Cursed Apprentice (Earth Survives Book 2)

by R. R. Roberts

  A POE soldier, shoving his way through the increasingly tight-packed crowd stopped before Dom, tipping his head up to gaze at him. “Get a load of this guy! Wow! Big guy!” Two others turned to see what was happening. It was obvious the three had been drinking. This attention was not good—not good at all.

  With barely disguised annoyance, Coru told him, “Special envoy, here by Red’s invitation. Wants a feel for the crowd before Red arrives.”

  The soldier’s eyes rounded. “Oops. Sorry.” He backed away, taking the two curious POE with him.

  Coru said to Dom, “Can you duck down, even a little bit?’

  “Are you kidding me? This is as ducked as I get.”

  “Let’s get over by the wall then, maybe fade into the shadows, work our way along.”

  They began making their way through the crowd—there had to be hundreds of POE between them and the wall now—with Coru spearheading their drive, his crutch giving them a wider birth than they would have received otherwise. Thank you, Nelson!

  But soon even his crutch received no sympathy. It was shoulder to shoulder now, with no one paying them any mind, most POE soldier’s attention centered on the flashing images and the empty podium where Red was expected to appear. Their little party’s subtle drift toward the inside wall of the Quad became more and more difficult in the rapidly thickening crowd. The noise level was rising steadily, making it hard to be heard. This was all good news. No one was paying them any heed as they worked their way closer and closer to the south-west corner. Even here, the guards were staring up at the images projected on the Quad walls, transfixed.

  Nelson leaned in and spoke directly into Coru’s ear. “There looks to be six guards. Four serious about their job, two gazing off into POE dreamland. We pick off the two dreamers first.”

  Coru nodded and he and Nelson wandered closer, pretending to be riveted by the videos.

  The mic overhead whined, and a man’s booming voice burst across the Quad. “Welcome citizens of New Pacifica and the New Earth Movement!”

  A few around Coru murmured this man’s name: Commander Boyd Thurman, according to the chatter. Thurman leaned into the mic again, his grin wide. “Trust me! You’ve been waiting for this man your whole life! Please welcome our good friend and savior, the man who stepped up when no one else in this world would, the man who made it possible, in the face of the impossible, for us to be here today. I give you… Professor Red!!”

  The Quad exploded, the roar of approving voices deafening.

  Coru couldn’t stop himself—he had to see; he had to know. Dropping his crutch, he shoved away from the wall, using his forearms to make a path for himself, ignoring the protest, the frowns and shoves back until he could look up at the podium directly above him. There was no one there…

  But then there was.

  Professor Red stood humbly at the podium while giant, bright, repeat images of his face danced across the walls behind him.

  A face Coru would know anywhere.

  Professor Red raised his arms, huge muscle-bound arms and turned this way and that, smiling benevolently at his people.

  The crowd of POE went crazy. Coru was tossed from side to side but did not lose his footing—there was no room, he was held upright by the pulsing, living POE organism all around him. His breath hitched inside his chest. He could not tear his eyes away.

  It was Payton, but Payton so changed, so old, so hard, so scarred that it would take a brother to recognize him now. Huge images of his ruined face now replaced the previous video feed; large, live renditions displayed on all four walls, encircled the Quad, surrounding the people sandwiched inside. Coru could hear more rabid followers outside the Quad, clapping their hands, stomping their feet in a rhythmic beat. “Red!” “Red!” “Red!”

  Maybe thousands.

  Everywhere he looked, he saw Professor Red. A hard man, a big man, bulky, with massive shoulders and a thick, corded neck. His green eyes glittered with intensity. The facial scar that covered half his face was a vividly red, arresting, living thing that moved along with the changes in his expression—it was almost hypnotic.

  Coru couldn’t help comparing Payton’s ruined face to how his own had looked after Curtis Mather’s had captured him a lifetime ago. Same experience—different outcome? What had happened to Payton in this world?

