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After the Fall - 

          A Pitch Perfect Apocalyptic Tale 

In the pre-dawn light, Beca looked at her surroundings, attempting to see if she could recognize any landmarks. With a shake of head Beca sighed and frowned at the poorly lit map in her hands. The map outlined the roads, towns, and rivers of Georgia. Specifically she was looking at what had been Fulton County, and the northern edge of Atlanta.

She increasingly and frustratingly had the feeling that she was utterly lost.

This caused her to sigh again, Chloe would tease the hell out of her if she had to admit she had gotten lost.

With a sigh, the petite brunette shook her head; she didn’t want to think about Chloe at this moment; she needed to keep her head in the game. 

At that moment a sound to her left caused Beca to freeze. She dropped to her knee, and brought up her crossbow and scanned the area around her. This land wasn’t claimed, which meant it was open to other scavengers, or one of the many gangs out of Atlanta, or worse, the Purifiers.

Those psychopaths have been moving further north. At some point they are going to make a move against the lodge.

Beca shuddered at the thought. Picking up the map she had dropped when she was startled, Beca folded it, and put it into her trusty vest pocket. She smiled as she patted the pocket, thinking about when Chloe had given her the vest for Christmas two years before.

She said in my role of searching the ruins, I needed a true explorers vest.

And it was a perfect vest for carrying out her explorations of the ruins of Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs. It held everything she had needed, a couple knives and screw drivers, pliers, leatherman multi tool, flashlights, glow sticks, first aid kits, scissors, tape, pens, and a notebook. It truly was an amazing vest. Beca still couldn’t believe Chloe had made it for her.

Again Beca shook her head, as her favorite redhead invaded her thoughts. She decided she needed to get a move on, so she began to creep forward. She made sure to skirt the tree line, and as she walked towards the cluster of buildings she could just make out through the overgrowth, just off to her right. The overgrowth of the wild in this area was growing thick. It was hard to tell this had once been a suburb of a major American city as the wild reclaimed the city of Atlanta.

A burst of wings to her immediate left nearly caused Beca a heart attack. She again dropped to her knees and aimed the crossbow, scanning the area over its sight. Movement caused her to zero in on a small black shape hopping about.

A crow.

Fucking crow!

Lowering the crossbow, Beca looked up with both eyes and spotted the crow. A little, mangy-looking and ruffled bird. 

A breath of relief escaped Beca. She hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath.

"CAW! CAW!"

Beca hated crows.

Since the Purifiers had begun their crusade, the crows had multiplied. Crucifications made quite the feast for crows. She thought about shooting it, but couldn’t afford to waste an arrow or leave any clues she had been here.

"CAW! CAW!"

“You’re lucky, but don’t push it crow,” Beca breathed out. The crow regarded her with beady little eyes then responded.

"CAW! CAW!"

After adjusting her backpack, and tightening the shoulder straps, Beca rose from her spot and started to make her way along a path just inside the tree line.

Carefully Beca started the slow meticulous job of traversing the edge of the clearing, and towards the buildings she had spotted, shuffling from tree to tree to make sure she wasn’t spotted. There was no one in this area she could afford to be spotted by.

Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2021

The apocalypse just couldn't wait forever. That was Beca’s opinion. Making her way into the outskirts of Atlanta, Beca couldn’t help but reflect on all that had happened the last five-ish years, what happened that fateful night…

“Come on Beca, sing another duet with me,” Chloe pleaded, pulling out the full puppy-dog look.

“Go on Becs,” goaded Jesse. “You know you want to.”

Beca rolled her eyes. Of course she did, but she had a reputation to maintain. “Why did we decide to have a karaoke competition?”

Now it was Chloe’s turn to roll her eyes. “What else would we do to celebrate winning Worlds?”

“But for the whole week?” Beca asked as she stared at the ceiling.

“You have to admit, Beca,” Jesse started, “Aubrey closing the lodge for a week, so the Bellas could truly celebrate the huge win, before you all head your separate ways, is truly amazing.”   

