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by Richard Stephenson

  The monster had another man suspended by his hair and was pounding him in the torso like a punching bag. Then the giant wrapped his free hand around the man’s throat and dug his fingers into his neck. Blood spurted from the man’s neck like a geyser as his throat was ripped from his body.

  Max and Elizabeth were about to unload every bullet they had when another equally strange event took place.

  A much shorter and leaner man was howling at the top of his lungs. Max was sure the man was as terrified as he was, but he didn’t run away in fear. Instead, the smaller man ran toward the beast with the most intense hatred Max had ever seen.

  The smaller man didn’t even try to tackle the giant, knowing it would be a waste of time. He drove his foot into the side of the giant’s knee in an attempt to buckle his leg. It worked for a brief second but the giant rebounded and straightened his leg as he swung the corpse in his left hand into the smaller man. The smaller man rebounded and took up a fighting stance. When the giant swung his arm, the man grabbed it with both hands and jumped on the giant’s back. The little man grabbed the giant’s right ear and yanked down, tearing off the top portion of it. While the giant was howling, the slighter man rammed his thumb into the giant’s demon eye. The beast fell to the ground like an oak tree. The smaller man pounded the giant’s throat four times with a hammer chop. The monster gurgled and spat blood as his competitor dug both of his thumbs into the giant’s eyes and pushed down with all his weight. The smaller man took his thumb out of the giant’s good eye and punched him in the throat until he stopped moving. The undersized fighter stood and brought his foot down on the monster’s throat, breaking his neck. David had slain Goliath.

  Max stood motionless staring at the victor. He looked at Elizabeth, whose jaw was gaping in amazement. He lowered his weapon and reached up to lower Elizabeth’s weapon for her. He turned back to the winner of the death match.

  “Please tell me you’re done.”

  “I’m good, thanks.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  The Hal robot was performing a juggling act for a small group of children who were clapping and cheering him on. Hal was juggling four rocks of varying size with dazzling proficiency. None of them had ever seen a robot do such a thing; it was truly impressive.

  The juggling act was suddenly interrupted by a scream.

  Hal jumped into the air and landed on the roof of an RV. He leapt over an adjacent RV and landed on the ground. In a span of time so short it could hardly be measured, Hal made the following assessment:

  Subject A had murdered a man by tearing his throat out with his bare hands. Subject B had either tried to defend the murder victim, was the murder victim’s accomplice, or was carrying out revenge on Subject A for the murder he committed. The two law enforcement officials accompanying Marshall Beck were in front of him with their weapons drawn on the subjects. Once Hal completed his assessment, the course of action he decided upon was to allow Chief Harris and his colleague to handle the situation and provide assistance only if it was required.

  Based upon the weight and muscle mass index of the two subjects, Hal calculated a seventy one point four percent chance that Subject A would defeat Subject B if the two law enforcement officials did not intervene. The altercation began and Hal watched the two subjects fight each other. As each millisecond passed, the percentage points he had calculated before the altercation began to lower and lower for Subject A and rose quickly for Subject B. Hal watched as Subject B raised his right foot in the air and brought it down on Subject A’s neck. The robot’s sensors scanned Subject A’s life signs and determined that he was deceased.

  “Please tell me you’re done,” said Chief Harris.

  “I’m good, thanks,” said Subject B.

  “You mind telling me what that was all about?” said Chief Harris.

  “Are you gonna arrest me?” asked Subject B.

  “For slaying a monster? Probably not. Still wanna know what it was about though. The dead guy a friend of yours?”

  “I count two dead guys.”

  “The first dead guy.”

  “No, he wasn’t. What the hell is that thing?” Subject B pointed at the Hal Robot.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s Howard Beck’s robot, Hal. You’ve heard of him?”

  “I read about him once. Thought he was some massive computer, the first one the have Artificial Intelligence. Didn’t know he was a robot.”

