Unknown (11 page)

“Man...” she said, shaking her head.

“There are other examples. Animals were effected. Packs of wild dogs turned rabid. Wolfhounds. They look like your average stringy mutts, but they’re aggressive. They rarely back down and usually hunt in packs. The Ethereals. Some bizarre genetic twisting of hawks and seagulls that brought back a bastardization of the prehistoric pterodactyl. There’s more. These are only the things I’ve seen.”

“Seen?”

“Oh yes. Up close and personal. This is no game. It’s life and death every day. One slip up, one wrong move, and the closest predator will pounce on you like a stunned mouse. Are you ready, Madison? Can you be tough? Can you kill without hesitation?”

“Do I have a choice?”

4. X

I lay in my bed and stare at the ceiling. The bed posts are hand carved from the ancient totem poles of an Alaskan Intuit tribe. Gaping mouths and wide-eyed birds are stacked atop bent salmon and dark haired men. An ornate headboard fashioned from the temple doors of a long gone Buddhist clan deep in the Wu Tai Shan mountains is inlaid with winding dragons and half naked warriors.

It was a failure. An utter and complete failure. My ego, all it did was trip some alarms, and show my hand too early. Is it all meaningless?

Ecclesiates.

Echo.

Exodus.

X.

It’s all so silly really, so futile and vain. There is a lot I haven’t told her about this place, this slice of reality. And a lot I never will. I am many things to many people. How I ended up here and why I am still here today, well...I can’t talk to her about that. She wouldn’t understand.

My father is a cruel bastard and a game player, a distant voice brought down from the mountains. Absent from the life he created, I give him no respect. I have taken everything that is mine and I will use it to my own advantage. It is already in motion and there is no turning back. Immortality is overrated, but I do so look forward to his wrinkled face again. So I can plant my fist in it.

The wind pushes in a salty breeze and the cursed jasmine comes to me. She is a bitter mistress, and imposing companion, and has been for as long as I can remember. Running my thumbs over my tired eyes, rubbing in circles, the universe explodes across my eyelids. The distant screams, the metal wrenched from bolts and beams, the heat engulfing the charred flesh and smoking bones. It didn’t have to be this way.

Gordon will come for me, I am certain of that now. The look in his eyes, there is no listening for him, no reason or logic. He has the mark now and the story has been told. The evidence has been laid out in front of him like a storybook and he has taken in the myth with the lies. The lengths that they have gone to. They surprise me sometimes, in the name of all that is holy and just. I wonder who has killed the most, the Christians or Islamic?

Stalin, Hitler, or Mao? They say the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist. I’m not so sure about that. Maybe the greater trick was telling each religion that it had the one true path, the only correct set of laws and morals, and then throwing them all together on a giant ball to duke it out for eternity. How much will they be amazed when they realize they have all been praying to the same god, and that he doesn’t really care.

A chuckle escapes my lips as I nod off to get more rest. I shake my head from side to side as my mind telescopes out from this big, blue marble, out further and further past his house, one of many, to a bag of marbles, rattling around, and a collection of figures, perched on thrones, drifting in clouds and bellowing from on high. This evolution will never take place with such closed-minded thinking, but maybe I can be the one, the tipping point, spontaneous consciousness. One with all.

5. GORDON

Whatever the hell that was, it doesn’t matter. If he thinks he’s going to get off that easy, well, then he’s forgotten the face of his father. The sun is just rising over the squat hut that shields me with darkness. Shadows pass in front of the door and a man comes back in. I close my eyes. Not Zeke.

As the man leans over me he raises a stethoscope and presses it to my chest and nods. He places his hand on my forehead. Leaning over further he pries my eyelids open and that is when I make my move. Slamming my head forward with as much strength as I can muster his nose flattens like a pile of mashed potatoes. Blood shoots out and he falls forward onto my chest with an empty grunt and topples to the ground.

