End of the Six (The Preston Six Book 6)

by Matt Ryan

The last string brightened and hummed with power. Maybe someone, somewhere was using the stone and she panicked that maybe the queen was moving around; maybe she was back in the dome, killing her family.

  The last string vibrated in her hand and she felt the power of it. Infinite power. The queen had ideas about what might happen if it broke, terrible ideas like the worlds exploding, but Evelyn didn’t think so. She wrapped the strand around her hand and pulled again.

  It twanged and pulled her back, sucking her deeper into the darkness. She heard voices running along the string like a record player recording the etched sounds of existence. Images plowed through her mind as she screamed and pulled at the strand, trying to break the last thing keeping her family from being free.

  Then she saw it. The face of the creator. An ancient image of a woman, threading the strands between the worlds, creating the stones. The woman seemed familiar in a way, then the strand hummed again and she felt the immense power. The image disappeared. The string tightened around her hand and pulled her down again.

  If Will hadn’t just drained her of all her energy, she might have been able to break this last one. As it was now, she just wanted to give up.

  “Evelyn?”

  She opened her eyes. Cindy floated next to her, or what looked like Cindy. More of a ghostly image of her body, as she shimmered in and out.

  “Cindy, what are you doing in here?”

  “I knew you needed help.”

  “I can do this.” With Cindy watching she gave another mighty pull on the string. She plunged into the darkness again, leaving Cindy floating way above her.

  Cindy appeared next to her once again. “This time, we do it together.”

  Evelyn nodded and Cindy reached down and took the string in her hands.

  “Use your mind. I think that’s what gives us the power,” Evelyn said and Cindy nodded.

  Evelyn closed her eyes and thought of her dad and mom waiting for her to return. She thought of the queen, who was probably making new stones and getting ready for a major retaliation.

  “Now,” Evelyn said and felt part of the string getting pulled by Cindy.

  She poured everything, her love and hate, into this last pull. If it didn’t break, she knew she’d plunge into the darkness below and never be seen again. Cindy groaned next to her and then she felt the release, as if they were pulling on nothing.

  “Let go,” Evelyn said.

  The string flickered as they let go, then fell into the darkness with a few last bursts of light.

  Evelyn felt the push back to her body and she fell back onto the ground. She couldn’t move. She could barely breathe and as she lay there, she watched the stone crack and then break apart.

  They’d done it. The stone was gone; every stone would be broken now. No one, anywhere, would be able to get to them now. They were free.

  HARRIS STOOD BEHIND TRAVIS, OVERLOOKING the streets of Sanct. In the last year, he had dissolved MM and split it into thirty-two companies. Some failed with the split, while others skyrocketed—the way a free market should work. He gave up on holding onto the power, and for the first time in a long time, felt as if something wasn’t crushing down on him.

  Travis waved to the enormous crowd and they cheered. Over the last year, Travis and he had spent a lot of time together, rebuilding Vanar, and making the tough choices. In the end, Travis remained president and even brought in Harris as an advisor.

  “Thank you so much for making it to our first annual day of celebration,” Travis spoke to the crowd. “The day our oppressor turned off the power and lit our world on fire.”

  Thunderous boos spread over the crowd.

  “I know, I know. But it was also the day our world came together, in a united front, to rebuild and reform all of those broken ties. And we can stand here today and proudly say that we’ve succeeded.”

  The crowd cheered even louder.

  Harris chuckled and thought of the little girl who’d came into their lives like a whirlwind and saved the day. He wished for Poly and Julie to be standing up here with them. He could only imagine what the crowd would do if they showed up.

  The Preston Six had become something of a legend. Most of the people figured they died in the moments after Marcus cursed the world. Others said Travis had them cryogenically frozen, so they’d could be revived if the world ever needed saving again. That one made Harris laugh the most, even though they had a building that could do just that.

