The Death: The Complete Trilogy

by John W. Vance

“Listen, I don’t know what’s out there. I can’t risk both of us walking into something bad. That’s not our deal. Now make sure your pistol is handy and sit tight. If I take longer than need be, make your way back to those metal buildings. There you might be able to find shelter till I come for you.”

  She grabbed his arm tightly and said, “Not happening.”

  “This is not a time to argue. You have a way of doing that a lot, but do this and I can move faster, and I don’t think I’ll be gone long.”

  “What if you don’t come back?”

  “Then that proves my point; it was too dangerous.”

  She relented and said, “Be careful.”

  “Always,” he replied. He stood and sprinted off into the black of night.

  North Topsail Beach, North Carolina

  Tess woke suddenly. She reached out and felt for Meagan, who was breathing heavily. Unsure of why she woke so abruptly, she rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. Sleep was a privilege in this world, and she never took it for granted. Especially after surviving on her own during the time she’d spent on the road. Having a group of people to share the burden of watch made life easier. Just as she was about to doze off, she heard chatter in the other room and then crying. This brought her back from the edge of sleep. She sat up, interested in identifying who was in distress. Suddenly it stopped and the chatter began again.

  She jumped up, and before she left grabbed her pistol. Going anywhere, even in the safety of a house, the tools of protection needed to be taken.

  Once in the hallway she heard the chatter. It was coming from the living room. She walked into the space and the conversation stopped. She looked but found it impossible to see anything. The heavy breathing of the other children, now camped with them, filled her ears.

  “Everything okay?” she said in a whisper.

  No response.

  She imagined it was a couple of the children, and just when she was about to abandon her investigation a small voice chimed, “I miss my sister.”

  Tess turned and asked, “Who is that?”

  “Becky.”

  “No, who’s talking?”

  “Brady, it’s Brady.”

  She remembered Brady was one of the younger boys, six years old and never let you forget it. He was short and little for his age and often mistaken for much younger. Tess specifically remembered Brady because of the way he introduced himself. “Hello, I’m Brady. I’m six years old.”

  “Brady, what are you doing awake?” she asked.

  “It’s my fault,” Alex said.

  “Is everything fine?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Alex answered.

  “No,” Brady responded, then squealed out in pain. “Ouch!”

  “I told you to keep your mouth shut!” Alex exclaimed.

  The increased volume caused the other children to stir.

  “Sssh, you’re going to wake the others. Both of you, get up, come with me, outside,” Tess ordered.

  The boys listened and promptly got up.

  Outside they found Devin perched at the top of the stairs, rifle at the ready. “I think Brianna is relieving me but not for an hour.”

  “These two were being loud, and apparently something is going on,” Tess explained.

  “Boys will be boys,” Devin joked.

  Tess sat the boys on the stairs and asked, “Brady, were you crying?”

  He hesitated but relented after Tess’s hard stare. “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “My sister, I miss her.”

  “Okay, that’s understandable. Now, Alex, what did you mean by keep your mouth shut?”

  He wouldn’t answer; he wouldn’t even look at her.

  Tess looked at Brady, and just before she could ask, he blurted out, “He said our sisters are probably dead or worse.”

  “Why would you say that?” Tess asked.

  Alex leered at her and barked, “It’s the truth and you know it. You saw those men; they’re horrible.”

  “That doesn’t mean they’re dead.”

  “They might as well be.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because we’re not going to save them.”

  “You think we’re not going to help you find your sisters?” Tess asked.

  “We are?” Devin asked.

  “Boys, I promised to help you, and that includes finding your sisters.”

  “Tess, wait a minute. You can’t make that decision for all of us,” Devin fired back. He had already expressed his displeasure with her making unilateral decisions, and this was the last straw for him.

  “We can’t leave these boys’ sisters in those men’s hands,” Tess replied.

  “That may be what we all decide, but you need to have us all agree. You have to stop acting like a queen.”

  “Fine, what do you think we should do?”

  Alex and Brady watched the argument like spectators at a tennis match.

  Tess and Devin went at each other. The intensity of their exchange woke the children inside and prompted Brianna to come out.

  “Seriously!” Brianna shouted.

  Tess and Devin stopped and looked at her.

  A couple of the kids got upset and started to whimper.

  “Now look at what you’ve done!” Brianna hollered and slammed the door.

  Tess and Devin looked at each other with regret written all over their faces.

  “Hey,” Devin said but was cut off.

  “It was me, all me. You’re right. I need to stop just making decisions for everyone.”

  “We both need to stop it and just talk things out like adults,” Devin added.

  The boys remained quiet and watched as Tess and Devin expressed their apologies for the uproar.

  “What should we do?” Tess asked.

  Devin wanted to come back with a joke or snarky comment because that was his personality, but he resisted. He looked at Tess and at the boys. To him, she was right; he couldn’t in good conscience leave their sisters captive. “We go.”

  Alex jumped up, excited about what he was hearing, “Really?”

