by Shoraz
“What?” she answered.
“Be home by seven, the reception starts at eight, and don’t be a minute late,” he said, and he disconnected the call even before she had a chance to reply.
As Frank hung up the phone he headed into the kitchen to get a cup of tea and then headed back out to the balcony to relax before the reception. He needed it; the past few months were extremely difficult, both in his personal life as well as his professional life in which he was the governor and leader of the betasapiens and the World Government.
In his personal life, his wife Bridget had not been holding up her part of their contract which was to act as if they are in love and show that Frank was a leader in the home which in turn would convince his fellow betasapiens that he was a great leader for the World Government.
However it was all for show, it was all done to make the people believe that Frank was more than he is. It didn’t start out this way; initially, Frank and Bridget were in love and were quite happy together, they never had any children but that was their choice; they both chose to put all their motivation and energy into Frank’s career.
This decision, although made by both parties was mostly attributed to Frank. Initially, Bridget was happy with it being just her and Frank, but as Frank spent most of his time doing the duties of a governor, she started regretting the decision and blamed Frank for forcing it on her.
Not only did Bridget not like the long hours Frank spent at work, but she also deeply resented him for the decisions he made as governor. Although she outwardly didn’t present herself as a sympathizer of humans, on the inside she did have compassion and feelings towards them.
Since Frank’s appointment as governor, she never made her true feelings known about her compassion for the humans. Firstly was because she used to be in love with Frank, and secondly was that she had a very luxurious life – which he enabled for her – and she didn’t want to jeopardize that. In the world of the betasapiens, any of them that were known to have compassion towards humans were exiled from Australia or executed. In this new world, compassion towards humans was the equivalent of treason.
After finishing his cup of tea, and then going back for another, Frank got dressed and went back out to the balcony, this was his solace; looking out from above gave him a feeling of power. As he looked out to the horizon, thoughts of tonight’s speech went through his head such as, how would the crowd react to the news of a Second Great War? What would they do with the water supply of the Great Lakes region once they took it over? And will they move their home base from Australia to another part of the world as the human threat would no longer exist?
He then left the balcony and entered the apartment, at the same time Bridget also entered along with her knight, and without saying a word to him, she went to her room as her knight waited outside the door. Frank then entered the room behind her, “You better not have that attitude tonight at the reception,” he said.
“I won’t, I’ll act as I normally do when we are out. I’ll put on a great act for everyone to see how happy we are,” she replied.
“Fake happy, real happy…I don’t care which one it is as long as they see you as being happy with me,” Frank said to her.
“I know why the Second Great War is being started Frank; it’s because you are afraid and you are scared,” Bridget boldly said.
“Shut up Bridget!” Frank yelled at her.
“I’ve seen your plans Frank, you want to destroy every last one of them because you don’t know who it is, and it could be any one of them, that’s why you’re scared,” she said to him.
“Shut up you fool,” Frank shouted.
“No Frank, I’m not scared of you. I’m not one of your puppet board members who grovel at your feet. I know your secret, and I know what you fear most, and it’s all because of your dream. No Frank, I’m not the fool, look in the mirror and you’ll see who the true fool is,” Bridget yelled at him.
“Watch your mouth Bridget, because your next word could be your last,” Frank said to her in a threatening tone.
“You know you can’t do anything to me Frank, we have to pretend to be happy and I’m just as much a part of this show of a marriage as you are,” Bridget said, and as she said those words Frank walked out of the room.
“Really Frank! You’re about to start a war which will kill millions of humans because of what you fear,” Bridget continued yelling at him as he left the room.
As Frank left the room he called out to Achilles, his personal knight, and the leader of the white knights of Australia; all loyal knights follow his commands.
“Achilles please gather three knights and bring Bridget’s mother to the apartment. Have them stay with her until we get back and make sure she speaks to no one. Tell her Bridget needs her right away. Once they are safely in the apartment, give them their orders and meet me at the reception.” Frank ordered him.
Bridget was in shock, “You can’t Frank,” she said.
“Get dressed, we are leaving,” he stated in a stern tone.
As she went to her room, her knight was still standing at the door. She looked at Bridget with sorrow and whispered the words in her ear, “I will protect you, no one will hurt you. You are my true love.”
“I know you will Roma, and I love you too,” she whispered back to her.
After getting dressed, Bridget and Frank left to attend the reception while Achilles and the other knights left to get Bridget’s mother. Roma was left alone in the apartment; she knew she had to act soon to save Bridget from a life of misery. She also knew that she had to reach out to the humans to warn them of the impending war and let them know they had an ally on the inside, an ally that the betasapiens would never suspect; and one who could change the outcome of the war.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
As the vigilantes approached him, Luo knew he had no way out of this situation. He knew the mentality of the vigilantes, and he knew that there wasn’t an explanation on earth that they would accept. If there were two, three or possibly four of them he would have taken them on, but not a dozen of them as that would mean certain death.
“Put your hands up where we can see them, and don’t make any sudden moves or we will shoot,” said Dylan, who was the leader of the pack of vigilantes.
