The Radical (Unity Vol.1) (13 page)

He sat back almos
t breathless, seemingly having unburdened himself of his troubles. I sat back in my seat too, eyes wide. I stamped my foot.

‘Fuckers. I knew it. I always knew, and yet
, most other people probably knew too. But why are we still in the shadow of this?’

‘We weren’t alive when it hit, so I guess we will never know the effect it really had. All we know is that
we were born into corruption and madness and that nothing can move forward until the veil is lifted. Knowledge is freedom, and if the world knew the truth for a certainty, I’m sure people would rise up against Officium finally. But without definitive proof, we can do nothing. We need hard evidence otherwise anything else might send panic through the population again. I know one thing for sure at least, they will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden. Suranna started to fear for her life after her discovery, tried to destroy the evidence, but they must have somehow found out… because two days later she was dead, and the cold storage those phials were in was taken elsewhere. I couldn’t do anything, and then I got fired, presumably because they feared I knew something. So, I came to Manchester to return to the apparent source of the disease. The labs here didn’t turn up anything either, so I can’t prove a thing.’

Fate
.
Answers
.
Plus, more damn questions
…

‘This is truly amazi
ng shit, truly. This is gonna help me so much, you’ve no idea.’ I was ecstatic with the possibilities.

‘Seraph, for now this has to stay out of the public domain. Their
emissaries have been following me. I’ve been hiding out here scared for my life.’

I
could tell from the jagged tone of his voice, he was deadly serious. He looked almost boyish with the fear I saw in his eyes.

‘Okay, fine. There’s one thing I don’t understand though. They don’t
fire
people, they kill them, so why are you still alive?’

‘I could ask the same thing of you. I think if any
one is a threat to them, you are. Perhaps they see that we’re more valuable alive than dead.’

I smiled disbelievingly.
‘Look, I have an invisible protection floating around with a security lock tighter than Fort Knox. There must be more you’re not telling me?’

A look of contemplation spread across his face, working out his response.

‘There is something I want to show you. I am betting you haven’t seen it,’ he explained, taking out a micro-disc, ‘if your xGen is safe, take a look…’

‘It’s safe, pass it here,’ I eagerly demanded, holding out my hand. I loaded the primitive item and saw a video file pop up. I pressed play…

Video Recorded December 5, 2023

‘This is
Rick Jeffries, for Channel Four News. I have been trying to keep in touch with colleagues but nobody seems to be answering their phones. Those of us left are wondering… what is going on? There are people dying on the streets, and not just from the flu. I know we are dealing with unprecedented times but where are our broadcasters? Why are people left in the dark? I feel like I might be one of the few journalists left alive. What has happened to the others? I dare not imagine. Not all could have died from the flu, surely?

‘
Like I said, according to eyes on the streets, there are corpses riddled with bullet wounds – not just marks of the unexplained flu. Currently I am sat up in my office, with all the blinds shut, the doors and windows locked. I can hear rioting out on the streets of Kensington and believe me, I would much rather be beneath ground in the panic room my wife installed in the wake of the Childs scandal… when sycophants of his started sending me death threats. So what if he made the country rich once more, so what if he re-created the Britain of old, he was sucking money from the treasury for himself! Common sense dictates such a man must be brought to justice and indeed he was, but not without cost to people such as myself who chased him down for months on end… before he was uncovered for what he really is.

‘
I ask you all, if it weren’t for people like me, what would this country be if it were still run by that autocratic ape? Sorry to ramble, but I’m anxious to get back below stairs. I only came upstairs so I could bring you this broadcast.

‘
What I can tell you is that over the last few weeks, the world’s population has been decimated. Reports coming in suggest the death-toll could hit three billion, but that astonishing figure is based on averages and has yet to be verified. It is with all the evidence before me that my mind has turned back to something I learnt last year.

‘
In April 2022, I was told about an unlawful laboratory set up in a warehouse outside Manchester. A whistleblower came to me fearing for their life, claiming experiments were being carried out on live subjects, and not animals. No. Humans. I did not know whether to believe such a monstrosity of human rights could be carried out on home soil. But now in the wake of this recent devastating event I am left wondering… no, not even that, I am left unable to imagine whether this event is not somehow connected. Surely…?