  Hal spoke in his proper English accent, “I am more than just a robot. My program can be extended into several outlets simultaneously. My primary duty at this moment is to assist the creator’s son in preparing everyone for entry into the facility. Your actions require an explanation, or I will have to restrain you to prevent further injury to others.” The Hal Robot raised his arms and walked toward Subject B.

  Jamison Stewart was walking toward the scene with his cousin, Marshall Beck. Jamison yelled from twenty yards away, “Hey! Leave him alone! He’s a good guy!”

  Marshall Beck called out to the Hal robot. “Hal! Take it easy! We can handle this!”

  Meredith Beck had programed Hal to follow any command from her son as long as it didn’t contradict her husband. “Yes, sir, I will be standing by to assist you.”

  Marshall Beck looked at the man who had slain the giant. If the man’s name was David, the parallel to the biblical tale of David and Goliath would be amazing. “Mister, you’re damned lucky these two officers didn’t shoot you dead.”

  Richard looked back and forth between the crippled officer and the woman who should be a Victoria’s Secret Model and sized them up. They were in love with each other; that much was obvious. The male cop was a sharp guy. He’d probably been in law enforcement his entire adult life and could perform well in a jam. The woman seemed like a firecracker who wasn’t about to take shit from anyone.

  “I appreciate you guys not killing me. I’m in your debt.”

  Max snapped his Glock back into its holster. “You still haven’t answered my question. What the hell was that all about?”

  “I’ll tell you all about it if you tell my why neither one of you shot me dead.”

  “When a man that big is holding a corpse by the hair with one hand and its throat in the other, you think twice about shooting him for it. The thought of missing the target or grazing him and pissing him off crossed my mind. I’d finally worked up the courage to start firing when you came into the picture. After a few seconds I was enjoying the show and figured you’d kill him for me. Most phenomenal ass kicking I’ve ever seen. I thought for sure he was gonna rip your head off and kick it like a football. I didn’t catch your name. I’m Maxwell Harris, and this is Elizabeth Reid”

  Richard wasn’t one to be flattered by praise. “My name is Richard Dupree. That young man over there has already heard what I’m about to tell you,” Richard said, pointing at Jamison. “The dead man there, well, the first dead man sold my daughter for a tank of gas. I was in the process of trying to uncover her whereabouts when I saw the only man who could lead me to her dead with his throat ripped out.”

  “Why’d the big guy kill him?” asked Marshall.

  “I have no idea.” Richard turned to Max. “Well, what’s it going to be? You arresting me?”

  Max replied, “Well, considering that I’m way out of my jurisdiction, and you could pull that ninja shit to stop me, I’ll give you a pass.”

  “I save the ninja shit for people who do the wrong thing.”

  “You kill everyone who does the wrong thing?”

  “Only if they’re trying to kill me.”

  “I can live with that.”

  “We’re gonna get along just fine, Max.”

  Max looked at Marshall Beck. “Something tells me your father isn’t going to like this at all, once he finds out these people might be stuck up here for good.”

  “My father isn’t going to find out about this,” replied Marshall.

  “How do you know he doesn’t know already?” asked Max.

&nbs
p; “Because Hal is still here. If he knew, Hal would be long gone, and we’d never hear a word from down below. Hal, what is my father doing right now?”

  The Hal robot replied, “Sir, he is in the dormitory wing inspecting the living conditions of the quarters.”

  “Good. Hal, what brought you over here?”

  “Sir, I heard a scream and responded.”

  “You’re never to tell my father about anything that happened, from the instant you first heard the scream until now. If he asks you to play back footage of today’s events, you’re to remove the time frame I just mentioned and replace it with different footage. Do you understand?”

  “I understand, sir.”

