by S. E. Meyer
Cornelius looked up from his desk with wide, bloodshot eyes. Drool dripped from the corner of his mouth as he leaned sideways. Anna raised an eyebrow. “You're not looking so good, Sir.”
Cornelius waved his hand. He lit a cigarette before answering. “I guess these things have finally caught up with me,” Cornelius coughed, spraying a mist of blood onto his desk.
Anna moved closer, aiming her gun at Cornelius's forehead.
“And so have you, it would seem,” he added.
Anna nodded. “I've been waiting for this moment a long time.”
Cornelius slipped his hand below his desk, pressing the panic button to call for guards. “Do you really think killing me will change anything? Have you looked outside? The people have gone back to their daily lives. They're rebuilding the wall.”
Anna stepped toward the window.
“We don't have time for this, Anna. Kill him now,” Atticus demanded.
Anna scanned the wall from the Mansion's window. Beneath a periwinkle sky, a massive crowd had gathered. An impressive line of heavy equipment filled the street as workers prepared the site.
“Anna!” Atticus yelled. “What are you waiting for?”
Cornelius smiled, wiping the drool from his chin. “Yes, Miss Wool. You see? Everything you've worked for, all for nothing.”
Footsteps echoed through the ballroom.
Atticus moved closer to Anna. “They're coming.”
With pursed lips, Anna pressed the barrel of her gun into Cornelius's blotchy skin while tensing her finger on the trigger.
Cornelius continued. “Even your mother's death is now meaningless. All is lost, Miss Wool, but pull the trigger. See what happens.”
The color of Anna's eyes darkened while applying more pressure on the trigger. She turned her head to take one last look out the window.
Anna trained her widening eyes. The giant pendulum of a wrecking ball swung towards an intact section of wall while a second crowd arrived carrying signs. The crowd cheered as the ball found concrete, smashing a large section next to the explosion site. More people arrived carrying sledgehammers, pickaxes and wheelbarrows.
They're not rebuilding the wall. They're tearing it down.
The crowd stopped in front of the wall and lifted their signs displaying a red dragon with a spear through its heart.
The ball took aim, ripping through another section of wall, followed by more cheers.
Anna closed her eyes, her finger a fraction of pressure away from sending the bullet through Cornelius's brain.
She exhaled, opening her eyes as their color changed from black satin sortie to paradigm powder blue.
She eased her finger on the trigger as footsteps pounded the hallway.
Atticus lunged toward Anna. “We're out of time. Give me the damn gun. I'll do it myself!”
“No,” Anna argued. “You can't.”
“If he doesn't die, right now, everything I've worked for is lost.”
Anna nodded. “Atticus, I know everything you've worked for. I know it was you who started New Easton. I also know you did it with my blood. I have nightmares of you sneaking into my room in the middle of the night to take it. I understand how much we've both sacrificed for this moment, losing Margaret, and your decades of work, but we can't kill him.”
Atticus grabbed the gun. “Anna, we have no choice!”
Anna shook her head, struggling to point the gun away from Cornelius. “No! There's always a choice. Everyone has been telling me my emotions and anger have muted my own instincts. I see it now. I have to listen to my gut, and it's telling me we can't. I can feel it, he's hiding something. It's almost like he wants me to kill him.” Anna pried Atticus's hand from her weapon and looked into his eyes. “Our purpose is greater than one life.”
Six armed soldiers entered the room, fanning out while aiming their automatic rifles at Anna and Atticus. “You have three seconds to drop your weapon or we shoot you both,” the soldier in front of Anna said.
Atticus shook his head. “It's too late. You've just killed us all.”
Anna dropped her gun onto the floor. “No, Atticus. Look outside. The people have finally decided to fight.”
Cornelius stood. “Cuff them. We'll see how much fight they have left after seeing your executions!” Cornelius coughed, spraying more blood on his desk. He continued to cough for a half a minute as his face turned pale. He took a step in front of Anna. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”
Anna sneered. “I'll just wait another minute. Nature may do it for me.”
He turned to Atticus. “Ah, the decades of work you put into this.” He shook his head. “However, Rome wasn’t built in one day, was it?”
Atticus tensed his jaw. “Go to hell, you son of a bitch!”
Cornelius smiled. “But it burned in one.”
He tugged a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood from his lips. “Take them to the courtyard. We're having the execution as planned.”
Two soldiers grabbed Anna as Cornelius went into another bout of coughing. They headed for the study's door as Richard entered the room.
“Wait, stop.” Richard said holding a stack of papers in his hand as an elderly gentleman stepped into the study behind him.