‘When I first heard of these unethical practices,
I did not make my suspicions public because the prospect seemed too outlandish… too heinous to be believed. I would be ridiculed! I did not want to make such claims when it would allege something terrifying and unreal. All I had were the words of this one source and after a few days of her coming forward, she was inevitably reported missing–’

Jeffries jumped when a shot rang out in the background, presumably out on the street. He looked more fervently into the camera, ‘Look at the fear in my eye, you know what I say is true… and why were so many fowl culled last summer? You have to ask yourself that. Why did it start in the north of
England and spread from there? How is this possible? How did it spread…’

He stopped, out of breath. He regained himself and continued…

‘I would like to put it to the world that these tests carried out in the north might have something to do with the pandemic that has since decimated our planet. Following the London floods of 2020 and the sudden, infamously insecure, expansion of Manchester airport to add a temporary Terminal 5, this must have enabled a gateway ‒ so that whatever was being cultivated in those laboratories was given chance to escalate, reach through that airport and to other countries. Our global population, which exploded to 10 billion last year, could also have been a catalyst for the disease. It has been hailed as the “Black Death of Our Times” across the Internet. Many are asking where is the PM in all this? Since his address to the nation after the first dozen deaths were reported, nothing has been seen or heard of him since.

‘Desperate people have taken to the Internet to find out what they can about the illness. The general consensus is… well, nobody really knows. What I know… or what I have gathered from trawling forums… is that
the highest percentage of victims are the infirm, children and those with pre-existing medical conditions. The disease took lives within 24 hours of infection in some cases. Scientists have been trying to determine the specifics of the virus and whether a vaccine can be developed. Such an aggressive strain of flu will take a long time to evaluate. Symptoms vary but include a high fever, bloody coughs, migraines, nausea, wheezing and cramps.

‘Adverts from the
Global Health Council are invading every website, every radio and TV station. Their advice is to be aware and be vigilant, stay at home and don’t go out. But my question is, why are some people dead on the streets… and not from the flu? What else is going on that we don’t know about? That plays with my mind, how about yours?

‘
Many have been left without food and water, heating and electricity. Riots have broken out. Laws are being broken. Panic is everywhere. Even in civilized societies such as our own, for instance, fear has driven some to desperation. Looting is rife. At this point in time, I am unable to give you any more details about the looting and the way in which it is being tackled. If I did, it might send more panic through the nation. What I am referring to is a corruption so deep… I can barely think about it. I feel so useless, but I dare not go out on the streets myself.

‘Now, I get to the most horrifying portion of these events.
With so many world leaders incapacitated, a new, global support network called Officium is offering its services to help rebuild infrastructure and get supplies through. They are already putting disaster teams together to bring order from chaos, including
militia-type
rule over disparate communities…

‘
This organization
promises
to work with scientific organizations to fund research, with inquests set to take place in due course. Bodies such as the FBI, CIA and NSA could be broken up. Similarly, here in the UK, MI5 and MI6 may be declassified to make way for Officium’s strategists, giving them access to intelligence files and security protocol. Russia, France and Germany have already given Officium unprecedented use of their systems and databases, and it is believed many other countries will follow suit. It is hoped that this central unit will be better positioned to pool information regarding the sickness. Yet… housing everything under one banner is bound to cause uproar, especially over the blurred lines between central and federal governments being administered by one, unified global authority.

‘
It is unclear whether the world will ever fully recover from this catastrophe, and if it does, it will be a long time from now. I feel wretched at not being able to tell you more but I will say this… we have to ask ourselves the basic question. This was such a swift attack on humanity, was some malevolent agent responsible for it? The rise of Officium has been too rapid, organized and damned well opportune. When the dust settles, the spotlight needs to be shone on these people to determine exactly what it is they are promising to do for the world.

‘
After uploading this, I will return beneath ground and wait, as long as it takes…’

I sat back, shaking my head.
Why was everyone trying to tell me something I didn’t want to hear but already knew? My first thoughts were questions.

‘How do you have this?’

He pursed his lips and replied, ‘A friend of a friend of a friend. If you’re British and don’t have this, you’re seriously out of touch. Some people managed to record it before Officium wiped it from the newswires. Jeffries was never heard of again, you know? How does that make you feel? Not even a little bit scared
?
I grew up in the city said to be the source of the disease. We all know the truth but nobody in the UK goes looking for it… not like you. Coming from where I do, the way you work seems stupid… reckless. I think you have something they want… and you’re not going to tell me what that is.’

I ground my teeth. ‘We reach an impasse, then. You already know… you’re still alive… I am… blah fuckin’ blah.’

He scratched his temple, a smile on his face. He was so cute it was unnerving.

‘A New Yorker with humor?’ he chuckled.

‘I spent a lot of time talkin’ with my aunt… like you say, I work like this… it was never gonna get me many friends. Her ways rubbed off on me, her jokes…’ I trailed off, feeling grief hit me once more. ‘I am a dual person, Ryken, aren’t we all?’