by Dan McNeill
Chapter 8
Raymond stared down at the low-lying clouds - over the smoke billowing out from the explosion they created at the machine shop. Underneath, he could see the moon, reflecting on the waves of the lake below. They were moving past the island, higher into the sky. As Abraham turned the propane valve for an extra boost, they passed far over the edge of the dam they had crossed over earlier.
"We did it!" Salome shouted. She looked down now at a feeble creek that flowed from the dam. Abraham looked down at it, wrapped his arms around Salome and flashed Raymond a cocky grin.
"Recognize that crik there Ray?"
"No, I don't recognize the crik," Raymond replied mockingly.
"Hmm," Abraham said with a smirk, giving Salome a sudden kiss on the lips. "I thought for sure you'd remember the Fox River, Ray. After all, you and your buds used to spend half your summers fishing on it."
"That's the Fox?" Raymond said, staring down at the winding creek in disbelief.
"Yes Ray," Abraham replied smugly. "What? Too drunk to remember?"
Salome let out a laugh. Raymond thought how much higher the balloon might fly once he tossed Abraham's fat ass off of it.
"Sir!" Jake shouted before Raymond got the chance. He pointed up to a light. "Helicopter! Looks like a Python Class!"
Bigger than the one Raymond saw at Lake Como, it came out of nowhere and was hovering directly at their side. Abraham turned the valve all the way to the left and the balloon shot up higher. The helicopter matched them. A man with a megaphone stuck his head out of the passenger side of the chopper.
"Shit!" Salome shouted, looking to Abraham. "It's Zephaniah!"
"Who the hell's that?" Raymond yelled.
"Another one of the Elected, Ray," Abraham replied, trying to stay calm.
The helicopter flew close to them now and the creature came into closer view.
"Well done," Zephaniah shouted. He wore a long purple trench coat and a similar neck shield as Jehu. Red veins pulsated vertically along the sides of his face. "I'm not here to bring you back to jail. You've earned your freedom. All I ask is to examine Po. I promise you, if you do it my way, no one will be hurt. If you disobey my bargain, well..."
With a nod of his head, six drones made themselves seen now from the side of the attack chopper, weapons aimed squarely on the balloon.
"You see, I can examine your brother alive, or dead. Your choice."
Raymond swung around to shove Abraham up against the side of the gondola. "Do something! Can't this thing go any higher? Because believe me, if you can't think of a way, I got me one that solves all kinds of problems."
"I...maybe..." Abraham jumped on the controls, desperately trying to turn the valve more but couldn't.
"Sir, our options are limited here. I'm afraid-"
"Ten seconds!" a voice boomed out from the helicopter. "Ten seconds and I order my Guardians to open fire."
Broken, his face a twisted mess of contradicting emotions, Abraham slowly turned the valve in the other direction, shrinking the flame. The balloon, carried still by the winds, began to make a gradual descent.
Raymond grabbed him by the shoulder. "What the hell are you doing! We aren't handing Po over to that thing!" Raymond pushed him away to grab the controls himself, stopped cold by Jake's brick like fists pushing him back.
"Let go of me!" Raymond yelled, kicking his legs out.
"Settle down kid," Jake said. "This ain't over yet."
Seeing that the balloon was descending, the helicopter zoomed out, tailing them as the gondola quickly sank. Po was sitting in the corner of the gondola, his eyes shut tight, muttering something to himself as beads of sweat dripped along the sides of his chubby cheeks.
"Everyone brace yourselves!" Jake shouted.
The gondola hit the ground hard, bouncing as it dragged along the rocky surface of the dried out river. Po cried soft tears as the balloon draped over them.
"Everyone stay close," Abraham said, stepping out of the gondola. With Jake propping up the deflated balloon, Raymond took Po by the arm and followed along. Outside, he could hear the slowing whumps of the helicopter blades.
Holding a brown leather medical bag, Zephaniah exited the chopper. The colors on his exposed forearms shifted and warped from purple to blue to yellow to red. “Greetings,” the man said, approaching them. “Your brother here. Po. He has something in his blood stream, something I desperately need to study.”
Zephaniah looked at Raymond now and smiled.
"You don't remember me, do you?"
Raymond looked at the man with an awkward gaze. Partly because of his natural fear of the creature. Mostly because he was thinking of a way to kill it. He said nothing, holding Po's arm tighter.
"No, of course you don't," Zephaniah said, shaking his head. "It was a long time ago. Another lifetime. You were just a child."
