The Dead Horizon

by Seth Rain

  Scott closed his eyes. He felt a dullness in his head and his body ached. He was exhausted, and simply the thought of being able to lie down and sleep generated a warm relief in his stomach and chest.

  ‘You need to rest,’ Dawn said, finally looking at Scott.

  He nodded.

  ‘Use the bed,’ Dawn said. ‘I don’t need it yet.’

  Scott waited before turning away.

  ‘I know you did what you thought was for the best,’ she said.

  A weight fell away from him.

  ‘I understand that,’ she said. ‘I forgive you.’

  ‘Thank you,’ he said, unable to express how much he needed to hear that. He wanted to tell her what he planned to do. But he had no plan. He hadn’t looked past getting Dawn back. But she was still going to die, and soon. It was all too much to contemplate.

  He turned away.

  ‘Scott,’ he heard her say.

  He looked at her and waited.

  She wanted to say something but clearly didn’t know how. ‘It’s nothing,’ she said, and shifted in her chair, clearly finished speaking to him.

  He made his way upstairs and checked on Luke, who was lying on a duvet. Scott lay on the bed in the other room and closed his eyes. He imagined a place like Heaven, an experience that Dawn had described. But no matter how hard he tried, the place was too much like the real world. In the corner of the room, a spider walked in mid-air, its legs pit-patting across tiny threads he couldn’t see. There was no comprehending what it was like to be a spider. He imagined a world of gossamer threads, of eight legs, of however many eyes they had. He imagined the remains of a fly, its husk, its silver wings, its exoskeleton.

  He closed his eyes.

  Thirty-One

  Scott opened his eyes and sat up.

  Watchers, in their long grey coats, their revolvers drawn, peered down at him. The room was illuminated by dim morning light. One of the Watchers, without a revolver, held up his hand. ‘My name is Nicholas. Please, don’t do anything foolish.’

  ‘What … where’s Dawn?’

  ‘She’s fine. Please, do as I say and no one will get hurt.’

  Scott looked around the Watcher for Luke. ‘The kid? Where is he?’

  The Watcher held his hands out, as if to calm Scott. ‘We want you both to come with us.’

  ‘We’re not going anywhere.’

  The Watcher nodded slowly. ‘I’m afraid you have no choice.’

  Scott sat up on the bed.

  ‘Please,’ the Watcher said, ‘let’s do this the easy way. It will be better for everyone.’

  ‘Where’s Dawn?’ Scott asked again.

  ‘I can take you to see her.’

  The other two Watchers’ eyes were fixed on him. He put on his boots and coat, collected his things and placed them in his rucksack. All the time, the Watchers did what they did well: they watched him.

  Luke was already in the car, waiting. ‘What’s happening?’

  ‘They’re taking us to see Mathew.’

  ‘How did they know we were here?’

  Scott shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’

  The car pulled away and accelerated towards the centre of London.

  There were so many birds in London now. Mostly pigeons. The man-made cliffs of London’s architecture took on the role of their natural habitat. Scott imagined the view from above, of the car, followed by the one behind, travelling through London’s desolate streets.

  The car pulled up beside the Thames, close to Millennium Bridge. A Watcher opened the door and Scott got out, followed by Luke. The two Watchers showed him the way into the Globe Theatre.

  ‘Where’s Dawn?’

  ‘She’s already here,’ the Watcher said. ‘Follow me.’ The Watcher pointed to a narrow doorway and passage.

  Scott followed the Watcher, emerging from the narrow, dark passage and out into the theatre itself, which was open to the sky. A group of people stood in front of the stage.

  ‘Scott,’ Mathew said. ‘Welcome.’

  Even after everything Mathew had done, there was no regret or doubt in his actions or words. If anything, he seemed more sure about what he was doing than before. He had given all those people a death sentence, had killed them all. Millions of people. Yet he exhibited no guilt.

  There was no sign of Dawn, only a woman by the stage, standing beside more Watchers. He moved closer. Mathew came to greet him and offered his hand. Scott ignored it.

  Mathew’s demeanour changed. ‘I told you to live your life in peace, Scott. Didn’t I? I gave you fair warning.’

  Scott looked around. ‘Where’s Dawn?’