“Yeah, it’s amazing,” Beca conceded.

Taking this admission as agreement to sing, Chloe latched onto Beca’s hands, and began to pull her up. “Come on Becs! I have the perfect song!”

“I didn’t…”

“Alright! Bhloe’s in the HOUSE!” Shouted Fat Amy from the karaoke machine.

With an apologetic smile towards Jesse, Beca let herself be pulled up. It was moments like this Beca really felt caught between two worlds; caught between Jesse and Chloe. Her relationship with Jesse was ill defined, in a gray area, while her relationship with the redhead was in a similar state, though growing, evolving, and definitely becoming something fundamentally more.

Having let herself be pulled to the small stage Aubrey had set up, Beca let Chloe’s enthusiasm be contagious, and was excited to perform a duet with her. However, just as she accepted the microphone from Amy, Aubrey’s phone went off.

It wasn’t the blonde’s usual ringtone, and the look on Aubrey’s face was enough to get people’s attention. Both Beca and Chloe paused the start of their song as Aubrey took out her phone, and frowned at the name on the screen. She put the phone to her ear, as she answered, “Daddy?”

Everyone in the room watched the blood drain from Aubrey’s face.

Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2021

Humanity had been doing a decent job setting itself up for the fall, with continuous wars, ever growing pollution issues, and climate change, but it hadn’t hit the tipping point. 

That is until The Storm hit.

“Aubrey? What’s wrong?” Stacie asked worriedly as she rushed to the blonde’s side.

“Everyone, shut down all electronics, immediately!” Aubrey shouted, suddenly coming out of her momentary indecision.

“What?”

“Shut down all electronics! Now! Do it!”

Chloe jumped and turned off the karaoke machine.

“Amy, there is a megaphone in that closet, go out to the cabins and use it to let everyone know they need to shut down all electronics! I mean all, lights, tv’s radios, tablets, and mobile phones. Shut them all down! Immediately! And then tell everyone to come to the main lodge. I’ll explain everything then.”

Everyone was frozen, until Aubrey adopted her Aca-general mode.”Move it people! Jessica in that closet are glow sticks, pass them out! Jesse, go down to the lake and tell everyone down there to get to the lodge. Benji. Get to the kitchen and shut down the circuit breaker for the entire building. Emily, go with him, make sure all the refrigerators and freezer doors are closed. Stacie, Beca, Chloe, come with me to my office. Everyone pass it along to everyone you can, expect a blackout in the next hour. I’ll explain more, but expect it to last.”

“Wait! What?” Beca shouted as she followed Aubrey out of the arts and crafts hall, and up towards the main lodge. “Aubrey! What’s going on?”

“We’re about to be hit by a solar storm,” Aubrey said over her shoulder.

Beca noted that Stacie missed a step when she heard Aubrey. Beca wondered why a solar storm would cause Stacie to stumble.

Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2021

The apocalypse was supposed to be this big explosive thing. Nuclear missiles, an asteroid hitting the earth, a super volcano, something like that. 

The apocalypse wasn’t supposed to be so quiet.

Aubrey burst into her office and immediately made for a master control board. She shut down security cameras, and the lights around the fence line. 

“Stacie, would you start collecting the paperwork that’s coming in on the fax.”

This was the first time it registered on Beca that the fax machine was running. She turned to the noise and watched Stacie start collecting the team of paper that had already been printed. In the background she could hear Amy shouting an approximation of Aubrey’s instructions around the cabins.

“Who is faxing you, Bree?” Chloe asked.

“My dad.”

“Is this for real Aubrey?” Stacie asked as she scanned the top page of the fax.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Aubrey said as she went through a checklist her father had made her memorize, but she had hoped she would never need to remember.

“Why is he faxing you?” Beca asked Aubrey.

“My dad,” Aubrey said as she turned off her computer workstation. “He was in a briefing a few years ago, where scientists explained that solar storm activity was seen to be rising, and that the earth could possibly cause a major catastrophe. He purchased this place and put me in charge so I could prepare, just in case the day ever came.”

