Dead End Stories From the End of the World

by P. S. Power

  He started to pace, which didn't work, all the people standing around him as they were, most refusing to move, in case he tried to flee or go for a weapon himself. That wouldn't happen though, Jake knew that. The man had never fought, not even to protect himself. The closest he'd ever gotten was knocking a zombie down several times while other people got into place to take care of it. Not a coward, but not a fighter in any way either.

  A murderer though. That was clear.

  The worst one in the history of the world.

  Jake sighed.

  "Of course." Looking around he stared at the faces around him, wondering if anyone else was going to end up being something other than what they seemed. "So, how do we stop this? If you're the leader, you can call this off, can't you? It seems like you should be all for my idea. You wanted to get rid of the old system, and you have. Now what? Do you really have to stomp on the rest of the world until the people that have struggled for all these months are gone too? That doesn't seem like you, not from what I've seen." Not that he knew the man at all it seemed.

  The old man looked away at the wall and shook his head, which nearly got him shot, as frustrated as Jake felt, but his words weren't a denial of responsibility at all, or even a claim that he couldn't, or wouldn't, do something about it.

  "I can make some calls. This isn't as simple as it may seem, but I think Jake is right. We've done enough. It's riskier to try to use education, even now, but this has been much worse than I thought it would be. How many children died in terror, in pain, because of what we did Tess? Because of what I did? Some of them were our friends too. Mary died because of us. They all did. We should be willing to change, shouldn't we? Logic is our rule, but it never precluded the use of emotion in decision making, as long as that guidance isn't counter to survival or proper function."

  There was a conversation then, between all the Technologists, including the boy, that Jake didn't get most of. It was in English, and Jake even knew most of the words, but the meaning was lost on him totally. Apparently he wasn't the only one. Tipper moved in and hit Lois in the stomach after about ten minutes, totally without warning. It made the woman grunt and the rest of the people talking stop and stare.

  Tip grinned.

  "Sorry, but you could have been plotting something. Best to stop that kind of thing early."

  Burt nodded, "sorry. We were debating the psychological impact of what's already happened on the survivors. There is a very real chance that humanity can't recover from the mental scars of this. It might just be so damaging that we've changed them forever. Can education ever counter that kind of deep level imprinting? The thing there is that we can't really know for generations. Should we risk it?"

  Jake tilted his head and winced so hard Burt actually took a step back.

  "Risk it? Risk it? You killed most of the fucking world already! There is no risk. It's not going to be easy, but you and your people, you don't get to make that decision. You lost the right the second you started killing innocent people because a few big wigs didn't want to change. No, we are going to stop this, one way or the other. This isn't a debate, this is a command. Not just one from me either. Everyone in the fucking world wants this to stop now, except the evil people that did it in the first place. Do it now, or I swear Burt, I won't just kill you and Lois, I will hunt down your people in that alternate reality and kill them all myself. If you think I can't do it..." Then he'd be right, but the man didn't seem to think it was a totally empty threat.

  "I... Let me try to talk to my people. I'm sure we can work something out. Somehow." It didn't sound confident, but it wasn't all about how the psycho-social ramifications of extreme prolonged trauma could have unforeseen consequences, so it was an improvement.

  The ladle with its secret communications device got handed over to the man, who turned the knob on the end after pressing it down, making the movement so smoothly it spoke of long practice instead of the fumbling that Jake would have been using, even having seen it done before. No one spoke this time and Burt just waited, everyone in the room quiet.

  After nearly ten minutes someone, a woman this time, spoke softly.

  "Tess? Are you there? We had an unauthorized communication on this earlier. Can you hear me?"

  Burt was the one that spoke, his voice deeper than normal, sounding almost jovial.

  "Betsy? This is Humperdinck Linster. We rather have a change of plans. I don't suppose you could assemble everyone for a discussion? It seems that we might be able to enlist the... One Predicted and the remaining survivors into our plan, meaning the death can stop now. It's a thing worth considering, if nothing else." He sounded assured and confident, rather than like he was actually afraid that Jake would hunt his people down.