They quickly handcuffed Luo and put him to sit on the floor.
“Explain this to us,” Dylan said to him.
“I found him like this and I did not know what to do so I decided to bury him,” Luo softly said.
“Don’t lie to me, you know the pact we have with the church; you stay out of trouble and report any suspicious activities and people to us, and we will protect you. It’s that simple, and now you’ve complicated everything,” Dylan said to Luo.
Dylan knew Luo for a long time, but he was a vigilante for a longer time, and their laws were the laws of the land as far as they were concerned. He then ordered his crew to dig up the body, and as they did so, they were all in shock as they realized it was a knight and saw the damage that was done to it.
“You’re lying to me Luo, you just didn’t find this body at your church, not with this type of wound, and on top of that, it’s a knight. I know weapons very well, and only a high powered laser could do this. Bring him and the knight inside the church, we’re going to question everyone,” Dylan said in a harsh tone.
He wanted to believe Luo, but he knew he had to get answers for this and punish those responsible as that is what the vigilantes do. As they entered the church, the first thing they noticed was a few drops of knights blood on the floor.
“So this is where it happened huh?” Dylan said as they stopped in the room to assess it and see if there was any evidence; but other than the few drops of blood there was no further evidence.
Dylan then commanded a few of his crew to go and find any other witnesses, and as they left the back room and entered the walkway that led to the great hall, Luo shouted to them, “Please don’t hurt anyone,” and pleaded with Dylan to not harm any of
the church members.
As they made it out to the great hall, the church members were in shock to see Luo in handcuffs and the dead knight being dragged by two vigilantes.
“Everybody, please stay where you are, we mean no harm to you, we just want to know if anyone saw who did this to the dead knight,” Dylan said pointing towards the knight laying lifeless on the church floor.
Dylan’s words were met by silence; then suddenly the vigilantes that were ordered to gather witnesses brought four witnesses forward; the witnesses were not there by their own desire and having many weapons pointed at them made the situation even worse.
“Speak now, who did this to the knight? If no one speaks up I will choose a victim for torture,” Dylan said in hopes of getting the information he wanted.
“We saw nothing, please leave us,” one of the men pleaded.
“Bring that one to me,” Dylan commanded to one of his crew members.
As the vigilante brought the man forward, Dylan pulled out his knife and put it to the man’s eye. As Dylan held the knife to the man’s eye, Luo managed to get away from the vigilante that was holding him and rushed towards Dylan kicking him swiftly in the stomach. As Dylan fell, Luo jumped on him as he lay on the floor and wrapped his handcuffed arms around Dylan’s neck.
“One move from anyone and I’ll break his neck,” Luo said to the vigilantes as they stood in shock with their lasers pointed at Luo as they awaited directions from Dylan.
“You better kill me Luo, because if you don’t, I’m going to kill you,” Dylan said in anger and commanded his crew to start shooting everyone in the church if Luo did not let him go in five seconds.
As they aimed their guns, Dylan counted down, “Five, four, three,” and Luo slowly let go of his hold on Dylan; then as he let go, one of the vigilantes grabbed him by the head and yanked him away from Dylan. He then pointed his laser at Luo’s temple, but Dylan told him to stop and ordered the vigilante to take him away to the back room. As Luo was being escorted by the vigilante, he heard Dylan telling the people at the church that if no one speaks up he will order his vigilantes to kill Luo.
“If no one speaks up, we will kill Luo, you have five minutes,” he said to them.
The vigilantes then began rounding up the people of the church and questioning them violently, a few of them were punched and even kicked. As the violence continued one of the people of the church screamed out, “I know who brought him here, I can tell you, just please stop this madness, I know where they live, and I can take you there.”
In the back room, Luo overheard what was going on and could not believe one of his people would take the vigilantes to Dean, Ava, and Jonah.
Meanwhile, Ahmad looked at him and shook his head in disbelief that he would say who brought the knight to the church. Then, as one of the vigilantes saw Ahmad shaking his head he quickly punched him in the face; and the punch left Ahmad unconscious. As another church goer saw that, he rushed towards the vigilante, and in a hasty reaction the vigilante shot him, and he dropped to the floor.
The other church goers then rushed towards them and the vigilantes fought back. Meanwhile, the vigilante who was guarding Luo left him to see what was going on, and as he left, Luo knew this was his only chance to warn Dean and his family that the vigilantes would be coming for them.
Luo then quickly ran out the back door and ran towards his airmobile which was located at the back of the church. He didn’t want to leave his fellow people abandoned, but something deep inside him told him that he had to protect Dean, Ava, and Jonah; even at the expense of his fellow church people.
He knew that this was what Sarah would have done if she was in his place. He then entered the airmobile and set it to autofly mode as his hands were still in handcuffs. He also remembered the address Dean gave him and he input it verbally into the airmobile, and it quickly flew to its destination.
Meanwhile, back in the church, the vigilantes managed to take control of the situation, and they lined up the church people on the floor and handcuffed them all except for Lukas, who was the one that said he would take them to Dean and his family.
