Chapter 9, Part I

Ehoti shuddered as the elevator glided to a stop. A day ago, the first floor was crawling with mentally stable guards, watching carefully for any signs of intruders. Now every one of those guards would be infected, all of them able-bodied and armed to the teeth. Ehoti revolted at the thought of having to fight their way through more guards, the cry of “Murderer!” resounding louder in his head. But as the door opened and a wide-eyed guard rushed toward them with a scream, he gave into his thoughts without much resistance.

To their surprise, most of the guards did not give more than a passing glance to the newcomers, consumed with the desires of It. Two guards grappled a few feet away, fighting for the ownership of some trinket. Another infected sentry stridently bellowed random sentences, his voice overcoming the voices of all the other guards.

It really was an eclectic array of chaotic activity, each man’s passion based off their base interests and personalities. Some guards even stood silently in a corner, gnashing their teeth together. The entire plethora of guards, to say the least, was frightening.

Leading the way to the door, Gerate shoved an inactive soldier out of his path and raced into the airfield, followed by his comrades. Several of the aircraft were on fire, the arid stench of burning fuel stinging their noses. Hurrying along, they saw the signs of destruction everywhere they looked.

Ehoti noticed that Desidu seemed to be lagging behind, looking intently at one of the burning aircraft. The rebel’s face looked alarmingly peaceful as he slowly began to walk toward the ship, almost as if he was in a trance. Ehoti ran over to him.

“Desidu, we need to leave here now! One of these ships could explode and kill us!”

Desidu shook his head. “It is calling to me – something tells me it will bring me fulfillment.” He continued toward the aircraft, watching the conflagration with interest. There was something wrong with him, and Ehoti began to worry. Quickly, he grabbed Desidu by the shoulders and turned him around. “We need to leave, now!”

Desidu shook himself free. “I will stay, Ehoti. I will stay with this beautiful-“

“WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?” Ehoti screamed. “You are going to kill yourself!”

“If this beautiful display of color cannot bring me fulfillment, yes!” Desidu smiled. “Looked at the brilliant orange-“

Ehoti grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him. “You are coming with us, Desidu – even if I must drag you out of this wretched place!”

Desidu screamed, wriggling out of Ehoti’s grasp. “You can have your insularity if you wanted to, you bigoted idiot! I want to enjoy life! I want fulfillment-“

A tremendous roar cut him off midsentence, the shadowy form of some large creature visible through the smoke. Ehoti continued to pull on Desidu’s arm. “We have to leave, comrade!”

The sound of a great wind reached their ears as Ehoti fell to the ground. Desidu turned too late to see the Querilon monster bounding toward him with its gaping mouth opened wide. Ehoti scrambled away in terror as menacing jaws closed on the crazed rebel, ending his tragic life in moments.

As It had taken control over the creature’s mind, the monster itself had grown in proportion. Rising up on two enormous hind legs, the beady eyes watched the two remaining rebels flee into the smoke. But it made no move to devour them. They were two men – hardly more satisfying than the mouthful it had just consumed. There were greater populations of Netopians to be found in the city, and It did not worry about a living Netopian as long as they remained ineffective. Bellowing loudly, the monster turned around and ran into the downtown area of Netopia.

*****

Yive shut the door and turned to Reshnu, anger displayed all over his face. “I told you our rules forbid a man to communicate with a woman!”

Reshnu bowed his head, his knees shaking. “I’m sorry.” He now heartily regretted defying Yive, remembering that the old man had saved his life. Who was he, a little boy, to decide what was right and what was wrong? He felt terrible.

Yive sighed. “I know it is hard for you, Reshnu – you are in a very different culture than you once lived in. The rules are foreign to you, but they must be obeyed!”

Reshnu nodded. He did not understand these rules or their purpose. Some seemed outright ridiculous to him, and he wished that the society of the Veti was not so strict. But he began to wonder whether there was a reason behind them, and asked timidly where the elder had learned the rules.

The old man’s face was transformed at the question. It seemed an eternity to Reshnu before he finally answered the question. “I created them, Reshnu.” He sighed.

“But why? Why all these rules?”

Yive shook his head. “It would be difficult to understand-“

“Please?” Reshnu looked pleadingly up at the elder.

Breathing deeply, the Veti walked to the balcony and gazed into the night sky. Finally, he spoke.

“I used to live in Netopia City, Reshnu – with my wife and my only son. It was a time of peace on the planet. The republic we lived in allowed us to share the truth with others. But then things changed.

A young man rose to power – a young man fearful of losing that power. Though at first he was tolerant of the living and their message, the supreme authority he possessed began to corrupt him. Slowly, his heart turned against us.

Spreading the message soon became illegal and almost impossible. We were faced with a choice: to stay where we were in the defilement of the city, or to remove ourselves and start our own colony. Most agreed to move somewhere remote, where we could live in isolation and light. No evil would be allowed in.

But my son was of a different mindset.” Yive swallowed, his eyes wet. He continued on. “My son believed otherwise. He believed we should stay and spread the truth among the Netopian people, in spite of their hostility. The debate grew worse, until finally the day came for our surreptitious exodus.

He refused to come with us, instead running away to join a covert rebel group of the living. And that was the last we ever heard of him.” Yive forced his tears away, turning back to Reshnu. “May you never stray on such paths of wickedness. You have your entire life before you – do not waste it on frivolity! Heed the instruction of you father!”

The old man sighed, looking into the sky. “If only I could see Lova one last time, I would be content…”

*****

Narva stiffened as a dismal wail echoed outside, sending a shiver up his spine. How many people had this infection devastated? How many were dead? Were the infected citizens aggressive? Not much could be determined from the single window in his lodging place.

