by David Beers
For Rhett, the light was inside this room. The rest of the world was only darkness.
The word spread through the compound like a highly communicable disease.
A traitor.
Someone had gone to the Prevention Division.
Someone within the Compound.
The whispers and rumors were like whirlwinds, moving through the entire building and sweeping everyone up into them. Rhett heard what people said, though he didn’t participate.
A simmering panic gripped the compound. Just as Rhett had felt when he first heard, now it spread amongst the entire population. David was no longer working—Rhett thought he might actually be sleeping—but even so, the discomfort had only grown worse. No one, of course, was venturing to David’s room to ask him if the rumors were true.
The plan David created would work, taking only three days to complete.
The first day was spent laying the groundwork. Talking about the traitor.
The second would allow gossip to flow.
And finally, on the third, David would dispense justice.
Rhett hadn’t gone to Stellan, hadn’t seen the man in passing since David’s conversation. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t like feeling such jealousy, and anything he said to Stellan would be cursed with it. The man was doing a selfless act and Rhett was one of the ones who helped thrust it on him.
He’d gone to David after, once Stellan left and David had calmed some. Rhett felt disgust at himself for the jealousy.
“Let me take his place,” he’d said.
“No. Stellan is a good man, but he’s inconsequential. I can’t lose you. You’re too important.”
“Why?”
David hadn’t looked at him as he spoke. “I need you here in the end. That’s all you need to know right now.” David’s coldness had returned, replacing the warmth that he’d shown toward Stellan.
And now, the day was upon them. Rebecca hadn’t left her room the entire time, but David was requiring her to do so today. Everyone would be there, looking on as David handled the traitor.
Rhett felt empty inside, sitting in his room, not yet ready to leave and head to the auditorium. David had called the compound wide meeting, though he hadn’t said its purpose. That didn’t matter. He could have said he was inventing a new holiday; people would know the truth. This had to do with the traitor.
Can I come in?
It was Rebecca, messaging from just outside Rhett’s apartment. She’d finally risen from her crypt.
Yes, Rhett sent back.
A second passed and then the front door opened. Rebecca stepped inside and closed the door. She leaned against it and stared at him. Rhett was leaning forward in a chair, his elbows on his knees.
“We’re going through with it?” she asked.
“What other choice is there?”
“To not do it.”
The two were quiet for a bit, and then Rhett asked the question that had kept him from sleeping. “What if the traitor doesn’t come forward?”
“Then an innocent person dies.”
“Yes, Rebecca, but what then? What if no one steps forth to take Stellan’s place? What if the whole idea was predicated on the wrong assumption, that this person cares about anyone here at all? What if they don’t care and they stay in the shadows? What do we do next?”
“I don’t know,” Rebecca said. “I suppose we can ask Christine if she has any other ideas.”
Rhett shook his head. “This is serious. We’re willing to sacrifice someone—”
“You are.”
Rhett’s eyes narrowed and his glare intensified. “I don’t see you putting a stop to anything.” The two stared for a few seconds, Rhett knowing that arguing with her was as useless as it was with her brother. He looked down at the ground and resumed his previous thoughts. “We’re willing to sacrifice someone, and if we have to do it, there’s no backup plan. We haven’t even thought about what to do after.”
He heard Rebecca sigh.
“I don’t know what to tell you. None of us saw this coming, not ever.”
Minutes passed in silence. Rhett at last looked up. “Are you ready?”
She nodded, and he saw she was ending her rebellion. She was going along with her brother. Rhett loved her for it. In the end, regardless of the fight and anger inside her, Rebecca would do the right thing.
The two left the room, both willing to kill an innocent man.
The auditorium was the largest area in the entire compound. Out of the 20 stories that stretched down beneath the ground, it took up an entire floor. Chairs were built into the ground, capable of raising and lowering, though today they were absent.
David wanted the multitudes packed in, touching each other.
He wanted them to feel his power, and when they felt it, he wanted them feeling each other too. He wanted everything to amplify until it reached a sharp, terrible point—one made of only fear.
He didn’t know what was going to happen. His power of sight was almost nonexistent. The woman had taken it from him, though he didn’t know how. Assaults seemed to be striking from everywhere, but he could only deal with what was in front of him: bringing this fucking traitor out into the open.
The auditorium was filling up. David could hear people rustling on the other side of the wall. He sat with Stellan, both hidden from view.
Sweat was dripping down Stellan’s round face. His eyes were open wide and David thought panic might be near. It was the noise outside; it told him how real all this was.
Then give him some peace, David thought.
He reached forward and touched Stellan’s knee, his eyes sparking as he did. The man’s head snapped to David, his own eyes softening.
The two looked at each other.
“I’m scared,” Stellan whispered.
“It’s going to be okay,” David said. “I promise.”
Stellan’s eyes turned watery. David’s sparks grew heavier, starting to mask his pupil.
“Will I go to the Beyond?” Stellan asked.
“You’re not going to die, but if you do, then yes, you will. And I’ll see you there when it’s my turn. I promise, Stellan, I’m going to give my life for this movement, too. You’re only doing it a little bit before me.”
