There was no answer.
“It came from there!” Mate said.
“No way!” Benson retorted. “It came from that way.”
“No.” lily disagreed as well. “It definitely came from there.”
The three of them stood on the same spot, turning back and forth.
“We’re wasting time.” Mate spoke.
“HERE!” The voice was back, as loudly as the person could manage, and it was still barely audible.
“Over there, last door to the right.” Lily finally decided.
“Of course, it got to be the last door!” Clark complained.
“They don’t get to rule the world by being a bunch of idiots.” Benson pointed out.
“Alright, here goes nothing.” Lily started to try the keys Trisha found in the pocket of the late and eaten Secretary James.
“Try the last one first.” Mate suggested.
“Try that one.” Benson said “The skeleton key.”
Lily did it. And it worked.
“It figures.” Benson grunted.
They opened the heavy metal door. A fetid reek rose to their nostrils the second they got into the cell. Three horridly skinny ladies were lying on a dirty floor. One of them tried to look up, her eyes buried deeply into the sockets.
“You guys don’t even know anymore the cell you locked us in?” Piper asked.
“At least you brought us food this time, instead of just the occasional water?” Joana queried.
“We don’t have to bring you any food.” Lily declared. “We’re taking you to it.”
“Oh my God!” Angela said after having a clearer view of the figure before her “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! It’s her, the girl in the video!”
“I should seriously consider changing clothes.” Lily whispered.
“Don’t you ever get tired of being wrong all the time?” Joana said to Piper.
“Well, you took long enough!” Piper complained to Lily.
“Isn’t it your cue to say traffic?” Mate asked his partner.
“Too cliché” Lily replied. “I’d rather say we had trouble finding you ladies because they put you in the last place we would look for.”
“Which is another cliché, by the way” Benson said.
“And where is here?” Joana asked.
“Devasta Land” Mate replied.
The three ladies silenced for a few seconds.
“This is not possible.” Piper broke the silence.
“It is.” Lily said.
“Jeez.” Angela spoke. “We’ve heard terrible stories about Devasta Land and all the time we were there.”
“Now you know how wonderful it really is.” Benson said.
“Are we getting out of here?” Joana asked cautiously. “Is this even possible?”
“The door is open, isn’t it?” Mate answered.
“Sorry about the mess.” Piper said. “Cleaning services are not very good in this hotel.”
“It’s hard to believe, but there are still some decent restrooms around.” Benson informed. “The ladies can pull themselves together in one of them.”
The three women could only stand up and walk with the help of their rescuers.
After the ladies spent their time in the bathroom, the group was reunited in front of the vending machine maintained by Benson. The three former prisoners devoured their snacks like they had never seen food before.
“Easy, ladies” Benson advised. “Let your stomachs get used to food again.”
“I should be saying that.” Piper talked with her mouth full. “But I just can’t resist.”
“Oh, this is good!” Angela said.
“Let me ask you something, Doctor Glory.” Lily spoke.
“Call me Piper.”
“Okay. Have you been to a certain main office or something like that?”
“If you’re talking about the main office of this branch, yes, I know the place.” Glory replied. “I worked there for a while, back when I thought this project was doing some good.”
“Where is it located?” Lily queried.
“It’s an industrial park they call Titania, mile seventy-seven of Sourcreek Road.”
“I’ll go tell the boss this address.” Benson spoke. “He and the guys have some grid maps to check. Be seeing you, ladies and gentleman…”
They all waved good-bye and watched Benson disappear into the dark aisles. Lily and Mate exchanged looks.
“Is there any water near this industrial park?” Mate asked.
“I beg your pardon?” Glory frowned.
“You know, a lake, pond, even the sea, perhaps a beach…” Lily said.
“The main building faces the coast, Pacific Ocean to be more specific.” Piper replied. “The whole complex used to be a harbor. You can even see the old offshore oil-rig from the pier.”
“An oil-rig!” Lily gasped “The lyrics of the song in my head ‒ a distant ship smoke on the horizon, you are only coming through in waves! If you paraphrase that, you can also say ‒ waves, as in radio waves or a Tornado signal, coming from a distant ship on the horizon. I guess that’s what Amy is trying to tell us!”
“An oil-rig is not a ship.” Mate said.
“But it floats.” Lily replied. “Close enough. As far as I remember, there are no songs with oil-rigs in my mind, so Amy picked up one with the closest thing.”
“I don’t know what you guys are talking about, but this oil-rig has been abandoned for years.” Piper spoke. “It’s just a big deposit of rust and barnacles.”
“That is what they want you to think.” Mate spoke.
“I’m sorry.” Piper said frustrated. “I really don’t understand.”
“You’ve just found us the Awakening room, doc.” Lily spoke. “It has to be in this oil-rig.”
“I don’t think so.” Glory said. “The location of this thing is a secret the Undertakers keep under lock and key.”
