Mace of the Apocalypse

by Daniel J. Williams

  Mace just glared before turning his attention to the girl on the floor. “Get dressed and get out. Party’s over.” He turned back towards the boys. “You all stay right here and don’t make a sound. I’m going to want to talk to you more.”

  They looked from Mace to John and the others who had entered the room. At the sight of the girl, they had all found a reason to come inside. Mace nodded to John. “We’re gonna want someone at every doorway, keeping watch. God knows what else we’re going to find.”

  They left and headed towards Rob’s room. As Mace passed another open door, he did a double take as he stared at a 55 gallon drum sitting in the middle of the floor with a few bags of fertilizer tossed to the side. “What the hell?”

  He walked in and stared at it, thinking about the first words he’d heard upon entering the floor, something about blowing the place and lighting it up. He could feel his pulse race as he realized just what was being planned here. His stomach twisted and he clenched his fists. Anger surged through him as he quickly left the room to find Rob. Each step increased his agitation until he felt ready to explode.

  The room door Rob was in was closed so Mace kicked it open, sending it banging against the inside wall. Rob was lying in a makeshift bed on the floor with two girls. Mace lifted his gun at Rob and the girls screamed, covering their faces and trying to cover their naked bodies with the sheets. Rob looked surprised, but covered up quickly, a defiant smile taking its place. “Want some? I’ve got some Viagra if you suffer from a wet noodle.”

  Mace’s face twitched with rage as he walked over to the bed and grabbed Rob by the hair, lifting him high enough to shove the barrel of the gun in his mouth. He was so angry he could barely speak. “What were you going to do, Rob, blow up the hospital? Kill everyone in here?”

  Rob was gagging on the gun barrel, his eyes rolling back and watering. Mace pulled the barrel out and snarled as he slammed him in the face with the gun, cutting a slash across his cheek and sending a spurt of blood out his nose. He let go of his hair and Rob fell back on the bed, holding his face. Mace yelled at the two girls, who were trying to hide under the sheets. “Get your clothes on and get out now!” Staring at Rob, he seethed. “I should just kill you right now.”

  As they scrambled with their clothes and rushed out the door, Mace could see a bloody smile spread across Rob’s face. He switched the gun to his left hand, leaned down, and hit him with a hard right to the face. Rob’s head snapped back and he began laughing as he turned his head to spit blood out of his mouth.

  “We were gonna blow you all up. You pissed on us and gave us no respect. We kept this place safe. We performed a job. You didn’t deserve us.”

  Mace felt himself go dizzy with rage and took a step back, trying to get himself under control. He raised his gun at Rob’s face and closed his eyes for a second, taking in a deep breath. He opened his eyes, lowered the gun and said softly and calmly, “You’re going to leave this hospital right now and not come back. This is a one time offer. If I ever see you again make no mistake I will kill you.” He turned towards John and said loudly, “Escort him out before I finish him off,” then headed out the door, still shaking with rage.

  John took a step towards him and Rob smirked. “I know YOU need Viagra, you limp dicked fuck.”

  John reached down, grabbed him under the arm and lifted him, flinging his back up against the wall. He moved within an inch of his face. “Nobody said I wouldn’t kill you, you little psycho.”

  The feelings of anger started his blood pulsing, and he felt a hot sensation cover him as he put his own gun up to Rob’s chin, which was now covered in blood. Rob’s whole face was swollen and bleeding. John felt alive and his body tingled with excitement. “Give me a reason, you little punk, and I’ll put you out of your misery right now.”

  Rob’s teeth gleamed as a bloody smile spread across his face. He started to speak, but before anything intelligible came out John slammed him in the face with the gun, breaking his eye socket and sending him crashing to the floor. The act sent chills of pleasure through John and as Rob rolled over John kicked him in his side, sending him lurching in pain as a groan escaped his lips. He looked up at John through a shattered face and John growled, kicking him in his mouth, knocking out two of his teeth and sending his neck snapping back.

