The End Boxset: Postapocalyptic Visions of an Unstoppable Collapse (29 page)

He grabbed a large stick for balance and proceeded to fully stand. Immense pressure and pain rushed throughout his injured leg. He had never felt anything like it. He hopped forward, one hand on the stick, one hand in the air, and his bad leg dangling. One single step forward was exhausting. He breathed rapidly, preparing for his next step. He hopped once again. A pain stung deep within his leg, further exhausting him. Tobias looked ahead. He had to choose between hoping back the way they came—or hoping in the direction he thought led home. Both ways seemed doomed.

“Help!” Tobias called out. At this point he didn’t care whose attention he attracted. He just wanted to know that he wasn’t on his own. Another hop forward and he tumbled over and fell onto the ground. The pain of hitting the ground started right at his bad leg and traveled throughout his body. Tobias screamed in agony and then started to cry. It was hopeless. He would never get far on his own. “Brian, I hate you!” he said between clenched teeth. He sobbed endlessly for over five minutes, digging his fingers into the mulch and dirt below. Then someone approached him. “What are you doing out here, son?” a man’s voice said.

Tobias looked up from the ground beyond the bangs covering his face and could see the figure of a very tall man standing before him. He tried to control his crying and appear as if he was just hanging out on the ground. It was slightly embarrassing for Tobias to be caught helpless and crying out in the middle of the woods by a stranger. “My leg,” Tobias said. “It hurts really bad.”

The man had on blue jeans, a flannel jacket, and a camouflaged hat. He had a thin beard, to match his thin face and high cheek bones. He studied Tobias with his deep, gray eyes. 

“You out here all by yourself?” he asked.

Tobias struggled to get up. “No. My friend went to go get help. He’ll be back soon,” he said.

“How long have you been lying here?”

“Not long,” Tobias said, trying to sound confident.

“Why don’t you let me help you? We can take a look at that leg of yours and see what the problem is.”

Tobias was afraid. He didn’t know what the man wanted or why he was bothering him. His last run-in with a stranger hadn’t gone so well. “That’s okay,” Tobias said nervously. “My friend will be back any minute.”

“I could hear you bawling a mile away. You certainly didn’t sound like you were okay,” the man said.

“I’m fine. Really,” Tobias stressed.

The man removed his hat and scratched his head. “Oh, I get it,” he continued. “You don’t trust me. I get it. It’s all that
never talk to strangers stuff
. Well, son, all I want to do is help. I’ve got kids of my own, you know. Much older than you. Here, let me help you up.”

The man stuck his hand out for Tobias to grab. Tobias weighed his options. It was nearly sundown. Brian might never return.  Tobias reluctantly held out his arm. The man grabbed it and hoisted Tobias up with both arms. Tobias stood on one leg as the man placed one of his arms around him, holding him up. “There we go,” the man said. “We can get you back to our place no problem. We’re not that far away.”

“Who are you?” Tobias asked.

The man laughed. “Damn, where’s my manners? I’m sorry, my name is Paul. Paul Rogers.”

“I’m Tobias,”

“Nice to meet you Tobias.”

“Can you just help me get home?” Tobias asked.

“Soon enough. We need to look at that leg first,” he answered.

Tobias stood awkwardly as the man held him to prevent another fall. The urge to run was growing in Tobias’s mind, but there wasn’t any physical possibility of that happening. In his mind, however, he had run halfway across the woods by now. Away from the man, and back at home safely.

“Okay, we’re going to have to work together on this,” the man said. “When I move, you hop, and I’ll help keep your balance.”

Tobias nodded.

“So here we go,” Paul said bracing himself.

He took a step and Tobias followed in suit. But their movements were difficult and awkward. Paul stopped and held Tobias. He looked ahead. “We have distance to cover, so why don’t I just try to carry you?” Paul asked. “You mind?”

“Um. I should be fine. My leg feels better already,” Tobias said.

Paul disregarded Tobias’s tepidness and lifted him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“Hey!”  Tobias cried out.

“It’s the only way,” Paul said. Tobias hung over Paul, and bounced up and down uncomfortably as Paul quickly trekked through the woods to an unknown destination. What Tobias didn’t know was that Paul and his group had set up camp out in the woods. But this was no typical campsite. It was something much more serious.

They traveled through the woods for ten minutes before Paul finally stopped. He had tired as Tobias’s weight had worn on his back.  “We’re…almost there,” Paul said, out of breath. “Okay,” Tobias said. He tried to resist the urge to cry due to the pain in his leg and sides.

