First Activation

“What? The short version. We’re desperate here; you’re the first people we’ve come across.”

“From what we’ve seen, everywhere has been in total chaos. People have been turning on each other and most are dead, but you might be okay now. We’ve seen a few more survivors in the last few days, so you’re not on your own.”

“What happened to you?” I shouted across the forecourt.

“We came across each other in the state park. After talking, we realised we’d both lost a few days. As we walked along Red Rock Road, we started to see dead bodies and other crazy shit. We’ve just being trying to find someone who knows what’s been going down. The army or whatever.”

“So what are you going to do now?” Lea asked.

“Where are you going?” the man replied suspiciously.

“Michigan,” Jack answered. “But we heard on a radio transmitter that there might be some survivors in New York.”

I immediately grasped that Jack was telling these people a lie for their own good. It would be unfair if we took them along with us, we had a confrontation coming very soon with Anthony.

“Did you get any details? What has the government done?” The woman said.

“Forget about the government, they’re probably gone. We know there’s a group holed up in Aldi on the Long Island Expressway. Head towards Manhattan, you’ll find it,” I said.

“That’s miles away, can we come along with you?”

The man pulled her back by the shoulder.

“Let’s just get back to New York,” he said.

“Guys, forget about the army, government, or any of that shit. We have to make our own way from here. You’re best off with those guys in New York,” Lea said.

“Whatever, maybe we’ll see you around,” the man replied. “But for now, we’re going to keep our heads down and see what happens.”

With that, both of them turned around and walked back into the gloom behind the store.

Jack started walking back to the Range Rover, “Come on, let’s get out of here. Chances are, there’s going to be a few more like them, we can’t help everybody.”

Lea seemed saddened by the meeting.

“We should have helped them,” she said.

“How? I’m glad they didn’t want to come along with us, it would have taken some explaining,” Jack said.

“The social rules have changed now,” I said. “They probably just want to find a safe place and keep their risks to a minimum. It’s not exactly easy for us, and we have a better understanding of what is really going on.”

I heard a thud behind us and turned; Jerry had wriggled out of the car and landed on his face, on the forecourt.

We rushed over and pulled him back into the vehicle.

The gag was drenched in blood, so I untied it. Jerry seemed unaffected by his fall.

“I’d have fucked her,” he said.

“Who? What are you talking about?” I replied.

“That whore you just met.”

Jack leaned into the back of the vehicle and slapped him.

“You don’t realise what you’re missing. Ron told us how much pussy would be out there after the first activation. You need to…”

“Shut the fuck up. The gag is going back on if you say another word,” I said.

We all climbed back into the Range Rover and Jack pulled away.

After picking our way along the highway for another half an hour, I noticed some headlights in the distance behind us. I pointed it out to Lea and Jack, and continued to watch out of the back window. The car continued to follow us for another hour. It shouldn’t have been unusual to see another driver on the road, even in these circumstances, but none of us were quite ready to trust in coincidence.

“Let’s stop and see who they are,” Jack said. “We don’t want to be followed all the way to Hermitage, if that’s what the other car is doing.”

“Let me do the talking this time, you’re too soft, you’re going to get us all killed,” Jerry said.

We all ignored him.

Jack pulled onto the side of the road. We jumped out of the Range Rover quickly and waited behind it with our weapons ready. I cut Jerry’s legs free to make it easier to move him and kept hold of the back of his collar. The headlights slowly approached until a car pulled alongside us.

The electric window descended on the passenger side of the vehicle.

“Thanks for waiting for us,” a man said.

“Pardon?” I replied.

“Thanks for waiting for us. We’ve decided to come with you.”

Though we couldn’t see inside the car, I recognised the voice as being the man’s from the station.

“What do you mean come with us?” Jack asked.

“We had a chat after you left. You seem capable and are armed. We think we’ll be safer with you for now.”

We didn’t actually want anyone coming along with us to Hermitage. Although extra numbers could be handy, we’d have to reveal why we were going there.

“You can’t come with us, but we’ll meet you here next Sunday,” I replied, hoping to appease them with my suggestion.

“Why not?” the man asked.

“We think that there might be some danger up there. We are going to sort it out. After that, we can come back to meet you,” Jack replied.

“We can help you. Do you have a spare gun?”

“Sorry,” I lied, “we don’t have any spare. We wouldn’t want to expose you to any unnecessary danger, so we’ll meet you afterwards.”