The mob of men again jeered and began to chant, “Death, death!”
Devin stood a few feet away, watching the scene unfold. For an instant, disbelief entered his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. The reality of the world reminded him that these events had become the norm.
The young man was pushed forward and forced to his knees in front of Renfield.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Renfield asked.
Knowing his fate was sealed, the man didn’t hold back, “Fuck you; you’re nothing but a monster.”
Renfield laughed and grabbed the man by his thick long blond hair. “As is our custom, what shall we do with this man?”
In unison, the men roared, “Death, death, death.”
A few voices yelled out, “Burn him!”
Renfield raised his arms again, silencing the group.
Devin felt for the man but at the same time was happy it wasn’t him that would suffer this horrific death.
“You have spoken. Take him to the stake!” Renfield exclaimed.
The volume of the crowd now turned ravenous mob turned Devin’s stomach.
Bravely the young man insisted on walking to the stake. He stood tall and offered his arms to be tied above his head.
Renfield watched, his eyes glowing with excitement as his followers convulsed and heaved with joy.
Devin had to fight the urge not to look; if he were to stay alive, he’d have to act like he enjoyed such scenes of barbarism.
Several of Renfield’s men stepped forward with torches in hand but stopped short of setting the ground ablaze beneath the young man.
Renfield raised his arm and once again the men fell silent.
Devin was amazed at how he had them trained like dogs.
Renfield looked at his ever-obedient men and then turned to look at the young man, whose fate was sealed. Both men shared a glance and deep down Renfield respected the young man’s determination not to beg. So often he had found men willing to humiliate themselves in the hopes they would be saved. What this man must have known was there were no words, no actions that could help. His destiny was on that stake; therefore the last remaining thing he had was how he conducted himself in his last minutes. It was this strength that Renfield respected. He would have expected this man to cower and beg, but he did not.
With just the lowering of his arm, Renfield gave the unspoken command to light the fire beneath the young man.
They all tossed the torches into the woodpile, quickly igniting it. Within seconds the thick pile at the young man’s feet roared and engulfed his body.
Remaining defiant, the man kept the unimaginable pain to himself and stood silent as the flames consumed him.
Knowing he was being watched, Devin kept his gaze focused on a spot beyond the burning man, giving the appearance he was watching.
A devilish grin spread across Renfield’s face as the young man’s flesh seemed to melt. He turned to Devin and whispered, “If I find out you lied, that will be you.”
Pine Bluffs, Wyoming
Cassidy grimaced as the needle was extracted from her arm. She looked at the blood in the vial and still couldn’t believe that her blood was so special. It was so coveted that people fought and had died over it. What she couldn’t come to grips with was the world she was now living in. For her it was like a nightmare, her last moments were of her becoming deathly sick, requiring the plane to be diverted to Indianapolis. Her final memory was being taken off the aircraft and rushed to the hospital; after that nothing until she woke in the van leaving the Denver International Airport. In the months that followed, the world had collapsed, but she had slept in a drug-induced coma, unaware that everything she knew was gone. What she didn’t know for sure was if her fiancé, Devin, was dead. More than ever she needed Devin, but was he alive and, if so, where was he? She attempted to grapple with the concept of finding him and the only logical plan was to head to New York City. Devin was her only connection to the past; he was the only person that she could truly trust.
Waking up to strange faces in an apocalyptic nightmare would have driven many crazy, but Cassidy processed it as well as one could. Upon her arrival in Pine Bluffs she had met the magistrate and his cadre of loyal followers. He had stressed to her how important she was to saving the rest of the world from Chancellor Horton’s expanded plan of death. Her blood was the alpha and omega and was being used by Horton to create a more lethal virus, but it could also be used to create a vaccine.
The woman who had drawn her blood placed the vial on a small metal table next to the bed Cassidy was lying in.
Cassidy picked it up and looked at it closely.
“Please put that back,” the woman said, alarmed that Cassidy was handling the vial.
“It’s my blood.”
“I don’t want you to drop it.”
“If I do, I have more,” Cassidy snarled.
“Just be careful.”
Cassidy turned the vial and watched the blood flow from one end to the other. It was just amazing that her blood held so much for what remained of the human race.
“I’ll take that, thank you,” the woman said, snatching the vial from Cassidy’s hands.
“You do know that I volunteered for this,” Cassidy snapped.
“Well, Miss, you do know that many people have died trying to find patient zero and get you.”
“Am I patient zero?”
“That’s what we’re told. You started it and hopefully your blood can end it.”
“Did you just say I started it? How dare you! I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t choose this. I’m as much a victim of this genocide as anyone.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Enough,” Cassidy barked and swung her legs off the bed and stood.
“I’m sorry, that came out wrong.”
“You have your blood and I fulfilled my obligation. I have someone to find, so goodbye,” Cassidy exclaimed, her temples throbbing.
The woman again tried to apologize, but Cassidy dismissed her and slammed the door behind her. Standing in the hallway of the town clinic, she sighed heavily and after taking two steps stopped and hung her head in despair. Her once long straight brown hair was gone, cut short by Dr. Mueller. Before she would have cared, but now she had nothing to care for.