  ‘She’s fine. Don’t worry about her.’ He paused. ‘I warned you, didn’t I? Not that it matters. You do what you’re going to do and that’s all there is to it in the end.’

  Scott stared into Mathew’s eyes. ‘What are we doing here?’

  Mathew looked over at the woman standing with the Watchers. Scott followed his gaze. The woman looked familiar. He waited for Mathew to say something, but he was silent.

  A door opened and closed at the far end of the theatre. It was Dawn.

  Scott walked towards her, but the way she ignored him made him stop.

  ‘Dawn?’ he asked. ‘What’s going on?’

  Dawn’s attention was focused on the woman standing by the stage. Bursting into tears, she ran towards her.

  ‘Wait,’ Mathew said, and with a wave of his hand, instructed the Watchers to stop Dawn.

  Finally, Scott knew the woman Dawn was running towards. That night, watching Dawn and her mother coming over the hill. It was Dawn’s mother.

  ‘You told me it was your date,’ Scott said to her.

  The woman bowed her head, crying, reaching out for Dawn.

  ‘The passwords?’ Mathew said.

  ‘I’m not giving you the passwords,’ Scott said.

  ‘I wasn’t asking you,’ Mathew said, his eyes on Dawn.

  Scott’s stomach sank and his throat burned. ‘Dawn?’

  She ignored him.

  ‘Dawn,’ Scott said again, louder. ‘What’s happening?’

  ‘I’m sorry. Scott, I’m sorry. He has them – Mum and my brother.’

  ‘But your mother said…’ Scott stared at the woman. ‘You told me your date was the following day.’

  The woman ignored him.

  Dawn wiped her eyes. ‘Mathew told me that unless I got the passwords for him, he’d make their last days miserable, he’d give them Eternity – the bad kind.’

  Scott’s head spun. ‘So you lied from the beginning? To get the passwords.’

  ‘I thought it was crazy. Thought it would never work. But everything happened the way he said it would.’ She looked at Mathew with disgust.

  ‘Why do you still not understand all this?’ Mathew said to Scott. ‘It’s all part of His plan. We’re all playing out our part in the story. We’re actors upon a stage.’ He held out his hands to the theatre surrounding them. ‘There is nothing to be done but follow Him. Don’t beat yourself up, Scott.’ He stared at Dawn. ‘Now give me the passwords. Please.’

  Dawn tried to break free of the Watchers and reach her mother, but it was useless.

  ‘What will you do with them?’ Scott asked.

  ‘I will have complete control of the AI. Up to now there have been parts of its core programming shut away behind closed walls. The AI has lost the ability to read the dates of newborns. We will rectify that.’

  ‘You won’t. Not now people are offline. There’s not enough data.’

  ‘We will find a way,’ Mathew said. ‘The AI will help find a way.’

  ‘Why are you doing this?’

  Mathew examined Scott, almost angry. ‘Why?’

  Scott waited for Dawn to look at him but she wouldn’t.

  ‘You’ve got your way,’ he said to Mathew. ‘Everyone’s dead.’

  ‘Not everyone,’ Mathew said. ‘There are still those who need to find their way to Him. It’s only a matter o
f time before the whole human race regains their place in Eden. The Second Coming is here and is nearly complete. We are the lucky ones. He will come for us when we have helped others find their way.’

  ‘You’re insane!’

  Mathew shook his head slowly. ‘No, Scott. I’ve told you. To believe in God and Heaven, and not help people find their way there, beside Him – that is insane. No, it’s more than that. It is evil.’

  ‘Let her go!’ Dawn shouted to the Watchers holding her mother.

  ‘The passwords,’ Mathew said. ‘And you are free to leave together.’

  ‘Don’t,’ Scott said to Dawn. ‘Don’t tell him.’

  ‘I have no choice.’

  Scott focused on Mathew, who seemed to grow taller and more dominating.

  ‘You can’t make her do this,’ Scott said.

  ‘Then you tell me,’ Mathew said. ‘You know them too.’

  Scott threw back his head and glanced up at the sky through the open O of the theatre.

  Mathew waited before returning to Dawn. ‘The passwords?’

  Her mother spoke directly to Dawn. ‘You don’t have to, Dawn. If there’s a chance—’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ Dawn said, tears in her eyes. ‘You don’t know what Eternity is like. An eternity in hell. You’ve no idea. I can’t do it to you.’

