Monster of the Apocalypse

by C. Henry Martens

  If Deo had been a woman, Lecti might have been jealous. She understood that it was a guy thing. She didn’t really feel left out, because she was less interested and enthusiastic than Deo. But she was feeling the passion of a new relationship, and it was difficult to step away as Eleon bonded with her brother. Holding herself in check, she listened.

  It seemed that the afternoon would never wind down. Finally, Lecti looked outside and suggested they find a place to spend the night.

  Eleon closed the door and made sure it was latched.

  Moving slowly toward the center of town, the trio considered the possibilities. There was a large area of several houses that were burned to the ground to the south. Neither of the siblings had noticed it as they drove past the first time. They were too busy concentrating on the new ride. On the other side of the highway a group of apartment buildings replaced houses that Eleon remembered being there long ago. They ended up backtracking and as they started to climb the hill, turned left into a group of condominiums. The units made the most of the hillside and the view. As they reached the highest street, Eleon asked Lecti to stop. A condo where he could overlook the access road and the city appealed to him. Lecti pulled her wrecking bar from her belt.

  Soon they were sitting in lawn chairs on a compact balcony. A barbecue grill and small table added to their ease.

  The high-end unit had a solar backup for critical utilities. After a while, Eleon went inside to glean what he could. The refrigerator worked and held a case of beer. Eleon longed for a beer, but he knew that the contents of the containers would be disappointing. A stale, nasty, foul tasting sip of something he had once enjoyed seemed like a bad idea.

  He looked around for something better. The freezer was full. All the packaged meals were opened quickly and proved to be burned by frost. A package of peas looked interesting but was damaged as well. Blocks of frozen spinach, marketed by a health food store, looked better. After opening them into a pan, Eleon thought they might be worth a try.

  In the back of the freezer a mystery container revealed a banded stack of paper money. Eleon had not seen paper money for several years before the plagues. He wondered if it would still have been good when the devastation hit. There was no way to know now, and he tossed it aside.

  Moving to a pantry next to the fridge and not expecting much, Eleon was pleasantly surprised by an intact container of pickled okra. It was a find. The jar must have been kept from freezing by being close to the heat from the working refrigerator. Maybe the heating system still worked. Possible, but a long shot. In any case, Eleon brought the jar out and opened it for the kids.

  The first bite of the tangy vegetable made Lecti’s lips pucker and her eyes squinch. She was familiar with pickles. They were one of the more reliable finds when they rooted around for edible food. These veggies were similar, but this bottle was packed with some hot peppers and had some zing. The crunch was different too. She and Deo both liked it. The okra disappeared.

  After waiting for the spinach to melt, they found it too nasty to eat. The last packet of freeze-dried camping food made their evening meal.

  Sitting on the balcony, watching the sun go down, Lecti moved close to Eleon. Once again, he was torn between being grateful and embarrassed.

  The okra brought up the subject of food and the subject of food brought up fresh vegetables. Lecti wondered about the garden on top of the hospital.

  Deo asked Eleon to tell them about before. He wondered what people ate in the past. Eleon was having a good time, and since he was a geneticist, he had an intimate knowledge of the subject. It was hard to talk about before, but he owed them a short description at least.

  He spoke as a scientist, but in simple terms.

  “Thousands of varieties of plants were used for food in the past. Well over thirty thousand species. There were over a hundred and fifty types of wheat grown in the Pacific Northwest in the last two hundred years alone. As the masses of population grew, the industrial giants were only interested in plant species that made the most profit and were easy to store and deliver. The demands of population were used to justify genetic engineering in the food industry. Over ninety-eight percent of crop diversity was lost, and only two or three types of wheat remained in common use. With all edible plants, there were fewer and fewer varieties, and eventually food became so homogenized that most people gave up cooking in favor of factory prepared foods. The choices got worse and worse because people were satisfied with anything cheap and filling. Huge numbers of perfectly good types of fruits and vegetables became obsolete, and some even extinct.”

