The After

There weren’t many of us left. Those who could vividly remember a time before The Drop.

The government, such as it was now, would want you to believe that the severely decreased population was due to the last nine years of baser human instincts kicking in for survival. But the truth, the one that same weak government was still trying to cover, was that the blame lay with CR-2025.

There was only rumor and speculation. No one could find a shred of evidence, which only fueled the fires of conspiracy theories and kept the embers of hate burning bright.

Perhaps that could be laid at the feet of Dr. Miriam Ranch, the head of the CDC all those years ago. Ranch was the one who had outed the government officials that created the aerosol “vaccine”; the one who hadn’t been seen in over a decade. Her absence from the public was just one more thing that certain people were using to gain a following to cut the tenuous strings the government still had on law and order.

I didn’t have much sympathy for the police, though. Or the military, for that matter. But that didn’t mean that I supported the violence. From any angle.

If I were honest, I had enough to worry about without choosing which side of the line I wanted to stand on. I was too busy trying to keep a roof over the heads of at least two dozen people, and food in our stomachs. I certainly didn’t need to be on the radar of the government or the rebels for any reason.

And they would have plenty to justify a search.

I turned away from the window of the old warehouse, my hand on the heart locket I kept tucked away, and looked over the open space that functioned as a kitchen and living room. The only light was over the stove in the corner, casting an eerie type of glow that lit the way to the communal bathroom. I couldn’t see much, but I didn’t need to. I knew where everything was, including the toy truck Maverick had been playing with earlier and the colored pencils spread under the table from the twins.

We’d been here the longest of any other place; nearly five months. I had chosen it because of the structural security and the fact that it was in a neutral zone. Not that anyone had ever officially sanctioned areas as one or the other, but there was a general understanding that, what was now known as The Blue Quarter, was off-limits to rebels or the government. There were more than a few of us that just wanted to live the best lives we could.

My feet didn’t make much sound as I walked down the hallway in the dim light from the half-moon coming through the line of windows, stopping at the third room on my right. I leaned against the door jam, crossing my arms over my chest to stare at the three sleeping forms.

The largest form in the full-size bed was on her side, snoring ever-so-slightly, her long brown hair fanned out over the light-colored pillowcase. Her arm was stretched across the mattress so she could hold the hand of the child in the bed beside her.

That was what Nola did, though. My daughter was kind-hearted, sometimes to a fault, but I was eternally thankful that she hadn’t been tainted by this new dark world we now lived in. She was four when The Drop happened, barely old enough to go to pre-school, and then everything just changed.

When I asked her about it, she said she could remember going to Walmart and driving to get ice cream, but that was about it. This was pretty much all she knew. I still don’t know how I feel about that. Yes, there had been things in the World of Before that were deplorable and simply didn’t exist anymore, but we had scarier things that replaced them. Horrifying realities that were made of nightmares. Realities that filled our days with fear and pain.

But not always.

In some ways, The New World was better.

I smiled at the tiny face in the bed beside Nola’s, with the warm brown skin and dark curls. Those chubby little fingers curled around his big sister’s, the sister he had chosen a year ago when she’d found him picking through the garbage. We couldn’t be sure, but we guessed he was about two when we found him give or take a few months. Nola had refused to let him go when I said we would find him somewhere to live. She had just held him close while they cried and begged me without words.

It wasn’t that I didn’t feel for the kid. His big green eyes made me weak, but it was hard enough to keep an eye on one, protect a single child, it was going to be so much harder with two. Especially since he was a toddler.

But obviously, I broke. I adopted the little cutie and we named him Lincoln. I couldn’t imagine our lives without him now.

Or without Halo.

I smirked at the bed on the floor, the white German shepherd kicking her feet as she dreamed. The furriest of my children was by far the most active sleeper.

Sensing a shift in the air, I looked over my shoulder to see a familiar face half in shadow. She jerked her head to let me know I should follow.

When I reached the room we used for meetings, I noticed that I was not the only adult awake at the late hour. It was also very apparent that I was about to be handed some information I wasn’t going to be happy about.

“There was another raid.”

I looked to Steven, one of the oldest members of our little community. Hell, one of the oldest people I knew to still be alive, and he wasn’t a day over fifty.

“How many?” I asked, turning back to Amelia.

