From Across Their Walls (Behind Our Walls Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  She had no idea what would be on the other side of this, if there was even something to survive for. All she knew was that her father hadn't raised her to stop. And he had given her a mission. He had given her a name. Now, standing on the decaying corpse of this society, knowing full well how impossible it was, she vowed to somehow hold to the promise she had made to him.

  It was hours of mindless walking before she heard the sound from the airport ahead. She was walking along the tree-line of a dense forest, looking out over a flat plain upon which was a medium sized municipal airfield. She crouched and peered across to the area where she had spotted movement. She dropped the two bags to the ground and quickly grabbed binoculars from hers.

  A small Cessna plane was on the runway, but despite the fact that the propellers were running, the plane wasn't moving. It looked like someone had steered it partially off the runway. She guessed it would seat about a dozen people, but as her brain caught up with her eyes, Heidi's breath caught as she recognized what looked like streaks of blood along the inside of the windows.

  A lone man came down the steps on the other side of the plane and walked around to the nose, looking out over the horizon around him. His gaze passed over her, not giving any sign that he had seen her. He was young, maybe her age, and dressed in a neatly pressed business suit. She was starting to consider going down there when he seemed to snap out of his funk and come back to reality. Before Heidi could guess what he was doing, he reached up to straighten the knot of his tie as he turned and strolled into the still whirling blades.

  "Oh, Christ!" She couldn't stop herself from screaming it out, even though no one was left to hear. What was left of his body was pulled up into the propeller, mangled and spread out over the runway and the side of the plane.

  Heidi staggered to her feet and fled the scene. The world that had led to this was not one she wanted to be a part of anymore. Things weren't just going downhill. This was rock bottom. Or, at least she prayed it was rock bottom. She had to get to the bunker. The longer she spent out here in the world, the more she risked rotting away from the inside along with the rest of it.

  The world was on fire and all she cared about anymore was getting to the one place where she knew she could be safe.

  -8-

  Heidi saw the jeep from over a hundred yards away as she crossed an expanse of fields. Someone was seated on the ground next to it, she assumed the driver, staring off blankly into space. He didn't seem to take notice of her as she approached but she had to be honest and admit that she didn't really care if he saw her or not. She was far beyond the point of being able to help anyone anyway and considering how despondent he looked, she couldn't imagine him posing any real threat.

  "Hey!" she called out, trying to get some kind of a reaction out of him. He might have tilted his head slightly in her direction but it was hard to tell for sure. "Are you all right?" She wasn't sure if she really cared but needed to have some kind of an advantage, one that might be better gained if he felt like she was making an effort to reach him. She crouched next to him, shifting her gaze to the far horizon that he seemed to be focused on.

  "Some things...people just shouldn't have to witness, you know?" he said, breaking the silence. He pitched his voice so low she could barely hear him. She nodded but didn't respond. There was no point

  "I'm Dale," he said. "Not that it matters anymore, with the world gone to shit like this. All of it. Still, it's my name. Might as well be good for something."

  "I'm Heidi." She hadn't thought she was going to say even that much but here they were. "Where are you from?"

  "Denver. I was on my way to see my brother in Boston. Left my ex-wife behind. Guess neither one of them are alive anymore."

  Heidi nodded again. A bomb had gone off in Boston so at least one of them was dead, for sure. Another had gone off near Denver so there wasn't much point in discussing it.

  "You know what I miss the most?" he asked. "I miss what the mornings used to sound like. Trucks always seem louder in the morning, like they were just born into the world. You hear birds, waking up and singing, right along with the sound of building traffic. Every morning felt like possibility. Even the air tastes clean, like the world hasn't had the chance to be disappointed yet."

  Heidi stood and felt the tears rising and threatening as she raised the pistol. She had to put an end to this. Clearly that was the best thing for this guy. How far was he from walking into his own propeller? She took aim at the back of his head as he carried on, staring out into the space where nothing existed anymore. Her hand trembled as she slid her finger over the trigger, feeling her breath catching as she tried to exert pressure.

  She couldn't do it.

  She couldn't bring herself to cross that evil of a threshold. She swung the gun back and brought it across the side of Dale's head. He grunted as he toppled to the side and collapsed.

  Heidi was sobbing now, angry that the world had forced her into this kind of an action. Taking one of the pistols she had recovered from the battleground, she dropped it to the ground next to Dale, along with a spare magazine. "I'm sorry," she said as she turned to the jeep, relieved to find that the keys were on the driver's seat. She had been terrified of the notion that she would have to go back and dig through his pockets. The engine started on the first try and she accelerated off to the north. Glancing in the mirror, she looked over Dale's slumped form.

  He would be okay.

  Physically, at least.

  Chances were, he had been on the verge of hurting himself anyway, or doing something stupid. The jeep would do better for her. Why waste it on someone who was already at the end of their rope?

  So why hadn't she brought him along?

  The suggestion echoed in her mind and it was hard to come up with an answer. She didn't want to admit that it would likely end up being months of babying this guy back to a reasonable level of self-confidence, to the point where he would actually be helpful. She didn't have the ability to care for anyone like that.