He turned away from the window and strode to the door. He couldn’t wait in this hole any longer – he had to know what was going on out there and how bad this new “infection” was! Grabbing a cloak from the rack, Narva donned it and carefully listened through the door for signs of the infected throngs.

Hearing nothing, he quietly opened the door, glancing into the empty street. It was such a strange-looking sight – a main throughway not dotted with a single soul. A sight that felt almost like an unearthly dream.

Narva shut the door and glanced in both directions, but no one was in sight, anywhere. Quickly, he strode to a near-by tunnel passageway and peered inside the dimly-lighted interior. There was not much he could see in the gloom, many of the overhead lights lying in pieces on the ground. Had there been a fight? There was no way of telling who or what had desolated the lighting.

He stiffened as a rustling noise echoed from the tunnel. Though he wasn’t sure, he thought he heard the faint but steady sound of someone’s breathing. Who would wait in a dark tunnel such as this, alone? Instinct reached his arm into his jacket, hand closed around his firearm. He was not going to be caught off-guard.

Slowly, Narva stepped into the tunnel and began to walk into the gloom, further and further away from the pale light of day. Now the overhead lights were few and far between, forcing him to trail his hand on the wall as he continued on into the depths of the tunnel. A stench arose; the smell of something long dead. Holding his breath, he removed the weapon from his pocket and pointed it in front of him.

Suddenly a figure emerged from the darkness, so quickly he didn’t have time to aim. Narva fired, the cartridge flying aimlessly into the inky blackness behind the stranger. Taking a step back, Narva fumbled for the knife he always carried in his belt. Could he have forgotten it in his anxiousness to see the city?

“Are you a friend or foe?” The voice was surprisingly young-sounding, probably belonging to a young man of about twenty-five. Flattening himself against the wall, Narva released the lock mechanism on his firearm and aimed at the newcomer’s head.

“I’m not going to hurt you – I was ordered to save, not bring down to the depths. Put down your weapon.”

“No!” Narva glared into the darkness at the figure he could barely distinguish in the gloom. “You could be lying, like I do every day!”

“So you are one of them – dead too? I was afraid so.” The voice sounded sad, as if it sympathized with him. But Narva had developed an intense apathy to sympathy. In fact, he had grown to hate it.

“Dead? You, who are veiled in the darkness of this tunnel, are more likely to be dead than I am! I don’t believe that filth about life and death! I am over life and death!”

“Then why do you fear me?”

Narva bit his lip and swallowed. “I don’t fear you – I simply serve myself and am going to keep this life, even if you must lose yours!”

The voice stopped for a moment as the newcomer contemplated this. “Go ahead, then. I kill myself every morning; I’m not afraid to die again.”

Narva scoffed. “Lies and baloney – no one kills themselves and lives to tell of it! Leave, before I kill you for your first and last time!”

The figure made no sign of moving, the steady sound of breathing still the same distance away. “Should I run from you when He ran to me? If anyone could have been repulsed, it was-“

Narva had had enough of this conversation. The stranger was not going to move, and the resolute courage was unmatched to any criminal he had ever met. Something was different about this person – and he did not want to find out what it was.

The shadowy figure did not flinch as Narva took aim, his finger tightened on the trigger. Was he bluffing, despite the possible cost? Who would bluff in the face of certain death? Something told him this was a bad idea, but that something was overweighed by the survival instinct wielding the gun.

The figure started as two loud reports split the air, followed immediately by silence. He was shocked to find that he felt no pain anywhere on his body, even though he was still in the same tunnel. Had his antagonist missed on both shots? The stranger cautiously stepped forward, gazing at the slumped figure of Narva leaning against the wall. And then he realized the truth.

The weapon had backfired – Narva had shot himself.

A brief moment of elation consumed him as he surveyed the injured Narva. He wasn’t dead, but would be out cold for some time, and this would provide enough time for the stranger to disappear into the city. He had been delivered!

A voice broke the stillness, drawing away his attention – a voice that was so deep it could barely be heard. “I should leave, now. He’ll be better for the experience, and now I won’t be a target-

“What if He had done that?” Another voice, more shimmery and light-filled, cut off the first. “You know I have to stay!”

“No, no! I would be crazed to do that! We need to leave, now!” The deep voice began to get louder. “I am not going to put myself in danger!”

“But He did, and I know-“

“I don’t care! I should have trusted me all along, and not gone with ridiculous reasoning that did not belong to me. Helping in times of trouble! I like that – putting myself, the most important, before others? Stupid and-“

“My express command.”

“Who cares out the ‘express command’? No one listens anyway – He even said that not all would accept!”

The stranger began to shake, his face breaking out into a cold sweat. His arm reached out and took hold of something he couldn’t see. The deep voice vegan to drown out the lighter voice.

“Is myself with me or not? There can only be one head-“

“And that rightly should be me!”

“No!” The deep voice was furious. “Besides, I cannot be stopped! I have the power of the darkness to crush all other heads, and the other side can’t do a thing without Him and His light!”

The man felt his fingers tighten around something, as if he was grappling for a lethal hold on a man’s throat. Horrible visions of his past life began to fly before his face, condemning him.

The lighter voice let out a muffled scream. “I can’t do this alone! You need to help me overcome my foe! I need to-“ The voice broke off with a yell as the deep voice screamed, shouting but gradually reducing in volume. It bellowed as the lighter voice grew louder and louder, until the bellowing faded out into silence. With a final yell, the lighter voice faded away too, leaving the man in the silence of the tunnel.