The End The Beginning (Humanity's New Dawn Book 1)

by Ryan Horvath

  To his continued pleasure, there was a property not far from the opposite long side of the corn field. If the bitches emerged from that side, they’d likely see the house on that property and seek refuge there. It was a house Art himself intended to visit later on. It was the house he had seen on Jack Voight’s computer. This was all too perfect for him.

  He strode quickly and confidently back to his abandoned farm house, got in his car, and drove to his viewing point on the other boundaries of the corn field. He didn’t think it would take the bitch sisters long to make their way out of the corn. He sat in his parked car and fantasized about their impending pain and humiliation. And, of course, their inevitable deaths. These two women had given him more resistance than any of his other victims. And Dr. Shepherd had proved a most elusive quarry as well. It would be fitting to wrap everyone up together. He’d subdue the women and kill the men and the dog.

  Art found himself enjoying the hunt.

  Karen, Amanda, and Blaze emerged from the corn and, after scaling a small embankment, found themselves on a dirt road. Across the road and down another embankment, they saw structures on a piece of land about two hundred yards away.

  To Karen, the sun appeared to be shining brighter on the house as if it were blessed by the heavens. “There. That’s it. I know it is,” she stated firmly.

  “Yes, I think you’re right,” Blaze barked.

  “I know I’m right. I’ve seen this before,” Karen stated firmly.

  In the distance to their left they heard a car start. They all turned to see a black sedan with a missing rear bumper over three hundred yards away. It had been parked at the end of the dirt road on the cross road almost out of sight. Now it sped around the corner and down the road in their direction.

  “It’s him,” Blaze barked. Even Amanda could hear the alarm in his bark.

  “Run,” Karen said.

  Persistent hunger and fatigue left the trio and they dashed as fast as they could toward the house while the black car tore down the road behind them. When they were about eighty yards from the house, four men bolted out of the front door. Three were armed with shot guns and the fourth held a pistol in his hands. A dark cat ran behind one of them and Karen didn’t need to see it up close to know that it was the cat from her visions of Jack.

  When the trio and quintet were within twenty feet of each other, one of the men raised his shot gun at them and shouted.

  “Stop right there!” he commanded.

  Karen, Amanda, and Blaze skidded to a stop and the three other men and the cat fell in with the man who had spoken to them. The men held their weapons ready but only one had his directly on the women.

  “Please,” Karen pleaded. She looked over at Amanda and noticed Amanda trying to conceal her bare breasts from these men. She moved to help her sister hide her nakedness. “Please,” she began again, trying to talk through gasps of air. “He’s trying to kill us!” she said, and pointed behind them at the approaching sedan. “Please help!”

  The man with his shot gun trained on them lowered his weapon, fully exposing his face, and looked past the women. That’s when Karen recognized him.

  “Please, Jack. I know it’s you. Please help us,” Karen cried with hot tears of terror and joy streaming down her face.

  The man stared back at her perplexed.

  Art tore his sedan through the barbed wire fence and sped across the unplanted field toward the house that sat almost on the center of the property. He watched the bitch sisters run toward the house. He saw the group of men flood from the house followed by some small dark animal. He saw the two groups meet up. He pulled his bumperless car to a stop about sixty feet from the group, put it in park, opened the door and stepped out. He took his gun out and held it at his side while he surveyed the group that was watching him just as close as he was watching them. The bitch sisters and their lousy dog; Shepherd and his youth. Of the three other men, one had to be Turner and one had to be Voight. It didn’t matter who the third was because he was going to be just as dead as the others.

  “Perfect,” he said to himself with a horrible grin. “The gang’s all here.”

  61

  WORLDS COLLIDE

  The object in the sky had completed phase one of its purpose and was working on phase two. It had passed through the southern United States, over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and across the Atlantic Ocean continuing on its curious orbit. It currently sat over south-central Africa.

  Having no sentience other than its purpose, the object did not know or care that its cloaking device had not been able to compensate for the light imbalance during the eclipse. It further was unaware and unconcerned that it had been seen by the planet’s inhabitants.

  Its analysis detected pollution levels to the south had increased rather than decreased but the residual effects of the object’s first liquid would clear the area up in a decade or two, which was miniscule in the big astronomical scope of things. Further analysis revealed that the land mass to the east had suffered a similar but much larger scale eruption of toxic pollution. All indicators showed that, while this level of pollution would remain toxic for a while, the land mass would be fully inhabitable again within the next century.

  Scans reported that the dominant life form on the planet had responded to the first liquid but the percentage that had responded was at the lowest end of the range that the object’s programming considered acceptable. Low but acceptable.

  The objects sensors also determined that most lethal pathogens were dead or dying. The object couldn’t report on the specifics but the dominant species would no longer be afflicted with HIV, cancer, influenza, pneumonia, syphilis, tuberculosis, and various other viral and bacterial diseases. Their animal companions would no longer be afflicted with FIV, rabies, distemper, and others as well.

  The object did not have the ability to replenish the natural resources of the planet. The species that bore through phase three, the final phase of the object’s purpose, would have to make do with what was there.

