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#Call Cthulhu
The End of the World as We Know It: Part 2 - Approximately a Week Later by Most Clocks Estimates

The End of the World as We Know It: Part 2 - Approximately a Week Later by Most Clocks Estimates

  Julius groaned sitting up, and felt a sharp pain in his left side. Glancing down he pulled up his shirt, and saw bandages on both sides of him.

  "I think I got shot," he said out loud. The pain was less than he would have expected. He wondered if he had been medicated. His whole body had an odd sensation,like it was lighter than normal. When had he gotten shot? Julius tried to think back. The last thing he could remember was everything going to shit, and Cthulhu getting nuked. He glanced up, and was relieved that the sky seemed normal. The sun was somewhat past noon and in an unbroken blue sky.

  Looking around Julius spotted Alex and two other people, laying near him, in what seemed like a corn field. He stood up a little unsteadily, and realized the clothes he was wearing were different. "What the hell happened?" Julius wondered aloud. One the others stirred and groaned, rolling over. Julius hurried over to Alex, and nudged him with his foot. He wasn't sure if they were in a post-apocalyptic situation without laws now, but having Alex awake would be good. Maybe he knew where they were? Alex bolted awake, and Julius noticed he was wearing a black trenchcoat and had a holstered pistol. Neither things he had owned before. “Alex do you know what's going on?”

  "The end of the world?" Alex said, then squinted at the sky. "Maybe?"

   "Why do you have a trenchcoat and a gun?" Julius asked.

  "I have a gun?" Alex said surprised, and patted the holster on his waist. “Cool.”

  "Did you shoot me?" Julius pressed suspicious.

  "I don't know? How did you get shot?" Alex asked.

  "I have a feeling none of us know what's going on." An unfamiliar voice said. Julius spun, sending a twinge through his side, and saw the other two people were sitting up. A balding man in his forties had spoken, and he got to his feet. The other person, an intense looking man, stayed sitting. The intense look of may have entirely been because he was naked, other than an eyepatch, and covered head to toe in blood. Alex rubbed his face. "I must have at least a weeks worth of beard," he said.

  "So you two know each other?" The balding man asked Alex and Julius.

  "We're brothers," Julius answered. "I'm Julius, and that's Alex. Do you two know each other?"

  The two men looked at each other, and shook their heads. Alex took off the trenchcoat, and offered it to the bloody man. "Here, it's not mine anyways, probably." Alex under the coat was still wearing the same shirt he had when it all started, although it had a considerable amount of stains. The man gratefully put on the coat, and stood up. "Thanks, my names Philip." He reached out a hand, but then pulled it back realizing it was covered in blood. “Sorry.”

  "I'm Charles." The balding man offered. "I think perhaps we should find somewhere safe before night, who knows what is happening."

  "That makes sense we should stick together for now." He suggested They all took in the surroundings, looking for a path. They stood in the center of a circle of flattened corn fifty feet across. The corn was six feet tall, so Alex jumped, looking over it. "There's a road off that way." He set off, Julius following, and the others coming along.

  “So did you guys see the giant eye in the sky too?” Alex asked.

  “When the sky tore open?” Phillip asked back.

  Julius suppressed a really sarcastic comment, and Alex spoke up. “Yeah. We saw a giant eye and then a face, looked like Cthulhu.”

  “I saw an eye but towards the north. It was mostly a huge torso.” Charles answered.

  “Where were you?” Julius asked noticing Charles' accent.

  “New York, do you think we're upstate?”

  “We were in Ontario, in Canada.” Alex said worried.

  “Then where are we now?” Philip asked to the group, and no one had an answer.

  They entered another stretch of flattened corn, this one a long curve. Julius searched his pockets, and found his phone, along with its sim card and battery. In his other pocket he found a pill bottle with no label, and a coin. He opened it, and looked at the couple dozen, nondescript, white pills.

  "Anyone else have stuff in their pockets?" He asked, turning back to look at the group. Philip searched the coat. He pulled out an ammo clip for Alex's gun, and a candy bar. Charles had his phone, and a small black notebook, which he said he always carried around with him. Alex pulled up a pant leg where a bone knife was strapped to his calf, and in one pocket he found several shotgun slugs.

