After The End Read online

  “I was in a cave in Wyoming while I grew up. As soon as I was old enough, I took off and have been travelling ever since. I was told the South- East Coast was the place for the ships so have been heading there for the last few years.”

  “And her?”

  I can speak for myself. “I have been living in a safe bunker since I was born.”

  “In South Dakota,” Garlind adds. “Somewhere outside Rapid City. I got lost and stumbled over her out in the middle of nowhere. Have you always been in Chicago?”

  River shakes his head. “We both lived in St Paul, Minneapolis. We were sick of the cold weather and needed somewhere new to live. Chicago seemed like as good a place as any.”

  “Have you found much here?”

  “This place is a hole. There’s a few gangs that claim to own the place. We’ve been hiding out while we try to work out where to go next.”

  I can’t believe these people are just walking around the United States like there is no threat of radiation or mutant monsters. How many people are still left in this world? It’s sounding more and more like a lot more humans than I ever thought there was. My parents would be both shocked and pleasantly surprised.

  “Charleston sounds like a nice place. Is that in North Carolina?”

  “South Carolina.”

  River and Clare exchange more glances. It looks like they have their own way of silently communicating. Can they read each other’s minds?

  “There’s a beach there?” Clare asks.

  “Yes,” I reply. If there isn’t a beach, I’m not prepared to go all that way. It is the call of the ocean that is carrying me there. That, and getting to know Garlind.

  “I’d love to go to the beach,” Clare says wistfully. “We’ll come with you.”

  Garlind’s eyes open wide in panic. “No, you can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…” He trails off as he tries to think of an excuse. I can’t help him, I have no idea why he so vehemently doesn’t want them to come with us. “Because we’re going alone. Together. Without anyone else.”

  That sounds lame, even to me and I haven’t been speaking with other human beings for years.

  Clare and River both have the same surprised and confused expression on their faces. It would look funny under other circumstances. I can’t forget they are the ones with the guns that could easily shoot us at a moment’s notice. Garlind would take a few minutes to get his out of his backpack and then aim.

  “We need to come with you,” River insists. “You don’t get to decide where we go. If Clare wants to see the ocean, then that’s what we’ll do.”

  Clare gives him a smile while the love is evident in her gaze. I wonder how long they’ve been together. Did they have that glow right from the moment they met, or did it take a while to manifest? There are so many things I want answered by these two.

  Garlind starts shaking his head again. Things are going to get bad if he doesn’t change his mind. Either that or we somehow slip away from these two so they can’t follow us. Both things seem equally as unlikely.

  I need to do something. “Can we have a moment alone?” I ask the happy couple.

  River stands. He’s pointing his gun at us again, I can’t help but notice. His suspicious about us, no doubt due to Garlind’s sudden change in attitude. We’re not all friends here and it’s become starkly obvious.

  He and Clare step into the next room and make a show of closing the door. “We’ll be right out here. You try anything funny and we’ll shoot. Don’t think we won’t.”

  I didn’t.

  Wasting no time, I turn to Garlind. “What’s the big deal about them coming with us? It might be safer if there are more of us. My father used to say that sometimes—safety in numbers.”

  “The Generation Ships are less likely to take us if there are more people. It will be difficult enough convincing them to take us onboard, let alone four people,” he says with wide eyes. There is genuine fear behind his brown irises.

  I want to roll my eyes at the way he mentions the ships but I don’t. He truly believes in them so I can’t mock his belief. “What about if we agree to split up once we reach the ocean? Then it won’t matter. We will be the only ones going to the ships.”

  “They’ll never agree to that.”

  “So, we don’t tell them,” I whisper. “They’re not going to let us go right now, but anything could happen on the way to Charleston. We could easily get separated along the way.”

  Garlind pauses to think it over and I know I’ve struck a chord. We need to get out of this immediate situation and the easiest way to do that is to agree to whatever River and Clare want. After that, the world is a big place, lots of things can happen. I’m certain there will be opportunities to go our own way.

  “Come on, Garlind. They might be able to help us. They obviously know how to use their guns and we can carry more supplies between four people.”

  “They’ll eat more than two people.”

  I change tactics. “How else will we get out of here unless we let them come with us?”

  “I don’t know,” he admits.

  “So, let’s just say yes and move on. We’ve already lost time in this building.”

  “Fine,” he says reluctantly, like I’m trying to pull his teeth out. “But we’re ditching them before we find the ships. There is no way they’ll take four of us all at once. They won’t have the room.”

  I want to ask why they would even take two of us but keep my mouth shut. If Garlind is driven by finding these ships, who am I to say otherwise? It can be another problem we deal with later. There is nothing like procrastinating.

  “You can come back in now,” I say loudly. The door opens immediately, confirming they’ve been listening. I just hope they didn’t hear all of our conversation.

  “So, when are we leaving?” River asks. He’s very cocky, but he’s also holding a rifle so I guess he’s got a right to be. If it came down to a life or death situation, we would likely do anything he told us to.

