The Last Man: Final Bout

By Sean Williams

In the searing finale to the Last Man trilogy, Supreme Commander Ian stands up for his country and his family as the war rages on! The fight marches right up the East Coast straight into Washington, DC, where the Pirate Army and new warriors they meet along the way make their final stand to defend freedom against the Femtheist Herself, Wilma the Wicked, and Artemis the Killer Huntress.

In order to make the ultimate defense, Ian must fight harder than ever before, learn how to break through the boundaries of his own body, and test the limits of the people who are fighting with him. But when the bullets run out and the body count rises, will Ian, Mandy, Lee, and their fellow generals find a way to save the country they know and love? Pick up Final Bout today, and take a final stand against the tyranny of Femtheism!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662476594

Sean Williams

Sean Williams is a girl dad to his two daughters, Davynn and Cameron, and a boy dad to his son, Ethan. He is also the founder and CEO of The Dad Gang, a conscious social community of dads on a mission to redefine, revolutionize, and reshape the image of Black fatherhood. Visit him and other dope dads online at www.thedadgang.com.

Book preview

cover.jpg

The Last Man

Final Bout

Sean Williams

Copyright © 2022 Sean Williams

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-7657-0 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-7659-4 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Special Thanks

Aftermath

The Gathering

Preparing an Invasion

The Tragedy of Becoming the Killer Huntress

Ascension

The Second Battle of the Atlantic

A Little Bonding Before D and D

I-Day

Setting Up in Frederick

Trouble in Fem Paradise

The Burning Coal Beds

Hunters

The Intervention of Artemis

The Battle of Sugarloaf Mountain

True Love

Letters Home

One Last Pep Talk

Three Essential Tasks

Chips All In

Alone and Forsaken

The WMTA Vagabond

Modern Warfare, Medieval Brutality

Behold, This Is Mystic Artemis

Ian, the Divine Ultimate Warrior

Assault on the White House

Lee's Limit-Breaking Challenge

The Death of Hope

Revenge of Mother Russia

No Quarter

The Calm after the Storm

Epilogue

Special Thanks

To Josh Triggs (owner of 3MI Photography, cover photo and pic below)

To Kailey Whitehead (model, Artemis)

To my parents and everyone else who truly stuck with me and put up with the clusterfuck that is my life.

Chapter 1

Aftermath

Isaiah, A, Lee, K, Ahanalisa, Kai, and Mandy all sat or lay down relatively close together on some old ruins, which appeared to be remains of the once proud and mighty Ottoman Empire. I sat in a chair in the middle of them being attended to by two nurses.

How bad is it? Mandy asked.

Well, General, not good. She really beat the living shit out of him.

The other nurse pointed out my injuries methodically to Mandy. Three of his ribs are broken, and his spleen was severely ruptured although we managed to just barely save it with intensive emergency surgery. His face, although battered and bruised, that is not really what concerns us as this would naturally heal fairly quickly. What is of concern is his teeth and mouth. One impact was so violent that it knocked one of his crowns out of place and completely shredded large areas of his lips.

Big deal. If Scarface can recover from those bear slashes on his face, he can recover from this, and he's a grown man, stop babying him!

General K, you don't understand, the bear wound was constantly cached with mud followed by gauze and disinfectants. It also occurred in an area that really never moves much, so the healing process, while painful, did about as good as it can. Here, we managed to wedge his tooth back into place, but his lips are just a complete mess. It will have to just bleed and slowly heal over an extra extended period of time. He may always have some sort of pain from simple movement.

Thank you for that fine forensic analysis that I didn't ask for. Now leave us.

Yes, sir, right away!

The two Pink Army nurses scurried away, and then K went off on all of us.

What a shit show all of you buffoons have caused! We are now down two generals in Nikolai and Doc, and for what? Not a goddamn thing worth shit!

First of all, you need to calm your ass down. You barely even knew Petronavich, and you hated Doc.

So what does that have to do with anything, A?

It means you are being a drama queen for no fucking reason. Man the fuck up, pussy. I know teenage girls back home in the Empire who complain nowhere near the amount that you do, tough guy.

