Grim Effects

by Kip Nelson

  It wasn't fair that such a good, gentle man such as Mikey died, while someone such as Nick lived. But that was the way of the world. The old world anyway. Good men died, and bad men lived. David was going to change that. His lip curled into a wicked smile as he thought about the moment when he would stand over Nick and blast a bullet into his face. It was just down to him and Nick, and Nick finally would see that he couldn't get away with everything anymore.

  These thoughts ran through his mind as he stood in the abandoned police station, surrounded by guns. He still didn't understand why the police were not responding, but that didn't matter anymore. There was such a thing as a citizen’s arrest. He was sure that there was probably some forgotten legal mandate that, in the event of the police force being incapacitated, civilians had a responsibility to maintain the peace. If there wasn't, then there should have been, and who better to do it than a responsible, respected man such as David? Nobody, that's who.

  The station already had been raided, but there still were weapons left. David mostly had used his crossbow, but he knew it wouldn't be enough if the world went on like this. He'd spent some time at shooting ranges, so he knew how to handle a weapon. As he took out a pistol he felt the satisfying weight resting in his hands. There was something beautiful about the long straight barrel, and how it curved down into a handle that was just made to fit in his palm. When he curled his fingers around the gun, he raised the weapon and slowly moved it across the room. It felt balanced. He felt empowered. David felt like his idol, Dirty Harry. One sane voice in a world of madness. Dirty Harry Callahan did what was necessary to get the job done. David would do the same.

  As he gradually gazed around the room, he saw Max and Tori in his sights. Moving the gun between the two of them, he felt an incredible surge of power wash through him, seizing him like nothing ever before. The two of them had their backs to him. His index finger slipped down and rested on the trigger. It would be so easy for him to pull back and see them slump to the ground. Probably not Tori. A pretty thing like her didn't really deserve to die. Max, on the other hand...well, would the world really miss him?

  David's throat ran dry. He licked his lips. A haze came over his mind. Was he really considering this? The power was intoxicating. He was aware of his heart pounding in his chest. Every breath was heavy. Time seemed to slow down. His finger was there, resting on the trigger. All it would take was such a simple gesture. Just one soft curl of his finger and a bullet would fly toward Max, ending his life. David closed his eyes and pictured Nick. It was going to be so sweet and satisfying finally to end him. He smiled and felt his finger pressuring the trigger.

  His eyes opened, and he pulled his finger away. Not yet. There was no sense in killing Max and Tori. They had saved his life, after all. Still, they were expendable. It wasn't as if anyone was going to miss them if they died. What kind of world were they living in anyway, when people just could die without anyone even caring? David was filled with an overwhelming sadness, not just for Mikey, but for everything else he had lost.

  Everything had been normal until recently. He was helping small businesses get on their feet. He was doing something good in the world, but now nothing like that mattered at all. Until the world got back on its feet, and who knew how long that would take, it didn't matter that David had been a bank manager. It didn't matter that he had done anything. If he was careful, then soon it would stop mattering that Mikey had died. David gritted his teeth. He never was going to let that happen. The flames of justice would burn within him forever.

  Even if the entire world went mad, David would be the one man who held onto his sanity. He would do it for Mikey. People such as Nick couldn't be allowed to get away with what he had done. David had the power now. He finally had the power, and he was going to use it. Nobody was going to be safe, nobody who deserved it anyway. He was the law now, and he would make sure to use it wisely. The rest of the city had been forsaken, but not him.

  He was a hero, and he would prove it. Then, when the world was finally rebuilt, he would look at his works and think to himself what a wonderful thing he had done. He would go back to his job as a bank manager and keep helping small businesses. Maybe when that happened people would ask each other what they had done when they thought it had been the end of the world. Maybe most people wouldn't want to talk about it because they were afraid and ashamed. Not David, though. He would hold his head up high. Stand tall and proud. He would say he had done the right thing.

  He still had his finger on the trigger when Tori turned around. She gasped and staggered backward. Her hand rose to her chest. Max heard this and turned around, too. The color drained from his face. David almost laughed inside. It was all too easy to have power over the weak. Tori and Max had saved his life, but they wouldn't last very long in this world. He would make use of them while he could, and then dispose of them. Perhaps not Tori, though. Depending on how things panned out he might keep her around, if she started showing a little more appreciation for him. She'd barely given him a second glance, and David didn't think that was very fair. The only other man she'd had to look at since this all began was her brother, so she should be appreciating the presence of another man, a real man at that. Max looked a whimpering sort, and David didn't think he would be much good in a crisis. He certainly couldn't do what needed to be done.

  “What the hell?!” Max cried.

  For a moment, all the color drained from the world. Only black and white were left. The power had seized David like some uncontrollable force, and he was at its mercy. He could feel it flowing through him, and he couldn't help but wonder how he would feel if he pulled the trigger. It was so easy it was almost wrong not to do it. But at the last moment he jerked his finger away and spun the gun down so the barrel was pointing at the floor.

  “Only joking,” he said, grinning at them.

