In the Aftermath: Burning of the Dawn Read online

  In due time, Daniel made his return to the living room and took his place on the mattress. He lay down on the impromptu bed with his M14 rifle by his side. He unloaded the weapon and tucked the magazines beneath the mattress. In the nearby storeroom, Daniel could see that Clarissa had already fallen asleep lying peaceful next to her daughters. Maria quietly spoke to her sister while devotedly keeping her alive. Daniel couldn’t quite hear what she was saying; not that it would’ve done him much good as she was not speaking English. She briefly smiled at him then went back to her one-way conversation with Vita. Soon after that, Daniel closed his eyes and drifted into a dreadful slumber.

  The images were fleeting; moments from a recent time in Daniel’s life. The clear vision of his appalling scars had reignited them. Over the cloudy images was a voice, a narrator of sorts, Daniel’s voice. He was explaining where those horrible weapons had come from. “As standard explosives proved to be more-or-less useless against the Sayona, what remained of the military tried something else: the Dresden initiative. The white phosphorus grenades didn’t fare much better, unfortunately. The beasts didn’t care much for the blast of light that the bombs omitted, but the poisonous smoke and 5000 degree heat only proved to be a minor irritant at best. The phosphorus plan was soon abandoned. The fire-fueled mortars and grenades were just left for anyone to take. That’s probably how they got them.” To who Daniel was speaking in his subconscious mind was himself mostly. He spoke as if others were listening, though obviously nobody was. As the sound of his voice tapered away, a visual came into focus: a brief, terrible moment that played in complete silence. A young girl was in a creek; she was on fire, yet the water would not quench the flames. Daniel was burning, too, but he was focused on saving that girl. He tried to warn her, but she was too panicked to hear him, and he was wearing something that muffled his voice – a respirator. As Daniel neared the girl she turned and looked to him. The fire was all over her, yet her face was still clear; her eyes were solid white. Suddenly she went beneath the water’s surface, she did so on purpose. The terrified girl never stopped burning.

  Daniel awoke with a slight gasp. He glanced over to the storeroom. Maria had not noticed him and her mother remained asleep. “Good,” he spoke quietly. “That could’ve been a whole lot worse.” Daniel had been victim to much more dramatic awakenings than that. Sometimes when he awoke from a violent sleep he would find himself in a completely different room than the one he had previously lain down in; occasionally he would even be on his feet. Clarissa was already wary enough of him; Daniel didn’t want her to think that he’d lost his mind and give her even more reason to distrust him. He lay quietly for a few moments more before removing the rifle clips he had stashed beneath the mattress. He reloaded the M14 and left it lying in the bed. Daniel then rose from the mattress – his hands lightly trembling.

  “Hey,” whispered Maria. “How was naptime?”

  “Good,” Daniel answered. It was mostly the truth, by his standards. “How long was I out?”

  “Quite a while.”

  “Sorry, guess I was a more tired than I realized.”

  “Nonsense, you deserved a rest.”

  “Thanks,” Daniel spoke as he staggered over to the storeroom. “You want me to take over for a while?”

  “Just for sec’,” Maria replied with a wincing grin. “I really have to pee.”

  Daniel took over for Maria and stayed on the job as Vita’s giver of breath even after her sister had returned. Maria sat in the doorway and ate some of Daniel’s smoked elk meat as she spoke with him. Daniel mostly just listened. Maria told him about her life before the war and the happy home that she and her family shared. She also told him about the trips to Ireland that her family took every summer. According to Maria’s version of the story, her father’s family did not just tolerate Clarissa, they adored her. They informed Clarissa on many occasions that she was far too good of a woman for their trivial son/brother, in a jesting manner – mostly.

  It was a little after noon when Clarissa finally awoke. She finished off the egg and bacon breakfast Daniel had made earlier that morning and then took over caring for Vita. Clarissa wanted to change Vita into some different clothing and also rehydrate her in the process. She would require Maria’s help for these tasks. Maria dutifully obliged. Daniel, meanwhile, sought to make himself scarce while Clarissa and Maria accomplished their responsibilities to Vita. It was good timing as Daniel had a plan of his own that he wanted to put into effect.

