Shatterbones

by Robert Brown

  The president grits his teeth and looks at the general. “I appreciate what the mutants have done for us but none of us should forget we were freed by The Angel’s army and not our own. I don’t like having millions of soldiers on our shores that aren’t directly loyal to our government, no matter how friendly they may be. When can they be sent to Europe?”

  “As soon as you give the order they can be on their way. In five days, we will have all of the satellites re-tasked and aerial reconnaissance set up, but that is for our benefit, not theirs.”

  “I think the people are as uneasy about how our victory was achieved, as I am. What we need is a distraction, something to keep the people occupied, to keep them involved in helping themselves and this country while it heals. I think we should prepare people for national elections. I will announce my intention to resign the presidency.”

  “Sir, with all due respect, the people need you right now. You are the only official of substance that we haven’t lost, and there are two years remaining in the presidential term.”

  “I appreciate your confidence, and in part, I am counting on it for the future elections. However, I have not yet been elected to lead our people. This is not the time for me to remain in this position. However correct I feel my decisions were for the nation, I am as responsible as the vampires are for our internment over last winter. I am part of the division from which our nation needs to heal, and I will not stay here and continue our peoples’ suffering out of some misguided belief that I have earned my place and title.

  “There are many men and women around this nation that did their part to inspire and protect the people around them. Many of the uprisings are a result of our citizens continuing to feel powerless. Having elections is the best way I know to give our people the control over their lives that they want and deserve. It won’t be easy, but I want a new election to take place before the New Year. The next president should be able to take office on January 20th.”

  *

  “My fellow Americans, together we have endured the worst disaster in recorded history. We all continue to deal with the immeasurable losses we have had in our own personal ways. It is my opinion that to help in that recovery, I should step down from my current position as president and take up another role more suited to my military background and training. Without a living vice-president or active congress, I will remain in this post only as long as it takes for the citizens of our nation to hold elections and establish a legitimately elected governing body. It has been my greatest honor in serving you in our time of conflict and helping to guide us through the final battles to restore freedom to our shores.

  “It is no longer the time for a military man to lead our great nation. In this time of healing and recovery, we need a person who is elected by the people, not a man that was promoted to this post through catastrophe.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

  11:22AM

  Massachusetts

  The Angel is standing at the edge of a four-story building in Boston, overlooking thousands of mutant troops preparing to board military ships bound for Europe. Some modern weaponry is being taken along, but the primary weapons of these soldiers are hanging at their sides in the rudimentary scabbards designed to hold their swords.

  The crowd hushes to silence as she raises her arms and prepares to speak.

  “I want to let…” Her words hang, echoing in the air as she looks beyond the enormous throng and into the glimmering ocean past the shores edge. A rippling effect like a heat mirage on a desert highway is floating over the distant waves and moving toward the mutants assembled in the area.

  The crowd turns to watch the approaching undulation in the air which stretches across the horizon. The brightness of the morning increases with the ripples advance until an awareness of what is happening enters the minds of those who will be affected.

  The blue haze which brought The Shattering is dissipating. The unfiltered sun is shining brightly across the ocean as the haze disappears. The approaching sun is welcomed by some, but many in the crowd start running from the shore in fear.

  The Angel remains on the rooftop, waiting for the leading edge of sunshine to reach the scattering mutants on the ground below.

  “Cora, should we leave?”

  “I have to see what will happen when the haze is gone. We might be able to change back to the children we were before.”

  “Or we could be burned alive! You do know what sunlight is supposed to do to vampires, right?”

  Her look of longing for a return to normality becomes a tense anticipation mixed with fear. Only seconds to wait before the sun hits the mutants on the ground that are trying desperately to squeeze into the buildings which surround them.

  A fearful shiver runs down The Angel’s back as the bare sunlight reaches her friends and compatriots still on the shore. Screams echo through the air as skin bursts into flame in the unfiltered light of day. Giants and werewolves work to lift cars and other large objects to shield the vampires near them from the direct rays of the sun.

  The Shattering has ended.

  *

  “Mr. President, we’re under attack!”

  “What? Where?”

  “I’m getting reports of vampires being destroyed all along the east coast. I think all of the troops preparing to leave for Europe have been destroyed.”

  “My God! The Angel was with those troops. Are the European mutants doing this? Is this some new power we haven’t heard about yet?”

  Bradley Hoskins, the Director of Intelligence, runs into the room. “It isn’t an attack, Mr. President, the blue haze is gone. It is dissipating nationwide. From what I’m gathering so far, the giants and werewolves are unaffected but the vampires…well, it appears they are catching fire in the sun.”

  “So the history books were right. Do you know what this means, Hoskins?”

  “The mutants will have weaknesses, sir.”

