Cacophony [ONC 2023]

11

From the top of the van, Henna could see far in either direction while Cas had her head ducked under the hood of the engine. The clack and ratcheting of tools drifted up to her as she looked through the scope on the rifle, keeping her eye on those Screamers still sat in unmoving vehicles around them. They had had no choice but to stop as the engine chugged and gurgled to a barking end.

They had left the horde far behind, but the performance of the tac-van had become more and more pitiful as they had taken turns driving. If nothing else, Cas had managed to catch up with a little sleep, though they still had a few kilometres to go. Or so Cas had said. When asked what it was in miles, Cas had shrugged, either not knowing or not bothering to say.

"Have you found out the problem?" They hadn't stopped for too long, she assumed, but the Screamers didn't appear to have a set amount of time it took for them to sense Cas' presence. "We should keep moving."

"It's the gas. I'm surprised we managed to get this far." More clattering came from below and a hose spun through the air as Cas tossed it away. "It's oxidising, clogging up the fuel lines. Dirty. Gas doesn't last forever."

Henna had no idea about that. Before Cas had even opened up the engine, she had rushed around, searching for trucks, busses, anything with engines of a similar type, tearing out bits and pieces of those engines that she could. They had stayed in communication over the radios in the highway cop helmets, but Henna had worried every time Cas had moved out of her sight.

She felt a tightness in her gut at every movement. Birds catching her eye as they wheeled and turned in the sky, oblivious to what had become of the humans below them. Feral dogs, running in packs, crossing the fields, chasing themselves, or some other animal, desperate for food that their former families could no longer provide. She swore she had seen a bear, strolling along the edge of the woods not far from where the van had come to a stop. She had never seen a bear in her life.

Of people, those that hadn't tilted their heads back to scream incessantly, she saw none. Not a single person. She began to wonder whether she and Cas were the only ones not screaming any more. The group back at the clearing had come under attack from the great mass of Screamers, but she hadn't waited to see if anyone had survived. They were in the past, now. Gone. Maybe dead. She couldn't waste energy feeling pity for them and that turned her stomach. A lot of things did that now.

"Earlier, you said something about 'them' listening in to that radio frequency." She shifted her position, turning to survey a different area around them. "What did you mean? Do you think someone did this? Were we attacked? The Chinese? Russians? Before the news stopped, I thought they said it was worldwide."

Cas said nothing for a long while, except to curse at something in the engine. The van shuddered as Cas wrenched at something that remained stubbornly attached, sending Henna's view through the scope bouncing from where she looked. She'd never used a rifle before and had a good idea she stood no chance of hitting anything with it, but someone had to keep watch. If more scavengers tried to take what they had, or Screamers began to move, she could only give off warning shots, at best.

"There was talk. The usual scuttlebutt, you know. I heard some guys saying North Korea had done it. Fuck knows what those guys are doing in their shithole of a country. Arabs, maybe. ISIS." Cas dropped something and the clatter rattled through the radio. "But it was when I reached the US. I called up on that frequency and got a location, but when I got there, the whole place had become overrun. The Screamers hadn't moved because of me and this thing. They'd attacked independently."

"Shit, Cas! That changes everything! Why didn't you say they could do that?" Timing the Screamers' movements meant nothing now. Thanks to Cas' hoarding of information, Henna had been thinking they were safe for a short time. "God! If they don't need to sense you, they ... That military camp! They just left! Was it the Screamers?"