by David Beers
The child in the back room.
Manny stopped his eyes back and forth movement. When was the last time he had seen the child? He had no idea. Couldn't really even remember what the kid looked like.
Like Dustin. He looks like Dustin.
Then why haven't you spent time around Dustin?
Manny turned from the window and crossed the living room. He didn't look to Leon still on the couch, still holding the knife above his forehead. Manny had only one thought in his mind. To see his child. To see Dustin. To make sure he hadn't imagined the whole damn thing.
The bedroom door opened as he walked toward it, and no, he hadn't imagined everything.
He hadn't imagined the child, but looking at it now, he realized he had imagined a lot. The kid was dead, its head hanging to the side, its skin a disgusting gray—like raw meat right before it begins spoiling. The child's tiny arms lay to its side, palms up. It was naked, and the bottom half was covered in feces and urine. This had been Dustin? Was that what he really thought? That he somehow had found his son and that this dead body lying here had been him? And if this wasn't Dustin, what was Brandi? Because if Manny was wrong about Dustin, then he could have just as easily been wrong about Brandi.
And that meant.
That all of this, his life's dream, was nothing more than a mirage. The only real things in this apartment were the two people outside of this room, one lying in the hallway and the other sitting on the couch holding a knife. Everything else, all the joy that had been living in this apartment, was only inside Manny's head. The reality was that these people here, they hated him. That this baby on the bed had probably held an intense hate as well, until it died. He made all of this up, made up a life that he hoped to live because of the one ripped away from him.
And in doing so, missed out on the purpose of all this. What it had been when he went out in the desert to get these three. The purpose had been to punish Caesar, and maybe he thought he had remembered it earlier today, but he hadn't really. Because he had still thought there was something to live for after this. There wasn't. He only needed to kill Caesar and then he could follow Paige down.
Well, maybe a bit more to do.
He walked out of the room and stepped over Jerry as he went back to the living room.
There was still Leon to think about.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Bradley hovered in the middle of the room, slowly spinning in a circle, looking out at his surroundings. The black woman lay on the floor behind him, and he had no idea where that other application was—he certainly wouldn't speak to ascertain her location. He couldn't use anything in this room. The leader of the pack, Caesar, had run out to find someone about some suit. Bradley didn't care about that in the slightest. However, he did care that Caesar was gone, because that meant he had a chance. The first chance in a long time to rid himself of these three pests.
But what could he use? He heard all the talk between Caesar and his application, saw the blackness fall outside the window. Someone had darkened the place, but Bradley didn't care too much about that either. The Genesis could control whatever happened outside; Bradley needed to get under that same control, and this was his chance to do it.
Nothing, nothing, nothing, he thought again. His own internal mechanism connecting him with The Genesis had been shut down by that goddamn Caesar. Bradley had no idea how to turn it back on, it was always natural to him, and now that it was missing—it felt like trying to teach oneself how to breathe.
He turned around and looked at the boarded window. Caesar had pulled a piece of wood off when all the wind started blowing, wanting to see out. No one had replaced it. Bradley couldn't fit through the whole, no way. His orb shaped body wouldn't squeeze through a rectangle that small. Still, he floated over to it, wanting to get a closer look at Caesar's work. He peered at the boards and the nails attaching them to the wall. The whole thing had been weakened; the wind seriously battered the entire structure.
Bradley turned back around, looking into the room. The woman hadn't moved from her place on the floor and there wasn't any way to see the other application. He went back to the boards. He didn't know what would happen if he got out, didn't know if he would fall to the ground, smashing into innumerable pieces, or if he could fly as high as he wanted. He didn't know if his destroyed connection to The Genesis was confined to this apartment, or if it might abate if he escaped. These boards, though, they were his best chance. What could the application do to him if he escaped? Bradley didn't think anything. She was off the grid, had no connection with The Genesis any longer, no control over anything but herself. She could watch, maybe scream at him, maybe contact Caesar, but that was it. If he got out, neither of them could control Bradley.
He just had to hope he wouldn't fall and kill himself.
"Grace?" He said aloud as he looked out the hole.
No answer came back. There were four other rooms in this apartment, and he supposed she could be in any of them. Or she could be right behind him, watching. It didn't matter.
How? He asked, looking at the boards. Bradley pushed forward some, putting pressure on the wood with his body, and then pushed harder, seeing if they would bend. There was give to them, no doubt about it—the nails weren't completely firm. He kept pressing, feeling the boards continuing to bend. It was possible; he could get out of this place with enough speed.
Bradley turned around quickly, excitement building in him. He was going to escape, and if he didn't fall to his death, he'd be free. After all this time, free from these numbskulls holding him captive. Free from the stench of this goddamn apartment. Free to go back to a world that he knew and understood, even if it was a world full of humans. He was in charge out there; in here, he was less than a fucking pet.
