WORLDS END Read online

  WORLD'S END

  BY

  MW Huffman

  WORLDS END©2013 by MW HUFFMAN

  All Rights Reserved

  “When I was young, I thought that when I reached 30, it would be the end of my world. At 40 I was convinced that 50 was the end of my world. Now that I’m 60, I realize it will just have to wait until a higher authority decides when it will be the end of my world. See? We do get smarter with age!”

  - MW HUFFMAN -

  OTHER BOOKS BY MW HUFFMAN

  THE END–BOOK I of The Event Series

  THE BEGINNING–BOOK II of The Event Series

  THE REVELATION–BOOK III of The Event Series

  The Second Civil War–BOOK I-A Nation Divided

  The Second Civil War–Book II-A Nation at War

  The Second Civil War–Book III–A Nation Healing

  Project BlueBolt – BOOK I – American Gulags

  Project BlueBolt – BOOK II - The Gulag Journal

  Project BlueBolt – BOOK III – American Uprising

  REVOLUTION

  THE BRINK

  CLOSE PROXIMITY

  BLACKSTAR

  CHIMERA

  WORLDS END

  SUN BURST

  Sins of the Fathers

  The Unfinished

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 1 - The Alphabet Murders

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 2 - Frost Bite

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 3 - Dead Aim

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 4 - What Goes Around

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 5 - Nothing to Lose

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 6 - Shadow Man

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 7 – The Club

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 8 – Shakespeare Murders

  Angie Bartoni Case File # 9 – One Too Many

  Angie Bartoni Case File #10 – Weak Link

  Angie Bartoni Case File #11 – Vanishing Act

  Angie Bartoni Case File #12 – Victim’s Advocate

  Angie Bartoni Case File #13 - Payback

  The Logan Files - Blond Deception

  The Logan Files - Innocence and Avarice

  The Logan Files - The Deal Breaker

  Norris Files - Silver2

  Norris Files – Insurrection

  WORLD'S END ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS

  Jeb and Alice Foster

  General Erickson

  Major Martin

  James Flynn

  President Coaler

  General Preston

  JD Canon

  ‘Fingers’ – Wallace Keller

  Ben Scott

  Vivian Flower

  Joe and Beatrice (Bea)

  Paul Lemmings

  Sarah Knott

  Willy Franks

  General Erickson

  Tony Spears – Secretary of Defense

  Ron Sheffer – Chief of Staff

  Bobby Houser – Attorney General

  ‘Gunny’ Baker

  Linda Bollinger

  Barry Stills

  Lieutenant Beal

  TERMS USED:

  DUMB – Deep Under Ground Bunker

  SAM – Surface to Air Missile

  Hughes 500P – Stealth Helicopter

  F-22 – Raptor Jet Fighter

  F-35 – Lightning Fighter

  F-16 – Jet Fighter

  Invader – Prototype air craft

  CHAPTER ONE

  Alice sat up in bed.

  “Jeb...Jeb...JEB!”

  “Oh for Christ's sake Alice, give me a break will ya?"

  “Jeb, I hear something.”

  Jeb had already rolled over and started to drift off again.

  “Damn it Jeb, something is wrong.”

  “Come on Alice. You say that almost every night. What about last night? What the hell was it that time?”

  “That was different.”

  “It’s always different. If it isn’t the wind chimes it’s the damn cats that come around here. Now go to sleep.”

  “Jeb I can’t. This is different. It’s not the chimes or a cat or any animal.”

  “Look, Alice you know I work the mid-shift. I can’t have you waking me up in the middle of the night every single night. What the hell time is it anyway?”

  “Three o’clock.”

  “Oh God. 3:00 a.m.,” he moaned.

  Alice turned on her bedside light bringing another string of expletives from Jeb as he rubbed his eyes.

  “Jeb, this is serious. It’s completely different.”

  “So you want me to get up and go looking around in the middle of the night, is that about it?”

  “Please Jeb. I’m scared.”

  “Nothing new about that,” he mumbled as he sat up and put his feet on the cold floor.

  “Crap. The floor is ice cold,” he grumbled.

  “I’m sorry, but please,” she said and then, “Look. Look at that,” she said pointing to a glass of water on the night stand.

  “What?”

  “Did you see that?”

  “Alice all I see is my sleep slipping away along with my sense of humor from this nonsense,” he said looking at the glass of water that was just sitting there.

  “You didn’t see it?”

  He turned and looked again and was mildly surprised when ripples danced on the surface of the water.

  “Okay. Big deal. Probably blasting at the mine or working on the road again. So what?”

  “No watch it,” she said, insisting.

  Jed sighed and watched the glass of water. The ripples were more pronounced this time. It did seem strange but there could be any number of reasons for the disturbance.

  As he was watching, the ripples increased in size and the glass actually moved a fraction of an inch.

  “Humph,” he muttered and finally got out of bed and put his cold feet into his slippers.

