RATH - Desperation

by Jeff Olah

  “Archer? You have to know that what I did, I did because—”

  He continued to avoid eye contact with Rath and focused instead on his left arm. “The handcuff hanging from your wrist, attach it to the other arm.”

  Rath again stepped forward, now less than ten feet separated the two. “Archer… trust me, today is not the day for this. It won’t happen the way you’re imagining, I can promise you that.”

  Archer reached behind his left shoulder and pulled free a stun baton. Much like the weapon Rath had been beaten with the day Sarah was taken, only smaller and with unmistakable signs of heavy use. “Don’t move another foot. Slide the cuff onto your other wrist and have a seat on the bed.”

  Pausing, Rath assessed his options. Grab the weapon and beat the young man to death, which meant he’d never see her again… or take a beating himself, hope to survive and then somehow get back to Sarah. He turned, sat on the bed and locked the swaying end of the cuff around his right wrist.

  “Good,” Archer said. “I’ll go easy on you.” He flipped the switch on the handle of the stun baton, moved to Rath and hit him with a charge unlike anything he’d experienced before.

  Rath folded to his left side, his head flush against the block wall as Archer waited for his weapon to recharge.

  13

  Sweat poured from his hairline and his saturated t-shirt lay in a heap alongside the weapon he abandoned twenty minutes before. The room reeked of soiled linen and battered flesh. Sitting with his back against the opposite wall and peering down at his hands, he wasn’t able to distinguish his victim’s blood from his own. Archer checked the hall every few minutes and as Rath began to twitch, he stood and moved to the bed.

  “Wake up old man. You seem to have lost a step or two. When I told you that coming back here was a mistake, I wasn’t kidding. You ready to die yet?”

  Rath struggled through the pain as he fought to get his hands in front of him and rolled onto his back. “You say something?”

  “Well,” Archer said. “I can’t believe you’re still able to speak. I’m amazed. I figure after a few more rounds of this you’ll beg me to end it.”

  He tried to imagine an area of his body that was free from pain. There wasn’t. “Kid, how about you keep your trap shut and let me get back to my nap. We’ll continue this in a few hours.”

  “Benjamin Rath… I’m going to kill you before I leave this room and there is absolutely nothing you’re going to be able to do about it. I just need you to stay awake for a few more minutes. I don’t want you to have any questions as to who was responsible for your downfall.”

  “Tell you what,” Rath said. “Take these cuffs off and let me stand. I’ll give you ten seconds to leave this room and crawl back to whatever rotting cesspool of a life you came from. If not, I’m going to pull them off myself and beat you to death with my bare hands.”

  Archer flinched; it was ever so slight, although it was there. He stepped toward Rath, knocked him from the bed to the floor and kneeling beside him, cocked back his right arm.

  Before he could land another blow, the door opened and three of the four men who marched Rath to this room stood just inside the entry. Archer’s face instantly flushed, he turned to the men and lowered his arm. Rath slid backward, pulled his knees to his chest and kicked forward, slamming the heels of both boots into Archer’s chest. The younger man went airborne for half a second and crashed to the concrete near the opposite wall.

  The men at the door parted and the two nearest Archer moved in, grabbed him by the arms and got him back on his feet. He was still gasping and spitting as she walked in. Slender and approaching six feet, she first moved to Rath and knelt by his side.

  “Are you alright?” Her voice like warm butter and her mahogany skin too perfect for someone half her age, she smiled at Rath and motioned for the man still at the door to help. “Let’s get him up.”

  On the bed, his back against the wall and legs extended off the edge, Rath momentarily forgot to feel the pain. “I’ve been better.”

  He detected a hint of remorse in her voice as she stood over him, examining his injuries. “We’re not animals, I promise you.”

  “Thanks, but your welcoming committee may need some retraining.”

  She grinned. Turning back to Archer and the men still gripped tightly to each of his arms, she said, “Archer, you realize what you did here is completely against code and what we’ll have to do—”

  “Don’t act like you don’t remember what this man did to my father. He is a murderer and deserves none of your sympathy.”

  “I was here the day your father died and know exactly who this man is and what he did. While your vengefulness is understood, your actions will not be tolerated.” She pointed at the door. “Get him out of here!”

  She waited for them to move into the hall and looked to the last man in the room. “Take the cuffs off our guest and leave us, Mr. Rath and I have a bit of catching up to do.”

  He moved to Rath, fumbled through his oversized key ring and released the cuffs before turning and marching out, leaving the door open as he strode into the hall.

  Her attention back to Rath, she moved to the opposite side of the bed. “You mind if I sit for a moment? I’d like for the two of us to get to know one another again; you do remember me don’t you?”

