Children of the After: The Complete Series: A Young Adult Postapocalyptic Action and Adventure series (18 page)

“Arrive?” What the heck. The girl was weird. “No. We were locked in a vault since before the event and just came out a few days ago,” Sam explained simply, and watched as Tammy began writing anew.

“It’s a survival shelter that was hidden in our home. My dad designed it and it had food and water and electricity. Everything we needed to live on for a long time.”

“Oh, thanks, but he didn’t build it for this,” Sam said, waving her arms towards the blackened stumps. “At least, I don’t think this is what he had in mind. What about you? How did you and your family make it through the event?”

“I’m sorry that happened, but at least you aren’t alone now,” Sam said, trying to cheer her up, even if she was weird.

Watching Tammy nod and smile halfheartedly, Sam pondered what it must have been like when the aliens first arrived. The world had obviously been in a panic and tried to fight them off. It was apparent that they had been unsuccessful, but still didn’t explain why the aliens had come in the first place. Were they out there sucking the oceans dry or loading up on oil and other natural resources? She couldn’t help but wonder if any of them had been captured over the last months and interrogated. Had humans found a way to question the aliens and learn their motives? Had humans thwarted the aliens’ efforts enough to scare them away, abandoning some of their forces on the ground? There were still so many questions that needed answering. Hopefully they could find more people further south and beyond that, hopefully more people meant more answers.

* * * * *

It was already growing dark again when Will noticed that ahead the burned trees were replaced by living, thriving forest. Even though they had been walking for several hours, he wasn’t feeling too tired, probably because he had slept half the day away. He wondered if it was Sunday. He used to sleep in on Sundays. Mom would come and wake him up by snuggling with him in his bed, and she would fix him breakfast and they would eat together. Though they usually ate alone, because Dad would be at work and Jack and Sam would already be out with friends or too busy with their phones or computers. If it was Sunday, he hoped that Mom was out there somewhere thinking about him too.

Night came and with it darkness settled upon them, but even without conversation they kept moving. They didn’t hear any sounds of pursuit from behind like previous nights, nor did they hear the ape aliens ahead, and Will couldn’t help but think that both were good signs. The rider had told them to avoid night time because the monsters were out at night, but he had probably just been talking about the monkey ones. Tammy had said there were worse ones. He wished he knew if they hated the sun too.

“Tammy,” Will broke the silence. “If there might be more monsters chasing the monkey aliens, do you think they are afraid of the sun too?”

Nope. No answers. Will wondered if anyone would have any real answers. Then it struck him.

“How many different kinds of aliens have you seen?” he asked their new companion.

“What do they look like?” Will questioned further, watching his brother and sister moving closer to read the written responses.

That was a lot for Will’s head to digest. Six different kinds of aliens. He wondered if on their planet they were just from different places like Mexicans from Mexico, or Chinese from China, but just aliens. Of the ones she had described he was afraid of the bug ones the most. Bugs were creepy enough without being as big as people. Yikes. Imagine finding one of those in the closet. Just the thought gave him the willies and a shiver ran down his spine. He didn’t want to meet any of them out here in the dark. Will gripped his crowbar tighter.

* * * * *

Tammy followed as Jack urged them to keep going and find a proper place to rest. He was the biggest and their obvious leader, and she saw no reason to protest even though her feet were killing her. She wished she had managed to find shoes that would fit her better. But she hadn’t, so these would just have to do.

Thinking about their previous conversation, Tammy decided she didn’t want to frighten her new friends with everything she knew. She didn’t want to admit that she knew much more and had seen a lot of terrible things. Over the last two months it seemed things were calming down. She saw fewer people and fewer aliens and that had to be a good sign, right? If they weren’t fighting anymore, maybe they were learning to live together and get along. She had to hope so. The fighting wasn’t doing anyone any good.

Trudging down the edge of the road she walked upon the white line painted on the road’s surface, playing a game with herself to pass the time. From time to time she would look up and make note of their surroundings but not much changed hour after hour.

It was well on towards the middle of the night when Jack got their attention and pointed ahead to the silhouette of a large vehicle on the road. It was an eighteen wheeler with a large white trailer with red lettering down the side. Though the cab of the truck appeared very much destroyed, half wrapped around a tree at the roadside, the trailer looked nearly flawless.

Approaching the back of the trailer, it was readily apparent that the inside had been scavenged before as boxes lay strewn about the back haphazardly. There was still some merchandise in the trailer, but appeared to be mostly household items like brooms, shower curtains, and clocks. Nothing much of use in today’s world. Tammy looked over the discarded and abandoned items, recalling their names. She hadn’t seen any in a while.