  Charles' phone was dead, so Julius put his battery and sim card back into his, and experimentally turned it on. It booted fine, and to his surprise it said he had full bars, although no internet. Perhaps everything hadn't gone to shit if the cell towers still worked. He checked the network provider, and regretted it. The name was a sequence of strange symbols, they seemed to be crushed three dimensional images, and struggled to break free. It hurt his head to look at, he worried they would escape from the screen into his mind. That was a bad sign for things being normal. Julius tried to call his family home, but the number was unreachable. "I have service," he said to the group. "Although no internet." Next he tried to dial nine-one-one. The call connected, and he hesitantly asked. "Hello?"

  "We're sorry, but all operators are currently busy. Please stay on the line until one can take your call." A computer voice said. They kept walking for ten minutes until he hung up. Next he tried his friends, but all of them couldn't be reached. He left voicemails, but was unsettled. Most of them must have had their phones blow up, like Alex's had, Julius reasoned. "Does anyone know any numbers they would like to try?"

  "If I could?" Charles asked. Julius handed him the phone, and he dialed a number. "Ah they picked up," he said. He listened for a moment. "Yes, yes Samantha I'm fine. I'm sure Minerva is fine," he listened a while longer. "Do you know what happened?" he asked. After a while listening he spoke again. "Of course, of course. I will call you later to check up all right. I have to go now." He hung up, and passed the phone back. "My wife, she doesn't have any idea what's happened either, but she woke up an hour ago at our house, Minerva is our cat."

  Julius checked the calendar on his phone, the simple idea just now coming to him. "My phone says it's been a week since the day Cthulhu appeared," he told them.

  "That follows with the beard," Alex agreed.

  "So what, we all blacked out for a week?" Philip asked.

  "Maybe? Who's to say what's possible," Julius reasoned.

  They reached a two lane paved road, and picked a direction to walk. A speed limit sign was in miles per hour, so they were at least in America. They walked on the shoulder, sparse lines of trees bordering the road. The sun started to set before they saw any cars, or other people. “We should stop for the night,” Phillip said. “Get a fire going, and get some sleep.”

  “I agree, I'm tired, I certainly don't feel like I slept for a week,” Charles agreed. They picked up dead wood from the treeline, which had grown thicker as they had walked, and made a small pile of kindling. “So how do we light it?” Charles asked.

  It took half an hour of work to figure out a solution. Charles didn't contribute much, other than a few pages of his notebook. Alex had to temporarily give up a shoelace, as they made a bow. After cutting open one of the shutgun slugs and sprinkling a few grains of the powder onto the paper, they managed to get enough friction to light the paper. Another ten minutes of nursing with pinches of gunpowder, and they had a fire going. They settled around the fire, sitting on the pavement. “So what did you all do in the before times?” Julius asked, only half joking.

  “Let's not be pessimistic, this all might just be temporary,” Charles replied.

  “Julius and I grew up on a farm,” Alex volunteered.

  “Never really had a career,” Phillip admitted. “Did some time in the army, but got drummed out. Worked some jobs, nothing special.”

  “I was in banking,” Charles told them. “Not sure if that's a marketable skill now.”

  “Don't be like that, you know how to manage things. That's important in times of scarcity” Julius told him hoping to cheer the man. “What about your wife, got more family?”

  “No, just Samantha.”

  “I had a wife, well ex-wife, and kid,” Phillip added. “I just dropped Jaiden off at Becca's when it all happened.” Everyone couldn't help but look at the blood coating him.

  “Maybe we should just try to get some sleep,” Julius said, hoping to change the subject. Although he doubted anyone would be getting much sleep that night.

  The next morning they got back walking when the sun rose. They split the candy bar in four pieces and tried to not be thirsty. Just before noon they saw a house off the road. "We check it out, we need supplies. Maybe they have a car too." Alex asked.

  "Or a shower?" Philip said. Unanimously they headed down the driveway. The house was a story and a half house in decent condition. They pulled open the garage, and saw disappointingly the car in the garage had a huge hole in hood, where it looked like the engine had melted onto the ground.

  They entered the house, Alex calling out but, no one answered. Charles flipped the light switch, but it didn't seem like there was power. "Everyone make pairs, and search the house," Alex said. "We need to know if anyone is here."

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  "I'll go with Philip, Alex you go with Charles. Anyone finds anything just yell." Julius suggested. He pulled out his phone, and turned on the light. "We'll check the basement.”