  “Good.” Marshall looked at the group of people standing in front of him. “It’s time to get these people ready to begin their new lives. Richard, I’m sure you have some catching up to do with your son. When you’re done I hope you’ll join us.” Marshall looked at Max and Elizabeth. “My father could use our help evicting a madman from his home.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  President Simon Sterling sat in the grand library of his palatial mansion trying to decide on a new name for the presidential estate, the centerpiece of his new government. Some of his guests had tried to refer to it as “The New White House,” and he promptly put a stop to it. He didn’t want his new government to have any ties to Washington D.C. or any of its iconic monuments. Squabbling over elections and other political pettiness was part of the broken government he had discarded. He was going to run things his way. He would have plenty of time to select a name for his estate and a successor.

  Simon would have to institute a great deal of change in a very short amount of time. His greatest advantage was the EMP attack. He was sure that many people close to him suspected The Pulse to be his own dirty work. Simon wasn’t responsible for the nuclear warhead detonated in the atmosphere, but he enjoyed letting his people think he was. Let them wonder and gossip about it. If his own people thought him capable of such an act, they would fear him for it. Simon knew the most important tool for controlling a population was fear. Let the people fear him; it would give them pause before thinking of rebellion. The Pulse not only gave him a frightened and confused nation crying out for his help, it gave him the perfect cover for disposing of his greatest obstacle, Malcolm Powers.

  The original plan was to occupy the White House with the aide of Carl Moody and his Unified National Guard. Simon even had nearly a third of the Secret Service detail in the White House behind him. They were going to remove President Powers and allow him to retire to his ranch in upstate New York, under close supervision of the Unified National Guard, of course. The hardest part of the transition into the United American Empire would be telling four hundred and thirty-five members of the House of Representatives and a hundred senators that they no longer had jobs. Simon Sterling firmly believed that American politics had two fatal flaws — flaws that led to its downfall. The first was corruption. Politicians lied with almost every breath they mustered and didn’t hesitate to slit each others throats for gain. They were whores willing to sell their vote to the highest bidder. The second was ineffectiveness. Politicians did not represent the people who elected them. They might have held onto the delusion that they served the public, but the only thing they represented was Big Business. The ones that didn’t play ball with the corporations running America quickly found themselves booted out of Washington.

  Simon was going to put an end to every shred of democracy in the former United States. Democracy had failed miserably; the proof was all around them. It was time for one man to set it right. Simon believed that he was that man. He knew he would face opposition at first. It was in man’s very nature to question change. Change was frightening, it was unpredictable and most of all; it was uncomfortable. No one likes to change their very way of life. The old ways, no matter how flawed or destructive, were familiar and comfortable. Simon would meet any opposition swiftly and with force. Any former senator, congressman or congresswoman foolish enough to incite protest would be publicly executed to set an example.

  Simon had no intention of becoming a mad dictator. He knew that the only way to set things right was for the people to have one voice to represent them, not hundreds of egotistical buffoons seeking to make a better life for themselves. Simon would appoint eight regional governors to supervise six states each. Hawaii and Alaska would just have to fend for themselves. Defending them would expend too many resources. Simon would allow the state governors to remain for a short time so the people would have something familiar to cling to, a useful buffer that would insulate him from the masses. Once he had a firm grasp on every stretch of land from the Pacific to the Atlantic, the state governors would be relieved and the eight regional governors alone would carry out his bidding.

  Simon looked at his watch and realized his next meeting was in only a few minutes. He sincerely hoped he would receive the news he had been anticipating. There was a knock at the door. Simon called out, and a group of people entered.

  “Please, come in. I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”

  Director Roberto Jimenez rolled himself into the room, followed by Chairman Carl Moody, Major General James Weygandt, General Jackson Butler, and Stacy Reid.

  “I’ve taken the liberty of having a meal prepared for us. Please sit down.”

  Everyone began to eat, anxious to hear what the new president had to say. They had serious doubts that this was just a casual meal. They all knew the president would be laying out the framework for his administration and announcing what roles they would play.

  President Sterling was enjoying himself. Like his predecessor, Sterling enjoyed playing petty power games to make people squirm.

