Zomboy looked her right in the eyes and said:
“But it seems something else happened, something both unexpected and extraordinary. Millions of people saw the video of your little stunt in the elementary school and most of them are only alive now because they dream of you. After all, you gave them the second most precious gift after life itself - hope.”
“All they can do is dream.” Lily said. “What can I possibly do for them?”
“Well, they are avid to really make the difference and turn this complicated ball we call Earth into a better place. And they would be very disappointed if you didn't show up to prove that you're real and lead them.”
“But everybody is controlled now!”
“Not everybody was in the surface when the signal hit. And not everyone believes in the cheap talk of the Undertakers and their shareholders.”
Zomboy pointed a forefinger to the ceiling and said:
“If there are still people up there with a mind of their own and they are looking for a role model, why not you? My people and I can’t leave this place. If the Undertakers find out we exist, they’ll bomb this place and bury us all, like the corpses we are. But with you it’s different. You are welcome to stay if you want, but you don’t belong in this place. That’s why you’re depressed.”
“Do they have shareholders?” Lily frowned.
“Oh yeah, and right now they are very sure they won.”
“They are annoying, eh?”
Lily came back to her quarter. She looked in the mirror. This time, a road warrior stared back at her.
BACK TO PRESENT…
“And here we are.” Lily concluded.
“He really makes you think.” Mate said.
“Who’s this Zomboy dude?” Ike asked.
“He’s the leader of a small resistance.” Lily replied.
“Among other things, he and his friends built that equipment I told you about, and they are the ones invading the official broadcasts.” Clark completed.
“Wow.” Ike gasped. “So, we got protesters after all! But how do you know all this stuff?”
“How do you think we ended up here?” Lily said.
“We met the perpetrators of this whole mess and they slapped our carcasses in this land.” Clark spoke.
“I suspected that.” Ivy said.
“And you came to save us.” Jill spoke.
“Actually, we were brought here in a helicopter.” Lily revealed. “Fancy, huh?”
“You’re telling us?” Ike said. “We came in a limo!”
“Speaking which, we need to get ourselves some wheels.” Lily pointed out. “If I remember correctly, I did have a truck.”
“So…” Mate said with a half smile. “The great Apocalily is back in another crusade, to save the world for democracy and the highest values.”
“Yes.” Lily replied. “Then, perhaps I can finally sit down on a rocking chair and read my comics.”
22nd MOVEMENT
One more beautiful day in paradise ‒ the sun smiled to Earth in glorious splendor. Another day, another dollar; some residents of Brokenville woke up to another day of work, while others to stand on a big square and take poison.
Secretary James was walking to the suicide field with very nervous steps.
“Mister Secretary!” A resident stopped him.
“I’m a little busy here, Mister Major.”
“I know, but I’m afraid what I have to say is very important.”
“What is it?”
“As the appointed leader of the neighborhood, I feel we must…”
“Leader of the neighborhood? You guys have things like that now? I don’t remember approving any such initiative!”
“Yes, but for the sake of a better community, we took the liberty of…”
“You don’t take liberties around here! Don’t you have a job to go to?”
“Actually, I’m coming back from it…”
“Then go home and find something to do with your time! Build a fence, clean the septic tank…”
“Oh please, James!” Robert Hedgiest once again came to the rescue. “Not this again! Let the man speak for crying out loud!”
“Thank you, Mister Minister.” Major said. “I talked to the other residents, and we feel it’s necessary to protest against those suicides.”
“I understand.” The Minister replied. “But I must say I’m surprised at this request. I thought I had made myself clear about the importance of the collective over the individual. Besides, you don’t have to worry about it, you and your family passed the tests with glory.”
“Yes, I was already informed. But I wonder if the others really have to die.”
“Why worry about the imperfect ones?”
“I just don’t think they have to die. Send them out of town. Give them a chance to try their luck outside.”
“There is no luck outside, Mister Major. And you should know that. It would be reckless and even cruel of me to send people out there. They would have the most horrible death. I can’t believe you’re actually bringing this up.”
Hedgiest placed his hands on Major’s shoulders and said:
“I understand you feel sorry for them. It’s the same with me. I’m not insensitive to their sorrow. However, a very thorough scientific process determined they are not fit to live among us. They have to die anyway, so let’s be human and allow them to go with dignity.”
“But sir…”
Hedgiest did not take his eyes off the man. Intimidated, Major could not finish the sentence.
“Yes, Mister Minister.” Major finally said.