  He did, and although the last time he’d seen her was over two decades ago, she didn’t appear to have aged more than a day. Twenty years his senior and with the unmistakable tone of authority, he figured he may now be speaking to one of Boothe’s inner circle. “Yes, I remember your face, although I’m sorry, I’m a little fuzzy on your name.”

  “Vera… my name is Vera and up until a month ago I worked for Emerson Boothe here at The Patch. I was the Senior Architect for the Department of Future Alignment.”

  As if his head wasn’t in enough pain, this new information was coming too fast. “The Department of Future Alignment?”

  “Fancy term for making sure our species survives beyond this generation. Boothe used to be the only one working this angle and the variables got to be too confusing. He decided to put together a team to find out all the ways our forecasting could go wrong. Within the first three years, I found sixteen loopholes to our surviving long-term inside this Mountain. He decided I should be running that part of the operation.”

  “What do you mean, worked for? Were you taken off the project?”

  “Not exactly… Boothe and I had a difference of opinions. He actually—”

  Rath interrupted. “There’s actually a reason I’ve come back here.” This conversation was meaningless to him without a little perspective and at least few of his own questions answered. Vera appeared accommodating thus far and although the history of The Patch from the last twenty-two years would prove interesting, it did nothing to get him closer to Sarah and finding out what they’d done with Chloe.

  Vera nodded and smiled broadly. She stood, moved to the opposite wall and pulled her long dark hair up and away from her neck. “Yes, we know why you are here. We know about Sarah and about District Nine. Yes, your District was unsanctioned, although that doesn’t mean we weren’t kept informed of every last detail of your existence throughout the years. It would have been foolish to ignore something we helped build, even if we pretended not to be involved.”

  “Boothe had someone on the inside?”

  “Yes, from day one.”

  “If he knew where I was, why didn’t he send someone after me?”

  “He knew why you did what you did, and without saying so, understood your anger, although there was no way to explain this to the residents. You killed the man who murdered your father, no explanation needed.”

  “I think Boothe wanted one, or at least a reason to get rid of me.”

  “You need to understand that Boothe doesn’t like you… hell, he hates you and the fact that you and your group were able to make it out in the open for so long on your own. He also felt threatened by your father. Some
of the residents, even those on his team started to question why it was Boothe leading the charge into this new world and not your father. My personal opinion is that Boothe may have been envious of your family, he’s just never—”

  Interrupting again, Rath’s attention began to falter. “The girl I came here with… Chloe. Where is she? Is she alright?”

  “She’s fine. She got cleaned up, had something to eat and is resting comfortably in my suite. She asks about you non-stop. She says that you two are friends and told us all about how you kept her safe for the past few days. Some of the stories seem a bit implausible, although knowing your background and seeing you like this, I’m inclined to believe her.”

  He nodded. “She’s a brave little girl. When can I see her?”

  “Soon.”

  14

  Irritated now more than worried, Sarah sat at the table and visualized what she could not see. Twenty seconds after the two men removed Lauren came the sounds of her being led back through the hall and down the stairwell. With each clang of Lauren’s heels against the metal staircase, the room became increasingly still. The lone guard in the corner refused to make eye contact with those remaining and simply stared straight ahead.

  Scanning the area, Sarah moved from person to person. With Lauren now removed and not counting herself or the guard, seven remained. Six females, one male and no one lifted their heads from their plates to meet her gaze.

  Five minutes had gone by before the door opened, starling most everyone at the tables and the guards who’d taken Lauren returned.

  The first guard barked the usual orders. “Floors one and two, on your feet. Follow me and not a word from anyone.” Three stood, including the lone male and marched out the door.

  The second guard matched the first’s intense demeanor and exited as the two women he was responsible for stood and started for the door. One of the women, the most senior in the room by ten to fifteen years, slowed as she moved through the maze of chairs, laying a hand on Sarah’s head. With the guard already waiting in the hall and out of earshot, she whispered “Bless you… please stay safe.”

  Sarah smiled.

  The guard from her floor looked around as if unsure of his next move. Sarah eyed the other two women from her floor and they appeared just as confused if not a touch frightened. “Let’s go,” he said.

  The three women stood and marched toward the door, Sarah trailing the others by two steps. Upon reaching the door and allowing the first two through, the guard placed his arm across the doorway and looked Sarah in the eye. Pointing back toward the chairs he said, “Stay put and don’t make a sound. I’ll return in a few minutes.”

  This was the most personal conversation she’d had with anyone including Lauren in the past two days. He was speaking to her and not at her. She had no idea why she’d been separated and whether her outburst was going to reduce the number of remaining survivors by one.

  Ten minutes passed before she stood and walked to the door. The six inch by eight inch glass panel sat head high and was surprisingly clean as opposed to everything else in the building. On her tip toes, Sarah leaned into the door and scanned the hall and further down, the door to the stairs.

