Aftermath: A Post-Apocalyptic Disaster Thriller by Harley Tate

Author:Harley Tate [Tate, Harley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

DAPHNE

“Show us your hands!” A man in utilities pointed at Daphne with his rifle. His cover shielded his eyes from view, but the set of his jaw was firm and unyielding.

Daphne lifted her hands by her sides. Jocelyn whimpered beside her.

Samuel raised his arms and called out from the back seat. “We don’t mean any harm, sir.”

“Why didn’t you respond to air control?” The guard addressed his question to Daphne sitting in the pilot’s seat.

“The—the radio doesn’t work,” she stammered.

The guard stepped forward in a shuffling motion as he kept the rifle trained on her center mass. “Were you aware this entire area is restricted access?”

“What? No. We’re—” Daphne turned back to glance at Samuel. When she hesitated, the guard reached up and yanked the door open. Daphne recoiled.

Another soldier advanced, gun trained on her, as the one who’d done the talking slung his rifle behind him and reached out. He wrapped his hand around her arm and tugged, half pulling her out of the plane’s seat.

“Wait, stop, ouch—I can do it,” she finally pleaded. “Please, I’ll cooperate. We all will.”

The soldier stepped back, allowing Daphne, Samuel, and Jocelyn to step out from the plane. The three of them huddled together trembling, almost cowering, as the soldiers surrounded them in a half-circle.

“Where did you find out about this airstrip?” The one seemingly in charge spoke again.

“We—we didn’t,” Daphne stammered. “We just found it from the air. We were looking for a place to land.”

“Why here?”

“We were trying to reach Ellensburg. The large FEMA shelter.” Daphne wrung her hands together. “That’s where we are, right? We guessed right?” Tears welled behind her eyes, blurring her vision.

“Why there?”

“My husband and daughter are there. They were looking for me in Bellevue, but they went to the shelter hoping I’d be there. We all survived—” She glanced at her friends. “The quake and the water and were trying to reach the shelter when our bus crashed—”

“Was attacked,” Samuel interjected.

“Right.” Daphne swallowed and kept talking, rushing the words out. “We were attacked so we didn’t want to ride another one, so we set off in a truck, but then it ran out of gas and—”

The soldier held up a hand. “So you’re refugees.”

“Y—yes.”

For the first time, the man looked her over, gaze pausing for a long moment on her dirty, bloodstained feet. “And you escaped the quake and the tsunami.”

She tried to smooth down a tangled clump of hair. “Yes.”

“Do you have any weapons?”

“No.” Daphne shook her head. “We don’t even have food.”

“Or shoes,” Samuel offered.

“Alright.” The soldier motioned for everyone to lower their rifles. Jocelyn visibly relaxed beside Daphne as the men around them eased.

“Hawthorne, get a people hauler and escort these civilians to the Ellensburg triage area.”

“Yes, sir.” One of the men a few steps away turned and began to jog across the airstrip.

“Where are we going?” Jocelyn squeaked.

“We’ll transport you via a National Guard vehicle to intake at Ellensburg.” He paused for a long moment, appraising their sorry state again. “Looks like you all could do with some medical treatment.

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