Sedulity 2: Aftershock (Sedulity Saga) (26 page)

“No thanks,” she answered sadly. “I think I’ll hang
out around here for now. I haven’t decided how to kill myself yet.”

“Really?” I asked with more than a little shock.
“Are you really thinking of checking out?”

“Of course I am,” she replied. “Aren’t you? Don’t
you know what we will turn into if we don’t?”

 
“Zombies?” I
asked in a mocking tone of voice.

“Exactly, and it’s no joke,” she replied seriously.
“Mindless man-eating monsters.”

I choked on my crab salad.

“Seriously?” I managed to mutter. “As bad as all
that?”

“Maybe worse,” she replied. “If it happens the way
they described it to me, we will only have a few minutes of pain before we
turn. And they
say
that once we turn
we won’t feel or think anything at all. They
say
we will be brain dead by the time we start biting and eating
other people. But my greatest fear is that I will still be in here somewhere,
watching and feeling it all, but totally out of control. Do you know what I mean?”

God help me, I did. I hadn’t thought about it like
that before, but now it hit me full force. I was speechless as I pondered the
idea of not only losing total control of my actions, but the slight possibility
that I would be forced to experience whatever atrocities my body chose to
perform thereafter. It terrified me to the core. Finally I nodded and said,
“Fuck me.”

She took me literally and we returned to my
apartment for a final round of sex, but my mind and body were no longer into it.
I performed like a robot, or a zombie, and completed the act without true
satisfaction. I could tell she knew it too. She didn’t need to ask what was
wrong either.

“Do you want a gun?” I asked as we lay together in
bed.

“Yes, do you have one?”

“Yes,” I confirmed and rose to fetch it from the
top shelf of my closet. “I won’t be able to take it with me on the plane. So
you might as well use it on yourself. Unless you want to shoot me first.” I
almost wish she had taken me up on that offer. For a moment, when she checked
to make sure it was loaded, I thought she might. But she just smiled sadly and
placed it in her handbag with her inhaler.

“What will you do?” she asked as we prepared to
leave for the airport.

“O.D.,” I replied. “I just grabbed the rest of my
sleeping pills and I have a bunch of pain killers. I’ll either do it on the
plane, or as soon as I get to a hotel in Australia. Probably safer in the
hotel. They might revive me and make me puke on the plane or something.”

“Good plan,” she agreed. “You should have just
enough time to do that when you get there.”

I nodded, then asked something that had bothered
me. “How will there be enough time to spread the virus in Australia anyway?”

“You and the people on your flight are just a
failsafe for the Australian plan,” she explained. “Same with your stop here in
LA. Other carriers should have already spread the virus before you arrived,
like I did here. But if they failed, or were stopped, the people on your flight
will spread out and trigger a pandemic soon enough.” It all made perfect sense
and removed a little of my burden of guilt to know that I was not the only
person responsible for triggering the zombie apocalypse.

We drove back to the airport in silence with the
top down and the wind whipping our hair. I wish that last drive had lasted
longer. As it was we pulled up to the departure terminal far too soon.
 
I grabbed my well used carryon, kissed her
goodbye with urgent passion, and walked away into a crowd of strangers.

****

That is the true end of this story, but I’ll make
some final notes and confessions. My departure from LA on United Flight 839 was
delayed by over an hour, so I am not sure if I will have time to die of an
overdose in Australia before turning into a zombie. Maybe I will find a way to
hang myself, or jump off the roof of a tall building, or leap in front of a bus
or train. I’m still trying to figure that out. In the meantime I used up my
last inhaler on board this Boeing 747-400 that seems to be almost full of
people, at least down in coach. The First Class sleeper section is only half
full and everyone except me has long since fallen asleep without a care in the
world. By the time we land in Australia it will already be late in the day of
April 1
^st
– April Fool’s Day. Isn’t that a hoot? Probably a good day
for me to die.

I decided to write this account of my deeds for
selfish reasons – eternal infamy – but hope that it will also be seen by those
with an interest in learning the truth behind the end of the world as we knew
it. It was me. I did it. I have gone too far, much too far, to repent or seek
any sort of peace, let alone forgiveness. If there is a Hell, it must include either
a throne or a pit of eternal fire with my name on it. I can only hope that I
can get there before the virus traps me in this body indefinitely. In a few
moments I will use the in-flight wi-fi to upload my confession and suicide note
to the internet with mass email distribution set for two days from now. By then
it will be far too late to matter, except to set the record straight. Without
further ado:

I,
Alistair Dane Lukan, hereby confess to international crimes against humanity on
a scale unparalleled in the history of mankind. I admit my guilt, accept my
fate, condemn you to join me, and welcome your hatred and loathing of me now
and in perpetuity.

Sincerely,

A.D. Lukan

PS: There’s
a reason I introduced myself with my full name: Alistair Dane Lukan. It might
not be as catchy as John Wilkes Booth or Lee Harvey Oswald, but all the true
villains seem to be known by their full names.
 
Except for the truly monstrous ones who kill millions, such as Hitler,
Stalin, and Mao. They only need one name. My actions will certainly meet and
exceed the combined level of death and misery that all three of them dished
out. So perhaps you will simply know me as Lukan.
 

The End

Note to the Reader:

“Lukan” is a prequel to
“Voyage of the Dead” as well as the full Sovereign Spirit Saga and might be
quoted/referred to in Volume Two of the ongoing saga by David P. Forsyth

Copyright 2013 All Rights
Reserved

www.DavidPForsyth.com

Email
[email protected]

Buy the full “Sovereign
Spirit Saga: Volume One” for your Kindle now at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EMNJUD4

Or try the individual
novels:

“Voyage of the Dead”
http://www.amazon.com/Voyage-Dead-Sovereign-Spirit-Saga/dp/1483957993/
(available in eBook or Paperback)

“Flotilla of the
Dead”
 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007QOJJIC

“Deluge of the
Dead”
 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ANFW7KS

Welcome Aboard and Bon
Voyage!

David P Forsyth