Toxicity
Page 26
In the basement chambers of Desperation Manor, the father and husband of the family, Roland, was having the time of his life. He was lost in the depths of his game vault, any noise from the rest of the mansion undetectable through the metal walls that surrounded him. Hell, he even had his own personal butler whose sole purpose was to light his pipe on command.
He was on the verge of beginning perhaps the biggest World of Warcraft raid of his online career when there was a sudden knocking at his vault door. It was very consistent and very annoying.
“Shall I answer that, sir?” the pipe butler asked.
Roland shook his head, figuring it was either his wife or one of his stupid children. “Hell no,” he said. “But, since now that you’re up, you can spot me a light, my good chum.”
Little did Roland Desperation know, at the door was neither his wife nor one of his stupid children. It was, in fact, a team of firefighters ready to inform him that the rest of his mansion had burned completely to the ground—and to the best of their knowledge, he was the last surviving member of the family.
But he wouldn’t find any of that out until after he’d finished his raid and went upstairs for dinner.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Ocean Breathes Salty
What the hell was she doing?
Addison Kane stepped out of the bus station and sat down on a bench, the sun beating down upon her lonesome face. Her fingers traced the edges of the recently purchased one-way ticket to San Francisco.
Fresh in her hand, damp with sorrow’s salt.
What the hell was she doing?
She was still shocked they hadn’t carded her. It was the first lucky break she’d gotten in God knew how long. The bus wouldn’t arrive for another hour or so, so she lay down on the bench, staring up at the clouds.
What the hell was she doing?
She tried not to think about Connor but that was like telling somebody not to breathe. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all.
She wondered how far he’d gotten out the door before the police took him down. Did he die instantly, or did he lie there under the sun, bleeding out?
Was he even dead?
Maybe he was on his way to the hospital, handcuffed to a stretcher.
What would the newspapers say in the morning? Would they call him a murderer? Would he go down in history as one of the bad guys?
Fuck what the newspapers would say. They didn’t matter. Nobody’s opinion mattered. Addison knew the truth. So did Connor. Everybody else could go straight to hell.
She shook her head, trying to think about anything other than a blanket being thrown over his corpse. Instead she thought about the way he’d held her on his porch swing, before everything went bad, the way they’d fallen asleep together.
On the bench, Addison’s eyes wandered with the clouds as she waited for the bus to carry her away to the ocean.
Chapter Fifty
The Golden Anniversary Chapter
Johnny spun ‘round and ‘round on the merry-go-round as the world ended.
He could think of no other place to go. There were so many memories here—it was his true home, his forgotten home, his only home.
He had left his soul mate along with the mysterious cotton candy-haired girl back at the car, wherever he had parked it. He wasn’t sure who the girl was, but she had acted like they knew each other. Perhaps they had been friends in a previous life. Whoever she was, he had given her full responsibility of the goddess, Zooey Deschanel. Hopefully she was in good hands. He didn’t think he had hurt the girl. He hoped he hadn’t. But he couldn’t remember. His head was pounding too much to concentrate—pounding and buzzing.
Although he supposed it really didn’t matter, considering the planet’s existence only had a few minutes left ‘til its expiration date hit.
Johnny grinned, proud of himself.
Spinning at an impossible supersonic speed, Johnny tilted his gaze up to the sky, or what used to be the sky. There was no more blue. There were no more clouds. There was no more sun. At first it had all been purple, but now it was darkness. Pure darkness.
It was the darkness of an infinite number of flies raining down from Heaven. They had come to deliver him to paradise. The Fly had kept Its promise.
The Fly always kept Its Word.
Obey or die,
a million drowning sinners cry,
obey or die,
obey
or
die.
Die.
Johnny raised his fists to the fallen sky and screamed, “TAKE ME!”
And they did.
They poured down upon nature like holy termites, erasing anything they came in contact with. The army swallowed All and soon Johnny could not see to see.
And when he and the horde embraced on that fateful merry-go-round, it was not fear that he experienced, but content.
Johnny Desperation welcomed them with open arms.
And when he died, all he heard was a Fly buzz.
Acknowledgements
This book would not be the book it is now without the tremendous guidance of the following editors: Lori Michelle, Richard Thomas, and Paul Anderson. Thanks for making me look smart.
And to my publisher, Eric Beebe, who inexplicably terrifies me and regularly demands jars of Texas salsa delivered to his house. I fear what will happen the day I am late on a payment.
This book would also not exist if my parents hadn’t had dirty, nasty sex way back in the day. So thanks for that, Mom and Dad. Oh, and a big shout-out to the brave camera man who filmed the event for all to see. Check it out on YouTube when you get the chance.