice Procedure for Operatives

The page contained basic procedures for radio conversation along the lines of what we had heard Jerry using. It was pretty standard stuff, but at least we now had a name for the people who were behind all this.

“Did you have any luck with that device?” I asked.

“No, breaking into Fort Knox would be easier.”

“Okay, let’s wake him up and find out who this organisation is.”

Jack took a bottle of water from the stockpile, opened it, and poured it over Jerry’s face.

He came around, thrashing and shouting, “No!”

“We’re not waterboarding you, yet. Who are Genesis Alliance?” I said.

Jerry’s eyes widened. “Who told you about that?”

“The sheet of paper by the radio. The one you had been scribbling dirty drawings on. Did they place the devices?”

“Maybe.”

Jack slapped him across the face.

“I mean yes. Yes, it was Genesis Alliance.”

“Why? Who are they?” Jack replied.

“You’re going to kill me. Why should I keep talking?”

“We’ll let you go if you tell us everything you know,” I said.

“Do you expect me to believe that? You’re even more stupid than you look.”

He must have realised by now that we were not joking, but whenever we gave him a short break, he slipped straight back into being an arrogant bastard.

“I guess it is time for phase two, Jerry,” Jack said before pulling the right shoe and sock off his foot.

He held the bolt cutters open by Jerry’s little toe.

“Stop,” Jerry screeched. “They activate the devices remotely. It’s done from a place just south of Detroit, called Monroe. That’s where Control is.”

Jack squeezed the bolt cutters around Jerry’s big toe, I leant close to his face, “Who are they?”

“Genesis Alliance. There’s no way you can take them out.”

“What is the distribution area of these devices?”

Jerry looked straight into my eyes.

“Global. I’ve told you, its taken years to build the network.”

I put my hands over my face and shouted, “Fuck!”

Jerry had confirmed our worst fears about the scale of these events. I looked at Jack who was repetitively shaking his head. Lea had been peeking her head through the door and was open mouthed.

I grabbed Jack by the arm and led him out of the barn. He, Lea, and I, all stood in silence for a minute, contemplating what Jerry had just said.

“What do we do now?” Jack asked.

“He’s given us two locations, should we go?” Lea replied.

I looked back into the barn.

“We need addresses. I also want to know why this is happening. He hasn’t explained that yet either.”

“Are we going to take that dick with us?” Jack replied, looking back into the barn.

“You want to bring him along?” Lea said uncertainly.

“He could be useful. We can use him to find the other locations, and possibly as bait. I think we should pay Anthony a visit, and then take it from there,” I answered.

“You flew from Detroit, didn’t you? How far is it to Monroe?” Jack asked Lea.

“It’s around six hundred miles from here,” Lea replied. “Hermitage is on the way.”

“If we’re going to both places, at least they’re in the same direction,” Jack said, “I agree with Harry, let’s see if we can get any more out of Jerry, and then go and ambush his mate.”

“That’s settled then,” I said. “Let’s get back in there and get him talking, we can decide on our Hermitage tactics based on his information.”

Happy at least to have a vague plan, Jack and I walked back into the barn. After picking up the bolt cutters again, Jack rested them on Jerry’s leg.

“You’ve two minutes to tell us all about Genesis Alliance and give us the addresses of Anthony and Control,” Jack said. “Otherwise, you can kiss goodbye to one of your toes for every minute you don’t talk.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“I assure you, we are not. Bernie is reason alone for us to do it, never mind the fact that you are partly responsible for wiping out millions, if not billions, of people. Don’t test me,” Jack replied.

He put the bolt cutters around Jerry’s big toe and squeezed. Jerry screamed as Jack drew blood.

“Stop! Fucking stop. I’ll talk.”

Jerry composed himself, “Genesis Alliance is dedicated to ensuring the survival of the human race. There are around two thousand of us.”

“Survival of the human race? You’ve got to be kidding?” I blurted.

“No, I’m deadly serious. The only way we could guarantee at least limited human survival, was to assist with the plan. Genesis Alliance has saved the human race, you just don’t realise it yet.”

Jerry didn’t appear to be lying, but I was still struggling to absorb what he was saying.

“Limited human survival? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You’ve seen the effectiveness of the technology first hand. Do you seriously think you can beat that?”

I looked at Jack who was now staring at Jerry in amazement.

“So we are being attacked?” Jack asked.

“It appears we have a genius in the barn, you didn’t think Bill Gates designed that device over there did you?” Jerry answered with a sarcastic smile.

Jack gritted his teeth and squeezed the bolt cutters around Jerry’s big toe. He screamed as blood started to run down his foot and formed a small pool on the table. I was surprised by the action but kept my feelings hidden; Jack was probably doing it for Bernie.

It was difficult to believe what Jerry was saying, but it did provide an explanation of sorts. We needed to know more.

I looked down sternly.

“So now that you know we are not bluffing, Jerry, you can keep the sarcasm to a minimum. You said that there are only two thousand of you. How was it even possible, on a global scale, to do what you did?”

Sweat was pouring down Jerry’s face, and his chest was quickly raising and lowering.

“I told you, the devices were activated remotely. Mine is a small portable one. I know that two were placed in Africa in the middle of the desert. They can cover the whole continent and back each other up in case of failure. It was the same for Australia. Some have even been built into major constructions — there’s one in the roof of the Shard in London. None of this was done overnight.”

“How did you get the devices? Who built them?”

“All I know is that the smaller ones were delivered to Michigan, and then sent out to people like me. The larger ones were constructed by a special team from Genesis Alliance.”

“You mean, they were put in position and not a single person noticed?” Jack replied.

“Who would believe an African tribesman or an Australian farmer if they said they saw a team constructing such a thing? I saw a couple of pictures of the larger devices and they are well camouflaged. It was all done right under peoples noses, they just couldn’t see it.”

“So you’ve a number of patrols here in New York, there will obviously be Genesis Alliance people in Michigan and we know about Anthony. That’s a few hundred right? How can you cover the planet with only two thousand people?” I said.

“No, it’s two thousand in America, I don’t know how many are spread around the world, there’s probably a hundred thousand for all I know.”

“What’s the timetable for all of this?”

“I’ll take you to Anthony, he’ll know more than me,” Jerry replied.

Jack started taking Jerry’s other shoe and sock off. Jerry didn’t require further prompting.

“Okay! I haven’t been fully briefed on the next steps yet. The key to the success of the organisation is in the drip-feeding of information. Genesis Alliance can’t afford to have hundreds of people walking around with the full timetable, so we only get told one step at a time. I have radio contact with control, but get the specifics off Anthony; he emailed me on Thursday night to tell me about Friday.”

“Email? You’re joking? How did you avoid being turned into a killer?”

“Why is that a joke? I put on a respirator and ear defenders — one of the sets that are over there. You must have been okay, because of either the altitude or the cabin pressure. I honestly don’t know, and I don’t think most members of Genesis Alliance really know either. That is why we wear both kinds of protection.”

Jerry looked in the direction of the equipment we had seen earlier in the barn. There were five of each item. Enough for all of us if we found out about any future activations and felt inclined to save him. However, I hadn’t decided yet what we would do with Jerry.

“Lea, have you been listening to this?” I shouted.

“Yes, I heard it all, but I still can’t get my head around it.”

“Same here,” Jack replied, then said to Jerry, “If this is true, you’ve just done all of their dirty work. How do you know that you’ll be left in peace? If whoever they are can quite happily destroy ninety nine percent of humanity, why would they let you off the hook?”

“Because I helped them. If this was going to happen anyway, wasn’t it better that at least some of us survived to maintain human existence?”

“Jerry, you really are an idiot,” I said. “No matter how you see it, you’ve been used. And look at what you’ve done.”

“No I haven’t, I get to live. Ron guaranteed it.”

“Who is Ron?”

Jerry didn’t say anything and closed his eyes.

“Who is Ron? Spit it out,” Jack shouted.

“Do it.” I said, gesturing towards Jerry’s foot.

I was bluffing and hoped for a quick response. Jerry opened his eyes.

“No wait. Ron leads Genesis Alliance. He is Control in Monroe. Somebody raised the same concern with him three months ago at one of our meetings. He assured us that we would live like kings.”

“I take it you haven’t seen the state of the City? How do you expect to live like kings now that all of our systems are down? Not to mention, who will be your servants? Certainly not the people lying dead all over the country.”

“How did you all get together? How did you all keep it a secret?” Jack asked.

“The group was formed mainly through the internet and word of mouth. We didn’t even try to keep it a secret. Genesis Alliance had a forum that required a username and password, but that was it. Anyone reading it would have thought we were insane. We were hidden in plain sight, just as the devices were.”

“Why did you join? Did you realise what the consequences of your actions would be?” I replied.

“Does it fucking matter? It’s done now and can’t be reversed. Can’t you see that I am only a tiny cog?”

“Well, you’ve certainly made an impact. You sound pathetic, Jerry,” Jack shouted.

“If it wasn’t for me and Genesis Alliance, humanity would have been completely wiped out. Now let me take you to Anthony, I’ll even fool him so you can take him by surprise.”

I felt uneasy about what we might now be facing. An unknown enemy, that had already shown itself to be technologically advanced, intent on taking over the world. A powerful force would easily sweep up the fragmented population that had managed to stay alive. Something didn’t quite fit though.

“I still don’t believe a small lunatic organisation could do all of this. Do you?” I asked.

“Well, we did, you’ve seen the evidence. We planted the devices and activated them. There are patrols on the ground, but the numbers are limited. Don’t you think this is a small price to pay for our on-going existence?”

“You really don’t have a clue what is going to happen, do you? The only thing that either of us know for sure, is that you have used this technology against your own people.” I pointed towards the corner of the barn at the device.

I walked over and looked at it again. A chill ran down my spine when I thought about the destructive intent of the designers.

“How did Genesis Alliance know this would work?” I called back towards Jerry.

“Some of our organisation volunteered to take part in tests.”

“What? Why? Where did these tests take place? Have you met anyone who actually made these devices?” Jack asked.

Jerry was still squinting in pain and I noticed his left hand had started to shake. He may have been going into shock.

“I don’t know, and I haven’t met them,” Jerry replied. “I only know certain members of the organisation, like Anthony. The anonymity protects us all to a certain extent — like in situations like this.”

“You really are stupid, Jerry. What if they decide that you are surplus to requirements?”

“Ron will make sure I am taken care of.”

“Yeah, sure he will,” Jack replied “You will be top priority. I don’t see the cavalry descending down on us now, do you? You’re not needed.”

“I’m not the only that knows what’s going on.”

A smug look crossed his face.

The purpose and scale of the activations had been explained, but I wanted to know about Genesis Alliance. Who exactly was Ron, and why was he approached to carry out this work. I could understand how a group of misfits could be created to carry out the required tasks with promises of salvation and a comfortable life ringing in their deluded ears. But none of that explained how it all came about and what was coming. If Jerry didn’t know, Hermitage was our next destination.

“What else do you know? What are the origins of Genesis Alliance and what is Ron’s history?” I pressed.

“I’ve told you, I wasn’t in it from the start. Some questions are not allowed to be asked. I was trusted to know part of the plan, but I am only a regional coordinator.”

“Regional coordinator?” Jack replied angrily. “You make it sound like you were setting up for the Olympics, not attempting to wipe out our race.”

“Unless you give us something more, Jerry, I’m going to leave you to the mercy of Jack,” I said.

It was another attempted bluff to see if we could get any more out of him.

“Control is in Monroe. That’s where the activation is triggered,” Jerry said hastily.

“I guessed that. What else?”

I moved towards him. Jack came to stand on the other side of the table with menace in his eyes.

“The activation failed in Northern England as we had two device errors. I heard it on the radio. We don’t have a mobile device that can be put in the area, as the south of the country is covered by the one in the Shard, which can’t be moved.”

Jack motioned towards the barn door and we walked outside to stand with Lea again.

“Lea, did you hear that?” Jack said.

“Yes, but what does one unaffected area in England mean for us over here?”

It was a good question, and we all pondered it for a minute. The problem we faced was that we didn’t know what the right questions were for Jerry. He was answering what we asked, but nothing more. We still didn’t fully know what he knew.

“I don’t think it means anything for us at the moment,” I said. “Our priority should be trying to stop this at the source, in Monroe. We’ll stop on the way to talk to Anthony.”

“Hang on a minute, since when did this become our problem?” Jack said.

“Jack, think about if we were standing here and another one of those activations went off. Besides that, we’ve killed four patrol members of Genesis Alliance and tortured a regional coordinator. Do you think they’re going to let us ride off into the sunset?”

“Why don’t we go back to and talk to Morgan and his group? We could put a small army together.”

“Jack, you’re not thinking. If we stop and turn back now, there’s probably more chance of us being caught up in another one of those things, on ground level this time. Plus, I reckon they’ll be expecting us to run away now, not be coming for them.”

“So we’re going for it?” Jack said, with excitement in his eyes.

“Yes. Let’s go and have a chat with Anthony.”

“A chat?” Lea asked, scornfully.

“You know what I mean. We can decide after that what our next moves are. At least he might be able to tell us what’s coming. If Jerry isn’t lying.”