  Julius went down the stairs, the phone lighting the dark basement. "So Philip is the eyepatch new?" Julius asked.

  "Yeah," he answered tersely.

  "Want me to take a look see how bad it is."

  "I can't see out of it, that's all I need to know."

  "It could be infected?"

  "It's all right, doesn't hurt," Philip replied defensively, and Julius let the topic drop. A search of the basement didn't reveal any people. Just two empty bedrooms, and a pool table. "All clear down here." Julius called up.

  "We're good up here." Alex called back, and everyone reconvened in the dining room. Alex was rooting through the fridge. "Everything looks like its gone bad with the power out," he said, pulling out a carton of expired milk, and some very brown vegetables. Julius started looking through, and pulled out some beets that were still good. Then he moved onto the pantry. He pulled out some potatoes, and a can of meat, trying to piece together a meal. "Alex check outside, see if they have a grill."

  "That's weird," Charles said, looking through the freezer portion. "The ice-cream is still frozen, warm but frozen."

  "Probably shouldn't eat it, to be safe then." Julius suggested.

  Philip tried the kitchen sink but it just sputtered once then gurgled. "I'm going to check the bathrooms." He said leaving the room. Julius pulled a case of bottled water out from the pantry. He set it on the table, taking one and drinking it. "There's a grill." Alex yelled from outside.

  "Good we can cook something then." Julius gathered more ingredients from the pantry.

  He spent a calming half hour cooking the food, and carried it back inside. Everyone settled around the dining room table to eat. Philip was looking a little cleaner, at least his hands and face, and he had stolen some clothes. "The toilets still had water." He said sniffing. "Better than nothing."

  "Fair enough." Alex replied.

  They ate quietly not talking much, just agreeing that they should stay the night here, and try to find a town tomorrow. They divvied up the rooms, Alex and Julius taking the two in the basement, and Charles and Philip staying in the two upstairs. It was still early, so he decided to try and unwind a little by playing a game of pool with Alex.

  “So who do you find the most suspicious between Philip and Charles?” Alex asked, making the break, and seeing one of the stripes go in.

  "Charles. Seemed like everyone's phones were exploding, but his is intact with the battery. Plus he said he was married, but I didn't see a ring."

  "I don't think it's unreasonable to assume he could have lost it during the week," Alex said, lining up and making another shot.

  "No one has a cat named Minerva, and he didn't say I love you, or call his wife any pet names." Julius argued. He pulled out his phone, and made a note of the number Charles had called. "When we get a second phone I want to try this number and see who picks up."

  "Sure, and I guess he is suspiciously normal," Alex admitted

  "One person out of four waking up in a field being just an innocent bystander, seems unlikely."

  "So you're making the assumption we aren't innocent?"

  "I've been shot and I'm still suspicious you did it. You had a gun and a knife, and Philip was covered in blood."

  Alex missed a third shot, and clicked his tongue. "So what do we do then?"

  Julius looked at the pool table considering. "I guess we stick with them for now, things aren't normal. The icecream was warm, but somehow still frozen. Keeping with a group is safer." Julius took his shot. The coloured ball ricocheted, and went into a different pocket than he had intended. "Better lucky than good."

  Alex scoffed, but waited for Julius to take another shot. "Well, with the clip Philip gave back I have twenty two bullets. I was missing ten out of the clip that was loaded."

  "One out ten isn't that bad of accuracy." Julius said pointing to his side. He missed his next shot

  "Please." Alex sunk another ball. "I think we both know I could do better than that."

  They finished up the game, and went to bed. In the morning everyone gathered around for a breakfast of instant oatmeal. "So I guess we just keep on moving?" Julius asked.

  "After we loot the place." Alex replied. "Look for a change of clothes and backpacks or bags. We'll need to carry water and food." They caught a lucky break, finding a few old looking school backpacks, and one hiking backpack that was in a closet with a portable cooking kit. With some supplies they set off walking along the road.

  The day passed without incident, until near sunset. “Does anyone else see that thing in the sky?” Alex asked pointing to something in the distance.

  “I think so? Is it a helicopter?” Julius replied.

  “A helicopter would be making noise,” Philip answered.