“Stacie, I don’t understand.” Chloe asked tentatively, “What’s going on? What do those papers say?”

The tall brunette took a deep breath and then faced Chloe and Beca. “The sun is a massive ball of gas and plasma. Its gravitational forces create tremendous pressure and temperatures which causes nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is an amazing source of power. Nuclear fusion turns the gasses of the sun into plasma, which sends out charged particles. This process is continually tossing radiation out into the solar system. Part of this is what we perceive as light, but there’s more, and occasionally disturbances on the surface of the sun hurl colossal bursts of charged particles into space. Some of these are projected towards the earth. Most are relatively harmless, the earth’s magnetic field easily handling the radiation; but there are rare occasions where the storm’s are so intense, the radiation so strong, that it affects more. A coronal mass ejection of sufficient intensity could knock out electrical grids.”

“How strong will this storm be?” Beca asked.

Stacie glanced at the printout to double check, she looked as if she would be sick. Her initial answer was nothing but a mumble that no one in the room could make out. Before anyone could ask for clarification, Stacie cleared her throat, and answered in a clearer voice, “Off-the-charts.”

Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2021

Maybe if things weren’t so fucked up already, there might have been a chance to weather the storm; but no, things had to go to shit with tensions at their highest and the collapse, which seemed inconceivable, took a momentum all its own.

“Where are we going?” Beca asked as she followed Chloe, who was trailing Stacie as she followed Aubrey up a series of steps.

“This leads to a ranger watch tower that the lodge was built onto,” Aubrey answered over her shoulder, as she continued up the stairs.

“Wait, we can actually go up into the tower?” Beca asked. “I thought that was just for decoration.”

“Don’t you remember Aubrey offered to take people up into the tower, to see the view on our first day here?” Chloe asked, over her shoulder. She glanced back and caught Beca staring at her ass.

Not realizing she had been caught, Beca just replied “No,” and continued to climb the stairs. It was only when Chloe gave her hips an extra little swing that Beca’s concentration was broken.

“That’s because she sprinted for the lounge and took a nap,” Stacie shot.

“It was a long-ass flight,”Beca grumbled. She then whined, “How much further?”

“We’re here,” Aubrey answered as she entered the viewing cupola. She didn’t stop however, and went out on the viewing platform which circled around the tower. She moved around till she was in a spot where she could see in the distance the lights of Atlanta.

“Whoa!” Beca exclaimed as she stepped out on the platform. “That’s an amazing view.”

“What are we looking for?” Chloe asked.

“The lights,” Stacie answered as she pointed in the direction of Atlanta.

“What about them?” Beca asked.

“We want them to stay on,” Aubrey deadpanned.

“Oh look,” Chloe said as she pointed to the sky. Above the four women was the brightest aurora borealis any of them had ever seen. “Northern Lights!”

The view was spectacular. The ghostly glow was quite bright, as it put on a most spectacular show.

“Dudes,” Beca breathed out.

Both Stacie and Aubrey followed Beca’s gesture, towards the city. As all four women watched, the lights of Atlanta blinked out. It happened in patches, but slowly picked up pace. A bright flash in the distance caught their attention as lights closer winked out.

“What was tha…” Chloe started as suddenly a loud bang could be heard.

“A transformer blowing up,” Stacie answered.

“That’s happening across the world right now,” Aubrey added.

“That’s a lot to fix all at once,” Beca observed.

“Maybe too much,” Aubrey sighed.

“Plus the storm is just getting started,” Stacie said.

“Meaning?” Chloe asked.

“We wait till that fades away,” Aubrey said as she pointed up at the glowing sky.

Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2021

It would soon become apparent that the United States as an entity was over, abandoned in favor of senseless men murdering each other because they no longer knew what else to do. As things like food, fuel, and drinking water became scarce, people began to grow desperate.

It was quite depressing how fast it broke down.

“Hey CR,” Beca called as she saw her friend returning from the construction site. “How goes the building of the wall?”

