“Can they stop it?” Laura asked as they were boarding Skip Johnson’s boat.
“I’m afraid not,” Jennings said. “The best we can do is get as far away as possible.”
Lines were untied and they cast off. Johnson hit the throttle and the lobster boat leapt out into open water. The choppers were now moving away from the island’s summit and the sea seemed way too calm.
“What about Spencer and Robeson?” Laura asked.
“As far as I know they’re gone,” Jennings said.
“Will they ever have to pay for this?”
Jennings grunted out a short laugh. “What do you think?”
“Jesus, Rick.”
“Men like that never have to answer for their crimes. Whatever that thing down there is, well, they didn’t invent it. They didn’t put it there. They were just following orders, operating under the direction of a much higher power. Everything they did was most likely sanctioned by the United States Government. There’s nothing I can do about that. There is something though. Something Wilder told me. Some sort of expose. I don’t know how it was designed or in what form it will be aired, but she assured me.”
“You believed her?”
“Yes. I understand that Seph was psychotic, but she was highly intelligent and in a strange way she was compassionate. Those bastards made her the way she was and she vowed to make them pay for it.” Jennings looked over at Wolf and Eli. “You’re lucky,” he said. “You’re the last two survivors and neither of you is psychotic.”
“I don’t know,” Laura said, narrowing her eyes at Wolf. “That remains to be seen.”
“Remember what I told you on the way to the lake,” Wolf said sternly, “about you needing a good solid spanking.”
“I’m waiting, Wolf.”
Laura moved up close to Wolf and took his arm, a worried frown on her damaged face. “Do you think they’ll be safe, Rick?”
“You mean, these guys?” Jennings said, pointing at Danny and Eli. “Yeah, I think they will. I hope so anyway. That thing down there is no longer a secret and I for one am going to spread the word until I’m blue in the face. What are they going to do, kill everybody in the world?”
“Do you think it’s alive?” Laura asked.
“I don’t know,” Jennings replied.
“It’s alive.” Wolf said. “It knows who we are as a species and I sense its disappointment in us. It doesn’t want to hurt anybody. I don’t think it’s capable of that.”
“He’s right,” Eli said, “it’s alive and it’s here for a reason.”
“Jesus Christ,” Laura breathed. “And we’re going to destroy it.”
Nobody replied to Laura’s comment. Other than the sound of the engines there was only silence.
“I have to call my mother,” Laura said.
Jennings took Laura’s hand, gave it a squeeze. “Not yet, Laura. Please, let me talk to her first. Let me explain.”
Laura searched his eyes. “Okay,” she said.
“Almost time,” said Tall Tech, looking at his watch.
All eyes were on the island as he began the ten second countdown. 10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1.
Chapter 137
They were three nautical miles from Apocalypse Island when the nuke detonated. At first there was nothing but a flash, not blinding, but momentarily intense, and it seemed to ripple out across the water like a lace net.
“Shock wave!” Short Tech warned. “Brace yourselves.”
But it wasn’t too bad. Though the passengers were expecting a tsunami, they only got a series of medium-strength swells. When those had passed and the sound reached them, well, that was another story. It began as a low rumble intensifying to a roar that was the equivalent of a passing locomotive. Then, from the top of the island, a column of blue light erupted like a water spout and climbed up into the atmosphere, to perhaps a mile, maybe more, it was hard to judge. Toward its upper section the column grew a horizontal cross and suddenly the night sky was ablaze with the largest and most beautiful phenomenon any of the witnesses had ever seen.
The priest crossed himself and began reciting the holy rosary.
“I guess that answers the question about its intelligence,” one of the techs said.
Nobody replied to his comment. It was as if the world was locked in a sudden vacuum. The cross burned for perhaps sixty seconds before winking out. And then it was over. All was quiet as darkness settled over Apocalypse Island.
EPILOGUE
Later, they found out that the cross was visible not only in Portland but as far south as Boston and as far north as Bangor. And it wasn’t the only place in the world where it was seen. The residents of Beijing, China and its surrounding villages saw a similar phenomenon, as well as the residents of Fiji Island. Tourists on safari on the Serengeti Plain in Kenya were also witness to a large, blazing blue cross that blossomed suddenly in the atmosphere, burned for a few moments and then winked out. Scientists stationed at the South Pole also reported seeing a similar phenomenon.
A multitude of cell phone cameras captured the event, and within hours sites like YouTube were filled with some of the most viewed videos of all time. The internet was humming with speculation as to the cause of the phenomenon. There were no clear answers. Speculation ran a wide gamut: some said it was a sign of an alien invasion; the Christian faithful were convinced of an imminent second coming. Environmental fanatics blamed global warming. Scientists believed it to be the result of solar flares bouncing off the earth’s magnetic field.
But these were just straws to be grasped at. There were no clear answers.
Governments of the world were quick to try and squelch the rumors, of course. But they could not change what so many had seen and they could not stop the tide of speculation. The proverbial cat was out of the bag and within twenty-four hours most of the civilized world was keenly aware that something extraordinary had occurred.
Authorities decked out in hazmat suits did eventually reenter the facility on Apocalypse Island. Although the explosion destroyed the underground facility, including the man-made containment dome, no discernable radiation from the explosion was detected. The whole thing was uncannily eerie; it was as if something had swallowed it. However, the bodies of James “Red” Robeson and Frank Cavanaugh were both found in the rubble. These men were hailed as heroes and given full burial honors. Jennings knew the truth, but sometimes truth wasn’t what people wanted to hear. As far as he knew, Spencer still worked for the U.S. Government.