  Coru drank in the sight of his brother, both relieved and repulsed by what he saw. Payton—Professor Red—wore a snug, short-sleeved red T-shirt that showed off his incredibly built-up physique. His head was covered in tattoos, many more now than when he’d lived on Cloud Rez. Coru could make out coiled snakes, a human skull and cross-bones, the symbol for a toxic substance—all glistening, and appeared threatening, even exotic.

  His audience was transfixed, and Red had yet to utter a word.

  Dom was shouting in Coru’s ear.

  Coru didn’t react; he was spellbound. This was his little brother? Bubbly, chubby Payton? This bulging, glistening monster of a man?

  “Tonight, my friends, marks the beginning of a new world, a new start for everyone!”

  The audience screamed back with joy, fist pumping, leaping up, shouting back, “Professor Red! Professor Red!”

  This went on for over a minute, the chant collecting, shortening, becoming one rhythmically pulsing word. “Red!” “Red!” “Red!”

  Red raised his massive arms once again and screamed into the mic, “Who am I? I am the speaker for your rights!”

  The POE responded in kind, screaming back at Red, their faces flushed and exultant.

  Red let them shout themselves out before beginning again. “You are my people. You are my true, trusted friends.” This time he spoke in a more moderate tone, a conciliatory, humble tone. The crowd quieted. “I have had three extraordinary, pivotal events occur in my life, which I will share with you now.

  “In my youth, I lived in poverty, like many of you here. You know of what I speak. You know what it means to be marginalized—I see the pain burned into your faces. Marginalized by the man, by the corporations, by the law, by ‘the system’.” His eyes glittered, and his voice rose. “A system we had no part in creating!”

  A whoop waved across the assembly and quickly faded. They didn’t want to miss a word this man told them.

  “This poverty taught me compassion.

  “When I was a young man, I fought hard for our environment, and for those who could not speak for themselves. I took part in reforestation. I planted trees under the hot sun and in driving, freezing rain. I cleaned up waterways until my limbs shook with exhaustion. I restocked lakes that had been poisoned, killing all their wildlife. I restored natural wetlands and swamplands, our own natural and safe way to clean toxins from our waterways. I manned a rusty old Sea Peace ship, was part of their brave movement, fighting against the slaughter of our waterways, our oceans, their wildlife barely hanging on, drowning in man’s endless barrage of discarded plastics, plastics that were killing another species of seabird each and every month! After three years at sea, facing pirates and guns and big, bullying corporations, I returned defeated. This experience taught me the system was rotten from the inside out.

  “And what did I find when I returned? It was with profound anguish that I discovered the sick and poor, the homeless, the throw aways in this once great city. We had so much, yet we gave so little. So, I rallied my friends. I collected food, medicines, blankets for the homeless. And I protested!

  “And what was my reward for speaking for the downtrodden, for the poorest of the poor and for the creatures of this world that were being ground under the heels of big profiteering corporations? I was imprisoned!”

  The crowd reacted with anger. Coru studied the faces around him and was astounded at the hold Payton had on these people. The Payton he knew was shy, skirting public situations at all costs.

  Professor Red raised his voice and thundered. “My imprisonment showed me I lived in a world of systemic corruption!”

  The crowd responded with
anger once again, as if Red’s experiences had been their own.

  “The third and final life experience I will share with you, the experience that has brought me here, before you today, was when the world loosed The Boy Scout Virus on us all. I am convinced the Boy Scout Virus was punishment for our evil ways here on earth! But what can be said of that but the fact that man deserved such a punishment? I looked all around me and all I saw was greed and selfishness and destruction and death and dying—everywhere. And yet? I lived, was well, untouched by the scourge. How was this to be? Why was I, why were we,” he motioned across the masses before him, “spared? I began to believe I had been blessed.

  “But I was wrong.” He raised his hand to his ruined face, tracing his vivid scar with his index finger. “This was my reward for being passed over by the disease, my reminder of God’s punishment for those of conceit, given me by a woman sick out of her mind, slashing out in desperation before she finally succumbed to her illness. This scar tells me every day that I am still here for a reason.”