CR accepted the water canteen Beca offered. “It’s slow but steady.” She took a long swig, then continued. “The refugees we’ve picked up have really helped, as have your trips to the Home Depot’s in the area.”

“Yeah, we’re going to make another run this weekend,” Beca offered. “But Aubrey and Stacie want our next run to be somewhere different.”

“Where?”

Beca shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out now. I take it you’re headed to Aubrey’s meeting.” CR nodded yes, and the two friends began making their way towards the main lodge. In the distance they saw Jesse and a couple of the Trebles who had been at the lodge when The Storm hit were headed towards the construction site. He spotted Beca and waved. Beca was also pretty sure she heard his distinctive ’Becaw’. She smirked, and returned his wave.

“How are things going with Jesse?” Cynthia Rose asked.

With a shrug Beca replied, “It is what it is.”

Up at the lodge, Beca noted Chloe stepping out of the side cabin which had been converted to a clinic. She spotted Beca and Cynthia Rose walking up, and smiled a truly Chloe smile and waved.

“So you and Chloe moved into a cabin together,” Cynthia Rose observed. “How is that going?”

Beca’s smile, soft and warm, was all the answer Cynthia Rose needed. Her smile grew as the redhead skipped over and gave Beca a quick kiss and hug.

The three friends continued into the lodge together, and into Aubrey’s office for the daily strategy meeting. Aubrey and Stacie were already there with Katherine Junk and Benji. Flo followed behind CR into the room along with Amy and Bumper.

“Okay everyone, before we go over the daily reports, Stacie has a proposal she would like to run by you all,” Aubrey started the meeting with.

The tall brunette stood up, giving Aubrey a shy smile, then started her pitch, “It’s important we help people in need. We can’t save everyone, but we have friends, family and colleagues at Barden. Plus there is knowledge there that will be needed to survive and rebuild. So I want to propose that we send a retrieval party to Barden.”

Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2021

“Bingo,” Beca said in relief. 

Beca had been tasked with searching for an old bio-tech company that had been headquartered here in the suburbs of Atlanta. This industrial park seemed to be what she was looking for. There were about a dozen buildings in this industrial park. Each building once upon a time had been well built and sturdy, but now the structures were showing the telltale signs of abandonment. Each building was rapidly aging, many of the walls covered in vines. Plus there were weeds growing up through every available crack in the asphalt and concrete. Young trees and bamboo had started growing everywhere, and dirt had begun to build up, slowly burying the sidewalks and parking lots. It was all a trait of the wild reclaiming the wreckage of civilization.

Nature's endless cycle of renewal , Beca thought.

Walking between the buildings, she took in their destitute nature, like the rest of the world. It was soul crushing.

Some small voice in the back of Beca’s head questions whether this is worth the effort, but Stacie was so sure, as was Aubrey. Both women were so determined to see the Foundation initiative succeed, Beca and the others couldn’t help buying in. And on the face of it, gathering knowledge, gathering resources with which to rebuild were important. Stacie had actually chased down a number of copies of the book ‘ The Foundation ’ for people to read so they would understand what she and Aubrey were proposing.

Saving knowledge, so that humanity can be saved and civilization rebuilt.

Beca was quick to join on, and had become one of the best scavengers that the Lodge of the Fallen Leaves had. She and Chloe now went out almost every other day to find items that the Lodge could use, and knowledge for the ever expanding library.

Which is how Beca found herself in this set of ruins. Nobody seemed to be here, but then again, relatively few people were left in the state, and who knows how many remained in this forsaken country. Probably there is hardly anyone left in the entire world; at least compared to what it had been. Beca lowered her crossbow, and let it dangle by its shoulder strap.

Even if there were a billion people left, that meant, what, five to six billion had perished in the last five years? Nice Beca, lovely thought to have.

