Z 2135

by Wright, David W.

  “Oh, yeah,” Adam said, “what about my sister?”

  The Chief’s face grew even uglier.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Ana’s alive! I saw for myself. The Network showed her dead, but she and Liam are both alive! The State’s creating news, just like they create movies and instructionals.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t play stupid,” Adam said, getting angrier. “I deserve the truth!”

  The Chief’s pale face turned red and blotchy, as if he had been smacked hard. He was trying to hold his composure as the video of Adam’s father unleashing a contagion into a crowded train restarted from the beginning behind him.

  His breath fell to a regular rhythm.

  “What are you going on about, Adam? I have no idea. Where did you see your sister? Who is telling you such lies?”

  Adam had his answer, but it wasn’t what the Chief wanted to hear. He reached into his pocket, grabbed the stunner, aimed it at Keller’s face, then squeezed the rounded bottom. A bolt of energy flew from the tube into the Chief’s neck. He fell to the ground twitching, staring up at Adam with a why?, his eyes broadened by shock.

  “Adam,” his voice rattled. It seemed like the Chief’s mouth was the only thing he could move in his otherwise paralyzed body. “What are you doing? Please, don’t do this.”

  His please sounded like it tore something inside him.

  Adam said, “You can’t lie to me anymore. I won’t let you. You owe me the truth. You have to tell me now, once and for all.” Adam felt a welling rage inside him. It felt good to add, “You need to stop fucking lying to me!”

  The Chief’s face relaxed. His mouth moved as if ready to speak. The rest of him was still as a statue.

  “You’re making a mistake. You can’t believe your friends, Adam. They’re not good people. You know this. Remember the insidiousness? The cancer? This is what got into your father, this is what caused him to kill your mother, then to …” to commit today’s unspeakable act. Now I’m afraid the insidiousness has infected you.”

  The Chief looked like he might cry. His voice was desperate. If Adam didn’t know better—if he didn’t finally realize that the Chief had been manipulating him since day one, just as Michael had said—he might think the man was genuinely concerned about Adam’s salvation.

  Keller continued, struggling through each word, “I can’t believe you would do this … it’s a betrayal of the worst sort. Worse than what your father did because your wrongs have been committed after every kindness has been extended to you, every measure taken to ensure your needs are met and future provided for. You’re like a son to me, Adam.”

  “If I’m like a son, then tell me the truth.”

  Adam kneeled in front of the Chief, feeling heavy and horrible and conflicted. His eyes were watery, sore, and (Adam was sure) red. He wanted to blink, but they burned too much. He couldn’t cry because there was nothing left inside him, and not a single good feeling for Keller.

  The Chief’s newest lie—showing Adam his father on the train—had drowned his feelings in blood, and erased any remaining nice thoughts Adam might have held for the Chief.

  Keller said nothing, so Adam screamed for him to speak.

  When the Chief remained silent, Adam shot him with the stunner again, just to see his upper half twitch in shock and keep his lower half frozen.

  The Chief was still silent, so Adam pulled out his com.

  “Who are you calling?” the Chief finally said.

  “The Underground,” Adam said. “I might not be able to get you talking, but I’m sure they can.”

  “Please don’t do this. Set down the com and we’ll talk this out. You don’t know what you’re doing, and you can’t comprehend the consequences of your actions. You’re about to make a huge mistake, Adam. The biggest. This will ruin the rest of your life. There will be no going back.”

  Every word from Keller’s mouth was a lie, born to confuse or manipulate him. The Chief’s words were strings at Adam’s heart, but not enough to drive him to murder.

  Keller said, “I don’t know if your sister’s alive, and it would shock me if she is—how could they do such a thing when we all saw her body?—but if she is, and something bad happens to me, you’ll never find her. Let me help you, Adam. I want to help you. But my help starts with you doing the right thing, like you’ve always done before. Do that now, Adam. The right thing. It’s what you want to do. I’ll gladly suffer consequences for my actions, but can’t stand to see you suffer for yours.”