“It’s going to be a long drive, but yeah, I agree,” Lea said.

“What about the captain who went to Long Island? He could fly us to England,” Jack said.

“That’s a bit of a long shot isn’t it?” I replied. “We don’t even know if he has survived up to this point.”

“I was just thinking of options, if there is an area that has managed to avoid all of this, then I’d want to be there. The fact that it is home is an added bonus.”

“Do you think the area would have been overrun by killers from elsewhere?” Lea asked.

I didn’t think so. An area that didn’t suffer an activation might be damaged around the edges but not completely wiped out. The ‘kill one then kill yourself’ mentality was chilling and effective, but only with complete coverage. Perhaps if the brainwashing had convinced everyone just to carry on murdering, then it might have provided a little more of a contingency for failure. I explained my train of thought to Lea and Jack.

“The plan is still good if one of those transmitters can be dropped into Northern England. If not, it’s only one small area compared to the damage that has already been done,” Jack said.

There was no point speculating about what would happen in England. The best chance we had was to find out if any more activations were coming, and possibly stop them.

“Is there any way of trying to contact Northern England?” Lea asked. “Will the radio work at that distance? We could at least try to warn them.”

I hadn’t thought of that.

“Yes, it will. We can try and use some of the maritime distress frequencies and hope that somebody is listening.”

Jack and I hurried back in to the barn and went straight to the radio. Neither of us could remember the exact distress frequencies, but knew they were around the early four, six, and eight kHz range. I started turning the dial.

“What are you doing? Get off my radio,” Jerry shouted.

“Shut the fuck up,” Jack replied.

We listened in on various frequencies but were unable to hear anything that sounded promising. It quickly became apparent that this would be an incredibly time consuming process unless we had the right information at hand.

We kept searching for a few minutes but began to give up hope. It was now getting towards early evening and I wanted to leave the barn.

Lea poked her head through the barn door.

“Any luck, you two?”

“Nothing,” Jack replied. “It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

“Let’s just go back to the house and bury Bernie, and then get on the road to Hermitage,” I said.

As we grabbed supplies from Jerry’s stockpile, he asked, “What are you going to do with me? You can’t leave me here.”

“You’re coming with us, if you don’t give us the addresses, I’ll shoot you,” I replied.

I was guessing that Jerry would go for option one, but he had another card to play.

“There’s something else you should know.”

Lea was still looking through the doors.

“Let’s just leave him here, I’m not sure I can stand being in the same vehicle as him on a long trip,” she said.

“He’s coming with us,” I replied and leaned over Jerry, “Spit it out then, this better be good.”

He looked up at me and smiled.

“Oh, it is, but I can’t tell you all of it. You’ll have to ask that fucking dyke by the door,” he said, looking towards Lea.

She stepped inside the barn and raised her Beretta towards Jerry.

Chapter 9 – Trip

Jerry’s revelation left me stunned. Jack, on the other hand, swung his rifle around towards Lea almost immediately.

“Drop your weapon, now,” he shouted.

Regaining control, I crouched down, picked up my weapon, and did the same. Lea lowered her Beretta and looked at the floor.

“Start talking, Lea,” I said firmly.

“He’s lying. Can’t you see he’s trying to get us to turn against each other?”

“No, I’m not. Let’s just say she’s in with Ron’s family.”

Jack still had his rifle pointing at Lea’s head.

“What’s he talking about?” Jack asked.

“I’ve no idea. Let’s get out of here and leave him.”

Lea had flown from Detroit on Friday, led us to the farm, and Jerry had been asking for her during the standoff outside the house. This started to feel like too much of a coincidence.

“They were asking for you at the house. Jerry said he would leave us alone if we handed you over,” I said.

“They were probably perverts. You’ve seen what Jerry is like, he—”

“That bitch was here at the farm last year. How did you find your way here?”

“You pinpointed this specific farm, Lea,” Jack said. “Are we supposed to believe that was a simple coincidence?”

“Hand over your Beretta now. We want to know everything,” I added.

“I haven’t been a danger to you so far, have I?”

“Bernie might not agree with that — if he were alive. Now hand it over.”

“Don’t trust that dyke an inch, she’s in this as deep as me,” Jerry said, almost triumphantly.

“If you call her that one more time, I’m going to blow your brains out. Why didn’t you say anything before?” I replied.

“She dates Ron’s niece. I didn’t want it getting back to him that I’d talked. If I gave her a pass, then she might have returned the favour. It seems I’ve nothing to lose now.”

“Why would I talk to Ron about an insignificant shit like you?” Lea hissed.

I turned and stared intently at her; Jack lowered his rifle and did the same.

“Guys, I can explain. I never meant for Bernie to get killed. I’ll tell you what I know; it’s not what you think.”

Lea placed her Beretta on the floor and kicked it towards me. I picked it up and put it on the table next to Jerry’s head.

“Don’t trust her, she’ll get us all killed,” he shouted.

“Shut up, you don’t get a say in anything,” Jack grunted.

“Do you know Ron?” I asked.

“She does, I’ve already told you…”

“Will you shut the fuck up for a minute? She can speak for herself,” I bellowed.

It was starting to feel like this situation was getting out of control.

“It’s true what he said about Martina,” Lea said.

“We want to know about Ron and the part you have played. Fuck Martina.”

“She does,” Jerry cackled.

I picked up the Beretta that was on the table, and smashed the grip into the side of Jerry’s head.

“I didn’t know any of this was going to happen. Please, hear me out for fucks sake.”

“If that Range Rover we shot up still drives,” I said to Jack, “can you bring it around to the barn doors so we can load it up with supplies? We can transfer them to the undamaged one still at the house.”

Jack grunted and disappeared out of the side door of the barn. I kept my eyes firmly on Lea who had sat down with her head in her hands.

“I just want to find out if Martina’s alive,” she quietly murmured.

“Wait for Jack. We both deserve to hear this.”

I was annoyed at how easily we had been led by Lea, and how much we had overlooked. We should have suspected Lea’s involvement as soon as we saw Jerry talking to the patrol. But we had been swept along with events and hadn’t stopped to question anything.

I had felt guilty because of white lies around our trap at the Elmhurst parking lot, even though our actions had been well intentioned. I had even apologised to her. Anger rose up inside me again so I guessed that Jack would be fuming. I wanted to know how much she had really manipulated us.

I heard the bullet ridden Range Rover rumble up towards the barn doors and stop. Jack walked back into the barn.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said, “that first patrol may not have been the clowns we thought they were. They didn’t shoot first, because they were trying to take her alive.”

“When I saw her at the Watson’s, I recognised her as Martina’s dyke partner who came here for a meeting. I thought it might get me some credit with Ron if we captured her.”

I slapped Jerry across the head, “Stop calling her that, I mean it.”

Lea looked up.

“Guys, don’t jump to any conclusions.”

“Don’t worry,” I replied, “you’ll get your chance to tell us everything on the long road trip to Hermitage. But first we’re going to load the vehicle and bury Bernie.”

Jack and I could pass judgment after we heard her story. If she turned out to be a part of all this, we could always use her as a pawn at an appropriate time in the future.

Jack kept his rifle aimed at Lea while she and I loaded the Range Rover with bottles of water, cans of food, the respirators, and the ear defenders. Between us now, we had two rifles with full magazines, two pistols with six rounds, and a bolt-action rifle with seven loose rounds. I had left the flare gun behind the barn when I fired it to warn Bernie and Lea about Jerry, but we decided not to waste time looking for it.

“Right, Jerry, I’m going to cut you free, and then tie your hands behind your back. If you try anything funny, you’ll get a bullet to the head. Do you understand?”

“You don’t have to tie me up; you can trust me more than you can trust her. I’ve given you information.”

“Don’t be stupid, Jerry, it’s your only option. Lea hasn’t tried to kill us.”

“Yet,” Jerry groaned.

“You only talked after we made you,” Jack replied.

I cut Jerry’s hands free with a hunting knife that I found by the radio, he rubbed his wrists and sat up.

“Put your hands behind your back,” I ordered.

He complied and I bound his wrists tightly together. I was expecting a struggle, but perhaps most of the fight had left him. We had put Jerry through a bit of an ordeal.

After I cut his feet free, he swung his legs around to the side of the table and jumped to the ground. He winced as he landed and looked down at his own blood stained foot.

“Jack, you get into the back with Jerry, I’ll drive.”

I wanted to sort the situation out with Lea sooner, rather than later. Controlling two prisoners would be a logistical nightmare; I considered putting Jerry in the trunk but decided against it for now.

I passed my rifle to Jack and kept Lea’s Beretta in my left hand. We drove back to the house in silence. Jack held his rifle to Jerry’s head; Lea was silent in the front, probably deciding how to frame her story.

I pulled up level with the undamaged Range Rover.

“Right, Lea, help me move the supplies to the other vehicle.”

She nodded and we completed the task in a few minutes. I looked at Jack in the back seat.

“Everything still okay?”

“Yeah, he’s been as good as gold,” Jack replied, he leaned over and flicked Jerry’s ear.

Jerry shook his head, then dived towards Jack and head-butted him. I saw Jerry disappear below the seat as Jack started swinging his fist repeatedly downwards.

I ran to the back door on the right hand side of the Range Rover, opened it up, and dragged Jack out of the vehicle.

“Leave him, he’s not worth it. I’ll sit with him from now on.”

“He provoked me,” Jerry shouted from the car.

“Be my guest, I’d probably end up choking him,” Jack replied, then passed my rifle back.

“Okay, take the other Range Rover around to the side of the house. I’ll bring these two around.”

Jack jumped into the other vehicle, started the engine, and pulled away.

“Alright you two, get out, and lead the way,” I said.

Lea exited first, and then made her way towards Bernie’s body. Jerry followed, cursing as he limped along.

Bernie was still lying on his side on the lawn; his eyes and mouth were wide open. Jack joined us and leaned down, closed Bernie’s eyes, and then dragged him round to the back of the house by his arms. I gestured to Lea and Jerry with my rifle and they slowly followed Jack until we reached the fresh graves of the Watson couple.

I grabbed the two shovels from the shed, threw one at Lea, and said, “Start digging.”

She didn’t hesitate and I slung my rifle to join her after instructing Jerry to sit.

Twenty minutes later, Jack said, “I’ll take over, you watch Jerry.”

He took my shovel and position in the developing hole and continued the work.

I looked across to Jerry who was just starting to open his mouth, “Don’t you say a fucking word, not now.”

To Lea’s credit, she didn’t complain even when we swapped again a couple of times, leaving her to dig without a break. We eventually finished, and I rolled Bernie into the grave.

I looked at Jack, he nodded, and I started to shovel the earth back in. Lea helped me and we silently filled the grave. The silence could have made Bernie’s burial quite solemn, but tension was building between the four of us and a confrontation was inevitable. I had no idea what Lea was thinking, but if her story wasn’t good enough, then she would be in for a very uncomfortable ride — perhaps in the trunk with Jerry.

“Come on, let’s get moving,” Jack said, “I don’t want to hang around here any longer.”

I could tell he was upset about Bernie, I think we all were apart from Jerry. Lea looked like she would attack him at any moment, and I was surprised she didn’t take a swing at him with the shovel.

“Right, let’s get going to Hermitage. What’s the address?” I said.

“Hogback Road, it’s not far from the highway. It’s a big place that’s set back from the road,” Jerry replied.

“You’re not leading us into a trap are you?” Jack asked.

“Do you think I am fucking telepathic?”

Jack screwed up his face, stepped towards Jerry but managed to hold himself back from whatever he was intending to do. It seemed that Jerry and Jack had quickly built up a mutual and passionate hatred of each other. It was understandable.

“He’s given us the address, we don’t need him now,” Lea said.

“We? There is no ‘we’ at the moment,” I replied. “You can sit in the front with Jack, where I can see you. I’ll take the back with Jerry.”

She rolled her eyes and slumped into the passenger seat, I got into the back with Jerry.

“There’s Sat Nav in this one,” Jack said, “Hogback Road?”

“How many times does he need to be told?” Jerry replied.

“Jerry, do you ever stop?” I said, shaking my head.

Jack fiddled with the control panel and found our destination. It registered as being just over six hours. That was definitely wishful thinking due to the state of the roads, but at least we had something to aim for. The house was near the only junction on the road, so it would be easy to find if we had to go on foot.

“Right, start talking,” I said to Lea as we pulled onto Interstate 84.

“You have to give me a chance to tell the full story before judging me, please,” she said.

“You’ve got an opportunity right now. Jerry, you can keep your mouth shut.”

“How do you know Ron?” Jack asked.

“You already know that. His niece is my partner.”

“Whatever, get to the important part.”

“That is the important part to me; I left Martina after we had an argument. I am praying that Ron has kept her alive.”

“He’s not going to kill his own niece is he?” I replied.

“I doubt it, but Ron is a bit of a funny character.”

“Come on, Lea, what do you know about all this?” Jack said.

“I met Martina two years ago. She lives with Ron because her mother died of some kind of cancer. She doesn’t know who her dad was.”

“This sounds just like a Jackie Collins novel,” Jerry spitefully chuckled.

“Jerry, this is your last chance. Any more from you and you’re spending the rest of the journey in the trunk, got it?” I said.