  There wasn’t a day that went by without thinking of the kids. When he thought of Joey, his heart sank each time. Evelyn somehow brought him back from the grave. It felt almost unnatural to him and he often thought of Compry. Could that stone have brought her back from the abyss? Had he been impatient and cruel when he killed off her grinner body without so much as a second thought? Or what about Ryjack?

  He twitched at the need to use an Alius stone and see his friends once more. Even the vast expanse of his own world felt small now. He felt confined to a cage he’d never be able to escape.

  The only relief from his confines, was in the form of the company he’d kept under his command. Stowing an endless amount of money into his space program, he couldn’t wait to see what civilizations he could discover. There were worlds out there, he knew it. Marcus had hated the idea of space travel, but for Harris, it felt like the next choice, the next adventure.

  The crowd quieted to Travis’s calming hands. “We have a lot to be proud of, but there is more work to do. . . .”

  Harris drifted off as Travis went into his rehearsed political speech. He’d heard him speak so many times now, it felt as if they all blended together into one optimistic tapestry of hope, thankfulness, and remembrance.

  “He start talking about Poly yet?” Katana asked.

  “Not yet,” Harris said and took her hand in his. And here he thought he’d never love again. But against all odds, there she was, sitting next to him, looking as beautiful as anything he’d ever seen. She looked just like her mom, Maya. Which he was grateful for because he didn’t like the idea of looking into Travis’s eyes on cold nights.

  “You tell him yet?” Katana asked.

  “I was going to save it for after the speech.” He felt the ring on her finger.

  “How do you think he’s going to take it?” Katana asked.

  “Well, he’s the one who introduced us, so I think he’s going to be okay with it.” Harris had come to think of Travis as a brother, or at the very least, a great friend. They’d been through hell and back together, and lived to tell about it.

  “I heard he went dancing last week. And even picked up the sword again.”

  “That’s good to hear.” Harris knew Travis had had intentions with Poly, but the world didn’t work the way you wanted it to sometimes.

  “Oh my God, is that a ring?” Douglas leaned over with his fingers tapping his lips. “Let me see it!” He caressed her hand, then looked to Harris with a raised eyebrow. “For the richest man in the world. . . .”

  Travis glanced back and witnessed Douglas fondling the ring on his daughter’s hand. He stared hard, then looked at Harris. He pulled the mic from the stand and motioned for Harris to come next to him. “I want to introduce a man who needs no introduction, Harris Boone, my future son-in-law.”

  The crowd roared more than any previous cheer. Harris stood next to Travis and took in the mighty crowd.

  Travis leaned in to whisper to Harris, “Anything happens to Katana and I won’t honor any deal Poly and I have.” He squeezed Harris’s shoulder hard and then waved to the adoring crowd.

  He’d make sure Travis never had to break that promise with Poly.

  JOEY WALKED NEXT TO THE car, carrying the small cooler under one arm. Poly jogged around the other side and pulled on his hand, dragging him up the front stairs and onto the porch of his parents’ house. Bull rushed out from under the house and greeted him. He knelt and petted his old friend, who wagged his tail and licked his hand.

  “Good to see you, buddy
,” Joey said.

  Not everything had come back to him when he’d woken up on that cold slab in the basement of the hospital, but he had a vivid memory of his old dog. It seemed like so many years ago now that they went off into that forest together, starting the entire adventure.

  The front door flung open and Lucas jumped onto the porch wearing a pointy birthday hat. “I thought I heard you guys out here. You’re late.”

  Poly winced at the words and Joey gave her a sideways look.

  “Or,” Lucas continued, “have you two been out here sucking face the whole time?”

  “We just got here,” Joey said.

  “Though the car ride here was fun,” Poly said.

  “Oh, you crazy kids. Get in here.” Lucas grabbed Joey around the neck and pulled him into the house.

  “How’d the sleepover go?” Poly asked with a bit of nervousness in her voice.

  Lucas smiled. “Those three kids,” he shook his head, “I can’t understand half of what they are saying anymore. They just live on those Panavices. So, in other words, they couldn’t have been any easier.”