  Rob rolled over and passed out, saving his life, as John stormed out of the room as upset with himself for feeling pleasure at the violence as he was at Rob for his murderous plan. Once outside the door he could see Rob’s boys all glaring at him, and he could see the intense hate beneath their drugged and alcohol filled gaze. They had all been stripped of their weapons as they left their rooms, and were being gathered as a group for an escort out of the hospital.

  With a bubbling of bitterness and rage, he stared at them. They were just boys, twenty-three of them in all, but they were out of control and completely dangerous. He could have killed them all at that moment. He looked at them, and then over his shoulder at the room he had just left. “You’re leader’s in there. Or what’s left of him. Pick him up on your way out or he won’t last the night.”

  With that, he followed Mace’s path off the floor, but instead of returning to the comfort of a loved one, he fell to the empty consolation of a bottle, drowning his guilt and sorrow in the loneliness of his room. With the new proteins running through his blood, the anger had become almost uncontrollable, and he was scared at how he would appear to Maria or anyone else at that moment.

  His sexual desire was peaked by the rage, and he was afraid the act he had proposed to Maria the first time he’d seen her could become a reality if she were in his presence. He shook his head at the realization he was rock hard from the encounter. “Viagra?” he said to himself. “I don’t think so.” The excitement at the anger deeply disturbed him.

  The renewed vigor and strength he had felt was replaced by fear and uncertainty, and in the quiet of his room, he wept, calling out his wife’s name in the blackness of the night. He wasn’t sure what he was becoming, or if he could continue to control it.

  As the boys left the hospital, they cursed at the posse that had removed them. Kevin, the closest to being Rob’s second, helped put Rob in the passenger seat of the Miata. As the others either hopped on stolen motorcycles or scooters they had acquired during their night raids, he called out to them. “Embassy Suites. Follow me.”

  With that, they headed out, without weapons or drugs, a caravan of wasted youth infected with the lure of power, lust, and drugs.

  Chapter 40

  Mace jerked upright, startled, a hot sweat covering his body. He’d seen Jason in his dream. They’d been in a park playing catch, easily tossing a baseball back and forth until Jason dropped it. When the ball dropped, the sky grew dark and Mace had grown angry, his face morphing into his mothers, yelling at Jason for being such a failure. As Jason bent down to pick up the baseball, the park turned into the crawlspace and the gray of the sky turned to black. Jason was moving on all fours towards Mace, staring at him in the cylindrical light of the flashlight with that horrible, disfigured face. Mace yelled at him again for being a failure, Jason’s face turning into his own before he pulled out his gun and shot him.

  Mace’s hands trembled as he put them to his head and ran his fingers through his matted, tangled hair. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down his heart, which was beating a mile a minute. He looked around as his eyes adjusted to the dark and felt powerless and weak in its presence. He swung his legs over the hospital bed and headed for the bathroom, eager to wash off the dream and get on with his day.

  Chapter 41

  John sought out Mace first thing in the morning, finding him doing an inventory of the goods in the hospital pantry.

  “We need to talk.”

  Mace could see the urgency and fatigue around his eyes. “You alright?”

  John shrugged, looking more tired by the moment. “Too early to tell. There’s something going on with me.”

  Concern sh
owed on Mace’s face. He stepped out of the pantry towards the cafeteria, where there were about a dozen people eating or milling about. “Let’s go sit and talk. Have you eaten?”

  John looked around hesitantly, his voice remaining calm as he shook off the offer for food. “I’d like to have Father Jack present. Do you think we could find him?”

  Mace searched his face for a second, curiosity getting the better of him. “What’s going on? Did you do something?”

  John shook his head tiredly. “No, but I’m not sure if we might be facing a new kind of problem.” He looked at Mace and smiled sheepishly. “I’d really prefer to tell this only once. I’d like to hear Father Jack’s input on this one as well.”