  “Wow, you’re great with this nice guy act,” Adam said, tears streaming his face. “And you know what? I almost believe you.”

  Adam turned away from Keller, and called Michael.

  Keller shouted, “You’re going to regret this!”

  Adam ignored him, told Michael to hurry, then nervously paced for five minutes until the home’s intercom rang and Adam buzzed Michael up.

  Two minutes later, he opened the door to eight masked men storming into Keller’s apartment. Adam wondered how masked members of The Underground could walk high apartment halls in a building where the Chief of City Watch lived without worry of reprisal, and realized that The Underground must be larger than he thought, and that maybe they had someone on the inside of the high apartments. And if that were true, maybe there really would be revolution in the streets.

  Adam knew which of the masked men was Michael, but did nothing to surrender his identity. The leader was in front, dressed head to toe in black, standing in front of the slightly shorter Michael.

  The leader said, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Chief Fucking Keller.”

  Keller said nothing, glaring at Adam and shaking his head.

  “Don’t look at him,” the leader said, grabbing Keller by the collar and hoisting him to a sitting position in the chair.

  Keller spat, right at the man’s face.

  The leader balled his gloved fist and swung so hard he knocked Keller to the ground. The leader leapt on Keller and began choking him until the Chief’s face was turning purple.

  “No!” one of The Underground members said. “We want him alive.”

  The leader got off of Keller, laughing.

  Then, to Adam’s surprise, Keller started laughing back. Lying there, helpless on the ground, the Chief had the balls to laugh at a room full of enemies.

  Keller stopped laughing, then said, “I feel sorry for everyone in this room. Yes, including you Adam. Everyone in my home right now is a dead man, a worthless pile of shit not fit for The Underground. You’re vermin, each of you. And you will all die, either in front of a cheering crowd, or right here, right now, where no one will mourn you. Do you have a preference? I’ve learned in my years as the man running this City, sometimes it is best to get the worst over with so the rest of your day will go better.”

  The Chief moved his eyes across the room seeming to look through the men’s masks, one at a time. “Which one of you bastards planted the bomb that killed my son?”

  The leader stepped forward, raising his fist as if to shut Keller up. “I’ve no idea who killed your son, Chief, but whoever did is a national fucking hero.”

  Adam felt a chill.

  That probably wasn’t the best thing to say to the Chief.

  Now Keller would get really angry. And even though he was the one paralyzed, and there were many guns aimed at his body, he still somehow seemed in charge.

  Adam cursed himself for still surrendering authority to Keller. Had the man really brainwashed him so much that he couldn’t see the reality before him?

  No, Keller’s not in power. We are.

  Keller shouted, challenging the leader. “Are you so cowardly that you can’t show me your face? Are you the leader of weaklings and cowards?”

  “There are no leaders in our group. We are one: The Underground.

  “Just as well,” Keller said. “That’s very cute when children play games they can’t even conceive.”


  The Chief smiled and met Adam’s eyes, sending a horrible chill through Adam.

  Keller then yelled, “Alert 717. Repeat, Alert 717!”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” the leader asked Adam in a scream, probably thinking the Cadet would know.

  “I have no idea!” Adam yelled, looking back and forth with the others. From another room in the back of the house, they heard the unmistakable robotic voice of a hunter orb coming to life, saying, “Stop intruders! Stop intruders!”

  Adam ran toward the door, along with everyone else, Michael and the leader included. Metal plates slammed over the windows and door before they reached them.

  The hunter orb whirred into the living room, probably from Keller’s bedroom. It vaporized the leader first, Michael a half second later.

  Adam screamed, ran to the kitchen, and hid behind the sink as the hunter orb continued firing on The Underground members.

  He fell to the floor, heart pounding in his chest, breath rapid, and hairs on end.

  Play dead, play dead. Just lie here and wait.

  Adam planted his body on the ground, listening as the men screamed before being vaporized to ash.

  Then there was silence, save for the orb’s whirring.

  Is it coming? Is it looking for me?

  Or is it just hovering?