  While Clarissa and Maria were busy attending to Vita, Daniel wired up a radio from his electronics room to pick up the audio from four microphones. He positioned his transceiver antenna onto the roof of his house and wired it to hook up with the radio through the upstairs bedroom window. After he had accomplished that task, Daniel went and hid the four microphones in selected areas of his town. He could not see the town from his house, which made it difficult to tell if the Sayona had decided to make a stealthy visit. Plus, watching for the Sayona was dangerous in itself: the slightest light reflecting in the human eye could easily catch their attention. Now Daniel didn’t have to watch, he could listen.

  There was still enough daylight left after Daniel and the Hannigans had finished their tasks, so Daniel prepared yet another freeze-dried meal for Maria and Clarissa. This time their entree was macaroni and cheese; again, Maria’s choice. As usual, Maria and Daniel ate first and then handed over what was left to Clarissa, who ate while still operating Vita’s breathing apparatus. With what daylight remained, Maria decided to go snooping around in Daniel’s house. Daniel had no qualms with Maria satisfying her curiosity, but he did advise caution if she decided to wander into the storeroom upstairs. Clarissa okayed Maria’s nosiness as well, but instructed her daughter to stay out of the upstairs storeroom unless she or Daniel was there to accompany her.

  Maria had little interest in the upstairs rooms. The place she really wanted to explore was Daniel’s electronics cache. The smart glasses Daniel had previously given to her had come from this crowded room and she was eager to see what other items of interest he had procured over time. Maria was hesitant to try many of the items. She feared she’d only drain down Daniel’s batteries for trivial purposes. He told her it was fine and that they were easily recharged, but she declined nevertheless. One item that did stand out to her was a digital drawing canvas. Maria had one of these of her own in times past. She adored drawing and was very good at it. She and her sister use to create their own graphic novels: Vita would do the majority of the writing and Maria would draw the pictures. She liked to mix western noir settings with characters modeled on a manga style of art. It had been a long time since Maria had drawn anything. Without a proper working computer, the digital drawing pad was not of much use. However, with a little more inspecting on her part, Maria managed to uncover an actual old-school 16 inch by 12 inch sketchpad. She hadn’t used anything involving actual paper since she was in the second grade. She presumed that, with a little effort on her part, she would reacquire the skill in due time. That being said, she wasn’t going to be drawing anything without a device to actually draw things with.

  Any pen or pencil would have sufficed, yet Daniel bestowed upon Maria a 120 piece set of colored pencils he had stashed in his tool and appliance room. Daniel was no artist, but he knew the value and quality of the item and, therefore, brought it with him to one day put it to some proper use. That day never came, until now. Maria was more accustomed to digitally representing her art, so the sheer number of color choices proved to be a little more overwhelming than it was impressive. Color selections seemed much easier on a monitor than it did in a plastic box. Still, Maria was very happy. There was not enough daylight left for her to start any art projects, so she stored her art items in an unoccupied corner of the living room and then made a quick trip to her car to obtain the digital glasses Daniel had previously given to her.

  Maria found her smart glasses and switched them on as soon as she returned to the house. She sat d
own on the mattress and waved Daniel over to her location. He took a seat next to her as she cycled through the various items on the glasses’ display. Eventually, she located what she was looking for. It was the map she had found two days earlier that showed the extent of the Sayona territories around all of the major cities – with two glaring exceptions.

  “What does this mean?” Maria asked as she handed the glasses over to Daniel.

  Daniel had seen the map before on multiple occasions. He knew the Sayona’s fondness for major cities and their patterns of exploration, so he never thought to pay the map that much attention. “It’s all the places the Sayona have taken over,” Daniel glumly replied. “The extreme danger zones.”

