The End The Beginning (Humanity's New Dawn Book 1)

by Ryan Horvath

  Art conveyed his address and then read off his special credit card number. He told the woman to add a fifty dollar tip to the order and she thanked him genuinely.

  “Please have your delivery person knock on my door three times. He should be able to hear me say ‘come in’. Oh, and be sure to include some eating utensils. I’m not able to get to the kitchen.”

  She replied in the affirmative and Art clicked off and returned his full attention to the street and hotels below as best as he could. The virginal voice that he had just interacted with still held a part of his mind and his penis continued to press achingly against his underwear and pants. He was very glad he already had a woman in his captivity with which he could begin exploring his new rape fantasies and hoped the damnable Dr. Simon Shepherd would rear his stupid head so Art could finish him and move on to his next project.

  Twenty minutes passed and still Shepherd did not appear. Five minutes after that, there were three sharp knocks on the door to Art’s apartment.

  “Come in,” Art directed, loud enough to be heard.

  Art heard the door open and then “Satini’s delivery!” a man’s voice announced.

  “Yes, bring it back here,” Art said. A cab was rolling up the street and pulled into the Carlton Hotel’s pull through. “Damn,” Art muttered under his breath. How awful this delivery man’s timing.

  Just as the cab stopped, the delivery man found Art, still standing in front of his toilet. The delivery man looked at Art, who was trying to watch the window and trying not to ignore the delivery man.

  “I’ve got your order here, sir.” A puzzled look came over the delivery man’s face when he realized where Art was. The cab at the Carlton was letting a petite woman with silver hair out. Definitely not Shepherd so Art paid attention to the delivery man. However he strongly resisted breaking the man’s legs and then his neck for showing up at the same time as a cab and causing Art undue anxiety. He snatched the bags from the delivery man and told him to leave, which he seemed more than happy to do.

  Art focused out the window again and tore into the bags. He devoured the soup, and then the appetizers. He ate the salad and entrée next, not leaving a scrap of food. The cakes followed and Art had no difficulty getting them down. He’d forgotten to order any beverage so was forced to drink water from the tap with the empty soup container.

  His meal completed, Shepherd’s young look-alike still had not returned and Art was nearing rage. Amanda Breck better hope she was still unconscious when he returned tonight to change her IV bag. Otherwise, Art might just break one of his rules and direct some of his rage on her.

  Art had also not heard anything for some time from his contact that had hired him to take out the doctor so he decided to reach out to him. He picked his smart phone up from where he had left it on the window sill after ordering the food and sent a text message. A few moments later a response came in.

  NO SIGN OF HIM. NO CC USE. NO TRAVEL. STAND BY.

  Art stared at the screen in frustration. The fools had lost him.

  While Art looked at this text message, he did not realize he was not looking out the window and a black Honda pulled up in the Carlton Hotel’s pull through. The car was driven by Ian Turner, who Art did not know. A passenger got out of the car and quickly darted into the hotel. Had Art not subsequently got caught up in texting session with the man who had hired him, wondering how long this assignment was going to go on, he would have seen Simon Shepherd get back into Ian Turner’s Honda a few moments later, carrying only an overstuffed computer bag.

  44

  JACK, BRIAN, IAN, SIMON, AND RIVER

  “Who was at the door, Jackrabbit?” Ian asked. His back was to Jack while he prepared turkey and provolone sandwiches for them and a side dish of turkey for River. Brian and River, however, saw Jack had returned with a visitor. The visitor looked fresh out of high school to Brian.

  “Guys,” Jack began, “this is Dr. Simon Shepherd. He’s an astrophysicist.”

  Brian looked perplexed and Ian turned to face them. River recalled the words “Dr. Shepherd” were two she recognized as some of the first English words she had learned.

  “Hello,” Simon said and raised his hand in a wave.

  Jack saw his friends hesitate so he said, “That’s Brian over there. That’s Ian and this little girl is River.” Jack indicated the cat at his side who was sitting in her typical fashion with her tail wrapped around her and its tip at rest on her forepaws.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” River meowed.