She waited patiently as Jack lifted Will up to the trailer and helped him and Sam up as well before climbing up himself. Reaching down he offered his hand and Tammy took it, working with him to get up and into the high trailer. Jack was a kind boy. Protective of his siblings. She liked him. They each went through the trailer as if it were a store, digging and piling and moving things about in search of some special item or trinket but found nothing of real value to suit the needs they had.

After all of their hopes were dashed of finding food or pillows, or something that would make their night’s stay more comfortable, they cleared out a small space closest to the doors. Tammy watched as Jack carefully climbed back down to the road below, not wanting to injure himself further, and closed one of the large doors, forcing the handle closed.

“Hey, Tammy, can I borrow your chain?” he asked her then, looking up with a grin.

She handed over the chain and watched as he looped it through the latching mechanism of the still open door, tying an odd knot in the links before climbing back up. Using the opposite end of the chain, he managed to pull the door closed and wrapped the remainder of the chain behind the wooden plank that was fastened to the wall of the trailer. Then, picking up Will’s discarded crowbar, he shoved the bar through a link in the chain nearest the wooden rail, securing it in place.

It wasn’t perfect. The door was not sealed all the way closed due to the chain coming through it, but no one could get in. They wouldn’t be able to use the light the smaller boy had carried the night before, but they should be safe. Smiling at Jack once more she clapped her hands quietly, applauding his efforts. He was smart too.

For the second day in a row, Jack woke with a start. Sitting up he listened intently, looking around as he got his bearings. Momentarily, he had forgotten where he was. His head was splitting as pain lanced from behind his eyes, causing him to close them tightly once more. He hoped the dreams that kept waking him and the headache didn’t mean he had a concussion. He had hit his head on more than one occasion over the last week. It was becoming somewhat of a habit.

Reaching up to massage his temples, he tried to relax and cautiously opened his eyes again. So far as he could tell, everything was more or less as it had been the night before. To his right, Tammy rested peacefully and to his left Will laid between him and Sam, who was snoring slightly again. He really needed something to record this.

Looking like no one else was going to wake soon, Jack laid down and closed his eyes again. The world seemed to tilt for a second and then spun around twice but finally settled. Swallowing against the urge to vomit, he forced himself to relax once more and managed to go back to sleep.

When Jack woke for the second time, everyone else was awake and moving. They had left a few jars of food out for him and a bottle of water, but they were already packing up what he wouldn’t need.

“Hey, sleepy head, we thought you could use the rest,” Sam said, gesturing towards his leg.

“Yeah, thanks. You guys been up long?” he asked.

“Forever,” Will answered.

“No. Like an hour, hour and a half,” Sam corrected.

Looking around he caught Tammy’s shy smile as she helped Sam place items back down her bag’s throat. Turning his attention to the food left out for him, he snatched up a jar of peaches and began shoveling them down his throat, swallowing each slice without chewing. It only took about a minute for him to finish off the jar, and drinking the syrup-like liquid remaining he washed it all down. It wasn’t exactly steak and eggs, but would suffice for now.

Checking the laces on his boots, he stood to test his ankle and found it significantly less sore than the previous day. Good. He didn’t want to be a hindrance. Walking to the large doors of the trailer, Jack pressed his ear to the small crack where the chain passed through and hearing nothing alarming he reached over and pulled the tire iron free from the chain and watched as it fell. Pushing the door open, he climbed down and removed the other end from where it was tied.

“Ready for another glorious day of walking?” he asked with mock enthusiasm, looking up to his siblings and Tammy above him.

With various questioning looks he reached up and caught Will as his small brother lunged towards his waiting arms. Jack pretended to almost drop him which first frightened Will as his eyes widened, but then he giggled loudly as he realized he wasn’t in any danger.

“You big dork,” Will said, punching Jack in the kidney playfully.

“I’ll show you a big dork,” Jack threatened.

“You taking Sam out next?” Will asked cleverly, to which both he and Jack laughed as Sam harrumphed from above with her hands on her hips.

“Very funny,” Sam said, after letting them laugh a moment. “Now why don’t both of you dorks help us ladies down?”

“Ladies?” Jack asked. “Do all
ladies
snore like that? Cause I gotta tell ya, I didn’t hear any snoring from Tammy over here,” he said, jerking his head in her direction.

Then it struck him. Could mute people snore? Had he just been really rude? Looking up to see Tammy’s expression in case he had offended her, he found her writing furiously on the page and figured he had screwed up big time. Watching as she finished, she held up the paper for all to see.

It was official, Tammy fit right in. At least he hadn’t offended her, but he had embarrassed himself. She thought him creepy. Jack felt his cheeks flush and lowered his head as he raised his hand to help Sam down.

“Yeah Mr. Creepy,” she whispered as he steadied her.

Giving Sam a stern look, he turned his attention back towards the trailer and took Tammy’s hand, helping her in the same fashion. Grabbing the packs and makeshift weapons from the lip of the trailer, Jack handed them out and they were off once more.