"I wemember," Po said softly. "You were the Wizard."
"Po?" Raymond said. "Who is this?"
"I worked with your father," Zephaniah said. "We were friends, he and I, until I let him down. As I said. Another world. A dead world that makes no difference to anyone now." He lowered his head and walked up close to Raymond and Po. “When I learned that Jehu droned Po, I noticed something. Something very strange." With the lines criss-crossing his face seeming to boil over in red, he stood in front of Po and stared. "A blood sample Raymond. That’s it. One simple blood sample and I let him and all of you go.”
In the forest behind them the sound of cracking wood echoed loudly along the sloping ravine. “Oh Zeph,” a familiar voice boomed from within the forest. “When are you gonna get it?”
He was coming for them. The next second, crackling branches from the tallest treetops drew their attention to the night sky, as Jehu propelled himself over a towering maple, landing hard just inches from Zephaniah’s tired gaze. “Old doc Bean fucked us all.”
Jehu stood over Zephaniah, brooding. “Old Man Bean may not be able to tell me where he’s at, but I bet you one of these three can.”
“Ah, good evening Jehu,” Zephaniah quipped, giving a short bow. “I see it must be your feeding time.”
“As always, a barrel of laughs Zeph,” Jehu replied. “Now get out of my way and give me what’s mine.”
“What’s yours?” Zephaniah said, breaking out in laughter. “Why I didn’t think they were your type.”
The veins in Jehu’s arms suddenly flowed red. From their position behind Zephaniah, Raymond could see Jehu’s eyes flicker in shades of red and bright pink as he stepped in closer to the older man. “Mock me one more time and I’ll-”
“You’ll what, John? Kill me?” he said. “Again? Please, you have no idea what you’re interfering with. We’re dying you fool! And this one here has what I think to be a cure. A real cure!”
“Get bent old man!" His chest was beating hard while the bulging veins under his thick muscular biceps churned a twisted red and yellow. "You know you don’t want to cure us! You want to make us like them!” He stared down at the old man, the same way Raymond could look down at his dad. “After all we sacrificed? No way. I worked too hard to get here to go back now. And I’m pretty sure that goes for the rest of us.”
Zephaniah visibly cringed while the blood in his veins shifted to match the skin hues of blue and orange crawling up his wrists and forearms.
“Even if you found it John, do you even know how it works? There’s only one man who understood that infernal machine and he’s-”
“Dead?” Jehu laughed. Red hues like fire spread rapidly over every muscle of his body while his shout echoed along the dry river basin. “Maybe, maybe not."
Zephaniah stared down at him, shaking his head. “Please John, we’ve been through this many times before. You just don’t remember anymore. That’s part of our problem. We have the Rager variation, you know that. It's just a matter of time before the half-ass cure I concocted loses its ability to keep us…”
Before Zephaniah could finish, Jehu had lifted him into the air and hurled him into the backyard of a nearby cottage.
“Doesn't matter doc," he said, landing in a controlled crouch right next to him. "I have Bean’s kids. All three of them. If one doesn't talk, the other dies. Figure I got me three chance to pull out the intel.”
“No, John. We've done enough killing," he shouted. Leaning back against the cottage's brick exterior, he turned just enough to avoid another powerful blow from Jehu's fist. The impact turned the aging brick to shards of pebble.
"You were a decent man once!" Zephaniah pleaded. "Dammit! Fight it off! We take the blood, we end our madness and we leave the Bean family alone. Now get out of my way.”
Before Zephaniah could take a step, Jehu grabbed him by the back of the arms and sent him soaring back across the dried riverbed. His body flailed as it was thrust forward through the air, the moonlight flickering within Zephaniah’s now rapidly color-shifting eyes.
“Oh Zeph, haven't you worked for me long enough to know never to turn your back?” he thundered. He rocketed into the air as Zephaniah bounced to a stop, his face slamming solidly against the edge of a half-buried pontoon boat. As he hit it, the dried seaweed shook off the hull to reveal the name, “Enterprise” on its side. With an evil smile, Jehu lifted his foot.
"One to beam up." Still smiling, he thrust his boot down hard onto Zephainah’s leg. With a single sickening crack, blood sprayed up over Jehu's black boots. Zephaniah's screams went on forever as Jehu paced jubilantly back and forth, wiping the mess from his boots onto the side of the pontoons. His smile grew as he began to walk towards Po.
“What you call madness Zeph, I call glory.”