Overreacting? You think I'm overreacting, Lee! Let me count out the failures of the Pirates this last month: engaged in a pointless and cowardly skirmish in the Middle East for jack-shit, helped out some backward-ass African tribe in exchange for the help of a couple million soldiers who can't shoot a goddamn thing but are handy with a spear, watched the Pink Army get its ass shit-stomped throughout the entire UK—oh yeah, and because of this clown right here—he pointed at me—London will be a thermonuclear wasteland for the next century!

I finally spoke up although it was quite painful to talk and blood dripped from my lips as I spoke. The gains we made were significant. The amount of oil now acquired from the Middle Eastern states and Nigeria is more than enough to power us to victory, the Pink Army received invaluable combat experience, and almost our entire air fleet was saved from the destruction of London.

And Wilma, huh? How are you going to spin your repeated debacles with that Juggalo cunt?

If you have a problem with that, then you are more than welcome to fight her yourself next time. I mean, if she's no match for you, then by all means go for it.

He can't. She'll bury his ass in less than a minute.

Everyone started laughing except K. I had to control my own laughter because of the pain caused by my broken ribs and bleeding lips.

If you will excuse me, I need to go debrief my unit, the only one that seems to have any success in this military.

What the fuck is wrong with that guy?

Well, Kai, in my opinion, my brother suffers from a moderate form of narcissistic personality disorder.

Figures, it all makes sense now. Well, if he does run into Wilma, she will almost certainly kill your brother with ease.

I am not so sure about that. None of you really know this, but he is exceptionally skilled at jiujitsu and underground mixed martial arts. He just has not shown this skill as he buried it away with a truth he learned about himself a long time ago…way, way before The Takeover.

And what is this hidden truth? asked Mandy.

That he is and always will be a fucking loser.

If you guys don't mind, I'd like some personal time.

Of course, Ian, that is the least we can do for you.

Thank you, Ahanalisa, I heard you and Kai fought admirably. London would be proud.

They all got up and headed out in single file after gathering their equipment. Mandy was the last one to gather up all her things and begin to walk back to base.

Mandy, please come sit with me. She looked bewildered as to why I even wanted to talk to her; she must have figured it was to scold her since she had the look of a pet dog who knows it is about to get a tongue-lashing from its owner.

You did good, real good, in the UK. You ladies held your own and made them realize that there are huge amounts of women out there that oppose the ideology of Femtheism.

Wait, so you're not mad about what happened to London?

No, I know you did everything you could with Lee to hold that city for us, and for that, I thank you. Tears started streaming down my face as I continued, If it's anyone's fault, it's mine, but I should be used to this shit. It's just war.

You know, it's been a long time since you and I talked to each other like civilized human beings. It's been even longer since I've seen you so emotional. She wiped a tear from my eye and took a damp cloth to gently dab my profusely bleeding lips. Then she kissed my forehead and embraced me in a tight hug.

I'm just so tired, Mandy. First, my parents, then Doc and Nikolai, and I know this is just the beginning of the losses.

Still embracing me, she said, Ian, I struggled for a long time with loss and what is the proper way to handle it. Hell, it haunts me every day. She released me from her arms and looked up at the clear blue sky. But no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for. You should know that I fight for you since the day we met until the day I take my last breath. To me, you're the only family I have. You're my best friend, and hopefully, one day, when this is all over, you will be more than just a best friend to me. I love you. Now get some sleep. There is a lot of planning to be done tonight. She covered me with a blanket while sliding a pillow under my head and placing a generous amount of Neosporin on my lips to help them heal. She got up and walked away as I closed my eyes to sleep.

Chapter 2

The Gathering

I woke up at 10:30 p.m., gazing at a dazzling night sky. I could not help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, perhaps somewhere out there in the vast expanses of the universe, there might be another intelligent species going through a somewhat similar situation. I was then roused to my feet by a call from afar.

Hey, Ian, get your ass over here.

I recognized Lee's accent and replied, All right! I'm coming, I'm coming! Still in quite a bit of pain from almost every area of my body, I gingerly made my way over to her. All right, I'm here. So yeah, what do you want?