  Then, he probably understood that it was a lie. Even if everyone else died and Jake could manage it, he wouldn't kill innocent people for what a guilty few had done. That would be as evil as what they'd already done. Past a certain range it didn't matter how many died, it was still bad and couldn't be allowed.

  "Sir? I... The others are coming to your location. The last Protocols have been put in place sir..." Betsy, whoever she was, did not sound happy about that. "You need to run! Get out now. Leave the area completely. We thought you were both dead or compromised, you know that we can't recall it once it started. I could get the Air-ships to stand down and stop the bombing, but the Isolates... The beacon has already been activated."

  Burt, for one of the first times Jake could actually recall, cursed loudly, Lois just looked scared, but she didn't say why. It made some sense to Jake though, she was afraid for her own life on every level of being. He could feel it coming off of her in waves, her body language screamed it where it hadn't even a moment before.

  The Windigo were coming. The Cannibals.

  Wonderful. They were going to have house guests.

  "All right, so we all leave?" Jake looked at Burt, nodded for a second, then shook his head.

  "Jake... The others can leave, but... The beacon, it's trained on some of us. Tess and I, we have it inside us." He took a deep breath, one that seemed to be almost half a sob. "We can't run far enough. They're coming to kill us. We have to stay. All the Isolates, the changed beings that you encountered? They're coming here at speeds that can't be matched, except by the Teleporters. The rest of you have to flee. You can... bomb the area after they kill us. If you have time. This won't take long." He shook, clearly terrified.

  Then, he should be.

  Jake noticed that Lois, looking younger than before, but still familiar, wet herself in terror. That could happen when you knew that death was coming for you and that nothing you could do would stop it. For her, for Burt, it was simply the end.

  They deserved it.

  Everything in his mind screamed that at him. They'd destroyed the world. They'd killed his family and friends. Just as bad, before that had ever even happened, they'd taken away his love.

  It was a selfish thought, one that seemed out of place given the immensity of the rest, but it burned within him anyway, white hot, like a blast furnace in his soul. Then, from deep within something else happened, a calm wave of blue peace and love, washing the hatred and anger away. He felt different, if only for a moment. It was an odd thing that he couldn't have explained to anyone else in a million years, but he knew what he had to do. It was his job after all. He was The Very Good Man, and in the end that meant he had to try to save the people with him. Even if they didn't deserve it. Even if he wanted them to die.

  "Cam! Get with your people and get everyone out. Now. Vicki, let Lois go, she can't run now anyway. Burt, get back on the ladle and tell those morons you're working with to get ready to bomb this place as soon as the fighting stops. Unless we win of course. They need to watch for that." No one did anything for a long time, not until a T'srith woman pulled a knife and turned her back to face the door.

  "I stand with the Maitreya." It wasn't a loud thing but it also held no fear. An acknowledgment of death, but not
hing else. It was as if she knew that she was about to die and accepted that everything did eventually.

  Jake grinned, a wave of love coming off of him then, not just for her, but for everyone that ever lived. He had to save them, if he could, didn't he? That meant he'd have to become something else, and fast, but for the moment he could stand and be happy. Finally.

  "Thank you. That means so much to me. But you need to go now. All of you. This is my job. It's up to the rest of you to rebuild, if I don't make it. Now, get out of here. Don't make me yell at you." He didn't wait to see if anyone was going to stay, figuring that someone would try to argue the point with him.

  Jake went to the armory instead, made sure he had all the ammunition he could carry and several knives, as well as several gallons of gasoline. Then he went to the kitchen and got a pot full of coals from the woodstove. By the time he was done only six people were left, other than him. Vicki, Tipper, the T'srith woman form earlier, Burt, Lois and... Cam.

