Letting the World Burn

by Graham Dalton

  “We can't sink to their level.”

  “We either sink to their level, or we die!” I glanced at him in the rear view mirror. “If you don't want to go through with this, then say so, and you can walk from here!” Andy was quiet. “Good. That's just what I thought.”

  “You think these people will want to work with you?” Leon asked. “You think they want to work with Quincy, the race traitor?”

  “No, but I won't give them much of an option.”

  I drove through a few more streets and could feel the adrenaline fade from my body. My skin felt clammy and cold. I shook, and a hunger rumbled in my hollow stomach. I thought for a moment and couldn't remember the last time that I ate.

  “After she set me up and stole my daughter, I’m not going to even attempt to reason with them,” I said.

  “Set you up?” Leon said.

  “I was on a mission to kill you,” I said. “Instead, she just used me to track you down, so she could eliminate the two of us. Her men, they must’ve been stalking me. Fucking piece of shit. I should’ve known better, too.”

  Again, my obsession with finding my daughter had clouded my judgement. I needed to be more careful.

  Leon chuckled to himself. “Heh. She can’t kill me no matter how hard she tries.”

  “This isn’t a joke!” I snapped at him.

  “So, Marie tried to set you up?” Andy said.

  “Yes, Marie!” I snapped. I grunted, as I turned a corner.

  “But it doesn't matter anymore. We're going to kill every last one of them.”

  I would burn down every Elite house to find my daughter. I supposed that my girl could be in Mexico right now, but I felt that she was here among us. She was in this city. I could just feel it.

  I turned another corner and saw flames shooting up in the distance. My eyes squinted. The flames were coming from near where my office was. I sped ahead, turning three more times until I drove down the street of my office. The entire building was smothered in dancing embers. I hopped out of my vehicle and rushed up to the scene.

  Clusters of people stood around the scene, watching in awe at the flames. A few police officers held back the Commoners. There was screaming and shouting, loud enough to deafen a man.

  I rushed up to an officer.

  “What're you doing, man?” he asked. “Stay the fuck away.”

  “My office was in there!” I shouted. “I need to get in there. I need to get my stuff!”

  “Well, whatever you had in there is gone now,” he said. I trembled. My office was gone. The documents and pictures of Anna were gone. I felt like I had lost another part of my girl. This was more reason than ever that I needed to find Anna. My little girl was finally coming home.

  I envisioned those pictures of Anna. I thought back to holding those pictures, one of the last memories of her that I had. I stared up at the flames. I could hear my girl screaming, and then she began to laugh and chuckle. It was like she was standing right next to me.

  “Sir!” a voice called. “Abrams!”

  I turned toward the voice. A Commoner woman in ripped clothes waved to me from across the street. She looked familiar.

  I waved quickly at her and walked off toward my sedan. I heard her follow behind me.

  “Have you found my daughter?” she asked.

  I turned around, and she stood a couple feet away. I remembered her as being Laura’s mother. Her husband stood beside her with his grime-splotched face.

  I swallowed hard. “No,” I said painfully. Their lips descended into twisted frowns. She gazed at her feet and released a shrug.

  “You couldn’t find her,” she said coolly.

  “I will find her, you have my word,” I said. I placed a hand on of her right shoulder. “Look at me.”

  She lifted her chin and stared right into my eyes.

  “It’s not just your daughter, those Elite bastards have been stealing our children,” I said. I fished out the photos from my pocket and handed them to her. She turned away. He husband snatched the photos from her hand.

  “I knew those bastards couldn’t be trusted,” the man grunted.

  I grabbed all, but one photo from his hand. “Show that to every one you see, and tell them it’s war. You know what they’ve been doing with those kids?”

  He turned to me and blinked twice. “What?”

  “Experimenting on them, turning them into…an Elite,” I said. Those words tasted like bitter poison on my tongue. The man’s face twisted and reddened with fiery rage.

  “Good,” I said. “Harness that rage. We’re getting our fucking kids back.”