  The crowd roared with joyous abandonment back at Red.

  He shouted, “It is this scar that tells me that I must shepherd the innocents who remain into a better world, a better place. A place of honor! A place of reason! A place of natural laws!”

  A chorus of, “Red! Red! Red” broke out again. He nodded at this in approval, allowing the swell of adoration to wash over him. Payton ate this up. Coru knew this; Coru knew his brother.

  Payton raised his palms for quiet.

  “Like you, I have been a soldier in this fight to stay alive when everything around us fell into ruin. I am now a humble POE, as are you, but I was not always a member of this fine company. At first, I was a freedom fighter. I gathered like-minded men to my side and we fought to survive, to protect those weaker than ourselves. My friends asked me to step up, to lead them from this barbarous life of kill or be killed, starting here in what I have named New Pacifica. It was here in New Pacifica that I found you!” He pointed at the pulsing throng of people before him. “The Protectors of Earth, already fit, organized, ready to fight for the cause. You only lacked a leader. You welcomed me into your company and you raised me up, a humble freedom fighter, as your leader.”

  Now the POE soldiers went wild, and Coru was tossed about within their midst, barely able to maintain his footing. The pain in his leg was amping up now, warning him he needed more meds if he wished to avoid becoming a burden on his team, who… He saw they were no longer beside him. Had he moved out into the crowd without realizing he had? Watching your crazy despot brother preach to the converted tended to do that to a guy.

  “Who am I?” Payton challenged again, searching the faces below him for his answer, his green eyes glittering. “I am the voice of your rights! I speak for you, I protect you; I will build a new world for you! With the mighty POE by my side, I will never lose my nerve.”

  The now usual cries of response filled the Quad.

  Wren sent Coru a message, He could read a grocery list and they would love him for it.

  Red continued on, his voice more subdued now. “But how did we get here, people? How exactly did this happen?” He looked around the Quad with a bewildered expression which then changed into one of profound grief. “We were the victims of greed and over-reaching, multi-leveled, international corporations. Make no mistake: Our elected governments no longer made choices for the good of the people. They were bought and paid for by the first day they assumed the position of their elected office. All over our planet, our governments’ actions were designed only to advance the agendas of their masters, those slaves of capitalism, those greedy back-room men, who sought to line their own pockets at our expense.

  “I tell you now, people, these men are all dead!”

  Another wave of approval was unleashed, echoing around the Quad.

  “How were we to advance, to get beyond this great, historic correction?” He looked around the assembly, his eyebrows raised in question. “Through hard work, men. Through loyalty. Brotherhood. Tough choices. And it wasn’t easy, brothers. It was not easy. Many sacrifices were made, by good men. I look back now on all we have accomplished this past year and I am proud. We have brought all of New Pacifica and much of New Pacifica Wild under the protection of New Earth’s umbrella. We will soon see every neighborhood cleared of remaining rebels. Once this final push has been completed, all of New Pacifica citizens will be organized into industrious and contributing members for our collective good. Industry will return to New Pacifica! This is all unfolding as I imagined it.

  “We are now turning our eyes eastward, toward the rich fields of the Fraser Valley, and beyond to the golden orchards and produce fields of the Okanagan. We need farmers, we need dairy and beef producers. We need poultry and egg producers, we need vegetable fields, we need our orchards laden with fruit once more. We need our vineyards to prosper, we need our breweries back. We need fresh fruits and vegetables, and wine and beer.”

  A lone hoot rang out from the crowd and Red laughed, pointing in that direction. “Anyone else notice I mentioned spirits twice?”

  His audience laughed with him, nudging one another happily.

  “And we can have all these things once we have settled these regions with…” He swung his massive arms wide, “You! With you, my loyal followers! Your commitment to me and to New Earth will be rewarded, as I promised, with tracts of rich land, and all the equipment you need to get up and running. You will be rewarded with good, strong, young women and will make families of your own.”