I looked up to what appeared to be a very large concert stage almost completely finished, barring a few soldiers putting the finishing touches on the lightning, decorations, and speakers.

One way or another, this thing is about to come to an end. We need to boost morale as much as possible because all of us are in for the fight of our lives. What better way to do this then one final massive concert-festival party? And what about you? It's not like you to talk so, well, gloomy. I guess that is kind of my job.

Quite the contrary, my naive friend, I'm ecstatic.

Really now?

Yes, Danillo has told me the chamber I need to finish your training is almost done. That means, soon, we will be going to America, and fighting unlike anything ever seen before in history will commence. You will face her again using everything you have ever learned, and this time, only one will survive.

You seem really enthusiastic about the carnage and bloodshed to come, not so much about this concert. I pointed to the DJ setting up his table.

Let's be serious. You know as well as I do that for at least thirty percent of your army that this is the last time they will ever, how do you say it in American tongue, grind, headbang, shuffle, or Electric Slide.

She walked away back to her tent, and as I watched her, all I could think was, Who the fuck still does the Electric Slide?

The DJ finished setting up his stage, and the party began. Crowds gathered as far as the eye could see and listened to the tremendously loud music. Combining bone-rattling bass with a spectacular light show, fire cannons, water cannons, and smoke, it was truly a sight to behold. My soldiers went crazy as the electronic music pulsated through the crowd. I watched several people get carried up and down the crowds, surfing in pure bliss as others took the opportunity to fire off their rifles into the air. I could not deny that it was a great mix of electronic, hip-hop, rock, and even country, something for everyone.

All of a sudden, the lights went dark, and the DJ spoke, Now I have somethin' real special for you, Pirates. One of the generals is about to serenade this entire fuckin' crowd with her beautiful voice!

I thought that there is no way in hell Lee would ever sing to anyone, let alone a huge-ass crowd. Mandy then took the stage with a guitar in hand; she sat on a stool and began to strum. The song she sang was Through the Valley by Shawn James, and my god, was it hauntingly beautiful, especially when she hit those raspy high notes. She finished to thunderous applause, took one final bow, and headed my way.

Why didn't you tell me you could sing that well?

Ian, I was born and raised in southern West Virginia. Of course, I can play the guitar while singing blues and folk music.

The DJ looked our way. Holy shit, ladies and gentleman, back from the dead once more is our supreme commander. Let's give him a round of applause to get up here and give us a speech to rally the troops.

The crowd starting booming. Speech, speech, speech!

After everything that just happened, what the hell am I supposed to say? How do I rally the troops after the catastrophe in London?

Ian, shut up and listen to that crowd. Do they sound disappointed in you?

No.

Perhaps, go out there and give 'em a speech, and why not speak from the heart and emotion instead of logic and rage for a change?

With that, Mandy faded off into the distance, and I approached the stage and climbed the stairs to fanatical applause that did not stop until long after I had taken the mic. A spotlight hit me as the noise died down, and I just stood there staring out into the distance for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts. It finally hit me, and I began my serenade.

You know, I was going to give you all a gung-ho speech filled with fire and fury, but I don't think this is the appropriate time for that. That will come in due time. Right now, I am going to do as someone asked of me and speak to you from the heart, speak to you as the person I used to be before and right after The Takeover. After beginning like this, out of the hundreds of thousands watching me and millions more watching on nearby TVs, you could have heard a pin drop.

"My father used to tell me stories when I was a child about the gods who gazed at their most precious creation, disheartened by the wars of man. Pain had replaced what was once a pride and joyful glee about the earth. Fire and smoke blotted out the sun, bringing out the true blackness of the soul, and giving cover to any depth of malice. Lands that used to enjoy the sound of laughter and love were now desecrated with the screams of the maimed and the lamenting of close family. In the end, the gods had finally had enough and stepped in to put an end to the cataclysm and restore balance to society. Their judgment was swift and absolute… I sometimes wish we had someone to do the same for us. However, there are times, like now, when we are faced with evil, and there is no divine aid. For whatever reason, the good must prevail.

