Monsters of the Apocalypse (29 page)

"Get
out, Jacob."

"Well,
that's no way to say hi to an old friend."

"Get
out."

Jacob
ignored him and sat down in the only other chair in the old cabin. On the
screen the images of the war played silently. Jacob poured himself a
drink and then refilled Nestor's glass.

"She's
dead," Nestor hissed.

Jacob
slammed the drink and refilled his glass.

"She
stayed?"

"Yeah.
I got her a plane ticket. She didn't get on the flight. She called
me, just before… she said… she said: "sometimes the best way to prove a
point is to die making it." So she just stayed at that damn
orphanage and died with all those poor kids."

Jacob
smiled and took another sip of whiskey.

"Who
was she making the point to? You? Me?"

"I'm
not sure really, but, if I had to guess, neither. I don't think she
thought of us the way we thought of her, Jacob. Or, even if she did at
one time, that was long ago. She was making a point to God I think."

Jacob
nodded and the two men drank silently for a few moments.

"Where's
my daughter, Nestor?"

"I
don't know."

"What
do you mean by that?"

"Men
kept coming to kill me. I was worried that one might succeed. So, I
trained her to fight, to hide, to disappear… I wanted her to be safe."

"You
lost her."

"She
became a teenager. I didn't know how to… I lost her, yes."

"So
she could have been… she could be…"

"No.
She called. She called here. When she couldn't get a hold of her
mom, she called here. I told her what happened. Then she hung up.
She's gone, but she's alive."

"You
were supposed to protect them, Nestor, and you've lost them both."

"Yes…
yes we did."

The rest
of the night they drank without another word since they both knew what the
other was thinking.

She had been
growling for a while, but Nestor was tired and kept his eyes shut a few extra
moments and just listened. Once he heard the footsteps stop, Nestor
finally opened his eyes. His hair, now half way down his back, blocked
his vision until he sat up and moved it clear of his face.

The mutant
was crouched in front of him, the last flicker of light from the fire giving
his face a slight glow. The wolf sat between them, teeth barred.
Nestor could feel the gun in his hand and knew that it was instinctively
pointed at the mutant. Neither mutant nor wolf nor Nestor moved. The
fire popped softly. Nestor breathed heavily, but his hand did not
shake. The mutant drooled.

Nestor had
been walking for Seventy-two days. He had no idea how long he had been immobile,
feverish and recovering, but if he had to guess it had been a hundred days
since Jacob had left him in the wastes of Utah. During all that time he
hadn't seen another living creature other than the wolf. He felt weak and
tired, but as the realization of a threat settled into his blood, he felt a
growing energy. The mutant spoke, but having not heard words other than
his own for so long, Nestor could only stare back.

Again the
mutant spoke, this time Nestor was able to make out the words.

"Are
you Nestor Bravo?"

"Yes."

"I
thought you were dead."

Nestor moved
to a crouch, resting his gun on his knee, still pointed at the mutant.

"Close
to it. What now?"

"I
don't know. I am hungry. You are food."

"I
don't have any particular desire to kill you, mutant. You can live if you
want. If you leave I won't kill you. If you don't leave I
will. She hasn't had a good meal in awhile."

"Why is
that, Nestor Bravo? Why would you kill me?"

"Because
I'm scared you'll kill me. If I fall asleep you'll kill me."

"Do you
feel like sleeping?"

"No, as
a matter of fact I don't anymore."

"Then
you won't kill me? Not till you are sleepy?"

"I
don't know. I might. You could still try and kill me."

"I
could try. Could I succeed? They say Nestor Bravo is a great warrior."

"Maybe
you could. I’m sick. I'm beaten and weary. I think I still
have a little left, but I don't know."

"There
is no need to kill me."

Nestor
thought about this, he lowered himself out of his crouch and relaxed.

"Why do
you want to stay?"

The mutant
scratched his head while looking at Nestor. His nails made a terrible
sound.

"I was
a man once. I was not a bad man. Now I am… not a man. But, I
am not bad still. I’m not human, but I am not bad. I remember being
a man. I do not think I have forgotten how to be in the presence of a
human. I do not think that I have forgotten what it is to be
lonely."

"You
are alone? No tribe or band?"

"No.
I am alone. Like you."

"Yeah,
there isn’t much alive out here I guess."

"I
would enjoy to not be alone."

"Okay."

Nestor
slowly lowered the gun and leaned back against the rock behind him. The
mutant sat down cross-legged on the other side of the fire.

"Coffee?"

"No."

Nestor
poured himself a cup and drank.

"Do you
remember pet rabbits, Nestor Bravo?"

"Yes."

"This
is much the same I think."

"What
is?"

