This is the End 2: The Post-Apocalyptic Box Set (9 Book Collection)

by J. Thorn

  Fr. Owens opened that window. “Mack, this is insane, I can’t even see the trucks. Will one arrow work?”

  “Let’s hope. Keep an eye out, I’ll take care of the back, first.” Mack climbed out the window.

  “Oh, man,” Del said, standing next to Mack. “Makes me feel like having my guitar.”

  “It’s like a rock concert.” Mack stared down to the swarms of Dokes.

  “One I never got to play.”

  “Now’s your chance.” Mack loaded the crossbow. “This thing better work.”

  “You’re the only one who can make it work. Where are you gonna aim?”

  “Does it matter?” Mack asked. “But …” He raised it. “I think I’ll hit that one in the blue hoodie.”

  “Go for it.”

  “Everyone hold on,” Mack warned loudly, then shot. He never saw if he hit Blue Hoodie Doke, because the second the arrow made it into the massive swarm, a huge blue dome formed over them and powered outward in an explosion.

  The blast winds hit Mack; he shielded his face and turned.

  After it stopped, he looked. Not a Doke was in sight.

  Del cheered.

  “Mack.” Alex looked out through the window. “It’s not done.”

  “What?” Mack asked, shocked, and climbed back in. “What’s going on?”

  Alex pointed to the other window. Rick and Fr. Owens were out on that ledge.

  “Don’t tell me.”

  “Still Dokes,” Alex said.

  With a shake of his head in disgust, Mack walked to the other window and climbed out. “You’re kidding me.”

  Rick lowered his head. “I never seen this many. I know I say that all the time, but there’s more each time.”

  “We’ll take care of it,” Mack said.

  “There’s only two arrows,” Rick commented.

  “I know.”

  “Mack,” Fr. Owens said gently. “Two arrows are not a lot.”

  “What choice do we have?” Mack turned his body as he reached for an arrow.

  “Save them,” Fr. Owens said. “My road ends here.”

  “What …”

  “No!” Rick yelled.

  Mack hurriedly spun to see that Fr. Owens stood on the railing. Is he nuts, what is he doing? He reached for him, but it was too late.

  Fr. Owens, arms extended, dove from that balcony.

  Rick cried out, “No!” Mack pulled him back from the railing just as another pulse—the biggest one yet—blasted up and out at them. It was so strong, it sailed Rick and Mack back through the window.

  Still within Mack’s grip, Rick tried to stand, but Mack held him back.

  He fought Mack for a moment, and then the young man just crumbled emotionally into Mack.

  Holding him, Mack lifted his eyes. Everyone was regaining their balance.

  Nicole stepped forward. “What happened? Where’s Fr. Owens?”

  Mack just shook his head.

  They all gasped. Mack saw their expressions. Lost and sad, just like he felt, just like Rick felt.

  It was not what they expected.

  Fr. Owens had cleared the path for the next leg of the journey.

  Dear Garret,

  Sometimes, you know, you have to rethink everything. I’m in one of those moments.

  I think of you all the time, how I miss you so much. How this world is so screwed up, that I’m screwed up.

  I take it one day at a time and count down until I get to see you and be with you. That’s my light at the end of the tunnel.

  After the events of the last few days, I think my tunnel is coming to an end.

  See ya soon.

  Love,

  Dad

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Once clear of the farm area, they pulled over. Even though they hadn’t seen a Doke, Mack wanted to wait until they hit the highway, but it got to a point where he couldn’t wait any longer.

  Rick stood behind the second vehicle looking out.

  Del took lookout on the first, Alex was on watch all the way around, and Mack sutured his own wounds.

  No one’s mood was the best. Rick especially felt the impact of Fr. Owens’ death. Mack expected Del to be shaken—he was—but unlike Rick, he understood.

  For Mack it was mixed emotions. Sadness over losing a friend, envious because Fr. Owens didn’t have to be on the Earth any longer. Not quite sure there was a ‘better place’, but Mack was positive anywhere was better than Earth.

