Managing the Apocalypse

by C. J. Boyle

  He leaned her back on the cot so that her head was on the pillow. He kissed her passionately and then kissed her neck. With nothing but his obvious excitement and their jeans between them, Brody hooked his hand at the back of her knee and pulled her closer to him. It sent bolts of excitement through her. He kissed down her chest and belly until he got to her jeans. He unbuttoned them and then unzipped them. She waited intensely for him to pull her pants off, but when the moment didn't come, she looked down at him.

  "What's wrong?" Kera's heart was beating so hard she could hear it. She couldn't see his face in the darkness but the light outlined his silhouette. "Brody?"

  "Are you sure about this? I'm good with just falling asleep in your arms."

  "I'm not," she said, "There's nothing and no one I want more." She pulled her own jeans off. "Make love to me, Brody."

  She watched his shadow do a comical little dance as he tried to get his own pants off as fast as he could. "Yes, ma'am." He climbed back over her as she put her legs around him and pulled him close to her.

  ~ The Boy ~

  Carl was in one of the hospital beds. The head of the bed was adjusted so that he was sitting reclined. His side was bandaged up and an IV line was sticking out of his arm. The little boy hid behind one of the privacy curtains playing peek-a-boo with him. Carl smiled at the boy as he peeked out at him. Mitchell walked in and nodded at Carl.

  "Where's Brody?" Carl asked.

  Mitchell took a breath, "Living out one of my favorite sexual fantasies."

  Carl curled his upper lip, "Ew." He shook his head and then a thought hit him. "Solitary?"

  Mitchell nodded, "Solitary."

  "Not that I've ever..." Carl tried to be serious.

  "Of course not," Mitchell grinned.

  It was at that moment that the boy chose to jump out and yell, "BOO!"

  Mitchell flinched like he had been shot. He stared at the boy and then fell to his knees in front of him. Carl looked from Mitchell to the boy. The kid just smiled at Mitchell.

  "Doc!" Carl aimed his face and his voice toward the back room. "Doc! Somethin's wrong!"

  Tears streamed down Mitchell's face. "Jessie?" He held out his arms to the boy. Dr. Wallace and Martha walked in just in time to see Mitchell holding his arms out to the boy and the child running right to him. Mitchell closed his eyes and held the boy tight. He pulled him back and looked at him through his tears. "How is this possible?"

  The boy instantly sympathized with Mitchell. His previously happy face turned to one of utter sadness. He pouted as he pointed at a tear rolling down Mitchell's cheek. "Daddy cry."

  Dr. Wallace was elated. "That's amazing. They found your son? That's incredible!"

  Mitchell nodded, "You don't understand, doctor. My son is a twenty-two-year-old Link." Martha looked at Mitchell and then to the army men posted just outside the doors. She wondered if they could hear their conversation. She walked over to the infirmary's glass doors and switched a button that made them close. When one of the men looked at her, she smiled at him. Over the next few minutes, there was a lot of arguing about whether or not such a thing was possible. Both of the Doctors Wallace insisted that the boy only looked like his son and that it wasn't actually his son. Mitchell took out his iPhone and scrolled through it.

  "My ex-wife posted this photo of him several months ago before all this stuff started. It's of him when he was only two," he handed it to Martha.

  She scrutinized the photo as she looked at the boy. "I can't see a difference. But that doesn't mean this is your son, Jessie. It's not possible."

  Dr. Wallace looked at his wife. "Technically, if a creature reproduces asexually, in essence, the end result would be a clone," he shrugged, "All the genetic material is there."

  Martha shook her head wildly, "But the child is walking and talking. It's just not possible."

  Mitchell sat on the floor with Jessie in his lap listening to the two argue. He didn't care what they said, that boy was his.

  "Animals come with preprogrammed instructions all the time. Calves get up and walk within an hour of being born. Where is that information stored? It instinctively knows where to nurse. Human babies, if you were to drop them in water, they would swim. Where is that information stored?" Dr. Wallace felt he was making a convincing argument.

  Martha shook her head, "Well, this can all be settled with a simple DNA test. I'll swab both their cheeks and bring it back with me. But I guarantee you, it will not be a match."

  ~ The Reunion ~

  The next morning Molly walked around the common area enjoying the Christmas lights and interviewing people because Cockran commanded it. She just got through talking to Cook and hearing yet another story about how someone called 'The Warden' saved their life. At first, she was horrified at the prospect of these people living in a prison, but it seemed to work for them. But she still couldn't see herself living there. The Mountain was actually a pretty nice place to stay. She had all the comforts of home, and she didn't have to worry about the Mountain being overrun with Links. Of course, she was oblivious of the fact that Links were being held captive in the basement. She wrinkled her nose a bit. The place smelled funny to her. Like if a wet dog and moldy basement had a baby. She was glad that they would be leaving soon. When she heard some music playing she motioned for her cameraman to keep rolling. They walked into the cafeteria and quickly figured out that they just walked into a wedding in progress. The doctor who she took the trip with was standing with a short bald man in front of an old woman with long, gray hair. The couple smiled at each other. It was evident to her that they were deeply in love. It made her sick and she rolled her eyes. The cafeteria was packed. She looked around the crowd of people and that's when she saw him. He was looking down at his shirt, wiping custard from it and onto his finger, and then licking it off.