“I believe it’s a floating secret.” Lily spoke. “It’s worth a shot.”
“In the meantime, do you think it’s okay if we try to sneak into Brokenville?” Angela asked shyly. “I got unfinished businesses over there.”
“You don’t need to sneak into.” Mate replied. “You just knock on the gates and say your name to the doorkeeper.”
“What do you mean?” Joana asked.
“Let’s say the place has gone through some redecoration.” Lily answered.
“Did you get it?” Allison asked the engineer, who was focusing on her workstation.
“Yes.” Bonnie answered. “By rerouting power from the non-priority systems to the mainframe, I managed to significantly speed up the process, as you requested. The increased Tornado signal will be ready to go way ahead of schedule.”
In the Awakening room, Amy and the children were once again connected to the apparatus that allowed them to control minds worldwide.
“How much longer are we staying here?” Amy’s voice resounded on Allison’s tablet screen. “We’ve been sitting here for hours!”
“You lost your rights to complain, dear.” Allison responded coldly.
“How’s it going?” Lily asked on the cell phone.
“Slow but steady” Dylan answered from deep inside the caves of Devasta Land. “Those critters got good teeth, but the cables are made to last.”
He and Slim were supervising from a safe spot a small pack of mutant dogs, which were furiously biting sections of a long power cable previously wrapped in fresh meat and blood.
“Are you sure they are chewing the right cables?” Lily asked.
“We think so.” Dylan replied. “It’s hard to be a hundred percent sure. Our grid maps are fifteen years old. All we can do is hope that the routes from the power plant to the lines in Sourcreek Road never changed.”
“I’ll get back to you.”
And she terminated the call.
“Those damn dogs are taking too long.” Slim said to Dylan. “Please, go back to the surface and fetch me some
Destructors. Three or four should be enough.”
“You got it.” Dylan responded.
“I’ll get more fresh meat to cover the cables with. I hope they like scumbag leftovers.”
In Brokenville medical institute, Angela was in the maternity ward, checking all the newborns sleeping in there with very anguished, tearful eyes.
“He’s not here.” She sobbed.
“Okay…” Mate said rubbing his hands against each other. “It seems everything is delivered.”
“It looks that way.” Lily agreed.
“So?” Mate asked Lily.
“So?” Lily replied to Mate.
“What we do now?”
“I tell you what!” Lily promptly answered.
Mate Clarkson filled his lungs with the air of hope, while anticipation built in his spirit.
“I think you shall be the one to decide what our next move is going to be!” Lily declared.
“Moi?”
“Oui!”
“But I just work for you!”
“That’s why this is such a great opportunity!”
“You don’t have the slightest idea what we’re going to do next, do you?”
“No, I don’t.” Lily whispered.
“Because we are in a bit of a pickle here, you know.” Mate continued. “We messed up with the biggest and most powerful corporation there is. They got to be extra pissed now that we cost them an important city, not to mention they know there’s resistance in Devasta Land because of what we did. They may even find out about Zomboy and his bunch, too. In addition, they have the majority of world’s population under their control and planning to take over the rest.”
“You’re right.” Lily admitted. “It is a bit of a pickle. But you got to admit, we did it all with a lot of charm.”
“Yes. How are we going to get out of this one with a lot of charm? How do we approach this problem?”
“You’ll have enough trouble approaching Titania.” Doctor Glory decided to join the conversation. “The place is guarded like Fort Knox.”
“And we’re not getting any gold out of there.” Mate said. “We don’t even know if the Tornado signal is set up in there.”
“If the Awakening room is really inside the oil-rig,” Lily spoke “the Tornado has to come from there.”
“You can’t possibly be thinking of raiding Titania only the two of you.” Piper spoke.
“Well, it’s not like we have a choice.” Lily replied.
“Yes, you do.” Ike came all of a sudden, followed by Ivy. “I’m sorry to interrupt your little debate, but I got something to show you.”
“What is it?” Lily asked.
“While you were out there saving the world for democracy, we did some recruiting.” Ivy said. “Come with us, please.”
Lily and Mate followed Ike and Ivy down the main avenue. They stopped before a mob crowding the street on all sides. The oldest person in that crowd was no older than eighteen. They all seemed to be wearing clothes in a way to imitate the ones Lily always wore.
Most of the women also had their hairs made in ways to copy Lily’s style, which basically meant total disarray. The men were carrying all sorts of sports equipment, baseball bats, referee protective gear, football helmets, tennis racquets, boomerangs, little knives and, of course, hockey sticks.
“That guy over there really looks like you.” Mate said to Lily, pointing a forefinger to one of the youngsters.
“Hum…” Lily considered. “Yes, he does. Even prettier, I might add.”
“Let me introduce you the Underground People.” Ike said “Your biggest fans and new army.”