None of us pretend to be saints because we aren't, and we know that. But we do know the basics of right and wrong, and what they are doing is dead wrong! So until it ends or we take our last breath of valor, we will fight for those next to us, to protect those behind us. Whatever it takes and wherever they hide, we fight in the dark, in the light, in the air, in the sea, in the mud, in the city, and in the country. Not because of duty or honor, we make these sacrifices because this is who we are, and this is the unspoken code that we live by. So I will end this with a message to the Femtheist Herself, a.k.a. Krista, because I know you're listening. The last tsar of Russia once said, ‘There is no justice among men!' So hear this, Krista, none of us shall be forgotten because you will hear thunder and remember us! You think you rule the skies. Well, we will turn it into the color of hard crimson with the blood of your followers! Finally, your heart, as it was before The Takeover, this I promise you, with my bear hands, will be set on fire!

Huanzaaah!

The crowd boomed and boomed for several minutes. I had never seen the Pirates so inspired, so filled with passion. Some of them in the front row were overflowing with so much emotion after my speech that they wept uncontrollably. I gave the signal to the DJ to hit the music, and he cranked the party back up as I left the stage.

Good job. That reminded me of my father giving us a prebattle speech. I didn't know you had that in you. How'd you do it?

Well, Lee, someone I love told me to speak from the heart for a change and have a little faith that things are going to turn out just fine.

I didn't know you were a man of religion.

I'm not. I'm an atheist. With that, I retired to my tent to rest and nurse my wounds as the others partied the night away.

Chapter 3

Preparing an Invasion

Wake your ass up, man!

Oh god, what time is it? Just give me twenty more minutes, and maybe then I'll think about getting up.

K, you have literally been asleep for sixteen hours!

Damn, its ten o'clock at night already? Guess there's no point in getting up at all. He rolled over, pulled a sheet over his head, and began snoring softly.

Well, I tried. My brother just is too out of it.

Let me try, Isaiah started. K, get your dumb ass up. Lieutenant Brecht is here with that strange cyborg woman Blackhole to help us plot a route to the mainland US. I hear they have some sort of new super-transport ship, and you're the idiot Ian put in charge of the navy, so we need you there now!

He whispered from under the covers, Tell them I'll talk to 'em sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Isaiah, clearly frustrated at this response, left K's tent for a few moments, then came back with a bucket that had steam rising out of it.

What's in there?

Your brother's wake-up call. He poured the bucket of scalding hot water all over K, who immediately woke up, rolled out of bed to the ground, and got up irate.

Dude, what the fuck is your problem? Asshole, that shit burned!

The lieutenant is waiting for us with important news that concerns your goddamn, piece of shit, worthless navy, and you're wasting all of our fucking time! Now put some clothes on and meet us in the debrief tent.

Fine, I'm coming. Now get the fuck out and let me change!

Isaiah and A left and headed toward the tent.

You know he is gonna do some shit to get you back, right?

You know if he tries something, I'll break his fuckin' teeth, right!

The Atlantic Barrier

Fifteen minutes later, K stumbled in to the debrief tent still exhausted from a night of debauchery. He noticed all the major players staring at a large flat-screen TV, with Brecht and Blackhole standing off to the side.

Ah, my good dough boyfriend K, it is nice to see you are alive and at least half lucid, unlike most of ze bodies laying out zere who have probably overdosed on every drug known to man.

Very funny, kraut.

Now let's begin, shall ve. Blackhole turned off the light. Here are ze new Model Twenty Freedom Ships. Zey come in at forty-five hundred feet long, vith a vidth of seven hundred and fifty feet, and a height of three hundred and fifty feet. A feat of true German engineering and a marvel.

That's like almost a mile long. Why the hell do we need something that big, and how is it going to float?

Blackhole, vill you take zis one?

In order for you to fight and win a successful war against the Fems, you are going to have to transport a huge amount of armor and aircraft across the ocean along with massive amounts of troops to be the vanguard. The twenty ships will float. This is taken from a design made by the Americans in the early twenty-first century that never came to fruition. One has been outfitted with the training chamber requested by General Lee, and each ship is outfitted with one thousand cannons, five hundred on each side.

What about the Dreadnaughts?

