The Divide: Origins (2 page)

Suddenly,
the most disturbing part of it became apparent. He heard a thunderous roar and
saw a glowing red light at the window. He crawled over to it and grabbed the
bars to pull
himself
up. It took all the strength he
had to get to his feet, but he managed to. What Max saw told him what his next
move had to be. He could see a bright light in the sky far away. He knew what
that was. An explosion all the way across the world was visible even there. The
source of the deafening boom was much closer, however. One of the many small
pieces of Ira had landed very close to home. The cellblocks were on fire, and a
huge hole was in the side of the building. It was time to get out of there, but
first he had to see if he could save Jerome.

The world had been forever changed, and
in the midst of it all, Max had no idea what to think. Some would view this as
a second chance. The same rules from their old lives obviously weren’t going to
apply. They were living in a disaster zone now. At the same time, he had to
wonder what good freedom was in the world he was looking at. He could see
prisoners and guards alike running out of the prison blocks. They were burning.
There was no good or evil in this new world. There was only death and the
violent shaking of the Earth that seemed to be torn asunder. What kind of
freedom existed for anyone now?

As the Earth’s violent shakes settled for
a moment, Max got to his feet and started running toward their cellblock. He
had no idea if he could actually save anyone, but he had to try. He didn’t know
how humane it would have been to let them burn in that building. Nothing was
going to get better, and in this new world, death truly was the only mercy they
had left.

Chapter 2

The Value Of A Life

When Max ran into their cellblock, the
smoke almost overwhelmed him. He got down low and made his way to their cell.
Jerome was inside. He had passed out from the smoke, and for all Max knew, he
was dead. As he looked around, he could see that most of the cell doors were still
locked. Something had to be done. He couldn’t let everyone die there, but he
was running out of time. On the opposite side of the room, the flames were growing
higher. He could hear screams and smell burning flesh. If this wasn’t Hell,
then he didn’t know what was. There was no time to think about that, though. He
dropped to the floor and scanned the room. In the corner, he saw a guard and
crawled to him. He felt for a pulse, but there wasn’t one. Then he reached into
his pocket and found the keys. Max ran to Jerome’s cell, and after trying to
find the right key for what seemed like forever, he finally got the door open.
He stepped inside the cell and slapped him a couple of times to make sure he
was still alive. Jerome awoke and began coughing violently.

“Can you walk?” Max asked while choking
on the smoke.

Jerome
nodded.

“Well,
get the hell out of here then,” Max said and helped him to his feet.

Max
knew he should follow him, but as he stepped toward the exit, the cries of two
men stopped him.

“Please,
you can’t leave us here. We’ll do anything. Just unlock the door,” one of them
said.

Max
turned to see two people he had gotten to know well in his time there. Stanley
Walker and Vincent Lane were men he would rather forget. They had caused more
problems for him than just about anyone. They liked to think they owned that
cellblock, and without Jerome, he would have been one of their victims long
ago.

“Why should I let you out? You two tried
to kill me last year,” Max said.

“If
I would have wanted you dead, you would’ve been. We weren’t trying to kill you.
We were trying to make an example out of you. That doesn’t matter now, though.
This place is coming down. Can you really leave us here to burn?” Vincent
asked.

Max
sighed and found the key. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t leave them. After
he had found the right key, they ran outside. As soon as they were clear of the
building, they fell to the ground and coughed. Once Max felt like he could
breathe again, he looked up to see the strangest sight of his life. Bright
lights could be seen falling from the sky. It looked like thousands of shooting
stars were landing all over the earth. Pieces of Ira were crashing down in a
fiery blaze. At any moment, they could be killed. That wasn’t the strangest
part of everything. It was the middle of summer, and it was freezing outside.
As he stared up at the sky, ice started to fall. It seemed impossible. Fire and
ice were raining down on them at the same time. What had the human race done to
deserve this curse from God?

“What
the hell is going on?” Jerome asked as he walked up.

“All
your paranoid news people were right. That’s what’s going on,” Max said.

“What’s
happening doesn’t matter. We’ve got to get out of here and find somewhere safe.
The temperature’s dropping like crazy,” Stanley said.

“I
agree, but where can we go?” Vincent asked.

