God Drug

by Stephen L. Antczak

  Sparrow, seeing an opportunity while the heli-dragon was distracted, grabbed Lena by the shirt and pulled her with her as she bolted through the ruined section of wall and into the parking lot.

  Before Nicola could react, the heli-dragon surged toward her with its mouth gaping, silver teeth glittering, shrieking, and plowed into her, scooping her into its maw, than snapped it shut.

  Tom and Hanna made a break for the parking lot. The heli-dragon spun around, flicking its buzzsaw tail at them, just missing as they leaped over debris and rushed toward Lena’s car, which was heading toward them. Tires screeched as the car skidded to a halt, Lena driving and Sparrow in the front passenger side seat.

  “Hurry, it’s coming!” Sparrow yelled.

  Tom reached the car and waved Hanna in before him, then he dove in headfirst. The back door still open, Lena punched the gas pedal down to the floor. Wheels spinning, the little Honda jerked out of the parking lot and onto University Avenue, almost out of control. Lena wrestled with the steering wheel and pointed them toward campus, and the Blue House.

  The heli-dragon stayed right behind them.

  “Shit, it’s right on our ass!” Tom yelled, watching it from the back seat.

  Lena saw it in her rearview mirror. It was closing fast. Lena waited until the heli-dragon was right on their bumper, waited until the mouth opened and she saw the first sparks of flame appear amid the blood-stained, metal teeth, then she turned hard to the left, jumping the low median and cutting across the oncoming traffic lane to head down a side street. The heli-dragon howled past, unable to make the sharp turn and follow them. Within moments they were in the heart of downtown Gainesville.

  Overturned cars, smashed buildings, the fluted columns of the Hippodrome State Theatre in the street in pieces, and bodies, everywhere bodies. And everything was burning, including the fire trucks that had come to put the flames out, as water spewed ineffectively from half a dozen fire hydrants. A news chopper sat in a crumpled heap in the middle of the intersection.

  Without realizing it, Lena had slowed the Honda down to a crawl as she maneuvered it through the debris. Rubble, and the blackened, brittle bones of the dead, crunched under the tires. Black smoke wafted by like ghosts.

  The aftermath of mayhem infected Sparrow, and she began to cry. It started as a single tear leaking out of her eye and sliding down her cheek.

  “Is this really happening?” Tom asked.

  “I hope so,” Lena said, then she shook head. “I mean, I hope not. I hope not.”

  Something about it all made Sparrow giggle through her tears. It was funny, somehow. She didn’t know why. She was scared to death, nervous… and she started giggling uncontrollably and couldn’t make herself stop. It didn’t take long for it to infect Tom and Lena, too. Hanna smiled, but she didn’t lapse into uncontrolled giggling like the others. She was too aware of what was happening to the world around them, and it wasn’t funny; the heli-dragon, the General, Jovah, and the flames that seemed to consume the very bricks and stones of the buildings that were burning.

  “This… isn’t… funny,” Sparrow managed to gasp through the giggles.

  “It’s… the… acid,” Tom said, barely able to get the words out.

  “We’re… still… tripping,” Lena said as she almost choked on her own laughter.

  The sound of their giggling masked the noise of the heli-dragon as it hovered into the downtown area again. They didn’t know it was there until Lena happened to glance into her sideview mirror and saw it behind.

  She stopped giggling.

  “Oh, shit!” She slammed the gas pedal down with her foot and the Honda bolted forward, jumped the curb and crossed a vacant lot that had been used as overflow parking for the Hippodrome. The little car gunned across the lot as the heli-dragon zoomed after it, breathing fire. Lena turned the wheel and the Honda cut right and disappeared beneath a canopy of giant magnolia trees as the heli-dragon, once again outmaneuvered, went into a wide arc to come back around.

  Lena turned down another side street, heading more or less in the direction of the Blue House. She saw something in the middle of the road, dead ahead. It looked like a bicycle. She was about to go around it.

  “Stop!” Sparrow screamed.

  Lena didn’t want to stop for anything, but the urgency in Sparrow’s voice caught her off-guard, and the Honda skidded to a halt beside the bike.

