To The Bitter End (Dan & Chloe Book 3)

by Nathan L. Flamank

  Dan jumped when a gunshot rang out.

  Dan’s eyes snapped up from Chloe’s ruined chest and he saw that she had held on to her Glock.

  She had fired the shot and a policeman slumped over a stone angel several yards away.

  Chloe squeezed the trigger again but the Glock’s slide was locked open.

  Dan took the Glock from her hand. He quickly ejected the clip and from his pocket he slammed a fresh one in to the Glock’s grip.

  ‘We…ki-kicked ass,’ Chloe gasped.

  Dan was nodding his head as he pulled on the Glock’s slide and he raised the Glock and let off four shots in to the air.

  Dan could hear the squawk of radios and he knew that the assault team were almost on them.

  ‘Where’s Archie…wh-wh-when you need…him?’ Chloe said.

  Dan laughed.

  They’d both known going in to this that the Architect would not be there to help them.

  ‘We’re not dead yet,’ Dan said and he wiped the back of his gun-hand across his face. His hand came away coated in a mess of blood, tears and snot.

  ‘I don’t regret a thing Dan,’ Chloe said. Her voice was weaker but she had discovered that her ability to speak had improved in the last few moments.

  ‘Neither do I,’ Dan said.

  Dan fired off another two shots.

  He wiped the blood from Chloe’s lips and she managed to lick them with the tip of her tongue.

  ‘I don’t want to wake tomorrow without you Chloe,’ Dan said through his crying.

  Chloe smiled. She raised her left arm and her hand found his face. She stared up at him as she ran her delicate fingers down the line of his jaw.

  ‘I love you Dan, I’ve always loved you, I always will.’

  ‘I love you too.’

  Dan heard the crunch of a boot step and he fired off three more shots. He heard someone curse in shock and the sound of someone diving for cover.

  Dan had a sudden thought.

  ‘I’ve got another landmine motherfuckers!’ Dan yelled out. ‘Don’t come any closer or I’ll blow us all to hell!’

  Chloe chuckled softly.

  ‘Not bad baby,’ Chloe whispered.

  ‘It’ll keep them thinking for a while.’

  Chloe coughed violently and blood sprayed from between her lips, mixed in with the blood were miniscule lumps, greyish-white in colour.

  Dan knew they were fragments of Chloe’s shredded lung.

  ‘No, no, no,’ Dan repeated.

  ‘Tell Grace,’ Chloe coughed again and more blood sprayed from her mouth. Chloe took a painful breath.

  ‘That momma loves her…tell her I…died kicking ass.’

  Dan managed to smile at his wife’s words.

  Dan ran his hands through her blood-drenched hair.

  ‘You got that right sexy, you kicked serious ass.’

  Dan fired off another set of three shots.

  ‘I love you Chloe, always remember that, I love you so damn much.’

  Chloe’s eyelids started to flutter. Chloe grasped Dan’s hand in hers.

  ‘I…love…’ She didn’t have the strength to finish. She trailed off as the breath that had carried her words ceased with a barely audible click in her throat.

  ‘Chloe! Chloe!’ Dan yelled as her grip fell away.

  Dan saw the life leave Chloe.

  Dan turned his face up to the crystal blue sky and he opened his mouth to let out his anguish.

  Dan started to roar, a loud thunderous bellow.

  The sound was far more than that of a man expressing their grief.

  The sound was like something out of legend.

  Dan’s bellow of pain and anguish was that of a mythic Titan.

  A Titan unleashed from its manacles.

  Dan’s bellowing grew and all hell broke loose around him.

  *****

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.

  Tile came running when he heard Grace cry out.

  On tired legs he stormed up the staircase, he pulled the Beretta from his jeans before he reached the top of the wooden staircase.

  Tile moved down the hallway to Grace’s room.

  He’d left her napping only an hour ago. He reached her door and pushed it open.

  Tile scanned the bedroom looking for potential targets.

  When he saw Grace sitting up in her small bed he knew that his deepest fears had come to pass.

