The Last Everything

by Frank Kennedy

  Ten hours earlier, Jamie shot that man in the face five times.

  He wanted the echoes of Coach Arthur Tynes and the rest of Albion, Alabama to disappear. Anyone there who ever tried to uplift him in the slightest was dead — save for the two he brought on this foolish quest. The pistol he carried in his right hand was as light and natural now as when the Jewel consumed him and defended itself against its enemies.

  At first, he accused the Jewel of being the killer, but Jamie knew the truth: All those bodies belonged to him, and they were not the last.

  Patience. You can do this.

  As the fog lessened, thunder rumbled like fireworks many miles away. Jamie tightened the grip on his weapon, but instinct told him the real threat lie closer, that the other side of the fold would defy his expectations. He saw the silhouettes of his friends and stepped closer.

  “Don’t pull the trigger,” he whispered, “unless you got no choice.”

  “What do you sense?” Sammie asked.

  “Not who ought to be waiting for us.”

  “Shit,” Michael said. “Then who?”

  Before he replied, flashes of red and green broke through the haze, and rigid, metallic outlines took form.

  “We’re here. Just stay close. Stay calm.”

  They stepped into another universe.

  A tight chill enveloped them; stark summer heat became a brisk fall evening. Jamie understood why as he scanned the new world.

  They stood in a cavern, its ceiling twenty feet high and as wide, its walls reinforced by a complex metal lattice gleaming silver as if alive, creating enough artificial light for easy passage. The tunnel extended in this way perhaps fifty feet before reaching a sharp, rightward bend. Far above, the short volleys of thunder continued, and the rubberish floor beneath them vibrated. The sources of the red-green flashes revealed themselves as two fist-sized orbs that met them eye-to-eye. The orbs blanketed them in laser scans, never dipping beneath their necks.

  “Guess they’re checking us out,” Michael said, turning to his friends. “So, I gotta say it, right?” He smiled for the orbs.

  “We come in peace.”

  Jamie wanted to chuckle, but he understood what the thunder far above meant. Peace was not in the equation today.

  “They’re coming,” he said, just before the echoes of rapid footsteps swooped around the bend. “Let me do the talking.”

  Sammie leaned in. “But Jamie, I’m a Chancellor. They’ll identify me from the records. I should be…”

  “I was born on this side, and I’m the one they want.” He offered a brotherly hand on her shoulder. “You once told me Chancellors plan ten steps ahead. So have I. Follow my lead. Aim your guns, both of you. Right between their eyes.”

  “Swell,” Michael said after a deep breath. “So much for peace talks, dude.”

  Jamie moved ahead by three paces and stood firm, his gun resting at his side. Three people rushed up the tunnel, each seven feet tall. Two goateed men in white bodysuits bore silver weapons that seemed to be extensions of their arms. They flanked a woman whose scarlet hair fell beneath her shoulders and whose three-piece suit jacket blended neon tones of olive and magenta.

  The men, with piercing jade eyes, extended their weapons as they entered the cavern’s chamber and planted an aggressive posture. The woman’s jaw dropped as she analyzed the teens.

  “What am I to make of you?” Her voice carried an arrogance Jamie expected, but laced in fear. “And what are you wearing?”

  These weren’t the first questions he expected, but Jamie understood how confused they must be. He assumed jeans with t-shirts wasn’t the fashion on this side of the fold. He opened his mouth, but Michael beat him to it.

  “Summer casual,” he quipped before turning to Jamie. “Sorry, dude. It felt right.”

  Jamie and Sammie shared a smile. He gestured to their greeters.

  “You know who we are. Your drones scanned us.”

  The woman hesitated. “Perhaps. But what of the African?”

  Michael whistled. “Afri – what in the hell?”

  “My friend,” Jamie said. “Someone you will never touch.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because if you do, I’ll kill every one of you where you stand. I’ll be so quick, you won’t even notice it hurt.”

