Northern Exposure: Episode Three Read online

  Chapter 9

  It was a cold morning, colder than any day I had experienced since being down in the bunker, well at least since I was awake. I could feel the tension in the bunker lingering around like an unwanted presence. Sharif and Smith sat in the corner conversing and Sky was not far from them with the children, who were clearly agitated with the damp confined space they had to spend their days cooped up in. As I rose from the mattress, I could feel there was something even more peculiar about this day than most. Then the tension which was building and building eventually reached its limits and was released in the form of an aggressive argument.

  ”You don’t understand Smith”. I heard Sharif raise his voice then silently regained his composure and reduced his tone gradually; he then started speaking again in a calmer manner. I walked towards them and took a knee were they sat.”Morning boy, glad you could finally join us.”

  ”What’s going on Smith?”.

  Our fierce leader had a worrying look upon his face; I knew it was something big; this was not your typical morning squabble. ”Supplies are down boy, we need to start scouting the surface for new stock and the closest reliable source of food to our current location is the SS mart about 15miles down the street.” Super Supplier Mart was a huge wholesaler, they stocked everything. There were racks upon racks of products from food to clothes, garden utensil and even live ammunition and hunting fire arms.

  ” We need to restock; and SS mart would be our best bet simple as that.” Sharif was not too pleased with Smiths plan though, his intentions were clear about travelling such a long distance top side. ”It’s too far Smith, this man-hole is the only one we know of which hasn’t been blocked up, that leaves us too vulnerable when we top side, with a 15mile walk exposed on the surface is nothing less than suicide!”

  Smith threw his tin dish against the wall in an outburst, oats splattered across the concrete. “Opposed to what Sharif?” “We stay here with no food, no gas, you’ll watch your children die in front of you rather than take a chance?”

  Fire burnt in the Arabs eyes.”Don’t you ever doubt my loyalty to my children! ”The tension was so thick you could slice through it, this was not one fight I would like to be part of! I hated when they fought, but honestly this was the worst they had ever fought since I was awake, I knew in a matter of seconds a punch was going to fly from either side, so I did the unthinkable.

  ”I’ll go “Both men took their attention off one other and focused on me.”Look guys I know the street I used to walk past the SS Mart to work every single day.’”I can do it” Smith shook his head,” No way there’s no way I’m letting you go. “”you may know the way but you don’t know the reapers well enough.”I’m not sending you to the slaughter kid” Smith wanted the family to go as a unit, we needed all three adults on the walk and as much man power as possible, and that would mean having to take the girls with us as well, they could not stay down there by themselves for such a long period.

  Then spontaneously she spoke up,” Smith I’ll take him, he’ll lead the way I’ll watch his back.”Sky was fearless she knew she had to risk it all to survive the new world but somehow I felt the reason she was so willing to lay her life on the line was for the girls. She had helped raise those kids and even though she was so young she had taken the responsibility of mother and protector over them, like any good mother she’d die for her children.

  Smith was now upright marching back and forth waving his hands in the air as he shouted, ”Both of you are clearly insane if you think I’m going to let you go.”This is a job for the entire group, not the two of you alone, are you insane to think that Il let you go by yourself, look no offence boy I’ve come to love you like a son, but do you even know how to hold a gun?” I sat in quiet shame, as Smith continued “Exactly what I thought, there is no way I’ll send you so far.”Smith had no interest in listening to our reasons his mind was made up.”Its final tomorrow afternoon Sharif and I will discuss the matter further, and then find the appropriate plan of action. Sky backed off, but in her eyes I could see she was not going to give up so easily.

  Night came and we all lie in bed, none asleep but ever so quiet, the only sounds heard were the chatters of the children as they lay next to each other quietly playing hand games, while trying to ease the hunger pains. The sounds of their giggles usually helped me fall asleep, it was the one thing which was a constant reminder of our humanity, it gave us reason to keep going every morning and not give up, and the innocence of a child was not all but lost in these rank dark times. Soon the giggles turned to snores and I got up went over towards them, brushed Zara’s hair out of Shahkierah’s face and covered them both with their blanket.