  “I’m sure you can all imagine why you’re here. I’ve prepared my inaugural address, and if everything goes according to plan,” Simon looked at General Butler, “I’ll be addressing the nation tonight.”

  “Mr. President, everything is proceeding as scheduled.”

  “Excellent, General Butler.”

  “Thank you, Mr. President, we have exceeded our initial estimates. Not only have we installed loudspeakers at every state capital, but the initial list of major cities was completed, as well as forty-seven additional cities. Your address to the nation will be heard by a great many people affected by The Pulse.”

  President Sterling raised his glass and looked down the table. “To General Butler! May we find even more men like him.”

  As everyone raised their glass in toast, Carl Moody chimed in a hearty, “Hear hear!”

  “I have shared my plans with no one up until this very moment. All of you know that out of the ashes of our once great nation, we will be build a new one – a nation stronger and more worthy of her citizens, one that will protect her interests first before the rest of the world. We will show the world that we shall return!”

  Everyone at the table stood and applauded. President Sterling remained seated and nodded his head in thanks with a gracious smile on his face. He politely motioned for them to be seated so he could continue. “The old ways of governing are gone. Every one of you in this room shares with me the contempt for how corrupt and ineffective our previous government became. The heavy yoke of big government yanked this nation down beneath the waters and drowned her.” President Sterling paused and added. “You know just how bad things are when our own people mock our government with the phrase ‘It would take an Act of Congress to get that done.’ That will not be the case from this moment forward. I will rule this nation with swift temperance and just wisdom. My friends, I cannot do it alone. I need your help. I’m sure everyone will join me in celebration when I say that Congress is hereby abolished!” Everyone in the room clapped and shouted their support. “The House and the Senate are a thing of the past! We will have a much, much smaller government that will be faster and more efficient. I will be appointing eight Regional Governors who will each be responsible for six states that belonged to our for
mer nation. Before you do the math and ask the question, let me answer it for you. We will be more successful in our endeavors if we’re only responsible for the forty-eight contiguous states.” President Sterling turned and looked at the man seated to his left. “Before we discuss more changes, let us first address the one thing that will remain the same. Chairman Moody will remain in command of the Unified National Guard, answering only to me. Carl, I hereby promote you to the rank of Supreme Commander.” The president stood and Carl Moody quickly rose and shook his hand. Everyone in the room clapped and showed their support.

  President Sterling and Supreme Commander Moody took their seats. Stacy Reid had no delusions that she was about to be made a Regional Governor. She was confident that the men in the room would receive that posting. Still, she wondered why she was there. She’d been able to recover quickly from the escape of Maxwell Harris and Elizabeth Reed and remain in the good graces of General Butler. Her plan to blame it on the detention center worked perfectly. Stacy doubted if General Butler even mentioned it to the president.

  “Gentlemen, the rest of you probably have a good idea what’s going to happen, which leaves Stacy. Are you confused, dear?” Simon asked, smiling at Stacy. “Wondering why you’ve joined us?”

  Stacy smiled coyly. “Yes, Mr. President.”

  “Well, I have grown to trust you since you arrived, thanks in large part to Roberto. Your resume speaks for itself. I want everyone in this room to be perfectly clear that I had nothing but the utmost respect for Malcolm Powers. My quarrel was never with him; it was with the government as a whole. It was my sincere hope that many years down the road, he and I would develop the same relationship he had with President Clinton. I will miss the precious resource that would have been his counsel.” Simon paused in quiet reflection and returned to his previous train of thought. “Stacy, I’m not going to have a staff of hundreds like other presidents, so a Chief of Staff is not really necessary. However, I would like to extend to you the position of Chief Advisor. Malcolm always told me that you kept him honest and called him on his bullshit … well, behind closed doors of course!” President Sterling laughed and as if on cue, so did everyone else. “I would be honored by your candor as well as your counsel.”