With a deep howl, Zephaniah snapped his leg back into place. Through the tear in the man's robes, Raymond could see a bubbling of the skin surrounding the spot where the leg had been broken at. Slowly, around the edges of the gash, more color changes as the wound healed itself completely.
“The rate of deterioration John,” Zephaniah said, rising to his feet. “It’s alarming. We had thought ourselves immortal.” He shook his head. “Months. Perhaps only weeks.”
Jehu turned around with a growl. “Enough! If we find Adam Bean, none of this matters!” He looked at Zephaniah and howled, his skin shifting colors. Raymond even thought he could see his skin moving as the man continued to look up into the night and scream.
“Look at yourself John!” Zephaniah countered. “Do you think we’re normal? Each day, we slip into bouts of insanity. Look at Boorwhich! The Mother, John, really? She's so far gone she actually believes she can make the world immortal! She truly thinks she's the bride of God!”
Jehu bounded towards Zephaniah with another growl. “Watch your blasphemous tongue old man!”
Zephaniah didn't waver. “Even me old friend, there are hours that I can’t recollect, and when I do, I wish I hadn’t. All of us, we’re all growing more irrational and xenophobic by the day. Even now,” he said, looking Jehu in the eyes. “I feel certain…urges. Urges that I find…unnatural. Splicing their genes into us was always supposed to be a stop-gap measure, never a permanent cure.”
"You're an idiot Zeph! A goddamned idiot! A cure!" He stopped and looked off at the dam and the swirling spotlights. "Immortality Zeph! That's what I'm after. It's the only way to ensure the survival of our species." Slowly, his mouth twisted in a grin, he stepped towards the older man like a mountain lion stalking a doe. "Of course...how does that old Springsteen song go? Poor man wants to be rich, rich man wants to be king?" The stripes on his bare chest churned a hot red. "Sure, we'll make the masses immortal, like the stupid bitch says. But in a world of immortals Nick, there still needs to be gods!"
Screaming, Jehu shot out his arms, trying to grab Zephaniah by the shoulders again, but he was too slow this time. Shooting up into the night sky, the older man landed several yards away. This time he was ready.
“It doesn't matter," he said, breathing heavily. "Immortality's a fool's errand John. We'll never get there. You know that our deterioration proceeds unabated. The grafting of their DNA strands onto our own may have slowed the effects of the nano-virus. Despite Boorwhich's delusional grasp of the truth, it even gave us a limited version of the powers possessed by the test subjects. But it has not eliminated the infection.”
Zephaniah looked over at Po and smiled, as a buoy, covered in dark dried seaweed smashed into his skull. Within moments, Jehu landed again at his feet.
He looked down at Zephaniah, whose face was bloodied from scraping along the rocks and debris from the dry river bottom. Even now though, those scrapes and cuts were busy healing themselves, like mini-menders stitching away the hurt.
“That was always your problem Nicky. You and all your scientist friends down at Costello. Too small-minded. Bean though, he was different. He saw the greater potential.”
“Yes,” Zephaniah said, while blood still trickled out from a rapidly healing wound in his skull. “But he was wise enough to destroy it.”
“Oh he didn’t destroy it Nick,” Jehu said, stepping directly onto the spot on the old man's leg that had been crushed earlier. Raymond could hear the bones once again splitting and snapping as Jehu’s foot continued to drive into his flesh. As the bubbles formed, Jehu would step on it again. And again. Each time, the bubbles took longer to come back. Finally, the wound just bled.
Jehu removed his foot. “Oh, we’d have known if he destroyed it," he smiled. "Something like that just doesn’t get unplugged. Adam Bean locked it away somewhere. And his kids here are the keys to get it back.”
With great pain, Zephaniah attempted to straighten out his contorted legs, though it seemed his shattered bones weren’t healed enough to do that. “Stop him!” he shouted through gritted teeth to his contingent of drones.
But they stood at attention. Motionless. Jehu began to laugh. “I made the Guardians, you old fool,” he bellowed. “They do what I say!” He rubbed his hands together before combing them through the strands of knotted orange hair coming out the sides of his helmet.
“Come here little Po-Po,” Jehu teased. “That’s what your daddy used to call you, isn’t it? That guy was so proud of his little Po-Po.” As he walked closer, Jehu signaled Zephaniah’s drones to follow him, which they did, along with more than two dozen others that suddenly emerged from the forest along their sides, a clanging cacophony of metal armor, swarming into formation.
