by Robert Brown
“We had to deal with the families that would hear about their sons and daughters being killed in the fighting while you and Lloyd were…well, while you were out saving the world. Nothing I can tell you will take away the pain, Cora, but I can tell you how much you meant to our son.
“He loved you. As much as Greg and I love each other, our son loved you, and he dedicated himself to keeping you safe above all else. He loved you, and he believed in what he was fighting for.
“Those facts don’t take away our loss, but they help me when I think of how my child, the boy I raised, how he chose to live the short time he spent away from us. So many people have lost their lives because of this forsaken blue haze, at least my son was able to die for something he believed in. He lost his life in a manner that he chose rather than being one of the faceless millions that tragically lost everything without understanding why.
“Our son loved you, and I know you loved him as well.”
“I still love him.”
“All I could ask for my son was what you gave him, Cora. You gave him happiness. Thank you.” Evelyn stands up but motions for Cora and her husband to remain seated. “I have something for you to take with you, I found it when we returned to our house. It’s something Lloyd made for you. Please sit and talk with Greg, I’ll be back shortly.”
They both watch as she walks into the house and leans against the counter inside briefly to cry before heading around the corner and out of sight.
“I am sorry it took so long for me to come speak with you.”
“I understand. Evelyn and I both understand. We know you and Lloyd were close, and it isn’t easy for you to have to see us after his loss. I would like to know, were you near him when he died?”
Fresh tears flow down her cheeks as she looks Greg in the eyes and nods silently.
“Please tell me what happened. I don’t have to know the details, I just want to know what happened. I need to know how he died.”
Taking a deep breath, looking up and away from his intent gaze, she tells him the story with five heart-wrenching words. “He sacrificed himself for me.
“I don’t know how much of this information you already know, but my parents knew before we went into that last battle and they were able to say their goodbyes. We were told by the president that he was planning on using a nuclear bomb on the capital. Lloyd, myself, and our soldiers were there to ensure their lead arch-vampire, Adam, was there along with Rafael and Amanda. We were told the bomb was going to destroy the area and us with it and that was the only way to end the threat our enemy posed.
“Lloyd and I both believed we would not make it out of Washington D.C. alive, but we were hopeful that we wouldn’t feel anything in the nuclear blast. While we were fighting, all three came after me. They hoped they could tear me apart and make me suffer when they found out about the incoming bomb. Lloyd broke through and took them all on. He knew we only had seconds before the bomb went off and it would all be over. He didn’t want me to suffer at their hands before we all perished. He didn’t give up and give himself to them, he fought until the end. He just didn’t want to let them hurt me.
“He managed to kill Rafael and threw Amanda to me right before Adam must have grabbed him from behind. I was fighting with Amanda when the bomb went off. I remember an excruciating pain in my head, my vision went black and I fell. I woke up three days later in a field hospital.
“Dr. Usachova told the president after we had left that the EMP from a high-altitude nuclear explosion would disrupt the psychic abilities of all the arch-vampires. The president never wanted to have all of us die, that’s why he changed the order of the D.C. area annihilation to an EMP burst. I was knocked out by the blast and fell. Adams ground troops were already fighting each other when he released his control over them. Then our ground troops arrived and joined the battle. They killed the enemy soldiers and gathered up the bodies of our friends and brought them to safety.
“For a while, I thought the president had betrayed us again, and I blamed him for Lloyd’s death. He shouldn’t have sacrificed himself for me, and I was thinking we didn’t even have to be there! I wanted to believe that, but there was no other way. Rafael, Amanda, and Adam wouldn’t have stayed in the area if we both didn’t show up to the battle, they were too smart for that.”
Leaning against the doorway, Evelyn speaks. “A part of me is resentful that you were able to be with him at the end when I wasn’t. As a mother, I’ve always wanted to keep him from harm, but he wasn’t the kind of boy, the kind of man, to walk away from things that needed to be taken care of. I know his death was difficult for you to witness, but it gives me peace to know he wasn’t alone when he died.”
Walking up to the table, Evelyn places something into Cora’s hand.
“He carved this angel pendant out of glass. He told us after he made it that you glow like the sun and are truly an Angel. I never knew my boy to be poetic, but it was a beautiful image of how he sees you.”
“I imagine you don’t know why everyone calls me The Angel; it isn’t because of the relationship Lloyd and I shared. I usually only do this during battle, but let me show you.”
Greg and Evelyn look at each other with perplexed expressions.
Cora stands up and spreads her wings. Her arms reach out toward the pair in a welcoming motion, and she begins to glow. Her skin emits a pale luster of white as if the color of her pale skin is floating off into the air around her. The depth and brightness of the glow increases until it is a bright beacon of light the Cavanaughs have to squint their eyes against.