  Final stitch. Final tug. Mack tied and cut the sutures.

  “I don’t know how he does that,” Del commented.

  “I’m injured, not deaf.” Mack stood and walked to the first vehicle.

  “What now?” Alex asked.

  “We go West. Raphael said the city is where the canyons form.”

  Del asked, “Grand Canyons?”

  “Yeah, because if you think about it,” Mack said. “Just in a sense, the prophecy states a city with walls miles thick. Who says they have to be walls but rather a city surrounded by canyons.”

  “It’s so dead out there,” Del said. “Really.”

  Mack shrugged. “Who knows? This is beyond us, Del, so the rules have changed. Just like I think if we keep going, we’re going to hit it, as long as we go West. We have some sort of spiritual GPS. That’s what I think.”

  Alex interjected, “That’s not what I’m thinking.”

  Mack looked at her. “That’s not? Where do you think it is?”

  “Oh.” She waved out her hand. “I agree on the city, but I’m thinking about what is going on? Months and months, we sought out the Dokes, hitting towns. Hitting them. What we saw yesterday and this morning. What’s going on?”

  “I don’t’ know,” Mack shrugged. “I just know that Raphael’s timing was just to prepare us and give us the arrows. Maybe toss a few miracles at us, like bacon and rain, so we believed. I just wish we knew more about the Dokes.”

  At that point, Rick approached. “Me too. Any thoughts.”

  “Yeah.” Del nodded. “You need to tap into that gift of yours.”

  “I haven’t the foggiest.” Rick tossed up his hands.

  Mack laid a hand on Rick’s shoulder. “We’ll work on it.” He then noticed Nicole standing, just staring out. After informing everyone to get in the vehicles, he walked to Nicole.

  Rick was right behind him.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked Nicole.

  “I was just thinking. What if the Dokes are mostly on the west side of the country and this morning was just a preview.”

  “We’ll figure it out.”

  “But we only have two arrows.”

  “Then we have to compensate. There’s a base, not far, we’ll do what we always do, hit it, take what we can, and move on. OK?” Mack noticed Nicole’s head lowered. “What?”

  “I’m scared, Mack.”

  “Yeah, well, deal with it. We have to get Billy, West. As harsh as that sounds, that’s what we do.” Finally, Mack turned and walked to the first vehicle.

  Mouth agape, Nicole gasped and spoke quietly, “Well you don’t have to be such a dick about it.”

  Surprising her, Rick reached around and opened the door. “No worries, Nicole, everything is going to be fine. We’ll be fine.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “I am. One way or another, it will all work out. I’m certain.” Rick smiled. “After all, aren’t we Chosen?”

  ++++

  “I hate this, I really do,” Del said to Rick as they approached the five-story building. “They hit us in the middle of country-bumpkin land. Where did they come from?”

  “Ever think they aren’t from around here?” Rick asked.

  Del laughed. “What? You gonna say God is dropping them from the sky?”

  “No, more like … they’re chasing us.”

  “Chasing us?” Del shook his head with a smile. “I think they killed everything, and like fast-food restaurant when you’re hungry, they smell us.” He paused before enter
ing the building and sniffed. He could smell something cooking, and his stomach twitched in hunger.

  He thought about the afternoon. Hitting the armory and rolling top-speed away from a humongous horde of Dokes. They left them in the dust, but for how long?

  That was when Mack came up with a plan.

  Del wasn’t certain about that plan, but didn’t argue. After all, Mack was the warrior. Maybe he had some sort of instinct.

  He just wished that instinct didn’t involve staying inside a city. Even the small ones, like where they had stopped. Cities were the worst for Dokes. Though they didn’t see any, they were close, Del knew it. Not only would they have to deal with the horde moving their way, but also the ones who would be wandering the street as soon as they sun finished setting.

  “Hey,” Rick called, snapping Del from his thoughts. “You all right?”

  “Yeah.” Del opened the door. “Thanks, let’s go up.” He took one more look out into the empty street and then went inside, securing the door behind them both after they entered.

