Cannibal Reign (9 page)

Fourteen

F
orrest knocked at Andie Tatum’s door two Sundays before the asteroid was due to strike. Her name was not on the list he had purchased from the Lincoln social worker. She was a widowed mother whose acquaintance he had made months earlier in a health food store, when she saw him rake an entire shelf of vitamins into his cart as she led her six-year-old daughter past him down the aisle by the hand.

“Someone must be pretty sick,” she had remarked.

Forrest smiled. “I’m an obsessive compulsive. I have to buy every bottle of vitamins I see.”

Andie laughed. “May I ask what they’re really for?”

“You wouldn’t believe if me I told you.”

“I might,” she said. “I’m a kindergarten teacher. I hear a lot of creative stories.”

She had not been wearing a wedding band, and at that point Forrest sensed that she found him attractive. “I deal in black-market vitamins.”

“No, really,” she said, laughing. “There’s has to be an interesting explanation.”

“To be completely honest,” he said, suddenly serious, “it’s a secret.”

With that, the conversation trailed off, but Forrest had written her license plate number down in the parking lot. Hers was the last name he added to the roster, aside from Veronica’s.

Andie answered the door, and though she was at first confused by his uniform, she did recognize him, putting her hand on her hip and shifting her weight to one leg. “You’re the vitamin guy.”

“Yes, ma’am, that’s me,” he said with a smile. “My name’s Jack Forrest. And you’re Andie Tatum, correct? Widowed mother of a six-year-old daughter named Trinity Marie Tatum?”

“Yeah,” she said, a little intimidated. “What’s the Army want from me now?”

“I’m actually U.S. Army, retired. The uniform is just to instill some confidence.”

“Confidence in what?”

“In the offer I’ve come to make you. May I come in?”

She stood thinking it over. “I suppose.”

He stepped inside and took the green beret from his head. “This won’t take long.”

“Have a seat.”

They sat across from one another in the living room.

“Is Trinity home?”

“She’s at my sister’s playing with her cousins,” Andie said. “This has something to do with the asteroid, doesn’t it . . . and all those damn vitamins?”

“It does,” he replied. “Myself and four friends have prepared a large underground shelter here in Nebraska and stocked it with enough food for at least eighteen months, depending on how many people decide to join us. We’ve accommodations for a maximum of fifty.”

“And you’re asking me?”

“I am.”

“Well . . . why?”

“Because I liked you immediately,” he said frankly. “Aside from a few friends and family, everyone else we’re asking has been selected according to certain criteria. The location is a complete secret, so you’ll have to accept the offer sight unseen, should you choose to join us.”

Andie sat back in the sofa. “You’re serious?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m as legitimate as the asteroid itself.”

“But I don’t understand why anybody would . . . people don’t just do this for strangers out of the kindness of their hearts.”

Forrest shrugged. “We do.”

“Well . . . how do I know that this is for real? I mean, you could be anyone.”

“That’s true,” he said. “You’d be taking a complete leap of faith. But if you do decide to take it, you’ll be taking it for your daughter. She’s the future.”

“So there will be other children?”

“Yes. A couple of single mothers have accepted our offer so far, but most have declined—as expected. There are only a few women left to visit.”

“And the government has nothing to do with this?”

“Nothing at all. If they knew, I’m sure they’d try to shut us down. Hoarding food is a federal offense now, as I’m sure you’ve heard.”

“But you started hoarding a long time ago, didn’t you? Buying all those vitamins. That was months before anyone else even knew . . . which means you’re connected.”

“After a fashion, yes.”

“So you don’t think NASA can stop it?”

“The shoot-down hasn’t a chance in hell of working,” he said. “That’s just propaganda to try and preserve law and order.”

“Can I bring my sister and her family?”

“No, ma’am. Yours was the last name I added to the list.”

“But you just said some have refused your offer.”

“I made a long list because I knew most wouldn’t accept. It is a hard story to swallow.”

