Salazar

by Chariss K. Walker

  Now, 'not knowing' struck fear in the hearts and minds of August City's citizens.

  Their consciousness finally asked the hard questions they had always been afraid to ask:

  Who would do such a thing?

  Why had they done it?

  What was their end game?

  Nothing was definite except the chilling, pitiful moans and cries for help from the wounded and dying who were trapped and buried under rubble and debris as a major portion of the city crumbled and burned around them. There was that along with the fear that gripped each of those who had ventured outdoors to watch.

  Now, finally realizing the true nature of the threat, they blindly ran for their lives, knowing there was no escape for anyone outside or inside.

  The intention of the attack was that no one would survive and if they did happen to live through the bombings and the poisonous gases, it wouldn't be for long.

  It wouldn't be pleasant.

  9| Expectations

  In the meantime, Salazar and Miki carefully made their way to the actual tunnel beyond the basement. Like the main entrance to the building, the wall was a jagged opening and broken bricks littered the first few feet of its opening on both sides. Once inside, the passageway led north, back under Fallhaven.

  By then, they knew they were being followed even though their entourage stayed back a significant distance so they wouldn't feel threatened. Feeling as if she should say something, Miki finally asked, "Are you worried about those who trail behind us?"

  "Not in the least. My intuitive radar has already scanned them for their intentions and it didn't pick up any sign of threats. I know that might sound strange, and I can't explain it any better than that…," he tried to clarify before his mother interrupted.

  "No need to justify anything, Son. I get the same feeling. They are just scared and want the same thing we want… to be safe."

  The entrance to their location from the street was very near Winterhaven, the most dangerous part of August City. However, that actually worked to their advantage at the moment.

  During the previous bombing and rebellion many years ago, the area had been hit hard in an effort to eradicate the undesirable citizens of Winterhaven. Now, during this assault, Winterhaven was practically ignored as a target.

  Near Fallhaven but still isolated, Winterhaven had very little industry and no city buildings. Even after all that time had passed, the government had withheld funding and nothing had been rebuilt. As a result, Winterhaven was the least targeted area in the current air raids. The only bombs that fell there were intended to release the toxins.

  Regardless, nearby bombs in Fallhaven shook loose chunks of the already dilapidated building as Salazar and Miki worked their way to some point of safety underground.

  They managed to avoid being crushed and descended several meters without injury. With only the light from their torches, it was dark; however, they discovered passageways off the main tunnel. As they explored those openings, which were similar to alcoves, they found that the doorways didn't go anywhere. Some even burrowed back into another alcove and then led back to the primary pathway. Many were dead ends as Serena McKay had said.

  Finally, the main thoroughfare widened into an opening that was similar to a large foyer in a fine home or business and it held the largest of the alcoves they had discovered so far. In that one, there was plenty of room for the two of them and those who followed. It was a good place to rest for a while. Salazar and Miki slipped inside and stopped for the time being while they waited for the others to catch up.

  When they disappeared from sight, those following them began to panic. Salazar and Miki listened to their distant voices until they grew closer.

  "Oh God, what do we do now?" One cried out.

  "They couldn't have gone far… they were just ahead of us!" another contended.

  "Over here," Miki called out as she pointed the glow of her flashlight at the edge of the opening to lead the way. "Come, we're right here and there is room for all of you."

  Relieved, the twelve people meekly entered the alcove where Salazar and Miki waited. Everyone took a seat with their backs leaning against the cool, rock wall. With each person racked by coughing fits and feeling feverish and achy, most allowed the exhaustion to overcome them and they slept for a long while.

  More could have taken shelter with them but most of those that remained in the streets were oblivious to their true situation. They stared at the horizon as if hypnotized. They appeared dazed by the disastrous event that careened toward them. They didn't get off the streets to seek shelter because they couldn't tear their eyes away from the scene of their neighbors being bombed to smithereens.

  The fumes had affected them too.

  In a drug-like stupor, most hallucinated. Everything around them, even the dangerous incendiaries that delivered the pinkish fumes, danced and played before them as it skittered across the sky. Then, having been deprived of any beauty or entertainment for so long, the residents 'oohed and awed' when the vivid display shattered into multifaceted prisms. Unaware of the toxin's effect, they stood unafraid as they watched the pretty aerial display.

  Then, they died.

  10| Reminiscing

  Meanwhile, from the description handed down by Serena McKay, Salazar and Miki knew there was a huge cavern ahead in the darkness. However, feeling sickly, neither of them wanted to explore the lower recesses right then. Now that they were deeper underground, the shockwaves had lessened and they felt safe enough for the moment.

  Exhausted, Salazar and Miki huddled against each other for warmth and comfort while they silently waited with the others for the ungodly air strike to end.

  Sixteen-years-old Salazar had heard and read the recorded stories of his great-grandfather, Henry Stevens, for most of his young life. His mother, Miki Lang had kept the journals of her mother, Serena McKay-Lang sacred because she was certain that history was prone to change if one didn't closely watch it.