Jerome
scanned the area for a moment. There had to be a way off the property. Finally,
he found a way to leave the prison that had held them for so long.

“That
comet knocked part of the fence down. There should be transport vehicles on the
north side of the prison. Didn’t you go to prison for carjacking?” Jerome asked
Vincent.

“Yeah,
that’s
one
of the things I’m here for
anyway.”

“Good.
You’ll hotwire a vehicle, and we’ll get out of here. From there, we’ll find a
house with a fireplace to lay low in.”

“Do
you actually think anyone is going to harbor a bunch of prisoners?” Max asked.

“Not
willingly. The world has obviously changed. We’ll take what’s ours. Now, come
on,” Jerome said.

Max
didn’t like Jerome’s idea of taking what they needed. What did that mean? Were
they actually going to kill innocent people for shelter? Then again, why was he
so above it? He had just realized he was guilty of murdering his entire family.
What did that say about him?

“Max,
are you coming?” Jerome asked.

“Yeah,
I guess.”

“Now
isn’t the time to go into shock. Thanks for saving us back there, but we need
you at your best from here on out if we’re going to survive.”

Max
nodded and jogged with them to the front of the prison where they found a
vehicle. As Vincent was hotwiring it, Max took everything in. It was freezing,
he could hear people screaming as they burned to death in the distance, and it
was very likely that a huge portion of the world was completely gone. How could
things get any worse?

“I
got it! Get in,” Vincent said as he jumped behind the wheel.

They
piled into the vehicle, and Vincent drove them off the property. It was already
slick, and it was all he could do to stay on the road. Still, they found a way
to make it to a subdivision about thirty minutes away. It looked nice. This was
the type of place Max had lived in with his family.

“What
are we supposed to do? Who actually has a fireplace in the year 2034?” Stanley
asked.

“You
might be surprised,” Jerome said while pointing out a chimney with smoke coming
out of it.

“What’s
the plan? How are we going to do this?” Max asked.

“You
leave that to me,” Stanley said as he pulled out a pistol.

“Where
did you get that?”

“I
grabbed it off one of the guards before we left. I’ll take care of anyone who
has a problem with us staying the night,” he said with a smile.

No
one had any objections that they voiced. Max certainly didn’t like the plan,
but as he looked at Jerome and Vincent, he didn’t see any doubt in their eyes.
It was then that he understood the world they were living in. It was a place
where only the strong would survive. It was tailor made for people like them
who had already lived in a state of anarchy for most of their lives.

They
got out of the vehicle and walked to the front door. Max made sure to hang
back. He didn’t want any part of what was about to happen. Stanley didn’t even
hesitate. He kicked the door in and stepped inside. The first thing he saw was
a family huddled around the fireplace. There was a mother, father, and two
little girls. The dad stood with a shotgun in hand to defend his family. It was
too late, though. Stanley didn’t hesitate to put a bullet through his skull,
and he fell to the floor. His wife reached for the shotgun, but Stanley’s words
stalled her.

“I
wouldn’t do that if I were you. Do you want to live?” he asked.

“Why
are you doing this?” she asked through sobs.

“It’s
simple. You have shelter, and right now, we would do anything for that.
Vincent, grab their weapon.”

Vincent
got the gun, and they went inside. Jerome closed the door and reinforced it
with a chair. They couldn’t rule out the possibility of others trying to take
the place, and the lock was already busted. A chair and someone keeping watch
at all times would have to do.

“Listen
up! This is how things are going to work tonight. You do what we say, and
everything will be fine. Here’s the first order of business. You’ll show
Stanley and Vincent where the blankets are,” Jerome said to the wife.

She
nodded and took them upstairs. Max and Jerome simply sat by the fireplace with
the two girls. They looked to be in their early teens, and it was obvious that
they were both scared. Max wanted to say something comforting, but what could
he do? Their father was dead, thanks to them.

Before
he could think about things any longer, they heard a scream from upstairs
followed by pleas for mercy. Max jumped to his feet and took a step toward the
stairs. Jerome laid his hand on him, however, and shook his head.

“This
isn’t who we are, Jerome. You know that. We can’t let this happen,”
Max
said.

