Authors: Robert Storey
Julie switched channels.
‘Put the BBC on,’ Rebecca said. ‘Channel forty two.’
Julie switched it over.
‘—these pictures,’ Jessica Klein said as video footage played on screen, ‘were captured as AG5 Minor struck in India near the city of Agra. A TV crew had left remote cameras near the Taj Mahal before they were evacuated to safety.’
At the top left of the video a small white light appeared in the sky, moving impossibly fast. The light expanded, growing ever brighter into a shimmering ball of fire which lanced through the atmosphere leaving a large trail of smoke in its wake. As the meteor hit a massive explosion ruptured the silence. The percussion of the expanding shockwave raced outwards and the once magnificent white marble mausoleum was obliterated, the great dome exploding into a million pieces, along with the towers that surrounded it. The debris rushed towards the camera in a wall of dust and stone and then the screen went black.
Jessica Klein reappeared on camera. ‘Yet another great monument destroyed,’ she said, saddened, ‘and one which joins the long list of many other important sites lost in the countries directly affected by AG5 itself.’
A gunshot in the distance brought Rebecca back to her senses. Giving Joseph a quick hug she gently moved him out of the way and went over to the black sacks. ‘I’d hoped these wouldn’t be needed,’ she told Julie as she bent down and upended one of the bags. Military clothing tumbled onto the floor. She picked up the other one and emptied that, too; more clothes spilled out, but along with them guns and knives tumbled down, hitting the ground with dull thuds.
Julie stared in shock at the arsenal of weapons strewn on the floor. ‘Oh, my God, Becca, where did you get those from?’
‘They’re not real, silly,’ Rebecca said. ‘They’re those airsoft replicas; they fire little plastic BBs.’
‘So why did you get them, then?’
‘In case there was rioting or anything.’
Shouts echoed out as people ran past the building.
Rebecca looked back from the window to the pile of fake guns and army clothing lying on the floor. ‘And right now, I’m pretty glad I did.’
‘So what do you expect us to do with it all?’
‘Help me pull these orange tips off the barrels and then they’ll look like the real thing, a deterrent to anyone who thinks about breaking in. It’s the only thing I could think of at the time.’
‘Why did you think of it at all?’ Julie said, as she gingerly picked up a small revolver and attempted to prise off its brightly coloured plug.
‘I saw a TV show, it was selling products to protect against intruders in case of civil unrest after the meteor hit. It gave me the idea that we needed to do something just in case. A kind man I recently met let me have all this on loan; he said it wasn’t really in saleable condition anyway, so he was happy to lend it out to me.’
‘Nice guy,’ Julie said, as she moved on to tackle an assault rifle.
After they had made all the guns look more realistic, they sorted through the clothing. They kitted out Joseph in a flak jacket and, along with his camos, some black boots and a balaclava; he looked extremely imposing.
‘I’ve been teaching him to cock this pretend shotgun,’ Rebecca said to Julie, as she handed Joseph the weapon. He pumped it on cue and a blue and metal shell popped out of the ejection port. His grin shone though the balaclava’s mouth opening. ‘He looks intimidating, doesn’t he?’ Rebecca said, surveying her handiwork.
‘You could say that,’ Julie said, watching Joseph walk about parading his shotgun and doing a little dance. ‘I’m not sure that the dance will scare anyone, though.’
Rebecca smiled despite the situation they found themselves in.
‘I didn’t think you liked him to get into that sort of thing?’ Julie said. ‘Guns and stuff.’
‘I don’t … or I didn’t, anyway. I realised, though, that this meteorite was going to change the world we live in more than I’d really wanted to admit to myself. Times are changing and in most cases not for the better; if this helps to protect us all then I can live with it.’
They sorted through more of the clothing and Rebecca selected a small yet heavy black vest, lined with some kind of metal plate. Desert coloured trousers rolled up at the hems and wrist guards completed her ensemble.
Julie, garbed in a similar fashion, pulled on her balaclava. ‘How do I look?’ she said, doing a little twirl.
‘Not bad; pick up the rifle.’
Julie picked it up and slung it around her neck with the strap.