“Richard,” Cornelius wheezed. “What are you doing?”
Richard lowered his eyebrows, staring at his grandfather. “Doctor, test him.”
The doctor pulled a tablet from his pocket and moved toward Cornelius.
“Get away from me,” Cornelius sputtered before bending over in a fit of coughing. He fell to one knee, which twisted sideways, sending him sprawling onto the floor.
The doctor pricked Cornelius's finger and applied the tester. A red light illuminated.
The doctor nodded, producing a pen. He took the paperwork from Richard and signed it.
Richard smiled. He turned to the soldiers, holding up the papers. “I have here an official document signed by the chief justice, the senate, and now Easton's own surgeon general relieving Cornelius Cromwell as Governor for having late stage Fleishman's. He is now deemed unfit to serve and perform his duties as Governor.” Richard lifted a second set of papers from his suit jacket. “Damarion, please come in.”
Damarion entered the study, followed by a supreme court justice as Richard continued. “I have orders here to initiate the swearing in of Easton's second in line as Governor, Damarion Brockman.”
Richard turned to the judge. “Your Honor, if you will?”
The judge stepped up to Damarion. “Please raise your right hand.”
Anna looked out the window as the Justice swore Damarion in. Several more sections of wall were now in a heap of debris. She flashed back to her time in the Chamber while atop the hill. The wall around the massive heart crumbling around her as the wrecking ball outside found another target.
A dog appeared in the falling dust of the ongoing demolition. It jumped back and forth climbing the debris pile and Anna covered her mouth with her hand.
“That's not a dog,” she whispered.
Shadow.
The wolf accomplished the peak of the pile and tossed his head back, letting out a howl.
Anna smiled.
You're alive. But How?
A picture played through her head of Shadow jumping through the broken window of an old shed. He spun three times, faced north, and then squatted, taking care of his business before trotting towards New Easton's gate.
Cornelius sputtered, turning to his side to expel more clotted blood. “Richard,” he gargled. “My own grandson. You poisoned me. You turned me into a common sheep.”
Richard looked outside. “Yes, and now you have the people to worry about.” Richard scanned the scene along the wall. “They'll be coming for you, and they look like a hungry pack of wolves.”
Anna cocked her head. “What did you say?”
“I said the people are coming for him.”
“No, you said wolves.”
O
nly when sheep become wolves and wolves become sheep will man have peace, rest and sleep.
Richard looked into Anna's eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, it just reminded me of something the wolf told me.”
Richard raised an eyebrow. “You're talking to animals now? Are you sure you're okay?”
Anna nodded. “Yes. For the first time in a long time, I think I finally am.”
Finished with swearing in, the soldier in charge turned to Damarion. “Your orders, Governor?”
“Take your men out of here and empty the holding cell on the front lawn, the execution is canceled. Next, secure every food plant in Easton and stop production until we can make it safe.”
“Yes, Sir.” The man motioned for his soldiers to follow him.
Atticus stood over Cornelius. “And what about him? He just gets off scot-free?”
Cornelius smiled, a thin line of blood running from his mouth. “I know something you don't know,” he said, bursting into a hysterical laugh. He reached for his neck as his broadening grin bared yellow teeth. “I win.”
Anna jumped on top of Cornelius, grabbing his hand.
Damarion dropped to a knee. “What is it?”
“Some kind of detonator?” Anna said, holding Cornelius hands away. “Get Jax in here.”
They tied Cornelius's hands behind his back while they waited for Jax to arrive.
Jax entered the room and knelt next to Anna. “What's going on?”
Anna turned Cornelius's head. “Do you know what this is?”
Jax inspected the small device. “It's wireless. Hmm, and It's communicating with something.”
Atticus jogged into the study from the bathroom. “I found something. In here.”
Jax followed Atticus into the bathroom. “Well, that seems out of place, doesn't it?”
He inspected the large box, opening the lid to access the control panel. “It's monitoring his vitals.” Jax wrinkled his brow. He turned to face Atticus as Damarion entered the room. “This is a warhead. Nuclear, I believe.”
“Can you turn it off?” Damarion asked.
Jax tapped at the control panel. “Maybe, give me a minute.” After several tries he shook his head. “I can't disarm it without a password. It looks like Cromwell set it up to detonate if his vitals went flat.”
Atticus slacked his jaw, poking his head around the corner. “Anna,” he called.
Anna stepped into the bathroom and Atticus faced her. He shook his head while maintaining eye contact. “Anna, you were right. I don't know how you knew, but if you had killed him...” Atticus trailed off.
