Tails of the Apocalypse (16 page)

I walk along with Emily. My leg hurts a lot. I know Emily is scared, and I’m scared, too. I smell bugs. They’re getting closer. I don’t think Emily knows. She keeps walking along the road.

This is a mistake. We should get away from the road and hide. I know how predators think.

They go where the food is.

We keep walking. The cars are now constant. They begin to move slowly; I get scared. They’re moving too slowly. They have light. This will draw the bugs to them for sure. I keep tugging for Emily to leave the road and get out toward the wilderness, where we can be safe.

“No, Demon,” she says, tugging me back. “We have to stay with the people.”

One of the cars stops. The people inside open the door. It’s four humans, probably related. They smell of sweat and fear.

“Hey girl,” the driver says. He’s very fat. They all are. “Get in.”

“There’s no room for Demon,” says Emily. There’s barely room for her.

“Forget the dog,” the man says. “She’ll be okay on her own.”

“Demon’s a boy,” says Emily. “And I can’t go unless he comes with me.”

The man shrugs and drives away. We keep walking.

Finally, the flood of cars slows down. One of the cars far ahead has broken. The road is blocked. Now we’re walking faster than the cars. People look at us. I growl at them. They leave us alone. We pass the fat man and his fat family. I growl at them, too.

One of the cars is different from the other cars, a metal-box. There are people riding in it; I can see their faces through tiny windows.

Emily runs up to the door and pounds on it. The window rolls down.

“This is an ambulance, right?” she says, her eyes very big.

“Sorry, kid,” the driver says. He’s wearing strange, bulky clothes and a helmet. “Military use only.”

“No, no,” says Emily. “You gotta go help my Mum. She was in the army! She fought in the Reclamation; she’s back there, and she’s hurt bad.”

“Sorry,” the driver says again. “We can’t go back.”

“You have to!” Emily is shouting. “She’s in the army like you!”

“We’ll radio another unit to pick them up,” says the driver. “They’ll be fine.”

“You promise?” Emily doesn’t look happy. That makes me unhappy.

“Yeah. Sure, kid.” The driver looks down at her. “Are you hurt?”

I growl at him.

“No, Demon,” says Emily to me, quietly. I growl anyway.

“I’m fine,” says Emily. “Demon is hurt.”

“So your mother’s back there,” says the man. “Where’s your father?”

Emily points back the way we came. “That way, too. They crashed. I still think we need to go back for them.”

The man shrugs helplessly. “We couldn’t even if we wanted to,” he said. “The road that way is bumper to bumper. What a beating.”

Emily cries a bit. “My parents need help. They were bleeding. The car rolled. We hit a bug.”

“What?” The man looks concerned. He opens the door and leaves the metal-box. He slides a small box into his boom-maker. It makes a clicking noise. “What kind of bug? How big?”

“Big,” says Emily. She’s shaking a bit as she talks. I bump up against her leg to reassure her. “Like, really big. It attacked our car. Demon and I killed it.” She holds out the boom-maker. “With this.”

That seems to surprise him a lot. His voice is quiet. “You killed one?”

“Yeah.” Emily gives the boom-maker a shake. “Like I said.”

The man squints at her and pulls out a light. “The Prophets Wept,” he says, looking over Emily and me. “Black blood. Like they have.”

“I told you,” she said. “Demon bit it, and while it was distracted, I shot it.”

I did bite it. I’m a good boy.

Nobody says anything for a bit. Then he touches his helmet. “LT, I got a little girl out here. She’s separated from her parents.” He pauses. “I know, but she’s got a shotgun and a pretty mean-looking dog. She says she killed one of them.”

Another big pause. Then the man jerks his thumb toward the metal-box. “Anyone who can kill one of those has gotta be tough. Go around the back and jump in.”

Emily hesitates. “What about Demon?”

“And your dog, too. We’re getting past this shit-show. Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe till we reach the evacuation point.”

“Evacuation?” Emily looks confused. “What?”

The man suddenly smells funny. “Just get aboard,” he says. “Let the corpsmen in the back take a look at you, and then I’ll call the rear elements and make sure they pick up your folks.”

Emily seems happy. That makes me happy. She goes around to the back of the metal-box. It slides open, extending a ramp. The inside seems cramped and smelly. It’s full of people. Emily walks up the ramp and cautiously sits on the floor. I sit beside her. The door closes, then the metal-box begins to drive; it swerves to one side, and through the tiny windows, I see it passing the line of stopped cars.

