AFTER (Book #3)

Chapter Three

The vault was far less impressive in person than the images concocted in Max's head. He couldn't help but think back to the great steel door welded onto the front of Joey's family home that wouldn't have looked out of place in fort Knox. The vault in Novus was no more than a well-secured, locked door, but Max was assured that the items behind it held a far greater significance.

"The army were all over this place like ants to a pic nic at the start," Val explained as they arrived at the vault door. "They immediately set up a perimeter, before organising the building of the wall. Said they'd been given the same orders for every hospital in the country. I guess some were finished...and well some weren't."

"So, what happened to them? The army..." Lizzie asked, perplexed as to why she hadn't seen anyone of military stature milling around the courtyard.

Val shrugged, "Who knows. One minute they were here, the next they said they had to mobilise and move their troops to a different location. Probably some other hospital in trouble or needed securing."

"And they never came back?"

"Said they would," Val clarified, jostling for the keys within the deep pockets of her cargo pants. "But they never returned. Who knows what happened to them, but I'd hazard a guess at nothing good."

"Before they rolled out, they left a select few of us in charge. I think maybe they just chose the best looking among us, ay Val?" GiGi joked cheekily.

Val humoured him with an exhausted glance, before forcing a large silver key into the lock and pushing the door ajar.

"And the feistiest," GiGi whispered.

Lizzie smirked at the Italian as Max continued their line of questioning, "Why did they choose you, out of interest?" he asked, trying hard not to sound too rude or judgemental. Luckily Val was the type to tackle a question head on, rather than overthinking the meaning behind every word.

"Simple really, they gathered a meeting, much like we just did, asked us all to raise our hands if we'd had any military or police training. Those of us who had made up a sort of council to run this place until they returned, when they didn't we just kind of got on with things. Gave everyone their individual jobs, added to the wall, ventured out into the city. You can't live waiting for someone else to save the day."

"No," Max agreed. "You can't."

His friends could still be out there, and there was only one way to find out whether they were or not. Waiting around and hoping they would eventually make it to Novus on their own wasn't an option for him. Not after everything they had been through together.

"Well, when the army lads and ladies set off, they had to leave some of their equipment behind. Stuff they wouldn't need, spare guns and ammunition, that kind of stuff. They asked us to keep it under lock and key for them. Apart from gearing up our scavengers and guards, we never really have a need for most of it."

Max took this as an invitation to nudge the door open and step inside the glorified closet. The room itself was extremely ordinary and was probably used as an old supply room for medical records and supplies. Dusty shelves lined every wall, with little room remaining to manoeuvre around the space, which wasn't helped by the array of weaponry stacked on the floor.

Boxes of ammunition lined the base of one wall, with bullets and clips fit for all sorts of guns. Assault rifles hung from hooks, and snipers lay peacefully along shelves. At the very back of the closet, a huge mounted turret gun sat, disassembled into its various parts. Other pistols, shotguns, grenades, and equipment lined the rest of the shelving units, with every inch of the cupboard taken up by deadly metal.

"Well..." Max exclaimed with a disbelieving smirk. "The f*****g vault."

"The f*****g vault indeed," Val agreed.

"Why don't you have this stuff up there?" Lizzie enquired. "Is it not safer to arm your people?"

Val smiled, a smile that oozed the words 'Ah, to be young.'

"That, my dear, is a very dangerous tightrope to walk. We have guards lining the walls, all armed with rifles, two mounted turrets, one on each side, and snipers on each corner of the roof. Everyone who is trained to do so carries a gun and knows how to use it. Beyond that, putting a weapon in some people's hand does more harm than it does good."

"But, there isn't just guns in here, no?" GiGi asked rhetorically, already clambering past Max like a toddler diving into a ball pit.

Val sighed, "No, GiGi, as you well know, there are other pieces of equipment too."

Before Val could even finish her sentence, GiGi had remerged from the closet with a fancy headset wrapped around his skull, featuring a pair of green tinted binoculars.

"Oh, for God's sake, Giovanni! It's broad bloody daylight! You do not need the night vision goggles!"

GiGi flipped the binoculars up seductively, "Scared you won't be able to resist me, Valerie?"

Val smacked him over the top of the head and tore the goggles away, placing them carefully back down into the box from which they came.

"I noticed that you two brought in guns with you," Val said, turning to Max and Lizzie. "While I wouldn't normally hand out guns to new members without training, I'm happy for you to take them with you again, with some extra ammunition from our stores."

"That's very generous, thank you," Max nodded.

"As for you," Val exhaled, turning far slower back towards GiGi. "You may pick one new toy."

"Does that mean..." GiGi panted.

"You might actually need it this time," Val begrudgingly admitted.

"You really mean it?"

"Yes, don't make me regret-"

GiGi leapt forwards and yanked Val into a tight and warm embrace, showering her with praise and thanks with every second that passed.

Val desperately tried to wriggle free, before finally giving in to his hijinks. "If he doesn't come back with you...I won't ask questions," she grumbled.   

***

"Are you sure about this?" Max asked nervously, lightly dipping his toe onto the plank of wood below him.

The wood stretched twenty metres out of a window half way up the hospital, forming a makeshift bridge between Novus and a rooftop across the street. GiGi had explained that they had these bridges stretching out from each side of the hospital, for quick and easy access to the city canopy.

"I've done it a thousand times, my friend. The rooftops are perfect for sneaky scavenging, no bother from the noisy neighbours below, ay?" GiGi grinned, easing Max away from the window ledge before hopping up himself.

He twisted to face Max and Lizzie, with his back to the plank, "Let me show you," he smiled before stepping out backwards.

The sole of GiGi's foot planted perfectly onto the centre of the wooden plank, as he spun on his heels and ran along the length of the wood. He stopped briefly in the middle to bounce slightly, a demonstration of the bridges strength.

"Easy for him, the skinny wretch," Max mumbled, before following GiGi out onto the plank.

Max was determined to avoid looking down at the drop that would surely at the very least cripple him, but he also wanted to ensure that he was walking completely straight. He focused deeply on the plank, doing his best to blur everything else around it, planting one foot in front of the other, and repeat.

The bridge creaked quietly under the increased pressure of Max's bulking frame, but it held, and Max breathed a heavy sigh of relief as his boot crunched down onto the solid safety of the adjacent rooftop.

Before he even had time to compose himself, Lizzie was already patting him on the back.

"Piece of cake, old man," she winked.

"How did you find it, my friend?" GiGi asked, placing a comforting hand on Max's back, but the cheeky grin on his face remained.

"I'm more of a 'boots on the ground' type of guy," Max moaned, only acting as a catalyst to GiGi's toothy smile.

"Ah, you're really going to hate me for this," the Italian breathed, pointing out towards the centre of the city.

Max stood up straight and peered across the cityscape, swearing under his breath as he noticed the endless higgledy-piggledy zig-zags of wooden planks bridging rooftop after rooftop, as far as the eye could see.

"Roofs," GiGi whispered. "Sneaky," he shrugged.