  Devin looked at him then back to Tess. “Yes, we go get your sisters. That’s what we’re going to do because that’s what good people do.”

  Brady stood and took Tess’s hand. He squeezed it and looked up at her. He then grabbed Devin’s hand with his other and smiled.

  “Devin’s right, that’s what good people do, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

  She felt happy and had purpose beyond finding Travis. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be with him, it’s just that in this hostile world now full of barbarians and savagery, they had decided to set a new tone. They were going to be those people who helped others; in a world full of bad people, they were going to be the good ones.

  Pine Bluffs, Wyoming

  From house to house he went; the cars he did find that were suitable for hotwiring were parked in driveways. He kept on going without trying because of the promise he made to Lori, but when he came upon an old Chevy S-10, he stopped and decided enough was enough. He ran up to the driver’s door and closed his eyes to say a quick prayer, “Please be unlocked.” As if God answered him, he lifted and it clicked, the door was unlocked. “Yes, thank you.” He opened the door fully and sat behind the wheel. Not hesitating, he looked quickly just in case there was a set of keys. Nothing. “Sorry, Lori, but time to get to work,” he said, turning on his headlamp, and with a short screwdriver he pried off the steering wheel column case. He ducked under the dash and began to look for the ignition wiring when he heard the crunch of soles on pavement. He jerked from underneath the dash, looked towards the door, and found himself face to face with the barrel of a shotgun.

  “Stop right there!” the woman shouted.

  “Don’t shoot, please.”

  “Get out of my truck now!” she ordered.

  “Please don’t shoot,” he pleaded, his arms raised.

  “Easy and slow, don’t make
any moves or I will shoot you,” she said.

  He did as she said. He slid out from the truck and stood, his back against the open cab. His headlamp shined down on her.

  She backed away from the light and hollered, “Help, I need help!”

  Different scenarios ran through his mind. Should he run, or should he stay? He thought of Lori, who was counting on him returning. If he ran and got shot, well, that would guarantee he wouldn’t return, but if he escaped? So many what ifs but not enough time to run them all through. His instincts told him to run; by staying their presumptive captive, he may never return. With his decision made, he lifted his head slightly; the beam from his headlamp hit her in the eyes.

  She flinched angrily and stepped to the side, just to the side of the not fully open truck door.

  Travis saw this as his moment and aggressively pushed the door fully open, hitting the shotgun. The force of the impact caused her to fire. Fortunately for Travis the barrel was no longer pointed at him.

  His actions and the accidental discharge made her drop the shotgun.

  Travis took off towards the street away from her. He glanced behind him but didn’t see her. When he turned back around, he ran directly into another person.

  Both of them fell down.

  Travis went to jump up, but the woman was on him, barrel of the shotgun again positioned at his head.

  “Just stay down!” she yelled.

  He moved, but she jammed it behind his head and racked the slide. “I said stay down!”

  Travis obliged.

  The man he had run into got up and walked over.

  Travis could barely make him out. He was tall and muscular and was also armed, but with a pistol.

  The man leaned over and looked into Travis’s eyes. “Just who do we have here?”

  “I need a vehicle, that’s all, nothing else,” Travis responded.

  “Where are your manners, son? We ask for things in this town, we don’t take them,” the man said.

  Travis recoiled from the man’s harsh bad breath.

  “Janine, your choice what we do with him,” the man said.

  “Take him to see the magistrate,” she replied.

  “Very well,” the man said.

  The blow to the head happened so quickly that Travis didn’t see it coming. All he felt was the blunt force; then everything went black.

  Lori lay trembling, her eyes useless against the dark, so she let her ears communicate the situation as best they could. It first started with the woman’s cries for help; then came the shotgun blast and more yelling. Following that came what sounded like a herd as townspeople rushed to the scene. Images of Travis dead and dying flashed before her eyes. She wanted to go to him, but she could be walking into a situation that was untenable.

  Soon the sun would be up and she’d be a sitting duck out in the open. She needed a place to hide, a place where she could plot how to help or save Travis. The metal buildings came to mind, and without further delay, she rose and ran for what she hoped was safety.

  Denver International Airport

  Horton loved to get his day started early; he received an incredible feeling of accomplishment if by mid-morning he had completed what most people would have in a full day. Today would be another one of those days where he’d not only accomplish much, but today would signify a turning point for him.

  He looked at a map of North America and marveled. So much had been achieved in such a small amount of time. He just wish he could get past the phase he was in and back on track to building his new capital Arcadia.

  A tap at the door signaled that his next meeting was about to begin. He strode back to his desk and sat down, but not before he called out, “Come in.”

  The door opened and in came a man he had only heard about. Thomas Wendell briskly walked in and stood at attention in front of his desk. “Assistant Director Wendell at your service, sir.”

  “Director Wendell, please, no formalities needed, especially from someone as notable as you,” Horton said.

  Wendell was a tall man, almost six foot four inches, and his broad shoulders made him look formidable. His clean-shaven square-jawed face showed the physical scars of a lifetime of law enforcement work. With more than thirty years as a law enforcement officer, Wendell was finishing his career as a mid-level administrator for FEMA when the Death struck.