  Sparrow jumped out before anyone else knew what was happening.

  “Sparrow!” Tom called to her. “What are you doing? Let’s go!” He glanced behind them. No sign of their pursuer, yet.

  Sparrow went around the car to the bike. Then she looked around, putting her hands to her mouth, and yelled, “Emily!!”

  Tom and Lena immediately scrambled out of the car.

  “Where is she?” Tom asked.

  “Did you see her?” Lena asked.

  Sparrow shook her head.

  “Umm…” Tom touched Sparrow’s shoulder, and indicated the ground around the bicycle. The street, as well as the bike, had been blackened by flames.

  “Oh, no,” Sparrow cried, tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks. “Oh, God, not Emily!”

  In the distance, they heard the heli-dragon.

  Chugchugchugchugchugchugchugchugchugchugchug…

  It was coming back.

  “Sparrow, we have to go,” Tom said firmly, taking her by the shoulders, directing her back toward the car. She let him get her back into the car, then he climbed into the back seat again, beside Hanna.

  “What happened?” Hanna asked.

  “A friend…” was all Tom could say. He shook his head.

  “I understand,” Hanna said.

  The heli-dragon made its appearance again, and this time it was in front of them, blocking the road in the direction they were heading.

  “Shit,” Lena said with grim determination in her voice.

  “Lena,” Tom said nervously.

  “I’m sick of this, Tom,” she responded. Without warning she slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, ramming it to the floor. The Honda’s wheels spun out on the road and the car lurched forward and headed straight toward the open maw of the heli-dragon.

  “Lena!” Tom yelled. “What are you doing?”

  She didn’t answer.

  Sparrow watched the heli-dragon loom before them without seeming to really see it.

  The heli-dragon came at them, and Lena could see the Honda reflected in the bulbous eyes. She kept the gas pedal pressed all the way down, held the steering wheel steadily in her hands.

  Hanna grabbed Tom’s leg, her grip strong as she braced herself for impact. She closed her eyes to take refuge in the Grey Nothing. Tom closed his eyes. Sparrow watched without blinking.

  The maw opened wider and the heli-dragon belched flames, then rose up while lowering its tail. The Honda was engulfed in fire for a moment, but it was going too fast and burst through the fireball scorched but otherwise free from the flames. A moment later the buzzsaw tail sliced right down the center of the car. Hanna yanked her hand back just in time. In less than a second the buzzsaw tail had sliced the Honda in two, blowing out the rear window.

  “Hold on!” Lena yelled. She reached out and grabbed Sparrow’s arm above the elbow. Hanna and Tom reached across the widening gap that now separated the left and right sides of the car, and the four of them tried to hold it together while Lena guided it around the corner, onto to Second Avenue, and toward the Blue House two blocks away. It was the only house left standing, unscathed, on the entire block. The Honda coasted without power now that the engine had been sliced in two, but their momentum carried them right up to the Blue House yard.

  The four jumped out of the car and scrambled across the lawn toward the front porch as the roar of the heli-dragon grew louder. Tom pulled out his keys, but dropped them in the grass. He stopped to look for them, but Sparrow grabbed him by his left arm and pulled him after her.

  “Lena, keys!” she yelled.

  “
Shit, they’re in the car!” Lena yelled back.

  “I have mine,” Sparrow said calmly. She slipped her hand into both front pockets of her skirt, and her left hand came up with a set of keys.

  “Hurry!” Tom yelled above the din of the heli-dragon. It seemed to be everywhere at once, all around them, but they couldn’t see it.

  CHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUG!!

  Sparrow rammed the key into the front door deadbolt lock, turned it, and shouldered the door open. She fell inside, Tom, Lena, and Hanna right behind her. Tom turned to close the door and saw the heli-dragon hovering only a few feet off the ground in the front yard, it’s maw open with sparks in the center. Right as he saw the flames shoot out, Tom slammed the door shut.