  “Yeah, but look at Las Vegas and L.A.,” Maria exclaimed. “There’re no colored circles around ‘em.”

  “No, I guess there aren’t.” Daniel spoke; he did not seem very enthused by this revelation. “They might not’ve yet fallen to the Sayona when this map was last updated.”

  “You think the Sayona have them now?” Maria inquired.

  “More than likely, yeah, they do.” Daniel answered. He was sorry to be potentially bringing down Maria’s spirits, but he preferred to do that rather than give her what he deemed to be unrealistic hope.

  “You’re not positive though?”

  “I don’t know it to be a fact, no, but I’m not holding out a lot of hope.”

  “San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix… they’ve all been taken by the Sayona. Kinda odd that L.A. and Las Vegas didn’t make the cut, don’t ya think?”

  “Sure, it’s a little odd, but they probably just resisted a little longer than the others. The Sayona don’t give in very easily…” Daniel felt a coldness. “They don’t give in at all actually. The cities are theirs by now, I’m sure.”

  “Well, that’s your expert opinion,” Maria quipped, little fazed by Daniel’s pessimism. “I choose to remain optimistic! My opinion might be naïve, but what can I say? I haven’t given up on hope just yet, unlike the rest of you buzzkills.”

  “Then the world owes you a debt, my dear,” declared Daniel.

  Maria joined her mother and sister in the storeroom. Night was coming and it was time to go into hiding again. Daniel closed the girls in and made his way up to the second floor. He headed directly into his bedroom and switched on the radio. Daniel used one of his many knives to cut loose an earphone from its twin. He then taped the wire with electrical tape to avoid shocking himself and then discarded the now useless half. He placed the still useful half into his right ear and listened for the sounds coming from any of the four microphones he had dispersed throughout his town. The left ear Daniel kept vacant in order to better hear sounds more closer to home, or from inside his home. Daniel sat quietly, listening attentively to the dark, outside world. Once again, the town was silent.

  V–Day + 580: Los Angeles, California.

  Sitting idly upon the Golden State Freeway, just north of Griffith Park, two small pickup trucks waited in the early morning chill. This was outside of the designated safe zone, but the four individuals occupying the vehicles were not strangers to this area. Both trucks were running, but one of them was currently empty of any occupants. The empty truck’s driver was standing by the driver’s side door of the other truck containing the other three individuals, who were only moments away from departing on a perilous expedition. In the back of the truck containing the three adventurers was a pale, blue tarp covering a stash of radio equipment and other various devices necessary for their mission. The intended destination of this equipment was Walnut Grove: 360 plus miles to the north of Los Angeles. Walnut Grove was the first stage of this trip; the second stage was a 1200 mile journey east to the town of Hoyt, Colorado.

  The three men partaking in this journey to the north and then to the east were a multiracial conglomerate of IT specialists and electronic engineers: Raymond Lacroix (African-American), Ian Zhang (Chinese-American) and Hernando de Las Casas (Mexican-American). All three men were in their mid-to-late twenties; although information and technology were their fortes, they were all proven survivors as well. The leading orchestrator of this trip was staying behind, but she was still there to send the three men off. Dinah Ortega was an unofficial leader in the Los Angeles area. She planned to go with the others, but a shortage of space and Ortega’s importance to the city itself made her going more of a liability than an asset in the long run, even though her survivalist skills and fighting prowess were renowned throughout the state. The Sayona had significantly reduced the number of Los Angelenos after the war, but there were still more than ten-thousand survivors holding out in the greater Los Angeles area. Most of those ten-thousand survivors stayed in the safe zone, which was nearly seventy-five square miles in size and included central Los Angeles and most of West Hollywood.