“Between ten and fifteen. A bunch of kids, from the intel we gathered.”

I closed my eyes and tried not to imagine how scared they must have been. Having a gun shoved in your face while a bunch of people in uniforms screamed at you was no fun. I would know.

“Were they afflicted?” I knew the answer. I don’t know why I asked.

“Our sources say yes.”

I opened my eyes to stare at Mikel, our resident cat burglar and link to informants.

“Makes you think,” I looked around the room. “If they’re still hunting down groups that large, there are way more of them out there than they want us to believe.” I received a few nods of agreement. “And if they’re going to such great lengths to capture them, they’re a bigger threat to the government than they are letting on.”

A huff from Henry, an ex-cop who was only a year or two older than me. “If the stories we’re hearing about the Afflicted are even remotely true, I can see why people would consider them a threat.”

I hoped the way I shifted in my seat didn’t signal to anyone that this topic made me uncomfortable.

“My source said that a few kids escaped.” We all turned to Mikel. “Said that the only reason they got away was because one of the girls screamed and the walls came down.”

No one spoke.

For someone from The World Before, it would have seemed we were all stunned into silence, but the truth was that none of us were surprised. We’d all heard of people, the ones that got sick and survived, that had been changed by CR-2025. It had mutated their genes. Some just walked around with two different colored eyes, while others… well, others could rattle the foundation of a house and bring it crashing down with only their voice. Some could do worse.

“It’s only a matter of time before they come here.”

I cast my gaze to Lacey, who was barely eighteen and had lost her entire family after The Drop. She was always soft-spoken, which would make a stranger think she was nothing more than a meek teenager, but they would be in for a rude awakening. I don’t think I had ever met a more ruthless fighter. Made me glad she was on my side.

“We’re in the Blue Quarter, though.”

I almost laughed at the defense someone offered but shook my head instead. “While the unwritten rules are the last to be broken, doesn’t mean they won’t be.” Leaning back in a metal chair, I blew out a long breath.

“Even if they do,” Steven put his palms down on the table and leaned forward. “We aren’t harboring any Afflicted here. The Guard will come in, see we’re just people trying to live the best life we can and leave us be.”

Sounds of disagreement went around the room and I shot warning looks. We didn’t need an argument right now.

“That isn’t my concern, Steve.” I met each person’s eye for a moment before returning to the man I had come to respect. “My worry is… these are people. Some of them are just kids. And they’re being hunted down and taken. Murdered.” I saw his gaze drop. “If the Guard is being that aggressive, they aren’t going to be gentle when they come in here. They aren’t going to be discerning.” I filled my lungs with a full breath and pushed it out slowly. “We’re running the risk of losing some of our people.”

Mikel pushed off the wall he had been leaning against. “Like the kids.”

I felt a smile tug at my mouth. He was barely sixteen, just a kid himself. “Any one of us would be a huge loss. We need each other.”

He nodded his head, offering me one of his rare smirks.

“So, what do we do?”

The question had me dropping my head back and looking at the ceiling tiles. “We sit everyone down and let them know that if The Guard shows up, to just do what they say.” Shifting forward, I rested my arms on my thighs. “We need to be proactive about protecting our people.”

No one argued but I could tell that there was something bubbling right under the surface. Everyone was tense. There was a heaviness in the air that felt like a weight against our skin, holding us in place if we dared hope for anything more than this.

“Let’s just table this for tonight.” I offered when the silence began to make me uncomfortable. “If anyone comes up with an idea, we can call another meeting.” The suggestion earned me a few sighs of relief and silent agreement.

I watched everyone walk out, most headed to bed, a few headed out to relieve night watch. I was the last to leave, stopping on my way to move the truck and pick up the pencils.

When I reached my room, one that connected to Nola and Lincoln’s, I closed the door as quietly as I could before I covered my mouth to muffle the sound of my sob as I sank to the floor. The tears poured out of me in unrelenting force, but I refused to move my hand. I didn’t want to wake the kids. Or Halo.

I should have known better. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get complacent. No one was safe. We would never be safe.

Slowly, I dropped my hands into my lap and stared down.

Yes, some of the Afflicted only had one blue eye and one green. Some of them could scream a house to the ground. While some could bend light to melt metal.

And some of us could do so much more.