  They all stood and listened, but only heard the rush of wind. Then they could hear the leathery flapping of wings. The shape grew closer until it could be made out clearly. “Dragon!” Alex screamed, and sprinted off the road. There was a copse of trees on the other side of the ditch that he disappeared into. Following his lead everyone ran, except for Charles. He seemed rooted to the spot. Turning back, Julius saw him there stopped, and ran back to him. Grabbing his arm and trying to pull him along, he heard Charles mumbling under his breath. “They say dragon blood makes a person invulnerable, eating there flesh grants power.”

  “Charles, move!” Alex yelled from the trees. Julius was tall and broad shouldered, but Charles looked to weigh well over three hundred pounds, and he could barely drag him much less carry. Julius looked over to see how close the dragon was, when he noticed something. “It's a wyvern!” He yelled in Charles ear. “Its arms and wings are conjoined.” Whether Charles understood Julius, or the yelling had finally snapped him out of it, he started to move.

  It was too late though, with a screech, the wyvern swooped down towards them. Gunshots rang out, and the wyvern squawked turning away. Alex and Charles kept sprinting making into the treeline where Alex was crouching his pistol in hand. The kept running into the relative center of the copse, where Philip was waiting. The wyvern screeched again as it flew overhead, and talons tore at the treetops. “Is it a good idea to hide in a forest, won't the dragon it just burn it down?” Philip asked.

  “Not a dragon, it's a wyvern,” Julius replied panting.

   “What's the difference?” Philip asked. Julius had been real into dragons as a kid, and he rattled off the explanation. “Wyvern's arms and wings are conjoined like a bat, whereas a dragon has four limbs and two wings. Usually they have a low beast-like intelligence and venomous attacks, but no fire.” Phillip suddenly swore, and tore off his jacket throwing it to the ground. On the back some green fluid steamed. “I think that is blood from when I shot it,” Alex said, crouching down at it. The wyvern attacked the trees again, this time grabbing one with both legs. It shredded the trunk apart with its barbed tail, till it could pick it up. It flew holding the tree for a bit, then it dropped it, turning around for another pass. “I think we need to come up with a solution,” Alex suggested. “Before we lose all our cover.” Charles crouched down looking at the wyvern blood staining the jacket. “I think I can do something,” he said. “Give me your phone.” He told Julius.

  Not sure why but desperate, he passed over the phone. Charles dialed his wife, and started talking. “Samantha what is that binding spell you're always going on about?” He asked. He listened for a moment. “Alex I need that bone knife.”

Alex passed over the knife as the wyvern clawed away another tree. Charles dipped the knife into the green blood and started drawing symbols with it, chanting in what Julius thought was Latin. The knife started to glow red, and Charles stabbed the knife into the center of the symbols. The symbols subsequently began glowing, and a low vibration could be heard.

  “All right, I've created the link now what?” He listened on the phone. “What do you mean I need a full moon and the twig from the oldest tree in forty miles,” he groaned. Then hung up the phone. “Anyone have any ideas? Whatever happens to this blood happens to the wyvern's blood.”

  “Could we burn it?” Alex asked.

  “I think it would only be able to transfer so much heat, before we destroyed this blood and it stopped working,” Charles answered.

  “I've got it,” Julius said, pulling the pill bottle from his pocket, and rattling it. The wyvern was readying for another swoop, and the tree cover had gotten rather thin as Charles had been constructing the spell. Julius started crushing up the pills, and sprinkling them onto the blood. “What even are those?” Alex asked.

  “Vicodin I think. I took one this morning, and it certainly is a painkiller.” Julius replied. He had covered most of the blood with the powder, reluctantly weighing his last few pills. They all turned to look at the wyvern. It drew closer coming over the trees. Mouth open, its hiss sounded like a cat the size of a bus.

  Then it suddenly crumpled in the air, and fell down into the copse. From where they stood they could see it land, skewered by the tree's it had broken. Green blood flowed out, and was scorching the bark. With a snapping sound the bone knife broke in half, and the glow faded.

  Julius gave Alex a look, and he nodded. They both took two steps away from Charles, and Alex aimed his pistol at him. “Explain yourself!” Julius demanded.

  Philip looked between them, and made distance from Charles, keeping silent. “Look this is just a misunderstanding. My wife Samantha used to be a witch in college. I just thought that maybe with everything going on, that magic and the like, was you-know real,” Charles explained.

