Broken Worlds Super Boxset (88 page)

The two wrestled for the gun in Alex’s hand, as Alex struggled to overpower Gordon with only the use of his right arm. Alex brought his knee to Gordon’s side repeatedly, knocking the wind out of him. Gordon retaliated with a harsh right across Alex’s chin that ejected a combination of blood and saliva from his mouth.

“You know the first thing I’m going to do when I make it out of here?” Gordon asked, sweat dripping down his forehead as Alex’s fingers slowly started to lose their hold on the pistol. “I’m going to hire the best assassin money can buy to come and kill that fucking kid you’re so fond of. I’ll make sure he’s awake when it happens, and that you’re tied up and watching it unfold. You’ll see every piece of him torn apart, and just before you reach the moment where you can’t handle it anymore, he’ll put a bullet in your head. So that way the last thing you’ll ever see will be the boy’s mangled body, and the last thing you’ll hear will be his screams, haunting you in whatever hell of an afterlife you’ll have waiting for you.”

With every last ounce of will Alex had left, he lifted his left arm, and a massive crack sounded from his elbow as his fist connected with Gordon’s jaw, knocking him to the floor and releasing his hold on the pistol.

Alex got to his feet, still hunched over from the pain. Blood dripped from the corner of Gordon’s mouth as he stumbled around on all fours in the aisle between the seats. Gordon held up his hand, breathing heavily. “Okay. All right. Haha, you win.”

Alex placed his finger on the trigger and took a stumbling step forward. His left arm was completely numb and seemed frozen at his side, unmoving like a piece of concrete. “Do you even know what you did?” Alex’s voice escaped in breathless gasps. “There wasn’t a family in this country that wasn’t affected by how you ran things. The way you herded people like cattle and then slaughtered them like animals. No.” Alex shook his head. “No, I’m not taking you in.”

“Alex, listen, you don’t want to do this,” Gordon said.

“Yes. I do.”

Alex squeezed the trigger and dumped the rest of the bullets into Gordon, causing six red stains to shimmer on his chest and abdomen as he fell backwards onto the pile of bodies he’d killed himself.

Alex dropped the gun and collapsed to the ground. He rested his head on the seat behind him, and his eyes grew heavy. His left arm rested on the floor, and the oozing river of blood that had gathered slowly made its way over to him.

He watched it glide onto his hand and then onto his leg. He just sat there, letting the blood wash over him. He could feel the finality. The scales had been tipped back into balance, and the maniac who had disrupted the harmony of justice was dead.

Video cameras, lights, sound equipment, reporters, and White House personnel had flooded the Oval Office in preparation for the president’s speech. Admiral Frizen stood in the corner, his uniform neatly pressed and cleaned, waiting for the proceedings to begin.

It’d been almost a month since the Soil Coalition’s collapse, and the country was still very much in a state of recovery, and the way the president handled tonight’s speech would determine whether the nation would continue toward healing or begin another civil war.

The attendees in the room rose as the president walked in and immediately sat behind the desk while he flipped through a few note cards in his hands. “How much longer until we’re live?” he asked.

“Sixty seconds, Mr. President.”

Frizen knew the risks the president was taking by giving this address, but he believed it was something the country truly needed. It was the act of lies and cover-ups that put them in this position in the first place. It was time for the truth to have its day.

The room went silent as the president set his notes aside and the director counted him down. The camera’s red light turned on, and the president began his address.

“Good evening, my fellow Americans. I come to speak to you this evening in the spirt of truth and forgiveness. Something that I, and many of my colleagues here in Washington, believe is needed in light of recent events. It is no secret that the crimes the Soil Coalition performed under the authority of Gordon Reath were despicable horrors, but many are unaware of how those atrocities came about. The Soil Coalition’s original purpose was to be a driving force in the search for a cure of the plague that GMO-24 set upon us, which ravaged our farmlands and prevented us from providing the food necessary to sustain our country and its people. I’m here to tell you that it was your government, under my order and direction, that allowed the atrocities of the Soil Coalition to go unchecked and unrestricted. However, I want to make it clear that at no time did I ever order for the torture or murder of any American enrolled in the Soil Coalition’s community program. But a lack of knowledge does not forgive me of the horrors committed by Gordon Reath and the men under his command.”

The president’s throat caught, and Frizen watched him grab a glass of water. Frizen knew that what the president was admitting was suicide. He would be tried for treason, crimes against humanity, and sentenced to life in prison, or worse. But despite the president’s negligence of the past events, he was glad to see that the commander in chief was finally leading by example. This would be an historic first that would hopefully purge the rest of the rats out of Washington.

“However, the greatest atrocities committed by this government happened long before the Soil Coalition was even thought into existence. When many of the countries around the world, including our own, had millions of men, women, and children going hungry, this administration took the first bold steps to end famine. The result of those efforts culminated in the creation of GMO-24. While we learned later that some of the test results were tampered with, and some even destroyed, this was the cause of the devastation that brought so much pain to our country and to many of our neighbors in Mexico and Canada. But as this evening’s announcement will no doubt trigger anger and frustration to the American people, let me also tell you that we have found a cure for the disease that plagued our nation. Right now, in the great state of Kansas, the first round of soil treatments is being administered to allow food to once again grow in our country. Every square acreage of land that was affected by GMO-24 will receive its vaccine to return the soil back to its fertile state.”