  He nodded at them, the women that had stayed. Two Vals and a T'srith... it made sense, being warriors. The rest of their kind would have come if they'd known too. It was their way. Cam was the outlier, but she just grinned, a nervous thing that seemed ready to move into panic. Her kind ran from scary things, they didn't face them dead on. Not if they could help it.

  "OK, Cam... Take these three to the military. If the Technologists fail here we need them to take this place out. Maybe a nuke or something. The creatures coming aren't easy to stop and if they can turn others..." He looked at Lois who nodded, indicating that was just the fact of the matter.

  "It's slow and takes time, but yes."

  "We have to stop them all here then. I'll hold them off as long as possible and then we take this place out. Understood?"

  Cam shook her head and so did Vicki. Tip didn't, but then she didn't love him, did she? Always found him a bit creepy.

  Vicki growled at him.

  "I won't let you die alone. This is so screwed up Jake. We can't let you do this. You don't have to die here. I'll stay, and Madrith here. The rest of you can leave. We aren't Human, we can last longer than you can." It was a simple statement and one that was, for the moment just the truth.

  It wouldn't be soon though.

  Sammi, wise in the ways of her own people, had said something to him once, when he asked if he got extra powers if he learned to just not care about anything, like the Windigo did. She'd said that yes, he would, but she didn't know what would happen, that a Very Good Man's soul might break into something horrible. Or he took it to mean that. Of course she'd believed he wasn't really that kind of person when she'd told him that, hadn't she? Kind of covering her bases in case he ever lost it maybe?

  He laughed. It didn't come out right, seeming all happy and light, friendly and loving at the same time, instead of like what these others knew to be him. It got Vicki to grimace.

  "That's right, but this isn't about powers now. It's about buying time to get the Windigo things into place. It's about bait in the trap and a pause long enough for the others to act. It isn't up for debate. Cam, take them. Now!" He didn't think it would work, but the girl grabbed Tipper's hand and she made a wild swing at Madrith as Cam wrapped an arm around Vicki's neck. If they were fighting it wouldn't have worked, but the girl had them all away so fast Jake was impressed. Even Morten wouldn't have managed it. Morris might have, but he wasn't in the room.

  It left them in silence.

  "Burt, you and Lois... You and Tessa, stay here. Lock yourselves in, and try to survive for as long as possible. I'll see about buying some time, like I said. Just in case we never speak again, I want you to both know... You're horrible people, and I'm very disappointed in you. If we survive this you're both in for a time of it. Not that we will." He walked to the door and didn't look back, going out onto the back porch, then moving into the open, away from the building itself. That way he could see everything around him for a good quarter mile or so. He had his nine in his left hand and the forty-five in his right. It wouldn't be enough, he knew. Not even a little bit close.

  He also knew that he didn't care at all anymore. It hit him then, a shifting from deep within his soul. To protect the world he had to stop these things there, as many of them as he could. He couldn't count on the bombs coming in time either. Blimps were slow and bombers were fast, but uncertain. He didn't even know if they had a pilot left that could do the job. His talk of nukes had been fancy, but he was pretty sure that no one had the ability to use those now. The people that had the will and strength to survive didn't have things like launch codes, did they?

  Or if they did, they wouldn't know the location well enough to set one of those headed his way in time.

  So it was up to him.

  It had been for a while now though, hadn't it?

  Jake let go then, just standing there, emptying everything out of himself. All thought, all care. Everything he'd ever wanted, or needed, he let go of it all. There was nothing left inside him at all when the first of the white things ran out of the woods. It wasn't moving that fast, just jogging up to the door. It had its back turned to him though, so the shot hit it in the head cleanly, dropping it. The second one slapped him to the ground, before trying to move past, toward the beacon. Something in his right shoulder broke, but not badly. He could still use the arm all right, it just hurt. That one got taken too, another shot to the back of the head.