Anna faced Jax. “Password is e1therway1w1n.”
Jax turned to the control panel. “How do you know that?”
Anna bit her lip, brushing the hair from her cheek. “I'm not sure how I know. I just know.”
Jax tapped in the password, disarming the warhead. He let out a long breath. “It worked.”
Atticus gestured towards the study. “What are we going to do with him?”
Damarion turned. “Cromwell? He'll get what's coming soon enough by the looks of him.”
Atticus shook his head. “Dying of Fleishman's doesn't seem like enough justice for all the pain this man has caused.”
Anna stepped closer. “It isn't. I have something special in store for him.”
Damarion faced Anna. “What did you have in mind?”
Anna looked at Damarion with a slow nod. “It's time Cornelius Cromwell felt the buckle of his own belt.”
◆◆◆
Anna set Cornelius onto the Chamber bed.
“Lie back, Mr. Cromwell.”
Cornelius had no energy to put up a physical fight. “You can't do this. Do you know what will happen to me if I die while I'm in the Chamber?”
Anna nodded. “Yes. You could have saved yourself had you made more than one cure before destroying the lab. Your own hubris destroyed you.”
She connected the wires and tubing to Cornelius as he went into another fit of coughing.
“I was thinking about your justification for killing so many people. You claim to be a hero, but there's a flaw in your thinking.”
Cornelius raised an eyebrow. “How so, Miss Wool?”
“If you were legitimately trying to save us all from some future disaster, a pandemic or starvation, you would have invested billions into cures or solutions, rather than murder billions of innocent people. No, you turned it into a business model for profit and that's where I'm calling bullshit. You did all of this for wealth and control.” Anna shook her head. “The love of money is the root of all evil. Your motivation was nothing but pure greed.”
Anna stepped toward the control panel and tapped the screen, starting the Chamber as Cornelius's eyes grew wide. “You can't let me die in here! I'll be tortured forever!”
Anna touched the green icon. “It would appear you're out of moves, Sir.”
“No,” Cornelius moaned from behind wild eyes. His eyelids fluttered as he turned his head, losing consciousness.
Epilogue
Anna stepped through an opening in the pile of rubble accumulating on Cornelius's front yard. The people heard he now lay in his own Chamber and they were moving the wall’s debris to the Mansion, intending to bury him with his own wall.
Damarion exited the Mansion's front door as Anna arrived.
“How are things coming along Governor?”
Damarion smiled. “Very well. We have removed everything we need from the mansion. I'm on my way out. We set up new offices inside the senate capitol building. Now the people can have what they want.” Damarion scanned the continuous line of dump trucks dropping their wares. “This house will be a concrete debris monument. A reminder of what too much power in the wrong hands can do.”
They walked towards the end of the driveway as a bulldozer began pushing the rock piles up against the mansion's walls.
“I heard the food plants are back up and running,” Anna said.
Damarion nodded. “Yes, we isolated the additives in question and destroyed them.” Damarion turned to face Anna. “What about you? How are you doing?”
“Very well. A little weak from the blood draws, but the people at Gentech found Frank's research. They say they're close to developing a cure they can mass produce. The clinics are ready and standing by to administer them to everyone in the city.”
“So what's next?”
Anna pressed her lips together. “We have a lot of work to do. Not just here in Easton, but everywhere. We need to get the word out to everyone and supply the cure to the masses.” Anna nodded. “This is just one walled city in a world of many.” She smiled. “It's time for the walls to finally come down.”
Damarion looked deep into Anna's eyes. “What are you going to do now?”
Anna's grin broadened. “I'm going for a ride. There’s a certain cabin in the woods I need to find.”
◆◆◆
Anna drove her car through the main gate and onto the supply road heading south. A brilliant sunrise stretched across the landscape to her left. She checked her pockets and fished out a crumpled piece of paper.
This is an actual check.
With a smile, Anna flattened it out and read.
'Pay to the order of: Montana Wool.'
'In the amount of: A lifetime of my love.'
'Date: When you're ready.'
'Memo: Rain Check.'
Anna turned her gaze back to the road with wet eyes as her smile widened. She let out a laugh while shaking her head and flipped the check over.
Anna tapped the numbers into the car's screen as she read the GPS coordinates in Wesley's handwriting.
“Who are you Wesley Shriner?” she whispered.
Her heart fluttered in her chest as the morning breezes pouring in her car’s window brushed Anna's hair away from her bright blue eyes.
“I think I’m finally ready to find out,” she said, pressing hard on the accelerator.
-THE END-
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