The Death: Extinction Read online

  Poppy grunted and spat, a pair of binoculars glued to his eyes. He scanned the island and the houses. He put the binoculars down, pulled a notepad out of his pocket and began to scratch notes with a pencil.

  Devin watched him curiously. By his appearance and speech, Devin’s preconceived bias would have thought him a stupid man, but Poppy was the opposite. He was deliberate, thoughtful and calculated. He definitely wasn’t stupid. Devin once again found his gut instincts still held pre-pandemic biases. It was something he was trying to work past because surviving required an innate ability to size people up quickly. This was where he missed Tess; she was a natural at that and hence why he had leaned on her talents before.

  He put his attention back on the community and studied it as best he could. Without optics he did his best but came up with at least a hundred homes and buildings. This community had survived; they out of so many apparently had found a way and a means to come together and organize. The idea that the lone wolf survived was now disproven. Survival required a team or group working in harmony and cooperation. He’d had that with Tess and Brianna, but his little team was divided and his current circumstance looked like it was leading to his end.

  After surveying the area for twenty minutes, Poppy slithered back and whispered, “C’mon, I’ve seen enough.”

  Everyone else followed.

  The morning was now giving way to the warmer afternoon.

  Poppy remained quiet the entire time they walked back.

  Devin was curious as to what he was thinking. It did cross his mind that making him do something stupid could be a possibility he was pondering.

  They reached the truck and Poppy grabbed his handheld radio and called the other team back.

  A bristling breeze cut through the trees, churning up the rich smell of bark, dried leaves, moss and dirt. He loved the aroma of the forest; in fact, he loved the forest in general. There was something off, though, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it until one of the men spoke up.

  “Not a damn animal, nothing, not even a little fucking gray squirrel. Everything’s dead.”

  That was it, Devin thought, the forest and air were alive, but the animals that had once occupied this great land were gone, victims too of the Death.

  When Devin saw the Charleston skyline, he began to breathe a sigh of relief. They were almost back; therefore he might have been spared the uncomfortable situation of having to pass a test.

  The signs for the Savannah Highway were coming up and soon they’d be crossing the bridge and into downtown.

  Devin leaned back and relaxed against the rear window of the cab, the air blowing his thick black hair across his bearded face.

  The truck just behind him flashed it headlights.

  Devin saw the driver pointing at something to their left. He looked and saw a small group of scavengers, mostly women.

  Poppy swerved the truck hard left. The other trucks followed him as he tore into the large parking lot of a strip mall.

  The scavengers were going through cars, but when the squealing tires of the trucks got their attention, they took off.

  The chase was on. Poppy and the men loved this; in many ways it was sport.

  Once in the parking lot, the trucks followed different groups as the people, numbering seven, ran in different directions.

  Poppy followed three women, but had to stop when they entered an old retail storefront through the smashed front window.

  “Go, go, follow them through there. I’ll drive around back; take Devin with you,” Poppy ordered Charlie.

  Charlie was out of the truck, pistol in hand and yelled, “Test time.”

  Under his breath, Devin said, “Fuck.” He jumped out of the truck and jogged over to Charlie.

  Poppy sped off.

  Hoots and hollers came from the other men as they were reveling in the game of cat and mouse.

  “You first,” Charlie said, pointing at the retail storefront.

  Devin didn’t hesitate, but an idea that this might be the place to run came to mind. He hurriedly stepped through the broken window. The store was dark save for the sparse light cascading through the window. Shattered and splintered glass crushed under his feet the first few steps he took. Inside he was now cautious, there was no telling if those people were armed, and to them, he was the aggressor and deserving of being shot without question. Devin also remembered just then a little unknown statistic that Tess had shared with him about tactics: those in the defense had nine to one odds of success.

  Charlie stepped in, his pistol out in front of him, and scanned the space. The store had once been a women’s clothing boutique. The place was a disaster; clothes, shoes and other designer accessories were covering the floor along with metal racks and mannequins.

