Managing the Apocalypse

by C. J. Boyle

  Kera laughed, "Mitch."

  He suddenly got to his feet and walked to the opposite wall. He put his hands on top of it and looked over. "I'm thinking about taking Jessie and leaving, Kera."

  His words hit her like a ton of bricks. She couldn't imagine why anyone would want to leave New Hope, considering the alternative. And he had Jessie to think about. "What? Why?"

  Mitchell became distant, "It would be better to show you."

  Kera followed Mitchell to his apartment. It was dark out and, even though she felt like she could take care of herself since all this Link business started, she was kind of afraid of the dark. She hooked her arm around his elbow as they walked. Her arm pounded and hurt but she tried not to think about it. When they arrived at his door, he opened it and they walked inside. Carl and a boy around five were on the couch watching a movie on a laptop computer.

  When Carl noticed that Mitchell had just walked in with Kera he stood up. "Uh oh. I'd better go."

  Kera met him at the door, "Carl, please don't tell Brody that I'm here."

  Carl gave her a disappointed look, "Brody is probably sleeping by now. I'm not going to wake him up to tell him where you are." He opened the door, "But if he wakes up and asks me, I won't lie." He walked out closing the door behind him.

  Kera walked up to the boy slowly. She felt that she knew who it was, but she needed confirmation. "Who's this?"

  Mitchell sat down next to the boy. "This is Jessie."

  Jessie was still focused on the movie he was watching. The last time she saw him was weeks ago but there was no way he could have grown that much in such a short amount of time.

  "Hi, Jessie. Remember me?" Kera smiled but she didn't know what to expect.

  Jessie looked up from his movie only long enough to acknowledge her. "Hi, Auntie Kera."

  Kera looked at Mitchell, expecting him to fill her in. He gestured at Jessie. "Doc says he's physically about five years old. He's growing about a year every month." He walked into the kitchenette and she followed him. He grabbed a couple of beers out of the fridge and offered her one but she shook her head.

  It was amazing. She couldn't believe it was happening. "Why didn't you tell me? You obviously told Carl."

  Mitchell shrugged, "I don't know how people will react to a... what? Cloned kid that grows one human year every month? And I didn't tell Carl. He found out because he dropped by unannounced one day and decided to make himself comfortable."

  "How's he doing?" Kera looked at Jessie concerned.

  "He seems to learn very quickly. Almost like all of it is there already and we're waking it up. He eats almost constantly." Mitchell looked at his son sadly. He lowered his voice, "He's mine but he's not mine, ya know?"

  Kera nodded. If she found Charlie's clone/offspring, how was she going to feel about it? She went out looking for him more and more ever since she found out about the possibility but they haven't found any more babies or toddlers all alone out there. This new development was interesting. "Maybe he'll stop growing when he reaches adulthood."

  "That's what the Doc thinks. Otherwise, he'd only live about five years. That's if he's lucky." Mitchell finished off his beer. "What do you think?"

  "I think that eventually, we will see more of them. And when that happens, the people will have to deal with it. You should stay." She crossed her arms, "Besides, where would I get my pot?" They both laughed, "Mitchell, just promise me that you won't just disappear on me, okay? I need you to tell me first, okay?"

  Mitchell nodded, "Okay." They hugged.

  Kera let herself out. She wasn't sure whether or not Brody was expecting her that night or not. They spent almost every night together for the last few months. The more she got to know him the more she liked about him. Every time she thought of him, her heart skipped a beat. She heard people say that before about the person they loved, but she always thought it was just a foolish thing that foolish people said. She didn't expect that it might be true. When she got to his room she sat down on the bed to take her shoes off.

  Brody woke up and turned towards her. "I'd ask you where you were," he made a loud sniffing sound, "but since you reek of pot, I already know."

  "You make me feel like I'm doing something wrong by hanging out with him." Kera tried to be honest.

  Brody opened his hands, "Then maybe you shouldn't be hanging out with him."

  "Brody, I know you don't like Mitchell, but please don't ask me to choose between you two. I mean, I need you both for very different reasons." Kera looked at Brody's face. It was illuminated by moonlight that shined through the curtains in the window. He didn't look too happy.

  "You need him?" Brody fixated on that one word.

  Kera suddenly felt awkward and uncomfortable, "Wait. I mean, like I said... I need you both for different reasons." She felt hot and started to sweat, "But you know, if you made me choose between you two, I'd obviously choose you. I wouldn't like it, but I'd choose you." She nervously rambled, "I mean, he's just my friend. You, you're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, you know?" She swallowed hard and covered her eyes. "Oh God, I'm saying this all wrong!"

  Brody suddenly leaned in and kissed her. He let his lips linger on hers for a few moments before pulling away and putting his forehead to hers like he did after their first kiss. "Now, what are you trying to say?"

  She backed away and put her hand on the side of his face. She blinked a tear out of her eye and then cleared her throat. She felt incredibly vulnerable but she had to say it. "I love you, Brody Johnson."

  Brody smiled broadly, "Okay, thanks." He laid back down on his pillow and made himself comfortable. He closed his eyes as if he was trying to go back to sleep.