  Scott waited. There was nothing he could say.

  Dawn held her stomach and spoke to Mathew. ‘Do you promise to take my baby and give her to my mother?’

  Mathew nodded. ‘As promised.’

  ‘You can’t believe him,’ Scott said.

  ‘But what do I do? What choice do I have?’ Dawn snapped. ‘Let him send Mum and my brother to hell? Let my baby die with me?’ She wiped her face. ‘Please forgive me.’

  Scott didn’t know what to say.

  ‘Rudbeckia goldsturm,’ Dawn said, tears in her eyes.

  ‘Wait,’ Scott said. ‘Please.’

  ‘Daedalus,’ she said.

  A look of relief came over Mathew who nodded to the Watchers holding Dawn. They let her go. She leapt towards her mother and held her tightly.

  A Watcher led Scott and Luke out of the theatre and into a waiting car. Scott was in a daze, thinking back to his time with Dawn at Hassness House beside the lake. Why had he not seen the signs? He thought back to that time but still he saw no clues in the way she was with him. It really did feel to him that she had no control, no choice in any of it.

  The Watchers were silent for the whole journey. So were Scott and Luke. They passed no one and Scott began to wonder if there was anyone left on the planet except those he’d been in contact with over the past two days.

  Thirty-Two

  Ahead, in the sky, hundreds of drones circled the centre of London.

  Scott stopped running. ‘What’s happening?’

  Noah pushed Scott into a doorway and out of sight.

  ‘Protests,’ Noah said. ‘Millions of people have come to London to protest.’

  ‘Isn’t it a little late for that?’

  ‘Maybe. But it’s grown. More and more people are questioning whether this is His doing, or whether it’s Mathew and the Watchers.’

  ‘Why didn’t this happen months ago?’

  Noah set off again, jogging away from the centre of London.

  ‘How long do we have?’ Scott asked, following him.

  ‘Nine hours until midnight. But we don’t know exactly when it’ll happen.’

  ‘It won’t happen,’ Scott said. ‘We can stop it.’

  Noah didn’t respond.

  ‘Noah?’ Scott said. ‘We have to stop Mathew.’

  Noah slowed to a walk.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Scott asked.

  ‘Look,’ Noah said, facing Scott. ‘I think it’s time we admitted that this date – however the AI or Mathew have managed it – is real.’

  Scott’s brow furrowed. ‘No. It’s Mathew – he’s doing it. I saw him do it to Jack and the others.’

  ‘Who?’ Noah asked.

  ‘Doesn’t matter. But it’s Mathew who’s doing it. You have to believe me.’

  Noah stopped again and scanned the sky for drones.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Scott asked.

  ‘You heard what Freya said. She’s right. We have to get you out of here so you can help pick up the pieces.’

  Scott thrust his hand at Noah. ‘It’s my date too.’

  Noah shook his head. ‘It’s not your time. You’re different. Freya knows it. And I know it too.’

  ‘It doesn’t make any sense. What about you?’

  He waited, again checking the sky. Finally, he nodded. ‘It’s my date too. The Rapture.’

  Scott could only stare at him, shaking his head slowly.

  ‘I was wrong about you,’ Noah said. ‘I thought … because of the way you behaved when I met you … I thought you were a coward.’

  Scott shifted his weight from one leg to the other. It hurt to hear Noah say it.

  ‘I was wrong,’ Noah said again. ‘And Freya’s right. There’s something about you – something that means you’ll be important.’

  ‘I don’t know what you, or Freya for that matter, are talking about. You’re not making any sense. We need to stop Mathew. Otherwise—’

  ‘Scott,’ Noah said, holding his arms. ‘It’s too late. This is happening. Even if we could get close enough to Mathew, whatever is happening is already under way. You can see it in the sky. You can feel it.’

  ‘You’re deluded.’ Scott shrugged Noah away. ‘You really think He is coming?’

  Noah sighed dejectedly.

  ‘You do, don’t you? You think He’s coming for everyone, that this really is God’s doing.’

  ‘What do you want me to say?’ Noah snapped. ‘Yes, I have to believe that.’

  Scott went to speak but stopped. Noah was hurt, and Scott had not seen that sadness in his eyes before.

