The Town

  Chapter 14: Protection

  "Hop in Max we've got to start now!" yelled Mayor George. Max hopped in the car and they drove off. "What happened in there, your family mad at you?"

  "Not even a little. I explained everything to them. They now know my purpose," Max told him.

  "You know boy if we get through all of this I want you to be in charge of the town. Set up some new rules, and make everyone happy." Max smiled and looked back at his house as they drove away. "I'd love to do that Mayor, but first we have to stop the Red Death. Or we won't even have a town to govern."

  After a few more minutes of talk about the Red Death, Max and Mayor George made it to the Town Hall. They went up to the Mayor's Office and Max saw the head officer sitting at a large table, the same officer who yelled at him for killing his friend. They walked in slowly, Max took the farthest seat away from the officer. But the officer stared at Max the entire way through, still blinded with the rage of his partner’s death. "You know Max I've been waiting a long time for this exact moment. So I could blow your brains out and look over your dead body." Max tried to stay calm, “How about we make a deal? You beat me in a shooting contest and I'll let you kill me." The officer laughed aloud, but the mayor shushed both of them. "We have much more important matters at hand boys," the mayor shouted. "No! Your officer can kill me if he beats me in a shooting contest," Max yelled at the officer, pretending to be outraged. The officer smirked, “You've got to be out of your damn mind boy, I have the best shot in the town. No one has ever been dumb enough to challenge me to a shoot off."

  "Let's settle this once and for all, but if I win you have to stop messing with me. Also you will do as I say, and the rest of your police force will follow. We don't have to do this, you know, that is unless you’re scared that I'll win." The officer eyed Max down, “be at the training field in twenty minutes, and pick your weapon, no snipers."

  Max nodded and walked out of the room. He held his plasma ray gun on his hip, eager to use it in some real action. He waited at the training field and saw three small tin cans lined up. The officer approached Max, “you get three shots at three targets, I'll be surprised if you touch one." The officer pulled out a large pistol," I'll shoot first," he laughed.

  Max stood patiently knowing he could not lose. The officer shot two of the three tin cans blowing large holes through both of them. "Guess I get to kill you then, you dumb kid." Max reset the cans and smiled at the officer, “watch this." Slowly, he took out his plasma ray gun, making sure the officer knew what gun he was using.

  “Bam, bam, bam!” He nailed all three cans perfectly. “Now that’s how you shoot boy!" he shouted sarcastically. The officer stood there in awe, “you have my allegiance Max, don't throw it away because it won't ever come back." Max turned around and faced the town wall looking out over the horizon. "I appreciate that, but the Mayor and I must inform you of the situation at hand, officer."

  "Don't call me officer anymore, my name’s Rock." They walked back to the Mayor's office and found the Mayor waiting for them. "I hope you boys are finished screwing around, we have a huge crisis up ahead."

  "What's the problem sir?" Rock asked.

  "It's the Red Death, the thing you were laughing at before when you saw my note," Max said in a serious tone.

  "What do you mean Max? You mean to tell me there's an evil outside of our town?" Rock eyed down Max, looking very disturbed about this whole situation.

  "The Red Death is a group of infected creatures. These things will stop at nothing to kill and infect as many normal people as possible. There's about twenty-five thousand of them coming to our town in less than a week. We need as much manpower as we can get, and food, water, and as many supplies as possible. They will come to destroy us all, and leave no survivors," Max said in the strongest voice possible.

  Rock stood up almost shaking. He managed to ask, “They’re going to be here in under one week? How can we stop them, we'll have no chance at all Max. There's only about two hundred policemen who can use firearms, and most of them don’t have a good shot."

  "We know that,” Max replied. “I'm going to recruit all the men we can get to help serve, and women who want to play a part as well."

  "That still won’t be enough, we don't have many explosives, or have a special advantage."

  “Rock I know this is hard to believe, but I'm the chosen one. I was pre-destined to become the man to stop the Red Death. I'm immune to them. I also have a plasma ray gun that you already saw, which has unlimited ammo and kills Red Death like its nobody’s business. And to sum that all up, I've thought up of a pretty damn good plan," Max said with a slight smile. Rock shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing. But he decided to play along anyway and he asked, “Well chosen one, what’s your pretty damn good plan?"