* * * * *

It had been about an hour since they left the semi when she first heard the sound. Odd yet familiar, the buzzing-like sound of a million bees echoed through and between the trees to either side of the road. Sam froze in her tracks, as did all of them, and she listened intently. The sound was an engine. It could be anything. A car. A motorcycle. A generator. She didn’t know, but she wanted to find out. An engine had to mean people. Didn’t it?

Moving as if to start walking again, Jack grabbed her arm, and turning she looked into his eyes. He had a serious look on his face. A concerned one. He looked like Dad, about to yell at her. Not his best look.

“Let’s go in the woods and just walk parallel to the road so we can see anything if it approaches,” he said.

Sam didn’t even have to ponder the words. Of course he was right. They didn’t know what the aliens could do. If they could fly freakin’ space ships they could likely drive a car. Jack was doing what was safe, and she agreed with him. Without even speaking they all moved off the road, headed to the tree line. The sound vanished.

All of them pausing again, they waited nearly twenty minutes before the sound reappeared once more. Again they began moving, stepping beneath the oaks and maples that inhabited the roadside. Through the fallen leaves they blazed a trail, walking perhaps two dozen yards into the woods before turning to walk the same direction as the road.

For several hours the sound would start and then stop, seemingly louder each time they heard it, and yet they still hadn’t discovered what was making it. They walked in silence, afraid to talk lest they miss a clue as to the sound’s origins. The going was slower now that they were in the woods, but Sam didn’t mind. Their pace allowed her to concentrate on the sound, and the softer ground was much easier on her knees in the boots she wore. Again the sound came, and this time it kept coming. Literally coming. It sounded as if it was headed right towards them. Spinning as she followed the sound with her eyes, she turned all the way around as the roaring buzzing shot right passed them, to the right, down the very road they had been traveling. It had been a vehicle.

She began to turn around to see what Jack wanted to do, but something about his face was off. His mouth hung open. He look horrified or disgusted. Looking from him to Tammy she found much the same, she too looked out past Sam with a peculiar expression. Looking down, Will had it too. Sam turned to see what it was that she had missed.

They had been looking ahead the whole time, listening for the sound, not really seeing what was around them, but not anymore. Will looked on, not even knowing what to feel about what he was seeing. Ahead of him, now that he was facing back towards the road, was a mound of bodies. Not those of humans, thank God, but of the ape men. The same ones who had chased them. There were lots of them. Lots and lots.

Piled into an organized heap that stretched more than twenty yards, the bodies lay stacked in a crisscrossing pattern with hundreds of pairs of staring eyes looking through him, making his stomach knot and twist. No matter how much Will wanted to look away, he couldn’t. Instead, he forced his stomach to relax and took a stride forward. He wanted to know what had happened to the creatures. Something had done this. Something had caused it, but he couldn’t see any signs. All the bodies looked perfectly preserved. None bled. No limbs were twisted to odd angles. Everything about the creatures looked fine. If thinking dead creatures were fine in any circumstance.

“What happened?” Will asked, finally able to turn away.

“I don’t know, baby,” Sam replied. “You, Jack?”

“No idea. Tammy?”

Tammy blinked and shook her head, her hand now covering her mouth. Sam didn’t know what to do or what to say. She felt better with them like this than chasing her and her brothers in the dark. But even so, this wasn’t right. Who or what could have done it and why?

“I guess whatever was chasing them finally caught up,” Sam said.

“Yeah, but that means that there is something worse than them up ahead, and maybe still here in the woods,” Jack added.

Sam felt Will grasp her hand. She was just as scared as he was, but she couldn’t tell him that. No. She had to be tough for him.

“I suddenly feel we should go back to the road,” Sam suggested.

“Me too!” Will blurted.

Sam watched Jack move a few steps closer to the mound of bodies, looking for something, before he turned and nodded. Tammy was nodding too, her eyes wet with tears. It was decided, and Sam didn’t see any reason to wait. Turning to go around the bodies by a wide margin, she set off again through the fallen leaves, holding Will’s hand and guiding him through the trees. They reached the road in no time, and set back out in their original direction, each of them nervously looking to the trees on either side of the road where things could be lurking.

* * * * *

Will had felt yucky all day. His tummy felt weird, his head felt like he had spent the day in the sun, and he wasn’t hungry. He knew something was wrong, but knew they had to keep going so he kept it to himself. Looking to all three of the older kids he could see that they were all worried. They kept looking this way and that as if afraid of something. Whether it was whatever got the monkey men or the sound that had passed by earlier, he wasn’t sure, but he was worried about both.

