Dead End Stories From the End of the World

by P. S. Power

  He looked earnest at least. Like he was trying really hard to seem both sane and reasonable. He didn't seem very afraid though.

  Jake would have been, if he was the one having to stand in front of a group of people, totally unarmed, explaining that his family had killed most of theirs. It decided him though and he waved everyone back, slowly holstering the weapon in his hand. Then he walked forward, wondering when the explosion would come. Instead the boy slowly stooped and picked up the stick from the ground, brushing it off a little. The move seemed almost fussy, like he really didn't want to be touching something that had been in direct contact with the ground at all.

  No one spoke at all for a long time, or moved much, just observing each other. Both probably wondering if they were going to live past the next moment. Finally Jake pointed at the stick.

  "We need to bury it? Maybe if we get one of the pick-axes out here? Could someone run and get that from the tool shed?"

  That was done faster than he figured it would be, one of the young and rather pretty Vals doing it at a full run, not even slipping on the snow at all. It was, he realized, Matilde who had done it. The girl formerly known as Six. Vicki's younger sister. Tipper's too, as far as that went.

  She didn't hand the thing off to him though, pointing to a spot on the ground and looking at Hal suspiciously.

  "There?" Her accent was still kind of thick, but the word was understandable enough.

  The boy nodded, but tentatively.

  Burt walked over too, obviously not fearing death like he should either. Not that anyone could see his face. He looked like a bank robber or something. Jake could sympathize, but it was a real risk still. He nearly moved the man back again when he spoke, pointing at the ground. When he spoke it was muffled and sounded a bit like he had a cold. Stuffy and nasal.

  "We have metal pipes running along these lines," his hands outlined the septic system. "Will that influence the device?"

  Hal froze again.

  "Perhaps. We could move it away from them by at least forty meters?"

  That meant walking to the other side of the House, but didn't take long. Jake kept looking for the trap, but nothing at all happened. Matilde had a deep enough hole dug in a few minutes, having fought through the frozen soil using brute force. The whole thing was just slid into place after that, a few deft movements and a little replacement of dirt. It got tamped down by a sturdy looking boot.

  Then the boy tapped the silver top of the thing, bending over to do it, since it was only about two feet out of the ground now.

  "Hello? This is H. A. Linster, is anyone listening yet? I've found the... one that we are searching for. Return message, if possible." He didn't explain why they might not be available, just repeating his message for a while.

  Finally a voice spoke back, sounding rather more female than not, but just as dry as the boy had.

  "This is Sara. Are you able to speak freely?"

  "Yes. I'm unharmed and not taken prisoner, I don't believe. I have the correct dwelling though. Perhaps if you and Donald came to this location? I'll leave this in place as a beacon. I... Told them that our people are responsible for the plague, which they seemed to already have deduced. I didn't mention the rest. It would be prudent to move slowly, I believe. They have not offered violence, but all here seem armed."

  That was an overstatement, but Jake didn't correct the mistake. Better they think everyone was ready to fight than to seem vulnerable.

  "I understand. Be safe son. We will be at your location in... Three hours. Is that suitable?"

  "I believe so."

  Then the voice stopped talking and Hal stood in place, as if he didn't know what to do other than wait.

  Shrugging Jake waved them toward the House.

  "We might as well wait in comfort. Have you eaten today?" It was late enough, but traveling could be hungry work and the boy didn't seem to have anything with him but that stick radio thing.

  "I have, earlier. I could use more, if that's possible?" It was a simple enough statement, but sounded bland, as if it was also all right if they couldn't, or didn't want to, feed him.

  The big problem was that everyone wanted to go inside with them, to get the new information that seemed promised by the boy being there, and crowded around them both, not letting them have even enough space to sit. Finally Jake rolled his eyes.

  "Work, remember? Why don't you Vals go and run training for everyone not actively doing something? It's obvious that we're not getting information until these others come. I'm not holding a kid down and 'interrogating' him or anything, so go. Do something." That got them left almost alone, except for Ken, who got them chairs then stood directly behind Hal, hiding a small black thing in his right hand carefully. It was almost invisible, but Jake didn't doubt Ken would use it if he had too.

  Ready to take the boy out if he did even one thing wrong. It really was better to be careful after all. Jake nodded to him. He was still recovering from his gunshot wound anyway, so training in the snow was probably out. As a berserker he could probably fight through the pain if he had too, but only if it came to a real fight. Better to leave him in the warm.

  The food came, though just for the boy, who held the plate in one hand awkwardly, rather than setting it on his lap. It was just bread and some meat slices, but he wisely didn't ask what kind it was. The dark color meant it wasn't human flesh. Apparently even the Technologists weren't that picky about what they ate now. That, or he figured it would be rude to question them on it.

  Other than that they just sat, waiting like Hal had said. It was nearly eerie, the kid not becoming restless at all, just sitting, occasionally looking around. He felt and looked nearly peaceful. The posture he took was alert, but not the raw and nerved-filled paranoia that almost everyone else had all the time now. It was like a kid watching an interesting program on television, rather than the shocked and burnt-out reaction of a real child.

