The Good Death Box Set: A Hard SciFi Science Fiction Series

by Doug McGovern

  All opposing forces stared at one another awe-struck for a bass-tone dropping moment.

  Then the Banshees shrieked and dove forward with the rush of ambushing birds of prey.

  “Grab anything flammable! The only way to really divert these psychos is to burn them. It hurts their tormented eyes!”

  *****

  Chapter 29

  If President Matthews had learned anything in his short term as Commander-in-Chief, it was that plans never go according to plan.

  They were moving at a creeping pace out of the city limits, to Taylor’s bayou chateau-fortress. Saddled with the business of transporting super-humans, the journey was a slow one.

  Jane plucked two road flares from a chest of supplies and guided Taylor through the streets. He drove a half-roasted city bus in reverse to the place the Camaro had drug Andromeda and Medusa’s nets.

  “Don’t worry about the bites. It’s just like gators. You got to learn to dance around them and then slip ‘em in the bag!” Croc stretched a long cattle prod through the net and zapped Medusa in the tailbone. She shrieked like a pinned macaw.

  “Believe me, we’re not worried.” Jane walked circles around the net, scoffing, holding the tactical rifle level with her former murderer’s eyes. Taylor moved to grab a wheeling board and hoist their catches into the bus along with the Geryon whom they had sedated.

  The tramp of boots and the loading sound of hundreds of tactical weapons told them their respite was over. Taylor grimaced looking sidelong at Croc and held his hands up.

  They all spun around.

  “You bastard!” Jane spat on the ground. Matthews stood at a crisp attention.

  Derek eased Leaf to his feet. His hair stood on end. After all that they had done, this SWAT team of Special Forces had been summoned for only one reason. To take them in.

  “You’re wondering how they got here so quick, I assume. I’m the President of the United States! I didn’t get that way by being stupid. As soon as the Andromeda pulled us out of the New York skyline, I signaled them to be in route following GPS locale from my cell.t

  I hope you don’t think that you were ever all that influential or in control of anything, Ms. Lewis. I hope you didn’t think that I owed you any audience.” Matthews narrowed his brows. Jane gnashed her teeth.

  “Really? I died to help you!” The Spec Ops took a collective step backward, stunned by the fury on her face. Dexter swallowed and drew closer to her hands held up. Jane Lewis was and would remain a thousand times fiercer than her radioactive counterpart.

  “The Andromeda Act was a test. A test, Jane! The opportunity to show the people that they had a voice in their own protection. That they weren’t just going to be mowed over by the machines of war, the engines of diplomacy. That test clearly failed. You failed me, Jane Lewis! You became this and—” He jabbed a shaking finger at the Andromeda in the net. Taylor rolled his eyes.

  “Leave it to a danged politician to blame all of his troubles on a teenaged girl.”

  “I’m 24.” Jane tossed her head, ruffling her hair.

  The President’s shoulders slouched. He jabbed his toes into the pavement.

  “Exactly. It was my responsibility to protect the American people. You told me to respect the sanctity of life. You made me promise you that, don’t you remember?” He swung his open palm in Jane’s direction. She fumed.

  “I’m surprised that you do.”

  “Yes, well that’s what I’m doing. You have become a freak! An absolute abomination of the sanctity of life! Print this, Kendra! I want to make sure that this is going down for the record.” Matthews looked at Kendra. The die-hard reporter took a step back, hair standing end. She looked from Jane to each face, one after the other.

  “Sorry, I’m already committed to an interview.”

  Matthews growled and tore at his hair, spinning viciously to each person in turn. Jane was shaking her head, appalled.

  “I should have been able to see through you. My dad would have.”

  “Well, Jane, allow me to correct you. You’re not your father, and you never will be. What am I saying? This isn’t even you talking. This is some hollow reflection that will dry up and blow away sooner than later. You are dead and this thing- this failed legislation that was meant to protect the American people and only further jeopardized them.”

  “Correction, skippy. This chick in the back is the one to blame for everything.” Reilly kicked the Medusa’s net.

