BEFORE AND AFTER: A Short Story (Dystopia Sci-Fi)  

An old newspaper, yellow and crinkled, drifted along just above the hot pavement. An unusual gust of wind blew it onward each time it fluttered to a stop. Its peaceful dance was cut short, however, when a heavy black boot landed on top of it, pinning it to the ground. A long slender arm reached down and picked up the paper to examine it. The owner of both the boot and the slender arm was a woman they called Mitz, a ranking member of the Medicore Retrieval Unit. 

“New York City, October 20th 2018,” she read aloud. So, they were in the right place. It was the 12th major city they had been to in the last 2 years, saved for last because it just seemed too obvious according to their unit leader, Ellis. 

“That was just about a week before shit really hit the fan,” Ellis said, walking up behind the woman. 

“As I recall from history class,” Mitz answered smugly. It was a jab at his age. She loved reminding him how youthful she was, especially when she caught him staring at her when he thought no one was paying attention. In all honestly, she was actually quite taken with him. She loved men in charge and his attempt to keep things professional just made her all that more determined. 

“Aw Mitz, what the hell are you wearing?” Ellis, who was actually only 37 years old, spent a little too long checking out the outfit Mitz had scavenged up. She said she was going to grab some new clothes but he wasn’t expecting this. Her tall lean body was clad in some kind of military-ish getup that included black bikini bottoms and knee high leather black boots. He shook his head to bring himself back into focus.

“What? I told you I needed a new uniform.” Mitz smiled and turned away from him before he could see the giddiness in her eyes. She thrust one boot slightly in front of the other and jutted her hip to the side, trying to look like a girl she saw in an old magazine once. 

“That is not a uniform Mitz. That’s a Halloween costume.” 

“A Hallo-what? I found it in that building over there.” She tried to look busy checking out a pile of crumpled cloth wedge between the street and sidewalk. 

Ellis followed the direction of her pointing finger to see what was left of a department store. In the broken window hung a sign with an orange pumpkin on it that said, “Huge Sale On Spider Webs and Vampire Teeth!” 

“Regardless, find something else to wear. Preferably something with pants,” he added. 

Mitz let out a frustrated sigh and walked away without looking back. She poked at some boxes on the side of the road with the tip of her gun. Her outfit wasn’t practical, she knew that, but it was freaking hot! Besides, she knew she looked damn good. 

“Just get to work Mitz, start by checking out all the locations on your list then go see what you can do to help set up camp for tonight.”

Mitz waved her arm up in the air in a half salute, too mad at him to speak. 

Ellis chuckled a little bit as he got back to work himself. It was hard to be mad at her; she was born AFTER. All the kids that were born AFTER were a little self-centered and naive. They hadn’t had the same upbringing or the same exposure to the world that everyone else had and because their generation would reshape the world, they were a little catered to as well. They had no reason to respect authority, or rather, they had no reference to what that type of respect really meant. 

The few AFTER kids on his team were actually being made to work as part of a training program in case a police force needed to be organized in the future. That seemed unlikely to Ellis though, as things had been pretty peaceful ever since Medicore took over. 

Ellis looked ahead at the long empty road. It used to be called a “highway” and a person wouldn’t have dared to stand in the middle of it like that or they would have been hit by a car. The only vehicles that utilized the roads now though were large Jeeps and Trucks owned by Medicore and they were few and far between in these abandoned cities. 

Mitz skipped her locations and went straight to find the rest of the team. The entire mission was incredibly useless. There was no way they were going to find one little leather bound journal that had been hidden away, on purpose no less, in any one of dozens of large cities. But, that was what they were tasked to do. Mitz longed to be back home, where everything was green and beautiful and everyone treated her a little bit like royalty. These old cities were just hollow shells, empty frameworks of what used to pass for culture and innovation. Here they were surrounded by nothing but grey dilapidated buildings and lonely empty streets filled with old trash. Depressing. 

She came upon two other AFTER kids and one old timer; really, he was even older than Ellis which made him pretty senior in Mitz’s eyes. They were huddled together, reading something and talking in low voices. 

