The Resistance: Book 5 of the After The Event Series (2 page)

Ally

              The sound of the floorboard creaking echoed throughout the empty house. Ally’s bow was in her hand before she took another breath, and she aimed it at the closed door. It was hard to tell exactly where in the house the creak came from as the sound bounced off the walls, but she had closed herself off in the room she was in so there was only one way a person could get to her. So she waited.

              There was another creak, this one louder and closer than before. The sound of gently falling footsteps reached her ears. There was more than one, at least two, and they were trying to walk quietly. Ally let out a calming breath and the slight shake that had developed in the bow lessened. If someone opened the door she would let loose with her arrow; if there was someone else they would have to get around the first person and that would give her time to reload. A creak right outside her door caused her to hold her breath and wait.

              “Come on honey, we need to head out of here before nightfall,” said a female voice just a few feet from the door.

              “Ok, Mommy,” replied the voice of a small girl.

              Her shoulders relaxed slightly but she didn’t lower her bow. A woman and her child were still dangerous if they were armed, and desperation made people very dangerous. Ally waited until the footsteps grew faint and then she snuck to the door, opened it and peeked out. She caught a glimpse of the little girl right before she went around the corner. She was around Ally’s age but her worn clothing was bright pink and her mother was holding her hand, as if she was incapable of walking by herself. Same age but the little girl appeared to still be a little girl. She wouldn’t survive without her mother.

              Ally closed the door and returned to rummaging through the room. Adam, Dena and Coby were in a nearby house seeing if they could find anything useful before they settled in for the night. Ally had decided to go off by herself because she operated better that way. Dena hadn’t been the same since Spence, the man who had treated everyone, except for Dena, like shit and who Ally had caught robbing and killing innocent people. He had gotten caught by someone else and they took him. Ally had no doubt the man was dead.  She wasn’t sure if Dena was distant because of what Spence had done or because he was no longer around; either way the woman slowed her down. Adam was a nice man but he was clueless. He walked around flatfooted, creating enough noise for ten people, and he was clumsy. And Coby was still just a child, more interested in talking than watching what he was doing. He also hadn’t been the same since Spence.

              Tiger came up beside her and nuzzled his head into her neck. The dog was fully grown now and came up to her midsection. Some of his puppy energy had dissipated so he followed her directions a lot better now. She used her head to push his cold nose off her skin.

              “Come on Tiger, you see I’m trying to look for stuff.” The dog stepped back and sat down next to her. Ally couldn’t help but smile. Tiger had been with her before she had lost Jess. He had been her companion and protector during the time when she was all by herself. She pulled him close and gave him a hug, and his tail began to wag thirty miles per hour. “All right boy, we got to get back to work,” she said, pulling away.

              She’d picked this house because it had still been boarded up when she saw it. The windows were unbroken and she couldn’t see any sign of someone forcing their way in, which was rare. The woman and child that had come in were either searching for supplies as well or just looking for a place to sleep. It didn’t matter which because Ally had found the house first, so any supplies she found were hers. With that said she had searched nearly the entire house and hadn’t found anything of use. She made her way through the empty bedroom into the bathroom and her eyes found a bottle of shampoo sitting on the sink. Something she would have skipped in the past, the memory of seeing her tangled hair in the mirror caused her to hastily put it in her backpack. She found a bottle of aspirin and a half-used bottle of toothpaste, both of which went in her pack.

              She left the room and walked down the stairs as quietly as she could. She could hear movement upstairs by the mother and her child but didn’t hear anything to indicate they were coming down. She would let them have the upstairs. She had already searched it and the only things there were moth-eaten clothes and musty blankets. Downstairs she made her way to the one place she hadn’t gone, the cellar. She pulled out her candle and lit it with a lighter. It wouldn’t provide a lot of light but it was better than nothing. She opened the door and was met by total darkness. Tiger pulled up beside her and sniffed a few times then looked up at her.

              “Don’t look at me like that numb-nuts, we have to check everywhere,” she whispered.

