Apocalypse Before Finals by Julie Steimle (electric book reader txt) 📕

Jeff looked to Brian. "Is that true? Dural Korad was here?"

Brian nodded. "I told your friend Anzer Dzhon to tell you. You didn't get the message?"

Jeff closed his eyes and shook his head. "It probably skipped his mind. Dzhon was thrust back to our warfront the moment he came back to Arras. What did Dural Korad do?"

Seeing Jeff's distress, Brian pursed his lips, thinking of the best answer then said, "He was mostly looking for you."

Nodding, Jeff grumbled, "Of course." Then louder, he asked, "Did he kill anyone to get to me?"

Brian shook his head, deciding not to mention that he and all their friends were about to die because of their connection with him.

"But a lot of people were killed in the invasion," Deacon shot back. "And if you looked at your pal, you'd see - "

"That's enough," Brian jumped up. "It was bad all around, ok?"

Jeff grasped his hair, teeth clenching.

Zormna quickly hopped from her seat and touched Jeff's arm. "He's gone. We banished him. No revenge, remember?"

Opening his eyes, Jeff gazed down at her and took a breath. "I know. I promised."

"Who is he?" Joy asked, looking up at Jeff's pained expression.

Jeff turned to her. So much grief filled his eyes. He looked weighed down with it toward exhaustion. It was not an expression they knew in Jeff. "Dural Korad was the man that killed my father - my real father."  

Everyone in the room watched him, opening their mouths in an undignified gape, except Zormna who averted her eyes to the floor.

Jeff shook his head. "He had been following me since I was fourteen. He took me out of school because of who I was, and forced me to take our adult qualifying test early - earlier than I wanted anyway. Then he made me take a job I didn't want - a job that made it so I never saw my dad except late at night when I was exhausted. And after that, he killed my dad." Swallowing, Jeff stared at the floor. "If there is one person I hate, it is Dural Korad."

Then he turned his eyes toward Brian and said, "And I am sorry he followed me here to you. He has no mercy and no heart, and I have no doubts he showed you none."

Brian gazed at Jeff, blinking as he realized exactly how close to death he had come.

Jeff then laughed. "But you're ok. He didn't kill anyone because of me, did he?" He looked concerned again.

Brian shook his head and smiled, realizing this was what had haunted Jeff all this time. He could see Jeff carried a responsibility for others as if any death connected to him was his fault. It was a nasty burden to bear.

Jeff nodded to himself with reassurance, a little less weary.

"But he beat people because of you," Deacon Wilks snapped.

Zormna rolled her eyes at him. "Dural Korad would beat people regardless of who they were. He was after Jafarr. Not Brian or you."

"He was after you," Deacon replied.

Bowing with such a sarcastic grin, Zormna replied, "Which is my pleasure in my association with him. I embarrassed him once, and he has been vengeful ever since."

"Class! Order! In your seats. Summer has not come yet," the voice of Mr. Humphries came over the standing crowd of students. Their teacher marched in the room with an armful of papers like always. He placed them on the desk and shuffled through them, not looking out into the room.

At first their classmates looked around and shrugged, reluctantly taking their seats.

Mr. Humphries looked back once at the room. "Why so slow today? Come on. I should have made a class rule about this if it is going to be a problem, rule eleven, be in your seats at the start of the class."

Their teacher went back to his paper shuffling.

Zormna and Jeff shared looks and shrugged, sitting immediately back in their regular seats. A general murmur swept through the room as they stayed. Brian had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. Adam smirked silently as he gazed at Jeff then Zormna, whom Adam thought looked as good as ever, if not a little more like a soldier than when he last knew her.

Shaking off his grim mood, Jeff quickly mellowed to his usual 'teen' self and grinned, waiting for his teacher to turn around. It took a lot for Zormna to suppress her smile, her green eyes twinkling in their wicked sort of way.

Mr. Humphries turned around and surveyed the class with a wide grin, starting near the door and going towards Brian's corner. His eyes stopped the moment he reached them. His grin dropped off, his eyes popping. Their teacher's mouth hung open. He snapped his mouth closed again. "Miss Clendar... Mr. Streigle.... Uh... uh... you're back."

Jeff smiled then stood up to speak, as per class rules. "I know we were gone for a while, but I have a good explanation. Zormna and I went on this trip see, and our guardians knew about it. And I know we didn't do all our homework but..." He stopped, tucking his neck a fraction between his shoulders. "Can we stay for at least one more class? I know I'm probably expelled now, and Zormna's got detention... but I swear, we didn't do anything wrong."

His teacher staggered back into the desk. For a moment he continued to stare, but then he burst out laughing. Mr. Humphries shook his head and wiped his eyes, staring up at the pretended repentant boy.

"Why? What?" Mr. Humphries laughed again. "You're not serious, are you?"

Jeff shrugged deeper and grinned.

Zormna rose from her seat, standing like a soldier. "We just want to say thank you for putting up with us and for teaching us things we've never heard before."  

Her teacher gazed at her and Jeff. Heaving a sigh, he asked, "Was anything you said in class true?"

"Everything I said was real," Zormna bowed politely and blushed. "Perhaps names and places were somewhat changed, but I told no lies."