“Now, go home and celebrate with your family, for you are survivors and contributors to better days to come!”
“Yes sir.” Major murmured and walked away.
“Alright, mister paladin,” The Secretary spoke “do you have something else to add?”
“I’ll surely be glad when I don’t have to make those stupid speeches anymore.” Hedgiest replied.
“This moment has already arrived and you know it.”
“I’m not so sure. You’d better talk to me about what hasn’t arrived yet. Why is that square still empty of people? We are behind schedule, and Miss Forrester is on my neck.”
Like magic, Hedgiest’s tablet phone rang and he immediately recognized the caller’s name flashing red on the screen.
“Hello Allison…” He answered the video call.
“Well, do we have the samples for this month?” The woman responded bluntly, surely in no mood for amenities.
“Not yet.”
“How come?”
“The SUV’s with the samples didn’t arrive yet. I believe James here can add to the subject.”
“Good day, Miss Forrester.” The Secretary said to the tablet and swallowed hard.
“Call me Allison and get to it, please.”
“Yes, of course. Our vehicles were detained by those strange road blocks, you know, piles of cars in the middle of the road, lots of lamebrains falling from them.”
“I’m very aware of those.” Allison replied. “What I want to know is can your people handle this to avoid more delays?”
“Sure.” The Secretary promptly answered. “Our drivers found ways around the blocks and they will be here shortly.”
“Good. In the meantime, let’s perform a little test on our own. Shall we, gentlemen?”
“I beg your pardon, madam? I mean, Miss Forrester? I mean, Allison?”
“No reason not to make the most of this extra time. I’ll get back to you.”
Allison put the call on hold and went downstairs. She walked through corridors until reaching a row of doors. She knocked on the one with a plate labeled Queen Bee fixed to it.
“Are you there, honey?” Forrester asked.
“You know I’m not going anywhere.” answered the voice on the other side. “Just go ahead and come on in.”
“Are you decent?”
“I am. You are not.”
“Ve
ry funny!” Allison said.
She opened the door to the lodge and found Amy inside.
“Time to go, honey” Forrester said.
“Already? I thought the samples hadn’t come yet.”
“They hadn’t. This is just a little test I want to perform while we wait.”
“Are you going to make me manipulate people’s minds for no reason?”
“Everything I do is for a reason, sweetheart. Now, gather your children and meet me in the Awakening room, pronto!”
“They are not my children.” Amy grunted, but Allison had already gone.
The perfect Mister Major and his also scientifically perfect son played a game of chess.
“Man, this is boring.” The youngster complained.
“It depends on how you look at it.” Daddy responded. “What doesn’t excite your body amazes your mind.”
“I’d rather amaze my mind with naked women.”
“Women like smart men, naked or not.” He moved a horse on the board. “By the way, check and mate.”
“I can’t believe it! That fast? You cheated!”
“One cannot cheat in a chess game, son. You lost focus with your naked women.”
“Well, what would you know?”
However, Mister Major’s face froze, his eyes staring at nothing.
“Dad?” The young man called his father.
“I have to go, son.”
He stood up and walked to the door.
“Go where?” The youngster jumped to his feet and went after his dad.
But the older man opened the door and walked away like a robot.
“Wait!”
The teenage boy was about to leave home as well; nevertheless, a man in suit carrying a machine gun blocked his way.
“It’s alright, son.” He said. “You come back inside now.”
“But… this is not fair! We passed the tests!”
“I know. Congratulations! Daddy is just going for a little walk.”
Mister Major reached the center of the big field and stopped.
“He’s here.” Hedgiest talked on the tablet phone. “And he seems ready to roll over and play dead.”
“Very good” Allison said on the other end. “But that was too easy. Let’s try something a little more challenging. Please, send me the list of residents.”
The Minister typed his screen.
In the Awakening room, Allison stood by Amy’s chair.
Amy and the other children were already properly strapped, connected and with needles perforating their napes. A monitor protruded from the chair, so Amy could see it. Allison was looking at it, too. A list of several names rolled up on the monitor screen.
“Let’s choose some people at random here…” Allison spoke. “How about this, this and this…” She talked while pointing at the screen. “This one with the long name, that’s some ugly name, this one too… Man, where these people get these names from?”
Forrester picked fifty names from the list.
“All right, my dear, do your magic.” Allison told Amy.
The girl did not move. Her bright eyes were very focused and fixed like stones.
“While we’re still young…” Allison pressed.