  The greeters brought condescending smiles. The woman raised both hands, palms open.

  “This is no moment for violence. We are making history today. My name is Dr. Ophelia Tomelin. I am mission leader. My colleagues are occupied elsewhere at the moment. If you will indulge me, I wish to bring them instream to witness this moment.”

  She tapped a node implanted above her right eye, releasing a holographic cube. She ran a finger through the convoluted images and opened a panoply of faces.

  Michael whispered. “Sweet. I have got to have one of those.”

  Maybe you will, Jamie thought. But please, keep your mouth shut, Coop. One wrong word…

  Ophelia Tomelin continued. “We are connected. Everyone, I stand here at the IDF, where our mission appears to have borne fruit.” She turned to Sammie. “You are the daughter of Walter and Grace Pynn of the Americus Presidium?”

  Sammie hesitated. “I … Pynn? Yes. My pseudonym was Huggins.” She angled to Jamie. “They didn’t tell me my true surname until yesterday at the lake house.”

  The woman eyed Jamie.

  “You are James Bouchet, son of Emil and Frances Bouchet?”

  “That’s what I been told,” he replied. “Until about 12 hours ago, I was James Sheridan. But none of that much matters, does it, Ophelia?” He added a touch of snark as he dug in. “Let me tell you what you’re dying to learn. Yes, ma’am, I am the Jewel of Eternity. The next great evolution. Everything you people been working for. Except for one little hiccup. I know everything I’m not supposed to, and I remember everything I ever did before all this came down on me. You will not be the one giving the orders here.”

  Jamie saw the shock creeping in between the cool air of Ophelia’s disdain. She responded in halting words.

  “You have a poor sense of your place … James. Now, where are the others? Your parents? Her parents? All the others?”

  Sammie trying to lock her fingers with his, but Jamie pulled away. Not here. They can’t see our weakness.

  “Dead,” Sammie said with grave finality. “All of them.”

  “No one else is coming through,” Jamie added. “Your observers are gone. And guess what else isn’t coming back?”

  When Ophelia’s features turned pale, Jamie saw he had her.

  “That’s right. I took them both out myself. Not even Shock Units can stop me.”

  Jamie realized he edged into a dangerous bravado, but as he studied Ophelia’s guards, he sensed a turn in their demeanor. To his left, he detected a twitch, as if the man were prepping a new maneuver. Jamie caught a bead of sweat on the man’s brow. Yet Jamie never took his focus off Ophelia, who stepped closer.

  “That cannot be, James,” she said. “We programmed the Jewel for absolute obedience to our commands and those of our agents. Is it possible you never evolved? Did the program fail?”

  “You’re not listening, Ophelia. I am the Jewel, but not the one you expected. You can’t control me. They can’t either,” he said, pointing above, where thunder continued in bursts. “But they want me dead. Ain’t that right?”

  She grimaced. “Ain’t? Strange dialect, James. I believe we …”

  “Your enemies are everywhere. You can’t trust anybody.”

  Jamie sensed the cold, resolute ambition of the guard to his left, and saw the weapon tilt upward ten degrees. The eyes unveiled the man’s treachery. Jamie looked Ophelia square in the eyes:

  “He’s not yours. He can’t believe he got this lucky.”

  The guard moved with swift precision, shifting on an axis in a fraction of a second. He fired multiple bursts, and the cold cavern air thumped as the translucent concussions hit the other, unprepare
d guard in the head, contorting his skull amid a meager yelp of agony. As the unsuspecting man crumpled, and Ophelia stood statuesque, horrified, Sammie opened her pistol on the assassin. The first two bullets skidded off his mesh body armor, while the third drew blood under the chin.

  The assassin fired into the teens.

  Head to Amazon now to review The Last Everything and continue the series in The Risen Gods. Sign up for my newsletter at frankkennedy.org to receive free additional material and for more information on where The Impossible Future series goes from here.