The Son of Man

  The colonel gasped, blinked his wide eyes and nodded.

  “I’m gonna’ tell you this just once,” Michael continued. “I am Special Agent Brothers with the NDE. I have a special envoy from the governor. The President of the United States commissions me.” He reached into a pocket with his free hand, pulled out a badge along with a document and waved them in front of the Colonel’s pale, viscid face.

  The colonel visibly struggled to catch his breath as his wide eyes scanned the letter Michael dangled in front of him. “OK…ok” Colonel Shannon said. “There’s no need to get physical. I’m sorry…my mistake.”

  Michael quickly pushed the pistol back into his pocket. Barney and Pete let the two soldiers go, stared into their bulging eyes and passed their rifles back. The soldiers slowly reached for their weapons and turned to face the colonel.

  “Get em…” the colonel said softly, “get um, whatever they need.”

  Michael glared at the colonel and turned to leave. Maria tugged on his arm. “Oh yes,” Michael said. He looked back at the terrified colonel. “Do you have any way of accessing police arrest records within the last…say, month or two?”

  The colonel stared back, blinking. “Uh yeah, I think so. Is it local?”

  “Yes.”

  The colonel wiped the sweat from his forehead. “The police have been disbanded. They all quit. We’re the law now. As far as I know, we have access to any government record generated within this area over a period of seven years or so.”

  Maria gasped. “Can you find Todd?”

  The colonel stared back at her. “Huh?”

  “We need to find the arrest record for a mister Todd….” Michael turned to look at Maria.

  “Oh,” she said, “Riley, Todd Riley.”

  “What about him?” the colonel asked. “What do you need to know?”

  “Where he was held after he was arrested,” Michael said.

  Maria anxiously moved forward. “Where is he now?”

  The colonel turned to his keyboard and began punching the keys. “Riley you say?”

  “Yes,” Maria sang. “Todd Riley, have you found him?”

  The colonel turned and flashed a black look at Maria. An equally black look from Brother Michael sent the colonel’s eyes back to the computer monitor. “Yeah, here he is.”

  Maria gasped and took hold of Michael’s arm.

  “He was arrested and placed in the Metro County Jail…then—”

  “Jail,” Maria said. “Why was he sent to jail?”

  The colonel ignored her question. “He was sent to the Correctional Work Center.”

  “Is that near here?” Maria asked.

  “If I were younger I could probably throw a rock and hit it.”

  Maria squealed and tugged at Michael’s arm. “Todd’s there!”

  The colonel paused for a moment, looking up at Maria. “Who is this guy to you?”

  “He’s my husband.”

  “It says here, he was arrested for kidnapping his wife…Is that you?”

  “Yes, yes but that was a lie. The Vinces didn’t want us to leave so—”

  “Where is he now?” Michael said.

  The colonel looked at Maria and back at the computer monitor. “You might want to sit down,” he said, looking back at Maria.

  Maria’s smile quickly melted. She looked at Michael and back at the colonel. After a moment, she slowly stepped backwards into one of the chairs facing the colonel’s desk.

  “Is he the kid’s father?” the colonel asked.

  “Well,” Maria said softly, “sort of….”

  The Colonel sighed, re-adjusted his reading glasses and turned back towards the computer monitor. He stared at the monitor and sat back in his seat. “Ok,” he said, glancing back at Maria. “This is what’s going on…the prison was disbanded along with the police. All of the non-violent felons and misdemeanors were let go—”

  “So…Todd has been let go?”

  The Colonel looked at Maria, sniffed and leaned back in his chair. “Not exactly,” he said. “He was arrested for kidnapping. That’s a felony… a violent one.”

  “What did they do with the violent felons?” Michael asked softly.

  The Colonel sighed, wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and continued. “Not good news, I’m afraid.”

  Maria gasped. Her hand flew over her mouth as tears began welling in her eyes.

  “What did they do with the violent felons?” Michael repeated.

  “They were—” The Colonel hesitated a moment. “They were executed.”