  Mace slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Let’s go. He’s usually in the chapel. If he’s not, it shouldn’t be too hard to track him down.”

  They found Father McCann in the chapel as expected. He was counseling an older woman whose daughter had been killed by a stranger after becoming infected and attacking her. They stepped back and let him finish.

  “There’s nothing wrong with what you’re feeling, my dear. You have suffered an enormous loss, a loss beyond reason. This is a terrible thing that has happened to you and no one can just make it better. You do not weep alone. The heavens weep with you. If the pain is too great, go talk to Maria Ramirez in the lab and tell her I sent you. She will give you some mild sedatives to help you rest.”

  She continued to hold his hand, her eyes desperate in their intensity. “Why would God let this happen? Why? I just don’t understand.”

  Father McCann closed his eyes for a second before answering. “God had nothing to do with this my dear. He weeps more than any of us. Man was given free will, and it is this will to do harm that has caused this. God wants for nothing but to love. Look for Him and you will find His consolation.”

  Father McCann looked up and noticed Mace and John standing at the chapel doorway. They had been watching him, unable to hear the conversation, but understanding the woman’s sorrow. He raised his hand, holding them back, then leaned down to whisper something in the woman’s ear. She nodded, wiping her eyes, before getting up to leave. Mace didn’t recognize the woman as she turned towards them, but with so many coming and going, it was hard to keep track. They smiled consolingly as she passed.

  Father McCann waved them over. “What is it I can I do for you, gentleman?”

  Mace grinned at the formality of his address and said, “They were looking for some alcohol for surgery and you were the first person I thought of.”

  Father McCann showed a hint of a smile before countering with, “I’d hoped you’d have been bitten in the ass by now, but I guess the good Lord doesn’t answer prayers in the proper order.”

  They shared their usual silly smile after an exchange before Father McCann continued.

  “Do you really have some business here or are did you just come to bring the devil out of me?”

  Mace was about to give a sarcastic answer back when John broke in. “I’m sorry to bother you Father Jack, but I think we may have a new problem developing and I wanted to talk to you and Mace about it before anyone else gets involved.”

  Father McCann looked from John to Mace, who just shrugged in return. John stood silent for a second, trying to figure out how to vocalize his issues, before turning and sitting in the front pew. He looked up at both of them. “I almost killed Rob last night. It scared the hell out of me.”

  Mace had a surprised look on his face. “I was ready to kill him too. It was a natural reaction to what we discovered.” His brow furrowed slightly. “Is this what you were so concerned about?”

  John’s hand went up, stopping him. “You don’t understand. Ever since I was bit, I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster. I can feel really wonderful and strong one minute and then really dark and confused the next. When I lost it on Rob I beat him almost to death.” He looked at Mace and shook his head. “I’m not a violent man. What happened that first night in the hospital was completely foreign to me. I’m no coward, but I also haven’t been in any type of altercation since I was a kid in school. What’s happening here is different.”

  A red glow softly covered his cheeks as he continued. “I feel like having sex all the time. I haven’t had this type of sex drive since I was in high school, or actually, it was never even this strong then. When I got angry last night it was barely controllable, and I really wanted to hurt Rob and all those kids. It took forever for me to calm down, which isn’t like me.” He turned from one to another, looking at them seriously in turn. “I think we should keep a list of people who get sick from being attacked. I’m not even sure what I’m capable of right now and we know what’s been going on with some of the teenagers. This could get ugly in a hurry if we don’t figure out something quick.”

  Father McCann questioned him. “When you say you’re not sure what you’re capable of, do you mean you’re not sure if you can control yourself?”

  John nodded slowly. “That’s exactly what I mean. Last night I almost locked myself in my room because I thought I might rape somebody.”

  Both Father McCann and Mace reacted strongly to the statement, taking a step back in shock. They looked to one another briefly before turning their attention back to John.