  As I lay in my bed with Smith by my side, I wondered if they had let us go, would we have succeeded. What if we did run into reapers would we manage to handle the situations? All these heavy thoughts put me to sleep.

  “Get up, get up...Cairo, Wake up...”As I turned to my side and wiped the sand from my eyes I saw Sky bent over, trying to quietly waken me.”Its time...you and I are going to the SS mart.”

  I knew it! I knew she would never give up that easily. She had the whole thing planned from the beginning of the conversation. I sprung up, grabbed my jacket, slipped on my boots and slowly made my way to the pile. I reached in and with the steadiest hand dug into the weapons pile. I pulled out the first thing I felt; it was an axe, long and sturdy, heavy though. Sky did an ammo check then placed her revolver into its holster around her hip.

  ”Let’s move” she signalled. Quietly we made for the man hole. Avoiding the tired bodies around us as we tiptoed past the children, I caught a glimpse of Zara’s innocent face and almost instantly all my fears were replaced with responsibility. These kids were no longer only Sharif’s kids, No, they belonged to all of us now and I had to do my best to ensure they stayed as healthy as possible. I dreaded thinking about what went through these poor girls’ head the day the rocks fell. Even though it’s been five years, I’m sure the image of their decapitated mother still haunts them.

  Shahiedah, Sharif’s wife was so pretty, a pity her head was left lying across the floor from her body. Once the rocks started hitting the building and the tremors became more violent, the metal fan which was attached to their ceiling became dislodged and spun across the room, until it found Shahiedah’s neck. Now it was up to us to honour her and I believed the best way in doing so would be to look after her girls as best we could.

  As we walked down the passage I did not say a word, not only for the fact that I was scared our echoes would wake the others, but because I could not come to find the right words to say to this intimidating yet beautiful women. For now I would not have to worry about impressing Sky, we reached the top of the man hole and all of our attention was turned to the unnerving task which lay ahead; slowly she removed the heavy lid. It was still dark outside and far in the distance the sun began to rise. As day broke the sun took its time lighting our way, ever so slowly creeping up from the shadows. We had a long walk ahead of us, and time was of the essence. The further we walked the more torn down the city looked. In the dark it was hard to see exactly what destruction was surrounding us but as the sun rose we saw the new baron wasteland we now lived in. By the time the sun had completely rose, we were about 5 miles down the road. With enough light to properly see our city, I could now assess the devastation which lay around me.

  The roads had been covered with dust and through the cracks tuffs of grass burst out, welcoming themselves to the new world. Weeds grew through abandoned cars windshields, wrapped themselves around their tyres, leaving most vehicles a cannoned shell of shrubbery and flowers. Street lamps had been rendered useless, not a single one functioning, they now stood like tall eerie reminders of our perpetual struggle to find light in this new dark world. From left to right, as far as the eye could see stood buildings destroyed; tall proud structures had now been reduced to rubble. The ones strong enough to withstand the brunt of the falling rocks were n
ow dusty and useless to their new environment.

  For me though the strangest site of all was seeing the foreign rocks scattered across the city. They came in all sizes; I looked from side to side at the array of different meteors, some as big as trucks, others as minuscule as a golf ball, hardly visible in its alien surroundings. The most bone chilling site though, was not the rocks, neither the torn down buildings, or deserted streets. The worst site was the hundreds of skeletons which covered the streets, like a blanket of decomposed bodies covering New York. I tried hard not to look down as I slowly stepped over them. It gave me complete shivers seeing the obvious terror plastered on their fleshless faces.

  We walked past an old structure which was very familiar to me; the building was the hub of the areas economical trade. I remember the bank so well, some days Id stand in those damn lines for hours waiting to do the restaurants daily cash up, drifting away into the scenery of aquamarine painted walls and the most annoying instrumental tunes playing lightly in the background.

  The building was now covered in cracks and over run by vegetation. The large bronze sign which once hung proudly outside was now covered