Around the corner, a dog carcass set Beca on edge. Beca quickly brought the crossbow back up, aiming it all around the space between the buildings, looking through the hunting scope Lily attached a few years ago. Finally she settled the scope back on the dead dog. The feasted upon corpse was a distinct reminder of the death that existed all around. She also had to consider if it was a rogue or part of a pack. If it was part of a pack, the pack might still be around. She did not  want to deal with a pack. Even if it was a rogue, it might not be better; there were a couple of things that could take down an adult pit bull, none of which Beca wanted to meet up with today or ever.

Just my luck would be to run into a tiger, Beca thought. How they escaped the zoo, I’ll never know. But they and a few other animals were definitely altering the fauna of the region.

Having deduced the building numbers, Beca had finally located the building Stacie had directed her to. Several biohazard dumpsters outside of it were also a good clue. She carefully approached what appeared to be the entrance, crossbow at the ready.

The door opened easily, the electronic locks had stopped working the moment The Storm had knocked out the electrical grids of the world. Looking into the shadows of the interior, Beca took a deep breath, then pulled up her face mask, and then the bandanna she always wore over it; one never knew what one might find in old buildings, mold, excessive dust, corpses. A couple filters between her and the air inside a ruin were always appreciated. 

Nobody is in there. Sitting still as possible at the entrance, Beca knows that nobody is in the building, she’s developed a really good instinct for this. There’s an inherent stillness in a building when neither human nor animals have been in them. This building had that same stillness. It never ceases to give Beca the shivers, but it did allow her some comfort too.

The doors had long ago been forced, but there was not enough of interest for the looters to concern themselves with hanging around. At least nothing much that would help in immediate survival. Thus the building had been left pretty much alone for a year or two. The doors had closed at some point and nobody had come back to open them again.

Slowly Beca entered through the long deactivated doors. She did her utmost to not disturb anything, and closed the door behind her. She pulled out her pen flashlight and switched it on, before she attached it to a headband Ashley had conceived of; two velcro strips had been sewn in that would hold the flashlight in place, on her head, and so the light would follow everywhere she looked. Beca then turned on a second light attached to the vest, which served to double her illumination, and set her mind a bit more at ease. 

These abandoned buildings were just plain spooky.

Carefully the petite woman went deeper into the darkness of the abandoned building. As she looked into the first room she came to, she saw in the pale yellow light of her flashlight, it had obviously not been used recently though it had been ransacked when it was. It had been a break room and there was little dust, but cobwebs filled the room. She narrowed her eyes and moved down the hallway to the next door. 

This door was closed and didn’t open easily. With a huff, Beca put some muscle into it, and was able to get it open. Peeking around the door frame, she shone the flashlight around the room.

This room was a large laboratory filled with all types of computers and equipment one would use in a lab. She shone the beam along the tables as she retrieved a little notebook from the pocket of her vest and began to take notes, writing down things like a detective. She might note something that would be of interest to Stacie and the Science Council, or Aubrey and the Library Council.

It was unsurprisingly showing the signs of a room that has been long abandoned. The lab might not be in the greatest condition, but the computer workstations were still there. There was no guarantee that the knowledge would be on the hard drives, but they had gotten lucky in the past. Working quickly, Beca removed her backpack, and pulled out her small set of tools. Having done this before, Beca is fairly quick at removing the hard drive of each workstation.

After searching the room a bit more, she found a couple notebooks with a lot of handwritten notes and a high level bio-chem textbook. Beca figured Stacie would be ecstatic over these finds. The petite brunette then continued through the pitch black room, following the pool of light her flashlight projected ahead. Beca opened a door to the next room over, and paused, it was a server room.

She decided she would take two server hard drives, and plan to come back for more. She didn’t want to be too weighed down, and her backpack was fairly full.

She got to work, deciding to just focus on the first two servers. Again, practice over the years meant Beca made quick work.

Again she went about the room, and looked for anything of value. She found a pristine set of precision tools, and a small electric drill. There was no charge, but there would be back at the lodge.