  Simon looked at the cat with astonishment on his face. “Did she just… answer me?”

  “She said ‘it’s nice to meet you,’” Ian translated. He walked across the kitchen and shook Simon’s hand. Brian followed him. “Did you understand her?”

  “No, but the tone and inflection and delivery just seemed like an answer,” Simon replied still looking at the bright eyed feline next to Jack. He then looked up at Jack and for an instant, something he hadn’t immediately noticed registered. Had he met this man before? Photos of Jack had not accompanied the reports the congressman had given Simon so he had no way of knowing what Jack looked like yet he was almost certain they had crossed paths before.

  “What?” Jack asked Simon. He had noticed Simon’s hesitation.

  “It’s nothing,” Simon said and quickly changed the subject. “So you all can talk to this animal as well as… everything else?”

  “Her name is River and we prefer not to think of her as an animal. She’s one of us,” Brian said curtly.

  “Thank you, Brian,” River mewed.

  “My apologies,” Simon said looking directly at River. “I didn’t mean to offend any of you.” Simon scratched nervously at the back of his head.

  “It’s okay,” Ian said. “Did you say ‘doctor’? Aren’t you a bit young for that?”

  Simon smiled. “Well, it’s kind of a long story.”

  “And why are you here, doctor?” Brian asked pointedly.

  “That’s, I guess, also part of the story,” Simon responded. “Uh… I’m twenty-eight years old actually and before this week, I actually had some gray hairs and crow’s feet. Father Time seems to have smacked a decade off my face.” He rubbed his chin with his right hand. “Except it wasn’t Father Time, I guess,” he added quietly. “I know it’s hard to believe but-“

  “S’not so hard to believe,” Brian said.

  “Yes,” Simon said. “Jack said there were others who had changed like him and me. What’s happened here?”

  “Well,” Brian began, “I’ve got kind of a telepathic bond here with Jack which lets me understand River, who Jack and Ian can understand without help. My buddy Ian there, well, he got attacked and torn up by a big ass bird of prey, only to have all of his wounds heal scar free in a matter of seconds. Jack’s got the senses of smell and hearing of a dog.”

  “Better, I think,” Jack interjected.

  Undeterred, Brian continued, “And his blood stomped out something overnight that has been stumping scientists for decades. And in addition to River having the ability to understand us, she’s got one heck of a photographic memory.”

  Simon looked at all of them with wonder. “The things it’s done,” he mumbled.

  “What did you say?” Jack asked.

  “What?” Simon responded. He realized too late that telling these men about what he theorized was the cause of their remarkable changes might be the inception of the panic he wanted to avoid. But something inside him told him he could trust these men; the familiarity in Jack, the cautious air of Brian, and the relaxed easiness about Ian.

  “What you just said,” Jack prodded again. “It sounded like you said ‘the things it’s done.’”

  “It?” Brian questioned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Well,” Simon knew he was about to do exactly what the CIA would not want him to do. “Let me start at the beginning, at least for me. But first, this is highly classified stuff. They killed the man who
brought me into it and they could be after me too. At this very moment in fact. I don’t think they are because they haven’t found me by now but I can’t be certain. Telling you what I know could… Well, I don’t want to put any of you in harm’s way. Are you sure you want to hear what I have to say?”

  The three college friends looked at each other and nodded collectively. Brian said, “Is there enough for a fourth sandwich, Ian? I think Simon will be joining us for lunch.” Ian nodded and quickly made a fourth sandwich. When he was finished he distributed the sandwiches and they all took a place around the kitchen. Brian and Simon sat at the table, Ian sat on the counter next to the sink, and Jack stood by the window by the table with River on the window sill.

  Simon regaled how he had been whisked away by a congressman from Virginia to the Hawaiian Islands to align with an administration called DAFP where he began researching something.

  “Wait a minute,” River meowed and the mention of DAFP. Her keen mind had made a connection. “Jack! Dr. Shepherd, DAFP. Those two men I overheard on the bench mentioned him.”

  “What did she say?” Simon asked Jack.