“See that,” Paul said pointing. “That’s our new home. We’re staying in an underground bunker.”

Tobias looked, but only saw more trees and wilderness. “I don’t see anything,” he said.

Paul laughed. “Exactly,” he said. He walked over to a clearing in the woods and gently placed Tobias on the ground nearby. “Just lie here a moment, while I open the door,” Paul said. He pulled up on a camouflaged tarp covering the ground and folded it over, exposing a large set of thick, wooden double doors, like the exit of a basement or wine cellar. “This is the entrance to our bunker. Bet you didn’t even notice it. That’s because we’re hiding,” Paul said with a grin.

“Hiding?” Tobias asked. “Why?”

“I’ll explain everything once we get inside. You can meet the rest of our group,” Paul said. He rattled on the doors. “Open up, it’s Paul,” he said. They waited. Tobias looked around the forest, no one else was around. He had no clue where they were or how he was going to get out of there. For the moment, he was forced to trust Paul’s intentions; though the idea of going underground with a complete stranger was getting pretty scary for him. He hoped that he would run into a familiar face. Maybe someone from school was down there. A student. Maybe a teacher. Maybe his mom was down there. “I’m really starting to lose it,” Tobias said to himself.

They heard the turning of a locking mechanism below the doors. Paul leaned down and pulled each door open. A woman came up from the opening. “You came back just in time, it’s getting dark out,” she said. She looked to be around Paul’s age. She had short, shoulder length hair that was frizzy.  Her eyes were kind and her complexion fair. To Tobias, she looked like a “mom,” or at least someone trust worthy. She could just as easily been a neighbor or one of his friend’s moms. “We got company,” Paul said to her. He titled his head to the side, signaling her. She looked over and saw Tobias sitting up on the ground next to them.

“What happened to him? Is he alright?” she asked with real concern in her eyes.

“He’s fine. Leg is a little busted. Tobias, this is my wife, Evelyn. Evelyn, this is Tobias,” Paul said.

“Hello, Tobias, nice to meet you,” she said with a head nod.

“Hi,” Tobias said holding one hand in the air.

“Okay, let’s get you inside,” Paul said. He walked to Tobias, picked him up, and moved downstairs into the bunker. As soon as they descended the stairs, the air felt different. It was dimly lit inside, but Tobias saw concrete walls, with lanterns affixed alongside them. “Close the door, would you hon?” Paul asked Evelyn. She smiled and walked back up the stairs, pulling the doors shut. She turned a mechanical lock that bolted them shut. She pulled a long cord hanging from the ceiling intended to pull tarp back over the doors. Paul walked down the hall, with Jeremy on his back. They entered a large room with a low ceiling. Inside the room were twin beds, tables, and shelf upon shelf of canned goods, hygienic products, bottled water, games, and other supplies. It was a lot for Tobias to take in. There were other people in the room, but Tobias couldn’t make them out clearly. Paul took Tobias to the nearest bed and laid him down carefully. “There we go,” Paul said. Evelyn followed, not far behind, and entered the room. Paul walked over to her. “We need to look at his leg and see what happened,” he said. “Okay,” she answered.

Tobias tried to adjust his vision to see in the room. There was a lamp or two providing light, but it still wasn’t clear just how many people surrounded him. Evelyn approached his bed and sat near his leg on the mattress. She examined his makeshift splint with curiosity. “Did you make that?” she asked. “No, my friend Brian did,” Tobias answered. “Where is he?” she asked. “He went to go get help,” Tobias said. “He’ll probably be back any moment now.” Evelyn touched his leg carefully. “Well, it’s better to be safe than to be sorry. I think it was pure luck that my husband found you,” she said. Tobias shrugged. “I just want to go home,” he said. “We all do,” Evelyn responded. “In time, we may get that wish.”

