How the World Ends by Joel Varty Read Free Book Online Page B

that this fellow called Michael approached me with some sort of task that I have to do, because it’s my duty to serve, or some such thing, and Gabe is a troubled child that seems to have some kind of message he thinks he has to tell me about my family.” I stop talking and glare directly at Jim, this smiling minister who seems to have all the answers, who seems to know me, but who doesn’t think he needs to tell me anything but to get going.
    “Yes!” he says. “You seem to understand precisely.” He shifts his eyes a little to the side, and then adds, “More or less.”
    “But what does any of that have to do with the gas rationing or the riots that are starting out there?”
    “It’s really quite simple, Jonah,” Jim says. “The world as we know it, at least in this place, is over. Everyone reacts to change differently. The people of this city, and I know more than a few of them, good and bad, need somebody to lead them out.”
    “I don’t believe it,” I hear myself say, feeling slightly disembodied. “Why are you asking this of me?”
    Jim smiles and looks at his feet. “When it’s already happening, it doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not - unless you want to live under a rock. And, for the record, it isn’t me asking. I’m just a poor dead preacher trying to get to heaven.” He looks up. “I can’t do anything out there, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to come back in here to talk to you once I’ve left. I have to close up shop, so to speak. Maybe you can still visit, though.”
    I feel myself staring, squinting away the truth of what he is saying whilst behind my eyelids I know, deep down, that it is the truth.
    “Is it my fault?” I ask. “The end, that is.”
    “Did you have any other choice?”
    Do I now?

Chapter Eight – What the End Might Be
    Lucia
    “The revolution is upon us, Lucia,” says the voice on the cellphone. “I won’t be able to contact you further until you are out of the city.”
    “You were supposed to get me out last night.”
    “That part of the plan didn’t work out. You know I tried to get to you, but we were unable to move as freely as we would have liked.”
    “What with my husband getting murdered and all?” Lucia Hadly asks. “That’s no excuse. Now I can’t even step outside my front door. There streets are clogged with people, and I know we don’t have much longer before the power gets cut and all hell breaks loose. You have to do something now. ”
    “Or what, Lucia? You’ll tell on us? I am just following orders, and these come from way up the ladder. I might have a chance to get you out on a chopper once the depopulation process has begun. The streets should begin to clear up in a few days.”
    “If I live that long.”
    “I’m sorry, Lucia, I truly am. We won’t forget the work you’ve done. You’ve done your country a great service.” The voice is growing more and more patronizing. Lucia is reminded of the way James used to talk to her.
    “I don’t see how it does the country any good to have its people wiped out like sick cattle with hoof-in-mouth,” she says, a small tingle of fear beginning to find an edge in her words. “I certainly didn’t plan on being here when this service was rendered.”
    “Good-bye Lucia,” says the voice. “I suggest you take the next few minutes to make any calls you need to.”
    “No wait, don’t hang up!” Lucia screams into the phone as the connection is lost. She struggles to remain in control of herself.
    Only a few minutes, who can I call?
    Who is left?
    She pulls out her old address book and finds the entry for her sister Rachel.
    …
    Jonah
    Some worlds disappear when they are vacated.
    I step from the church into an alley and a torrential downpour. Turning, I can just barely make out the solid brick of the office building behind me where the church should have been. I reach out to touch it, just to be sure. Of what, I can’t tell, but just knowing that something solid