The facility remained classified, and it was never officially revealed whether anything else of significance had been found in the rubble. Jennings had a friend who’d been part of the initial inspection team in the aftermath of the explosion, however, and his friend told him, in the strictest of confidence, that the shaft had been located but there was no throbbing blue light or low frequency hum. Just an empty hole in the ground that seemed to lead nowhere.
It was widely believed that Persephone Wilder and Ruben Van Horne were the architects of the Cross My Heart murders, and the case was subsequently closed.
The citizens of Apocalypse Island were finally allowed to go home, while things in and around Portland pretty much returned to normal.
Danny Wolf resumed his duties as singer/songwriter of Bad Medicine. Laura Higgins quit her job in Hartford and moved back to Portland where she took a job as a detective on the force there. Rick Jennings became her supervisor.
And so it went. Lives were lived. Babies continued to be born. People went to work and did their jobs. Children skipped off to school and learned their lessons. The faithful attended church and prayed for deliverance. The elderly died and were laid to rest. Life continued as usual on planet earth. Nothing had changed.
Or so it seemed.
On a beautiful spring morning following a particularly brutal winter, a public wedding ceremony was held at Deering Oaks Park in downtown Portland. The parish priest from Apocalypse Island presided over the ceremony.
There
were many people in attendance; members of the force, band members and more than its share of weeping groupies, citizens of Apocalypse Island including Skip Johnson, Tanis Richey and his son, Eli. And of course Laura’s mother was there, accompanied by Rick Jennings. She’d since dropped the Van Horne from her name and had taken back the name of her late husband and Laura’s father.
“I wish Sam could have been here,” Wolf told Laura.
“Me too,” Laura replied. “Without him neither of us would be alive. He did an amazing thing.”
Wolf nodded, his eyes glinting with unshed tears. He was thinking about the ghost of Siri Donavon, how she had distracted Van Horne long enough to allow Sam to finish it. Wolf had never mentioned that part to Laura, or the part where Siri had touched him, healing him of injuries Laura had never known he had, therefore giving him the strength to carry her to safety. It was a secret he would keep and cherish for as long as he lived.
“I want to ask you something, Danny,” Laura said. “And I want you to be honest with me.”
“Haven’t I always been honest with you?”
She looked in his eyes and it was a heartfelt and trusting look. “Yes, I believe you have always been honest with me. First, I can only imagine the fear, the loneliness, the confusion you must have felt in those early years before the fire...before you escaped the orphanage and began your new life in foster care. What I don’t understand is how you managed to get out and save all those other kids. I totally understand how the trauma could have caused you to forget, but when you finally did remember...” Laura’s voice trailed off.
“You want to know if I had help, if there was someone else there that night that might have helped guide us to safety.”
“Yeah, I guess I do. I want to understand what that blue light thing was and how you’re connected to it. I want to know how it has affected your life. In the facility that night you said it talked to you. How did it talk to you?”
Wolf put his hand over Laura’s heart. “It talked to me here,” he said. “That’s the only way I can describe it.”
Laura nodded. “Does it still talk to you?”
Wolf smiled. “You want to know if those assholes killed it. You want to know if it’s still...around.”
Again Laura nodded.
“Sometimes in the night I hear a low-frequency hum in my head and I imagine it’s talking to me, but I can’t be sure that what I’m experiencing is anything other than dreams. I do know deep in my heart that it was something extraordinary, and that man’s influence over it was a bad thing. Maybe it’s still here and it’s hiding somewhere waiting and watching. Or just maybe it gave up on us and it’s gone for good.”
“That makes me sad,” Laura said.
“Yeah, me too. It’s like we had this one chance and we screwed it up.”
Laura smiled up at him, the handsome young man who would soon be her husband. “You and Eli are still here,” she said. “In my mind that’s proof that we didn’t totally screw it up. As long as you’re still here there’s hope.”
“Yes,” he said kissing her softly on the lips. “There’s still hope. There’ll always be hope. I love you, Laura Higgins.”
“I love you too, Danny Wolf.”
“You ready to do this?”
“Absolutely.”
As the wedding march began, the bride and groom locked arms and walked down the path between all their seated guests toward the altar and their future.
THE END
Anyone familiar with the city of Portland, Maine knows that I have taken liberties with its geography, its police department as well as Portland’s Catholic Church. Fiction writers are allowed certain liberties. What can I say?
Although there are many islands in Casco Bay, to my knowledge the only Apocalypse exists strictly in the imagination of this writer.
My wife Sheila (who is also the novelist S. Ramsay Hall) edited the manuscript and did a great job. Thank you, my love.
Cyrus Wraith Walker did the cover art and the book trailer. Thank you, my friend.
My next novel, Soul Thief is tentatively scheduled for release in early 2013. For those who like series characters, Portland Police Lieutenant Rick Jennings will make a return.
Thank you for reading Apocalypse Island. If you liked the book, please tell a friend, or better still, go to my book page on Amazon and leave a small blurb. Here’s the link: Apocalypse Island
Mark Edward Hall,
Richmond, Maine,
January 28, 2012
Table of Contents
PART ONE
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
PART TWO
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
PART THREE
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
PART FOUR
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
PART FIVE
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapt
er 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Apocalypse Island Page 42