  ++++

  There really couldn’t be a bedtime—not with constant moving—so when Billy said he was tired, Alex encouraged sleep. She waited until he ate, and Billy did. He consumed a small can of fruit cocktail and a few strips of beef jerky.

  Before he fell asleep he asked, “Why did Fr. Owens do what he did?”

  “Sometimes, for the good of others, a person must make a Sacrifice. He made that Sacrifice, so we could live.”

  “I will do the same if I need to.”

  Alex kissed him and whispered, “So will I.” She lay on her side, cuddling with Billy. The grown-up’s dinner wasn’t done, so she figured she’d hold him until he fell asleep.

  Then she dozed off.

  In her dream, the sun was bright, almost too bright, and big. She shielded her eyes and could actually feel the heat, hotter than it had been.

  Under her bare feet, she felt the scalding ground.

  “You’ll make it,” the male voice said.

  She could see his figure, shadowed by the sun, he was tall, and she stepped to him.

  “A little bit farther,” he told her.

  Alex kept walking until he came into focus. He was a thin black man who wore a gray button-down shirt with the sleeves ripped off, and what looked like dark, ripped jeans. A backpack was by his feet as he stood on the ledge, a wide-open horizon of land painted with shades of brown and orange behind him.

  He waved his hand. “I never made it to you. We missed passing. But I got here. I’m waiting for you. You’re almost here. Maybe I should find you.”

  “Where’s here?” she asked.

  He stepped aside, held out his hand—and showed her.

  ++++

  Mack flipped something on the grill, it looked like burgers, smelled like burgers, but Del didn’t know where the meat came from. Maybe he made Spam burgers, that would be a positive to a pretty bad day.

  The scent was stronger as soon as he stepped on the roof. Mack stood by the grill, Nicole near the edge of the flat roof, watching.

  “Almost done,” Mack said.

  Rick stepped through the door after Del. “Please don’t tell me it’s Spam burgers.”

  “It’s food,” Mack replied, then asked Del, “Did you mail it?”

  “Letter in the mailbox.”

  “Thanks. And is everything else ready?”

  “Yeah. Truck’s there, Humvee and motorcycle.”

  “I have things done on my end.”

  “Mack, are you sure this is gonna work?” Del asked.

  Nicole huffed. “Why do you doubt Mack now?”

  “I’m not.” Del shrugged. “I’m just asking if Mack thinks this is gonna work.”

  “I’m hopeful,” Mack said. “Not positive, does that help?”

  “No,” Del snapped. “We’re sitting ducks, aren’t we? No, wait … you’re gonna wait until they all get here and do a Fr. Owens right into them.”

  Mack turned from his grilling. “No. I have no intention of dying until I see this thing through. We have inherited the Earth to clean. I figure at their pace, we have about six hours until they get here. You guys head out through the sewer system when they hit. I’ll bait them in a new direction.”

  “Then blow them up?”

  “Yes, then blow them up.”

  “Why are they hitting in the day now?” Del tossed out his hands. “I don’t get it. I really don’t.”

  “They are getting desperate,” Rick clarified.

  Everyone looked at him.

  Rick continued, “They closer we get to finding that city, the more they need to stop us. Like the child is somehow their salvation, too.”

  “Maybe he is,” Del said.

  “Nah.” Rick shook his head. “He’s the Earth’s damnation if he dies, everything else will too.”

  Mack huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “You totally went from stoner-kid to prophet. It’s freaky.”

  “I know right, it’s weird,” Rick said. “I can see them in my mind.”

  Nicole questioned from across the room, “Can you see them now? City look clear?”

  “Yes.” Rick nodded. “Just like I told Mack, they are moving in. But that’s not all. They’re everywhere. North, south, east, west. They’re chasing us. But, guys, today is nothing compared to what lies ahead.”

  “What lies ahead?” Mack asked.

  “They’re waiting on us.”

  “What?” Del laughed. “We don’t even know where we’re going.”

  Suddenly, Alex’s voice entered on to that roof, “I do.” She walked on the roof, a slumbering Billy resting on her shoulders, his legs held up on her hips.

