Posts
Back for more? Good. Excited to see where the story takes us? We may not be seeing much more of Marley for a while (hope you’re not too disappointed). But we will be taking a closer look at John and his picks for his team to save Peter. And then we’re off. Without further ado, well… You know the saying.
By Max Masen
-The Following Morning-
John steps outside of the bunker, the one stashed away in the woods. It has its roots from the worries and threats of the Cold War. It’s old, rotted out, but best of all it’s forgotten. Forgotten by everyone that would have a reason to go looking for them for malevolent purposes. John looks carefully at the rising sun, the one casting shadows throughout the vibrant wilderness. Warmer weather brings new life in the form of new plants and young wildlife. And in front of John is a young coyote staring at him with little worry or concern, only wonder. John reaches for his holster without thought. He pulls the shining revolver from it and aims it at the coyote. The animal flinches upon hearing John cock the gun. John holds the revolver for a moment, an unchanging and uncaring expression plastered on his face. He breathes in a heavy breath, his finger hovering over and tightening on the trigger, his hand forming hard on the grip. He suddenly releases his grip and brings the hammer back to rest slowly and thrusts the pistol back into his holster.
John looks to the ground in disappointment. “Can’t… I can’t.”
-Afternoon-
“Alright, John. Here they are. All of the men and women from the files that you requested,” Marley says as he walks down the line of stone-faced warriors, each with toned bodies and packs on their backs stuffed with enough gear to leave immediately and last for at least a week. They each hold their arms tightly behind their backs and stare straight forward.
“Thank you, Marley,” John says graciously. “This means a lot to me.”
“It means a lot to me, too. That you’re willing to risk yourself to save him. We all appreciate it,” Marley says solemnly.
“It’s worth it too, Marley. I can save him before they get anything out of him. I promise,” John says, gripping Marley’s shoulder tightly and his head bobbing and his mouth almost trying to form a smile.
Marley brushes him off and replies, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Let’s just get down to deciding, shall we?” Marley puts his eyes back on the candidates and looks them over as if they were animals. “What about these two, John?”
“Sir!” the man shouts that Marley is close to. Marley becomes disoriented by the unexpected shout and grips his ear.
“Enthusiastic, too. I like this one,” Marley says. He uses the back of his hand to slap the chest of the candidate, a hit that doesn’t even faze the man. “This one probably is, too.” He moves to a woman and is about to slap her in the same place but quickly stops himself, the woman barely paying any attention to him. “But it’s your pick. Don’t let me make the decision for you.”
“I do have to admit that you’ve always had amazing intuition, Marley. I can’t not go with your picks. At least this way if something goes wrong, I can blame you, right?” John starts to laugh at what he said and grips Marley by the neck and holds him tight. Marley feels uncomfortable but won’t bring himself to say anything.
Marley thinks to himself while stuck in the headlock, I hope this is the right decision. If something happens… We’re done.
-That Night-
A plane previously used for commercial runs streams by over countryside and woodlands. A look through the windows shows dead livestock and rotting plants. The cloud of dust decimated any chance that farmers in the country could catch a break. And now they flee for the cities and hope for work. All they find is lack of work and an even greater lack of food and water.
John pulls his head back from the window and looks to his team, a man and woman; the man’s name is Tim and the woman’s Julie. They’re joking around with each other while John plans out the mission in his head, constantly going over what-if scenarios. He can’t stop thinking that he’d made a bad call by convincing Marley but he doesn’t let the notion linger in his head for long. He puts his mind back to work contemplating how the extraction will occur. Once they’re in, they will need a smaller vehicle to carry them out, one on wheels. Schematics of the base they are about to raid shows that there are a few SUVs by the exit. John is hoping the information is still accurate. If not, radios they brought with them are their only hope of calling for a rescue team.
“You guys almost ready?” John calls out to their team, catching them off guard and making Tim jump slightly. “We’re nearing the jump point.”
Tim nods and Julie replies, “Sure are. So this Peter was a close friend of yours. Is that right?”
John reluctantly says back, “That is correct.” He puts his head down in solemn contemplation.
“Tell me about this Peter. You two were in the Navy together?” Julie prods deeper with a softness in her voice. She walks closer to John and can see that what she is asking is starting to upset him.
“Navy SEALs. We worked together for quite a long time.” John notices that he is talking only of himself and quickly wishes to change the topic. “What about you two, though? How did you get involved in this whole thing?”
“Just had a want to protect my family. Found the government coming knocking at my door one day, a couple of police officers. I felt helpless to protect my family. They ransacked our house and said we had to keep quiet about it. They kept coming back and eventually… my wife…” Tim puts his head down and hunches his back. He shoves his hand to his face to conceal it and after a moment Julie and John can hear the muffled sobbing.
“I’m sorry, Tim. We’re going to make things right again,” John announces. He walks over to Tim and puts his hand on his back and softly pats it.
“There’s no making things right anymore. There’s only revenge that I’m after. I know I’m going to die. I accepted that a long time ago. Now I just want to take as many of those sons of bitches down with me as I can,” Tim says, a rabid look in his eye showing through.
John and Julie exchange perplexed glances and John says calmly, “Well, there’s going to be plenty of time for that as well.”
You know the drill. If that next button is live, click away. If not, you can finish up reading what I’m about to say. Thanks again for reading this portion of the story and we’d love to hear your thoughts on the progression of the story and how much you love post apocalyptic fiction in general (do that in the comments). You may be wondering why this story isn’t to the post apocalypse part yet. Rest assured, we will see that but do know that this story is mainly a build up to the novel (which is set in a destroyed America. Interesting, right?). Until next time, remember to subscribe and keep reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment