by William Oday
“So I’m your prized pupil?”
His expression saddened. “Unfortunately, you’re a failure in the end. We had Crypto and you’ve let him get away. Though what we gathered from Martinez will certainly help us to succeed where we previously could not. Still. You let him get away.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” I wasn’t sorry and he got that.
The general frowned. “I’m afraid I have to make another tough decision. It appears your medical condition has put your loyalty in question. I can’t have that.”
His finger curled inside the trigger guard.
“You’re insane.”
“I’m what I need to be to get the job done. Nothing more. Nothing less. Now, I’ve enjoyed our little chat. I think you deserved some explanation for what you’ve given up for me. And for what I’m about to take.” He raised the pistol higher, aiming it at my head. “Thank you for your service, soldier.”
A single gunshot.
Tendrils of smoke curling upward in front of me.
General Curtis stood there, expressionless.
A dark hole in his cheek.
An instant stretched out to forever before a trickle of blood raced down and spilled off his jaw.
He collapsed, pelvis hitting the floor, then teetered over and flopped onto his back. One leg under him and twisted at an awkward angle. A deep red pool of blood forming next to his head.
I glanced down, feeling the heat of the metal barrel on my hip. There was the pistol, positioned and fired by Martinez. The last curl of smoke lazily climbing higher.
“Thank you,” I said as I turned.
Started to turn.
A violent shudder and searing pain punched me in the chest.
A crushing pressure like being buried under a mountain.
I collapsed as my body went numb.
Only the agonizing pressure remained.
And then it too went away.
57
A city of endless ruin.
Stretching to the horizon in all directions. Devastation draped over the surface like a camouflage net. A drab gray filter that sucked the life out of everything within view. No movement to be seen. No breeze to ruffle leaves. No trees to have leaves.
No living thing anywhere.
And the silence.
The impossible, unbearable silence.
An insufferable wave of solitude.
………………………………………..
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……………………………………
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……………
..........
….
…
….
…….
…….….“Daddy!” a voice called out.
Hannah.
My Hannah.
My daughter.
Out there!
Alone!
Alive!
With every fiber and tendon and muscle in my being, I knew it to be true. The certainty of it permeated my skin and settled into my organs, saturating my heart.
My daughter was out there.
Alive and warm despite the chill.
She needed me. Needed help.
And I had not returned.
All hope fading
With the
........... l
......... i
....... g
..... h
.... t
...
..
.
Dark things lurked
With flashing razor beaks
Smothering inconstant warmth with flapping wings
Their number overwhelming
And Irresistible
They swallowed the light
And the unbearable cold returned.
58
I didn’t dream after that.
There was nothing but the inchoate darkness.
Until it began to fade.
And the revelation with it.
My eyelids parted and the hospital room blurred into view. Blinking clarity eventually resolved into Dr. Tanaka standing above me, his mouth pecking out words but making no sound.
Was I alive?
Had to be.
Surely no god would doom a soul to this eternity. To be trapped for the rest of time. Clipped wings and broken hollowed out bones. It was hard to imagine a greater horror.
His mouth stopped moving and he stared with concern.
A keening buzzing noise. So loud I winced as it took roost inside my head.
I realized it had been there all along, but I only now noticed it.
Tanaka spoke again and this time the words filtered through the buzzing.
“Can you hear me?”
I nodded and the minute gesture caused a terrible ache in my chest. My hand moved of its own accord. It stopped on the fabric of a hospital gown.
The tips of stiff, scratching thread poked through the thin cloth.
My finger traced a line of crisscrossed stitches up the middle of my chest. A puckered wound sewn together.
The buzzing died away as the doctor continued. “We had to open your chest to get to your heart. You had a massive heart attack. It caused an aortic rupture. You were dying when we found you. During the surgery, you flat-lined for a few minutes and then came back. You’re very lucky to be alive.”
I wasn’t sure if lucky quite described it, but I nodded anyway and thanked him for saving me a second time.
He pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose while staring at the chart in his hands. “I know I’m just a doctor and you will end up doing whatever you want, but I highly recommend that you take it easy for a while. Your body needs rest.”
A distant sense of urgency stirred in my chest. Like the ripples on the surface of water indicating something had been there just a moment ago. But it had ducked below, leaving only the fading clues.
What was it?
I focused on it, but it was gone. The surface again smooth and calm and reflective like a mirror.