  Ken was a darker presence in the background, ready to pounce and kill at a moment's notice for instance.

  At nearly three hours exactly the boy stood, a slow movement that was meant to not startle anyone. He was trying to be good at least and wasn't, Jake forced himself to remember, a prisoner.

  "My parents should be here soon. Would it be acceptable to go and wait for them outside, where we may be seen? I believe that would put them at ease."

  Jake smiled.

  "Sure. I know it would make me feel better, if it were my son in here."

  It took a whole five minutes to get into place, half a dozen people feeling that they should be there to meet the newcomers, but in the end Jake decided that it should just be him and the boy at first. If anyone died because of this, it might as well be him, right? For some reason that idea didn't set well with everyone, and Nate shook his head.

  "No. I'm going with you. This boy doesn't mean any harm Jake. The people watching us from the woods don't either. It's safe. I don't think they understand violence really."

  That got a whole troop to come out again, but Jake just went with it. He wasn't in charge or a telepath, so what did he know?

  The two people walking from the bushes wore clothing that seemed nearly identical to Hal's. Brown boots, tan pants that were ridiculously tight, and leather jackets. Buttoned up so that he couldn't see what they had on underneath. It didn't look warm enough in the cold, but none of them seemed to be even chilled at all. It was probably some kind of special fabric then, because Jake had seen some of their type wearing almost identical clothing in humid jungle conditions without sweating either.

  When they walked up Nate smiled and raised both hands a little, not in surrender, just to show he didn't have anything in them. Like a weapon.

  "I'm Nathanial Burns. Sometimes called Nate Green. This is Jake. Um, Mickey Robson. Sometimes called The Very Good Man." He gestured toward Jake to indicate which of the rabble he meant.

  Jake stepped forward.

  "All right. If you come in peace, we should all go and talk. W
e need some explanations, I think. If you don't think that, then let's fight out here. It will make less of a mess."

  For some reason the two adults smiled at that. Like he was joking with them.

  They sounded serious enough though. The woman spoke for them, her brown hair short and tidy, even though they'd clearly walked a good way to be there.

  "We are Sara and Donald Linster. You already know Humperdinck. We agree that we should have conversation. Shall we do that here?" She looked around, but it wasn't in judgment, just a question, as if eager to get started on something.

  Jake looked at the boy, and shook his head.

  "Seriously? You named the poor kid 'Humperdinck'? Wow. Kind of cold. I can see why he goes by Hal." It wasn't a kind thing to say, which showed on the woman's face, but Hal nodded.

  "As I keep telling them."

  It was an issue between them it seemed. Donald made a face.

  "It was my father's name, he was a strong and intelligent man, a leader of our community..."

  Nate grinned though and stared at the man, both of them with matching brown eyes.

  "And he hated that name, didn't he?"

  That stopped the conversation until the man made another face.

  "With a passion."

  Jake waved them all inside, making sure they stayed close. He didn't know if anyone would take umbrage to them having come from the people that had done a lot of bad things to them, but it didn't seem likely that they were the bad guys themselves. That meant that they might need to be protected from his people, many of whom would probably be holding a grudge as soon as they learned of that part of things. If they didn't know already.

  He had a thousand questions, somewhere inside, but as soon as everyone was sitting at the largest of the dining tables his mind went curiously blank. It was receptive, and he knew what was going on around him, but he didn't try to add anything at all. He glanced at Nate, as Vicki slipped in alongside of him. Colleen was on the other side, and rather possessively she took his hand for some reason.

  That got a smirk from the Val, who did the same thing, which made him feel trapped, and vulnerable. He didn't fight his hands free, but if he had to go for a weapon he was screwed. The Technologists didn't seem to care about that, Sara leaning in to speak, her voice a nice controlled whisper. It was what they'd all been using after all, and she didn't seem to be bucking the tradition.

  "We became aware that the Earth was dying in nineteen fifty-two. The head ones of our people looked into many measures to attempt to save the planets existing biosphere. Nothing worked however. At almost every turn we were thwarted by the major governments and corporations of the world. Our... psychological analysis teams generated thousands of mental profiles showing that no one in the existing power structure would be willing to act until it was too late, since human beings become more selfish and resistant to change when they are in power. A plan had been made up in the early sixties to assassinate leaders of the world and replace them with duplicates that would be willing to act in the way needed for the common good." She stopped looking around the table, settling her gaze on Burt who was the only one that showed any reaction at all, even though that was in body posture, his face still covered for some reason.

  She nodded slowly at him.

  "It was considered too negative an action for our people, so we endeavored in secret to educate the world to the coming dangers, which as you may realize, didn't work. People continued to use dangerous technologies, make weapons that would destroy us all if used, and to poison the world. A... small, but highly intelligent group of my people began to plan in secret about that time, working to undo the harm that was done. With each passing year it became more clear to all of us that in order to survive, the planet would need to severely reduce the population numbers. Many ideas were suggested, but it is not in the hearts of the Technologists, as you call us, to harm others. That changed sixteen months ago."

