The Earth's End

by Tara Brown

  She rushes up some stairs to the second floor. I lose her as I slowly climb, taking it all in.

  The shadows of the corridors and stairwell are creepy, maybe haunted by the silent screams of the people trapped in their bodies.

  Where Lee’s heart sounds calm, my own heartbeat makes attempts at racing, but the bots lower it, giving me a shiver. Light floods the top of the wide, winding stone staircase as the first part of this level is open and airy.

  The floors are plywood and not all the windows are in, so the warmth of summer penetrates the space.

  Lee strolls casually, so comfortably, to where he is.

  Liam.

  Seeing him again almost causes a reaction in me but I fight to control it.

  Part of the problem is he’s so damned hot, he draws the eye. He reminds me of a model, leaning on the thick stone wall and staring out an open space where a window will likely go. He’s so different from everyone else. He feels different. He hums in a way that draws me to him, not me but my body. My bots. They want to be near him, as if they have chosen him as our leader, and I have no say in it.

  But why him?

  He doesn't appear to be anything more than a smoke show in his early twenties. He’s a regular guy in a white tee shirt and light denim jeans. His dark hair is lighter than it was before and his skin is more tanned, no doubt from a summer here, spent building this place.

  But technically he’s just a dude.

  So why him?

  His eyes remain on the grounds below, but he speaks to me, “I have missed you, Lou.”

  “Why, Liam? You don’t even know me.” I don’t mince words with him. There is no point. I suspect he’s smarter than all of us, and maybe that’s why the bots have chosen him. Leah’s description of him makes him sound like he’s a genius, and he likely was before the bots ever came along. Perhaps the combination is perfect.

  “Because you’re like me,” his tone softens suggesting he isn’t happy about that. In fact, he sounds the opposite. As if maybe he feels sorry for us both. “Leave us please,” he says and Lee nods, turning on her heel and stalking away, annoyed perhaps. There’s displeasure in her eyes as they flicker to mine as she walks past me. Her footsteps on the stairs are noisier going down than they were coming up.

  “I’m not like you,” I defend myself, taking a few steps toward him across the expansive room, noting the large hallway being framed to the right, leading somewhere with doorways off it.

  “You are.” He turns and smiles at me and something inside pulls me forward more. “You’re special.”

  “I don't know about that.” He might be right. I might be different, but I haven’t told anyone about sucking the other bots into me. I think it’s why my lights glow a little brighter than everyone else’s. “What’s so special about you?” I ask, genuinely curious why he thinks he’s fit to be king of the undead. “Why are the bots so convinced you’re the rightful leader?”

  “Unwavering confidence in myself, my abilities.” He pushes off the wall and walks to me, taking long strides until he’s right in front of me, looming over me. “Intelligence, beyond what the bots gave us. The ability to read people. The ability to act with no emotional ties to anything trivial like guilt. I see what the greater good is without bias. My connection to my bots is exceptional and I’m accepting of the knowledge they’re trying to bestow on me. I remain humble, as their servant. Together we’re able to see the bigger picture and do what is necessary.” He scowls as his eyes lock on mine, holding them hostage. “There are too many reasons I think I’m special. I think my whole life has been bringing me to this moment. And I think together we can ensure the world will never get to where it was when it ended. Never again.” He’s being honest, he believes this. He’s not tooting his own horn; he’s genuinely convinced he’s mankind’s greatest chance at survival. “Do you like the castle?”

  “It’s weird,” I answer too quickly, his words still ringing in my ears. The bots believe them too, I can feel that. It’s not the first time this has happened with him.

  “Weird?” The answer baffles him. “How?”

  “You don't think it’s weird that you’re building a giant castle in Canada in the middle of a field using the biters?” I point over my shoulder at the wall as if the biters are right there. “You don't see that if you said that sentence before the world ended, you’d think it was about some dark fantasy novel?” I can’t look away. I’m held hostage by his eyes.

  “I guess.” He smiles and too many things in me light up. “Why do your eyes glow, Lou? No one else’s eyes glow, just yours. Not even mine.”

  I blink, wondering if they’re glowing now. “Why don't yours, if you’re so special?” I too crack a grin, but I mean for him to take offense to it.

  He doesn't answer, just takes my hand in his and traps it beneath the other, sandwiched. He stares at me as he gently cups my hand between his. My fingers grow warm and my body tightens.

  “You and I are meant to be together and everything in our lives has brought us to this moment. This crescendo. And we will rule this world together.” It’s the most insane thing I’ve ever heard.

  “What—what are you talking about?” I snatch my hand from him, turning and taking a step back. “I still have a boyfriend and you don't even know me.” My back hits the wall behind me.

  “I told you before, I don’t care about him.” He takes advantage of my inability to move and steps into my personal bubble, hovering over me like a bad cloud. “And we don't need to know one another. We hum the same. We glow brighter than anyone else. We are the same. Your eyes glowing is a sign that you are meant to be my queen.” His words are as intense as his stare, and both soften at the same time. “Give me a day to prove to you that we are meant to be together. Please.” He almost begs. “Just one day. And if you don't feel it, I’ll let you and your friends go.”

