Chapter 24

  It's been a week since Lucy, Edmund and I rode the drone to the safe house. It was a very discombobulating experience; there were no windows in the drone, it felt like being in a sealed crate being rolled down a hill. Having my feet on the ground is more comfortable for me.

  We're on the coast, I can smell the ocean air, hear the crash of waves against the giant wall outside. All the windows have shutters but I peaked out last night to see the enormous wall.

  We've barely heard from Shimura. After Edmund has been put to bed at night Lucy has told me of the news; crime is getting worse by the day, the government is talking about using the military to maintain order.

  Lucy has been kind enough to let me use a data pad. I've been reading a lot, mostly Fiction from the early 2100's. It was a time soon after the Others made their final push to take over, not a lot of stories were written then but those that really seemed to speak from the heart.

  Edmund puts his hands on my knee, I look up from the pad and he holds his arms up.

  “Pick up.” He says with a grin. The little guy is learning English fast.

  I scoop him up and put him on my shoulders, his head almost hits the ceiling. He giggles as I move him around the room. He's a very well behaved little guy.

  “Outside.” He says.

  “Sorry buddy, can't go outside.” I say.

  Lucy calls out, “Lunch is ready.”

  We head into the kitchen, two of the five guards are already seated. I pick him off my shoulder and seat him.

  “Watch his head on the ceiling when you carry him.” Lucy says.

  “I make sure he's ducking for the door frames.” I say. “Edmund is picking up some English fast, you're picking up more as well Lucy.”

  “Thank you.” She nods a quick bow.

  It took a bit to get used to the raw synth cloned tuna, who would have thought uncooked fish could taste so good? You can actually taste the fish, not like the synth cloned cod they mash into fish cakes, and definitely more tasty then the MRE's back home.

  “It's a shame he can't go outside. Jennifer was crawling up the walls most days, we had to keep her inside a lot.”

  “That is a shame. She sounds like she is very spirited. I am glad you feel comfortable talking about her now.” She says.

  I am as well. No longer wallowing in self pity I think of the good times we had, that how things were left I may very well see my baby again. Even if she's in her 20's, she'll always be my baby. But I do need to protect her, not hearing anything about the training to receive the Gift is driving me crazy.

  “Any news of things?” I ask.

  “Please, Anthony, lets not talk about it in front of Edmund. He's learning English fast.” She says. I nod.

  “So what drew you to Charlie?” I ask.

  “He's very kind. He did not start out, um, going after me? He was happy to spend time with my brother and I learning our ways, teaching us English, even if it's a funny dialect of English. You speak more like the training recordings.”

  We both have a bit of a chuckle, there are times when I'm not quite sure what Charlie means.

  “I don't think he ever would have kissed me if I didn't tell him I wanted him to. He didn't want to offend or not be proper, and both our governments said not to be together.” She says.

  “We had the same issue with the governments wanting to dictate our personal life. They created monsters with the suits; and then they wanted to cage us, let us starve. I still don't know nor understand the details of Maria's deal. What pains me is she didn't confide in me. We were together for years, relying on each other, just the two of us. We shared everything, from scraps of food we split in half for the other to who we are.”

  “I do not know her. But maybe she needed to not think of her deal to go away for 10 years in order to get through the day. Maybe she did not wish to trouble you with yet another burden. You said she yelled for you to go away. When one yells, there is always emotion behind it. Both hate and love are emotions that come forward in such cases. Did I explain right?”

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  “Yes, close enough, I understand. But we didn't have time to work through that all, she knew we would not see each other for 10 years.”

  “Maybe she wasn't ready to deal with being apart from you for 10 years so she pulled away, to protect her heart.”

  “I won't know for another 9 1/2 years though.”

  “Then you won't know for another 9 1/2 years. But 9 1/2 years is a long time, you need to live life. Is there anything you want to do in life that you are free to do on your own without obligations?”

  “I want to see the wild, explorer, and sleep outdoors. Like how I did when we were alone in the city, only in the wilds. There was a small wooded grove in a big park where I lived. I went there and felt... free, felt at one with nature, like others were not deciding my fate. I dreamed of Maria and I having a farm, but mostly being in nature.”