“Ugh, are you reading? For the love of God, find something useful to do.” Mitz could find no good use for reading and history, not when Medicore made everything so easy for them. Things were organized and simple back home, very little actual thought required, just the way she liked it. 

Flynn, Rider and the old timer, Vaughn, looked up at her and paused their conversation. Mitz roughly snatched the newspaper Flynn was holding and looked at with skepticism, her neatly manicured eye brows tilting inward as she read the headline. 

“You know the newspapers were just full of lies anyway,” she said, tossing the foul thing aside. 

“It’s about the epidemic Mitz, it says that many parties thought the virus was man-made because it was . . .”

Mitz held up her hand close to Flynn’s face to silence her. “Pandemic,” Mitz corrected, “and we don’t have time for tales of yore today. Day one in a new city, you know we need to set up camp before it gets dark.” 

Vaughn picked up the newspaper page and shoved it into his backpack, and then he hoisted up his rather large rifle onto his shoulder. His face was lightly creased around the eyes and mouth but he was at least mildly good looking which hid his true age. 

“You all are too young to remember how it was, not even born yet, most of you. Things were rolling along just fine. Busy? Yes. Complicated? Hell yes. But we were happy with our 50 hour a week jobs and our expensive cars and playthings. Then people started getting sick, and it all went South. Could have been the end of the world, if Medicore hadn’t stepped in.” 

“Save it for the campfire, Vaughn. Let’s get rolling.” Mitz brushed past the group and started to walk towards an old rail station which looked like a good enough place to sleep. As she was walking away she overheard Flynn say, “Ever since Ellis gave her a rank she’s become a real pain in the ass.” She didn’t care though, she liked being in charge. 

Mitz had no idea why people like Ellis and Vaughn idolized Medicore so much. Yes they were her government and she enjoyed the function they served, but the guys in her unit acted like they would lay down their lives for Medicore if they were asked to. She figured it had to do with them being born BEFORE and all, seeing with their own eyes the fall of their civilization. They attributed their survival to Medicore, hell, everyone did. 

When the Global Pandemic of 2018 hit, it wiped out about two thirds of the Earth’s population without hesitation. The disease was mysterious, ruthless and uncontrollably fast. Medicore, a medium sized pharmaceutical company, eventually stepped forward with a cure. There was no time for years of extensive testing and the FDA in America where they resided already didn’t exist anymore so the drug was released right away. At first people were afraid to take it but soon everyone wanted it, badly. 

As if finding the cure didn’t make Medicore look enough like super heroes, they went one step further, and gave the cure away for free. Immediately the board of directors at Medicore were hailed as the most humanitarian leaders of all time. When the dust settled and there was no government in place strong enough to lead the remaining people left on the planet, Medicore stepped forward once again, this time as the leaders of the new world. 

The cities had been destroyed and many feared that over-crowding is what helped the pandemic spread so easily, so they were abandoned for good. The new settlements were built on the outskirts, in forests and on farm lands. People felt a brotherhood and worked together, under the Medicore government, in peace and harmony. At least that’s how it was built and had been for the last 24 years.

Still, Mitz had a hard time getting all doe-eyed at anything that wasn’t a potential husband. She loved her friends, her home, her life; but Medicore also sent her on this impossible mission that she was not at all pleased with. You win some, you lose some. 

Mitz waited at the door of the rail station for the rest of the group to catch up to her. She wasn’t stupid enough to go in there alone. As a group, they stormed into the abandoned facility with weapons raised and ready. They swept the place in silence, talking only in hand signals. Once they were satisfied the tunnel was uninhabited they started to relax and unpack. 

“Once Ellis gets here we’ll secure the doors for the night,” Rider said. He was dumping the contents of a large green duffle bag onto the floor which kicked about 24 years worth of dirt and dust. He rummaged through the materials to find the fire kit. 