“Hey there, tough guy,” a voice said from the doorway.
I looked over and saw Martinez leaning on a pair of crutches. Draped in a baggy hospital gown like my own.
She must’ve noticed my noticing it. “Yeah, I keep telling them I’m fine, but they won’t let me out yet.” She hobbled over to the bed and touched my cheek. “You look terrible.”
I laughed and winced at the resulting sting in my chest. “You look worse.”
That wasn’t a certainty because I had no idea how I looked. But the odds were still in my favor because she was a wreck.
The bruising had settled in for the long heal. Mottled yellows and purple browns covering her face and neck. The gown, I knew, hid more.
She shrugged. “I’ve been worse.”
“Have you?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. Definitely not.”
Tanaka cleared his throat. “I also recommended that Ms. Martinez remain in her bed, but who cares what I think. I’m only a trained expert at repairing the damage you people do to yourselves.” He attached the clipboard to the end of the bed and let it smack against the frame to emphasize his point.
He looked between us, back and forth. “Nothing? Not even a hollow promise to take care of yourselves better? Not even the most superficial reassurance to throw your doctor a bone?”
“Whatever you say, doc,” Martinez replied.
Tanaka let out a long sigh and left the room.
Martinez flashed a grin that barely made it through the swollen flesh of her face. It was more obvious in her eyes, but it was there all the same.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
“Three days.”
Three days.
It was a blink. Eyes close. Eyes open.
“W
here’s Crypto?”
“Haven’t seen him since your brother nearly split my skull in half and dragged me away.”
“How is he?”
“I saw him leaving the infirmary yesterday. Face covered in bandages. I thought it was you at first. Until he looked at me. Once I saw the eyes, I knew.”
“General Curtis?”
“Dead.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “The incident is being investigated. There are no formal charges yet, but we’ll see.”
I looked past her and saw the two Grays standing guard outside the door.
“You and I are under twenty-four hour guard.”
I reached for her hand and found it. Fingers more slender and delicate than my own. But just as strong at the same time.
“You did the right thing. Don’t doubt that.”
She shrugged. “I did what I had to do.”
“Thank you, for saving my life. Again.”
“It’s becoming a real problem. This dependency you have on me,” she said with a smile. “And you’re welcome.”
A knock at the door and the person knocking strolled right in.
“Toothpick Waist, get clothes on already. Trying to show off skinny little boy body by wearing thin paper bag is getting you nowhere. Men want woman with something to grab onto.”
Kat blew me an air kiss. “Hello, Mr. Scout. You look terrible but alive and that is something.” She turned back to the door and dragged in a cleaning cart filled with supplies.
She stood next to it, hips cocked to the side, one hand resting on rounded, prodigious flesh. “You remember deal, Mr. Scout? Yes?”
I must’ve looked confused because she answered my unspoken question.
“How quickly we forget. The date you promised. Kat hasn’t forgotten.” She tapped the side of her head, presumably emphasizing the point that her brain was like a safe in which anything could be stored and never lost. She gestured at me. “And because you are stuck here like invalid, Kat brought date to you.”
Martinez chuckled and tried to cover it with a cough.
Kat shot her an annoyed look. “Goodbye, Toothpick Waist. You are not invited.”
Martinez held up one hand in surrender. She turned to me and laid it on my shoulder. “We’ll talk later.”
“Okay,” I said, wondering what questions she might have. Wondering if I would have answers.
Would she understand that I had changed?
I was no longer the man I used to be. Whether from the brain injury or from our journey together or some other cause, things were different now.
I was different.
And it would take a while yet to figure out who the new me was and what I stood for.
Martinez leaned down and kissed my forehead.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Kat said. “Already competition heats up.” She grinned and wiggled her ample bosom.
Martinez rolled her eyes. “You two have fun,” she said as she headed for the door.
Kat shut the door behind her.
Through the window, I noticed that one of the guards followed Martinez as she went away down the hall while the other stayed posted at my door.
“Alone at last, my handsome tough guy,” Kat said. “Kat has special treat for you.”
My heart skipped a beat, which was probably a dangerous thing at this point.
Was she about to wiggle out of her working blues?
She returned to the cart and removed a pile of towels from one side. Behind the stack was something completely out of place.
A bottle of what appeared to be dirty water and a silver cooking pot sitting on top of an oven mitt.
She pulled them out and set them on a nearby counter. “I have hot borscht and homemade grog for you.” She lifted the lid of the pot and a rich, savory, slightly sour scent permeated the room.
