“Actually, this place doesn’t seem so bad. I had imagined prison life being much worse.”
“The other ones are starting to talk. Some have been here for a long time, and are starting to remember where they came from. They’re not going to want to stay here forever. I’m not sure we just want them running loose outside these walls.”
Leekasha tilted here head. “Are you suggesting we keep them here? Do you fancy yourself their jailer? I’m thinking they may have some ideas about that.”
“What then? Just everyone goes free? We’ve managed to keep this secret within these walls for the time being. At least I hope we have. If this place empties though, there’s no way people won’t find out. Is that what you want?”
“No, of course not. I have been thinking about it though.”
“Really?” Christa smiled.
“Yes really. I know. Big surprise right? This girl actually has a brain.” Leekasha paused for a second. “Seriously though, we can’t keep everyone here against their will. Actually, we can’t keep a single person here if they don’t want to. Everybody has a choice.”
“A choice between what? Stay in prison, or live their lives out in the big beautiful world? I’m pretty sure, I know what people are going to choose.”
“That’s not a choice. Not really. I want to give them a real choice. Gather everyone in the common area in fifteen minutes. It’s time we had a talk.”
Queen Leekasha
“It’s so nice to have it quiet in my head for a change.” Leekasha said.
“I remember what it was like.” Christa replied. “I wasn’t that long ago for me. It’s not something you ever forget. I have to admit, it was sort of nice when they bumped the old Pacize up a level and blocked them from me.”
“It wasn’t long enough for me. I never had to endure it for the time you did, and if I get my way none of us will have to experience it again.”
Christa and Leekasha walked through the crowd of zombies to the center of the common area. Reviving the zombies had went surprisingly well. There were twenty seven violent zombies, and they remained locked in cells. The rest were all good and everyone one of them exhibited signs of mind control. Some stronger than others, likely because they had been revived for longer. None were yet as strong as Leekasha.
The guards stayed at the periphery of the room, and the video surveillance cameras had mysteriously stopped working days ago. The techs sent in to fix them could never find anything wrong. Leekasha climbed up on a table and looked around the room.
“I’m happy to announce, that everyone is in this prison is now free from the Pacize drug.” Leekasha announced to the room. There was a tepid applause and murmurs from the crowd. “I’m sure it’s a relief for all of you. I know it is for me, not to have you all screaming inside my head.” There were a couple of chuckles from the audience. “I want to talk to you all, about where we go from here. I’m sure many of you, especially the newer ones have lots of questions. Questions about life outside of this prison, and the whereabouts of your families and friends. You all deserve answers to those questions. We’ll do our best to help everyone get those answers. What I’d like to address first though, are the bigger questions. How did you all end up here, and what are you going to do now?”
The crowd buzzed. Private conversations broke out, as their attention wavered. A big zombie male with a crew cut spoke out, directing his reply to Leekasha.
“I already know where I came from, and I know what I’m going to do next. We all know, we’re not stupid. We’re going to get the hell out of here, and get a little payback.” Murmurs of approval rose from the crowd.
Leekasha raised her hands. “I don’t disagree with any of that. It doesn’t make sense to spend any longer than we have to in a prison cell. I want to get out of here just as much as you do. What I think you need to consider, is what you want to do with yourself once your out there. While you’ve all been locked in here for years, things have changed quite a bit on the outside world. People are used to zombies being under control. They’re used to a very comfortable life. Please remember though, it hasn’t been that long since war and anarchy ruled this country. People haven’t forgotten that. They maybe be more at ease, but it’s an uncomfortable ease. It wouldn’t take much to upset that entire balance. Even with your new abilities, you could be in a heap of trouble out there on your own. Your abilities do have limitations.”
Some in the crowd nodded their heads. The big crew cut guy spoke up. “Hey, just cause your nervous about going out there, is no reason to hold the rest of us back. You only showed up here days ago, we’ve been stuck here for a hell of a lot longer.”
Leekasha shook her head. “Not every prison has bars and a concrete wall around it. I may not have been in this prison, but I was in another prison just as horrific. We all know now, that our prisons were never defined by our physical surroundings, but by our own minds and bodies. We’ve all been locked in the same place. The only one of us not locked in our own minds was my friend Christa here.”
Leekasha motioned towards Christa, than reached a hand down to her and lifted her up to on onto the table beside her. “Christa wasn’t locked in a physical prison, but she may as well have been. She endured our torment inside her head everywhere she went. She became an exiled prisoner, unable to be around her own people for years because of the pain. She didn’t sit idle for all those years though. She fought for a way to help us. To help you. All of you. None of us would be free today, if it wasn’t for her. Today is the day, that she can finally claim victory for all that effort.” Christa smiled, and gave Leekasha a big hug. Leekasha looked over Christa’s shoulder at big crew cut, but he didn’t say anything.
Holding onto Christa’s hand, Leekasha continued. “We may be inside Angola Prison walls, but our minds and bodies are free. Free to choose how we spend the rest of our lives, and I’d like to keep it that way. To do that, we need to work as a group, and we need to be smart about it. There’s power in numbers, and we have a great start in that regard, but we need more. Just in this prison alone, there are another five thousand human inmates and eighteen hundred prison staff. We number less than eight hundred. We are a minority here. This is a massive complex, but it pales in comparison to this state, and to this country. There are millions more like us outside these walls.”
Leekasha looked down at her feet for a moment.
“That’s not entirely true. They’re not exactly like us. They’re all still in a prison of their minds and bodies. A prison that they’re screaming to get out of, and it’s trapping them in a world that’s taking advantage of them. A world that forces them into slave labor, and a world that has just recently begun to kidnap and trade them like cheap commodities.”
The crowd was deathly silent now. Every eye was turned upwards to Leekasha and Christa standing on the table.
“We are not monsters. We are not slaves. We are not zombies.” Leekasha looked to Christa for just a moment. “We are the next evolution in the human species. We shouldn’t be subservient to anyone. We are more capable than any one of them, and I for one am done letting them control our lives. I want us to work together to revive others like us. I want to build our numbers, and diversify around the planet. I want us to work together, until every one of us is free from these prisons. Is that what you want?” Leekasha turned her hands motioning towards the crowd.
Some in the crowd nodded their heads in agreement, while others mouthed the words yes.
“I have a plan.” Leekasha continued. “It’s time I shared it with all of you.” Leekasha and Christa jumped down from the table and walked through the crowd shaking hands and touching those that reached out to them.
Find out when the next book releases here: http://NormanChristof.com
Also by Norman Christof
Parables From The Apocalypse
Endings
Revealed
Mutation
Awakening
Rising
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Norman Christof, Rising: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction
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