  “Oh, good,” Poly said.

  Joey wanted to see his little girl’s face, and looked through the window trying to spot her. An odd thing, having a gifted child who was so advanced, holding a solid conversation with them became difficult. It felt easier to just let Evelyn explore her gifts, but maybe that was because he had his own. Not that he’d ever use them again.

  They entered his parents’ house and eighties rock played through his dad’s stereo. Evelyn, Will, and Cindy stood next to the stereo and stopped the music. They took out the cassette tape and passed it around, studying it. Minter walked up to them and took the tape, giving them a quick explanation of the different metal filaments that aligned in such a way the heads in the stereo picked them up and converted it into audible music. Their three faces lit up with fascination.

  After a night filled with laughter, presents, and birthday cake, they settled into groups. Poly grabbed Joey’s hand and they walked off to the back porch for some night time air. Even though he and Poly had moved just outside of town into their own small house, this place always felt like home.

  “Samantha kissed me here,” Joey said.

  “You trying to get me jealous?” Poly nudged him in the side. “I miss her as well. She had such a fun, infectious way about her.”

  “Like gravity.”

  “Yeah, she drew you in.”

  Joey thought of the time he’d spent with Samantha in the amusement park. He almost wanted to thank Marcus for giving him those moments with her. They’d gotten to know each other on so many levels, and even though he was never in love with her, she still meant the world to him.

  “The sky is so beautiful now,” Poly said and Joey looked up into the night sky, so many stars gleamed. So bright in fact, the power would be turned off after ten.

  “Power curfew should be kicking in.”

  “Yep, the kids must be hacking the system again.”

  “Should we stop them?” Joey asked.

  “Nah, let’s just have one night with the lights on.”

  The world had gone haywire, as one would expect, after surviving the alien invasion. And with their resources crippled, many of the cubes and structures still lay dead and scattered all over the world. The governments, fresh off the near-apocalyptic Cough outbreak, struggled to get a handle on a second world-wide recovery.

  Trip had become something of an expert to the growing underworld of preppers, and went into the business of helping people prepare for the next calamity. He and Carl had become good friends, and ended up partnering in the endeavor, with Peter tagging along.

  Joey loved taking Peter and Mary out. Everything they saw brought such a wonder to their eyes. Joey only wished he could have shown them what the world had looked like before the invasion and the Cough.

  With the school systems in shambles, Poly had started teaching some of the local kids in one of the classrooms in the school that wasn’t completely ransacked or burnt down. While she busied herself with feeding young minds, Joey spent his time down at the gun store. He mostly did it just to keep busy, but he also liked to handle all the different guns.

  Minter and Rick led the rebuilding effort in Preston and nearby towns. They’d done such a good job that in a few months, the new school would be opened. Beth and Gretchen had formed a Planting for Life foundation and taught the people of the new world how to garden and grow their own food. Opal started a program teaching self-defense, and even drew in some celebrity types with her amazing knife skills. Poly would even stop by from time to time to offer a hand.

  Julie, Lucas, and Will stayed in Preston as well, but Julie used one of the few Panavices they still had to create some wealth, magically distributing it into needy people’s accounts. The news reporters called the anonymous donations a digital Robin Hood.

  Lucas and Will spent a lot of their time driving to different areas, and offering their help to get power back up, or just handing out food and seeds. Lucas fashioned another bow, but still muttered about missing Prudence. It has to be in one of those cubes, he’d say. The more Joey thought on it, he wondered if Lucas and Will were just on a major hunt for his missing bow.

  The three wonder kids spent a lot of time together, mostly working in effort to make the world a better place. And with ZRB, the company Evelyn still owned, they seemed to be doing that in spades. Joey never asked too much about what they were doing, as somethings were better left unknown.

  Poly touched his arm.

  He folded her into his embrace and they gazed out into the night. “What’s up?”

  “After a year, I still have to check and make sure you’re real.”

  “I’m real.” He smiled and kissed the top of her head.