  Tile slid the Beretta back in to his jeans and in four strides he was at Grace’s bed.

  Grace threw her arms around Tile’s neck and he hugged her tight as he lifted her from the bed.

  Through her sobs against the side of his neck he heard the words that he had dreaded hearing for months.

  ‘Momma’s gone up to the stars.’

  Tile held Grace tight as he started to weep.

  *****

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.

  Dan’s roar of pain and despair carried across the cemetery.

  He cradled Chloe’s lifeless body as he vented on the world.

  Dan’s pain exploded with his roar and everything turned to hell.

  The ground beneath him and all the way throughout the cemetery started to ripple. The ground started to roll as if some giant underground beast was moving just beneath the surface.

  The earth shuddered in waves, waves that moved out from Dan’s position in concentric waves.

  The earth began to split in a series of rips and headstones and statues started to tear from the ground. Within seconds the ground was rising with the headstones until the immaculately kept lawns and several inches of top soil separated from the rest of the earth.

  All around Dan everything started to rise up in to the air. The air vibrated with invisible waves of intense heat.

  Dan’s roar never stopped as he pushed himself to his feet. He turned to see the assault team flailing at the very air as they too were lifted from the ground.

  The noise was deafening, the sounds of the earth coming apart combined with Dan’s almighty bellow of pain had the stunned men slapping their hands to their helmets.

  Beyond them other policemen were seen suspended in the air and beyond them ancient trees were rising, their deep roots ripping through the ground until the trees were finally untethered.

  Farther back, beyond even the funeral site Dan could see dozens of police squad cars, emergency vehicles and other cars lifting in to the air.

  Dan turned his face to the sky and he threw his head back.

  Dan spread his arms wide and he raised his hands to the heavens.

  Dan’s roar intensified and from his mouth a tremendous white light burst free.

  Here was the destroyer of worlds that Archie had seen and feared when Dan had crossed over and before he had been returned to Chloe.

  Here was the destruction that Dan had promised if the Architect hadn’t saved Chloe from a suicidal bullet.

  Here was the walking nightmare that Archie and all of the thousands of immortal Architects had seen in their endless dreams.

  Here was the fury and the rage.

  Dan gave in to the rage.

  He welcomed it and he let it out in a thunderous tidal wave of incredible energy.

  Dan would never know if this power had always been in him or whether it had joined him when he had agreed to be an Architect at the moment of his death.

  Dan didn’t care.

  Dan didn’t think.

  Dan just wanted the pain and fruitlessness of it all to end.

  Dan turned his gaze to the cemetery and he let forth every piece of his anger.

  The twelve-man assault team started to scream as the blood in their veins started to boil. Every bone in their bodies started to splinter and their skin started to tear open in bloody rips. Their screams were insignificant next to the sound of Dan’s rage and loss.

  Dan snapped his hands open and the men nearest him exploded. One second they were there, the next they were nothing more than blood and gore.

  Dan’s anger tore acro
ss the cemetery and every living being within the perimeter of his control ceased to exist in an instant as their bodies were shredded from within.

  Every gravestone, statue and monument to the buried dead exploded in to a thousand shards. The trees shattered in to a million splinters beneath the force of Dan’s wrath. Vehicles were folded in half before exploding in fireballs and still the ground continued to shudder and rip.

  ‘ENOUGH!’

  *****

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.

  The world around Dan came to a complete stop and silence settled over the cataclysmic carnage that Dan had unleashed.

  ‘ENOUGH!’

  Dan lowered his hands and he slowly turned around.

  ‘Enough Daniel!’ Archie said.

  Dan stared at the beautiful vision of the Architect.

  ‘It’ll never be enough Archie, don’t you see that?’

  Archie nodded his head.

  Dan wasn’t speaking of the destruction he had unleashed.

  ‘I know Dan, don’t you think that all of the Architects know that?’

  ‘So why do you bother? Why don’t you just let them destroy themselves? Why did we stop one war when there will always be others? Why?’

