“Which kind of person are you?”
“I was aware. I justified it. Satisfied? Now, may I know who I’m speaking to?”
“I’m Theia, okay? Now, tell me why you’ve been justifying killing people.”
Paul shook his head. “No, this is actually quite insulting. Sending a little girl to talk to me? Colonel Corwin might think little of my intelligence and resolve, but this stooping too low.”
“I’m a person, just like you. It’s not my fault that I’m only eleven. And nobody ‘sent’ me, okay? I said I wanted to talk to you, and they let me. If you think you’re too good to talk to me because I’m a kid, then I’d say you’re the immature one.”
Now Paul was smiling. “You’re passionate. Tenacious… Certainly far from a coward, and far from stupid. Are you one of the Colonel’s kids?” When Theia said she wasn’t, Paul then asked, “Who’s kid are you, then? What kind of people raised you? I can already tell where this conversation’s going. You’re only here to make me realize what wrong I’ve done, assuming that I don’t know already. Well, then, I’ll use my time to make you realize something, too. So…” He leaned forward, standing separate from the wall. “Tell me who raised you, Theia.”
“My dad. My mom kinda did, but not really.”
“Not really? Explain.”
“I only visited my mom on the weekends, and it wasn’t every weekend. She didn’t really like me. Which was cool because I never really liked her. Dad always liked her, though. I never got that. I don’t know why he was ever with her in the first place.”
“What was wrong?” asked Paul. “Why did you have a broken family?”
“I don’t know. I think Mom was just a bitch.”
“How about your father? What was he like?”
Somehow that was the most difficult question to answer. It caused Theia to choke on her words. “Both good and bad, I guess,” was the best she could respond. Given how the man had been asking her questions following her every reply, she elaborated before he could this time. “He loves me a lot. He teaches me a lot of things, and he’s never judged me. I can talk about anything with him. But, he kind of… Well, he does bad things to other people sometimes.”
“Only other people, huh? Not to you.” Paul stroked his stubble, thinking. “What kinds of things did he do to people? And why wasn’t he ever mean to you?”
“He loves me. Nobody hurts people they love.”
“I wish that was true.”
“Dad protected me. He protects everyone he cares about. Just like everyone else.”
“Past tense,” stated Paul.
“What?”
“You used past tense. Your father ‘protected’ you. You were talking about him in present tense, like, he ‘loves’ you and he ‘teaches’ you things, not he ‘loved’ you or ‘taught’ you things. Why did you change the tense?”
Weird question, thought Theia. “Because I just did. So, what?”
“Where is he now? He doesn’t protect you anymore?”
“He’s … gone. He’s somewhere else.” Even to this stranger, Theia could not lie. She knew he would ask why, so she already answered saying, “Dad thinks he’ll hurt me.”
“If you know he does bad things to other people, then he sure as hell could hurt you, too. It seems I already found a way to prove my point to you. So, answer this last question: Why does he do bad things to other people?”
Theia, sincerely desiring to know the answer for herself, pondered a while. Paul patiently waited without saying a word for at least two minutes. Finally, Theia made her best guess. “To protect me?”
“Yes. Your father is just like anyone else. Everybody will do whatever it takes to keep their loved ones safe. Even cruel, evil things. To some, it comes easier than others. Now, to answer your original question, Theia… I don’t believe I am evil, but I know I have done evil things, and for precisely the same reason. Except, my family isn’t just my kids. I don’t have kids. No, my family is my country. I would do anything for my country, and I have. There was a virus growing here for decades, and someone decided to put a stop to it. I didn’t start the fire, but I spread it. I spread it here, to my home state of Oregon. If it weren’t me, it would have been someone else. I chose to help put an end to the rich breaking the law to keep themselves higher while everyone else was dirt poor. I chose to help put an end to our corrupt government serving the rich, and starting unnecessary wars that were only for the purpose of expanding the empire. People were already dying, Theia. I simply gave them something worth dying for: Freedom. A different kind, but absolutely necessary kind of freedom. Freedom from the oppression of careless leaders, from Conservative radicalism… My crime was not that I helped spread the fire, but that I started far too late.”