  “I came here to take Lee home and stop you from changing all the humans. That’s all. I don't care if you want to live up here in the middle of nowhere and call yourself king. I don't care about how you rule the world. I just want to live in my small corner of it, free of this craziness.” I hold my own but deep inside I know against him I might not be able to. “I also want you to leave the people alone. Don't go after the normal people. Just let them live on their own.”

  “Why would I do that?” He doesn't step back or move at all. He’s so close I can taste him in the air and feel the heat of his body making mine work harder at staying cool.

  “Because we don't know what the bots have done to us. What if we can’t get pregnant? The normal people might have to repopulate the world.”

  “Why on my green earth would I ever want them to repopulate?” He wrinkles his nose and I realize his evil plan is more diabolical than I imagined. “Why would I want them spreading their inferiority? Their free will is why we are here.”

  Oh God.

  He’s going to repopulate the world with us?

  He’s going to infect everyone with bots and get us to breed and the babies will be bot babies.

  I don’t know what to say about that. Beyond, I have to stop him. At any cost.

  “Now, let’s get to the tour.” He links his arm in mine and I don't think I can pull it away. I don’t think my body will let me.

  17

  “And this is the southern rampart.” Liam acts so smug I can barely stand near him without having homicidal thoughts. That or running away as fast as I can with Lee over my shoulder.

  Unfortunately, my bots are buzzing with something else. It’s like a Disney movie where the two main characters couldn't be more different, and the woodland creatures are trying to get them to see that they’re a match made in heaven. Except, in this story the woodland creatures are played by tiny robots and the match they’re trying to make leads to death, not mine though. I’m ready for him, I think. I hope. If I can get my bots to agree.

  At least I see Liam for who and what he is. A psychopath, for sure. Well, Leah said psy
chopath and she’s super smart, so I’m going to assume she’s right. But he’s also something else, something more. How did he know to give permission to the bots?

  “Why do you need a rampart?” I ask as if I know what a rampart is. I’m assuming he means the huge wall we’re standing on overlooking the fields. It surrounds the castle. My castle lore is rusty as hell.

  “Protection,” he says so casually, as though I should have known that.

  “From what?” I laugh. “You have an undead army—”

  “Drones,” he corrects me. “We call them drones. They’re workers. Doers.”

  “What?” He’s confusing. “Like in a hive?”

  “Precisely. You and I are thinkers. They are doers.”

  “I thought we used the word ‘plotter’ for you,” I say cautiously.

  “I do like to plot,” he remarks, his eyes narrowing. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot since we last saw one another,” he changes the subject.

  “Why?” His words make me uncomfortable.

  “I told you, your eyes.” He steps closer, staring down on me. “I want to know why they glow like that.”

  “I don’t know.” I take a step back, fighting to stay calm. “They just do.”

  “Have they done that since you were bitten?”

  “I guess. Why?” Could he know what I did? “You’re obsessed with it and you keep asking me the same questions over and over. I told you, I don’t know.”

  “I can’t help but be curious. You’re different. The bots react oddly within you. I wonder if they recognize you as your father’s daughter, perhaps detecting the lineage there.”

  “Why would nanobots care if I am my father’s daughter?” He’s losing me.

  “Would they not have a special relationship with their maker’s daughter?” His eyes widen a little as he smiles, charming me. I suspect it’s intentionally done. “You are their queen. Perhaps I am the right leader, but maybe you are the rightful one.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think so.” I scoff.

  “I do. And Dr. Jacquard wants to see if I’m correct.” He leads me by the arm to another doorway, not the one we came in.

  “He’s here?” I ask.

  “Of course, where else would he be?” Liam shakes his head slowly before pausing in the doorway and gazing back over the land and army. “Did you know that during the feudal system there was a stability rarely seen without proper slavery, and the lives of the people were the safest for the time?”

  “Isn’t feudalism slavery?” I don't recall much about it, but I’m pretty sure it’s bad. We studied it a couple of years ago and I might have paid attention to half of it.

  “No.” His eyes find mine, shining with passion. “It’s a trade, safety and security and protection for goods and services. And it’s control. It’s basically communism, a simpler form of it. And we’re practically living it now. A leader protects his or her people and they work to keep life going. To keep the order in this world.”

  “Yeah, but they’re like robots.” I point to the zombies below.

  “They are, but Lee isn’t. You aren’t. I’m not. We’re still us. Just improved upon.” He scowls as if I am missing the point. “Don’t you feel it? The lack of messiness? The lack of emotional neediness and even a void where there used to be excessive emotions? We’re the new humans. The new species, a combination of science, evolution, and genetics, adding what is necessary, what we have been missing all this time. And subtracting that which we have never needed.” He steps closer, leaving the doorway. He takes my hand in his and squeezes. “You feel it too. You feel the balance and harmony inside yourself?”

  And he’s right.

  I hate it but he’s right. He’s crazy and evil but also correct.

  My mind takes a short trip back to before.

  I was emotional. I was needy. I was imbalanced.

  And I haven’t really been that way. Even with the pressures I’ve faced and the trauma of my losses. I’ve stayed on an even keel through it all. Kyle and the way I feel about him and us, our relationship, runs through my mind. I wonder if I am as attached to him as I could be. I’ve been able to leave him and not give it much thought.