  The two of them didn't seem to see the funny side, though. Tori turned around and steadied herself against a desk, looking as though she was about to vomit. Max glared at David. He was about to say something, then seemed to think better of it. He turned to comfort his sister. David chuckled to himself. Oh, perhaps this world was going to be a little more fun than he initially had thought. Still, it was a shame Mikey couldn't get to enjoy it, too.

  David found a bag and began stuffing as many guns into it as he could. He didn't yet have a clear plan for finding Nick, but he knew he would need a lot of guns.

  “What are you going to do with all of them?” Tori asked, walking up beside him.

  The more she talked the more David loathed her. She really didn't try fighting the stereotype of blondes. She was pretty, but also pretty vapid. She never seemed to know what was going on, and David had a feeling that had Max not been with her, she wouldn't have lasted long in this world. She still may not. She wasn't exactly the strongest. David pressed his lips together and tried not to sound too frustrated when he replied. It was as if she had to have everything fed to her with a spoon, unable to figure out anything for herself. The youth of today drove the world into the ground.

  David pushed himself up off his haunches and looked her dead in the eyes. He saw her flinch a little. Maybe that was a good thing. Girls like a little bit of fear. It kept them on edge. That always had been his problem. He was just too nice. Maybe it was time for more than the world to change. It would have been easy to kiss her then and there, to take her young body into his arms and press his lips against hers. Max probably wouldn't like it, though. She probably wouldn't either, at first, but then she'd appreciate him taking the initiative. That's what women liked, wasn't it, men of action? Well, David was about to show the world what action really was. One day he'd have Tori, just to prove to himself that he could, and to get back at all the other girls who had rejected him.

  Before that, though, there was something else that had to be done.

  “I'm going to go to war,” he snarled.

  A vision of Nick conjured in his mind, and all David could think about was a mill
ion ways to kill him. Soon enough, the life would be squeezed out of Nick's eyes and David would make that man feel the same pain that he had felt, a hundred times over. David marched out of the station with Max and Tori in tow. He didn't care about the concerned looks on their faces or the worried glances they exchanged. They weren't long for this world. They just didn't know it yet.

  Chapter Twenty

  Nick wasn't sure what to make of these people, but they seemed friendly enough and, as yet, he hadn't seen anything that made his danger sense tingle. Frankly, it was refreshing to meet people who seemed to be on the level, and actually were happy. With all the misery he had endured, it was easy to forget there still was room for miracles in this world. These people were certainly testament to that. As he moved through them, he spoke with a number of them, and they all told him how lucky they were that they had survived. He couldn't imagine what it had been like for them to drop from the sky, hurtling toward the ground, with everything in their minds telling them they were taking their last breaths, only to discover that, actually, they still were alive.

  They were the first people, aside from Mikey, who actually had been in good spirits. Nick spared a thought for the fallen man. It was a shame that he hadn't been able to make it this far. Nick had a feeling that he would have liked these people and fit in well. David was another matter. Nick tried not to think about that man, but it was difficult not to do so. Nick wondered how he had fared through the storm. David had sworn vengeance on him for something Nick hadn't even done, but the world was so big that Nick didn't think he ever would see that man again. David was just another soul who had passed by.

  There were many more people to meet, though, and they all were so friendly. They asked him questions, and all were eager to pet Backdraft, who equally liked the attention. Tanya seemed to be attached to Nick and the dog, which annoyed Nick somewhat, but it was clear she still was shaken from her ordeal at the farm. Although, he did wish she would give him a little more space. Cosmo was, well, Cosmo. Nick quickly had begun realizing Cosmo was the type of man who viewed everything with suspicion. It was beginning to get grating. So far, these people had shown nothing but friendship. Nick didn't need Cosmo ruining their chances for sanctuary by asking a lot of questions like he was interrogating them all.

  After the storm the air was fresh, and the ground was clean, if not still sodden. It felt as though the world had been cleansed. Nick hoped this was a new beginning, where they could forget about all the trouble they had been through.

  Tanya clung to his arm as he was shown around the camp. She didn't say much, and kept her head bowed to the ground. She seemed overwhelmed by all the people around, and yet she had been at ease with Nick from the first instance. He'd noticed the way she'd been looking at him as well. Sometimes this happened. Women gravitated toward him, but in this case, the attention was unwelcome. Tanya seemed like a nice girl, of course, and she was certainly attractive, but she was so much younger than him, and romance wasn't exactly a priority for Nick at the moment. He couldn't help but feel it was much easier to be single, especially after the disaster that his last relationship had been.

  Nick did see some couples around him, though. He almost wanted to ask them how they could find time for romance when there were so many other things to worry about, but he stopped himself. Some people just were made to be with other people, and some were meant to be alone. Nick was the latter. He'd always found it difficult to juggle various aspects of his life. That was one thing that had not changed, even though the rest of the world had. The sooner Tanya got over her little crush, the better. Otherwise, they would have to have an awkward conversation.

  The group settled around a campfire. Gillian and the others had the foresight to keep some wood out of the storm so it was dry and could be burned. Smoke soon drifted through the sky as they talked more about the plane crash and what had happened afterward.