Still restrained I focused my energy on my arms, my wrists, my hands. Channeling every ounce of anger I have towards the canvas restraints, they start to give, releasing my trembling arms with a quiet tear. Sitting up I unbuckle my leg restraints and swing around. Placing two fingers on the back of his neck I check for a pulse. Nothing. It happens. One in ten shot. The cartilage must have shot straight up into his brain. Instantaneous. Not ideal for my current situation but I can deal with it.

Grabbing the man in the lab coat, I pull off his jacket and undress him quickly. I was lucky. We were about the same size. Stripping out of my clothes, I dress him and lay him down in the cot. Covering him up with a blanket, you can’t tell who it is until you get up close. Wiping the blood from his face with an old tshirt, I quickly put on his clothes, grab the clipboard from the end of the cot, and head out into the dim dawn. It’s quiet and there is nobody moving for as far as I can see. Walking at a fast pace, but not so fast as to arouse suspicion, I head for Zeke’s. Two buildings down and one over, by my calculation. I have to move fast before the entire compound wakes up.

“Hey Doc, what’s the prognosis?” I hear from behind me. Zeke. I pretend not to hear him, reaching back and scratching my head, glancing around as if half deaf, searching for a noise. I dart around the corner into a tight alley between two buildings.

“Doc, hey wait, hold on!” he shouts, and I can hear the footsteps moving fast, and I wait for the tap on my shoulder. Waiting...waiting...there it is.

“Doc, hold on...” he starts.

I spin around, grabbing ahold of his wrist twisting it up and back. Pressing his wrist down, it snaps as his eyes open wide in shock and then disgust. He tries to resist but it’s futile as I pull his arm behind his back and shove it up with all I have, breaking it. As a scream starts to escape his mouth I grab his head as his body falls, and twist it sharply to the right. Silenced now, his neck pops once, loud and distinct and his arms go limp as he falls to the dirt. For good measure I kick him in the ribs. For the mop, for the drugs, for the bruises on my ribs, for the doubt, for the challenge. One kick for each indiscretion, ribs cracking as I go. It takes all the restraint I have not to pummel his skull into a bloody stump, but I have no time, and no other clothes to change into. Searching around for a place to hide him, I spy a huge dumpster behind building 12. Probably for the whole barrack. I grab him by the feet and pull him towards it. I raise the lid and prop it against the wall. Picking him up, I roll his body into the void and with a dull thud he is gone. Gently I close the lid, flashing on a moment in time not too long ago.

Glancing back down the alley I see flashing lights, as a police car slows to a halt. Two men climb out of the black and white and head my way. Shaking my head the vision is gone.

6. ASSIGNED

//system wide solar check

alpha

godhead: intact

spherical entities:

habitable

-

one

inhabitable

-

seven

Beta

godhead: dissolved

spherical entities:

habitable

-

none

inhabitable

-

four

gamma

godhead: intact, plurality

spherical entities:

habitable

-

six

inhabitable

-

six

imploding

-

one

Delta

godhead: intact, fallible

spherical entities:

habitable

-

one

inhabitable

-

six

omega

godhead: absent

spherical entities:

habitable

-

none

inhabitable

-

none

implosion

complete

system void

//system wide solar check end

end

//gordon

downloading.................................

....................................complete

manifest x 213

compound

map

building

summation

food

sources

roadways

water

lifeforms

citizens

employees

management

deities

assignment

1.........................complete

2..............complete

3................................incomple

te

4........................................

..............incomplete

5........................................

.......incomplete

6........................................

............................................

...................incomplete

7.....complete

discontinuation:

2

//end

7. ROLAND

I’d fallen back asleep. I was so tired. Looking around the jungle, I’m alone. Something gnawed at my brain, a memory, but I can’t call it forward. Who had I been talking to? Mom?

What was going on. Was it a dream?

I stand up and brush the leaves and dirt off of me. Grabbing my bag I head down river. Now I remember. I was leaving. Running away. Right. Fuck them all.

In the distance gunshots echo through the early morning.

“What the hell is that?”

An engine revs and tires spin. A car. There’s a car! My way out. I run up the hill away from the creek, dodging in and out of trees, branches swatting at my face. Glass shatters as the car spins its wheels in gravel and a flash of red flies by me up the hill.

“Damnit,” I yell.

