The End - Visions of Apocalypse

I was right. We had an outbreak, not only among the populace outside our walls, but apparently technicians had managed to get themselves infected as well. The facility went on full-scale alert, with military troops expedited to maintain order and enforce the lockdown. I had it on good word that orders were given to shoot on sight if any showed signs of infection.

Advanced Sciences had the good fortune to bunker up in one of the secure wings at the facility. Major Thomsen was confident we would be safe there, but if not, he told me personally that if it came to it, he would ensure that I was evacuated to a safe location off-site.

Perhaps we should have reconsidered the name we came up with. Despite my calm exterior, I am terrified.

* * *

One. “Dammit! Shut that damn thing up!” James hit the console hard, hard enough that his knuckles came up bloody. He slammed it again for good measure; he was trying to think, and that damned thing kept counting down to him, like he cared. If it kept up, he’d look for something harder than his fist, shut that damned number-counter up for good.

He had no idea what the numbers meant anyway. Maybe they were his countdown, and when they hit zero he’d explode into sheer absolution, a pure rage that would envelop everything around him. They all deserved it.

James realized, like a revelation, that he did, too. He’d rip everything to shreds if he had to, including himself. He knew it with cold certainty.

Tick.

* * *

I haven’t seen Major Thomsen since. Things have gone from bad to worse, and there are telltale signs that the strain is already spreading beyond control. This will be my final log until I have been able to locate suitable secure arrangements for my exit. I wish that I had more time, wish that we had been able to contain this beast; it was reserved for our enemies, those that truly deserved it. Instead, we may have doomed the entire human race. I may have doomed them.

I must find a way out.

Forgive me.

James Mesnehan

* * *

Zero. James heard a rushing sound, followed by short thumps and vibrations. The console displays lit up, showing hundreds of blinking areas on the continental maps. He had a quick lucid thought, remembered for a moment what had happened, what he had just done. Unbidden tears streamed down his face as the displays changed, showing massive fireballs in the sky; regions of the earth faded into a brilliant white, and then blacked out. Humanity died millions at a time, along with most of the planet’s infrastructure, before the displays were all overcome by blackness or static.

For a second afterwards, there was a peaceful silence. Then the earth was quiet, save for the hiss of smoke and dying fire that only he heard. He saw the displays, full of noise, saw the blinking alerts and lights, but James heard nothing but the crackle of slowly burning ember.

James’ screams shattered the silence. His last thought, before a permanent and lethal rage overtook him, was that he had become Ragnarok.

PETE McLEAN The Last Hand

Peter McLean lives in Norwich, England, with his wife and their two Siamese cats. When he isn’t being an account manager at a global technology outsourcing firm, he is busy writing about magic, fantasy, and demons. He is currently courting agents for his urban dark fantasy series.