First Activation

“I don’t know,” Jack answered, “a few miles at least, I would say. Nothing that should bother us tonight. That’s the first thing we’ve heard like that since arriving. There’s bound to be a few frightened and confused people walking around, so it doesn’t surprise me.”

“Let’s not get too jumpy, we’ll deal with any immediate threats,” I added.

Lea decided to get some rest and left us out on the porch.

We sat sipping whiskey for ten minutes until Jack had a suggestion. He was looking towards the front right-hand side of the property.

“Fancy a walk to that farm we passed on the way? I liked the look of it and I’m in the mood for a bit of exploring.”

“Shouldn’t we wait until the morning? We’d be leaving nobody on watch, and its dark,” I replied.

“We haven’t come across anyone for miles, apart from Greg. They’ll be alright. It’s only about a mile away.”

Jack stood, picked up his rifle, and checked it was loaded before continuing, “I’m confident this killer thing has ended. Let’s see if we can get some fresh supplies. There might be chickens, vegetables, and all kinds of stuff. We could surprise Bernie and Lea with our bounty. Are you game?”

“Let’s do it,” I said. “They’ll both be none the wiser as long as we get back before Bernie’s shift.”

As we walked towards the road, I thought that we could potentially be making a big mistake. Had the alcohol given us too much courage? Were we acting too quickly on a rashly made assumption? I didn’t know, and my legs felt slightly unsteady.

“Are you sure about this?” I said.

“Why not? What have we to lose?” he whispered, smiling.

I didn’t want to answer that.

We turned right along the road and started walking towards the farm. As we neared the property, I realised there was a light coming from a farmhouse window. Somebody must have turned it on recently with an alternative electricity source.

We crept along a tree-lined road that led to the farm gate. I could hear the noise of a generator coming from somewhere inside the adjacent barn. Within thirty yards of the window, we pulled up flat against the barn’s side.

“Whoever is in there, is not exactly trying to keep a low profile,” I whispered.

“How shall we handle it?”

“Let’s sneak up to the window and have a look inside. If there is anyone in there, I’ll knock on the door and you keep watching through the window to see if they pick up any weapons. If they do, we’ll shout a warning.”

“There could be a few, what if they shoot first?”

“I’ll stand by the side of the door, and you crouch below the window. If they want to try something like that, they won’t see us until it’s too late. We have the element of surprise. If there’s an armed squad, we’ll come back in the morning with a white flag.”

We slowly made our way to the window and looked inside. A medium sized, middle-aged man with a bulbous nose was sitting in the room reading a book. I nodded at Jack, and then crept towards the door, knocked loudly three times and stood to the right-hand side with my Glock ready.

“He’s coming straight to the door. I don’t think he’s armed,” Jack whispered.

“Who is it? Who’s there?” a voice called out from behind the door.

“It’s your new neighbours. There are two of us here,” I said.

“Two of you? Why did you come here? What do you want?”

Jack slid up to the other side of the door, “We don’t want any trouble. We’ve had a bad few days and wanted to check if you were okay. This is the first place we’ve seen with a light on since the power went out almost two days ago.”

“Why do you want to know if I am okay? I’m just fine.”

I took a deep breath, and then moved left, making my profile visible through the small glass square in the door. I could see the outline of the man’s head.

He took a step back, so I stood closer to the glass.

“We just want to talk, that’s all. Haven’t you noticed anything strange in the last few days?”

“Yes, but how do I know I can trust you?”

“We could say the same thing to you,” Jack replied.

“We could have just shot you through the door if we wanted, or through the window while you were reading your book,” I said, peering through the glass.

“You were watching me?” He paused for a moment then said, “We can carry on talking here.”

“We could, but I think I’d rather kick your bloody door down,” Jack snapped.

I didn’t think his threat would be helpful, but surprisingly, after another ten seconds of silence, the door unbolted and the man opened it up.

“I don’t want any trouble. You have to understand, I had to make sure.”

We lowered our weapons and I held out my hand, “I’m Harry and this is my brother, Jack. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Jerry. Come in.” He said, shaking both our hands.

Jerry led us to the room he had been sitting in before and offered us a seat.

“I would offer you both a drink, but you smell like you’ve already had a few.”

“Thanks, a couple of beers would be good,” Jack replied.

Jerry brought us a can each and sat down in his chair. He was evidently well supplied, as he brought out a bowl of pretzels for us to nibble on.