              Tiger whined and took a single step down the stairs. Together they slowly made their way down, watching the shadows dancing on the stairway walls, until they reached the bottom and Ally could feel the room open up. Tiger continued to sniff but didn’t growl or do anything to worry her. Despite that she couldn’t help but feel scared. She cursed herself. She wasn’t a little girl. Only little girls were scared. She pushed ahead into the cool basement room and saw a large freezer sitting in the corner. She knew better than to open that. She saw a mostly empty tool cabinet sitting alongside the wall. Most of the tools were rusted out but she found a hammer in decent shape and placed it in her pack. Empty buckets, worn-out furniture and an old TV sat in front of her, nothing of use. She felt Tiger move past her as he went toward the last corner of the room they hadn’t searched yet. Ally followed alongside him and saw a wall full of empty shelves, or mostly empty shelves. A pair of black sunglasses sat on one side; she hooked them to the back of her pack, and on the other side she found something much more useful.
Ashworth Hobby Throwing Knives
the package read and sure enough in the plastic package were a dozen knifes sitting unopened. They were 3-4 inches long with a loop on one end and the blade on the other. Ally put those in her pack with a smile.  

              Ally double-checked the area, confirming there was nothing left, and then left. She climbed through the broken window, noticing the blood on one of the shards. Either the lady or the little girl didn’t make it in entirely unscathed. Not her problem. She stalked down the concrete steps and got out her bow, just in case. The neighborhood was like most of the ones she had seen: rundown, grass at least knee-high, leaves and tree limbs covering the ground, with a spattering of broken down cars in the streets. The sound of faraway talking floated to her and she picked up her pace. Past the abandoned houses, and abandoned stores until she found the old metallic workshop they had decided to hold up in. They had tied up the horses in a fenced-in backyard, hoping the tall fence would keep them out of sight. She knocked twice on the backdoor and waited until someone unlocked it. Adam stood on the other side, his bruised face almost entirely healed. Instead of looking around to make sure it was safe he just smiled at her.

              “Welcome back.”

              Ally bit back a smile and hurried in. “Any trouble?”

              Adam closed and locked the door. “No, but we have heard people out there. This place isn’t abandoned.”

              Ally laid down her pack and saw Dena sitting in a chair near a window staring out. She didn’t seem to notice that Ally had arrived. Coby, Dena and Adam’s young son, sat on the ground looking through an old comic book. He gave her a half-hearted smile and went back to flipping through the book. He had been strange around her ever since the incident with Spence.

              Ally turned back to Adam. “Where are we at with food?”

              “Two cans of beans, plenty to last us through the night.”

              She looked out the window. “We still have an hour or two before it gets dark. I’ll go out and see if I can catch anything.”

              “I don’t want you going back out there,” Dena said, getting up from her chair, a look of concern on her gentle face.

              Ally bit back the feeling of annoyance. Dena had been overprotective before everything that had happened with Spence. That incident hadn’t helped things.

              “I’m not in the mood for beans so I’m going to see what else I can find.”

              “I don’t think it would be safe to start a fire here,” Adam said as he came around to stand next to Dena. “Too easily spotted.”

              Ally didn’t try to hide her annoyance this time. “Two cans of beans won’t fill the four of us. We’ll go to bed hungry and then we’ll wake up hungry.”

              Dena shook her head. “Ally, you’ve got to listen to us. I know you know how to take care of yourself but-”

              “I’ll be back before dark. Tiger, stay.” Ally unlocked the door and walked outside. She heard it open and turned to see Adam standing there.

              “Ally,” Adam said and raised his hands when she started to turn around. “I’m not here to fight or try to talk you out of it.” She stopped moving. “I…I learned the hard way that you should never leave someone angry. You don’t want to regret what you should, or shouldn’t, have said.”

              Ally looked to the man and he looked down at the ground.

              “Just be careful and we’ll be here waiting, ok?” When he raised his eyes and met hers she saw that they were watery.

              Her anger and frustration disappeared. “I’ll be back before dark.” She turned and ran alone.

Ben

              Ben noticed a particle of dust floating directly in front of him. He let out a breath and the dust floated from him toward the group of soldiers standing in front of them. There were nine in total. Their uniforms were dirty and torn but there was no mistaking they were American. That knowledge should have put him at ease but it didn’t. The men were hard, beards and dirt covered their faces, their eyes were sharp and they stared at Ben, Ohio and Ty like they were prey. One of the soldiers stepped forward. His head had been shaved bald at one point but as his hair grew back it produced what looked like a shadow covering his scalp.

              “Nice hardware you all got there,” the man said, gesturing at their guns. “Where did you get them?”

              “We’re in the Army,” Ben said. “We were based here and left to escort a group of civvies right after the last attack.”

              The man’s smile only seemed to affect one side of his face. “The hell you talking about? You Army?” He turned to the men behind him and raised his shoulders. A few smiled but the rest continued to stare at them. “How long since you cracked twenty years old? Three days?”

              Fear still gripped his stomach but he couldn’t deny part of him felt pride that the man thought he was considerably older than he actually was.

              “What are your names?” he asked.

