Lee Kerr - Welcome to the Apocalypse

I stare up at him, wondering how I can get in, if not physically then through his mind. ‘Let her go and I’ll stop being one of them. I’ll take her with no questions asked and we will both leave you alone, I promise.’

‘Why won’t you listen to me? She’s not in here!’

I watch him for a moment and then drop to my knees. ‘She has to be.’

He lights what I think will be the final rag. I’m out of options and I cannot be without her. If it hits me then fate will consume me and I will pass freely to the next life. It feels like it’s the only place I haven’t looked, and so I close my eyes and wait for the inevitable.

The consuming pain never comes; instead, I hear sirens from what I hope is a police car getting closer. I open my eyes and watch as two cars come tearing down the empty street. Their rapid approach changes everything, as we look at each other and he hides his weapon, and I step away from the stinking pile of waste.

They pull up at the house, the only obviously inhabited place left on this street, and I walk towards them. I want to tell them everything, my words flowing out of my mouth quicker than I can organise them. They start shouting back at me but I don’t listen properly. I keep pointing to the house, telling them in every possible way I can that she is definitely in there. My Lucy is alive, she is trapped and we can all save her. They don’t seem to want to listen; one of them smacks his night-stick across the back of my legs. I immediately fall to the ground and feel my arms being pinned around my back. Two of the officers press their knees into my body as they put cuffs on me.

‘You need to calm down,’ one of them shouts while making sure I’m restrained. I watch as they fuss around me whilst the others head to the house. I hear one of them on his radio, telling despatch that it’s only civil unrest – only one individual this time and he has been easily detained.

‘It’s not civil unrest, it’s kidnap!’ I shout back, hoping they will listen, or the person on the other end of the radio will hear my plea and at least ask them to investigate. ‘My partner, Lucy, has been kidnapped and I can prove that this guy did it!’

‘You need to calm down, I’ve told you once already,’ the cop shouts. He’s the one with his knee still pressing against my back. My wrists are cuffed tight and pushed up, the extra pain an obvious incentive for me to shut up.

I decide to follow his instructions and I stop shouting in favour of looking around. I see the officers are now near the house, talking to Carlos, who has made it to his front door. I watch and listen as he shouts at them. Their hands are held out and their guns are drawn. They clearly are not taking any prisoners right now and I’m relieved that they are willing to treat him as badly as they have me. He doesn’t seem to want to listen any more than I did. He shouts that I have been coming here every day, harassing him and leaving him no choice but to defend his property. The cops both nod, and even though they still look defensive, they know they cannot charge him for protecting his home against looters. The raft of new congressional orders was intended to simplify the work of the police and army, so that they can focus on keeping civil order. It’s obvious they don’t have the resources to arrest and charge every crime now committed, so defence of your own property with any force is now accepted as a matter of survival in every remaining state.

‘I can prove she’s in there,’ I say to the guy holding me. I speak quietly, calmly, knowing the only way I can save Lucy is by conducting another search of the property. ‘Don’t let him go back inside. Don’t give him a chance to hide her away again.’ I arch my body around, twisting like a snake until I’m able to look into his eyes. ‘Please, you have to help me.’

He takes a moment to look at me, examining my body, studying my clothes and my mannerisms, clearly trying to judge whether I am a mental person or a genuine citizen in need. ‘Okay, where’s this evidence?’

I look around for my backpack and nod towards it. ‘There’s a journal in there.’

He looks down at me, his eyes surrounded by rings of fire that have been weeks in the making. He looks exhausted, his stubble unkempt; I don’t think he was planning to look like this. ‘We have new orders and unless a crime is in progress that will cause immediate civil unrest then we are instructed to leave it alone.’

‘My girlfriend is in there, taken and trapped by that man. Since when wouldn’t that be a crime?’

He nods slowly, quietly, clearly torn between doing what is right usually and what is right at this moment. ‘She isn’t the first and she won’t be the last. Your evidence needs to be immediate and very compelling for us to stay here any longer.’

‘Just get my journal,’ I say.

He finally lets go so he can walk the few paces to get my backpack, but as I watch his feet move I see someone else pick it up. I look over to see it’s the detective, Marius, holding up my backpack and looking directly at my only ally.

‘You don’t give up, do you?’ Marius says as he walks towards me.

‘This guy says he has evidence of the kidnap of his girlfriend, who is allegedly being held in this house,’ the officer says.

He picks me up so that I can see Marius, or perhaps so he can look at me properly, even though he doesn’t seem willing to acknowledge the allegation. ‘We’ve been through this and we’ve searched this house, and yet you are still here,’ he says.

‘I have new evidence. I know she’s in there!’

Marius looks to all the other officers. ‘Gentlemen, is there a crime in progress? I don’t see that there is. In fact the crime that has alleged to have taken place is nearly a week old.’

‘He told me something yesterday that no one knows!’ I shout back, trying to make sure it’s audible to Carlos, who is still waiting at his front door. ‘He told me that I left her but no one knows that.’ I put my head down, knowing what I now freely admit. ‘I left her to watch the car while I was in the supermarket. I left her alone and he took her.’

Marius shakes his head and drops my backpack to the floor. ‘That is your compelling evidence to prove she is inside the house?’

I shake my head, knowing he’s not listening, not giving me the time I deserve to explain my case as a genuine citizen in need. ‘I didn’t tell anyone and he used those exact words yesterday. He told me that I left her, but how could he have known that?’

I look at Marius who gives me nothing back and so I look at the other cop, the only one who briefly felt anything for me, although he does nothing but shake his head.

‘No crime is happening and no evidence suggests any more time needs to be spent here. All of you ship out now. We have bigger things to be dealing with.’

‘No!’ I shout, struggling in my cuffs, fighting my new chains. ‘You can’t do this. You’re the police and you have to help me!’

My outburst gets me another jab below my knee, making me fall down again. This time I’m supported by the officer holding me up, so that I land softly and am able to pay proper attention.

Marius kneels down and takes off his sunglasses, looking straight at me. ‘This district is just a number now and it’s not a good number. Citizens have the choice to stay and hide, or to leave for another district, anything above number 15 will do. Everything is organised by numbers and the crime you allege to have happened no longer has a number. Only crimes in progress get a response and from what we have seen you are the guilty one. I’m going to let you go but you need to move on, get your life back together and get out while you can. There is nothing here for you now, do you understand me?’