  “It really was a harrowing experience,” Gillian began, sweeping her red hair away from her face. She had a striking beauty about her and a lilting, melodic voice.

  “I don't think any of us quite believed it when we crashed. I remember looking around and feeling so glad that I saw other people who had their eyes open. It was a great tragedy, of course, because many of the people didn't survive, including the pilots who saved us. It must have been their skill that managed to land us safely, and we owe them all a debt. That was the philosophy that came through in the wake of the tragedy. We all had a profound sense that we owed the others our lives. They had died, but we had lived, and we had to make sure we went on living, so their deaths were not in vain. And I don't just mean surviving either, Nick, I mean actually living.

  “When we buried the dead we each said something. Some of us didn't even know who they were, but we tried giving them as much respect as possible. After that, it was time to make a new home for ourselves. None of us wanted to go back to the city. It seemed so pointless. We all had a new perspective on life, and we wanted to make this place a paradise. From what you tell me, it seems we made the right decision.”

  She smiled slightly. Nick had been telling her most of what had happened while they had been walking to the camp. There had been many gasps along the way from people who were shocked to hear how quickly the city had fallen. It was impressive to hear Gillian and the others talk about how they had formed their camp and had a steady supply of water, and their plans for the future. They all were humble, and none of them really seemed to realize how magnificent their efforts were.

  Cosmo kept shooting Nick warning glances. His face looked even sterner than usual in the burning orange glow of the fire. Nick kept shaking his head, not understanding why Cosmo was acting this way. For all Nick could see these people were genuine, and quite remarkable. This was the kind of place Nick had hoped to find when he had been wandering through the city. It was quite the contrast to the world he had been used to, and it was good to see people were finding another way, something different from chaos and rioting.

  It was a welcome relief when Gillian told them they could stay as long as they wanted.

  They spent some more time by the fire and some food was shared around. They all were open with what they had, and there was no sense of possessiveness at all. They even started singing, which Nick found amusing. Cosmo rolled his eyes, though, and stormed off. During the song Nick felt he'd better go talk to Cosmo to find out what was bothering him so much. He left Tanya with Backdraft and walked away before she could ask to come with him.

  “What's up, man?” Nick asked. The sounds of singing faded into the distance. Cosmo and Nick were alone. Even so, Cosmo looked around warily to make sure nobody was listening in on them.

  “Are you really buying this crap?” he said, pacing back and forth in an agitated manner.

  “They seem genuine to me,” Nick said calmly.

  Cosmo laughed sharply. “No way, man, there's no way this is real.”

  “What are you talking about?” Nick said, beginning to lose his patience.

  “These people can't be who they say they are. I don't like it here, and we should move on.”

  “That's a pretty strong accusation to make. Why would we move on when there's everything we need?”

  “I've got a bad feeling, and can you really blame me after what we've been through? First, there was that psycho David, and thank the Lord he's disappeared, because I don't think I could deal with another minute of his creepy ass hanging around. Then, there's that farmer who would have sliced and diced us if we had stayed there any longer. I've read a lot about the psychology of man, and I can tell you that, deep down, people are not nice people.

  “We have more in common with beasts than we'd like to admit, and the rules of society were all that were keeping us together. But society is gone. Those rules don't exist anymore. It's a free-for-all, and we can't trust anybody. There's nothing left, and anyone can do whatever the hell they want. These people...there's something rotten about them. I just know it. Nobody can be t
his nice, not in a world such as this.”

  The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. Nick already had saved this man's life, but he could hardly call him a friend, and yet their lives had been twisted together like a fabric. It was the same with Tanya. Nick barely knew anything about them, but he cared for them anyway. Perhaps it just was the circumstances of the world now. He took a breath and then placed a hand on Cosmo's shoulder, pausing the man in his stride.

  “Cosmo,” he began, “I understand this world is scary, and there are plenty of things and people out there to hurt us, but that doesn't mean everything is bad. There are still good people in this world. You know that because I was the one who saved your life. I easily could have walked on by and left you to die in that watermill, but I didn't. Just like these people aren't letting us wander the woods alone. They've offered us hospitality, and we would be fools to refuse. At some point we're all going to have to start trusting again, because that's the only way back from this.”

  He'd hoped his words would have made it through Cosmo's thick skull, but they hadn't. Cosmo scowled. “I'm going to prove it,” he growled, and marched away. Nick sighed and shook his head. Sometimes there was no helping people, but he hoped Cosmo would calm down. The last thing he needed was Cosmo making waves in the camp and making enemies of these new people who only had presented themselves as friends.

  Nick began walking back to the fire. The soft lull of the singing was soothing, and being out here it was easy to forget about the devastation that had overcome the city. He heard movement through the trees and then saw the form of Backdraft leaping toward him.

  “He wanted to see you,” Tanya said, moving into view. Surrounded by the woods she looked like an elf, almost ethereal. Somehow, he suspected it wasn't really Backdraft who wanted to see him at all, but her. She walked awkwardly. Backdraft leaped from one of her to the other.