Emperor of a Dead World (37 page)

Two weeks after they began the project over one hundred people arrived from Palo Alto with pigs, cows and bulls. Many of these were people that Brad himself had rescued while he was up north and they wanted to show their appreciation. These new arrivals doubled the workforce and Brad could not thank them enough. In order to streamline things he placed Tyrone in charge of construction, Rudy in charge of protection and Mickey in charge of livestock and farming. This way he could focus on his rescue missions.

As the wall grew so did the population. To feed everyone, Brad flew the drone over places like Chino and Corona in hopes of finding livestock and quite amazingly, he found people with these precious commodities willing to join him. While Brad transported these people and their animals to the track, Mickey trucked in ton loads of soil to convert barren areas into farmland and grazing areas. There was so much to do that many people found themselves working twelve hours or more a day. In spite of all the intense labor, it still took nearly two years to complete the wall. Once finished it stood over fifteen feet high, had three double gates for entry and encompassed an area of about one half square mile with Katella Avenue, Lexington Drive, Cerritos Avenue and Walker Street as its boundaries.

In celebration of finishing the wall, they held a christening ceremony after which Brad slaughtered all the bulls he could spare. This was an immense accomplishment and he wanted to honor the people for all their hard work and sacrifice. After feasting, they enjoyed a party that lasted for three days. Some of the men were microbrewers and they had been preparing for this celebration for months.

While everyone feasted and drank, Brad walked along the ramparts of the wall and for the first time, felt they were safe. The creatures could not possibly get over this wall and he had security cameras around the perimeter of the structure. Neither man nor beast could harm them now. He was smiling to himself when Tyrone walked up.

“Why are you up here all by yourself?” the big man asked. “Your loyal subjects long for your company.”

“I wish I was the man you have led everybody to believe I am.”

“Look around you Brad. You are exactly that man.”

“Do you really think so?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. The only thing of importance is what they believe.”

“They believe the things you told them to believe and they believe them because they are afraid not to. The myth you sold them gives them hope and without hope there is only despair.”

“Are you the only one that does not see it? Look at this wall Brad. No one else could have accomplished this.”

“They did it,” Brad replied as he pointed to the people below.

“They did it because they believed in you,” Tyrone insisted. “If they had not had something to hold on to, some glimmer of hope, ninety percent of these people never would have survived.”

“Anyone could have given them that hope.”

“No Brad. It had to be someone special. It had to be someone that believed he could make a difference. It had to be someone that even in the depths of despair and hopelessness, he would still recycle a can.”

This made Brad laugh.

“I’m serious,” Tyrone persisted. “There is something about you that gives people hope. You possess something that I cannot explain. Maybe the myth I started is not a myth at all. Maybe it is true and that is why we built this fortress. Maybe this fortress is the beginning of your empire.”

“Hold on,” Brad started to say.

“No,” Tyrone interrupted. “Maybe you
are
destined to be emperor.”

“Ha,” Brad laughed as he pointed out over the wall. “Emperor of this, is that what I am? Emperor of these hideous things,” he shuddered. “You want me to play Emperor? Fine, I am Emperor of a dead world.”

“The world is not dead Brad. It may have once been but you have breathed life back into it. You have resurrected the world.”

“The world,” Brad scoffed, “These things?”

“No Brad not them.” Tyrone turned him around and pointed to the partiers below. “You may not have resurrected the entire world but you have saved this small part of it. Look at those people. There are several hundred here now. Some of them have even had children here. Did you ever think people could be that happy and carefree again?”

“They do look happy,” Brad relented.

“Yes they do,” Tyrone pressed, “and believe it or not, you have saved those people.”

“You more so than me,” Brad replied.

“No,” Tyrone disagreed, “It was not me. It was you. You inspired me. Without you none of this would have happened.”

“I needed your help.”

“No you did not. You were well on your way to clearing the estate before I came along and after you had a safe place you left it and went out to save people even though I would not join you.”

Brad shrugged.

“I saw it inside you Brad the day we met. I knew you were special the moment I heard that gunshot. The second the bullet whizzed over my head, I realized you were not an ordinary man. Even though I was coming to kill you, you would not kill me. I saw a monster but you saw a man. You saw hope where I only saw despair. Now you have given this same hope to all those people. Sure, I may have brought a few people together and made a few prophecies,” he smiled, “but you are the one that fulfilled those prophecies.”

“Fulfilled prophecies,” Brad exclaimed. “I wonder how many people really believe that. I wonder how many are truly fooled.”

“I have not fooled anyone,” Tyrone argued, “and neither have you.”

Brad shook his head. “You have even fooled yourself.”

“Do you really think so?” Tyrone retorted. “Let me tell you something. The great ancient historian Herodotus said that it is easier to fool a multitude than it is one man. In this case however, I feel it is the man which is deceived and not the multitude.”

“Braaad,” Rudy shouted from below in a drunken stupor as he held onto his girlfriend so he would not fall over. “Get your ass down here.”

Standing next to these two was Tyrone’s new girlfriend. This is the third one he had had since moving to the racetrack and each was more beautiful than the last. As Brad gazed at them, he thought of Lisa. She had remained in her suite with her assistant because she was eight months pregnant.

“Time to mingle with the commoners,” Tyrone smirked.