  Devin slowly and steadily maneuvered through the maze of junk until he reached the rear storeroom door.

  “Back here, I got them!” Poppy’s voice boomed from the rear parking lot.

  Hearing this, Charlie burst through the door and raced without looking through the stockroom and out into the rear.

  Devin froze; he knew what the back lot held for him. He knew that once there they’d ask him to do something horrible, something despicable. He wasn’t quite ready for that and seriously began to question how important life was. The world had changed so much that he began to wonder if living in it was what he truly wanted to do, especially if it meant brutally harming an innocent person.

  “Devin!” Charlie yelled. His voice echoed through the now open rear door.

  Taking a few hesitant steps, Devin walked into the stockroom and stopped. “What to do? Think, damn it, think,” he said to himself under his breath.

  A whimper caught his ear; he turned and looked for the source of the cry and found a young teenage girl. She was cowering in fear, and in her hand Devin saw she was holding a large knife.

  Again, Devin was frozen. He looked into the girl’s eyes and saw how scared she was, but he also saw something more. Her hard and unwavering stare told him that she’d fight to the death if she had to. He raised his hand slowly and placed his index finger on his lips.

  She didn’t respond to his hand signal to be quiet; her eyes were locked on him and every move he made.

  “Devin, what the fuck!” Charlie yelled and came back inside looking for him.

  Devin spun and looked at Charlie; he tried his best not to give away the girl’s hiding spot.

  Charlie approached Devin and snapped, “C’mon, fuck stick, we’re waiting on you.”

  “I’m coming, sorry. Thought I heard something, was just checking it out,” Devin replied and walked towards Charlie.

  The terrified girl shifted and knocked over a few boxes.

  The clamor caught Charlie’s attention. “What was that?”

  “It’s an animal. You see, I heard that same noise, but it turned out to be a cat. Can you believe it? A cat.”

  Charlie stopped and said, “A cat, really?”

  “Yeah, sorry for the delay.”

  Devin was now standing inches from Charlie and blocking his further advance into the storeroom. “I want to see who Poppy has outside.”

  As if on cue, a cry sang out from outside, prompting the girl to shift again, further knocking over boxes of shoes.

  “I want to see this cat,” Charlie said and forcibly pushed past Devin.

  Without thinking, Devin grabbed his arm and said, “We don’t want to keep Poppy waiting.”

  “Let go of my arm.”

  “Fine, I’ll go by myself and tell Poppy you’re fucking off in here looking for a pussy.”

  “Fuck off!” Charlie exclaimed and shoved Devin. He took two more steps and peered into the aisle. “What do we have here?” he asked, looking at the girl.

  Devin had pledged to Tess to protect the innocent. He was already struggling with making the decision to act or not once tested and here was his moment. Was he truly the honorable man that Tess would love? Would he happily go to the stake to be bur
ned to save another innocent life? With no time to ponder deeply, he just acted on instinct by grabbing Charlie from behind.

  “What the hell?” Charlie cried out.

  Devin’s embrace was firm and pinned Charlie’s arms to his sides, making him defenseless. “Stab him, hurry, stab him!”

  The girl didn’t respond. She watched the two men fight, their bodies bouncing off the metal racks.

  “If you don’t kill him, he’ll kill you!” Devin barked.

  “Let go of me, motherfucker!” Charlie screamed.

  The ruckus they were making was sure to attract others, especially Poppy, who was in the back.

  Both men fell to the floor hard, forcing Devin to lose his grip.

  Charlie spun around like a top and attacked Devin. He repeatedly punched him in the face until Devin was about to lose consciousness.

  “Now you finally die!” Charlie said and pulled out a large seven-inch knife from a sheath on his belt. He held it high, but just before he could plunge it into Devin’s chest, the girl sprang on Charlie from behind.

  She took her knife and slashed his throat. Thick warm blood sprayed everywhere and covered Devin’s face and chest.

