by Bryan Cohen
Vella crossed her arms. She would rather be eating seven-layer cake than having this conversation. "How about your mother on Earth, General Ted? What was she like?"
Before the General could answer, the throne room door opened with a mighty groan. Vella recognized the man people called "the torturer" immediately. She'd always seen Pluric as a dirty, greasy rat. She could even hear the scratching of his claws against the stone floor.
The rat had nothing but disdain for Vella, and aside from a glimmer of hatred, he ignored her presence. "General, if you're almost done with your humanitarian mission, we need to talk about food rations for the villages."
Vella wondered if the villagers would get cake like she had. "Can my village get the food first?"
The sound of a rope snapping caught Vella's ears, as a close up view of her mother's execution took over her mind. Even shutting her eyes couldn't prevent Vella from seeing the color drain out of her mother's face as the oxygen left her body. Vella's arms twitched as her mother kicked her feet. First, the left one; then the right. Tears formed in Vella's eyes as she crouched down on her knees. The salt water struck her hands, and she wasn't sure how much more of the image she could stand when General Ted shouted louder than she knew possible.
"Pluric, that's enough!"
The image of her mother slipped from her mind like sand passing between her fingers. The pain remained. Through her watery eyes, she saw the rat grinning.
Pluric clicked his tongue. "Some say the best way to get over death is to face it head on."
The General gripped the rat's shoulder, and not in a friendly way. "You're dismissed. Remind me not to recommend you as a therapist."
Pluric nodded and let his eyes sink deep into Vella's, like a snake injecting poison. As he left, Vella pictured his tail swinging from left to right like her mother's limp body had in the implanted image.
General Ted cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. How about we go for a walk?"
Vella swallowed the remaining tears and nodded.
They took a long walk around various parts of the compound. General Ted stopped to talk to a dozen important-looking people along the way. Vella didn't even need to imagine much during their journey because there was so much to see. She watched a dozen blacksmiths forging red-hot weapons. She saw troops training in one-on-one combat that caused them to grunt like trolls. They even passed by a room with a portal like the one she'd seen in the sky.
A line of sickly-looking farmers stripped down to their underwear led into the room. They appeared to be waiting to go through the portal. She wondered what magical things lay on the other side of the gateway. She'd gone through half a dozen possibilities before she realized that General Ted was by her side, looking at the portal as well.
"It sure is something, Vella."
Vella's eyes were saucers. "Where do they go?"
The General seemed just as mesmerized by the portal as she was. "Somewhere else. Under the terms of the peace, we send our hungriest people to a better life."
Vella let herself lean against General Ted, and he didn't recoil like he had so many times in the past few months. "What does peace mean?"
General Ted seemed very far away. "It means a chance to live for all the dark souls."
Vella knew this was her opportunity. She concentrated all her courage into uttering the exact right words. "Do you miss Natalie?"
"I do."
Vella cheered, shaking General Ted out of his stupor. It took several seconds for the man to realize what he'd said that made her so elated. He tucked his chin and looked down at her.
His voice dropped a bit lower. "I don't know why I answered like that."
"I know why." Vella's grin was back to full force. "Because you're not the General, dummy."
7
Erica sleepwalked through the first half of the school day. She felt like a shuffling zombie and wondered if this was like the old Erica's life had been. Purposeless. Hollow. Painful. She wasn't even looking forward to lunch, when she'd have her opportunity to spend time with Ted and their friends.
Why do I even need friends, when the world is screwed?
Throughout the last three months, she'd spent a significant amount of time on news websites looking for gruesome injuries that later become miraculous recoveries. She'd found dozens of stories in more languages than she could count. These spine-snapping boat accidents or seven-story falls weren't acts of God as the reporters so often described. She knew exactly what they were. They were the work of dark souls taking over for human lives that had been extinguished, and those dark souls had much more purpose than she did. They were spreading out across the globe for a reason.
Erica passed by the repaired auditorium and the bright, shiny entrance to the school. About a year ago, Sheriff Norris had driven his truck through the building and into a bewildered attacker. Now, the lawman was a dark soul, and she wasn't so sure she'd get out of the way of his truck. Erica contemplated death almost daily. She knew she could do much more to help the cause with Gan and Reena. They'd have something for her to do, even if the unthinkable had happened during her watch.
They'd still want me. Wouldn't they?
Erica had enough doubt about that answer to keep her current life, no matter how useless she felt. She eyed two Secret Servicemen who guarded the entrance to the cafeteria. She wondered if she could still take them out before they drew their weapons, even in her hungover state. At least the assault would give her something to do.
Erica passed by them without a moment of hesitation and sat in her typical seat across from Ted and next to the rest of the gang. Jennifer barely even glanced her way, but she didn't seem all that interested in what Dhiraj had to say, either. Natalie looked down at her food in lieu of speaking with Travis, who didn't appear to have much of an appetite, either. Nobody looked particularly happy to be there. Ted was the last to arrive, and he was all smiles.
He raised his eyebrows at Erica. She attempted not to notice, and he grinned as if her efforts hadn't been intentional. "Missed you in Philly. Really could've used you out there."
