by Wallen, Jack
My frustration got the best of me. “Because no one knew, dip shit.”
“So what in the crap’s going on here?” Nicco asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered. I repeated the phrase under my breath as my mind scrambled to gain purchase on the slightest bit of logic.
The video continued playing out…only nothing was happening.
“Fast forward, Nicco,” I called out. Nicco immediately complied. The video sped by until the kids returned to check their day’s catch. I motioned for Nicco to allow the playback to continue at light speed. Crowbar came into the scene. Nicco stopped the video, tracked back a bit, and hit play. Crowbar returned to the frame.
“What’s going on?” Crowbar’s familiar baritone voice shouted.
“Massive attack!” an off-camera male replied, his voice laced with fear.
Crowbar ran to a wall and rang the battle bell. Even digitized, the sound sent a wave of panic through my system.
“What’s the bell for?” Fay asked.
Mikko stepped up to the plate. “That bastard rings any time Asylum is under attack. It means that every kid must protect the building.”
“Just the kids?” Kubrick asked the most telling question.
“Yeah,” Mikko answered, her voice the slightest bit distant.
On the screen, a wall of bodies rushed by, some dragging pipes while others gripped machetes or baseball bats.
Standard operating procedure.
“This must be right before we arrived,” Nicco said.
When the last vestiges of youth had vanished from sight, Crowbar came back into view and was met by one of his cronies.
“It’s a beautiful sight, isn’t it?” Crowbar asked.
“Lambs to the slaughter,” the crony answered.
“Better them than us, right?” Crowbar added.
“Hell, yeah. I have to hand it to you, CB, that’s a hell of a first line of defense you got going.”
“Are you kidding me? That’s the only line of defense we need. Those kids will fight tooth and bone to stay alive. They know hope exists within these walls. Hope is the single most precious commodity now.”
“If only they knew, Crowbar.”
“Ain’t that the truth. Let’s prepare for the return of our living, breathing armor.”
“You mean…”
“Return to our quarters like nothing’s going on.”
Both men vanished from view. Shortly after, bloodied and weak bodies returned from battle. Nicco reached over and turned off the video feed. We all sat in silence for a moment, processing what we’d just witnessed.
Words failed me. My mind was a vortex of thought. Not a single logical phrase would make its way onto my lips.
“Why?” Mikko asked, her voice trembling. I wasn’t sure if Mikko’s tone was from fear or rage.
I wanted so badly for it to be rage.
Frenzy stood and turned to me. “So we’ve been serving as that rat bastard’s armor all this time?”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “It looks like…yeah.”
“I’m going to kill that mother…” Frenzy bolted for the door. I jumped to my feet and grabbed his arm.
“There’s no way that ends well, Frenzy.”
He jerked his arm from my grip. “Then what in the bloody hell do you suggest, fearless leader?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I suggest we form a plan before barging in on Crowbar unannounced. We go in now, without considering our options, and none of us will survive. Besides, the only way we take him out is with the element of surprise on our side.”
Frenzy relaxed slightly. “I think I speak for all of us when I say I’m all ears.”
nine | chinese whispers
There’s a child’s game we all played, back in elementary school, called Chinese whispers. The object of the game was to pass a whisper from ear to ear, and the last person to hear the whisper would speak it out loud. In most cases, what was spoken aloud was not the same as the original whisper.
In our case, I had to hope like hell the last ear to hear the phrase heard it correctly. If not, the plan would crash and burn.
The whisper sent ‘round our little world?
Asylum’s a lie. Crowbar goes down at midnight.
I whispered the two sentences into the ear of the one member of Asylum certain to play along with the game. Kimico Takahashi was a gossip like no other I’d ever before witnessed. No secret was sacred with her. That would certainly work to our advantage. Any time we needed to get word out in some secret, underground fashion…it always started with Kimico.
Current time, nine forty-seven.
