by Ryan Horvath
“He’s extremely well behaved. He’s quite extraordinary actually,” Karen continued. Blaze cocked his head and yipped, as if to agree that yes, he was in fact quite extraordinary.
Amanda looked unmoved. Karen didn’t understand her sister’s trepidation about Blaze.
At last Amanda said, “Karen, I don’t think there is anything wrong with… Blaze,” she said as she waved a hand in his direction. “But him being here with you, today; that concerns me very much. And not in a good way.”
“Amanda?” Karen said and raised an eyebrow.
Amanda thought about how she had hoped she wouldn’t have to talk with Karen so soon about her visions involving the green eyed man but this dog being here, arriving in Karen’s life on this day, meant there were most likely things in motion Amanda had no hope of controlling. She just hoped she had a chance of escaping them.
“C’mon, sis,” Amanda said and put an arm around Karen’s shoulders. “Let’s go have that drink.” And she led her sister to the house.
Blaze fell to Karen’s side and kept pace with the two women. He peeked around Karen’s legs and looked up at Amanda.
Karen’s sister looks and sounds nice but she’s scared too. I know it. I can smell it on her. It’s not a bad smell, like the bad smelling man but she’s scared all the same.
20
SIMON
Tuesday, after Jack Thomas’s death, Simon sat at his computer watching the future unfold and debating what to do about going public about it. He’d already been threatened but he really felt people had a right to know what was going on over their heads. He knew he could go public before the CIA could stop him. All the evidence he needed to convince the world was at the ready; attached to a drafted e-mail that Simon had prepared but not sent at the direction of Jack Thomas. But, he of course, wanted to live too, even if only long enough to see what the object would ultimately do.
The thing that even he had not been able to positively identify was currently making a pass over southern California. From the orifice on its Earth facing side it continued to cast the unknown and invisible contents of its innards out over the planet below, adding its own bizarre contribution to the already toxic smog.
Simon used his scanning equipment to get a look at the object and deduced that about one quarter of the object’s liquid core had dispersed from within it. What happened after it emptied was still anyone’s guess but they had been calling it the “Main Event.” Simon guessed that, once empty, the object would probably crush in on itself and break up in the atmosphere. He hoped it would be harmless.
Simon was scared about upcoming events but also, he was sort of excited. After Monday, things could be very different for humanity. And with what he had been reading, it was probably going to be for the better.
Last week, Simon had been provided intelligence reports by Congressman Jack Thomas and they told a riveting tale. All over the world, reports were coming in of incredible disbelief. The reports were not widespread by any means, in fact, Simon had only read of about sixty cases so far and mostly because they had been reported by veterinarians and medical doctors to the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. In Hamburg, Germany, a man who had been a quadriplegic for fifteen years had suddenly regained the full use of his extremities; his muscles, which should have been all but non-functional from well over a decade of disuse, moved his arms and legs as they had before the accident that initially made him unable to move anything below his neck. A middle aged woman in Sydney, Australia, who had been in a coma for seven months following irreparable damage to her brain, woke up with all the previously well documented damage to her brain eradicated as if it had never been there. A cat in New York City, confined to a device that allowed him to walk around with his forepaws while the rear of him remained attached to a wheelchair-like apparatus because his spine had been broken by a car, began twitching his legs. His owner noticed, removed the wheelchair from the posterior of his feline friend and the cat walked normally using its own four legs. In Tunis, Tunisia, a boy who had been fighting and losing said fight against an aggressive form of lymphoma spontaneously went into what could not even be described as remission; his white blood cells were literally devouring the cancer from his body. And a similar situation was happening to a young man in the Florida Keys, whose HIV infection had been destroyed, it appeared, by the very cells the virus was trying to attach itself to. Astonishingly, a man of about thirty-five in Detroit, Michigan fell from his sixth story balcony onto the concrete below and not only did he not immediately expire, he stood up without a single injury, not even a scratch.
Simon had read all of these reports many times over the next several days. The stuff from inside the object was changing people. Simon was sure that was what was happening.
By some miracle, this thing has come here to save humanity Simon thought to himself. But why? How?
He didn’t have an answer to those questions but as he sat at his computer on Tuesday it suddenly dawned on him.
Simon had been reading an intelligence report that was again extolling on the unusual occurrences from around the globe when his eye fell on a very different case. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a woman had very recently reported that she was one hundred percent certain she had seen a man having a very real conversation with a cat. She said that the conversation had appropriate pauses and inflection. She insisted that the cat appeared to understand every word of the man’s English and that the man perfectly understood the cat’s replied meows.
Peculiar Simon thought.
The next bullet point on the report was also from a woman. She had called the police because she had been stirred by a car alarm outside her apartment window. When she had gone to investigate, she saw a man sitting on the ground with a car fender on him. The fender had come from the car he sat behind. She then saw the most astonishing thing. The man stood up, and then he lifted the rear end of the car clean off the ground and held it there. This woman had been in the Washington, DC area.
Extraordinary! Simon reflected.