Tobias didn’t know what to say back. After a brief and awkward silence, Paul interjected. “Tobias, I want to introduce you to our friends.” Several people gathered around Paul and looked at Tobias. There were three grown men, all donning beards, jackets, and pants, and two other women, bundled in blankets. “This is Jared, Steven, Ralph, three good friends of mine. And this is Amanda and Leslie, our other good friends.” Each person nodded and raised a friendly hand in Tobias’s direction. “Nice to meet you,” Tobias said. Paul brought a chair to Tobias’s bed and sat. The other adults in the bunker stood by in anticipation, as if Paul was about to tell a bedtime story. Evelyn removed the makeshift splint around Tobias’s leg. The pain of even the slightest movement caused Tobias to flinch and grit his teeth. She grabbed a pair of scissors from a pouch near the bed and cut the jeans of his injured leg straight down the middle. “Now Evelyn is going to take care of you real good, so don’t worry. How’d you injure your leg in the first place?” Paul asked. Tobias’s leg was exposed and with it a certain discoloration. There were bruises and red marks. It looked as if there had been some internal hemorrhaging.

“I fell,” Tobias said.

“How did you fall?” Paul asked.

Tobias crossed his arms with a sour look on his face. “Because I’m stupid, okay?”

“You’re not stupid, Tobias. I was just wondering what happened,” Paul said.

“Yeah, we all make mistakes,” Evelyn added. She turned to Paul. “I’m going to need to get an ice pack from the cooler,” she said. Paul gave her a slight nod as she left the bed.

“It shouldn’t have happened though,” Tobias said. “It’s all my fault.”

Paul leaned closer to Tobias and continued. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, kiddo. You don’t know how lucky you are that I found you.”

“I know, and I said thank you, didn’t I?” Tobias said. Although it just hit him that he may not have thanked Paul yet.

“It’s not the leg, Tobias, it’s so much more. Finding you in the middle of the woods was true destiny. Have you asked yourself yet why we’re down here?”

“No,” Tobias answered.

“While Evelyn fixes you up I want to take a moment and explain it to you. Someone at your age is going to be face with some very important decisions after today. And we can help you.”

Evelyn walked back to the bed and sat. “That cooler is running out of ice, we’re going to have to make a run sometime,” she said. She placed the ice pack on Tobias’s leg.

“Damn that’s cold!” Tobias said, squirming.

“I know. Just hold still a moment. It looks like you just twisted your knee here. Possibly your ankle too. The fluid in your kneecap has drained out some, and that’s where a lot of the pain is coming from. You must have had a pretty bad fall.”

“You know, Evelyn’s a nurse. We’re extremely lucky to have her,” Paul said.

“What were
you
doing out in the woods?” Tobias asked.

Paul laughed; a low, calm laugh. “We like to do what I call
reconnaissance
around here.”

“What’s that?” Tobias asked.

Paul thought for a moment. “It’s like, when you’re on the lookout for something. You go to an area and plan. Before everyone else arrives.”

“Oh. Okay,” Tobias said. Evelyn continued to hold the ice pack on Tobias’s legs. She untied his laces and took his shoes off. Tobias had to admit, he was feeling pretty comfortable. He felt no reason to protest the removal of his shoes.

“Have you noticed anything strange about today?” Paul asked him.

“Um. Yeah, like a lot of things,” Tobias said.

“Like what?” Paul asked.

“Like my friend go into a fight. There were a ton of people outside the school. We saw a fire. We heard some explosions. And some guy tried to attack us in the woods.”

Paul’s eyes widened at Tobias’s mention of being attacked. “Some guy? What did he look like?” Paul asked. Both he and his wife exchanged concerned glances. Tobias thought for a minute.

“He…he had a gray beard and his hair was gray and messy. His clothes were dirty, and he had a gun. He wanted us to shoot him,” Tobias said in a mater-of-fact tone.

Paul rested his face in his hands. “Oh no, so it
is
true.”

Evelyn looked at Paul with her own expression of sadness.

“What’s true?” Tobias asked.

Paul removed his face from his hands and looked to Tobias. “Do you know what happened to this man? Where he went? What he did? What he said?”

“We ran away from him. He wanted to hurt us. He said that he killed his wife and that he wanted us to kill him. We barely got away.”

Evelyn covered her mouth from sobbing. The other people hung their heads in sadness.

“What?” Tobias asked, annoyed.

“I was looking for that man when I found you,” Paul said. “He’s part of our group. He was one of us.”

“Yeah,
was
one of us,” Jared said from the back.

Tobias was frightened. Perhaps they were all crazy just like that man. He sat up and slowly moved his leg away from Evelyn. Paul took notice.

“It’s okay, we’re not that man. His name was Eliot. He was normal once. We all agreed to stay in the bunker, and then earlier yesterday, he disappeared. He and his wife, Cheryl, both left and they haven’t returned since.”