  When the object’s CPU was satisfied that its purpose had been successfully accomplished, it initiated its third phase. It would take some time for the ultimate phase to be ready for fruition.

  Deep in the middle of the globe of liquid that remained inside the object, the molecules of the fluid began heating up. The rise in temperature spread from molecule to molecule to molecule. Over the next few dozen hours, they would continue to heat and expand until the goop that currently took up about sixty percent of the object’s innards, filled its entire cavity.

  After that, the object’s purpose would be fulfilled and it would cease to exist.

  Simon joined Jack, Brian, Ian, and River in the living room of the house in Orono after he watched the gassy liquid cease its release. He found the three men and the cat watching the television. The local news was on and the reports were not good.

  The cities of Chicago and Milwaukee were being shown side by side while a Fox news reporter talked in the background. The reporter’s tone was sad and somber as she spoke. The men and cat watched the screen in quiet disbelief. Smoke was flowing freely from most corners that were on the screen currently. In Chicago, The Sears and Amoco Towers were in flames; as were the US Bank Tower and the Milwaukee Art Museum in the city ninety miles to the north. Close up images showed people in panic in the streets. Gunfire could be heard in the background of both images.

  The view on the screen changed to the Twin Cities. The reporter indicated that downtown St. Paul was louder than it had been on a Friday night in some time. The camera showed people frantically running in and out of stores and pharmacies, stealing food, medicine, and anything else they could fit in their pockets, purses, and backpacks. The camera switched to downtown Minneapolis, more specifically, outside the Target store Jack, Brian, Ian, and River had just been at the day before. The place had been just another relaxed shopping experience yesterday but today, it was pandemonium.

  Brian walked over beside Jack a
nd took his hand. “I’m so glad you got us to believe you, Jack.” As he continued to watch, he added, “And I’m so sorry I ever doubted you.”

  “This is insane,” Ian said. “I thought people could do better than this. They don’t even know that this thing is going to hurt anybody.”

  “This is humanity in the face of fear,” Simon said forebodingly. “Scare us; back us into a corner and we turn into animals.”

  “We’re people!” Ian argued. His eyes widened at the screen as two women began punching each other for the other’s shopping cart even though both carts were so full, no one woman would be able to push both of them. One woman struck the other with a fist to the jaw and they could see blood and teeth fly from the punched woman’s mouth. “We’re supposed to be better than this,” he added quietly.

  “I’m sorry, bud,” Jack said to Ian. “But this is what we prepared for. Any one of those people could come knocking on our door at any time and try to take what we have. They’re scared.” He paused. “We are too but we had time to prepare and we have to protect each other and our resources.”

  A tear leaked out of Ian’s right eye. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so hopeless. He moved away from the TV and stared out one of the front windows. He put a hand to his forehead and rested his elbow on the wall beside the window.

  The news reported worsening conditions across the country. Jack looked to River.

  “I guess it didn’t take so long for something to happen after all,” Jack said.

  “You’re right, Jack,” she concurred with a meow. Her nostrils quivered and her ears cocked in Ian’s direction. The feline hopped down from her roost on the back of the couch and joined Ian at the window. She peered out intensely.

  After about a minute of silence, aside from the news cast, Ian spoke.

  “Uh, guys?” he said.

  “Yeah? What?” Brian asked, unable to tear his eyes from the carnage on the TV screen.

  Jack and Simon turned to look at Ian.

  “We may already have company,” Ian said. He had taken his hand off his forehead and was pointing out the window. River was pacing rapidly back and forth on the window sill, her tail puffed up and twitched.

  Jack, Brian, and Simon raced over to the window in a clatter of chairs. They all peered out.

  About one hundred and twenty yards from the house, the men saw two small shapes moving in their direction. It was instantly obvious that they were people but the type of people they were was unclear. As they got a little closer, Jack pointed out that they were with a dog.

  “How do you know that?” Simon asked, squinting through the glass. He hadn’t been able to see any dog yet.

  “I can smell it. And judging by the sounds of their breathing, that’s two women. They sound panicked,” Jack said cryptically.

  “Maybe they escaped from the city…,” Ian suggested.

  “They could be anyone,” Jack said. He hesitated a moment longer and said. “C’mon. Everyone grab a gun.” He moved away from the window toward the guns.

  “Wha? Are you serious?” Brian said, clearly not looking forward to armed combat so soon.

  Jack picked up his old Mossberg. He hadn’t had time to test the new one yet and didn’t want to now. “We have to protect ourselves, Bri,” Jack said. He grabbed Brian by the back of his neck and pressed their foreheads together. “Don’t worry. We’ll get through this.”

  Brian nodded but he was shaking and trying hard not to cry.

  Jack raced back to the guns and picked up his step-father’s Walther, which he then handed to Brian. They hadn’t got to let Brian try out the crossbow yet either but the Walther was easy enough to use. He hurriedly shoved a few back up shells in his pockets. Ian and Simon had armed up and River was pawing at the front door.

  “Ready?” Simon said. His brow was coated in perspiration. The three nodded and Simon opened the door. They all ran out on an intercept course with the women and the dog which was now visible to them.

