2.5.3 Fallout & Walkabout

The sky spun back together into a dark spool, "Did anybody else see that?" before unraveling again.  He remembered it like it was yesterday but he knew this hadn't happened yet. Doctor Samuel Gordon Chase wandered the frozen dark alone.

Or was he just losing his mind?

Samuel was somewhere else the entire ride, when a hiccup of awareness threw him back into reality. It was not until then that he had a look around... and a grave look it was.

What a nightmare everything had become. The faded fray of civilization, haunted and hollowed out homes, ghosts of families, neighbors and strangers all gone, dead or worse... The fallout had a strange effect on the undead, turning them from rabid dogs to the meandering dead and rendering them twice as harmful. Anyone could outrun them but if just one touched you chances are... you’re dead.

Only Atticus and Samuel had guns. This was not what Atticus had in mind when he wondered about the future still piloting safely above the apocalypse in his War Bird, which was also not what Atticus anticipated when they arrived at the wreck.

           

The entire hull was broken in half, fractured apart and stacked together next to each other. Everything inside the ship was in pieces except for the center console and Samuel’s seat. Atticus had no idea how they survived. Like a detective searching for clues he uncovered an assault rifle, threw it over to Ed and uncovered the center console. Ed examined the assault rifle. It was cracked down the magazine and only had one bullet inside of it. Ed threw the rifle away; it was garbage.

           

“What is that?” Rebecca asked as Atticus pulled something out.

“You know how every plane has a black box…”

           

Atticus got up and looked around; there was nothing they could do. Nobody left to report to, no safe ship to fly over the wretched earth, they were finally on their own. He threw the War Bird's black box on the floor.

The first thing they needed to do was start gathering supplies, and prevent themselves from being eaten or caught in the fallout winds. Other than that, Atticus knew they would need an arbitrary reason to keep going, so for now it continued to be getting to Samuel’s house.

“Doctor, let's go find your family.”

           

“Right, can you take us, Ed?”

“Where are they?”

“Uptown, near the park, off Madison…” Samuel kept forgetting he wasn’t in the city, “You know…in Manhattan…”

“Yeah, I know, hop in.”

“Are you sure you-”   

“Central Park North, right?” Ed said unflatteringly.

“Exactly.” Samuel’s old colors as a detached professor shined for a brief second, glossing over Ed’s contempt and proceeding none-the-wiser, “Atticus!” Samuel yelled from the truck, but when he turned around Atticus was not getting in the truck with them.  “We got a ride!”

           

“We got one too.” Atticus was already over next to a black mustang under the hood with Frank and Wheeler. He looked back as Wheeler started the car after Atticus hotwired the engine.

             

Samuel and Rebecca rode in the pick-up with Ed and Nora; and Atticus, Frank, and Wheeler were in the mustang. They moved slowly around all the parked cars, some were empty, some were tombs if they didn’t cruise at a slow enough speed it would cause too much of a stir and the local horde could gather and trap them in.

           

This was not an easy feat, Atticus was the only one who could navigate and maneuver against the wreckage. And there was some serious wreckage. Entire stores and gas stations, super markets and skyscrapers torn down against the road, against the chaos and the odds, only one was able to guide them.  Just because the War Bird was grounded didn’t mean he couldn’t travel in style anymore. The black mustang led the convoy towards Central Park. Even though Ed knew how to get there and it was Samuel’s home, Atticus was still leading them.

           

They got well enough through the shattered highways and city streets outside of Manhattan. Until they hit the east side Samuel had no idea where they were; a blasted grey landscape. He couldn’t find anything familiar; his landmarks were either demolished or buried in the ruin. Tight turns wrapping up clustered city parkways made things difficult to maneuver. Atticus was carving a perfect path out of the wreck, never having to turn around, never having to double back or stop…

           

Samuel knew it, this bridge was too small to be anything else; it was the 3^rd Avenue Bridge…and they were almost there. Samuel turned around in his seat, “Only about ten more blocks!” but when they were slowed down almost to a halt around a stubborn Prius sticking out of a coffee shop the doors were opened on Ed, Nora, and Samuel as three hooded guys attacked them inside the truck.

Ed and Samuel were punched in the face repeatedly and Nora was accosted, by the time they found Rebecca and before Nora was forced to do something she'd never be able to come back from the black mustang rolled up on them. Atticus lowered the window with his gun sticking out. He pulled the e-break and whipped the car around so he was face to face with the rioters. They exchanged rounds as most of the hooded hostiles were aiming at the gas tank. Meanwhile only one remained after Atticus picked off both his wing-men and was now hunting the last man on foot.

Frank and Wheeler joined Atticus when he returned from disposal and soon enough the other group, for the cars were packed so tightly together and abandoned there was only one option... Completing the rest of the trip on foot.

"Those guys were assholes."

“Where are all of the zombies?” Nora tried to get her mind off of the attack.

"Are we really using that word now?"

