First Activation

It was approaching Bernie’s shift, so I woke Jack up by shaking his shoulder.

“Time for bed. Come on. Let’s go.”

“How long have I been asleep?” Jack groaned.

“About an hour. We could both do with some rest in proper beds though, so off you go.”

I walked slowly up the stairs, and found the room Bernie was sleeping in.

“Bernie, are you okay to take watch now?” I shouted through the door.

“Yeah, give me five minutes.”

I waited in the upstairs landing until Bernie shuffled out of the bedroom.

“Did anything happen while I was asleep?”

I quickly told Bernie about Jerry’s farm. He wanted me to elaborate, but I was too tired and said I’d fill him in properly in the morning. I found an empty bedroom, stripped, jumped straight into bed, and almost immediately fell asleep.

I awoke with daylight streaming through the bedroom window and turned over to snooze. However, as I remembered last night’s events, I threw back the covers and rolled out of bed. My window had a view of the front driveway area and all seemed quiet. I pulled on the retro tracksuit and walked downstairs. Lea and Bernie were in the dining room.

“Morning, Harry. Have you had a good sleep?” Bernie beamed.

“What time is it?”

“It’s nearly eleven; we decided not to disturb you.”

I still felt a bit worse for wear, probably because of the alcohol and cigars from the previous night, but I appreciated the fact that Lea and Bernie had left me to sleep. Bernie poured me a coffee and I sat down to join them at the table, Jack came downstairs and joined us.

“Shall we drive over to Maybrook and see how Greg is getting on?” Bernie asked.

“Fine by me,” I replied, “but I need a wash first. And as long as it’s a quick visit. Jack and I have an appointment at lunchtime.”

Bernie smiled. “I heard all about that from Lea.”

Lea shook her head and screwed her face up.

“We’ll go and see Greg, then Harry and I can meet with Jerry as agreed. I’ll tell him the truth now that we’ve established a tiny bit of trust. Leave it with us, it’ll be fine,” Jack sighed.

“I suppose you two want breakfast?” Bernie replied, changing the subject.

We nodded enthusiastically and Bernie used the last of the eggs to make us each an omelette.

After we were all fed, watered, and washed, we made our way out to the SUV.

“So I guess we’re not going to the airport for our flight?” Jack joked.

Bernie laughed, “I could take you there if you like, but I’ve heard there’s a lot of delays.”

He jumped in the driver’s side, and soon we were headed towards Maybrook. We were still armed, as a precautionary measure, but I was confident we’d be able to talk our way out of any situation we were likely to come across. After all, we were some of the only people that could partially explain the events of the last three days. The people who came around were suddenly faced with carnage, without having a clue as to what had happened.

We drove into Maybrook along Homestead Avenue, I looked for signs of life and for the address Greg had given us. Bernie pulled over and retrieved a local map he had found in our new house.

“We’re already here; there it is, on the right! Aristotle Drive,” Lea called out.

In the distance, I could see another vehicle coming towards us.

Jack must have noticed it too, because he said, “Get down!”

Bernie turned off the engine and we all ducked.

“Why are we hiding? It’s over, isn’t it?” Lea asked.

“I just want to make sure. It’s only been twenty four hours since we first suspected that the brainwashing had worn off. We don’t know the recovery rate. It might not happen at the same time for everybody,” Jack said.

He was less confident this morning without the whisky inside him.

“Jack, you’re just being paranoid,” Bernie replied. “They might drive right past and then we’ll have missed the chance to meet more survivors.”

“We’ve all the time in the world to find people. Being cautious isn’t going to hurt us, being reckless might,” I said, while thinking about the inconsistencies in behaviour we had seen.

I peeped out of my window and saw a black Range Rover approaching.

“It’s slowing down. Do you think they’ve seen us?” Bernie said.

“Has it stopped?” Lea asked.

“No, it’s turning into Aristotle Drive… There’s two people… They’ve pulled up outside the second house on the right.”

We were all watching now. Nothing happened for two minutes. Eventually, two men jumped out wearing black trousers and black sweaters. The first man who approached the door was overweight and carried a silver revolver behind his back. The other man had a long beard and crouched in front of the garage to cover the first with a rifle. The overweight man knocked on the door.

It appeared that he was having a conversation with somebody behind it. The whole picture was not too dissimilar to the way Jack and I approached Jerry’s yesterday evening. After a few minutes, the door opened. Greg appeared and offered his hand.