  “See?” Liam smiles. His eyes are lit with a sparkle I haven’t noticed before. “The bots are here to help us. And who are we to say this wasn't God’s plan? Or the evolutionary destiny for us all? Maybe we were meant to advance to the point we could save ourselves from ourselves.”

  His words could be true. They feel true.

  “Humans are messy and destructive. Child abuse. Sexual assault. Domestic violence. Animal cruelty. Depression. Toxic masculinity. Addictions. Need. Want.” His tone lowers as if he doesn't want to say the next words, but he can’t help it. “Obsession. Murder. Fantasy. Greed. Worship. Laziness. It’s all gone. Inside us is the new dawn, the new way people will be. Like bees, we’ll live for the greater good. We’ll help one another. We’ll become what we were always meant to be.” He lifts my hand and places it on his chest, right over his heart. “Our emotional bodies will be controlled and contained. The recklessness of free will shall be a thing of the past. One heartbeat, one people, one goal. Save ourselves and this dying planet.”

  Just like the last time he gave me this spiel, I’m convinced for half a second, completely sold on his brand of Kool-Aid, before my brain reminds me, He is a psycho and a liar.

  “We keep having this conversation when we see each other. But what about free will? What about choosing for yourself? We can’t control people and force things on them. We have to let people be who they are. Not some hive mind.”

  “Where has free will gotten us in the last three thousand years? Women have never been safe. Children either. The earth was so heavily populated and run by corrupt capitalists, we were dying. What was so great about free will?”

  Again, I gulp in the words and images he creates. It makes sense. It makes more sense this time than the last one. Is he doing something to me? Did he make me believe this or are the bots listening because they want to or is this making sense because it does? Whatever it is, I don't have an answer to the question. What was so great about the world before?

  “Imagine a world where your Littles are just safe and free.” He hammers it home with my kryptonite. “They walk through the streets safe at all times. No more worrying or stressing.”

  He turns and walks through the door, pulling me gently. I don't drag my hand from his, I don't know why. I let him hold my hand and lead me and convince me of everything. My fight is gone. Liam, King Crazy Pants, is right and I have no argument for that.

  “There’s something I want you to see.” He guides me down a massive hallway and a flight of stairs I didn't come up.

  The castle is huge.

  “Also, if you don’t mind”—he leads us along a corridor that’s nearly finished—"like I said before, I’d like Dr. Jacquard to have a look at your bots,” he asks casually. “And he’s quite eager.”

  “What? Why?” That makes me pull back. My paranoia resets the weird effect he has on me, almost compelling me. What if Dr. Jacquard sees that I’ve taken bots from other people? Dead people?

  “So he can try to figure out why you’re glowing so much more than anyone else?” He says it like it’s a question and I’m being unreasonable. I might be, but I also did something creepier than anyone else has done. I don't want Liam to know that is possible. He might be right about humans being like locusts, but it doesn't detract from his God complex. “Don’t you want to know why?”

  “No. I don't want to know why. I don't care.”

  “Well, I do.” He spins and his tone changes. “Why are you being like this?”

  “Like what? Let’s not forget that you and I aren’t friends, Liam. You trapped me in a house. Tried to trick me. Then tried to kidnap my family. And you are building a castle with your own home-grown undead army. How is it unreasonable that I don't want to be pulled apart and dissected by the guy who helped start the zombie apocaly
pse?” I add some extra tone to match his. My bots struggle to contain my annoyance. “I don’t trust you.”

  “You mean the guy who helped your father start the apocalypse?” he says cheekily.

  “Yeah.” I don’t try to defend my father. The bitterness of his being part of this isn’t gone. It might never be. The bots want it gone. They want me to see the brilliance in it all. But I refuse. I refuse to see that this is better. I understand Liam’s words and reasoning, but I will never commit to the belief that this is better.

  My mother is dead.

  She had no idea how much I loved her because I had no idea how much until she was gone, and I can’t change that. This world sucks. The parts missing are too large to agree to it being better.

  The disagreement springs to life a different kind of reasoning, the parts attached to my old feelings, and it starts to trickle back in, taking over again. My common sense, the human kind that can’t be replicated by bots, is back.

  Maybe we were killing the earth and each other, maybe kids were starving and women were oppressed. But we had love. We had our thoughts. And now mine might not be free. What if they can report back to Dr. Jacquard? What if Liam can see the things I think? My teenaged brain whispers about the shame of him knowing I find him hot, but I push that to the bottom of the list of important facts he might find in my head.

  I can’t let them see.

  “Look.” Liam points, holding his hand into the doorway we’re next to. I walk in ahead of him, contemplating getting out of an appointment with Dr. Jacquard. But the room sucks all thoughts from me. It’s stunning. It’s circular with a wooden beam floor.

  The walls are filled with windows made of stained glass, huge panels depicting scenes from history and literature. Romeo and Juliet. Adam and Eve. Lady Liberty being floated into the New York Harbor. The Times Square kiss with the nurse and the sailor. Martin Luther King giving his “I Have a Dream” speech. And so many more.