Dead End (Book 4): A Very Dark Place

by P. S. Power

  "So it looks like Heather's Cannibals really are coming. Guess what though? We'll win. You designed them to take out Humans, unarmed ones, not armed people ready to fight to the death. How did you let yourselves become so jaded that you forgot that about your own kind? When backed to the wall people have always responded with overwhelming violence."

  Leaning in he whispered, but everyone in the room heard him anyway. He did it on purpose.

  "You and your group of killers will lose if you try that Lois. If you don't make your next move carefully, you lose everything. Because if we have to fight a war against things like that, when we win and we will win, no place will ever be safe for you. Not another reality, or dimension, pocket universe or backwoods village. If you push us to that, the few survivors will be the worst thing you can imagine. And it will all be your fault."

  This time there was no laughter from the woman, in fact she stared deep into his eyes and saw something there that she'd seen before from him. Conviction. He might not pull it off, of course, but he was sure as heck going to try and woe betide anyone that got in his way.

  "I... Jake... Mickey... I can't. They have rules, we do. They won't listen to me ever again, the second it's found out that I've been captured. You can't tear the world apart..."

  "Do you mean that I can't, or that I shouldn't? I'm the fucking Very Good Man at the end of the world. If I need to risk destroying the whole world to save it, I will. Didn't you think before you decided to make me insane? Didn't you pay attention to what Sammi said? I have to become whatever the world needs me to be most. You do not want that to become a real killer. Trust me I've never been that, not yet. You think I can't tear the world apart? Think again. I can and will. I will do whatever it takes to have a chance to save everyone. I would have thought you of all people would have gotten that about me by now."

  There was a slight stirring behind him, Burt walking forward, his eyes looking sad. He stared at the woman, the young looking one in front of him, a tear shining in them. Jake knew that they were "together". The closest thing the House had to a married couple even. The betrayal must have been huge to the man.

  Jake nearly apologized to him for the whole thing, his instincts coming into play with his friend, one of the people he felt closest to in the whole world. Closer than anyone else in the room, except maybe Cam. Vicki was in there somewhere too, but that was so complicated.

  "Lois..." Burt sounded as sad as he looked, but everything changed when he faced the Linsters.

  Hal looked up at the thin, white bearded man that had played Santa at the Christmas party and built their windmills for them from bits of scrap. All their technological stuff really. Jake figured it out about half a beat before the boy spoke.

  "Grandfather?"

  Chapter eight

  It was out of place, but the only thing that came to mind for Jake to say was a joke.

  "Damn Burt, you really let them name the kid "Humperdinck"? I would have thought that you of all people would have spoken against it. Oh, sure, for a few years he can go by the cool nickname of "Humper" but once that wears out what is he left with? Dink? It's a sad thing. Just sad."

  The Linsters didn't pay any attention to what he was saying, but Burt nodded, face far more serious than Jake would have thought given what he said next.

  "I actually counseled against it at the time. Always hated the name. It's why I suggested he go by Hal instead."

  Donald was staring so hard that he actually shook a little and Sara was scrambling at her waist for something that, if it had been Jake doing it, or even one of the people from the House, would have been a weapon. Instead she just held the little rectangle, about the size of a pack of playing cards, up and waved it at him. Nothing happened. That didn't seem to make her happy at all.

  "It's him." She said, voice slightly panicked sounding.

  Donald didn't move, not even to blink, for nearly half a minute. His face was white and his hands started to shake so strongly it seemed like he was about to have a breakdown. When he spoke it sounded horrible, like someone had killed his puppy and then served it for dinner.

  "How? I... Aunt Tessa I can see, she was never happy with the outsiders' treatment of the planet, and let it be well known, but you? You were our leader! You... You were supposed to have led everyone to the new world. How are you here? I don't... Why are you involved in this father? You always spoke out against such ideas, saying that violence was always wrong when not in direct defense of self and even then you encouraged people to use non-confrontational tactics whenever possible..."

