"Radius"

Waking up in tents had become a practice Annabelle was very much familiar with. Especially after the amount of time she had spent with Andy and Erica over the past year. Except this time, she awoke to see Keith and Cora next to her. All that she could see in her mind was the vision of Erica and Andy; one of which she may never see again, and the other she definitely will never see again. Unable to take it, she stepped outside.

They had camped out on the side of a small mountain – it was too steep to class a hill, but nowhere near tall enough to be a proper mountain. She inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet scent of the fresh open air. Again, she had made certain the group camped near the sea; this way, Annabelle could fish for her and her two new comrades. But firstly, she needed to find a rod. Luckily for her however, there was a line of shops along a beach not too far from where they were camped, she could see it over the small mountain. Looking back to make sure the other two were still asleep, she made the climb over in order to acquire three fishing rods.

Surprisingly, the shop did not appear to have been raided already. Instead, there was an entire basket of fishing rods still standing. Rather than lugging three all the way back to the tent, she decided to wheel the basket which the rods were in all the way down to the edge of the beach.

“Wake up you two! It’s time to get breakfast!” She nudged them slightly to get them up. While at first they groaned and ignored her, Annabelle’s persistence eventually made them get up.

They sat along a short fishing pier extending off the beach. The more Annabelle taught Keith and Cora how to fish, the more she felt like Erica. This came with consequences however, as it kept reminding her of Andy and their little fishing competitions…

''… “Who’s going to pull it off? Will Andy make a shocking comeback, or will Annabelle take another victory?” Erica was acting overenthusiastically, treating it like a professional sporting match. “Oh, and what’s this? Annabelle has just reeled in yet another fish! You’ve got two more minutes Andy; you may want to hurry up!” Although he found Erica’s enthusiasm cringe-worthy, he did indeed reel his rod back up a lot faster. “I’ve got a big one! Christ! I think my rod is actually pulling me in, and not the other way around!” It was astonishing how they could still afford to relax and have competitive fun in the apocalypse…''

… “Annabelle? Aren’t you gonna reel it back up?” Cora noticed she appeared to be daydreaming. “Huh? Oh,” She had snapped back to reality, “OH! Yes!” Keith and Cora had noticed her rod jangling about, indicating something was on it. Annabelle desperately reeled it back in. When the hook resurfaced, it was empty. The bag of bait had been opened, the contents stolen. “Come on teacher, even I’m doing better than you!” Cora joked, “Three fish in my bucket already, and you’ve just got one?” She laid her net down, “You know what you’re doing then. Keep doing it. I’ll be back in a minute,” She acted as though she was fine, but then walked off to be alone.

She went back into the shop, trying to convince not just Keith and Cora, but herself as well, that she was going to find some more bait. She sat down on the floor, slouching against the shop counter, reverting back into a daydream…

''… “Can we stop now? I can’t walk any further! My feet are killing me big time!” Annabelle complained like a young child. “You can stop when we get there. And before you ask, we’re still not there yet,” Erica coincidentally responded like a fed-up parent. “Wait,” Andy put his hand up, prompting the two women to stop. “Get down!” They all crouched, “Get against this wall!” They obeyed and shifted over, “What did you see?” Erica whispered to him. “I think I saw someone! A living, breathing, someone!” Erica pulled up her knife, “If he or she is a menace, I’ll deal with it. Wait here,” Erica snuck off in front of the wall. Andy looked back to Annabelle, “She’s mad isn’t she?!” The confused look on Andy’s face would stick in her mind forever…''

 

…Annabelle’s memories of Andy were jumbled up, and in no chronological order. She looked around the cold, empty and dark shop which she was in. “How did it ever come to this?” She quietly asked herself. “You let it come to this…” A familiar voice said. Turning to her right, a hallucination of Andy was slouched next to her. “Mummy’s little princess,” he echoed her final words to him. “I wish you were real. So direly.” Annabelle looked at him sorrowfully. “You feel guilt… But not for murdering me,” the hallucination voiced Annabelle’s darkest thoughts. “You feel guilt for regretting that you did what you did. That in turn makes you feel even more guilt for being such a bad person.” She looked away from ‘him’. “There are many levels of guilt. All of them correlate to something I did”.

“Something you did?” A second familiar voice said. She looked up, noticing Elliot standing in front of her, looking down. ‘He’ moved next to her, sliding down to slouch against the counter with her – the vision of Andy had gone. “We’ve all done things Annabelle. Some we’re proud of, some we’re not. It doesn’t matter which category it falls under, you just have to accept it and move on.” She looked over at him, “I have. I refuse to guilt-trip myself in the form of you.” She knew they were her own hallucinations, but that made no difference. “You have moved on, have you? In that case, why do you still have flashbacks to the time you spent with Andy? Why do you have dreams every single night about him?” She remembered that lying to her own thoughts was impossible, “I can’t move on. Everyone’s gone now. The people I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with, you’re all gone. All of you.”

“And whose fault is that?” Now, the most recognisable voice of all appeared to scold her: It was her mother. “It’s mine. I know it is…” The hallucination of Gwen didn’t sit next to her however, instead she stood in front of her daughter, looking down. “You failed me, Annabelle. You failed your father, Annabelle. You failed Andy, Annabelle.” Annabelle scrunched her face up, “Annabelle is my name! It is my name! There’s no laws preventing me from randomly changing it now. I refuse to even acknowledge you named me something different.” She stood up, making challenging eye contact with her ‘mum’.

