“And every knee shall bow!” Morris intoned. A few of the cultists raised their rifles and took aim.
And with that, the remainder of the colonists kneeled. Carrie and Keller both dropped to one knee, as did Val and Tony. Kendra hesitated for a moment, then dropped with them. Andrew kept standing, and so did Sergeant Harper. They were the only two who’d dared defy the command.
The reverend’s gaze found Andrew, and she pointed to him imperiously. “Make them obey!”
“Kneel or die!” someone shouted beside Andrew. Then the butt of a rifle hammered him in the back of the skull, and stars exploded behind his eyes. He staggered forward a step, groaning.
“Dad!” Val cried.
Hands pushed him to the ground, and he caught sight of lumpy-faced John moving past him, headed for Sergeant Harper. She turned to him with a smile.
John snarled. “Kneel or—”
Her hands sprang free of the rope that bound them, and she snatched the rifle out of John’s hands. He lurched after the weapon, hands flailing, but Harper kicked the butt of it into the side of his head, and he collapsed like a sack of rocks.
She whirled around, the rifle pressing hard into her shoulder, her good eye aiming down the barrel. Andrew could see she was aiming for Hound.
“Harper! Wait! We already tried that!” Carrie cried. “It won’t—”
The rifle cracked loudly as Harper pulled the trigger, but nothing appeared to happen. Hound seemed unaffected, smiling even more broadly than before.
Andrew’s brow furrowed in confusion. His pounding headache and the stinging, trickling itch of blood snaking down the back of his neck didn’t make it any easier to think.
Harper slowly turned to them, and the rifle fell from nerveless hands as they flew up to staunch the gushing river of blood pouring from her chest. Her mouth cracked open in a silent scream, and she finally sank to her knees. She hadn’t pulled the trigger. One of the cultists had beaten her to it.
“Harper!” Andrew cried, and he scrambled on all fours to reach her.
She fell face-first before he could get there. A ringing silence fell with her body, and Andrew rolled her over to see dead, staring eyes. His own eyes blurred with tears, and then the silence was broken as Morris spoke: “Let that be a lesson to you all! The Devil and his demons will burn for eternity! This is the second death!”
A scattered cheer went up, and a few of the cultists pumped their weapons in the air.
Hound looked on with glee. Andrew shot to his feet and pointed at him. “He’s not what you think he is! He’s an alien machine! They abducted us and brought us here! We’re not even on Proxima Centauri!”
The cheers of the cultists cut off suddenly as he gained their attention. This time it was Hound who spoke. He cocked his head curiously to one side, and then let out a booming laugh. “An alien robot? I am the second coming of Christ, but you can call me God for short.”
More cheers went up. People began bowing and weeping and screaming like animals. Andrew stood gaping at the spectacle in shock.
“But Andrew Miller is right! This isn’t Proxima Centauri!” Hound declared. A pregnant silence fell once more. “It’s New Earth!” Hound thundered.
And this time the sound of the cultists’ cheers was deafening. Andrew was shoved hard, and he collapsed in the grass beside Kendra. “You need to be more careful,” she hissed. “Don’t make yourself a target.”
The screaming and weeping continued, and people began babbling senselessly all around them.
“They’ve lost their minds,” Andrew breathed, and slowly shook his head. His eyes drifted out of focus.
“I never thought...” Carrie trailed off.
Val and Tony were holding each other. Kendra fumbled for Andrew’s hand and latched on, squeezing hard. There were no words for what was happening here. Only horror.
Roland dragged his eyes away, pale and terrified. He swallowed visibly, then scooted over to Andrew. He leaned in beside Andrew’s ear and whispered, “This isn’t over. We hid weapons.” He withdrew sharply and cracked a trembling smile.
Andrew nodded once, stiffly, his fear hardening into resolve. His gaze slid away, back to Sergeant Harper’s corpse. “Damn straight this isn’t over,” he whispered, speaking so softly that only Kendra could hear. “Not until we send every last one of them to Hell.”
EPILOGUE
Kendra
The ground was soft as Kendra dragged the hoe through the soil. It was hot today, and she wished for clouds to roll in overhead, or maybe a gentle breeze. Anything but the constant barrage of the sun toasting her skin.