  “Yes, that means humans might be able to kill the vampires. I’m afraid with the current level of unrest in the nation, that likely means another war.”

  “It might not lead to that, sir. If you were to reconsider your resignation, give the nation time to work through this new occurrence. If you leave the people to throw together a hasty election while the vampires go into hiding from the sun, it could cause everything to boil over and explode.”

  “Get Dr. Usachova in here. I want to know what she knows.”

  *

  Walking along the fifth-floor hallway of the downtown Boston Hilton, Cora smiles weakly at her fellow vampires as they huddle in fear from the sun outside. Some of the rooms have been opened for those seeking refuge, but many are too frightened of the sun to venture into rooms with large windows, even if they are blocked by heavy curtains.

  Cora’s wings are blistered and the skin on them is black. Her dress is partially burnt away where the sun touched her before she made it to safety indoors.

  “How many do you think we’ve lost?”

  “There’s no way to tell so far. I can feel my body start to repair itself but far slower than it did before. How many of us survive this morning’s exposure might depend on how long the sunlight reached their bodies. I wasn’t out for long, but I’m not sure how well I would be healing if my injuries were worse.”

  *

  “Mr. President.”

  “Dr. Usachova. We never seem to meet under better circumstances.”

  “I think it’s the nature of our chosen professions. Science and politics aren’t good bedfellows.”

  President Thomas’ mouth is pulled back in tight thin line showing the strain he is under.

  “I need to address the nation shortly to let them know what is going on. Please tell me what’s happening out there.”

  “I can’t tell you anything more than you could see out your own window, sir. The blue haze has gone as quickly as it arrived. The children that mutated have not reverted back to their original form, and fro
m what I have heard, the vampires can now be mortally wounded by sunlight if they remain in it for too long. Everything else you probably want to know I will have to utilize tests to find out.”

  “What about our future? What happens to the children that haven’t hit puberty yet? What do you believe will happen to them?”

  “I am quite certain the children that have already been born will still go through The Shattering once they reach puberty. The greater unknown is what will happen to those that are conceived from this day forward. The mutation particle from the blue haze affected us all, not just the children. Even with our uncertainty, there is a high probability that any future generations of humans will still mutate in some form at puberty.”

  “And you can test for that as well?”

  “The test for that is time, Mr. President. Now we must wait to see what will happen. In a week or two, we will find out if children entering puberty continue to mutate or not. For future generations of those not yet conceived, we will have to wait ten to twelve years for those children to enter puberty.”

  “And what are the odds for that?”

  “As I said, Mr. President, there is a high probability of continued mutation. I still believe we are the last of what we consider non-mutated human kind. All future generations will change in some way due to what the blue haze did to our genetic make-up. May I ask, are you still going to retire from the presidency?”

  “It was a selfish decision based on the vampires going to Europe and our nation ready to move on and heal its wounds. With this new difficulty thrown into the mix, I don’t believe I can step down. Our country is already filled with protests and frustration, but people are hesitant to act on their anger because both humankind and mutants had lost a great deal. With this new ability to kill vampires and their army not leaving our shores, I’m afraid for what our nation’s immediate future will be.”

  *

  “My fellow Americans, as most of you are aware, earlier today the blue haze which caused The Shattering dissipated. My scientists tell me the haze is most likely gone for good. While this is welcome news, the changes caused to our genetic codes remain. It is the belief of our brightest scientists that even with the haze gone, mutations are likely to continue among our children. There is even a high probability that future generations of children born after the blue haze will also go through The Shattering. The warning you should take from my words is this: the mutants of our nation are still its future and what they become is what our human race will be for the rest of our time on this planet.

  “Because of this turn of events, The Angel’s army will no longer be able to head to Europe and Africa to assist in freeing the human populations on those continents. We do not have the necessary equipment to safely ship or fly the millions of soldiers the war would require under the cover of darkness. Instead, we will need to turn to ourselves and work together in this time of change to forge our nation in the image we wish it to become.

  “In two hours, the sun will set on the east coast enabling our vampire soldiers to come out of their places of hiding. I have spoken to The Angel, and she stated the desire of her troops is to return to their homes. This will be a mass of movement across our nation over the next week as many of them are on opposite coasts from where they began. I do not know what changes, if any, will accompany them as a result of the haze being gone.

  “What I will say is all humans should remain indoors after sundown and allow the vampires free travel to return to their homes. Those of you who have grievances against their kind, remember: the vampires remaining on our shores are those that fought to free you from enslavement, they are not the ones that abused you.

  “Any of you that have homes which can be used as shelters for the vampires, please mark them in some way. During their travels as dawn approaches, the vampires will need to hide from the sun. Please put some type of identifying sign or flag outside your residence so they know they can safely take shelter with you. This will help prevent the vampires from disturbing those people that wish to remain unbothered.

