by Frank Slagel
“I did.”
“Good thinking. I always wanted to see a nuclear explosion.”
“I know,” I said. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It is” my dad said.
“Beautiful,” said Ellen.
“Fabulous,” said Henry. See I made him say fabulous because most men don’t say fabulous.
“Frank?” My dad looked at me. “Where’s Dean.”
I stared out to the burned image remaining of the mushroom cloud. “Hmm.” I widened my eyes. “Wow. Guess he didn’t make it out. Sad.”
“It really is the 'I am Legend' ending.” Henry said.
“Let’s take a moment,” My dad said. “Let’s think of Dean.”
“Dean.” Ellen said.
“Dean.” Henry said.
My dad exhaled. “Dean.”
I gave a sniff; you know how you do that to show confidence. Sniff. “Dean.” I gave a clap to my hands. Just one. “Let’s go.”
And we did. We drove off.
The end.
Chapter Nine – Dean
While Frank was always one for a dramatic entrances and over the top antics, he didn’t think it through about setting off a nuclear warhead.
There were far more variables involved with it in other than the beauty of the explosion. It was low yield, so relatively less damaging to outlining areas. It still left other places to clean up.
In the middle of setting up my extermination canisters, Frank informed me that he had found the nuclear weapon.
“Are you an asshole, Frank? You can’t detonate a nuclear warhead.”
“Why not?”
“Because you just don’t know what will happen afterward.”
Using that extensive large vocabulary of his, Frank explained, “It will go boom.”
He had that look in his eye, that ‘I was dropped on my head one too many times as a kid and I don’t think clearly now’ look.
Something was up.
I asked, “Why are you so adamant about using a nuke. My weapon is much more efficient.”
Then he admitted, “I don’t want you to have the credit. You are better than me in every way. I know Ellen loves you. If I do this, she’ll forget about you. Because under any other circumstances, I am nothing.”
“I feel your pain and dilemma.” I sympathized. “But this isn’t the way to go about it.”
Hell hath no fury like an unintelligent and emotionally motivated man who has been scorned.
That man was Frank.
My intelligence and keen insight knew better, also when he said he wanted to look at the stars, I knew he was up to something.
It was the middle of the day.
I followed Frank and sure enough he was setting the explosion. I could have tried to stop him, but obviously he had more than in mind other than just blowing up the infected and city. When he got in that truck and drove off, I knew it was a trap for me.
A death trap.
What did he take me for? Him?
The timer gave several hours. I used that time wisely, packed all that I could and I followed his route, unseen, out of the city.
I waited until after the explosion, which was actually a spectacular sight. They huddled like a family, Ellen had an abundance of sadness about her. More than likely because Frank led her to believe I was dead.
They didn’t see me or my truck, I preferred that. Once they got in and began to drive, I followed, honking my horn for them to stop.
When they didn’t, I passed them and blocked the lane.
Immediately, they all jumped from Frank’s truck.
“I’ll be goddamned,” Joe said and rushed my way. “You made it out. I am so grateful. We need an intelligent man like yourself.”
“Dean,” Henry gushed. “I’m happy you’re alive.”
Ellen shrieked and ran to me. “Oh, Dean. Dean. I thought you died.” She wrapped her arms around me.
Frank.
He just stood there staring.
Chapter Ten – Frank
Fuck.
It figures, don’t it? I write the end, he decided it isn’t the end. Somehow he forgot the name of this book. I am Frank. It’s not we are Frank and Dean. See? This is why I killed him off.
Seriously though, I am a good enough writer that I can come up with another ending. A better one, stronger, faster … wait. That was Six Million Dollar man.
So, back to the story.
Dean arrived.
My dad was like, “What the hell, Frank? I thought you had him playing self sacrificing hero.”
“I did. He was crafty.”
Ellen did one of those, ‘I am annoyed right now’ type breaths. Guys know those breaths, it means we’re in trouble about something and when we ask the woman she’ll say, ‘Nothing’.
“El, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Fuck.
Then Henry said ….
Okay, wait. Why is Henry in this story? Too many characters will confuse people and if I have to write Henry, I’ll end up making him either sounding too masculine or too girly. I don’t write girly well. I can own up to my problem areas.
Let’s try this again. Forget what I wrote before this. Not all of it, just the part of this chapter when I give Ellen’s and my dad’s reactions.
