Monsters of the Apocalypse (17 page)

Miho walked down
the street, only occasionally glancing up from her tablet to see where she was
going. She barely managed to stop before colliding with Sage Carnegie who
stood in the middle of the street. The men to either side of him were
large and solid. Miho sighed slightly as she slid her tablet away and
looked up at Sage Carnegie who was now smiling in front of her.

"Good
evening, Ms. Walker. What on earth would bring you out of the
Presidential Compound at such a late hour?"

"I'm
going to visit…"

"Dr.
Taggert. The code specialist. Of course."

"Yes, I
imagine your spy, the maid, told you that, Sage. Excuse me, you're in my
way."

"Oh are
we? I apologize, no harm intended I assure you. Though, since I do
have you here, perhaps you could do me a favor, Ms. Walker?"

"What?"

"I
would like to see that tablet that you are so often typing on. I can just
tell that you're the sort of assistant who records everything for her boss,
don't you?"

Miho stared
ahead with her eyes unblinking.

"Look,
Ms. Walker, you seem a bright and capable woman. Clearly you must see
what's happening with your boss? October has always been a fool, of
course. Since childhood I'm afraid my nephew has always been… weak.
But, up until now, he's known his place and how to follow orders. There's
nothing more dangerous, Ms. Walker, I assure you, than a fool in power with no
oversight."

"And
you wish to be that oversight?"

"Yes,
me and the rest of the Founders that is."

"You're
an idiot just like your nephew, so I see no benefit in helping you."

The old man
drew back at the insult, but quickly regained his smile in front of the tiny
woman.

"I see
that the large tree of a man that watches over you didn't escort you
tonight. What's his name? Agent Flores, right?"

"He's
running an errand for me," Miho said without emotion.

"You
should have let him run this one. I always bring my security guards with
me. Given, we should be safe on The Island, but it never hurts to have a
trained killer with you, hm?"

Miho simply
stared at the two large men with Sage Carnegie, who shifted disconcertingly
under her ceaseless gaze.

"You
are a striking woman, so exotic. What are you exactly? One parent
is Asian I'd guess?"

"My
mother was Korean. My father is Jewish."

"Indeed?
Lovely combination it appears. I would be so fascinated to see what such
an exotic mix would do when mixed with that of an Anglo-Saxon like
myself. Do you think the child would be pretty?"

"Most
of your children are ugly despite the attractive wives you've bought over the
years. Ugliness is a family characteristic that seems to be
dominant."

The old man
moved closer and put his hand softly around her throat.

"Well
let's find out then shall we?"

"No.
I think I'll just kill all of you instead, Mr. Carnegie"

In the dark
of the street, Miho became a black swirling blur with only the silver edge of
her Eunjangdo knife catching the moonlight. The antique Korean steel of
the blade was quickly covered with blood as she opened main arteries on the
three men with three precise motions. The men fell to the ground,
confused looks on their dead faces. She took a breath as the blood on the
knife dripped down into the puddle that was slowly spreading outward from the
three corpses. Miho bent over and wiped the blood off the blade with the
old man's coat and then slid it back into the sheath that was hidden in her
sleeve.

Miho
thoughtlessly pushed a stray hair back into place as she walked down the
street, her tablet held firm in her steady hand as she moved on to her next
appointment.

“This is the pickup spot,” Arian
said dropping the soldier on the ground.

“Help me turn him over so we can
take his pants off,” Jacob said as he pulled out a syringe.

“Why?”

“They’re going to review him upon
his return. The place their least likely to look for any spots, also
happens to be the part of the body that a young man like this is least likely
to complain about feeling irritation. So, that’s where we inject.”

Arian helped Jacob take off the
man's pants and turn him over. Jacob separated the man's cheeks.

“Kind of wish there was another
place.”

“Me too, Arian, but that’s the
thing about a war: you have to do unpleasant things.”

“Jacob...”

Jacob stopped, the needle a
millimeter from the skin, and looked up at Arian.

“Yes, Arian?”