Cora’s voice when she speaks sounds echoed and distant as if she is across some vast space. “I first discovered this power during a night battle when some humans were trying to escape. They could not see in the dark, and I gave them my light and called to them in order to guide them to safety.”
Her emanating light diminishes and her echoing voice returns to the soothing, delicate tone of the woman who first arrived. The husband and wife, as well as two agents that approached to investigate the bright light source, stand in awe at what they witnessed.
“I had no idea. You truly are an angel, Cora. Why haven’t you let the people see this? Seeing your gift would help those humans that still have doubts about the mutants come to terms with all that has happened.”
“I’m not so sure. It seems every time a new power of ours is revealed, it increases fear rather than calming people. You know me, so my light isn’t a potential threat in your mind.”
The pair nod their understanding while Cora returns to her seat.
“There is one more thing you have to know about my relationship with Lloyd. It is another reason I was afraid to meet with you before now. Earlier, I wasn’t ready to face a backlash from you if you were upset with me over his death, but it’s something you have a right to know as his parents.
“Lloyd and I, well, I’m pregnant.”
Chapter Thirty
First Remembrance Day
Link-In Break
Link-In Reinitiated
Washington D.C.
“We are just moments away from President Thomas addressing the nation for our first annual Remembrance Day celebration. The crowd is an excited and eclectic mix of the new form of humanity we all share. Vampires, giants, and werewolves are mixed in the crowd along with human civilians and soldiers. There is even a group of the pilots that took part in the final battle up on the stage with The Angel and her generals.”
“This is an exciting time indeed, Jennifer. People all across the nation are waiting to see the president walk out of the White House for the first time since its liberation.”
A roar of excitement drowns out the reporters as the president makes his way out of the White House and onto the stage built before the crowd.
“My fellow Americans…”
The cheer let loose by the throng prevents President Thomas from continuing. He nods his head and claps his hands while also gesturing to one of the American Flags be
hind him on the stage.
“My fellow Americans, it is with great pleasure that I can once again address you as the President of These UNITED States.”
The crowd starts cheering in unison U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
“Twelve months ago, our world was torn apart by the arrival of this blue haze which blankets the Earth. The Shattering Event we all endured was followed by the most unspeakable horrors we could have imagined. The lives we lost that first day were tremendous, but we managed to survive.
“Then came our captivity at the hands of those we once cared for. I personally felt I betrayed all of you by ordering our surrender. Only time and several battles later would prove what I suspected, that there was nothing we could do against this new threat we faced from our children. Even with this level of defeat and humiliation, we still found the will to survive.
“Little did we know in the isolation of our camps that these mutants, the vampires, giants, and werewolves were fighting on our behalf. Fighting to free us from the oppression that this rapid change in humanity created. When The Angel…”
The crowd roars in excitement again when he points to her on the stage.
“When The Angel arrived at my camp in Wyoming, I believed she was there to kill me for the weekly addresses I was giving. Little did I know that she had been fighting brutal battles for many months just to free our people, to free our nation. When she arrived and told me she needed my help, I thought we had finally found a way to hurt or kill their kind and she wanted me to put humanity back in line.
“To this day, I am still amazed at the truth of what the vampires did for us. And on this first Remembrance Day and every one going forth, we should remember how far we came. That with all their strength, power, and ability to keep humanity as slaves for all eternity, the vampires chose to rise up and lead the other mutants in a fight for our freedom. They chose to become the people we all wished we could be. The people that would work to bring hope and freedom to all of humanity when the easiest course would be to do nothing and keep the control they gained with their physical and psychic superiority.
“Many of you do not yet know the exact details of the battle that freed us all. I will give you the details now. The final battle to free North America occurred over this spot on September 2nd, just one month and two days ago.
“A new enemy vampire leader had shown an ability to destroy entire armies of friendly mutants. On September 1st, our enemy led by this new mutant, killed almost three hundred thousand vampires of the Northern Army.” He pauses to let the people absorb the depth of the loss. “Three hundred thousand of The Angel’s forces were lost in one battle, on one day, in the fight to return to us our freedom.
“The following day, at my request, The Angel and her generals came here, to Washington D.C. for a final battle to lure the enemy’s most powerful leaders to this spot. The only way we believed possible to defeat the psychic powers of this new enemy leader was with a nuclear weapon. The soldiers we sent into battle believed this would be their final assault, and they did not expect to survive. They were prepared to be obliterated in a nuclear blast that I had arranged to occur over this very location.”
The crowd is silent, the only sounds are the flags behind the president lightly rustling in the breeze.
“I want you to know the details so you can understand this was not just another victory that you heard about. It was not just some other horrific battle where our troops planned to fight valiantly and believed they could have survived if they won. This was a one-way ticket, and they volunteered to come and fight for us all. The planned nuclear blast was our final hope to remove the greatest threat of the mind-controlling vampires that wanted to keep us enslaved. The vampires and pilots you see on this stage with me today, came to Washington believing their sacrifice could return our country to us.”