              “I’m Ben,” he said, stepping forward. “This is Ty and that is Ohio. We came back to search for a friend.”

              “That it?” The man asked staring at them. “You came back to this battleground to search for a friend? The United fucking States of America is under attack and you’re playing search and rescue for one person?”

              “What’s your name?” Ty asked, stepping alongside Ben.

              The man’s eyes fell on Ty and Ben felt Ty step back half a step.

              “You can call me Reaper,” he said with a crooked smile. “These here are my Angels of Darkness. And unlike you, we’re trying to protect a country of people, not just a single person.”

              “How?” Ohio stammered. “They took out all our bases. There is nothing left here.”

              “We’re here,” the man said, standing up straight. Ben noticed the man’s nose had been broken at one time and hadn’t healed properly, as it sat at a slight angle. “They may have taken this city but it doesn’t mean they can keep it. For every one of us they have killed we will take out twenty. Their children’s children will regret the day they tried to take our country.”

              “How many of you are there?” Ty asked.

              “You’re looking at us.”

              “This is it?” Ohio asked.

              “We’re more effective than an army of a hundred. All it takes is a couple of bombs to take out a convoy, a single magazine can end over a dozen lives. Wars aren’t won by numbers.”

              Ben looked at the group of men before him. They looked haggard and exhausted but they seemed to be carved out of stone. He knew Mason was still somewhere in this city, probably fighting for a group just like this. This was his best chance to find him.

              “Where do I sign up?” he asked.

              Reaper looked him up and down slowly and did the same to Ohio and Ty.

              “You join us then you’re under my command. I don’t care what you used to do, how you used to do it or why you think it works best, you got me?”

              They nodded their heads.

              “Fair enough,” Reaper smiled, revealing a set of yellowed teeth. “Earn your keep, don’t die and we’ll get along fine.”

Alec

              The place had been a mining camp before the power went out, and the Chinese military had reopened it.  The soldiers led Alec and the remaining male captives through the camp. Emma had been taken away separately; he couldn’t hear her screams anymore.  The camp had a row of old industrial type buildings in the middle, to the northeast was a cleared out area the size of a football field filled with pallets of supplies, to the northwest was a large hill and beyond that was the mining facility.  The rest of the land was covered in trees.

              They walked down the dusty yard toward the industrial buildings and Alec saw the other prisoners.  Torn and tattered clothing barely covered the men’s skeletal frames.  Their unruly beards barely hid their sunken cheeks and all of their eyes stared off at something that did not exist. Dozens of them walked across the clearing with their heads held low and not a single word was said.

              A Chinese soldier pushed Alec and another of the captives off to the side where one of the prisoners was standing.  The prisoner’s gaze was at their feet. A large scar ran across his face and Alec noticed he was missing a finger on his left hand.

              “I am Simon,” the man said softly. “I am responsible for Yankee camp, please come with me.” With that said he turned around and walked toward a building on the far Eastern side of the camp.

              Alec exchanged a confused glance with the other captive then followed along. Running along the outskirts of the camp were watchtowers manned by the soldiers, and dozens of them mulled about the yard watching the prisoners.

              Simon stopped outside a building with a giant Y painted on the front. “This is Yankee building. This is where you go to sleep.”

              “What is Yankee?” Alec asked.

              Simon’s head still didn’t rise. “You are now a part of Yankee camp.  The building on the west side is Rambo camp and up on the hill is the mining camp. There are a lot of them.”

              “There are different camps?” Alec asked.

              Simon raised his head and glanced at him but dropped his head again quickly. “Yankee and Rambo provide supplies to the mining camps.”

              The captive next to Alec was an older man and a large bruise on the side of the head explained the dazed look in his eyes, but he focused for a brief moment. “How many of us are there?”

              “Yankee camp has thirteen and Rambo has sixteen. Walt is in charge of Rambo. Do what you are told and you will get food. If you act out then all of Yankee camp will be punished. Now it is time to work.”  Simon walked inside the building and grabbed a large saw, over four feet long with handles on either side. Despite its small size Simon could barely lift it.

              Alec grabbed his. “What is this for?”

              “We cut the trees and Rambo camp handles the livestock and farming.” Simon turned and walked toward the tree line.

              “What’s wrong with him?” the man next to Alec asked.

              “I don’t know. My name is Alec.”

              “I’m Bruce,” the man said as his wits seemed to start coming back to him. He glanced over and two Chinese soldiers were walking toward them. “I guess we better follow him.”