  As the distance closed from eighty yards to sixty, Brian, who was the farthest in the rear hesitated. Something about them going at these women with guns didn’t feel right. He didn’t know why, it was just something in his gut. It was like when Simon had almost left Jack’s townhome yesterday after they all met. He looked down hoping to see River and ask her what she felt but she was keeping pace with Ian five or six yards ahead.

  As the distance between the two groups closed from sixty yards to forty, Ian noticed a black sedan speeding in their direction from behind the women. It looked to Ian as though the car was missing its rear bumper. Ian also noticed that one of the women looked back at the sedan and forward again. Her face was riddled with fear and she looked like she’d taken a bit of a beating. He saw that she was also topless and using her arms to keep her breasts from swinging free while she ran. When she got closer to them still, Ian noticed she was ten, maybe fifteen years his senior. Above all this, he observed that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life. He felt no threat from these women. He lowered his shot gun as the trio and quintet continued to near each other. This would prove to be a costly mistake.

  Simon caught sight of the black sedan with the missing bumper before anyone else did. The two groups were about thirty yards from each other. To him, the car screamed assassin, except for the missing bumper, that was. Somehow the CIA had tracked him here. Maybe they had tracking programs on the software he stole and they found him while he was watching the object after the eclipse. Maybe someone had seen him at Jack’s and somehow tracked him here. Hell, maybe they had sewn something into his God damn underwear and a radio transmitter sitting two inches from his scrotum was broadcasting his whereabouts. Then he realized he was wearing new underwear and assumed the last was highly unlikely. Still, he didn’t like this situation one bit. He forgot about the running women and kept his gun at the ready.

  At about a separation distance of twenty yards, River heard the dog in the other group give one solitary sharp bark. River instantly understood the other animal. These women weren’t trouble. They were in trouble. She raced over to Jack.

  As the distance closed from twenty yards to twenty feet, Jack raised his gun and trained it on the approaching women. He didn’t know where they were coming from but they reeked of panic. Even the dog smelled terrified. He heard all of their hearts pounding violently away in their chests. Jack was so focused on the sound of their hearts and they drowned out the noise of the approaching black sedan.

  “Stop right there!” Jack ordered and the women and dog came to a halt.

  “Please,” Karen Thomas pleaded. She moved to help the woman she was with hide her bare breasts. “Please,” Karen said again through gasps for air. “He’s trying to kill us. Please help!”

  Jack lowered his shot gun and then the woman who had been speaking said the most perplexing thing to him.

  “Please, Jack. I know it’s you. Please help us,” Karen cried.

  From the black sedan behind the women, Art Spektor stepped out holding his gun in his hand. “Perfect,” he said and smiled. “The gang’s all here.”

  Jack lowered his gun even more and looked at the woman incredulously. “How do you know my name?”

  But Jack was not going to get an answer to that right away.

  Art raised his gun and pointed it at his target. He was going to take out the miserable little doctor fuck first. The doctor, whose elusiveness over the last couple days had caused Art to delay getting the gratification he so desperately wanted from the bitch woman who was supposed to be handcuffed to what he’d hoped would become his own personal human rape stand and instead was running around the fields with her tits shaking.

  The fucking doctor yelled “Gun!” at the sight of Art’s pistol.

  Art squeezed the trigger on his pistol as the pissant doctor began to move. The doctor dodged the bullet but there was one of the other men standing behind him. The man looked to be love struck by something. Art noticed it was the bitch woma
n that had this man’s attention and he felt his rage intensify.

  Art’s rage instantly was replaced by satisfaction when he saw the love struck man’s expression change to dread as his bullet tore into the man’s neck.

  “Ian!!” one of the men who wasn’t the fucking doctor screamed and ran to the dying man’s side. “Jack! Help me!” he shouted.

  The man known now to Art as Jack moved to the goner’s side who Art also now knew was Ian Turner. The other man with him was the last one Art didn’t know.

  “That takes care of Turner. This is too easy,” Art said and grinned. But the fucking doctor had recovered and was aiming a shot gun where Art stood. He quickly ducked behind his open car door and scrambled to the back of the car as shot gun fire rocked the air. The shot, of course, probably wouldn’t connect with his car. The fucking doctor was, after all, just that and not a marksman. From the underside of his car, Art surveyed the area. Voight and the unidentified man were carrying Turner to shelter which was a barn about fifteen yards to their right. The bitch sisters were looking for shelter and then ducked behind a hay bale. The pissant doctor was already out of sight.

  Art didn’t know where the fucking doctor went. He came out from behind his car and fired after the men running away with what Art guessed was a corpse. If he hit them, great but he wanted to subdue the women so they didn’t get away.

  Art snuck over to the hay bale he had seen the bitch sisters go behind and was greeted not only by them but Shepherd as well, and Art got the drop on him. He snatched the man by his collar while he tried to raise his gun and threw him away from the women with such force that had there been a solid object in the doctor’s path for his body to hit, his spine, ribcage, and skull would all have been crushed. The miserable doctor actually flew out of his shirt, which ripped off in Art’s hand before he released the doctor. As it was, the body of the doctor tumbled twice when he landed and after, remained motionless.