“Just knock it off with the emperor crap alright.”

“Yes Sir,” Tyrone joked.

After the celebration, they went back to work and spent another year building a city and making farmland and pasture areas inside their new refuge. Within the walls was an Inn and many families had already taken up residence there. Along with this, they trucked in lumber for building and brought in over three hundred mobile homes for new survivors to live in. To make the city comfortable, they dung sewer lines and ran plumbing and power. The internal area of the racetrack became the capital and Brad reserved it for government officials, guards, leading members of the community and their families. All others set up residence in the new part of the city.

In the livestock area, cattle, pigs, chickens and other such things filled the stables. Brad was able to save many of these precious commodities because the early creatures did not attack animals unless they caused a nuisance with their excessive barking. Now unfortunately, most of the slow creatures had changed into the faster more dangerous variety and these things ate anything that moved. This made it difficult for the runners to go out but for the most part, they stayed within their self-sufficient fortress. Tom and his group also stayed inside and refused to leave the estate. They had raised and reinforced the walls and they had gardens and livestock enough to supply their needs. The people in Palo Alto were also self-sufficient and rarely went outside their walls.

The only other people Brad knew of were Bubba and his family. In order to see how his friend was doing Brad flew the drone to Phoenix and found the ranch. As he circled above, he could see Bubba had reinforced the fence and his family was safe. After Brad landed the drone, Bubba inspected it and found a note explaining everything Brad and the other two communities had accomplished. Once Bubba finished reading the note, he wrote his own telling of all his adventures then secured it to the drone. It took three days for the solar to charge the battery then Brad flew the drone home.

Now that all his friends were safe and accounted for, Brad wanted to go to the capital and search for his parents. Unfortunately, he had flown many missions over the city and seen no signs of anyone. This made it difficult to justify leading men there but he would not give up hope. He set the drone down on the Employment Development Department Building and let it charge. While the solar panels reenergized the battery, he turned the camera toward the capital and watched for any sign of intelligent life. For several days, he sat and watched but all he saw were creatures wandering around with nowhere to go.

Frustrated by his lack of success, he decided to fly over San Francisco before heading home. From high above, this city looked as dismal as Sacramento. Thousands of creatures were walking around, scrounging for food and living off the seemingly endless supply of rodents. When he passed over Mountain Lake Park, he saw hundreds of creatures crowded around drinking the water in the pond. As he observed these famished brutes he knew he had no chance of finding any survivors in this vanquished city. Even if he did find people, there is no way he could hope to lead his men in to rescue them.

Before leaving the area, he decided to make one final pass over the Golden Gate Bridge to take in the spectacular view. Spectacular, that is, as long as you did not look too closely at the local residents. After rounding Lands End, he set his heading for home resigned to the fact that he would never see his parents again. As he banked around, he noticed a large mob of creatures below. At first, he thought they were following the drone but then he realized they were moving toward the shore. He flew the drone down to follow them filled with excitement that he may have found survivors. When he got close he was befuddled to see them rushing into the water. He quickly went back to see if someone or something was chasing them. As he searched, he could not imagine what horrifying being could possibly scare these things. When he saw nothing he came back around and headed out over the water. A moment later, he could not believe his eyes. Half a mile off shore, a small schooner was sailing out to sea. When he made his first pass, he had not noticed it. He circled back and saw several people staring at the drone in amazement. Curious to see where they would go he circled above. He was certain the schooner would head either up or down the coast and he was quite surprised when it headed straight out to sea. While he watched from above, he looked at a map on his table and tried to determine where they were going. The only thing he could see in their path was the Farallon Islands. The large south Island was about twenty miles off shore so he went out for a look. Ten minutes later, he saw the peak of the island and when he got closer, his heart leaped with joy. There were houses, farmland, livestock and people. Had he found his parents sanctuary at last? While flying above he zoomed in hoping to see his loved ones. Unfortunately, they were not among those watching the drone but this did not mean they were not on the island. In order to discover whom these people were he brought the drone down and landed.

It took a few minutes before anyone would get near the drone. When a man finally approached, he only took a couple of steps but when he saw it was armed he quickly stepped back.

As soon as Brad realized the man’s concern he clicked on the microphone and said, “I come it peace.”

The man exchanged glances with the others then stepped forward and spoke to the drone. Of course, it did not have a microphone so Brad could not hear him. The creatures could not talk so Danny had never installed this feature. Besides, it would require a heavy transmitter that would drain his battery.

In frustration, Brad communicated as best he could but the great distance garbled his transmission. Finally, he got the man to understand he wanted him to place a note under the wing. After the man attached his note and stepped clear, Brad started the drone and flew off.

When the drone arrived at the racetrack, Brad read the note and it explained that these people were the survivors who had gone to the capital years ago. Filled with excitement, he set up a team of men consisting of a sailor and a dozen brave men to help him battle the creatures. Before leaving, he extended and amplified the Ham antenna. He also brought another base station and amplifier with him. After securing these things, he checked on his boat and it looked like he could still get to it without too much trouble. Having made these preparations, he was ready to begin his voyage.

Lisa of course was against his going but she knew she could not stop him even though she pleaded with a baby in her arms. She only hoped that once he found his parents he would no longer need to go on these dangerous missions. The night before he headed out they had a quiet evening together.