  "JoJo?" She said his name but couldn't contain herself. She screamed, "JOJO! JOJO!" She waved frantically and ran up to the surprised man. His mouth dropped open as he got to his feet. She opened her arms and hugged him tight. He just stood there with his arms out to the sides, without touching her, and looking at all the annoyed people staring at them.

  She was so happy that he was alive. "JoJo, I thought you were dead."

  His arms slowly encompassed her and he gave her a proper hug. As they pulled away from the hug Molly kissed his cheek. He glanced past her at the cameraman and then back to her. He put a finger to his lip. "We can talk in a minute," he whispered, "sit down." As she sat down beside him, her leg brushed up against his and something didn't feel right about it. She looked him in the face with concern, but he was too busy watching the ceremony.

  The old woman turned to Martha, "And do you, Martha, take Shawn to be your husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, till death do you part?"

  Martha smiled down at the man. "I do."

  The woman turned to the man, "You may now kiss the bride." As the two kissed, the cafeteria erupted in clapping and shouts of joy. Molly watched as Martha shook hands with, and half hugged, a short blonde woman wearing large, ridiculous sunglasses. 'An obvious and pathetic attempt to cover her face,' she thought. Then a large hulk of a man kissed Martha on the cheek and shook her new husband's hand. Everyone looked so happy.

  "Molly, what the hell's going on?" JoJo had to raise his voice to speak over the crowd. She told him everything that happened since that last time they saw each other and he filled her in on his unfortunate loss and his adventures.

  "Oh my God, JoJo! I'm so sorry!" Molly looked down at his leg and then back up to him. "I swear, I would have never left you out there on purpose."

  "S'okay, Molly, I don't blame you." JoJo walked with her to the exit where the hulk and sunglasses were talking with some people. He looked over his shoulder at the cameraman who walked behind them. He was still filming. As they were passing the pair, the big man stopped them.

  "Hey, JoJo." He grabbed his forearm and shook his hand. "Thanks for comin' to the rescue, man. I owe you."<
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  Molly felt like she was spying on a part of JoJo that she hadn't seen before. She watched him blush a little and look at the woman with big sunglasses. "I think we're probably even." JoJo stepped out of the way so that some other people could talk to the pair. He ushered her down the hall where there were less people.

  "What did he mean by that?" She asked, curiously watching his expression closely.

  JoJo just shook his head, "Nothing." Two black teenage boys came running down the hall and stopped right in front of them. They were staring at Molly.

  "Um, hello?" She laughed, "Can I help you two?"

  JoJo smiled, "This is Jamal, and this is Raymond. Guys, this is Molly Saunders."

  The teens were excited to meet her. She shook their hands.

  "You're way prettier in person!" Jamal beamed.

  Raymond slapped his hand against JoJo's, "Yo, man. Thanks for saving our brother."

  "Yeah, thanks," Jamal repeated the same handshake with JoJo. Molly was confused. She watched the two boys walk down the hall.

  "Was that big guy their brother?" Molly hooked her arm through his again.

  He smiled at her and shook his head, "Nah, their brother is a different guy."

  "So, you saved two men?" This definitely wasn't the JoJo she knew.

  He laughed, "And a baby."

  "And a baby?" Molly didn't realize how much she missed JoJo. "Come back with me!" She squeezed his arm, "I missed you so much."

  "No offense, but no way." JoJo walked her outside, where Dr. Martha Wallace was standing with her husband. She could hear the chinook in the distance.

  Molly watched as Martha's husband tried to make himself taller and she tried to make herself shorter. The two kissed as the helicopter landed fifty feet behind them. He held his hand in hers. "It's not fair that you have to leave me."

  "It's not fair that you have to stay." She put her hand on his face, "I love you." She picked up her briefcase and walked to the chopper.

  "I love you too, Marty."

  Molly had to admit she was jealous. No one had ever looked at her the way those two looked at each other. She looked at JoJo and held his arm tight for a minute, "I'm sorry for being so awful."

  JoJo turned his ear to her, "What?"

  She said it louder, "I'm sorry for being so awful!"

  JoJo smiled, "I heard you the first time." They hugged briefly. When they went to kiss each other on the cheek, they accidently kissed on the lips. They laughed as they turned red. "Don't be a stranger, Moll."

  "You too," Molly hurried to the chopper. She suddenly didn't want to leave but she knew that staying was out of the question, at the moment.