  Del rushed over. “Is he OK?”

  “Yes,” Alex replied, and handed Billy to Del. “I didn’t want to leave him downstairs. I had to tell you. I know where we have to go.”

  Mack stepped to her. “How?”

  “I had a dream. A vivid one. I saw it.” Her eyes shifted. “I saw it. Joshua told me.”

  Mack twitched his head. “Who is Joshua?”

  “The man in my dreams, I saw him, he talked to me, he told me. He looked like Will Smith.”

  Mack turned away.

  “No, Mack,” Alex argued.

  Del asked, “You dreamt of Will Smith? Which makes sense because he was the next Charlton Heston with all his future movies. But now we’re gonna follow this dream?”

  “Stop it,” Alex snapped. “I said he looked like Will Smith. His name is Joshua and he’s one of us.”

  Mack shook his head. “What do you mean one of us?”

  “Seven,” Alex stated. “Raphael said there were seven on the cleanup crew. Did any of you think that since Billy is the Blessed, so why would he be part of the cleanup crew? He isn’t. There’s one more of us. Joshua. He said we missed the passing. We were supposed to meet up and find him, but we went off course. He’s there, waiting. He even said he might backtrack to find us.”

  Rick held up his hand. “This was all a dream?”

  Mack’s heavy exhale was loud. “I can’t dismiss this.”

  Alex kept her eyes on Mack. “You looked like you didn’t believe me a second ago.”

  “I was a little freaked by the dream thing,” Mack said. “I dreamt of my father last night, and he woke me up and said there was trouble. There was. So … I’m gonna believe this. Did you see the city, Alex?”

  Alex nodded. “A glimpse, it really did rise up. Before hand, Joshua said it was a gas-station town.”

  Del asked, “How did he find it?”

  “Because that’s his gift. He doesn’t know how he reached me through the dream. His gift is direction. He knew from the get-go where he had to go. He knew we had the Key, he knew we had Billy, so he just waited there. Raphael visited him too, but before us.”

  “You know …” Del tossed out his hand. “For a God plan, this has really gone asunder. I would have thought God would have thought this out a little better.”

&nb
sp; “Free will,” Mack retorted. “We used that free will to get off the beaten path, remember, that’s where Raphael found us.”

  “One more thing,” Alex said to Mack, “Joshua said you will know what to bring. The arrows aren’t enough. That’s all I got. Then I woke up.”

  “OK.” Mack nodded. “I don’t know what that is, but maybe instinct will kick in.”

  “Where?” Del asked. “Where are we going, please tell me you have specifics, because we have maps.”

  “Marble Canyon, Arizona,” Alex answered.

  Del clapped his hands together once. “We have a direction. Now we can focus.”

  “After …” Rick spoke almost in a daze and walked to the edge of the roof … “We focus on tomorrow. Because tomorrow will be the worst we have faced.” He looked out to the town then back over his shoulder with a solemn look. “And I’m scared.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  There was something that quivered through Mack when Rick told him that it was time. The Dokes were coming. Mack knew it was gonna happen, he just thought he had another hour. Everything was ready though, and everything was planned.

  The way that the Dokes moved in, there was really only one way out and Mack had thought of that.

  He and the others just had to move a little faster.

  The truck and Humvee were situated a half mile out of the city in two different locations. The motorcycle was inside the bank vault of the First National Bank on Seventh Avenue.

  Rick had the predawn watch on the roof of the bank, and just as the sun lifted, he radioed to Mack that they were coming.

  Plan in motion.

  From the fifth floor, they hurried down to the street level.

  They had stayed overnight on Sixth Street. The bank was exactly center of the small city.

  The manhole covers in two locations had been removed. One on Sixth, the other on Helm.

  The plan was they would exit the building. Del would descend into the sewer system from Sixth Street. Once he made sure it was all clear, Alex and Billy would go down and Del would come topside and wait a few minutes before following them, making sure. Like Rick and Nicole, the Dokes were all lured into the city.