              They carried the large saw across the field toward the tree line. It didn’t take them long to catch up with Simon, as every step seemed to be a struggle for the thin man.  The farther from the center of the camp they got the more Alec realized just how isolated they must be.  From every angle the trees spread out as far as the eye could see.  Where there were not trees there were soldiers watching their every move.  A rumble in Alec’s stomach reminded him he hadn’t had a decent meal in a long time.

              “Simon, when do we eat?” he asked.

              Simon kept walking. “In the morning and at night.” The man glanced up at the sun, which was on its way down. “You all are lucky and came toward the end of the day. We only have a few more hours of work.”

              When they finally made it to the tree line Alec came face to face with the rest of Yankee camp.  They were all men. Most seemed middle-aged but all of them seemed to be nothing more than a collection of bones.  They worked in pairs, either cutting a tree down or cutting a fallen tree into smaller pieces.  The sight was one of the scariest things that Alec had ever seen, but even worse was the sound.  No one talked.  There were grunts and occasionally a quick cry of pain but nothing more.  The border of their work area consisted of several soldiers with their guns in hand, only sporadically glancing over in their directions.  The majority of these people probably wouldn’t even be able to run in their current condition.             

              Simon walked over and began placing the cut-up pieces of wood onto a nearby flatbed truck.  After a few seconds he stopped and turned to them. “Help with this, then you can go cut.”

              It only took the sun a few hours to set but those ended up being the longest hours of Alec’s life.  For the first hour he helped pick up the pieces of wood and place them into the truck, and then he began to cut down trees.  By the time the sun had met the horizon his back felt like it was on fire. Every muscle in his body ached and his clothes were drenched in sweat. The sound of a chiming bell came from the center of their camp and everyone dropped what they were doing and lined up facing the camp. Bruce and Alec fell in line and walked back.  Again nothing was said outside of the noise that comes with struggling to walk when every muscle burns.  The silence didn’t bother Alec as much this time, as he had to focus just to keep himself upright.

              He followed his group to a large sheet metal building right in the middle of the camp.  There Rambo camp was already lined up for food.  Those men were also wearing clothing in bad need of repair and were also in need of a few pounds but they seemed to be better off than Yankee camp.  They waited in line quietly and when it was Alec’s turn the soldier handed him a single bowl of what looked like nothing more than yellow colored oatmeal. He wanted to complain but it let off the faint scent of corn which caused his empty stomach to growl loudly.  He followed the rest of his camp over to several large tables and sat down realizing that he didn’t pick up any silverware.  Alec looked around and saw that no one at the table had a spoon but then, without any hesitation they began using their hands to scoop up large globs of the substance and shove it in their mouths.

              “What is this?” he heard Bruce ask no one in particular.

              “Corn porridge,” someone said at the end of the table.

              Alec’s stomach growled again and he tossed aside his hesitation and scooped up a handful of the porridge.  A small top layer of liquid ran off his hands and onto his shirt but the rest was thick enough he didn’t have any trouble shoving it into his mouth.  Alec waited for a taste that never came.  The stuff tasted like bland, lumpy oatmeal with a mixture of corn. Part of him wanted to spit it out; the other part was afraid of letting any of it go to waste.  In less than a minute his bowl was empty and his stomach screamed for more but looking around the table, he realized that wasn’t an option.

              “Do we get up and get more, or do we have to ask?” Bruce asked quietly.

              Simon shoot his head sadly. “You will get more in the morning.” He then promptly stood up and left the table, and the others followed.

              Alec caught Bruce’s eye and the man was on the verge of tears. “I….can’t. I’ve never been so hungry in my life,” Bruce cried.  Before Alec could do anything the man stood up and walked back toward the building with his cup held out in front of him. “Please, I need another bowl.”

              One of the soldiers stepped up and aimed his gun in Bruce’s direction but the man didn’t slow down. “Just one more bowl, I’m starving.”

              The soldier lowered his weapon and waited for Bruce to get within an arm’s length, then in one quick motion slammed the butt of his rifle into the man’s face.  Bruce cried out and fell back on his ass.  The soldier laughed and stepped forward, slamming the rifle into the man again. This time Bruce didn’t say anything but fell onto his back.  The rest of Yankee Camp stopped watching but no one said anything or even reacted.  Alec started to stand up when someone called out.

              “Stop!” He turned and saw Xu strolling up with a smirk on his face. The man said something in Chinese and the soldier beating Bruce answered back. Xu laughed once and waved him away. “So you hungry? I understand what it’s like to be hungry but here you have to earn what you get.” Xu looked over to Camp Yankee and Camp Rambo and everyone dropped their gaze. “I will give you all chance to earn more food.” 

