Chapter 4: Disaster begins
August 20th
"Now this really looks like a house," Richard muttered.The change had been substantial. Originally when he had rented that building it was because he had seen how safe it had been in his past life, after all that place had been his base when he had reunited with Emma.Although at that time he hadn't had the materials to make it safer, something he could do now.
"Maybe if I can convince Emma and her parents to bring them here...although a food store has already been set up at their place."
It had been awkward when he bought sheets of armored steel, rolls of barbed wire, electric fences, and more. The questions came quickly, but he offered no explanation. The only thing he did was rent the building for a full month. anything to get rid of the Fortune House that hadn't stopped harassing him.
Now the perimeter walls stood like cages crowned with spikes, with spaces strategic enough to keep watch. The electric fence reinforced with armored metal was like a second layer, enough to stop for a few minutes if there was a large horde.
Most of the armored metal had been placed on the door and around the room where it had been chosen for his bedroom. That place should be like a bunker: if he didn't manage to sleep safely, then he wouldn't be able to rest well.
Just in case, he also reactivated the cameras and set up a direct access from his room to the exit. Everything was monitored from his bedroom, just in case something unforeseen happened.He had set up a few more traps, but for that he still needed weapons.
"This should do for a temporary stay."
The ringing of his cell phone broke the silence.
As he looked at the caller ID, a flash of satisfaction crossed his face. At last, the arms dealers had contacted him.He had spent days waiting for that call. While the weapons would not last forever; and in time they would become useless against the undead. But in those early months before evolution, they still made the difference between living or dying.
He didn't think too much about it. He grabbed his jacket, the keys to the motorcycle and headed out. It was a stupid decision, he knew. Dealing with the underworld without escorts was like walking blindfolded in a minefield. But he was strapped for cash and couldn't afford to hire a team of bodyguards.
Richard placed the key in the bike and exited through the secret entrance. The space was big enough for a car, but it was still a long way from having one there.
* * *
"And what are you doing here, kid?" The mocking voice greeted him without letting him say a word.His group surrounded him, relying on their numbers to intimidate him.
"I come to make a deal with Oliver."The men looked at each other in surprise."With Oliver? Does the next shipment have your name on it?"Hearing Oliver's name, their expressions seemed to soften a little."You're not a cop are you?" one tried to joke.
Richard didn't smile, though. Criminals from before the end of the world, in the end they were far worse criminals than those who had had to commit crimes to survive in the future. They were not material to form an alliance.
"If I were a cop...wouldn't that speak ill of Oliver?"
The air grew tense. No one moved. A waiting silence took over the warehouse. All it took was one misunderstanding for Oliver to blow their heads off.
One of the men slowly dropped his hand on his pistol in intimidation. The other simply crossed his arms, apparently not intervening, hoping that his partner would get his hands dirty for him.
It was Oliver who ended up breaking the tension."Listen up, bitches!" he interjected loud and clear "he's with me, today he's our client...tomorrow you can do whatever you want with him!"
He let out a laugh, patting Richard on the shoulder."Just kidding, don't make that face."Richard looked at him silently.
"What kind of cargo do you want?" asked one of the men. His tone seemed more subdued, "It's not food, is it?" added another."I want iron. Heavy iron. The kind that can put people to sleep," Richard replied.
Oliver smiled."I like you boy, let's show you the ladies in the show today!" his tone seemed rushed with time.
They led him to one of the two huge boxes that sat in the middle of the room. The sound of levers as he opened them.Once finished, it was possible to see what was inside.Everything was filled with bladed weapons and guns and bullets, mostly small arms.
"This is just the first box. Behind it come more, with extensions and magazines included. So you can have fun painting, though only red."
"You better not be selling smoke," growled the taller one, waving toward the open box. "Because if it's true, you're not going to be short of someone to have your back. But if you take us for idiots..."The edge of the knife glinted in the artificial light of the warehouse.
