by P. S. Power
"Oh, as an aside, since it has entered your bodies, as well as my own, we're functionally immune to the original complex now as well. If infected, the plague will be shut down immediately, before it does any damage."
Which only made sense. Now he just had to test it out by being bitten. He kind of wanted to avoid that though. It hurt for one thing. Plus he didn't know if it would really work or not.
Cam teleported them back to the House to pick up the first group of people about three hours later. A group of fighters. It might be safe, but if it wasn't they weren't going in unarmed. That meant he was actually in the third group, with Darian and Morris, who had no clue where the mall even was from there. Mort did, since Cam had taken him in the second group, because he could transfer people faster than she could in a pinch. About half an hour later everyone was there and walking into town.
Not all the zombies were inert corpses however. One of them crawled on the snow covered ground slowly, right toward them, until it got half-way and then just stopped. The undead didn't do that though, they always moved, so it was a great sign. Oh, Jake still desperately wanted to cut its head off, but it didn't move and most of the others they found were already down in the same way. They were for at least the five miles they walked.
"Well..." He fought a grin, a happy thing that made him want to dance a little.
"That works. Great. We need to get to producing more, in several locations. How long will it take to have enough to start?" He was looking at Donald who didn't answer immediately, conferring with his wife and child first. They huddled together to do it, which was something he'd seen their people do before. The evil ones at least. Then those were the only other ones he'd met before.
Donald moved forward to answer though, since the question had been addressed to him.
"We need to recover some equipment from our home laboratory. In travel time it took us four months to walk the distance, once we have that we can fabricate materials in short order, including more of this compound. It will take travel time plus seventy-four hours to begin. At that point we should be able to produce ten such capsules per hour per day, provided the raw material is available. Per manufacturing unit." Then he stood, looking at Jake for a long time.
He in turn looked at Morris and then Darian.
"Guys? I'm thinking that some teleportation along with ground vehicles would really speed that part up, don't you? Don't make me beg..." He would have, but they just nodded.
Morris making a point of answering first.
"We can do that. At once in fact. Do you have a map? We can see what vehicles will be needed. We can also use line of sight transport, if need be. Hard to pull off, but fast. If we work in a team..." He looked at Mort then, and didn't wait for Darian to offer anything. Several people just stopped watching the dead for signs of life and wandered over to Sara, who had a map in a small book that had a glass magnifier over it, showing very fine details on each page.
It was in South America but Mort pointed and grinned.
"Here?" What he indicated Jake didn't know, but Sara said yes in return clearly.
"That's the location that blew up. Close to it at least, about a mile away. A biological construct that... Looked like Jake's mother. It should be safe enough to go to now, we checked it pretty hard after that, everyone was gone though. Of course if the people we met are there they might have cleaned everything out..."
That got a head shake from Donald.
"Unlikely. We should check though. I doubt they touched the true city. When can we arrange that? At least one of us," He waved at his family, a strange blocky movement, "will have to go to do the work, ideally all of us, but I understand if you feel the need to keep a hostage. There is much to atone for here and we accept that our kind will not be allowed to survive this." It was a strange thing to say, but no stranger than the fact that dozens of leaders simply seemed to agree with him.
Jake blinked.
"No. If you're innocent of doing it in the first place, then you won't be harmed. If anyone tries they'll be fighting me first. Not much comfort probably, but it might get a few people to hesitate while you run away." He was trying to be funny, and it worked, at least in that a chuckle went up. Mainly because Vicki started laughing.
"That would do it. OK. I think we get the idea, don't blame the people trying to fix the mess."
Mort, it turned out was ready to take them right then. It got a team put in place, with Carl from the House going in with a team made of unusual people. There were ten of them in all, but Morten didn't blink about taking them all, except when they vanished. All the Teleporters did it with their eyes closed. Otherwise even they tended to get sick.
Jake had tried it once, but lost his cookies almost instantly.
They investigated for a while, checking bodies for signs of movement, waiting for something to jump out at them. The only thing they found was a wild eyed man with a knife that clearly wasn't sane anymore. He ran away, silently, never having spoken. Survivors out in the world were probably a pretty quiet bunch anymore. The noisy were just dead.
Morris took it upon himself to get them all back to the House, so they could talk about plans and strategy, things like that. Jake tried to pay attention to what was said, but most of it seemed a little premature. First they had to actually set things up. Then distribute the compound around the world. It seemed like they needed to focus on that part first, not trying to set up a long term government.
The argument grew heated as some of the smaller, weaker or less warlike groups made suggestions and the more dominant ones tried to shut them up. Finally, after nearly two hours of listening Jake spoke up.
"This isn't making sense. The old ways didn't work and never really have. You all, we all, have a chance to make a new world. Something better than what we had before. A place where no one needs to hide and where we can all live together in harmony." He held up his right hand to get everyone to be quiet, but for some reason they were all actually listening to him, even though they hadn't to each other.