  I walked off and jumped into my sedan.

  “What's going on?” Leon asked.

  “The beginning,” I said. I stared up at the fiery building, saddened that I lost those photos. I told myself that I was going to see my little girl soon. I turned my head around and stared at Andy.

  “It’s time for a goddamn revolution.” I drove off.

  Thinking back to my Elite servitude was sickening. How many times did I risk my life for the same assholes that stole my daughter? How many fucking times did I kill one of the Commoners just for a paycheck? And this whole time those freaks were stealing our children. I truly was despicable.

  A loud blast deafened me and shook the ground. I kept driving, heading back over to the protester headquarters. I hoped that Max was there. If I told them about the other kidnapped children, then surely they would cause a riot at Genesis' base of operations. Then maybe I could use that as a distraction to gain access to the upper levels.

  I drove around a corner, but the protesters cluttered the streets. I cursed. There was no way that I was getting through this mass of people.

  I stepped out, and there were dozens of police officers who had been stripped of their gear. Their suits lay burning in a tattered pile on the sidewalk. A Commoner placed a burning torch to one of their faces and then laughed. I jumped back into my car and swerved around.

  I drove through the streets. A few police cars whizzed by me, and I took several turns. I heard another explosion, but this one sounded farther away.

  I drove back to the resistance's headquarters and then ran out through the alleyway. Overturned tables scattered the area while blood was smeared across the ground. The shattered remains of technology littered the street. There had been some sort of struggle, and I wondered exactly what had gone down here.

  “I did this,” said Andy coldly.

  I turned around and saw the man staring back at me with wide, buggy eyes. His hair was a frizzy mess. The man gazed at the ruins of this place and shook in place.

  “I thought that I could do something,” Andy said. “I thought that I could make a difference in this world. I was going to make a difference. This isn't us. We're not violent. We are not the animals that the Elites think we are. We need to show them that we are human. Only then will they finally understand us.”

  “The Elites don’t care,” I said. “The time for peace has ended.

  “But-”

  “Have you fucking forgotten?” I snapped. “They just gunned done an entire bar of Commoners to take me and Leon out!”

  Leon's footsteps sounded behind us. “The hell happened here?”

  I turned around. “It looks like Andy's people have gone full rogue.”

  “This is all my fault.” Andy muttered.

  I sighed. “If you treat people like monsters long enough, they’ll turn into those monsters.”

  He nodded slowly. “I just wanted peace, Quincy. I dreamed of a bright future for both Commoners and Elites, not this. I didn't want a war. I just wanted peace and prosperity.”

  “Our people will never be able to live in harmony with them,” I said. “Not after what they’ve done to us.” I turned back around and stepped forward. “But maybe…there will be peace for a little while…maybe after this is all over.”

  “Wait, Quincy!” he said. “Maybe I can go talk to my people. I need to reason with them. I-I mea
n, if I don’t do something, a lot of people are going to die.”

  “That's not a good idea,” I told him. “Your own people will kill you if you try to 'reason' with them. They're all pissed and volatile.”

  “No, I need to talk to them!” Andy shouted. “In a way, I caused all this. I have to undo my mistakes.”

  Leon placed a hand on Andy's shoulder. “Think about this for a second, Andy. You're really just going to go and reason with them? Don't get yourself killed, my man. How about we just run away from here? All of us. We just leave this fucking city behind.”

  “I can't leave,” Andy said, turning to Leon. “I can't believe that you would even suggest something like that.”

  “What are our other options?” Leon said. “Go on a suicide mission? I'm not dealing with these rioters anymore. Andy, I am done! I...just, my man...I don't know anymore.” He turned toward me. “Quincy, if you're even half as smart as I think you are, you will drive us out of this city, and we will never look back. I hate what Marie did. I hate what the Elites have been doing for generations, but I am not...I am not going to get myself killed over this.” He stepped toward me. “So, how about it? You and I? Let’s go.”

  I gave him a dark stare. “No.”