  “What is it?” Alice asked.

  “Well, since I haven’t even looked around Alice, I don’t have a clue yet, do I?”

  “I just meant...”

  “Yeah, I know what you meant. Stay here, I’ll go check it out,” Jeb told her as he picked up the 12 gauge shotgun that he always kept on his side of the bed.

  He hated this part. He really needed to either wear pajamas or get a robe. There was something undignified walking around in his underwear carrying a shotgun.

  He slowly made his way through the house, flipping on lights as he went. He had the home court advantage by knowing every square inch of the house. If someone was in there they were in for a hell of a surprise.

  He found absolutely nothing. Cautiously he opened the front door and peeked outside. It was overcast but nothing seemed out of place. He was just about to close the door when a brilliant flash of light appeared in his peripheral vision.

  Looking over he could see what appeared to be a violent electrical storm in the distance. He stepped out and watched the display in awe. Huge bolts of lightning seemed to be coming down all over the horizon. It seemed like there were thousands striking the ground at any one time.

  He had never seen anything like it before. Even more strange was the fact that there was no thunder. At that distance he should be hearing something. It was one of the most extraordinary displays of lightning he had ever witnessed in his lifetime.

  “Alice,” he yelled.

  “Is that you Jeb?”

  “No, it’s the bogyman. Who the hell else would it be? Come here a minute. You need to see this.”

  “What is it?”

  “Damn it Alice. Just come here,” he said disgustedly.

  He stood watching until his wife came to the door.

  “What?”

  “Come out here. Look at this,” he replied pointing.

  “Is that lightning?” she asked.

  “S
ure the hell looks like it but watch. See that center section. It never goes out like you would expect with a lightning strike. It’s stationary.”

  “Look at the sky above it. It’s all lit up,” she pointed out.

  “This is really strange. Notice there is no thunder either? I can’t tell how far away it is but it looks like it is getting closer since I came out here.”

  “What do you think it is?”

  “I don’t have a clue.”

  “Will it come this far?”

  “I don’t know any more than you do at this point. I do know that it is traveling in this general direction.”

  “What should we do?”

  “I think we should get our butts to the shelter. That’s what we had it put in for. I sure don’t want to be standing here if it gets much closer.”

  “I’ll get dressed,” she said rushing back into the house.

  Jeb followed her and grabbed his pants and quickly put them on. The whole room suddenly lit up and they both jumped.

  “Come on. Go. Now,” he yelled, grabbing her hand and pulling her out the back door.

  He yanked the top to the bunker open and ushered her in. Jeb turned to look back and the house exploded into a million pieces. A huge fireball raced towards where he was standing half in and half out of the bunker.

  The shock wave knocked him back causing him to lose his footing. He tumbled down the stairs hitting the back of his head several times before he fell to a heap at the bottom of the bunker.

  Alice screamed and then everything went totally black.

  The force of the discharge had caused the blast door to close which the only thing that stopped them from being incinerated.

  “Jeb?” she said, trying to feel around for him.

  “Jeb. Are you okay?” she asked.

  Nothing.

  “Oh God,” she muttered and started feeling around.

  It took her a few minutes to locate him. One leg was still on the stairs and he was lying on his back. She felt around and her fingers found a wet spot. She realized it was blood from the smell and it was coming from his head.

  Now what? she thought, trying not to panic. The generator. She needed to get it going so she could see how badly Jeb was hurt.

  She had only started it once before because Jeb had insisted that she know how in case something happened to him. Before going back to where the generator was located, she remembered the cabinet with the wind-up powered flashlights.

  Finding one, she wound it until she acquired a good strong light. She checked Jeb and could see a spreading pool of blood around his head. Not good. Not good at all. She hated to leave him but they needed more than the flashlight. She went back to the end of the bunker and read the instructions for the generator. She pushed the primer button six times and pulled the starter.

  It sputtered a few times and stopped. She primed it a couple of more times for good measure and pulled again. It chugged a few times and then came to life. She waited until it settled down and then hit the breaker for the lights.

  A row of lights flooded the bunker and she took a deep breath. When she got back to where Jeb lay she saw a deep cut at the base of his neck. There was little she could do in the current situation.

  She took his leg off the stairs and laid him out so that his spine was in line with his head. Soaking a gauze bandage in water she placed it on the wound and let the weight of his head hold it in place. She didn’t want to risk rolling him or trying to move him.

  Now what? she wondered. There was little she could do at this point she decided so she just began to cry. She was alone, her husband was seriously injured, and she was scared. Why the hell wasn’t she entitled to cry a little?

  CHAPTER TWO

  Panic.

  Mass hysteria.

  Frenzy.

  Terror.

  Every manifestation of fear ran through the people running for their lives. People pushed, shoved, and trampled over others in their attempt to avoid the advancing rays of destruction.

  Cars careened out of control, crashing into other vehicles, mowing down people and not even slowing. It was total chaos. Women, children, and even women carrying infants were trampled if they didn’t run fast enough.