  Burt took a step closer to the man that had turned out to be his son and made a sad face.

  "Don... I didn't have a choice. We were simply too close, as a world, to losing everything. The outsiders wouldn't listen to us at all. Even as their own people started to show them proof that things were dangerously close to being lost they struggled against it. I had to do something and over the years I came to understand that there was only one thing that would work. Humanity, the way it stood before, had to be removed." He turned to look at Nate and then, almost as an afterthought, at Jake.

  "Understand, this wasn't anyone else's doing. The plan was mine. I didn't do all the work, but it was my responsibility the whole time. From inventing the biological interface that created the nanomorphed dead to finding and hiding the One. It was all me. I know that I won't survive it. That was never the plan. It's why I didn't leave with the others, and why I sent along a copy of myself to see to their well being. Some things are too big to dodge out on the responsibility for."

  He started to pace, which didn't work, all the people standing around him as they were, most refusing to move, in case he tried to flee or go for a weapon himself. That wouldn't happen though, Jake knew that. The man had never fought, not even to protect himself. The closest he'd ever gotten was knocking a zombie down several times while other people got into place to take care of it. Not a coward, but not a fighter in any way either.

  A murderer though. That was clear.

  The worst one in the history of the world.

  Jake sighed.

  "Of course." Looking around he stared at the faces around him, wondering if anyone else was going to end up being something other than what they seemed.

  "So, how do we stop this? If you're the leader, you can call this off, can't you? It seems like you should be all for my idea. You wanted to get rid of the old system, and you have. Now what? Do you really have to stomp on the rest of the world until the people that have struggled for all these months are gone too? That doesn't seem like you, not from what I've seen." Not that he knew the man at all it seemed.

  The old man looked away at the wall and shook his head, which nearly got him shot, as frustrated as Jake felt, but his words weren't a denial of responsibility at all, or even a claim that he couldn't, or wouldn't, do something about it.

  "I can make some calls. This isn't as simple as it may seem, but I think Jake is right. We've done enough. It's riskier to try to use education even now, but this has been much worse than I thought it would be. How many children died in terror, in pain, because of what we did Tess? Because of what I did? Some of them were our friends too. Mary died because of us. They all did. We should be willing to change, shouldn't we? Logic is our rule, but it never precluded the use of emotion in decision making, as long as that guidance isn't counter to survival or proper function."

  There was a conversation then, between all the Technologists, including the boy, that Jake didn't get most of. It was in English, and Jake even knew most of the words, but the meaning was lost on him totally. Apparently he wasn't the only one. Tipper moved in and hit Lois in the stomach after about ten minutes, totally without warning. It made the woman grunt and the rest of the people talking stop and stare.

  Tip grinned.

  "Sorry, but you could have been plotting something. Best to stop that kind of thing early."

  Burt nodded, "sorry. We were debating the psychological impact of what's
already happened on the survivors. There is a very real chance that humanity can't recover from the mental scars of this. It might just be so damaging that we've changed them forever. Can education ever counter that kind of deep level imprinting? The thing there is that we can't really know for generations. Should we risk it?"

  Jake tilted his head and winced so hard Burt actually took a step back.

  "Risk it? Risk it? You killed most of the fucking world already! There is no risk. It's not going to be easy, but you and your people, you don't get to make that decision, you lost the right the second you started killing innocent people because a few big wigs didn't want to change. No, we are going to stop this, one way or the other. This isn't a debate, this is a command. Not just one from me either. Everyone in the fucking world wants this to stop now, except the evil people that did it in the first place. Do it now or I swear Burt, I won't just kill you and Lois, I will hunt down your people in that alternate reality and kill them all myself. If you think I can't do it..." Then he'd be right, but the man didn't seem to think it was a totally empty threat.

  "I... Let me try to talk to my people. I'm sure we can work something out. Somehow." It didn't sound confident, but it wasn't all about how the psycho-social ramifications of extreme prolonged trauma could have unforeseen consequences, so it was an improvement.

