Lee Kerr - Welcome to the Apocalypse

But all that has happened has actually made Larry even more determined that he will make the right decisions when they matter, although it would have been helpful if David was here so he could bounce some ideas off him. He looks back around the room, trying to spot some allies in the desperate muddle of white shirts and jumbled information. He looks back over to Agent Flinch and gets the same nod as always, reminding him that he is still here, has still got his back.

After a final sweep of the room Larry concludes that he really is alone. He decides to call Flinch over and to ask him to make a journey into the unknown to get David. He stands up, stepping down from his throne, now very clear in his mind that two heads are better than one. He heads towards the young man, resolving to find the restrooms, and also ensure his partner is brought to this safest of places, although he’s not sure how easy that will be if the enemy is still outside. That’s the art of delegation, he tells himself, remembering that it is other people who will need to worry about the details of his commands.

He hasn’t yet made it to Flinch when the USA screen starts bleeping and the West Coast suddenly turns into a sea of red, as skulls replace every one of the major cities from San Francisco to San Diego. He starts to hobble his way over, knowing he will have to wait a little longer to relieve himself. ‘What’s going on?’ he asks.

‘Ah, damn it, we’ve just lost L.A., which means we’ve lost the whole goddamn West Coast,’ General Phillips says, walking up to him, shaking his head. He taps a few buttons on a device in his hand and the big screen suddenly changes to show a map of Los Angeles, all divided into the newly formed districts. A prolonged battle had been going on in Los Angeles for days and the districts were supposed to make defence easier. They were based on key geographical barriers and all lined with various explosive traps, so if one district was lost the enemy couldn’t just walk into the next one without meeting a new line of defence. Larry doesn’t know much about war but when he first heard about this he thought it made sense, and for a while it had seemed to work, meaning that survivors could easily be moved to a numbered zone that was deemed safer and not just wherever they wanted to go. Admittedly, at the start of the attacks the United Kingdom and Japan had done a good job of that, but since they had much smaller geographical areas and far fewer people to organise, it had probably been easier for them and that’s why they lasted longer.

He knows something about how people behave from his years in urban planning, so he thought President Wilson was onto a winner. It was a shame he never made it past day four because Larry thought he might just vote for him, if things ever returned to some sort of normality. At that point, just over a week ago, most people were convinced that humanity would prevail. You only had to look at all the years of Armageddon-related movies, dealing with threats from alien invasions to zombie hordes, to be reminded that there is always some resemblance of the human race left to rebuild, and they always need a government to lead the planet’s recovery. He looks up at the screen; he knows that things are different in this real life version. This isn’t like some movie but rather a documentary from hell, meaning nothing is likely to work out with any resemblance of a happy ending.

‘Attention everyone,’ General Phillips shouts out from somewhere above. Larry looks up to see he is standing on a table and surveying every corner of the room, clearly waiting for everyone to fall silent. ‘We just lost the West Coast.’

He hears a lot of gasps around the room. A few people fall to the floor, while others stand firm, clearly determined to continue. The people down here have probably been at this for days, having little sleep, with not a lot to motivate them, which is something Larry hadn’t given much thought about until now. He had freely accepted his disposal-from-office order from the last president. He and David had both accepted defeat and run away to let fate do whatever it felt appropriate. He simply hadn’t realised just how many people were still putting up a fight; putting on a brave show for the American people and the rest of the world.

Phillips holds up his hands, calming everyone down. ‘It’s night-time there and as we know, that’s the best time for them to attack. By the looks of it our troops have put up a brave fight. We got a lot of survivors out, but Fort Hope and Fort Valliant were both destroyed.’

People keep shaking their heads and Larry knows why. Both forts were newly built strategic defence points. They were built on the same concept that is still holding Washington together, with several layers of high walls and many self-contained defence turrets, each of them fully equipped and self-sustained units that the soldiers can defend from. The military learned quite early on that these lurkers don’t stay in any sort of formation for long and although they turn up in packs they go off and do their own thing whenever there is a confrontation, much like the one that has followed Larry to the bunker. The majority of the defences in Washington DC are still holding but the odd beast gets through. Whether as part of a greater plan or not, no one is really sure, but this city is fast being named as the place that humanity will make its last stand. Sometimes others follow and join in the attack, and other times there is just a single lurker. When they are alone they tend to fail, because eventually a bullet or two manages to get through their thick, armour-like skin. The problem is that bullets don’t get through often enough – even though there are only an estimated hundred-or-so of the enemy across the world, that’s still too many.

‘I know you all feel that this world is just getting scarier by the minute but we have to remain strong. The enemy has now defeated 80% of our armed forces,’ Phillips says, looking around the room, trying to meet the eyes of as many people as possible. ‘But they haven’t won yet, and they haven’t found many of our secret weapons either.’

Lopez seems to look bored and eventually steps forward and stands in front of Phillips. She comes up shorter but no less formidable than him. He looks down at her but doesn’t say anything else; it’s as if he’s some sort of puppet on a string.

Larry really doesn’t like Lopez, so he’s surprised to find himself moving forward and approaching the centre of the room. He has never been someone who wants to stand out in a crowd, preferring to work quietly and efficiently in the background, letting someone else take all the glory. But this time he can’t be that person; he must stand up for what he believes in. He coughs, attracting all attention to him. ‘The human race needs not just to survive, but to win, and I think we need to start thinking about how we can help as many people as possible to do just that. Our military is virtually defeated, but if I’m reading this map correctly, there are still people spread across the United States, and all over the rest of the world. So, our real challenge is how can we help these people to get to places of safety, and set up effective communications, as well as gathering resources in order to survive for as long as possible.’

The room stays quiet as she seeks him out in the crowd, clearly having given no thought to where the president was actually standing when everyone was called together. When she finds him she takes slow and pronounced steps towards him, as a few people move out of the way, clearing a path for her. As she approaches he wants to remind her that he’s the president but he doesn’t think it will actually help. When she finally makes it to him she looks him up and down, her eyes probing his every move. ‘What?’