  While Serena was a private eye, she had discovered that more than embarrassing social media comments and pictures were erased. People and events disappeared too. She had found that statistics had been deleted from official reports, rules and laws were changed, and policy was guaranteed only by the current administration.

  The recorded truth about everything had been altered to suit the purposes of the ruling class and to make those in power look a lot better and more civilized than they were. Understanding that much, Serena had once asked Henry the reasons for such deception.

  In turn, Henry had asked her, "Why are libraries destroyed by conquerors? What do they have to gain from such a historic and cultural cleansing?"

  "If it is truly a cleansing," Serena had replied, "then it is meant to erase all knowledge of our past. The new administration does not want the population to remember how things once were. They don't want us to compare the good of our past to how bad things are now."

  She had also discovered that most of those who ran things were monsters dressed in fine suits and expensive dresses as an attempt to cover their hideous scales and true nature. She had learned that almost everything she had been taught was a lie and that the current affairs of the world were a lot worse than anyone had believed.

  Looking back at the events of the past, Salazar had wondered why someone didn't do something. The common people had overthrown monarchies throughout the ages in favor of democracy. Unfortunately, democracy had forgotten that it was "for the people." The people outnumbered the elitist and the authoritarian government five-thousand to one… and yet, the people were powerless. Why didn't someone fight back? Why had so many done nothing to change the way things were? Why had they taken the abuses without rebelling?

  Serena had once asked the same questions. Henry's recorded testimony had explained in detail that it was complicated:

  "It wasn't as easy as it sounds. They took everything from us. We were hungry and suffering from disease. Every time we stood up, they knocked us down. There was a time when
they used teargas to control crowds, but in this new world, they opened fire on us. Thousands were killed. After everything that happened, we lost the will to fight. You see, when you have nothing, you’re usually too busy trying to survive to focus on anything else. And, that was their plan all along. Even though there were more common people than elitist, any hope of rebellion or uprising to overthrow them was quashed before it started because the military and police were in their pockets. With traffic cams everywhere, they could spot a rebellion before it got started. They had eyes everywhere.

  There were too many politicians, government officials, and world leaders who though that they were infallible. Hell, even doctors, lawyers, and law enforcement thought that they couldn't do anything wrong. When you have that many people believing they are God, believing that every decision they make is righteous, then no one is innocent, except maybe young children.

  The richest and most influential snobs were protected behind walls of security. No one could get to them. Their spokespeople made the news and were always in the spotlight making promises that they never kept, never intended to keep, in an effort to calm and control the public. But the true elitist, those who really ran the world, were behind closed doors and protected.

  Government and city officials were paid off and guaranteed fat bonuses to arrest anyone among the commoners with leadership ability, anyone who might have a message of truth and gain a following. Even though there were a few rebellions, they were soon smashed to bits. Oh, it seemed as if it worked for a few days, even a few months, but it never lasted. Those who started the revolution were quickly rounded up and jailed or murdered while the spokesman for the filthy rich pranced and preened for the public. They made dirty deals to handicap and take advantage of their communities, their sectors, and their world.

  The scales of justice were always tipped in their favor because they owned the weights. We learned that Lady Justice was more than blind; she was also deaf and mute when it came to the needs of the many."

  11| History

  Serena's diaries had documented all that Henry could remember from the time the world had begun to fall apart. Those recorded recollections had begun when Henry was a boy. Serena has also recorded her own recollections. Believing that Henry had nothing to gain by doctoring the truth, Serena had trusted that Henry's account was unbiased and the most accurate testimony available to her. It was worth safe-guarding.

  After Miki was born, Serena desired to preserve Henry's statements for the benefit of her own family. She never wanted anyone she knew and loved to be left in the dark as she had once been. She urged Henry to leave a spoken record as well as the written account.

  With that understanding, Serena had personally overseen her grandson's education. She had insisted that Salazar acquire the knowledge of those records and commit them to memory. His bedtime stories began each night with the sound of Henry's voice recalling the many events that had led the world to its current state of affairs.

  The second half of his training was to learn every combat technique Henry had once taught Serena as well as all the FBI training that her husband, Tom Lang, could pass along. Salazar's ancestors had taken great pains to care for him and make him the man he was today.

  Now, as Salazar recalled the spacecraft launches and, as the world burned around him, he remembered a particularly significant section of Henry's message:

  "Back when I was a boy in 2018 there was a lot of civil unrest. It was as if the country tore itself apart from the inside. It’s my belief that’s exactly what those in power wanted. It certainly kept everyone distracted from what they were really up to... It was a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy where the entire world was ruled by a secretive and powerful few.

