Emperor of a Dead World (26 page)

“Where did you get all this stuff?”

“It was already here. We can start tonight if you like.”

“What did Tyrone tell you?”

“He gave me the scope of the job.”

“Tomorrow at sunup will be fine unless Tyrone tells you otherwise.”

“Tomorrow it is,” the man said as he walked off.

“Ready to eat, my friend,” Rudy asked as he approached.

“We sure are,” Brad replied, “we are starved.”

“Follow me.” Rudy led the way to the Vessels Club where they found an extravagant buffet.

“How does it look?” Tyrone asked as he joined them.

“This is better than up north,” Lisa smiled.

“Grab a plate,” Rudy said as he led the way to the food.

Rudy and Tyrone’s girlfriends joined them but no one else went to the buffet until these six had sat down. Brad thought this was strange but Rudy said the people did this out of respect.

Once dinner was over, everyone introduced himself or herself to Brad and thanked him for all he had done. After this, Brad asked Tyrone why he had given him all the credit.

“It is easier to get people to follow a myth than it is a man,” Tyrone explained.

“But now that I am back they can see I am only a man.”

“That is even better because now you have risen from the dead. Nothing makes someone more popular than death” Tyrone smirked, “except coming back to life that is.”

Brad held up his hand, “Don’t try to turn me into a martyr.”

“You are not a martyr because you really did come back to life.”

“I did not come back to life. I simply came back from up north.”

“That is not what I am talking about.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You had the fever and you beat it.”

“That is not really coming back to life.”

“Considering what happened to everyone else that got the fever I would say that it is.”

“I don’t know why I got better but I wish you would stop trying to make me into something that I am not.”

“I haven’t actually made anything up.”

“You gave me credit for the things you did.”

“Not really. You are the one that wanted to save the world,” Tyrone shrugged. “If you hadn’t come along I would still be hanging out at Sunny Park Estates. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have even cleared the place yet.”

“But now you have done so much more.”

“You are the one that inspired me. Without you, I would not have accomplished a thing. You made me realize the key to everything was hope. None of these people had any hope. It died with the fever. In order to give them hope I had to give them something to believe in, something that could never die. I had to give them someone that was more than an ordinary man. You must understand that the masses tend to lose faith in a man but a myth lives forever. By making you a legend, I have given these people hope.”

“It seems to me the one that controls the myth is the one that controls the power.”

“Maybe,” Tyrone laughed. “But now you are back and the people will follow you anywhere. Now they will give you the same love and devotion the Romans gave Octavius after Julius Caesar’s murder.”

“You really want me to play emperor don’t you?”

“According to Plato, a dictatorship is the strongest government there is. A democracy gives freedom but in times of war it is best to be united under one King.”

“If I am not mistaken, in the Roman Republic the dictator always stepped down after he had won the war.”

“After you win this war you can return to private life as well.”

Brad sighed because he knew he could not win this war. “I will play your game as long as you promise not to hang me on a cross.”

“We will hang together,” Tyrone smiled. “But in the meantime, we will rebuild the world and we will keep these people safe.”

Brad finished his drink then turned to Lisa. “Are you ready to go?”

She nodded and they walked out.

When they got to the room, he grabbed a blanket and sat on the couch.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said. “They gave me pajamas and I trust you.”

He looked at her and shrugged. “I don’t know if I can trust myself.”

“Worse things could happen,” she giggled as she went into the bedroom leaving the door open.

In the morning, the sound of heavy equipment awoke them. Brad rolled over and kissed Lisa then got up and showered. After he dressed, he told her to come down when she was ready. Someone would make her breakfast.

After eating, the first task Brad undertook was mounting the antenna for the drone. The two carpenters from Boeing built a base that extended the antenna twenty feet over the highest point on the building. They then built a control room in the front facing the street. The Boeing electrician and engineer did the wiring and set up all the electronics in this room. Once they finished, they converted one of the stables into a hanger. Hank, the machinist from Boeing, had already built a machine shop in this stable and it now doubled as a workshop so he could do the maintenance on the drone Danny had suggested. He gladly took over this task because it reminded him of a time when things were normal. While this was going on, Tyrone oversaw the construction of the shelter and Rudy and his boys collected supplies and kept the people safe. Brad, of course spent his time flying the drone on reconnaissance missions and looking for survivors.

Chapter 21

Sitting in his new control room flying missions as he did every day, Brad suddenly became alarmed. “Hey Tyrone,” he called out anxiously, “take a look at this.”

Tyrone walked over and looked at the screen. “Are those what I think they are?”

“Unfortunately yes, while trying to find our enemies I have been working my way north and I saw these things moving down the coast.”

“Are you sure they are moving down?”

“You can see them right there.”

“What I mean is, are they moving or are they changing?”

Brad looked up with concern. “If they are changing that is very bad.”

“It is bad either way,” stressed Tyrone. “If they are changing then the slow creatures down here could start getting faster at any time. If they are not changing, that means the ones from the north are coming down looking for food. You better fly the drone back down here and monitor the situation closer to home.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Rudy asked.

“The faster creatures I told you about are coming down the coast.”

“That is not good.”