  Chapter Nine

  The Test Results

  Back in The Mountain, Martha walked into her lab more confused about the Links than ever. Now they were giving birth to their own human clones? It was ridiculous. It was science fiction. Yet, if it was true, it was brilliant. It made perfect sense. It was a brilliant mechanism to get humans across the treacherous, tumultuous times to the other side where they were safe to continue on as they normally would. There were some species of frogs that could be frozen almost solid and then thawed out without any ill effect. An obvious built-in mechanism to get them through the winter. If they couldn't do that, frogs wouldn't exist anymore, right? She sat down at her desk and signed on to her computer. Before she left for New Hope, she gained access to the video feed and wanted to make sure that no one was torturing her Links while she was gone. She watched in horror as the Colonel shut off his wife's oxygen, and waited until she collapsed to enter the chamber and choke the life out of her. She watched as he suddenly flinched away from her but didn't know why. At least he didn't try again. The Link would have quickly adapted, just as the other one had, and killed him. She decided to save the file. It may come in handy later. She had bigger things to take care of at the moment; like trying to figure out if little Jessie was genetically related to the man who adamantly claimed was his son. She was determined to prove it wasn't true.

  It was days and several sleepless nights later that she'd find herself talking to Dr. Dixon again and wondering what the world had come to. "I ran the test over and over until I exhausted the sample. It's irrefutable evidence that the two are genetically father and son. Yet I still have trouble believing it." Martha spoke to her computer as she video-chatted with Dr. Dixon. She looked from him to Dr. Rod, "It shouldn't be possible."

  Dr. Rod tapped the sweat from his forehead with a napkin. "If we are under the assumption that the virus's function was to evolve humans to survive a global event like a prolonged ice age, then can't we assume that there may be a counter function to equalize things after they stabilize?"

  Martha winced as she looked at Dr. Rod and then turned to Dr. Dixon hoping that he had something to add. He looked to be deep in thought for a moment. "Do you think the Links were trying to feed the men to the child?"

  "What!? That's ridiculous!" Martha couldn't believe Dr. Dixon suggested it. She had known him for a long time. It didn't seem like something that he'd say.

  "Martha, think about it. The boy might very well be the first one. Maybe they didn't know what to do with it. Wolves teach their pups to hunt and kill. The Links expected their pups to kill and eat their food." Dr. Dixon shrugged, "This is new territory for all of us, Martha."

  She looked at the two men wondering how in the world they got there. "That's even more terrifying. We have Links giving birth to their human clones and they don't know how to take care of them? And on top of that, the Links will eat anything that's injured. Human women can't have babies... What the fuck are we supposed to do?"

  Dr. Rod wiped the sweat from his brow again. "I can appreciate that you're upset, Dr. Decker, but you don't have to use that language."

  She slammed her hand down on the table, "Suck my dick, Dr. Rod."

  Moments later she was walking swiftly down the hall headed for the elevator. She had to find Colonel Cockran and explain the situation to him. She didn't know how he'd react but she hoped that he took it better than she did. When she found him, she stood before him and explained everything that she had learned. She knew there was a good chance that he already knew everything that she was telling him, so she didn't embellish the facts that could be refuted by his men or any listening device. But she did have to lie about one thing. "As far as I know he took the child and left New Hope with him." She maintained eye contact with him and waited for him to respond. He sat behind his desk and stared at her for an uncomfortable amount of time. She shifted her weight several times and then folded her arms.

  "Congratulations." He leaned back and put his ankle up on his knee.

  "Excuse me?"

  "My men told me you got married," he smiled, "again."

  Martha was irritated. "Sir, did hear what I just told you?"

  Cockran tilted his head to the side and sighed. "So what you're saying is one day my wife could give birth to her clone. And the clone might have some memories of the host?"

  Martha nodded, "Yes."

  "And your plan to experiment with false Links?" Cockran smirked.

  Martha leaned over and put her hands on the desk. The fact that he knew about Melissa was clear evidence that she had been bugged. She looked into his eyes, "You know I hate you, right?"

  "I know you want me." He looked her up and down. Then he slid several files across the table, "Here are your volunteers."

  Martha stood back up and argued, "George, with this new development I don't' think we need to do the experiments. You realize that it may kill the Links, not to mention the volunteers."

  "We're not going to rely on this cockamamie theory. Run the experiments." Cockran looked up at her in a manner that dared her to challenge him. "There are other doctors in this mountain. You can either be part of this and make sure they do it right or I can remove you from the project and risk more lives than necessary. It's up to you."

  Martha stared daggers at him for a moment. "Fine," she said it through
gritted teeth, turned on her heels, and left slamming the door behind her.

  ~ The Tree in the Woods ~

  If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer is a resounding yes. It was early April in the mountains of Colorado, so the weather was quite nice at sixty degrees. Behind the rows and rows of solar panels of New Hope stood the ten-foot electrified security fence. About twenty feet beyond the fence stood trees that had been alive for hundreds of years. Normally those woods were filled with life and the sounds of animals going about their merry lives. That day, there was only dead silence. Not a bird singing. Not a cricket chirping. Suddenly the silence was broken by the defining crack of a tree breaking in half then falling onto the electric fence that surrounded the prison. The tree all but flattened the fence while it sparked and crackled, then finally went quiet. And then they came. A group of Links cautiously came out of the woods. Their behavior was that of timid dogs. Perhaps because they had experience with the fence before. The Link in the lead crawled over the fallen tree on all fours. Its pale face resembled a white, hairless ape with sharp teeth. It's lizard-like body wagged back and forth as it walked. If you looked deeply into its eyes, you could almost see the intelligent person that it used to be. Especially if you realized that the Links felled the tree on purpose.