  “There’s no time like the present,” I say brightly. We need to get along now and we need to learn to trust one another. Otherwise our journey is going to be very long and painful. And we won’t find an opportunity to betray them.

  “We’ll need a few minutes to gather our things,” Clare replies. Her gaze keeps flicking between us, like she’s nervous we’re going to try something stupid. Her nerves are making me nervous.

  I make my moves slow and deliberate as I stand. “Get your things then. It’s going to be dark before too long and we need to get moving.”

  River keeps his gun trained for a few moments more before making a decision and lowering it. He and Clare pick up items of clothing and food before stuffing them in backpacks similar to the ones Garlind and I carry. I guess they’re standard issue for after the end of the world.

  Within a few minutes, we’re ready to go. River leads the way down the darkened stairs of the building and out into the Chicago overcast day.

  I notice the way both River and Clare constantly scan our surroundings. They are edgy, looking out for bigger threats than Garlind and me. My level of anxiety raises the more they do it. I’m not sure which is worse—being oblivious to the danger out there or searching for them.

  “We need supplies,” Garlind points out. We never managed to find much before stumbling on the love birds. “Do you know of any good stashes we can raid in the city?”

  “There’s a building we’ve been exploring,” River starts, “Across town. It has been pretty good to us so far. We might find some stuff on the upper floors.”

  That sounds like a long walk up a lot of stairs. Still, we follow the leader all the way to the high rise and head on up. This building is much different than the previous ones. The stairs are carpeted—although moldy now—and large windows are everywhere. Light streams in from all directions so we don’t have to stumble around in the dark.

  River takes us up to the very top where we run
out of stairs. He puts his shoulder into opening a door before it swings wide. The room we step into is a dark corridor. We find yet another door inside that River also opens.

  It’s light again in the room we enter. There is a couch and television screen on the wall. Personal items like lamps and artworks are dotted around the place. While it still looks aged and in terrible condition, it also looks like the person just stepped out one day and never returned—which I guess actually happened the day of the meteorite.

  It almost feels too private of a place for us to be snooping around. I expect the people who live here will come out of the bathroom or out of the bedroom at any moment. They’d be surprised to see us and then shoo us out the door, screaming about trespassing.

  But of course, the owners of this apartment are long gone. If they survived the meteorite and found a place to hide from the radiation, they weren’t coming back here. They probably don’t even remember it anymore.

  “What kind of food we will we find here?” Garlind asks. “It’s going to be too old for us to eat.”

  “We need more things than just food,” Clare replies. She’s distracted, searching through drawers in a cabinet underneath the television.

  “Like what?” I need to know so I can help search. I feel like a lump standing by the door and just watching everyone else work. I want to do my part too.

  “Clothes. Shoes. Water bottles. Soap. We need everything,” Clare says.

  I can see Garlind’s disapproval in the wrinkles on his forehead. He thinks food is the most important priority. I agree with him, but we do also need those other things. If this is the last time we’re going to be in a city, it might also be the last chance we have to stock up on essential items.

  While the others search the main room, I find the bedroom and go through the closet. Someone has taken most of the clothes but there are still a few T-shirts folded in the shelves. They are for a male so I leave them out for River or Garlind to take. They are far too big for me to wear.

  The bathroom has lots of soap but it is all covered in mold. We’ll be able to wash it off so it will be safe to use then. I place a few bars in my backpack and throw some on the T-shirts for the others. All the bottles of liquids look like they’ve gone off so I don’t even unscrew the lids to give them the sniff test.

  I take a few rolls of toilet paper too. It’s a luxury these days but a luxury I can’t pass up. It doesn’t weigh down my backpack so it doesn’t matter if I indulge a little.

  By the time I finish and tell the others about what I found, they’re stocked up. We all take a few items and then move onto the next apartment. We search each of them methodically and take only what we can use. Like Garlind warned, there wasn’t any usable food but we would be able to stay warm on a cold day and be able to stay clean for a while longer.

  When we’ve gone through all four levels that River said he hadn’t already checked, he stops us in the corridor. “Empty your bags,” he orders.

  I’m not sure what’s going on but he still has the gun in easy reach so I do as he tells me to. Garland does the same after a staring competition.

  “You empty yours, too,” Garlind grunts.

  It takes a few more moments but River and Clare empty their packs too. We show one another what we’ve got and swap a few items so we’ve each got everything we need.

  “We share it all,” River says gruffly. “No secrets. Yeah?”

  “No secrets,” I readily agree—about this, anyway.

  Clare and Garlind nod.

  We repack our bags and start moving again. It’s much easier going down all those stairs, even if there are a million of them. How did all those people live so high up in the air and then have to walk up the staircases every day? I don’t envy them.

  We walk behind the couple once we’re out on the street. Old cars are everywhere, slowly conceding defeat to the vines and plants that have sprouted up on everything. I try to picture the road without all the lush green foliage but struggle. It must have looked very boring before all the plants took over.