“No it is not. I need to get a message to the guys at Palo Alto.”

“Why don’t you tape a note to the wing of the drone and fly it there,” Rudy suggested.

Brad glanced at him and shook his head. “You are a damn genius. After they get my note, they can charge the plane for me.”

“Here is a better idea,” Rudy smiled. “Tell them to monitor your camera. That way you can instant message them.”

“I cannot believe those guys never thought of that.”

“Maybe they can even rig up a microphone so you can talk.”

“Just stop will you. You are making everyone look foolish.”

“Can you get the drone back before dark?” Tyrone asked.

“No, but I often fly after dark. I just put in the coordinates and it finds its way. Apparently the satellites are still working.”

“Maybe it can stop and get us a pizza,” Rudy laughed.

“Cut it out will you,” Brad chuckled.

Rudy was laughing so hard that even Tyrone smiled.

When the drone arrived, Brad put it on the charger then went to his suite. In the morning, he was up before dawn and he immediately sent the drone on its mission. He first headed up the coast to Santa Barbara then flew inland to see if any were coming down that way. As he passed over Los Padres National Forest, he saw something at Lake Cachuma that caught his interest. To get a better look he dropped down and circled around. On the peninsula at the northern end of the lake, someone had built a wall. Ingenious he thought. As long as the creatures could not swim, all they had to do was close off the peninsula. Now they had farmland and fresh water. He went a little lower to get a better look and suddenly lost control of the drone. He struggled with the controls to keep the plane from crashing and as he leveled out, he saw several men pointing guns at him. He quickly banked to the left and pulled up but once again almost lost control. The drone must have taken another hit. In an effort to escape, he dove down close to the water to hide behind the trees until he got out of range. When he was sure it was safe, he got some altitude then tested the controls to make sure he could still handle the UAV. It was still about two hundred miles to Palo Alto and around one hundred miles back home. He kept going. He had no way of accessing the damage and it may be more than he could repair. His only option was to get back to the manufacturer. If the drone did not make its destination, his only choice was to drive up to Palo Alto.

For three hours, Brad fought to keep the drone in the air until at last he saw the campus. After circling, he headed in and everything looked good until he touched down. Then the screen went blank.

“What happened,” Rudy exclaimed. He and Tyrone had been watching ever since Brad cried out that he was under attack.

“I must have crashed. Maybe they shot the landing gear.”

“I am surprised you could still fly.”

“The wings, tail and nose are the important parts. The body just holds everything together. You can put a few holes in it and still fly.

“Well, at least your friends can fix it.”

“Let’s hope so,” Brad said as he stood and stretched. “Of course, now that I have lost my eyes in the air I cannot monitor the creatures.”

“All we can do is keep getting ready,” Tyrone replied. “The boys have a good-sized hole out there and the runners are gathering wood and supplies from the local home improvement stores. Soon they will frame the shelter and put on a roof then cover it with dirt.”

“Do we have enough weapons?”

“We can never have enough weapons,” Tyrone grumbled.

Brad sat and shook his head. “I thought gathering people together was the solution but we are facing an enemy a million times our size.”

“I hate to say it,” Rudy shrugged, “but maybe the bad guys already came to that conclusion. The more people you have to help you, the more you have to feed. Unfortunately, there are just not enough of us to better the odds.”

“If we cannot beat them then we have to wait them out,” Tyrone said. “They are not coming after us. They are just coming after any food they can find. We will hide in the shelter and with a little luck, they will move on. Eventually they will starve.”

“What if they don’t starve?” Brad asked. “Then we have to fight.”

“Brad,” Tyrone protested, “even the military could not defeat these things when they were still slow. How are we supposed to stand up against these crazy odds when they get fast?”

“The military did not see them coming. They were defeated from the inside because their own people became infected. We, however, know they are coming and we can plan for them.” Brad reflected a moment then added, “I found a way to hide amongst them. Maybe there is a way to fool them into attacking each other.”

“I like that,” Tyrone said. “Just one question,” he shrugged, “How?”

“Why do I have to have all the answers?”

“You said the skin is dead and carries an odor,” Rudy interjected.

“Yeah,” Brad shrugged.

“What if we burn the skin off?”

“I guess we could spray gasoline on them then set them on fire.” Brad chuckled. “Of course, if they don’t die then we will have a bunch of fire balls attacking us.”

“We have to try something,” Rudy insisted.

“My entire plan was based on them being slow and easy to kill,” Brad sighed. “Now everything has changed and I no longer have a valid plan.”

“They are still slow,” Rudy reasoned. “We need to kill them now before they change.”

“There are way too many,” Tyrone argued.

“So we do nothing?” Rudy asked in frustration.

“Maybe we are wasting our time on this place,” Tyrone shot out. “There is just too much wall space to defend.”

“What are you saying?”

“Those guys that shot the drone are probably the same ones that attacked us. I say we go up there and take what they have.”

”That makes us like them,” Brad retorted.

“I disagree,” Tyrone insisted. “They kill everyone. We just rid the world of the bad.”

“Even if we do what you suggest, we have a lot of people to transport and it is a long and dangerous trip,” Brad argued.