He scooted through the air to the other side of the room. His body was durable, made of an alloy that shouldn't take much damage when he hit the boards. Now, if he fell, Bradley didn't know of an alloy that could handle that drop, but if he didn't...
Fuck it, he thought. He was tired of this place and these people.
He took off, flying through the room with all the power he could muster, trying to pick up enough speed before he reached the window. He zipped across the room crashed into the wood.
The contact lasted a second, maybe less, and then he was outside, the broken wood falling and he still heading forward, heading to the next building in front of him.
"YES!" He shouted into the dark world, not knowing if anyone was listening and not caring at all. "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes."
He flew upwards, heading toward the clouds, not knowing where he was going or what he would do when he arrived, only wanting to move. It took time, quite a bit from Bradley's perspective, but probably not nearly enough from Caesar's, for him to remember what he needed to do. He spent the time flying around the city, looking down at the disaster beneath him. At last though, Bradley thought about The Genesis, about his ability to connect, about the knowledge he had of everyone inside that apartment.
Bradley tried his version of breathing, and found himself able to suck in the proverbial air again.
* * *
Things can't get any better. You know that right?
What are you going to tell him to do?
You heard the application, I take it?
Of course. It's not like I'm over here sleeping.
I never know anymore. One day I'm going to look over and you're going to have quit completely.
Enough, what are you going to tell him?
Well, to kill the two still in the apartment, of course. Just make sure The Theory isn't touched. I told you—things can't get any better.
* * *
The body lay on the building's roof. Caesar looked at it for a few seconds and then back out to the black sky. It should have been freezing up here, but the small dome kept the weather from touching him. There wouldn't be any more weather very soon though. The clouds below this buildi
ng would drop their rain eventually, and that would be the last rain in this place until the field came down. Weather was as dead as the body lying in front of him.
He had snapped the man's neck. The Represenative’s head was turned unnaturally, nearly completely around. He lay naked now, no black suit to clothe him. Caesar wore it, the fabric automatically morphing to fit whoever put it on.
Caesar had what he needed now, and all he had to do was kill someone else to get it. The man in black had been a murderer himself though, perhaps one crueler than Caesar. Perhaps one that deserved to die. Caesar didn't know, didn't feel worthy of being this man's judge or jury, only his executioner. And now he was dead and Caesar wore his suit, meaning Caesar could march inside that building, could ride the elevator to his parent's apartment, could help the people he loved.
He walked to the edge of the building and looked down. He wondered if people were out in the street now, looking up at the black dome covering them all. He wondered if they held lights, because without them, no one would see anything.
It was time to go. He came and took what he wanted once again, and now he would go somewhere else and take more.
* * *
Grace looked at the window. There were quite a few of them across the wall, but Caesar always came to this one because of the slight hole at eye level. The boards were gone now and the entire window open, though anyone looking out would only see darkness dotted with a few lights from other building's windows.
She had been in one of the back bedrooms. She didn't want to look at Keke anymore, didn't want to look at Bradley either. He never said anything unless a group was there that he could bother. When it was just the two of them (because Keke couldn't really ever be considered there anymore), he said nothing. He was an awful little creature, something The Genesis birthed, but not of the right mindset to truly be worthy of humans or The Genesis. She found herself hating him the more time she spent around him.
So she had gone to the back bedroom and let the door shut. Grace worried a lot now, much more so than any other time she could remember. She worried because she didn't understand this world anymore. She had understood it with her first child, the one that she turned in. She understood it when Caesar started talking crazy. She even understood it in that compound. Here though, back in Allencine, nothing made sense and that scared her. Because society wasn't just breaking down, it was almost completely destroyed. What Caesar had been trying to fight for, the very right for humans to kill themselves if they wanted, had already happened and he didn't see it. He thought only of Paige. What did it mean then, that what he wanted already existed? That he was living in the times that he hoped to create, and it was every bit as horrifying as The Genesis predicted. Grace hadn't said anything to him about it, because it wouldn't help. Not now. There would be time if they got Paige and Leon back, but now? His mind was elsewhere and would stay there until its business was done.
She'd been in the back room worrying when Bradley broke through the boards, escaping out into the forever night. She wanted to stay away from him, and in doing so, allowed him the opportunity to get out. What could he do now? She didn't know how Caesar controlled him or what it meant that he was free from this apartment. Could he contact The Genesis? If he did, what would he tell it? The three of them were holed up in here, looking for Paige and Leon and Jerry?
Sure, that's exactly what he would tell The Genesis. And what would it do then?
The answer was clear. They would die, the same as anyone else who ever challenged The Genesis. Anyone else besides Caesar—he had been the lone person to escape.