           

“Whatever we're calling them, the nuclear blast must have driven them out of the city. If it wasn’t for the fallout radiation…Manhattan would probably be the safest place in the world right now.” Ed gave his explanation as he wrapped his wound, tightly stopping the bleeding.

           

They crossed another street and turned the corner all crouched over and moving gently through the debris. Rebecca followed Samuel with Atticus behind her, Nora behind him, Ed behind her, and Frank and Wheeler bringing up the rear. They got to the other side of the corner and the uptown skyscraper was fractured off its base above them. Its grind echoed through the glass city walls, its whines and moans like a great oak tree.

           

“We have to run…” Atticus warned them, “We have to run…NOW!”

           

The fractured skyscraper succumbs to the pressure and finishes cracking through horizontally. The structure slides off the slanted angle; its edge comes barreling towards them. It collides with the row of parked cars running parallel with them as they escape to the park. Just at the corner of Central Park is a circle, beyond that circle is Samuel’s townhouse. He was finally home. Samuel abandoned the group and made a dead sprint for his door. Rebecca screamed and Atticus ran after him.

           

She screamed as the door opened itself. Atticus had a flash back to Maryland. He stopped running and tried to swallow the lump in his throat, and was caught off-guard by the sight of it. The door opened and there was something standing in the shadow of the house. Samuel went right in and the door slammed shut behind him. Atticus was shaken back to reality as he ran for the door. He saw Ed and Rebecca’s faces and looked behind them. The stone-titan Geronimo…Rebecca’s scream…the slamming door… what could only be next but groans and moans from the subway station entrance...

The zombies still had Manhattan.

2.5.2 Sanctuary Mutiny

A dead civilization walked the city cinder, but not Doctor Samuel Gordon Chase. Fate had another plan for him. It took a couple of days to go by before Samuel got better. In that time Rebecca examined everyone in the sick bay. 

The bomb shelter was very extensive. It had an octagonal shape and five off-shoots on every other side. Including the entrance, there was also the kitchen, the lavatories, the sickbay, and the barracks. Within the kitchen there were fully stocked dry, frozen, and refrigerated pantries, and a dining room. Within the lavatories there was a washroom and the boiler room, including all the generators, circuit breakers, and an active well with a water filtration system and iron cast coating to keep all radiation out. This was a perfect way to outlive the apocalypse. 

That much Luther knew. 

Luther was not some psycho from Jersey; he was the oldest brother and member of the family. He had to watch out for them. When fate offered him a way out in the form of a dying man giving away all his earthly possessions including a multi-billion dollar fallout shelter, Luther knew it was up to him to keep his family safe. Now the only thing keeping them in danger were the strangers amongst them and that door being unsealed and re-opened. Luther let it happen once; he would never let it happen again. 

The sickbay was nothing more than a hospital ward; a room with six beds, although the last two beds were X-Ray and MRI machines. So Samuel was in the room when she examined each person. Although the curtains were up, and she told them all he was still unconscious, Rebecca muttered certain confusing medical jargon out loud for him to hear. 

Atticus was in and out of the sick bay almost every hour, as if he was reporting to Samuel. Rebecca was no fool. She looked at his heartbeat readings and knew what was happening. Now they were all in cahoots. Something about this elusiveness made Rebecca worry, worry about what would happen if the brothers or Luther caught on. They were planning an escape, nothing more. But the gun they first noticed on Atticus was about to become an issue inside the shelter.

           

Clark’s wife had convinced Clark and Ed to get Luther to do something. Ed seemed to be the most compassionate of the brothers, and the most easily persuaded. Atticus spent his time indirectly observing their behavior. Identifying and classifying their strengths and weaknesses. Ed was an ideal target to reason with to try and get out, him and Walter…the family friend…already at odds with Luther because of the door once, and a black eye to remember it. Atticus kept Walter and Ed close. The boy, Simon, frequented the sickbay often to check on his new friends.

           

Both Ed and Rebecca were in the sickbay on the sixth day when Samuel opened his eyes and regained consciousness publicly. Samuel got up with a change of clothes by the bed. Ed was baffled, “You should be a bit wobbly…”

           

“I’m a fast healer. Now, Ed, my friend, we need to go, and we need you to help us.” Samuel said as he put his jacket on. Just then, Simon came into the room to check on Samuel and Rebecca when he saw Samuel awake. He jumped for joy and ran around screaming at the top of his lungs, “HE’S AWAKE! HE’S AWAKE!”

           

Samuel sighed and shook his head at Atticus. Rebecca knew it, they had planned this whole thing out…Samuel waiting for the right moment to wake, showing him the change of clothes, these were no coincidences.  As they left the sickbay after Simon, all the adults were gathered together anyways, on their way to confront Atticus.

           

“It is good to see you awake Doctor, but we’re going to have to ask Captain Atticus to hand over his weapon,’ Luther demanded.

“If it’s all the same with you we would like to be on our way,” Samuel rebutted.

“Nobody goes in or out.”

“Until when…exactly?”