“You really think this is going to work, Jingo?” Mikko asked as she wriggled her little spoon in my bigger spoon. Every muscle in me relaxed into her.
Well…almost every muscle.
“It has to work, Mikko. If this coup fails, I can’t imagine what kind of payback Crowbar would have up his sleeve. We’ve got the numbers; there’s no way he can stand up against hundreds…even if those hundreds are kids.”
“You don’t plan on killing him, do you?” Mikko whispered, her voice colored with fear.
I paused.
“Jingo, you’re scaring me.”
I turned Mikko to face me and brushed my fingertips across the perfect skin of her cheek. “You know that’s not who I am, Meeks. My plan is to exile him out into the Wasteland, beyond the safe zone. Let him find out what it’s truly like out there. He’ll live or die of his own doing. I won’t have the guilty blood on my hands.”
Mikko nodded slightly and closed her eyes. When she opened them back, I kissed her gently on the lips. “I love you, Mikko.”
Her perfect lips curved into a smile. “I love you, Jingo.”
At this moment, this perfect instant in time, I wished I’d scheduled the coup for a bit later.
Like tomorrow.
“The valiant never taste of death but once,” I whispered.
“Shakespeare? In bed?” Mikko replied. “You really know how to turn a girl on.”
I had no freaking idea if she was being serious. “Are you…”
“Serious?” Mikko questioned. “Do you want me to be?”
“Wicked, wicked girl.”
“Isn’t that how you like ‘em?”
“I like ‘em…like you.”
Mikko swooned. At least I think she swooned. At seventeen years old, I couldn’t be so certain I’d ever actually witnessed a full-blown swooning before.
A most foul knocking sounded at our door.
“Mackous interruptous,” Mikko chided.
The knock returned, this time with a bit more vigor, and was followed by a whisper.
“Jingo, we have a problem.”
The voice was Frenzy’s.
I stumbled out of bed, adjusted the embarrassment from my profile, and opened the door. “What the hell, Fren?”
“The whispers have returned, and they’re scared to death.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded.
“I don’t think our soldiers are ready to usurp the king.” Frenzy slipped into the room and carefully closed the door behind him. “Word came back to me that most of the kids are afraid to stand against Crowbar. Rumor has it he’s backed by something far more powerful than his cronies.”
“What are you talking about, Frenzy?” Mikko chimed in.
“I’m talking about the Zero Day Collective. There’s a growing faction of us that fear he has a direct line to them, and the second we revolt, they’ll storm the castle and turn us all into Moaners or Screamers.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I spat.
“Yeah, well…I know that and you know that, but tell it to all those little kids out there, none of whom have ever stood up against a living being. Oh, sure, hand ‘em a machete and order them to hack off the head of a zombie, and they’ll comply without question. But for some of them, this is too much.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “Frenzy, we’re not going to ki
ll the man…just toss him out on his ass.”
Frenzy pointed to the door. “They don’t know that.”
“The whisper said nothing about murder,” I countered.
“Yeah, but it didn’t not say anything about it, either.”
“It’s too late to send out another whisper, isn’t it?” Mikko asked.
Frenzy answered, “There’s no way we could get it out in time for everyone to prepare. We’re just going to have to go with what we know.”
“Which is?” I asked.
“That we’re it…you and I are a two-man wrecking machine.”
Mikko stood. “You mean two men and a lady…wrecking machine.”
“No way.” I put a quick kibosh on the reverie. “I don’t care for those odds. Three teenagers against the man who built this twisted empire? There’s no way that ends well.”
“And the alternative does? Come on, Jingo.” Frenzy slapped my shoulder. “It’s time we finally put an end to this nightmare. The world outside is bad enough. The last thing we need is to drag that hellish landscape into Asylum. You know I’m right.”
“Yeah. And that’s exactly why the three of us can’t do it alone.”
The door to my room creaked open. Nicco’s head popped in. “You don’t have to do it alone. You’ve got me, Kubrick, and Fay on your side, as well.”