  Maria wailed. Michael reached for her just in time to prevent her from sliding off the chair onto the floor.

  “They were executed at 1900 hours yesterday evening.”

  ~~~

  Todd was surprised to find the door leading into the psychiatric hospital wide open.

  “Nobody’s here, essey,” Tacoma said. “All the lights are out. The place is empty.”

  Todd scanned the dark room. “I’m not so sure.” He began slowly making his way into the dark reception area.

  “Whoa!” Tacoma yelped. “There’s a body over there.”

  “Where?” Todd said. “Male or female?”

  Tacoma looked. “Iss bloody, tha’s all I know.”

  Todd moved back to where Tacoma was standing. He could see a sprawling corpse lying in front of a moonlit interior door. He carefully moved towards it. “It’s a man.”

  “What happened here, bro?” Tacoma said.

  Todd sighed and went back to scanning the shadowy reception area. “This guy is shot up pretty bad. My guess is the army.”

  “I thought the army wass the good guys.”

  “Yeah well,” Todd said, gently pushing the body with his foot, “it’s hard to say what this guy was up to.”

  “How you gonna’ know what room your wife was in, bro?”

  “I don’t know,” Todd said. “Could be they have a registry or something.”

  He guardedly struck out towards the dark, silhouetted reception desk and began rifling through the drawers. “Damn,” he said softly. “I can’t see anything…I’m sure this stuff is all on the computer anyway.”

  “They’re coming back!” Tacoma yelled, diving behind a colossal synthetic houseplant. Todd dropped down behind the reception desk just as a spotlight illuminated the room. The vehicle slowed and stopped. Todd pushed himself as deep under the table as he could. He heard doors open, and slam. This is it, he thought. If they have dogs…

  He heard voices coming from just outside. He thought he recognized one of them. He carefully crouched down, trying to get a glimpse from under the desk. The moonlit figures of a huge man, flanked by two smaller men, obviously identical twins stepped into the lobby. Rage swelled within him.

  “You stay here and watch the door,” one of the twins said. “We’ll check it out. What room is she in again?”

  The twins must be some sort of security, Todd thought. Good luck with that.

  “Three twelve,” the big man said.

  The twins moved towards the stairs, stepped around the body, opened the door and pushed their way into the stairway.

  It took all the control Todd could conjure to keep from finding a weapon and smashing the big man’s skull as he stood in the lobby waiting for the twins to return.

  The stairwell door flew open and the two men re-appeared in the lobby. “She’s dead,” one of them said flatly.

  Todd buried his face in his hands, desperately trying to keep from screaming.

  “No,” the big man said. “Are you sure?”

  “Is she in room three twelve?”

  “Yes… three twelve.”

  “Well then she’s dead. There’s a dead woman in room three twelve. The whole place is shot up.”

  “I don’t believe it,” the big man said. “Why would anyone want to kill Maria?”

  For the second time in Todd’s life he felt himself reach maximum-overload. He had a reason now; a reason to silently
take the pain… to continue living, if only for a short time. He would wait for just the right moment and kill the big man before he had a chance to leave the lobby.

  He slowly began rolling to the front of the desk. If only he could get a straight shot with a chair or something. He quietly pushed out from under the desk and slowly stood….The three men were gone. He looked at the door leading into the stairwell just in time to see it close. He jumped, and ran as fast as he could towards the stairwell.

  “Where you going, essey?” Tacoma whispered, as Todd blew past him.

  Todd reached the door and carefully pulled it open. He could hear the men talking in the stairs one flight above him. Moving to the center of the stairwell, he tried to catch a glimpse of the men as they moved upwards towards the third floor. The door slowly opened. Tacoma eased his way into the stairwell and quickly settled next to Todd.

  “Shh,” Todd whispered, his face contorted with rage.

  “What are you doing, bro?” Tacoma asked.

  “I’m killing somebody.”

  “Huh…who?”

  “The big guy.”

  “Why…what did he do, bro?”

  “He’s not dressed like a priest…but I’d recognize him anywhere.”

  “What?” Tacoma said, shaking his head. “You’re gonna kill a priest?”

  The door on the third floor slammed shut and Todd bounded up the stairs.

  Tacoma waited before running up after him and joining him crouched against the third floor door. “Hey, bro,” Tacoma gasped, trying to catch his breath. “What—”

  “Duck!” Todd yelped as the beam of a flashlight flickered against the third floor stairwell window. Todd hit the wall adjacent to the door and pulled Tacoma towards him. The two men stood motionless against the wall. The door opened and the three men stepped into the stairwell.

  Todd glared at the silhouette of Father Jenkins, standing inches from where he was hiding. I can’t kill him, he’s too big and there are two others…maybe…maybe I could blind him…Yeah, that’s it…I could blind him for the rest of his life. I could do it before they kill me. He would make a noise, Father Jenkins would turn around and he’d explode. He’d push all of his fingers into the big man’s face at once. He knew human eye sockets were natural funnels. The chances were good that at least two fingers would enter the eyes. He’d pop Jenkins’s eyes like tomatoes.” He slowly raised his hands.

  “That’s not her,” Father Jenkins said.

  Todd froze.

  “Are you sure?” one of the twins asked.

  “Of course I’m sure. That isn’t Maria.”

  “Who is it then?”

  “Who cares?”

  “That’s some way for a priest to talk—”

  “I told you; I’m not a priest anymore.”

  The three men moved down the stairs leading back to the lobby.

  “How could this have happened?” one of the twins said. “I thought you were supposed to be watching her.”

  Jenkins stopped and whirled. “Let’s not go over this again. We were watching her every move. Can I help it if everyone scattered to the hills the minute news of the asteroid hit the airwaves.”

  “Everyone but Oliver,” one of the twins said.

  “See now, that’s another thing,” Jenkins said, as he turned and resumed moving down the stairs. “Oliver was your man. You were supposed to be checking him out.”

  “It still isn’t clear what Dr. Oliver has in mind. Maybe he’s taken her into protective custody until all this blows over—”

  “Right,” Jenkins said. “It’s only obvious he was working for Santana all along. You people should’ve spotted it. Now Santana has Maria and you know it, they’re probably half way to New Guinea by now.”

  Todd heard the door slam and the stairwell become silent.

  “She’s not dead,” he whispered. “Maria’s not dead.”

