Chapter 22: The Last Day
Max woke up early the next morning, his mother and father still asleep. He slowly went downstairs and made himself some pancakes. He was actually pleased with himself, because in his entire life Max had never made a meal. Even when he left the town, Rich made Max all of his food. "These pancakes taste even better since I made them," Max laughed to himself. He heard his mother get up, and saw her walk down the stairs. Her jaw dropped as she saw Max eating pancakes. "Who made you those pancakes Max? Did that young lady friend of yours drop them off?" she asked. "No mom, I actually made these on my own, I even made you a stack too. And here's some coffee if you want it." She beamed at Max, “I really do have the best son in the world." She sat down and ate slowly. "Does it feel weird to sit down in the morning mom?" "I might have to do this more often," she said while laughing pleasantly.
After breakfast Max walked to the training field. He was prepared and ready to rally everyone up for what they were about to face. When he arrived he saw Rock already there as he always was. “Rock are you early to everything? Like I mean seriously it’s amazing how you beat me every single day of the week.”
“Well Mayor, I guess I just have my priorities straight. Maybe you should do the same, sir.” Max shot Rock a sneer and waited for all the groups to come together.
“Citizens! It is our last day to practice, to make mistakes. Tomorrow we find out if we passed the test. Now I’m not planning for this battle to just be one hard day. This battle could last days, weeks, or even months. They will not stop until we are completely wiped out, or until they are. As Max was giving his speech he heard a lot of shouting coming from the direction of the town wall.
“Mayor Max! There’s one here!” someone yelled. Max sprinted with Rock over to the town wall. The men on top said they shot down something, but it wasn’t dead.
“Rock stay here, I can’t get infected.” Rock nodded at Max and ordered the guards to open the gate in the wall. Max approached the single Red Death very cautiously.
“I thought you things weren’t coming until tomorrow,” Max said as he stared uncertainly at the creature. It coughed up blood managing to say, “Is that you Max? The last of the Secord’s?”
“How do you know who I am?”
“We know very much about you foolish boy, we know you defeated a thousand of our scouts. If you think you have any chance of defeating us all I'm afraid you’re quite mistaken. We’ve learned about all the weapons and have a few of our own. My group will be here at midnight tomorrow, and my leader wanted to tell you one thing.”
“What does he want?” Max demanded. The bleeding Red Death handed Max the four white cloths, just like the ones that the four men wore.
“He says you have no purpose.” Max was filled with rage and he pulled out his plasma ray gun and aimed it straight at the Red Death’s face. “Pull the trigger boy. It won’t matter, you’re all dead any way.” “You’re wrong, I do have a purpose.” “Bam!” Max shot the Red Death right in the heart and it died instantly.
Max called for the gate to be reopened and ran back inside. He saw Rock and the old mayor waiting for him just inside the gate. “What the hell happened out there Max?” George asked frantically.
“The Red Death somehow knows all about me. They’ve even killed the four men I met in the canyon. The thing said the army would be here at midnight tomorrow, but we can’t be sure if he’s telling the truth or not. I also think they’re a lot smarter than I’ve given them credit. They might even be using weapons, I’m not sure.”
Rock stared at Max, “No, I think they will be here when they say, they’re an arrogant group Max. They don’t think we stand a chance, but they know you’re special. You do realize their plan for defeating us will be killing you.”
Max looked at Rock, he was speechless and a little frightened. But he knew he had to step up, it was his purpose. “Well then, we’re going to use that to our advantage. I’m going to be the bait, I will lure them right to the explosives. Rock I want you to be the one to use the explosives. If something happens and I can’t get back in time, you’ll have to blow me up too.”
Rock understood what Max was saying. “It’ll be for the greater good boy, but trust me we won’t let you die.” “Well what do we do now?” George asked. “The only thing we can do is get the citizens ready. It’s not like we have much of a choice anyway,” Max replied. “Well you better go talk to them, they have no clue what is going on.”
Max, Rock, and George all went back to the training fields where the groups were waiting. “I’m very sorry about that, but I can assure you we have it under control,” Rock yelled out. Then Max stood tall.
“Well in all honesty, we don’t have much under control. The Red Death will be here at midnight tomorrow, and they might be able to use weapons, we’re not sure. We will all have to be very prepared and ready. We will certainly be outnumbered, and we have no choice but to give it our best shot. They know a lot about me, and they know many of my secrets. They will try as hard as they can to get me, and that’s exactly why I will be our bait.”
Clay stepped up from group A and announced, “Mayor Max, I won’t let you be the bait. Me and two other men from group A will bait the Red Death.”
“Don’t worry about it Clay, you’ve done enough as it is. I will run them right to all the explosives and try to blow them all up. I’ve already told Rock that if they get me, we must keep fighting and he will take over as the leader.” There were whispers and murmurs and it was obvious some people were filled with fear. Max spoke right into that fear, “I want us to have one more good training day though, so if everyone could get to their stations we could get done a lot faster.”
