Apex

by Moon, Adam

  It was a pointless crime. What good was cash during the apocalypse?

  He had to avoid a couple of streets because of the thick smoke coming from the ruined buildings.

  After an hour he felt like he would never find help. People were too distracted by their own catastrophes to care about his problems.

  Unfortunately, the first hotel he came across was a two story building and it had crumbled under its own weight. It would be impossible to pick through that much rubble.

  He yelled, “Mom, it’s Jack. Are you under there?”

  He heard nothing but distant car alarms and screams. There was no way anyone was alive under that mess so he moved on, with dread in his heart.

  He saw a large crowd of people around the next corner. He was afraid to approach but his curiosity got the better of him.

  It became pretty obvious what they were all staring at. One of the murderous contraptions stood erect in the center of the mob. Jack got an ominous tingle in his gut when he got close enough to make out more details. It was metallic and way bigger than the television portrayed. It had a large display screen about eight feet up that was black and still. Whatever had scrolled across that display was gone now. He hoped the screen would stay blank forever, if it was in fact a display. Maybe it was a lens for a camera, watching them all, waiting for the right time to strike again. The thought mobilized him and he moved on. But before he did, he heard a gravely male voice say, “It’s alien, God Dammit. Just look at that thing. If that thing’s Korean, I’ll eat my hat.”

  A softer male voice argued, “There’s no such thing as aliens. Maybe it’s the Chinese.”

  “You’re an idiot.”

  Jack wanted to stay and hear the discussion but there was something frightening about being around so many scared human beings. It was like a powder keg just hoping for a spark.

  Human Weaponry

  Dan explained to the general that none of them had quite figured out how to use their powers correctly yet so the general set up a bunch of old milk crates out back and told them to practice.

  Scott rolled his eyes and Melanie said, “This is hardly an innovative way to test us. The doctor set up the same basic test and we failed it miserably.”

  “So you have plenty of reasons to practice then. Get to work before I decide to get more creative.”

  None of them were bothered by his silly threat. They knew the general and his remaining men couldn’t harm them.

  After witnessing Dan’s wild aim with his heat power, and seeing the resultant destruction, all of the soldiers decided to keep their distance from the makeshift firing range.

  Scott cut a crate in half and they all watched the severed piece float away like magic.

  The general said, “Ok now, drop it.”

  Scott tried to concentrate but he couldn’t turn his power off. When the general slapped him hard across the face, the piece of crate toppled out of the sky, free from Scott’s force field.

  Scott turned on him angrily and said, “Be careful or next time it’ll be half of you floating off into the sky.”

  “Give it a rest. I’m trying to help.”

  “No you’re not. You’re polishing your weapons. That’s all you’re doing with us.”

  “You’re right. What’s the point of having the perfect weapons if they’re all broken?”

  Dan yelled, “Hey, we’re people, not instruments.”

  “Not to me.”

  Molly took a step forward and said, “I want you and your men off of my property.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, miss.”

  Dan’s hands glowed menacingly but the general shook his head sadly and said, “You’ll have to kill me because I’m staying. I’m sorry for the disrespect, but I’m under a lot of pressure here. I need to help you in case the unknown enemy make themselves known to us.”

  Melanie said, “Just let it go Dan. We’ve seen enough death for a lifetime.”

  Scott interrupted them all. “Why are we still here? Jack’s mom was killed. I need to be there for my family if they get attacked. So do you Melanie.”

  Melanie said sheepishly, “I was going to sneak off tonight when everyone fell asleep.”

  “Why bother? They can’t stop us. Screw this stupid shit. We’re out here playing games for the general’s amusement while our loved ones are in danger. Come on. Let’s go.”

  General Parsons opened his mouth to object but he must have changed his mind. “We’ll escort you. Hold on.”

  Crime Fighter

  Jack heard a muffled scuffle down an alleyway. He thought about ignoring it and getting on with his search for his mom, but he just couldn’t. What if someone was being hurt?

  He saw two large men with their backs to him. They were unbuckling their pants, laughing to one another. A trembling woman was crouched before them, blood running down her nose, her hair mussed.

  They both turned when they heard Jack approach. One of them nodded to him and said, “Beat it, kid. You don’t want none of this.”

  For a second, Jack considered tucking tail and getting out of there. The men were much bigger than he was, and they looked like they’d have no problem beating him to death.

  And suddenly, they looked like they wanted to do just that. They buttoned up and turned on him menacingly, the woman just an afterthought now. These reprobates just wanted to hurt people. They were using the chaos of the moment to unleash their base desires.

  Jack took a step backwards.

  The woman stood up tentatively, looking around for an escape route. She seemed lost and confused.

  The nearest guy turned on her and slugged her in the eye. She screamed and fell back to the ground. Then he kicked her in the head like he was trying to score a goal.

  The woman fell forward on her face, either dead or unconscious. Before the guy could join his friend to advance on Jack, he started to scream.

  Jack felt the power overtake him, but it was too strong this time. It was fueled by a sense of righteousness and hatred. And that fuel had transformed the power of teleportation into something stronger and harder to control.

