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

by Ryan Horvath

  What happened? River asked, looking around at their surroundings.

  You were great! Blaze said. His tail cut the air faster. Got him real good.

  The giant man? River questioned. Oh yes, I remember. Where is he? I don’t remember a thing after the pain in my tail. She flicked her tail to test it Owww! she said.

  Don’t move it Blaze said.

  No kidding, doofus River responded. So? Where is the giant man?

  Let’s go find out Blaze said. His tail was up and flapping crazily.

  Alright. Alright River agreed.

  She stood, and walked back to the sounds of humans’ voices while Blaze limped. When they returned to the clearing where they had attacked the giant man, they soon came upon his head. Blaze’s tail stopped swishing, his ears cocked forward and his head tilted as he looked at the man’s head and the dead eyes that looked at the sky.

  Gross! Blaze exclaimed.

  Indeed River concurred as she stepped up to examine the head.

  “Master Karen!” Blaze barked as his attention was drawn from the head to where Amanda was approaching Karen.

  “Master Karen?” Blaze chuffed as he approached Karen and Amanda.

  Karen was just coming out of unconsciousness with the urgings of Amanda. The daylight pierced her eyes.

  She felt pain in her back from where she had connected with the tree. And her side hurt like mad but she was alive.

  “You okay?” Amanda asked her.

  “Jesus,” Karen said. “Am I okay? Are you? I’m so sorry. I just wasn’t fast enough.”

  Amanda hesitated. “I’m alive. So are you and Ian.”

  Alarm came across Karen’s face. “No one else?”

  “Jack is fine. Ian’s checking Simon. The animals are here, obviously,” she smiled at this because Blaze had been nuzzling Karen’s face since she awoke.

  “And Brian?” Karen asked.

  Amanda shook her head. “Jack’s checking. It happened so fast. I just don’t know. Can you stand?”

  “Help me up,” Karen told her sister.

  Amanda put Karen’s arm over her shoulders and started to help Karen to her feet.

  “Easy!” Karen snapped. “I think he broke some ribs.”

  “Sorry,” Amanda said sympathetically.

  When she was on her feet Karen saw the headless body of the assassin. “Jesus! What happened?”

  “I killed him. For good this time,” Amanda said flatly. “If I’d had a better shot, I’d have cut his fucking dick off before his head.”

  “Jesus!” Karen said again. She didn’t think she’d ever have been capable of decapitating someone but then, she hadn’t been the one who’d been kidnapped and raped.

  “Hey,” Ian said, stepping up behind Amanda and putting his hands on her shoulders. “You look okay, Karen.”

  “Couple of broken ribs probably, and a bitch of a headache but nothing a little time won’t take care of. You?” she replied.

  “Neck doesn’t even hurt anymore,” Ian said. “I think I’m the lucky one,” he added looking a bit ashamed.

  “Where’s Simon?” Karen asked, looking hopeful.

  “Right here,” Simon said stepping up from behind Ian. Some of the not fully healed wounds from his first human flight had been reopened and fresh blood was on his face and torso. The Mossberg was slung over his shoulder and the sight of his smooth, young, strong body made Karen’s heart flutter.

  “Oh, my!” Karen said, taking in the blood.

  “I’m fine,” Simon said. “Actually, I’m not fine. Because I’ve wanted to do this for a while now.” He stepped over to Karen, gently took her in his arms, and pressed his lips to hers. He was pleased to find she didn’t resist and in fact, eagerly kissed him back.

  “Now that we’re all okay, can we go get Jack and Brian?” River said, walking across the clearing to where they had all entered.

  “What about that?” Ian said, pointing to the corpse. “What if he comes back? Again?”

  “I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Amanda finally said after no one spoke for a few seconds. She moved to where the assassin-kidnapper-rapist had kicked off his pants when he had started on her. She picked up the pants and walked over to the head. She scooped the head up with the pants and wrapped it up as best as she could.

  The others watched her in astonishment.

  When she was finished, she walked back over to the group and headed out of the trees.

  “What the hell are you going to do with that?” Karen said, cradling her injuries. She pointed to the crude bag Amanda carried the head in.

  “I’m gonna throw this fucking thing off the dam,” she stated with a smile on her face. “And tonight,” she continued, “we burn the body to smithereens.”

  Jack burst from the copse of trees and stopped dead at the side of the road. Before him sat Ian’s Honda. The scene was quiet.

  He stepped around the front of the car and saw his feet and lower legs first, each foot pointed in a different direction. Each step Jack took brought more of Brian’s body into view and when Jack had the full image, he gasped. He had fiercely hoped Amanda had been wrong about what she had seen.

