He tried going to the movies, playing video games, and drinking at bars all around the world. It all felt trite to him. Everything that had grounded him to his past life was now gone. There was only one person in the world that was still alive that knew the old Neil as well as the new one. Last time they had spoken, he had threatened to kill Neil.
He searched for the one chance he had to feel significant again, and found him sitting in the same coffee shop he had found him in before.
“Hello, Steele.” Neil said, as he sat down across from him.
Steele looked up from his coffee seemingly unsurprised. He sipped from the cup and returned his gaze to it.
“I was wondering when I would hear from you again.”
Neither of them spoke for several moments.
“This probably sounds like a stupid question, but it was you right? The disappearance of the bombs, I mean.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I had no choice. I saw what the world would become, and I had an obligation to stop it. So I did.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know. I’ve spent the past few months trying to find some small joy to life, but there’s nothing left for me. I did what I came here to do, and I don’t know what’s supposed to happen next. Maybe I’ll just have to wait for some other crisis to solve. Maybe I’ll just wander aimlessly and no one will ever hear from me again.”
“You know, lately I’ve had this really weird feeling.” Steele said. “Every day I wake up without knowing what will happen that day. I’ve just been guided from one impulse to the next, without getting a say in what I want to do. It’s like someone else has the controls, you know? Just today, in fact, I felt this really strong urge to come to this coffee shop, and sit at this table. There was also something else I felt compelled to do.”
“What’s that?”
Steele didn’t say anything.
“I need another coffee. Can I get you one?” He asked.
Neil nodded. Steele went to the counter and ordered two coffees. He returned a few minutes later carrying both of them. He handed Neil one, but then took it back and gave him the one in his other hand.
“Sorry, wrong one.”
“So, what were you about to say?” Neil said.
Steele looked distracted.
“Hmm? Oh, don’t worry, it was nothing. Hey, do you remember what I said last time we met?”
“Yes. You said you would kill me.” Neil said, as he sipped from his coffee.
“Just curious, but have you ever wondered if it’s possible?”
“I think about it every once in a while. Everything that has been thrown at me has been ineffective. Bullets, bombs, fire, radiation, even lack of oxygen. My body finds a way to defend itself even if I have no idea what’s going on. It’s like I’m being protected by something other than myself.”
“Why do you think that is? I mean, why would something be protecting you?”
“I’m not sure. I never fully understood it, but there is definitely some hand guiding me along. It all led up to -” Neil coughed. “Excuse me, my throat feels scratchy. It all led up to the threat of nuclear war. I think I was put here to stop it.”
“Is the hand going to keep guiding you now that your job is over? I mean, no offense, but if that’s what you were put here to do, then it looks like you’ve fulfilled your purpose. There’s no reason for you to be around anymore.”
Neil coughed again. He felt like the coffee had burned his throat, but he knew that was impossible.
“Why are you asking me all of these questions?”
He reached his hand up to his throat and scratched it. It was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
“Just curious. I mean, it’s not every day you get to sit down and have a conversation with the most wanted terrorist in the world and the man who murdered your daughter.” Steele said. “Hey, something wrong with your throat?”
Neil had a coughing fit. His throat burned, like he had drunk a pot of scalding water. Something was wrong. He couldn’t figure out what was going on. Steele stood up out of his chair.
“You don’t look so good. Maybe you need a doctor. You look like death.”
Neil understood what was happening, but it was impossible. Steele wasn’t the least bit shocked or concerned. It was his doing.
His throat felt like it was on fire. The pain spread to his stomach, and then to his entire body. He began coughing up blood as he fell to the floor on his hands and knees.
Steele crouched down next to him.
“Remember when I said there was something else I felt compelled to do? Well I guess I should tell you. I brought something along with me today, and I put it in your coffee.”
Neil’s mind raced with questions. His insides felt like they were consumed with fire. He thought his skin was going to melt off. His body should be fighting the poison, but it wasn’t. He should be crushing Steele’s throat right then, but he couldn’t. The world around him was shrinking. He was dying.
Whatever force had granted him his power had taken it away as soon as he was no longer useful. He was cast aside and forsaken like Carl had once been long before.
“It’s for the best, Neil.” Steele said.
That sentence triggered something in Neil’s memory. It was a dream he had back in PRECINCT. He had seen this coming. He had been warned, but it was too late. His time was coming to an end. The universe was done with him.
Blood dripped from his nose and his ears. The inferno had consumed his entire body. He collapsed onto the floor, and could no longer move. The only sound he heard was a metallic ringing. Everything else was inaudible. His senses were gone. He was trapped inside his own mind.
“I’m…sorry.” Neil choked out.
He was sorry for everything. He had become someone different, and the world suffered because of it. Emma was dead because of him. He deserved his fate.
There was a biting cold now. It started at his fingers and toes, and moved in towards his torso. It was extinguishing the heat, but replacing it with ice. He felt the cold reach his body, and then his neck.
For one brief moment, Neil was afraid. He no longer felt immortal. He felt human again, and he was dying like only a human could. He would have cried if he could, but his body had already shut down.
He wanted to go back in time, back before everything happened. He wanted to sit on the couch with Bryan and Alex and play video games while drinking beer. He wanted to feel the warmth of another body as he held Emma in his arms. He wanted to see his Mom and Dad again and apologize for everything he had done to be difficult as a teenager. He didn’t want to die.
Then there was no more heat, and no more cold. There was nothing. It was over.
---
A willow tree hung over a small pond in Northern Michigan. The pond was hidden deep in the woods, untouched by mankind. It had existed there for thousands of years, and would remain there for thousands of years longer. It was untouched by politics, war, famine, disease, racism, or hatred. It did not feel a sense of purpose, or regret, or worry about its future. The pond was just there, and the willow tree was just there, hanging above it.
The willow tree was old. Its branches had started to weaken from the constant stress of supporting the weight of its leaves. Time had taken its toll, and one particular branch of the tree creaked and moaned as it struggled to hold on to its trunk.
One gust of wind rolled through the woods. The leaves in the trees shook, and the pond rippled. No human was around to hear the sound of nature singing to the wind.
The wind reached the branch, and although it tried to hold on, it had finally lost its strength to carry forth. The branch snapped and fell from the tree into the water below.
The fish below scattered, a nearby deer perked its ears up and listened to the unexpected noise, and a rabbit took off running.
The sound of the crack and the splash echoed through the trees, growing fainter as it traveled i
nto the distance. After a while, the sound was too quiet for even the most astute animal to hear.
The deer had determined that the sound posed no danger, and bent its head down to continue grazing. The fish forgot all about the willow branch and returned to their feeding spot underneath the tree. The rabbit stopped running once it was a safe distance away.
The branch sank to the bottom of the pond. There it remained until time had weathered it away into nothing. It was lost and forgotten.
THE END
###
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5“Hitchens!”
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
Superhuman Nature Page 27
