Brian Steele - 4POCALYPSE - Four Tales of a Dark Future

Bill Cotter took a tentative step forward and found the Glock in his face. To Eric, Jasmine said, “Tell me now or I kill your father. An eye for a fucking eye, you little bastard.”

Eric slid to the floor and buried his head between the nooks of his arms. His shoulders bounced from crying. “He, he said he’d kill us all if I didn’t put the code in to sell SCH to all the cities.”

“You coded AI9000 to hide the Medical Administrator, now who is he,” Jasmine shouted. “Tell me now, you little fuck, or so help me God you are dead.” She chambered the Glock, almost wishing she had the automatics.

“The… The City of Kansas mayor,” Bill Cotter said. He hung his head and whispered, “Mayor Krebs. He said if Eric didn’t he’d kill us.” He looked up at Jasmine. “Why do you think we left the cities? I couldn’t take it anymore. We were heading to the center so that Eric could recode AI9000, but we got caught. Then when you came along we’d thought great, we’d go with you, but you and Angela didn’t even give us the option…”

“Do you have proof?” Jasmine asked as she stepped nose to nose with Bill Cotter.

“AI9000,” Eric answered. “Only the mayor can change the information. He has the authorization code.”

“Anyone can have that and change his name,” Jasmine said.

“But you’ll need a pin code and only the person receiving the packages will have the pin,” Eric answered.

Jasmine looked at Officers Guy and Sanford. “Did you record that?” Guy nodded. “Commander Herne?”

“We got it, Jaz. We’re on it,” Commander Herne’s replied. Then in the background they heard movement, then banging and Herne’s shouting out, “Police!” Then after a minute they heard Herne say, “Mr. Mayor, you’re under arrest for the sale and distribution of SCH!”

“You knew?” Bill Cotter asked.

But it was too late, Jasmine bolted out of the room at full force, and as she banged through the door everyone who saw her jumped out of her way. It had been close to ten years since an officer of the law displayed any type of emotion, and as she whipped down the corridor on her Electro Glide transport people were cheering her name.

Jasmine came to a hard stop when she saw Mayor Krebs, smirking, as if he believed he’d get off. No one, other than Eric, knew there was a back door into the AI9000 computer, and when he got his one call to his attorney the plan was to call the computer, replacing his name and information, deleting a connection between him and the SCH data. Then the AI9000 computer, as programmed, would automatically route his call to his attorney. By the time anyone was able to access the computer and its records, his identity would be gone and Bill Cotter would take the fall.

Jasmine saw this and screamed, “NO!” and lunged for the portable telephone that one of the arresting officers was handing to him. “You can’t let him call anyone, he’ll delete all of his data!”

Jasmine then slammed into Krebs, knocking him to the floor, keeping him down until several officers pulled her off.

“What the hell, Jaz,” Commander Herne’s said.

She leaned into Herne’s and said, “There’s a back door. If he dials in he can delete everything.”

“I demand my phone call,” Mayor Krebs shouted.

“From the station,” Herne’s replied, pointing to two officers who had Krebs by his arms.

“Cuff him from behind,” Jasmine shouted out, but it was too late and in the confusion, Krebs grabbed the pistol from the officer on the left, an in an instant he fired two times.

The first bullet missed, but the second one hit Jasmine in the chest and she went down.

Pandemonium broke out as police and medical personnel surrounded her.

Before closing her eyes she heard Uncle Baul calling out to here.

She thought of Tank and wished that she had taken the time to really get to know him, had taken the time to repay him for all of his selfless acts and favors that he made without expecting anything in return. Then she heard Angela say, “ Now if I had your tight little ass—Tank’s words, not mine…”

“They tell me you haven’t gone home since I was rolled into the ER,” Jasmine said as she took Tank’s hand. “I hear you’ve been dabbing my forehead and feeding me ice the entire time I was under… I also heard it was you who picked out my uniform, especially my jacket, which is bullet proof… well… almost bullet proof.”

Tank blushed. He didn’t know what to say, but even if he did know what to say, his shyness would have stopped him.

“It stopped deep penetration but you’ll have to work on that—” she coughed. “The bullet barely broke the skin but it went in; and, I’m here to tell you, big guy, that knocked everything out of me. It may not have penetrated, but damned well hurt.”

“I’ll have to work on that,” Tank said, blushing. “I thought for sure the material would hold.”

“Did you test it?” He nodded. “Next time try testing it with a bigger gun.” She pulled on his hand. “Come here.”

Tank got out of the chair and sat on the edge of the bed, and when he did, Jasmine grabbed his shirt and pulled him down and kissed him. “Angela tells me you said I had a tight ass—” Tank started to move. “Thank you,” Jasmine continued, smiling. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t know.” She kissed him again, and then she hugged him.

“Careful,” Tank mumbled. “That has to be painful.”

“It’s worth it,” Jasmine groaned through the pain and the elation, and then kissed him again.

“Do you need anything,” Tank asked so softly she barely heard him.

“As a matter of fact I do,” Jasmine answered. “I need you to ask me out to dinner.” She winked and then smiled. “And maybe stay for breakfast.”

John J. Smith lives in Dallas, TX. He has won several awards for his novels and screenplays. Look for his current novels Delayed Flight and Finding Katie. He is currently working on his novel, “Anopheles”.

I must give thanks once again to my Dark Red Press colleagues for their artistic and formatting talents, without which this book would not be possible. All I do is sit on my ass and write. Brian, CL and John are the ones who get the tale from me to you.

I’d also like to thank Bob Udell for looking over this tale with a keen eye and helping make me appear for more brilliant that I ever could be alone. Any errors in the final draft are mine, not his.

The end of the world came with widespread disease, rampant bloodshed, and smiles. The smiles were the worst of it.

I survived by being exposed to the same insidious parasite that killed so many, and for me it began with a steel hook sinking into my left cheek and tearing my flesh from ear to mouth, leaving a terrible wound that looked like… a smile

There are important lessons to be learned in this story because it is more than the story of how the world changed; it is a cautionary tale and a guide to survival. If I start with dry facts about the smiling sickness I’m quite sure your attention will wander, so let me begin this tale with a blowjob, and the admission that I murdered my wife.

I responded with, “No,” when my wife pushed me up against a wall and said, “How about I suck your cock?” If that doesn’t illustrate how cataclysmically fucked up the world is these days, nothing will.