The next recount was of a woman in Seattle, Washington. She claimed to have a vision and convinced six people not to board a bus, telling them the bus would be struck by a garbage truck when it pulled into the intersection, resulting in the death of herself and the other six people. Moments later, as the bus cruised through the intersection it was indeed struck by a garbage truck traveling too fast. Miraculously, no one was killed. Investigators reported that this was because there was only room on the bus for about seven more people and that this vacant space was the exact section of seats that the garbage truck collided with.
Fascinating! Simon mused.
“These people… they aren’t just getting healthy. Inter species communication. Enhanced strength. Precognitive visions,” he said quietly to himself.
Simon flipped from the intelligence report window to the window of his scanning program which was watching the object in the upper atmosphere. The liquid in the object continued to spew at a steady pace.
He felt a remarkable sense of wonder.
“It’s evolution. People and animals are evolving,” he said to his empty office.
His next feeling was one of trepidation.
What comes after evolution? Simon Shepherd asked himself. He continued to stare at the object. It was now passing over Las Vegas showering gamblers and thrill seekers with an unbiased and unrequested delivery.
“Survival of the fittest,” he quietly answered himself.
21
JACK, BRIAN, IAN, AND RIVER
Monday evening, the three young long-time companions sat together in the living room of Jack Voight’s Minneapolis townhouse with their newly found companion. River, having gotten her tuna, sat curled up in Jack’s lap with her chin resting on her forepaws; her yellow-green eyes looking across at Brian and Ian where they sat on the sofa. Jack was in his favorite reading chair.
Brian, still wrapped in a towel but with his other towel now around his neck, spoke first. He di
rected his question to Ian. “So, what do you hear when the cat, I mean River, meows?”
“Just a meow, or, you know, a cat sound,” Ian replied.
“That’s what I hear too,” Brian said. “Except,” he continued, moving his gaze to Jack, “I know what she’s saying. I don’t hear it in my ears, I hear it in my head. But it’s your voice, Jack. It’s like you’re broadcasting to me like a radio. It’s like the steaks this morning. Remember?”
Jack did. He asked Brian with a wary smile, “Uh, Bri, you’re not getting everything in my head are you?” Jack certainly didn’t like the idea of his thoughts being put on the air waves; especially to Brian, whom he still had strong feelings for.
Brian looked at Jack through slightly squinted eyes. After about ten seconds of this he answered, “No, well, I mean, I think I picked up an afterthought that you’re getting hungry but the rest seems jumbled. But when River speaks,” he started and looked at her. “River, can you please say something?”
River raised her head from her forepaws and meowed.
What Ian heard was just cat sounds but he was sure he noticed the upward inflection on the last syllable that usually indicated a question was being asked.
Brian smiled at the simplicity of the question. “I grew up just outside the city here. My childhood home is in a city called St. Louis Park,” he answered. “Would you like to know anything else?” Brian was testing his “reception” so to speak.
River mewed a few times. Ian heard a different string of cat sounds but the upward inflection of a question was clearly evident to him this time.
Brian replied, “I’m twenty-four years old. Jack and Ian are as well. How old are you?”
A third string of cat sounds but this time, Ian noticed the cat had made a statement. “How old is she?” he asked.
“She says she’s not sure but she has been alive for two cold seasons. We call those ‘winter,’” Brian told River. Then, with eyes moving between his friends, he added, “Yeah, I am definitely picking up everything she is saying but no, Jack, I am not getting all of your thoughts. They’re there but… almost nothing is clear to me. ” Brian noticed Jack looked relieved at this.
“And you’re not getting anything from me?” Ian asked, looking at Brian.
Brian squinted at Ian and said, “No, not a thing,” he said. Then he added, “But that doesn’t surprise me. You don’t have anything in there anyway,” he teased.
“Hey!” Ian said and punched Brian lightly in the arm. Brian shoved Ian and the two began their characteristic rough housing session.
Thirty seconds later after they had calmed back down Jack asked, “What about you Ian? Do you notice anything… strange or different about yourself?
Ian thought for a moment. “I haven’t noticed anything, Jack-Me-Off.” He smiled teasingly at Jack, knowing he didn’t care for this particular play on his name. “River just sounds like a cat to me, I mean I can tell she is having an intelligent conversation with… us I guess, but it’s all cat sounds to me. He paused. “Sorry, River,” he added moving his eyes to meet hers.
River meowed looking back to Ian.
Ian looked up to Jack expectantly.
“She says ‘That’s all right, Ian. You’re still one of us.’” Jack provided.
“Thank you, River,” Ian said to her with a smile. River returned her head to have her chin resting on her forepaws.
“What about you, Jack?” Brian asked. “You said earlier you thought a lot of new things were possible. What’s happening to you?”
Jack didn’t really know where to begin but he found a starting off point. “Well, aside from River here, I’ve noticed an increased sense of hearing. Before River arrived, I could hear her heart beating from blocks away. In fact,” Jack concentrated, “and now I can hear both of yours as well. And if I’m not mistaken, my sense of smell has improved as well.”
Jack drew in a big breath through his nose.
“I think Mrs. Braderberg next door has just burnt her garlic and I can tell you used my shampoo, Bri,” Jack revealed. Brian’s hand went automatically to his head and he slowly nodded.
