World War Forever (Highway To Armageddon Book 2)

by Harold Bloemer

  I close my eyes and inhale deeply as a calming wave of relaxation washes over me. Whenever I’m uptight and on edge, a joint brings me back down to Earth. It used to be that marijuana was the only drug I ever needed. Nowadays, however, when I’m feeling really bad, I craze the harder stuff. I started dabbling with heroin, acid, and cocaine right after Dorothy died. I never intended to become addicted to the shit. I was just trying to take some stuff to numb all my emotional and physical pain. But I did become addicted. As soon as we find Klaxton I fully intend to get clean. But until then, I’m just trying to get through each day the best I can.

  I’ve been fighting off my cravings all day, but now it’s starting to make me feel a little crazy. I glance around to make sure Boom Boom isn’t about to come up and catch me in the act. Once I see that the coast is clear, I withdraw a needle and inject it into my arm. Within a matter of seconds a feeling of euphoria washes over me, driving away all the pain wracking my mind and body. I can’t help but smile as my entire being is flooded with immense pleasure. I suddenly feel like a million bucks. No, a billion bucks. I feel like I can take on the entire world.

  I flick away my old joint and pull out a new one. After I spend a few minutes blowing smoke rings into the night sky, I plop down on the gravel-covered roof and stare at my gloved right hand. Crackling spirals of blue electricity hop from fingertip to fingertip. I may hate Mikhail Rasputin, but I am starting to understand him. Or I should say, I’m starting to understand why he loved this robotic glove so damn much. To have so much power in the palm of your hand… it almost makes you feel invincible… that you can take on an entire army. With this glove I’m able to take out dozens of gangsters in a matter of seconds. I already proved that a few times already. But I bet I could take out even more people. Maybe I’ll head out to some crime-riddled area after everyone goes to sleep and start a little trouble. Just to see how many people I can take out all by my lonesome. I bet I could take out hundreds.

  I suddenly shake my head and rub my eyes. What the hell am I thinking? Going out and starting trouble just to see how many people I can hurt? How many people I can kill? Maybe Boom Boom is right… maybe there is something wrong with me.

  Is this how it happens, I wonder? Is this how good people become evil? I can feel a cloud of darkness descending upon me… smothering me… coming at me from all directions. I want to lash out all the time now, even over the stupidest things. Just the other day I was on the way to pick up some ammunition at a gun shop when a guy cut me off in his flying convertible. Normally I would just lay into the horn and spit out a string of profanity that would make an inebriated pirate blush. But this time I actually grabbed my gun and pointed it at the guy’s head. I came within a nano-second of blowing the dude’s brains out before I was able to stop myself. Boom Boom’s right, I probably need to go see a doctor. Or a shrink.

  I put my head in my hands and groan. There’s just so much going on. I feel like my brain is about to explode. Why do Boom Boom, Krystal and I put ourselves through all this? It’s not our responsibility to find Klaxton and save the world. Why don’t we just act like the immature kids we are? All I know is I could really use Dagger right about now. He always knew what to say to make things right. I feel so confused at the moment… and so very alone. I’m on the verge of a mental breakdown. Tears begin to trickle down my cheeks. What the fuck is wrong with me?

  The sound of approaching footsteps snaps me out of my bout of self-pity. What alarms me the most is that I don’t hear just one set of footsteps; I hear many.

  My entire body tenses. I clench my gloved fist, causing it to glow electric blue. I then spin around and hold out my hand, causing electricity to flicker from my fingertips. The sight that awaits me is even worse than I could have ever imagined. Surrounding me in a semi-circle, clutching machine guns, swords, and metal baseball bats, are nearly two dozen Neo-Nazi Ku Klux Klansmen. The Klansmen are garbed in their trademark white cloaks and hoods. Three flying cars hover above the roof, filled with even more Nazis. They must have just flown up here within the last ten seconds or so.

  One of the hooded men steps toward me, pointing a gun toward my chest. A gleaming, golden necklace dangles from his neck, with the words Grand Wizard hanging from the end of it. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised this is happening. During our odyssey to Alaska a few months ago, we ran into a bunch of Klansmen and took out their Grand Wizard. This jackass must be their replacement. How they found us, though, I have no idea.

  The Grand Wizard cackles and says, “Well well well, if it ain’t the world famous bounty hunter, Lance Harley. We’ve been looking for your little pipsqueak ass for a long time. What, you thought you and your friends could sneak into Dresden, assassinate our Grand Wizard, and live the rest of your days in peace? You thought we wouldn’t come seeking vengeance?”

  Against my better judgment, I shrug and say, “I had hoped.”

  The rest of the Klansmen growl and mutter to one another. The Grand Wizard remains remarkably calm.

  “You had hoped?” he chuckled, still pointing his gun at my chest. “Well you hoped wrong, boy. For you see, it’s not just us Dresden folk who want your head on a pike. We actually got orders from the Fuhrer in Bavaria to come after your ass. How’s that make you feel, boy? To know that Fuhrer Coulter cares enough about you to want your ass dead? You gotta be someone of considerable stature to catch the Fuhrer’s attention.”

