The Last World (15 page)

Chapter 19

The morning went as smooth as any other at the National Guard Headquarters in Tarken Heights. Zach and Steve busied themselves with their tasks without a second look from anyone there. Throughout the morning, Steve wanted to know what it was Zack had to show him, but every time he tried to ask a question a stern look from Zach silenced him. After the third attempt, Steve took the hint and said nothing more about it, and he wouldn’t until Zach broached the subject.

As hard as it was for Steve to believe, he woke that morning full of energy
; it was even harder for him to imagine why. It was something he never experienced before under any circumstance. The second his alarm went off, he leapt out of his bed, got dressed, and was downstairs for breakfast before his father had his first cup of coffee.

When Fulton saw his son microwaving a packaged breakfast
and
dressed, he let out a whistle and nodded. “Now, that’s more like it. Feels good to be your own man now, doesn’t it?” He couldn’t hide the pleasure from showing on his face at seeing his son so motivated.

Not that you would let me, right
, Dad?
Steve nodded, keeping his thoughts to himself. “That’s right. Soon I’ll be on my own, too.”

Fulton almost choked on the mouthful of coffee at what he took as a joke. “Damn
, Son! You should aim for the stars, but you’re in the baby-step phase yet. It’s going to take more than a single day on the job for that to happen.”

Steve did as he was expected to by laughing along
, then listening to how the world works and so on. He dealt with it as he always had, nodding his head at the proper moments and vocally agreeing when he was expected to. Steve was never so grateful to hear a car pull up in front of the house, and he didn’t care who it was. The fact it was Zach gave him an excuse not to come back inside until he got home later on. Whether Zach knew it or not, he became Steve’s hero of the day.

Since then, he’d been a bundle of energy that had been driving Zach crazy in just about every which way imaginable. It wasn’t that Steve bothered him
; he just wished Steve would shut up for more than a couple of minutes here and there. Zach was one of those individuals with a fast mind and a slow body. Because of his clubfoot, he learned at an early age how to deal with the physical aspect by moving at a regular pace others couldn’t match over the long term. His mind, on the other hand, continued to race over a hundred different ideas in as many minutes ranging from the plausible to the beyond rational hope. While he was never able to “shut it off”, he did learn to better manage his thoughts. He preferred to think in private or, barring that, in the silence of his fellow working man.

For all the
ways Steve’s energy and enthusiasm were annoying the hell out of Zach, it helped to energize him as well. Generally speaking, having anyone around that could match his energy was uncommon. Zach could only imagine the images and ideas that found their way through Steve’s mind after he dropped him off the night before. His own investigation afterwards had proven to be quite exhilarating and exhausting.

After dropping Steve off, Zach returned to his small apartment and spent several more hours studying the hunk of metal they found. While he wasn’t expecting to find the cure for cancer of anything so grand
, he was impressed by what discoveries he did make. Once of them being the metal’s refracting or chameleon-like properties. Being a fan of science fiction, Zach had multiple types of lights in a trunk by the foot of his bed. What their original purpose was for was something not even he could remember, but that night they were the best thing he could’ve owned. After using each of the lights on the metal, he learned that not all of them were refracted. In fact, blue or black light used to find body fluids made the metal glow an unusual purplish color. Stranger still, the colored light seemed to emanate from within the metal itself.

Curious, he also tested a pair of night vision and infrared goggles. To his surprise, both showed the metal
, but without a glow through the night vision and as a bright red through the infrared goggles. At first, Zach wanted to kiss the clerk at the local Army/Navy store for pointing those out to him a week earlier. Just as Zach began celebrating, a thought struck him. What if the metal was radioactive? It felt cool to the touch and neither of them were sick—well he wasn’t, at any rate. Still, he didn’t want his dick to fall off or anything, so he filled his ceramic-coated lead bathtub with water and placed the piece of metal in the water for the rest of the night or until he needed a shower, which going by his schedule, wouldn’t be for a few more days.

As luck, or a paranoid mind, would have it, Zack had an old Geiger
counter from the fifties that he bought at a flea market a few years earlier. It still worked, or rather, he thought it did. It turned on and showed a minimal reading, but he didn’t know if it was a normal reading or not. Thinking it’d be safer to check on the metal now instead of in the morning, he climbed out of bed and dug through his trunk to find it. He tossed several pairs of uniforms he bought at the Army/Navy store, as well as a stack of books on the various branches and vehicles in the military. The Geiger counter was a bulky piece of equipment, so he knew he put it toward the bottom of his “footlocker”. After digging for several minutes, Zach pulled his prize from its hiding place with a grunt.

Brandishing the Geiger
counter as he would a tool that could save his life, Zach opened the bathroom door and stepped inside. He held the device in his right hand, turned it on, and held the microphone-like device toward the metal. The needle jumped initially before settling in what was considered the lower end of the “Safe” range. His elation evaporated when he realized the lead tub and water were probably dampening the radiation, hence his reading. Zack took a big gulp, as they did in the old movies, and decided the only way to be sure was to empty the tub.

Not feeling so brave at the moment, Zack wondered if the unsettled feeling in his stomach was nerves or radiation poisoning. Considering he only began to feel sick when realizing he would have to reach into what could be
radiation-saturated water, Zach was positive it was all in his mind. With his decision made and his affairs nowhere near in order, he plunged forward and reached into the cold water. In seconds, he pulled the plug and the familiar gurgle caused his heart to skip a beat. Zach stood motionless and stared into the tiny whirlpool made by the draining water. It occurred to him that if the metal was radioactive then he probably would’ve been dead by now.
Fucking idiot!