Richard arched an eyebrow."Careful you might hurt yourself with that... "Richard scoffed.It was funny. That an unawakened man was pointing a knife at him. It had been so long since anyone had challenged him like that, he almost found it comical—except that he was so weak now.
"Leave him alone, he's going to pee himself from fear!"Intervened one of Oliver's bodyguards, breaking the momentary tension.
Oliver held up his hand."let's get on with the real business, here are the real stars of today."
The next boxes were opened, revealing heavy arsenal. Rifles, shotguns, assault weapons, ammunition, all neatly arranged like supermarket merchandise.That amount of weapons was too much.
* * *
A police radio siren blared as Richard was pulling out."alert all units, bank robbery suspect is in the middle of the road!""license plate is...!"
The echo of the policeman's voice shook the now empty warehouse."Fucking bastards!" roared Richard in anger, understanding it all.They had used him. A scapegoat. The shipment they had left him with was nothing more than a trap: they had marked him from the start, and the police were already on his trail.
He jumped into the van and sped off, the roar of the engine eating up the night. The patrol cars followed him with headlights blazing, a pack on their prey.He didn't need to be a genius to understand. While he drove straight into the slaughterhouse, Oliver and his men kept the money...and the loot from the bank.
"stop, we have you surrounded, come out with your hands up!" warned a policeman over a megaphone.The speed of the patrol cars was faster than the speed of his van, they were going to catch up with him quickly.
Richard didn't know what to do now, if they caught him he would end up in a jail full of inmates and that would be the end of him.He had no hope of surviving the outbreak locked up in the middle of a city. When the frenzy happened he would either get out and die devoured by who knows how many thousands of undead or he would be left starving in the cell.
"What's that?"Asked one of the patrols, stopping the chase in its tracks. Only the helicopter was still hovering overhead, though not for long.
Confused, Richard braked the van.The sky... something was happening in the sky.The sun, which should be shining brightly at this time of day, was going out like a candle about to be extinguished and the cold began to run down the spine of those present.Darkness spread, enveloping the world in a false eclipse.
That event had made him remember the beginning of everything, rather...that was the beginning of the end, but it shouldn't have been starting so soon, it was still ten days before everything happened and the apocalypse began.
[And the earth shook with the coming of the end times, the seas rose and the world was filled with darkness.][All giving beginning to the true judgment of mankind].
The message tinged in the sky as inevitable."that damned message in the sky!"
* * *
"mommy look at that!" cried Emma, pointing her finger.They couldn't believe what was happening.The strange phenomena were inexplicable.
The heat suddenly disappeared; the cold filled her bones like a chill, the temperature began to plummet and her breath could be watched closely."Calm down Emma...it must be some kind of publicity," Ethan tried to calm her. But even he didn't believe his own words. No one could. A cosmic screen projected over the entire world, speaking directly into their heads...that was no human trick.
The phone rang then, breaking the icy silence. Emma recognized the ringtone instantly. It was the custom ringtone she had set for Richard.
She ran to the bedroom, there in the middle of her bed her cell phone kept ringing, as if Richard didn't want to stop dialing her for fear that something would prevent them from talking.
"Emma!" his voice came through the static. "In the cellar at your house I left food. Lots of food. Listen to me: watch the news, don't go out. Whatever happens, stay inside. Things... are going to get worse.""Richard! What is it, answer me!"
The call was cut off. Only the beeping of the collapsed system remained. The lines had become saturated: every person in the country had had the same idea of talking to someone, confirming if they saw the same thing in the sky.Fear was a pandemic faster than any plague.
* * *
"gentlemen...it is twelve o'clock noon on the 20th day of August 20, 2025, and we are witnessing one of the strangest phenomena in history," reported the live presenter. The camera was shaking; the entire set began to shake with increasing force.
"what's going on!""a tremor!", "stay calm please!"
The quake lasted thirty minutes, the whole city had apparently been lucky that other countries had not.Many people had run away.
"What... is that what just happened?" whispered the announcer coming out from under his desk."You have to see that Henry!"Shouted the assistant in panic, quickly changing the transmission."Japan just disappeared off the map!"