Bloodshed (Book One in the Apocalypse Trilogy)

Chapter 19: The Morning After

Location: the Bunker

Cal

He woke up in a cold sweat. He turned his left and saw Sarah, asleep. Her grey uniform was on the floor, as were the dirty, bloodstained clothes that he’d brought from Melbourne.

Cal sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He thought back to last night as he shaved. He smiled, realising that that was the first time he’d had sex for six years. The razor cut his cheek when he smiled, drawing blood.

“Damn,” he muttered. The sound woke Sarah, and she got off the bed. She looked at him, and he understood the message she was trying to convey: don’t tell anyone yet. He nodded.

“I want to wait until after we’re sure about this, until we know each other better,” she said, almost to herself.

“I know. That might be a good idea.” An awkward silence passed between them.

She put on her uniform and stood next to him. “Go to administration when you’re done,” she said. “They’ll give you a job. See you in the mess hall.”

“See you,” he repeated. They kissed passionately for a small time, and forced themselves to not give in to their instincts.

She left the room, and after watching her leave Cal continued to get ready, cleaning himself up. He hadn’t realised how dirty he was, but now he could see the dirt in his skin.

He left the room, and followed a map on the wall to administration. A woman sat behind the desk, looking bored. She wordlessly handed him a sheet with a timetable printed on it, and directed him to the uniform room.

He put on the grey fatigues, and hid the Kevlar vest under the shirt. Look at me, Captain Cal, he thought humorously.

The first thing on the schedule was a meeting with the military commander. The man had a buzz cut, and wore the same uniform. He introduced himself as Lt.  Paul Simon.

“So, Cal, what we’re doing here is trying to decide what you’ll do here to help keep everything in order,” Paul said. “What skills do you have?”                                       Cal listed his capabilities. He could operate a wide range of weapons, he could cook, and he could drive, amongst others.

Paul looked at a clipboard. “We have a few jobs that require your skill set. Soldiers, trainers, sentries... but I think that you’d be best in supply runs. You head into town in a team of four, and take back anything salvageable. My first choice would be trainer, but we gave the last position to a... Lyon Williams. His military experience was a point in his favour. He’s a friend of yours, isn’t he?”

“Yep.” Well, Williams teaching people. An amusing scene of Williams trying to teach a screaming toddler to throw a grenade flashed through his mind.

“Your first supply run is at twelve hundred hours. Meet your team at the garage.”

Cal left the room. He had a few hours to kill, so he decided to visit the training centre.

When he arrived, he found Williams, also in a grey uniform, facing a group of people, all about twenty or thirty. He was holding a 9mm, as were the people. The room was similar to a gym, large and with a high roof. Lamps glowed in the ceiling and walls, and a rack of guns was on one of the walls.

“To shoot, you turn off the safety. It’s the thing that looks like a switch next to the grip. Put it down to disengage it, and then turn it back on. And don’t-“

One of the guns fired, hitting a lamp in the ceiling.

“Uh... Let’s take a break. Practice reloading for a few minutes.”

The group headed to the rack, and Cal heard the distinctive click of magazines being inserted into guns.

“Looks like you’ve got a fun job,” he said as Williams walked over.

“Imagine a whole morning of this. Johnson over there -“ He pointed to a man with a straight black beard- “has shot his gun accidentally eight times. Somehow, once he left a single bullet in the gun when he took out the clip, and shot it.”                                                                                              Cal laughed quietly. “I’ve got a supply run at twelve. Are any of these guys going?”

“No, they’re all doctors and stuff like that. They get trained because it’s mandatory. They’re good guys, but when it comes to fighting...”

Jake came into the room, and Williams sent him to the group. Jake pulled a 9mm off the rack and copied what the others were doing.

“I’ve got to go before they accidentally shoot each other,” Williams said. “See you around.”

Cal left the room, but not before he heard a gunshot. “Johnson, I swear to God...” he heard Williams say.                                                                 

“Sorry!”