Feeling she had as much as she could get, she continued her exploration of the facility. In a room near the back Beca discovered a higher level laboratory, with full containment walls. Beca saw that the door had been forced, and that some people had died there. The remains of three people. It didn’t even phase Beca anymore. She had seen too much death and destruction for three long dead individuals to phase her. To her sorrow she had even contributed to the death count, having had to defend the lodge a couple times, and a few run-ins with Purifier parties, and a few of the more ambitious gangs.

Turning about in the new room, letting the pool of light wash over everything. The laboratory seemed to be generally empty, save for a few beakers, and a couple electron microscopes. Beca knows Stacie would love to get her hands on one of these babies, but it’s a little big to take on this trip. She would have to have Chloe come with her, so that they could grab more of the servers and a microscope. She made more notes in her notebook, and found two three ring binders. These filled the last of her space in her backpack. 

With the backpack filled, Beca finished her tour of the small bio-lab, making a few more notes. She was just about back to the entrance when she heard the barking.

Beca froze. Her stomach churned with a mix of adrenaline and fear.

She immediately wondered if it was a wild pack, or Purifiers. 

Both would be bad.

One thing was for certain, she wasn’t going to be caught in here. She slipped out of the old building, with a promise to return. She moved quickly but carefully, her crossbow ready. 

Her question was answered on whether it was a wild pack or The Purifiers, when she heard voices.

Purifiers!

She didn’t want them to know where she had been; they would burn the lab. That’s what they do, destroy technology and kill heretics. They were the exact antithesis of what they were building at the Lodge of Fallen Leaves. With careful steps, Beca hurried away from the old industrial park. 

Beca breathed a slight sigh of relief as she was able to reach the shadows beneath an overgrown bush. It might have been a bit too soon, because she had barely settled when she noticed movement off to her left.

A column of Purifiers.

Beca’s blood ran cold. The sight of those psychopathic zealots was enough to make any sane person’s blood freeze. She knew if they caught her she would either be made an unwilling wife, or she would be crucified.

Not sure which would be worse.

Beca had been with a raiding party which had freed twenty young women who were made to be ‘wives’ ; their stories of how women are treated by the Purifiers made it clear Beca might actually choose crucifixion.

She needed to get out of there, but curiosity was holding her back from acting.

Why are they out here? Did someone spot me, or..,

Chloe?

Fear stabbed Beca in the heart. What if the Purifiers were hunting Chloe. She observed the column, twelve in total. The two in front carrying their usual standard, a cross on top of a twelve foot pole. The rest marched with long pikes, and swords at their hips. No horses and no dogs.

No dogs! Where are the dogs?

Beca could hear them in the distance, and all around. As she watched the column came to a halt, and spread out into a line.

The dogs and handlers are trying to spook any unwary to run into this line. There are probably others setting up all around.

As if on cue, Beca spotted another column. A larger one, with a couple riders on horseback. They began to deploy.

Well Becs, this party is going downhill fast. Time to grab Chloe and get the Hell out of dodge.

With deliberate care, Beca began to military crawl away from the Purifiers, going slow to avoid any undo movement. She had learned long ago that movement was often what caught the eye. So while she desperately wanted to escape with all do haste, she was safer going slow and steady.

Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2021

Beca hid in the shadows as she watched another group of Purifiers march in the distance. She kept her hand ready on her crossbow. She knew she couldn’t take on that whole party, but she would be sure to take a few out.

This group seemed to be setting up to literally beat the bushes and see if they could scare someone into the open. Beca was now pretty sure she had been spotted at some point l, and a hunt for her had been initiated.

Nice to know I’m so popular. Though I could do without the attention.

Silently, she began to move cautiously deeper into the woods again, she would have to take a more circuitous route. If Purifiers were here, then she wanted to be away from this tightening circle soon.

Looking at her windup watch, she saw it was getting close to the time she was supposed to get back to the rendezvous spot.

Beca heard something off to her right. On impulse Beca ran away from the sound, deciding to go for speed instead of stealth. As she glanced over her shoulder she spotted a pair of Purifiers emerging from the brush, with two dogs.

Those are some well trained hounds. I didn’t hear them coming.

She could hear them now though, along with shouts.