  “I promised the brave young nurse from Shreveport on live television that I would protect the sanctity of life. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. All of you are freaks of unholy nature. You, Sergeant Manson, are guilty of treason—”

  “Whoa, wait! How is he guilty of treason? He was in Leona’s rat’s nest, then he died and came back as a freaking Roman candle!” Derek pointed a shaking thumb at Leaf whose finger curled toward his body, eyes narrowing.

  “You interrupted me, your supreme commanding officer, young man. Which would merit you a court martial if I had my way, but since you’re whatever the hell you’ve turned into-I’ve decided a different and better punishment. Anyway, Leaf Manson is guilty of treason by the power of association. He had to have known that his father was a cohort of Leona Kelley’s and that the super-sonic police cruisers he proposed to us were stolen prototypes from her illicit enterprise. He made us believe that he’d snitched them from Leona Kelley, but really he and his father were working for their hand in billions of laundered U.S. dollars. This man deserves to die. Die he will. Kill him.”

  “I swear to God, I had no idea my father was even alive! All the intelligence I gathered on Leona Kelley I really did gather from carrying out sleuthing orders that you gave me, sir!” Leaf’s panic clothed him in curtains of flame. Derek stepped protectively in front of Leaf and threw his arms out in a crucifix symbol. The SWAT teams hesitated. Matthews popped his neck and pulled the piece that Jane had scored for him, shooting at the men. Leaf shouted and tried to throw Derek out of the way. The bullet went straight to the Captain’s brain.

  Reilly shrieked. Leaf sobbed and reached down cradling Derek’s head as it pivoted listlessly on his neck.

  “Wait!” Joseph took a step forward and lifted Derek by his chin, laughing in sheer amaze. Derek was blinking, dizzy but alive.

  Matthews hissed in disgust.

  “This goes to prove what I’ve just said. Freaks of nature. Yet good could still come from all of this…Which is why my consultants and I have recently developed a new proposal. The preparations for a research site in the wreckage of what was once Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility before your rogue assassin destroyed it and rescued Dr. Lucien Kingsley.

  “It isn’t finished yet, but if we were to transport the lot of you there. We could begin the process of debunking this whole package of crazy. Do away with these holographic doubles of deceased people. Cure the Earth of this Andromeda and her bites.

  “We can then thoroughly interrogate these rogue soldiers and see what information they were withholding from us to enable Leona—” President Matthews never finished his sentence. Dexter had enough. This man that was responsible for Jane being put in the line of danger and killed in the first place was now totally disparaging her and plotting how to erase her final remnant from the Earth.

  “Damn you, to the final pack of coals in Hell! Pandora Man’s still out there. You’ll answer to the Devil for this, you SOB! Who’s here to defend New Orleans if not us! You’re just gonna leave these people to die? Where were your diplomacies and proposals when these people needed help from the outside? Why did it take a street fire in New York to convince you to take action? People were dying here! What did you do?!” Dexter was clawing, ready to tear Matthews’ head off. One of the SWAT officers shot him with a tranquilizer and he fell to his knees.

  “Dex!” Jane’s nostrils were bleeding.

  “No worries, ladies and gentlemen. We’ll take a raincheck on our New Orleans’ recon plans. First things first. We bust out
of Guantanamo then we come back and do as I said.” Taylor smirked, studying Matthews like he was considering all the different ways he could break him.

  “Kendra, if you decide to side with them then you’re against the United States and will be tried for research and questioning at Guantanamo research accordingly.” Matthews glared at Kendra who was shaking her head wildly. After what had happened to Jane…She’d been there that day. Had been forced to watch. Jane’s blood had coated her. Now this man was telling her that it had all been just a horribly botched experiment and it didn’t matter.

  “I see the fear in your eyes, Matthews. I smell the piss wafting off of you from all the way over here. You can choke on your own blood and rot in Hell when you’re done.” She tilted her chin to the sky.

  Joseph stepped forward.