  “What the hell do you mean, 'no'? Look, I know I talked about how evil those eugenic bastards are, but I mean it. This ain’t worth it. With all the shit going on, now’s the perfect time to leave! I’m sure there’s a way out of this city that’s not being manned by any guards.”

  “How fitting,” I grunted. “You talk a big game, but the moment shit hits the fan, you try and run away.”

  Leon stared back at me and frowned. “Hey, hey, hey. I know your type, Quincy. You just care about yourself, and you'll do whatever it takes for self-preservation. You and me, we’re survivors. If we drive out of this city now, we'll live. We'll survive!”

  Andy turned to Leon. “What are you saying? You can't!”

  “I can do whatever I goddamn want, man!” Leon proclaimed. “I’m not fucking dying over this.”

  “Then walk away,” I said. “I'm seeing this through. You want to run? Then run! Nobody's got a fucking gun to your head.”

  Leon shook his head and backed away. “Fine. Go kill yourselves, guys. Let yourselves die in vain. I'm not doing this.” He stormed off.

  “Hey, Leon!” Andy shouted, but Leon disappeared around a corner. Andy turned back to me. “Well, thanks, Quincy. I knew I could count on you.” He sighed. “We need to reason with them. I know I can make this right.”

  “That's not the best idea,” I said. “Your people have turned against you. They're not going to take too kindly to.”

  “I know what I have to do,” said Andy.

  He was making a grave error. His people wouldn't listen to him. They hated him. So, I placed a hand on Andy's shoulder and looked him dead in the eye.

  “Look, you need to run,” I said. He blinked twice. “Just go and get out of this city for a while. Leave with Leon if you have to. Your people won't listen to you, Andy.” I sighed. “Look, I know you mean well, but that doesn't matter. If you try and reason with your people, they will kill you. You’re a…you’re a good man. Don’t die for this.”

  “I can't run,” he said, turning away. “I started this mess, and I'm going to see it through.”

  I clasped my hands onto his shoulders and shook him. He was throwing his life away for a fruitless attempt at heroism.

  “Listen, do you care about doing what’s right?”

  “Of course I do,” he said.

  “Leave this city,” I said. “What's going down here is going to get much, much worse. Being a hero won’t do any good but there will be a mess to clean up once we’re through. Then this city could really use someone like you.”

  He nodded slowly. “You really don’t think they’ll listen to me?”

  “No. Do you think?”

  Andy paused and took a moment. “I know what I need to do, Quincy. I need to talk to them.”

  I sighed again. “Don’t throw your life away trying to be hero.”

  Andy shook my hands off and sighed. “I'm doing this for our people,” he said. “I'm not going to die, Quincy. I'll speak to my people, and I'll reason with them.” I couldn't get through to him. Andy was more hopeless than I thought. “I created this monster, and I will stop it. We’re in this together, you and I, friend.”

  Chapter 17

  Ijumped into my sedan alongside Andy. I pulled out the photographs that Leon gave me. I stared at them while sitting in my car.

  I saw Commoner children strapped to metal slabs. These people in white coats were operating on them. There were pictures depicting these vile people slicing into children. I lay a finger on a child in the picture. If the protesters saw what was happening, they would attack the Genesis headquarters. Then we could rescue our children from those bastards.

  “Quincy, are you okay?” Andy asked.

  “I’m fine,” I said, shuffling the photos back into my pocket.

  I drove slowly through the abandoned streets. Screams sounded nearby. I ignored them and continued driving forward. I glanced at the rising smoke a few blocks away. I turned a corner, driving closer and closer to the smoke. The screams intensified. I parked my car on the side of the road and took a deep breath. I would do whatever it took to get her back. Anna was coming home today.

  I hopped out of my car and rushed toward the smoke. Someone tugged against my collar, and I swung around. Mona stood there with soot sprayed across her face. She wrapped her arms around me, crying.

  “I'm so scared,” she said as she sobbed into my chest. “It’s you,” I muttered.