Travis was waiting down the hall and saw her despondence. He rushed to her and asked, “Is everything okay?”
“No, it’s not okay. Considering the world has gone to shit and I’ve been told I’m to blame for it.”
“I know how hard this must be for you,” Travis said, attempting to soothe her.
“I just need to rest. I’m still not at the top of my game,” Cassidy said and began to walk towards the exit.
Travis hurried to catch up and asked, “Last night you mentioned you wanted to go find your fiancé. I’m in the same boat.”
They reached the exit and Cassidy stopped. She turned and asked, “I was in a coma for over seven months; why do you want to go look now?”
Her question hit him hard, but what stung about it was there was truth in it. Not having a suitable answer, he decided to change the subject. “If you’re going to leave, let me join you. You can’t go it alone, and even with one hand, I can still handle myself.”
“Let me go rest and we can continue this conversation later?”
“Sure,” Travis said and opened the door for her, but their exit was blocked by the magistrate.
“Captain Priddy and Cassidy Lange, what good timing,” the magistrate said with his ever-present grin wrapped across his face.
“I gave them a total of four samples. I did what you asked of me; now I need to go rest,” Cassidy said bluntly.
The magistrate looked at her, then asked Travis, “Is she okay?”
“Tired.”
“I can imagine. Say, how about my driver takes you back, because I want to have some words with the captain,” the magistrate said.
“Fine,” Cassidy said and walked pas
t the magistrate and down the sidewalk towards his black SUV.
“Captain, let’s go take a walk,” the magistrate said, placing his arm around Travis’ shoulder and leading him towards the sidewalk.
Travis kept his eye on Cassidy until he saw her safely put into the back of the SUV and ushered off.
The magistrate could see how he doted on Cassidy; he thought maybe it was natural for him to flock to damsels in distress. However, he couldn’t get a sense for his emotional state after what had happened to Lori.
“I haven’t had time to tell you how sorry I am about Lori; I know you cared for her.”
Travis didn’t answer; instead he looked off towards the pillow-white clouds stamped upon the deep blue sky.
“You’ve taken to Cassidy since her arrival here,” the magistrate commented.
“She’s alone, doesn’t know anyone. I just feel for her.”
“I’ve heard she’s leaving soon.”
“Yeah, she wants to go find her fiancé.”
“I know this is personal, but do you intend to go with her?”
Travis stopped and asked, “Why do you ask?”
“It’s not obvious? You’re a good part of our community. I’d hate to see you leave.”
Travis understood the question. As a former military commander he knew the importance of having good team members. He knew the magistrate needed people in his fight against Horton and the Order.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do right now,” Travis answered, deliberately not divulging his desire to go with Cassidy and her reluctance to immediately ask him.
“What can I do to have you stay? Name it, anything within reason.”
“Wow, anything?”
“Within reason.”
“I’m in the same situation as Cassidy. I have a fiancée out there somewhere and I’ve neglected looking for her long enough.”
The magistrate raised his eyebrows, furrowing his forehead. He was tempted to make a comment but held his tongue for fear his blunt response would be taken the wrong way. “Let me put it this way. If Cassidy wants to leave, I’ll send a couple good men, all armed, and give her a vehicle loaded with plenty of fuel and food. I just need you to stay; I need someone with your talents.”
“So are you saying you won’t help her if I decide to go?”
The magistrate was about to answer when several townspeople walked by and greeted him.
Within the protective walls of Pine Bluffs, the town looked like an apocalyptic Norman Rockwell painting.
After the people moved on, the magistrate leaned in and in a lower tone replied, “Of course we’ll help you and her. We’re good people here. I’d not only send some of my good men, but you’d have a vehicle with all the stuff you could ever need.”
“I would hope so.”
“Of course, I owe you and her, to be quite frank.”
“Let me think about it.”
“Don’t think too long. We need to act quickly as soon as we can come up with a vaccine. If it wasn’t for Martin’s quick thinking, we’d not have the discs and notebooks. We didn’t get a sample of his new virus, but Dr. Mueller was detailed in his note taking. We have everything we need. The next phase after creating it will be to send out teams to disburse it. This is where you’ll come in handy. As you know, the Scraps have taken a beating. Horton suffered a loss, but his forces have rallied and hit them hard. He has to know we’re onto his plan, and it’s only a matter of when they find us here.”
Travis wanted to help, and after losing Lori, the urge to seek revenge for her filled him. He was torn. He’d always had an instant desire to help women in need and Cassidy fit that, but she wasn’t playing the role exactly how he needed her to. She was resistant in her desire to have him join her and this prompted him to reevaluate his position. He still wanted to find Tess, but his reluctance to after over seven months did put into question his love for her in the deepest parts of his mind. If someone could read his thoughts, they’d say he was conflicted at best and flakey at worst. He had to ask himself if he was only using the search for Tess as a means to justify joining Cassidy.