  James Flynn watched in horror as a woman pushing a baby buggy with twins was knocked to the ground. The infants went sprawling and people stepped on them like they weren’t even there. No one stopped to help or even looked back.

  At this point it was nothing more than a mob out of control. The basic instinct of preservation had already permeated the crowd and nothing was going to stop them, except the menacing rays of energy that were soon to overtake them.

  No matter how fast they ran or tried to dodge the death that was stalking them, they would soon be like all the others. Their bodies would explode with such violence that they would be vaporized.

  Whatever this thing was James knew with certainty that running was not going to save them or him. He simply stood there watching with interest as the spinning disk discharged thousands of bolts of what appeared to be electricity.

  A group of people fighting to try to jump on a car were suddenly enveloped and simply disappeared. No screams or yells for help. In fact it was remarkably quiet. One second they were hanging on for dear life and then...nothing.

  Well James, I guess it’s time to kiss your butt goodbye, he thought as the edge of the rays came closer. I can’t outrun it, no one hiding has escaped, so what the hell? I’ll just stand here and that will be it. It will be over in a flash so there won’t be any pain, he thought.

  He did close his eyes at the last second putting his hands over his face. He didn’t even know why. Maybe it would hurt less not knowing the instant you were going to die. He stood there with his eyes closed for three, then four, five, finally ten seconds passed.

  Nothing. He opened one eye and peeked through his fingers, kind of looking around. What he saw was a crowd running down the street. Each person would suddenly evaporate.

  What the hell? Am I dead? I don’t feel dead. What the hell do I know about how you feel when you’re dead, he decided. He opened both eyes and could see the disk moving slowly overhead. It was still spitting out its deadly energy bolts but for some reason he was still standing there. He felt his chest and legs just to be sure. Yep, he was still alive and in one piece.

  He stood rooted to the spot for almost a half-hour until the disks were in the distance. He could see that they were still active but in all truthfulness he was totally confused and just a little freaked out.

  Finally he decided he would move. He took just a few steps and quickly turned to look back. Nothing had changed. They were still moving away from him.

  Okay James, just what the hell happened? Was it my good looks, my charming personality? Probably not since I don’t have either, he thought. So why did they pass me up?

  He looked around and there was almost nothing left standing. Not a single building hadn’t been destroyed or damaged. Needless to say, no one was alive as far as he could tell. Everyone that had been...moving. He had stayed still. No way could it be something so simple. He was also alone at the time.

  Maybe it was the combination of being by himself and not moving, he considered. If that was the case, maybe others had done the same thing. There had to be some people that had accepted their fate and simply stayed in place.

  The quandary was whether to try to find them or not. If he did and they formed a group would the things come back and kill them all? One thing he did know for sure, he needed to find shelter and there just wasn’t much to choose from. Almost every structure was demolished. Even the pavement was cracked and crumbling.

  He moved slowly, still not convinced that they would not return. The few buildings that were standing were precarious but at some point he was going have to find a place to sleep and make some plans.

  Make plans? What kind of plans? Prioritize. What did he need to do first? Find a place to live. Then? Water, Food, basic protection. Prot
ection? Protection from what? Those things? Contact with others?

  He was absolutely sure that others had survived. It would just be a matter of finding them but going about it such a way as to not put himself in danger. Danger from the disk or ships or whatever the hell they were. Also contact with others he might encounter along the way.

  Walking through the city he was amazed at the destructive capability of the ships. Whatever they hit was changed structurally. He could break off chunks of concrete with his hands. It was discouraging as well. He could be sleeping in one of the buildings when it simply gave out.

  He finally found what looked like it was once a one story small structure. Maybe an insurance agency or doctor’s office, he thought. While the building was severely damaged, one end was still standing. He poked around carefully; trying to make sure it wouldn’t collapse on him in the middle of the night.

  Finally he decided it would have to do for the evening. It was starting to get dark. Tomorrow he would have to start his search for water and food. Just the very thought of not having either triggered thirst and hunger. The mind was a complicated thing. Once you started thinking about it, it was nearly impossible to put it out of your mind.

  Lying on the floor, trying to get comfortable was nearly intolerable, added to the images of what had transpired earlier in the day. All those people; women, children, and men. The young and old. All just gone. What kind of creature could do that? Were live creatures even in those things? Maybe they were just scout ships that sterilized a planet for future use.

  It didn’t help much to consider that. The planet was inhabited and no species or creature had the right to obliterate an entire world for any reason. He laughed. It didn’t really matter what he thought; it had happened and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

  Maybe tomorrow would be better. He would find water, food, and maybe, just maybe, other survivors like himself.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Sir, we just don’t have any answers at this time.”

  “No answers. Well, that’s just dandy. We spend trillions on satellite systems, the most sophisticated advanced warning systems on the planet, and we don’t have a clue as to what just happened,” President Coaler said disgustedly.