“Are you sure about this?
If you're wrong...”

“If I’m wrong then you are an
accessory to the death of what's left of mankind. Are you having doubts,
Arian?”

“We've always gone against the
Founders and their kind. We've always defended mankind. We've never
put innocent people at risk. Are you sure, Jacob?”

“No. I’m not. What I
am sure of is that the only reason to think mankind is worth saving, in a
larger, good for the world sense, is if you’re a part of it. Which we’re
not. Once you accept that, you’ll feel better.”

Jacob pushed down the plunger on
the syringe as Arian looked on uncertainly.

When Nestor opened his eyes the
room was still almost pitch black. It took him a moment to realize that
the doorway was in fact still open, but what was standing in the doorway was so
big that nothing but two pinholes of light slipped in. Nestor squinted at
the big shape in the doorway and made out the silhouette of a human hand,
rather than a claw. It was a man, a giant one, but a man. The
silhouette was perfectly still and made no sound. Nestor guessed the man
was waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Nestor wondered at
the man’s calm patience. Nestor wondered why the man didn’t reach for a
light switch or say a word.

Finally, with heavy, even steps,
the man moved down the stairs into the darkness. Nestor felt a large hand
gently touching his face. It slowly moved down to his mouth and removed
the gag.

“Thanks. Who are you?”

“I can’t say,” the man whispered.

“Why don’t you turn on the lights?”

“I can’t let you see me
yet. Can you promise to keep your eyes closed when I tell you to?” the
whisper was almost inaudible.

“Can you promise I’ll live long
enough to open them?”

“No, that I can’t do, Nestor,
that’s God’s Will. But, I promise we won’t live through the hour if you
don’t.”

Nestor took a moment to think
about this.

“My eyes are closed on your
word.”

“Thank you.”

Nestor felt the ropes from his
wrists come loose.

“The man who was keeping me
here? The one who tied me down?”

“He’s dead.”

Nestor smiled in the darkness.

“It’s for the best.”

The man put his arms underneath
Nestor’s back and legs.

“That was very clever.
Close your eyes, Mr. Bravo.”

Nestor then felt himself lifted
up and carried into the light that burned red against the back of his
eyelids. He heard the footsteps of the man and then the opening of a car
door. He was laid gently down in the back seat.

"I'm sorry about this, but,
now I'm going to put a blindfold on you. It's a long drive and you can't
be expected to keep your eyes closed for so long. I'm afraid we'll have
to go off road, so it won't be a smooth drive, but try and sleep, you look like
you need it."

Nestor just grunted and then for
a long time listened to nothing but the sound of the tires passing from road to
dirt and then back. Once the car had stopped there was the sound of
conversation, though Nestor couldn't make out any words. Finally he was
once again gently lifted
and carried. He was placed in a chair and the blindfold was
removed. After so long in the dark, the light was blinding and he
couldn’t see where he was. There was a sensation of a needle hitting the
vein in his arm and then he passed out.

He woke to a voice.

“Hold still, this will only take
a second.”

Nestor focused on the sting that
enveloped his wrists as his vision returned. He saw that it was a young
man with bright blonde hair and blue eyes that was pouring alcohol on the cuts
on his wrists. It made his lip curl, but he didn’t make a sound.
The young man, who Nestor noticed to be small and delicate in build, spread
some sort of ointment on the wounds and then wrapped them in bandages.
The young man smiled and then left the room. Nestor looked over at the
window.

“Don’t go near that window.”

Nestor turned and looked at a
giant man who sat in the far corner of the room, his chair leaned back against
the wall. The giant man had piercing blue eyes and short hair the same
bright blonde as the young man's. His voice was the one that had spoken
to him in the dark. The man studied a piece of paper in his hand with a
grim look on his face.

“Why not?”

“For the moment, because I saved
your life and I’m asking you not to.”

“For the moment that’s good
enough. How come I’m allowed to look at you now?”

“This here," the man held up
the piece of paper he'd been reading, "is a list of what’s wrong with
you. While you were under, we did tests. You’re not a well man,
Nestor.”