“When will you have a viable vaccine that can be dispersed?” Travis asked.
“My team is saying a week or two.”
“Let me think about what I’m going to do. I won’t keep you hanging, I promise.”
“Very well,” the magistrate said.
“I have to go. I’ll catch up with you later,” Travis said and strutted off.
The magistrate watched him go. He wanted Travis to stay around, but if he decided to leave, it wasn’t a game-changer for his operation. The main mission he was hoping to get him to accept was to personally go and find Horton. Martin had told him what had occurred in Denver and how Travis reacted to finding Lori. He found it odd that a man who proclaimed his love for someone and watched them die horribly wouldn’t want to exact retribution, but maybe Travis was one of those men who found solace from his pain differently. The magistrate wanted nothing more than to find and personally kill Horton. If Horton had done what he did to someone the magistrate loved, he’d want nothing more than vengeance.
Travis got behind the wheel of his truck and sat for a moment before starting it. The magistrate was still standing on the sidewalk, looking at him. He stewed on everything that had just been said. He felt lost and he wasn’t sure if he’d ever feel whole again. He started the truck and pulled away; then the thought came that he needed Cassidy more than she needed him.
Dulce, New Mexico
Horton stared at the gray and dingy walls of his new office. His new accommodations were unlike the lavish life he had created for himself. He missed the luxuries of the DIA and had become spoiled in many ways to living nicely. Dulce was an old secret U.S. military base buried in the rugged desert mountains of north central New Mexico, just three miles south of the Colorado border. It had always been earmarked as a fallback location for Horton in the event the DIA became compromised. The base was old and hadn’t been used in decades. Its age showed, but for all its faults, it was secure and secret, even from the other members of the Order. It was a place that only he knew about and he intended on keeping it that way.
Since the loss of the DIA, he had also kept his head down and hadn’t yet communicated with the others in the Order. He knew who was behind the attack, but he wasn’t quite sure if Calvin had received assistance from other chancellors or members of the council. If Calvin had been helped, he couldn’t blame him. He always did whatever it took to become successful, so if Calvin found a weakness and exploited it, then good for him. However, he was frustrated for allowing it to happen right underneath his nose. What he wanted to focus on was how it could have happened. Deep down his focus was somewhere else, mainly on Lori. His personal life had almost killed him.
Horton had one last mission to complete and that was to get the second virus created and mass produced. He had Mueller working nonstop in the makeshift labs at Dulce. After several major miscalculations and mistakes, Mueller’s value would come to an end when he finished the job. Horton considered Mueller’s errors unforgivable; after the first Death virus killed thousands of different animal species, he wanted to take him out, but only kept him around because he knew the virus better than anyone and there wasn’t anyone else he could trust. The question was how he would get rid of him once he was done.
When the more advanced virus was completed, he’d be ready to make his big reveal. In the meantime, he had dispatched what military assets he had to destroy the Scraps and find Calvin. In his absence from the spotlight, he had put Wendell in charge but had given him strict instructions to keep Dulce secret and to act as chancellor, even going as far as telling him to use the title. Wendell and his forces were operating out of various forward operating bases and kept mobile as often as possible. Horton had done this for two reasons: he wanted to destroy the Scraps, and secondly, he didn’t want Wendell’s forces exposed and centralized just in case Calvin was being aided by someone
on the council.
Being tucked away in the mountains of Dulce also gave him the time to reflect on his own personal decisions that almost jeopardized his entire plan. Normally a man who kept his cool, he had allowed his emotions to run wild when it pertained to Lori. He wasn’t used to having people say no to him, especially women. Her refusal to accept him hit his ego so much that even having her killed didn’t bring peace. The pleasure he received from her horrible death was temporary. In fact, many nights afterward he had questioned his decision and wondered if she would have joined him if given more time to be persuaded, but he dashed those fantasies and decided he would find a mate after he had fulfilled his destiny and took over the world.
An old black push-button phone on his desk rang. He looked at it and wanted to ignore it. It rang loudly again. He took the glass of whiskey he had been nursing and tossed it back with a grimace. He slammed the glass down, snatched the phone from the receiver and asked, “Yes, what is it?”
“Chancellor, this is Dr. Mueller. You wanted me to tell you when I had synthesized a new virus.”
“And?”
“It’s done, sir.”
“Good.”
“So is that it?”
“Is what it?”
“Do you need me further?”
“I need enough for widespread dispersal, so get—”
“Done, sir.”
“You’ve made enough?”
“I took the liberty, it’s ready to go and there’s enough for the desired worldwide effect.”
“Then your job is done, Doctor,” Horton snarled.
“Are you upset about something?”
“I’ll send a team down to the labs to get the virus.”
Mueller could hear the alcohol-tinged anger in Horton’s voice. This was becoming common and it made him nervous about his own well-being. He knew Abert wanted him dead, and after his past failures, he wondered if Horton had the same fate in mind for him.
“I’ll let you go. Just let me know what the next move is,” Mueller said and hung up.
The Death: The Complete Trilogy Page 49