  Now that she was back in a vehicle, it didn't take long to reach her destination. She heard the sound of the river before she saw it, the markings for the border of the property her father had bought.

  No one else knew about this besides the two of them. In the course of investigating a deceased suspect, her father had found some blueprints for an underground safe room. There was very little paperwork to keep track of, only one document that he had to destroy. Once this happened, it was relatively easy for him to keep the existence of this place secret. All it took was a discreet purchase of the land and it belonged to them, a convenient place to get away and vanish from the world if such a thing was ever needed.

  It was needed now.

  Heidi steered the jeep to the bluff looking out over the river below. Taking the keys from the bag, she made her way to a massive oak tree, standing at the edge of the cliff. Turning her back to the tree, she walked towards the clearing, passing nearly a dozen tree stumps before stopping at one and examining it. She took hold of either side and twisted, eventually causing it to move. Lifting, she revealed a metal hatch underneath, like something on a submarine. She reached down, inserted and twisted the key.

  Darkness greeted her as she stepped onto a ladder, lowering herself down. She pulled the hatch shut behind her, locked it and continued down, feeling the cool air rushing up from below. It was close to thirty feet before she reached a second hatch. Using another key and feeling around in the dark, she was able to open it and climb inside.

  Lights flickered on in the expanse of her new home. A train car had been buried, after being extensively outfitted and remodeled. Whoever the guy had been who built this thing, he had been rich and a genius. The car had vents running up to the surface to circulate air. Turbines in the river itself produced a certain amount of electricity and the water itself could be pulled in and treated to be made drinkable. And buried underneath the car were concrete lined storage bins, filled with cases of dry goods and canned food.

/>   Hearing the lock engage above, Heidi felt safe for the first time since that morning back in her father's house. Pinned to the wall across from her was a picture of the two of them. It was a Polaroid that he had stuck there with masking tape. Five years ago, they had gone on a long fishing trip to celebrate her graduation from the University of Iowa. She remembered the exact moment, the can of beer he had cracked open just as the picture was taken. Beer had sprayed out of the can that had been shaken, unbeknownst to either of them. Heidi was doubled over in the picture, caught in the middle of hysterical laughter. She smiled at the sight of it and from the memory of being with him. And ushered quickly after that was the reminder that there would be no more memories. She felt the creeping tendrils of something she had managed to stuff down below the surface until now.

  She felt the grief.

  And with that sudden influx of loss, with the weight of that newly unrestrained despair, it was all she could to make it to the cot against the far wall. She nearly made it, but had to settle for dropping to the floor, curling up as the power of it all took control.

  Heidi began to cry.

  PART TWO

  -9-

  Heidi looked out as dawn broke over the distant horizon, filtering golden light on her through the trees across the river. The sound of the water raging a hundred feet below made it seem like nothing in the world had really happened. If she closed her eyes and cleared her head, she could almost take herself back to moments like that, meditating on the new day and what it held in store for her. She was just up here on an extended camping trip. Her father wasn't dead. He was back at home, living out his life normally. None of this had actually happened.

  It was all bullshit.

  The country had been ravaged by nuclear fallout and clashes between military and armed militias.

  Her ability to access the Internet had long since evaporated. Still, she was able to get people on the shortwave radio her father had installed in the bunker. There were still some people out there, although she had no way of knowing how far away they were. She had become briefly addicted to that lifeline out into the world until she met Reggie. After that, her interest in the radio waned.

  Reggie was on his own, staying in a cabin out in the middle of the woods. He hadn't seen many others, despite trying to reach out and find people. Heidi got a strange vibe from the start but couldn't explain why and ignored the feeling.

  It wasn't until later that Reggie confessed that the house he was living in wasn't his.

  "What do you mean the house isn't yours? Whose is it, I don't understand."

  The other end hissed at her in non-response before Reggie's voice came through. "I shouldn't have said anything. You won't understand."

  "Try me. Whose house is it?"

  Another pause before he finally gave her the answer. "They're dead."

  "What? How do you—"

  "I killed them."

  Heidi's mouth dropped open as she paused, staring at the mic as if he had been standing there in the room with her to make this confession. Not seeming to care about her lack of response, he went on. "It's a nice cabin. I needed a place to stay and they had one. I don't think they care much about it anymore. I still see people walking past up on the road, you know? This place is way up in the hills but I still see some people, trying to get the hell away from everything. Maybe I'll introduce myself and—"

  "Reggie, have you killed anyone else? Have you killed anyone since that couple? Because you know you can't just do that, right?"

  "Why not? Don't we deserve the things we never had before all of this? The people who lived here wouldn't have given me the time of day if I asked for it. Why should they deserve a place like this?"

  "I don't disagree with what we deserve. But we can't act like animals. We need to—"

  "We are animals."

  She shook her head. "No. We need to be better than that."

  He paused for the longest stretch yet. "You know, I think the next people that knock on my door, I might just let them in. Give them some food and drink. What do you think might happen?"

  "Reggie, please don't do anything stupid."

  He didn't respond to any more calls.