Mitz used an old two way radio to call Ellis and give him their location. She got about ten full minutes worth of trouble about being done with work for the day so early, and then she put the radio away and unrolled her sleeping bag. She fluffed it up in a makeshift chair and sat down, happy to let the others finish up around camp. Looking around the place gave her the creeps already and it wasn’t even dark yet. The walls were covered with old fliers and graffiti that mostly talked about the end of the world and even a few disparaging remarks about Medicore that Mitz couldn’t understand. 

Ellis had been searching the inside of an old pharmacy lab when he got Mitz’s radio call. On his list it was flagged as a high priority location. It was the last company Dr. Evan Halpin had worked for before signing on with Medicore many years ago. The list was made up of all known locations the award winning doctor and chemist had ever listed, worked or went to school in. Also included were various favorite vacation spots and even some restaurants and other recreational places the man had been fond of. Ellis and his team were one of ten who were dispatched on the same mission, to find one black, leather bound journal once owned by Dr. Halpin. It was a journal that the good doctor didn’t intend for them to ever find. 

There were clues, bits of information, photos and other leads but it was still a hell of a thing to expect successful completion on; to find one inconspicuous journal, intentionally tucked away from the world by the brilliant but often paranoid and delusional doctor that cured a bitch of a virus 24 years before. 

Among the various remnants left by the decaying past, Ellis found something rather disturbing. Tucked away from the front entrance in what used to be an executive office, was a pile of blankets that stank like death. Also candles, burnt down to a melted nub, and the tracks left by dirty bare feet. These were all signs that a group of “Rats” had nested there in the not too distant past. Ellis shuddered and decided it was time to regroup with his team, and warn them of possible attacks. 

The team had made a nice camp in an old rail tunnel. It was a solid structure with limited entrances and exits since part of the tunnel was blocked off by a deserted train about half a mile down the track. Mitz was lounging on her makeshift chair, flicking bits of dirt and debris off her boots, into the fire. The flames sizzled and popped. Vaughn was leaning against a wall, his back turned to the group, reading the bits of old newspaper he had collected along their journey. The other AFTER girls were busy gathering supplies to fortify the entrance once Ellis showed up.

The mood was decidedly relaxed and the air quiet when the door suddenly opened, pushed slowly since it was heavy and no longer electronically opened. The second the door began to move, the camp swirled to life. Everyone was on their feet, with guns at their ready, just in case.

“We thought you were a Rat, common mistake,” Mitz chuckled as she lowered her weapon.

Ellis shook his head and threw a bundled package at her feet. New clothes, he knew she wouldn’t have found any herself. Mitz inspected the package and rolled her eyes but went to change all the same.

“Speaking of Rats, I found a nest, not too far from here.” Ellis raised his voice loud enough so everyone could hear. “We need to be on the alert tonight, sleep in shifts, you know the drill.”

Together they strengthened any entry points they could find before eating a cold dinner of stale homemade protein bars. Cooking was too risky tonight. The smell would draw the Rats in. Vaughn and Ellis talked search strategy for the next day until long after the day had ended.

In the night, no one could rest easy. Nights were never easy but even less so when Rats were nearby. They took turns keeping watch and resting but no one actually slept. Silence filled the tunnel, while everyone waited for the tell tale sounds of Rats scurrying between the walls or overhead. When the shrill sound of a telephone ring filled the air it just about tore everyone out of their skin. All heads turned to look at Ellis, whose right front pocket was ringing.

What little technology remained was all under the direct control of Medicore. Most people had never even seen where they kept most of their resources and no one could figure out how they up kept some of the facilities. Even the AFTER kids knew what a cell phone was though and they looked at it with a mix of suspicion and envy. Each of the units sent out to search was given one phone to communicate with Medicore on. They were to turn it on for one hour each night in order to receive any urgent messages while still conserving battery. Mostly it never rang.

Ellis fiddled with the small buttons in the near darkness and finally made the ringing stop. He talked in a low voice and walked away from the group during the call.

