A Congress of Angels (The Collective)

by Fore, Jon

  "I don't like it when you use bad words. You promised you wouldn't do it anymore. Remember?"

  "That's true. You, Amelia, are right. I, on the other hand, am sorry.” He lifted the girl up and cradled her on his forearm. She was probably a little too big, too old to be held like this, but she didn't protest.

  Vega watched the two, very much like father and daughter, but still had a vague feeling of disquiet at what Gabriel just said. Still, in her heart she knew he was the one meant to be here at this moment, and to receive this amulet. He was somehow supposed to become a part of whatever the hell it was she, Jackson and Maria made up. Why she knew he was the next member was beyond her, but she felt completely certain.

  "Found it.” Jackson called from the wrecks, holding a length of gold chain in his hand. "It's broke, but here it is."

  Maria took the proffered ornament and examined it as she brought it to Vega. "The chain is broken. Do you think that will matter?"

  "I really don't know.” Vega said, grabbing the end of the chain and inspecting it.

  "What is it?” Gabriel asked.

  "We don't really know, for sure.” Maria said.

  "I got the missing link.” Jackson had come up behind them, "Let me try and fix the chain."

  "What does it do?” Gabriel asked, putting Amelia down. The girl didn't complain about this either.

  "We aren't sure about everything yet, or really, anything at all to tell you the truth. Only, these things, these amulets are special. They change you when you put them on."

  "Wait. you're going a little fast. You keep saying they. Are there more than one of these? And change you how?"

  "There are four of them, at least so far. Me, Jackson and Maria have one. We thought, well, pretty much knew there was another one here. I don't think there are more."

  "Okay, and how do they change you?” Gabriel was beginning to feel a bit over his head here. That, or these people were more nutty then he was and this was just another crazy part of this new sick world. Like monsters that used dead kids as bait.

  "It's kind of one of those things you have to experience.” Vega said, passing a knowing look to Maria. "I had some difficulty understanding...well actually believing I think. When Maria and Jackson came to see me, I already had my amulet, I just never put it on until they came."

  "And you found yours in a motorcycle wreck somewhere?"

  "No.” She said this as if Gabriel was talking like an idiot. "I got mine from this big guy with red hair when he died. Kind of bequeathed it to me."

  For some reason, the word 'bequeathed' always made Gabriel want to giggle, but he wrestled it down. It did make him feel a little better about the nuts being tossed around this conversation. "Wow, really?"

  "Yeah. Best thing to do is just put it on and see... if you change also."

  "Here.” Jackson held it out to him, the chain now whole, and a large golden amulet hanging at its center.

  Gabriel looked at it, then at Jackson who held a look of anticipation on his face, as though he expected there to be no other consideration. Still, Gabriel took it almost compulsively, and looked into the surface of the coin. If not for the green gem set whole in the center, it reminded him of a gambling token. Well, the gem and the large size. It was much too big to toss up on a felt covered table. That and it weighed a noticeable amount, unlike the plastic or fiberglass tokens he remembered. The chain holding it was large, too large, like something hung around the neck of a rap artist. In the nearly failed light, that was just about the entirety of the details he could see. When he looked back at the strangers, they were all looking at him, waiting.

  Vega looked calm and contemplative, but Jackson and Maria looked every square inch impatient. "What do you expect me to do?"

  "You put it on," Jackson said, supportive but still with the look of impatience.

  "What do you expect is going to happen if I do?"

  'Don't do it Marine. You're a loner, you're a trained killer.'

  "It will become part of you," Vega began, then after a brief look at the other two, "then you will become part of us."

  "Why would I want to become part of you three?" He asked this, but knew deep in his bones that the medallion felt good in his hands, it felt right, it felt like the very soul of his redemption.

  "You know what's happening. You've seen it, fought it. Now you are trying to save this little girl from it.” Vega looked over at the other two and reached her hand out to Jackson. "We are trying to stop it."

  "How are you going to do that?"

  A distant scream sounded from far off. Not too far, close enough to raise the hairs on the back of each of their necks. Amelia let out a whimper even with her expert attempt to quell it, and Fug leaned into her leg.

  "We don't rightfully know. Not yet," Jackson said. "What we do know, we got to find the other for that medallion, another to join us, then we have to go get a book."

  Maria nodded, "Yeah, it's in Newark. We have to get that...” She trailed off and looked at Vega.

  "After that," Vega said as she looked back at Gabriel, "we don't really know. We will have to figure it out from there."

  Gabriel considered them again, each in turn. Their faces reflected something different, from impatience to concern to contemplation. But all of them held honesty in their eyes. The idea still nagged at him, the voice in his head still taunted him, told him it wasn't natural. "Each of you are wearing one of these?"

  "In a way, yes.” Vega said flatly.

  "Do they look like this one? Can I see them?"

  "Sure," Vega said, and lifted the front of her shirt to her chin, revealing the sports bra beneath. Then she gripped in the center and lifted enough to show the medallion attached to her breast bone.

  "Wait," Gabriel said, and Jackson pulled open his shirt partway to reveal his. Gabriel pulled the small flashlight from his pocket and flicked it on. Maria lifted her shirt with no modesty, her bare, youthful breasts centered with the gold coin. Gabriel turned the white light on, ruining his night vision and not giving a shit.