Frenzy nodded his head. “Six on one. Better odds, that.”
I considered the options. As much as I hated that we didn’t have the whole of the Asylum Army at our command, I knew this was the right thing. I nodded. “Fine. But the second we spot signs of trouble, we bail. Right?”
Everyone in attendance nodded.
“What’s the plan then, Jingo?” Nicco asked.
“Meet here at midnight. Bring anything and everything that even remotely resembles a weapon. We’re going to need some extra might if we plan on taking him down ourselves.”
Nicco nodded and vanished as quickly as he came. Frenzy took a quick bow and made his own exit.
Which left myself and…
“My Queen.”
Mikko offered a coy smile and blushed. “My King,” she replied. “Do tell, what is your plan now?”
I plopped down next to Mikko. “To be honest, I don’t have one…outside of knocking down his door and tossing him to the curb.”
“You know he won’t go that easily, right?”
I nodded.
“We’ll need more strategy than that.”
“I’m all ears, doll face,” I said, using my best James Cagney impersonation.
Mikko laughed. “What was that?”
I could feel the warmth of a blush rise to my cheeks. “It was an old black and white film actor. My dad always imitated him to my mom. It was the only thing that could make my mom smile and laugh.”
Mikko placed a hand to my cheek. “You keep your past so close to the vest, Jingo. Why?”
“Some stones are better left unturned…or something like that. My family and my past are irrelevant. The only thing that matters now is you and my Asylum brothers and sisters.”
Mikko shook her head. “Is this where you stand up and rattle off some heart-warming, ‘hoorah’-inducing monologue to whip the troops into rallying behind you?”
I pulled Mikko’s head to my lips and kissed her on the cheek. I sent my gaze spiraling into the warm pools of her eyes and wished like hell that I could vanish into the glory of her pupils, swim in the gentle waters of her irises.
“Earth to Jingo. Where are you now?”
I kissed her warm lips. “In a very safe place.”
“You look trapped behind a fog.”
In a single word, I had it. A plan. Again, I pulled Mikko to me and planted a kiss on her lips. When I pulled away, the look on her face was confused pleasure. I took it as a compliment.
“What is it, Jingo?”
“You’re brilliant, Mikko.”
“Yeah, I know. But what did I do?”
“Fog!” I shouted, and kissed her again. “That’s the plan.” I stood and nearly jumped out the door. Before I took off, Mikko had me by the arm.
“What are you doing, Jingo?”
“We need to create a fog to serve as a distraction. Don’t worry, Mikko, I got this.”
Mikko stood and grabbed my arms. She twisted my body so I faced her. “You don’t have this all by yourself, Jingo. You need help…my help.”
She was right, and I knew it. I relied on the girl far more than I was ever willing to admit. With that in mind, I took in a deep breath and filled her in on my little escapade.
>^<
“Are you sure this’ll work, Frenzy?” I asked innocently.
Frenzy stood tall and faced me. “You’re kidding, right?”
I shook my head slowly. “Why would I kid about something this important?”
“Look, ‘Merican, I’ve been building these sorts of things since childhood. Me and my mates…”
I waved my hand in front of Frenzy’s face. “Not this again. Look, I understand…”
Frenzy slapped my hands away. “Sod off. I can make these sorts of traps in my sleep. Give me a half an hour and you’ll have everything you need for the distraction.”
I snatched a glimpse of my timepiece and said, “Can you make it twenty minutes?”
Frenzy reluctantly nodded. “You’re a bloody slave driver, you are.”
“Just get it done and bring it here the second it’s finished. Don’t show it off or even hint about its existence to anyone. If you can’t pull off that simple exercise, you’ll doom us to a lifetime of servitude to that bastard.”
Frenzy’s gaze bored holes into my eyes. When he spoke, his voice was void of its accent—all I needed to know he was speaking truth. “Jingo…we’re in my wheelhouse. Trust me. Okay?”