  Kera's mouth dropped open, "Okay, thanks?" She repeated him. He had to be joking, right?

  Brody suddenly grabbed her and pulled her to him. He kissed her passionately. "I love you too, Kera Warren."

  ~ The Rose ~

  Dr. Wallace sat in the infirmary, holding a sleeping baby. He didn't get any sleep all night. He gazed down at her rosy little cheeks and watched her breathe. A little angel. He may have been tired but he was completely in love with the tot. Kera walked in ready to have a talk with her Uncle. She knew she had been taking him for granted for years and never bothered to stop and say thank you to the man who has always had her back. Instead, she saw her father figure cuddling with the cutest little baby she ever set eyes on. Considering recent events, seeing a baby was like seeing a unicorn or perhaps a dinosaur. Babies were extinct. He barely looked up when she walked in, but she knew that her presence registered with him.

  Her voice was soft and sounded like a song. "Ohhh, where'd you get that beautiful baby?"

  "I cut it out of a dead Link last night," he didn't bother coloring the details for her. "There were others. This one is the only one I could save."

  She sat down hard in a chair, "We killed babies?"

  "We killed babies." He confirmed, never looking away from the baby in his arms. He finally looked at Kera and shook his head. He was visibly upset. "Kera, I'm so sorry about everything I said to you yesterday. I was just..." He sighed, "Frustrated."

  She looked at her Uncle. He was obviously very tired and emotional. She wanted to comfort him, but she was fighting with her own emotions about the fact that she may have killed a baby. It didn't matter that killing babies wasn't her intention. She started to become aware of the amount of time that had passed. She decided to push her feelings away and focus on someone else for a change. "Don't apologize. You needed to get it out." She shrugged, "I've been terrible."

  The baby cooed and moved a little. "She was up all night crying, feeding, pooping...feeding, pooping, crying. She finally fell asleep." Kera could tell he loved the baby girl already. "Kera, do you know how I became your godfather? You and Julie?"

  "You and my dad were friends and he asked you to be our godfather. And he died." Kera half shook her head and rolled her eyes. "And mom drank herself stupid."

  "Do you
remember how he died?"

  Kera was already tired of the conversation. She didn't want to rehash old wounds. "He died during surgery."

  He nodded, "Have you ever wondered why I seemed to take my godfather duties to the extreme?" Kera thought about the question for a moment, but she didn't answer. He continued, "Your sister, Julie, seemed to do okay. You were the opposite. You were self-destructive right from the start." Kera wanted to get up and run away. She didn't want to hear about how she destroyed her life, probably on purpose. "It was my fault," he added.

  Kera had been staring off into space, but when he said those words, she snapped out of it. "What?"

  "Your father's death. It was my fault. He died because of me." He put the baby's head on his shoulder and rubbed her back. "You see, I needed a liver. Your dad was my best friend." His face turned red. "What were the odds that your best friend would be a perfect match? It was like one in a million." He chuckled, "Did you know that a liver can regenerate? So, you can donate part of your liver to someone and each piece would regenerate and, ideally, you'd both be okay."

  "But dad wasn't." Kera wiped away a tear. She hoped she could hold back a waterfall.

  "It was my fault. You and your sister grew up without parents because of me. So, I tried my best to take care of you both," tears streamed down his face, "I failed you, Kera, I failed you. And I'm sorry for that."

  She struggled to hold back her own tears. Watching him cry was just too much for her. She'd rather set a puppy on fire. She looked at the wall and quickly blew air out of her mouth. "You can't blame yourself for how my life turned out, Uncle Shawn," She cleared her throat, "I made my own choices. If I had divorced my abusive husband, my son wouldn't have snapped and killed him, and I wouldn't have been convicted of murder." She stood up and leaned against the wall. She gestured towards him, "and you wouldn't be a prison doctor."

  "And you would have been killed by your son, instead of Julie. And you wouldn't have met Brody. And I'd be... " He thought for a moment.

  "In the Mountain with Martha. You'd be fine." She smiled and crossed the room to him. "Gimme." She bent down to take the baby from him and he carefully handed her over. "I'll take care of her while you get some sleep."

  "Thanks, Kera." He got up and started to walk past her, but Kera stopped him to give him half a hug and kissed him on the cheek.

  "I love you, Uncle Shawn. I hope you know that. I'm sorry I wrecked your life." Kera tried to smile like it was a joke.

  He held her hand for a moment and squeezed. "You didn't wreck my life, Kera. I'm sorry if I made you feel that way." He kissed her on the forehead, "And I love you too, kiddo."

  * * *

  Love is one of those things that can be beautiful, strange, and terrible. Sometimes it lasts for only a short while and sometimes it lasts forever. It can lift you up and give you purpose, and when it is lost, it can produce a hole in your heart that nothing and no one can fill. To Kera, love was all of those things. Before she met Brody, the only man that she had ever been in love with had been Trevor. He was wonderful and charming at first, and she had been love-struck from the beginning. When she looked back on her relationship with him, she got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Not because of her last vision of him, but because of the way he was. He was wonderful when he wanted to be and it would make her love him and want to be with him. She would be in heaven and then suddenly he would change. Brody once told her that loving her was like a rollercoaster ride. That's what it was like to be in love with Trevor. There were extreme highs and impossible lows. She hoped that Brody didn't feel that way about her anymore because that isn't how love should be. It isn't how love should feel. Before him, she felt that the only true love was that of a mother with her child. Ever since the day he was born, Charlie had been the love of her life.

