"Turncoats" (Nature)

=Chapter 5: Turncoats= On their journey back to Camp Leroy, Tobin’s group stopped off at a petrol station store, taking shelter from the storm for the night. Bertie had caught up with them as well.

“Oh my goodness, this used to be my favourite yogurt!” Kristina was excited to see something which she loved so much once again. Upon ripping the foil cover off of it, she put it back in the non-functioning fridge section, “Crikey, they never smelt that awful!”

“I can’t get you a yogurt, but I can give you this,” Tobin warmly approached Kristina, still acting friendly with the intention of getting her to join the camp. He offered her a soup can. “I know how to start a campfire. Could warm it up if you like. There’s a whole shelf of these,” He turned around, watching as Ellie and Emilia loaded their rucksacks with cans of soup.

“Yes… Please. I would love that,” Kristina smiled back at him, as Tobin nodded at her, heading out the back door. Kristina watched him with a comedic smile on her face.

As Tobin opened the door, he instantly stepped back inside. Kristina laughed at him, “Bit wet out there isn’t it?” It appeared Tobin had forgotten about the storm outside somehow.

Gisela and James checked the storeroom around the back of the store. “These beer crates are empty… Clearly someone’s already been through here.” James sounded surprised, but his wife evidently wasn’t, “Well, it’s been three and a half years since the apocalypse began. It would be bizarre to imagine literally no one would’ve come through here until now…” She reminded him.

“Then how is it that Ellie and Emilia can be stockpiling their bags with soup cans? Did the people who passed through here just not bother collecting such a useful resource?” James rebutted, as Gisela shrugged at him.

“You gonna trade any of this stuff?” Emilia asked Ellie, as the two women in their early 20s continued to pack the soup cans. “Nope. This stuff gives you what you need. Plus, there’s some protein powder over there,” she nodded further down the shelf, “Could be a winning combo, could not be. But whatever the outcome, I’m playing my cards this way.” Ellie finished her answer.

“I’m trading half of my cans,” Emilia revealed her plan, “Don’t know how much water they’ll be worth, but I’m going to use some of it on one of those chauffeur drivers to get me all the way to Belarus. Then, I’ll get some ‘meat’ from the Butcher, bring it back, and share it with all of you. I’m just that kind,” she joked with Ellie. While they both smiled, Ellie pointed out a flaw in Emilia’s plan. “You know, driving all the way to Belarus from here carries many dangers. There’s a reason why we buy our resources from the food truck that tours around Europe every month or so.”

Emilia was clearly unaware of this ‘food truck’, as she responded to Ellie with a look of confusion. Ellie stopped packing momentarily in order to explain, “There’s two men who drive a food truck through the entire trade route. I think one of them is the Butcher’s nephew or something. They go from Belarus to Ukraine to Romania to Hungary to Austria to Italy and finally to here, France. On the journey back they go up to Belgium, through Germany, through Poland, and finally back to Belarus. There’s at least one trader group in every country. They make a lot of profit, a lot of water, from it. They even accept corpses as payment, obviously for the Butcher that is.”

Emilia was slightly unnerved by the thought of corpses being carried around Europe in a food truck, but also understood that perhaps waiting for the food truck would be less hazardous than venturing all the way to Belarus herself.

“Look, chauffeuring is what most people do to escape this whole trading thing. Either because their sales flop, so they use their remaining resources to escape, or because someone died on them and they just can’t take it. There’s other reasons too, I’m sure. But I heard someone chauffeured all the way Azerbaijan just to escape…” Ellie was clearly cultured in European trading. Emilia seemed slightly fascinated by Ellie’s knowledge, but still, also unnerved by the thought of cannibalism…

The Following Day – 3rd October 2029

West Austria

Gwen continued to cruise on through Austria with her vehicle. She had pinned a map to her dashboard, marking out the route which she would take to get back to Camp Hackley in Southern France. However, this didn’t stop her from detouring and taking a more ‘scenic’ route.

She had decided to drive through a beautiful set of mountains in Austria, admiring the snowy tops, as well as the lush green area on the ground beneath. Half way up one of the mountains, she pulled over, and pulled out her walkie talkie.

“This is Eva, here,” Gwen faked an American accent, going by a fake name as well – This was of course to continue hiding the fact that she had faked her death.

“Not sure how many of you fine folks even listen to my broadcasts anymore… I don’t even know if you guys are still alive out there, or if you even were in the first place… But anyway, for the sake of just that one survivor who may be listening right now, I’m just some woman who shares her travels across Europe.” She paused for several moments, hoping for some sign of a listener – Even just a break in the static would be enough, but nothing came.

She continued her ‘broadcast’ nevertheless. “Right now, I find myself sitting half way up a mountain in Austria. I can’t tell you where I’ve come from or where I’m going, but I can tell you what I’m up to… I’m just admiring the snow at the top of the mountain, and then the contrast of the green woods at the bottom. Honestly, it’s beautiful. Just this sight… Looking up and then back down again… It gives me hope. The one thing that you must hold on to nowadays, is hope. Find something that you love, something that makes you feel good. Anything that makes you escape the horrors of reality. Hold on it, love it, cherish it. Gain hope from whatever it is. Because if you don’t have hope, what’s the point in living? You see, the life I’ve had... It’s enough to make anyone derail. But even after all that I’ve suffered. After everything that I’ve seen and lost, after all of it. I still have hope. I emphasise this word because that’s just how important it really is. Hope is just as important as water. You can’t survive without it. So please… To anyone out there, just hang on. Just have little bit of hope. It won’t kill you… It will do the opposite.”