‘Excellent, you look quite the terrorist. I wouldn’t want to mess with you.’ Rebecca was relatively pleased, although Julie didn’t appear as frightening as she’d hoped she would. Instead she looked like a small woman in outsized clothing. The gun, however, was the one bit of the costume that would make anyone think twice; that was the plan, anyway.
They de-masked and Rebecca went to tell the others they would guard the front entrance. Maria, unsurprisingly, voiced the loudest criticism of the plan, which Rebecca duly ignored before rejoining Julie and Joseph, who now occupied the main lobby overlooking the street. It was a little quieter now, the mob having moved on to pastures new, and they sat for some time, playing I spy to while away the boredom. Joseph had taken his colouring book along to keep him occupied, but he still wore his mask, which he’d grown attached to. Julie had tried to take it off him at one point, but he’d got angry so she’d let him be. Tired now, the three comrades in arms got comfortable and, one by one … drifted off to sleep.
♦
Rebecca woke some time later. The lights were off and she discerned the slow breathing of Julie and Joseph close by. She wondered what time it was, and then she heard it – a quiet clicking noise, click, click … click. The sound stopped, and then, after a while, started again. Click, click … click echoed in the silence, and Rebecca, her ears out on stalks, strove to make out what it was.
It came from the door.
Why are the lights out?
she wondered, as she stretched and gave a stifled yawn.
Julie must have turned them off after I dropped off
, she decided.
A dark room, however, didn’t show off their array of fake firepower; not much of a deterrent to potential looters and rioters. She got up and felt her way to the light switch. As she pressed the button the light came on, but at almost the same moment the main door swung silently inwards.
Rebecca froze. In the doorway stood two men looking as startled as she must have done as the now-illuminated lobby laid all bare. One of the men held a pistol in his right hand; the other, a crowbar and a small multi-tool. Rebecca didn’t understand why they weren’t moving. The man in front looked down to the floor near where she’d been asleep; Rebecca followed his gaze, her eyes settling on her replica AK-47 BB gun. Julie stirred in her slumber, her own fake assault rifle on the floor at her feet.
Rebecca’s mind raced. The two men were obviously breaking in and the sound she’d heard, which had probably been what woke her up, had been one of them picking the locks. They, on the other hand, were greeted by a disturbing scene: three people in a now brightly lit room. Two were asleep and one was staring right at them. Perhaps most worrying for them, was that all three were heavily armed. Counter to this fact, the formidable weapons rested on the floor, all except for the one held by the sleeping Joseph who cradled the pretend shotgun like a babe in his arms. The second man, meanwhile, had his own gun firmly in the palm of his hand.
Obviously deciding it was worth the risk despite the threat, the two men advanced, the pistol now aimed at a terrified Rebecca. The second man put a finger to his lips telling Rebecca to keep silent as they approached Joseph. Just as the first man extended his hand to take Joseph’s shotgun, a loud bang outside followed by a scream came from close by. Julie, always the deep sleeper, moved in her sleep once more and didn’t waken. Joseph, however, was instantly awake, his wide eyes studying the intruder as he leaned in towards him. With a little giggle Joseph jumped up. Rebecca had forgotten how tall he was. With his imposing balaclava still covering his face, he cocked his shotgun and laughed at the men in front of him. Believing they were in mortal danger from a masked lunatic, they turned tail and fled.
‘No, Joseph!’ Rebecca cried out, as he went to chase them thinking it a game.
Joseph looked round at her in confusion and Rebecca rushed to the door and slammed it shut.
Julie woke with a start. ‘What’s going on?’
Rebecca shook her head in disbelief and slumped to the floor, letting out a massive sigh of relief.
♦
A few hours later sirens sounded close by the care home, and soon after that a fire truck drew up outside. Rebecca, now fully alert due to their previous encounter, looked out of the window to see firefighters piling out of their vehicle and rushing to unpack the hoses.
Leaning forwards she pressed her face to the glass to glimpse a deep red glow emanating out onto the front yard of the house next door.
Wisps of ash drifted past the window and she sniffed the air. Smoke, and it wasn’t coming from outside as the windows were shut tight. Going over to the wall she turned the butt of her rifle round and smashed the fire alarm, sending a deafening noise ringing throughout the care home. She grabbed Joseph, who had reawakened, chucked his shotgun to one side and threw away his mask, opened the door and went out into the night.
