Dead End Stories From the End of the World

by P. S. Power

  Jake nodded.

  "Maybe a dirigible, it was dark and we couldn't see it very well. The compound worked, but it took a while. Then they had the exploding guy. It was a trick. If they drop people on you, just get away and wait for the nanos to take effect. I don't know if they could reach you here or not, but it wouldn't be a horrible idea to put out a watch, just in case."

  Morris nodded, but Tansy looked horrified.

  "They tried to kill you?"

  Jake blinked. A lot of people had tried to kill him. It might not even be personal this time. It seemed geared toward the whole House after all. Several of the others started muttering, and then people kept repeating "Ba-Dehist". It didn't sound friendly. Cam finally stood up and took his hand, ready to run it seemed like, if they attacked. Why they'd do that he didn't get at first, until she explained.

  "They want to take you into hiding, Ba-Dehist. To one of the most secret places. We have things to do though, so say the word and I'll get us out of here. Even if it means being cast out forever." She didn't let go of his hand though and Morris waved everyone else back.

  "No, no. We'll be good, don't worry. No one will steal you, even if we should. We can't let you stay there though and the little baby, Hope... Her mother too. They should come here... All the smallest should. I was remiss in not offering before. Perhaps in more than one location? I'll take care of that. With the advent of these... Bimps?" He looked at Cam who nodded solemnly that he had it right.

  "With this new kind of threat, we need to be extra careful right now. We'll find you a tent here. Or you can go and steal your own. Then no one would be likely to try and take you away like a child." He smiled and translated his own words, which got a few considering nods. After all, that was what they did, how they made it in the world. Theft.

  It was what they respected, more or less.

  "Fine. I'll go and take one then. Be back in a bit."

  There were some in the sporting goods store at the mall they stole their Christmas presents from, or at least there had been.

  Cam had them away seconds later.

  Chapter six

  As was always the problem with the mall, other people seemed to find a large building that had been cleaned of the dead somewhat attractive as a place to stay, at least for a while. This time though the nearly twenty people they found weren't cannibals. At least their go-to move when seeing a young and succulent Cam, and a more than stringy and tough looking Jake was just shock, mixed with fear, not a discussion of cooking techniques.

  Jake waved, not pulling weapons, though several were pointed at him. It was probably a mistake, but no one fired, or even spoke, until a little boy, who might have been ten or so, walked forward, sniffing the air like a dog.

  "Do you have food?" The voice was a lot more reasoned than scared, which got almost all of the rest of the rag tag group to relax, even as they shivered in the cold.

  Shrugging Jake waited for a few seconds to see what the next move would be. He didn't have anything on him, but hungry people might do anything, right.

  "Not on me." It was just the truth, which got the boy to look back at the others, nodding several times.

  "We... don't have much. Some animals we caught. Would you like something to eat?" As strange as it seemed no one told the kid to shut up about their food, even though Jake was obviously armed. Weapons actually even went away, hidden from view.

  Tilting his head he felt like crying for a few moments, eyes actually tearing up. After a bit he smiled though, and stared at the people, who looked to be of mixed type. No one race being a mixed group, about half of them male, but they had an old woman with them that looked stooped and tired. He realized that staring was impolite after a few seconds, even though no one said anything.

  "No thanks, we've eaten today. Just came to get a tent from Sport's World. Do you folks need anything though?" He didn't add a lot more, not knowing what they were going to really do, but the boy stepped forward, moving all the way across the fifty or sixty feet between them on his own, smelling the air in an inhuman fashion.

  The kid froze though, about ten feet away.

  "You don't eat people?" It wasn't a rude thing, just curious. His youthful sounding voice continued, but the words seemed older than they should. "We don't either, but you know, even the good people still do sometimes now. I'm Ricky. We're following the directions on the radio, looking for a place called 'The House' in Westwood. Have you heard of it?"

  "I'm Jake, this is Cam. Um... We're both from there, so yes. It's about twenty-five miles away from here, to the west. I... Look, I'm going to be honest with you, since you seem to be doing things that aren't exactly normal yourself, but don't be too shocked, all right?" He waited, but no one said anything, the adults getting worried, but not enough to draw on them again yet.

  One of the men at the back sighed.

  "What? Is that place just a pipe dream? It kind of sounded like it on the military show, but what else did we have to do? This area seems pretty calm, not a lot of dead walking around at least, just some real corpses on the ground..."

  Jake nodded.

  "No, the House is real and still there, it's just that, well, there are some different kinds of people in the world, ones that have always been here, but that we didn't know about before, the regular people, because there were so many of us. One of the groups came up with a way to shut the zombies down. Little capsules that you dump into the air. It makes the animated dead stop and drop forever. It also makes you immune to bites I hear. I haven't tested that one myself though. The thing is... there are people that can do some other things there. Wild stuff. Move things with their blood, read minds, that sort of things..."

  The kid leading them, Ricky, nodded, looking back at the others.

  "Like I was telling you. I'm not a regular person with a good nose, I'm something else. A type of person called a Bawdri..." He stared at Cam and then nodded at her.