  “We will work through the coming difficulties together over the next weeks and months. Due to this unforeseen event, I am rescinding my decision to resign and will instead work through the remainder of the two years of the current presidential term. I believed at the moment I made my decision that we had made it through our most trying times together, and my resignation would help the nation move on and heal. It is not appropriate for me to relinquish my responsibilities as your commander-in-chief when there is such uncertainty created by this new event.

  “Please remain strong and vigilant in the days and weeks to come. The tasks we have laid out for ourselves have not been altered by the new circumstances. We will continue to repair and rebuild the infrastructure which we lost over this past year. Electricity, water, and phone systems will continue to be expanded as we work together to get them back online. All citizens who have occupations that have not yet been revived, I urge you to offer your services to your local government in any way to help our critical services be restored.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The Hunger

  Two Months Post Haze

  Washington D.C.

  “We are going to have to form a unity government.” President Thomas is addressing a mixed meeting of his advisors and mutant leaders as well. “Cora, as the leader of the mutant army, you are the obvious voice of vampires and the other mutants. They know you and trust you. Also, most of the remaining humans appreciate what you have done for us. Even with that level of familiarity or appreciation, it doesn’t mean this will be easy.”

  “I don’t understand what will be difficult about it. We have different needs than you humans do and should therefore have our own voices in government.”

  “Your ages are one problem. You should have your own voices, but legally you are still adolescents. The oldest of your kind is maybe fourteen. That, of course, is just a legal hurdle which we can remedy easily through congress. The greater difficulty is with what your kind now represent or at least what you supposedly represent.” The president looks over at Dr. Usachova and frowns. “The people are beginning to understand what we have known since The Shattering Event first occurred: humanity is about to become extinct. We will now be working on legislation and governance with a new race that will replace us on this planet, and it isn’t something people will continue to accept gracefully.”

  “There won’t be problems caused by the vampires, Mr. President. You saw during our return to our homes after the haze vanished that there were no incidents caused by our kind. We just want life to return to normal. We want things back the way they were before.”

  President Thomas sits down with an exhausted and morose expression which Cora doesn’t understand.

  “Dr. Usachova, tell her.”

  “Cora, I have studied every possible way humans and vampires could coexist, but I always arrive at one ultimate result that cannot be avoided. Based on observed cellular changes, it is believed that every human child born from this point on will mutate during puberty. There will no longer be a human race as we know it.”

  “Yes, you have said so before.”

  “But the long-term implications of this are what you need to understand. You and the other arch-vampires feed on other vampires, but most of your kind feed on humans. Eventually, the food source of the majority of vampires will become extinct. Before that happens, the shortages will cause the regular vampires to fight over a diminishing food supply. There will be wars and a high probability that your kind will once again choose to enslave humans to ensure there is some form of human blood for them to eat. We will die out no matter what is done, but you will have to enslave us to ensure your kind do not also become extinct.”

  “But humans don’t live forever, the rest of you will die out in seventy or eighty years. So are you telling me no matter what we do, we will all starve to death in the end?”

  “That is something we have to research and figure o
ut a way to avoid if we can. The time for normal humans is over. For those not yet born, the only non-mutated portion of a person’s life is before they hit puberty. From what I understand, vampires do not currently drink from children, but when the human population starts dying off, that will become one of the only sources of non-mutated blood to use.

  “The problem with that is even if you enslave humanity right now and force us into breeding programs, the numbers of human children you would need to feed on is greater than the numbers that can be conceived. There are only three possibilities we have figured out so far for your continued survival. Our first option is clones. We can begin growing human clones with the hope that the blood from them will sustain the regular class of vampires. Our second option is to attempt genetic manipulation of some other animal species to develop a suitable human blood alternative.

  “The third option is what you must do for yourselves.” Dr. Usachova blushes slightly at the thought. “Cora, your vampires need to start having children. I know you are all young, but your bodies are physically capable, and we need to find out if there is any hope for humanity to live on in your form. If you and the other vampires are incapable of having children, then the time of humanity is truly over. However, if you are still physically able to become pregnant and give birth, your own offspring might be the source of your survival.”

  President Thomas speaks up from his chair. “As you now understand, all of our options are based on your ability to reproduce. If your kind cannot produce children, then all hope for the future is lost and all of humanity’s desire to help you will fade away. Every living being, human or mutant, will devolve into a self-serving struggle of the last living humans on the planet. There would be uncontrolled chaos as people lose hope and the will to live. The whole point of civilization is to ensure the survival of future generations. You need to do your part in proving to the people that we are struggling for a purpose greater than ourselves. You need to give us proof that there is a future with your kind.”