The Decay

Chapter 30 - Richard Callaghan

30

… The present...

He ran as fast as his legs would allow. It felt as if his heart was about to burst. He turned his head to look behind him briefly, the shadows quickly approaching. They had found him and now they wanted to silence him. Maybe approaching The Resistance had been a bad idea. It was too late to think about it now. He ran and ran, away from his pursuers. He was lost, alone in the dark, surrounded by shrubs and various foliage. Tripping over something, he fell forward hitting the ground. Moving as fast as he could, he picked himself up and started off again. A small gap on his right caught his eye. He dove in, head first and stayed down, afraid to breathe. The shadows ran past him, darting straight ahead. He was safe for now.

He jolted awake, covered in sweat. A nightmare. Richard Callaghan sat up straight, wiping his brow. His straight brown hair was just long enough to touch the upper part of his eyebrows. His green eyes shone in the reflection of a candle in the corner of the room. At thirty-four, Richard was an attractive, athletic man who had kept fit over the years with long-distance running and basic army training. It was a vital skill for him considering the amount of times he had been chased.

At first, he had not known who was chasing him. Then it became clear. Soldiers. Their motive was apparently some of the things his father Joshua had told him the day before he was killed. One particularly horrifying truth among them; the truth about the nuclear apocalypse and who was at fault for the disaster. They were willing to kill him just to keep the secrets safe. He stood up, wincing. The scars left behind from a bullet grazing his left hip and temple would still hurt from time to time. A reminder that he was never really safe.

He looked out of the window, the sky lit dimly. The outline of the sun could be seen on the horizon, indicating that it was early morning. He shifted his gaze down to street level. The city of Boston lay in ruins before him. It had been hit badly during the disaster. Apparently, a secret nuclear missile silo had been built underneath the city and it had detonated along with the others.

He half expected to see a shadow outside, someone chasing him, but it was quiet.

Gathering his few belongings, he left the abandoned building in which he had slept. He was in the ruins of the financial district on his way to a human settlement built on the Amelia Earhart dam northwest from the district. Around a month ago, he had been captured and taken to Snake Island to be interrogated and killed. He had managed to escape through an old sewer tunnel that led into the sea. Instead of swimming to the airport, he had instead decided to swim towards Crystal Cove and headed north from there. Little did he know that an established slaving network had been set up in the remains of Boston, their headquarters located at Fort Banks. Narrowly escaping their clutches, he made his way west past the Constitution beach park before following the highway southwest.

He had met travelers on the road about a week ago that mentioned the downfall of the famous Epsilon Company of mercenaries. They had also mentioned someone looking for a man named John, which had immediately sparked Richard's interest. He hoped that whoever it was would go to the dam as a resting place before heading to Snake Island, but then again, he wasn't even sure that they knew John's location.

With nowhere to go, Richard had already decided to go to the settlement at the dam, known simply as Earhart's town to restock on supplies and maybe gather some more information. If while he was there he managed to make contact with whoever was responsible for the fall of the mercenary company, all the better for him.