The two vehicles quickly zipped down the highway on their way to the large far away city and whatever remnants of the Order awaited them there.
The small group made good time despite some literal roadblocks. Between Karina and Naeva, they easily cleared the decaying highway of vehicles that had clearly been broken down for years. Ciera covered the duo while they worked to push the rusting monuments to the old world out of the way.
Reece couldn’t help but shake his head in awe as the beautiful young woman fired head shot after head shot at any undead that dared come into her sights. There were over a dozen of the creatures, drawn there by the sounds of screeching rubber and metal as vehicles were forced off the road. The group went through the same procedure four times before they nearly made it to the city.
In all, it took them over fourteen hours between their hard riding and the time it took to clear the highway. That’s where their relatively good fortune ended. The Order had set up some sort of checkpoint on their route, a little way outside the city limits.
Reece remembered that the Order’s propaganda broadcast spoke of several refuges with checkpoints around them. They must have just stumbled across one of them. The checkpoint was at the bottom of the hill they had just crested from the other side, so they studied it from their vantage point at the top. There were seven uniformed individuals stationed there that they could see. Plus, a pair of tents set up behind the checkpoint as well as a couple of military trucks parked there, any of which could hold additional guards.
A diverse line of survivors in cars and trucks waited at the checkpoint’s gate as the uniformed individuals questioned them and searched their vehicles before giving them a pass and letting them through. The Order was apparently playing the savior from the very catastrophe they had fashioned, and the people seemed to be falling for it.
This created a problem for Reece and his crew. If they took out this base, then the Order would no longer have control over the zombies and all these innocent survivors could be at immediate risk. The Order had given themselves human shields. Reece just wasn’t sure if they had done it intentionally, or if it was a lucky coincidence for the powerful group.
“Fuck!” cursed the astronaut once he had pulled off his helmet.
He looked down at Karina and then over at his other two companions before continuing.
“Once we take out the base, we need to somehow protect the people that the Order has taken in there,” he quickly explained. “We also need to figure out a way to combat their broadcasts...get the truth out there so everyone knows what they are really up to.”
“You’re right,” agreed Karina. “But this won’t work unless we give the people that are left a better alternative than what the Order offers. They have safety and security now. Most of the remains of humanity prefer those over their freedom. With the fear of being killed and eaten, they’ll be more than willing to give up their rights so long as they are simply allowed to survive. That’s another reason why they couldn’t allow the space center to thrive. It was competition for them. We’re going to need to build a more robust community and diminish theirs at the same time. There isn’t another option here.”
“Well, none of them are going to want to drive all the way to Angel’s new bunker,” thought Reece out loud. “We’re going to have to set something up much closer, and fast too. They are attracting more and more survivors to serve them with those radio broadcasts.”
Suddenly, Reece had a disturbing thought. He started flipping through the interface on his bike’s info-screen until he found television channels. Sure enough, there was a satellite broadcast coming through and it looked like a news channel. It only took Reece a minute of listening to a pasty-faced anchor in a fancy blue suit to realize that the only news being delivered would be what the Order wanted people to hear.
Considering this apocalypse was engineered, it made sense. These guys would control every medium that they could to get their message out. The message was simple, ‘Come to us and we will protect you’, and they would repeat the same message over and over until everyone believed it. The Order had begun their master plan of bringing their form of “order” to the world and it appeared to be starting to work. After watching the screen for a minute, Karina looked up at Reece from where she sat in front of him.
“We’ll need to deal with this too,” said the brilliant little lilitu girl.
“Naeva, Ciera...it’s not just radio broadcasts. They have television too,” Reece explained to the two women since they didn’t have a view of his bike’s screen.
“Seriously?” asked Naeva incredulously. “We need to catch a break.”
“Yeah, and we also need to find out where that transmission is coming from,” stated Reece as a plan began to form in his mind. “But one thing at a time. Let’s try and save these people here and now, whether they believe they’re being saved or not. Also, we’re going to need to take out a few of the Order’s foot soldiers at the same time.”
“Ciera, I’m going to need your help on this one,” began Reece as he explained his plan to the three ladies with him.
After he finished relaying the plan, Ciera and Karina switched places. Karina joined Naeva on the trike and Ciera slipped onto the Helios behind Reece. Once the two women were situated, Naeva and Karina drove the trike down to the back of the line of survivors awaiting entry.
Twenty-five minutes later, Reece rode his solar cycle down to the checkpoint, skipping all the other vehicles waiting in line. He had switched into a white hoodie with black pants to try and look more like a typical survivor. Ciera was sitting behind him, holding his waist with her arms. She was wearing a skimpy yellow tank top and short blue jean shorts.
As he pulled right up to the uniformed guards, they all took defensive postures, readying their shiny tactical rifles at the brazen line-jumpers. They seemed nervous but very serious. He smiled and slowly put up his hands as he got off the bike.