Stellan nodded, blinked, and tears fell from his eyes. “I love you, David. Thank you for letting me be a part of this.”
“No. Thank you. The honor is mine. The honor is everyone’s out there, who don’t know what you’re doing for them. You’re going to save us all, but before this is over, they’ll know.”
David felt the low murmur on the other side of the wall slowly growing louder.
“It’s almost time,” he said.
Stellan nodded again. Sweat still dripped from his face and tears rested in his eyes, but that wild animalistic look had passed.
David wouldn’t stop what came next, but at least the man could go out there with a bit of peace.
The gray in his eyes died down, his natural green irises returning to the forefront. The next time they lit, they wouldn’t be transferring peace.
Rhett and Rebecca stood in the back of the auditorium. They hadn’t separated from the crowd, but moved close to it. Separating themselves might reveal some part of their involvement, as if they didn’t need to know what would happen … like everyone else.
So they stood on the edge, people nodding and saying hello to them as they passed.
The room was growing full, the temperature rising, though Rhett thought it would get much hotter in a few minutes.
Christine walked up to Rhett’s left side.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
Rebecca didn’t give any indication that she even knew Christine was there.
Rhett didn’t know how long their rift would continue, but he didn’t think it could keep up much more. David wouldn’t allow it, not with everything else he had to deal with. Yet, right now, he doubted David knew the rift existed—and if he
did—there wasn’t time to close it.
He’ll take care of it, Rhett thought, though not feeling completely confident for the first time. David was fraying at the edges and Rhett hadn’t seen that before.
Is that what the end is like? Is it what happened to the others? To Abby? To Veritros?
He didn’t know. No one alive knew the end times.
And if this is what it’s like, is that why we always lose? Because in the end, the pressure grows too much? The outside world too strong?
Stop, his mind chastised. Stop and just hope that this works. You don’t have time to worry about any of that right now.
All of the chatter in his mind ceased as Stellan walked out onto the stage.
Not normal.
Not on his own accord.
And everyone in the room knew it.
He came from the side of the platform, moving like a wooden soldier, his joints not fully working. His legs were stiff as he marched across the floor. His arms swung in exaggerated arcs, lacking any human smoothness.
He stopped and turned, looking like an early robot from the Constant Ministry.
Stellan stared out at the crowd. Rebecca wasn’t crying yet, but Rhett thought she would be soon. Christine showed no emotion at all. The auditorium was nearly roaring now, people shouting things at the stage—already making up their minds that this was the guilty party.
“Quiet.”
David’s voice came from everywhere at once. It moved in a way that even nanoparticles couldn’t, as if the air itself spoke his words. They enveloped Rhett and the room fell silent.
The lighting above surged and then dimmed. A few seconds passed and it surged again, illuminating all of David’s followers.
The dimming came once more, casting shadows in the exact same way.
David walked out from the other side of the stage. His eyes burned with gray snow, and in the dim shadows they stood out like stars in the darkness. Here to guide those that stared upon them.
Rhett was losing himself as David’s connection moved through the crowd in a wave.
He went to the front of the stage and everyone that had been staring at Stellan, forgot he even existed. All eyes fell on David. He moved with a grace that Stellan’s entrance had lacked, and Rhett realized why David made him walk like that.
If no one came forth, David was taking no chances. There would be no rumors that he hadn’t found the actual traitor, and Stellan’s entrance was the beginning of that myth. The way he walked was different than the way David walked, less human—something controlled and not to be given the compassion afforded humans.
“You know why you’re here,” David whispered, and even so, every person in the auditorium heard it as if he was speaking right in their ear. “You’ve heard.” He looked down at the floor, but even from where Rhett stood, he could see the blaze in David’s eyes. Gray fire that lived and died in milliseconds. “I wish I could say it was a rumor. A lie. But I can’t. I’ve spent the last week in contemplation. Working. Contacting the Unformed. I wanted this to not be true, more than any of you can imagine.” He looked up. “Because however much you may love me, I love all of you even more. You’re my brothers. My sisters. You’re what has made this possible, has brought us so close to achieving what others throughout history have failed to do.”
David looked back down and walked across the stage, moving past Stellan who stood frozen and staring out at the crowd—David holding him in place without any concentration. If his power was weakening, it didn’t show. Rhett had witnessed this before, but most others in the crowd hadn’t. David’s power was legend, but some probably thought it exaggerated.
Today they would see it all was true. They would understand David could do things they hadn’t even imagined.
He reached the other side of the stage and stopped.
“Someone went to the PD. I didn’t know who it was, but I spent the last week in contemplation. I searched, trying to find the person willing to destroy everything we’ve built. It took time, and during that time, I’m sure this man here gave away secrets. I’m sure he helped expose us to those that want to kill us.” David turned and looked at Stellan; he still stared straight forward, his eyes wide and his neck muscles straining. Rhett knew he wanted to move, that terror was taking hold.
David wouldn’t release him, though.
Not now.
Not ever.