  As the sun dipped below the horizon, Eleon continued.

  “If you ever find seeds, you need to learn to grow them. You need to hoard them. The food that’s left over from the past will only go so far. Good food will become more and more scarce. More than likely, the seed you find will be genetically engineered. That means that the seed from what you manage to grow will not be any good. If it produces seed at all, it will either lack viability and simply not sprout, or it will produce inedible fruit. Inedible because it will taste terrible. This is intentional. The seed producers planned it that way. Even the large retailers got into the act. They began to sell old, unviable, and genetically altered seed. They didn’t want the seed they sold to compete with their grocery sales.”

  “Humanity was lucky that no major disease infected the food supply. There were so few varieties, and they were so closely related, that a major famine was inevitable. Any problem was lucky to be controlled, and we averted major famines several times. We were just lucky. Several times.”

  “The way you talk about our needing to learn about seeds, it sounds as though you won’t be with us.” Lecti posed a dilemma that Eleon’s speech had brought to her mind.

  “I’m a lot older than you. I’ll die, and you will be left with the aftermath. If you are lucky enough to find viable seed, it will probably not breed true. That means that eventually, anyone alive will be reduced to grubbing for wild roots and plants and eating a lot of meat.”

  The dark of the night was not far off.

  “Can’t we de-engineer them?” asked Deo.

  “It took years and years and thousands of people to produce the crops that became prevalent. You simply don’t have the resources or the time.”

  “But you’re a geneticist. You could do it. We could help.”

  Eleon smiled a sad, patient smile.

  “I haven’t been a geneticist for a long time. It would take equipment, too. It’s a nice idea, but truly, it’s impossible.”

  Many questions were brought up and many answers were given before they got tired enough to bed down.

  After Lecti and Deo bedded down, and their breathing became deep and regular, Eleon went out on the deck. He sat in a chair with his feet up on the rail and looked at the stars.

  Sometime in the night, adjusting her position, Lecti woke for an instant. Long enough to see the silhouette sitting outside. She rose and stepped outside onto the balcony. Eleon held out his hand and drew her to him. She curled up on his lap, snuggling in for his body heat.

  “I’ve thought about what you said,” he growled in a low voice. “I’ll stay and see where this will go. But if I think it’s going wrong, or if you decide it’s not what you want, you have to be honest with me and honest enough with yourself to stop. You have to. And we’re going to take it slow.”

  Sleepy but fully conscious of what Eleon had just said, Lecti cupped his face with a hand. She kissed his cheek, a light peck. Then she snuggled into his shoulder and went to sleep.

  Eleon held her, feeling things that he had not felt for many years. She didn’t hear him when he spoke again.

  “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you. You and your brother. But I’ll leave in a heartbeat if it’s the right thing to do.”

  §

  All night Eleon continued to hold Lecti. He was getting used to the idea of staying on. He was an asset to these kids, and they were a comfort to him
. He had been tempted before, though, and always found a reason to continue wandering. At first, he thought it was because he wanted to see what was around the next corner. Before long, he realized that it was about running away from his guilt, and he decided that he was unworthy of anyone’s company. He was better off dead, but he was too much of a coward to take the long walk. So he became a hermit, a loner, and a man without a conscience. It served him well as he traveled.

  Now, holding someone he had allowed himself to care about for the first time in twenty years, he began to evaluate his circumstances.

  Lecti expected things of him. Had he led her on? Could he return to the fold of humanity and care, protect, even befriend those he would be with? He had his doubts. Lecti was not only expecting a companion, she was expecting a husband. It embarrassed him to think of what that meant. The age difference weighed on him. He had been brought up in a world with certain morals and ethics. He knew this world was not that one, it had been proven over time, brutally, violently, in every extreme way possible, but he was still a product of his upbringing.