  ~~~

  Brian Mines hid behind one of the massive tires supporting an enormous Boeing 747, one of many that had been abandoned on the tarmac of the Nashville International Airport. Rays of sunlight had only just begun showing themselves over the horizon and he was only too aware that he’d soon have to abandon his hiding place in favor of one less conspicuous.

  He hated to leave. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know something big was about to happen. If he had any chance of getting out of the country, he’d have to make a move. He wasn’t sure exactly what that move would be, but he wanted to be in position if the opportunity presented itself. That was his secret to success, being in the right place, at the right time. That was one of the reasons he was a bank manager instead of a teller.

  The military had been working like bees for hours. Brian guessed they had started at around four AM. They had been using an enormous military bulldozer to drag the grid-locked aircraft into the grassy areas between the runways, creating a long narrow path down the tarmac. It was obvious they were clearing some sort of makeshift runway. He looked down at his wife. She had used his jacket as a bed and was sleeping soundly between the Mammoth tires.

  Women are strange, he thought. A few minutes before, she was scared, cold, uncomfortable and hungry. Now she was sleeping like a baby…just like nothing ever happened. He knew she expected him to get her out of this somehow. Her faith in him was complete. How nice it would be to live in her naive little world. No matter what happened, someone would always be there to fix it for her. There was a time when that may have been true. He was good at fixing things. That’s why she married him in the first place. He was a fix it kinda’ guy. She liked that about him. And…the truth be known, he liked her being what she was…the little wife, the silent partner, the homemaker…one who always knew who was in charge, always more than happy to comply.