Kommandant Ian, they will run beside as escorts, and our newly developed Drowning Baby Torpedoes should help vastly in your travels.

Why the hell do we need some faggy-ass escort for ships this massive, seems like overkill?

"Very good question, my young, naive jüdin."

That's General Isaiah, you Nazi piece of shit!

Vilma has set up a dominant armada that patrols ze Atlantic, and zhey know you are coming, especially after London. It is somewhat of a naval blockade and herein lies the problem. We must smash through in order to get to mainland US. Her fleet in zis blockade will include: six Cyclone-class patrol ships, thirty Burke-class destroyers, two Wasp-class amphibious assaults, one Nimitz-class carrier, two Zumwalt-class destroyers, and seven Ohio-class submarines of vitch all of zem are in ze Trident family.

Oh fuck me!

They are out in force, Lee stated.

Fuck me is right, Kommandant, and yes, that is a fair assumption, General Lee.

Who cares? Let 'em all come down on our flank, my Blue Buccaneers will rip 'em all a new asshole.

Can someone please explain the severity of this situation to the cocky little punk who is still obviously high on crack?

Sure thing, Mandy, A said. Yo, idiot, listen to me for once in your goddamn life. If we engage this fleet without a plan, we are all dead in twenty minutes or less.

Thank you, A.

And what do you suppose we do, run like cowards? Perhaps you want to sail all the way down to the tip of South America to go around them? Or, or maybe just completely cuck out and backtrack to cross the entire Pacific again?

Just shut the fuck up for a second and let me think.

Well, you're gonna have to pull a miracle out your ass, A, to come up with a plan to get through this, not even sure Einstein could solve this riddle.

Yeah, shit sucks, Ian, but is anything we do ever easy?

Touché. Blackhole, what does the intel say about the projected positioning of this one Nimitz-class carrier?

We expect she will be positioned in or very near the center as to be able to deploy fighters in the air quickly. Expect her to be flanked heavily by several destroyers and submarines.

Why are we still waiting here? Let's go send these bitches to hell already!

Shut up, K, just shut up. Okay, I've got it. What if we sacrifice one of our Freedom Ships, booby-trap the motherfucker with a neutron bomb donated by the Chinese or the Indians, and send the bitch hurling at the aircraft carrier? The resulting explosion should sink any nearby vessel and cripple many more in the AO.

Brecht turned around and looked at the screen, deeply pondering A's proposed plan. I like it, but how can you ensure you will not damage your own fleet?

I can't, but if anyone has any better ideas, then they are welcome to put it out here on the table. I think the shock this will cause, if successful, will send the remaining armada to retreat and regroup after sustaining such heavy losses.

Fine, ve vill go vith this. Blackhole, come, ve have some phone calls to make. With that, we exited the tent and headed toward a command post.

So let me get this straight, you're going to sacrifice one of my biggest and best ships all in the hopes that they get scared and run away? Is that what you're telling me?

I did not hear you come up with any ideas, little bro. As a matter of fact, I didn't hear you come up with anything.

You better hope to God that this works, or I swear, I will strangle you to death!

Don't worry. You won't have to because if this doesn't work, then we're all gonna be ripped to shreds in a matter of minutes anyway.

K took an edible of strong weed strain and left the tent as we all stared at the picture of the Freedom Ship still on the screen.

Wait a second, what the hell is a neutron bomb?

I'll take this one, A, Lee said. The neutron bomb is a type of advanced radiation weapon, pretty much a thermonuclear device designed to push out lethal radiation in the immediate AO while minimizing the power of the blast.

Okay, thanks… Uh, so what does AO mean, Lee?

Are you shitting me?

Area of operations, Mandy.

Thanks, Ian.

Chapter 4

The Tragedy of Becoming the Killer Huntress

They're coming, and this time, they won't stop until they have achieved total victory or are dead to the last man.

I know, Artemis, I could see the writing on the wall after our humiliation in London.

With all due respect, Madam Femtheist, I completely wiped out London from the face of the earth.

Yes, you certainly did, and you also inadvertently turned what would have been a pristine launching pad for the invasion of the rest of Europe and Asia into a radioactive no-go zone.