  The medallions were embedded to the point where just the surface texture, the embossed parts of the coin showed in the flesh, the rest obviously under the flesh. He looked at Jackson's, then Maria's--turning away quickly for the bared breasts--then Vega's own medallion. They were all the same, in the same depth, but he marveled for a moment at the pureness of Vega's skin. Smooth and taunt and of one perfect color. She didn't seem bashful, and let him examine it to his own satisfaction.

  He flicked the light off, dropping them all in darkness. "And you want me to put it on too?” The idea, again, nagged at him, pleaded with him to do it and get it over with, but that other voice screamed and thrashed its protest. "What does it do? Why do it? I mean, what do I get out of it?" He didn't mean to sound so brash as that, but it was out there.

  "Well, you purge," Vega said, then rushed on "then you feel incredible. The entire world, everything you see and touch, all of it becomes beautiful."

  "Boy-howdy.” Jackson agreed.

  "You also get to feel what we feel. Not like pain, but how we feel emotionally."

  'Drop it Marine!'

  He considered the chain a moment, then looked into a black sky, roiling between ash-black and matt-black. He looked back at them, their flawless skin, their flawless eyes, their flawless purpose, and he suddenly wanted that camaraderie again. Too nuts for the Marines, but not for these guys. Maybe it was time to become something more--Drop it Marine! You fucking drop that thing right fucking now--than he was now. A part of something as important as saving the world. I will fuck you up righteously if you put that on!

  Gabriel removed his hat, and put the chain over his head, letting it fall against his chest in a heavy way.

  Jackson put a hand up, "Nah, in your shirt, Gabe. If you don't it will..."

  The medallion didn't wait for Jackson, and gripped the fetid soul of a man who lived the kill.

  Gabriel felt the things bite at the same moment the gate beh
ind them was ripped open. He turned, clutching the raging burn in his chest to see a tribe of the metal winged cavemen come storming through.

  Maria screamed.

  Amelia screamed.

  Gabriel ripped his left handed revolver free and fired three times before Vega fired once. Then he fell to his knees, and was consumed in a true blackness.

  Other Titles by Jon Fore:

  Remnant Few

  They hid in the bowels of Blackrock Mountain, in a fallout shelter meant for men of state and not a loose pack of juvenile delinquents and violent soon-to-be career criminals.

  Considering the radiation, what else could they do?

  Camp Blackrock was designed to teach teamwork and social responsibility to juvenile offenders. Through hard work and shared challenges, the campers were taught vital skills such as reliance on self and others and proved effective in preventing adult recidivism.

  The only problem was that Dakota was not a criminal.

  This was not her first survivalist camp, but it was supposed to be her last. All she had left was her senior year, then off to college and no more of this wild waste of time learning to prepare for what would kill everyone anyway. Prepping, to her, was just stupid.

  But then the war started. Dakota suddenly finds herself locked underground in a sixty year old facility meant to house the United States Senate with a hand full of criminals; some violent, some very violent.

  When the only adult, Sergeant Daniels is found dead, they are all thrust into a new lawless world, a world without order, a world where the strong rule and the weak die, alone

  Paradise

  They promised her that no matter what happened, they would be waiting there for her. They promised that it would only be two weeks, a short vacation, just some time to spend together and away from the daily demands of parenthood. They promised it would be just like going to sleep, and before she knew it, it would be over. These were promises they could not keep.

  They always told Hope that Paradise was the place they would wait--forever. Paradise was where they married long before Hope was born. It was the faith instilled, over and again before placing her in stasis. Just a short respite, a vacation to work things out Hope was too young to understand.

  While locked in stasis, a solar storm ravages the planet, burning the life from those exposed and bringing society to ruin. Helpless in the stasis pod, Hope absorbs an educational augmentation program, not for two weeks, but for centuries, awaiting her parents’ return.

  Michigan, a young hunter in a tribe of hunter-gatherers discovers Hope during a mating contest and awakens her to a world where she inhabits the body of an adult, is emotionally only seven, and the is final vessel of all humanities applied knowledge.

  Plagued with the unending monotone voices lecturing knowledge implanted during stasis, Hope tries to adapt to this new world, to this small tribe, themselves failing to illness, to a dwindling food supply, and the unrelenting taking of the Amabo. The Amabo were once a peaceful philanthropic tribe, caring for those survivors unable to care for themselves. Now they are brutal takers. Their culture is one of violence, of dominance, and the collecting of their needs from others. A practice, after so many generations, that has become their birthright.

  Hope and Michigan resolve to find Paradise, to fulfill the last promise of her parents and free themselves from a world of savage collection.

  Black Water

  Black Water, a small comfortable town nestled in the shadow of Black Water Mountain, whispers dark legends—stories of a secret colonial-era military prison hidden somewhere within the landscape. Other tales depict the torturous conversion and burning of witches just before the Civil War. They speak of a brutal prison warden and a cruel priest, who even today haunt the wood of the mountain side.

  Legends are what they have always been, that is until visitors arrive at the Heart House—a homestead on the very top of the mountain and one-time stop on the Underground Railroad. These students, intent on documenting the historical house, stumble upon the root of these terrible legends and the unspeakable horrors of its antiquity.

  Now this evil stirs, emanating from its sanctuary and seeking revenge against the trespassers and the sleepy town of Black Water below.