Mr. Humphries smiled to himself, savoring that. Then he looked to Jeff.

Jeff shrugged and scratched his head. "Sorry. Nearly everything I said was lie." He then laughed. "I'm not from Chicago. My father is dead and so is my mother. I have no brothers or uncles that I know of. I did have an old girlfriend and her father was killed, but he was not part of organized crime exactly. He was a rebel like me."

Everyone drew in breaths. The sound of the world rebel seemed to echo in their brains with a sort of heroic quality.

His teacher shook his head. "And you two...."

Jeff flushed. "...did nothing naughty on all those trips, like we said. I'm Zormna's bodyguard. It is my duty to stay at her side. Besides, we're distant cousins."

"Very distant, I hear," Brian interjected, lifting his eyebrows.

Jeff laughed at that, saluting him.

"We share a famous ancestor," Jeff amended.

Everyone's gaze fell on Zormna again. She bowed politely and sighed. She then looked at Jeff. "I suppose we should go now."

Jeff shrugged and glanced about the room. "If you wish to."

Zormna took in the room again, halting once on Brian, Adam, and Joy. She then gazed at the teacher again. "Can we stay a little longer? We'll never be able to feel like normal teenagers ever again after this. I'm sure all of our new government administrators will see to that. But I actually had a childhood while I lived here, and I don't quite want to let go just yet."

Mr. Humphries smiled with tears in his eyes and said, "Please."

The young Martian queen sat back down in her plastic chair behind the particleboard desk and smiled.

Grinning, Jeff dropped back into his chair. He leaned over to Brian. "I think we might stay for lunch. Meet us at the red top then? The usual place?"

Brian nodded, so much tension easing. His friend was truly still his friend.

"Mr. Streigle, do you have anything interesting to say?" Mr. Humphries warned him in the usual manner.

Jeff shook his head. "No, sir."

His teacher smiled and pulled out a student paper from his pile. "Miss Anders. Will you read your paper on corrupt leaders?"

It was lunch when the group met last. Jeff and Zormna stood near the picnic table inspecting the laser scoring in the wood from the last battle on school grounds. Zormna fingered the burn marks on the table and shook her head.  

"They really should repaint these," she said, rubbing the charcoal dust between her fingers. A lot of people were watching her, especially those who had been marked as second generation Martians, afraid Zormna would treat them badly.

Mark shook his head. "We had started to, but the school administration stopped us and said they want to memorialize the invasion until graduation. After that, I don't know what they're doing."

Nodding, Jeff stood at the cairn, peering at the pictures of all the dead. He sighed at a number of faces, especially those he recognized, closing his eyes. "Yeah, I saw Mr. Vicksler a few minutes ago. He told me they're keeping all the battle scars and photographing them for a new memorial display case in the administration building. He already has a picture of every student and teacher that was killed."

They went silent, including those watching them. It was not something anyone wanted to be reminded of so close to the event.

Adam sighed. "So you're going back for good now?"

Both Jeff and Zormna nodded. The looked sad about it.

"We have to. You think your school is a mess? It is much worse back Home," Zormna said, shaking her head. "Besides, we have to set up a new government and everything."

Those around them stared at her.

"I thought you were the queen," Jonathan said, raising his hands and dropping them.

Zormna chuckled, shaking her head. "As amusing as that whole title is, and no matter how people really would give me their lives..." she shook her head more. "I don't want to be a queen."

They gaped at her. Joy especially jumped up. "But think of all the good you can do."

"Yeah," Jennifer chimed in. "You can make things fair."

"That's what I say," Jeff said casually, his eyes turning skyward.

"Shut up." Zormna walked over to look at the tree, which had a lot of burn marks on it, as did the bench. "Why don't you be king? You are just as connected to royalty as I am."

"What?" half his friends exclaimed.

Jeff waived it away. "She's exaggerating."

"Am not!" Zormna primly protested, but it came out more like teasing. She leaned near to Brian conspiratorially and said, "Our mutual ancestor was the last king of our people."

"Not true!" Jeff chased after her. She ran around the tree, getting away, laughing. Zormna ducked behind Mark. "The last king was married to the last queen - the first Zormna and the last ruling Tarrn of that age. And she was not my ancestor."

Huffing, Zormna rolled her eyes. "Her father was the last king then - "

"Also not my ancestor," Jeff protested.

" - Who was the brother of your ancestor," Zormna snapped. She then turned to her watching audience who were avidly drinking in these new facts, "Who actually had surviving male heirs, unlike my ancestor. According to the ancient laws, your ancestor should have taken up rule and not mine."

"Ugh!" Jeff huffed.

She pointed at him. "You are the true heir."

"Nonsense!" Jeff snapped back. "My ancestors long stepped away from the throne, as the younger brother should. And Queen Zormna had plenty of heirs... and for that matter, you fit the prophecy perfectly. So quit arguing with me."

Zormna glared at him. "I want to read that prophecy myself. It is completely unfair to put all that pressure on my back, simply because of words from a moth-eaten old book - "

"Sir Banden would get really offended if he heard you say that," Jeff retorted, hands on hips.

"But everyone has expectations of what a queen is."