“HERETIC!”

The Purifiers called out for Beca to halt. When she didn’t they unleashed their dogs. One dog was released immediately, and took off like lightning after Beca. Knowing that she would never out run the German Shepherd, Beca spun about, took a knee, while aiming her crossbow. She took a deep breath, let out half of it, even as her finger gently pulled the trigger. The arrow flew true, and intercepted the dog while still over a hundred feet away.

After seeing the dog crumple, Beca took off running again. It didn’t matter if the dog was dead, it was out of the hunt.

“HALT YOU WHORE!”

She could hear the second dog was now chasing her, so she went about the process of reloading the crossbow. The sound of the dog’s barking definitely let her know that it was gaining on her.

At this point she wasn’t concerned about the two Purifiers, they didn’t have any projectile weapons, they would have to catch her to cause her a problem. The dog, a pit bull, was the immediate threat. Loading the crossbow while running isn’t easy, but thanks to Aubrey she had had a lot of practice. She had thought it stupid when Aubrey had made the Bellas learn to load their weapons while blindfolded, and later while moving, but such were the skills needed after the The Storm.

As calmly as possible, Beca finished loading the crossbow, and again using the noise of the barking dog, determined it’s relative position. An old fence was in her path, but she was able to hurdle it easily. Once on the other side, Beca spun about, and used the fence to steady her aim. The pit bull was less than fifteen feet away, Beca quickly sighted on it, and fired. The arrow shot out, and caught the dog on its shoulder. The pit bull pitched forward into a somersault, and Beca was back up and running, the Purifiers closing in.

“YOU BITCH! YOU’RE GOING TO BURN IN HELL!” 

Again Beca began the process of loading the crossbow, even as she kept up a fast pace. She wasn’t sprinting, but she was running all out, which slowed the process down.

“HARLOT!”

A new group of Purifiers stepped into her path, not twenty feet in front of her.

“STOP! IN THE NAME OF THE TRUE CHURCH!”

She’d just finished loading the crossbow, and fired without thought or hesitation. The Purifier in front, he was wearing the rank of an Inquisitor pitched backwards as the arrow took him in the chest.

His sudden death froze the guards with him, as they moved to deliver aid. It gave Beca a chance, she had veered off the path, but was still running in a direction that they could have intercepted her. Luckily the two didn’t realize their mistake until she was running past, again with the crossbow half loaded.

“BITCH! YOU’LL PAY!”

Now the issue for Beca was she was running full out with a full backpack, and her muscles were starting to burn. Adrenaline is a great thing, especially when running for your life, but it is a finite resource. 

With her crossbow loaded again, she put on more speed, now full out sprint. Another Purifier appeared to her left, about a hundred feet away, running at an angle to cut her off. Beca raised the crossbow, but held off shooting. She wanted to make the shot count.

“HERETIC!”

More appeared on the right, but they were less of a threat at the moment. Those behind her would be a bit more of a problem, but the Purifier on the left was the one who could catch her in the next two minutes. She raised her crossbow and sighted it on his chest. It was still far, but she wanted to be rid of his threat. A full breath, released half, gentle squeeze of the trigger, and the thunk of the crossbow string.

“SHIT!” 

She missed.

He did hit the ground to dodge the arrow, but he wasn’t incapacitated, and still a threat. 

Now Beca was flying at full sprint. There would be no chance to reload. She had to get past him before he regained his feet.

Shit! That guy’s quick!

He was back up on his feet, running faster than before.

Guess he’s pissed I tried to kill him.

Things were really getting harry now. The guy was now behind her but only about ten feet back. The rest were strung out behind, not close enough to catch her, but too close for her to take on the immediate pursuer.

And she was tired.

His breath was ragged from the exertion, but it didn’t sound as labored as hers. She could tell he was gaining, she would drop the backpack in a minute, but she really didn’t want to. She was positive that when he was close, she could drop the bag in his path. With luck he would trip.

He was now maybe five feet behind.