“It’s nothing,” Mitz said to a terrified looking Flynn. “They probably just want to add some locations or something.” Mitz watched for Ellis to come back, her voice betrayed her confidence.

“A young woman has run away from one of the compounds. Her name is Gretta and we’ve been asked to look out for her. Apparently she told one of her roommates that she was needed in New York City. She’s around your age Mitz, brown hair, petite. We don’t have much description to go on but really, how many people are we going to accidentally encounter out here.”

The compounds housed sick people and also people deemed for some reason to be unsafe, a danger to themselves or others. No one actually knew that much about the compounds and people were rarely sent there, especially since all of the AFTER kids seemed to be immune to common diseases.

“But what about the Rats? Shouldn’t we go look for her? We can’t leave her alone out there, with them.” Flynn shuddered at the thought of being alone in the large dark city, empty expect for decaying buildings crawling with Rats. 

Rider, the youngest of the team put a hand on her should to comfort her. It was the best he could do, Rider didn’t talk. It was a somewhat rare but not unheard of condition that occurred in AFTER kids. There were a lot of little quirks no one had quiet figured out yet.

“We have no idea where she is or if she’s out there at all,” reasoned Ellis, although he was already mentally gathering up supplies to go and search. They would need torches, and of course lots of firepower.

“Oh hell,” Mitz complained, stretching and gathering up her pack and weapon. She already knew Ellis has this whole, “leave no man behind,” mentality and there was no talking him out of it. “Hero complex,” she muttered under her breath.

The group didn’t get a hundred yards from camp before they heard the sound of scampering feet coming at them from all sides. They were clamoring over the trash that cluttered the streets and pushing objects out of their way as they advanced.

“RATS,” yelled Vaughn as he swung his torch around, trying to get eyes on them. A scream pierced through the darkness and everyone turned towards the sound to see a dirty arm reach through the night and grab hold of Flynn’s jacket, pulling her to the ground. The Rat jumped on top of her, holding her tight to the concrete. 

Ellis ran up behind Flynn and stomped as hard as he could on the Rat’s leg making it growl but distracting it from its dinner. When the Rat jumped up and dove for Ellis, he put a bullet right through its head. Blood and brain matter exploded out the back of its head and splattered across Flynn’s face. Mitz grabbed Flynn and puller her up by the arm and got in front of her. The rest of the Rats fled into the darkness. It was unlikely they would come back anytime soon. As dangerous as they were, they were easily spooked.

Vaughn shed his light on the dead Rat. It was a disturbing image and he quickly retreated. The Rat was a young girl, with long blond hair. She was deathly thin, her bones jutting out everywhere.

When the untested cure was released, it didn’t work out so well for everyone. The majority of the people that were able to get it in time were alright but some people reacted badly to it. It made them sick and ate away at their minds. They became shells with no real thoughts running through their heads anymore. Blind rage and extreme hunger were the only emotions they seemed to posses. They weren’t alive but they weren’t dead either.

From these results, Medicore quickly came out with better and better versions of the cure and subsequent immunizations. Because of this, the people who were negatively affected by the cure were referred to as “Lab Rats.” No one knew what to do with them, many were killed but some were abandoned along with the cities. It was thought that they wouldn’t survive even one year on their own but survive they did, bred and survived.

Ellis motioned for the group to move forward. They traveled wordlessly for a few miles along an old highway. It began to rain, softly at first, and then the real downpour began. Only half of them had rain gear, so mostly they just got wet.

“Over there,” Mitz shouted, pointing to a small figure in the road ahead. The outline of a small framed young woman stopped in her tracks when she heard the commotion. She just stood still, without turning to face them, and waited for them to approach. The group advanced, their rifle scopes turned on and pointing at their target.

“Is the subject dangerous?” Mitz moved closer to Ellis as they approached.

“Actually, they said armed and dangerous, yea.”

“Thanks for the heads up, Chief.” Mitz knelt behind an over turned car along with Flynn and Ellis. Vaughn and Rider stood behind another car, just behind them.