Raymond got in front of Po who had his head down, sobbing. Another bully looking to tear him down. “Get away from him!” Raymond shouted. He cocked his rifle, raising it to eye-level. “Now!”
Jehu waltzed towards him with a grin. “How are you gonna stop me little Ray-Ray?”
The drones surrounded them now in a circle. Smiling like a jackal, Jehu crept through, stopping just a few feet from Raymond, his palms out in a mocking gesture of peaceful atonement. “Come now Raymond, I respect your devotion to family. You want to protect your brother. That’s good. Family’s all that matters kid. Too bad your old man never got that. He took his eyes off the prize."
He stepped closer to Raymond. “As for your brother, the tortures I have planned for him are simply delightful,” he said. "You're gonna wish you kept him droned." That same rancid scent of aftershave and whiskey filled Raymond’s nostrils as Jehu’s smiling face stepped in to size up his prey. Raymond’s eyes, as if in genuflection, gazed upwards.
A rush of purple streaked across the night sky as Zephaniah landed square on Jehu’s shoulders, pinning him to the ground. The drones drew away from Raymond and the others and focused on this new threat. “You know Jehu,” he said, punching him in the ribs so hard that Raymond could hear them crack. “This man-crush you got on Adam Bean really is getting to be a problem." He punched him again and again in the rib cage, making sure to strike him in the exact same spot
“When...I...heal...” Jehu muttered, blood pouring from his lips.
“Yes, when y
ou heal,” Zephaniah said. “But by that point, I’ll have already extracted enough blood from young Po to-” He looked around. They were gone.
Raymond looked back to see Jehu struggling to his feet. Hunched over, he was already barking orders to his drones. Grabbing Po by the hand, Raymond ran hard to keep up with the others. Abraham was out in front, running fast. Passing through a row of densely packed cattails, they emerged at once to a graveyard of party craft.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Raymond shouted, catching up to Abraham.
“Yes ‘Ray-Ray” Abraham mocked. “I know where we’re going.”
"Good, because when we get there, I'm going to beat you bloody."
Raymond looked back to see the rapidly approaching red lights of the drones poking holes through the forest. Ahead of him, Jake spotted a blue Dodge Challenger, dried weeds covering its wheels. He quickly grabbed a clump, jammed them into the gas tank and lit it up.
“If the fuel hasn’t evaporated, it may buy us some time," he shouted.
More bright red dots beamed out from the forest and the drones emerged onto the street. Raymond and the others took off quickly as the fuel left in the gas tank ignited. With a loud boom the car exploded into a fireball of mangled blue metal, forcing the drones back.
Raymond and Po followed the others around the corner to a vine-covered brick colonial on an acre lot that backed to where the river used to be. Abraham ran fast along its side. “Get down!”
“You have no idea where we’re going, do you?” Raymond yelled.
“Listen Raymond,” Abraham replied. “You don’t try running from the Elected, especially Jehu. It’s what he expects. He makes a game out it.”
“So what," Raymond said furiously, "we just stay here? Wait until the killer robots slaughter us? Some things never change, do they Abe. Still a wussy.”
Jake grabbed Raymond by the arm, pulling him close.
"Watch your mouth sally girl!" he shouted. "Abraham's the bravest guy I ever..."
Abraham raised his hand, cutting him off. "Don't waste your time Jake, it's not worth getting in the middle of this fight. It's pointless."
"I'm sorry sir, I just don't like little pricks like this one talking shit about..."
Jake paused, looking up at Po who was glaring at him, his eyes narrowed.
"Um, what did I do to piss off this one?" Jake asked, slowly letting go of Raymond's arm.
Raymond jerked it away and stepped back.
"Oh," Abraham said with a grin. "I should have warned you. Po doesn't like potty mouths."
"Uh, sorry kid," Jake said. "But I'm an ex-Marine..."
"Guys!" Salome yelled out. "I think we have bigger things to worry about right now!" She peered out over the dry riverbed up to the dam. Standing on top of the dam, right at the middle of the walkway, was Jehu. Drones in a tight formation surrounded him on both sides.
He seemed to be looking directly back at them as he paced along the edge of the massive dam, peering over it. He raised his hands to his mouth.
“You know,” he shouted down to them. “I love fishing. Why, I remember once, before the Rapture, I took my yacht out to this little freshwater inlet off the coast of Cuba. Yep, just yours truly, some chiquitas from Miami and a suitcase full of coke.”