  He stared at the man and all else vanished from his view. All that mattered was that single person. All of Jack’s concentration was focused on him.

  The screaming man looked up to the heavens and then his body fell into itself. He disintegrated into a fine mist that dissipated lazily on the wind.

  Jack smiled wickedly. He had a vague sense that maybe he had teleported every one of the guys atoms away from one another. He didn’t do so consciously, because that would be impossible.

  The other guy didn’t react right away. Maybe his mind was still trying to fathom the impossible.

  When he realized he was in danger, he turned and ran off, but Jack’s anger wasn’t sated. He teleported in front of the guy and hit him square on the jaw. The man fell to the ground, holding his mouth. A bone stuck out of his face, blood streaming out liberally. There were several teeth attached to the protruding bone.

  Rather than feel terrible about what he had just done to a fellow human being, Jack’s anger swelled even more. He knew what this bastard was about to do to that woman and he wasn’t about to let him live.

  The guy held a hand up to block whatever Jack might do to him next, but it was a futile gesture. Jack looked down at his feet. He imagined the center of the Earth. He looked at the guy again and the guy vanished along with a part of the road and half a dumpster. His screams would never reach the surface of the planet.

  Jack ran to the woman and sat her up. But it was clear she was already dead. Those men had worked her over pretty good before he’d arrived and that soccer kick to the head had finished her off; probably broke her neck. If only he had the courage and the fortitude to act sooner, she’d be alive right now. Her death was on his hands.

  He felt that anger swell within him again, but this time it was directed at himself. He was a coward, a murderer, and he was all alone in a world run amuck. He wondered: If he had t
he chance, would he have had the courage to save his mom’s life? The answer came to him before he had a chance to ponder it: No. He was too weak. He might have unbelievable powers, but they were being controlled by a wimp. It was like giving a child a rocket launcher. Only bad things could come of it.

  The anger rose and rose until he felt his other senses move aside, making way for it. His eyes were glistening with tears as the power took control of him fully. He screamed out from the pain and from the fear of losing all control.

  And then he lost control as the power engulfed him.

  His body started to float into the air against his will. He balled his fists up in pure rage, so tight that his fingernails drew blood. He stared up into the heavens as he floated upwards. His vision went in and out. He knew something very bad was about to happen and that it would be his fault, but he did nothing to stop it. In fact, he hoped it was awful. His powers had an aggressive quality now that needed to be fed.

  He hated to admit to himself that he was still somewhat in control. He wished he could say that his powers had shut him out and that they working on autopilot, against his wishes, but that would be untrue. He was about to do something terrible, and he did nothing to stop it. In that regard, he gave control over to the growing powers within and acted as a sort of detached spectator.

  He looked down at the alleyway he was now hovering above and his anger and frustrations swelled anew. Evil had resided in that alleyway just moments ago, and some of that evil essence had been his own. He looked back up into the sky, wishing there was a way to scrub that evil alley from the Earth.

  As the welling hatred peeked inside of him, his thoughts became confused and his vision blinked off altogether.

  Town Gathering

  They arrived at Scott’s house first but it was deserted. Melanie’s house was the same. The neighbor’s houses were silent too and the streets were devoid of any traffic.

  Melanie was hyperventilating, tears fat in her eyelashes, when they noticed that about a hundred cars were parked outside the most popular bar in town.

  When the general opened his door and got out, a gunshot rang out. No one got hurt so that meant it was a warning shot. He ducked back inside and a male voice yelled out, from inside the bar, “What do you want?”

  “We have young Scott and Melanie with us. They’re looking for their families.”

  “I thought you were trying to capture them. Why are you helping them now?”

  “Things have changed.”

  The bar door opened slowly. An arm slipped out and waved them inside. “They’re in here with us. If you’re lying we’ll shoot you.”

  Melanie let out a sigh of relief and ran for the door with Scott hot on her heals.

  About two hundred men, women and children were in the bar. It wasn’t designed for so many folks but everyone looked comfortable enough.

  The general and his men went in right after the teenagers, followed by Dan and Molly.

  Scott’s mom rushed him and his brother was right behind her. Melanie’s mom and dad wrapped her up in a group hug. Her dad squeezed her bicep and looked at her incredulously. She lied, “I’ve been working out.”

  Her mom said tearfully, “We worried you were still in Denver at that hospital.”

  “It wasn’t exactly a hospital, mom. We escaped and hid outside of town.”

  “Where’s your friend, Jack?”

  “He went back to Denver to look for his mom.”

  “Why? She’s right over there.” Sure enough, Jack’s mom was sitting on a bar stool staring at the new arrivals intently, hoping her own son was with them. She yelled over to Melanie and Scott, “Where’s my son?”

  “He went to Denver to find you.”

  “I left a couple days ago. They weren’t letting me in to see him so I drove back home to start legal proceedings against them.”

  When Scott and Melanie turned on the general, he shrugged his shoulders innocently and said, “I didn’t know that.”