  Mace moved forwards, searching John’s face. “What do you think we should do?”

  Mace could see John’s frustration as he slowly shook his head. “I don’t know. That’s why I wanted to talk to you both. Maybe we should try some type of sedative, see if it calms the urges down.”

  “We could try something like Paxil.,” Father McCann shared. “It’s made to even out the moods and it has some sexual side effects which might just come in handy in this case.”

  Mace nodded, his mind working towards another solution. “We need to keep track of everyone involved, maybe put them in some experimental groups. Try some different things; see what works and what doesn’t.” Worry lines deepened across his forehead. “Do you think they might go for it?”

  John’s head dropped and lolled briefly. “If they’re feeling anything like me, then they know they’re not feeling normal. You could just explain it as a medical experiment testing the health of those who’ve been attacked. There’s no reason to bring anything else up, so no stigma will be attached.” He paused, his head lifting to gaze at them seriously. “What I’m really afraid of are the people who might enjoy this. It can be pretty intoxicating. It elevates the ego and the thought of sex is just crazy.”

  Mace took a deep breath, staring reflectively at the wall. “All we need is a new and crazier Rob. We’d almost be better off with those things running around again.” He turned his attention towards Father McCann. “We need to take care of this right away before something bad happens.”

  Chapter 42

  Lisa was busy watching a handful of children when Gilbert walked into the daycare center. There were eleven kids in the room. Three were a little older, but still preteens who had all lost their parents.

  Yvette was busy keeping the older ones occupied with some books and magazines she had raided from the gift shop. She was reading one herself, a Cosmopolitan, when Gilbert walked in. She looked up then back down quickly, wrinkling her nose. Gilbert gave her the creeps and she didn’t want to have to deal with him.

  She flipped the page and pretended to read an article on what men really found sexy in the bedroom, all the while keeping her eyes focused on his movements. He cautiously approached Lisa, who was busy helping a table of children playing with finger paints that someone had lifted from the local Walgreens. Chelsea was among them and Gilbert’s eyes lit up when he saw her. He reached the table and leaned down to speak with her.

  “Hi Chelsea, how are you today?”

  Chelsea’s gaze met his face and her nose wrinkled, mimicking Yvette. She looked back down and went back to her finger paints. Buster, who had been lying in the corner of the room, pricked up his ears at the sound of Gilbert’s voice.
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  Lisa caught sight of Gilbert out of the corner of her eye and moved away from the child she had been helping. She wasn’t a fan of Gilbert’s either. There was something different about him in an unsettling way. She addressed him without smiling. “Hi Gilbert, is there something I can do for you?”

  He smiled as warmly as he could muster, slowly rubbing his hands together. “Well, I just thought you might need a hand here. If you like, I could take a child off your hands.”

  She tried to disguise the slight fear and nausea she felt at the request and just shook her head. “Actually, I think we’re just fine. I think they could use a hand in the cafeteria, though. You might check there.”

  As nonchalantly as possible, she returned to the child she was working with, leaning down and helping them mix their paints. She glanced up a moment later to see him backing away slowly, staring at Buster who now had his ears pinned back and was moving up on him, a slight growl in his throat. She was a little startled to see Buster’s behavior, but before she could do anything, Chelsea broke the silence.

  “Buster, come here and let me paint you. I want to give you a purple tail.” She started giggling as Buster broke his serious forward progress and turned towards her, a weird mewling sound emitted protectively as he pulled up next to her. He placed his paw on the low table and gave her his “I adore you” stare. She put a dab of purple paint on his nose and started giggling louder as he tried to wipe it off with his paw, dropping to the ground and blowing out his nostrils as he wiped.

  Lisa looked from her daughter to Gilbert, who had now turned and was quickly leaving, still trying to understand Buster’s strange behavior towards the man. She’d never seen Buster act like that and it frightened her a little. She knew how protective he could be of Chelsea, and she determined at that moment that she would never allow him to be alone with her.