“Until the radiation is gone.”

“The radiation is gone.”

“No it’s still in the winds.”

“The effects of a nuclear explosion aren’t rendered inert for thousands of years,”  Samuel informed everyone.

“If that’s what it takes…” Luther finally admitted.

“Wait a second…” the family began to put it together, “You were going to keep us down here forever?”

“You wanted us to live in a basement for the rest of our lives?”

“Down here we’re safe. Down here we have a chance to survive, a chance to die with dignity and not turn into one of those things!”

           

Rebecca had to tell them now, and this seemed like a perfect time to do so, “You’re not safe down here. You let fallout particles in after the door was re-opened, I’m sorry Walter, but your father and son have been contaminated with too much radiation…”

           

Walter, who had barely said a word, finally spoke up, “What?… Are you telling me they’re going to die? What about the Doctor? He was with them too.”

“If we don’t get help,” Rebecca added, “We could all die.” Even though she knew there was little hope for them. Atticus was proud of her, using deception as a tool for survival.

Walter turned back to Luther and the brothers, and begged, “Please, we have to let them out!”

           

Frank and Wheeler were just two punk kids caught in a family dispute, they had no side. Clark and Ed looked back and forth at Luther and Walter as they argued with each other, and things became heated again. Clark and Ed were twins and always friends with Walter growing up. Luther, who was eight years older than all of them, never got along with Walter. Clark and Ed did not know what to do. Both sides were right. They had no way of deciding and were hoping it would get decided for them…

           

Walter pushed Atticus away and grabbed the gun from his belt. He pointed it at Luther and threatened him, “Open the door or I put a bullet in your head.” Luther laughed at him. Walter’s hand was shaking so much the gun rattled. Everyone knew he wouldn’t do it. Then Walter pulled a wild move, pointing the gun at Simon, “If my son dies, your son dies…”

The women screamed and Samuel took his gun back from Rebecca and threw it to Atticus who pointed it at Walter. Luther started to slowly walk forward, getting in between Walter and Simon. “Listen Walt, you don’t want to do this. We are safe. Just put down the gun.”

           

“MY KID’S GONNA DIE BECAUSE YOU’RE AN ARROGANT PRICK!” Walter pointed the gun back at Luther. “Let… me… through...”

           

Luther stopped walking and stood in front of Walter, Atticus, Samuel, and Rebecca. He stood between them and the door. Brook took the kids away, including Simon. And Atticus pointed his gun at Luther. “Let us through, Luther.”

           

“I do that…and we all die…”

“That’s not gonna happen...” Samuel tried to reassure him.

They inched forward and Luther stood before the barrel of Walter’s gun. Luther took a step forward and pressed his forehead against the tip of the barrel. “If you want to get out, you’re going to have to get past my dead body.” Walter stood still. He was at an armistice. He could not kill in cold blood. Not even to save the rest of his dying family. He began to cry and let his grip on the gun loose.

           

Luther patted Walter’s back and took the gun from him. It was a comforting sight to see. He then quickly shot Atticus in the chest and Walter in the head. Everyone screamed as the ringing of the shots echoed through the underground shelter. Samuel fell to the ground and grabbed his gun back from a still-lying Atticus. He shot at Luther catching him in the arm and throwing him off his feet. Rebecca kicked the gun away as Luther squirmed on the floor next to Walter’s dead body.

           

Atticus gasped for air and tore his shirt open. The bullet shell dropped from being wedged in the bullet-proof vest. He got up and took his gun from Samuel. In a uncontrollable rage Atticus saw the worst of man and swore to himself to take a stand against it, “YOU KILLED AN INNOCENT MAN!” he screamed in Luther’s face while he held him up by his thin blond hair. Atticus put the barrel of the gun in his mouth and broke his teeth. Rebecca finished helping Samuel up and tried to stop Atticus before he executed Luther. But it was too late; Atticus pulled the trigger and blew the top of Luther’s head off.

           

This gunshot was muffled by Luther’s head. All that could be heard were the men and women crying. Atticus unlocked the door and Samuel pulled Rebecca up from trying to salvage the carnage. “We have to go!” he moved her out.

           

“WAIT!” yelled Ed, “We’re coming with you!” Ed, along with Frank and Wheeler wanted to get out of the shelter as well.  

“What?” Clark said on the bludgeoned floor.

“We have to go, Clark.”

“I’m staying here with my family. It’s what Luther would have wanted.”

“I’m coming too,” Nora ran over past her father.

Clark acted as though a knife went through his heart, “Nora…no…”

“I’m Sorry, Dad. But I’m only twenty. I can’t spend the rest of my life in this steel trap.”

“I’ll look after her, Clark.”

The brothers parted ways and Ed, Nora, Frank, and Wheeler left with Atticus, Samuel, and Rebecca. The door was sealed behind them, never to be opened again. Once they wrapped bandannas around their mouths and left the apartment building, Frank and Wheeler led them back to the Warbird’s crash site.