“Their minds were never controlled, even when the dish antenna was standing.” Ivy spoke “The advantages of living in basements.”
“My name is Price.” One of the teenagers took one step ahead. “This is not my real name actually. It’s more of a reminder that everything in life comes with a price.”
“I’m Tara.” The girl beside him spoke. “It’s a short for Tarantula.” She was carrying Jill in her arms.
“Why are you called like this?” Mate asked Tara.
“Because nobody resists my venom.”
“We are with you, Lily.” Price continued. “Just say the word.”
“I appreciate it guys.” Lily said. “But I can’t take you with me. It’s way too dangerous. I cannot guarantee your safety. You might as well die.”
The youngsters on the street began to talk in turns.
“I lost both my parents.”
“I lost a baby sister and my mom.”
“Those jerks killed my dad and big brother!”
“They killed my two little brothers!”
“My mom and sisters are dead!”
“I lost…”
“It’s the same with each and every one of us!” Price interrupted the crowd. “Our parents brought us here because they want us to be safe. And those corporate cocksuckers made them commit suicide just because we aren’t pure, not a goddamn thing we could do to stop them.”
“After they destroyed everything we got, we’ve been dreaming of this moment.” Tara said. “Please, don’t leave us standing here.”
“We know what we’re getting into, Lily.” Price spoke. “We take responsibility.”
“You’re all we got, Lily.” Tara said.
“They can help.” Jill added. “They are hackeries!”
“Hackers” Ike corrected her again.
Lily scratched her chin.
“I love when she does that!” Mate observed.
“Hackers, eh…” Lily said. “That actually gives me an idea.
24th MOVEMENT
Allison Forrester entered the war room and walked to Bonnie’s workstation.
“Everything’s fine?” Allison asked.
“Very much” The engineer replied. “My team and the doctors are in position inside the shielded dome. We’ll be ready to send the Tornado any minute now. And it’s going to be a F5!”
“But I assume we’ll still be safe inside the dome.” Ally said.
“Yes. I reinforced the electromagnetic field around the construction.”
“Maybe the same cannot be said about the children.” The head doctor intervened.
He stood up and walked to Allison.
“A signal with that magnitude can have unpredictable effects on their young brains, from permanent damage to death.” The doctor warned.
“I’ve been so advised, Norman.” Allison replied. “Amy will have to hang in there. Whatever happens, she had it coming.”
“What about the other children?” The doctor asked.
“To all intents and purposes, Amy is responsible for them.” Forrester answered. “If she fails to protect them and they got hurt, it’s on her. One more burden she has to carry. That’ll teach her to never challenge the principles of this project.”
Behind a fancy statue, Price was painting stripes on his face, using a thick brush soaked in black ink.
“Is this really necessary?” Tara asked.
“Camouflage” Price replied. “Take it.” He offered her the brush.
Tara stared at him incredulous.
“Come on, take it.” He insisted.
“Jesus!” She complained.
Not in the mood to argue the point, she took the brush and painted her face, too.
“For your sake, this better make me look younger!” She said.
“Let’s go.” Price decided after she finished the make-up.
“Don’t forget this.”
“Never” He said and took the baseball bat that was holding against the statue’s leg.
They sneaked deeper into the industrial park.
“There!” Tara pointed a finger up. “It got to be it.”
Price looked at the direction she was pointing at, and he also saw the gigantic building composed by three constructions shaped like shells built on top of each other.
“Like Doctor Glory said” He spoke “Can’t miss i
t.”
“Okay.” Tara decided. “We save that for later. Let’s stick to the plan and find a sentry.”
It did not take them long to accomplish such task. They saw a man in black suit walking casually between cars in a nearby parking lot.
“Do you think he’s alone?” Tara asked.
“Only one way to find out” Price replied.
The young man came from behind the sentry and hit him with the baseball bat.
“Hey, careful with that!” Tara scolded her partner. “You’ll kill him.”
“He’s alive,” Price determined “just having beautiful dreams.”
He grabbed the sentry’s radio. They then dragged the unconscious guard and hid him under a car.
“I hope the owner of this car stays longer at the office,” Tara observed “or this guy is flapjack.”
“Alright, here goes nothing.” Price said and worked the walkie-talkie.
“Yes, Tim, go ahead, over.” A voice cut by distortion rose from the radio.
Nervous, Price only cleared his throat.
“Tim?” The voice on the other end insisted. “Are you there, over?”
“Say something!” Tara blurted out.
“Hum, yes, over…” Price finally spoke on the walkie-talkie, trying to make his voice deeper than it was.”
“Cut that out!” Tara said. “That guy you hit may sound like a girl as far as we know!”
“Shut up!” Price put the radio down. “I got this!”
Apocalily Series (Book 2): The Almighty Lady of Tomorrow Page 24