  As Eleon absorbed the warmth of Lecti’s body, he began to remember his wife, Kylee. She had been the love of his life, the main reason he had participated in the plan to cleanse the world of the curse of a too abundant humanity. The future of his children intensified his desire, because of his feelings for her. Now, Kylee came to him in his thoughts, like he hadn’t allowed since she had died.

  Waking in the mornings had been his favorite time. Invariably he would wake before her. He would feel her warmth before he even opened his eyes. Kylee radiated heat. Moving his body in order to touch her, always in a different way so that he would know her entire body, he marveled in how soft she was. As she woke he would watch her face. It amazed him that he was lucky enough to have a woman that needed no make-up to be beautiful. How she ever thought him worthy of her, well, it never made sense to him.

  Loving Kylee was easy. Making love with her, extraordinary. He remembered the time she had kissed him as she left his apartment, after turning down his offer to spend the night. The kiss was a clear promise as she insinuated her body into his, and yet she still left.

  The first time Kylee came was a surprise. As she learned to let go, she would laugh in a deep, organic, animal way, different from anything he had expected. Her expression of pleasure unnerved him, and yet comforted him in knowing that he was doing something well. That kind of laugh couldn’t be faked. Learning in mutual ways, they had both surprised the other with how tender and how frantic sex could be.

  Eleon wasn’t sure he wanted that with any woman again. But Lecti would expect it. He knew she had a young lover before she left Roseburg, as part of her confession, but now this was too real. At the same time, he knew he would at least make an attempt at staying. Whether or not anything developed, he was ready to care again.

  He lay Lecti down on her sleeping bag gently. The sky was lightening and it was time to make the world a safer place.

  Chapter 25

  Carrie. Carrie. Yeah, it sounded good. The young woman formerly known as Hey You decided that Carrie would be her name from now on. The ugly joke was over.

  She stepped outside with Bregor at her side. He stayed so close that he occasionally touched her knee as she walked. His attention revolved around the toy in her hands as much as her. As they arrived at the midway point in the open space, she threw the stuffed duck. Bregor could not contain himself. He bounded in typical Rottweiler fashion after it. Bringing it back covered in slobber, his ugly face twisted in a big, wet grin.

  Carrie leaned down. She cupped the scarred face in her hands and laid her forehead on his.

  He did not want to release the toy, but with gentle, constant pressure and a command word, he let go. Bregor did not miss his old life at all. His new life had started. He was already comfortable with it.

  After a short time, Carrie decided it was time to go for a short walk. She let Bregor carry his duck.

  That night the dog slept at her bedside again.

  §

  Lecti woke with a start. She rolled over and noted that Deo was sleeping beside her. Eleon must have carried her in and laid her back on her sleeping bag. He was not in sight. She felt the hair rise on her arms. A premonition. Rising and padding to the rail outside, she looked over. Eleon’s bike was gone.

  Standing over Lecti after he deposited her on her bag, Eleon came to a conclusion. He could not allow these two kids to come along on this part of the journey. Hal did not know that Eleon was traveling with them. Eleon had left before Zip and Cotton, and before Deo and Lecti went back to find Toshi dead. There was no reason to think that Hal would suspect any association if he showed up again. He should be able to walk right in, just as he had before.

  The key from Jenny found a home in his pocket as he walked past. His bike was light as he pushed it downhill to the main road. The bike was not very loud anyway, and as he accelerated from the condo access, he was sure the kids were still sleeping.

  Confidence. That was going to get Eleon in the door without suspicion. He pulled up in front as though he owned the place.

  There were no dogs in front. The chains lay limp on the cement. Two bowls hugged the wall close to one chain, and the other had none. Strange, Eleon thought. He was expecting the dogs.

  The door was unlocked. He did not remember if the door was locked before, but he would have expected it of Hal. Eleon pushed through, cautiously. No one greeted him. No one challenged him. He began to wonder if there was anyone home. He slipped to one side and found the shadows.

  Eleon was stymied. He couldn’t just stay here and wait. He only had so much time. Finally working around the room to the bottom of the stair, he started to ascend. He would check on the girl first. He drew a pistol from a holster hidden under his jacket.