“Okay, I love listening to liars anyway.”

I pushed the muzzle of my rifle into Jerry’s side and he winced but remained silent.

“After we’d been together a few months, Martina scored me a job working for Genesis Alliance.”

“Doing what?” I asked.

“He needed an Administrator and Logistics Coordinator. It was easy work and paid well. Ron was a bit odd though.”

“Anyone who turns people into murdering, suicidal maniacs, is more than a bit odd,” Jack replied. “What did the job involve?”

“Ron owns a small warehouse on the edge of Monroe; he would tell me when and where the containers within it needed to be shipped. My job was to arrange a courier to ship specific units to worldwide locations, I could do it all from home.”

“So you distributed the devices around the world?” I asked.

“I didn’t know I was doing that. The description on the packing slip was always ‘Scientific Testing Equipment’, I’ve no interest in science. It was just a job. Would you question it?”

“No,” I admitted.

“There was nothing suspicious about that part. I visited the warehouse once, it had a security guard and the inside was nothing special, just lots of large boxes stacked in columns. I’m trying to think of a place where we didn’t send one of those things.”

“Fair enough, was that all you did?”

“I had to do some other general admin work. One of the tasks was looking after the company’s online banking. At first, I couldn’t believe how much money went through the account. I asked Ron about it and he told me it was normal for an import/export business to have that kind of turnover. I don’t really know much about business, so I just went with it.”

“What about Ron? What’s he like?” Jack asked.

“He’s a bit of a creepy bastard. But he kept giving me pay raises and I took lots of vacations. I didn’t want to cause trouble, as I was onto a good thing. Martina really loves him.”

“Creepy?”

“Yeah, I went away with him to one of his meetings in Florida. I didn’t attend the meeting, but he tried to book us into a double room and said it was the only one available. When I checked with reception, they had a few spare, so I took one of those. He was wasted in the hotel bar that night and tried to persuade me to go up to his room, and offered me fifty bucks to give him a back massage.”

Jerry laughed, I looked across at him.

“I didn’t say a word,” he smirked.

“Carry on, Lea, how did you meet Jerry?” Jack said.

“It’s pretty much like he said. Ron took me to a few meetings; one was at Jerry’s barn. Martina came down with me and we had a weekend in Manhattan afterwards.”

“Why did he take you to meetings?” I replied.

“I took bank details from people after the meetings and set-up payments to them through the company account. Jerry’s account received thousands of dollars from Genesis Alliance. He was one of the people I met who stuck in my mind.”

“I can understand that,” Jack nodded.

“So how many were on the payroll?” I asked.

“I can’t remember, maybe a few hundred. I tried to keep clear of Ron after what happened in Florida, that’s why I tried to get Martina along. It was difficult; she covered Latin America, so she was often on trips abroad. It started to put a strain on our relationship.”

“Do you think she knew more about this? Did you tell her about Ron?”

“We didn’t really talk about work; I found it all pretty boring. She might know more, as Ron and her are close. I was scared that if I told Martina about him, she’d dump me. She worships Ron and if I made it a choice between him or me…”

“Was there anything else? Thinking back can you think of anything suspicious?” Jack replied.

“No, that’s just about it. If you were in my shoes, would you have guessed what was going to happen?”

“I’ve no idea, probably not. So how did you end up on a flight to New York? I’m surprised Martina would let you go if she had any feelings for you.”

“I had a massive argument with her on Thursday night. Ron had planned a company party somewhere out of town, I refused to go and she went crazy. I was in a bit of a state and booked a New York flight to go and see a friend for the weekend. I needed a shoulder to cry on. Martina called me on Friday morning and was really pissed. I was already at the airport by then.”

“What did she say?” I asked.

“She wanted me to go straight to Ron’s house. She said I was letting down the company at an important time and they needed me back in Monroe. I hung up and switched off my mobile.”

“It sounds to me like she knew what was going to happen.”

“I don’t want to believe that yet. When the plane landed and I saw what was happening, I didn’t connect any of it with Genesis Alliance. I had shipped boxes and set up some payments. Would you get suspicious off the back of that?”

“I suppose not,” Jack replied.

“I was going to try and find my friend in Manhattan; I hoped that he could help me. That’s why I joined the group on their trek into the city. But in the apartment, I decided my friend was probably dead.”

“Did you hear from Martina?”

“I received two direct messages from her on twitter. She told me in the first not to tweet anything about G.A and asked me to stay indoors for the next seventy-two hours. That’s when I first started to become suspicious. I replied asking what was going on. The second message told me not to answer the door to anyone and keep it locked.”

“She sounds like she definitely knew what was going on,” I replied.

“You don’t know that, she might have asked Ron after it all started.”

“Yeah right. Come on, Lea, you’re blinded by love. What happened next?”

She shook her head.

“This is where you guys came in. After Chris was killed, and you turned up at the parking lot, I thought you might have been one of them. I needed help to get to Jerry’s farm. If Genesis Alliance had anything to do with what was happening, I thought he might have some answers, it was the closest meeting place to Bernie’s I could remember. I still didn’t believe it though. I also wanted to get back to Martina.”

“So you used us?” Jack said.

“We all wanted to leave. All three of us are finding out what’s happening, right?”

“It was four of us.”

“I’m just as upset about Bernie as you are. Give me a fucking break.”

“Hold on, why didn’t you go straight to the farm when we arrived in Orange County?” I asked.

“I planned to sneak out and confront Jerry if he was still alive.”

“When?”

“I was making my way out the first night, but you two were outside chatting. You weren’t leaving the front of the house any time soon and started giving me whisky. I watched you leave the house from the upstairs window and started to get nervous. I was relieved to see you both made it back in one piece. When you told me Jerry was alive, I wanted to sneak away the next morning, but Bernie wouldn’t go to bed after his shift.”

“Why didn’t you tell us any of this?” Jack replied.

“I was convincing myself that Genesis Alliance had nothing to with it. It would mean that I played a part if it was true. When Jerry attacked the house and Bernie was killed, I couldn’t deny it to myself anymore.”

Lea leaned back in her seat, put both of her hands on her head and closed her eyes.

Jerry started slowly clapping his feet.

“Ten out of ten for acting, what a crock of shit.”

I ignored him and thought about what we had just been told.

If the whole story was true, and it was certainly plausible, then I could understand Lea’s actions. Most people had ignored an inconvenient truth or two before, especially if it meant having an easier life. Perhaps not ignoring something as big as the plans of Genesis Alliance, but who was I to judge? After mulling it over, I was satisfied with most of what Lea said, but was still annoyed with her for all the lies. As far as I was concerned, we had a bigger fish to fry in Hermitage and needed to stay together as a team.

“So what do you think?” I said to Jack.

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” he replied.

He didn’t sound too upset, so I guessed he was probably thinking the same as me.

Trapped in a moving vehicle together with Jerry and Lea, we couldn’t openly discuss our thoughts, so I tapped Lea on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. I can understand why you did what you did. None of us have any secrets anymore. Let’s just move on and make sure we take care of business.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about Bernie, either,” Jack said. “You didn’t know it was going to happen. We’ve all made mistakes since Friday.”

“Thank God. I knew you’d understand once I’d explained.”

“You guys really are stupid. She won’t let you screw her you know?”

“Jack, pull over, I’ve had enough of him,” I snapped.

“What are you going to do?” Jerry nervously muttered.

“I’m going to gag you; you’ve had plenty of warnings.”

“I promise, I won’t say another word. Don’t you think I’ve had enough?”

The Range Rover stopped.

I opened up the back of the vehicle and took out a folded bed sheet from the corner, and then cut a long piece from the edge. Jack held Jerry’s shoulders firmly against the seat as I tied it around his head, covering his mouth.

Jerry gave a muffled shout; probably an insult but the gag had done its job. Jack climbed back into the driver’s seat and we pulled away.

Jack looked across to Lea.

“So, what do you know about Hermitage? Did you go to a meeting at Hogback Road?”

“I knew about the place because I sent a couple of boxes there, but I never visited. Anthony might be part of Ron’s management team; I think he came along to the team-building day at the Splash Universe a few months ago.”

“Splash Universe?”

“It’s a waterpark.”

“Jesus. A team-building day at a waterpark to organise the end of the world?”

“No, it was an attached hotel that was part of the complex. We had a weekend there and I didn’t hear any talk of killing people. Looking back it feels a bit ridiculous, but at the time, it was just a company event. That’s how Ron ran things, he’s normally pretty casual, but only if you play by his rules.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I only saw a couple of people cross him during the last two years. And I mean, just disagree with him over minor detail, and they’d be fired.”

“Being fired from Genesis Alliance isn’t the worst thing in the world,” Jack said.

“I said fired because that’s what I thought, nobody ever saw them again.”

“What do you remember about Anthony?” I said.

Jerry moaned furiously for a few seconds, we all ignored him.

“I didn’t really talk to him. He was in Ron’s huddle at the bar most of the time. He kind of looks like Larry David, have you seen him on TV?”

“The skinny, bald guy with glasses?” Jack replied.

“Yeah, that’s him, he never really acknowledged me, but that suited both of us. I used to laugh with Martina about all of Ron’s freaky associates.”

We were starting to build a small picture of Genesis Alliance, although it still didn’t make sense. To find out more about Anthony, we’d have to get Jerry talking again. A task that would be difficult to manage when he seemed to thrive on insulting Lea and winding up Jack.

The satellite navigation system chose a route that would keep us on Interstate Highways all the way to Hermitage. Killers were seemingly no longer a problem, so the main obstacles were stationary vehicles and other debris that lay on various parts of the road. The smell of decomposition filled the air in waves, but became almost unbearable as we approached Scranton. We decided to keep the windows rolled up and just use the air conditioning.

As we picked up Interstate 81 away from the city, the highway ahead was blocked with a demolition derby style pile-up. Jack turned the Range Rover around and took us back to the previous exit, there was no chance now of a head on collision. Daylight had completely vanished and the vehicle lights were on full beam.

The Sat Nav automatically recalculated our route and we ended up looping around on the Pennsylvania turnpike and joined Interstate 81 again just past Dupont.

“Jack, are you still okay driving? Shall we stop for the night?” Lea asked.

“No, I’m fine. I grabbed some decent sleep last night, so I can go for another few hours at least.”

“I’m alright as well, you and Bernie let us stay in bed, remember?”

Despite what I told Lea, I was beginning to feel tired. The adrenalin for the last few days was ebbing away and concentrating on the road at night was hard, I could only imagine what it was like for Jack at the wheel. But Lea and Jerry were still a concern. Lea’s story was believable, but being linked to Genesis Alliance and Ron’s niece, made me question what decisions she might take. If it came to Jack and me, or Genesis Alliance and Martina, I still wasn’t sure which way she’d go. Jerry was a snake, but we needed him, he knew Hermitage and probably a lot more.

We joined Interstate 80 and I hoped there would be no major blockages from here to Hermitage.

“Pull in at the next station, Jack, we can get some cigarettes, Red Bull and maybe some food,” I said.

“Sounds good to me,” Jack replied, “although the last two we’ve seen have been smouldering ruins.”

Half an hour later, I saw a sign indicating a station one mile ahead.

This was going to take some planning. Jerry couldn’t be left on his own, and neither could Lea, we still couldn’t trust her one hundred percent, but we were nearly there.

“Jack, pull over.”

I decided on a plan and briefed the group.

“Jerry, I’m going to tie your legs together, you’re staying in here. Jack, you take Lea, go into the store, and grab as much stuff as you can. See if you can find a tube so we can syphon petrol and a flash light, use your imagination. I’ll have a look around outside to see if I can find anything.”

Jack and I exited the vehicle, took the rope from the trunk, held Jerry down, and bound him tightly. He screamed protests through his gag, but we ignored him as we placed him in reverse foetal position on the back seat.

I thought this was a good time to give Lea her Beretta back. Jack raised his eyebrows but said nothing, as we all climbed back into the vehicle and continued down the road.

The Range Rover pulled into the forecourt a couple of minutes later, and stopped by a pump, I had no idea why Jack did this, probably out of habit as they wouldn’t work without electricity.

Jack and Lea disappeared into the night heading towards the store.

I patted Jerry a couple of times on the shoulder, made sure he was securely tied up, then stepped out of the vehicle and scanned the immediate vicinity for anything of use. Finding nothing, I decided to relieve myself against the side of the Range Rover.

Jack and Lea emerged from the store opening and jogged over with four large bags.

“What have you managed to get?” I asked.

“Everything we need, including these,” Jack said.

He opened his bag and I saw a long plastic tube, cigarettes, nachos, and cans of Red Bull.

A light shone on my face. I pulled my rifle into the alert position and swung it round in an arc, but couldn’t see anything.

“What the hell was that?” Lea whispered.

We all crouched down and I peered into the gloom.

“Get behind the Rover,” Jack said.

Jack pointed to the right hand side of the store.

“I think it came from around there.”

“Hello? Who are you?” I shouted. “We don’t mean any harm.”

There was no response.

“Were you trying to signal us?” Lea called out.

After a few seconds, a male voice called back, “Drop your weapons and we’ll come out. We don’t know if we can trust you, and we are unarmed.”