My stomach grumbled.
Loud enough for both of us to hear.
Kat grinned. “You’ll never get better eating garbage they serve here.” She retrieved a bowl and two shot glasses from the interior of the cart. After filling the glasses, she ladled out a full bowl of steaming soup and carried everything over to the table next to the bed.
“It smells delicious,” I said.
“Of course, it does. I make it.”
My stomach gurgled again and I tried to sit up, but was stopped by the needle pricks of pain running down my chest.
“Take it easy.” She said as she pushed a button on the bed, causing the upper half to come up. She let go when I was up in a reclined position.
My mouth watered with anticipation. The saliva glands kicking in so hard it hurt. I wanted to eat more than anything. It was like a physical pull toward the bowl of soup. I reached for a spoon.
She gently smacked my hand away. “No. I feed you. No one will take care of you like Kat.”
I wasn’t sure that was necessary, but it seemed to make her happy so I went with it.
She scooped into the dark soup, through the tiny puddles of oil floating on the surface, and withdrew a full spoon. Carefully, slowly without letting a single drop fall, she fed me like a child.
The thick broth landed like an explosion in my mouth. I gulped it down, ignoring the near-scalding temperature, and waited for the next bite.
Not long, as she already had another spoonful on the way.
I swallowed again and the delicious warmth sunk down into my belly.
She kept feeding me and I kept eating until half the bowl was gone. “Take break for a minute. Time for toast.”
She took one of the shot glasses and handed me the other. She made sure I had it before letting go.
“To unpredictable life. And to taking pleasure whenever possible,” she said with a wink.
We clinked glasses and then knocked back the hazy liquid in a single go.
It was like swallowing fire. The blaze hit the back of my throat and sizzled down into my core, cranking up the heat a few degrees.
My eyes watered and Kat laughed while pouring herself another. “Tough guy will get used to it after few more drinks.”
I handed the glass back. “Maybe another later. I’d like more soup if you don’t mind.”
She grinned like I’d just given her a long-stemmed rose. “Darling, of course I don’t mind.”
The spoon clinked in the bowl as she picked it up.
And then the lights cut out.
Pitch black.
Until the view screen on the opposite wall blinked on.
59
The screen flashed white and then darker as a face appeared, filling it.
Crypto.
A wild gleam in his eyes.
A dangerous and unpredictable fever burning in their depths.
“Hello, Citizens. You do not know me, but you know of me. And more importantly, I know you. I know your suffering. I know your sacrifices. I know the miserable lives we endure so that those above us are afforded unearned luxury. Unmerited leisure and opportunity. This is a system built on inequity.”
He pointed at the camera, short fingers almost coming into the room.
“No more, I tell you. No more. We have lived off their crumbs long enough. And we will not accept it any more. I am hereby taking control of the bunker until such a time as free and fair elections can be guaranteed. Until we, the working class who make this entire community possible, are heard and represented in the government that decides all of our fates.”
“You will have noticed all the lights are out. They will come back on when this transmission has ended. This is a simple show of power to those elites who would oppose us. Do not attempt resistance to this necessary and inevitable evolution. I control all of the systems on every level. I could cut off your air and seal you in a suffocating tomb.”
He sniffed, as if the thought nearly brought him to tears. “But I do not wish to harm anyone. Only to bring equality to those who deserve it.”
“I know what many of you may be wondering. You have heard of me. The dangerous criminal named Cr
ypto. How can he be trusted? Is the rule of this man any better than the rule of the elite?”
He held his hand up to emphasize the solemnity of his pledge. “I promise you that I will relinquish all power the very minute that fair and equitable governing bodies are in place. But that will take time. Corruption has overrun our community and it must be ripped out by the roots.”
He held his palm to his chest and bowed ever so slightly.
“Until then, I humbly accept the duty of guiding us toward a brighter future. You can trust me. I have your best interests at heart.”
He smiled reassuringly, and it was the scariest part yet.
“Again, my name is Crypto. Welcome everyone, to a new beginning.”
The screen went dark as the lights in the ceiling clicked back on.
Kat turned to me with her lips puckered to the side. She shook her head. “I don’t trust him. New beginnings are sometimes worse than old endings.” She knocked back a shot of grog and shook her head clear. “Care for another?”
I nodded. “Yeah, for a start.”
THE END OF BOOK 1
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