The crowd is still in hushed anticipation of his words, but now the reporters in the background are making feverish calls to their offices about this new information the president is releasing.
“These human pilots flew in from their aircraft carriers in the Atlantic to help our mutant soldiers by slowing down the enemies advance with their bullets and missiles. They also knew the fiery end that Washington D.C. was supposed to become. Fortunately, the sacrifice these fine mutants and pilots were willing to make last month was not necessary. In the final minutes before the missile was set to destroy everything…” The president turns to a woman on the stage and light-heartedly offers “…and I mean literally in the final minutes. After the missile had already been launched, we received word from Dr. Tatyana Usachova here, that the same missile could be detonated high above the Earth’s atmosphere and the resulting electromagnetic blast would disable the brains of the highly sensitive mutants and render them unconscious.
“So you knew they fought for your freedom but did not know of their willingness to face such a destructive end to secure it for you. That willingness by them to sacrifice their lives in battle, to reunite this nation, is one of the things we are here to celebrate. This is not just a Remembrance Day of October 3rd when the blue haze arrived, this is a remembrance of how much was sacrificed to bring us back from the edge of extinction. Their sacrifice was greater than you have all been made aware until now, and I felt it appropriate that you knew the true level of their love for you, their love for us all as human beings.
“Some of us are Giants…”
Many loud screams echo from the crowd.
“Some of us are vampires…”
The vampires and humans all cheer.
“And some of us are humans or even our new mutated friends, the werewolves. We are all part of the future and celebrate October 3rd as Remembrance Day. The day we can stand here in a united front of defiance against the tyranny of oppression brought about by a genetic disruption of nobody’s choosing. Let us continue moving forward from this day on, remembering those we loved and those we lost. Let us remember all that we fought for together to move beyond the suffering and regain our collective dignity and freedom once more.”
U.S.A.! U.S.A! U.S.A.!
Chapter Thirty-One
The Day After
Washington D.C.
“My fellow Americans, Citizens of Canada, Mexico, and all of our sister and brother nations of South America. I address you today on a serious matter that some of you knew would eventually come and a matter which we can no longer in good conscience ignore.
“Through great trial and tribulation, through the overwhelming loss of life, The Angel’s vampire army’s managed to return to us our freedom. They prevailed, and we have lived together as one this last month beginning to rebuild the lives and society which we lost.
“While we proclaimed the 3rd of October as our Remembrance Day to remind us what we have in common and must fight for, there is a tremendous battle which still lies ahead of us. We are not a race of beings residing solely on the continents of North and South America. We are humans, vampires, giants, and werewolves living on the planet Earth, and there is still a segment of humanity enduring enslavement in the rest of the world.
“Just as in times past, it once again falls to us to be the arbiters of freedom, not because we choose to bring war to those that think differently than we do, but because we know the true and natural condition of man is free. We cannot in good conscience pretend to enjoy the freedom we have here while our fellow humans remain enslaved.
“Aside from knowing we must go because it is the right and just course of action, the outcomes of the wars in Europe, Asia, and Africa will ultimately impact us all. As we know from our time dealing with our own brutal oppressors, if we leave them unchallenged, the vampire enemy that is intent on dominating humankind will eventually exhaust their supply of human slaves. They will fight to expand the territories which they control and move against the free society we have created. They will not stop until they have enslaved the entire world.
“This past month, we have been able to selfishly avoid looking to Europe and A
frica’s troubles because we were only recently freed and required a short time to heal and explore our own society’s new burdens. We have our freedom and an end to our war now, and while our time of peace has been far too brief, it is the right time to continue this fight. Now is the time to move, before we force those enslaved people across our oceans to endure another brutal winter without hope. It is time for our armed forces to travel by ship to Europe. In two weeks, the first ships will sail, and the first planes will fly with The Angel’s troops to begin working to assist those friends of ours in England. We have heard some of them managed to establish a safe zone for their human citizens in the English Isles.”
*
“Preparations for the upcoming war in Europe are well under way, sir. The departing mutant armies we can spare are gathered along the shores of the northeast states. The remaining numbers are being distributed along the west and east coasts to defend against possible invasion.”
“What about the unrest?”
The general pauses and breathes in before continuing. “The unrest is nationwide. With the mutants removed from their controlling positions, we are likely going to see more of it. The easiest solution would be for us to delay going to Europe and return the mutants to a policing role until we can re-establish human governments and police forces.”
“You want the vampires to retake control of our nation?”
“No, sir. It isn’t what I want to happen, it is only the quickest solution to the problems with the unrest. Millions of people out there are finally able to appreciate the destruction we have endured because of The Shattering and this war. Labeling the other day as Remembrance Day was a good start, but more will need to be done to keep people in line, particularly while industry comes back on-line and some form of economy is formed.”