I nodded. There was no other option but to trust him. He’d earned that privilege, after all. “You’ve stood by my side more often than not through the Wasteland, Frenzy.”
“Oi, no time for sentiment, mate. The Toymaker’s got work to do.” While he still wore a twisted grin on his face, I slipped from his room and pulled the door shut behind me.
“Hello, Jingo.” The familiar voice of Kimico caught me off-guard.
I turned and offered her as pleasant a smile as I could muster. “Hi, Kim.”
“…ico,” she added, to correct my choice of short-forming her name.
“I stand corrected, Kimico.”
“Are you still planning on taking action tonight?”
A bolt of nerves jumped from synapse to synapse. Out of nowhere, paranoia threatened to destroy me. I couldn’t be sure if little nerdy Kimico was working as a double agent for Crowbar. I opted for a bit of crypticism.
“The whisper failed, Kimico. You know that.”
“Do I?”
“You do.”
“I do?”
“Yes, you do.”
We were caught in some odd acting exercise. I had to eject before her dark-as-night eyes managed to wrangle the truth from my lips. “I have to go. It was nice chatting with you.”
As I passed her, she turned her head and followed me. Either something was amiss, or Kimico’s freak flag waved a bit higher than I originally had assumed.
The second I turned the corner, I relaxed. Kimico did not follow. “What the hell was that about?” I whispered. The answer escaped me. That was pretty much my lot in life with girls. Confounded disillusionment. Profoundly confounded disillusionment. I’d hoped that, within the confines of the new world order, some sort of enlightenment would have fallen into my lap.
How wrong I was.
I double-tapped the door to my room, turned the handle, and swung it open. Mikko was curled up in bed, sleeping gently. The sight of her, in perfect peace, eased every concern from my heart and mind.
“We ready?” Nicco’s voice yanked me from my love-induced reverie. He was leaning against the far wall of the room, cleaning a camera lens.
“What are you doing in here?�
� I asked.
“Waiting for you. What do you think I’d be doing in here?”
I glanced to Mikko and back. Nicco shook his head and held up his arms.
“Not my style, man. On that front, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Since the Mengele Virus hit, I’ve been married to my camera.”
“Sorry,” I whispered.
“It’s all good, my friend. The apocalypse has wreaked some serious havoc on everyone. Trust is a precious commodity these days. I get it.”
I flopped onto the floor and leaned my head against the mattress. My body immediately begged to drift off into slumberland. Every muscle threatened to melt into the warp and weft of the hardwood floor.
“You know, Jingo, you haven’t bothered to fill anyone in on this magnificent plan of yours. If we don’t know, how can we help?”
“We’re going to smoke the son of a bitch out of his room. When he makes his escape, we bag and tag him.”
Nicco’s eyes went wide. “You’re gonna kill him?”
I jerked back to sitting. “Hell, no. I’m fine with killing the dead, but I draw the line at snuffing out the lives of the living.”
“Then what do you plan on doing with him?”
“He’s going the way of the heads.”
All concern melted from Nicco’s face. “Dude, that is almost poetic.” He offered up his palm, which I immediately smacked. “I am going to film the crap out of this.”
“I was hoping you would.”
“But what about Crowbar’s cronies? Aren’t you worried what they’ll do once he’s gone?”
“I’m fairly certain, once Crowbar has left the building, every kid in Asylum will finally wake up and stand with us. His mob will be nothing to jettison when Crowbar’s no longer whispering in their ears.”
“I like the way you work, Jingo.”
Another high five.
“Do you think we can count on Kubrick and Fay to help?” I asked.
“Are you kidding? From what I’ve heard, those two are already worshiping at the altar of Jingo.”
I shook my head. “I don’t need that level of adoration…or pressure. I just need them to help me bag the man.”
Nicco stood. “I’ll let ‘em know you need to have a chat.”
“Thanks, Nicco.”