  “She says she heard two men mention you the other day,” Jack conveyed.

  “Extraordinary,” Simon said, not yet getting the significance.

  “It came at us fast and on a direct course, this thing they called me in on,” he said. “Then it slowed down.”

  “What thing?” Ian asked.

  “The congressman first thought it was an asteroid but then-,” Simon started.

  “But then an asteroid wouldn’t slow down,” Brian finished.

  “Exactly,” Simon pointed out. “They go through space flying at incredible speeds and when one large enough collides with a planet, well, extinctions can happen. But this thing has done something I’ve never seen before.”

  “Spill it,” Ian said.

  “Right now, this ‘object’, is what it’s being called in the intelligence circles, has taken up an orbit in our planet’s upper atmosphere. And it’s… doing something,” Simon continued.

  “Something?” Brian pressed.

  “I can’t say I learned much about the object but I was able to determine it was filled with a liquid,” Simon said.

  “Liquid?” Jack said around a mouthful of sandwich.

  “What do you mean was filled?” Ian asked between bites.

  “Well, almost from the moment the object arrived, it’s been…adding something to our atmosphere,” Simon revealed.

  Jack, Brian, Ian and River looked at each other. Horror was evident on the faces of the three men while the hairs on River’s back stood up.

  “Why has no one seen this object?” Ian asked.

  “That, unfortunately, I never found out. But take a look for yourself.” Simon extracted his tablet and pulled up the satellite image of the object that he had stolen from his former lab. The image of the alien rock made all three of the younger men gasp.

  “Not long after this thing started pumping our air full of whatever’s inside of it,” Simon continued, “things started to happen all over the world to people and domestic animals. Things like what has happened to all of us; incurable diseases getting miraculously cured, paralyzed men walking again, unusual interactions between people and animals. It’s not wide spread by any means but the changes are quite remarkable. Not only that, I noted before leaving Hawaii that the pollution in the atmosphere is down significantly from previous levels,” Simon stated.

  Jack recalled how the air had smelled cleaner this morning. “I guess River and I both noticed the cleaner air this morning, didn’t we?”

  “Yes, Jack,” she meowed.

  Simon looked delighted by this exchange. “Her tone is something else. Even though I hear a meow, I can almost still tell what she’s saying.”

  “You don’t seem troubled by the fact that there is an asteroid like thing floating above our planet spewing a possibly and probably toxic substance into our environment,” Brian blurted out.

  Simon thought about this for a moment, deciding how to answer. “I guess I’m not troubled,” was what he came up with. “I think… well… I think what we may have here is the next stage of the evolution of life on this planet.”

  “Evolution?” Brian questioned. “How could something from outer space be good for the evolution of the planet?”

  “Actually, and I do mean this with respect, but it’s foolish to think some of the events in the course of evolution on this planet have not come from outer space. Take the object that struck the Earth and made the dinosaurs extinct for example. Evolution would never have advanced to humanity if the Tyrannosaurus Rex were still around to snack on early humans as they emerged.”

  Brian thought about this and then laughed, the image of a T-rex living in modern times tickled his mind. “I guess I see your point,” he stated. Ian and Jack were grinning as well.

  “Anyway, I guess that’s why I’m not troubled. I think if humanity were to be exterminated altogether, a run of the mill asteroid or plague would have done the job but here, it seems like humanity is being given a chance. Surly you have heard of the world overpopulation crisis, gentleman?” Simon asked.

  “I have,” Jack answered but Brian and Ian both shook their heads.

  “The human race has grown faster than any other species on this planet and most of that growth has been over a very short time. In other words, we’re growing exponentially. Soon we may very well grow to numbers of which this planet’s resources will not be able to sustain us. What happens then?” Simon said.

  “We all die,” Brian answered quietly.

  “Exactly. Have any of you gentleman been to Manila in the Philippines?” Simon asked.

  All three young men shook their heads this time.

  “Manila,” Simon continued, “is the single most densely populated city on this planet. People on top of people on top of people living in abject poverty on top of an island in the middle of the Pacific. If you went there you would grasp the overpopulation concept quite easily. It can be rather staggering.”

