AfterLife

Chapter 8

Logan and his group just made it back to camp before the sun set, everyone rushed them as soon as they entered the gate.

Connor pushed his way through the crowd,

“Did it work? Will they help us?”

Logan grabbed him by his shoulder and lead him to the ship.

“Maybe, first we have to earn their trust.”

Connor looked at him confused,

“Earn their trust how? We just gave them a s**t ton of medical supplies, what more trust do they need?”

“They said if we help them eliminate a problem for them and show our worth then maybe they’ll help us.”

Connor threw his hands up,

“So it isn’t even a guarantee that if we do this job for them if they’d help us. Logan the weather is getting colder and The Nautilus is dying fast, we have to act now.”

Logan jumped up,

“What other options do we have Connor, we know nothing of this place. It’s far from the stories and books we’ve heard in class, at least we have a fighting chance down here. We have to tried for everyone up there, we do this job and hopefully we gain their trust. Unless you have a better plan.”

Connor just stood there silently.

Logan nodded,

“That’s what I thought, now if you’ll excuse me I have to get some rest. We have to leave at first light.”

Logan was sleeping soundly when he heard shouting outside his tent.

“What’s going on?!”

On of the guards yelled back,

“We saw something in the trees!”

Logan climbed up the wall and looked, he used his scoop to see farther. He stopped when he saw the man from yesterday, the man smirked.

“Stand down its the survivor’s we’re trying to make a deal with.”

The guards lowered their weapons and opened the gates.

The man and hooded girl walked in and looked around.

“Not bad, this wouldn’t hold up in the winter but in the meantime not bad.”

He said running his fingers across the metal wall.

“Just let us gear up and we’ll head out.”

Logan said.

“Make sure you have enough supplies for 3 days, it’s a bit of a walk.”

He said with a firm face.

Logan nodded and told his group to pack extra supplies, he looked at Connor.

“Your in charge till I get back, can you do me a favor and tell Angel I love her and I’ll call her as soon as I get back.”

Connor nodded,

“Hey man I’m sorry for snapping at you, it’s just I’m scared man. This is not what I expected at all.”

Logan nodded,

“None of us did.”

Logan’s group made their way to the gate, Logan looked at the man

“Ok where ready, um sorry I never got your name.”

The man smirked,

“Kyno, and this is Rory.”

He said gesturing toward the young woman.

“I’m Logan, so what is this problem you guys have?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

Rory said walking out the gate, she put her hood, goggles and bandanna back up covering her beauty.

They walked for a few hours before stopping to rest, Kynos men took watch. Kyno took a sip of water and handed it to Rory, he slipped down her bandanna just enough to take a quick sip then put it back up.

“So how did you survive down here with those.. things and that radiation cloud?”

Kyno just shrugged,

“My dad was a young man when the war happened, he just moved to the United States to flee Japan after China invaded it. He fell in love and did everything he could to make sure my mother was safe, he spent every penny he had for an underground shelter. Him, my mother and a few others took shelter in it, he use to tell me they’d watch the news and saw the war was getting worse and worse. Then he saw about The Nautilus program but unfortunately didn’t have enough money or smarts to get on it. So him and few friends gathered supplies and decided to stay down in the bunker till the war passed.”

His face went dark,

“But then the nukes started flying, Russia and China were the first to launch. Hitting all the major city’s; New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, San Diego, and Philadelphia. The US fired their nukes back, my dad told me the images on the television were… something out of nightmares. I was born a few years after the nukes, I spent the first 8 years of my life in the bunker. When we finally ran out of supplies we emerged from our bunker thinking everything was fine, but we were wrong. People survived the nukes but they weren’t people anymore, they were savages. The chemicals from the nukes changed them and turned them in ‘Zombies’, feeding off the survivors who weren’t affected. But that wasn’t the worse part, the worst were the ones who were infected but not fully a zombie.”

Logan looked at him puzzled,

“Not fully zombie? What does that mean?”

“It means their zombies but their body is still living. Their stronger, faster, and a bit smarter but filled with rage. They are more dangerous then the dead ones, when they go into a Rage… there’s no stopping them.”

Rory said throwing a pebble in a puddle watching the ripples fade.

“Wait you said Russia and China set the nukes off first? I thought we were all at peace when The Nautilus was made, the whole world did a Peace Treaty and made the space station. It was the remaining survivors that pushed the breaking point.”

Logan said confused.

“The Peace Treaty was a cover up for Russia and China, it was shortly after The Nautilus program received its last ship of people, which were the Russians, that Russia and China set off their nukes. No one saw it coming.”

Said Kyno rubbing his head.

Rory stood up,

“Let’s get going, we still have a ways to go before making camp.”

They walked for a few more hours till they come to a clearing.

“We’ll make camp here, dig a hole for the fire and set up a perimeter.”

Kyno said pointing.

“What about that radiation cloud?”

Logan asked.

“That was made by the Chinese to finish off the survivors, it’s a mix of radiation and acid.”