  Wendell took a seat and asked, “How can I help?”

  “First, how can I help you?” Horton asked. He leaned and put his elbows on the desk.

  “I don’t follow?”

  “Director Wendell, you’ve surprised us with your abilities. When we gave the orders to begin the cleanse, you outperformed everyone. In fact, you’ve already achieved your goals,” Horton said as he looked at a piece of paper on his desk.

  “Just doing what was ordered.”

  “I believe in rewarding people for doing a job above and beyond. You see, I brought you here to ask what we can do for you, you know, a way to say thank you.”

  Wendell looked surprised. He wasn’t expecting to hear this.

  “You look a bit shocked, but I can tell you that you’ll see that’s how we do things here. Let me first ask you something personal; can I do that?”

  “Yes, sir,” Wendell replied, a look of uneasiness on his face.

  “When the order came down to begin cleansing the undesirables, why did you comply?”

  “Because it was an order.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Wendell looked down, briefly searching for the right thing to say.

  “Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear; tell me why you did it. You didn’t have to, hell, we had others in your position who said no, and we removed them till we found the one person who would. So tell me again why you chose to fulfill our order and do it so efficiently?”

  He looked up and assumed since he was there he might as well be honest. He knew the power they had, and if they had wanted him dead, he would be, so why not just open up. “Because when I saw exactly what you were doing, I agreed with it. It made…well, it made sense. The people you had us cleansing were of no use to the system. In fact, they would only stress what vital resources we have. They were those with no skills or those that needed others to in order to live. You were ridding the world of the undesirables.”

  “Bingo, give this man a prize. That has been our mission the entire time. Of course, some good people, not many, died along the way, collateral damage, but you see what we’re doing is saving the planet. We are restoring order to a broken ecosystem. The people we have removed will now allow us to focus our collective efforts to restore the planet to its natural state and create equilibrium. Before we focused our system on helping them, we didn’t want to unleash the Death, but…”

  “I’m sorry, what did you just say? You released the Death?” Wendell asked, stunned by Horton’s smug confession.

  “Yes, there was no pathogen from that asteroid. That was just a helpful ruse to unleash it.”

  Wendell shifted in his chair, a bit more uneasy than before.

  “Thomas, can I call you that?” Horton asked.

  Wendell nodded, then said, “Actually, Tom is good.”

  “Tom, follow me,” Horton said, motioning for Wendell to rise.

  Wendell did as he asked.

  Horton walked him over to a side conference room of his office. The walls were adorned with large three-by-five-foot high-definition images of nature. The first image he stopped at was a large waterfall; the colors of blue, white and foam green were intense. He looked at Wendell and asked, “Beautiful, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “What about that one?” Horton asked, pointing to a scene of a savannah in Africa.

  “Yes.”

  “Look at all of them. What do you see?”

  “I see pictures of nature.”

  “You do, but you see something more. You see a world as it should be, not destroyed for greed or progress. Imagine this, an unspoiled world where the parasi
te that is mankind isn’t present in vast numbers, where we manage the herd. You see, man has destroyed this world; we will restore the world. We will restore the balance. You have been a big part of this, but your part is only just begun.”

  Wendell faced Horton and asked, “What is it I can do?”

  Horton grinned and said, “A lot, but we will discuss this over dinner, you and your family.”

  “My family? They’re back…”

  “Mr. Wendell, your job will require you to be here, so I took the liberty of bringing them here. I hope you don’t mind. They are being settled in right now. I picked a nice residence for them. Your daughter will be able to complete her high school here as well.”

  Wendell’s face turned ashen. He gulped and said, “You honor me, Chancellor.”

  Gripping his shoulder more firmly, Horton replied, “Remember, this isn’t about the one, this is about the many. What we do will save this planet, just know that. I have big plans for you. Welcome to the core.”

  “Thank you, sir, I will do my best.”

  “I know you will. So I’ll see you later.”

  “Yes, sir,” Wendell said and began to walk away.

  Horton called out, “Oh, and tell your family welcome from me.”

  Wendell stopped, turned and responded, “I will.” He headed for the door with a look of fear on his face.

  Horton walked back to his desk and picked up the phone. “Please have Dr. Mueller contact me immediately. Tell him I need an update on the new serum from patient zero.” He hung up the phone and rocked back and forth in his chair, pleased that each small piece of his puzzle was coming together.

  Pine Bluffs, Wyoming

  When Travis came to, he had a throbbing headache and found his accommodations were exactly as he imagined they’d be: a small cell in the local jail. He rolled off the bed and rubbed the lump on the back of his head. In his life he’d only been knocked out a few times; this time was the worst. The light shining in from a small window at the end of the narrow hallway outside his cell told him he’d been out for a few hours at least. His mind raced to Lori. He wondered where she was and if she was okay. He then shifted his thinking to what might happen to him. He stood up to walk but felt a bit of vertigo and promptly sat back down.