Shatterbones Read online

  “Yeah, well, the food doesn’t normally walk around calmly amongst the lions either,” Miller snaps back. “The prey hides and avoids the predators.”

  Robert turns to face Miller. “If the prey doesn’t spend time with the predator then why are you here?”

  “We had no choice.”

  “And neither do we. I understand there are mutants out there that will kill us and there are mutants right here that protect us. Think about how your day has gone up until you met my daughter and decide where you would rather be right now. If this is global like you said it is, this is the safest place for all of us, at least for the time being. Now if you folks are hungry, follow me back to my campsite, and I will get you something to eat and drink.”

  They all fall silently in step behind Robert after he walks a few paces away.

  “Agent Miller, you were charged with bringing me and my wife to safety today and if it makes you feel any better, I think you succeeded. The world has changed more than we could possibly understand right now, and being among these people and mutants is our best opportunity of figuring out what happened, why it happened, and if there is any damned thing we can do about it.”

  Chapter Eight

  The President of the United States

  Undisclosed Location

  “Turn the TV up, it looks like they might finally be telling us something,” Charles says from the corner of the crowded warehouse where he and many other people are huddled in fear.

  With the volume bar going up, people start hearing the message “…of the press, the President of the United States.”

  Gasps of concern echo through the room as the man who walks up to the podium is not who they thought would be standing there.

  “My fellow Americans, I know I am not who you expected to be addressing you tonight. For those of you watching or listening, you are all aware of the horrific attacks and destruction we witnessed today. None of us, even in the government, have made it through this day without tremendous loss and suffering. My name is George Connelly, and until this morning, I was the Secretary of the Treasury. The fact that I am now addressing you as the President of the United States is a testament to our losses. I was fifth in the line of succession, and I am telling you this to implore your understanding that our government is struggling to come to terms with what has happened to the same extent that all of you are.

  “I am working with my military advisors to address how to appropriately deal with and contain this situation which is made more difficult with the understanding that these attackers are our own children and are not committing these attacks out of ill will or malice. Our best and brightest scientists are working to understand what is going on in an attempt to help us gain a foothold on the problem.

  “What I want you to know is this, we are working to address this situation and have had success in containing the threat of the mutated children in several areas, but are seriously undermanned due to the extreme strength and speed they show. If you have safe haven now, stay where you are until you hear more from authorities in your area, either in an address like this or preferably by loudspeaker when we clear safe zones in which people can live.

  “Try to remain calm and keep each other safe. I will address the nation again tomorrow night at 7PM. Please let anyone you know what you have heard tonight. Remember who we are as a people and what our nation stands for, and know that while it may be tempting for some to go out and seek revenge for what has happened today, understand that the threat is not over and your survival depends on you remaining in secure buildings and in large groups.

  “May you all continue to be safe and know that we will overcome this disaster just as we have overcome all others. Thank you and goodnight.”

  Walking away from the podium, the exhausted man exits the room followed by dozens of guards and advisors before the screen goes back to the emergency broadcast picture.

  Collapsing into a chair, President Connelly looks at the multitude of people before him. “Tell me someone knows what is going on. Any of you that need more time to figure this out, just leave, you are no good to any of us. If the next few days are as bad as today, this country will no longer exist. We need to be on top of this now.”

  “Mr. President, there is just too much going on…”

  “Shut up and get out.” His finger points at the former president’s chief advisor. “I am serious, get out. You are fired. Anyone else that is unable to give me some information about this, leave right now. This is no longer time for your political games and second guessing, this is time for information, calculation and action. If you can’t be a part of that then you are not needed or wanted here by me.”

  Several members of the former president’s staff and various other advisors walk out of the room and Connelly looks at the few remaining besides the secret service officers. Two men in uniform, one in a suit, and another man more casually dressed remain. “Tell me what you know.”

  The two members of the joints chiefs of staff step forward and start speaking, but the man in slacks without a tie burst in front of them and cuts them off. “Mr. President, we need to find Dr. Usachova. I am with NOAA, and Dr. Usachova has information about what is going on. She should be able to tell us how to stop or deal with it.”

  “So you’re Noah or you’re with Noah? Who the hell is Noah?”

  “I’m sorry, sir, I am Peter Sergeant, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. N.O.A.A. Dr. Usachova gave a presentation a month ago about the mutative effects certain cosmic particles could have on the planet. She is our best hope at understanding what is happening and how many more changes we might have in store for us.”

  “Where is this doctor?”

  “She’s in Boston, sir. I am trying to track down her last location.”

  “Damn it! Somewhere in Massachusetts doesn’t help us out much, does it? We don’t even know if she’s alive! Don’t you have someone with this information in your department?”