  She looked down at the baby in her arms and felt that need to protect her. She knew that most humans would feel the exact same need for any child. She couldn't help thinking of Charlie and the possibility that he might have a mini-clone that he feels the same need to protect and take care of. Brody was her hero. He took her to Julie's home several times to look for her son or her 'grandson.' That was the place Charlie knew as home and she hoped that meant that was where he would nest. There was evidence of more Link intrusion and it looked like the place had been raided, but they never encountered any Links while they were there.

  Kera thought about when Mitchell agreed to answer questions on a video chat with Martha and some doctor in London. Of course, it was all about Jessie. Mitchell shared everything that he knew willingly, with the understanding that Jessie would be protected from harm. Jessie was growing incredibly fast, but he also learned to walk while being taken care of by Links. He was about the age of two when he was found and somehow had already been speaking a few words of English. Mitchell explained that it seemed like Jessie already knew some things as if it was preprogrammed into him and that, even though the boy looked exactly like Jessie, it definitely wasn't him. The boy didn't remember anything about Jessie's life except the big emotional things like his parents' faces or an irrational fear of balloons. Mitchell laughed while he told them a story about how he would blow up a balloon and pretend to tie it. Each time, Jessie would trust his father and take the balloon and then it would make that awful noise and launch out of his hands. He would shriek in utter terror and Mitchell, apparently, would laugh until he cried. Everyone agreed that was horrible, but Mitchell didn't seem to know why.

  Martha believed that the quick growth and the implanted memories were to ensure survival. Even though Shoppers and Raiders had been to Denver several dozen times since they brought Jessie home, there had been no reports of seeing more very young, naked and dirty children. Dr. Dixon said that there had been reports of children being born to Links in Brazil and Africa. Both doctors agreed that it must be because of the warm climate and that perhaps Jessie's winter birth was a fluke. Dr. Dixon and Martha both expressed deep concern over the impact it would make on young human minds to be raised by monsters. such as the Links. But it would be impossible to rescue them all.

  Kera suddenly realized that someone was watching her. When she looked up, she was pleased to see that it was Brody. He was looking at them both with the biggest smile on his face. "Who's this?"

  She looked at the rosy-cheeked girl and thought that Rose would be the perfect name for her until the child remembered her own. Especially because Rose passed away just days before. "I was thinking we could call her Rose for now." She got up and placed the baby in the doctor's makeshift bassinet. It was nothing more than a box with some folded up sheets inside.

  Brody put his hand on Kera's back and looked down at the baby. "The name certainly fits. Look at those rosy cheeks of hers." He spoke softly so that he wouldn't wake the baby up.

  Kera looked up at him. She had been in that room with Rose thinking about how great Brody was for a long time. Her love for him had to be radiating out of her like a wave. She looked over at the chair, "Sit down, Brody."

  He frowned and shook his head, "What?" He moved over to the chair even though he was confused.

  She smiled, "Just sit down."

  Brody finally obliged and sat down. He looked up at her, waiting for her to say or do something. She sat down on his lap with both legs out to one side. She put her hand on the side of his face and rubbed her thumb back and forth on his chin and looked him in the eyes, "I love you so much."

  He chuckled softly, "You scared me for a minute." He put his arms around her as they kissed. She was overcome with emotion and hugged his neck tight. She just wanted to be in that spot, right there, where she was physically and emotionally, forever.

  Chapter Ten

  The Release

  Several weeks had passed since New Hope had taken charge of baby Rose. The Links that had been guests of The Mountain remained childless and were of no real use to Martha anymore. She came to the conclusion that they probably weren't going to reproduce in captivity. She decide
d that the best course of action would be to put GPS chips in them and set at least half of them free. The specialized chips would not only be able to tell Martha where they were, but they would also be able to tell her whether or not they were alive. She had them put on a truck and shipped to Denver in the hopes that they would show them where the bulk of the Links were nesting. She even outfitted a few of them with cameras so their behavior could be observed.

  Her False Link experiments were quite successful. Twelve of the women who received bone marrow transplants from Links transformed into what she now simply referred to as Flinks. All of the women went through in vitro fertilization and four of them were pregnant. This was very good news because human women would now be able to have their own children. But what would they look like? Would they be human or Flink? Not that any of it was necessary. The world would soon be overrun with children who needed to be guided into adulthood. Of course, if the trend held true, in two years there would be a lot of very stupid adults out there just trying to find food. And there was still a very important question that had yet to be answered. How many clones could one Link produce? One? A dozen? This was still new to all of them. She needed to get her hands on a few of those children. Especially because Cockran seemed to believe that they would eventually change into Links and start the vicious killing cycle all over again.