Sci-fi excerpt: The Battle for Immortality: Opening Paragraphs
The latest fiction work from Fr. Robert J Carr
“You killed him!” the woman screamed like Tom had never heard anyone scream before. She sounded desperate and angry, her voice pierced the summer city air hanging low and heavy as he remembered August often is. “He is dead, now, forever. You took away his eternal life.”
Tom suspected that the man who just fell lifeless as one of the friends checked his pulse may have been the woman’s adult son, so angry were her words.
“He tried to kill me, I had to stop him before he killed me.” Tom was shaking, humbled trying to explain what just happened in his own defense. He realized he may now be in worse danger than his self-defense tried to prevent.
“He would not kill you; no one kills anyone here and you broke the rule.” She cried, tears pouring down her face. She stooped down to pet the dead man’s hair on the body face down in the grass. “You killed him,” She screeched “and he is dead.” Immediately, she stood and got into Tom’s face who stood there shocked and said nothing. One of the others held her back.
She fell to the ground face down and cried, pounding her hands against the grass while kicking the ground with her sneakered foot. Her tears dropped into the green mixing with the dew.
Tom at looked down at the grown woman maybe around forty-five acting like a child in her tantrum. He was in total shock and the culture change weighed down on him even more heavily.
Each of the friends of the deceased in the group of about fifteen formed a circle and angrily started to gather together and walked to surround Tom. Some spit in his face as he turned to dodge the saliva. They surrounded him and he could do nothing.
“You killed him, he is dead.” They chanted.
Together the screams turned louder and the woman on the ground stood and joined them. They pounded their feet, first the left and then the right in unison “He is dead and you killed him, he is dead and you killed him.” They chanted as one and moved closer to surround him, shrinking the circle around him.
Tom, paralyzed in terror was shaking, especially his hands he could do nothing at all but experience the terror that threatened him as they spit at him.
He watched the circling mob grow closer around him like a hand strangling a victim. They all appeared around the same age around forty-five and dressed almost like a mother dressed a child for the first grade. Adult looking clothes that had a childlike touch to it. As they moved, Tom felt that they were like zombies but who could express emotion prepared to attack. He was not even sure how he even ended up in this predicament.
The chants grew larger and more pronounced and seemed to attract others in the city center to this end of the large greenspace. Some came over to watch and others joined the group.
Tom turned in a circle nowhere to run except maybe up a nearby tree but even so he would have to run through the hostile circle that surrounded him. They seemed to be dead inside but he knew they were alive if nominally. But then again so was he.
“He was going to kill me, if I did not stop him.” Tom’s voice cracked but he then yelled it again. “I had to kill him or he would kill me.” He said as he dodged more spit now almost all of them spit on him and their saliva started to roll down his face.
“Stop!” The command resounded throughout the scene.
He heard the word again-“Stop” but it did not come from him.
The people stopped chanting and froze as if they became statues. Their voices silent replaced by the city sounds around him. The words came out again. “Stop!”
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