The Birth of Dystopia

by A. Q. Moser

  Riding the off the highway ramp to the main road, I drove us under a train overpass and then made a right at the first light. Passing a few more lights, I recognized the quiet neighbourhood and turned right off the main road. At the end of the curvy road, I made another right turn. This was the route back to the hideout. Based on Billy’s word, I accepted the house as being safe. As we drove to the modest two-story house with the two-door garage, the drapes were down so the coast was clear for us to return. But I did not stop there.

  “What are you doink?” Billy asked. “You missed the house back there.”

  “I was just trying to be careful. Let me do a loop around the neighbourhood.” I was thinking ahead and I wanted to be sure to check the area for any suspicious movements.

  Accepting my decision, Billy allowed me to do what I felt needed to be done. His silence also supported my sentiments that being too cautious was never a bad thing.

  Cruising by the area, there were no unmarked vans or anything else out of the normal. I headed back to the hideout. As I pulled into the driveway, Bruno was standing by the front porch. Billy jumped out of the SUV, expecting to hear bad news.

  Bruno walked up to Billy. “Any problems?”

  “It’s all good,” Billy shouted with the energy of a four year old on a chocolate high and a long tale of his mischievous deed.

  Teaming with energy, Billy clapped his hands a few times and then rushed Bruno to try to wrestle him down to the ground. Side stepping, Bruno caught Billy in a sleeper hold and pretended to tighten the hold until Billy fell asleep.

  Exercising caution in driving someone else’s motor vehicle, May pulled into the driveway and slowly drove the minivan towards the gang. She seemed bent on scaring them off by trying to run them over.

  “Female driver,” Billy hollered with his eyes closed to the peril he was in.

  Risking the chance to hurt someone, May stopped the minivan inches from the group before honking the horn. Bruno released his grip on Billy’s neck and laughed at the comment. Wolfgang hopped out of the minivan not wanting to partake in the sexist exchange.

  “Quiet, the neighbours will complain.” Bruno got upset at the ruckus.

  Seeing to the SUV, I returned the vehicle to its snug cradle in the garage.

  As Billy stepped aside, May pulled the minivan in its spot inside the garage. She stepped out of her minivan and motioned her head for me.

  “Wolfgang stole something,” May whispered briefly in my ear.

  “So did Billy,” I replied. It dawned on me that we were down a man. “Where’s Cadet?”

  “I don’t know. We tried looking for him but we couldn’t find him,” May explained. She headed for the house through the garage door, obviously upset with Billy’s and Wolfgang’s improvised break-in and thus disrespect of Aerial’s property.

  Billy waved the yellow paper with the crossed out six on it for May to see. “Don’t you want to see what Aerial had written down?” Feeling May’s lack of interest, he stored the yellow paper in his pocket and turned to us. “Oh well.”

  Wolfgang shrugged his shoulders to the situation. He flashed the address e-book that belonged to Aerial. “I think we got something better that could really help us.”

  “Hopefully, he’s alright.” Bruno looked worried for Cadet.

  “He’s knows his way back,” Billy downplayed the sacrificial loss as nothing important.

  “Well let’s hope the risk was worth it.” I tried to put things in perspective for possibly losing a valuable member of the group in exchange of an address e-book.

  53

  Reveling in the pillage, Wolfgang handed the stolen address e-book for Billy to have a look at. In turn, he passed it for me to examine next. There was nothing special behind the e-book. It had a soft leather cover and a touch screen requesting a password for user verification. My work sold these as an easy-to-use storage device targeted towards the teenage girl market. I returned it back to Wolfgang who handed it to Bruno to hold on to.

  “That was an amazink sneak attack. Cadet did an awesome job to draw Aerial out of her place.” Billy gave Wolfgang a smack on the back, applauding the effort.

  Wolfgang flinched. “You were thinking what I was thinking.” He followed it up with a louder smack on Billy’s back.

  “Great minds think alike. Although you scared me when you snuck in. I thought Aerial had returned.” Billy re-enacted his fright by pretending to have a heart attack reaction.