  The general and his men stayed put at the front of the room, taking in the scene. Guns littered the bar top. A shotgun was propped against the pool table and rifles hung over every other shoulder. A dozen kids huddled around a pinball machine, watching another kid play.

  A man brushed past them and started to latch boards back into place across the doorway, feverishly, like their lives depended on it.

  The lone TV behind the bar showed devastation, smoke and chaos.

  The general had a strange thought: Maybe he was lucky to have been led to Ault, Colorado. These people were unharmed and they were intelligently defending themselves against whatever was coming their way.

  Maybe this crap-hole town was a Godsend?

  Gone

  Jack woke up standing on wobbly legs. He was no longer in the alley because the alley was no longer there. The buildings, with their rubble, and the sliced open cars were all gone too. Jack was at the bottom of a neatly carved crater. He clambered up the smooth dirt wall and pulled himself over the top. The crater was a hundred feet wide and twenty feet deep.

  He knew deep down that he had accidentally teleported everything around him to some other place; the crater was evidence of that fact. He’d subconsciously sent everything on that patch of missing land to someplace he couldn’t remember. But where had he sent it? Had people been hurt?

  He looked up instinctively, fearful that the convex section of land might fall from the sky, but it was clear and blue and empty. He felt the adrenaline-dump set in and he sat on the ground, Indian style. He tried to remember anything that had just happened but he drew a blank. But the aggressive aspect of his powers was sated for the time being. He felt at peace with the world.

  Some people started to gather and gawk at him, but he was too drained to be upset by their angered, fearful looks. They pointed and yelled, but they kept their distance, afraid that they might fall victim to his bizarre abilities too.

  He gave up right then. If his mom was dead, then that was ok because at least she’d been spared the devastation of finding out that her son was a freak and a cold blooded murderer.

  He started to get angry with himself again, but he quickly reined it in. The last time he got angry, everyone and everything within shouting distance had vanished.

  He closed his eyes and disappeared before the gathering crowd worked up the courage to attack him for what he’d just done.

  Asteroid City

  Second in command, Fillo, was shaking his gray oversized head. “We’ve just detected unnatural seismic activity on the surface of the planet, and I’ve just learned that an asteroid, that we hadn’t previously detected, is in fact a large chunk of an Earth city, hurtling away into outer space.”

  Commander Davok was annoyed by the unnecessary distraction. “What does that have to do with our mission?”

  “I don’t know. It’s just a strange anomaly I thought you’d be interested in.”

  “So you think they launched a chunk of their own planet out here?”

  “No. We would’ve seen that. It seems that it disappeared and reappeared in space.”

  “That is peculiar. Why would they do that? Was it directed at the ship?”

  “Nope.”

  “It makes no sense.”

  “What’s even stranger is that there were still humans on it.”

  The commander raised his hairless brow.

  Fillo said, “I was going to see if we should deploy a couple of troopers to check it out, but the people already perished of asphyxiation.”

  “Well then, whatever weird strategy that was, it clearly backfired on the humans.”

  “If it was strategic, I don’t see the benefit of it. I do wonder how they developed technology that could do that.”

  “Let’s just chalk it up to another unexpected development. This mission is just full of them.”

  “Yes sir. But when we send in the clean-up crew, I’d like to send extra troops to the region the piece of land came from.”

  “Of cours
e. Get them prepped for action.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Send a missile to destroy the anomaly just in case.”

  “Good idea.”

  A Unique Little Town

  The general managed to pry Scott away from his mom and brother. “Why do you think your friend’s powers are so much stronger than yours?”

  Scott was perplexed. Did he mean Melanie? Of course not. He meant Jack. It was the elephant in the room they’d all seen but avoided discussing. “I don’t know.”

  “We need to get him back. Do you have a way to reach him? Does he have a cell phone?”

  “I’ve been trying to think of a way to get a hold of him, but not because I want to use him, like you do. I’d like to tell him his mom is here and she’s alive.”

  “Of course. Forgive me for being so insensitive. I’m so worried about an impending attack that I sometimes forget my humanity.”

  Scott thought a little more about the general’s question. “Maybe he has stronger powers because he took a full blast of that alien mist. We were standing back but he was right next to it.”

  The general said, “I sure wish that whatever that mist was hadn’t been wasted on you kids. Imagine how formidable we’d be if my soldiers had such powers.”

  Scott’s mom overheard the conversation. “What the heck are you talking about?”

  The general laughed emotionlessly and said, “Are you going to tell these fine people, Scotty boy?”

  Scott glared as the general called for silence in the room. “I need everyone’s attention. I want everyone here to see what we have on our side.” Then he pointed at Scott and said, “Show them what you can do.”

  Everyone turned to Scott now. His face flushed with a mix of embarrassment and anger. But now that he was put on the spot, he knew better than to give in to the general’s wishes. He still couldn’t control his abilities. He might accidentally cut someone in half.

  Melanie saved him. She stood shoulder to shoulder with him and said, “You owe me one.”