  “We specialize in the atmosphere, sir, not cosmic particles or radiation. Alfred Gorman, the director of NASA, or his deputy, are the only ones with direct knowledge of her presentation that I am aware of. It was classified and given specifically for them. Doctor Gorman urged me to come to you with this information.”

  “Well, let’s get Alfred and his deputy in here. You know where they are, correct?”

  “Yes, sir, they are both dead.”

  Slouching back into his chair, Connelly nods to one of his aids. “Get it done. Find this Dr. Usachova and have her protected at all costs.”

  Turning to the others after Peter Sergeant leaves, “What about you? You two have the uniforms and know how to win wars. Do you know how to stop what is going on out there without killing all of our children to get it done?”

  “Mr. President, there are historical precedents that have occurred which should help us defend ourselves from the mutated children. Things that seemed to work when this has happened before.”

  Standing up and shouting at the men, “When this has happened before! I don’t remember ever hearing about groups of children mutating and attacking humanity. Is this some type of chemical attack?”

  The chairman of the joint chiefs stands at attention and attempts to deliver the news of what they know with force and purpose, but even he is having a difficult time accepting the possibilities of what they are facing.

  “Sir, what I am going to tell you will sound insane, but I was privy to the classified briefing Dr. Usachova presented and our military research arm came up with possible episodes in historical writings that aligned with what the doctor was proposing.

  “I completely concur that she is vital to us understanding what may happen in the future, but we already know what has happened in the past when this mutation arrived. The cosmic particles that have breached the entire planet this time have gained entry in historical times at various locations. There are examples from ancient Greece, Rome and even Mesopotamia. I think the most recent example you
might be familiar with is Transylvania, sir.”

  “Bullshit. This is bullshit. You are not telling me what I think you are.”

  “Sir, I know about your escape from Philadelphia this afternoon. You have observed what others have, and you know as well as I do what we are facing. Specifically with the children that change into tall, pale adults, we are dealing with a mutation that appears to turn our children into vampires.”

  The president walks up to the chairman and stares him down. “You’ve lost your mind, General.” Turning to the man at the general’s side, “Admiral Pembroke, right? Tell me you don’t buy into this mystical horseshit and can tell me what the hell is going on.”

  “Mr. President, all of our information, the reports we have from our intelligence and research divisions, the records search of historical archives, they all point to what General Gutfeld is saying. This mutation is causing them to grow disproportionally fast and strong. They also appear to be craving blood. Whether this is a response to the accelerated body growth needing to replace lost or depleted nutrients or a secondary driver of their transformation, we don’t yet know. All of these things added together point to what we historically know as vampirism…sir.”

  Shaking his head, the president turns to the only remaining person in the room, Peter Archibald, the Director of Homeland Security. “Is the blue haze out there causing hallucinations?”

  “Sir, I’m afraid everything they are telling you is accurate.”

  “So what are we supposed to do, start shooting all of them with silver bullets?”

  “Silver bullets is a possibility sir, but many stories relate that specifically with werewolves,” the general replies with a serious tone. “What we are preparing to use is garlic and fire.”

  “Is this the best you men can come up with? You are supposed to be the best the military has to offer and with all of our weapons, with all of our research and knowhow you expect me to tell the American people tomorrow that they are facing a mythical monster and their trusted government is planning on using smelly vegetables and flaming torches as the primary weapons in this fight? Should we head to the farms and stock up on pitchforks as well?”

  Ignoring the sarcasm in the president’s shouted words, the general continues. “Using garlic will hopefully work as a deterrent, sir. We are preparing to deploy garlic sprays and powders to see if we can use them to push the mutated children out of certain areas. This will enable us to create safe zones to which we can take the population. Traditional firepower is non-effective. Our bullets only slow them down and often not fast enough to make a difference I’m afraid.

  “Reports we have suggest even bullets to the brain won’t kill them and haven’t prevented the mutated children from taking down their prey. And once they drink the blood of their victims, they fully regenerate. The only thing in literature that works to completely kill a vampire is fire, sunlight, and a wooden stake through the heart. We know, because of their activities today, that sunlight doesn’t harm or bother them. I also doubt a wooden stake will have a greater impact than several lead bullets through the heart, but we will test that hypothesis as well when we are able to capture one of them. Because garlic is just a potential deterrent, fire is the only weapon we have that has any real chance of working at this point.”

  “So you haven’t tested using fire yet?”

  “No, sir, up to this point, we haven’t had the ability to make any organized response, at least none that have turned out successful. With the amount of people we lost and the absence of recent communications, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. As you know, even on our military bases, we have been struggling to survive. Only in the last two hours has the destruction and fighting slowed and it isn’t because of any winning strategy or success on our part. The children have stopped mutating, and those that mutated earlier are no longer physically attacking adults.”