Chapter Seventeen
To say Malcolm Joiner was displeased was an understatement. His plan had gone mostly as envisaged – Steiner was held under lock and key, Darklight positions had been retaken and the majority of Steadfast’s population were tucked up where they belonged – and yet one major problem remained: Goodwin. He’d evaded him, along with a large Darklight contingent and many thousands of civilians. According to base surveillance they had all relocated to the surface via elevators and exit points which had been somehow jammed open via the computer system. This left Joiner with a few problems.
First, Goodwin had to be prevented from leaving the vicinity. Now that Steiner was taken care of it meant the threat Goodwin posed was reduced, but it was still a threat nonetheless, especially considering Steiner may have passed him sensitive information. If Joiner had any luck, Goodwin would have been detained by the U.S. military, topside, but a second problem had presented itself; since the impact things had changed on the surface drastically, beyond what he’d expected.
Significant worldwide unrest due to the dust cloud spreading much faster than predicted, coupled with China’s bold attack on its neighbours, had meant that the United States government had been forced to redistribute troops far and wide in order to defend its borders and citizens. This left Joiner with only a token force on the ground to block and curtail Goodwin’s movements. So far this hadn’t proved too much of an issue as the evacuees had holed up in a nearby Darklight facility. Joiner wasn’t sure what Goodwin intended to do up there, but as long as he stayed put that was fine by him.
What he had been able to do was to cut hard lines and jam wireless communications to Goodwin’s new home. The problem had been contained for now which, considering the circumstances, was the best he could hope for.
Joiner’s time and work at Steadfast was nearly complete, but he had a few other loose ends to tie up first. He swivelled round in his chair and took in the scene around him, a dense and verdant rainforest, which he guessed was located in South America.
Goodwin’s office is plush
, he thought,
and this screen is something else
; he decided he would have it disassembled and shipped to Sanctuary before he left. The real time footage would be pointless, however, since he already saw in the distance the long grasping fingers of the dust cloud, which would soon encompass the blue skies above.
♦
The Darklight base pulsated with a hive of activity as the contractors and civilians sought to prepare themselves for the journey ahead. Two massive multi-tiered personnel carriers, their engines roaring, manoeuvred into position in the complex’s vast hangar. Shifting nearly thirty thousand people more than a thousand miles was a logistics nightmare at the best of times, but that combined with the recent global events and people’s lack of provisions ensured the situation was chaotic at best.
Goodwin stepped out of the barracks side door and jumped back as a futuristic all-terrain vehicle sped past, belatedly honking its horn. Steadying himself after his near miss he set forth for the security complex on the far side, making sure he stuck to the red-lined pedestrian pathways as he crossed the hangar’s expanse. Soldiers in various garbs and units passed by and he had to make another evasive manoeuvre as a small cargo loader trundled past on what he had wrongly assumed was a safe zone for walking. He shouted a half-hearted rebuke at the disappearing rear of the loader; the driver stuck up his hand in apology and carried on to a massive twenty wheel transporter which must have stood some thirty feet in height.
Goodwin knew some private security firms were well equipped, but seeing the resources available at this base was a big eye opener. A small army had assembled itself here, complete with top of the range high spec hardware of almost every description. Having been around U.S.S.B. Steadfast for a number of years he had grown accustomed to military equipment, so he knew high end gear when he saw it. He wouldn’t have a clue how to use any of it, of course, as he’d never even fired a gun, let alone one of the high powered beam weapons he’d seen some of the soldiers lugging about.
Finally, and still in one piece, Goodwin reached the facility’s main building, where a guard recognised him and waved him through. He now found himself in a large atrium that housed a sweeping reception desk, behind which a huge, polished, stainless steel Darklight emblem hung on the central wall.
Goodwin found this cross over between corporate offices and heavily armed personnel a kind of unnatural oddity; he knew he would never get used to seeing it. In any normal office you saw people walking about in suits or smart casual wear; here, however, he was greeted by a woman wearing heavy armour with a sidearm at her waist and a wicked looking knife strapped to one side of her chest.