  Adam didn’t dare look.

  He lay still, eyes closed, afraid to do anything.

  Afraid to do nothing.

  The silence was finally splintered by Keller’s hysterical laughter. “Oh man, did you pick the wrong side, Adam!”

  Adam cried out, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry.”

  The hunter orb whirred into the kitchen. Adam opened his eyes and looked up as it spun to a stop just above him—hovering, humming, seconds from firing.

  “Please!” Adam screamed.

  A high pitched whistling came from the orb, charging its energy.

  Adam wanted to run, dodge, something, anything.

  But he was as paralyzed as Keller.

  Keller screamed again, “Echo 7, stop. Echo 7, stop.”

  The orb continued to hover, but the whistling sound withered to nothing.

  “I am so disappointed,” the Chief said.

  Adam could hear the man struggling to stand. The paralysis had worn off.

  Adam heard Keller lurch forward, one step at a time, as if every step took all of his energy. Either the poison wasn’t as effective as it was supposed to be, or the man was incredibly resilient.

  Keller spoke through struggling breaths, “I … never saw this … co … c … coming. I considered you a s … son, Adam, and …” allowed that affection to b … b … blind me.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Adam said, daring to stand, seeing Keller approaching, but unable to meet the man’s eyes.

  “No, it’s me that’s sorry, Adam. I sh … sh … should’ve known better. You are, after all … your father’s son.”

  Adam finally met Keller’s cold, staring eyes as the man took another two steps forward.

  Keller said, “Once the cancer is in you, it becomes a … p … p . . . part of you. And it stays there f … f … f … forever. Like it did with your father. There’s no saving you, Adam. You’re gone now. Forever. Just like my son.”

  “Please don’t!” Adam cried out.

  “Echo 7,” Keller said. “Stun.”

  The orb shot Adam.

  CHAPTER 51 — ANA LOVECRAFT

  Ana and Liam had been in Hydrangea for four days. Still, her father hadn’t shown. She wished Oswald had never said a word. Never interrupted what Ana thought was her best ever moment with Liam—a spark they’d not rekindled since, no matter how many hours she’d wished they could.

  She wondered how many more times the world could be turned upside down before she finally stopped believing in things altogether. A mind could only take so many tumbles before the softer parts tore and everything inside became something else. Eventually, no more rattles or shaking, just nothing left inside.

  Ana was careful not to let Sutherland know she was on to him about Dr. Liza or her father. She let him think he was charming. If he knew Ana had unearthed his secret, she would be dead. So would Oswald, Liam, and her father. But it had been four days, and now Ana thought she was safe in asking where her father was.

  She asked Sutherland if they could talk.

  “Of course. How about we do it during dinner,” he said, inviting them to their largest meal at Hydrangea so far, with a giant turkey as the centerpiece.

  It was a private dinner, just Sutherland, Oswald, Liam, and Ana. Plus four servant women who heeled to Sutherland’s steady commands.

  “I want to know where my father is,” Ana said, edging anger from her voice. Liam, sitting next to her, put his hand on hers beneath the table. He squeezed her fingers as if to caution her cool. “Have you heard anything? Do you have any idea where he is?”

  Sutherland looked at his plate, studied the beast-sized leg, then looked back up with sad eyes. “Yes, but the news is unfortunate. I was hoping you’d wait a bit longer to ask, just in case better news came in.”

  Ana felt a cold chill. “What?”

  “I have reports, many and all corroborating, saying that City 1 has been infected with the virus. Everywhere. The City is down and your father was taken into custody.”

  “Oh my!” Ana cried out. “What did he do?”

  “He went into City 1, boarded a busy train, and unleashed a virus so strong it makes the Original Plague look like the flu. Only those who knew it was coming were spared.”

  This can’t be true.

  “My father would never do something like that.”

  “He would and did.” Sutherland smiled as if Ana should be proud and was missing the point. “War is filled with such awful decisions, and in case you didn’t realize, we’re at war with an old way of doing things, trying to bring something new to this world. Your father’s a soldier for the cause and will be remembered forever for his service.”