They’ll have new reactions.
Here goes.
We had just witnessed the explosion, got in the truck and started driving away. It was pretty tough getting out of the city. We had to go west for a while until a bridge was clear. Good thing I set a long detonation.
So we’re driving away. All of the sudden some madman was honking at us.
“Hey, Pal,” I said. “It’s the apocalypse. No need to get road rage.”
“Maybe he is scared,” My dad said. “Stop the truck and we will help him.”
“Okay.” I stopped the truck.
“I need to feel like I am pulling my weight,” said Henry.
“Okay.”
Brave Henry got out of the truck.
Okay, stop. This is fiction. Henry isn’t that brave, he wouldn’t get out and I sure as shit wouldn’t let him out. But for the purposes of this story, he is brave and got out of the truck.
Well, guess what happened?
I’ll give you a second.
Yep. Henry got hit.
Bam.
Fuckin’ Dean hit him. Shot poor Henry twenty feet in the air, he bounced off of the parked cars and when he landed he was a twisted mess.
Dean cried. When he saw what he did. He cried.
He said, “Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.
“Jesus Christ,” my Dad said. “You killed the man.”
“Frank left without me. I was scared. Who knew Henry would get out of the truck.”
“He is brave,” said Ellen. “And because you splattered him like a bug, I cannot like you anymore.”
Dean cried.
Because I am that kind of guy. I gave a soft pat to Dean’s back. A buddy pat. I would have given a smack, but I was afraid I’d send him flying.
I told him. “It’s okay, Dean. Did any of us really like Henry?”
“Well,” My dad said. “He unnerved me.”
“I pretended,” said Ellen.
That brought a smile to sad Dean’s face.
“Thanks, Frank. You are my hero.”
Ha!
“I am.”
Chapter Ten – Dean
Apparently, Frank just doesn’t know when to stop. And because I am that type of guy, I’ll move the story forward because he will not.
It was hard to comprehend that I had just killed a man. It was obvious it was an accident. I truly felt bad because Frank was just busted up over the loss of Henry. It was odd, because I didn’t think they were that close. Perhaps there was more to the story than Frank told.
We took some time, paid our respects and covered him. We couldn’t stay long, more of the monsters were coming.
After combining the supplies into
one vehicle, we forged ahead.
Joe was grateful that I had gathered so many things. Things he or Frank didn’t think about.
“While the risk is low, we still need to get inside somewhere because of radiation,” I informed them all. Then I pulled a Personal Radiation device from my bag. “It’s low, but who knows when the dust settles.”
“Good Goddamn thinking, Dean,” Joe said. “Glad we have you. My hard headed son would think of radiation.”
“I didn’t,” Frank said.
“Don’t feel bad, Frank. Science and basic math just aren’t your thing.”
“True.”
“So what do you suggest?” Joe asked.
“I think we have a good twenty minutes to find a place. Maybe drive another ten, get farther away. Once we see a viable place, Frank and I will go in and make sure it is clear of the infected. You, Joe, stay with Ellen.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Joe said. “Frank?”
“If Dean suggested it, then that’s what we do.”
I was glad everyone was on board with my suggestion. Stopping for the night or even a couple days was the wise decision and I had enough supplies. We also needed a plan. Wandering around or just moving forward wasn’t going to cut it. A goal was needed.
Stopping was the answer. It had to be safe because those things were out there.
In fact, they were everywhere.
Chapter Eleven – Frank
Not bad. I can work with it. At least he didn’t end the story, not that I’d let Dean have the last word or chapter.
It didn’t take long to find a good place to go. It was one of those super clean chain tire places. We were able to secure the back and there was an exit in the rear for a quick escape if we needed one. Not that we would. I could handle it.
The entire night my dad kept trying to make radio contact with anyone. Personally, I didn’t see the need for more people. We would be fine.
I was the last one awake. I listened to the sounds of the monsters. They made noise.
Sort of like a growl mixed with a moan. It wasn’t scary to me. It was fucking annoying.
After a while I started to reflect. Okay, ‘reflect’ isn’t a word I use. But I didn’t want to say ‘Flashback’ because I just used the flash of the bomb and didn’t want people to get confused, so I called my brother Hal and he said to use the word reflect.
Not my brother in this story. In real life. My brother Hal in this story is whereabouts unknown.