Erica unwrapped her sandwich slowly, as if it required every last bit of concentration. "Really? Seems like you did a pretty bang-up job of things on your own."
Out of the corner of her eye, she could tell Ted didn't appreciate her lack of attention. He continued to wear the smile. She had the faint impression he was reading her mind. By this point, she'd nearly gotten over the creepiness of it.
Erica waited for some kind of reaction from the treasure of Treasure. This was the third time she'd played loose and fast with their relationship, knowing very well that he could look through every detail as if she'd live-blogged the whole thing. He'd said nothing the first two times around, and even though this had been the first actual kiss since her passive effort to get his attention, all he did was momentarily pause his smile.
He turned his attention back to the table at large. "Enough talking. More munching."
Erica had a pressing desire to grab her boyfriend's head and shock him into submission. Maybe that would finally tell her what was going on inside. She used to know what he was thinking just by looking him in the eyes, but ever since he returned from the Realm of Souls, most trips into his eyes brought her nowhere fast.
Erica ate her sandwich, keeping her own eyes mostly to herself. She continued to notice the increasingly distant dynamic. Jennifer's legs were crossed away from Dhiraj, as he jabbered on about something related to an election night party. Travis looked like he was ready to burst without Natalie's attention, but she didn't seem to want to give him the time of day.
What's going on with her? What's going on with all of us?
Ted cleared his throat, and everybody looked in his direction. "So, you're probably wondering why there's a Secret Service detail here today."
Natalie grumbled. "No, we weren't. But I'm guessing you're gonna tell us anyway."
Erica tried to share in the snark, but her efforts to smile in her friend's d
irection were met with a quick feint from eye contract. She shrugged internally.
Ted sighed. "If nobody wants to know...."
Jennifer groaned. "Just tell us. You don't have to make it a thing."
Dhiraj put his arm on his girlfriend's shoulder. "Come on. He's just excited."
Jennifer shrugged off Dhiraj's arm. "Excuse me if I don't share the same enthusiasm. Most of the time we deal with excitement, it ends in kidnapping, monsters, or kidnapping monsters."
Erica tried to grin in Jennifer's direction as well. Likewise, she was met with a quick glance and an even faster turn away.
I guess I'm the most popular person in the world today.
Ted started a little drum roll on the tabletop and Dhiraj followed. "I'm meeting with President Blake today!"
Erica looked away as the frustration bubbled up inside. She turned and glared in Ted's direction. "Why didn't you tell me about this first? I would've told you that it's a bad idea."
Dhiraj leaned forward. "Maybe that's why he didn't tell you."
Ted chuckled until he could see that Erica didn't find things very funny. "I'm sorry, babe. He asked to meet with me and it seemed really important."
"You don't train. You shoot someone like it's nothing. And then you trust him." Erica looked around the table. She couldn't believe how little Ted's news seemed to affect them. "Guys, this is President Blake we're talking about. You know, the guy who kidnapped Natalie, firebombed Ted's house, and tried to frame it on her!"
Despite the best effort of her probing eyes, she couldn't get Natalie to look up or get involved in the conversation.
Travis spoke up. "Technically that wasn't Blake. It was my… former boss."
Erica scoffed. "But Blake's the one who funded it. He must've approved the plan."
Nobody seemed to care. She couldn't believe that nobody seemed to care.
Jennifer bit her lip. "Compared to Kable, Blake is a cupcake."
Erica forced Jennifer to look her way with a glare strong enough to hypnotize. "Just because one cupcake is less rotten than another doesn't mean you should eat it."
Dhiraj laughed to himself. "These metaphors are making me hungry."
As Ted, Natalie, and Jennifer laughed, Erica stood up and slammed her tray into Ted's. His milk tipped over and filled the tray with liquid. "All of you should know better than to trust someone like that. You're all acting like disaffected idiots."
Ted looked straight at Erica, ignoring the milk-soaked lunch. "It's fine. I'm going to be okay."
Erica felt something tugging at her. She didn't know what it was, but it seemed to calm her rage momentarily. She shook it off, refusing to let his words sooth her.
Erica stepped away from the table. "I lost my appetite. Don't say I didn't warn you!"
She stormed past the Secret Servicemen so quickly that she saw one of them instinctively reach for his gun. She didn't look back to see if he'd withdrawn his shooting hand as she pushed open the doors that led outside. Erica breathed heavily as the midday sun warmed her temples. She put her hands on her knees.
"They're all against me. I've got nothing. I've got nobody."
She wanted to scream, but in the midst of her fear and anger, a moment of clarity swept over her. She looked back at the door to see if Ted or the others had followed her. Erica was almost glad they hadn't.
"You know, there's nothing wrong with being a solo act."
Sneaking away from campus was easier than she thought, even with the Secret Servicemen stationed at most conceivable exits. Fifteen minutes later, she was knocking on the re-creation of a familiar door. When it opened, Sheriff Norris stood before her with a bewildered look.
He did a double take when he saw her. "Erica? Aren't you supposed to be in school?"