  The back door opened. Julie, Lucas, Hank, and Gladius joined them.

  They stood quietly for a minute before Gladius said, “Oh, I got the latest test batch today. I even have a couple left over.”

  She pulled a cellophane package from her pocket. “My freaking Snackie Cake factory finally got it right.” She opened the package and bit into it, looking as if she would melt with ecstasy. “So good. This world’s going to go insane over these, if I decide to let anyone else have them.”

  Hank smiled and hugged Gladius. “The factory can make tens of thousands a day. You can only eat so many.”

  “Says you,” Gladius said and took another bite. “You guys have got to try these.” She pulled out a couple and laid them on the railing.

  Lucas took the next package and wolfed it down. “That’s amazing,” he said with a mouth full of Snackie Cake.

  “I know, right?”

  “I have an announcement as well,” Julie said. “I’ve perfected Orange. Well, I should say I did it with the help of our own wonder three.”

  “What?” Gladius eyes went wide and Joey thought he saw tears welling. “Thank you so much,” Gladius said. “You know, you guys can drink it as well. We have the same genetic markers. You can all live for a long time.”

  “I guess,” Joey said.

  “When I said I’d marry Lucas for life, I wasn’t counting on a forever kind of life,” Julie said.

  Lucas huffed. “You couldn’t handle all of this for that long anyway. We’ll just get all old and wrinkly together.” He snuggled up against her in a hug.

  “Stop it.” Julie playfully pushed him back.

  “Speaking of surprises,” Lucas said and let go of Julie. “Hank and I got something from the old school. A birthday present to all of us, if you will.” They both darted off the porch and yanked a blanket off what looked like a rickety table. Carrying it onto the porch, they sat it down with big smiles stretching across their faces.

  “A table?” Gladius asked.

  “Not just any table.” Lucas pointed at a marking.

  “Is it . . .?” Joey rushed to the scribbling they’d made so long ago. His finger rubbed along the etched letters. The bumps an
d lines stood as a reminder of a day when they still had Samantha, and the world had felt so big. A happy time, filled with the innocence and free thinking of young teens.

  “Thanks, guys,” Poly said and moved her fingertips across the letters. “This is so special.”

  Hank hugged Gladius and whispered into her ear.

  “Hey, since we’re all old and responsible now, I think we should go to the lake and do some nighttime swimming, in the nude,” Lucas said.

  “Sure,” Joey said. “Well, except for the nude part. But a trip to the lake sounds nice.”

  “Let’s go! Hank, you have to row the boat. I’m not wasting all my money on gas when I have a trained ape on hand.”

  “You better run. . . .” Hank chased after Lucas and into the house.

  “Kids.” Gladius sighed and went into the house.

  Julie walked up next to Poly. “Remember the time when Samantha stuffed bait fish into Lucas’s sandwich?”

  Poly smiled. “Yeah, that was funny.”

  “I say we pay Samantha a little homage tonight. You guys down?”

  “Yeah, we’re down,” Joey said.

  “Okay. I better catch up to them, I don’t want Lucas driving there.”

  “Sure, we’ll meet you at the lake,” Joey said, then turned to Poly as Julie went back inside.

  Poly turned to face him with tears flowing down her face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Of what?” Joey asked. “Marcus is gone, that queen lady can’t get back to us, we have a family now, and a solid place in which we can live. It’s our time to be happy.”

  “That’s what I’m scared of. For so long, we ran from chaos and calamity, only to charge headfirst into the unknown danger. And then, Joey . . . you were dead, and crazy alien queen was after our daughter. And now . . . well, now look at us.” She motioned back to the laughing parents as the kids pulled a cassette tape apart to study the remnants. “Our daughter seems happy. We seem happy.”

  “Then what’s to be scared about?”

  She wiped her face. “I can’t shake the feeling it isn’t going to last. And worse than that, I don’t want to lose that feeling. I’m letting myself slip into this reality of safety and comfort, which will only make it worse when it’s pulled away from us once again.”