  "Just like I see that you're a young Scalliwagga." He didn't seem to be insulting when he said it, but Jake rolled his eyes.

  "Teleporter. That's if you're like me and can't say their proper name. Anyway, my point is that we're all working together now, so if you can vouch for your group and will submit to some mind reading, we can find a place for you. Either at the House or in some other places."

  It took a while for the seeming boy to explain to the others what it might mean, with some explanations from Jake and Cam thrown in. They didn't all jump up to go though, even when Ricky explained that Cam might be able to take them to the House using... Magic.

  Jake had to admit, it did sound pretty unlikely.

  "Or you can stay here for a while, it's a safe zone, as you noticed. I can get you some food, more than you have, and you could make up your minds slowly. No need to rush if you don't want. We have time." He wanted to sleep pretty badly, but this was more important. These people needed at least some hope after all. Honestly they might not want to go to the House right then, since attacks might continue.

  It took a bit to explain that too, but Ricky listened closely, nodding the whole time.

  "Do we know who did this then? Who are we at war with?"

  Cam grimaced, but answered pretty firmly.

  "A group of Technologists went all batshit on us. Most of them ran off to another world to protect themselves, which makes total sense, but some stayed to fight this thing. They got us the fix for it. The original group is still trying to take us all out though. They can make bombs that look like people, and have bimps that they can drop things from. Last night it was zombies. The cleaned areas will take care of those after a while, since the technologist magic things stay in the air and on the ground and stuff for a long time. Maybe forever, but it takes a few hours to work, so it was pretty scary for a while."

  From the back the old woman, who must have been close to eighty, shuffled forward slowly, her eyes looking far away.

  "Did you say 'bimps'? I'm not certain I know that one."

  Jake n
odded though, not wanting to embarrass his friend.

  "It was dark so we don't know if it was a blimp or dirigible. Or something else. So for now we're calling them 'bimps'. New term." It came out dead panned and serious, but the older woman just nodded, as if it actually made sense.

  Cam blushed a little though.

  The explanations took a lot longer than they should have, especially when Jake told Ricky about Princess Alyssian being kidnapped, infected and returned, and how she'd died. He shook his head slowly, looking sad but not grief stricken.

  "Bit out of my social class, of course. I did meet Princess Samantha once though. Bit of a bitch, to tell the truth. Kind of snooty."

  Cam laughed, moving a bit closer to the guy.

  "No doubt! You know, the first time we met she tried to kill me? She really isn't that bad once you get used to her though. She was at my ceremony. Darian didn't show, but his main guard Robert did. Stood as my friend and everything."

  The boy looked at his people and gave a low whistle, it wasn't a sign of anything, just a show of appreciation.

  "Damn. That's something then. Robert is famous. Raised himself up from among the lowest to very near as high as one of us can go, and in just a few hundred years. Kind of an example for the rest of us. Makes sense that he'd go where the little Princess did though. So you have contact with people at the Lake? I have an extended cousin that might be there, working as a cook."

  They talked for a while about things that no one else could understand, Jake getting the idea. It was both proof that Ricky was who he claimed, or at least had the right memories, and a chance for them to show that they weren't lying either. It was just possible that they could have heard a few names and were using them as a trick after all.

  Finally Jake waved to everyone.

  "Um, not to be a pain, but I need to get off to bed. What do you want to do? It's still light out here, but cold, we can't just take you to the House right now, not directly, but we could start things going, if you want? Or I don't know, get you all off to somewhere else, if you have a place you'd rather be?"

  They didn't have anyplace though. Cam left and came back with a slightly injured Nate who wasn't whining anymore. He questioned them all pretty hard for a long time, but after a while turned to Jake and nodded.

  "They seem good. Of course so did the guy that blew up last night, right until he triggered the explosive. That was weird. So... Do we chance it or not?" He looked at the group in front of him and wasn't whispering at all, but clearly addressed the other two from the House looking for a consensus.

  Shrugging Jake just smiled and looked at the people in front of him.

  "Everything is a risk, right? I say we let them in and hope for the best. Chances are they aren't all bombs, right? If so, we're screwed, but... if we start turning people away because we're scared, then we can't hold everything together. We have to trust sometime, even if it's based on nothing."

  Ricky was nodding along at least, as if that made sense and wasn't the dumbest thing ever heard, but then, he probably wanted a warm bed for the night.

  Organizing the whole trip took time, about half an hour, since they didn't know how to teleport, and didn't really believe it would happen at first. Jake remembered to get a big tent though, as well as a mattress from the bed store and a few warm sleeping bags and pillows. It was possible to sleep on the ground, but not as restful as all that.

  It took forever, it seemed like, to set his tent up, which he had to do for himself because it was a rule. No one offered to help him, just standing back and waiting. It wasn't that hard though, having flexible poles that bent to make a huge dome. It looked a lot different than the other tents, but he wasn't one of the Teleporters, so no one seemed to think that was strange. They'd probably seen them before after all. They were, as a group, well travelled.