  Now Red was speaking these men’s language. The throng of men packed into the Quad, shoulder to shoulder, throbbed with visceral energy. The roar of elation was unintelligible; the emotion plain. These men wanted land. These men wanted women.

  As the men noisily celebrated Red’s proclamation, the joy in Payton’s face softened and disappeared. He tucked his chin into his chest and studied the papers before him. The crowd quieted.

  “Here I must confess to you all that I have not slept a single night without waking in a cold sweat that I may have overlooked something vital in our path back to providing for ourselves and our loved ones while always honoring our mother earth. I have not made a single move in over a year without you, my brothers, foremost in my mind. This has been a heavy burden, and some days, I did stumble as I carried it. I took no decision lightly during our rise to seize and protect our new world. Indeed, I considered all sides and all ramifications of those decisions, and with many, I have suffered greatly.

  “It is here that I must reveal the crack in our foundation, my brothers.” He let a pregnant pause grow, the crowd growing quieter still, waiting. “Because, yes, there are already cats among the pigeons. A capitalistic, ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude has slunk like a thief into our camp and sits ready to pounce once we let down our guard.”

  Coru messaged Wren, Does he know we’re here? Are we exposed? Get Noah out—.

  No, Wren hastily assured him. No one knows. Noah’s safe with Dom. This is something else.

  Air rushed from Coru’s lungs knowing Noah was not a target. The drive to protect his nephew was shocking in its power. He had failed young Payton; he would not fail Noah.

  Professor Red searched the faces of those before him. “There are those among us who already have plans for personal profit in this new world. Tendrils of greed are making their way into the hearts and minds of some living among us, some pledging themselves to the New Earth Movement, even now.”

  Coru watched the men glancing around in a show of dismay at this revelation and could barely keep from rolling his eyes.

  Wren warned, The tone has changed; the mood has changed. They’ll tear you limb from limb if you show your thoughts to them now. Make your way to us. We have to make our move while they are enthralled.

  She was right, he’d allowed himself to become wrapped inside his brother’s words and not in their plan to storm Red’s quarters. He’d indulged himself enough. Coru pushed back, letting oth
ers eager to get closer to the front take his place. Stepping aside, sliding between others, easing away gradually, the men around him adjusted their stance, assumed his place, their eyes riveted to the man behind the podium.

  Red raised his left arm into the air. “I too bear the mark of the POE Brotherhood. We, the Protectors of Earth, were selected to be shielded from the BSV. No one now alive knows who did this, what their plan had been. But we know the POE was in its infancy when disaster struck, and we were spared. Some of us believe we were spared by an act of God.

  “Our numbers were small, yet, we located the secret lab containing the devices and the virus, and more importantly, the antidote. If that is not God on our side, my friends, I do not understand God!”

  The crowd roared its approval.

  “We learned quickly how these lifesaving devices work, and shared our knowledge, growing our numbers as we went, making New Pacifica safer and more stable with each convert. But this brings me back to the viper in our midst.”

  He was silent for a moment, staring down his audience, his expression sorrowful. “That viper is greed.”

  There was no rush to respond now, only hushed tones and exchanged questioning glances, as if the searchers could tell by appearance who the interlopers were. Coru accelerated his withdrawal as much as he could without raising suspicious looks. The tide had turned.

  “I am glad to report after many sleepless nights and soul searching and consulting with my trusted companions, I have developed a solution to this problem. I warn you now, gentlemen, my solution is not a pretty one, but it is a fair one and it applies to us all, including myself.” He raised his arm once again, displaying it for all to see.

  A murmur of confusion moved through the crowded Quad, POE members glancing at their own and their neighbor’s device arm, doubtlessly very aware they had all just received an enhancement to their device. What was Red’s solution? Was it linked to the enhancement?

  “Like you, I have inside my arm the life-saving antidote we all need to see us through the next year. As we know we are now poised to expand our influence into untamed lands. Our devices will protect us from the sicknesses out in the wild. What you don’t know is we also now have a new virus and antidote inside our devices.”