  I turned away and stared down the street, as thousands of protesters clogged the streets. Several of the pleasurebots stood at the end of the street, screaming and shouting into the air. I turned back around and gazed at Mona.

  This woman reminded me too much of my wife. I wrapped my arms around her as she continued to cry. She was just like my wife. When she rubbed a hand against my back, I remembered what it was like to hold my sweet wife in my arms. For a moment, I was back at that cabin, holding my wife in a sweet embrace.

  “It's okay,” I whispered in her ear. “Everything's going to be okay, dear.”

  She nodded slowly.

  “Just relax,” I said. The protesters waved signs in the air, screaming for justice. Several of the synthetic prostitutes stood on the edge of the group. They shouted for justice.

  “I just want this to end,” she said. “Please, make this end.”

  “This will be all over soon,” I promised her. Then I stared at her eyes and smiled. “We're going to get out of this city soon. It's almost over. I promise.” I ran a finger through her hair and smiled. “Just stay with me, and everything is going to be all right.”

  She nodded.

  I used to say the same thing to my wife, back when we lived in the slums. Alice would always tell me how scared she was, and I'd always reassure her that everything was going to be okay. What I wouldn't do to have Alice feel my embrace once again.

  “Max,” Andy said. A couple dozen feet ahead, a bulky red-haired man stood atop a car in the street. I remembered his face from when I visited the resistance a little while ago.

  Andy raced through the crowd. I called out to him several times, but he ignored me.

  “Quincy, I’m scared,” said Mona. “What’s going to happen?”

  “Stay here,” I said.

  I walked toward the crowd. I knew these people hated me, so I had to think of a way to approach these angry people. First off, I would tell them that I had seen how vile the Elites really could be. Second, I would show them the photos. Once everyone saw the truth of the Elites, they would swarm the gates.

  I hurried forward as the chanting and screaming grew louder and louder. Before me, hundreds of Commoners took to the streets, waving guns in the air. Piles of rubbish lay in smoldering, bloody heaps on the sidewalk. The rioters chanted, yelling louder
and angrier words.

  “Give us justice!” they screamed. “End the oppression!” Andy rushed past me and approached Max. The two screamed at one another, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then several of the men on the ground threw Andy up onto the car. Max grabbed Andy by the collar and held him in one of his burly arms. He spat in Andy's face.

  Then, he pulled a knife to Andy’s throat.

  “You are one of them!” he proclaimed. “You're no better. Peace? We will never have peace with these animals. Our enemies must die!” Max slid the blade across Andy’s throat. Blood gushed outward. The man tumbled off the car and onto the ground. Andy struggled, gasping desperately for air. He held his hands out, begging for forgiveness. His body grew limp, and he let out one last sigh.

  My heart dropped. He didn’t deserve that. After the battle, there needed to be good, sincere people such as people. Only those people would be able to mend the wounds amid the ashes.

  Someone tugged on my collar.

  “You're really going to go through with this?” Mona asked.

  I turned around. “I thought I told you to stay.”

  “I’m worried about you,” she said. “What if they kill you?”

  I shook my head. “They won't.” I wasn't so sure about that, though. “I can help them, and they can help me. The only way to win against the Elites is to unite all of us, pleasurebots, Commoners, police. That’s the only way we win”

  “But you said it yourself,” she said. “Don't they hate you?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “But they hate the Elites more.”

  I marched forward, wading through the angry crowd. Their screams and cries echoed into a gelatinous orgy of noise. I continued wading through the sweaty crowd. Now was the time to rise up and take down every fucking Elite.

  My heart ached, but I kept walking forward. Someone shoved into my right arm, but I pushed him back and walked forward. I just kept thinking about Anna and all those children that the Elites stole from us. They stole our best and brightest, our legacies, and our families.

  I stepped beside Max’s car. He turned to me and laughed.

  “Oh, well, if it isn't the wonderful traitor, himself? Quincy Abrams?”