  The flames splashed harmlessly against the outside of the door and failed to ignite the front porch. The heli-dragon roared in anger, then spun around and tried its buzzsaw tail. The Blue House shuddered as the heli-dragon tried to rip it open like a piata, but it did not yield to the buzzsaw tail and all the heli-dragon got for its effort was a shower of sparks.

  Off in the distance could be heard more sirens. The heli-dragon hovered outside for a moment, then flew off. New toys to play with. The Blue House wasn’t going anywhere. And neither were Tom, Sparrow, Lena, and Hanna. They knew the monstrosity would return, too.

  “We’re safe,” Sparrow said, heaving a heavy sigh of relief.

  “Don’t be so sure,” came Hanna’s voice from behind her.

  She, Tom, and Lena turned around. Hanna stood in the middle of the living room staring at a man who sat rigidly on the sofa. He wore a military uniform, decked with medals, and a hat with an eagle emblem over the shiny black brim.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Tom asked menacingly.

  “Allow me to introduce myself,” the man said. He suddenly stood, removing his hat as he did. “General Archimedes Carter at your service.”

  Hanna took a step back.

  “Stay away from me,” she hissed.

  “I know who you are,” Sparrow said. “You took Io.”

  The General laughed, shaking his head.

  “You’re almost right,” he said.

  “He’s the one who killed Galactic Bill,” Hanna told the others.

  “Killed? I didn’t kill anyone at all…” The General lowered his face and covered it with his hands, grunted as if exerting some effort, then pulled his hands away along with the mirrorshades. The grin, the mustache, the twinkle in his eyes, made him look like…

  “Galactic Bill?” Lena asked.

  “How’s the trip?” he asked, then laughed.

  “It’s not him,” Hanna said.

  “Oh?” Galactic Bill, the General, or whoever he was supposed to be, looked at her. “Then who am I? Tell me, who am I? For that matter, who are you?”

  “I’m me!” Hanna yelled. “God damn you, I’m me!”

  “What the hell is going on here?” Tom asked.

  The General, his Galactic Bill aspect already fading, put his mirrorshades back on and pointed at Tom.

  “You,” he said, then pointed at Lena, “and you. You don’t belong here.”

  “I live here,” Tom replied icily. “You’re the one who doesn’t belong.”

  “There’s nothing you can do about them,” Hanna told the General, whose face had returned to normal. “They’re part of it. You can’t change that.”

  “You should leave,” Sparrow told him.

  The General sighed deeply.

  “I only wanted us to be together,” he said to Sparrow.

  “Excuse me?” she asked.

  “I only wanted us to be together.”

  “I don’t even know you,” Sparrow said.

  “You do know me,” the General replied. “You know Galactic Bill, and you know Io. You love Io, don’t you?”

  “What are you saying?” Sparrow asked, her voice tinted with anger. “If you’ve done something with her…”

  “I am Io,” the General said. “And I’m Galactic Bill.”

  “You’re sick,” Sparrow said.

  The General removed his mirrorshades. His eyes were gone. Sparrow couldn’t help but look into the empty sockets, and deep inside, way, way down, she saw Io.

  “Sparrow!” Io yelled. “I miss you!”

  Tears welled up in Sparrow’s eyes.

  “Io,” she whispered.

  “Come on, Sparrow!” Io yelled, waving.

  Sparrow took a step toward the General.

  “Come to me,” he whispered.

  She took another step.

  “Sparrow, it’s a lie!” Hanna yelled. “They’re dead! They don’t exist anymore! They’re gone!” She grabbed Sparrow’s arm and pulled her back, turned her around. Sparrow looked into Hanna’s eyes and saw the truth.

  “Oh my God,” Sparrow whispered. “What’s happening?”

  “Please,” the General said. “I do love you.”

  Sparrow turned to look at him again. The mirrorshades were back on his face.

  “You don’t know what love is,” Hanna said, practically spitting.

  “You know,” the General told her, “if I absorb you, I can take her, whether she wants to come or not.”

  He took a step toward Hanna, and she took a step back, away from him.