  Throwing caution to the wind, I smirk and say, “Oh yeah? Well tell your Furher that she can suck my dick.”

  From the shouts of outrage that follow, you would think that I insulted every religious figure in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism combined. Several of the Klansmen actually attempt to lunge toward me, but their fellow Aryan brethren manage to hold them back.

  The Grand Wizard holds up his hand and says, in a shaky voice that betrays how irate he is, “Now now, boys, he’s just trying to get us all worked up. He’s trolling us, is all.”

  The Grand Wizard cocks his head to the side as he inches ever closer to me, his gun still aimed directly at my rapidly beating heart. “You know, boy, it’s a shame you decided to pick this fight with us. I mean, with your blond hair and white complexion, you are the physical personification of everything we stand for. You are the poster child of the Aryan race. Why you have chosen this path, I will never know. In a minute here I’m going to shoot you with this here tranquilizer dart. Then me and my boys are going to go down into your apartment and have our way with your friends Krystal, Boom Boom, and those little cousins of yours, Blade and Harpoon.”

  The rest of the Klansmen cackle gleefully. It takes every iota of self-restraint I possess not to send thousands of volts of electricity surging through every last one of the Nazi bastards.

  “Then, after we’ve had our fun, we’re going to kill your cousins, then take you and your bounty hunting female friends over to Bavaria, where you will be burned alive in front of the Fuhrer and millions of her closest friends. It’s a fitting fate for the sons of bitches that killed our beloved Grand Wizard.”

  Realizing I need to buy myself some time, I say, “Would it help if I apologized?”

  The rest of the Klansmen chuckle. The Grand Wizard shrugs and says, “Sure you can apologize… while you’re burning!”

  That causes the Klansmen to laugh even more uproariously than before.

  I consider hurling a bolt of lightning into the new Grand Wizard’s face, but instead I make another feeble attempt to buy a little more time. I need to be in complete control of my emotions to pull off what I’m about to do, and right now I’m still on the verge of freaking the fuck out. I need to calm down, and fast.

  Doing my best to keep my voice from quaking, I ask, “So how exactly did you jerk-offs get inside Sanctuary 7 anyway? I know quite a few of the security guards manning the wall, and they wouldn’t allow a bunch of Neo-Nazi terrorist assholes to just barge inside without putting up some resistance.”

  The Nazi Klansmen start muttering again abo
ut how big of a dick I am, but the Grand Wizard keeps his cool. He chuckles and says, “You’re right, normally we would have had a helluva time getting to you. That’s why we asked your mayor to sneak us in. He was more than happy to comply with our demands.”

  I can feel my face turn white. The Neo-Nazis must notice because a bunch of them point and laugh.

  The Grand Wizard cocks his hooded face and gleefully says, “What’s wrong, boy? You look a little pale. What’s the matter? You thought you and the mayor were a bit tighter than you actually are?”

  Somewhat regaining my composure, I reply, “Yes, actually. I considered the mayor a friend. Apparently I was wrong.”

  The Grand Wizard chortles as he slowly swings his gun back and forth. I can’t help but follow the barrel of the gleaming pistol with my eyes.

  “Sorry to burst your bubble, boy, but let this be a valuable lesson for ya. Everyone has their price. Everyone. We offered your old pal Mayor Tomlinson a bribe of $1 million to let us inside. We threw in an extra $250,000 if he promised to keep the police on a tight leash while we took care of business. The last thing we want is a shootout with Sanctuary 7’s finest. We want this to be quick and easy. Of course, I have a nagging feeling that the money was only part of the reason your buddy Tomlinson agreed to assist us. For you see, we also promised not to slaughter his family. That got his compliance lickety-split.”

  The Grand Wizard and his fellow Klansman burst out with another round of hysterical laughter. I take it they’re easily amused.

  Krystal suddenly shouts up through the skylight, “Lance, what the hell is all that racket? Is someone up there with you?”

  Krystal’s voice causes crashing waves of fear to cascade all over my body. It’s one thing for these Klansmen to threaten my life. I don’t give a rat’s ass about myself. But it’s another thing entirely when they start threatening my friends and family. If I’m going to make my move, I’m going to need to do it now.

  “I’ll be down in a second!” I shout frantically. “Don’t come up!”

  My warning comes too little, too late. Krystal pops her head through the skylight and hollers, “Don’t tell me what to do. I know I hear voices up here! I may be crazy, but I ain’t that cra… what the fuck?!?”

  It’s almost comical to see Krystal’s eyes bulge out of their sockets at the sight of all the hooded, heavily-armed Klansmen. Almost.

  Several of the Klansmen spin around and point their rifles at Krystal’s shell-shocked face. That’s when I decide to act.

  “Krystal, get down!”

  Krystal’s head disappears a split-second before dozens of bullets fly past the skylight opening. The Grand Wizard turns his attention back to me and aims his gun at my chest. Before he can press down on the trigger, I duck down, thrust out my glowing right hand, and unleash a blinding bolt of lightning. The lightning bolt explodes into the Grand Wizard’s chest, bathing him in an intense, electric-blue light. The Grand Wizard shrieks in incomprehensible agony as his body is cooked from the inside out. His robes ignite on fire and smoke billows from his sizzling head. The Grand Wizard flies up into the air and plummets over the side of the roof, free-falling toward his timely death.