Running faster, pumping my legs and flailing my arms, to the top of the hill I crest it too late. The car is gone, flying down the gravel and onto the paved road, turning right. Turn signal even. How courteous. Sweat pours over me, and the insects come after me with a renewed energy. I stop and stare down the road where the mirage disappeared. A red Mustang. Out of breath, I pound my leg with my fist. What now.

“Hey, you...” a voice shouts to my left. I look back down the road at two tall men holding shotguns.

“Shit,” I murmur, and back down the hill I go. Certainly getting my exercise today. I have to find a place to hide. The caves. They’re close and if I can get over the next hill and into them before they see where I went, maybe I have a chance.

A quick glance behind me reveals nothing so I barrel towards the creek, searching for the narrowest stream. Running as fast as I can I leap over the water, landing short with a splash, drenching myself, losing my balance, falling over and then I’m through and up the hill. Over it and around the giant twin-oak and the cave is just ahead. A brown blur to my right and something is running with me. Something small, but fast. Up to the mouth of the cave I barrel into the darkness and slow down as I head towards the back. The voices are close so I jog further back. Passing under an iron archway there is a blast of static, a pulse of light, and it’s all gone.

The cave is silent, the only remnant some electrical residue and a wisp of smoke. A blur of chipmunk flies into the cave and pauses at the arch. It sits up and wrinkles its nose, pawing at its face. Twitching, it eases forward and stops. Boots stomp up the hill and Raymond leaps.

CHAPTER EIGHT

May 13, 2024

1. JACOB

Barreling down the broken road adrenaline courses through my body. The windows are rolled down. If I’m going out in a blaze of glory, I’m at least going to enjoy the ride. The towers won’t be upon me for a couple of minutes so I have very little time to contemplate my life so far. Or all of eternity. Flying past the various fields of workers is a priceless moment. Most are just getting to the crops, just starting to pick the corn, and harvest the beans. And I come flying along in a shiny red Mustang. They must be flipping their lids. A broad laugh busts free and it is the single most pure and unrestricted moment I’ve had in years. Tears leak from the corner of my eyes. I tell myself it’s the wind in my face.

I will miss this place. Believe it or not. It has been a bizarre existence for sure, but how can you not appreciate the majestic beauty of a tropical island, even while playing the part of an under appreciated bookstore owner in on off-off-off-offbroadway play. Minus the applause. It seemed like such a great idea when I signed up for the program. So much better than life in a concrete box. And in the beginning it worked. On many levels. People were rehabilitated. People were set free. People decided to stay, and stop resisting, and move on with their lives in this modern day Australia. It wasn’t that bad. But something changed. And I don’t know what or when or why. One day, I had my books and my customers and a simple life to enjoy. The next it all slipped away and dissolved into bloodied bodies amassed in the darkness, young girls raped as we stood and stared, all manner of order bleeding into chaos. And there was nothing we could do about it. I couldn’t even find the damn hole so how could I plug the leak?

A high pitched whine and a metal thunk. Tink, tink, tink from the right side of the car. I glance around but don’t find the source of the noise. At the horizon I spy it, a tower. It’s new. I thought I had more time. I’ve been fired upon and my baby has new holes in her. I try to swerve from one lane to another but it doesn’t do much good. Any second now my head will explode and it will all be over. I accelerate as much as I dare, up to 50

mph now, the grass and wind gusting past me. Up ahead I finally see the gates. Two towers flank the road and dots of black silhouettes litter the ground. Men kneeling and standing in the towers. Why did I think this would work?

A gust of heat from behind the car and as the barricades and structures race towards me a blur of sulphur hits the men and the black canvas figures drop to the ground. The only sound is the racing of the engine and the hot air pushing around me. There is no time to slow or stop so I crash through the flimsy wooden gates, striped boards flying everywhere as I shoot past them all. Not a single wound, my windshield is intact, and I’m still breathing. The standoff is a no show and as I fly past the men, everything slows down. I turn my head and watch them try to stand up, trying to grab the weapons as they fall repeatedly from their fingers. I’ve had help here, I think.