Cursed Apprentice (Earth Survives Book 2)

by R. R. Roberts

  There was a collective gasp, a collective drawing back.

  Coru stood still. He could not look away. How would his brother convince these people this betrayal was in their best interests?

  Red raised his hands and twisted to the right and left, as if giving a benediction. “This new virus and antidote is both for our personal protection, and for the protection of our movement, the New Earth Movement. How will this work, you doubtlessly are asking yourselves.

  “Here’s how—you will be both protected from this new disease personally and you will be protected from the traitor within our midst.”

  The murmuring slowed and went silent.

  Red shuffled his papers for a moment, then looked up at the crowd. “Like I said before— not pretty, but effective. Obey our laws and you will remain protected. Break our laws and the new virus will be triggered inside your body remotely. You will perish in minutes.

  An alarmed grumbling swept across the Quad.

  “I told you it wouldn’t be pretty. You should know I too carry this within my body. I too must follow our laws. Should I fall victim to greed and corruption, I will be punished as swiftly as any other New Earth citizen.

  “We are brothers, are we not?”

  Some stared, some nodded, slowly.

  Unexpectedly, Coru pitied the sea of POE before him. He saw them now as men hypnotized by a serpent, caught in its thrall, unable to tear themselves away.

  “I have written a criminal code of conduct for New Earth. I have it here in my hands. You will each receive a copy to study, but for now, I will give you an overview. Rule number one; No one—NO ONE—will personally profit in New Earth. “

  He was silent for a moment, glaring at the people before him as if daring them to protest. When no protest was raised, he continued, “The man who personally profits here will be considered a traitor to our new world. We will not tolerate traitors. We will not tolerate even one person to personally profit in any way in the new world we are creating. All profits, all advancements brought forward by the citizenry of New Earth, will be equally shared. It is a simple concept: Those who do not contribute, do not share in the harvest. Those who do contribute do share in the harvest. All profits beyond the sharing of earned bounty, beyond supplies needed to live comfortably and respectfully care for our citizenry, will be plowed back into the community, NO EXCEPTIONS!

  “Hear me now. Any man who takes more than his share or takes personal profit from his or another citizen’s efforts, will be put to death. There will be no prisons in New Earth. All crimes within New Earth’s world will result in either death or retribution in the form of labor. Death is the punishment for putting your own selfish greed ahead of your sisters and brothers and community’s wellbeing. No prisons; never prisons. In the old world, prisons were where men went to learn more about crime, not make amends for their transgressions against their community. New Earth will be different. New Earth will be smarter.

  “How will these basic laws be enforced? For now, I will decide what is a betrayal upon reviewing all the facts as presented by both a representative for the offender and for the victim. Should I decide in favor of the victim and if the crime is egregious, the punishment will suit the crime. Should death be the punishment, this execution will be triggered remotely through their arm device and will result in death within fifteen minutes of that decision being taken. No traitors will be tolerated.”

  “Perhaps you think this unfair?” He raised his left arm once again. “But let me remind you, I too have this failsafe installed into my body. I too will be held to this high standard. No personal profit. A share of harvest in accordance to my contribution and no more. We are all equal here in New Earth!

  “We will have no prisons, we will have no prisoners! I will not house these traitors. I will not feed these traitors. I will not ask my good citizens to stand guard over these traitors. Hear me well: The punishment for all crimes will be death or labor to proportionally recompense the damage done. Nothing else will be tolerated.”

  He looked down at the lectern. “Now you know the stakes. I have here in my hands the New Earth Common Law we will follow in the coming year, while we expand our territory across south and central British Columbia. And one day, the entire planet.”

  He held up a thick document. “These laws will be downloaded into your personal devices as well, for you to review at your leisure. I trust once you have perused these laws, you will agree with me that they are simple, clear, easy to understand and follow. Under these new laws, we are all equal, we will all equally share in our good fortunes or hard times. Together, we will make it through!

  “I say again—so there is no misunderstanding. There will be labor to recompense the victim of your crime if deemed warranted and the crime appropriate to this punishment, or there will be death.

  “We will not waste food, power, man hours, energy or misguided sympathy babysitting criminals in prisons. Our biological battle will see our enemies fall before us. Our biological battle will damage no building, no industry, no community. I must tell you with some pride that I present to you this fool-proof plan. With this plan, we can have it all, own every farm, every town, every factory and not break even a single window pane. Everything will be perfectly preserved and ready for you—the victors, to assume control.”

  The crowd, once captivated, now wasn’t so sure of Professor Red’s fool-proof plan, it appeared, though none were brave enough to raise opposition. As for Red, he seemed unaware of their unease.

  “Once we have prevailed in the coming months and you have each been rewarded with land and women, we will then go about the business of rebuilding strong communities. Make babies, gentlemen! Many, many babies!”

  A weak hurrah rose from the crowd, as if testing to see if their voices could still be heard.

  “I will then appoint a spiritual leader to each community who will act on my behalf. I will choose these community leaders from the best of my commanders over the coming months.

  “Work hard for the cause, gentlemen and you will be rewarded.