She smirked. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
The sheriff's face twitched. "Touché. But what are you doing here?"
Erica blew past him into the copy of Jennifer's old foyer. The sheriff shut the door behind them.
She took in a deep breath. "I want you to tell me who you really are and why you were chosen. I want to know why you're here, and I want to know now."
8
The General glided across the freshly waxed laminate, surrounded by Secret Servicemen in the Treasure High hallway. He looked left and right at the guards. They were nearly as dedicated as Pluric and the other dark soul troops. He kept the laugh to himself at the fanfare of his impending Presidential meeting. He knew from Ted Finley's memories that the boy wonder would be completely uncomfortable in such a situation. The teen used to squirm through these hallways, even after he was granted the incredible abilities of the living soul. The fate of multiple worlds had been placed into the hands of a child who was barely able to hold a five-second conversation with a member of the opposite sex. To the General, it was all pretty hilarious.
Still, he couldn't help but take a certain pride in being the center of attention in the festering petri dish that was a high school ecosystem. Being around all these children who assumed he was one of them gave him a strange feeling of regression. He wanted to maim them for it. That's what he would've done on the Realm of Souls, but he couldn't openly flay their skin here. At least, not yet. For the moment, he'd have to get his kicks from tearing apart Ted and Erica's lives from the inside.
He walked past two guards and into a room that brought back memories of an English class taught by a mindreader. He did his best to assume his nervous Ted Finley persona when the guards patted him down from head to toe.
"You aren't even going to take me to dinner first?"
One of the guards let out a huff and pulled his hands back. "Clean. You think we haven't heard that one before?"
The General produced an impish grin. "Maybe you wouldn't if you didn't feel up so many superhero groins."
The guard shook his head. "You're hilarious. Just sit down."
The General walked over to the front row and took his place in the center. Ted Finley never would've taken such a spot for fear of looking like a nerd. The General could hardly believe that a person with such self-consciousness could've caused him any trouble at all. He tapped his fingers on the desk for what seemed like hours, until the door opened once again to reveal the Commander-in-Chief. President Blake was tall and strong. He had that action hero and authority figure vibe that probably helped him win the highest office in the land.
How easy it would be to snap his neck.
Blake walked with a regal gait toward the General's desk. The dark soul who looked like Ted Finley stood up and grasped the President's hand.
Blake's grip was firm. "Mr. Finley. It's an honor."
The General did his best to play nervous. "I… you're… taller in person."
Blake smiled, but there was something to the outward sign of kindness. "It's the podiums. They really build them too high these days. Mind if I sit?"
The General shrugged as the powerful man sat beside him.
Blake chuckled as he pulled the chair into his desk. "It's been decades since I sat at one of these." His eyes narrowed as they focused on the General's irises. "How long has it been since you took over for Ted?"
The General hadn't smiled so big since he'd been on Earth. "Very nice, Mr. President. Maybe I stumped for the wrong candidate."
The General shook off all pretense, leaning back comfortably in his chair and crossing one leg over the other. His heart began to beat faster in anticipation. "If you really know who I am, then why aren't you terrified?"
The President remained stoic. It likely wasn't the first time he'd been threatened, but it may have been the one where he was in the most danger.
President Blake leaned forward. "General, can I call you General?"
The dark soul was beginning to like this. It'd been too long since he'd gotten to play a game.
He settled into a relaxed position. "You may."
Blake took in a long, slow breath. "Tapping the phones of Ted and his friends got us a lot of information. The
problem is, we aren't really allowed to do that sort of thing."
The General laughed. "Men like you and I aren't concerned about rules. We care about power." He shifted one leg down and crossed the other. "But I promise I won't tell your secret if you don't tell mine."
That's when something surprising happened. The President cracked a smile. "I wouldn't dream of it. See, I know what you're doing, and I'd like to be a part of it."
No spider ever had it easier.
The General clicked his tongue. "How interesting. I usually have a more formal process for submitting proposals, but given the circumstance, I'm happy to hear you out, Mr. President."
The President gave a wave of his hand and all the Secret Servicemen left the room. He lowered his voice to a low tone. "There's an important Summit coming up next week at the White House. All the major world leaders will be there."
The General affected a nonchalant demeanor. "I've heard of that. We actually talked about it in government class. Some important trade agree–"
"Nobody cares about the agreement. Least of all me." Blake ran his hands through his hair. "What I care about is the same thing as you." He let the words hang in the air for a moment. "Control. I want us to work together. I nearly lost the Presidency, and I won't let it happen again."
The General sat up straighter and presented to look pensive, as if he hadn't figured all this out from the beginning. "An interesting idea. Am I right to say that if you know what I'm up to, you have surveillance on all known 'replacements'?"
The President's light shift in posture was enough to tell the General what he wanted to know. Blake nodded ever so slightly. "From our latest estimate, we have eyes and ears on approximately 95 percent of your troops throughout the world."
The General's eyes brightened. "That's better than I anticipated. If you share all that information with me, I'd be happy to help you with your control problem." The General leaned in to whisper in the President's ear. "Tell me exactly what you want me to do."