“Too late? Meaning, you lost?” asked Theia.
“Yes. I am here, in this holding cell, pending a public execution, aren’t I? The government’s dogs were bigger than our warriors. Yes, we’ve lost. Before long, things will go right back to where they were. This time, nobody will be able to oppose them.”
Paul was actually making sense. He seemed to know what he was talking about. Still, what she had been told of his actions and his rebellion as a whole saddened her. “When does it end?” she asked, more to herself than to him.
“What?”
“Fighting.”
Paul shook his head. “It never ends. War is in our nature. It was here long before you and I were born, it will remain long after we’re gone.”
“Why do we have to obey our nature?” she asked. ‘Obey’ felt like the wrong choice of words. “Why can’t we just talk things through, and just get along?”
“Because humans are selfish. More so than that, though… Evil cannot be negotiated with. You can’t reason with people who have, for decades, killed people and allowed people to be killed, because of apathy; because of greed. You can’t talk people out of what they’re doing. Not people like that.”
Theia nearly got defensive. “But how do you know what you think is right? What if what you’re trying to do is evil, and the other people are the good guys?”
“Maybe I am the evil one. Maybe I should have stayed home and never gotten involved with the Reformist movement. Maybe it would have been wrong to do nothing. One can never know for sure, because humans are flawed, but I think most of us do the best we can.” He stared into her eyes. “We never stop being imperfect, though.”
Theia understood. He almost sounded like her father. His point was almost directly aligned with her father’s beliefs, and what he seemed to have been teaching her all her life.
“Now, Theia, as much as I’ve enjoyed your company, I think this is all the questioning I can handle for one day.”
Theia stood slowly, her mind lost in thoughts. “Sorry I bothered you…”
LILITH
“With respect, Lily, we ought to respect Ethan’s wishes,” Michael advised.
Both were seated on the back porch, a few bodyguards standing in the yard, passing time with conversation. Everyone was dressed their best, a custom Phoebe enforced strictly, which Lilith carried over to her regime as well. She simplified the parameters of the rule: dress as if you’re going to a job interview. Despite that being the norm, today wasn’t just any typical day. An important member of the family would be returning, Lilith promised everyone. After Emilio’s body was disposed of, quickly enough that the children wouldn’t have seen the event, the family informants were immediately ordered to make street clearance for the boss to visit Ethan personally, safe from interference from any opposition.
“You’re convinced Ethan can’t be persuaded,” stated Lilith.
“He’s just as stubborn as you. I’ve never seen him make a decision without reason, senseless though they’ve been at times.”
“No one knows his reason. Or, at least no one’s told me.”
“I’m not objecting. I’m only asking if it’s worth venturing out there yourself, for something that might turn out to be a w
aste of time. Send someone to talk to him. Someone he’ll talk to who’s more expendable.”
“It’ll be me, Michael. It’s decided.”
With that, Michael bowed his head, respectfully relenting. “Very well. I’ll let you get ready.”
Lilith made her way inside to the upstairs. Her personal quarters was split into two parts – first the office, and past the office, the bedroom. Carelessly leaving the bedroom door open, she removed her t-shirt and bra. Looking at her extensive collection of tops, she couldn’t decide on one yet, so she removed her jeans and put on shorts which hardly covered her upper thighs. Looking a second time at her shirts, wearing a bra sounded too inhibiting. Damn things are uncomfortable enough, she thought. So, she found a black tank top with an angled red band extending from the right shoulder down. Wearing minimal attire was intentional. Should the occasion arise that she needed to run for her life, she could. She enjoyed draping garments as well, but only in the safest of locations, such as the house.
Leaving her bedroom, she stopped Leo, who was headed downstairs. “We clear?”
“No,” he answered. “I’ll be sure to tell you, though.”
