Angel Dust Apocalypse
Jeremy Robert Johnson
Language: English
Pages: 184
ISBN: 0976249839
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
"A dazzling writer. Seriously amazing short stories--and I love short stories. Like the best of Tobias Wolff. While I read them, they made time stand still. That's great."--CHUCK PALAHNIUK, author of Fight Club
Meth-heads, man-made monsters, and murderous Neo-Nazis. Blissed out club kids dying at the speed of sound. The un-dead and the very soon-to-be-dead. They're all here, trying to claw their way free.
From the radioactive streets of a war-scarred future, where the nuclear bombs have become self-aware, to the fallow fields of Nebraska where the kids are mainlining lightning bugs, this is a world both alien and intensely human. This is a place where self-discovery involves scalpels and horse tranquilizers; where the doctors are more doped-up than the patients; where obsessive-compulsive acid-freaks have unlocked the gateway to God and can't close the door.
This is not a safe place. You can turn back now, or you can head straight into the heart of...
the ANGEL DUST APOCALYPSE
the second message starts. “Francis, it’s Devries. You must get a message on that machine of yours. I apologize for calling this time of the evening, but I must clarify a few things about today’s incident for you. Listen very carefully; this is a matter of utmost security. Top brass at the hospital have decided to let you know certain things about both the patient and the illness that afflicted her. We will be sending an escort to your residence at seven tomorrow morning. You will accompany him
Second, I’ve heard the police sirens, and if you think I’m going to harbor you, well, you’re crazier than you ever were. Well?... Talk, Ty, I’m not in the mood for games... listen, stop mouth breathing and tell me something.” Shit, she’s amped up and I’m slowed to a crawl. I’m terribly confused and I’m thinking they switched her Paxil to methamphetamine, ‘cause I’ve never seen her this aggressive. There used to be days when she wouldn’t even get out of bed, she’d just lay there and stare at
just enough. Something switches inside of me and my brain kicks out feedback and I’m smelling the dust embedded deep in the shag carpet in my bedroom, seeing the tiny droplets of blood that hung on the end of my eyelashes, hearing the sound of Dad snoring, passed out on the floor across the room, oblivious to what he has just done and already forgetting. I’m remembering the look on Mom’s face when she came into the room and saw that the claw of Dad’s hammer was buried in my skull. What then?
spending time with Ray is like hanging out with a big pile of compost. Despite his odor, he gets big points for ambition. He’s got some respectable friends on the circuit and if he can get someone to endorse him as Body Modification Royalty he can do some tour time and then apply for the League of Zeroes. The League. It’s the big money, the endorsements, the adulation, the weekly primetime broadcasts, and the outright worship of the people. Ray’s got his goals set high. If he makes it big
four, two teens, a nervous dad, and a soccer mom. Some say the rave scene has gone mainstream. I wait for the Bradys to bail with their dope and then I make my transaction. Thirty dollars in Mortis the Tortoise’s pocket later I’ve got a carefully dropped puddle of liquid Lucy in the palm of my left hand. Mortis thought I was crazy, but he’s ultimately a capitalist, and has a hard time placing ethics or the safety of others above profit. So, he’s got enough money to buy a couple of CD’s and I’ve