  “Within 5 years of these appointments, we will be in a position to have our first elections. By then, leaders among you will have emerged and shown their character.”

  The POE soldiers perked up at this news. They looked at one another, with surprise, and excitement in their eyes again. Recognition. Reward. Leadership.

  “In the meantime, this device, inside our bodies, will protect us all! You, my comrades, are now walking weapons; you are powerful and will be feared. With this device, when you go into battle for New Earth, you can be certain the man beside you will stand for you. With this device, you will be certain of equal treatment. With this device, you will be certain you will be protected and respected. You will prosper, your home, your family, your community will live in harmony and in peace. And you will be certain that you belong to a brotherhood stronger than any other to have ever walked across our earth!”

  The POE audience exploded in wild applause and Coru looked across the roiling mass of uniformed bodies, a single pulsing organism, it seemed, and was amazed. From zero to one hundred, from paralyzed to pandemonium, the POE embraced Professor Red’s doctrine.

  He’d done it. Red had sold them the fact a POE soldier now walked around with a viral bomb inside his body, was essentially an indentured slave and could be killed with a flick of a switch, and they loved him for it!

  Wren burst into his thoughts, Move, Coru! He’s coming to the end of his speech! Now!

  Coru glided along the Quad wall, his injured leg forgotten, with Nelson sidling up behind him. Time to focus on the task at hand. They had to secure that antidote at all cost.

  The surprise was there were only two guards still remaining at the base of the staircase. The others had abandoned their post to better see and hear Professor Red’s speech. Dom shifted between Coru and Nelson, using his heft to shield their actions from the distracted soldiers nearby. Nelson and Coru moved swiftly, pulling first one, then the
other into the shadows, a swift and silent blade across the throat, a fanning spray of blood and quick disposal. He and Nelson each dragged a body up the stairs and clear from prying eyes, stuffing them into a nearby door leading into a supply room. It was messy but swift enough to minimize the evidence. Darkness here was definitely their friend.

  Backing away from the supply room, Coru saw fresh blood seeping from Nelson’s knife wound from earlier. He caught Nelson’s eye and glanced down at the growing stain and back.

  The man shrugged and whispered, “I’m tougher than I look. We’ll catch it later.”

  They started up the stairs once again, Nelson grunting with each stride.

  Coming up behind the pair, Dom, who had retrieved Coru’s crutch, swung it against the light bulb as he and Wren ran past, smashing the glass and darkening the steps. Hopefully this would shroud the gruesome blood evidence they’d left in their wake.

  They didn’t have the luxury of trussing and tying here.

  With Wren and Dom following, Coru and Nelson mounted the second set of stairs silently and repeated the silent blade technique with the second set of guards at the top of the stairs, who were then swiftly dispatched, their bodies dragged down and hidden with the others.

  Red needed to work on his security.

  Nelson darted and grunted, and Coru lurched up the stairs to the third, then fourth floors, followed closely by Wren and Dom and little Noah. With each floor, Dom smashed the lights. At the top, they were met by two guards who blinked in surprise and were slow to raise their weapons at seeing them, but too late. Wren took them out with two swift and silent arrows. Dom wrestled the arrows free and handed them back to Wren. She needed as many as she could get back at this point. She’d had to abandon too many.

  Nelson opened the door into Red’s domain. The interior was dark. He peered inside, listened and turned to shake his head at Coru before opening the door further. Still no sound, no sign of anyone inside, the door leading to a simple shadowed hallway, which led further into Red’s quarters.

  Coru couldn’t believe they had made it, that they’d actually breached Professor Red’s fortress. Nelson had been right—about everything. Signaling Wren and Dom to remain where they stood, he and Nelson slipped inside.

  Together they ghosted down a long hallway. In the limited light provided by a small wall screen they found Red’s quarters were humble. The place was simple, with few furnishings, though all three walls were lined with books. That much had not changed: Payton still loved books…

  The bright little screen drew Coru’s attention, the subject matter flashing across it was the same as that of the video feed that had run outside before Red made his appearance. The man watched this non-stop? It had to eat at his brain. No human could be exposed to such relentless devastation and remain sane. Was this how he drove himself? Was this his way of rationalizing his actions?

  They crept across the main room and from here, through the closed glass doors to the balcony, they could make out Red’s broad-shouldered silhouette at the podium. Red’s arms were raised once again, and they could hear snatches of “God willing” in his speech. Didn’t they all claim God was on their side?

  This had to be the wind down. Soon, Coru would confront his brother. His chest tightened.

  Wren messaged him immediately, You all right?

  Uh-huh. He had no words for her, but she knew.

  Should we come in?

  If it’s safe out there, maybe wait a sec, in case there’s…

  Yeah. Noah.

  He and Nelson glanced at one another, pulled their handguns from behind their backs, the only weapons they could secret inside their stolen POE uniforms and advanced into the space near the glass doors for when Red came inside.

  “My, my,” a satisfied voice commented from the shadows.

  They whirled toward the voice, Nelson’s gun clipping sharply against the thick window glass, flying from his grip and clattering across the floor into darkness.

