Canada Under Attack: Where Shadows Walk

Part 4

The Red Horseman

It was on the eighth day after the second attack that I got my first glimpse of the First Horseman of the Apocalypse, Pestilence. Yeah, I know; the Horsemen were pretty obscure stuff. Not sure where my fascination with the Four Horsemen came from to tell you the truth. Maybe because they're mentioned in some of the comics I used to read. Anyway, there are four images that are supposed to announce the apocalypse that would end the world as we knew it. Considering our world was for sure ending with the visitors smashing us in the mouth, I found myself thinking about them.

I could tell you about all four, but it's the first one that I've been thinking about the most. The First Horseman is Pestilence, or Conquest, depending on which version you read of their arrival. My History teacher had taught that there had been lots of interpretations of what the horsemen represented, but there were two main interpretations of who the first horseman was, riding on his white horse. One said Conquest, with all nations being defeated and made to kneel to the Horseman in one massive war. The other, however, said it was Pestilence, or Disease, slaughtering countless thousands with his poisoned arrows.

In an ironic twist, this Horseman was both. Except he wasn't riding a white horse, he was riding a red one, like the one given to War, the Second Horseman. And it wasn't a fiery red, like War's. It was blood red. In two shots he had made the world kneel. Then the real war for our very survival started, one fought with our very own blood.

My encounter with the First Horseman started with the run to the still. My dad had me and Cam sneak down to the river on day two after the orbital attack to set up a secret solar distillery. The still was supposed to make clean water to supplement our supplies. I had to admit, it was pretty frickin' clever, that still, using the power of the sun to first evaporate the water then condense the vapor back into liquid, purified and fresh. But, now that more of my dad's secret life as a prepper was coming to light, I wasn't really all that surprised that he'd have one kicking around.

So six days after we set it up, it was time to go check the still to see what we had. Unfortunately, as Cam and I took turns doing the various things Dad had going on to help us all survive, it was my turn for the next task. So I had to make the run down to the still.

News of the second attack hadn't reached most of the city. But that didn't stop the social order from continuing to break down as people, hungry and thirsty, started to lose control. More and more often we could hear fighting all around us as we hunkered down in the house, blinds down and doors locked, guarding our own supplies.

So when I got ready to go down to the river, I went prepared to run for it, if I had to. I would go stealth as far as I could and hope nobody paid attention to what I was doing, or tried to follow me. If they did, I'd have to use my parkour to get away from them as fast as I could. We couldn't afford to lose the still to some smash and grab, or somebody just up and taking the whole thing for themselves. I would need to do what I could to protect where it was, without getting my own ass kicked.

I did a quick check of my gear that morning before going out beyond our walls. Good pair of cross-trainers for the coulee trails, loose jeans in case I had to do some sliding, my pack with empty water jugs and a long-sleeve tee-shirt. Then I stared nervously at the door for a long moment.

Hell yeah, I was nervous. Who wouldn't be? Our neighbors had an all-out brawl the night before, with windows smashing and people kicking in doors and stuff, yelling and screaming as we could hear punches landing and grunts triggered by their hard impacts. I was pretty sure I would find bodies on their lawn when I stepped out the gate.

"Dude, seriously, what are you waiting for?" Cam said from where he was leaning against a door frame, arms folded across his chest.

"Shut up, man," I quickly retorted without taking my eyes off the door. "You know it's going to be a freak show out there. I'm just getting psyched up for it, that's all."