"Have you lost your mind, October?!" Sage stood up to full height, his eyes red with rage. His fists balled up at his sides.
"Get out, Sage, and remember, I'm the one who stands between the mainland cannibals and you. I'm the one that stands between Nestor Bravo and you. I'm the one who stands between Jacob Rothschild and his Shadow Army and you. I'm the one who stands between the Founders and you. You keep me alive, because if I die, you might be worth killing to somebody. Now get out."
Sage sputtered with rage, but no words came out. October, somewhere in the back of his mind enjoyed the sight, but there was a truth to what he said that kept him from feeling much other than sickness. Flores walked heavily over to the old man and with a suggestive arm on his shoulder led him from the room. When Sage Carnegie had been removed October took another slice of pizza and turned to look at Miho.
"In case you missed it, we just lost our last ally in the world. We are alone officially. It would be a good time for you and Agent Flores to find another alliance. My reign looks to be a short one."
"Why do you say that, sir?"
"Well, let's see, when I ran for President I never actually promised to not create a race of mutant cannibals, but I sense that the Islanders, who already feel betrayed by me since I tried to kill all of their friends and family, look at the feed, see that the world is in fact, now, populated by mutant cannibals and are worried."
“But, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“How’s that?”
“A leader needs an enemy. A leader needs a threat to protect his people from. What you just said to your uncle, that's true. Leadership is often just standing between the people and a terrifying threat. This army of mutants, they’re a good enemy.”
“What army? They've formed an army?!”
“They will.”
“When?”
“When we tell them to and then, imagine this: mutants kill Nestor Bravo, mankind's greatest warrior. Who couldn’t they kill, if they could kill him? Plus, now Nestor's feed is dead. We control the information. All your problems are fixed. Then, you come out and say, you’ve found a new belief, that you were wrong, that you and Nestor hated each other, but as men, and you fought him as a man. And, if there’s one thing that you both were it was men. A man’s only as great as his enemy. You made each other great. His death hurts you, but also, it unites you to your people. It unites all humankind."
“That’s great, Miho. The only problem is there is no leader of the mutant army because there is no army of mutants.”
“That's why we're going to create him.”
October nodded his head in excitement, another slice of pizza being eaten unconsciously.
“Like... with science?”
Miho glanced at the President with confusion.
“I’m sorry, Mr. President, but what does that mean?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I know what I... what were you going to say, Miho?”
“We need to let it be known that the head of the mutants - the "King of the Mutants", has said in exchange for Nestor’s head, he’ll offer a truce with humankind.”
“But why, why would this "King of the Mutants" want Nestor Bravo’s head?”
Miho smiled.
Chapter 49
***
There had been little talking after they ate the Syndicate. There was nothing to be said. That night Arian had used the device that Dimitrikov had given them and together they had all watched Nestor's feed. They huddled around the glow of the screen like the embers of a fire on a cold night. What they saw was horrific, but it was a horror that they shared. The horror was a reality that all of them knew and so in it, they found comfort.
The next morning Arian instructed Dr. Thomas, who was the most newly injected and so still had the faculties of his hands, on how to piggy-back onto Nestor's feed and use it as a communication line. Once the difficulties of that had been taken care of it was a simple matter of coming up with a code to use, which for Jacob took little time.
Every three hours an image of the coding would interrupt Nestor's feed for one minute. After a day they received their first response from the most distant, and perhaps most important, member of the Shadow Army. Jacob had been sleeping at the time, so Arian brought Jacob the message. Jacob sat up in bed and read the message before getting up and walking to his bathroom mirror. Arian followed, leaning on the bathroom doorframe.
"What does it say?"
"It says," Jacob said while inspecting his bed-messed hair, "that we have some planning to do."
"I thought we had a plan."
"Oh we did, but a good plan always has some holes that you fill along the way and then you change it accordingly to match what comes along."
Arian watched as Jacob opened a drawer filled with scavenged hair product.
"And if someone hadn't hacked this? What then? Would we have just sat here and waited for a… a what… a miracle? What if the Syndicate had been in another town? What if all of these things that just happened… hadn't?"
"But, they did, Arian. They did happen."
"But, what if they hadn't?!"
Jacob turned from his own reflection at the sound of Arian's shout. He smiled thoughtfully for a moment before he started chuckling in a growing crescendo until his laughter was closer to an animalistic roar than anything human.
"Why, Arian," Jacob finally managed, "we all would have died!"
Arian fidgeted nervously and looked away as Jacob continued his roaring laughter.
Chapter 50
***
Nestor woke up somewhere different. He went to sit up and couldn't. It took him a moment to realize that he was tied to a table. He tried to calm himself by focusing on his breathing and not the feel of the rope that crossed his chest and held down his arms. It was then that he realized that he was not alone. In the corner of his vision he saw that someone was standing in the shadows.
“What’s going on?” he grunted.
“I’m sorry, Nestor, there was a development while you slept,” the man walked over to Nestor as he spoke. He had bad teeth and his hair and beard were wild and unruly. His pale white skin was covered with scars and scratches.