He’d made his choice and no matter what he wanted now, it was too late to go back.
“He did it,” David said. “Stellan Magnan.”
He faced Stellan ... and then the man started rising into the air, his feet lifting off the stage, toes drooping downward. Rhett looked at the man’s eyes, the only things still able to move, and saw them frantically searching. Up and down, side to side—looking for anything that might help him escape this.
Rhett knew the truth, and he thought Stellan probably did too, even if instinct kept him hoping. There was no escape.
“He’s not working alone, though,” David said as Stellan rose higher. And here it came, the invitation to the actual traitor. “Someone else plotted with him, and I’ve yet to find them. So, in front of everyone, I give the other traitor a choice. You can come forth now and Stellan lives. You will live too.”
David turned to the crowd, ignoring the man floating over them as if he didn’t exist.
“You both can live if you reveal yourself,” he said. “But, if you don’t, this man dies, and you will too. Only, I promise your death will be worse.”
The lights dimmed even lower and David’s eyes seemed to be the room’s only illumination. Electricity flared inside them, and in that moment, he looked eternal. He would live forever, and always had. He was the alpha and the omega. The beginning and the end.
Rhett didn’t know how anyone could think of challenging him. The traitor in their midst was a fool to try and face this man—if he was a man at all.
David turned his head to Stellan who now floated 20 feet above the crowd. The lights just above him blazed brightly, illuminating Stellan’s dark skin and the sweat dripping from it. His muscles were all straining at once, but to no avail.
“You both die, or you both live, and it’s up to you,” David said. “So come forth and save your accomplice. Someone you have lived next to for years. Someone you trusted. Someone who trusted you. Someone you loved.”
David heard Rebecca sob. Her hands rose to her mouth. Tears flowed from her eyes.
It was the plea they both had hoped would work. The plea that would bring someone forth.
David stared at Stellan and waited.
Rhett didn’t breathe, everything in him wanting someone to step up and admit the truth. Someone had to save the innocent man hovering above them all.
Not a sound came from the crowd. Only silence.
Rhett knew the moment was passing and that David had to act. His heart thumped loudly in his ears and he heard his breath leaving his nose as if a gale force wind. All of his senses were attuned to the world around him, hoping that he would notice what no one else did—the person trying to lift their hand into the air, wanting to shout, “IT’S ME! I DID IT! I TOLD THEM!”
He saw nothing.
No one moved at all.
“So be it,” David whispered.
The lights above Stellan blazed brighter, and the ones further out—just beyond a narrow circle around him—died.
Only two things could be seen. Stellan and David’s bright eyes staring up from the raised platform. Looking at the victim of wrath undeserved.
Sweat popped out on Rhett’s forehead. The temperature was rising, and he knew everyone else in the room felt it too.
Heat waves rose from Stellan’s bald head. Again, Rhett had seen this before, though no one else had. He didn’t know how David did these things, only that he could.
Stellan was shaking. His head jerked up and down in quick spasms. Blood began dripping from his ears, rolling down his face and neck in two red rivers.
The steam rising from his head turned to smoke and dark black patches grew across his forearms.
The smell of burning meat found Rhett’s nose. He heard someone gag near him but didn’t look away. Didn’t even look at David’s bright eyes. Only the frying man above.
Blood erupted from Stellan’s mouth, rolling over his white teeth and down his brown chin, some hitting his shirt, but the rest falling to those beneath and splattering on their faces. They didn’t move. They didn’t scream. They only kept staring in rapture, feeling exactly as Rhett did. Full belief. Full faith.
A god in the flesh stood on their stage, and right or wrong, the god did as he wished.
Smoke rose from all parts of Stellan’s body as he cooked in front of them all. A low noise started somewhere in his throat, moving out of his slightly open mouth. It was raspy, yet full of bass.
It grew louder, only interrupted by another uproar of blood from his gullet, but quickly resumed.
His body spasmed beneath its invisible restraints. The noise from his throat continued its ascent, the sound hurting Rhett’s ears—coming from a human but resembling some malformed animal.
The black patches across Stellan’s skin appeared everywhere now, the meat and bone beneath burning.
Rhett heard someone else cry out.
“Make it stop! Please!”
Someone vomited. Rhett heard the contents of their stomach splash on the floor. He didn’t turn from the dying man.
“Enough,” David whispered, and despite the man’s animal scream echoing across the auditorium, everyone heard him.
The lights above Stellan flickered, and the people below him felt the same thing as Rhett. They needed to move, and quickly.
Stellan’s body shook another few seconds, and then fell.
Thirty feet down in only a few seconds, his heavy frame smashed into the wooden floor. The people beneath had scattered in time, but the ground shook. Rhett pushed forward, not caring who was in his way, not thinking of Rebecca or Christine behind him. He went to the very front, shoving people from him until he stood in the circle wrapping around the dead man.
Stellan’s eyes stared straight forward, looking at the feet in front of him. Smoke rose from his flesh, dark, burnt patches covering most of him. Steam rose from the blood on his chin and neck, having nearly boiled both in his body, and then on the outside.