Dead End: Stories from the End of the World The Definitive Collection by P.S. Power

Author:P.S. Power [Power, P.S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orange Cat Publishing
Published: 2014-10-14T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter two

Jake felt a fine line of panic starting to run through the center of his spine as the hoards began to descend on him. At first he really thought they were going to rush past him, into the warmth of the House, which was a good idea, except for the fact that Lois would see them, and he very badly wanted her to get a warning first, so that her mind didn’t break from this. They just weren’t ready for them at all. That didn’t stop them from moving. Like an evil unstoppable wave of destruction.

He very nearly drew down on them, just to hold them back for a moment, his hand actually starting to move. No one noticed it except Sammi, who took the hand firmly and held it for a few moments, which got hostile looks from about half the crowd. Not just slightly put off either, actual rage filled some of the faces.

Jake went cold then. He was simply not going to put up with people showing up to accuse him of things he hadn’t done. She wasn’t a little girl, they hadn’t had sex, and her taking his hand had been to protect them, so they could just take their judgments of him and stuff them right back where it belonged.

He was about to say all that when Cam came out of the kitchen, goggled at the group and then nodded, walked up on the other side of him and took his other hand. For some reason, after a few seconds, that got most of the angriest ones to settle, even though Sammi’s grandfather suddenly glared, even though he hadn’t been before. Then Jake got it, what this was really all about.

It wasn’t him at all. It was them.

How stupid. Racial prejudices now? At the end of the freaking world? That was about the stupidest thing he’d heard of. Ever. After a few seconds he shook his head at them all. It would look sad, but he didn’t have energy for a lot more. Not in regards to the dumbest thing he’d actually seen in days. Even Becky’s attacks on him made more sense. She had an actual reason to feel afraid of him. It wasn’t rational, but it was something that could be seen. This was just… Moronic. Something inside of him suddenly felt a bit strange. Cold. This was exactly the wrong thing for them to do.

Couldn’t they see that? It was so obvious. Jake sighed and shook his head again, then spoke as loud as he dared in the open air.

“Right. First thing then, if you want to elect me your 'Very Good Man' or whatever you individually want to call it, then fine. I have rules though and the first one is that we all have to try to get along, and not tear into each other. The second is that you all have to wait out here, so I can go and tell Lois how many extra have come. She’s a pacifist, but may just kill me anyway.

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