  Before the rest of the Wizard’s racist brethren get a chance to retaliate, I dash toward the skylight, firing off dozens of bolts of electricity along the way. The Klansmen do their best to scatter and avoid the crackling, spiraling electricity bolts, but at least eight of them get blasted off their feet. I fire several bolts at one of the hovering cars, causing the front of it to catch on fire. Six Klansmen scramble out of the car before it short-circuits and plummets out of view. When it lands it’s going to cause one hell of an explosion. I just hope no innocent bystanders get hurt or killed.

  By now the Klansmen are starting to regroup. Several of them begin firing at me. Tranquilizer darts narrowly whiz past my head and arms. And a bunch of them nick the ground around my feet. This reminds me that the Klansmen don’t want me dead… not yet, at least. That gives me the advantage, since I obviously have no qualms killing them.

  I hold up my glowing hand and fire off several lightning bolts over my shoulder. Someone cries out in agony, indicating I hit at least one target. I take a running leap toward the skylight and dive through the open window. I crash into the stairs and tumble all the way down into my apartment, finally landing in a heap on the floor. At first I’m surprised at my lack of pain, but then I realize all the adrenaline gushing through my veins is probably doing a good job of blunting the worst of it. All I know is that I’m going to be hurting in the morning. If I make it to the morning.

  “Lance, what the hell is going on?!” Blade cries.

  I push myself off the floor and look up at the twins, who are huddled in front of the couch, a combination of fear and excitement on their faces. All their lives Blade and Harpoon have fantasized about joining us on one of our crazy, death-defying missions. And today their fantasy is becoming a reality, whether they’re ready for it or not.

  I hobble over to the twins and push them toward the door. Speaking in a raspy voice, I shout, “We’ve got to go, guys! Let’s move!”

  I glance over at Krystal, who is running toward me with a machine gun, gasping for air. Judging by all the sweat pouring down her ebony face, you’d think she just ran a marathon.

  Krystal opens her mouth to say something, but all I hear is KA-BLOOM!!

  Krystal, the twins and I fall to the floor as all the windows in our apartment shatter. The entire building shakes, almost like there’s an earthquake. I’m going to take an educated guess and assume that was the car I blasted out of the sky. It must have just hit the street and exploded.

  With my ears ringing, I shout, “We have to go, guys! We have to---”

  I’m interrupted by three Klansmen jumping through our skylight and landing inside our apartment. One of the Klansmen aims his tranquilizer gun toward my chest and hollers, “Remember men, take them down alive! The Fuhrer wants to see these brats suffer!”

  Krystal responds by riddling the Klansmen with bullets. I grab the kids and we all jump behind the couch, narrowly avoiding some of the bullets flying through the Klansmen’s bodies. Blood gushes out of the Klansmen’s countless wounds as they collapse onto the ground and start convulsing. Some of the blood seeps under the couch and puddles around my knees. Blade and Harpoon stick out their tongues in disgust.

  Krystal finally stops firing and blows the smoke billowing out of her gun.

  “Killing white racist people is fun!” Krystal cackles. That girl seriously has some mental issues.

  Four more Klansmen leap down and punch Krystal in the face. Krystal tumbles backwards, her machine gun clattering into the kitchen.

  “Krystal, no!” I shout, hurling two lightning bolts into two of the nearest Klansmen. The bolts send the Klansmen flying out our shattered windows. Their screams pierce the night air as they plummet nearly 2,000 feet to their deaths.

  I’m just about to dispatch the other two Klansmen when Blade whips out a dagger strapped to his leg and growls, “Don’t worry, Lance, we got this.”

  Harpoon whips out a blade as well and they both charge toward the two remaining shell-shocked Klansmen. I watch in a combination of shock, horror, and awe as the twins stab the Klansmen in their legs and stomachs. The Klansmen shriek in agony and collapse to the ground. The twins ignore their desperate pleas and continue stabbing away at their faces and upper chests. I always make sure the twins have blades on their persons at all times, just in case someone tries to mess with them when I’m not around to protect them. It would appear I have nothing to worry about. I’m actually a bit appalled at how ruthlessly and effortlessly the kids are murdering two full-grown men. This has to be the first time either one of them has killed someone, unless they’ve been sneaking off in the middle of the night to stab people in back alleys somewhere. (Seeing how good they are at butchering the Klansmen, I can’t exactly discount that theory.) The kids seem so unfazed by the violence they are per
petrating that I can’t help but feel a little sick to my stomach. I immediately shake my head, clearing my mind of any and all revulsion. We’re all going to have to do things that are immoral in order to survive this Neo-Nazi onslaught.

  While the kids continue stabbing their victims in the foreheads, I glance up at the skylight. Seven Nazi’s are staring down at us, aiming their rifles. I fire off several lightning bolts, striking one Nazi in the face (causing him to fall through the skylight and crash through a table) while the rest of the Klansmen jerk their heads out of sight.