  Charlie dropped his knife and grabbed his gaping throat. The look in his eyes shifted from anger to fear.

  The girl kicked Charlie in the back.

  He fell to the floor with a thud. He was still alive, but after a few spontaneous kicks he bled out.

  She stepped over the men but stopped, looked back and said, “Thank you.” She then ran back into the storefront.

  Devin could feel his face swelling from the repeated punches and the taste of blood sickened him. He ignored the pain and vertigo and sat up so he could throw up.

  “Where are you two?” Poppy hollered from outside.

  The thought to run came to mind but went when the rear door creaked, announcing that someone was coming in.

  Devin thought fast. He positioned Charlie on his back and acted like he was giving him CPR.

  Poppy walked up but didn’t say anything at first.

  “One, two, three,” Devin said as he playacted. He could feel Poppy’s presence, but he refused to look up. He wondered if this was it. Would he die now? Was Poppy holding a gun at his head? Fearful to look, he kept performing CPR on Charlie’s corpse.

  Finally, Poppy broke his silence. “What the hell happened?”

  “He stabbed Charlie.”

  “Who?”

  Devin looked up and feigned anger. “The asshole who was hiding in here, that’s who!”

  Poppy was holding a pistol but held it at his side.

  “You can do some good with that by getting the motherfucker who did this. He went that way.”

  Poppy raised one eyebrow and slightly nodded his head. He was quickly processing the scene; if anything, he was skeptical about it.

  “Are you just going to stand there? If you want to shoot me, fucking do it! Otherwise, help me!” Devin yelled. He was committed and the only thing that could save his life was again a story. He couldn’t imagine what the scene looked like to Poppy and he had now come to realize that Poppy was not a redneck fool.

  “He looks dead,” Poppy said.

  He looked up from his crouched position over Charlie and said, “He wasn’t when I began.” Devin continued his act and placed two fingers on Charlie’s slit throat. “Nothing.”

  “Nothing? No shit, his throat is opened up. The poor bastard is dead; no amount of CPR could have saved him.”

  Devin stood, blood mixed with sweat poured off his face and chin. His shirt was soaked red and his arms trembled. He looked at Poppy, who hadn’t budged, his hand still gripping the pistol firmly.

  Knowing the act had to continue, Devin picked up Charlie’s knife.

  “Whatcha doing?” Poppy asked.

  “Well, you’re not going to go look for the guy, I will,” Devin answered and stepped around Poppy. As he brushed his shoulder, he closed his eyes and said a short prayer that Poppy wouldn’t shoot him, but if he was going to die, he was going out honorably. He briskly walked through the store and onto the sidewalk. The girl was gone and, from the looks of it, actually got away.

  Poppy emerged from the store and stood next to Devin. “What did he look like?”

  “A man, tall, he came at me first. The timing was perfect, Charlie came in then, but I was down. If you had given me a damn weapon, this wouldn’t have happened and Charlie would still be alive.”

  “So the man attacked you, got the better of you, then turned on Charlie? So that’s your story?”

  Devin tilted his head and said, “It’s not a story, it’s what happened. Listen, fuck you, if you want to kill me, do it or you can accept me as one of you.”

  Poppy looked deep into Devin’s eyes but didn’t reply.

  “I think the guy must have gotten away. I want to go see who you have out back,” Devin said and turned.

  “She’s dead. The bitch bit me, so I killed her.”

  The grotesque sounds of the other men committing atrocities bounced off the cinderblock walls of the strip mall. With the other men busy and focused on their captives, Devin thought of killing Poppy too. He could kill him, take his truck and flee back to North Carolina. Was this his chance? Was his opportunity for freedom right now?

  “You know, I swear I saw three women enter that place,” Poppy commented.

  “Most people look like women these days; it’s not as if everyone is getting haircuts,” Devin quipped. “So where’s the third person?”

  “She got away.”

  “And one stayed inside, but it was a man, I tell you.”

