Chapter 11

The helicopter continued on towards Colorado. They had stopped several times for fuel and as Barbara had tried questioning Tom he remained evasive as ever. She knew that her research was important to this man. They had left countless scientists behind but she was one of the few that were spared. She yawned softly and rested her head against the seat. The noise of the rotating blades had unnerved her at first, but after many hours of listening to the rhythmic pattern it had settled her nerves quite a bit.

"How much longer until we touch down in Colorado, Tom," she asked.

"Maybe another 6 hours. Try and catch up on some sleep because once we arrive you'll be so busy you'll wish you had."

She nodded and tried to close her eyes. The excitement of going to a restricted military base inside of a mountain was thrilling to her. She knew they would probably be shutting those big blast doors to the outside world. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift off while she fell asleep.

David was in the middle of a dream of his own; the familiar blackness engulfed him and threatened to consume him.

<Why have you made no progress since we last spoke?>

<You can't possibly be that pathetic that you can't even take care of this situation. Why are you dragging along dead weight anyways?>

"They aren't dead weight! They are my family and my friends. They don't deserve to be left behind."

<If that is the case then why haven't you trained harder to wield your powers better, or perhaps find new powers that would take care of things? Your construct Luna is busy in the training grounds trying to find the best possible weapon for the situation she is in. That was one thing you did right, instructing her to learn the weapons from your planet. I suggest you become more diligent in your training.>

David bit back an angry response as the blackness faded into the training grounds. He looked around for a moment and was shocked at the scene in front of him. Luna was covered in pieces of flesh and blood. The blood splotched her clothing in strange places, leaving no discernable pattern. She had modified her sword again, but it was difficult to see where the sword stopped and the gore began. He remained silent and watched her while she worked.

Luna summoned 40 of the creatures and a likeness of her Prince on the far side of the crowd. The likeness had his foot pinned under a rock and was struggling to escape. Luna waded into her foes, becoming a whirling blade of death. She had gotten much better at only striking the weak points. No point cutting off hands if the teeth were right behind them. She was in the middle of the writhing mass when she heard her Prince yelling for help. The creatures were starting to near his likeness and it looked like Luna was training for a worst case scenario. He could see that both of his legs were broken and blood oozed out from under the rock that pinned him.

Luna let out a guttural roar and strode purposely through the crowd. The monsters fell before her like she was swatting at gnats. She could tell she was at a disadvantage, with the sword being so short and would probably need to find something bigger to help her. David looked at her terrifying countenance as the blood dripped from her hair. She was unaware that David was watching her apparently because she held nothing back. He had seen that look in her eyes once before, but never from her. The look of a cornered animal fighting for its life; the look of madness consumed her.

She was less than 10 feet away from his likeness but it was already too late. She had failed to reach him in time and the creatures began attacking him. Taking large bites from his arms and legs, they tried to consume him completely. She let out a mournful cry while she cut down the remaining foes. The creatures and his likeness faded from view and she was alone with the true Prince. He wasn't sure how to take this sudden burst of emotion from her, as he had barely seen her smile before.

"You did you best Luna, I'm still proud of you."

Startled, she turned to face him. She ran up to him and knelt on the ground. He wondered if he had imagined her crying as she appeared to be perfectly composed.

"Forgive me master, my best was not enough. Once again I have failed you and it is not acceptable. I am certain the problem I am having is the large crowd of creatures. I am unable to cut them down quick enough before more move in to replace them," she offered in way of explanation.

"Then perhaps we need to use the right tool for the right job? Here I will send you an image of a weapon and you tell me if you think it would suit you better."

He could only think of one creature that matched her terrible fighting visage; Death itself.

"Oh Master, this would be perfect! Can we try it and see how well it performs?"

"Sure, but I must warn you it is going to be heavy. I don't know where we can find one in the real world, but we will do what we can."

She didn't seem to care, nor strain at the weight of the weapon in her hands. It stood about 5 feet tall and the curved blade was very distinct. Her silhouette was against the red moon that was just rising in the sky. The scythe she held made her look as if she was the Grim Reaper. She moved back about 40 paces and summoned the creatures once again.

She lifted the scythe as if it was weightless. The curved blade had become sharpened on both sides so that she could thrust it out into enemies in the crowd. Using it like a staff she was able to push back the crowd when they got too close. She spun neatly in a circle and blood pooled at her feet. The blade glinted in the light of the red moon and David felt truly terrified by his own protector. He was glad to have her on his side, knowing she would gladly sacrifice herself for him.

The walking corpses advanced upon him at a steady rate. She had taken into account his help in this new challenge. Pulling out his glock he began leveling the monsters. Luna had opted for being able to attack without making much noise, but he knew he couldn't fight like she could. He lifted his book from the ground in front of him and propping it open with one hand he read it hoping for his powers to emerge. He poured power into the contract to help Luna fight her way towards him faster and multitasked as best he could.

It leapt out to him as he emptied the contents of one of their heads onto the rest of the crowd. It was the time compression technique that the book had mentioned before. With this they could practice much harder and longer, provided he could handle the power. He smiled knowing that while things looked pretty grim there would always be a way to deal with new situations that emerged. As he closed the book Luna made her way to his side and knelt at his feet. The battlefield was a mass of writhing death. Most had been killed and the rest sufficiently incapacitated.

Mike stood at the window of the lobby smoking a cigarette while peering out into the darkness. He hadn't realized how quiet things had become since the world ended.

"I guess that's what this is after all, the end of the world," Mike said to himself.

"Yeah, but you have to admit it sure is exciting," Plus said from behind him.

With a jolt Mike spun around. He smirked and turned back to the window.

"Yeah, maybe if you aren't worried about your family and what will become of everyone left alive. I haven't been able to get much sleep since this whole mess started," said Mike.

"Well I don't have to worry about that anymore. I lost all of my family on the first day. I had a wife and daughter but they were in the city when it went down. They probably didn't even have time to be scared. My daughter was around Jasmine's age, here want to see a picture," he asked while pulling out his wallet.

Mike looked at the smiling face in the photograph and could see the resemblance to Plus. She was a bit on the heavy side but looked happy in the group photo.

"Sorry man, I don't know what to say in situations like these, other than just... sorry."

"Yeah, I understand. Just keep your kids safe and you will do just fine."

Mike was about to explain that only David was his son, but realized that Beth was like a daughter to him too in this new situation. Deciding not to correct Plus he had a funny thought pass through his head.

"Why do they call you Plus? I've never heard of a man with that name before."

Plus laughed hard and once he got himself under control he just grinned.

"I was given that name by Jasmine. I met her in a department store. I was raiding it for clothes and she was putting on a damn fashion show. She was a bit mentally cracked when I first met her. I don't think she realized what was happening around her anymore. Well, she stumbled upon me in the plus-sized men's section and she gave me the nickname. It just kind of stuck. My real name is Travis."