  The ladle with its secret communications device got handed over to the man, who turned the knob on the end after pressing it down, making the movement so smoothly it spoke of long practice instead of the fumbling that Jake would have been using, even having seen it done before. No one spoke this time and Burt just waited, everyone in the room quiet.

  After nearly ten minutes someone, a woman this time, spoke softly.

  "Lois? Are you there? We had an unauthorized communication on this earlier. Can you hear me?"

  Burt was the one that spoke, his voice deeper than normal, sounding almost jovial.

  "Betsy? This is Humperdinck Linster. We rather have a change of plans. I don't suppose you could assemble everyone for a discussion? It seems that we might be able to enlist the... One Predicted and the remaining survivors into our plan, meaning the death can stop now. It's a thing worth considering, if nothing else." He sounded assured and confident, rather than like he was actually afraid that Jake would hunt his people down.

  Then he probably understood that it was a lie. Even if everyone else died and Jake could manage it, he wouldn't kill innocent people for what a guilty few had done. That would be as evil as what they'd already done. Past a certain range it didn't matter how many died, it was still bad and couldn't be allowed.

  "Sir? I... The others are coming to your location. The last Protocols have been put in place sir..." Betsy, whoever she was, did not sound happy about that.

  "You need to run! Get out now. Leave the area completely. We thought you were both dead or compromised, you know that we can't recall it once it started. I could get the Air-ships to stand down and stop the bombing, but the Isolates... The beacon has already been activated."

  Burt, for one of the first times Jake could actually recall, cursed loudly, Lois just looked scared, but she didn't say why. It made some sense to Jake though, she was afraid for her own life on every level of being. He could feel it coming off of her in waves, her body language screamed it where it hadn't even a moment before.

  The Windigo were coming. The Cannibals.

  Wonderful. They were going to have house guests.

  "Alright, so we all leave?" Jake looked at Burt, nodded for a second, then shook his head.

  "Jake... The others can leave, but... The beacon, it's trained on some of us. Tess and I, we have it inside us." He took a deep breath, one that seemed to be almost half a sob.

  "We can't run far enough. They're coming to kill us. We have to stay. All the Isolates, the changed beings that you encountered? They're coming here at speeds that can't be matched, except by the Teleporters. The rest of you have to flee. You can... bomb the area after they kill us. If you have time. This won't take long." He shook, clearly terrified.

  Then, he should be.

  Jake noticed that Lois, looking younger than before, but still familiar, wet herself in terror. That could happen when you knew that death was coming for you and that nothing you could do would stop it. For her, for Burt, it was simply the end.

  They deserved it.

  Everything in his mind screamed that at him. They'd destroyed the world. They'd killed his family and friends. Just as bad, before that had ever even happened, they'd taken away his love.

  It was a selfish thought, one that seemed out of place given the immensity of the rest, but it burned within him anyway, white hot, like a blast furnace in his soul. Then, from deep within something else happened, a calm wave of blue peace and love, washing the hatred and anger away. He felt different, if only for a moment. It was an odd thing that he couldn't have explained to anyone else in a million years, but he knew what he had to do. It was his job after all. He was The Very Good Man, and in the end that meant he had to try to save the people with him. Even if they didn't deserve it. Even if he wanted them to die.

  "Cam! Get with your people and get everyone out. Now. Vicki, let Lois go, she can't run now anyway. Burt, get back on the ladle and tell those morons you're working with to get ready to bomb this place as soon as the fighting stops. Unless we win of course. They need to watch for that." No one did anything for a long time, not until a T'srith woman pulled a knife and turned her back to face the door.

  "I stand with the Maitreya." It wasn't a loud thing but it also held no fear. An acknowledgment of death, but nothing else. It was as if she knew that she was about to die and accepted that everything did eventually.