“Turn around, slowly,” Ellis ordered the girl. The girl didn’t move. She wore a rain jacket and boots; they made her look small and lost.

“I just came for the journal,” said the girl. “I just came for the journal and to warn you, of course.”

“Are you Gretta? We have been advised to bring you in,” Mitz yelled, trying her best to sound brave.

“This journal belonged to my grandfather. He was ashamed of what he helped Medicore to do and he wanted to hide this, so they could never find it and do more harm with it. It’s the key. He created it and he could undo it as well. They wouldn’t want that.”

The girl took something out of her jacket, an action that had everyone in the group screaming at her to stand down. Fearlessly, she continued as if they weren’t even there. She took out a small dark object and held it up. It was a book; a black leather bound journal to be exact. She laid it on the ground.

“Holy Hell,” Ellis muttered. “You knew where that was the whole time? We’ve been looking for that thing all over creation.”

“You have to keep it safe. Don’t let Medicore get their hands on it. I don’t have time to
convince you but just read it and I’m sure you will do the right thing. I need you to do the right thing,” she pleaded. 

“Medicore is who sent us to look for that thing; it’s who we work for. We owe our lives to them!” Ellis felt rage sweep through his body, the same as he did anyone questioned his leaders.

“I’m turning around now,” Gretta warned, and she did. She moved slowly, with her hands in the air. “Just read it, you’ll see. I’m counting on you, on all of you.” 

She reached up high and crossed one hand over the other as she turned. She kicked the little black book away from her as she finally faced them.

“It’s OK; we’ll just take you back to the compound. You’ll be safe,” Flynn told her.

“Oh no,” Gretta replied, “I’m never going back there. I’m never going back there again.”

The girl looked at the group of people standing before her. She had big sad eyes, and the rain spilled like tears across her face. The red points of the rifle scopes littered her body and she seemed completely oblivious to them. That’s when Mitz noticed why she was so calm. This girl didn’t mean to survive the night. In one had she held a grenade and in the other, the pin.

“Get back! Get back now!” Ellis shouted at his team who tried to protest briefly and then
retreated.

Gretta had started to walk backwards. As she walked she started to ramble, at first Ellis thought it was just crazy ranting but soon it all started to come together.

“Medicore didn’t cure the virus. They created it.”

Her words echoed through Ellis’ mind as hisbrain registered the heat and flash of light, the imposing sound of the explosion. He turned his head from the blast; it deafened him.

The night lit up with orange flames which ignited the trash and surrounding billboards.
It was a small impact explosion but the surroundings were so dry that fire quickly engulfed everything. Ellis looked at the bright lights, crackling against the black sky. He thought it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

Mitz ran up beside him, the black book had been thrown and had landed almost at his feet, the edges slightly burnt. Mitz picked up the book and handed it to Ellis.

“What was that she was going on about?”

Ellis, who couldn’t hear her, just took the book. He opened it and skimmed its pages. The pages were filled with models and equations Ellis couldn’t begin to comprehend, but the documentation was all about mind control. The virus was created to control the population and the cure was created to control the survivors. When Ellis got to the end of the book he looked up. Everyone stared at him with blank faces. His ears were ringing. His head was muddled.

Everyone was talking to him but he still couldn’t hear them. Mitz reached for the book and he let her slide it out of his hands. She flipped through the pages quickly.

“What is it Mitz?” Flynn tried to read over her shoulder but Mitz jerked the book away from her eyes. Her hands were shaking. The words in this book threatened all that she ever knew and loved.

“It’s garbage,” she said, throwing the book on the ground. “Just a bunch of crazy-person talk, numbers and stuff. End of the world nonsense.” She touched the lit end of her torch to the book and watched the flames turn it to ash as everyone watched.

No one tried to stop her, least of all Ellis.

“Where are we headed tomorrow?” Mitz asked the question to no one in particular, as if nothing much had just happened.

**********

Slides used (cannot post to sidebar for some reason)  http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v85/brokedownrage/SCIFISMACKDOWN1/?albumview=slideshow