  But things had changed. Society had regressed a couple hundred years in a matter of a few days. Who knew where it would go from here? A man was gonna have to learn to make his own way, to live off the land. He’d have to move fast and smart if he were to have any chance at all of getting away from the mainland before the impact. A whining, complaining, needy little wife could mean the end of them both. He needed for her to be strong and self-reliant…or…he needed to be on his own.

  He looked up and down the tarmac. It had been a while since he’d seen any movement from the military. Maybe they were finished with whatever it was they were doing. He looked down at his wife and back out at the tarmac. He looked around him to see if the way was clear and quickly sprinted to the next set of tires.

  This is good, he said to himself. He could see both ways up and down the newly cleared path. He gingerly peeked around the tires looking north towards the airport terminal.

  He was right. They had pulled a plane out of one of the hangers and were fueling it up getting ready to take off. He had to get on that plane no matter the cost. He looked back at the place he had been hiding moments before. His wife was still sleeping soundly. He hated doing this to her, but it was for the best. The military would pick her up and more than likely take care of her. They wouldn’t leave a poor woman alone to starve…he was sure of it.

  He moved quickly from tire to tire, closing the gap between him and the plane. At last he was close enough to monitor what was going on. The sun was finally coming up over the horizon and he could clearly see a small group of soldiers milling about under the plane. A little airport bus had left the terminal and was now making its way towards them.

  He ducked down behind a tire and watched the bus come to a stop next to the plane. A small group of civilians stepped out. One of the women in the group appeared to be in her final stages of pregnancy.

  I hope they aren’t planning on leaving here with only six people on board, he thought, feeling the anger well up within him.

  That’s a jumbo jet. They could take a couple hundred people out of here in that thing. Probably some rich, self-centered jerk getting his own family out with no regard for anyone else.

  The sun had risen to the point where h
e could no longer see the plane. He put his hand up, shielding the glare, but was scarcely able to see.

  Damn, he said to himself. They could get aboard and I wouldn’t even know…Wait a minute…If I could get to the other side…

  There were people everywhere, but he had to take the chance. He waited until he was reasonably sure no one was watching and sprinted to a closer set of tires. If he could only reach one more plane, he could have a clear shot at getting to the other side…and if he could get to the other side…the glare of the sun would block him from view. He could get close and still be completely undetected. He was sure of it.

  He looked around again, and ran to the next set of tires. This time he could have sworn one of the civilians standing in the group spotted him. He hid behind the tire, half expecting the army to start yelling but they never did. He carefully looked over the tire and could see the young man casually talking to the pregnant woman. Apparently he hadn’t been seen after all.

  Strange, he thought, that guy looks familiar…He’d seen him somewhere before, probably a customer at the bank.

  One more time, he said to himself as he braced for another dash. This time he was sure no one had seen him. Now, he knew he could move more freely. He could tell by the way everyone was shielding their eyes that he couldn’t be seen. The glare of the sun at his back was completely hiding him from their view. He carefully pulled his shoes off.

  This is it, he told himself as he began making his way onto the tarmac. He gingerly moved forward in plain sight, knowing they couldn’t see him even though he could clearly see them. It was unnerving. He could only pray a cloud didn’t suddenly appear blocking the glare of the sun. He quietly ran the last few yards and found himself hiding between the tires, only inches away from the small crowd milling about under the plane. He still had to move fast. The sun would rise in a few seconds and he’d be completely visible.

  He looked up at the bottom of the wing. He could see a dark chasm just above the wheels where the landing gear was attached to the aircraft. He quickly climbed on the top of the tire and scrambled up the landing gear into the wing of the plane.

  I did it, he said to himself. I can’t believe I did it.

  He scrambled into the darkness of the hole and sat back.

  All it takes is a little ingenuity, he told himself as he made himself comfortable. You’ve got to use your noggin that’s all. He was going to be well suited for this new world. It’s gonna’ be survival of the fittest. Only the smartest and most cunning will survive. He wasn’t sure whether it was the euphoria of having beaten the odds, but he found himself looking forward to the future. He knew it would be hard, but he felt up to the challenge.