None of them talked as they walked, and Will busied himself with finding pictures in the clouds or patterns in the colors of the trees. From time to time they would hear something off in the woods and all four would pause and listen for a while. Nothing ever showed itself and Jack would usually explain that it was probably an animal in the woods. Whether it was or not, if any of them actually was certain, they sure didn’t show it.

It was mid-afternoon with no sign of anything besides more road, more trees, the occasional burned house, and more ruined cars, when they found another box truck. They hadn’t seen another single place all day where they could spend a night, and looking ahead there wasn’t even another car as far as he could see. Will didn’t want to get stuck outside after dark. Especially not tonight. Not after what they had seen earlier. He had to voice his opinion.

“I think we should stay here, Jack. We haven’t seen any other place to stay all day, and might not find another one before it gets dark.”

At first Jack gave him a determined look, one that said that they would keep going, but then his expression changed. It was subtle, and his new expression was odd, as if only half real. Even so, Jack didn’t argue.

“Works for me,” Jack replied after a moment’s thought.

Happy they wouldn’t be spending the night outside, Will dropped his pack and stretched, ready for some rest. Will watched as Jack too dropped his pack, but hefted the heavy pipe in one hand, leaving the other free. Opening the back to the truck, Jack stepped back after shoving it upwards and grabbed the pipe with both hands ready to swing. It seemed he was a little on edge. The truck was empty. Completely empty.

Unlike any of the previous trucks they had stayed in, this one had a doorway that went up to the cab. It had a thick curtain that separated the two, but even so, the curtain moved from the breeze outside due to all of the windows being broken. It didn’t make Will any more comfortable that something could climb in any of the windows on the cab of the truck and simply slip through the curtain while they slept. Just the thought gave him the willies.

In short order they were all up inside the truck. Jack left the door open for light, and they sat and ate a small meal, though Will just nibbled on this and that. Watching the sun set with their feet dangling out the back of the truck, the engine sound from earlier in the day returned and began growing steadily louder by the second. It was coming back. Was it looking for them?

* * * * *

Climbing hastily back into the truck, Tammy helped as they shoved all their belongings further inside and watched as Jack pulled the door down from overhead. As the springs that assisted in opening the door creaked in protest, Jack sealed them in, closing off all light and dampening the sound to a high degree. All of them stood immobile, like statues of flesh, their ears tuned to that one sound that held their attention.

Minute after long minute they stood watching the steel back door of the truck as if they expected it to do something, listening as the sound outside grew louder and nearer. There was no questioning this time what it was about. It was obvious that it was coming back the way it had gone. Tammy strained her senses but could hear nothing more than the engine noise. On and on it came.

After several minutes, longer than Tammy would have imagined that it would have taken, the sound grew to its highest level and the truck actually vibrated slightly from the sound. From a distance it had sounded constant, but now she could hear it roar and lull, sputtering slightly to create the growling sound as it raced nearer. It was almost upon them.

With her heart pounding, she stood nervous and afraid with sweat beading on her forehead and palms. Wiping her hands on her jeans, she heard as the sound decreased slightly as if the vehicle was slowing. Slowing just outside. They were discovered, but how? Then, the engine roared once more and the sound sped past. Tammy exhaled loudly.

Watching as Jack turned and rushed towards the front of the truck, all four of them began moving, gathering around the curtain and pulling it open a slight distance to look out upon the final moments of the fading day through the cab’s windows. There, nearly a mile down the road, was a pickup truck weaving between the abandoned husks of burned cars. Trailing it with her eyes she watched it climb and disappear up and over the horizon ahead. There had been people in the truck. Two of them stood in the back holding onto a bar that held lights. Real people. More people. At least three, as there had to be a driver as well.

Not knowing what her companions thought, she felt they were better off not revealing themselves. Who knew what these other people were about? They could be dangerous. Violent. Tammy looked to the faces of those to whom she had given a small measure of trust, and found a maelstrom of emotion there. They each struggled with the unanswered questions of what to do in this situation. She had already made up her own mind, but it would be a decision each of them would have to make as well, and then likely the group together too.

Stepping away from the curtain, Tammy sat and pressed her back against the wall of the truck, stretching out her legs. Her feet were throbbing, cramped inside the too small shoes. She would give just about anything to take them off and free her feet from the pain, but knew if she did they would likely swell and not go back into the shoes under any circumstances and as much as she hated it, she needed them.

Eventually, the sound faded in the distance and all three of Tammy’s new friends released the curtain, and moved to the back of the truck. Though she had expected a conversation, it seemed they were each lost in their own thoughts, as they joined her in sitting and eventually laying upon the floor. Samantha was snoring in short order, and Will was rolling this way and that as was his custom. She couldn’t tell if Jack slept, though he wasn’t moving and his breathing was even and slow. Closing her eyes, Tammy gave herself to sleep as her companions had done, and drifted off into a dream of home.