“How do we know if we can trust you?” Jack replied.

“We only want to talk,” the voice answered.

“How many of you are there?” I asked.

“There’s two of us.”

We all looked at each other.

“Come out,” I called. “You’re safe. We just want to meet other survivors.”

Slowly, from behind the store, two figures appeared. As they inched towards us, I could see it was a man and woman, both in their mid-twenties. They walked to within ten yards.

“This is as far as we’re coming. What the fucks going on?”

“Do you want the long version or the short version?” Jack replied.

“What? The short version. We’re desperate here; you’re the first people we’ve come across.”

“From what we’ve seen, everywhere has been in total chaos. People have been turning on each other and most are dead, but you might be okay now. We’ve seen a few more survivors in the last few days, so you’re not on your own.”

“What happened to you?” I shouted across the forecourt.

“We came across each other in the state park. After talking, we realised we’d both lost a few days. As we walked along Red Rock Road, we started to see dead bodies and other crazy shit. We’ve just being trying to find someone who knows what’s been going down. The army or whatever.”

“So what are you going to do now?” Lea asked.

“Where are you going?” the man replied suspiciously.

“Michigan,” Jack answered. “But we heard on a radio transmitter that there might be some survivors in New York.”

I immediately grasped that Jack was telling these people a lie for their own good. It would be unfair if we took them along with us, we had a confrontation coming very soon with Anthony.

“Did you get any details? What has the government done?” The woman said.

“Forget about the government, they’re probably gone. We know there’s a group holed up in Aldi on the Long Island Expressway. Head towards Manhattan, you’ll find it,” I said.

“That’s miles away, can we come along with you?”

The man pulled her back by the shoulder.

“Let’s just get back to New York,” he said.

“Guys, forget about the army, government, or any of that shit. We have to make our own way from here. You’re best off with those guys in New York,” Lea said.

“Whatever, maybe we’ll see you around,” the man replied. “But for now, we’re going to keep our heads down and see what happens.”

With that, both of them turned around and walked back into the gloom behind the store.

Jack started walking back to the Range Rover, “Come on, let’s get out of here. Chances are, there’s going to be a few more like them, we can’t help everybody.”

Lea seemed saddened by the meeting.

“We should have helped them,” she said.

“How? I’m glad they didn’t want to come along with us, it would have taken some explaining,” Jack said.

“The social rules have changed now,” I said. “They probably just want to find a safe place and keep their risks to a minimum. It’s not exactly easy for us, and we have a better understanding of what is really going on.”

I heard a thud behind us and turned; Jerry had wriggled out of the car and landed on his face, on the forecourt.

We rushed over and pulled him back into the vehicle.

The gag was drenched in blood, so I untied it. Jerry seemed unaffected by his fall.

“I’d have fucked her,” he said.

“Who? What are you talking about?” I replied.

“That whore you just met.”

Jack leaned into the back of the vehicle and slapped him.

“You don’t realise what you’re missing. Ron told us how much pussy would be out there after the first activation. You need to…”

“Shut the fuck up. The gag is going back on if you say another word,” I said.

We all climbed back into the Range Rover and Jack pulled away.

After picking our way along the highway for another half an hour, I noticed some headlights in the distance behind us. I pointed it out to Lea and Jack, and continued to watch out of the back window. The car continued to follow us for another hour. It shouldn’t have been unusual to see another driver on the road, even in these circumstances, but none of us were quite ready to trust in coincidence.

“Let’s stop and see who they are,” Jack said. “We don’t want to be followed all the way to Hermitage, if that’s what the other car is doing.”

“Let me do the talking this time, you’re too soft, you’re going to get us all killed,” Jerry said.

We all ignored him.

Jack pulled onto the side of the road. We jumped out of the Range Rover quickly and waited behind it with our weapons ready. I cut Jerry’s legs free to make it easier to move him and kept hold of the back of his collar. The headlights slowly approached until a car pulled alongside us.

The electric window descended on the passenger side of the vehicle.

“Thanks for waiting for us,” a man said.

“Pardon?” I replied.

“Thanks for waiting for us. We’ve decided to come with you.”

Though we couldn’t see inside the car, I recognised the voice as being the man’s from the station.

“What do you mean come with us?” Jack asked.

“We had a chat after you left. You seem capable and are armed. We think we’ll be safer with you for now.”

We didn’t actually want anyone coming along with us to Hermitage. Although extra numbers could be handy, we’d have to reveal why we were going there.

“You can’t come with us, but we’ll meet you here next Sunday,” I replied, hoping to appease them with my suggestion.

“Why not?” the man asked.

“We think that there might be some danger up there. We are going to sort it out. After that, we can come back to meet you,” Jack replied.

“We can help you. Do you have a spare gun?”

“Sorry,” I lied, “we don’t have any spare. We wouldn’t want to expose you to any unnecessary danger, so we’ll meet you afterwards.”

“Who do you think you are, John Rambo?” the man said sarcastically.

It was nearing two o’clock on Wednesday morning. I think tiredness must have got the better of Jack because he answered, “Fuck you.”

The man sprang out of the car, walked up to Jack, and stood inches from him.

“Say that to my face, you pussy,” he said.

“They’re holding me hostage. The one that you called a pussy is a rapist; I’ve seen him do it to three women. This one is as well,” Jerry shouted, as he looked up at me.

I realised he was trying to work the situation to his advantage. I kicked the back of his leg and he dropped to one knee.

“Did you see that? That’s how they’ve been treating me, look at the blood around my mouth.”

“Shut up, Jerry,” I shouted.

“Hey, what the hell?” The man said, looking around Jack towards me.

“Ignore him,” Lea shouted, “do you think I’d be travelling with them if they were rapists?”

The situation was escalating. Two survivors, most likely tired and stressed, were probably now in an even bigger state of confusion.

“There’s no need for this. Let’s all just calm down and talk it through,” I pleaded as I tightly squeezed the back of Jerry’s neck.

“Come on, Mark. It’s not worth it,” the woman shouted from inside the car. “Let’s just leave them and go and find a place to stay for the night.”

He didn’t respond to her, instead he focused back on Jack.

“Are you going to say it to my face?”

I couldn’t believe what was happening, rather than being confused or wanting to ask questions, he just seemed angry that Jack had sworn at him.

He poked his finger into Jack’s chest, “Pussy.”

I knew what Jack’s response would be and tensed up.

Jack leaned back and then thrust a violent head-butt straight into the man’s face. He staggered backwards, holding his eye.

He paused for a second before launching himself at Jack, shouting, “You mother fucker.”

They collided and hit the ground together, then started wrestling. I let go of Jerry, ran over and grabbed the man’s shoulder to pull him away. He swung his elbow around, and it caught me flush between my eyes. The momentum knocked me back a couple of yards, and for a moment, I was seeing stars.

“He’s running,” Lea shouted, and I heard a couple of shots.

A surge of anger shot through my body. I wrapped my fingers into the shape of a fist, and then jumped on top of the man and punched him in the back of his head as hard as I could. He tried to roll out of the way, but only succeeded in pulling Jack around with him. Jack now sat on top of his chest, and rained heavy blows into the man’s face.

“Stop it, leave him now. He’s had enough,” I shouted.

I had been thrown away from the fight when he rolled.

I turned quickly and looked for Jerry, he was gone.

“He ran away as soon as you let him go, over there between the trees,” Lea said, pointing to the opposite side of the highway.

“Did you hit him?” I said.

“I don’t think so.”

“Shit.”

I shouted in frustration as I looked back towards the scene of the fight.

The man had stopped struggling underneath Jack.

“I’m letting you go now. If you try that again, I’ll hammer your face. Do you understand?” Jack spat.

He nodded, Jack released his grip and the man hobbled back to his car holding the left hand side of his face. He got back into the passenger seat with a grunt.

As the car pulled away, he shouted out of the window, “Thanks for nothing, you fucking douchebags. If I see you again, I’ll kill you.”

Jack looked at me, shaking his head.

“What an idiot. Shall we go after Jerry?”

“I’m not sure it’s worth the effort. We’ll just have to get to Hermitage before he does and hope he wasn’t lying.”

I called Jerry’s name twice, unsurprisingly, there was no response.

“Shame I didn’t get him, but I’m glad he’s gone. I know where Ron lives anyway.”

“Yes, we know, Lea,” Jack replied, dusting himself down.

“Come on, let’s go. I’ll drive, I reckon we can make Hermitage by first light. We don’t want that creature getting a head-start on us,” I said.

I looked at Lea who was climbing into the passenger seat.

She shook her head, “You guys can really be dicks sometimes.”

We waited until Mark’s vehicle vanished in the distance, and then set-off again.

“We’re not stopping for anybody now until we get to Hermitage,” Jack said. There was no disagreement.

During the night, we were forced into swapping vehicles twice as our attempts to syphon fuel was unsuccessful. I reasoned that modern cars had a valve to stop siphoning and we didn’t want to waste any more time out in the open. The cars we chose were parked at the side of the road, and clean of bodies. We rolled along towards Hermitage in a Chevrolet without Sat Nav, but it was a straight road all the way. Inside the Chevy, I found a rolled up road atlas and calculated that it was about a mile on foot cross country from the highway to Anthony’s house.

The first signs of dawn appeared in the sky as we approached our designated point, and I slowed to a crawl along the tree line. To our right was a break in the trees to accommodate overhead wires, and the house was somewhere beyond, out of sight. The highway around us was quiet.

“Let’s get some fuel into us before heading over,” I said, the others nodded agreement and we slid out of the car.

Jack grabbed three cans of baked beans and spoons from the back of the Chevy. The ring pull made the cans easy to open, and as I chewed the first mouthfuls, I thought of Bernie and his apartment. I imagined getting some revenge for his death and all the others we had seen by destroying Genesis Alliance. From what we had seen of them so far, I was confident, but was also now concerned that we might be caught up in another activation. My mind switched from Hermitage to Monroe, and I walked round to the front of the Chevy to speak to Lea. She was staring off towards the opening in the trees, apparently lost in thought.

“Do you have any idea what we might face if we go to Ron’s?”

“No, not really, are we going there next?”

Jack had followed me. “It depends what we find here. This guy might have all the answers. If there’s a way of stopping it all and getting away now, then fine, but I think we are on a collision course.”

“Do you want to go back?” I asked Lea.

“I want to see Martina again. But if it means getting you guys in trouble…”

“Don’t worry about that. Do you remember seeing any people around Ron that could be dangerous?”

“It’s hard to say, maybe one or two, but none of them really stood out that way.”

“I reckon there will be a few armed guards,” Jack said. “Ron isn’t going to leave himself exposed is he?”

“Are you going to try and kill Ron?” Lea said, with a wide-eyed expression.

I wanted to avoid having a hypothetical discussion over the future of Ron. Firstly, we didn’t know if we were going to Monroe, secondly, I thought it might start Lea thinking about what the consequences of such an action would be for her.

“Forget about that for now. We can’t afford to get into a long firefight here. It’s reasonably safe to assume that Anthony will be armed if he’s at home, if he has plenty of ammo, then we might not take him from a distance. He could call for back-up, so we need to be quick once we get there,” I said.

“How shall we take the house? A pincer movement? He might be expecting something if Ron’s told him about Orange County,” Jack said.

“Let’s have a look at the place first. If there are trees to one side, then we can feint at the front, and take him out with a flanking manoeuvre.”

“You’re going to have to explain that to me in English,” Lea said.

“You and I will approach the front of the house; we’ll keep a reasonably safe distance and act like we’re survivors, just having a look around. Hopefully, we can flush out whoever is in there. Once we get attention, Jack can move in from the side.”

“He might recognise me, I’ll go with Jack.”

“Good point, you take my rifle. I’ll go to the front of the property with your Beretta.”

“On show? That might set off alarm bells, what if he just shoots you?”

“No, he won’t shoot first, as he doesn’t know who I am or if there’s anyone else around. If I make him think I’m alone, it will make me his main focus. That’s when we execute the move. I’ll make the Beretta ready and carry it in one of the bags you took from the garage; it will look like I’m just carrying supplies.”

“Then what?” Lea said.

“Then we take whoever is there, dead or alive. It depends on the situation,” Jack replied.

As I finished my can of beans and threw it down onto the side of the highway, I felt a speck of rain hit my cheek and looked up at the light grey sky above us. It didn’t look particularly threatening, but the distant sky was much darker. I pointed towards it.

“I don’t want to carry out this assault in the rain, let’s get going.”

“Should we go now? It’s still pretty early,” Lea said.

“Even better, if we catch Anthony in bed, I’ll bring some rope. Just remember, Jerry told us about this place, be ready for a nasty surprise,” Jack replied.

I took Lea’s Beretta; slipped off the mag, and thumbed out four rounds, I was sure it would be enough with the cover of two fully loaded rifles. I reloaded the magazine, cocked the Beretta, and then placed it in a plastic bag amongst three packets of nachos. Jack gave Lea a quick lesson on how to use the AR-15, and then they slung the weapons, ready to move.

“We’ll follow the wires until we can see Hogback Road, from there, we can creep up through the trees and have a look. Ready?”