He went on to explain the setup in the silo in greater detail, and at length Andie got up from the sofa and slowly paced the room. “I don’t have any idea what to do,” she admitted finally. “How long do I have to decide?”

He looked at his watch. “What time will Trinity be home?”

“You mean I have to decide right now?”

“No, but before sunset would be helpful.”

“You said your name is Jack?”

“Right.”

“Jack, I can’t just leave my sister and my nephews. My brother-in-law’s a goof but he’s a nice guy. He wouldn’t cause you any trouble.”

“If you decide to stay with them,” he said, getting to his feet, “you’re going to die with them . . . but I understand that some would prefer it that way.” He took a slip of paper from his pocket. “This is my number. Call me if you decide to accept our offer. Again, sooner would be better.”

“But wait. That’s it? I can’t bargain?”

He looked at her, his face set. “Your husband was a soldier. What would he want you to do?”

“That’s not fair,” she said. “You know all about me and I know nothing about you, about any of you.”

“You know we’ve got plenty of vitamins.”

She couldn’t help smiling. “You know, I was trying to flirt with you that day, and you were rude to me. I never flirt with men in front of my daughter—ever.”

“Would you have believed me had I told you the truth?”

She pushed her dark hair away from her eyes and looked at him. “No, I’d have thought you were being a smartass—and you are a smartass. That uniform doesn’t hide anything from me. I was a camp follower for too long.”

“One suitcase for each of you,” he said, turning for the door. “No more. A bag of Trinity’s favorite toys if she likes—but that’s it. We’ve toiletries aplenty.”

“Did you know Kevin?” she asked suddenly. “Is that why you’re really here? Did he ask you to look after us?”

“I would love for that to be so,” he said with a sad smile. “That would be a beautiful story. But I never had the honor of meeting your husband. I do know, however, that Sergeant Tatum was killed three years ago in Afghanistan and that he was a brave man. I would be honored to save his family from what is coming.”

The unholy image of her daughter dying of starvation flashed through her mind, and she recalled the deep timbre of her husband’s voice. This man Forrest’s voice had that same quality.

“Don’t give our place to anyone else,” she said, her eyes abruptly filling with tears. “I just don’t know what to tell my sister.”

“Some aren’t saying anything,” he offered by way of suggestion.

“I can’t do it that way,” she said. “Don’t take this wrong, but I think I wish you hadn’t come.”

“We’ve heard that from others,” he said gently. “But I think that Trinity should make your final decision something of a no-brainer. At least she would for me.”

“But what happens in two years?”

“Ask me in two years.” He grinned. “I’ll wait to hear from you, Andie.”

“Are you married?” she blurted. “Are you bringing anyone?”

His grin grew broader as he reached for the knob. “No, ma’am. And all flirtations aside, I do hope you’ll accept our offer. We’ve busted our asses getting this place ready. It would be a shame if the only teacher on our list stayed behind.”

W
hen Forrest arrived back at the silo, Dr. Sean West and his wife Taylor were standing on the porch talking with Dr. Price Wilmington, DDS, and his wife Lynette. Both doctors and their wives were old friends, and they had been in on Forrest’s plan from its inception; the doctors were former military men as well.

“Good to see you, Jack,” Dr. West said, shaking hands. He was a thick, barrel-chested man with dark eyes and hair, and stood beside his slender wife Taylor, who had short blond hair and a kind face.

Forrest shook his hand and turned to Dr. Wilmington. “Price, how was the trip?”

Dr. Wilmington was African American, a little shorter in stature than the other men, and had short-cropped hair. His wife Lynette was white and taller than her husband, with long blond hair and bright blue eyes. She was a gossip with an innate sense of bad timing.

“When’s Monica getting here?” she asked before her husband could even respond to Forrest’s question.

“She’s not,” Forrest said, not quite blowing her off, though almost. “How was the drive, Price?”

“Long!” Price said with a smile. “And you know, Jack, I’m not sure we’d have made it all the way across if we had waited another couple days. They’re imposing travel restrictions now.”