  Archie looked down at the lifeless body of Chloe.

  ‘Why do you think?’ Archie asked as he lowered himself to one knee.

  Dan walked towards the Architect.

  ‘Bring her back Archie, bring her back or I swear I’ll let it all out.’

  Archie turned his face up to Dan’s.

  ‘I can’t Dan, you know the rules. Once and once only, it’s the way it has to be.’

  ‘Change the rules,’ Dan said, his voice was Death itself.

  ‘Bring her back or I swear to you I’ll let it out and what I’ve done here will be nothing compared to what will come next.’

  Archie shook his head.

  ‘I can’t and you know it.’

  ‘I know NOTHING!’ Dan yelled.

  Archie smiled up at Dan. It was a smile full of love and compassion and hope.

  ‘You know she loved you. You know you loved her. You know that Grace is waiting for you.’

  At the mention of Grace Dan’s legs buckled and he dropped to his knees.

  ‘Why? Damn you why? At least tell me that?’ Dan cried. ‘Tell me that all of these deaths, that Chloe’s death isn’t for nothing. You owe me that much.’

  ‘And I already told you. You know why.’

  Dan laughed, its sound tasted bitter on Dan’s lips.

  ‘Love? That’s why? Something as simple as love?’

  Archie lowered his hands to Chloe’s bloodied face.

  ‘Don’t you fucking touch her,’ Dan cried.

  ‘Hush Dan,’ Archie said and Dan fell silent.

  A radiant white light started to flow from the Architect’s hand to wash over Chloe like a rolling mist.

  ‘Love is never simple Dan.’

  ‘Ha,’ Dan spat, the sarcasm dripped from his lips like venom.

  ‘If you think that love is so simple then explain it to me Dan, explain it to me.’

  Dan opened his mouth to give his reply but his words failed him.

  ‘Love is…’ Dan finally managed but he couldn’t find the words to define it.

  ‘Why do you think that we all endure so much? Why do you think that mankind has written of it for millennia? Why do you think that Chloe was willing to die here today for you? Why do you think that right now, at this very minute, Tile is weeping as he holds your daughter to his chest? Why do you think that I have seen a countless number of worlds and that I have helped so many? Like Michael and Beth? Why do you think that I have abandoned eternal sleep to witness so much pain and hatred? I’ll tell you why you stupid son-of-a-bitch. Because love is what elevates mankind. Love is what offers hope. Love is the first and last word from the Maker.’

  Archie raised his hand from Chloe and the light slowly faded until she was revealed once more.

  ‘Love is life you ignorant fool.’

  Dan looked down at Chloe.

  She was no longer covered in blood. She was no longer a ragged mess of conflicting wounds.

  Her clothes were gone now.

  Every inch of her nakedness looked purified and cleansed, there was not a single blemish to be seen.

  Chloe was now at peace and she had never looked more beautiful.

  Dan moved closer until he could lift her head. Dan lowered his mouth to hers and he kissed her.

  Dan felt an electrical charge course through him and he knew without having to look that the Architect had healed his wounds.

  Dan raised his head and looked at Archie.

  ‘She’s still dead.’

  ‘Death is just a stage,’ Archie said as he got to his feet.

  ‘What the hell does that mean?’

  ‘Don’t be so impatient Dan. Go home, live your life and when the time comes I’ll be seeing you.’

  ‘You still want me to be an Architect, even after all of this destruction.’

  ‘We had an accord did we not?’ Archie said as he looked down at Dan kneeling on the exposed earth.

  ‘Yes, we had an accord.’

  ‘Then we’ll meet again, until the moment of your death enjoy what you have.’

  ‘I still have to get out of here.’

  ‘Look behind you Daniel, you don’t have far to go.’

  Dan looked over his shoulder.

  Instead of the cemetery he saw the paddocks and beyond them his ranch.

  Dan recognised this spot as one of the ridges that formed the hills to the west of his land.

  Dan turned back to look at Archie.