"Instead of trying to jockey for position and ignore the others if they don't want to give you each what you want, why not think of something new? Appoint a group of people to manage all this for you for instance. Kids. Each of you pick a young person to vote on stuff for you and make sure to tell them to be fair about it for everyone. Then shut the heck up and do what they all decide. OK, so the world might fall apart after a week, but who knows, we need something different and letting the old rules guide us just leads us back to where we were.
With the Humans overpopulating the planet and taking over again. I know that one is a bad idea, but you get the idea, think of something new. Don't get after each other and for goodness sake, stop bickering. We're standing on the edge of possibly getting through this. It's going to take a long time and a lot of effort, but maybe, if we work hard and together as a single unit, we can actually do this thing." Probably not, but he wasn't dumb enough to mention that part.
Personally he kept expecting something to go horribly wrong even before they got started. The Technologists that created the zombie plague to simply nuke them all or maybe for the Linster family to come back claiming all the needed equipment had been taken. It almost had to be something. Whatever that was they needed to pull together and not point fingers.
"Aye. We should do as the Wise one says and not bicker like fishwives over the cost of nets." This came from the bearded Denari.
"I'll put forth my boy Henry as representative for my people. He's young, but sixteen years, but sensible and willing to adapt." He also wasn't in the room to hear about it. Good.
That got other names to come, with only the Comtrices having a real problem. The only young person that they could name was a seven year old girl. They didn't stay embarrassed long, since Heather walked into the room holding something in a small blanket. It was a patchwork thing, but looked new for all that.
"I'll put forward my daughter. She doesn't have a name yet, but I know it will be
important. She can stand for the Humans. Eventually I mean. After she learns to stand."
It was nearly surreal, but everyone stopped to look at the new baby. The first one that had been born at the House. The eeriest thing, is that even though she waved her little baby hand, she didn't cry at all. She just looked at everyone and... smiled. All the attention of the room turned to her then.
It took a bit but he understood it after a while.
He wasn't The Very Good Man at all. This new baby was. Now that was a bit unexpected, wasn't it? Jake grinned stupidly though. It was so clear that everyone really seemed to get the idea. Fully half of the people in the room were just held by the gaze, not looking away at all as she beamed. It was Lamont that came to him first, the head Telepath, who had assured him he really was the one the legends spoke of all along.
"Jake... we..." Whatever the old man intended to say, his voice cracking a bit, he didn't get to. His suit was pressed and tidy looking, a nice blue thing that looked like something a priest might wear on his day off. He had to move though, because Heather had made her way around the table, holding the little bundle lovingly.
"What should we call her? I didn't want to come up with anything before. In most of the futures... we were all dead by now. If I lost her... So, what's a good name?" She looked at him like he should actually have a say. He wasn't her father though. That was some rapist.
"How about Hope? I know that's one of my favorite things. It seems to fit the occasion all around." It was even a girl's name.
Honestly he expected her to balk at the name, since it was a little old fashioned, but she nodded hurriedly.
"Hope. I like it. She's my Hope. The Hope of a new world."
Morris teleported away and was back minutes later, holding a small chest, he opened it so that Heather could see what was in it. Spices. Lots of them. they were a commodity now after all. Sammi ran up and let her hands go to her neck, pulling off the necklace she wore. It was just a chain that she'd kept hidden most of the time, with a plain dull yellow stone on it. Amber, with an insect inside.
"This seems right. This was given to me when I turned ten, over a hundred and thirty years ago. It's a promise, one for a good life and many friends. I give that now to Hope."
It got a happy gurgle in return and the baby stared at Sammi for a while. Like she actually knew what was going on.
The others came forward then, each with a gift of some kind or another. A few were clearly just things that people had on them.
Yalla the leader of the Valkyries presented a knife, so that the child would never be less than ready to protect herself and do her duty. She seemed to say it twice, like it was a real thing, the first time in her language, then again in English.
Lamont gave her a watch. It was an expensive one, but what he said was touching. Better than anything Jake could have come up with.
"So you may have time to be a child, without the weight of the world being too heavy on your little shoulders."
They kept going, the Grand Comtrice giving a touch of her blood, her eyes going round as she touched the soft baby palm of the little hand. She shook a bit, her mouth starting to work.
"Yes. It will be so." Was all she could say though. That was strange, because when a Comtrice read someone they supposedly couldn't lie at all. She was clearly fighting letting out the whole thing though and broke contact quickly.
She smiled though and gave Heather a small bow.
"She's lovely dear."
Finally almost everyone in the room had given her something, which was decorating the largest of the tables, since Heather couldn't be expected to hold it all at the moment. Or stand anymore. Jake gave her his chair and stood back, knowing that he should have something for her too. He didn't own anything though. Well, his guns, but that was hardly a fitting gift for a baby and he really didn't want to be unarmed with what was coming. They had a world to fix after all.