“See how the bastards talk from both sides of their mouth?” Ulrich said, stepping onto the porch. “If NASA’s going to stop the rock, why the travel restrictions?”

“I think NASA’s story is losing credibility pretty quickly now,” West said. “Those astronomers from Hawaii were on CNN again last night. They said unequivocally that NASA’s crazy if they think they can stop this thing. Even the B612 Foundation is finally speaking out against the attempt.”

The B612 Foundation had been founded by a group of former astronauts years earlier, dedicated to protecting the planet from near Earth objects. To this point they had been strangely silent on the subject of the shoot-down plan, and it was suspected the government had threatened them.

“The European Space Agency has announced they’re going to fire their kinetic impactor at it,” Price volunteered with a dry smile, sipping from a glass of wine.

“Which will be about as effective as throwing an iPod at a speeding truck,” Ulrich remarked.

Forrest excused himself and slipped inside to get out of his uniform and find a beer. Taylor West followed him, asking, “Jack, why isn’t Monica coming?”

He turned and frowned. “She’s committing suicide without committing suicide.”

Taylor’s eyes filled with tears. “There’s no way . . . ?”

Forrest shook his head and went below, pretending not to notice Veronica watching him from the kitchen doorway.

Back outside, Lynette said to Ulrich, “Wayne, why isn’t Monica here?”

“She doesn’t want to live underground,” Ulrich said. “And it’s probably best not to bring her up around Jack.”

“Well, he should have kidnapped her if that’s what it took,” Lynette insisted. “My God!”

“I hardly think that would have been appropriate,” Price told her, knowing that Ulrich was not Lynette’s greatest fan.

“Price, you’d never leave
me
to die. It’s Jack’s responsibility to save that woman from herself!”

Ulrich had never cared for Lynette, having always secretly suspected she had married Price for his money. And there was no time like the present to set her straight on Monica. “Lynette . . .” he said, noticeably stern.

All eyes went to Ulrich.

“Whatever you’ve got to say on the subject, get it said before Jack comes back upstairs. After that, I don’t want to hear another word about Monica for the next two years.”

Lynette grew red in the face. She had always been a little afraid of Ulrich, because unlike most men, he wasn’t dazzled by her fake tits and long legs. “Wayne, I was only saying—”

“I don’t care what you were you saying,” he said, cutting her off. “You’ve got no idea what the hell you’re even talking about.”

“Jesus Christ, Wayne. Relax!”

Ulrich took a step forward, his gaze cutting into her. “Did you understand what I just said?”

The tension in the air was suddenly thick enough to cut with a knife, and Ulrich could see Lynette looking to her husband for support, but Ulrich didn’t care. He wasn’t about to have their hegemony challenged by this cunt while there was still time to find another pair of doctors.

To his surprise, neither doctor said a word. Apparently, Lynette was on her own.

“Yes,” she said, trying to appear dignified. “I understood you very well.”

He turned to go inside, muttering, “Excuse me,” as he slipped between the pair of doctors.

“Price, you didn’t even
try
to defend me!” Lynette hissed.

“Honey, I’ve told you before that Wayne’s no one to trifle with,” Price said. “He and Jack are polar opposites. And I warned you about the arrangements here.”

Inside the house, Ulrich saw that Veronica had heard the exchange through the screen door. She was grinning as she followed him into the basement.

“I take it you were nipping that flower in the bud?” she asked.

“Price should have divorced her ass years ago,” Ulrich said. “She’s a fourteen carat bitch. All I can figure is that she’s a dynamo in the rack.”

Veronica smiled. “There’s one in every group, Wayne. If we got rid of her, another would just pop up in her place. Sometimes it’s best to keep the devil you know.”

Fifteen

E
ster Thorn stood leaning against her cane, her tired eyes fixed on the television screen at the Hotel Sheraton in Hawaii where she and a number of other astronomers were staying. Harold Shipman stood beside her, teething the stem of a pipe. Their colleagues were seated around them in the conference hall, everyone nervously awaiting the results of the imminent atomic blast meant to push the asteroid off course.