  “Let the little girl go. She has no part in this. I can clearly see why you’d wanna pick on me and Harry and poke the blame on us. Maybe we really are the bad guys here. But this little girl is just ten!” Joseph looked over at Reilly who had shrunk back from Matthews after he’d hauled off and shot Derek. Harrison had stepped up to her and wrapped her protectively in his arms.

  “We can see clearly from what we witnessed today that she’s a mature ten.” The President nodded to his men. They swarmed them, knocking them to their knees and faces and bellies, chaining their hands behind their backs. They even clapped a muzzle on little Reilly’s mouth when she started screaming.

  “You’ve become just as bad as the people you swore to protect America from.” Jane looked up at Matthews and suddenly her eyes were on fire. Her voice dropped an octave.

  “I’ll only tell you this once. You are right about the nurse from Shreveport being dead. I’m a whole horse of a different color and I’ll make you pay for this. For every back-stabbing thing you’ve done in the name of legislation.”

  Joseph sighed, weary eyes finding Derek’s terrified ones.

  “Thus always to tyrants and cowards alike. You guys don’t have to worry. Kingdom Come is a lot faster for weak and abusive folks like Leona and El Presidente. I’d put them in the same boat of bananas. It won’t be long, kids. It won’t be long…” They kicked Joseph in the head and pulled a bag over his face.

  Reilly watched until her own eyes were covered by black canvas. Her heart hammered against her chest in antagonized rage as she was hoisted up and thrown into the back of an armored truck. Her head collided heavily with Leaf’s elbow and she was out cold.

  *****

  Chapter 30

  “First, you tell me that I’ve rung up Hell and now you’re telling me to put some kind of Star Trek wire-tapping magnetic headgear and keep in touch with you? Dude, take a step back.” Kingsley was hyperventilating.

  “I’m not asking you to swear your allegiance to Lucifer or anything.”

  “Buddy, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from his sister, it’s that the Devil never does a damn thing for free!”

  “You are clever, Doctor. You’re right too. There is one thing I require of you. But it isn’t your soul. No, I’m afraid that’s too much of a dried up husk after she had her way with you to be of any use to me.”

  Kingsley flushed from rage and embarrassment.

  “What do you want then?”

  “You to participate in my research.”

  “You mean the same way she did? To the same no good ends.”

  “Yes…”

  “You believe I’ll go through with this because my friends are dying and I don’t have a choice?”

  “Precisely.”

  “Ah. Well, I say no. It would be better for them to die than to get mixed up with you. I will keep these fancy headphones, though. If they work like you say they work they’ll be highly useful to me. No! Don’t say I haven’t the faintest clue how to activate them. I figured that out while you were jawing.”

  The Professor sputtered from somewhere in the darkness. Kingsley felt those shapes he’d seen or imagined moving through the shadows again. He expected that he’d incurred some wrath for this. Revenge would find him sooner or later.

  “Sorry, Professor. If I have to become her to beat her, then I guess I’ll have to be just as willful and pay for it later. To know what she knows, I’ll need to use this.” Kingsley pushed the headdress down on his head and then produced the Andromeda extract.

  He held his breath, heart squeezing in terror. This was practically suicide, wasn’t it? Maybe not. He had said he wouldn’t use it unless he absolutely needed to.

  He could be wrong. God knows, he’d been wrong before. If he was, then the worst that could happen was he’d drop dead or become a double-splitting freak like Jane had.

  If he was right, then using this and the headdress he’d acquired from the Professor suspended from the Altar’s ceiling would give him a heightened knowledge. It only made sense that the headdress functioned from using accelerated brain activity or manipulated human function. That was how they’d murdered, reanimated and altered all of Leona’s relatives, wasn’t it?

  He didn’t have the strength until he heard Kiara’s desperate screams through an instantly appearing rift in the ceiling. Something was going on away up there. Something that only a super-human being would be able to divert.

  He could feel shadows, shapes, and all manners of creeping things closing in on him as he pushed the needle into his heart. Then it was like the silent echo in a nuclear blast. His whole body was on fire but he only felt numb from the chest down and the throat up. His eyes were blazing red.

