by Ryan Horvath
“What did you see?” Simon asked.
“Nothing,” Amanda answered. “Well, that’s because I couldn’t see anything. It was like, for a few seconds, I had been buried alive. It was cold, I couldn’t see, but I could smell the earth and I was choking on it.”
They all stared at her, wondering what it meant, except for Karen that was, she still looked a bit guilty, but also puzzled. Her gaze shifted to a window.
Amanda saw her sister was the only one not looking at her and knew something was amiss. “You’ve seen something too…,” she said to Karen, a hint of anger in her voice. She couldn’t believe her sister had held something from her. She was sure when Karen looked back at her like a deer in the headlights. “You have! You tell me right now!” Amanda demanded, advancing on her sister.
“It’s nothing. It can’t be,” Karen stammered. She dropped the knife she’d been holding on the counter, squatted down, and wrapped her arms around Blaze. “It can’t be,” she re-affirmed, not sounding as sure the second time.
“What did you see, Karen?” Simon persisted, much more calmly than Amanda.
Karen looked again out the same window she had before. Out the window where some twenty of yards away, a corpse lay buried in a shallow grave.
“Karen!” Amanda snapped shrilly, pulling her sister’s attention back to them.
“He… he had you again,” Karen said meekly, trying not to look Amanda in the eye. She didn’t want to say what she had seen happening to her sister.
Amanda went white. “What all did you see?”
Karen told them. She told them about the woods, the T-shirt handcuffs, the assassin raping Amanda with a hard-on that had to be just shy of a foot long. Tears dripped from her eyes.
“But it’s crazy!” Karen rose and stepped toward Amanda. “It can’t be.” She was almost pleading with her sister now. “At some point in the future, he must have got you but Brian stopped him before it could happen.”
“She’s right,” Brian agreed. “I killed him. Stone dead. I put nine bullets in his chest cavity and not one of them missed.” He looked toward the same window that Karen had. The feeling of disquietude he’d felt while on watch early Saturday returned.
“I checked his pulse myself,” Simon continued to confirm. “We all saw his dead eyes. I may not be a medical doctor or a coroner but I know how to find a pulse. He also didn’t breathe or blink while we dug the grave.”
“He sure smelled dead to me,” Blaze barked. “Different from when I was tracking him.” His nostrils quivered and he tested the air.
Jack watched this behavior and tried to mimic it. Being a nurse, he was familiar with the smell of death in its early stages. He could detect nothing that smelled like an ambulatory corpse.
“And I still can’t smell him. Not dead or alive. The air smells clean. And the rabbit… The rabbit smells good. I sure hope I get some,” Blaze said with a series of barks. He looked over near Simon where the uncooked meat sat on the counter and licked his lips.
Karen translated through laughter and tears. The others seemed to relax a little. Except for Brian, who continued to stare out the window and except for River, who had not spoken since she had returned to the house with Jack and Brian.
“See?” Karen said to Amanda. “It had to be some kind of latent thing. That sick fuck is dead. We all saw his body and buried it.”
Ian spoke next. No one cared much for what he had to say. “Maybe he’s like me.”
Everyone was silent for almost a full minute.
“Impossible,” Simon finally said. “You’ve never actually died, Ian. That killer was dead and the dead just simply do not come back from the dead.”
Ian didn’t look convinced.
“Okay, so what?” Simon questioned. “You want to dig him up and check again? Maybe burn his remains this time?”
“No!” Amanda immediately snapped. A thought of them getting the last little bit of dirt off the green eyed man and then seeing his eyes dance to life and his body become animated as soon as he was free of his earthen prison sent shivers up her spine.
“I think we should leave,” Brian said, not taking his eyes from the window.
“I concur,” River meowed, speaking for the first time. “It’s not going to be safe here much longer. We’ve used up our sanctuary.”
It was River everyone stared at this time.
Her words even drew Brian’s attention and he said, “She’s right, guys. If we stay here much longer,” he hesitated, “I think something bad will happen.”
Silence overcame the group again.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Amanda spat out. She sat down hard in one of the kitchen chairs. She felt Ian put his hands on her shoulders and squeeze. The captor she thought she was safe from, she didn’t think she was so safe from anymore. And worse, he was going to get to use his thing on her, his unbelievably above average cock. She silently vowed that if that ever happened, if that monster ever got to stick his dick inside her that she would kill him. One way or another, she would kill him and she would make him wish he had never come back and she would make sure he stayed dead.
“Well, it’s gonna be dark soon,” Jack said. “We can’t leave now. Travelling at night is too dangerous.”
“Especially since we don’t know what’s going on out there,” Simon agreed. He moved back to the rabbit and continued to chop the last of it. He added the meat to the soup that was simmering on the stove.
“Has anyone tried the radio today?” River meowed.
Jack walked over to the countertop radio that was near the stove. It had no cord and held no batteries. “No dice,” he said and showed everyone the empty battery housing.
Blaze barked, “Try one of the cars.”
“Outside, Jack,” Karen said. “Blaze suggested the cars.”