  “There are not many places in nature in the world these days, nor places where either the Others or government wants to control. But there is a place that's.... um... wild west, is that still term?”

  “Yes, it's still used.”

  “Right, wild west. Australia. There is only two Others cities, but many Free people. But life is hard, you need good friends or you will have lots of enemies. But there a big patches of nature, mostly desert. But you big guy,” She punches me in the shoulder, “You be ok.” She says with a smile.

  Australia. I had never thought of that. It sounds perilous but not near as dangerous as the North American interior, with the many Other controlled cities and Q.I.Y. freemen trying to keep everyone out. North America was the epicenter of the Others taking power.

  “The idea of it seems so far away, I don't even know how all this will go.”

  We finish up lunch. I relax on the couch and start looking up Australia on the data pad, the history, the climate, what public information is available currently. Only two Other controlled cities; Perth and Sydney, the Northern Territory looks pretty devoid of Others. Wait, the movie we took Jen too. It had the guy with the knife. He went to where I was from though.

  “I see you're looking up Australia.” Lucy says with a smile.

  “Yes. I'm sure it's just a daydream, but I like the idea of it. These pictures look beautiful, the climate seems more dry then what I was thinking, but the Northern Territory seems pretty much like what I want, where I would like to be. Away from others.”

  “Stop saying what you don't mean.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You don't want to never see other people. You have just had too many bad people in your life, not all people bad.”

  “I seem to not be able to tell the difference between the good and the bad I'm afraid.”

  “Well Charlie, Edmund and me are good people, you don't doubt that, right?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Good. And we know good people, so there are many good people in the world. There are also many people in need. You can't spend your whole life not helping good people because your heart aches. Even without the Gift you special, you have an obligation to help people. You feel that, right?”

  “Yes. Even when we were starving we helped the Agents rescue and save wetware hosts. They made it hard for us to help, but we did. The first winter we were starving, 27 days without food but we helped a team in trouble. They turned and walked away because the government would punish them for acknowledging them, but we had to help.”

  “Just like we had to help you. In helping you, we help ourselves. Us helping you saves our country. Life is connected.” A chime comes from the other room. “Come with me.” I follow her, she turns on a radio.

  -Sister, I need to keep this short. They killed Jin. Tomorrow morning we're picking up Goliath, I have convinced the 5th to meet with him.- Shimura says, the translator is very echoey.

  -OK Brother.-

  -Be extra careful, Charlie is sending another dozen soldiers when he sends the transport for Goliath.-

  The transmission ends.

  “Things are moving fast now, Stanley. You should try to rest well tonight.”

  By now I know it's a dream, I'm fighting waking up, I want it to keep going. I'm walking through the Australian wilderness with Jennifer and Maria. Jen is older now, grown up. She's a beautiful, strong, happy woman. She's forgiven us for leaving her how we did. We're walking, the it's hot and dry out, the sun is blazing. We see a huge Monolith of a rock, rising from the earth; Uluru Ayres Rock.

  We're walking with spears, dressed in clothes we made ourselves, not synthetic materials. We reminisce about the good times when we first met, how we now survive off Emu when our suits talked of my Emu farm idea, the irony of it.

  A dark cloud rolls in fast, I feel the warm wind on me, the foul stink, the swirling chaos.

  He's here.

  I go to roll off my bed and am pinned in place with a sharp pain in my stomach. No... not again... my eyes focus, there are three men, tattoos up their arms, masked. A sword through my stomach I'm pinned to the bed. The pain is so bad I can't feel it, just a general numbing

  They speak in Japanese, one shrugs and they laugh as one stabs my leg with their sword. The cut in my leg heals instantly. They stop laughing.

  “You dangerous, but he say leave you alive, that stab in stomach won't kill you. Guess we see, eh?”

  They disappear. The sword in my stomach is an old blade. I call out for help, my call is met with silence. I need to move, I need to check on the others. Taking a deep breath I pull the blade out, I can feel the dampness of the blood pool under me. I fall to the floor, crawling out my bedroom door all I see is blood and one of the soldiers head laying on the floor, his mouth ajar, life gone from his eyes.

  No, I failed again, what did they do to Edmund and Lucy? I am the Grim Reaper, death and despair follow me. They were my charge to protect, I failed them. Things go hazy as I drift out of consciousness.