  Heidi stayed off the radio after that. That was how she had been rewarded for daring to reach out into the world and contact people. She longed for anything out there that wasn't broken but apparently such things didn't exist anymore.

  Heidi had feared from the start that she would develop cabin fever. She still had the occasional thought that all of this would end with her putting a bullet in her mouth if she had to stay in the bunker for too long at a time. She had bought herself a high degree of safety but it had been at the expense of dooming herself to an underground prison. To stave off the despair, she allowed herself periods of time up in the fresh air. At least she was far enough away from the fallout zones that this could be done. Plus, the isolation of the location made it relatively safe that no one would spot her or where she was hiding out. And save for the occasional distant gunshot or engine revving from the road, she hardly ever had sign of other people.

  She was starting to believe that she never would see another person again.

  Picking up a rock, she lofted it off into the valley. She watched it drift and tumble through the air until it splashed down, far below. She found herself on a regular basis pondering what it would be like if she was that rock, throwing herself off the cliffs to perish in the river. It was probably high enough. There would be a few minutes of fear, in the blink of the eye feeling weightlessness. The water would feel like hitting concrete. She could become one with the only thing in her life that still seemed normal. Even if she somehow survived the fall, she'd drown quickly, something she had heard was like falling asleep.

  It would be simple.

  But she couldn't do it, couldn't bring herself to take that one step, even if it would lead to the bliss of oblivion. She couldn't relieve herself of the responsibilities and trials of this new existence.

  Her father had given her a mission.

  She carried the note with her still, knowing full well that this Lot person was either dead or impossible to find. The paper had already become softened from having been stuffed in and pulled out of her pocket so many times. She hated the risk of having it when she went out for supplies but also knew that if she were by some miracle to cross this guy's path, she would despise herself if she didn't have the note. Ironically, she had fully accepted her fear that on the inside, there was nothing actually written there. Her father was a master at strategy and she wouldn't put it past him to give her a blank piece of paper, pretending to have written a note, just so he could keep her focused.

  When she had been broadcasting, she would reach out for any information. Anyone out there within the sound of my voice? Have you ever heard of someone by the name of...? It was like trying to hit a target with a paper plane from a mile away. There would have to be a lot of factors going in her favor.

  This was her life, her road, the choice that had been made for her. Society had dropped her into this place, choosing between abject isolation or the ashes of a world, freshly dead. And the worst part was that she would have to take it. Because in the end of things, even thin chances seemed attractive when they were the only choice available.

  -10-

  Heidi was out scouting, miles away from the bunker when she heard the gunfire.

  The stadium was the first thing that came to mind as she knew she had veered close to it in her wanderings. Her good sense told her to stay as far away as possible from that place. But somehow, her unconscious curiosity had still led her here. Two separate travelers had told her about it. Of a massive stadium, completely sealed off from the outside but that they were sure had people living inside. Despite that, no one inside ever responded when they called out to be let in. All they had been looking for was maybe a place to sleep, a few parcels of food or water. But apparently, those who were lucky enough to find such safety and comfort weren't willi
ng to come forth from their sacred home to help those others in need. It pissed Heidi off to think that in a world so deprived of hope, a community could turn so far inward, shunning anyone who dared to come near them.

  And now there sounded like the gunfight to end all gunfights going on in that same place.

  Heidi sprinted along a residential street, moving quickly from house to house in an attempt to stay out of sight. There could be scouts moving around in the outlying areas or people running off that could spot her. The small neighborhood she was in looked like it had sprouted up around the same time the stadium had. Everything else around the structure was flat, open field. Not the ideal terrain to try and make an escape. After fifteen minutes, the shots dwindled into silence as she came up alongside the last house to get a better view.

  Behind a large stone wall was the upper levels of the stadium. Whatever gunplay was happening, it had been coming from inside. Even from the distance she sat at, she could still detect the acrid taste on her tongue, the stench of weapons, recently spent. She looked to the right, to a parking garage across the way. It would be a perfect height to get a better view. Pulling tight the straps for her bag as well as her rifle, she sneaked out onto the road and began making her way along the wall to the garage.

  Her breath was short; the items strapped to her back felt like they had tripled in weight by the time she reached the fourth level. Still, she put her head down and continued trudging her way up. Finally, she reached the top, just as she was starting to feel light-headed. She let the pack drop to the ground, keeping the rifle as she walked slowly to the ledge, breathing deep and slow to try and get her pulse under control. Reaching the edge, she crouched onto one knee, leaning against the concrete as she took in the view of the parking lot for the stadium.

  The first thing her eyes were drawn to was a man seated in what looked like a lawn chair. He was clearly injured, clutching at his leg. Heidi lifted the rifle and peeked through the scope, glancing up at the overcast sky to make sure there wasn't a chance of sunlight reflecting and giving her away. She zeroed in on the chair, seeing blood oozing up around his hand. He must have either been shot or stabbed, based on the amount of blood. Nobody seemed to be rushing to help him either, from the small group that clustered around him. Apparently this had been enough for the privileged upper class to actually come out of their little paradise. Heidi didn't know what was happening, save for the fact that no one seemed to care that this guy was hurt and that he wasn't making any effort to put up a fight.