“What? Who are you? Where's Aamir?”
“I’m the man who killed the mutant who was watching over you.”
“He was a man!”
“It couldn’t last. He’d been inoculated. There’s no point waiting around with your hand on the burner, just waiting for it to burn you. It’s for the best.”
“Why am I tied up?”
“Again, it’s for the best. The mutants, they’ve offered us a truce, in exchange for you. So you see, I don’t have any choice. Your head saves many heads. You’ll die a hero.”
“What are you talking about? Who wants me?”
“The King of the Mutants.”
“Who is he?”
“There are only rumors, Nestor, no one knows for sure. He has an army of mutants that he leads, eating every human in their path. Only a week ago, he left a survivor, with a message. The message was: that in exchange for the head of Nestor Bravo, there will be peace between man and mutant.”
"Why would they want my head? Where's this King of the Mutants? Or this army?! How do you know he even exists?"
“I don't know why he wants it, or where he is, Mr. Bravo. I do know that he is watching your feed, so I know that he will be coming here, to Eerie, Pennsylvania, now that he knows that his trophy awaits. Of course, he only wants your head. If you are in pain, or are afraid, I could kill you now, myself. Would that be for the best?”
Nestor stared at the man, who smiled back.
“No, I need some time to figure out something clever to say when you're dead.”
“Nestor, I want you to understand, I respect you. We all do. You will be remembered for the hero you are.”
The man forced a gag into Nestor's mouth before he walked out the door and turned off the light.
Chapter 51
***
"Mix it up, Mary. Don't fall into patterns like that. Never use the same order with the… NO! You have to remember, you're not just offense, you're defense. Everyday one team of Islanders is trying to re-encrypt, but they're not the danger. There's another team that's trying to hack us. They're the danger - don't forget them. This bunker has one server with satellite hookup capacity, if they get in there and melt it down - that's it! Come on… why do you think I had you memorize those algorithms, enter them in! Use the codes that I taught you!"
Mary just nodded her head, her eyes staying locked on her screen. They sat at a table with their computers connected in a closed circuit that Caleb had designed for her training. Mary quickly reached over and switched off-board drives in the fire-wire port. Caleb squinted his eyes as his own computer went black.
"I win!" she squealed.
Caleb smiled and went to give more notes when the door burst open. Tyler and his entourage stumbled in drunkenly. Tyler staggered next to Mary who stared at him with disgust.
"Why the mean look, beautiful," Tyler slurred. "I'm here to support you. I'm your biggest fan. Don't you know that?"
"Leave her alone, Tyler," Caleb growled.
"Why? What are you going to do? Your Indian friend isn't here. I wonder if he's feeling sick? It can't be long now before he has to leave, or we have to remove him, don't you think?"
Caleb nodded with a smile as the drunken men laughed and stumbled around the room.
"Mary, cover your ears for me, please," Caleb waited until she had pressed fingers into her ears and then he stood up and faced Tyler. "Tyler, you and the idiots leave now, or I'm going to tell you all about the weird things your girlfriend was willing to try with me since the world was about to end."
The room grew stony silent. Tyler pulled himself up to full height, his friends gathered to his sides.
"What did you say to me, nerd?"
"First, she kneeled on a barstool and then bent at the waist over the bar so that I could…"
"Shut up! Out! Everyone out now!" Tyler shouted. Once his entourage had left the room Tyler stared Caleb down. "You're a dead man, Caleb."
"When she talks about me does she smile?" Caleb sneered. Tyler moved close to Caleb, but Caleb held his ground. "Tyler, you leave now, or I'll cut off the whole cities access to Nestor's feed until they agree to banish you."
"That would never work."
"I don't think so either. But, are willing to risk it?"
Tyler waivered in the air drunkenly for a long time before he left the room, slamming the door as Caleb laughed at him. Caleb sighed with relief and then sat back down at the table, his hands shaking.
"Can I unplug my ears?"
Caleb nodded.
"I hate them," she hissed.
"Don't, they aren't bad guys actually. Just drunk and angry and hurt. The truth is, he just loves a girl and that makes him like that, weak, mean and stupid. One day you'll understand. Sex or love or lust or whatever, it changes people. It makes them the worst version of themselves."
"That's not what anyone else says about love."
"Yeah, well everyone else is just lying in order to get laid," Caleb shrugged.
Mary stared at him, a twist of disapproval at the corner of her mouth.
"Sometimes I think you aren't the best at talking to kids, Caleb."
Chapter 52
***
"Mr. President, why have you called me here?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Moreno, were you busy?"
"No, but I do enjoy being alive. I'm not sure being here with you is a step towards staying that way."
Victor Moreno nervously traced his mustache with his index finger, his eyes focused on the two snifters of cognac on the desk between him and October Carnegie.
"You mean because I beat one of your colleagues to death or because you and all of your living colleagues, including my uncle, met in Founders' Hall last night to plan how to kill me?"