Jack and Lea nodded.

We walked off the highway, crossed another minor road, and started hiking through the long clearing, below the overhead wires. I heard a rumble of thunder in the distance.

As we reached a bend, I paused and raised my hand, Jack and Lea stopped behind me. I edged forward and could see the road about half a mile ahead of us.

“Through the trees from here guys.”

The breeze through the trees was creating a light background noise; this enabled us to move quite quickly without fear of being heard from a distance.

A twig snapped behind me on the ground, I turned to look, Lea had paused.

“It’s not a landmine, keep moving,” Jack whispered from behind her.

A few minutes later, I could see the road ahead through the trees. I crouched down and crept closer, ducking between the trees as I went. The junction was about forty yards to our right, according to Jerry’s directions; the house was just beyond it. I could see where the tree line stopped, so he was probably telling the truth, at least about a property being there. I wondered if he would be making his way here to warn Anthony and set-up a trap for us.

I waved Jack and Lea forward.

“I think that’s the entrance to the place over there.”

“It’s quiet, let’s go over and have a look through the trees on the other side of the road,” Jack said.

I nodded and led the way, running in a low position diagonally over the road, and into the trees on the other side of the junction. We slowed our pace and crept towards our destination. After two minutes, we reached the edge of a property.

I looked through a gap and saw a two-storey rectangular house, brick built with timber boarding around the first floor, set back a hundred yards from the road. To the left hand side, a gravel drive overgrown with grass led to a double garage. Parked forty yards in front of it was a black Range Rover. I looked to my left where the cover went far enough along the side of the property for Jack and Lea to carry out the flanking move.

We crouched in a huddle.

“We’ll stick with the plan. You get into position, and then I’ll walk casually over and see what happens, I don’t plan on getting too close and will try to keep the Range Rover between myself and the house. If there’s no sight of him, then we move in from different directions.”

“Right. If the shit hits the fan, we’ll R.V back at the Chevy,” Jack said.

“R.V?” Lea asked.

“Rendezvous, meet back there. Harry, give us five minutes to get there and find a decent angle to attack.”

“Good luck.”

“Cheers, same to you.”

Jack and Lea disappeared amongst the trees and I waited.

I watched the second hand rotate around my watch five times, stood, and walked back to the road. I tried to look as casual as possible, appearing in front of the property, stopping and looking towards the house.

I started wandering down the driveway, trying to look through windows but could only see reflections. I looked over towards the garage as Jack and Lea crept from the trees, and stood with their backs against the wall, out of view from the house.

I pulled out a bag of nachos, opened it, and started eating. If I was being watched, the bait wasn’t being taken yet, so I decided to provoke a reaction. I walked to the Range Rover, still putting nachos in my mouth at regular intervals and started looking through the windows; the keys were in the ignition. I pulled open the driver’s door and heard the house door open behind me.

“Stop right there. Put your hands up.”

I pretended to drop the bag of nachos in surprise, slipped the bag off my wrist, and placed it sideways on the ground next to me. I raised my arms and turned around. During the turn, I glanced over at the garage, Jack held his thumb up and started to edge backwards.

“Don’t shoot. I’m just trying to find other people.”

Lea’s comparison of Anthony to Larry David was a good one. He had an AR-15 on his shoulder, looking through the sights directly at me. He moved forwards slowly.

“Finding people or taking their wheels?”

“You’re only the third person I’ve met who isn’t dead. I’ve a car a mile down the road. I was just looking to see if I could find a radio, anything.”

“And before Monday? What were you doing?”

“I’ve no idea what day it is. One minute, I was on holiday at the Great Lakes, the next, I’m on the side of a highway with dead people everywhere. I’m not from around here.”

I was thinking on my feet, hoping he’d swallow my story. He lowered the rifle slightly and looked over the sights.

“I can tell you’re not. Who were these other two people?”

Over his shoulder, I saw Jack move across to the left wall of the house, he was close enough now to take Anthony out. I could pretend to duck and tie my lace, giving Jack a clear torso shot. He was cornered; it was now just a case of choosing the right time to strike.

“Have you been out and seen anything? It’s crazy out there.”

“Who were these other two, answer me.”

“A couple heading to New York, they didn’t know what was happening either. They thought it might a dirty bomb attack or something.”

“Why didn’t you go with them? Why did you come here?”

“They were on a motorbike; they said it was easier to travel that way. I’ve been to a few houses around here… What’s with all the questions anyway?”

I had previously toyed with the idea of a motorbike, but dismissed it as being too unsafe on roads filled with debris, and the potential of killers being around. A car was a much safer option.

“You can’t stay here, I can’t help you.”

I tried to look offended and picked up my bag. He slung his rifle by his side and started walking back to the house. I glanced across; Jack was hidden behind the wall.

“Hold on, can you help me with directions? I’ll just get my map,” I said.

Anthony turned back, shrugged his shoulders, and appeared bored. He looked up after a rumble of distant thunder.

During his brief moment of distraction, I pulled the Beretta out and pointed at his face in a single movement.

“Hello, Anthony.”

His eyes widened and he took a couple of steps back, grasping the rifle with his right hand.

Jack appeared to his left and shouted, “One more false move and you’re dead, your turn to reach for the sky.”

He held up his hands, “You’ve got this all wrong, that’s not my name.”

“The AR-15, the black Range Rover, the questions? Fuck off. You’re Anthony from Genesis Alliance,” I replied.

Lea ran up and stood behind him. He jerked his head to one side as he heard her footsteps approach, but kept his eyes on me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about; I’m just a regular guy who got through all of this by staying inside.”

“Is there anybody else in the house?” Jack said.

“No.”

“Put your hands behind your back and kneel.”

He complied; I could see his hands shaking.

“There’s someone you might like to meet,” I said.

He nervously looked at me. Lea walked around and faced him at my side.

“Oh shit,” he gasped.

“That’s him, that’s Anthony.”

Jack walked towards Anthony and smashed him in the face with the butt of his rifle. He fell and lay moaning on the ground.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“You’re going to find out soon enough. Tie him up, Jack,” I said.

Jack bound his wrists together and pulled him up to his feet.

“Where shall we do this?” Jack said.

“That garage. That’s where Jerry said he had a device, so we might find more things in there,” I replied.

“The fucking lizard. I knew it,” Anthony screamed, saliva sprayed from his mouth.

“You need to talk, Anthony, these guys are serious,” Lea said.

“Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?”

“Oh, come on, why do you think we are doing this?” Jack replied as he marched Anthony to the garage.

I swung open one of the large double doors and looked inside. In the far corner was a device, the same size as the one in Jerry’s barn. Along one side were typical garage contents, a mower, a hoe, a barbeque on wheels. On the other side, were stocks of food, water, and a desk at the end of the room. I walked over to the desk and found an impressive looking hunting knife and a Ruger LCR placed neatly on the right hand side. I checked the cylinder of the Ruger and it was fully loaded with five rounds.

“Jack, I’ve got us a pocket-pistol.”

“Nice one. I’ll take that.”

I placed both weapons in my bag, and then looked at a whiteboard hanging above the desk. Spidery writing in marker-pen was scrawled across it, but the codes and writing didn’t seem to mean anything. It would be easier to make Anthony talk, than attempting to make sense of his writing.

“Sit him down, Jack.” I said.

Jack pulled Anthony down by his shoulders and he dropped to his knees. Anthony looked across to Lea.

“Get these two to back-off and I’ll sort this out with Ron.”

Lea shook her head and took a step back.

“Just to let you know up-front, we water boarded Jerry, and cut his toes off with a pair of bolt-cutters to get him to talk. Don’t even think about wasting our time,” I said.

He didn’t know that Jerry still had all of his extremities attached and only suffered minor wounds.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“We’re not murderers like you. Tell us the Genesis Alliance plan or we move to stage one,” Jack replied.

“I can’t, he’ll…”

Anthony closed his eyes and rapidly nodded his head.

“If that’s how you want to play it,” Jack replied.

He reached into my backpack and pulled out the can of pepper spray.

“Any plastic bags around here?” Jack said.

Lea found one full of seeds, emptied it, and handed it to Jack. He walked around to the back of Anthony.

“Last chance, tell us about Genesis Alliance,” he said.

“I can’t, please you must understand.”

Jack sprayed the can across the front of Anthony’s face, and then covered his head with the plastic bag, holding it airtight around his neck. Anthony bucked violently and sucked all the air out of the bag, causing it to tighten around his face. After twenty seconds, Jack released him and he collapsed on the floor gasping for oxygen.

As he looked up in fear with bloodshot, streaming eyes, Jack picked up a roll of masking tape from the garage floor and held it up.

“I’ll tie his legs together, Harry, you take his shoe and sock off.”

“What do you want to know? I’ll talk.”

Anthony cracked a lot quicker than Jerry. I positioned myself in front of him and leaned down.

“What’s going to happen next, is there going to be another one of those activations?”

“Yes, tomorrow, but I can help you. Get me that—”

“Tomorrow? What time?” Jack snapped.

“Eleven in the morning, I only found out yesterday.”

“I don’t give a shit when you found out. Is it triggered by Ron in Monroe?”

“Yes, did Jerry tell you that?”

He looked at Lea suspiciously.

“Don’t look at her, look at me. You said you can help, how?” I replied.

“I can neutralise you, it’s a simple procedure, trust me.”

“Trust you? As if we would let you carry out any procedure on us. What about the next activation, and the one after that? We’ll never know when it ends,” Jack said.

“It’s a one-time procedure. Over there, in the corner, the cattle prod. Just zap yourselves on the head, it works.”

“Christ, you must think we’re all stupid.”

Anthony shook his head.

Jack was right, Anthony’s suggestion seemed ridiculous. We had found out that another activation was on its way and I couldn’t put my faith in him to help us avoid the consequences. He may have not been as openly offensive as Jerry, but I had to keep in mind what these people had done. I rubbed my eyes as I thought of what would happen to us, and any other survivor if we were hit with another activation. I turned to Lea.

“How far is Monroe from here?”

“About two hundred miles. We’d easily make it.”

I looked at Jack who nodded.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I said.

“Yeah, we need to deal with the organ grinder, not his monkeys. There’s no point wasting our time here with him.”

“I can help you. Seriously,” Anthony protested.

“Jack, tape his legs up.”

He nodded, pushed Anthony forward, and pulled his legs together.

“Lea, grab that masking tape and wrap it around his ankles and knees,” Jack said.

“What are you going to do with me?”

As both of them secured Anthony, I found two dog bowls amongst the clutter along the left hand side of the garage. I filled one of them with three cans of peaches and poured two bottles of water into the other.

“I’ll give you a clue; we’re not taking you to Splash Universe,” I said.

I headed out of the garage and over to the Range Rover, placing the dog bowls on the back seat.

“Make sure he’s secured and put him in the back,” I said.

Jack and Lea heaved him into the Range Rover as Anthony pleaded for mercy. I opened the driver’s side, took the keys, stabbed each tyre, and then opened the rear door by Anthony’s head.

“We’re leaving you with some food and water. If we don’t manage to stop the activation, at least the food will keep you going until somebody turns up and kills you.”

“You can’t leave me like this, please.”

“Yes we can,” Jack replied.

“You’ll be digging your own graves.”

I ignored Anthony, slammed the door closed, and then passed Jack the Ruger from my bag.

“Cheers, I’ve always wanted one of these.”

Anthony shouted from inside the Range Rover for help but we ignored him. It had started to rain, so we all jogged back to the garage.

“Let’s search the garage and house, if you find anything of use, then bring it out to the front. We need to find and disable any comms equipment,” I said.

I headed into the house with Lea, leaving Jack in the garage. The door opened easily and I motioned for Lea to search upstairs. The lounge area had a stone effect fireplace along one wall, some couches, and a bookcase. I leafed through the bookcase pulling out random books and shaking them for any hidden papers. It felt like a waste of time, so I pulled over the bookcase and kicked around the debris with my foot, but found nothing of interest. The kitchen was sparse and clean, I couldn’t find anything to help us other than the sealed food, which would come in handy for brunch. The dining room on the other side of the staircase contained a table and six chairs, there were pictures on the wall of interest and I took down a framed photo of a fishing group. In the centre, was a man holding up a large fish, the brass plate on the timber frame read ‘Ron’s catch of the day.’ Interesting, I thought and tucked it under my arm. I kicked over a bureau and rifled through it, but found nothing else. I walked to the door as Lea came down the stairs shaking her head.

“Only the usual kind of stuff up there.”

Outside, Jack was still making noise in the garage, I approached to see him hammering away at the activation device.

“Leave it, Jack.”

He turned with sweat pouring down his forehead, surrounded by a mess of garage contents, now smashed in pieces.

“Let’s torch it. For all we know, there are weapons, radios, anything hidden. I’ve found a radio but these fuckers are slippery,” Jack said.

It made sense; Jack threw me a box of safety matches.

I picked up the lawnmower, opened the fuel tank, and emptied it onto the garage floor. Inside the house, I opened the gas supply to the stove in the kitchen, set fire to the curtains in the dining room, and walked out. We regrouped at the garage. I lit a match and tossed it onto the fuel that had been spread around.