The people all looked at Max, they were clearly agitated and getting more afraid by the minute. One man stepped up and yelled what many were thinking, “You’ve even said it, we’re all going to die. I’m going back home to spend the rest of my life with my family.” Suddenly, others followed him and in only minutes the whole field was cleared out.
“So much for that motivational speech,” Rock said. “Goddamnit!” Max shouted angrily. “Screw the people! I’ll win this battle on my own.” He looked out and only George, Rock and Clay remained. “There are four of us, that should be plenty. My friend Rich and I took on a thousand.”
George walked over to Max and put his hand on his shoulder. “You can’t win this thing alone Max. Let the people have one day, and tomorrow, they’ll come back.” Max turned away as George said this. “I’m done trying to impress everyone, these people don’t appreciate all I’ve done for them. I’m going home, I’ll see you all tomorrow morning.”
Clay looked at Max as he walked away, “Max, why have you lost faith? We can win this thing, it’s our purpose!”
He turned around and charged back at Clay his face filled with rage. “You know what Clay? Your so goddamn worthless, I don’t even think you have a purpose.” Clay looked away, his eyes filled with tears. Quickly Max shouted, “Clay I’m sorry I didn’t mean that, I promise I was just mad.” “Take your formations and your gun and just leave me alone!” Clay threw the papers and his gun to the ground and ran away from the fields. Max sat down and almost broke down crying, “I just screwed up everything. I just told a little boy that he has no purpose.”
He stormed off and ran over to the town river. Sometimes when Max was angry as kid he would relax by watching the water go down the stream. He laid down taking deep breaths trying to think about what to do next. As he was thinking he thought about Betty, and how he had heard her voice the night before. "I have to find out how to get the people back," Max said out loud. As he said this George came and sat next to him. "You already have the people Max, you convinced them to fight in a battle with you. I'll make an announcement tonight notifying everyone to be at the training fields around ten o' clock tomorrow."
"But we still have so much to work on today sir, why did they all think we didn't have a chance
?"
"Well Max, I'm not even sure if you knew that you said this but I recall hearing you say that we don't have much of a chance."
"I never said that!"
"I'm sorry Max, but you did. That was the first time you had told the people you didn't think we could win. They all thought we were going to lose, but you had never told them that. You always told us all we could win if we worked together, and after everyone heard from our own leader that we wouldn't have much of a chance, even I started to have doubts. So let the people have one day off, tomorrow we will be ready to fight."
"You always know the right things to say George," Max said calmly.
George stood up and patted Max's back. "Even the chosen one needs a day off." Max thanked George for all his help and he left Max still lying by the river. "First things first, I have to go apologize to Clay," Max said to himself. He got up and decided to run all the way over to his house on the other side of town.
He banged loudly on the door of Clay’s house. A man answered the door and announced, “Well if it isn't Mayor Max, the man who thinks were all going to die."
"I'm so sorry if I sounded like that, I was wrong. But I really must speak to your son Clay," Max said quickly.
"I don't think Clay wants to talk to you very much, he told me what you said. I should be trying to get your ass fired."
"As I said sir I'm very sorry for what I said, but I really must talk with your son. If he quits, we honestly won't win this battle," Max pleaded. Clay walked down from the stairs as Max said this, and he had a smile on his face. Max shouted again for emphasis, "If you didn’t hear me, Clay, I said we can't win this without you. I need my leader for group A, and future Mayor, to help me."
Clay ran over to Max and gave him a huge hug. Max looked at Clay’s father, “If it's okay sir, I'd like to go out with Clay and take some practice shots." "Ah what the hell, go have fun boys." Max handed Clay his gun, and they both headed outside.
"I'm sorry for what I said Clay, I was in the heat of the moment. I never meant what I said, I can promise you that."
"It's okay Mayor I forgive you, just make sure it doesn't happen again or next time I won't be so kind." Max laughed and together they went over to the firing range. When they got there Max pulled out his plasma ray gun. "Clay, I want you to take a couple shots with the plasma ray gun. You can see how it works perfectly."
"You mean I can keep it Max?" Clay asked his eyes as big as dinner plates. "Unfortunately I can't give it to you now, but after this battle it’s as good as yours."
"I understand sir, I mean if we’re going to win this battle you’re going to have to hit every shot."
"Well that’s the great thing about the gun Clay, it has unlimited ammo, and reloads instantly after I shoot."
Clay paused, “Wait, so it's a machine gun with unlimited ammo and extreme accuracy?" "Yup, deadliest weapon ever created. There are only six of these in the world, you know."
"Wow!" Clay said in amazement. Max handed Clay the gun, and Clay pointed at the target. “Bam!” Clay nailed the target getting a perfect bulls eye. "Oh my goodness," Clay said in disbelief. "That gun is amazing, who gave it to you?"
"Well Clay, when I left the town I lived on a farm with a man named Rich Gordon. He taught me how to use a gun, and he gave me his plasma ray gun. He told me it was passed through generations, and that one day I would have to give it to someone. I've already decided that someone is you. So what do you say Clay, will you help me win this battle, and take back your position as the leader of group A?"
"I'd be honored to do that sir," Clay answered confidently.