Lilith took lead down the stairs ahead of her cousin. Reaching the first floor, she saw a few members of the younger generation in the living room playing video games. Michael and Shane were the only adults inside, and they were in the kitchen consulting paperwork. Their postures were relaxed, and their hand motions smooth; they weren’t nervous. Lilith wondered if they ought to be. They greeted her respectfully as she entered the kitchen and started making herself a sandwich with whatever foods in the fridge appealed.
“I have an alibi for you, Lily,” said Michael, interrupting his own conversation. “Your friend Amber Porter is throwing another party on the other side of town. You returned from last night’s rave at four in the morning.”
Lilith smiled. “That would mean I barely slept. I like it. You’ve made sure everyone there testifies I was present?”
“Yes, yes, as always.”
“Maybe I should wear something more revealing. The troops seem to find that the most persuasive parts of these ploys.”
Shane chuckled, drinking some of his alcoholic beverage, which Lilith deduced was straight vodka. “Nah,” he said. “Short shorts, midriff, cleavage… You’re fine.”
Though she never minded which manner Shane spoke to her, she had to remind herself of her job. Such talk toward her shouldn’t have been permitted, but it was, solely with her closest, oldest friends. Shane – once and always a flirt, and far too confident in himself. But he never displayed any sexual interest in her, not in all the years they had known each other. He behaved like a pig, but was a respectable man with standards at his core. Someone he grew up with, who later became his boss, was off limits, and even his dick seemed to agree.
Dwight stepped in from the front door. “Path’s clear,” he reported. “We’ll have to pass through a checkpoint. Otherwise, we’re fine.”
“Checkpoint?” asked Lilith, excited, and prepared for a challenge.
–––––––
That ‘checkpoint’ turned out to be a blockade. Dwight’s car led, Lilith’s was directly behind with Michael in the driver’s seat. She recognized these particular troops. Sager’s people, she thought. The sharper bunch. She calmly cut open two cigarettes from the glove compartment, rolled them into a joint and lit it. The troops spoke to Dwight first, and he pointed them to Lilith’s vehicle.
“Where you headed to today, Krohny?” asked the woman, speaking to Lilith from Michael’s side.
“A gathering.”
“We don’t allow consumption of drugs in the city limits,” the woman said, reaching to grip her pistol, and Michael gripped his.
“Chill out, bimbo,” Lilith retorted, making her expression appear a bit dazed. She increased the pitch of her voice. “It’s just cigarettes. I’d offer you some, but I’m smoking my last two as we speak.” She laughed.
“What is this gathering?”
“It’s when people… gather.” Lilith just stared.
“I’ll ask you one –”
“‘One more time.’ Yeah, yeah. Well, you’ll just get the same answer. A gathering. We go there to see people. Socialize. Enjoy some company. Better than sitting around this shit-hole of a town.”
“All right, you little whore…”
“Miranda! Leave it!” called the soldier beside the woman. “We’ll have it checked out. For now, just let them pass.” Lilith smiled when she saw that particular soldier, whose name was Foley.
Lilith blew a plume of smoke at Miranda. “One more thing,” she said. “You look terrific. I can almost tell you’re a woman.” With that, Michael drove away.
Once the checkpoint was out of sight, Lilith spat the double-cigarette out the window. “Jesus! Disgusting shit.”
“I’m glad you never developed a liking.”
“I have a perfect form to keep. Breathing is part of that.” She saw them nearing the Broadway Bridge. “Now, get me to my brother. This has already taken too long.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
–––––––
North Portland, an industrial area, was the first territory reclaimed by the military. It came as a surprise to see the shipyard abandoned. Nonetheless, it was still a shipyard, and apparently a home now.
“All this metal laying around, and the troops can’t find any use for it?” she asked.
“Utilizing metal is difficult and time-consuming, particularly when most of it is rusty, is difficult and time-consuming,” replied Dwight. “Repurposing it, even in pristine condition, is near impossible when an available work force is scarce.”
