The Lost Journal Part 2 (A Secret Apocalypse Story) (5 page)

"I’m not sure.
I’d say the infected are chasing the military. And this might actually work in
our favor. It could give us a chance to find a new hiding spot. A new building.
One of the sky scrapers would be ideal. We could get up nice and high. Make
sure it’s secure."

The gunfire
continued to intensify. I concentrated on the different noises. The different
weapons.

M4. M60.

50cal.

Mortar
rounds.

RPG’s .

Apache
attack helicopters. Firing every last one of their hellfire missiles.

Hydra rocket
pods.

It was an
impressive display of firepower. And it was about to get a whole lot more
impressive. In the distance, we could hear the all too familiar sound of jet
engines. The soldiers on the ground were getting even more aerial support.
Maybe getting to a skyscraper was pointless, I thought to myself. If they kept
up this rate of fire, they would reduce this city to rubble.

"Kenji, are
you even listening to me?" Maria said.

"Huh? What?"

"I asked you
a question. Where should we go?"

"Sorry. I
was just…" I trailed off as I looked up to the sky. It took me a few seconds
but I finally saw them. Three F22 raptors. And two A10 bombers. They were flying
in perfect formation. Circling the city. They appeared to be in a holding
pattern.

"Well?"

"I don’t
know," I finally said.

"What do you
mean? You’re the soldier! You need to make a decision. I can’t do this. I
can’t. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t know why or how I’m even still
alive."

She broke
down then. I can’t blame her. She had been through a lot.

"Maria,
listen to me."

She kept
crying.

I grabbed
her by the shoulders. "Listen to me."

But she kept
crying. And in the distance the shelling intensified. The military were tearing
this city apart.

I hugged
her. And at that moment I felt like we were in some sort of storm, the eye of a
hurricane. It was weird and terrifying and surreal.

We were
alone in this huge city. Home to millions of people. It was now a warzone. And
all those people were dead. Or soon to be. This picturesque, iconic harbor was supposed
to be a tourist hot spot for crying out loud. Maria was breaking down right in
front of me. She was falling apart. And I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to
keep her together. I wasn’t even sure if I had the strength to keep myself
together.

High above
us I saw the Raptors and the A10’s follow the main harbor back out to sea.

"Listen to
me," I whispered. "We have to be honest with each other, OK? It’s the only way
we’re going to survive this. We have to talk to each other. We have to keep
each other sane. I’m being honest with you when I say; I don’t know what to do.
Because honestly, I have no freakin idea what to do. There’s a huge force of
soldiers and tanks and choppers only a few blocks away. They’re being chased by
an even bigger horde of infected. We need to avoid that. At all costs."

She nodded
her head and whispered something that I think was an agreement.

"This could
work in our favor," I said. "Actually, I know it will. Those poor soldiers in
there…"

I choked up
as I remembered the soldiers that were left behind in the temporary immigration
center. They were sacrificed and used as a distraction. "Those men," I
continued. "They’re keeping the infected occupied while the rest of the military
make their escape. While this is happening we need to make our escape as well.
Or at least find a suitable hiding spot. The only problem is if they decide to
send in another airstrike. If those jets come back. They could level this city.
And no matter where we hide we won’t survive."

I thought hearing
this piece of news would upset her even further. But it didn’t. She actually
stopped crying.

She lowered
her head. "You’re right. I’m sorry," she said, wiping the tears away from her
face. "We need to stick together. We can do this."

I breathed a
sigh of relief.

Outside more
explosions rocked the city. We could feel the force from the blast waves. More
smoke billowed up into the sky, high above the buildings.

Maria looked
out the window. "Well not if they nuke the joint," she added. "But we can’t
control that. What we can control is finding a hiding spot. Getting to high
ground, fortifying our position."

I was
speechless for a few seconds. "Wow. You sound like a real soldier, a master
strategist."

"Hey, I’m a
fast learner."

"I’m
impressed," I said, smiling. "And you’re absolutely right. But the timing is
crucial. We should wait it out. At least until the bombing dies down. At least
until those jets bug out. There’s no point in finding a good spot to hide if
all they’re going to do is blow it up."

I just hope
they don’t destroy this city, I thought to myself. If that happened it was game
over for everyone.

Timing is everything

Two of the longest hours of my life passed.

The gunfire
and the bombing had been steady during the whole time. And the worst part? We
were now seeing more and more infected on the other side of the harbor, back
towards the casino which was now leaning at even more of an angle.

Our time was
up. We had to make a move.

"Do you
think the military; those men in black will come back through here?" Maria
asked.

"I’m not sure.
Not for a while at least. I mean, ideally it would be great if they could get
you out of here. But I don’t know."

"I don’t
want to go with them," she said quietly. "I know I probably should. But I
don’t."

"Maria.
You’re different. You’re special. You heard what Doctor West said. No one is
immune. Everyone dies. Everyone turns. You need to get out of here alive."

"Yeah I
heard him. Doesn’t change the way I feel though."

I eventually
convinced Maria that she needed to be rescued. And the only way that was going
to happen was if the military came back for her. Ideally it would be great if
we could contact the military and then dictate terms to them.

Organize a
pick up point.

Organize a
time.

I figured
that would be the safer option. Beat the hell out of walking up to them blindly
on the streets. Who knows how they would react? They would probably enforce the
containment protocol. Shoot first, ask questions later. We could not take that
risk.