Raymond stood in silence, watching every move the cocky bastard was making as he monologued over the dam’s walkway.
“Well we're there all day and I'm not catching a thing. That doesn't sit well with me, you know? Just doesn’t fit my personality. I’m kind of a type A, you know? I like to get things done quick. So, you know what I did?”
He stood at the top of the dam, peering down its steep edge, into the valley below. He waited patiently, as if expecting to receive an answer. The flanking drones, which had to number in the several dozen, stood motionless.
He raised his hands back to his mouth. “I blew ‘em out of the water!” He casually walked behind the line of drones, over to the other side of the dam.
“Suicide!” he shouted. All at once, the drones lowered their heads and dropped their weapons. The red lights on their face plates began to flash.
“Goddamit!” Jake said, almost to himself. “He's blowing up the dam.”
“What?” Raymond yelled.
“He issued a self-destruct command to the drones. It overloads the tri-lithium batteries that power their suits.” He turned suddenly to Abraham. “Sir,” he said. “Do you remember the safe house in Milwaukee?”
Abraham lowered his eyebrows and nodded.
“One single drone,” Jake continued, “took out an entire four story building. It left an impact crater six feet deep! There are 36 drones positioned on top of the dam, ready to blow. And when they do, watch out. There ain’t going to be a thing left of this dam but dust.”
“How much time do we have?” Raymond frantically asked.
Jake tightened his lips and shook his head slowly. “None. None at all. I sure hope someone brought bubble bath.”
“We have to run!” Salome shouted, grabbing Abraham by the arm.
“Yeah,” Abraham said. “let’s go!”
Jake stood up. “I told you, there ain’t no time! When the dam blows, this entire basin's gonna be gushing some twenty feet deep with the Chosen’s holy water faster than you can say a Hail Mary.”
"Hail Mary," Raymond said to himself, looking down the dry riverbed. “All of you, follow me,” Raymond yelled. "I think I have an idea." Without waiting for the others, he started running towards the dam.
Po ran right beside him. "Hey Waymond," he shouted. "Just in case you didn't know, the bad guys are right where you're running."
"I know Chewie," Raymond shouted back. "That's the plan."
“What the hell are you doing?” Salome yelled. "We need to run away from the dam muchacho, not towards it!" Shaking her head, she darted down the hill after Raymond with Jake and Abraham close behind.
"Not this time," Raymond yelled back. “You ever go white-water rafting?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jake said with a snarl.
“The pontoon boat! The one that Jehu threw the other guy into! We might not have time to out run the water, but we may have time to out ride it!”
Confused, Jake looked over at Abraham, “Sir?”
Abraham narrowed his eyes. “Folks took us white water rafting on the Colorado River when we were freshman. I stayed with Po exploring the canyon. Raymond broke his arm and nearly drowned. This should be good. That is, if we don’t die of course.”
“Oh we’re gonna die,” Jake barked. “And you know death by drowning isn't even on my top ten list! Well, maybe the Chosen keep piranhas in that lake. Least that'll be close to making number seven.”
Making it to the overturned pontoon boat, Raymond glanced up to the dam to see that the blinking eyes of the drones had stopped. At once, a high pitched screech like the sound of stereo feedback from a misplaced microphone began to emanate from the top of the dam.
“Get ready people!” Abraham shouted. “The 19 be with us!”
The boat was turned on its side, with the pontoon marked “Enterprise” partially buried in the dirt of the dried river. “Come on!” Raymond yelled, pushing his shoulder into the side of the overturned boat while Po leaned in his broad shoulder, offering immediate assistance. “Give us a hand! Let’s see if we can push this thing back over.”
Jake and Abraham rushed to Raymond’s side, pushing hard with all of their might. Salome found a spot and began pushing forward along the top of the padded seats.
Raymond looked up to the dam as they continued to try to get the boat to budge. The sound of the drones had risen so high now that it was almost undetectable. Somewhere, off in the distance, Raymond thought he heard a dog howl. He could only hope it was their red rascal.
With a final push, the buried pontoon budged and the boat fell down with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Raymond rushed to get on board. “Find a seat and grab hold of something!” he yelled.
Reaching the front of the boat, he stood behind its controls and grabbed hold of the steering wheel. Like that would even matter. He looked up to the dam to see Zephaniah flinging himself onto Jehu’s back. Like two battling titans, they tumbled off the face of the dam as the drones exploded into a nebulae of burning blue.
Then came the roar.