Lea had been quiet and looked uncomfortable. I considered this was probably because she thought our techniques for gaining information were questionable. To me, they were completely justified considering the circumstances.

We jogged back to the trees opposite the house and headed back down the highway.

“What’s that under your arm?” Jack asked.

“Let’s get to the car, and I’ll show you.”

We slowed towards the road and edged round to check all angles for movement before getting back into the Chevy.

I passed the picture to Jack who took the back seat.

As I pulled away, a huge explosion sounded in the distance and a thick black cloud was visible above the trees.

“So this is Ron?” Jack called from the back seat and passed the picture to Lea.

“Yeah, that’s him.”

“Anyone else on there you know, apart from Anthony and Ron?” I said.

“That’s Martina on the left.”

She pressed her finger against the glass and kept it there for a few moments.

“So you think she’s still innocent?” I said, raising my eyebrows.

“What if you saw a picture of me with those guys at the team building? Would that make me guilty?”

“You have to admit…”

“So, we’re really going? I’m surprised you didn’t ask Anthony more questions,” Lea said, changing the subject.

“Yes, we’re going. We can’t waste any time. It might only be two hundred miles, but we don’t know the state of the roads or how many detours we might have to make,” I replied.

“What’s your plan for Ron?”

Jack popped his head between the seats.

“He’ll see.”

We were now in Ohio after travelling in silence for an hour, picking our way along the highway at a reasonable pace, I think we were all contemplating our next showdown. Sometime later, as we passed by Cleveland, the obstacles on the road started to increase. We had slowed significantly and had to keep stopping to move obstructions from the road, or to swap to other vehicles beyond them. It was time consuming, but we’d left ourselves a generous buffer.

We came up to four cars that crossed the highway blocking our path. Some bodies lay outside the vehicles, but all had corpses inside as far as I could see. Apart from one.

The car blocking the outside lane appeared to be empty. As I opened the driver’s door to get in and start the engine, an arm flopped out. The incredible stench of rotting flesh hit me, and I looked down to see a purple bloated face of a small lady who was wedged into the foot-well.

My legs wobbled as I staggered back to the car with my hand over my nose and mouth. We’d all got used to the smell — it was everywhere — but I’d never received such a powerful blast of it, and the view had been equally as revolting.

“Car swap time again,” I said to Lea and Jack.

“Can’t you just move that car? What’s inside?” Jack sighed.

“You don’t want to know.”

We grabbed our supplies and moved around to the opposite side of the obstruction. Lea quickly found a nice Toyota with a full tank of fuel. I hoped this would see us all the way to Monroe, which would also mean reducing the car searches and being in exposed positions.

Eventually, the debris on the road thinned out again and our pace picked up. The next major place we would pass was Toledo. After that, it was Monroe.

I was just about to comment about breaking the back of the journey, when Jack vomited out of the back window before it had completely opened.

“What’s up? Are you alright?” I asked.

“I think I’ve eaten something dodgy. My guts feel terrible.”

“You haven’t eaten anything different from us. Have you?”

Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“When I went to fetch the Range Rover we shot up yesterday from the side of Jerry’s house, I found a chicken sandwich in the glove-box. I put it in my pocket, as it looked nice and fresh and completely forgot about it until a couple of hours before breakfast. I was starving.”

None of us had slept for over twenty-four hours. Adrenalin was keeping us going and now Jack had food poisoning? These were definitely not the best conditions to be staging an assault on Ron’s house.

“Let’s get close to Monroe, then get some rest, you probably need it more than anyone, Jack. See if you can catch any sleep and get some water down you, I don’t mind driving. We’ll go to Ron’s tomorrow morning.”

“Isn’t that cutting it a little bit fine? The activation is tomorrow morning,” Lea said.

Jack, who was now holding his stomach, groaned.

“It’s probably not a bad idea. I feel like shit. Besides that, it’s probably going to be dark by the time we get there. I’d prefer to take the house when it’s light. We don’t know the territory like you.”

“Won’t we have the element of surprise in the dark?” Lea asked.

“We would, but so would anyone who might be guarding Ron,” I said. “Badly organised as they are, I doubt they’d be advertising their positions. In the dark, we wouldn’t be able to see where people are stationed until we got right on top of them. I’ll need some rest anyway.”

“We need to be in the best possible shape,” Jack said. “Lea, you might know the area, but we don’t. What if something happens to you? We’ll be feeling a lot better if we manage to get a few hours of sleep.”

We managed to pass Toledo with no further issues, apart from a few stops that Jack required to vomit by the side of the road. As we neared Monroe, my eyelids were getting heavier, and I was trying various techniques to keep myself awake. Jack and Lea had both slipped into sleep a few miles before, so I bit my lip, shook my head from side to side, or forced my eyes open as widely as possible. When none of that was working, I decided that we needed to stop.

Chapter 10 – MI

I shook Lea awake; she blinked a few times and frowned at me.

“How far is it from here?” I asked.

“Where are we?” She yawned.

“Is there any place you know where we can stop for a few hours?”

She looked at the approaching road sign for Luna Pier.

“It’s not far, about ten miles I think. Exit here, and we should be able to find somewhere, there’s a few quiet places around.”

I pulled off the highway, and we quickly found a house on Luna Pier Road that looked promising. Jack approached the door and knocked, there was no answer. We crept around the back and tried to peer through the windows, but blinds prevented us from seeing inside.

“Fuck it,” Jack said. “Let’s kick the back door in. I’m too tired to start hunting around for the perfect house.”

He raised his foot and smashed it against the door, it didn’t move. Lea stepped forward, turned the handle, and the door opened.

“Sometimes it’s worth keeping things simple,” she said, smiling.

Jack looked at me and puffed his cheeks.

We entered the house directly into a small clean kitchen, and then continued into the living room.

“I think it’s empty,” Lea said.

“Why don’t we check upstairs for some bedding? I think we should all sleep in the same room tonight,” I replied.

Jack and Lea agreed, they were both too tired to bother putting up an argument. We started to climb the staircase slowly, listening for movement. Upstairs, were three closed doors which presumably led to the bedrooms and bathroom. The bedrooms were the most sensible place to look for our requirements. We took a door each and I entered a small room with a single bed. I took off the duvet and pillow, and then heard Lea curse loudly from another room.

I dropped the bedding and ran into Lea’s room holding my rifle in a firing position. Lea was staring at two dead bodies lying together on the bed. They were an elderly couple dressed in day clothes and holding hands, they didn’t appear to be long dead. Four empty pill bottles lay on the bedside table.

“Sorry, they freaked me out in this light,” Lea said. “I didn’t mean to scare you guys.”

“Don’t worry about it; we can take turns using the bedding I found in the other room.”

Jack edged past me and looked at the scene on the bed, “Christ, that’s awful. Let’s close the door and get downstairs.”

We filed back to the living area and sat on the couches in silence. With a dead couple upstairs, I wanted to find somewhere else, but we all appeared exhausted and needed some rest. I rose with a grunt and checked that all the doors and windows were locked. Jack and I pushed a large dresser and bookcase in front of the internal doors. There was no point taking watch and sitting up all night with the house secured, so we agreed to get some sleep.

I took a recliner, Jack spread out on the floor with the duvet, and Lea pulled a single sheet over herself on the couch.

Ron was probably plotting his next moves a mere ten miles away from us, and the second activation was due tomorrow. I couldn’t concentrate on what I was supposed to do about it all, and drifted in and out of sleep until a disturbingly vivid dream at dawn woke me completely.

In the nightmare, I was dressed as a groom and standing at the top table with the rotting corpse of a lady in a wedding dress sitting next to me. I had notes in my hands about to give a speech. As I looked around the large reception room, I could see it was filled with the rotting corpses of my family and friends, all in suits and dresses. They started to heckle me.

“Why did you get on the plane, Harry?”

“Why are you still alive?”

“You’ll be married to the dead soon.”

I came awake with a start, and rubbed my eyes muttering under my breath, “Fucking hell.”

“What is it?” Jack whispered.

“I just had a nightmare about getting married.”

“Loads of people have had that in real life,” he yawned.

Lea must have been awake, she replied, “Yeah, Jack, mostly women faced with the likes of you.”

We’d all managed to get at least a few hours of sleep, and I was feeling a lot better for it. Jack said his guts had improved, and he hadn’t vomited since we arrived at Luna Pier. I made my way into the kitchen to see if there was anything we could eat in the cupboards. The first thing that caught my eye was a can of baked beans; I smiled and shook my head. Behind the beans was a rare treat that I hadn’t eaten in years, and picked up the two cans as if they were heaven sent. We had our breakfast — spam.

I opened the fridge and grabbed a sealed, lukewarm bottle of coke, opened the cans of spam, found a couple of forks in a drawer, and proudly took breakfast back into the living area.

Jack was surprised and enthusiastic about breakfast. Spam reminded us of ration packs in the army, and we hadn’t eaten it in years. Lea appeared less pleased, but was soon eagerly chomping on large, pink chunks, of processed meat.

“Does it taste as good as it sounds?” Jack said.

“I’d prefer Eggs Benedict, a fluffy croissant and freshly brewed coffee,” Lea replied with a smile.

“Sorry, Lea, the kitchen’s closed,” I said.

After breakfast, we sat around discussing our next moves. Jack suggested driving to within a couple of miles of Ron’s house, and then approaching on foot, I agreed. It was inconceivable that we’d be able to drive right up to Ron’s house in an unknown car without being stopped by Genesis Alliance.

“Do you know where we can get our hands on some black clothes, similar to the ones that the patrol members were wearing?” I asked Lea.

“I know a couple of places in South Monroe we could try. They’re both around two miles from Ron’s, so if we walked from there, it would fit nicely with Jack’s idea.”

“With the AR-15’s, we’ll look the part. Anthony, Jerry, and three out of four of the goons we have come across so far, have been carrying them,” Jack said.

We spent the next hour cleaning and checking our weapons as best we could using items from the kitchen. We decided to leave the bolt-action rifle that Jack took from the killer at the airport in the trunk; he kept hold of the Ruger. I could tell he liked it as he kept pulling it out and inspecting it with a look of satisfaction. I strapped the hunting knife to the side of my backpack for quick release. If we needed any more weapons than we already had, it would probably be safer to retreat and put on the respirators and ear defenders, ready for the next activation. We would have to use speed and the inherent deception of our clothing to carry out a lightning raid on Oak Street.

It had already been light for an hour when we pulled back onto the expressway. We left at exit nine and joined Otter Creek Road towards South Monroe. Just before the road joined the South Dixie highway, we came to a halt. Our way ahead was completely blocked with a thick jumble of cars, stretching as far as the eye. It was unlikely that the vehicles had all ended up in this position on Friday. Lea had a theory that Genesis Alliance might have started tidying up the immediate area around Monroe and dumped the cars here.

The only option available now was to proceed on foot. We slowly made our way through the tangle of cars, and noticed that although some of them had bloodstains on the windows, there were no corpses inside.

As I began to consider where the bodies had been taken, we arrived at the junction. There, next to a mechanical digger in the field opposite, was a large pit. From our position, I could just about see the top of a pile of corpses that had been dumped into it.

I couldn’t speak for a moment, Jack was staring at the pit, Lea wept into her hands. Though it was a gruesome sight, it was simply a logical outcome for the bodies. Nothing surprised me anymore. Our immediate focus was to locate some black clothing; Lea led the way along South Dixie Highway to a retail plaza.

The area was quiet and had obviously been cleared since Friday. It had the look of any other small town pre-Activation, but on closer inspection, that evidence of violence was apparent. Blood smeared areas of the sidewalk and fragments of shattered glass gleamed on the road. We hugged the buildings as we proceeded to the entrance of a large store. Not a soul was in sight, but the fact that someone had actively been working here, and that we were so close to Ron’s house, was enough for us to maintain a very high level of vigilance.

The doors were open and we slipped inside. The shopping area seemed relatively intact, although the checkouts were spattered in blood. Lea led us to a clothing department and we looked around for suitable outfits to fool Genesis Alliance. Jack and I found some well fitting black cargo pants and black turtleneck sweaters. I tucked the hunting knife into the belt of my pants and covered it with the sweater, and then slung the rifle over my shoulder.

“You won’t be having any kids if that slips,” Jack said, pointing at the hunting knife.

He tucked the Ruger into the front of his pants and looked in a full-length mirror.

“How do I look?” He said.

“Not bad at all. I could almost shoot you.”

“Right, let’s get to Ron’s. I want to hear what he has to say about all of this.” Lea said, after appearing from the ladies section, she was also dressed from head to toe in black.

As we approached the glass entrance doors, I saw the edge of a black Range Rover outside in the previously empty car park.

“Get back, against the wall,” I whispered.

We quickly retreated back into the shop to avoid being seen.

“I don’t think they’ve seen us, what shall we do?” Jack asked quietly.

I peered around the wall for another look and saw two men smoking cigarettes, standing by the side of the vehicle. They were dressed in the Genesis Alliance uniforms.

“There’s two of them,” I said, “I’d really like that Range Rover; it would make the approach to Ron’s much easier.”

“We can’t start shooting,” Jack replied.