With Dwight to her left, Michael to her right, and their five largest bodyguards behind, she approached the half-completed barge ahead. As she advanced closer, she pictured Ethan’s face. The yard they passed through was covered in trash – remnants of campfires, vagrants’ tents, beer bottles, and syringes; the filth only more abundant the closer they came to the ship.
The construct was tall, but had no stern installed. Out of curiosity, Lilith briefly glanced around for that part of the ship, and found it having been mostly finished only a few dozen feet from the barge. The boat was supported on metal cradles and wooden stilts. Between a few of the twenty-or-so cradles, people were camping, preparing meals with fires or sitting around. No one seemed alarmed by her presence, so she found no reason to be alarmed either.
She looked to the left. “Looks like that’s our only way up,” Lilith told her company, referring to the metal stairwell which had been fastened together and didn’t look stable, but she didn’t fear it collapsing on her. Dwight took the lead, Lilith directly behind as they climbed the steps. Once reaching the top, Lilith immediately searched for a means to climb down inside. “This might take a while,” she said. “Recall where my brother is, Dwight?”
“The bow, ma’am,” her General answered. “We’ll check there.”
He wasn’t in the bow, so the subordinates searched the remainder of the barge while Lilith waited on main deck. Around fifteen minutes later, Michael reported Ethan had been located. Lilith ran to the location. D Port was what the hole was marked, which she climbed down without being too careful. She skipped steps of the metal stairs as she descended. There were countless rat holes in the walls to crawl through, and the one henchman down there pointed her to the exact one Ethan would be through.
Sure enough, there he was.
He was the first to look up at her. Two women and five men were with him. Dwight had climbed inside the tank behind her as quickly as he could, nearly crawling through the rat hole, but Lilith waved him off.
“Little brother,” she said smiling. “I’ve missed you.”
“No means no,” said Ethan.
“Yeah, Michael told me, and I didn’t listen. We’re all too predictable, aren’t we?”
“Can you predict how this conversation will end?”
Stepping on the t
hin flat bars raised from the floor required her to watch her step. Lilith replied, “It’ll end with you coming home, where you belong. Now, can you send your friends away?”
Ethan stared. “Yes, boss.” He asked his friends to leave, and they obeyed without question.
They seemed to respect Ethan a great deal, Lilith noticed. Merely how they looked at him, in contrast to each other, they must have loved him like a brother. It invoked some jealousy – even Ethan couldn’t look at her in such a way.
Once the others left the room, a solid silence fell between the twins until Ethan finally said, “You lied to me.”
Lilith studied him. “Theia… You found her, didn’t you?” Her atrophic brother nodded. “How?”
“Learned the truth from Scarlet’s records. She wasn’t with Tabitha. And it seems you killed Tabitha. Shocking, considering you did nothing after that cunt killed Phoebe. Almost thought you didn’t care.”
“I care more than you think, Ethan,” stated Lilith, “And about more things than you’d assume, too.”
“Theia got picked up by a gang of savages. I found her with them.”
“I couldn’t imagine you’d ever let her out of your sight. Where is she now, then?” She seated herself on the metal base, legs crossed, an inch in front of Ethan.
“Safely living with someone unaffiliated with crime families.”
Lilith was almost insulted. “‘Crime families,’ Ethan? That’s such an outsider’s term. You’ve apparently forgotten your family.”
“Families don’t have bosses they swear allegiance to on pain of death. Killing, stealing, racketeering, blackmailing… These aren’t normal ‘family’ behaviors.”
“I understand your feelings. Genuinely, I do. Theia’s innocent. She got mixed up in business when she shouldn’t have, no fault of her own. Truth is, we shouldn’t have trusted anyone outside the family. Not even allies. The only people you can trust is family.”
“Odd hearing that from you.”
While she spoke, Lilith had to piece together the right words to explain herself: “I lied to save your life and your daughter’s. Don’t you get that, Ethan? They wanted you dead. Tabitha and Carrie both. Fortunately, Scarlet didn’t give a fuck. I did what was necessary. I swore that you would end your loose cannon shit if… If you….”
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