  Jake grinned, a wave of love coming off of him then, not just for her, but for everyone that ever lived. He had to save them, if he could, didn't he? That meant he'd have to become something else, and fast, but for the moment he could stand and be happy. Finally.

  "Thank you. That means so much to me. But you need to go now. All of you. This is my job. It's up to the rest of you to rebuild, if I don't make it. Now, get out of here. Don't make me yell at you." He didn't wait to see if anyone was going to stay, figuring that someone would try to argue the point with him.

  Jake went to the armory instead, made sure he had all the ammunition he could carry and several knives, as well as several gallons of gasoline. Then he went to the kitchen and got a pot full of coals from the woodstove. By the time he was done only six people were left, other than him. Vicki, Tipper, the T'srith woman form earlier, Burt, Lois and... Cam.

  He nodded at them, the women that had stayed. Two Vals and a T'srith... it made sense, being warriors. The rest of their kind would have come if they'd known too. It was their way. Cam was the outlier, but she just grinned, a nervous thing that seemed ready to move into panic. Her kind ran from scary things, they didn't face them dead on. Not if they could help it.

  "OK, Cam... Take these three to the military. If the Technologists fail here we need them to take this place out. Maybe a nuke or something. The creatures coming aren't easy to stop and if they can turn others..." He looked at Lois who nodded, indicating that was just the fact of the matter.

  "It's slow and takes time, but yes."

  "We have to stop them all here then. I'll hold them off as long as possible and then we take this place out. Understood?"

  Cam shook her head and so did Vicki. Tip didn't, but then she didn't love him, did she? Always found him a bit creepy.

  Vicki growled at him.

  "I won't let you die alone. This is so screwed up Jake. We can't let you do this. You don't have to die here. I'll stay, and Madrith here. The rest of you can leave. We aren't Human, we can last longer than you can." It was a simple statement and one that was, for the moment just the truth.

  It wouldn't be soon though.

  Sammi, wise in the ways of her own people, had said something to him once, when he asked if he got extra powers if he learned to just no
t care about anything, like the Windigo did. She'd said that yes, he would, but she didn't know what would happen, that a Very Good Man's soul might break into something horrible. Or he took it to mean that. Of course she'd believed he wasn't really that kind of person when she'd told him that, hadn't she? Kind of covering her bases in case he ever lost it maybe?

  He laughed. It didn't come out right, seeming all happy and light, friendly and loving at the same time, instead of like what these others knew to be him. It got Vicki to grimace.

  "That's right, but this isn't about powers now. It's about buying time to get the Windigo things into place. It's about bait in the trap and a pause long enough for the others to act. It isn't up for debate. Cam, take them. Now!" He didn't think it would work, but the girl grabbed Tipper's hand and she made a wild swing at Madrith as Cam wrapped an arm around Vicki's neck. If they were fighting it wouldn't have worked, but the girl had them all away so fast Jake was impressed. Even Morten wouldn't have managed it. Morris might have, but he wasn't in the room.

  It left them in silence.

  "Burt, you and Lois... You and Tessa, stay here. Lock yourselves in and try to survive for as long as possible. I'll see about buying some time, like I said. Just in case we never speak again, I want you to both know... You're horrible people and I'm very disappointed in you. If we survive this you're both in for a time of it. Not that we will." He walked to the door and didn't look back, going out onto the back porch, then moving into the open, away from the building itself. That way he could see everything around him for a good quarter mile or so. He had his nine in his left hand and the forty-five in his right. It wouldn't be enough, he knew. Not even a little bit close.

  He also knew that he didn't care at all anymore. It hit him then, a shifting from deep within his soul. To protect the world he had to stop these things there, as many of them as he could. He couldn't count on the bombs coming in time either. Blimps were slow and bombers were fast, but uncertain. He didn't even know if they had a pilot left that could do the job. His talk of nukes had been fancy, but he was pretty sure that no one had the ability to use those now. The people that had the will and strength to survive didn't have things like launch codes, did they?