Kyno said gathering some sticks for a fire.

Logan and his group pulled out little one man tents and set them up, Kynos men watched and chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

Kyle asked hammering down a pin.

“Nothing just it’s funny how you sky people still try to live the fancy life down here. If a Sang Shi comes wondering up you won’t be able to see it in side your little tent.”

Said one the men, he was tan skin dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.

Kyle stood up,

“I’m trained to listen to my surroundings and sense when danger is near, I think will be fine.”

Kyle turned to lay down a blanket,

“That’s funny cause you didn’t hear us sneak up on you, twice.”

He said smiling.

Kyle went to go charge at him when Logan stopped him,

“Let it go man, let it go.”

Kyle huffed and went to sit down in his tent, Kyno signaled for his men to go walk the perimeter.

“So about that, that on is my son Levi. He’s young but very loyal. He’ll make sure we’re all safe.”

Kyno said with an apologetic smile.

Logan nodded and finished setting up his tent.

It was dark and they had a small low fire going, just enough to stay warm. Rory sat opposite of the fire from Logan, she pulled something out of her small bag on her hip. She saw Logan was staring at it, she tossed a piece over the fire to him.

“Here, eat up.”

Logan caught it, I looked weird and smelt funny.

“What is it?”

Rory took a bit out of her piece, making a disturbing ripping sound.

“Jerky… Dried meat, it last longer then cooked. Great for traveling, it tastes better then it smells trust me.”

Logan put it up to his mouth and took a small bit, it was hard and chewy. But it tasted amazing, it was salty and savory. He took a bigger bite, the more he chewed the more savory it got.

“They don’t have jerky in space?”

Rory ask smiling at Logan’s expression.

Logan shook his head,

“No the very few animals they brought up to The Nautilus died, they couldn’t handle being in space. All the foods made from plants in the hydroponic chambers on the station. The first meat we’ve had was from a tiger here shortly after we arrived and that was amazing.”

Rory looked at Logan impressed,

“A tiger?! Wow how did you manage to kill that beast?”

Logan put the last piece of jerky in his mouth,

“I shot him in the eye, went clean through. We did special OPs training in space, training for when we’d come back home to Earth. It runs in the family, my Grandfather was a 5 Star General which secured him and my grandmothers place on The Nautilus. Then they had my dad who followed in his foots steps and became a 5 Star General and my dad had me.”

Rory looked at him curious,

“And I’m guessing you didn’t want to follow in your father’s footsteps.”

Logan nodded his head staring at the flames,

“I aced very test and challenge, I was beyond top of my class even out shined the teachers. I even broke my Grandfather’s record of kill shots and clean sweeps, but I didn’t want to be a 5 Star General.”

Rory tossed Logan another piece of jerky,

“So what did you want to do instead?”

Logan took a bit,

“Science, mainly Astronomy.”

Rory looked at him confused,

“You wanted to study space IN space?”

Logan chuckled, it did sound silly saying it out loud.

“That’s one way to put it, Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and phenomena. It’s the study of everything in the universe beyond Earth, I wanted to find a planet like Earth for us to live on if we couldn’t come back here. There was one planet that was a possibility but it was to far for The Nautilus ships to travel, The Nautilus is dying it’s on its last battery. Thats why we have to find a safe place here, cause if we don’t 300,000 people will die.”

Rory looked at him sympathetically.

“Doesn’t compare to billions left to die cause they weren’t smart or rich enough to go to space. The Nautilus was supposed to be a temporary solution for 125 years, what were you going to do if Earth wasn’t habitable. Seems to me you sky people were destined to die or you weren’t as smart as you claimed to be.”

Said Levi eating his jerky.

Rory said something that Logan didn’t understand, the only word he understood was ‘Levi’.

Levi said something back, Rory’s jumped up and got in Levi’s face like she was going to hit him. Logan noticed there was something black starting to creep up Rory’s neck, almost like veins.

Levi’s face quickly went from angry to frightened,

“LEVI, RORY!!!”

Kyno intervened, he yelled something in the same language they spoke.

Levi walked up to Logan and bowed,

“Sorry, forgive me.”

He said through his teeth, Logan nodded.

“It’s ok man.”

Levi stood up straight and walked to the wood line to help patrol.

Rory rolled her shoulders, making a cracking sound and took a deep breath. Kyno slowly placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered in the language, Rory nodded and walked over to a clear spot and laid down.

“Sorry about that, they like to push each other’s buttons sometimes. Levi’s always been proactive of Rory, he doesn’t like it when other men talk to her.”

“What we’re you guys saying?”

Logan ask curiously

Kyno smiled,

“Japanese, my father made sure I knew how to speak it so I could keep a bit of the old ways alive. Well you should get some rest, we’re almost there and your going to need your strength.”

Kyno stood and bowed to Logan, he walked over near where Rory was sound asleep.

Logan crawled into his tent, he slowly closed his eye and let the darkness flow.