  Jack understood the concept, having read about it and Manila in two separate magazine articles. “Well, I won’t deny we’ve thought something was amiss. River and I have both had the strong feeling that this eclipse tomorrow is going to be life changing. Can you tell us anything about that?”

  “The eclipse?” Simon responded. “Just a run of the mill solar eclipse as far as I know.”

  “Not so ‘run of the mill’ as you say, I think,” Jack replied.

  “Well, I’ve never heard of an eclipse doing any damage. It should be nothing,” Simon replied confidently. Just then it dawned on him why Jack Voight seemed like someone he had met. He was the spitting image of a man Simon met about four months ago.

  Sandwiches had been finished for a while now and the group of men and one cat sat quietly in the kitchen of the Minneapolis townhouse, all taking in the conversation. Finally Simon stood up and spoke.

  “Well, I don’t want to take up any more of your time. I just wanted to meet someone who was touched by this gift. Turns out I met four someones. Good afternoon and good luck to you all.” He moved toward the door.

  River’s mind had been racing and just as Simon put his hand on the doorknob bells started to ring in her head. “Wait!” she cried. “Jack, Ian, Brian, don’t let him go!”

  Simon paused, halted by the commotion the cat had made.

  “She doesn’t want you to leave,” Jack said and shrugged his shoulders at Simon. “What’s up, River?” he asked her.

  “Don’t you see, Jack? Those men on the bench mentioned Simon and I heard. Those same men told me to come here. Then Simon read about your miracle cure with the others and sought you out. You heard me coming to you from a ways away. These can’t be coincidences.” Ian was trying to keep up translating for Simon. “It’s like we’re being brought together.”

  “She’s right,” Brian said and suddenly fell to his knees rubbing at his temples.
/>   Jack rushed over to him. “What is it, Brian?”

  “I don’t know, sharp headache but I’m sure River is right. It’s like we’re all pieces to the same puzzle and he’s one of the pieces,” Brian said with strain, pointing up at Simon.

  Simon was overcome with relief. He’d felt the same, that he was supposed to be part of this group since it occurred to him that Jack Voight was the spitting image of Congressman Jack Thomas. He moved his hand away from the doorknob. River was right, there were just too many factors that couldn’t be coincidences and the resemblance between the two Jacks he had most recently met was no exception.

  Jack was looking up at Simon from beside Brian. He then looked to Ian and appeared to fire a question at him with his mind. Ian appeared to get the question and nodded slowly. Simon marveled at the rapport these men had.

  Jack looked back to Simon and offered, “Well, do you want to join us? There’s no pay of course but we can offer camaraderie and a chance to survive. Want to complete our puzzle?”

  Simon was awash with happiness. Had he made it out that door without being stopped, he wouldn’t have known where to go. “I’d be honored. I’d like to secure my bag from my hotel. Could I do that?”

  “Sure. Ian, can you take him? Brian and I will get back to the stuff in the garage,” Jack said.

  “What’s in the garage?” Simon asked.

  “You’ll see,” Jack replied with a smile.

  “And, Jack,” Brian spoke, still on his knees and rubbing his head. “Simon isn’t the last piece of our puzzle. There are a few more.”

  Jack looked incredulously at his partner; this was the first time he thought of Brian as such. When Brian didn’t say anything else Jack looked back at Ian and said, “Get going. Hurry back.”

  45

  IAN AND SIMON

  Since he only lived around eighty five miles from Jack’s place, Ian had driven his own vehicle from his home in Rochester. He had timed his drive to be able to pick Brian up from the airport. He and Simon walked quickly down the sidewalk and the short flight of steps to where Ian’s black Honda was parked. Ian pressed a button on his key and the doors to the car unlocked with a soft click and a flash of the corner lights. Ian opened his door and slid into the driver’s seat and Simon quickly trotted around the rear of the car and let himself in the passenger side door. Ian started the car and pulled out onto the mostly deserted avenue.