  Evening out the playing field, Billy then returned the smack with a firm punch to the upper arm of Wolfgang. Wolfgang rubbed his arm but never let on that it really hurt.

  Bruno stepped in between the two raging bulls. “Cut it out. Don’t make me hurt the both of you.”

  Looking down the street, a skinny man wearing a turtleneck was running our way. The man was waving his arms in the air as if flagging us down.

  “Hey, it’s Cadet.” I pointed out.

  “Yeah, Sammy’s his real name. Screwed-up Sammy we used to call him way back,” Billy said as if he knew it all along.

  “Why’s he running?” Bruno observed.

  “More importantly, how did he get here so fast if he didn’t have a vehicle?” Wolfgang noted.

  Elated to see us, Cadet stopped running once he hit the driveway. He was out of breath and unable to speak coherently. He held out his hands in a T gesture, signalling a timeout and needing more time to recuperate from the run. We were unsure what to do; we simply stared at him like we were watching an uncontrollable fire engulf a home. Other than sweat stains etched out over his armpits and around his neckline, he looked unharmed.

  “I’ve … tried … reach … you … on two-way radio,” Cadet articulated with some broken English.

  “Are we in trouble?” I was concerned with the matter of the military hunting us down.

  “I’ve got Aerial with me,” Cadet replied, signalling in the distance to where he ran.

  “What!” We all exasperated.

  “I think she’s on our side,” Cadet said. “I didn’t want to bring her here so I left her by her car up at the park.”

  “You brought her here?” Billy’s veins on his forehead pulsated.

  “Listen, she told me things only we knew,” Cadet defended.

  “Of course she knows. She’s workink for them.” Billy ran his hands through his short hair as if trying to pull the strands by the roots.

  “Cadet, this is absolutely a foolish thing to have done.” Wolfgang disagreed on the poor decision and the dire predicament we were placed in.

  “There’s no doubt now but to get rid of her,” Billy demanded without any hesitation.

  Distressed, Billy and Wolfgang were really worked up by what Cadet had done. How much more trouble would I be in if I did this? From my stance, Cadet was getting off easy. No matter how much he believed in Aerial, she should be considered a liability by her connection to the military.

  “Are you guys done?” Cadet sighed heavily. “She knows things that May didn’t tell her. She had the same nightmares we had. She could help us.”

  “She’s lyink.” Billy’s finger was aimed inches away from Cadet’s left temple. “We’re all gonna go down ‘cause of you. You hear me?”

  “Hold on a second. Listen to me. She had the same nightmares like the vampires in black suits, the ninja chase, the narrow bridge, the school bus accident and especially our first nightmare about the steamboat. All of it and more.” Cadet argued back as convincingly as possible.

  Billy frowned in anger. “She’s a traitor,” he grumbled disturbingly.

  “Don’t you understand?” Cadet pushed Billy’s finger out of the way and stood nose-to-nose with him.

  “Don’t touch me,” Billy hollered frustrated by the disobedience. “You messed up. I ain’t takink the fall for you.” With such overwhelming rage, he stopped blinking.

  Infuriated, Billy’s face turned beet red and he reacted by shoving Cadet out of his face. In response, Cadet followed with a wild punch
connecting squarely with Billy’s jaw. Stunned, Billy did what he did best and used his body weight to tackle Cadet to the pavement. With a dangerous head butt to subdue Cadet, he followed with a succession of elbow blows to his face. Bruno and Wolfgang jumped in and pulled Billy off Cadet to break up the street brawl. Never giving up, Billy kicked out with his leg and managed to throw a last ditch blow to Cadet’s rib section. To what sounded like a terrible cracking sound, Cadet shrieked in pain and shrivelled up into a ball by the side of the road.

  Nothing could have prepared me for this. I cringed in sympathy for Cadet’s pain. The entire episode was nerve-raking as what I thought would never happen again happened. Billy delivered such violent and uncontrollable tendencies that it seemed so much unlike any human being. Could such a personality be excused by an awry military project gone wrong?