Everyone walked out the front door. Karen, Brian, and Amanda all looked over at the grave. They reached Jack’s SUV and all four doors were opened. Jack climbed in behind the wheel. River and Blaze jumped on to the middle seat and sat. The others took up positions near the doors and speakers.
Jack turned the battery on and fiddled with the car’s radio. He punched in all the six preset stations, two of which he knew were local, but received nothing but static or dead air. He slowly scrolled the entire FM band on the radio and came up dry.
“Jesus! Try the AM stations,” Brian suggested.
Jack did. The AM band was being used but they couldn’t glean anything useful from the chatter. A person ranting here; someone looking for a loved one there. No news.
“You have satellite radio, Jack. Try that,” Simon directed.
Jack switched over to that and tried the stations. He soon found a station that was broadcasting out of St. Louis. It was an NBC affiliate. Things around the globe had gotten a lot worse since they had stopped listening to media coverage on Saturday morning. Almost every major city in the United States had been destabilized, deserted, or destroyed. The broadcast added cities like Atlanta, Boston, Nashville, and their very own Minneapolis to the list of cities ravaged by uncontrollable fire. And Detroit, Dallas, and Phoenix had all fallen in the deserted category, with rumors that a few people had stayed and were holding down the fort. Apparently North Korea had been the culprit in the nuclear attack on Australia and, before it lost control of its own citizenry, China had retaliated, and rained several hundred ballistic missiles down on Pyongyang, destroying the city and the North Korean government. Massive cities like Mexico City, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Manila, and Shanghai were still rippling with turmoil with people rioting, looting, hoarding, and murdering each other in the streets, their homes, and their hiding places. Europe had gone black and quiet early Sunday morning after reports that Paris, Rome, Athens, and Berlin had all been bombed by the return of the Soviet regime. Pakistan had launched nuclear weapons on Mumbai and New Delhi and the casualties were staggering.
An estimated body count through Sunday morning said a number none of the eight in Orono was sure they ha
d heard correctly. They waited and listened to the broadcast an additional two times before they were all sure what the report had said.
It was guessed, but not confirmed, that over one billion human beings had died since the object had been revealed during the eclipse Friday afternoon.
River and Blaze exchanged a look upon hearing this. So many people gone so quick the cat said. Blaze was speechless.
Karen covered her mouth with her hand when she heard the number and was unable to comprehend so much death.
Simon shook his head when he heard the number and wondered if humanity would have done better if they’d had a better chance to make peace with their gods.
Ian slapped a hand to his forehead when he heard the number, shocked that civilization could come to a grinding halt so quickly.
Amanda clasped her hands together to her chest when she heard the number and forgot for a moment everything she had been through with the killer.
Brian hugged himself when he heard the number, and felt a great sense of doom hanging over them.
When Jack heard the number, he stepped out of the car and walked about fifteen feet away. He looked up at the sky and guessed it was about 6:00. If Simon and everyone who had worked at DAFP were correct, in just under twelve hours, the world could definitely be something else. Jack didn’t know what but he knew the end was at hand. He dropped to his knees and stared off at the horizon. Tears oozed down his cheeks and splashed the dry soil at his knees.
The object in the sky didn’t know how many had died on the planet below since it had been seen. It didn’t care. What it did know was that the final phase of its purpose was coming to an end.
68
PRIVATE THOUGHTS
The group walked back to the house after the sun had dipped below the horizon. As was typical of a sunset in the Midwest, the sky was blazing with colors of all shades. Brilliant reds, vibrant yellows, and icy blues were obscured only by thin clouds low in the sky.
Near the house, Brian looked over at the grave of the Miste man. The soil was still undisturbed. He wanted badly to shed his agitation but he could not. Time was running out. If they survived what Simon had called “the main event” they had better not hang around long after that.
He looked over at Jack, who was staring at the ground while he walked. Brian sensed great sadness from the man he loved. He could also sense that Jack was worried. He seemed to not know what to do next.
It seemed to Brian that none of them did.
More than a billion people he said to himself and looked back toward the approaching house. He tried to grasp such a concept and couldn’t. The number was too staggering. And it was largely because of fear. The unfortunate suicides were fear of the future. The greed driven homicides were fear of going without. The acts of war were fear of losing control.
And Brian himself had killed out of fear; fear of losing his friends and then becoming alone. Once inside the house, he was again drawn to the window and the grave beyond it.
When they got back inside the house, Ian decided he wanted to check on the idea he had mentioned to Amanda before they had made love.
“Hey Simon, your tablet still works right?” he inquired.
Simon nodded and told Ian that it still had some power and the internet connection was satellite. Simon unlocked the tablet and handed it to Ian.
“Thanks,” Ian said, and Simon left him sitting alone in an easy chair in the living room.
Ian opened up a web browser page and marveled at how he could still access the internet even though there was no power. Even Google and Wikipedia still functioned in the satellite.