Finally something occurred to him. He could play something.
"Colleen, may I borrow your guitar?" She was near the back of the room, by the door, but nodded, and hurried away. It was still light out, so it was easy enough to see through the windows.
All the bodies kept the place warm too. Not that the fires didn't help, but it worked to keep his hands flexible. He hadn't really been practicing a lot. Maybe he could now? It felt nice knowing that he really didn't have to bear everything himself. There was hope in the world now. Hope. For a moment he regretted dumping that name on the girl. She'd probably hate it by the time she was twelve. He really needed to think before speaking it seemed.
Colleen was subtle about bringing him the guitar, handing it over without making a big production about it. For some reasons everyone looked at him, as if they expected something special.
"I... don't really own anything, except some clothes that are too big and some weapons, which won't mean as much since I'm not a warrior or anything. So, I was thinking I'd play something on Colleen's instrument. I..." He didn't know what to play, so tuned for a few seconds, finding that it was already nearly perfect.
Of course.
Then he closed his eyes and started, a simple tune with no words. It just flowed out of him, all the joy he felt in the moment, the strength he wanted the little girl to have, the loves that she would find and the little bits of strength that a person hid deep inside, in some very dark places. If anyone might need that information it would be her.
He played for nearly ten minutes, starting simply and ending with more complexity than he really thought he could manage without practicing it for years. When he opened his eyes everyone was just looking at him.
Crying.
That was alright though. He was too. Not out of sadness though, just pure happiness. Just knowing that something so wonderful was in the world made all the hardship he'd suffered seem worth it. All the ugliness he'd seen was, at least partially, washed away.
A tiny little piece of him felt a little down, since he wasn't the Very Good anything anymore, but he'd live.
After all, they had Hope now.
They didn't need him anymore.
Chapter three
People applauded and seemed much happier then, like everything was just going to work out. That was bull though. They had to work to make things happen. That was the rule of the new world and they weren't dumping everything on a little girl that wasn't even three hours old. If they tried Jake decided to start shooting people. Luckily everyone got that part of things without being told and managed to even let Heather go back to the nursery without too many offers to take her away with them. It wasn't a horrible idea, but that was up to her.
Jake just needed to get them back on task.
"So, let's make a list of those kids to vote on things. Seems like that's a starting point. Even if it's only an advisory position. Does anyone have good penmanship? Mine's not so great." He was still holding the guitar, which he handed off to Colleen with a smile.
"Thanks. We... should talk later I think." He didn't want to be all vague, but she just looked a tiny bit sad and looked down instead of answering.
What she thought he was going to say he didn't know. It was just so clear that he was about to be out of work as a figurehead that he wanted her to know it was alright if she didn't want to be around him anymore. He'd have to do the same with Vicki. There was no reason for either of them to pretend to like him now.
After all, if he wasn't The Very Good Man, then he was just Jake the killer. The one that everyone hated and wanted gone. That was fine. He could leave now. Maybe just let go and finally die? After they stopped the zombies though. The Cannibals too.
Those freaks that had started it all too.
Lots of people left for him to kill. He hated it, but it was what he was good at it seemed. That and making music. Maybe he and Colleen could work up an act? Tour or something? There had to be a need for entertainment. He also had his work on the forge to consider too. Plus they needed to get things done and he could, and would, s
hoot people if they tried to get too lazy. He'd be fine.
Lamont kept staring at him, scared looking, but that was probably because he couldn't understand that things were OK. Jake was most likely hiding his thoughts by accident. No one else was acting like anything had just happened though, now that the little baby was out of the room. Sammi pointed to the chair vacated by Heather and moved in alongside of him, which took a second and meant people had to adjust a little. Technically she wasn't really supposed to be there, but she was a Princess of her people, which was a lot more important than being whatever he really was.
She spoke softly, saying something totally different than he thought she would. Loudly.
"I faked the fact that Jake was The Very Good Man of legend. It was all my doing and I take full responsibility for it. If anyone has a problem with it being done..." She didn't get to finish, since about half the room stood up, looking at her angrily. The other half just sort of nodded. She kept speaking though and no one stopped her.
"He didn't know. I mean, he guessed, but I enlisted others to help me fool him into thinking he really was The Very Good Man. I know that Hope changes things. But we needed something. Please don't blame him for my wrongdoing."
Everyone went silent as the T'srith leader, a short stocky and very muscled man stood, a sharp looking blade suddenly in his hand. He sliced it in a quick motion, his face unmoving as he spoke softly.
"I swear by my blood that I didn't know about such deceit." He stared at the room, his voice going just slightly louder then, stern.
"I also swear that any that claims that this man is not a good one shall face me in battle. We must not stand divided, any fool can see that and only one person has made it happen. I stand with Jake for as long as he will have me." It was dramatic, Jake had to give him that. He smiled and sighed, shaking his head.