  “You know you can’t stop me,” the General said. “Just let it happen. It’ll be easier that way. Ask Io. As Galactic Bill. Ask Deuce. Ask them all. You’re the last one, Hanna. Don’t make it hard on yourself. Let it happen.”

  “No,” Hanna said, shaking her head. She moved to stand behind Tom. “Don’t let him take me.” She sounded scared to death. “I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to stop being. You have the others, you don’t need me. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

  The General took a step toward Tom, who didn’t back away.

  “Because, when I’m complete,” the General said, “I’ll be able to do whatever I want. I’ll be God.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “Forget it,” Tom said, interposing himself between the General and Hanna. “If you want her, you gotta go through me to get her.”

  The General sneered.

  “No problem.” Like a pit viper the General struck, and Tom went flying backwards across the living room to slam into the TV and VCR.

  “You bastard!” Lena yelled. She charged at the General, who grabbed her arms and spun around in a violent waltz, and sent her head first down the hallway and into the door to Sparrow’s bedroom.

  Tom clambered up, and prepared to lunge himself at the General again.

  “Stop!” Sparrow shouted at the top of her lungs.

  Everyone stopped.

  The General opened his mouth to speak.

  “Shut up!” Sparrow ordered. She stood before him and squared her narrow shoulders, then pointed a slender finger right at this nose. “You will leave Hanna alone. You will not touch one single hair on her head. You will not look at her wrong. Do you understand?”

  “Clear as Hell’s Bells,” the General confirmed. “Except… well…” His body suddenly faded leaving an evil Cheshire cat grin. “You can’t stop me,” his disembodied voice said menacingly. “I can do whatever I want. I can have everything I desire. Ask Hanna. She knows it’s true.”

  “It’s not true,” Hanna said. She sounded scared, her voice shaking. “The one thing you want most, you’ll never have.” She looked at Sparrow.

  “Me?” Sparrow asked.

  “Yes. We… he loves you. That’s what this is all about.”

  “What does that mean, what this is all about?”

  “Everything that’s been happening,” Hanna said.

  “You’re speaking out of turn, soldier,” the General said, having reappeared.

  Hanna shook her head. “I’m not a soldier. I never was a soldier, damn you.”

  “Yes, you were. We all were. Jovah was a soldier.”

  “Who the hell is Jovah?” Tom asked.

  “We are,” the Genera
l asked. “Me, myself, and Hanna, and Galactic Bill, and Io, and Deuce…”

  “Poor Io,” Sparrow said, sounding sad.

  “I’m not part of Jovah,” Hanna said defiantly. “I’m me.”

  “You’re nothing,” the General told her.

  “This is making my head hurt,” Sparrow said. She took a deep breath, still looking right at the General. “If it’s me you want, then take me. Leave her alone.”

  “Sparrow, no,” Hanna cried.

  “Okay,” the General said quickly. “Deal.”

  “No deal,” Sparrow said, “not yet.”

  “Yes.”

  “No, we still have friends out there,” Sparrow said. “I want them here. I want them safe.”

  “How do you know it’s safe here?” the General asked.

  “It is,” she replied. “I can tell.”

  “It just… feels safe,” Tom added. The General ignored him.

  Lena walked back into the living room, rubbing her head.

  “That thing out there is killing everyone in sight,” Sparrow continued. “Some of our friends are already dead.” Her voice broke. She paused, got herself together. “We need to get the rest of them here, as many as we can. We need to get them to the Blue House, where it’s safe.”

  “I don’t control that thing,” the General told her. “It’ll chew my ass up and spit it out just as easily as it’ll do any of you. Besides, no one else matters but you.”

  “It’s part of the deal,” Sparrow said.

  “You can’t do that.”

  “It’s done.” They squared off, Sparrow and the General. Tom prepared himself to jump back into the fray, although now he was sure the General could easily break him in two.

  “We could die out there,” the General said. “We could disappear, cease to exist.”

  “I know,” Sparrow said.

  “Oh, God,” Hanna whispered, shaking her head. “Don’t go back out there, Sparrow.”

  “We’re all going,” Sparrow told her. “You too.”

  “Me? Why me?”