The man on the car cupped his hands again. “What is that you’re holding? A sledgehammer?”
“I am Thor and this is Mjolnir.”
Some of the Aryans looked at one another and several laughed. The man on the car laughed, too, and then shouted, “Mister, we have you covered with machine guns and rifles and a bazooka. You just keep coming with that silly hammer of yours.”
Still smiling, Thor did. When he was close enough, still smiling, he set the hammer to Arc. Still smiling, he set the power level to four million volts. Still smiling, he gripped Mjolnir with both hands and held the hammer overhead.
“In Odin’s name, I greet you!” he repeated. “And in Thor’s name I send you to the halls of Valhalla.” He pressed the rune that would call down the lightning.
“God in heaven!” Ben Thomas blurted.
The bolts were too many to count. Some were as thick as a man’s arm. Others were pencil thin. Leaping and arcing and crackling and sizzling, they sought out the living conductors they were programmed to seek.
In the cab, Space gasped and put a hand to her throat. She had seen what Thor did to the men in Smelterville. She had seen him stop the pickup. Neither fully prepared her for this. She saw men contort and shriek and burn. She saw smoke rise from their twisted bodies and blood gush from their mouths. And when it was over, as Thor went among them finishing off” those still alive, she giggled and said, “That there is one sweet hunk of manhood.”
Stepping-Stone
It was evening, but the only way to tell was by a clock since the sky was always gray. A brisk wind from the northwest rustled the trees in the Home.
Kurt Carpenter and Professor Diana Trevor were taking a stroll along the moat, Carpenter with his hands clasped behind his back.
“What did you make of Slayne’s report?” Carpenter asked.
“They did well, your Warriors.”
“Our Warriors, you mean. They protect the entire Family, not just me.”
“Thor did outstanding. But he troubles me some, Kurt. He actually believes that Odin and his namesake are real.”
“His religion is beside the point. That man is just what we need. He’s devoted to the Family and the Home, a perfect role model for the others. Have you seen how they look up to him?”
“They look up to all the Warriors. They’ve even taken to calling them by their code names.” “We all might have new names soon.” “How’s that again?”
“I’ll tell you about it later. For now, the important thing is that Alpha Triad made it back with the SEAL.”
“You sure put a lot of stock in that thing.”
“It’s our gift to the future.” Carpenter stopped and gazed about the compound. “I want the Home to endure, Diana. I don’t want all my effort to have been in vain. I’d give anything to have a time machine so I could travel fifty or a hundred years into the future and see if the Family and the Home are still here.”
“We can only hope.”
Kurt Carpenter may not have a time machine, but you can get a glimpse one hundred years into the future with a special preview of Fox Run.
For 100 years after a nuclear holocaust annihilated civilization, the Family has eked out a meager existence in the wilds of what used to be Minnesota. But something is going wrong in the Home. People aren’t living as long as they used to. Mutations are becoming more common. To ensure their survival, there’s only one thing the Family can do: venture outside the compound walls for help.
Three of their best Warriors are chosen for the task— Blade, Hickok, and Geronimo. Each is a weapons specialist renowned for his cunning and battle skills, each a proud defender of their fledgling society. But when a band of barbarians attacks the Home, the newly formed Alpha Triad may find their mission over before it even begins and no one left to save.