"You
and me. Food and predator, not acting on our urges."

"I
don't remember wanting to kill a rabbit."

“But, you
ate one?”

“I did.
Not a pet rabbit though.”

"You
were never so hungry as to have to, but had you been starving, that pet would
have quickly begun to look like food I expect.”

“You’re
probably right.”

“I am very
hungry. But, I can choose. For a time."

"For a
time?"

"It
would be nice if it could be this way forever. Yes?"

"Yes it
would. It would be nice."

Nestor
pulled out a cigarette and started to smoke.

"Why
are you out here in the outer sprawl of Los Angeles, Nestor Bravo?"

"I've
walked a long way to kill some guys I know," he shrugged, and then coughed
until he spat in the fire. "Figured I'd finish it."

"You
smoke, though it makes you sick?"

"My
lungs are destroyed from the radioactive soot I inhaled, among other
things. The smoke numbs the hairs in my lungs, makes me stop coughing for
a moment. After that moment, the cough comes back and I am closer to
death. I find it comforting, I guess."

"Survival
often kills you."

"Yes it
does."

"The
Shot was the same. It was to survive and now, I'm gone. Not dead, but my
life as a human is over. We don't know how long we can live, or if it's
terminal, the condition. That fear, you understand, is always with
us. To not know."

"I'm
sorry."

"It's
not your fault, Nestor Bravo. But, thank you. I remember what it
was to be human. To be normal and not a monster."

"Do you
miss it?"

"Yes.
Do you?"

Nestor
smiled and looked away, his lungful of smoke dissipating into the sky.

The two
talked for a while longer and the mutant got hungrier as Nestor grew more
tired. In the morning the wolf had finished eating the body and they
walked towards Los Angeles.

Nestor
came to the sign for Los Angeles city limits in the night and didn't
pause. In the morning he found an old abandoned taco shop to sleep in. He
woke up a few hours later, checked his guns and moved into the sunlight.
The skeleton of downtown Los Angeles was on the distant horizon. Nestor
squatted and looked at the city. He spat on the ground. He watched
the spit slowly dry in the sunlight's heat. He then put his attention
back onto the city and started walking.

Nestor saw
the shape of the man from a distance, but it was the wolf that first
reacted. Her nose lifted into the air and her ears twitched with
excitement. Nestor went down to a knee and took hold of his rifle,
waiting on the wolf for her next move. She barked once and then moved off
towards the figure. Nestor watched, finger on the trigger as the wolf
continued her run across the last of the distance and leaped onto the man and
brought him to the ground. Nestor lit up a cigarette and smiled as he
followed.

The wolf was
still nuzzling Caleb when Nestor arrived.

"Nestor…"
Caleb said with awe.

"Hello,
Caleb."

Caleb stood
up and stared at Nestor. His eyes welled with tears and he turned his
face away. Nestor looked at his feet and waited. When Caleb had
gathered himself he turned back, and smiled at Nestor.

"I'm
guessing you're not a hugger?" Caleb laughed.

Nestor
raised his eyes and stared.

"Okay,
okay. Man, it's good to see you. I thought… I thought you were
dead."

"Soon."

"Yeah,
you don't look well. You… how sick are you?"

"What're
you doing here, Caleb?"

"I kind
of live here I guess, here in the sprawl."

"Why
not in the city?"

"Well,
I just like it out here better. More space. I'm free to do whatever
I want," Caleb said, pulling his hand back from playfully snapping
jaws. Nestor took a moment to scan the near city and then returned his
gaze to Caleb with a knowing grin.

"You
got kicked out?"

"Yeah,"
Caleb shrugged. "That too. They sort of, think I'll try and
kill the President."

"Why do
they think that?"

"Because
I keep trying to kill the President."

"What
did October do to you?"

"October
Carnegie is dead, Nestor. Jacob is the man in charge now."

Nestor
laughed quick and short and nodded his head.

"That
change your plans, Nestor?"

Nestor
looked at the towering buildings in the distance and scratched the scar on his
face.

"No, it
doesn't change anything. Can you get me to him?"

"No one
can really. The city belongs to the people. His Vice President,
Vice President Walker runs it along with Bragg's boys and they do a damn good
job really. Jacob runs The Island with his Shadow Army like some sort of
twisted playground. He spends his time slowly killing off the last of the
rich and powerful, reading from this book of philosophy and theory that he's
writing and blowing stuff up. He does it all on a satellite feed,
so we can watch, of course."

"So
what, they're at war? The Shadow Army and Bragg's boys?"

"No.
Bragg's people just want to keep the peace. That's all. For
now. The Shadow Army respects it, for now. Vice President Walker
goes between… it works. How long it will last, I couldn't tell you."