  Billy struggled and freed himself from the arm grips of Bruno and Wolfgang. He tested his lip with his finger for any blood. “That’s what you deserve for your disobedience.”

  “This is not the place to fight like a pair of brutish animals,” Bruno rationalized with a calm demeanour as if he were accustomed to seeing teen violence.

  “Now go tell that traitor that if she comes here, she’s dead,” Billy demanded of Cadet. Like a madman, the threat of death was the final verdict.

  True to his nature to help wherever he can, Bruno checked on Cadet, concerned for the beating he had unfairly received.

  Convinced by Bruno’s kindness, a sense of empowerment flowed through me as I sought to make things right. I looked over to Billy, prepared to step up to the plate. “What if Cadet’s right? What if Aerial had the same steamboat nightmare we all had? What if she is the sixth member of our group? Remember the steamboat nightmare had six at the lamppost?”

  “I don’t believe she is.” Billy spat on the lawn, still checking for blood on his lips.

  “And what’s your evidence?” I questioned.

  “I’m right, ‘cause I saw her workink for the military. End of story,” Billy remarked in his own logic.

  “Then who’s the sixth member?” I asked Billy, frustrated by his hard-headed attitude.

  “I don’t know.” Billy had a bitter look on his face, as if he was not backing down.

  “Let me add my two cents here and sum up the situation.” Wolfgang looked to rationalize the predicament with a logical order. “Assuming the six member theory, we believe Cadet is one of us. But it was Aerial who told us about Cadet. Why would she do that if she was against us?”

  “So she could be the sixth member, so what! How many times I got to tell you she’s workink for them.” Billy crossed his arms like an incorrigible child not getting his way.

  “I’m going to talk to her and test her out.” I raised my voice in defiance to the order.

  Billy gave me an obscene stare as if defeated by a war of words. “I don’t think it’s worth my time, nor do I think it’s safe for anyone else to deal with her.” He was a being with the elegance of an agitated hyena that needed to understand discipline.

  “Thank you for your opinion but I see it otherwise. You’re not in charge of me. Remember at the concert I was the one that convinced you to pursue the nightmare matter. Then I emailed Wolfgang and May to bring us all together. And finally I was the one who got Cadet to open up to us. I did a lot more stuff than you give me credit for. Maybe I could do the same with Aerial. Actually I’m going to talk to her right now.” This was no plea but a directive. I had grown a backbone and held my ground. I was instrumental in uniting this group of five and maybe soon a group of six. Finally blessed with a good night’s sleep, the shackles of the nightmares no longer restrained me, not to mention, putting an end to Billy’s tormenting reign and mishandling of each situation.

  Owing Billy a piece of mind, I felt I was in control of the situation and that I was free to do what I wanted. With that said, how could he respond back? Instead, he clammed up because he had nothing to counter with. He stood there like a fish out of water. Both Wolfgang and Bruno looked impressed by my new attitude and my hard work and contribution to our efforts. By putting Billy in his place, I was taking the lead position.

  I stepped over to Cadet who was still lying on the pavement. “Are you okay to walk and show us where Aerial is?”

  Applying some pressure over his stomach, Cadet slowly rose to his feet and straightened up but kept his head down. He did not respond to my question. Instead, he took small steps with an uncomfortable limp on his right leg moving towards the way he ran in from. The back of his turtleneck shirt was stained with clumps of dirt and debris. Tiny pebbles that clung to the fabric fell off one by one as he inched forward with every step.

  The front door slammed. May ran out onto the driveway. She covered her mouth with her hands. “What happened?” she said, shocked by seeing Cadet hunched over and limping.

  “Billy attacked Cadet,” I described loudly to demonstrate a complete disapproval of Billy’s actions.

  “What! Not again.” May walked over to Cadet and wrapped her left arm around him. “Are you alright? Maybe you should rest up in the house?”

  Persistent to return to Aerial, Cadet continued onwards despite walking at a slow pace. Each stepped provoked heavy breathing with a random moan.