She moved with purpose, her muscles already growing used to the repetitive motions. She’d been relegated to the agricultural crew, and she’d quickly learned how hard the new regime was going to work them.
Kendra wiped her forehead with her arm, and she picked up her water bottle, drinking deeply. The Saints of Mary were tough, but at least they weren’t barbaric in their treatment of the workers. No, they were slaves. There was no mincing words here, and Kendra knew it.
She set the bottle down, the remaining liquid reminding her of Roland. She hadn’t seen him in the week since they’d returned to camp in that alien ship. From what she knew, he was living at the water treatment plant with Tony, which meant they couldn’t tell her and Andrew where they’d hidden the weapons. The entire thing was too insane to be real, but here she was, on some distant world, with her sister.
Carrie stood near the patch of soil they’d added to the already fertile phase-one field. Across the fence, green plants had begun to sprout up. This gave Kendra hope. Hope that life could be sustained here, that the sense of familiarity would perhaps remind the Saints of their humanity.
Kendra pulled the tool deeper through the dirt, and peered up to see Keller near the residences. He was swinging a sledgehammer, doing back-breaking work that they had robots to perform. This was simply Morris showing that she was in charge. From what Kendra could tell, the residences, which were five stories high and took up the equivalent of two city blocks, were almost completed.
She suspected the Saints weren’t going to be giving her or the others a suite any time soon. No, they’d be left to populate the floors of the empty segments of Eden with guards at the doors. That was how it had been so far, and Kendra didn’t expect anything to change on that front.
Kendra finished the row, and measured out a meter before beginning the process again on the fresh soil. She thought about Andrew, and spotted him heading across the open center of camp, his shirt off, draped over his shoulder. A Saint followed him, barking orders, and Andrew’s head hung low, his defiant attitude cowed for the time being.
It was there somewhere, hibernating until he’d need to revolt. That was one of the things she loved about him. The word startled her, and she considered it. Did she even remember what love meant? She actually laughed out loud as she pulled the tool, dragging it behind her. An old man named Evan worked near her, and he looked up, as if wondering what could possibly be funny. Could it be that Kendra had gone her whole life without meeting the right man, only to find him in the most bizarre of circumstances?
The truth was, it didn’t surprise her. She had yet to find out if Andrew felt the same way. They hadn’t had a chance to speak of that kiss since they’d returned. It didn’t matter. Unless they found a way to overthrow the Saints, and Morris, they were stuck slaving away, day in and day out.
It was Valeria she was really worried about. The girl would hardly eat, and without Tony around to make her smile and console her, she was turning inward. Kendra searched for the girl, but didn’t see her anywhere. Maybe she was in school, which consisted of a made-up religion being shoved down her throat.
A hum emerged from the far edge of camp, and Kendra peered toward it. It was Hound, leaving in one of his ships. The glossy exterior reflected the bright sun off the hull as it rose into the air before the thrusters kicked in, sending Hound away in a flash.
He was
heading to the adjacent mountain ridge, the one opposite the region where they’d found the intelligent predators’ home, and it hit her. If they were in one valley, and the predators in another, that meant there could be someone else over this end, maybe all around them.
“Get to work, Baker!” John shouted, his gun waving around like he was being attacked by a swarm of flies.
She broke her locked stare with the distant peaks. Did their salvation lie across the ridge, or would it only be more heartache?
Her back ached, her head pounded as she finished tilling the row, and she measured off another meter, repeating it over again.
Evan had stopped, and she could tell he wanted to tell her something. His bushy gray eyebrows were raised, his lips twisted in a sneer. He was the older man that had been watching her over the last few weeks, and she still didn’t know why. “Are you okay, Evan?” she asked him.
“You know I was in the army, right?” he asked.
She shook her head. If he had been in the service, it was a long time ago. He had to be sixty or so. “I didn’t.”
“Yep. Learned a lot about myself out there. Became one hell of a magician, too. All that time waiting around in tents.” His eyes sparkled, glimmering in the sunlight.
“Is that so?” Kendra asked. She wondered what he was going on about. She peeked over her shoulder, but John was farther down the field, harassing someone else.