She paused for several more seconds, hoping for a sign of human life on any frequency – but there was nothing.

“Alright… That’s fine… I still have hope, even if there’s no one there,” she sounded enthusiastic and – ironically – hopeless, now. “This is Eva, in Austria, signing off…” She tuned out of all frequencies, tossing the radio back into the car, sighing.

However, her face lit up again – just the sight which she was gazing her eyes upon was enough to make her feel better again. Enough to make her have hope…

In the petrol station, Tobin watched as his daughter fell asleep – the others had done so as well, except for Bertie and Kristina. Tobin watched as they had a private conversation at the front of the store.

“Look, Bert, just tell me already… What’s wrong?” Kristina looked supportive, yet confused as well, due to how upset Bertie seemed to be.

“I’ve just… I’ve been thinking,” he began. Kristina nodded, prompting him to continue his response. “Everything we did on board the Gemini… It wasn’t right. It was so, very, extremely, not right.”

Kristina brushed his arms, “Hey, Bertie, remember what we said. We’re on the ground now. We’ve been living on Earth for two and a half years. We’re not astronauts, we’re not space people, we’re humans on Earth. Everything that happened on board the Gemini is in the past. It’s time to forgive yourself and move along.” But she could tell Bertie was still deeply affected by it.

“Seth would beg to differ. As would Augustus. How about Neil? Or Byron? Or Nadia?” He listed just a few of his fellow crew members. “Bertie, if we hadn’t of thrown them out the airlock, none of us would’ve survived. Roger was cruel, he was harsh, we know that. But he also did what none of us had the guts to do.”

Still, Bertie was not on the same page as his friend. “If that’s the case, then why was Roger on the escape pod when we descended to Earth? Why didn’t he stay behind? Better yet, why didn’t he take that bitch scientist Sonia with him? Wells and Rosie would’ve been far more deserving of life; don’t you think?”

While Kristina partially agreed with him, she still didn’t disagree with what had happened to them. “Without Roger, we never would’ve physically gotten back to the ground. He was the only one on board that ship who knew how to work the escape pod. Sure, he did a crappy job at it, but we’re here and we’re alive, aren’t we?” She brushed his arm once again.

“Like it matters, Kris. Think about your best friend, Julian.” This caused Kristina to stop brushing his arm, and to look away. “He went out of that air lock as well, remember? You seriously wanted him to die over Roger?”

Kristina turned back at him in a sudden, but kept her tone low, “No, of course not… But Julian gave up his life so that I could live. That’s why I refused to die… I would never want to put his sacrifice in vain. Wells and Rosie opted to stay on board the Station. If they killed themselves up there, then they also saved themselves. If they tried surviving up there, that’s their problem. They’re most likely dead by now anyway. All we have to focus on now, Bertie, is ourselves. Sonia and Roger could be anywhere in Europe. It’s just us two now, and it’s been that way for some time…” She turned to face Tobin, who was watching her on the other side of the store with a smile on his face.

“But not anymore…” She smiled back at him, while still talking to Bertie.

Bertie noticed their interaction, but was suspicious of Tobin’s group still. “Kristina, why do you think Annabelle referred to them as… Turncoats, I believe she called them. Why would she lie about that? Whatever Camp Leroy is, I’m not so convinced that it’s as good a place as you think, Kris. You really trust that guy? Tobin is a creep!” He tried to warn her, but she was ignoring him.

“Allow me to remind you,” Kristina turned back to face Bertie, “Annabelle was the one who held me at gunpoint. She was the one who left you to die on the road to one of the Reapers. Do you really trust that girl?” Once again, Kristina used her tactic of mimicking people’s words in a debate.

“Tobin’s lot didn’t really step up to help me out either, so by that logic, they’re exactly the same as Annabelle…” He could tell that his words weren’t getting through to Kristina, “Alright, alright then. Fine! We’ll stay with them. But if we come across Annabelle again, even for a single second, I’m joining her side. Got that?” He tried acting big, but he was clearly still afraid underneath.

“Yes, sir,” Kristina played along just to make him feel better.

When Tobin’s group finally awoke that morning, the storm was still going on outside. “Crikey! Is it still raining?” Tobin struggled to open his eyes, as he looked outside of the store window. “No cars outside. All the petrol pumps off their racks… Clearly someone’s raided this place before us.” He pointed out, but everyone was already aware of this.

Bertie sat away from the rest of the group, wary of them all – even his long-time friend Kristina. On board the Gemini, they had barely even interacted with each other. It wasn’t until their descent to Earth which they had really gotten to know each other.

Everyone jumped as lighting struck the store. Things flew off shelves, as the already-destroyed lights on the ceiling dropped as well. Emilia screamed slightly, crawling back into the corner of the room.

“Is everybody alright? Ellie?” Tobin turned around, everyone appeared to be ok – except one.

“Tobin! Help him!” Gisela held her husband in his arms – One of the lightbulb beams had fallen and smashed on his head, glass shards surrounding. “James! James, can you hear me?” Tobin leant down at James’ side while Gisela held him still. Tobin put two fingers against James’ throat, “He’s breathing. He’s got a pulse. He’s alive,” He reassured Gisela, as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Noticing this interaction, Bertie clenched his fists. He was annoyed that the only people dying on him were the ones he cared about…