  There were several groups believed to be behind this elitist movement: the Illuminati, the New World Order, the Club of Rome, the Bohemian Club, Skull and Bones, the Bilderberg Group, and a few others. The government leaders and the most powerful families in the world pushed a discriminatory and exclusive agenda. The greedy bastards could never get enough of anything. Profit was the only thing that mattered and none of them ever asked if it was right or wrong because they didn't care.

  Everything was for sale if the price was right – including Presidential elections. If they controlled the world leaders, they controlled everything. We had a president at the time who declared that he would build a wall in the southern sector between our country and Mexico. He insisted that we needed such a barrier to keep brown people out, to keep them from stealing our jobs. He insisted that they were murderers and rapist. Now, imagine that all the attention of the world was drawn to that one comment. People argued and debated the issue among themselves. They were so wrapped up in that notion that no one noticed that he sold off bits and pieces of our country to Russian and China.

  He was a smart bastard even if he was a bully and a crook. He knew how to distract the people. He did it with a comment about some damn wall that would never be built. Well, it was started but he never had any intention of finishing it. It was propaganda only to distract us from what was really going on.

  He convinced many that we had to fight for our jobs and homes. He insisted that we had to make sure that illegal aliens didn't get the benefits of our great country. He stirred up a dog-eat-dog mentality to distract us while he grew richer. That left everyone else to suffer and starve from their gluttony. We began to fight among ourselves even more. Separating us by political, social, and religious views is what the elite have always done. They have always kept us busy fighting each other. If we were fighting among ourselves, we didn't notice what they were doing. They believed they deserved their riches and status. They believed they were untouchable. Their sole desire was to amass more wealth, gold, commodities, and properties.

  The common people realized you can only wear one pair of shoes at a time, but the rich folks wanted all the shoes, all the money, all the properties and homes, all the tax-breaks. Their hunger and greed for power and wealth was insatiable and they helped each other get those things. They were like ravenous beasts and they didn't care who or what they ripped apart to satisfy their ends.

  And, knowing they would eventually destroy the planet in their quest, we were never sure what their endgame was after they had succeeded. Some could only assume that they would either live underground or escape to another planet. If anyone had the resources to do such a thing, they did.

  At first, they built an entire city underground designed especially for them. But, after a while, even that didn't satisfy them and they began to look at space as a new frontier to rape, pillage, and conquer. That's what they do."

  12| Energetic Forces

  Salazar wished he could have a long chat with Henry. Even though Henry had died long before he was born, Salazar had a framed photograph of his grandfather and he had listened to his voice every night. He recalled his grandfather as if he had known him personally. Salazar didn't actually believe in ghosts, however he did believe in energy, especially the energy left behind by a strong presence.

  Henry had been a powerful force in all their lives and he was revered and loved by everyone in their small family. Salazar was certain that Henry had watched over him and had taken a keen interest in his only grandson. He couldn't explain it any more than he could explain his own intuition, but he still believed it.

  Now, Salazar longed for his grandfather to somehow know his assumptions had been accurate. He also felt overwhelmed by the tasks that were ahead of him. This quest had felt different when it was only him and his mother that he led to the tunnels.

  Now, he had a dozen people to protect. The responsibility felt heavy. He wished that he could talk to his father. He longed to feel his father's comforting hand on his shoulder.

  Rob had always known how to let Salazar know that he trusted him and had confidence in his abilities. Now Salazar wasn't even sure if his father had survived. Salazar choked down a sob of grief and despair, knowing that he had to be strong for everyone that she
ltered here with him and his mother.

  He considered that Summerhaven had been hit first. He worried that his father didn't have any notice and had not had time to take cover. As these thoughts consumed him, Henry suddenly appeared to Salazar. He laid his hand on his grandson's shoulder and gently squeezed. It was the same action Rob would have taken and Salazar's heart beat faster.

  Henry's presence was not an apparition; nevertheless, it was a strong, purposeful energy as he clearly said, "Concentrate, Salazar, concentrate and focus. Hear me," Although he was surprised, Salazar nodded and his grandfather continued, "These people need you. Serena gave you the proper name for you will serve and, by that service, you will lead. You will lead and protect them in this new world, a world that has been wiped clean of the elite and all those who were of the old world order. They were of the third dimension, the ego. The ego is only concerned with its selfish desires. It screams – me, me, me. The old world order was only concerned with their self-interest of greed. You will lead these survivors into the fourth dimension which is the heart. They will hear and lead from a place of community and love of community. They will understand and desire what is good for all, not a few. Do you understand?"

  Aware of the others sitting in the alcove with him, Salazar had many question for his grandfather, but he also knew how foolish it would sound for him to speak aloud to him. As if reading his mind, Henry chuckled and then reassured, "You can ask me anything you want. I can hear your thoughts. I heard you long for your father's hand of trust and confidence on your shoulder and I answered that desire."

  "Explain to me how this is possible?" Salazar thought. "How can I see and hear you like this… it feels so real, so true."