“That’s so. I was able to conceal things you’d never imagine. I hid a watermelon in my jacket once. No one could tell.” Something metal dropped into his hand, and Kendra almost yelped in surprise.
One second his fingers were on the gun; the next it was gone again. “Neat trick, hey?”
“Evan, can I have a drink of your water?” she asked him, loud enough for prying ears to hear.
“Sure, dear. I don’t have a lot, but…” He walked over, accentuating a slight limp for show. Sweat beaded on his mostly bald head; graying hair dangled over his ears.
She leaned in, taking the water with one hand, and she felt the warm handle of the gun, the heft comfortable in her grip. She pulled away, passing his water back after taking a sip, and she winked at him.
“Evan, tell me your life story,” Kendra said, pretending she had a rock in her shoe. She crouched low, digging deeper in the dirt before setting the gun into the hole. She used her shoe to smooth out the line, and stepped on it as she got to her feet.
“The long version or the short?” he asked, smiling to reveal straight white teeth.
“Seeing how we have nowhere to be, how about the long,” she said, counting the row they were in. She counted her paces from the spot where she’d buried the gun as she dragged her hoe over the dirt, Evan talking loudly so they could hear one another.
Suddenly the heat wasn’t so bad, their situation not as dire as it had been a moment ago. She smiled as she worked, aware that their opportunity would come.
It always did.
GET THE SEQUEL FOR FREE
Read the explosive conclusion...
FINAL DAYS: ESCAPE
Get it from Amazon: https://geni.us/finaldays3
OR
Get a FREE Kindle copy of the book. All you have to do is post an honest review on Amazon: https://geni.us/fd2review
And then send it to us here:
https://files.jaspertscott.com/finaldays3free.htm
Thank you in advance for your feedback! We read all of our reviews and use them to improve our work.
Note: as an Amazon Associate we earn a small
commission from qualifying purchases.
MORE FROM NATHAN HYSTAD
Keep up to date with his new releases by signing up for his Newsletter at
www.nathanhystad.com
Amazon | Facebook
Baldwin’s Legacy
Confrontation | Unification | Culmination | Hierarchy | Lineage
The Survivors Series
The Event | New Threat | New World | The Ancients | The Theos | Old Enemy | New Alliance | The Gatekeepers | New Horizon | The Academy | Old World | New Discovery | Old Secrets
The Resistance Series
Rift | Revenge | Return
Rise
Occupation | Salvation | Reclamation
Mystery/Thrillers/Horror
The Manuscript
Lights Over Cloud Lake
Red Creek
Return to Red Creek
MORE FROM JASPER T. SCOTT
Keep up to date with his new releases by signing up for his newsletter at
Sign Up for Newsletter (Get 2 Free Books) | Author’s Website | Amazon | Facebook
Note: as an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
Final Days
Final Days | Colony | Escape
Ascension Wars
First Encounter | Occupied Earth | Fractured Earth
Scott Standalones (No Sequels, No Cliffhangers)
Under Darkness | Into the Unknown | In Time for Revenge
Rogue Star
Rogue Star: Frozen Earth | Rogue Star: New Worlds
Broken Worlds
The Awakening | The Revenants | Civil War
New Frontiers Series (Standalone Prequels to Dark Space)
Excelsior | Mindscape | Exodus
Dark Space Series
Dark Space | The Invisible War | Origin | Revenge | Avilon | Armageddon
Dark Space Universe
Dark Space Universe | The Enemy Within | The Last Stand
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nathan Hystad is the best-selling author of The Event. He writes about alien invasion, first contact, colonization, and everything else he devoured growing up. He's had hundreds of thousands of copies sold and read, and loves the fact he's been able to reach so many amazing readers with his stories. Nathan's written over twenty novels, including The Survivors, Baldwin's Legacy, and The Resistance.
Jasper Scott is a USA Today best-selling author of more than 20 sci-fi novels. With over a million books sold, Jasper's work has been translated into various languages and published around the world. Jasper writes fast-paced books with unexpected twists and flawed characters. He was born and raised in Canada by South African parents, with a British heritage on his mother's side and German on his father's. He now lives in an exotic locale with his wife, their two kids, and two Chihuahuas.
Final Days: Colony Page 31