  Archie and the cemetery had vanished.

  Now all he saw was the wilderness that he called home.

  Dan didn’t spend any time wondering how it was possible.

  ‘They can freeze time so I guess teleportation isn’t exactly hard for them.’

  *****

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.

  Dan spun at the words.

  Michael held out his arms. In his hands was a folded blanket. Dan recognised the blanket as one of Chloe’s favourites.

  ‘How? I mean?’

  ‘Archie paid me a visit. I’m so sorry for your loss Dan.’

  Dan took the blanket and he nodded his head.

  ‘Thank you, I’d like some time on my own if that’s okay.’

  ‘I figured as much, you’ll find Weiser tied off just behind this bluff. You bring Chloe home when you’re good and ready.’

  ‘Thank you Michael.’

  Michael shook his head.

  ‘No Dan, thank you, for all that you’ve done and for all that you’ll do, thank you.’

  Michael started to walk along the trail. Just before he disappeared behind the bluff Dan called out to him.

  ‘Grace?’

  ‘She knows, I don’t know how but she knows. Tile’s looking after her.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘But she needs her daddy.’

  ‘I’ll be along.’

  ‘Whenever you’re ready.’

  *****

  Dan gently cradled Chloe’s nakedness in his arms. She was still warm and if he didn’t know better he’d have said that she was just sleeping.

  Dan sat down on his butt and he manoeuvred Chloe’s perfect form fully on to his lap. He could feel the warmth of her naked ass pressing down against his groin.

  Dan lowered his right hand to Chloe’s thighs and he pulled her in close to his chest until he was cradling her like one would a slumbering child.

  Dan slowly started to rock and his tears started to fall. He wept until his tears ran dry and then he wept some more.

  Dan opened his eyes and he looked down at the beauty of Chloe’s peaceful countenance. He noticed that some of his tears had fallen to land on the fullness of her lips and he gently lowered his hand to Chloe’s mouth.

  Dan ran the pad of his thumb along the plump ridge of Chloe’s bottom lip and again he was
amazed at how she felt beneath his touch. There was no rigidity or coldness. His thumb traced her lips and he could see the moisture of his tears slowly seeping in to Chloe’s skin.

  ‘You look so alive,’ Dan whispered.

  Dan raised her up in his arms until his mouth found hers and he pressed his lips to hers.

  Dan felt warmth flowing out from Chloe’s lips, he trembled as the warmth flowed in to him.

  A calmness settled over Dan then as he kept his lips gently and lovingly pressed to Chloe’s mouth.

  Dan finally pulled his face away and he looked longingly down in to her face.

  ‘Can’t you come back to me baby?’ Dan whispered after a long time had passed.

  ‘Can’t you come back to me? You look so alive Chloe.’

  Dan’s gaze drifted down to her naked breasts and without thinking his right hand cupped her left breast. The flesh of her breast felt no different than it had a million times before. He gently caressed the roundness of Chloe’s breast.

  Dan looked at his hand caressing the smooth blemish free surface of Chloe’s breast. He found himself holding his breath in hopeful anticipation as his thumb swept across her nipple. He’d hoped to see the bud harden in arousal beneath his touch but after a minute he realised that all of his hopes were in vain – the nipple failed to respond to his touch.

  ‘I already miss you,’ Dan whispered. ‘There’s a void in my heart now and it’ll never be filled.’

  Dan’s eyes drifted down to Chloe’s groin and with the way that he held her cradled in his arms her legs were slightly open and he couldn’t help but see the smooth swell of her clitoral hood.

  Despite the moment Dan actually felt his arousal stirring and he laughed when he imagined Chloe’s admonishment.

  Really Dan? Now?

  ‘Sorry,’ Dan whispered with a smile.

  Dan kissed her one last time before he wrapped her naked body in the blanket.

  Dan remembered in a series of flashing images the times when the two of them would lie out in the tall grass. They would make love on the blanket, Chloe beneath him, her smile full of love, her blue eyes never leaving his as he filled her.