  Halfway up the stair, things went bad suddenly. A roaring, scarred beast of gnashing fangs and flying saliva broke from the hallway that entered on the stair landing. He bounced on his front legs, rear end lowered to facilitate a leap as he moved aggressively toward Eleon. Teeth and eyes flashing, the rumble coming from his throat left no room for mistaking his intentions.

  Eleon pointed his weapon. He hoped his first shot would be good. The stair was not going to be to his advantage if he had to retreat. It would be worse if he had to fight this brute off. It was obvious that there was no time to try to calm the beast. His trigger finger tightened.

  “No!”

  The exclamation almost made Eleon fire. His adrenaline pumping, he pulled back the gun.

  The dog dropped immediately. It was almost as if Eleon had pulled the trigger. The animal still eyed him with a low, malevolent growl and a curled lip. But the beast was on the floor. Not in a stance of aggression.

  Looking up, Eleon expected to find Hal pointing a gun at him. The voice crying out the command had not registered.

  A young woman stepped from the hall. She looked hard at Eleon, her gun aimed at the ground to her side, but ready. She moved forward slowly in the dim light. Suddenly her face lit up.

  “Oh,” she said. “It’s you. What are you doing back here?”

  It took a moment. The voice was vaguely familiar. Then it dawned. This was the girl that smelled so bad. Except it was definitely not the same girl. This girl was beautiful.

  §

  Deo yelped as Lecti kicked him in the kidney. He rolled over and exclaimed angrily, “What?! What’s going on?!”

  “Get up, Eleon’s gone.” Lecti was already rushing to the stairs with her shotgun. “The bike’s gone, too. Get your ass up, now. We’ve got to catch him.”

  By the time Lecti finished her exclamation, she was charging out the door.

  Deo was right behind her. He didn’t stop to put his shoes or his shirt on. He grabbed the rifle and the shoes and hurried down and out of the condo barefoot.

  Sliding the scattergun into its sheath, Lecti pointed to the driver’s seat.

  “You drive. And give me the rifle.”
>
  While Deo put his shoes on, she checked the breach and made sure it was loaded.

  Deo jumped in and suddenly paused. A puzzled look came over his face.

  Lecti did not understand. “What are you waiting for?”

  “The key, Lecti. The key is gone.”

  She looked. Deo was right.

  §

  Carrie introduced herself by her new name. It felt right. It felt good. She did not know this man, but she had once given him a kindness. He had seemed to appreciate it. Indicating the lobby floor, she invited him to retreat down the stairs. Bregor padded down, practically glued to her left knee. The training when Hal was out hunting or scavenging was paying off. Waving a hand, she suggested that the man sit. He did.

  The conversation was short but intense. Eleon found out that Hal was dead, but not how. Carrie asked if he had seen the other dog, and from that, Eleon found out that Lilly was missing. The young woman seemed relieved that the dog was gone. She asked why he was back.

  Explaining that he was now traveling with companions, Carrie at first thought he meant Zip and Cotton. He straightened out the misconception immediately, and she was elated to find he meant Lecti and Deo and that they were back in town. Eleon had to explain why they weren’t with him. He admitted that he was intending to kill Hal himself. He also confessed that it was Lecti’s idea to rescue her. She took his hand and thanked him when he told her. Tears welled.

  Carrie got up and moved to the windows. She told Bregor to stay. Eleon would rather the dog go with her.

  A small sob escaped Carrie, but when she turned around she looked at him with clear eyes.

  The dog was nosing his leg. Eleon knew it would be alright.

  “So what happens now?” asked Carrie.

  “I don’t know exactly, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

  §

  A year later a group picture was in order. The camcorder was hooked up to a computer, and the group posed and laughed as they made faces. Finally, a suitably serious photograph was picked and printed. Carrie framed it, and hung it in a place of honor on the lobby wall.