"How
does the Vice President go between?"

"There
are boats that go between, but not without official approval."

"Can
you get me to one of the boats?"

"Yeah,
but you won't get across."

"Can
Bragg?"

"No,"
Caleb said, his mood visibly darkened. "Bragg can't help you."

Nestor could
tell Caleb didn't want to say more so he let the issue lay. Caleb turned
and led Nestor and the wolf towards the city. For a while they walked in
silence.

"Where
are the mutants?"

Caleb turned
and looked at Nestor. He scratched the back of his neck and looked over
at the city that was darkening with the evening.

"They're
gone."

"Dead?"

"Cured.
They say cured."

"How?"

"Jacob.
He found a cure."

Nestor
nodded his head, thinking. He studied the sky which, here by downtown Los
Angeles, was the clearest he'd seen in years.

"Jacob
killed October?"

"Apparently
he's pretty good with a knife."

Nestor
laughed and nodded, touching the scar on the side of his face.

They came to
the city at dusk. The edge of the city was a series of un-passable
barriers made by blown up buildings. The only way in was guarded by a
group of young men, all blonde and smiling in the light of gas torches that
hung from the large open gates. As Caleb and Nestor approached the guards
lifted their guns casually, but didn't take aim. They waited until Caleb
had stepped into the light, Nestor and the Wolf still in the shadows a few feet
behind, before the biggest of the guards moved into the pathway, his large
frame blocking the way.

"Caleb,
what are you doing? You know it's not safe for you in here. Be patient,
my friend, the Vice Pres…"

"My
friend needs to talk to the President."

"Yeah?
So do a lot of people, no one gets to. You know that. Look Caleb,
it ain't that we don't like you, or even that we don't agree with what you
did. Heck, you know we appreciated it, but Jacob's got Shadow Army
all over the place and they'll kill you on sight. Mary's word only goes so far
in here and we don't need people getting killed on the streets.
Especially for no good reason. Peace takes sacrifice and forgiveness…
from all of us, even you."

"I'm
taking my friend to the docks."

"Your
friend is welcome. You stay, Caleb. I can't spare the men to give
you a security detail and without one, they'll kill you."

Nestor
sighed and moved into the light, the wolf a step behind. He looked up
through the long strands of his hair that dangled in his face as he heard the
gasps of the surrounding men.

The big man
looked at Nestor for a long while before smiling.

"You're
supposed to be dead."

"Yeah."

"In
that case… I can spare the security detail for Nestor Bravo."

"I
don't need one. You gonna step aside, son?"

"Yes,
sir," the man said moving out of Nestor's way. Nestor paused and
studied the man's face.

"Do I
know you?"

"You
knew my uncle."

"Who
was he?"

"His
name was Bragg."

They moved
through the torch-lit streets. Faces peeked out at them as word
spread. For a while they kept their distance. It was a child who
first stepped in front of them, making them weave around his open mouthed
stare. The boy's friend was the first to call out Nestor's name.
Soon they were being followed and surrounded. Nestor kept his eyes
straight forward, the wolf clearing the path before him with a low and
continuous growl. Caleb strolled beside him, smoking a joint, pointing
out spots and people he thought Nestor might be interested in. Nestor
didn't pay attention and instead focused on the tension that had gathered in
his solar plexus.

"You
okay, Nestor? You don't look great."

"I'm
dying, I think. Caleb, who killed Bragg?"

This stopped
Caleb, who tossed the joint on the ground and stamped it out.

"Me."

Nestor
stopped and pulled the handgun from the back of his pants. He held it
loosely at his side, finger on the trigger.

"That
man saved my life, Caleb."

"Mine
too. He was infected. He ended up infected, a casualty of Jacob's
plan. He wouldn't get take the cure. God's Will, he said. He
didn't want to be a mutant, so, he came for me."

"Came
for you?"

"Suicide
is a sin. Couldn't just ask me to do it, cuz it's the same. So he
came to me and we talked. Told me he was infected and needed to leave the
city. So we left. We had some fun for a while, as we waited for it
to take hold, as much fun as you can have with a guy like him. One day,
he got the hunger, we were out there in the sprawl and he came for me. I
did it quickly," Caleb smiled wanly and dug the toe of his shoe into the
ground. "He didn't suffer. He didn't beg or cry. It was
less than he deserved, but it was the best I could manage. His legacy is
here. Here where his family runs the gates and polices the city.
Here where his family protects me and all these people and reminds us of the
best humanity has to offer, just like he did. I didn't like to do it, but
a man pays his debts."

Nestor put
the gun back into the belt of his pants and they moved forward toward the
docks.