“You felt you had a right to read
my results? You don’t believe in privacy?”

At this the man smiled and nodded
his head.

“How do you think everyone keeps
finding you, Nestor? In the mall? In that basement? Why do
you think that all of the sudden you can’t hide anymore? You must have
suspicions.”

Nestor didn’t say anything.
He just stared at the man’s grin.

“Do you have a cigarette?”

“No, Nestor, I don't."

"Who are you?"

"Call me Bragg. I'm
the leader of the human resistance.”

Caleb and the Indian walked
through the woods together. The Indian's balance seemed unsteady as they walked
and they had to stop every few minutes to rest. The Indian sweated
constantly, his fever peaking impossibly high. Caleb stayed with the
Indian through the long slow walk until they stopped at the tree line.
Here the two men sat down and looked out on the suburban sprawl that stretched
endlessly to the horizon.

"Do you have any sort of
survival skills, Caleb?"

"Does making grilled cheese
count?"

The Indian laughed and held out a
hand that was more claw than hand at this point. Caleb shook it.

"I like you, Caleb.
Don't do anything stupid and end up my dinner."

"I don't want to be eaten by
a mutant cannibal, but if I'm gonna be, I hope you're the mutant cannibal who
eats me."

The Indian left, walking
east. Caleb watched him until he had disappeared and then headed
west. He stopped after an hour, sat down and opened the bag that he'd
packed for himself. He pulled out the pistol the Indian had given
him. The Indian had called it an "H and K", which didn't mean
anything to Caleb, but Caleb had wanted to seem cool so he'd acted like he knew
all about it. He had regrets about that now. He closed an eye and
took a bead on a mailbox just down the road. He squeezed the trigger, but
nothing happened. He opened his eye and studied the gun. He pushed
a button on the side of the gun and the magazine fell out and landed in his
lap.

"Shit."

Caleb was eating his lunch while
attempting to reinsert the magazine when a mutant came into view. The
mutant's teeth were brown with dried blood and his clothes were tattered and
dirty. The mutant's eyes were bloodshot and red. Caleb looked back
down at the magazine and tried again to shove it into the pistol. He
could hear the breath of the mutant as it got closer.

With a snap the magazine clicked
into place and Caleb pointed the gun at the mutant who growled and charged
forward. Caleb squeezed the trigger and again nothing happened.

"Really?!" he screamed
at the gun as the mutant, now in full sprint, reached his claws out to the
sides with an inhuman growl. Caleb pulled at the trigger again and there
was a huge explosion of dirt and blood that knocked Caleb backwards.
Caleb's ears rang from the explosion, but he could make out the sound of
gasping and moans as he wiped the warm blood from his face.

As the dust settled and he
managed to get his legs beneath him, Caleb found himself miraculously in one
piece. He was covered in the blood of the mutant who now lay in front of
him, torn apart by the explosion, but still alive.

"Why…" the mutant
hissed. "Why would you eat lunch next to a mine?"

"I didn't know there was a
mine here," Caleb said with shock.

"You humans put them all
over. God it hurts," the mutant reached down to the bloody malformed
mass that was left where his legs had been and whined. "Mercy
please… please."

Caleb took a moment to realize
what this meant, but then nodded and searched for his gun. He found it a
few feet away under a light dusting of dirt and blood. He brought it over
to the mutant and pointed it at his head. He closed his eyes and squeezed
the trigger. Nothing happened.

"The safety… no… the other
side… the button on the other side…"

"Oh! This one! I
kept pushing the other one which releases the magazine," Caleb laughed.

"You're an idiot… please… it
hurts so much… my eye, shoot me in the eye…"

Caleb turned off the safety and
shot the mutant in the eye. The mutant went limp.

"Sorry! I mean… well…
sorry about the mine. Though, you were trying to kill… aw hell, you're
dead anyway."

Caleb sat down and waited for his
hands and legs to stop shaking and for his stomach to settle. While he
sat there, Caleb came to the realization that he was going to die very soon.