“They
have the guns. If you go up there right now, they’ll kill you. We don’t know
these people. Just let it be. Write it off as them being in prison for a long
time, and realize that woman wouldn’t have survived in this world anyway.”

Max
sat back down. He felt like a coward doing it, but Jerome wasn’t wrong. If he
tried to intervene, he would probably end up as dead as the man lying on the
floor. He looked over at the girls. One of them was hysterical, but the younger
of the two showed very little emotion. That was strange but intriguing. What
must this girl have seen in her life for this not to affect her?

For
the next hour, he heard a woman screaming for mercy upstairs. He didn’t know
exactly what was happening to her, but he had a good idea. Stanley was in jail
for three counts of rape, and he made no bones about it. He was guilty.
Vincent, on the other hand, hadn’t done anything that bad, but he had learned
how to survive in prison. In there, you get with the program and follow the
strongest person’s lead, or you die. Right now, the strongest man was the one
with the gun, and that was Stanley.

After
they listened to her suffer for over an hour, a shot rang out. They had killed
her. Stanley and Vincent came downstairs with the blankets. No one questioned what
happened. They simply lay down for the night beside the fireplace. As Max
drifted away, he was thinking of only one thing. Why couldn’t he have protected
these people? Was he only meant to destroy? He had killed his family, and by
doing nothing there, he had killed these people. Clarity about who he really
was would come in the form of a dream.

* * * * *

When Max drifted off, he found himself in a
familiar memory. He was coming home to his wife and child. His dream normally
cut out at this point and skipped to the part where he was stabbing
Kenzi
. This time, he got to see himself walk through the
front door, though. What he found in the bedroom was enough to make even the
best of men snap. His wife had a knife in her hand, and she was standing over
their baby. She had stabbed their little girl multiple times, and it was clear
that she was dead.

In that moment, it all became clear to him. He remembered when he
first met
Kenzi
. She was gorgeous, but something had
always been off. Panic attacks coupled with rage would randomly work their way
into her days. Max had thought about getting her professional help on many
occasions, but she had always been able to manage her symptoms. He certainly
never thought she could hurt him or their baby.

“What have I done?”
Kenzi
asked as tears
started to run down her cheeks. Then she handed the knife over to Max.

He snapped. Instead of laying the knife down and calling the police,
he took it and plunged it into
Kenzi’s
stomach. When
she fell to the bed, he didn’t stop. He stabbed her over and over again until
blood covered every part of both of them. Then the weirdest thing happened. He
smiled. This wasn’t a grieving father or even a murderous madman who committed
this act. When Max saw the man who killed his wife, he knew that he was looking
into the eyes of madness. There was a reason he couldn’t remember the act until
now. He truly wasn’t himself.

After they took him to the police station, it was as if he woke up from
a long dream with no memory of anything that had transpired. The police report
would end up saying he killed his wife and child. There was no one to say
otherwise, and with no memory of the events, Max couldn’t even defend himself.
Was he a monster? Maybe, but his biggest crime wasn’t that he killed his wife.
It was that he couldn’t protect his daughter from her.

When
Max woke up, he heard the sound of a girl crying as she was being dragged
upstairs. Jerome was gone, and so was the older of the two girls. Vincent and
Stanley were still fast asleep, but the other girl wasn’t. She had been so
composed before, but now she looked worried. She knew it wasn’t very likely
that she was getting out of there. A part of Max wanted to go upstairs and save
the girl that Jerome was about to rape, but as he looked over at Vincent, he
saw that his gun was gone. It would be suicide to go up there. He could still
protect one person, though.

“Come
with me,” Max said to the girl.

“No.
Why would I go anywhere with a sick bastard like you?” she asked.

“You’ve
got a mouth on you. I get it. This seems like an impossible situation, but I
can get you out of this alive. I’m not sick like them. I didn’t go to prison for
rape or anything like that. I had a daughter, and I could never hurt any child
because of that. I’m not asking you to go upstairs with me because I wouldn’t
trust someone in your situation if they asked me to do that. I’m just asking
for you to come with me to the kitchen, so we can get some distance from these
guys.”

“I
said no.”

“Come
on. I’m telling you I’ll protect you from them. What’s your name?”