The telltale swish of an arrow flying by caused Beca to drop her head, and she nearly stumbled, but just barely managed to keep her feet. 

The Purifier behind her however didn’t. Looking behind, Beca saw him writhing on the ground, clutching at an arrow protruding from his throat. Another arrow flew by and another Purifier screamed in pain as he fell to the ground.

The sound of a horse pulled Beca’s attention, as she spotted a brown horse and its rider come bounding out of the tall grass. Beca grinned as she saw the red haired woman with bow ready, launching another arrow at Beca’s pursuers. Again there was another scream of pain.

Chloe!

Chloe got her horse running at a truly fast pace, and she rode right past Beca. She did send the petite brunette a wink before she fired another arrow. Chloe charged the pursuers at full speed, firing arrows all the way. Most hit their target, all caused the Purifiers to scatter.  With practiced ease, Chloe pulled the horse up, firing another arrow into the chest of the closest Purifier.

A Purifier with a spear rushed at Chloe from behind, but he fell as Beca used her crossbow from distance. Chloe noticed and started to ride back with all haste, as Beca, loaded and fired another. In this kneeling position, Beca could load and fire an arrow every ten seconds. She fired three arrows before Chloe was back to her.

Three Purifiers would not be around to continue their terror.

Chloe slowed her horse, but didn’t stop, as Beca began to run alongside. With hand extended, Chloe gripped Beca’s, and in a move that showed years of practice and familiarity, Beca swung up onto the horse, and sat behind Chloe.

Both women felt a sense of relief as they felt the other. Chloe was loathed to push the horse with two riders, but she knew they needed to be away from the Purifiers.

Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2021

The pair were an hour of riding away from the Purifiers, when they finally dismounted, and began to walk the horse. Chloe was concerned they would over tax her, and Lady was her favorite.

They walked along, Chloe holding Lady’s bridle in one hand, and Beca’s hand in the other. The redhead had come down from the adrenaline rush of the fight and flight, and was now feeling rather emotional. She needed to break the silence.

“So was it a fruitful trip?” Chloe asked, trying hard to keep it light, and not betray her anxiety.

It didn’t work.

“Somewhat,” Beca said as she held onto the redhead’s hand. She knew her wife, she understood that the redhead would need to talk, to de-stress. Beca decided it best to keep the conversation focused on the positive. “I found some notebooks, and recovered a couple workstation and server hard drives.” She gestured to the backpack which was now attached to Lady’s saddle. “There’s a lot more there, including some electronic microscopes. If the hard drives pan out, we should go back.” She thought about the Purifiers, and added, “In a couple months.”

Chloe nodded, “I discovered a home that had been owned by what appeared to be an adorable elderly couple. At least the pictures that were around the house suggested as much.” Chloe’s voice hitched as she thought about what had probably happened to the couple. “I found a couple cooking books, a couple on gardening, and some handyman how-to books. I think, one of them at least, might have been a professor. There were a bunch of college course books on physics.” Chloe nodded towards the saddle bags. Beca could tell they were stuffed.

“Good day for the Library,” Beca said with a grin.

“Luckily,” Chloe countered. “We almost lost something very precious today.” Beca could hear the tears in Chloe’s words.

“Hey,” Beca stopped them, and gave Chloe a hug to reassure her. “I never doubted that my badass wife would come to my rescue.” She punctuated her observation with a gentle kiss.

“Yeah, she’s pretty badass, especially on a horse,” Chloe chuckled, though the tears were still there. “Guess she takes after her wife.” Chloe kissed Beca back.

“Oh, most definitely,” Beca agreed. “We’re just a couple of badasses.”

The two fell into silence, again leading Lady towards their home at the Lodge of the Fallen Leaves. It was still surreal to both of them, that they would be leading a horse through the ruins of Georgia, on their way home to one of mankind’s last beacons of hope, but that’s the way things go in the middle of an apocalypse.

Today had almost ended in tragedy, but both had survived, because each had the other’s back.

For Beca and Chloe, both were just happy to be in this together.

The End