We’re driving off the road. Metal-boxes don’t seem to be worried by that.

Everyone is looking at me. They’re male humans and female humans. One of the males pulls out a bag full of weird-smelling chemicals. The metal-box shakes a lot but nobody seems bothered by it.

“Hey there,” he says. “My name is Specialist Roderic. I’m a medic.”

“Hello, sir,” Emily says. “I’m Emily Rowlandson.”

He nods understandingly. He looks at the boom-maker. “I don’t think you’ll need that anymore.”

Emily clutches it close. “It’s my Mum’s. I’m keeping it.”

“Okay,” he says. “Just keep your finger off the trigger when we’re moving. If that thing goes off in here, that’s a recipe for unpleasantness.”

Emily lays the boom-maker down beside her.

“Mind if I take a look at that wound?” the man asks.

Emily shows him her head. He seems pleased as he looks it over.

“She’s not hurt bad,” says one of the females. She has a long tube that smells of sulphur. But there’s a sound in her voice that raises the fur on my back.

The man glares at the woman. “What’s your problem, Corporal?”

“The LT didn’t authorise us to pick up a fucking dog. I hate dogs.”

I growl a bit at her. Emily rubs my back. That usually means the human is okay. I stop growling.

“I know,” says the man. “But it’s here now, so stop complaining.”

We ride in silence. The metal-box rocks from side to side; Emily and I slide across the floor. Driving away from the road is difficult. The man holds Emily with his legs. I whine and start to get dizzy. I throw up.

“Fuck!” The woman has my vomit on her boots. “Are you shitting me?”

“It’s not Demon’s fault!” says Emily. She’s crying again.

The woman kicks me. I feel sick from the rocking and my leg hurts. I whine and put my tail between my legs. I don’t want to fight the woman.

“Knock it off,” says the medic-man. “Don’t be a bitch.”

“I fucking hate dogs,” the woman says.

We keep going.

“What’s this about an evacuation?” says Emily.

Nobody answers.

“You’re getting everyone out, right?” she asks. “All those people?”

“Yeah,” says the medic-man.

“And other army people are going to pick up my parents?”

“Yeah,” says the medic-man. He smells funny as he talks. “We’re driving to meet a ship. It’s going to land in the woods and pick us up.”

“What kind of ship?” asks Emily. “A heavy lifter? There’s a lot of people.”

The humans all look at each other.

“I don’t have an aural implant,” says Emily. “Just say it out loud.”

“You don’t?” The medic-man looks surprised. “Most people have them by your age.”

“I know,” says Emily, sounding angry. “My Mum got sick in the Reclamation. The pension isn’t much. Implants are expensive. I only have the basics.”

For some reason, this seems to make most of the people … strange. They all look a bit sad, a bit angry.

“Yeah,” says the medic. “Military pensions aren’t exactly great.”

“That’s what we have to look forward to,” says the woman.

“You vote, don’t you?” says the man. “If you don’t like the system, change it.”

They bicker for a bit. Talking about something they call politics. I throw up again.

“You said it, buddy,” says the medic-man, patting me on the ears. I’m too sick to growl at him.

The metal-box jerks, rocks, and then mercifully stops. Everyone instantly becomes tense, listening to a sound only they can hear. More metal-talking, I guess.

“We’re bogged,” says the medic-man to Emily. “Wait here.”

Emily nods, holding my collar tight.

The back of the box opens. The smell of bugs washes in. I can see tree trunks. We are still away from the road. The people run out of the metal-box; they move fast and surround the metal-box.

We wait. I definitely smell bugs. I tug at my lead and Emily, too surprised to do anything, can’t hold on to me. I run out and down the ramp.

The bugs are coming from behind the metal-box. I bark and I bark.

I hear the medic-man. “The dog’s freaking out.”

“Fuck the dog,” says the woman. “Ready. On three…”

The bugs are very close. I bark as loud as I can. Emily comes out and tries to drag me back into the metal-box, but I resist. The humans don’t know the bugs are there.

I know how predators think. The humans are prey.

The medic-man walks out from beside the metal-box. “Hey, buddy,” he says. “What’s wrong?”

I sniff, and I know where they are now. I look up and bark.

