The Species Imperative: A Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Fantasy by Nick Storming

Author:Nick Storming [Storming, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fractured Press
Published: 2020-10-13T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

We were putting together six packs, sorting out what we would need when Loren and Allison came back down. The four of us packed up food and loaded up weapons and magazines as the boat pushed on farther north.

In the late afternoon, Nadia was awake and moving around the vessel slowly. The first thing she did was head down to our prisoner and begin interrogating her. The woman didn't know much, having spent the past couple months puttering around the coast, but she was able to pass along some valuable information.

The different branches of the military had each formed their own factions in the wake of society’s collapse. In the bay area that was the Coast Guard and the Air Force, down south, it was the Marines and the Navy. Chaos had erupted in the densely populated bay area, with dozens of factions warring for food and territory.

The military had tried to restore order, but from what Nadia could gather, that order had come in the form of brutal dictatorships. None of the military factions were powerful enough to overcome the disparate threats. They had formed a loose confederate, with the officers and ultimate leaders having an uneasy truce among themselves as they fought for control of the entire region.

The University in Berkley had been the staging ground for a faction of intellectuals and scientists. It had been overrun a week before by the Air Force, who had taken the women at the campus. The prisoner didn’t know more than that no matter how hard Nadia pressed her.

We made great time heading north up the coast, the cutter far better at handling rough seas than our last boat. It was early in the afternoon by the time Vanessa cut inland and found us an isolated stretch of coast.

What to do with our prisoner was a difficult question, but in the end, we left her aboard the boat, shackled near the radio with a couple of weeks of food and water. Eventually, one of the Confederacy ships would pass by, and she could signal them.

Each of us shouldered a pack and started hiking inland as soon as we could. I found it a great relief to have solid ground beneath my feet once again. The boat had been great, but I’d never lost my anxiety that something might go wrong out on the broad ocean.

It was rough going to climb out of the sand and dunes, but once we were under the coastal trees, the hiking was easier. We took our time, making sure Nadia didn't overwork herself and pull her stitches. It was just beginning to get dark out when we found a small clearing and set up camp. The women put up the large tent as I boiled water and got the MRE’s heated. We’d settled into a comfortable routine over the past couple nights, and within thirty minutes, we were eating a hot meal inside the slowly warming interior of the tent.

Allison checked on Nadia’s wound after the meal, over the large blonde’s protests that she was fine.

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