  It was Thurman, the man who’d introduced Red at the start of the rally, sitting in the dark, in a worn chair. They’d forgotten about Thurman. How had they forgotten Thurman!? Of course, he would be here, quietly listening to his boss. Watching his back.

  Thurman held a gleaming weapon they’d never seen before—a weapon that made theirs look like toys. He smiled slightly, twisting his chair to face them squarely. “What do we have here?”

  27

  PAYTON

  THE GLASS DOOR PULLED OPEN, the approving roar of the POE crowded outside in the Quad bursting full force into the room with Professor Red, who stopped at seeing two strangers standing at gunpoint in his quarters.

  He glanced at his second, Boyd Thurman, who gave an assuring nod, then stepped inside the condo and slid the door closed behind him, still wary. “Maybe turn some lights on? See who we’re dealing with?” he murmured. He reached for a wall switch and the lights flared.

  There was a whisper of air, more a feeling, a difference in the room rather than a sound, followed by a grunt from Thurman. Thurman staggered back, staring at Payton in disbelief. He looked down at an arrow buried high in his chest and the red bloom that quickly formed around it.

  Nelson sprang forward, seizing the strange weapon Thurman had held on them from the man’s slack fingers as he fell back into his chair, rocking from side to side, his expression now bewildered.

  Coru turned his weapon toward his brother.

  Red stared back at him, his expression transforming from angry to shocked.

  Silence chewed up the room, Coru barely aware of Dom and Wren coming into the space, Dom striding to the fallen commander and hauling the arrow from his limp body, Wren appearing at Coru’s side, wave upon wave of support flooding his mind.

  Coru did not look away from Red’s face, his eyes roaming his brother’s features, confirming and adjusting his memory, adjusting his assessment. Finally, slowly, Coru raised his hand and pulled his hat from his head.

  Red snorted. “The big reveal? How unimaginative of you. You believe I don’t know my own brother after all these years?” His eyes clicked over to Dom and his lip curled with disgust. “Why am I not surprised my two greatest betrayers have managed to find one another. How cute is this?”

  With a bored expression, he advanced into the room, Coru’s weapon following him. Red relaxed into the high-backed chair set before the still-streaming flat screen and his eyes settled back on Coru’s face. “I see you’ve done well for yourself—you haven’t changed a bit. Still the heroic straight shooter. Unlike me, time has been kind to you.” His eyes flicked to Wren and back to Coru. “And lucky you—you seem to have collected a bit of a fan club. Again, how cute.”

  Wren made a sound deep in her throat but remained rooted at Coru’s side.

  Red smiled faintly. “And a feisty one at that. Good work, Coru!”

  Coru lowered his weapon. “I can’t say the same for you.”

  Red’s face flushed. “This is what happens to a kid who was abandoned on the mean streets of Vancouver without a flipping clue. I have you to thank for all my successes. I just can’t quite find the words.”

  “I didn’t abandon you—.”

  “You left me. You promised to have my back and you left me.” He turned to face Dom. “And I trusted you with my life, with my wife! And you stole her from me.”

  Dom shook his head. “No. I rescued your wife.”

  Red snorted, but Coru recognized a flicker of doubt on his brother’s face. “Yeah—keep telling yourself that, traitor. Where is the scheming witch?” Payton glanced around, making a show of searching the room. Coru knew Payton was asking this from a vulnerable place, though he’d deny it.

  “Dead,” Dom answered, his tone clipped.

  Payton blinked in surprise but recovered quickly.

  “I didn’t abandon you, Payton. I—.”

  Through clenched teeth, Payton blurted, “I searched for months, for years for my brother!”

  “As did I.”
r />   “Yeah, so hard you took ten years to find me.”

  Coru grimaced. “I arrived ten years after you, Payton. I arrived in WEN 2046, after the pandemic—that was never in the histories. I’ve been here, searching, fighting, surviving—for one year.”

  Payton stared back at him for a long moment before visibly swallowing, his Adam’s apple sliding up and down in his throat. With bravado, he replied, “And I’ve been alone here for ten long, ugly years.”

  “I searched for you, all around the Bore Exit from where I emerged outside the town of Hope. There was no sign of you. I had no way to know where you were or in what time you arrived. I had no choice but to strike out on my own and try to finish what we’d come to do. I believed that’s what you’d do as well.”

  When Payton did not answer him, he continued. “I found a friend, a friend who saved my life time and time again, who taught me how to survive in this world.”

  Payton rocked his jaw and glanced toward Wren, his eyes betraying envy. He jerked his chin in her direction. “This your famous friend?” he asked, sarcasm thick in his tone. “Nice work if you can find it.”

  “No. I found Mattea Greyeyes-Apsassin.”

  Payton sneered. “Where’s your famous friend now? Don’t tell me your evil brother killed him.” He pressed his palm to his chest. “It would be so heart-warming to know I’d somehow repaid you in kind. Be still my beating heart.”

  “Mattea is with my other trusted friends, racing through the countryside, alerting and saving as many Indies as he can before you send out your killer army.”

  “Well aren’t you just the social butterfly, making buckets of friends.” Payton’s tone carried a strangled quality that perhaps only Coru would know came from a place of pain.