  "I'm glad you asked soldier, were going to funnel as many infected things as we can to the front of the town wall. There we will have all of our explosives ready and will blow up as many as possible. Also I found out they have leaders directing sections of the Red Death, we’re going to get a couple of good snipers and try to take them out. Were going to have people on top of the town wall with automatic machine guns and large rocks. They will take out the Red Death quickly and effectively, making them retreat. We’re going to have barricades set up on our side of the town wall just in case the Red Death break inside. Unfortunately the Red Death can attack any section of the town wall, but hopefully we can bait them all to the front so that we have a chance. If they come from all sides we won't have enough people to fend them off. I'm hoping you will help me direct our people to safety and victory. We might lose some people we care about in this battle, but I know in the end we will win and bring freedom to the town." When Max finished outlining his plan, he stared at the men.

  Rock stood up from his chair and said to Max, “Plans always sound better than what actually happens."  

  "Well Rock, it’s the only one we got right now." Rock started walking to the door and as he opened the door the Mayor announced, “I'll start telling every man to come to the Town Hall tomorrow morning. I'll ring the town bell to signal there’s an emergency."

  "You’re damn right there's an emergency mayor. We have a ton of planning and training to do, in a very small amount of time. If these so called Red Death come in numbers of twenty-five thousand, I don't think we’ll stand much of a chance," Rock told him.

  The Mayor sighed, shutting his eyes tightly and rubbing the back of his head. "I know Rock, trust me I know. But we can't give up, we have to try to save the town whatever the cost. I'll tell everyone why we had to live like this, why I had to lie to them, that there really is danger outside of here."

  Rock walked over to Mayor George and shook his hand saying,

  “And I'll do the best I can sir." The mayor nodded and Rock left the room. Max understood how hard this must be for Mayor George and Rock, he felt terrible that he was the one to bring all the bad news, and he thought, "Guess I'm just the messenger of bad news."

  The Mayor paced back in forth in the office thinking of the right thing to say. “No that’s not it Max, this is really all my fault. I should have had something prepared if the Red Death found us. I just never wanted to scare any of the citizens, I tried to convince them that everything would be perfect if they just followed the rules."

  Max felt like a burden had been lifted off his shoulders even if it was for the wrong reasons. "Well Mayor George I told my parents I would eat dinner with them. Would you mind if I took one of the police cars back home?" The mayor looked up, “That would be perfectly fine.”

  Max gave the Mayor a nod, and ran outside. As Max drove home, he thought about how the town’s people would react to his return. One of his biggest fears was to be an outcast or a hated person in the town. His goal was simply to bring everything back to normal as it used to be. Max drove the police car home and parked right in front. "Just like old times," he whispered to himself as he strutted to
wards the front door. 

  His mother burst through the front door even before Max had made it there. "Max! I'm so glad you came, you showed up just in time before dinner. I even decided to make you pancakes just for old times sake!" Max smiled and replied, “Sounds great mom, I can't wait." His father was already at the table reading like he had always used to. "Dinner’s served guys!" Betty said as she walked out with a huge feast. She brought out pancakes, steak, beans, and a fresh salad. "How'd you get all my favorite foods mom?" Max asked as he eyed down all the food. "We saved all your favorite foods son, just in case you ever came back."

  Max felt terrible, his parents had been waiting for him to come back all this time. "You know guys I'm really sorry for what I did, I never should have left." His parents looked at each other, “Max there's something you must know," his father told him. Max nodded his head waiting for his father to speak. "You’re not our son Max, you’re not from here."

  "I know dad, it’s okay I won't hold anything against you for not telling me. I just wish you told me I couldn't be hurt by anything." His mother let out a sob, “Oh Max, we just had no idea what that meant. We knew eventually you would find out, you were so unlike the other children. Whenever you were injured or hurt, moments later you would completely heal. Your father and I were afraid to tell anyone because if they found out, everyone would know you weren't from the town. We're sorry we didn't tell you sooner, but we always knew you were special and we understood why you left."