“Hi there, is this where we go for refuge?” asked Reece. “I have to say, I’m so glad the government is finally taking back control of the country. You guys are my heroes, seriously. I don’t know how much longer Cindy and I were going to make it out here.”
“Hey, what’s the big deal! We were next!” yelled a middle-aged man in a truck with what looked like his family.
“Sorry buddy,” said Reece. “My bad. We’re just so excited to get to some kind of safety from what’s out here.”
The man softened a bit and got back in his truck after shrugging. The rest of the uniforms came out of their vehicles to address the minor commotion. One uniform with added embellishments stepped out of one of the tents and approached the situation.
“What’s going on here?” he asked one of the others.
“Sir, this man, and his girlfriend just jumped the line,” replied one of the uniformed guards. “I was just about to send them to the back.”
The uniformed man, obviously some kind of officer, glanced at Reece before taking a long keen look at Reece’s Helios and his gorgeous “girlfriend” sitting on the back.
“Oh, I think we can come to some kind of arrangement,” he said lewdly before thinking better of it and playing it off as innocent and holding out his arms wide and finishing what he was saying. He made sure to speak loud enough for most of the line of survivors to hear. “After all, Sanctuary has plenty of room for all of you.”
After that, he ignored Reece and walked straight over towards Ciera who was just sitting on the bike, giving her best ditzy smile. All nine of the uniforms happened to be men and all of their eyes were on Ciera who was happily smiling cluelessly at them all. Reece took advantage of Ciera’s diversion and pulled twin pistols he had stashed in his hood. He started on the left and took out three of them before they knew what hit them.
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As soon as their heads and eyes swung from Ciera to him, she pulled a pair of pistols as well...and fired several shots. Her first shot took the officer in the face, then she started on the right and systematically worked her way left. The entire one-sided gun fight took less than two seconds. For Reece, now the hard part started.
He put his guns away and put his hands back up into the air as he turned around and faced the survivors who were instantly stunned after just witnessing the brutal massacre. They had all just been waiting their turn to get inside the refuge and away from the zombies that plagued them. Reece knew it was going to be a hard sell.
“Please, hear me out...I can explain what you just saw,” he announced to the haphazard line of vehicles.
One by one, the people tentatively got out of their dusty and worn-out vehicles, but all the adults had their myriad guns at the ready, and most pointed them at Reece or Ciera. Karina and Naeva joined the crowd, with Naeva pointing a shotgun at Reece.
“Well then, explain why you just murdered all of these men that were just trying to help us and do it before we shoot you too!” yelled Naeva angrily.
“You are right to be suspicious of us. You don’t know us. But you don’t know them either,” Reece began while motioning to the dead men with his thumb. “I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m just asking that you don’t trust them. I imagine all of you came here when you heard promises of sanctuary either from a radio or television broadcast.”
Reece paused a moment to let the basic facts sink in before he continued. “I ask you, how were they able to set this all up so quickly? This is a sophisticated operation they have here, isn’t it? Maybe you believe it is possible that they somehow managed to set all of this up from scratch, but I have an alternate explanation.”
Reece paused again and took a deep breath. Now was the moment of truth, he knew.
“These uniformed men are members of something called the Order and they are the ones that created the plague to remake the world in their image,” he explained. “They are offering you refuge because their plan didn’t run as smoothly as they liked, and they need a bigger workforce. Now, I’m not going to lie to you. They probably are giving you safety and security, but you’ll all be at their mercy and they will undoubtedly put you all to work in exchange for what they offer. You may have safety. You may have security...”
“But you will have to sacrifice your freedom and that of your children and your lineage for them. You’ll be living under an autocracy unlike any the world has ever known. Maybe that still sounds good to some of you but let me ask you this question. As you and your families live and work under their yoke, day in and day out, year after year, could you look in the mirror and feel okay with supporting the very elitists that destroyed our world? Maybe you don’t believe me, and that’s fine. But we’ve run into these people before.”
Reece indicated Ciera who pulled a couple of the Orders uniforms out of one of the bike’s side compartments and brought them over to him. He took them before turning back to the survivors.
“We were helping people at Kennedy Space Center. We had started a community there and had over a hundred people gardening, farming, and living together. Some of you may have even heard our broadcasts. Well, we were attacked by a horde of zombies and even worse nightmares, led by many men wearing these very uniforms,” explained Reece as he shook the garment for emphasis. “They nearly destroyed our community and we had to abandon our newfound home for elsewhere. They did it because we were a threat to them, competition for all of you...”
Looking at the crowd, he could tell his words were having an effect. Taking another deep breath, he continued.
“Why would they care, unless they needed you for something? Look, I don’t have any real proof of any of this,” he said. “Again, I’m only asking you not to enter this so-called refuge blindly. Do what you want, and we won’t stop you. It’s your decision. I don’t know how much time we’ll have before their reinforcements arrive but let me tell you my story and then you can make up your own minds.”
Reece waited a moment, but every survivor stayed put, some grudgingly lowering their weapons.