  “This is crazy!” Ana cried. “What did you make him do?”

  Sutherland pulled the pin from his topknot. A curtain of hair spilled from his head. He opened his mouth.

  Ana’s heart raced as she struggled to still her fists. She had to keep cool, clamp her teeth together.

  Liam met her eyes and shook his head with barely a twitch.

  No. Not Now.

  Then Katrina—conspicuously absent during the meal—burst into the dining room.

  “Come with me,” she said to everyone. “Now.”

  Sutherland’s face went from bothered to worse. Ana wasn’t sure if he was annoyed by the interruption, or nervous about whatever had spooked Katrina.

  Sutherland’s chair scraped the floor as he pushed it from the table, and in seconds he was on his feet and by Katrina’s side.

  “Let’s go,” he said to the others.

  Ana looked at Liam. He shrugged, then stood and followed Katrina with Ana. They all stepped into the hallway. Ana’s fingers were slick against Liam’s. She wondered where they were going and what horror was waiting once there.

  The walk was short, maybe two minutes, but because they had spent days in isolation, every turn took them somewhere they had never been in the underground labyrinth, until they were finally in a second, larger dining hall.

  Liam said, “So now it’s OK for us to be around all these people?”

  Katrina ignored him and kept walking fast, into the dining hall and over toward the far wall where a swarm of people were huddled in front of a wall screen, all staring. Ana’s stomach boiled.

  Chief Keller.

  “What’s going on?” Ana asked.

  A large bald man she hadn’t seen before looked back, answering her in monotone. “City 1 has fallen. Chief Keller is being sworn in as Acting Head. The State won’t admit that, though. They can’t. Too much chaos.”

  Sutherland turned to Katrina. “How long has this been on? Do we know anything else? Any word on Jonah?”r />
  “No. The Darwins were on until a few minutes ago, then The Games cut out and they switched to a live message from The State. They announced ten minutes to prepare. That was about how long it took me to get you.”

  Katrina nodded up at the screen as Keller, in his pure white uniform—the same one Jack Geralt had worn for so many years—stood in front of two tall boxes, draped in a single red curtain.

  What the hell?

  Ana asked Sutherland what was in the boxes.

  He said, “That’s the drama. I’m sure it’s a surprise. We’ll wait on pins and needles to see.”

  Keller had to be the only person in the world who looked even uglier when he smiled, Ana observed, wishing she could bash his face in. Keller then opened his mouth to speak.

  “Citizens of The State. Three days ago, vile members of The Underground raided City 1 and managed to infect some of its citizens.”

  The screen then showed a video montage: security camera footage of a massacre on a train. People turning on people. Infected people tearing at one another. A little girl being murdered by her mother.

  Ana couldn’t watch, her stomach churning.

  Keller’s face and voice were back.

  Ana looked up to see him speaking.

  “Unfortunately, the same disgrace of a man who already spat on law and order by murdering his wife also took advantage of The State’s second chances. He was lucky enough to escape his deserved punishment. He won The Games and was rewarded with a new start in City 7, but was so consumed with a hate for freedom that he couldn’t even live his life in Paradise. Jonah Lovecraft has committed a new atrocity, one we should have stopped with our vigilance.” Keller lowered his voice to a hiss. “This is what we get for not knowing our neighbor.”

  Ana watched in disbelief as Jonah walked up and down the train aisle.

  Keller’s voice spoke over the footage.

  “Mr. Lovecraft walked by these men, women, and children, looking each in the eye even as he quietly and cowardly murdered them.”

  Ana’s knees buckled. Liam grabbed her, held her up, against him.

  She looked on, but only because she couldn’t look away.

  Keller continued, “Unfortunately, former City Watch Major Jonah Lovecraft’s betrayal was such a shock for our one true leader, Jack Geralt, that he has fallen ill after suffering a mild heart attack. Don’t worry, citizens. He is in recovery and we expect the best long term, but right now we will be making some temporary adjustments.”