  The woman looked at the table top, her face lean and pale, but not un-pretty. She chewed her lower lip for a while before going on, then looked at Donald who nodded and took over.

  "We don't know who gave the order to release the plague, but there is a group that went missing at the right time. It is almost certainly one of them, if not a group consensus. The names would mean little to you, but they are some of the most brilliant people to have ever walked the planet.

  "After the release of the plague, which is a highly modified nano particulate that attaches itself to naturally existing viral and bacterial agents, causing specific biological modifications using Mitochondrial DNA as a power source, essentially turning the normal fauna of the human body's parasitical system into a factory for the production of half-living machines. The rest of our people took a vote, and chose to flee. Moving to an alternate dimension, leaving only a handful of us here to try and stop this. There are ten of us left, in all. Four of them children. We traveled in family groups, after we discovered a way to undo the main operating mechanism of the plague."

  No one said anything after that for a long time. It was like it wasn't real. After all, while Jake couldn't understand most of what the zombie plague really was, he got the idea that they were claiming to have a cure. Or at least a way to stop it. It would be too much to ask for the thing to bring the dead back to life, but if it could be shut off even, that would be a huge step forward.

  "Like how all the dead just dropped yesterday?"

  Hal nodded, which got dirty looks from his parents.

  "I was observing you as you fought them, and decided to lend what aid I could from hiding. I didn't know who you were then, but suspected that you were not unkind people. I had a capsule of the... shut-down compound, on me. It took about an hour to work, since it needed time to spread, but it works well. We've been using it where we could... But..."

  Jake got it, he didn't even need that part explained. There were only ten of them and that meant two to four different family groups most likely. They just couldn't cover the area needed. But the House had people and contacts with the cousin races, including the Teleporters. It would still be an incredible task, but if they could shut down the zombies like that...

  He nodded rapidly, not ready to believe it all yet.

  "We need a test, a demonstration, before we commit fully to spreading this for you. How much can you make, and what materials will you need for it?"

  Donald spread his hands, but Sara looked wide eyed suddenly, as if things were moving faster than she thought they might.

  "You'll aid us in this? It was the wrongdoing of our people that caused it, the effort to undo it should be ours."

  He nodded again.

  "Yep. That sounds totally fair, having you people do it all. But we don't have time for you to travel the whole world. We have more resources and can get way more people in for this. I think almost everyone in the world will be willing to help. It will take everyone, but it sure beats doing it one undead walker at a time."

  The Technologists all went silent then, looking at one another, including Hal in the mix, as if they didn't know what to say to that, or didn't really believe Jake could pull it off. That part was strange, since it was one of those things that anyone could have gotten done if they wanted. Who wouldn't want this?

  Well, maybe the people that had started it, but those freaks could go and screw themselves. Jake wanted it done, and so did every other person in the room. The next room too, from the murmuring coming from that direction. It got a little loud, but he kept himself from pulling his nine. After all, if this really worked like they said they might be able to go back to normal speaking soon. He didn't know if that would ever really work for him, but some of the others might be able to make the switch back to normal speaking tones.

  Sara looked at each person in turn.

  "We can outfit every person here with enough of the... compound to affect a three hundred mile area. That isn't as much as it may seem at first, but we can manufacture more, with some simple materials. Sulfur and i
ron being the hardest to find. Carbon is simpler, but it will take the aid of others to gather these things quickly enough."

  She said it like it was an impossible task, but if they could get out from under the zombies and that struggle, they could do a whole lot more than they were at the moment.

  It was nearly half an hour later that dinner was served which had Cam and Sammi coming back, both seeming a little grim, especially compared to the half festive mood of the others. No one was singing or dancing, but that was only because doing that would have had them shot out of habit. People smiled though as they ate and Heather nearly tackled Sammi as soon as she saw her.

  "It's happened! They came! I didn't know when it would happen, or if... Well, we made it. I mean, there is other bad stuff, and we still have those cannibals to deal with, and lots of work, but this is it. They came Sammi. They came... Oh." She looked pained suddenly and looked down at the floor, where a puddle of water was growing at her feet.

  At first Jake wondered if her bladder had let go due to excitement, but Sammi didn't need time to figure it out, smiling instead.

  "Your water broke. Wonderful. Let's go and set you up in the birthing room. Now, who came?"

  Jake shorthanded it for her, since it looked like they were about to be busy for a bit. Her and Lois at any rate.

  "Um, non-exploding Technologists with a way to stop the zombies. We can explain later, but right now we need the leaders of the other groups, if possible. Cam, could you see to that? We need everyone that can come now. Start with Morris, he'll know what to do."

  It took a few minutes for the girl to blink out, but Donald stood and walked across the room to where she'd been. It was hard to see his expression in the dark, but Jake decided to kick his ass if the man said anything about the evil "Scaliwagga", or whatever derogatory term his people had for Cam's. Instead the man just reached out into the air, his breath becoming a little louder in the near dark of the candle lit space.