  Max stared down at the floor not saying a word. He finally replied, “You know what, you are my parents and it will always be that way. I love you both so much, and regret any pain I caused you both and my sister Betty. But the reason I left was to find my purpose and I think I found it."

  "That’s great Max, what is it?" his mother asked.

  "First I would love to eat if that’s alright, it's a long story." She smiled at Max, and served him first. He dug in immediately, instantly chewing down on his steak and finishing up everything just as fast. He asked for more pancakes and within minutes they were all gone. "Wow son, you sure as hell have gotten bigger. How much do you weigh now?" his father asked. "Well, ever since I lived out at this farm I did a ton of heavy lifting everyday and ate basically all night," Max smiled at his parents and waited for them to eat the remainder of their meal. 

  "Now that we’re all finished, your father and I would love to hear the journey you've been on." Max took one last swig of milk and announced, “Well first things first, I left the town some four months ago. While I was escaping an officer opened fire on the milk van, I drove at him hoping he would jump out of the way. But he didn't and unfortunately I ran over an innocent man. Later that same day I found a farm and decided to stay there. A man named Rich Gordon took me in, and basically treated me as a son. He was an amazing person and he taught me how to shoot, take care of myself, and how to stay focused. I stayed at his farm for awhile helping him around the barn, feeding the animals, and whatever else needed to be done. He told me about this infected tribe of people called the Red Death, whose soul purpose is to infect as many normal people as possible. He told me this was why the town was created, and why we are hidden and gated off from society. At first I didn't entirely believe or know what he was talking about, but one day on the farm a strange thing approached me and I shot it. Turns out this thing was one of the Red Death. In less the three days a whole group of them, about one thousand strong, came to Rich's farm. We fought them off, and in the end we won. But Rich died a noble death, he was attacked by a Red Death. After this all happened I knew I had to return to the town to save it, because future Red Death attacks would be imminent. As I made my way back, I walked through a canyon and was called into a cave. I entered it, not knowing what was going to happen next. The moment I stepped in four men dressed in white gowns approached me, telling me I was the chosen one to stop the Red Death. They showed me an exact replica statue of me, and took me on a self-realization quest. It was there I found out I was the key to stopping the Red Death, and that it was my purpose to save the town. So I left the canyon and came back here, and explained this all to the Mayor and now I'm the lead general to fight this battle. I also found out over twenty-five thousand Red Death will be coming to our town in a little under a week. The Mayor and I will start training as soon as we can, and I'm sorry that now you both know the truth."

  His parents sat at that table speechless, their jaws dropped, and their eyes as big as saucers. "I know what I just told you might be a little much, and yes I can assure you this is all true. I am not crazy at all," Max tried to reassure them.

  They remained at that table, having no clue what do next. His father finally stood up, still scratching his head, “So you mean to tell me, you’re the ‘Chosen One?’ And you’re the key to stopping an infected race that wants to destroy all human life?"

  "That’s exactly right, dad."

  "Huh. So what is it again that makes you the ‘Chosen One’ Max?" his mother asked in a confused tone.

  "I'm immune to the Red Death, and the only way I can die is if someone chops my head off!" he exclaimed, smiling. "You know what, I think I'm going to bed. Night mom, night dad I love you both very much."

  “We love you too son, sleep tight," his father said. "Night sweetie, love you too," his mom said as well. He ran up to his room, leaving his parents to absorb everything he had just said.

  "You think he's crazy Betty?" adult Max asked her. "Oh I don't think so dear, he's just probably on some sort of drug or something," she said sarcastically back to him.

  Max lay on his bed for a while, he thought about Betty and how she wouldn't have died if he hadn’t left. Then he whispered to himself, "You know Betty would have died in a week like everyone else if I didn't leave." He went back to the second floorboard behind his bed and he pulled out the little glass bottle and read the sentence, “You cannot change everything, but the things you can change are the reasons for existence." This phrase stuck in his head and he fell into a very deep sleep.