  May shrugged her shoulders and looked to me. “Where’s he going?”

  “Aerial drove him here. He wants us to talk to her,” I explained.

  “Really? She’s here?” May thought we were kidding around.

  Wolfgang concurred with a nod and it thrilled May.

  “I want to see her too,” May decided she had to go.

  United in our decision, we escorted Cadet down the street. Billy and Bruno remained behind although Bruno had that sad puppy look that he was forced to remain back. Watching Cadet limp onwards, May had that antsy feeling that she had to do something. She dusted off Cadet’s shirt to remove the extra weight from the sand and bits that clung to his back. Rejuvenated, Cadet picked up the pace.

  Before us, a concrete walkway leading into a residential park split two homes. The walkway was illuminated for safety reasons by curved lampposts spaced out every five metres.

  In true military fashion, Cadet signalled with a fist in the air to stop in our tracks. “Aerial’s at the parking lot on the other end of the park.”

  “I think we should split-up and scope out the area for any suspicious activity,” I requested, not expecting anyone to deny the safety precaution. “Cadet should go first and talk to Aerial.”

  “Good idea,” May agreed. “I’ll take the left side of the walkway.”

  “I agree with the idea but I think I should go with Cadet and see what Aerial has to offer,” Wolfgang volunteered, tugging up his loose pants.

  “Okay, I’ll check out the right side.” I took the area leftover. “If you hear someone yell the code word windtreat, run.”

  “Got it,” Wolfgang affirmed. “Is that okay with you Cadet?”

  Leering a bit at our cautious stance, Cadet made no effort to acknowledge our arrangement. Instead, he walked down the walkway. I did not take this as any sign of disrespect; after all, he did not try to hold us back like Billy did. Splitting up, Wolfgang darted off to take his place beside Cadet. May pushed off me to go her way. She blew a flattering goodbye kiss like it was the last time we would ever see each other again. I smiled at the heart-warming gesture.

  I saw everyone else off first before departing my way. I headed to the right side of the walkway trying to act as little as a predator in a suburban park in the middle of the night. Staying as close to the park trees as possible, little of the walkway light reached my side. Alert, I managed to weave around the leafy trees without being raked in the face by the low hanging sharp branches. I even went as far as checking the treetops in case anybody was hiding up in them.

  Calm and still, the only park sounds were the fallen branches cracking under my footsteps. Cautious as best I could be, I would check every so often behind me in case of a
sneak attack. Despite being alone, I was relatively composed and felt confident that I was not in harm’s way.

  Traversing down a grassy slope, I lost sight of the walkway including Cadet and Wolfgang. It would have been wise to have use of the two-way radio for direct communication with everyone. This was one plan that should have been better organized and not done with haste.

  Right ahead, a set of yellow streetlights shone brightly. It seemed I was close to the end of the park, and even worse, I had lost sight of the walkway completely. Leaving the grassy earth, I stepped across an empty basketball court with its smooth cement and relocated the walkway at the top of the hill.

  In the distance, past the park’s soccer field, was a parking lot with the lit walkway leading to it. To the left there was a chain fence next to a walkway. By a beat-up car, three figures gathered. I could pick out the two taller individuals to be Wolfgang and Cadet while the shorter one in the dress must be Aerial. There was a conversation going on but I could not hear anything.

  A tiny figure, next to the lot, was crouched low by a group of coniferous trees. Her bright sweater had May standing out. She reminded me of an enthusiastic child hiding out at an adult’s party expecting to see something out of the ordinary.

  Leaving nothing to chance, I maintained a concealed position while situated on the opposite side of the parking lot to where May hid. The advantage at being higher up allowed me to observe from a far without being noticed.

  Not sure where we were, Cadet stepped away from Wolfgang and Aerial and waved his arms in the air as if signalling a set of instructions. Was he calling us in? May left her spot by the coniferous trees and walked up to Aerial and embraced her like a sister. I remained undercover, waiting further instructions.