“I need some time to access their brain signatures in my head and relayed them to the others.” Amy justified. “You picked a hell lot of them.”
After a few seconds, Amy closed her eyes. The other children did the same.
In Brokenville, the fifty people chosen by Allison left their houses. Guards spread around the city made sure they were not followed by family members. The fifty residents arrived at the square field to keep company with Mister Major.
“This should be interesting.” Hedgiest spoke to the Secretary by his side.
The Minister had his tablet in hands.
“Alright, make them look up.” Allison said to Amy.
The little mob in the square raised their heads to look up.
“Now, make them look down and then to the side.” Ally spoke.
The crowd did as mentally instructed by Amy and the children.
“Make them sit down.”
They did it.
“Make them stand up again.”
They obeyed.
“Now, make them dance the Salsa!”
Amy opened her eyes and threw a very angry look at Allison.
“I’m just kidding.” Ally said. “Okay, that’s enough for the moment. You can send them back home. No point in wasting all those clean genes.”
Amy did as told, and a puzzled group of fifty-one people walked back to their houses.
On a corner of the square, Secretary James’ cell phone rang and he answered it.
“You don’t look tired, honey.” Allison spoke to Amy. “And the children seem to be having their fun.”
“They’re too young to understand what you’re doing.” Amy retorted.
“Anyway, you can handle a lot more than just those few minds.”
“This is wrong!”
“This is necessary! These people had freedom of will once. And they nearly depleted Earth of all its resources. It will take us years to grow everything back. You cut them loose and they’ll ruin the planet again.”
“You have to teach them, not control them!”
“We don’t have time for this. Besides, who are you to give me moral lessons? You didn’t have any problems telling me about Karl, General Prentiss and their little plot. You knew what was going to happen to them.”
“I did that to save Condor City and its people. They were planning to destroy the whole town with artillery.”
“Then you did your job, now let me do mine. And don’t you ever argue with me in front of the children again!”
“Good news!” The Secretary jumped. “The samples finally arrived. They’ve already been tested and I’m receiving the results.”
“Send the ones who didn’t pass straight to Amy’s monitor.” Robert Hedgiest said.
A new list of names reflected in Amy’s eyes.
“Get your staff ready.” Allison said to Robert.
“I’m on it already.” He replied.
“Time for the real deal now” Allison spoke to the girl. “You know what to do.”
Nevertheless, Amy did not focus, as if refusing to cooperate.
“Do it, Amy!” Allison insisted.
But the girl’s eyes remained still.
“They’re going to die anyway.” Ally said. “We’re just trying to make it painless.”
Forrester came closer to Amy’s chair.
“Do you want Nancy to join them?” She asked the girl.
Amy turned her head to face Allison, who in turn returned the look firmly.
The girl then closed her eyes, so did the other children.
Silence followed.
“What’s happening in there, Robert?” Allison queried, staring at her tablet.
No answer came from the other end of the video call. Hedgiest was not looking at his screen.
“Talk to me, Robert.” Allison insisted.
He faced the screen to meet Allison’s eyes.
“They’re coming.” The Minister informed.
Allison turned to Amy and noticed tears falling from her closed eyes.
“This is for the greater good.” Ally tried to comfort the girl, petting her blonde-haired head.
A new mob gathered in the field, organized in rows of people, the unlucky ones. A pink sky announced one more day coming to an end, as that particular group had also reached the twilight of their existences.
The woman in tunic made her round among the people, distributing glasses already filled with poison. Only this time, she was not acting on her own free will.
“She doesn’t have to wear that costume anymore.” The Secretary commented. “We are no longer a sect.”
“Maybe we can try to be original here and put her in a tuxedo.” Hedgiest said.
They both laughed.
After making sure everybo
dy in the square had received a glass with poison, the Minister spoke on his tablet, loud and clear:
“They may drink now.”
Allison was focused on her tablet, but glanced at Amy. The girl frowned unusually.
The crowd took the poison. James, Robert and Allison watched in anticipation. After a couple of minutes, the imperfect ones began to choke to their death. A while more and they were all lying on the floor motionless.
Amy opened her blue eyes.
“I’ll be at the pub.” Hedgiest said. “All this excitement made me thirsty. Care to join me, James?”
“In a minute” was the reply. “I’ll just wait for the cleaning personnel, and I’ll be with you in a moment.”
“Hard working man as usual, I like that.”
“And the town’s villain in my spare time.”
Apocalily Series (Book 2): The Almighty Lady of Tomorrow Page 19