  He emerged after another forty seconds and, keys in hand, strode quickly through the door. He smiled as Sarah hurried to sit and motioned back toward the hall. “There’s not much time,” he said. “We have to go now.”

  . . .

  Finally beginning to feel the effects of being in and out of consciousness three times in as many days, the agony coursing through every cell in his body was indescribable, although it would have to wait. He came here with one thing in mind and so far all the distractions, including the beating he’d just taken, were pulling him farther away.

  He’d lost all sense of time since arriving earlier in the day, and with the realization that the past twenty-two years of his life were lived in a fishbowl, he began to feel nauseous. The people he trusted had been spoon-feeding Emerson Boothe every single detail of his life. He was beyond angry and absent of fear, only his questions remained. Questions he assumed she couldn’t and wouldn’t answer.

  While the information Vera shared was interesting and may serve its purpose at a later date, it did nothing to reunite him and Sarah. The clock had begun running the second she was taken from him and nearly three days later, his patience was at an end. He was going to see his wife today or die in the process.

  His head pounded and his legs unsteady as he moved to stand. “Take me to Boothe.”

  “Not really that easy… get your backpack. There is something I need to show you.”

  The door still partially open, Vera started for the hall as Rath followed. He stopped and turned back before entering the hall, as this was the last place he and his father had spoken all those years before. “Goodbye,” he said under his breath.

  He followed her down a series of narrow hallways, passing many areas he assumed were constructed long after he vacated. They climbed several sets of stairs and ended on a platform that led to another long corridor. They’d been walking for what seemed like twenty minutes before they reached a pair of stainless steel doors with an engraved sign that read “No Access”.

  Vera turned to Rath and said, “I shouldn’t be doing this, although you need to hear what I have to say and I don’t want to be interrupted.” She unlocked the doors, hit a button on a remote she held in her left hand and stepped back as they slid open.

  They entered an immense glass enclosed balcony, thirty feet long and extending sixteen feet out over a massive cliff that overlooked three individual cities far below. Two of the cities were almost unrecognizable as they sat hundreds of miles away against the horizon, melting into the fading sun. Extinction ran in the opposite direction and with the much closer proximity, more of what comprised a town was visible. He eyed the buildings that made up City Hall and the surrounding area, the path he followed to the foothills still discernible, although covered in a thick blanket of fresh powder.

  Vera leaned in. “This was Boothe’s private sanctuary. He’d come here when he needed to get away. He once told me that this was heaven and that everything below made up the nine circles of hell.”

  Rath grinned. “The structure he built in the Mountain is below us. Did he consider his own creation to be hell?”

  “You may not believe this, but toward the end he did. He couldn’t stand being in this mountain another day, not after he got the news. That’s why he left.”

  “Wait, you’re telling me that Boothe isn’t even here?”

  “No… if he was, you’d already be dead.”

  “I think I could handle my own with that crazy old man. He must be what, mid-sixties—”

  Interrupting, Vera seemed tense for the first time. “Do you remember the men chasing you through Extinction and up the side of this mountain? The men you led right into a pack of Andros?”

  “With all the intel you had on me, your people should have known better than to send a bunch of amateurs. They got what they deserved. They’d have done the same to me, given the chance.”

  “Those men weren’t from here. They were sent personally by Boothe to bring you to him and…”

  “And what,” Rath said.

  “The young man pulled apart by the Andros, the one you watched die, was Boothe’s son. He isn’t aware yet, although when he finds out, he’s going to ask that we kill you.”

  “Why are you telling me this? Why didn’t you just let Archer beat me to death back in that room? He was more than willing and with my wrists bound, there wasn’t much I could have done about it.”

  Vera leaned into the railing and looked out over the land that cursed humanity. “Because I remember your father… because he was a great man and because I made him a promise to look out for you, but mostly because I’ve always believed in your innocence. I know who you are, even if no one else does.”

  Rath moved to Vera and flinched as he hugged her. The cool, crisp smell of her hair reminde
d him that he needed a shower and more importantly at least a few hours of rest. These things could wait, more than anything he wanted to see his wife. He felt it odd that with the warm welcome he’d received from Vera, that his wife would still be held captive and that they hadn’t brought her to see him.

  “Can you take me to her? I need to see my wife.”

  Taking a step back as tears began to roll down her face; Vera looked from the floor and into is eyes. “Benjamin, Sarah is not here. We now know where she is, although it’s almost certainly too late… I’m sorry.”

  . . .

  Making their way toward the entrance to the facility, the guard handed Sarah a thick overcoat and guided her into the airlock. It seemed to be at least ten degrees colder than she remembered a few days before. “They think I’m making my rounds,” he said. “So this has to be quick.”