“It all began when I became an astronaut and headed to the Zhengzhou International Space Station. It was there that...”
“I knew it,” squealed a little blonde girl, cutting into Reece’s speech. “Mommy, that’s Reece Danielson. He was on the very last mission to the space station before all this went down. I know all the astronauts’ names. He was my favorite!”
“She’s not lying,” explained the woman she was talking to, clearly her mother. “She always wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up. If she says that man is an astronaut, then I’d believe her.”
“Thank you dear, and yeah...my name is Reece Danielson and I was an astronaut,” restarted Reece as he took the crowd through his entire story since arriving at Zhengzhou all the way to being there in front of them.
He did leave out some of the crazier parts that had little to do with the momentum of his journey. Then he answered all their questions until they finally seemed satisfied. By the time he had finished, his throat was parched, and his mouth was dry. He waited for Naeva to start talking and lend his story some credibility, as they had planned.
Before she could say anything, however, an old man spoke up first, “I’ve been around a long time and heard my share of lies, some good and some bad. That story was the most messed up, convoluted series of events that I’ve ever heard. There is no way that he made all that up. For what it’s worth, I believe him.”
A woman spoke next, “We had heard the broadcasts from Kennedy, but we weren’t sure if they could be trusted. By the time we decided to risk it, they had stopped broadcasting and we heard about this place. It’s just like he said.”
The man he had cut in front of spoke up as well, “His story also explains how Atlanta was struck by a meteor. I don’t see any real holes in his story, while theirs is pretty sketchy. We were just so desperate that we wanted to believe what they were saying.”
One by one, everyone in the crowd amazingly came to believe him. He thought his explanation and story would be persuasive, but he didn’t expect overwhelming support. He figured maybe it had to do with Ciera’s lilin gifts. He didn’t understand how they worked, so it made more sense than anything else he came up with. Regardless, now that he had their support, he had to provide some sort of options for them.
“Thank you for taking a chance on us. As I said, I’m not here to stop you or tell you what to do. However, for those of you who want a truly safe refuge, there’s a place a bit south of here that is made up of the survivors of Kennedy and they have a place with enough space for all of you. It’s run by a good friend of mine, Angel Hernandez...”
The blonde girl squealed again, cutting him off for the second time. “Angel’s an astronaut too, mom!”
The survivors laughed as everyone started feeling a bit more relaxed after the tense situation that they just experienced.
In the end, he grabbed the radio from his bike and contacted Angel.
“Hey buddy, do you copy? This is Reece. Over,” he called out over the device.
“Phhhhsssttt...What’s up Reece? This is Angel. I copy you. Are you coming back already? You know you took most of the cute girls with you... ow! I said most...uh, Over.”
“You all right? Over,” responded Reece after hearing the confusing exchange.
“Yeah, bud. Stephanie’s here and she took exception to my ‘cute girls’ comment. Over.”
Reece chuckled to himself. He remembered Dr. Firth from Kennedy, especially when she had bravely come out to help the injured after the Order’s attack. She was cute and he began to wonder if something was going on between his old buddy and the attractive doctor. He hoped so. They could probably both use the companionship.
“Roger that. Look, we’re not coming back just yet, but I do have a fair number of survivors that may be looking for a new refuge. Do you think you can take them in? Over.”
“Uh, yeah...we’ve got plenty of room. How many are we talking about? Over.”
Reece did a quick head count.
“Up to twenty-five,” he answered. “Depending on if they all decide to go with you. Over.”
“Yeah, we can handle that many. Over,” replied Angel, as good-natured as ever.
They set up a meeting point and the group formed a caravan and headed south to try and get there before dark. Before they left, each one insisted on shaking Reece’s hand and thanking him for saving them from the Order.
“Hey, before you all go, why don’t you grab the guns and ammunition from the guards?” suggested Reece. “They won’t need them anymore, and you all look like you could use the upgrade.”
They readily agreed, their newfound faith in him strengthening. Several of them began picking through the Order’s supplies, snatching up weapons, food, water, and other things. One of the more ragged survivors came out of one of the tents with a look of shock on his haggard face.
“You may want to have a look in here,” said the scraggly bearded man as he ran his fingers through his greasy brown hair.
Curious, Reece checked both tents. Inside each was a fully automated motion-activated rail gun system set up on tripods. Luckily for Reece, neither had been completely set up yet. It looked like they were in the process of assembling them when Reece had approached. It made sense since the checkpoint was new.
Not knowing what else to do with them, the survivors left them there. The large weapons wouldn’t fit on any of their vehicles. After the survivors grabbed what they could, they departed. Afterward, Reece found a couple of handheld radios in a small box in one of the tents. They decided to take those with them, though they were of the short-range variety—maybe twenty kilometers at most.
As the caravan drove off, the three girls approached Reece. Karina looked at the other two and asked a strange question.
“Did either of you feel something before, when Reece was speaking with that group of survivors?”