Dylan then commanded the vigilantes to leave them on the floor and get Luo; the vigilante who was initially guarding Luo went back to get him but when he got there Luo was nowhere to be seen. He then quickly rushed back to tell the other vigilantes and with that, they grabbed Lukas as well as another church member named John and rushed to their airmobiles.
As they reached the airmobiles, Dylan told Lukas to come with him and forced him to give the address, and Lukas told him the address and they sped off to their destination. As they sped off, Dylan said, “Thanks for the information son but by the time this is over, and we have the perpetrators of the crime, they along with you and your church friends will most likely be dead. Just so you know, this isn’t my call, but it’s what has to be done, I’m sorry.”
As they flew to their destination Lukas asked Dylan why he was doing this, and Dylan told him it was his job, and Lukas said it wasn’t right, but Dylan didn’t want to hear any of it. Lukas tried explaining how things unfolded earlier in the day and that the knight was already dead when he was brought to them.
“I know you’re trying to help these people, but you must understand that in this new world we just don’t terminate the bad cell, we also terminate anything that is close to that cell, that’s how you stop crime the vigilante way,” Dylan proudly said to him.
Dylan then looked at the screen of the airmobile and it showed seven minutes to its destination, “We’re almost there, when we get there you stay with me and don’t speak to any civilians,” Dylan said to Lukas.
Finally, they arrived, and Dylan, Lukas, and the other vigilantes exited their airmobiles and walked in the direction of the address that Lukas gave them. They shouted to the civilians in the area to leave and they prepared their weapons.
As they arrived at their destination, Dylan knocked on the door, and he waited a few seconds and then knocked again, this time it was louder and more forceful. Then, a voice inside said, “Hold on, I’m coming,” and as the door opened a young girl appeared, and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing as there were about a dozen vigilantes with their lasers pointed at her.
“Lukas is that you? Why the hell did you bring…” the young girl said, but before her sentence was even finished, lasers were being fired from inside the apartment towards the vigilantes as they ran for cover and fired back through the opened door. Dylan quickly pulled Lukas aside and shouted to him, “You liar, you brought us to the wrong place,” as he sternly looked at him.
Agitated by being betrayed, Dylan then pulled Lukas towards him, pulled out his knife and thrusted it into Lukas’ neck, he then pulled it out of his neck and stabbed him in his chest. Lukas then fell to the floor gasping for air and put his hands on his neck in order to stop the blood from pouring out of the wound. As the laser fire continued, the vigilantes used their superior tactical skills and quickly took control of the situation, and after a few minutes they stormed into the apartment and killed the occupants inside of it.
As they looked around they realized that the apartment was being used as a makeshift drug lab. Once the vigilantes deemed the situation to be safe and under control, Dylan walked over to Lukas who was still barely alive and clinging to life. He then looked at him with sorrow on his face and said, “Look at what you made me do….I’m sorry,” and with those words he put Lukas out of his misery with a swift stab to his left temple.
He then looked at John who was standing a few feet away and asked him if he knew the address and John said that he did know the address that Dylan was referring to. As the vigilantes left the building they branded Lukas’ forehead with the mark of the vigilantes; this was done to signify that this death was from the vigilantes and someone should dispose of it.
As they made their way to their airmobiles Dylan told everyone to stop, “Listen up everyone, John here has decided to give us the correct address. If for any rea
son we get there and it’s a trap and I die, make sure you take this piece of garbage back to the church, find everyone and line them up, give John a knife and make sure you have a laser to his head the entire time in case he tries anything stupid. You then tell him to take that knife and cut the hearts out of everyone; and by the way, don’t kill him, let him live to remember what happens when you double cross us.”
After hearing the violent threat that Dylan uttered, John assured him that he wasn’t lying and entered the airmobile. As the vigilantes sped off towards Dean’s apartment, John felt guilty about telling the address to the vigilantes but he knew that he had no real choice. It was either the lives of three or the lives of many; and all he could hope for now was that Luo got there in time to lead Dean, Jonah, and Ava to an escape from the violent gang of law abiding thugs known as the vigilantes.
CHAPTER TWELVE
As Luo pushed the airmobile to its limits; he knew that he had to get to Dean before the vigilantes did. He couldn’t believe that a church member would give away Dean’s address to the vigilantes. If something were to happen to Dean and his children, Luo knew he would have some responsibility for it, and he didn’t want that burden on his shoulders.
He also knew that Sarah would be extremely disappointed if the vigilantes were to injure or kill Dean and his children. If this family could have caused Sarah to leave in such secrecy, they must be vital towards a good cause as Sarah is one who always looks out to protect and benefit those on the side of good.
Luo knew that he didn’t have much time, as if the vigilantes also knew the address they could arrive at Dean’s apartment any minute now. He looked at the screen of the airmobile, and it said two minutes to his destination, he looked back to ensure that the coast was clear and that he was not being followed by any vigilantes; and as he looked back, he felt somewhat safe as there was no one following him.