              Xu yelled out instructions in Chinese and one of the soldiers came out of a building with a thick rope over twenty feet long.  The soldier threw the rope in between the two camps.  Xu walked over to the tables and sat in a chair. “Winner gets another bowl.”

              Members of both camps walked over to the rope and took up positions on opposite sides.

              “Tug of war?” Bruce asked as he staggered onto his feet.

              Tug of war for food.  Alec looked to Xu, who had a large smile on his face, which was reflected in the faces of the surrounding soldiers.  Alec walked over to take his spot on Camp Yankee’s side and as he grabbed hold of the rope and looked across he realized that Camp Rambo outnumbered them by over five people--not only that, but there was a beast of a man on the other side.  The man looked to be in his late forties and towered above his surrounding campmates, Alec estimated the man to be at least 6’6”, and his broad shoulders made him seem twice as wide as he actually was.  The man was emaciated like the rest of them but with plenty of food he would have been an ox.  The man gave orders to his camp and placed them in position and then it was quiet.

              Xu smiled even wider. “Begin.”

              The rope shot forward, burning Alec’s hand, before he finally gathered his grip.  Cries of determination came from both sides but it was over before it even began.  Alec put the full force of his body into pulling, but the rope’s momentum only paused briefly before it shot forward again and all of Camp Yankee was pulled off their feet.  The ground met Alec’s body hard and he lost hold of the rope.  He waited to hear a cry of joy or triumph from the other side but it never came.  Alec stood up and dusted himself off and watched as Camp Rambo just stood there emotionless.  The large man nodded toward a few of his campmates but everyone else just stood there.

              Xu clapped several times and stood up.  “Rambo gets extra portion, Yankee go to bed.”

              Alec’s stomach rumbled but he turned and began to follow the rest of Yankee to their building. Once again Bruce didn’t move.

              “That’s not fair,” he stammered. “You need us. You want us to work hard then you need to feed us.  We can’t do anything if we are too weak.”

              The smile on Xu’s face vanished and turned to ice.  The other Chinese soldiers stopped what they were doing and glanced from Bruce to Xu, their smiles also missing.  Xu said something soft in Chinese and two of the soldiers grabbed Bruce and held him in place.  “You believe you have a say in this? You believe your opinion matters?” Xu stepped forward. “Let it be known that you eat when we say you eat, you eat what we say you eat, and you do what we say you do.”

              Fear filled Bruce’s eyes. “I’m just saying that if you wan-”

              The knife in Bruce’s stomach stopped his words.  Bruce looked down at his stomach and stared at the hilt of the knife sticking from his stomach, then looked up at the man holding the knife.  Xu stared at him coldly.  Bruce opened his mouth to scream and Xu pulled the blade out and stuck it back in.  Bruce let out a cry of anguish as it happened again, and again.  The two soldiers let go and Bruce stumbled and fell onto his back. Xu stood above him with the bloody knife in hand.

              “You still believe you are special,” Xu said, looking at both camps. “You Americans grew up believing that the world was yours, that you can go wherever or say whatever you want.  Do not feel bad, it was how you were taught.” Xu got on top of Bruce, who was still lying on his back in shock.  Xu raised the blade up high and then brought it back down forcefully into Bruce’s stomach, causing Bruce to cry out again in pain.  “I will re-educate you,” Xu said calmly. “This is not your world now, it is mine.”  Xu brought the blade down one more time and then got up and stood over Bruce.

              Bruce rolled onto his side and his entire body was shaking as a pool of blood began to form around him.  No one said anything, no one tried to help.  After a few moments Camp Rambo walked back over to collect their extra bowl of food and Camp Yankee walked toward their building.  Alec stood there, uncertain what to do.  He took one step forward toward Bruce and saw the large man in Camp Rambo looking at him.  They locked eyes and the large man shook his head.  Alec noticed two soldiers watching him and he turned and walked away.

              He walked to their building but before he walked in he looked back toward Bruce and Xu was still standing over the man.  Xu’s gaze was locked on Bruce. His expression was blank but Alec could see his eyes twinkling in the moonlight.  Xu was enjoying it.  A soldier came up behind Alec and pushed him through the entrance. Alec walked into the large building and walked down a long hallway that reminded him of when they used to go to animal shelters, cages on each side. A soldier opened up one of the gates and pushed him inside the concrete room that was barely long enough for him to lie down in.  The gate was closed and locked and then he was alone.  Outside their building a man was slowly bleeding to death but inside the building it was perfectly quiet.  Alec leaned against the wall and cried.