In the preceding weeks, a few halfhearted attempts had been made by the federal government to muzzle Ester and her colleagues, but the Hawaiian governor intervened on their behalf.

“Damn fools,” Ester muttered. “Why don’t they just let it alone? They’re going to push it into the Pacific, Harold. You wait and see. Then there’s going to be some real devastation.”

“Not the least of which will be to the Hawaiian Islands,” Shipman said. “The mega-tsunami will wash every one of us out sea. My God, the wave will be thousands of feet high. Can you imagine it?”

“I half expect them to lie and tell us it worked.”

“No, there are too many watching now. The time for lies has passed.”

Wolf Blitzer was adroitly explaining the many facets of rocket guidance and atomic yield, seemingly detached from the reality that he, along with everyone else at CNN, would likely be dead in the near future.

“The very fate of our world hangs in the balance,” he commented gravely, determined to remain theatrical to the last.

“Which species do you suppose will take over?” Shipman wondered.

“Oh, it’ll likely be the rodents again,” Ester said with a sigh. “I wonder if we’ll do a better job next time around.”

“Wouldn’t it be something if we humans evolved all over again?” he said with a cynical laugh.

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t,” she said. “In some form or another. Nature will be starting over from nearly the same slate as sixty-five million years ago. Primates are bound to reevolve at some point down the line.”

“It can’t happen the same way twice, Ester. There are too many variables to contend with . . . climatic, geological, evolutionary . . . the list goes on and on.”

“All of which were dealt with before,” she said obstinately, “and we still found a way. Though it’s too bad we’ll never know.”

“Well, we’re not extinct yet,” Shipman said. “Some of us may survive.”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath,” Ester said. “A few thousand of us survived the Younger Dryas impact, but I don’t know if modern man is up to the task.”

“Did Marty Chittenden ever call?”

She shook her head. “They’ve probably still got the boy under lock and key someplace.”

“I wonder if he regrets his decision.”

“I doubt it,” Ester said. “He was committed.”

Then Wolf Blitzer appeared on the screen, looking almost ill.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have just received word from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that the nuclear warhead intended to knock the asteroid off course has detonated successfully but failed to affect the asteroid’s trajectory. Preliminary calculations indicate that the detonation occurred a half second too late for the explosion to have its maximum effect . . .”

“Well, that’s that,” Ester said, tamping her cane twice against the carpet. “So much for world prayer.”

“There’s still the kinetic impactor,” Shipman said with a dry smile.

“Yes, perhaps our European colleagues will manage to chip its tooth,” she said. “I’m going to my room to lie down for a while, Harold. I’m exhausted.”

“Okay, Ester. I’ll wake you if there’s trouble on the island.”

“I don’t know what I’d be able to do about it,” she muttered.

Shipman chuckled. Ester’s dour sense of humor had always tickled him. Now he would have to go get his wife and aged mother-in-law to move them into the observatory with him; he didn’t want them living in town now with the Earth officially doomed.

He took some limited comfort, however, in the fact that the Hawaiian Islands had remained relatively calm throughout the crisis, the general consensus among the islanders being that they stood a better chance of surviving in the long term than anyone else in the United States and perhaps even the world. And since all flights to the Islands had been canceled a month earlier, the largest increase in population was likely to be at Pearl Harbor once the U.S. naval fleet began to arrive in port.

The entire Pacific Fleet had sortied the week before against the eventuality of an oceanic impact, which would almost certainly have resulted in a mega-tsunami that would have devastated both the Hawaiian Islands and the entire west coast of North America for dozens of miles inland. But with the asteroid still on course, that was no longer a concern, and Dr. Harold Shipman found himself feeling terribly disappointed. A mega-tsunami would have made their deaths quick and painless, and would have been an utterly breathtaking sight to behold in their final moments.