He thought back to a program he had seen on The Discovery Channel about a place they might be able to go to since Brian and River seemed sure this house wasn’t going to work. He searched this place and proceeded to read any available information on it that he could. Not every website was up and running but within an hour, he confirmed that what he’d seen on the program was true.
The location seemed great. The weather would be temperate. It was in close proximity to at least three large cities that could be searched for resources. There would be more than adequate shelter and the power supply was self-sustaining. Furthermore, it was capable of becoming almost impregnable.
The downside, other than the fact that they could get there and find it occupied, was that it was over seventeen hundred miles away. That was a lot of miles and a lot of potential danger on the road to get there. Would the benefits outweigh the risks?
He chewed on his lower lip and thought about that.
“The internet connection is satellite. I seriously doubt you’ll get much but the stuff that isn’t constantly updated will probably still work,” Simon said and unlocked his tablet. He handed it to Ian and Ian thanked him and Simon turned and went into the kitchen. He busied himself with stirring the soup.
While he watched the chunks of celery, onion, carrot, corn, and rabbit swirl through the canned soup he thought about how much he’d changed. Just months ago he was living in a high rise condo before flying off on an exciting mission in a laboratory in Hawaii. Now he was in a farm house in the middle of Minnesota getting ready to eat rabbit soup. He wondered where he’d be tomorrow. If he’d be.
He saw Karen walk by from the corner of his eye. He found his gaze draw down the length of her body. The widow of his former employer was a striking woman. Simon guessed her age in the early forties as she looked younger than her late husband. He liked the way she had smelled when he was teaching her to shoot and her smile made his stomach flutter.
Is there something there? He wondered. He tried to think if she had given off any signals and came up empty. Who am I kidding? He said to himself. The woman had just lost her long time husband only a week ago. She probably hadn’t even finished grieving yet with all that had been going on. Another man was probably the farthest thing from her mind.
But still, Simon wondered.
He got bowls for the soup from the cabinet and turned his attention on the death toll and the object.
Simon thought the number of dead they had heard on the radio was ridiculous and couldn’t possibly be accurate. If that many people had died in two days, there wouldn’t be any way a total could be tallied. Some media mogul was still sensationalizing no doubt. That was all and nothing more.
But a nagging part of his mind insisted it was the truth; that humanity, in its darkest hour had turned on itself. The rich died and the poor died. The retailers killed and the buyers killed. The intelligent fell to death and the feeble fell to death. In spite of all the differences humans had, they all had one thing in common: they all bled the same.
Would things have been different if Simon and the congressman had announced the object’s presence a few days earlier? Could the President and lawmakers have been informed even before that and taken steps to control the chaos? Could they have informed other world leaders and coordinated an effort to keep order throughout the world? Simon silently cursed the powers that be who had made those decisions and shamefully wished they were among the newly dead.
And then there was the object; the asteroid-like thing floating in the atmosphere. Simon had looked at it this morning on his tablet and seen that the thing was filling up. How it was doing so, Simon had no idea.
What was it doing?
What was going to happen tomorrow morning?
What was going to happen to all of them after that?
Simon scratched at the bandage on his face while he came up with no answers to his questions.
Blaze was relaxing on the hardwood near the kitchen table, enjoying the feel of the coolness of the wood against his short chest hairs.
River sauntered over to him, her head low and her tail high. She sat down inches from where he rested his nose.
Why did you ask me that about my claws? River said.
Blaze raised his head. At first, he didn’t know what she was talking about and he gave her a Huh?
The other day, before we
attacked the giant man. You asked if I still had my claws. Why wouldn’t I? River continued.
I only ever got close to one other cat Blaze told her. He didn’t have any claws. He said he tore up curtains one day, his owners took him to the scary animal doctor, he fell asleep, woke up and his paws hurt and his claws were gone.
River thought about this. The idea of having her claws removed felt extremely unpleasant. That’s asinine. Barbaric!
I thought so too Blaze sympathized and licked his lips.
River appeared to study Blaze for a moment.
You know why we’re here right? River asked, and tilted her head to the side.
I think so Blaze said after a pause. But maybe you should tell me… just in case.
River stood up, arched her back and her tail twitched in the air.
To protect them she said.
To protect them Blaze repeated.
And they’ll protect us River added.
Blaze slapped his tongue out and licked River between the eyes.
River flinched. Gross! She said although she was not in the least upset by his display of affection.
Blaze smiled proudly at her.
Amanda was in the bedroom where she and Ian had shared their first of what she hoped would be the beginning of a countless string of sexual encounters.
Ian was a remarkable man to her. She had never met anyone like him. The sparkle of his eyes, the swagger in his step, the gentle yet insistent feel of his touch, the smell of his masculinity, and the taste of his kiss all made her feel like she had fallen in love for the first time. She concluded that this was probably the first time she had actually fallen in true love and she couldn’t believe it had happened so fast.
She thought of the masterful way he had pleasured her orally and then the wonderful pressure she had felt when he slid into her most sensitive area and brought her to repeated climax. She suddenly found herself aroused again and left the bedroom to look for Ian.