"In the
meantime," I said. "We need to get off the streets. We need to get to a
building. Get to the high ground."

"All right
then," Maria said. "Let’s go."

We climbed
down the narrow stairwell of the harbor cruise boat and stepped out on to the
jetty. We were about to make our move when we heard something coming from the
other end of the marina.

Running
footsteps.

"Who is it?"
Maria whispered.

I moved to
the edge of the boat and what I saw took my breath away. For a second I felt
disorientated and confused. Like, I was dreaming, like everything that had
happened that afternoon didn’t really happen at all.

Why? Because
the person running towards us as fast as they possibly could, like they were
being chased…

It was Jack.

Maria had
moved up next to me. We looked at each other just to make sure we had both seen
him and that we weren’t crazy.

"Is that
Jack?" I asked in a state of complete denial.

Maria
couldn’t contain the smile on her face.
 
She was about to jump off the jetty and run up to him but I held her
back.

"No. Wait.
It’s not safe."

Jack was
sprinting at full speed. He kept looking over his shoulder like he was being
chased.

Was he being
chased?

I’ll admit
it was good to see him. But on the other hand I couldn’t fight the cold;
sinking feeling I had in my gut.

Something
had gone wrong.

Horribly
wrong.

What happened
to their boat?

Images
flashed through my head. Nasty god awful images.

Did they
crash?

Were they
attacked?

Apaches
helicopters.

F22 Raptors.

A10 bombers.

Where was
Kim?

Where was
Rebecca?

Where the
hell was Rebecca?

The Return of Jack

Jack was close now.

"We have to
get him," Maria said. "We have to tell him we’re here."

"I… I know."

I wanted to
say we needed to make sure it was safe. That he was not being chased. That we
were not endangering ourselves.

But I
couldn’t speak. I couldn’t think.

Where was
Rebecca?

Maria
couldn’t wait any longer. She jumped up and ran towards Jack. I followed right
behind. Gun raised and ready. If Jack was being chased we wouldn’t have long to
get the hell out of here and find another hiding spot.

Jack saw us
right away. He saw me first. He saw my gun and stopped running immediately and
raised his hands. But then he realized it was me and he relaxed. Then he saw
Maria. And his jaw dropped.

Maria ran up
to him and they hugged, wrapping their arms around each other. Holding on
tight. Jack was exhausted. He had practically collapsed on top of Maria whilst
hugging her. But Maria didn’t care. Jack then collapsed for real and I had to
help Maria carry him back into the boat. Jack was breathing hard. He was trying
to speak but he couldn’t get any words out.

His chest
was heaving.

"It’s all
right," I said. "Just breathe. It’s OK."

He took a
few minutes to calm down and catch his breath. His legs were shaking, his hands
were trembling. Adrenalin was coursing through his veins.

He was in
shock.

I told him
to take his time. Breathe. I told him that everything was all right. But in my
head I knew everything was not all right. In my head I couldn’t stop thinking
the worst.

Their boat.
Sunk. Crashed. Blown up.

Rebecca.
Kim. Drowned. Or shot.

Blown to
bits.

Or eaten.

"Is…Um… your
sister?" I asked tentatively "And Rebecca?"

"We got
away," he gasped. "We were pretty far out. On the other side of the bridge. I
jumped overboard. I left them. I’m sorry."

"Why? Why
did you leave them?"

"I’m sorry,"
he repeated, struggling to speak. "I swam back to shore. Started running.
Sprinting."

"Why did you
jump?" I asked again. "Why did you come back here?"

"I couldn’t
leave Maria. I just couldn’t. I know Kim is hurt, she’s bleeding. I know it’s
going to be tough out there in the open waters. But I couldn’t leave here
without knowing what happened to Maria."

"So the boat
is OK? Is Kim, is Rebecca all right?"

"Last I saw,
yeah," he answered. "The harbor was empty. The skies were empty. They had a
clear run to the ocean."

A wave of
relief washed over me. They were alive. At least for the moment. I knew that
could change in a heartbeat.

"I can’t
believe I found you guys. I can’t believe it. How?"

"Those
soldiers, the men in black. They tried to get me out in a helicopter," Maria
said. "We took off. For a second there I thought we were going to make it. But
one of the soldiers was infected. He must’ve been bitten while they were
breaking into the casino, or while we were getting out. There was a lot of
infected chasing after us. He went crazy. And the scariest part was he was
sitting right across from me. I mean, if he had decided to lunge for me, bite
me, attack me. I’d be dead right now."

She shrugged
her shoulders, "Anyway, just after we took off, he attacked the pilot from
behind. Bit his neck, almost ripped his head clean off. After that it was
complete chaos. We started going down. We were spinning out of control. I was
pushed back in my seat. I couldn’t move. Next thing I knew we were in the
water."

Jack couldn’t
believe it. He hugged Maria again. He kept saying sorry. I don’t know why he
was saying sorry. Maybe he was sorry for leaving her. I don’t know.

A couple of
hours later, Maria fell asleep. She was exhausted.

Jack was
still wired with adrenalin.

"You shouldn’t
have come back," I said to him. "What about Rebecca? What about Kim? You should’ve
stayed with them."

"The harbor
was empty," he answered. "They were safe."

"You don't
know that!"

"It was
clear as far as the eye could see. Trust me. I wouldn't have left them if I
thought they were in any danger."