And then Grace finally saw what should have been so obvious to her from the very beginning. From the moment that she saw Caesar as a child, creating those fish, building that aquarium in his room. Had she thought she would truly outsmart The Genesis? That all her maneuvers and underground bunkers could keep The Genesis from knowing what she knew? She had, and looking out into the blackness surrounding her, she realized how wrong she had been. Paige was here because The Genesis wanted her to be. Caesar was here because The Genesis wanted him here. All the death in this city, even the blackened sky, existed because The Genesis said it should.
She had, without knowing it, walked Caesar into a trap he couldn't see. A trap that he couldn't escape. A trap that none of them had been prepared for, not Jerry, not Caesar, not herself. A trap that was going to end everything Caesar wanted.
She had to tell him, right now, before he went to find Manny. Once he found Manny, all the pieces were in place, everything The Genesis had been building to.
"Cae—"She tried to reach out in the only way she could, hoping that maybe he was listening, but what floated down in front of the window ceased all communication. There was no need to call out to him, because it didn't matter what she did. The Genesis was in control. That's what the creature in front of the window said. That they never had a chance; that their fate was sealed the moment each of them were created.
A massive piece of metal hung from the sky. It stretched out ten feet long, tunnel shaped with gray metal wrapped around whatever it held in its interior. No eyes and a hole for a mouth. This thing wasn't meant for communication, though. It was meant for only one thing. To kill. She didn't have time to reach out to Caesar, didn't have time to tell him what she now understood. She didn't even have time to turn around and give Keke a word of warning. She only had time to look into the gaping hole of a mouth, a thing lined with turning gears.
Grace looked inside and realized this was finally the end.
Fire erupted from the mouth of the metal machine, coming from some place deep inside it. The brutal flames washed over Grace with all the delicacy of a tsunami. It filled the entire room, burning Keke alive on the floor. Eventually the fire broached the ceiling and began burning into the surrounding apartments.
The machine outside continued to spray its deadly cargo until it felt certain nothing could live inside that apartment. It was right.
* * *
People stood on the street holding lights, trying to brighten the eternal night. Caesar walked as far away from them as he could, and the black suit blended right in with his surroundings. Plus, no one was looking for him. They stared upwards, amazed, but slowly growing fearful. Slowly heading toward violence even if they didn't know it yet. Caesar felt it, or maybe it was the chip calculating pulses and hormones releasing inside those around him. All of it was in the background though; the foreground consisted of finding Grace and telling her he was going to Paige. He wanted to tell Grace first, before he left, because she needed to know to leave if he didn't return. If things went badly for him, he would try to tell her, but he might not be able to. So he wanted her to know now, before he went, so that she could leave when she thought best.
He didn't run this time, though he walked faster than normal—something wasn't right, he felt sure of that. He had tried to communicate to Grace from the top of the building but hadn't been able to find her. It was like she had simply disappeared. Not to another place on Earth, but from Earth completely. He didn't have time for this, not really, because the blackness across the sky might have changed the dynamics inside his parents' apartment; it might have somehow created more danger for Paige. Still, he needed to tell Grace what he was doing—had to see what was wrong, why he couldn't find her.
Caesar hadn't panicked at all during this whole journey. He had, somehow, managed to stay at an even keel throughout the process. Until now. Grace was a rock in his life, something immovable. Something bigger than life itself, really, because she stretched back to a time before Caesar existed. So why wasn't she here now?
He walked to the building they hid in and looked up twenty stories to the apartment.
Or where it had been.
He couldn't find Grace because she didn't exist anymore.
Applications hovered around the outside of the apartment. Water sprayed out from their alloy bodies, hosing down the fire still trying to consume the hellish complex, trying
to find more to burn. The building was black with ash—smoke still billowing from the open holes in the walls. Applications traveled in and out of the apartments, their bodies giving off water from holes lining them, keeping the fire at bay.
It would be out soon.
Caesar walked into the downstairs lobby. Just like in the last building, he saw nothing. Applications approached him, asking him to stop, but he reflexively threw them back against the walls. The elevator opened and he started upward. Tearswelled in his eyes, though they hadn't spilled out yet. She was dead. The thought possessed his mind, holding it down like an anchor, not allowing it to consider anything else, to think of anything else. Grace wasn't here anymore. He was approaching an apartment full of ash, with Keke's dead body lying somewhere inside it as well. Ash and a dead body, and somewhere among all that ruin, there would be a tiny string of electrons, melted together by the fire's heat. That would be Grace.
He had finally killed her. How many times had he tried, without care? How many times had she begged him to stop? And he hadn't, and now...Grace was gone.
The elevator door opened and Caesar stepped out. The fire still burned and the heat stretched all the way down the hall to where he stood. He would go forward; he didn't care if it burnt him. He didn't care if scars lined his body for however long he had left to live. He would see what he had done.
The heat increased, sweat pouring out across Caesar's body. He neared the open door though, peering inside. The fire was being contained, slowly. It had already been backed into the core of the apartment; the walls in the hallway painted black from the smoke that filled it. Now the smoke billowed out the broken walls and windows.