  River takes us to another building but this one is short and fat. There are no stairs to climb up, only boxes to sort through. This is where we find old food that may or may not still be safe for human consumption. We load the old crackers into our bags which fills them to the brim. We’ve got all we can carry now.

  “I said I’d lead you to food, didn’t I?’ River gloats.

  Garlind grinds his teeth together. “Let’s get out of the city now. We’ve got a long way to go.”

  Nobody argues.

  Out in the street once more, we’re only half a block away when we see something that stops us in our tracks.

  A tiger?

  Chapter 7

  Garlind puts his hand out to stop me walking any farther while Clare points at the animal. He’s just like I’ve seen in my father’s books. The tiger is striped with bold, black slashes. The orange fur in between is thick and vibrant. He stalks the streets like they are his own.

  “This way,” Garlind whispers as he pushes me to the right.

  It takes the others a few moments to move but they eventually follow after us. We walk deliberately and slowly to ensure we don’t attract the attention of the tiger. He would eat us for dinner if he realized we were here.

  We find an alleyway and crouch down behind some very smelly trashcans. It’s probably been seventeen years since they were used but they still reek like they’re full of something foul.

  I can hear my breathing as I hope the tiger has found something else to interest it—a long way from here. Every little sound we make seems far too loud. Tigers have sensitive hearing and this city is quiet. Too quiet.

  I wonder how long we have to wait here before it’s safe to move again. My mind plays all kinds of tricks on me while I imagine the tiger having mutant powers. It grows to double its size while I sit here thinking about it.

  But it’s not real. It’s just an ordinary tiger that I have seen pictures of in books. Still deadly, though. With one swipe it could take my head off. His claws are fatal, as sharp as any knife a human could make.

  My parents used to tell me stories about how they used to be able to see these animals in places called zoos. The animals would be in safe enclosures so they couldn’t get to humans and hurt them. It would be a secure way to encounter creatures that normally only lived in the wild.

  I imagine this tiger has escaped from one of those zoo places. Chicago is not a native habitat of this animal. They belong in the continent of Africa or Asia so they are far from home. I hope the zookeepers released the animals before the meteorite so they had a chance of survival on their own instead of being locked up in cages.

  Really, the tiger is no different from us. We’re all just roaming around, trying to find something to eat and a safe place to rest. I feel a sudden compassion and empathy for the animal. We’re all scared and trying to survive in this crazy world. At least I have some friends now, he appears to be all on his own.

  A loud crack booms in the sky, making us all look up—including the tiger. A moment later, the first drops of rain I have ever experienced start to fall.

  “Run!” Garlind whisper-yells.

  The others don’t hesitate in getting up and racing for the end of the alleyway. I pause, caught up in the beauty of the falling raindrops. I could sometimes hear them on the roof of the bunker when it was raining heavily but I’ve never known what it felt like to have them fall on me.

  It’s…painful.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, but everyone is already gone.

  Garlind peeks around the corner. “Hurry, Maisy! We need to find cover before it’s too late.” He waves at me to follow and I don’t need any further encouragement.

  I run to him where he takes my hand and leads me away. We have to move quickly as the rain continues to sting my eyes and makes my exposed skin burn.

  My mouth clamps shut so none of the wetness can get inside. I want to close my eyes too but have to set
tle on a squint to avoid the painful sting in my peepers.

  We catch up with River and Clare underneath a shop window. An annex leans over the sidewalk but could easily fall down at any moment with the amount of rust holding it together. The tiger is nowhere in sight now.

  Garlind picks up a rock and throws it at the shop window. It bounces off so he picks it up again and bashes it against the window repeatedly. He keeps going until the glass splinters and then shatters into a million pieces. Blood drips down his hand as he lets go of the rock.

  “Everyone, inside,” he orders.

  The rain reaches us in a gust of wind, spurring us forward. The four of us climb inside through the broken class. The reek of musk and dust greets us. I’ve read that people in the olden days used to enjoy the smell of rain. Nothing here smells appealing now.

  Garlind and River move around, placing what they can over the shattered window to block the rain out. A large picture painting is the best they can find. It covers most of the window but still leaves a gap around two edges.

  “Stay away from the window,” Garlind warns me. I don’t need to be told that. My skin still stings where the rain hit.

  “Why did it hurt?” I ask. “I thought the rain was just water, collected from the ocean. It shouldn’t hurt. It’s supposed to be nice. There are songs written about walking in the rain.”

  Garlind’s lips quirk into a little smile like I’ve amused him some way. Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut and my thoughts to myself. “The rain is full of acid. It can kill you if you stay out in it long enough. Did you get any in your mouth?”

  “No. How did it get acid in it? It’s just water.”

  “The meteorite changed things.” He shrugs. “I don’t know much about science but it changed the atmosphere. It polluted the air or water or something.”

  I try to recall anything that my parents might have said about this. They were always trying to explain things to me. They said they wanted me to be ‘prepared’, whatever that meant. Maybe they always knew I would run out of food eventually and have to leave the bunker.