The man follows my eyes, up to the trees.

“Contact!” he shouts out. “Climbers in the trees!”

Dozens of bugs with wings fly down from the trees. They snatch up one of the humans and tear him in half. The medic-man fires his boom-maker:
crack-crack-crack!
Emily and I run back into the metal-box and hide far away from the noise. The door closes.

The sounds of fighting thump all around the metal-box. It shakes suddenly as something hits it.

Through the window I can see a big bug, its claws holding onto the sides of the metal-box. It has lots of arms; it slams a claw against the side, denting the metal. Emily screams.
Thump
.
Thump
. The metal cracks.

There’s a flash of light and fire. The bug explodes.

The woman who hates me appears by one of the windows, splattered in black blood. Her tube-weapon has smoke coming out of both ends. She jams a smaller tube into it and fires again at something I can’t see.

Eventually the noise from the boom-makers stops, and the back of the metal-box opens again.

Five humans return. There’s plenty of room now.

“The Prophets Wept,” says the woman. “That fucking dog … he could smell ’em.”

“Yeah,” says the medic-man. “Saved us. Good dog.”

Yes, I’m a good dog.

The metal-box drives on. One of the humans gives me some food from a pouch on his chest and I eat it.

I hope I don’t throw up again.

I don’t know how long the metal-box runs after that. Wherever we are, it’s a very long way from the vet.

The humans are nicer to me now. They give me pats and food, and the medic-man takes a look at my leg. I don’t like him touching it—it hurts, but then he pours some chemical on the wound, which makes the pain go away.

The metal-box trundles on. The rocking stops after a while and the journey is easier. I could even stand, instead of lying down and feeling sick.

But I’m so tired. Emily and I sleep a bit, snuggled together between the legs of the medic-man.

We wake up to a deep rumbling. I feel it before Emily does; I jump up, barking excitedly at one of the tiny windows.

Dawn has come, and in the light of the morning I can see a flying metal-box landing in a green field. It extends a ramp. The humans around us, tired and smelly, seem happy.

The door at the back of our metal-box drops down and I’m the first to run out. I even put weight on my leg; it works, and although I can smell the beginnings of rot starting to set in, I know it’s going to be okay. The medic-man fixed me.

The air is clean and no bugs are around. The grass under my paws is unfamiliar and rich. We must have run a very long way. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.

Emily is the last out. The medic-man is carrying her very gently, her boom-maker slung over his shoulder. He walks down the ramp, smiling widely.

“The ship’s here,” says the medic-man. “We’re getting out of here.”

“That’s it?” says Emily, looking at the new metal-box. It’s not a lot bigger than the one we just left. “But what about everyone else?” She looks around. “Where are the other cars?”

Everyone is suddenly tense.

“Emily,” said the medic-man, “There are no other cars. They didn’t make it. It’s just us.”

“But what about Mum?” Her voice becomes stressed. “Wh-What about Dad?”

“It’s just us,” says the medic-man. “Come on. We have to go. The ship won’t wait forever.”

Emily begins to kick. “No!” she screams. “I want my Mum!”

No, this is not good. I growl at the medic-man. He’s hurting Emily.

“Emily, wait, listen to me. Listen! This ship is your way off-world, and you’ve got to take it. These things—the things that killed your parents? They’re coming. We can’t go back for your folks, Emily. They’re gone. They’re dead. Listen to me! Fleet is going to blast this whole continent. They’re going to nuke it, Emily.
Everything
.”

She isn’t listening. Emily is kicking and shouting. “Let me go!” she says. “Let me go! I’m going back!”

“Emily, stop it!”

“Let me go!”

He drops her. Emily lands with a plop, and then jumps up and runs to me. I put myself between her and the medic-man, growling.

“The Interdictor’s preparing to leave,” says the medic-man. “Emily, come on. We have to get onboard.”

The ship begins to whine, a loud noise that shakes the ground.

Medic-man comes close. I snap my teeth at him. I won’t let them take Emily.

“Stay back,” says Emily. “Demon will get you!”

I will, too. I growl some more at him.

Suddenly the woman, the one with the tube who saved us before, is behind me, her arms around Emily. “Come on, you brat!” she shouts. “Get in the fucking ship!”

No! I leap. I bite the woman. She falls over. I jump on top of her, biting and snarling, going for her throat.