But in real life he helped me with a word. He’s a writer. Not a writer like me, but I think I said that earlier. Let me check. Okay, I did.
I was reflecting on life when I was stuck in Pittsburgh. Probably not stuck, I could have gotten out but I wanted to kill all those things.
It dawned on me I never got back to my story about my dog.
I had a dog. His name was Spot. We were pals, but like a lot of guys, once a woman comes into the picture they’re history. That was Spot. He saw a female dog and took off running. I chased him but couldn’t find him. I even put up fliers and no one answered.
Living in the city alone was an easy thing to do. I was focused there. I didn’t feel as focused waiting to go somewhere while spending the night in a brake and tire store.
I guess I was reflecting out loud because my dad asked me what I was talking about.
“What dog?” he asked.
I told him about Spot.
He said, “Oh, Frank. I am sorry to hear you lost your pet in the Apocalypse.”
That’s what dads are for, to say the right thing and make you feel better.
Okay, I am going to end this chapter now. I’m running out of things to say so I will leave it to Dean because he continued this story when it was fuckin’ done already.
Eleven – Dean
Alas, the story comes to an end.
We had settled into the tire and brake store. For some reason, Frank couldn’t let Henry’s death go. He was a mess. He wasn’t focused. I suggested that maybe he think of happier times.
I guess Frank is one of those people who have to think out loud because he started talking about some dog named Spot that he had after the virus hit.
I thought at first he was talking in his sleep, but I realized he wasn’t when Joe asked. “How the hell did you lose your dog in the Apocalypse?”
“He ran away.”
“He ran away? Really, Frank, this is just like you to lose a pet. You have never been responsible when it came to pets.”
“Dad, I tried to find him. I even put up fliers everywhere.”
“Uh ha, and who was going to read them and call you? The monsters?”
“It could happen.”
I didn’t say anything, but I saw the fliers. I remember thinking what idiot would put up fliers in an apocalypse. It made sense now. The dog and I crossed paths. I think it was Frank’s dog, I was pretty certain it was the dog in the flier. Only the dog wasn’t a happy go lucky pet named Spot. He was a vicious animal, infected with the virus and set on killing.
He nearly took me out. Unfortunately, I had to take care of him and I put him down using my revolver.
But then I realized that he was not sick. I make mistakes because I am not as smart as I think I am. I kissed and hugged the dog but he shunned me because he knew I only wanted to hurt him and eat him or worse, cuddle. Luckily he got away from me.
Twelve – Frank
Fuckin’ Dean wrote that he killed my dog. That’s just mean. He wonders why I hate him. Good thing I am senior editor and made the executive decision that no pets would die in this book.
I will never co-write a book with him again. I don’t care how much he begs. Not gonna happen. I’m a literary guy. I have two books under my belt.
Anyhow, some time just before the sun came up my father made contact with a camp out west. They were secure behind a big wall. They needed a leader and a protector.
We were pretty excited about that. We planned our route, decided on what all we would need to make it there and the three of us left as soon as it was light.
Yeah, the three of us. Not Dean. He wanted to stay back, try to cure the monster virus while running the first ever tire and brake store in the apocalypse.
“Dean,” I said. “That’s fuckin’ stupid. A tire and brake store in the apocalypse.”
“It is my dream, Frank.”
Enough said. I was not one to step on anyone’s dreams.
I told him I would be back when I needed new tires. That made him happy.
We wished him good luck and we left.
Here it is - my big literary ending.
We were about to embark on our next journey. Our journey to our new life and we would be happy.
The end.
Yeah, Dean, the end. Don’t even think about it.
Book is over.
Done.
Bye.
End.
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About the Author
Frank Slagel is head of security in Beginnings, Montana. He maintains peace and gives the residents in Beginnings comfort in knowing they can sleep easy in an apocalyptic world. In the pre-plague world, Frank was career Army. He is a family man with three brothers.
Following a recent injury, Frank was given an experiment healing agent. He is proud that he runs at remarkable speeds and eats lots of roughage.
Despite his busy schedule, Frank finds time to enjoy his passion of writing.
Frank contracted artist, Sean Simmans to do his author portrait.
Sean is a talented artist from Canada who survived the plague and slipped into Beginnings early on.
FRANK SLAGEL
By Artist, Sean Si
mmans