“It takes concentration, except with River’s heart beat; that I hear without trying.” Jack continued. “My sight has always been perfect so I can’t say that I’ve noticed anything there. And taste and touch don’t feel any different, but yes, if I concentrate, I can hear better and smell better.”
“Wow!” Ian said looking excited. “That’s pretty awesome!”
Jack was hesitant to tell his friends the rest but after a moment, he decided to go through with it.
“There’s more,” he blurted out. No turning back now.
Ian and Brian gaped and said in unison, “More?”
“Yes,” Jack started. “I really don’t know how to tell you guys this. I kept it from you because I didn’t want you to worry. And I really didn’t want you to abandon me or pity me. I was scared. I was embarrassed. I was depressed,” he paused. His friends said nothing. “Shortly after we all split up last year, there was an incident in my ER.”
His friends tensed, waiting for whatever Jack would reveal.
“A crazed drug addict came in with a syringe concealed in his hand,” Jack said.
Brian’s eyes widened and Ian’s mouth formed an “O”.
“The syringe,” Jack continued, “was, of course, dirty. Not long after that, a doctor told me I was HIV positive.” A few tears squeezed from Jack’s eyes as he recalled that horrific day.
Brian had tears in his eyes and Ian looked at Jack with concern.
“Jack-,” Brian started but Jack cut him off.
“Wait, Bri, I’m not done yet. Today, just a little while ago, I got a phone call from my doctor.”
The two young men across from Jack stared at him in anticipation.
“I had blood taken last week and the results were, well unexpected. My body, it’s um… it’s… it has destroyed the virus,” Jack revealed.
River’s ear’s pricked at this word and she meowed, “Oh yes, Jack, I still want to know what that word means. You forgot to explain it to me.”
“A virus is a very tiny life form that can cause a disease in a person or animal. Although, I think I read somewhere that there might be some beneficial viruses out there,” Jack explained.
“Interesting,” River meowed and returned her head to her forepaws pondering this.
Jack looked at his stupefied friends. Finally Ian broke the silence.
“Jack Sprat, that’s so freaking amazing. But seriously, dude, you should have and could have told us.” He looked at Brian and back to Jack. “We’ll always be there for you.”
Jack hoped this was true. “Thanks, Ian,” he said and looked shamefully down at the floor. When he looked up, he looked at Brian. Brian said nothing. He stood up, stepped to Jack and hugged him, hard. A few more tears welled from Jack and he realized how much he really missed Brian’s embrace.
When Brian finally let Jack go he said “Why did River ask you what a virus was?”
“I’ll let her explain,” Jack replied.
River, through Jack, quickly relayed to Brian and Ian what she had heard earlier today. And when she was finished, Ian said, “What the hell is going on around here?”
“I don’t have any definite answers but I can say this: I think the four of us are going to be okay,’” Jack stated confidently.
“What makes you say that?” Brian asked.
“What’s happening to us. I think its preparations. I just have this feeling,” Jack answered.
“But nothing is happening to me,” Ian pointed out.
“That you’ve noticed,” Jack reminded and then added, “Besides, as River said, you’re one of us.”
Ian smiled and slapped a palm to his forehead. “Sheesh, so what do we do now?”
“We eat,” Jack stated. “You were right earlier, Brian, I was getting hungry. And now, I’m really hungry. Shall we?”
“We shall.” Ian said.
And with that, the three men made and ate their dinner. River was always close and watchful. Jack gave her a little bit of his steak and she greedily ate it. After they ate, Jack showered while Ian and Brian did the dishes. River hovered on the edge of the tub between the shower curtain and curtain liner, her eyes on Jack.
After Jack showered and put on a shirt and some shorts, he rejoined his friends in his living room. They struck up some Scrabble and began drinking whiskey sours. After about three hours, Brian excused himself to go to bed. Ian took the remains of his drink, tottered over to the sofa, laid down on it, and turned on the television. River joined him by jumping up and stretching herself out on his legs.
Jack was tired and buzzed. He went into the bathroom by his bedroom and brushed his teeth. When he entered his room, Brian was in his bed again. This time he was awake. Jack noticed a familiar shape at Brian’s waist beneath the sheets and his heart sped up. He quietly set the door ajar and walked over to the bed.
22
ART
After butchering the woman in the abandoned building, Art had been splattered with her blood. Fortunately, as was his usual custom, he had worn all black so on the walk back to his car, no one noticed the blood. He returned to his home and cleaned himself up and burned his bloody clothes in the grill on his balcony. Dressed in fresh clothes, he was hungry again.
He left home and walked to the all night pizza restaurant a few blocks away. The place was busy for a Monday night and Art realized that Monday Night Football was being shown on all of the restaurant’s televisions. Art didn’t care for football so he asked for a booth away from the TVs and the shouting fans.
When the server arrived to take his order, Art ordered mozzarella sticks and two calzones with milk and water to drink. The server looked at the empty seat across from Art and jokingly asked, “Did you just get out of prison?”
Art looked at her and replied, “No, I’m just that hungry.” He grinned at her and was pleased to notice his smile had unsettled her.