“Why don’t we try and bluff them?” Lea said. “Remember Jerry saying he didn’t know all of the other members, as anonymity helped protect the organisation?”

“Wouldn’t all of the patrols in the local area know each other?” Jack replied.

“Lea, have a look and see if you recognise either of them,” I said.

I stepped back and Lea took up my position, she quickly peered around the wall.

“One looks vaguely familiar. If he remembers me, we would never get away with pretending we’re part of the team. They might just drive away, we could wait.”

“We could ambush them if they come through the doors,” Jack said.

“Damn,” I said.

“What is it?” Jack asked.

“We’ve left the respirators and ear defenders back in the car. We can’t afford to wait around now in case we get caught by the activation. It’s either straight to Ron’s, or back to the car.”

“Straight to Ron’s it is, then,” Jack said. “I don’t want to go through another three days of dealing with killers.”

“I’ll go and bluff the two outside by saying I want to turn myself in. I doubt they’ll shoot an unarmed woman, especially as I know Ron.”

“What are you going to say?” I asked.

“I’ll say I’ve decided to return to Genesis Alliance and draw them towards the doors.”

Lea was putting herself on the line, but the only other option we had, would be bursting out and shooting the goons.

She readied herself and moved in front of the door, put her hands up, and shouted through the glass, “It’s Lea. I’ve come back to see Ron.”

“Weren’t you supposed to go out?” I whispered.

“They’re right outside the fucking door,” she said through pursed lips.

“Open it up and let them in, we’ll smash them with our rifle butts.” I turned to Jack and said, “As soon as they walk in, move. We can’t afford to give them any time to see us.”

Jack and I both held our rifles like clubs.

“Did you hear me?” Lea said, as she opened the door.

“Ron said we might be getting some visitors,” a voice answered, “are you alone?”

“Yes, come in and search me.”

“No, you come out here.”

“And be searched in the middle of a parking lot?” Lea replied. “I’ll tell Ron you were pointing guns at my face. Come in where no one else will see.”

“Fuck it, have it your way.”

I heard the noise of weapons being slung over shoulders as they entered through the door. Lea instinctively took a couple of steps back.

Two large men appeared, one behind the other, Jack and I moved immediately. I smashed the butt of my rifle against the first man’s temple; he staggered to the side but didn’t go down. I moved to strike again, but the man had already recovered.

“You mother fucker,” he shouted through gritted teeth.

We came together and punched furiously at close range. My initial hit hadn’t been enough to put him down, so now it was a straight fight. Neither of us had time to use our weapons. The same thing must have been happening with Jack, and I could hear scuffling to my left. Where was Lea?

I managed to get a few heavy blows in, but was also taking equal punishment. The man was strong; I went for my knife and lost my balance. He smashed his fist into my ear and a high-pitched tone whistled through my head.

I tried a kick to the groin and knee, but couldn’t connect, the strong arm of my assailant was keeping me at bay. I dropped my head, trying to avoid any more punches to the face and tried to push him backwards with my left arm. He was difficult to move, so I stopped swinging with my right arm and forced my thumb into the corner of the man’s left eye socket. He roared with pain and thrust my shoulders back with both of his arms. I staggered, fell to the ground, and he was immediately on top of me.

Lea appeared to the left of the man and swung the butt of her Beretta at his head. He avoided the blow and connected with a powerful uppercut to her chin. She screamed and fell backwards onto the floor, holding her face. My arms had been pinned by the full weight of his heavy frame on top of me. I turned my face to the left as he hooked me in the jaw and saw Jack still wrestling on the ground.

Two large hands locked around my throat and started choking me. I frantically tried to wriggle my arms free, but couldn’t move them. In desperation, I bit the man’s thigh, but this made his grip tighten from the pain. I was starting to black out as he raised my neck off the floor to get a better grip.

The last thing I remembered was a boot swinging towards my attacker’s face, my head hit the floor and everything went black.

Pain coursed through my body as I opened my eyes, everything was blurred. A duplicated woman was leaning close to my face shouting. I could also hear a man screaming in the background. After a few seconds, I started to come to my senses. The two women merged into one, and I recognised Lea.

“Thank God you’re not dead, are you okay?” she said.

My mouth was dry and I was having difficulty swallowing, I could only just see out of my left eye and my head was throbbing. I sat up cautiously.

To the left of me on the floor was my attacker. I found out later that Jack had kicked him in the face, and then Lea repeatedly slammed the butt of an AR-15 into the side of his head, until he lost consciousness.

The man Jack had been fighting was also lying on the floor, but was conscious and screaming. His arm was in an unnatural inverted ‘V’ shape, and his face was covered in blood. Jack had managed to fight him to the floor. As the man was on all fours, Jack thrust his boot into the man’s elbow joint, forcing it to snap. He didn’t get up after that.

Jack walked over to where I was sitting. He also had a swollen face, but I could almost detect a tear in his eye when he looked at me.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here, now,” he said.

Lea helped me to my feet. I felt unsteady but was present enough to ask, “Have you checked them for radios?”

“They’re clean,” she said. “We’ve taken their ammo as well. Come on. We have to move quickly.”

She led me through the entrance and I squinted in the bright sunshine as I looked around. I felt another wave of pain jolt through my head and paused for breath.

“I’ll drive,” Jack said.

“Don’t be stupid. I’m the one that knows where we’re going,” Lea replied.

Jack slid into the back of the Range Rover, so I took the passenger seat. In the cup holder was a full bottle of water. I unscrewed the cap, took a couple of gulps, and then poured some of it over my head to try to clear it. I twisted the rear-view mirror around to look at my battered face.

“That was a close run thing,” I said, “I thought we’d lost.”

“We can always go back, get the respirators and ear defenders, and then get as far away from here as possible. Why risk ourselves anymore? That was nearly the end of us,” Jack said.

“No. We’ve come this far now, so we have to see it through,” Lea replied. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder? Because that’s what will happen.”

It was difficult to think straight, but the only option I could see, was for us to carry on. Running away wouldn’t solve anything or make our lives any easier, Lea was right. If we wanted any chance of a future, it was now or never. I started to feel a deep surge of anger over what we had endured.

“So you’re in then, Lea?” I said.

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”

“All the way in?” Jack replied.

“All the way,” Lea repeated.

I nodded, “Straight to fucking Ron’s.”

“I hope you both know that this will probably be a one way trip?” Jack said.

“I don’t see that we have any other choice. The next activation is this morning, Genesis Alliance probably wants us dead, and the entire civilised world has fallen apart. We might not get out of this alive, but I’d rather die trying,” I said.

Jack and I made our rifles ready.

Lea pulled out of the car park and we headed towards Oak Street, the next few minutes were filled with silent contemplation. I was curious about what kind of man Ron was, a monster like that would be unrepentant, I imagined, but I would probably feel the same if I put a bullet between his eyes. Ron deserved nothing less for what he had done to the world, and was now going to reap what he had sown.

We reached the road leading to Oak Street just after ten in the morning, the route through Monroe to his house was clear. Not only were there no abandoned cars or rotting corpses, but there was also no sign of any guards. Perhaps our opponents at the plaza were supposed to be guarding the entrance to the road.

Lea drove slowly along Conant Street towards the entrance of Oak Street. As we reached within a couple of hundred yards, our vehicle stopped slowly.

“Get down!” she hissed.

I ducked into the passenger foot-well and Jack lay across the backseat.

“What is it?” he said.

“There’s two people dressed in black at the end of the Oak Street. They must be a couple of guards stationed by Ron.”

We had expected some form of resistance; it seemed unlikely that Ron would let anybody get within range to his house — if that’s where he was. The presence of these guards at the end of his street suggested that Ron was home.

“We can’t stop here for too long,” Jack said, “they might get suspicious, and we’ve less than an hour before the next activation.”

“Lea, wind the windows down and drive slowly towards the guards,” I said. “They’ll assume we are fellow members of Genesis Alliance, we’ll be on top of them before they know it. When we get close, tell us which side of the vehicle they are on and we’ll spring up and take care of them.”

“Where do you want me to go after that?”

“Drive straight up in front of Ron’s house. We’ll jump out of the car and use it as cover in case there’s any retaliation. I wouldn’t bet against more armed guards being inside.”

Lea paused for a moment, “What if you don’t take the guards out?”

“We will, just make sure you get close enough,” Jack said.

The Range Rover started to move forward slowly.

“They’ve seen us, but they’re not moving,” Lea said.

A few seconds later, when we must have been very close to the end of Ron’s Street, Lea said, “They’re both armed, but the rifles are slung by their sides. They’re coming around to my window…”

“Stop talking, and let us know when they’re a few yards away. If they get too close, then they’ll see us,” Jack said.

“Now!” Lea shouted.

I sprang from my crouching position in the foot-well and saw the two guards very close to Lea’s window. I aimed for the female, who had a look of open-mouthed surprise on her face, and fired twice into her chest. She dropped to the ground. I heard Jack’s rifle fire three times in quick succession.

“Drive,” I yelled.

She sped away from the scene, and I looked back. Both of our victims were motionless on the ground.

“I think they recognised me,” she said. “I’ve seen both of them before in the house.”

“That’s probably the last you’ll see of them,” Jack replied.

The Range Rover screeched to a halt in a matter of seconds.

“We’re here,” Lea said, “it’s the one on the right with the wooden door and large porch.”

“Out. Get out now!” I shouted.

Lea flung her door open and exited quickly. I dived over her seat and jumped out of the same door. Jack was already crouched beside Lea with his AR-15 ready. I turned back to look through the vehicle windows at Ron’s house.

Jack nudged my shoulder and pointed left and right. Two black Range Rovers had appeared at the far ends of the street — about three hundred yards from us in either direction. This was starting to feel like a suicide mission, but it was our last roll of the dice. The only way we would get out of this alive now, would be to capture Ron and use him as leverage to escape. We had to move quickly, as we were exposed on the street. If more Genesis Alliance showed up, we wouldn’t last long in a firefight.

“We’ll have to go into the house, but Ron needs to be taken alive. Are you ready to move?” I said to Jack and Lea.

Both nodded.

“Lea, what’s the layout?” Jack asked.

As he said this, I looked to my left. Slowly appearing around the corner, was another vehicle.

“Fuck it,” I said, “there’s no time. Straight through the front door.”

I looked up and saw the door to Ron’s house open. An old man with silver hair, wearing a red checked shirt and cream trousers, appeared with his hands up. He was smiling.

“Is that Ron?” Jack asked Lea.

“Yes.”

“Guys, there’s no need for all of this. Come in and I’ll fix you a drink,” he shouted over in a strangely jolly voice.

I looked at Jack in confusion. He shook his head.

“Come on in,” he shouted again and beckoned us towards the house before he disappeared back into it, leaving the door open.

I looked at either end of the street; both our exits had been cut off. I checked my watch; we had fifty minutes before the next activation.

“It could be a trap. He didn’t seem stressed at all,” Jack said.

“That’s the way Ron is,” Lea replied, “he’s a cool customer.”

“I think we’ll have to take our chances following Ron. He is what we came here for, and he’s the best chance we have of getting out of this alive. Lea, you go first. He’s less likely to want you killed,” I said.

She rolled her eyes.

“I wouldn’t bet on that.”

“Right, we’ll just have to go with the flow on this one then. If we find any raised weapons, we shoot first and ask questions later. The first chance we get to take Ron, we do it.”

“What do we do once we have him?” Lea asked.

“We’ll make him to tell us how to stop the activation. After that, we’ll bring him back out at gunpoint and get the hell out of here,” I replied.

“Let’s go,” Jack said.

Lea stood up and started walking across the street towards Ron’s front door. Jack and I followed behind. As we walked up the drive, Ron appeared again at the door, smiling.

“You’re going to have to leave your weapons outside. I’m sorry, but it’s the house rules.”

“Do you really expect us to do that?” I replied.

“Yes. I do. Or you can stay outside and take on those nasty machine guns I’ve just stationed at either end of the street.” He looked at Lea. “Why don’t you tell these two gentlemen that I’ve never allowed any weapons into the house.”

Ron’s tone wasn’t threatening, but the mention of machine guns had sent a shockwave through my body. Jack and I glanced at each other. I was trying to appear confident, but my swelling face and bruised jaw were probably telling as much as they were hiding. As I looked across at Lea, I noticed that the vehicles had closed in and armed men were crouched around them. We were surrounded at a close range.

“What if we just kill you now?” Jack asked.

Ron laughed loudly and slapped a hand on his thigh.

“Put your guns down, and come on in.”

He disappeared back into the house.

The guards who were now pointing weapons at our backs would probably fire if we took a step further without following Ron’s orders. If we turned on them, it would take a huge slice of luck for us to get out of Monroe alive.

“Let’s do as Ron says,” I said. “I can’t see any other way out of it.”

“Neither can I,” Jack replied. “You lead the way, Lea.”

Lea carefully put down her Beretta and entered the house. At the door, she took her shoes off.

We both laid down our rifles and followed, Lea waited for us in the entrance hall.

“Ron also doesn’t allow outdoor footwear in the house. He loves his carpet,” she said.