  But Jack found she had not been wrong. Brian’s lifeless eyes stared up at Jack. The killer had cracked Brian’s frontal bone in two and it had wedged into the brain tissue. Bits of Brian’s hair, bone, and brain clung to the side of the car.

  Jack fell to his knees and picked up his friend and partner, slid his body into his lap, and held him tight. And he cried. He cried like he had never before done in his life. His tears streamed down his face and fell onto the ruination of Brian’s.

  A few moments later, Simon, Amanda, Karen, Ian, Blaze, and River came out of the trees. Amanda carried the assassin’s head, Simon the Mossberg, and Ian the Sig Sauer. They found Jack on the far side of the Honda with Brian’s body cradled against him.

  Amanda knelt down and placed a hand on Jack’s bare shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Jack.”

  “It’s okay,” he said in return and sniffed loudly. “It’s my fault really anyway.”

  “What?!” Karen said. “How could you say that?”

  Jack didn’t answer. He gently slid Brian’s body from his and stood up, using the car for support.

  “How did he come back?” Jack said, specifically addressing Ian.

  “Huh?” Ian said looking dumbfounded.

  “Nine bullets. No pulse. No breathing. In the ground for at least two days. How the fuck did he come back?” Jack demanded.

  “How the hell should I know?” Ian said, raising his hands defensively. “We said there was a possibility he was like me. A healer, I mean.”

  “But you heal so much faster. Why’d it take so long for him?” Jack flashed.

  “Calm down, Jack,” Karen said.

  “Maybe the length of time it took for him to come back is because of those very reasons you mentioned, Jack,” Simon suggested.

  “What? What do you mean?” Jack said turning to him.

  “His body was filled with bullets, one of which I’d lay odds on damaged his heart. No heartbeat or moving blood, no air. All that probably greatly slowed down the healing process for him,” Simon responded.

  Jack took this in.

  “Maybe Brian will come back,” Ian said quietly, and looked down at the body of his dead friend. Fresh tears fell from his eyes. He was trying to think if Brian had been injured in the last couple weeks but couldn’t think of anything.

  “He’s not coming back,” Jack said knowingly. “His brain is destroyed. He’s not coming back.” Jack found himself wishing for that telepathic prod from Brian that he thought he would never get used to.

  Ian nodded but didn’t say anything.

  After a few moments of silence, Amanda spoke up. “Well, this one is not coming back either.” She held the crude, now blood soaked pants/bag up. “What do you say we go get rid of this asshole?”

  “Deal,” Jack returned.

  The group wa
lked up the road and headed for the dam.

  River scurried up to Jack and asked to be picked up, which he obliged.

  “Why did you say it was your fault, Jack? That Brian died?” River meowed.

  Jack didn’t answer right away but then finally, he said, “I wasn’t on my game. I got comfortable and let my guard down.” He paused then added, “But trust me. It will never happen again.”

  The group of now five humans, one tortoiseshell cat and one heterochromatic Dalmatian walked out to the middle of the Hoover Dam. It was just past noon.

  To Karen, the view was breathtaking.

  To Amanda, it was cleansing.

  It uplifted Ian.

  It inspired Simon.

  River was enchanted.

  Blaze was captivated.

  And Jack saw Brian in it.

  Amanda tossed the assassin’s head off the dam and they all watched it fall hundreds of feet to the water below. They stayed on the dam for a little while longer, letting the early autumn sun warm their skin.

  Later, they collected Brian’s body and cremated him with dignity. Jack and Ian scattered his ashes together into Lake Mead while the others watched.

  That night, they dragged the assassin’s headless corpse from the copse of trees, doused it with gasoline, and burned it in the street. They hosed his ashes into a storm sewer drain.

  78

  THE BEGINNING

  Four days later was not unlike the previous in terms of the weather.

  Jack was out front of the visitor center. He had jeans and a T-shirt on and his old Mossberg slung over his shoulder.

  His nostrils twitched as he tested the air. He was all but certain he’d smelled something. He was trying to locate it again when Blaze and Ian strolled up behind him.

  “What’s up Smoke-Jack?” Ian said nonchalantly.

  “Blaze? Do you smell something?” Jack said, ignoring Ian.

  The Dalmatian lifted his snout and sampled the air.

  He barked. A bark that Jack understood without the aid of River or Karen.

  “Yes, Jack,” Blaze said.

  “What is it?” Ian asked.

  “People,” Jack said. “Not far.”

  Antonio Perez, the former mayor of Miami, Florida, lay on his stomach and peered through a pair of binoculars across to the Hoover Dam visitor center. The man who was to marry his sister was next to him, also looking at the center.

  “What do you think?” the man next to Antonio asked. His name was Jason.

  “I think they got here first,” Antonio said.