  Then the things paused, as if realizing he might be a threat or something. Go figure, right? They gathered around him in a circle, packing in tightly, the numbers growing by the second. There were ten to start with, but in a few minutes the whole field was packed with them. Most of them headed for the back door, as if knowing he couldn't stop them. They started pounding, which meant they'd be inside soon. After that they'd kill Lois and Burt, and then probably run off into the night.

  Well, they'd stop to eat him first, but after that.

  Jake didn't bother to grin, he just fought then, a wall of shifting, writhing white, as brilliant as the snow, showing a thousand limbs, all looking too long and out of proportion to the bodies, skeletal faces and bald heads coming into focus just long enough for him to fire. He felt himself hit, even knocked out a few times, but didn't let that stop him from doing what he needed to. Even unconscious he kept going, until the ammo ran out. Then he pulled the knives, knowing that he'd never be able to reload again anyway.

  Something grabbed him and started to eat his right arm. It should have made him scream, or panic, but he didn't, just stabbing it in the eye. His heavy clothing had protected him from the worst of it, so no flesh came off, but the stinging was bad enough to be distracting. Finally enough of them had grabbed on to him that he couldn't move at all. His arms pinned and teeth found him in different locations, many times. It was agony, so he did the only thing he could.

  He laughed.

  "I forgive you. I forgive you all! It isn't your fault. This was done to you. They made you into this... Into these things. I forgive you!" The words held all the joy inside him, bursting out as he started to die. He surrendered to it, knowing that it didn't matter what happened, he couldn't stop it at all.

  Something fell on him then, from above. It was black compared to the white wall of death around him, and it screamed, a male voice, as the Windigo creatures started to rip into him too. A single hand reach down and grabbed Jake by the face, already slick with blood.

  Then he found himself inside the House.

  Morten was on the floor next to him, still screaming, since he was pretty messed up. His right eye was missing it looked like. He held a hand over it, crying. What he screamed wasn't about his pain though, it was something very different. He yelled into a shiny bit of metal on his right sleeve cuff.

  "Now! Inside!" He gasped the words, ten seconds later half a dozen people were in the room. Along with something huge and metallic.

  Jake couldn't make out all that was happening, but Cam grabbed him, which, he saw, got her clothing all bloody. Sta
nding by the metal thing was Colleen, looking grim as death. She had her hand on a switch, a simple metal lever about half an inch long.

  "Go, get him out of here. Then I'll set it off." She was screaming too, trying to be heard over the howling that came from beyond the walls. Morris yelled something, but Jake couldn't make it out.

  He got what she intended to do though.

  "No." His voice almost didn't work, a quiet rasp that no one noticed.

  "No!" He stood, shaking Cam off, walking toward the thing, the bomb he guessed, shaking his head as Colleen looked at him with death already in her eyes.

  "No, I won't let you, Colleen. This is my mess." He didn't know why he said it, because it wasn't true, but it was Lois that got to the device first, Tessa. For a second he thought she was going to try and hurt Colleen, to stop her, but instead she put her hand on the little lever and started counting down from ten.

  "Nine, eight, seven, six," She didn't slow and it wasn't a full second for each one, which was good, since the door was starting to buckle already. They didn't have ten real seconds.

  Tess looked at Colleen, and screamed at her.

  "Go with the Travelers! I'm sorry about what I did to you!" Who she meant exactly he couldn't tell, since Morris jumped in and took Colleen by the shoulder, then vanished. Half a second later he was gone too, the world shifting in front of him in a way that made him fall to the ground, retching.

  Cam had his arm, crying. They were... Somewhere. It wasn't the tent city, or the Lake, but he didn't recognize it at all other than that before he went dark. He couldn't tell what had happened at all.

  When he woke up it was dark still. For a few moments he wondered if he was blind, or in a cell somewhere, but the moment he moved the lights came on. The bed was comfortable, forming to him perfectly, but strange, made of a material that was different than anything he recognized. There were blankets and sheets too though, and it sat on the floor, which was some kind of hard packed earth, not stone or tile. He stood, a slow movement that was all he could manage, feeling like someone had starved him for a long time.