This seemed absurd, but the situation we had found ourselves in had left us no option. I sighed and took my trainers off. Jack took off his walking boots, and Lea led us into a large open plan living area. The décor seemed old fashioned for a house that looked quite new from the exterior. Around the immediate edges of the room, were two brown leather recliners, a brown couch, in the centre was a glass coffee table. At the far end of the room was a wooden art-deco style table and chair set, and a drinks cabinet. The carpet was cream in colour and felt lush below my socks. Softly playing in the background was some kind of swing, or big band music, which was coming from a record player, positioned on top of the drinks cabinet.

This supposedly welcoming room felt more dangerous than the airport terminal.

“How do you boys take your coffee?” Ron called from another room.

Jack looked at me with a puzzled expression. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Please don’t be fooled by him like I was,” Lea whispered.

“He’s not trying to fool us yet,” Jack replied, “he’s offering us a drink.”

“Both white, with sugar,” I called out.

“Coming right up,” a shout came back.

We were all standing in the room around the coffee table. Lea looked frightened. Through the sheer curtains, I could see figures moving outside. I walked over and pulled the material to one side, our AR-15’s and Lea’s Beretta had been taken. We could still take Ron hostage, but it was going to be tricky to pull off.

Ron appeared from an entrance at the far end of the room holding a tray with four cups on it.

“Don’t just stand there. Have a seat.”

Jack and I sat in the two recliners, and Lea sat on the couch. Ron put the tray on the glass table and handed a cup each to Jack and I.

“White, one sugar, right?” Ron said. He gave Lea another cup, “I know which way you take it, sweetie.”

He picked up the final cup, took a loud slurp, and then sat on the couch next to Lea and put his hand on her thigh.

“You caused me a couple of minor headaches, Lea. At least you’re back now.”

“Minor fucking headaches?” Lea replied with venom, brushing off his hand. “I think you’ve caused more than a couple of those in the last few days.”

Ron turned to us and smiled.

“She always was a feisty one. You two boys have caused me a couple of headaches as well. You killed two good people on your way in here just now…”

Lea jumped up and cried, “I want to see Martina.”

“All in good time, honey, now sit back down.”

Jack smiled at Ron, and then poured his full cup of coffee straight down onto the carpet in a circular motion. Ron’s expression didn’t change, and he ignored the taunt. I guessed that Jack was trying to test him, to see if his seemingly unflappable confidence and composure were only superficial. Either he had a great poker face, or he really was confident about how things were going to proceed.

“We’re here to stop the second activation,” I said. “Although you’ve probably guessed that.”

Ron clasped his hands in front of him.

“Now why would you want to do that?”

“Why do you think? To stop everyone who is left from killing each other.”

“That’s not the intention of the second activation,” he said, beaming. “The next objective is to rebuild. You’ve been listening to that idiot Jerry Caisley. I know you were at his farm, he’d say anything to save his own skin.”

“It doesn’t matter what he told us,” I said.

“We came off a plane and witnessed your handiwork. Stop bullshitting us,” Jack shouted.

“Such language. Do you speak in your own home like that?” He said, shaking his head.

“I probably don’t have one now, thanks to you.”

Ron stood up and started pacing slowly around the room.

After a moment, he turned to us and said, “I take it that I don’t need to mail Jerry his tax papers?”

“We don’t know where he is,” Lea replied.

“What happened to the sweet young girl you used to be?” Ron chuckled.

“Stalling for time isn’t going to work, Ron. We can do this the nice way, or the nasty way. You know why we’re here,” Jack replied.

Ron nodded.

“Calm down, boys. The second activation is designed to round up survivors for processing. Genesis Alliance is going to rebuild a better society than you could ever imagine.”

“Do you expect us to believe that after what we’ve seen?” I answered.

“The devices are multi-purpose,” he continued. “They will eventually be used as a sophisticated communication and control network throughout North America. The next activation will lead all survivors to a prison in Michigan. From there, we will process everyone, allocate jobs, titles, and resources, in order to build again.”

“How do you seriously expect to deal with thousands of people all turning up at once? You’re lying,” Jack said.

“That’s a great question. What is your name, by the way?”

“I’m Jack, and that’s Harry.”

“Well, Jack, one of the reasons for the cluster deployment of the North American devices was so that we could handle this part in a phased approach. Activating in different areas at different times avoids the very issue you raise. There’s also geographical distance to factor. Don’t think we haven’t considered every angle.”

“And if it takes more than three days to get to the prison?” I asked.

“My, my, Harry, you have been paying attention. Very good! The effects don’t subside from the next activation. They have to be locally neutralised, we’ll do that once the person is safely under lock and key, and ready to listen to reason.”

“Why would anyone do what you say? You’ve probably killed all of their family and friends,” Jack snapped.

“What choice do they have? I can offer survival and things they have probably never even dreamed of owning — an expensive car, a nice boat, whatever they want. All I expect in return is that they play a part in forming a comfortable new world for us all to live in.”

“And if they say no?”

“Then they will form part of the manual labour force. I have taken into consideration that some people will not be open minded enough to accept reality. They will be de-neutralised.” Ron sighed.

“De-fucking-neutralised? You’re completely mad. I don’t know why I never saw it before,” Lea said.

His friendly expression never wavered, “Careful, Lea, we don’t want Martina thinking you’re a nasty bitch.”

“Where is she? What have you done to her?” she shouted.

Ron looked up at the ceiling, still smiling, I thought telling him about Anthony might wipe the chirpy look off his face, but it was a potentially dangerous move.

”Bravo eight, there’s some trash to take out,” he barked.

Two large, armed men walked into the room and aimed their rifles at us.

Ron pointed in my direction.

“You’ve broken a house rule, Harry. I said no weapons, hand it over.”

He was staring at the hunting knife, hanging from my belt. I paused, reluctant to give away one of our last chances of freedom.

“Just do it, Harry. Do you really think you can get out of here with just a knife?”

A guard stepped forward and cocked his rifle. I didn’t want to put Jack or Lea at risk by trying anything heroically stupid, as the odds were firmly against us. I pulled the knife out slowly, holding it by its blade towards the man. He walked over and snatched it out of my hand.

“There, that’s better,” Ron said, he pointed at Lea, “Handcuff the slut.”

“No, you can’t do this,” she screamed.

As she tried to escape towards the back entrance of the room, one of the men grabbed Lea by the hair and pulled her back towards the couch.

“Stop them, please. Jack! Harry! Stop them!” Lea cried, looking at Jack, and then me.

Ron moved towards our recliners.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. No harm is going to come to her.”

He then gestured the two men to leave.

“She’s okay here for now; wait outside until I call for you.”

Jack looked at me, I didn’t know what to do and it seemed he didn’t either. I was sitting forwards in my chair, but felt completely helpless as Lea was being restrained. One of the guards threw her back onto the couch and they both left the room through the front entrance.

The only way any of us were getting out of this was to hear Ron out. But if he tried a similar thing to us, that’s when I would make my last stand. Jack must have been thinking along the same lines, because he didn’t move either.

“Do you think you’re going to cuff us too?” Jack asked.

Ron shook his head.

“No, not unless you make me!” He then sat back down on the couch and said, “You’re not Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so listen to me.”

“It doesn’t seem like we’ve much of an option,” I replied.

“I suppose that’s true, but I do have options for you… if you want to hear them?”

“Don’t listen,” shouted Lea.

He patted Lea on the shoulder.

“One more word, missy, and you won’t be seeing my lovely niece again.”

We hadn’t given away our freedom just yet. The rush to Monroe, coupled with a somewhat naïve belief that we could put a stop to all of this, had blinkered us. We should have known instead of suspected that it wouldn’t have been a straightforward operation that we walked away from in triumph.

“Options?” I said.

“You’ve both done incredibly well to get here from New York. Although it’s unfortunate that you’ve killed members of Genesis Alliance, you did it to survive. I understand that—”

“Why did you do it? Most of our family and friends are probably dead because of you,” Jack interrupted angrily.

“I thought you might ask. All forms of effective resistance had to be taken out, that was part of the plan. Because of that, I effectively control North America, and can create a place that you’ve only ever dreamed could exist.”

“You’ve created a nightmare,” I replied. “If anybody dreamed about this they’d wake up in a cold sweat. What about the rest of the world?”

“That’s not my problem. I have ensured the ongoing survival of this continent as best I could. It’s our job now to pick up the broken pieces and provide the best lives we can for the remaining population.”

“What about Northern England?” Jack said.

“Who told you about Northern England?”

“Jerry did. Now answer my question,” Jack replied.

“Trust me, that is not your immediate concern. Now, back to business. I need people like you to join me. You’re obviously a resourceful pair. You made it all the way here and brought Lea home.”

“Why would we join you?” I replied.

“How long do you think your luck is going to hold out, Harry? Even if you made it out of here, and I’d rate your chances of that at around one percent, how long do you think you would survive? At best, you’d have a life as a labourer for Genesis Alliance. At worst…?”

Ron smiled again, and then elaborately clenched his fists. It was almost checkmate and he knew it.

“Let me paint a picture for the pair of you. Harry, you wake up in a mansion in Washington D.C, breakfast is waiting for you downstairs, and you go for a swim, and then workout for an hour. In the afternoon, you decide to drop by the office and a stretch Hummer drives you to the White House. An aide brings you fresh coffee as you spin on the chair behind the Oval office desk, completing some minor paper work. In the evening, you decide to visit Jack at his beach house in Florida, where he is working remotely.”

He pointed at Jack as he continued to look at me.

“Don’t listen to him, he’s mad,” Lea said.

Ron ignored Lea and cleared his throat.

“A private jet then flies you down to Florida, Harry, and you drive a Ferrari to Jack’s place. You won’t have to worry about speeding.” He winked, “Both of you sip the finest champagne overlooking the sea, all bathed in glorious sunshine. How does that sound to you, boys?”

“You can’t offer that. You don’t even know if there is anyone left alive who can fly a plane,” I replied.

“I flew over New York and other cities on Monday in a Learjet. It’s true that we don’t fully know what skills we have left, but we’ll establish that during processing.”

“What part is it that you are suggesting, Harry, and I will play?” Jack asked.

“I am offering you a seat at the top table. You are just the kind of guys I need to maintain order and organise our resources. This is a one-time offer. You’ve seen the state of the country, the task ahead for Genesis Alliance is significant. There’s going to be a long clean-up operation while the infrastructure is repaired or restarted. You can play a significant role in creating our new world, are you in?”

“I want to talk to Jack, in private,” I said.

Ron looked at me seriously.

“I haven’t given any other person the luxury I have afforded you, Harry. You either can be a part of history, or purged from it. The choice is yours. I’ll give you five minutes. If you’re with me, then come through to the kitchen. If you’re not, then leave my house.”

He turned around and walked out of the room.

I stood up, walked to the window, and pulled back the sheer curtains. Armed men were still surrounding the house.

“It looks like we’ve two options,” I said, “we leave the house and probably die. If one or all of us manages to escape, then we’ll probably have a life as a brainwashed labourer — if he even lets us live. The other option is to join him.”

“The only reason to take his deal is to stay alive,” Jack said.

“I agree, Jack. At first, I didn’t consider Ron’s offer seriously, but it seems to me that we could work his suggestion to our advantage. We can stay alive, find out more about Genesis Alliance, and take it down from the inside. Shall we take the deal?”

“Guys, there has to be another way,” Lea frantically whispered.

I pulled her up from the couch.

“You want to see Martina, right?”

She nodded.

“Then the only realistic way I can see us getting on top of this situation is if we do what he says. I’m not sure why he’s even giving us an offer though, are you?”

“No, but I guess you’re right.”

“Maybe it’s because we survived the activation, took out a few of his cronies and made it to Monroe with Lea?” Jack replied.

“Yeah, I suppose. What do we gain by going down in a blaze of glory?” I said.

Jack shrugged his shoulders.

“Guys, you’re not serious?”

“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life as a brainwashed labourer, I don’t want Jack getting killed either. Think about Martina.”

“Are you sure there’s no other way?” Lea said.

I could see Jack was thinking, his eyes moved from side to side.

“We’re out of options, let’s go through and see him,” he said.

Lea stepped to one side.

“Just remember, we’ll be driving away in a Ferrari and not in the back of a hearse. That should keep our minds focused,” I said to both of them.

We walked through the entrance at the back of the room, which led into a kitchen. Ron was standing next to what looked like a control panel.

“You’ve made the smart decision,” he said, and then pressed a button on the panel, “Stand down, guys.”

Ron walked over to me and shook my hand.

“Welcome to Genesis Alliance.”

He stepped across to Jack, so I took the opportunity to have a closer look at the control panel. It looked like something designed in the nineteen seventies, much like the décor of his house.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Jack’s arm rise to meet Ron’s handshake. As it carried on in an upwards motion past the height of Ron’s chest, I turned to look.

Jack pulled the trigger.

The end.

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Content

D.A. & M.P. Wearmouth
FIRST ACTIVATION

Chapter 1 – The Plane

Chapter 2 – The Airport

Chapter 3 – Departure

Chapter 4 – Elmhurst, Queens

Chapter 5 – Temptations

Chapter 6 – Both sides

Chapter 7 – The House

Chapter 8 – The Barn

Chapter 9 – Trip

Chapter 10 – MI

Copyright