  “But there’s nowhere else we can go,” Jason said.

  “I’m aware of that,” Antonio snapped.

  A cat named Bella crept up beside Antonio and nuzzled his chin. She softly meowed. “I’m hungry,” the men heard her say. “Are we going to eat soon? It seems like it’s been a long time.”

  “I know, Bella. I know,” Antonio said. His own stomach rumbled. It had been two days since the people he’d been traveling with had eaten and the cat had only caught a small bird for herself yesterday.

  Antonio looked back at the men and the dog through his binoculars.

  TO BE CONTINUED

  JULY 2013-FEBRUARY 2014

  MINNEAPOLIS, MN

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Thank you for reading! And finishing, as well, of course.

  I originally started writing this novel back in 2006 but for a number of reasons (desk job, lack of focus and maturity maybe), I put it on the backburner and forgot about it until the summer of 2013. I pulled it off my crappy old computer (not an easy feat) and set my mind to finishing it in between my shifts at the bar.

  Years ago, when I created Jack, Karen, and the others, I had a small idea of where I wanted to go but no real outcome in sight. That’s probably another reason I stopped. In 2011, I think it was, I got my copy of National Geographic with the cover article Population 7 Billion. I think this planted the finishing seed for what you have just read. My mind started working then, trying to wrap my mind around such a number and what it implied. I knew I wanted to tell a story about this issue and tell of a solution to it that didn’t involve humans in any way. And when I was ready, I revisited the characters and made modifications to them to conform to the story that was forming in my head.

  When I picked The End, The Beginning back up again, it simply poured out of me. Some days four to five thousand words would fill the pages in just a few hours and I couldn’t believe it. Some days, I had to work outside the house and all I could think about were Jack, Blaze, Art, what next? I wanted to tell a story that was just that. A story. A tale of people who hopefully seem real and what they might do in time of crisis. I hoped to achieve relatable characters and I feel like I accomplished this.

  Early in the restart of The End, The Beginning my parents sent me a magazine which featured an article on Stephen and Tabitha King and their family. One of the sons mentioned a “two hour a day” time allotment to dedicate to writing so I myself adopted this mantra. Any day that I didn’t have to work at the bar, I allocated a minimum of two hours to writing. Most days it ended up being more than two hours but I certainly was not going to argue with that.

  As with any work of fiction, I have taken some creative liberties and mixed them in with actual facts. For instance, there is a Homestead Trail in Orono, Minnesota but, as the locals will tell you, this road doesn’t actually let out onto US Highway 12. Also, there is a Target store in downtown Minneapolis but I have no idea if they would actually let you take a cat in there. Additionally, my dates do not correspond to the actual 2013 calendar.

  I realize that readers may have noticed unanswered questions in the novel. How did River get from DC to Minneapolis? What was the stuff in the Object and what exactly did it do to humanity? What happened to the CIA analysts on the bench before the one spoke to River? I hope to answer these later. But if anyone wonders why Art risked driving an unconscious Amanda from DC to Orono, Minnesota, the only answer is that Art was a psychopath and not all of his actions are to be understood.

  Please submit a review of The End, The Beginning whether it be positive or negative. Reviews are the best way for me to learn and grow as an author.

  My goal is a story told in three novels. I hope your interest has been piqued enough to come back for book two. The manuscript is well underway and it’s looking like Antonio and Bella’s journey to the Hoover Dam is not going to be very easy for them.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Keith, thank you for knowing when to be quiet and let me write. Thank you for being supportive.

  Tony, thank you for all the encouragement.

  John and Anne, thank you for being my guinea pigs and being candid.

  Mom and Dad, thank you for not laughing at me when I told you I was doing this.

  And AG Riddle, Author of The Atlantis Trilogy, for taking time out of your very busy schedule to answer my questions and for helping out another new novelist.

  And, finally, a very heartfelt thank you to Tony and Anne for believing enough in me to help me shoulder the expense of self-publishing. Without you two, I don’t know that I would have made it this far.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ryan Horvath grew up in Athens, Ohio

  where he lived until 2001.

  He moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he

  now lives with his partner, Keith, and their cats

  Kahlua, Pebbles, Stella, Bailey, and the spirit of Puddin’.

  He has worked in mortgage banking, title closing,

  and bartending but his true passion has always

  been storytelling. His hobbies include plants and gardening,

  cross stitching, video gaming, reading, and cooking.

  THIS NOVEL IS A WORK OF FICTION.

  ANY SIMILARITIES OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS NOVEL

  TO ANY REAL PERSON,

  EITHER LIVING OR DECEASED,

  IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.

  nbsp; Ryan Horvath, The End The Beginning (Humanity's New Dawn Book 1)