The president paused, and the teleprompter in front of him stalled, waiting for him to continue. He had reached the end of his speech, and the only words left were “God bless us, and God bless the United States of America.” But he knew it wasn’t enough. There was one final leap to take. “I failed you. Your government failed you. Now, as citizens of this great nation, it’s up to you to decide what happens to us. We have always been a great nation. And if you choose, we can be again. God bless us, and God bless the United States of America.”

***

Jared Farnes clicked off the television after the president’s first few words. He didn’t need to hear any more. Despite his perjury on the stand, he knew the American people were too weak to do anything but wail about how they were mistreated and betrayed. Once the stomachs of the nation were full again, this would be nothing more than a distant memory.

Plans and schematics lay across the desk in his study, and he returned his focus to what his mind was better than anyone else’s at: making weapons. The conflict with the Soil Coalition had given him so many questions to answer, and he’d spent the past month trying to find the solutions to them. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice his son was in the room until he tapped on his desk.

“Hello, father,” Sydney said.

Jared gave a curt nod then returned to his work. “I see you’re healing up nicely.”

Sydney rotated his shoulder and glanced over at the stitches still underneath. The air between them was filled with nothing but empty silence. The only reprieve from the lack of sound was the sporadic scribble of Jared’s pencil. Finally, once Jared realized Sydney wasn’t leaving, he set his pencil down and looked up at his son. “Well? What is it?”

“I’ll most likely be called as a witness once the president’s tried,” Sydney answered. “I may be asked questions about what I did for the Coalition. And what I did for you.”

Jared raised his eyebrow. His son’s tone had the heightened sense of a threat but with the shaking voice of a man who hoped he wouldn’t have to deliver it. “And what do you plan on telling them?”

“The truth.”

Jared gave a few short bursts that resembled a laugh but were closer to grunts as he leaned back in his chair, folding his hands on the back of his head. “The president giving you a spat of courage, boy? Well, you do what you have to do, but in the spirit of truth, know that I have no qualms about ordering a hit on any person in my organization who betrays me. Including you.”

“Goodbye, father.”

Sydney closed the door behind him, and Jared returned to his work, smiling at the sketches on his table. Odd structures and outlines of machines covered the papers, and at the top, scribbled in sloppy cursive, was “Genetic Defense.”

***

Todd looked up from the microscope and then rolled his chair over to his computer, where he struck the keys furiously, adding to the notes already in the system. “Where are we with the Wyoming deliveries?”

“They’re loaded up and ready to go, Professor.”

A small plaque rested outside the door to his lab that read Stanford Biochemistry. Most of the equipment was still being dusted off, but it only took Todd and a team of about thirty other scientists a few weeks to get it back up and running. The place was almost as good as new.

Todd leaned back in his chair, scratching his head, looking over the samples he had just packaged. Since he was put in charge of the mass production and distribution of the soil treatment, he wasn’t going to get anything wrong. The country’s recovery depended on it. “Hey, guys, we need to make sure we’re checking off the packages once they’re gone.”

“I’m sure everyone is double-checking everything,” Emma said, sneaking up behind him and wrapping her arms around his neck. He smiled, kissed her hand, then turned to hug her.

“I didn’t realize you were stopping by today.”

“We received a package,” Emma said, extending a brown box. Todd took it and flipped it over in his hands. The name on the return address said Alex Grives. “I thought you should be the one to open it.”

Todd peeled the paper slowly until the cover of the book Alex had shipped to him was exposed. He smiled. “Hemingway.” It was the same book Todd had gone to drop off the night Alex stole the soil data. He opened the cover, and inside on the first page was a handwritten note:

Todd and Emma,

              There are no words to express how much I am still indebted to you or how much the country is indebted to you, so I’ll simply say thank you. There is no equal to the pain I caused you or to the contributions you have given to the rest of us. You saved the country. If you ever find your way to Kansas, please, stop by. It would be an honor to see you again, and an even greater one to meet the newest addition to your family.

              With much respect,

                            Alex Grives

Emma placed both hands over her stomach, and Todd placed one of his over both of hers. She had a tear in her eye, and he wiped it away from her cheek before it rolled down her face.

“We get to start over,” Emma said.

“Yes,” Todd answered. “We all do.”

***

The first green tufts of corn sprouted up through the ground, and Alex dusted some of the rich, black earth off the tops as he squatted to examine his new crops. Meeko joined him and started poking the bits of green with his finger.

“When can we eat it?” Meeko asked.

“We still have some time to wait before that happens.”

“Well, good thing there’s food in the fridge, then.”

Alex sat there, examining the piece of land now teeming with life. Before the Soil Coalition, this was his parents’ farm. This was where he grew up, and it seemed like a good place for Meeko to grow up too. There was plenty of room to run and for a kid to be outside. But of everything Alex had loved about this place growing up, it now had the most important attribute he could think of. Unlike the gray, morbid Coalition communities, this place was surrounded by life. And that was something both Meeko and Alex needed to keep growing.

“Hey,” Alex said, looking down at Meeko, who was still prodding the green sprouts, “race you to the door?”

Meeko smiled and jumped to his feet. The two lined up, each poised to dash down their row of dirt toward the house. Alex smiled. “You ready?” Meeko nodded. “Go!”