Richard Stephenson - Collapse

“I’m not surprised your mother told you about this place. She always denied it, but I knew. Just because I kept this a secret from you doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have sent for you and your family. You’re my son. I know I’ve never been able to show it, but I love you very much. The people you brought with you today are the reason why I didn’t want your mother to tell you about this place. You have your mother’s kind and giving heart, and I knew you would want to help as many people as you could. Son, it’s just not that simple. This is more than just an emergency shelter; it’s much, much more than that. I don’t know if your mother explained that to you, but you need to trust me when I tell you this place is far too important to risk.”

“Dad, it’s more than just these people. I have something else I need to tell you.”

“What is it, son?”

“You’re best friend was assassinated by his own vice president.”

“I know that already, Marshall.”

“We have to stop him.”

“I’m planning on it.”

“His Chief of Staff is working undercover with Sterling.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I was shocked to see her in my home with the rest of the traitors. Are you sure?”

Max stepped forward. “Mr. Beck, my name is Maxwell Harris. My colleague and I were searching for four missing persons who were kidnaped by Sterling’s people. As we were about to be taken ourselves, Stacy Reid warned us and helped us escape. I can vouch for her; she’s on our side.”

Howard was frowning at the man who had interrupted his conversation. One of Howard’s dozens of pet peeves was being interrupted. He had even fired a few people who couldn’t learn to stop doing it. “I’m sorry officer, what was your name again?”

“Chief Maxwell Harris.”

“Chief of what, exactly?”

“Chief of Police of Santa Fe, Texas.”

“Never heard of it.”

“South of Houston.”

“Had a spot of bad weather recently, didn’t you?”

“You could say that.”

Marshall waited to see if his father was done speaking and said, “Dad, what do you want to do with all of these people?”

“You need to explain to them that the only way they’re coming down here is if they’re thoroughly searched by Hal and screened for infectious diseases. Their firearms will be unloaded and stored in a secured room. They will also be expected to follow a set of rules. If anyone harms another person they’ll be escorted out by Hal. My terms are unconditional and non-negotiable. Anyone refusing to comply will be denied entry. I will leave Hal with you so he can assist you. I have work to do. Hal will tell me when you’re ready.”

“I understand, Dad. I’ll make the announcement.”

The image of Howard’s face was replaced with the original picture. The Hal robot headed toward the group of people. It wasn’t often that Hal got to mingle.

Marshall climbed back on board his RV and began repeating the instructions his father had given him. Few people in the group objected.

Max and Elizabeth walked back to their SUV and rested against the front bumper. Max leaned over and kissed Elizabeth on the cheek. The warmest smile spread across her face, and her beauty took Max’s breath away.

“Are you blushing, my dear?” asked Max.

“Don’t tease me. It’s not nice,” pouted Elizabeth.

“Come here, you.” Max pulled Elizabeth over to him. Gently holding her face between his burly hands, Max kissed her passionately. She sighed and moaned softly. The two of them were engulfed in a rising passion. Their lives had been filled with anguish and pain. They’d seen friends brutally murdered, and both had killed to defend themselves and each other. The only thing left in their lives that was good and pure was their love.

Their kiss was interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream. Max and Elizabeth bolted from the SUV and ran to see what was happening. A woman was crying and running wildly toward them. She pointed to a green mini-van. As they rounded the vehicle, they saw the most terrifying looking man they’d ever seen. He was over three hundred pounds of muscle and maybe a few inches shy of seven feet tall. His body was covered in offensive tattoos, but the most grotesque thing about him was his left eye. It was solid white and sat behind a large scar.

The monster had another man suspended by his hair and was pounding him in the torso like a punching bag. Then the giant wrapped his free hand around the man’s throat and dug his fingers into his neck. Blood spurted from the man’s neck like a geyser as his throat was ripped from his body.

Max and Elizabeth were about to unload every bullet they had when another equally strange event took place.

A much shorter and leaner man was howling at the top of his lungs. Max was sure the man was as terrified as he was, but he didn’t run away in fear. Instead, the smaller man ran toward the beast with the most intense hatred Max had ever seen.

The smaller man didn’t even try to tackle the giant, knowing it would be a waste of time. He drove his foot into the side of the giant’s knee in an attempt to buckle his leg. It worked for a brief second but the giant rebounded and straightened his leg as he swung the corpse in his left hand into the smaller man. The smaller man rebounded and took up a fighting stance. When the giant swung his arm, the man grabbed it with both hands and jumped on the giant’s back. The little man grabbed the giant’s right ear and yanked down, tearing off the top portion of it. While the giant was howling, the slighter man rammed his thumb into the giant’s demon eye. The beast fell to the ground like an oak tree. The smaller man pounded the giant’s throat four times with a hammer chop. The monster gurgled and spat blood as his competitor dug both of his thumbs into the giant’s eyes and pushed down with all his weight. The smaller man took his thumb out of the giant’s good eye and punched him in the throat until he stopped moving. The undersized fighter stood and brought his foot down on the monster’s throat, breaking his neck. David had slain Goliath.

Max stood motionless staring at the victor. He looked at Elizabeth, whose jaw was gaping in amazement. He lowered his weapon and reached up to lower Elizabeth’s weapon for her. He turned back to the winner of the death match.

“Please tell me you’re done.”

“I’m good, thanks.”

The Hal robot was performing a juggling act for a small group of children who were clapping and cheering him on. Hal was juggling four rocks of varying size with dazzling proficiency. None of them had ever seen a robot do such a thing; it was truly impressive.

The juggling act was suddenly interrupted by a scream.

Hal jumped into the air and landed on the roof of an RV. He leapt over an adjacent RV and landed on the ground. In a span of time so short it could hardly be measured, Hal made the following assessment:

Subject A had murdered a man by tearing his throat out with his bare hands. Subject B had either tried to defend the murder victim, was the murder victim’s accomplice, or was carrying out revenge on Subject A for the murder he committed. The two law enforcement officials accompanying Marshall Beck were in front of him with their weapons drawn on the subjects. Once Hal completed his assessment, the course of action he decided upon was to allow Chief Harris and his colleague to handle the situation and provide assistance only if it was required.

Based upon the weight and muscle mass index of the two subjects, Hal calculated a seventy one point four percent chance that Subject A would defeat Subject B if the two law enforcement officials did not intervene. The altercation began and Hal watched the two subjects fight each other. As each millisecond passed, the percentage points he had calculated before the altercation began to lower and lower for Subject A and rose quickly for Subject B. Hal watched as Subject B raised his right foot in the air and brought it down on Subject A’s neck. The robot’s sensors scanned Subject A’s life signs and determined that he was deceased.