While cursing himself for his stupidity
, the last of the water drained from the tub with a final gurgling sound that reminded him more of a burp than anything. After another brief pause, he picked up the Geiger counter and turned it on. By that point, part of him hoped the needle would shoot to the lethal limit and stay there with the incessant clicking static making him deaf before killing him and ending his agony. In seconds, the portion of him wanting to see that happen let out a dejected sigh. The needle remained at the lowest point and two whole clicks greeted him. Oh well, at least he’d live another day.

Feeling drained after his initial discovery, Zach turned off the Geiger counter and placed it back where he found it. As for the mess around him, he’d clean that up the next day… better make it later. It’d be depressing to have a time set and not make it because of something stupid happening.
Like finding a meteor?
Zach let out a groan and rubbed his face. He was tired, that was why he didn’t care what happened in the bathroom, but that realization did him little good now. After crawling into bed, he was determined to sleep the rest of the night and not move for any reason. Zach turned his head and looked directly at the digital clock on the table next to his bed. Oh-two-thirty. Three hours until he had to wake up for work. With another groan, he rolled over and pulled his sheet over his head.

Thinking back on it, Zach wondered why the hell was he so energetic and happy that morning? Sure, it wasn’t anything compared to Steve’s energy rush
, but he doubted the rich boy lost any sleep at all. His relief came when his watch alarm went off. Time for lunch and it was about fucking time.

Zack put a finger to his lips and let loose am ear
-splitting whistle. Steve, who was working forty feet away, looked over as Zach pointed to his watch then made a breaking motion with his hands. Steve nodded and started packing up his tools. Despite his own back and forth mood swings, Zach had to admit the kid tried his best and wasn’t bad with a wrench, provided you showed him what to do first.

When Steve got within a dozen feet from him, Zach nodded
toward the outside employee break area. “Break time.”

*****

“How’d it go with your mom?” Winfield Bowen tried to rub the sleepiness from his eyes. Sleeping on those cheap plastic chairs wasn’t worth the aggravation, but at least he looked better than he did the day before.

Franklin smiled, but it carried a sadness to it. “She’s good. A little pissed she wasn’t called yesterday.” Now that was putting it mildly
. He had the impression that if he wasn’t in a hospital, he would need one when she got a hold of him. The sound of her voice brought back memories of his childhood, and the pain of the last few years they lost because of the arguments between himself and his father.

Winfield flinched at hearing that
. He wanted to call her, but one thing led to another and the next thing he knew, it was too late to make the call. He’d call her around lunch time to smooth things out. Instead of continuing that line of thought, he turned the conversation toward Franklin. “How are you feeling?”

Franklin shrugged
. “I’m fine. I slept well and ate all of my breakfast.” It was true, he couldn’t remember feeling better at any point in the last few years. His concern at the moment was for his father’s well being. Talk about a change of character. “Why don’t you head over to the motel and get some rest? You don’t want to waste your money.”

Winfield shook his head
. “I’m good; haven’t slept this good in years.” He could tell by the look on his son’s face that Franklin knew he was lying.

“Yeah right.” Franklin hesitated, unsure if he should continue any further as those conversations often ended with them fighting. He was relieved to see Doctor Doug enter the room on his morning rounds. At least he’d have a witness if things turned bad. “Doc, will you please tell my dad to get some rest?”
Since when am I so happy and concerned?

Doctor Doug thought the pair sounded in good spirits when he picked the clipboard out of the plastic bin. Doug hid what smile did escape him by looking at Franklin’s chart. “Get some rest
—Doctor’s orders. Your son will still be here when you get back, I promise.”

Winfield looked back and forth between them and knew he’d been outmaneuvered. Finally, he shook his head with a small laugh. “I must be tired to let you clowns get the better of me.” That was part of it
, and he also wondered if that was why he wasn’t as strict and curt as he normally was. “Call me if anything happens. Either of you.” His eyes took on a serious look, and both Franklin and Doug nodded their agreement.

“Of course. Leave your number with Phyllis on the way out.” Doug‘s voice was soft and comforting
, as was its usual sound. Once more, he thought back to the previous night and mentally thanked his daughter and Horace. While they helped tremendously, he also knew the news he heard that morning had something to do with his improved mood as well.

When Doug first arrived, Doctor Forbes was aloof and only answered him in short, terse phrases. It wasn’t anything Doug hadn’t grown used to over the years
, but he sensed more contempt than usual coming from his counterpart. The reason, or so he assumed, was because he’d been thoroughly dressed down by Winfield Bowen the previous night...an event the nurses and other doctors were all talking about. While Doug refrained from laughing, it did answer his previously unvoiced question as to how the patients and Doctor Forbes got along. Once an ass, always an ass, as his father used to say.

Winfield nodded in response to Doug and left the pair alone. For the first time since the young man arrived, Doctor Doug felt comfortable being around him. “From everything I can see, you’ll be getting out of here later today, assuming of course you won’t miss our food enough to have another relapse. Everything feeling good? Any dizziness? Fatigue?”

Franklin answered with a smile of his own. “A-okay, doc. I can’t remember the last time I felt so good.” Over the last few hours, the visions ceased unless he wanted to see them and Tanok stopped visiting him without any warning. Although he could still see his friend standing off to the side waiting until Franklin was ready. It didn’t occur to him that those, and other things he’d been experiencing, would fade away in time.

Doug nodded
with a smile. “Are you always this upbeat? I’m sorry, but I’ve grown accustomed to the silent, brooding young man that’s been in this room.” It was meant to keep things light, but something seemed strange, like Franklin was the only one not in on the joke.

Franklin shook his head
. “This is the new me. From what I’ve been hearing, I was part of a miracle.”
Twice.
“You won’t find me complaining about a second chance.”
Or a third?
Franklin scratched his shaved head to hide the fact he shook it in an attempt to ignore those thoughts.