  Soon enough, Raymond, Ian, and Hernando were off on their journey to the north in the hope that the tallest communication towers in the state were still standing. Dinah was left standing in the early morning glow of the rising sun in the east and the glimmer of Los Angeles to the southwest. For now, the glimmer of the city was overpowering the glow of the sun. Obstructing the Sayona’s takeover of Los Angeles was complex, yet simple: keep the lights on. No shadows in the safe zone. Dinah was outside of the safe zone, but the Sayona had ceased their prowling for the night. Keep them safe, she silently prayed. Keep them safe and let them be successful. There were other survivors across the country. Dinah knew they were out there somewhere and she knew that most of them were looking for a safe haven, or at least something resembling one. Her goal was to give them that; to guide them across California, and to warn them of the terrible threats waiting in nearby Nevada. The Sayona were not the only threat out there, or the cruelest.

  Dinah looked to the east to where the city was still dark. With a few blinks of her eyes she attuned her vision to look for heat sources through a refined black and white image. She found none. Another few blinks attuned her vision again; this time to see through a monochrome green image that allowed her to see in the shadows. They weren’t as effective as the Sayona’s, but Dinah’s eyes were still more than capable of dealing with the darkness. She wasn’t looking for the beasts anyway; she wasn’t looking for anything in particular. She only observed the city that she adored so much, in both the light and the dark. Dinah made three quick, consecutive blinks to bring up an optical display in her right eye. She made note of the exact date and time and calculated the estimated time-of-return of her friends. It only calculated the distance, however; it did not factor in the dangers… humans and monsters were not so easily assessed. Dinah double-blinked to close the display and then zoomed-in her vision to watch the distant sunrise in its natural beauty. The alien enemies who attacked her home might have annihilated most of Earth’s technologies, but the technology within Dinah was not so easily extinguished.

  Back in Western Pennsylvania, the sun was well above the horizon and Daniel and the Hannigans were all awake. Daniel and Maria had looked after Vita in the early hours while Clarissa slept. Clarissa was awake now and had taken back her role as caregiver. Daniel had concocted another plan to better prepare for a possible visit from the Sayona. He had removed the many lights he had mounted onto his truck and now planned to mount them onto his house instead. The lights would only be switched on if absolutely necessary. This countermeasure would be mildly effective at best, but mild was better than nothing. Plus, it gave Daniel something to do to help keep his mind somewhat free from the fact that Vita had entered her third day of total paralysis with no signs of improvement. Maria played the role of Daniel’s assistant.

  The front door was unlocked and left open so that Maria and Daniel could hear Clarissa if she needed their assistance. Daniel installed the lights around the second floor of the house, knowing that the Sayona could easily dispatch them the closer they were to the ground. They could get to them on the second floor, too, but Daniel would make that mission a little tougher on the beasts if it came
down to it. Maria stayed on the ground to hand Daniel whatever items he might need, and also to listen for her mother

  Like Daniel, Clarissa’s worries mounted the longer Vita stayed paralyzed. Her free hand consistently stayed at her daughter’s neck now, continuously monitoring her pulse. Vita’s pulse was normal; she showed no signs of getting worse, yet she showed no signs of getting better either. Clarissa removed her hand from her daughter’s neck and, instead, took Vita by the hand. She kept her timing on the resuscitator bag, but stared away from her daughter. Seeing Vita in this state was painful. The question of what she would do if she lost her daughter often entered Clarissa’s mind, but she never bothered to answer it. She still had another daughter who desperately needed her. But how could she live without Vita? And how could Maria go on without her sister?

  “We can’t do it, Vita-bella,” Clarissa tenderly spoke. “We can’t go on without you.”

  As Clarissa fought to keep her fretful mind from answering or even asking these horrible questions, something unexpected stunned her into a mental stillness. In that instant, her debilitated daughter altered her bleak line of questioning. Clarissa was flummoxed for a moment; her world seemed briefly surreal, yet she felt it as clearly as she had ever felt anything: Vita’s hand had moved. Clarissa repressed any enthusiasm; the movement in her daughter’s hand might not have been voluntary. Clarissa had to be sure. She wasted no time in confirming what she already knew was true.

  “Vita, my baby…” Clarissa spoke as she tightly gripped her daughter’s hand. “Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”