  There in the dark he saw the shapes again, massive, human -like, but thinner and paler. Sudden terror gripped him but they were instantly gone. Only then did he realize he was screaming, ripping apart the altar with his bare hands and the sudden strength of six adult male silverback gorillas.

  He climbed the collapsing Altar to the center of the forest. The trees were on fire. Women that looked much like Leona’s dolls but were mutilated in more grotesque angles and affixed to strange machine apparatuses were tearing with wildcat frenzy at Leona herself. Kingsley paused, a pain shooting through his head in confusion. Was it a trick of his eyes, or was that Leona seven different times surrounding him?

  He then saw Kiara in the midst of the fire, choking on the smoke and the debris shooting in meteor arcs from the collapsing altar and all other consciousness faded away. He had a focus on his new found power.

  He felt his feet floating through the air. Levitation and out of body experience married into the perfect tactical blend. His hands flew to the sword and brandished it in a blazing arc. His breath caught in a massive hiccup that revolted him to the core. He uttered a shaky dry heave as the lights shot from his body. Now he could see himself moving across the ground in seven pieces of his own. Taking Leona on hand-to-sword.

  Kiara looked up from the fight and shrieked in unadulterated sorrow. She understood what these many shards of him meant. This was irreversible. They could never be together, at least not by any feat of human reckoning.

  Kingsley laughed. In the midst of all of this, it seemed so strange. Laughing, crying from a place of pure agony mingled with adrenaline coursing hope. Hadn’t they learned anything in their short time together? Had anyone learned anything from all that had transpired?

  They should know by now that human reckoning was on an elementary level. So new…Kingsley felt the joy coursing through him at the molecular level. Humankind was so young. As one race, a child, only having just begun. There was hope for them beyond the silly wars they fought over the ignorant conclusions they’d arrived at based on their limited knowledge of the universe beyond the planet they occupy!

  They would be together. There was no reason to believe it couldn’t be. Not with the insane power that was coursing through him, grounded somehow by the magnetic suppressing coronet that wreathed his forehead.

  Somehow, as he thought it through, the magnetic headdress began to radiate the power coursing through him. He wove to the left and right and touched down on his heel
s.

  “It isn’t killing me because of the crown. That’s what makes me different from the others. I can learn from this thing. It’s a radio transmitter for my brain.” He realized he’d said it aloud when he saw Kiara’s eyes trained on him. He saw her delicate throat move as she swallowed the stone of her instant grief trying to breathe through her sudden shock.

  “You-You…” As strange as it seemed, she smiled.

  The two turned back to the chaos, momentarily stunned.

  “Yes, Kiara. I’m alive.”

  Something was moving in on them at all sides. A smoke the color of early morning escaped the explosive force of Centralia’s mine bleeding its final droplets along the shoulder of this remote stretch of backwoods.

  Leona’s teachers and Hell itself would rise in the most unsuspected of ways. Their attempt at fixing what was broken may have further cracked the dam. Maybe this was a world that was beyond saving. Maybe hope was a frivolity of his new found love. Even so, Dr. Kingsley was certain now that the world could end with a stroke of beauty if only because he had chosen the right thing this once.

  Perhaps this world was beyond saving, but not beyond remembering. However this ended now, whatever all of this meant, whether the voice in the dark had been telling the truth or lying didn’t matter now. Nothing mattered other than the sanctity of the life they’d shared. How they closed that chapter was the only thing that counted.

  Kingsley closed his eyes and thought, or maybe even prayed, that someone would find the remnant of humanity if he failed to hold back these tides. That someone would remember.

  *****

  Chapter 31

  Three days later…

  She felt herself going. The eyes of the Andromeda were on her through the glass of an opposite-facing cage, bleeding now from the rage of being kept in the pen.

  Andromeda growled and sunk her fingernails in, chewing the bullets of the many rounds they’d fired at her, spitting them casually like seed pips. Her head tilted to the side, rabid at the teeth. There was a sonar echo in the glass, shaking the frames with the rattling effect of subwoofers. Jane’s throat constricted with terror, faced with this distorted reflection of what was once her natural body.