Concerned for their friend, Keith and Cora entered the store. “Annabelle?” He walked over to her, noticing her unusual expression, “What’s wrong dear?” She was completely frozen, still looking where the hallucination of Gwen had stood. “Hello?” He waved his hand in front of her, but she non-responsive. He turned back to Cora, “Looks like she’s in shock from something. We need to try and lay her down. Give me a hand,” Cora went over, “Lay her down on the counter.” Although Annabelle wasn’t responding to them, she had processed those words, throwing her back to the time when Olivia was shot…

 

''… In the pharmacy, Annabelle looked down at Olivia helplessly, hoping she would wake up. “Reed,” she looked up at him, sitting on the other side of the counter. “What do we do if… you know; she stops?” He shrugged, “Just keep checking her pulse and don’t worry about that.” But Annabelle couldn’t help her fears, “How do we break that kind of news to Elliot? Will he ever be able to forgive us?” Reed didn’t care too much for her predicament. “This is the apocalypse, Annabelle. People are going to die, even if we detest such a thought. The quicker we can accept, the quicker we can be prepared to lose someone. Elliot needs to realise that, if he doesn’t, then it’s not our fault. We did the best we could.” She looked back down at Olivia, “The best we could… By which you mean, just sitting here taking her pulse every minute?” He nodded, “Yes. You’re not Erica, I’m not Erica. You’re not Tina, I’m not Tina. What else are we meant to do?” She smiled slightly, “I guess you’re right…”''

 

…She jumped up, rolling off the counter unknowingly. “Annabelle! Keith, help me!” Cora asked for his help with getting Annabelle back up, “You alright?” They placed her down on the counter, assisting her with sitting upright. Annabelle looked between them with blank expressions, “Yes…” She was still slightly unresponsive. Cora and Keith looked to each other, concerned.

Outside the store, Keith had given Cora his verdict. “She’s suffering from PTSD. Her unresponsiveness, her blank expressions and answers, I’d imagine that she’s seeing things in her mind. Think about it, we don’t know what she’s been through since I last saw her in London. That was a long time ago, remember.” Cora looked down shamefully, “She told me my mum was ok… I never asked her about hers’.” Cora jumped to a conclusion, “I reckon she’s dead.” But Keith wasn’t so certain, “She told me that Andy and Vincent had died. She didn’t mention her mother, or anyone else. I know that she was fond of Andy and Andy was fond of her. I remember he told me that one night when we were playing card games. If they were really that close, I suppose it’s possible his death is what’s shaken her up a bit.” Cora nodded understandingly, “Should we get her back to the tent?” He looked at her sitting upright on the counter, staring blankly into nothing, “Yes, good idea. Give me a hand with her…”

“You sure you can carry her?” Cora could see Keith slightly struggling with Annabelle in his arms, “Positive,” he had to strain to get that answer out, leading Cora to laughing internally. “What the heck is that?” Keith stopped abruptly, noticing a large grey mass up ahead. “That wasn’t there before, was it?” They quickly ducked into the tent, placing Annabelle down, “Cora, wait with her,” She obeyed, crouching next to Annabelle.

Keith picked up a stick, and slowly approached the grey mass. He lent in and poked it several times. When it did not react, he moved around it, noticing the two ends of whatever the mass was. With his stick, he nudged one end, revealing a curled up tail underneath, ‘What kind of animal has a tail that big? He thought to himself. He then nudged the other end of the mass with the stick, revealing a set of whiskers, ‘Oh this cannot be what I think it is!’ He noticed a small opening, prising it open with the stick. When it opened all the way, his face was overcome with shock and horror – there were four teeth incisors, two on the bottom and two on the top. ''‘Rat teeth? No, surely not!'' As he poked the middle section of the creature, it rolled over lifelessly. It was indeed what Keith suspected it to be: A large perhaps nine-foot big rat, now lying on its’ back, brandishing its’ two incisors.

“Cora…” He was slightly terrified by the giant dead rat in front of him. “Cora!” He called to her, as she jumped out of the tent. When she too noticed it was a giant right, she covered her mouth in fright. “How is that even possible!” Her words were muffled by her hands.

Inside the tent, Keith and Cora had two major problems: Annabelle’s health, and giant rats. “Keith, did I really just see that?” Cora was still horrified by the sight, “I’m afraid so. What’s even more terrifying is that there’s only one way this could’ve happened…” She looked at him, prompting an answer. “You remember that bright flash you saw yesterday evening? I told you it was nothing, but I think I know what it was now – a bomb.” She looked sceptically at him. “Here me out. When the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, survivors reported seeing bright flashes followed by immense pain and itching. You said needed to scratch your leg, right?” She nodded, beginning to see where he was going, “The tent only slightly protected us from the fallout. Some of it still seeped in. I mean, what else could cause a tiny rat to suddenly size up into some enormous being twice the size of us, other than Radiation…”

-This chapter was originally entitled "Rodent" in reference to the deceased gigantic rat at the end of the chapter. However, the writer felt it to be 'too stock' of a title, and switched to something equally meaningful to the story.
 * The actual title, "Radius", is referring to the "Radius" of land which has been affected by Sierra's nuclear missile - The radiation has spread all the way to England.