  “So what are they doing? Are they withdrawing, what are the plans for a counter attack?”

  “Mr. President, from all satellite and visual information we have gathered, they have won.”

  The president steps back and eyes these two men with shock and anger.

  “The mutants are gathering the survivors into mass groups in all locations they have under their control. As you know, Mr. President, that is the entire nation. I’m sure there are random locations where people are still freely roaming or rather have eluded capture by the mutants so far, but all the data that we have shows the war is now over and the mutants are in control.”

  “Our armed forces…”

  “They are largely gone, sir, and those bases still intact will be overrun shortly due to the completely ineffective nature of our weaponry. Our only remaining effective forces are those on our ships, submarines, and remote bases. We have some Air Force personnel that have survived the day by remaining airborne, but as I said, there are only a few bases that are not already under mutant control. When our pilots are forced to land after our airborne refueling platforms run dry, they too will be captured or killed depending on how we frame the situation for them before they land.”

  “How we frame their situations?”

  “Sir, as I said, at this point, they have won. Unless the children that have mutated return to their former selves or die due to complications from their mutations, there is no way for us to take back our country or the world without potentially ending the existence of the human race. We would have to kill all of them to stop what is going on, and I frankly cannot see a way to do that with the strength, speed, and regenerative abilities they have.”

  “What are you suggesting, General?”

  “No matter what these people, these mutations, have done, they are our children. Without our children, we will cease to exist as a species. Right now, we might have the ability to find a way to coexist. Those with vampiric mutations have stopped attacking people and have been gathering humans together. Some reports suggest they have been protecting their groups, particularly against the larger, bulkier mutants.”

  “Admiral, talk to me. Are you suggesting as the general is that humanity’s day is over and we should surrender to our enemy?”

  “Mr. President, I think fire is our one possible way to overcome the mutants. We have a group preparing to launch an offensive against the mutants controlling the area around the capital. If fire shows any ability to damage or kill the mutants, we can use it to stop them. General Gutfeld’s greater point about the survival of our species is a valid one. If we are successful in wiping out the mutants, we will be erasing our future. No matter the outcome, sir, humanities time on this planet appears to be at an end.”

  The room they are standing in remains silent. The president is staring at a portrait of a graduating class hanging on the wall of this school’s shelter. The two men stand stiffly, waiting for their president’s orders and reply.

  President Connelly slowly turns and faces them. “This is it then.” He walks over to a desk and sits on it. “I won’t give up our nation without a fight. Even if it’s true, as you say, that the fight is already over, we need to know if fire is an effective means of stopping them. I won’t let my fellow countrymen be rounded up into groups like cattle so those monsters can use them for food.

  “They may be our children and perhaps they control most of our nation’s lands now, but if we can push them back with fire, then we can reclaim territories and find a way for humanity to survive.”

  “Sir, we need your order to start using flame throwers and firebombs. This will potentially destroy all of the buildings in the capital as well as be a direct attack on U.S. citizens on American soil.”

  “Are there other locations set up to test the fire other than Washington?”

  “With our current situation, strategically, Washington D.C. isn’t any more significant than Detroit, but it would be a great psychological victory for our people to know we can retake the capital.”

  “Then do it. Send in who you can with whatever you think will work. If
you can push the mutants out through fear, perfect. If it comes to force, kill every last one of them if you think it will help us ultimately win this war.”

  Homeland Security Director Archibald finally steps forward to give his input. “Mr. President, I don’t advise moving on Washington. Not until we know if the weapons we try will be successful. There is too much at risk.

  “If we fail with the first attack, especially on the capital, it will be a devastating blow to the morale of the other survivors out there. Secondly, there are two major groups in the D.C. area that will come back to haunt you if you are successful and kill them all. The children of Washington’s elites will be one of the major groups of mutants in that area as well as the predominantly African American population of the surrounding areas. Taking out Washington D.C. will turn the surviving leadership as well as the black peoples of this nation against you.”

  “Our nation…the entire human race might be on the verge of extinction, and you are talking to me about race relations and protecting some senators mutated vampire child? What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “With all due respect, sir, the world may not come to an end. If it doesn’t, then what you do during this crisis will be heavily scrutinized in the aftermath.”

  The president looks between the three men for a few seconds and clenches his teeth together in determination not to yell. “I take it you haven’t been exposed to anything outside yet, am I right?”

  “I have not been exposed to any of the mutated children yet.”

  “Well, let me enlighten you. I watched as my neighbor was ripped apart while we made our escape this morning. He was killed by what I can only guess was his own son. That boy of his turned into one of those gargantuan monsters. If you saw what was going on out there, you wouldn’t… Just get out of here. Get out!