Victor Moreno shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He reached out and grabbed a snifter of cognac and twirled it with a smile.
"A little of both, I suppose."
"I understand. Do you feel powerless?"
"I'm one of the most powerful men in the world, Mr. Carnegie."
October smiled and lifted the other glass.
"Are you? At Founders' Hall, did they listen to you? Did you even speak? The last time I met with all of the Founders on the mainland, my uncle spoke, Rockefeller spoke, Hintao spoke… you listened. You sat there and you listened. At the time, I thought you were simply weak, going along for the ride, with no opinion. I've changed my mind recently. I now think you were smart. Those who speak commit themselves. Those who stay quiet have options. You have options, Mr. Moreno."
"What options do you mean?"
"Their plot won't work, Mr. Moreno. They don't know that. Even if they did, they're committed. I'd like you to think about that. I'd like you to think about what will happen when their plot fails. I'd like you to think about where you want to be when their plot fails. I want you to think about how you might be useful to me when their plot fails."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"I'll explain. To be honest, the military doesn't adore me. They were promised that they were here to protect one group of people, and that another group of people, the ones they left behind, their grandmothers and best friends, were to be cured. Instead they had to sit by and watch them die. It was necessary, but they can't see that yet. Your son is a respected Three Star General. Because of your son, you carry weight that no other Founder does with the military. Those brave men! I appreciate that. I could use that. I'd like you to think about that."
Victor Moreno nodded his head slightly.
"That is all, you can go, Mr. Moreno."
Victor Moreno got up and walked towards the door. He stopped just before leaving and pointed at the screen on the wall. At that moment, the image on the screen was a series of meaningless numbers and letters, glowing bright white, before fading away leaving nothing but Nestor's point of view.
"Tell me, Mr. President, the codes that appear on Nestor's feed, do you know who sends them?"
"Of course, Mr. Moreno. I do."
"Who are you sending them to? Do you have connections on the mainland?"
October winked with a conspiratorial grin.
"Think about what I said, Mr. Moreno. You have options. Think about those options."
Victor Moreno nodded and left the room. October waited till he heard the outer-door close and then he grabbed a lamp and threw it at the screen shattering it into pieces.
"Maid! Miho!"
Miho arrived in the doorway a second before the maid. The maid, a beautiful young potent Islander, silently went to work cleaning up the shattered glass.
"Sir?" Miho said flatly eyeing the maid with disdain.
"Who is sending the coded messages, Miho? This Nevers guy?"
"I don't think so, sir. We have a team of specialists who spend all day trying to encrypt Nestor's feed and it's hacked every night. That's Nevers, we know that. The codes being sent seem unconnected. They seem to be something else."
"The smartest men on the planet live on this island, is there someone who's good at codes?"
"Yes, sir. In fact, Dr. Taggert…"
"Good. Go. Go now. I want to see him."
"Yes, sir."
Miho turned and left the room as the maid, having finished cleaning the mess, followed close behind.
Chapter 53
***
Jacob leaned against a wall, half a mile away from the soldier, as the day came to its end. With his heightened senses, Jacob could not still only see in the dying light, but could also smell and hear the soldier quite clearly.
The soldier wore a gasmask that obstructed his vision, but there wasn’t much to see here anyway. He pushed the button on the mask's side and waited for his breathing to be replaced by the static of the communication line.
“It’s done. The survivors believed us.
They are starting their hunt for Nestor as we speak,” the soldier said into the static.
“Very good. Report to the pickup location. Hit your location beacon when you get there. Until then, stay off line and keep hidden.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Good job, soldier.”
“Thank you, ma'am.”
“Ms. Walker is fine, soldier.”
“Thank you, Ms. Walker."
The soldier pulled his hand from the button and again his ears were filled with the sound of his own breathing. He walked down a series of deserted streets towards a dead forest that stood on the outskirts of the town. Once he passed the tree line he sat down and sipped from the water siphon that was in his mask. He took a few more pulls, but as he went to stand up the hand of a mutant reached from behind him and pulled him down to the ground. Claw-like hands immediately began searching him, removing his weapons and mask with quick efficiency before lifting him up, under the arms, and holding him off the ground.
The soldier looked the mutant in the face and tried not to seem afraid.
“Hi, I'm Jacob Rothschild and this here behind me, is Arian Mills. We're going to eat your flesh.”
“Please don’t!”
“Why not?”
“I’m a human being, a soldier, I...”
“A soldier? I thought all the soldiers were on The Island. What on earth is a soldier doing here in Pennsylvania?”
“It's a humanitarian mission.”
Jacob dropped the soldier, who fell to his knees with a dull thud. Jacob sat down on the ground cross-legged and leaned his head to the side to look into the soldier's eyes.
“Is that what they told you to say? Did they tell you to use the cover of a humanitarian mission on the occasion of being caught by a mutant? Because it seems like, well, trying to appeal to the humanity of something that isn’t human, is a bit fruitless.”
Monsters of the Apocalypse Page 13