  ‘I have to believe it,’ Noah said again. ‘Otherwise, what is this? What’s happening? I can’t think about the alternative. I refuse.’

  Scott shook his head. ‘So, what? We just run away and hope it doesn’t happen?’

  ‘We’re getting you to safety. Away from Mathew. So when it happens, you—’

  ‘I what?’ Scott asked.

  Noah crossed his arms. ‘So you can help the remaining few.’

  ‘But you want everyone to go to Heaven,’ Scott said. ‘That’s what you believe, isn’t it?’

  Noah stroked his beard and long hair away from his face.

  ‘Isn’t it?’ Scott snapped.

  ‘I don’t know!’ Noah shouted. ‘I told you. I have to believe it.’

  Scott’s frustration shifted to sympathy. He couldn’t push Noah any further.

  ‘If there are people left,’ Noah said, composing himself, ‘they will need you.’

  ‘People like me?’

  ‘You’re a survivor.’

  Scott hadn’t thought of himself in that way before and he didn’t know what to say. A drone passed by, across the roofs of houses.

  ‘We need to go,’ Noah said, leading Scott away from the drone, Mathew, and the AI.

  Thirty-Three

  The Watcher showed Scott and Luke into a dark room with only two beds and two chairs next to a table pushed against the wall. Scott sat at the table and waited for the Watcher to leave the room. The door was open, but leaving was useless. Scott rested his hands on the table, entwined his fingers, and worked through what had happened: the day Dawn arrived with her mother, the story she’d told him, how she had stayed with him to find out the passwords. All that time she was being blackmailed by Mathew, and now Mathew had the passwords Scott had no way of stopping the AI.

  Juliet appeared in the doorway. ‘Scott!’ she said, smiling. ‘You’re really here.’

  ‘Juliet,’ he said. ‘Are you okay?’

  Juliet looked at the Watcher behind her, then back at Scott.

  ‘I’m fine. But Mathew has the passwords, d
oesn’t he?’

  ‘Yes. I’m sorry,’ Scott said.

  ‘Mathew’s Watchers,’ Juliet said, ‘they forced me to use face and fingerprint recognition.’

  Scott exhaled slowly and held his chin.

  ‘It’s not your fault,’ she said. ‘Was it Dawn?’

  ‘How did you know?’

  ‘I knew it wouldn’t be you, so … is she okay? And the baby?’

  ‘Mathew was blackmailing her. He said he’d give her mum and brother Eternity – the bad kind – if she didn’t tell him the passwords. I don’t think she knew what else to do. She’s had a rough time of it.’

  Juliet stared at the ground. ‘We never stood a chance did we? Will Mathew really help Dawn?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘We don’t learn,’ Juliet said. ‘Mathew’s always one step ahead.’

  Scott had felt the same way. With the AI, Mathew had one eye on the future the whole time. Scott felt as though he was choosing, that he was deliberately going against what he should do. But the moment it felt as though he was getting somewhere, he was reminded that what he was doing was the only thing he could do. It made no sense to think otherwise.

  ‘And who’s this?’ she said, smiling weakly at Luke, who wiped his hands down the legs of his trousers and offered a hand to shake.

  ‘Luke,’ Scott said.

  ‘Hello, Luke,’ Juliet said, shaking his hand.

  ‘Hi.’

  Juliet sighed. ‘This really didn’t go the way we planned.’

  ‘I don’t know what else we can do,’ Scott said. ‘Dawn only has a week left.’

  ‘What about the baby?’

  ‘That’s something else Mathew has over her. He promised to look after her – to ensure the baby lives.’

  Juliet tutted and shook her head. ‘And she believes him?’

  Scott shrugged.

  Luke screwed up his face in thought. ‘Will the AI really not be able to read the dates of newborns?’

  ‘I don’t see how,’ Juliet said. ‘Not now. With everyone off the grid and deliberately staying clear of it. The AI requires data: CCTV, medical records, databases, mobile phone usage, you name it. There was a time it all came together, along with the AI’s quantum computing power, to arrive at a reading of determinism. But now Mathew has the passwords, there’s no reason he can’t ask the AI to develop even better systems, to re-work the grid so it functions in a different way. That’s what Mathew wants.’