Pursuit of the Apocalypse Read Free

multicolored lights lit the breadth of Horseshoe Falls.
    The panoramic illumination showed the true power of the water as it plunged more than one hundred eighty feet into a mist that masked perilous rocks and dangerous eddies. But everyone could see the boats.
    In the years since the end of time, the captainless ships had been at the mercy of the wind and weather of the Great Lakes. Pulled by the powerful force of the river, hundreds of ships left adrift would each one day find their way to the base of the falls in a pile of twisted metal.
    An even dozen had fallen in the past, and one more now teetered on the edge waiting to join the others in the pile below. This is why they were here.
    “How many ride the falls tonight?” Invictus asked.
    “There are one hundred and thirty-six, Lord Invictus.”
    “And what are their crimes?”
    A nearby toady pulled a sheet of paper from inside his shirt. “Mostly Fair Share violations. One for, umm, denouncing your name. And, several for High Treason against the state.” He tucked the paper away.
    “And the Prairie Dog?”
    The toady turned the paper over several times as if the information would appear. “I ... I don’t see that on the list, Lord Invictus.”
    The Great Lord turned his head. It was difficult in the ceremonial garb and the pain entered his voice as anger. “And why would it be on your list?”
    “I ... I don’t know, Lord Invictus. I ...”
    “Praetor,” Invictus called.
    The man that answered the call was built solid and strode through the room confident that every man present would move from his path. He, too, wore a crimson cape, but in a more practical fashion. It hung from a single shoulder and fell only to his waist.
    He said nothing as he joined Invictus at the shattered window.
    “Is he on board?” the Great Lord asked.
    “He is.”
    “And he never talked?”
    “No. Name, rank, blah, blah, blah. Nothing else.”
    “Seems like a perfectly good waste of torture,” Invictus said.
    “This should make the other one talk.”
    “It had better. I want to know where they’re coming from. They keep sticking their heads up thinking they still run the world. I run the world.” Invictus grabbed a lackey by the shirt, yanked him close and screamed in his face. “I run the world!”
    He shoved the lackey into a group of toadies and delighted as they spilled across the hotel room floor. Invictus stepped toward the shattered window and spoke. “Turn it on.”
    With this command, a spotlight boomed to life twelve stories below, the cameras activated and the Great Lord Invictus filled a screen thirteen stories tall on the exterior of the hotel.
    Beyond the lights, beyond the falls, they were out there in the streets watching and listening. His image was on a thousand screens and his voice was broadcast to every street. When he spoke, his voice drowned out the roar of the falls themselves.
    “Loyal citizens of Alasis. We gather tonight to celebrate the passing of the old. What once was teeters once more on the precipice of tomorrow. The old ways are gone. Swept away by a violent progress that has left only the most capable of mankind to continue on. This is good. And so once again we celebrate the passing of the age of ignorance.”
    The colored lights on the falls vanished and were replaced by several spotlights that focused on the derelict ship at the top of the falls. Invictus’s image faded from the screen and was replaced by live footage of the ship.
    Invictus could not hear them cheer. But they always cheered. Though they didn’t always cheer his policies, and they didn’t always cheer his rule, everyone enjoyed watching a ship plummet over the falls.
    It was the same every time. As soon as a ship entered the channel, festival preparations began. Parties would occur all week as scavenger crews captured the vessel and stripped the hulk of any valuables. Cargo, engine parts, wiring; everything that could be used was taken from the ship.
    The new