  “What day is your and Samantha's wedding anniversary?” Julius asked, pulling the phone back out.

  “March 9th .”

  “That was the day the Cthulhu showed up,” Julius commented.

  “Quite the coincidence,” Alex added.

  “You wouldn't shoot me over a coincidence would you?” Charles pleaded.

  Julius dialed the phone, and a woman picked up. “Charles is that you?”

  “Charles got hurt, the wyvern got him with its tail. Do you know any healing spells or something?” Julius said in a panic. “What?” Charles said, and started to move. Alex holstered his gun and punched Charles hard in the stomach. Charles collapsed to the ground, moaning loudly.

  “I'm sorry I don't know anything the like. At least not with out the proper materials.”

  “What's that?” Julius said, not quite into the phone holding it away from himself. “You need to tell us a secret Charles,” Julius waited a long moment. “Oh my god!” He yelled, then put the phone back up to his ear. “Tell me what is your guys anniversary?” Julius asked, intentionally sounding suspicious.

  “March 9th.” Samantha replied.

  “It's true,” Julius whispered. “I've got to go,” he said at a normal volume.

  “Wait if he's dying let me talk to him one last time,” The woman asked.

  Julius paused a moment. “Sorry, he's umm... already dead, bye,” he hung up.

  Alex had Charles flat on the ground now, a knee on his back. “What the hell was that?” Charles shouted.

  “To be honest it kind of got away from me. Still, now whatever organization on the other end thinks you're either dead or a traitor. So why not just tell us?”

  “I'm not telling you shit!” He yelled.

  “I can get him to talk,” Philip said quietly. Everyone turned to look at him and it was dead quiet. Julius thought he could hear a faint ominous hissing sound. Phillip shrugged at the response. “If you want.”

  “Let me try one more thing,” Julius said. He called Samantha again. “Hello Samantha, if that is your real name? How much is Charles' life worth to you guys? Or are you not important enough to make that kind of deal?”

  “Look I don't know what Charles told you but,” There was a pause, then a new voice spoke. “This is the Chairman, what do you want? I warn you though, we are still picking up the pieces after the failure.”

  “So you're strapped for manpower and don't want to lose anymore people?” Julius asked trying to get more information.

  “Charles was the last person who's accessed the Golden Bridge. We need to debrief him on what happened. No one remembers what happened after the summoning ritual was started.” Julius hung up thinking.

  “Charles, the Chairman knows you were the last person on the Golden Bridge. He wants to tear you apart piece by piece because of it. Tell us everything, or I get back on the phone and give you to him,” he lied.

  Charles stopped struggling, and Alex got off him, redrawing his pistol. “I'm a member of the Illuminati. Since world war two we've been working on a way to obtain immortality. We constructed a giant magical system to summon and control Cthulhu. We were supposed use it's power to grant us immortality,” he admitted.

  “So you people did all this.” Alex accused.

  “Yes, the summoning drew more than Cthulhu. Then there was an energy surge, and I don't remember anything after that. I don't even know why I went onto the Golden Bridge.”

  “What exactly is this Golden Bridge?” Julius asked.

  “The command center of the spell. Using it we could control Cthulhu to alter reality.” All the fight seemed to have gone out of Charles, and he made no attempt to get off the ground.

  “What do we do now?” Alex asked. They all looked at Charles, judging him. He and the Illuminati were responsible for who knew how many deaths, surely millions, if not billions. He had started sobbing a little, but what if it was all an act?

  The real question though Julius asked himself. How many deaths he wanted to be responsible for? He readjusted his backpack and turned away, walking back towards the road. He tensed himself for a gunshot, wondering if Alex or Philip were harder than him. “We are going to keep walking north, you go the other way,” Alex said. He jogged up to catch up, Philip following.

  They never saw Charles in the two days of walking it took them to reach a town. It was a decent sized town with two hundred or so people living there, from their original population of a thousand. They seemed to be the first visitors, and the townsfolk were relieved that others people were alive. From talking to them we learned that no one seemed to have memories of the week after Cthulhu got nuked. At some point in that week every car's engine blocks had been melted into slag. Oddly the few motorcycles owned by people in town were operational, and several had left town on them. They were allowed to squat in one of the homes of the people who had gone missing. A few days passed, as they recuperated. They spent the time in a daze, like most of the residents of the town.