  A short, or very long depending on how you thought about it, forty some minutes later, Jake was settling into his own bed, planning to not get up until he had to, or someone pulled him out of the warm cocoon he'd made for himself. That worked, for about seven hours, until the daylight coming through the thing blue and red roof forced him up. He didn't feel rested at all really, his head hurting a little from lack of sleep and eyes feeling gritty still. It was enough though.

  Cam, for her part, managed to sleep longer, being young and needing more than he did. After cleaning up and changing Jake just wandered over to Morris's tent office, which was empty ,and then followed his nose to the central area where several women were busily making the morning rice. That was a thing here. They ate it for breakfast almost every day. Even with the food assemblers people would order up rice in the morning. He could have used the one sitting to the side, untouched, but Willa came jogging over to him smiling, a steaming bowl in her hand.

  "Jake! You tent man now? No woman?" She smiled while she said it, so Jake figured it was meant to be mildly teasing. After all, he couldn't teleport and certainly couldn't manage it inside ten seconds or whatever the rules said were needed to be an adult.

  The rules were different for outsiders though. He was supposed to be judged based on what his community considered adult. If it was Back Before that would have been when he could drink, most likely. Now it was a looser idea, based on a thousand different things.

  Most of them not really useful.

  "Yep. Got my own tent and everything. I have a girlfriend though, Vicki. She's a Valkyrie." That would make him sound grown up, right?

  Willa looked away, as if thinking then grinned at him.

  "You girl no here? Not married?"

  He had to agree with that, which got him a bowl of rice and a smile that seemed almost flirtatious, rather than mean or even playful.

  "Good. You think, maybe, marry Willa?" She sounded hopeful suddenly.

  Jake blinked.

  "You... want to marry me?" He must have misunderstood or something, since it was a bit too sudden. She probably wanted him to perform the ceremony or something, since he was their Ba-Dehist.

  Before he could clarify Morten and Tansy were there, jabbering quickly in their own language with the girl, smiling happily at her. Jake waited for the full explanation, which came almost at once. It wasn't exactly what he expected.

  Tansy was the one doing the talking then, her voice excited.

  "She doesn't have a rich father, but she's collected a lot of goods over the last years and her mother has four children, two boys and two girls, so she thinks that you have a good chance of having children. You'd need another tent or two, but the speed with which you got that one last night was impressive and you can both work together to get the future ones. I did explain that you were an outlander, which is obvious, but she likes you anyway, so that won't be a problem. It's a good proposal, Jake. You should think about it."

  He blinked some more. It just wasn't something he'd really figured would ever happen, not after Rachel had gone away. Even before that it had always been something he hadn't counted on really. Him... married?

  It was a thought, wasn't it? Especially if they could ever get out from under the whole mess the world was in. The only thing there... was that he hadn't really considered surviving it at all. That hadn't been a real idea since the first day after the announcement. His biggest dream had been maybe getting a few good meals and a woman that was willing to sleep with him before he died. Willa was suggesting long term plans, and that they make them together.

  She was good looking too, not some girl that had to settle for him because she couldn't find anyone else, he didn't think. Even if there was some reason she couldn't get a Teleporter guy, some social stigma or whatever, she could have gotten most of the men from the House without too many problems. They were even about the same age. Of course he did have Vicki, so there was that to consider.

  "I don't know how to respond guys. Willa seems really nice, I just haven't been thinking about anything like that. Plus, if I just say yes without talking to Vicki first, my testicles might just end up well away fr
om my body and I haven't even got to use them yet, so you know, a bit of care is needed there." He tried to look hopeful, but Willa looked a little troubled by what he said.

  Tansy didn't seem to think it would be a huge problem though.

  "It's just a marriage proposal, Jake, you don't have to break up with your girlfriend, let me ask though..." She spoke rapidly, the words fluid and happy, which got a slightly subdued, but not unpleasant nod from the other girl.

  She was wearing a flowing white garment with pink flowers on the sleeves that looked hand stitched in place. She answered slowly, but after a while Tansy nodded and turned back to him, Morten smiling off to the side at what had been said.

  "There you go. She just asks that your children be hers, if possible. Not all that unreasonable really. So, should I tell her that you'll consider it?" She was teasing now, he understood that, playing with him.

  That was a mistake. Jake or Mickey it didn't matter, about something like this he wouldn't play at all.

  "Um, sure? I have some other people I should give a heads up to first on the idea, but why not? She seems wonderful." She did too. It was just such a strange thing.

  Really he wondered if the girl, the woman, in front of him was just playing a trick, ready to laugh at him for thinking anyone would like him enough to marry. Cam's people did like their jokes after all. It was one of their best traits. Well, other than the cool traveling things they did, but he really appreciated the sense of humor too.

  She smiled though and gestured to the bowl in his hands, then walked away smiling. Tansy went with her, but Mort stayed, nodding as if trying to show support.

  "Hey! Now that's something. I'm not certain she even knows that you're the Ba-Dehist. Tansy will probably tell her though, so you'll never get rid of her now that you said you'd entertain her offer. You mean it though, right?"