  Poppy holstered the pistol and snatched the radio. He keyed it and said, “Let’s go. Finish up what you’re doing.”

  “So that’s it?” Devin asked.

  “That’s what?”

  “That’s it?”

  “If you’re referring to what happened with you and Charlie, yeah, you guys were attacked. That shit happens. I saw three women…people go in, I only saw two come out, so obviously someone was still inside. I’ll say this, I saw three women, but who would want to admit they had their ass kicked by a woman?”

  “It was a man, I swear,” Devin asserted.

  “Time to go, c’mon,” Poppy said as he walked past Devin.

  Back at the truck, Devin began to climb into the bed when Poppy said, “You can sit up here with me.”

  Hearing this made Devin feel good. He hopped inside the truck’s cab and relaxed.

  Poppy got behind the wheel and slammed the door. He started the truck, but before putting it into drive, he turned to Devin and said, “Just so we’re clear, you still haven’t passed the test yet.”

  Outside Pine Bluffs, Wyoming

  “Very nice of the magistrate to give you a trailer too. This will get you far,” Travis said after putting several more boxes of MREs in the trailer.

  “I asked and he delivered,” Cassidy said.

  The magistrate had followed through on his word and given Cassidy a large SUV, three able-bodied men, a trailer and all the food, water and supplies she could carry with no limit.

  The magistrate kept supplies inside the walls of the town, but he also used the silos to the north for a variety of reasons, one being to house caches of food and another as a secure place to synthesize his vaccine. He had another reason for sending her and the men north; he didn’t want to draw attention to her departure. Not everyone was in agreement on allowing her to leave, but the magistrate had given his word.

  Travis, of course, had come to help. This also would allow him to say another goodbye. After a long night of thinking about her decision, he had no choice but to agree openly and support her. He didn’t have feelings for her, he just wanted to find purpose in helping her, but he could find that somewhere else.

  “Just about done,” Travis said as he balanced two cases of bottled water in his arms. Missing a hand made life difficult, but he managed. Deep down he still hadn’t completely forg
iven the magistrate, but what were his choices?

  “I can’t thank you enough for coming to help,” she said and rubbed his shoulder.

  When Travis had first seen her that morning, he chuckled to himself because of her attire. The tight-fitting green T-shirt she wore was tucked into tan military BDU trousers. She had even bloused the trousers around the suede tan boots she wore. On her head, she hid her cropped hair underneath a tan ball cap, its bill curved tightly. He had wanted to tease her and say she looked like a modern-day G.I. Jane, but she may not find his humor funny.

  “Do you hear that?” one of the men asked. He was holding a box of equipment in his arms just outside the silo entrance. His name was Josh, and like the other two men, he had volunteered to travel with Cassidy. His lean muscular arms flexed under the weight of the box. He was not a native of Pine Bluffs but a transplant. He had come to call it home like the other two men, but now found a reason to go east. He too was from New York and had been caught out west in Seattle when the Death struck with a vengeance.

  “Hear what?” Cassidy asked.

  “Thumping,” Josh replied.

  Travis lifted his head and listened but heard nothing. He closed his eyes and allowed his ears to open further. It took only a second for him to also hear the thumping. This was a sound he was very familiar with. “I hear it.”

  “What is it?” Cassidy asked.

  “Choppers, lots of them!” Travis exclaimed as he tossed the water into the trailer.

  “I hear them now too,” Cassidy said.

  Booms echoed and the earth below their feet suddenly shuddered.

  “The town is under attack!” Travis barked.

  “We have to go help!” Josh said. He raced to the silo entrance and hollered for the other two men to come up.

  “We’re not going to do anything,” Travis snapped.

  “What?” Josh blasted back.

  “That sounds like a lot of choppers and, trust me, I know what a lot of choppers sound like.”

  “Do nothing?” Cassidy asked.

  “Let’s at least see what’s going on,” Travis said, offering a compromise.