I still don't fucking get it. If KY will be ready for large scale deployment soon, then why the hell do we even need to invade anywhere else?

Because, my naive semi-ally, we are trying to draw more women to our cause.

Artemis is right. The more women who simply see us as trying to exterminate their men and boys, the more likely they are to become sympathetic to Commander Ian and perhaps join his Pink Army, which, at this point, will be a real thorn in my ass.

There is nothing to fear, my lord. The Atlantic barrier is impenetrable, and Ian would be foolish to try to cross with his ragtag navy.

I'm not so sure. From my experience with Ian in combat, he is cunning and has an unbreakable will to adapt and survive. It would also appear that his entourage is highly intelligent, and he listens closely to their advice.

I thought you were his mortal enemy. You seem more like a preppy little school girl who can't wait to slob all over that monkey's cock.

He is my mortal enemy, but even enemies can learn from each other and learn about each other. You should try it sometimes instead of being such an arrogant bitch all the time. Perhaps, then, I would not have to bail you out of all your blunders.

Don't make me cut out your tongue, Arty!

Try it, I won't be held responsible for slitting your throat.

Enough, both of you, we are supposed to be on the same side. Wilma, prepare your fleet to squash the Pirates in the Atlantic. Artemis, begin fortifications of the eastern coast just in case the blockade fails. No mistakes, ladies.

Yes, my lord. Wilma exited, clearly annoyed, and so did the Femtheist Herself while Artemis stood in the room silently going over her fight with Ian in Israel over and over in her head to analyze her mistakes. She noticed three Shock Troopers congregating outside the conference room and could not help but eavesdrop as they were talking about her.

Artemis is my idol. I hope I can be as strong as her one day.

"Fat chance. I hear she grew up as a hunter on her own, a real shinobi."

I wish I knew where she came from and what made her. She is the modern-day embodiment of Wonder Woman.

All three started laughing. You got that right, straight warrior princess who is the real deal. I'd be surprised if anything or anyone has even come close to hurting her besides that monster Ian and his army of Neanderthals.

As the ladies laughed, Artemis entered the conference room and stood in front of them. They immediately saluted and stood at attention with uneasy looks on their faces.

So you ladies want to know what it takes to be me, what are my motives. Well, I'll treat ya and give you the rundown. At ease, soldiers, I appreciate you three deifying me, but my life is much less romantic than what you may have learned from others through hearsay.

What do you mean, General?

"Well, imagine this, ladies. Picture growing up for years with a boy you believed to be your best friend in the whole world, who you would do almost anything for and vice versa. Then on your eighteenth birthday, your best friend who was five years your senior treats you to dinner. However, you stay sober while he gets drunk and high. Then this guy, who you thought was you and your brother's best friend, takes you to a frat house. He then proceeds to rip off your skirt, once he gets you in a room, and penetrate you despite your several pleas that you aren't ready and you want him to stop.

"Let it marinate that you believed that that was how sex was supposed to be until you turned twenty-one, and then, and only then, when you realize you were violated. You also realize you were powerless to do anything anyway as a weak, ninety-five-pound little girl. Then from there, you decide to try to trust someone again, but this time, the man you are with brutally rapes you for three years straight. You finally escape this hell only to enter a new relationship with a guy who mentally abuses you by keeping you only for his sexual gratification as he gets his ex-girlfriend pregnant, and they run off leaving you broken inside, as if there was anything left inside to break.

"Finally, imagine the powerlessness when you think you have found the light at the end of the tunnel and get engaged to what you hope will be your Prince Charming. You are with him for four years, and while it starts out great, things soon fall apart. Your arm is broken one day, your body is now covered in scars for the rest of your life that are difficult to shield with even the best makeup, and to rub salt in your wounds, he cheats on you with at least fifty other women that you know of. You have now hit rock bottom, but in your hope that things can get better, you stick by him once you find out you are pregnant, only to find out there are serious complications with the pregnancy. So while you have miscarried and are lying in the ICU on what may be your deathbed, you find out your fiancé did not even have enough dignity to be by your side and, instead, spent