The Bloodless Read online

  “So, Enoch is it,” Justice said, “You look fairly young. Have you been here long?”

  “Call me Crowder,” he responded as they turned a corner down a hallway that had the ornate doors in the opposite direction to where they were heading, “and I’ve only been here a few months now.”

  “You comin’ to the service?”

  “Everyone is going to be there,” Crowder said.

  “Everyone?” Justice asked.

  “Attendance is compulsory.”

  “So we will see you there,” Justice said. “Do you like working for Mr. Halsted?”

  “Have a good day sir,” Crowder said as he opened up the front door to let them out. Justice smiled and without waiting for an answer walked out of the door, Fox and Crist behind him.

  “What’s next?” Justice asked once they were outside. “Seems we have some time to kill.”

  “We are going to go find a man named Borvo Kennedy,” Fox answered, taking in the land around them.

  “Friend of yours?” Justice asked.

  “One of the recruits I wanted to talk to specifically. He could be incredibly valuable to us.”

  “You know,” Crist said turning towards Justice, “you could be a little nicer to these people. They are being very gracious.”

  “Abby, you know what kind of people they are, right?” Justice said.

  “Of course I do, but that doesn’t mean you need to go around talking down to them like that. Just let them be,” Crist finished. She was always the compassionate one.

  “How do you expect to find anybody good here, Fox?” Justice said ignoring Crist. She rolled her eyes and walked back to the truck.

  “Because there are some people here who are believers, then there are some who just need a safe place to stay. That second group is who we are interested in,” Fox said. They too walked back to the truck and climbed into the cab. “But if we are lucky, we will catch one of the believers.” Fox started the truck and drove off.

  “How is that lucky?” Justice asked as the truck rumbled down the paths near the houses.

  “We need all the help we can get,” Fox said simply. He slowed the truck way down and began scrutinizing the houses as they passed. Unfortunately most of them were similar in build making it hard to discern one from another. After some time Fox stopped the truck in front of a house that had a tire swing hanging from a tree in the front yard.

  “Is this Kennedy?” Justice asked. “Maybe we should wait just in case he’s in the middle of a prayer.”

  Fox turned to Justice, “Most of the people here do not actually follow the beliefs of Abraham Halsted. In fact, a large portion of the residents here are former Armed Forces members, as I mentioned before, most of whom are survivors of Operation Prime Assault.”

  Justice’s disposition changed direction like a hairpin turn, “Oh shit,” he mumbled.

  “Exactly,” Fox said, “so you know damn well none of them are believers. Not after what they witnessed. This man, Kennedy, is one of those. I think exercising some tact would be within our best interests here.” Justice nodded solemnly. They exited the vehicle and walked up to the front door. Fox knocked.

  The door opened up and behind it was a small girl who couldn’t have been older than eight. She looked up at them with wide, blue-green eyes. “Adara,” a deep voice came from within the house, “who’s at the door?”

  “I don’t know,” the girl named Adara responded.

  Footsteps could be heard moving quickly through the house and soon a large man was in the doorway. He appeared to have muscles on his muscles and his face displayed several scars. Despite the mean mug, he projected an aura of calmness and kindness. “Can I help you?” he asked when he saw Crist, Justice, and Fox standing on his porch.

  “Mr. Kennedy, we talked a couple days ago,” Fox said. “You wanted to hear more about our cause.”

  “Oh yeah, I remember you now. Fox, right?” Kennedy said extending his hand to Fox. “These two the others you was talkin’ about,” he said, indicating Justice and Crist.

  “Yes. Abigail Crist, Daniel Justice, this is Borvo Kennedy,” Fox said.

  “Call me Burns,” he said as he shook Crist’s and Justice’s hands respectively.

  “Burns?” Crist asked.

  “Yeah, everybody calls me Burns, no reason why ya’ll can’t either,” Burns said. “Come on in,” he added stepping back into his house and leading them inside. The inside of the house was very simple. A few framed photographs were hung on the walls along with an ostentatious brass cross. The living room was scattered with toys, mostly grouped in the immediate vicinity around a mahogany toy chest. As they walked by the living room the little girl who was in tow went directly for the toys to resume her obviously interrupted play time.

  It wasn’t a big house by any stretch of the imagination but it comfortably accommodated two people. The floor plan was wide open and they walked through the living room straight into the kitchen where a small dining table was set up with only two chairs around it.

  “Sorry,” Burns apologized motioning for Crist to take a seat. “We don’t normally have guests,” he said clearly explaining the absence of additional chairs.

  “No trouble at all. Daniel,” Fox said as he held the back of the chair and motioned for Justice to sit. He and Crist sat in the chairs while Burns leaned against the counter in the kitchen and Fox stood, his hands behind his back.

  “All right,” Burns said, “impress me.”

  Fox looked at Justice expectantly but Justice looked back at Fox blankly. Fox bulged his eyes a little and twitched his head in Burns’ direction. Justice caught on and his eyes opened wide in surprise, his facial expression conveying bewilderment. He clearly was wholly unprepared to do any persuading. Justice resigned himself, cleared his throat, and looked at Burns.

  “Well, uh,” Justice cleared his throat again, nerves shook every noise that escaped his lips. “First off,” he started off timidly, “thank you for allowing us into your home.” Crist put a hand over her mouth in not-so-inconspicuous attempt to hide her smile. “Um, did Fox, um, did Fox tell you what we’re here about, at least? No,” Justice said his insides tightening up as Burns shook his head. “Ok,” he took a deep steadying breath and thought about his purpose. This helped him focus a little a shake his nerves off. “What we are doing is something that hasn’t been done before. It’s been tried but it failed in the past.”

  “Yeah,” Burns said when Daniel paused, “what’s that?”

  “Retake the GoD compound.”

  “The whole compound?”

  “Yes, but specifically the main building.”

  “But you gonna hafta take the whole compound to get to the main building.”

  “Well, yes, that’s part of it, I suppose.”

  “How many people you recruited so far?”

  “Besides us, there’s one other,” Justice said, suddenly embarrassed by the small number.

  “You fuckin’ retarded?” Burns asked with an incredulous chuckle.

  “Excuse me?” Justice said affronted.

  “You gonna get an army?” Burns asked.

  “No,” Justice said weakly, “the way we’re going to do it is with small numbers and stealth.” Again his words felt juvenile and inadequate in the presence of a Burns’ imposing stature.

  “You know I survived the first wave of the Armed Forces attempt to retake the compound?”

  “I am aware,” Justice replied.

  “They tore through five thousand trained soldiers that day like we was wet tissue paper,” Burns said, a subtle note of despair in his voice.

  “I understand, but listen,” and Justice suddenly began to feel confident as he began to tell his plan. “The reason that first wave failed so terribly was because of the numbers. We tried to tell them large numbers were a bad idea but the Armed Forces always has their own agenda.” Burns nodded in agreement as Justice continued, “The real trick is to fly under the radar as opposed to a head on collisio
n.”

  Feeling his confidence surge, Justice learned forward onto the table and continued, “I know just how to systematically infiltrate the defenses that were designed to be unassailable. Even the strongest structures are built with a weak point for situations just like this. Unfortunately we never had our defenses designed by a security company. It was all done in house, but-“

  Burns quickly cut across Justice, “We,” he said confused, “whaddya mean, we?”

  “Oh, I,” Justice stumbled, “that is to say, well,” and when Burns stared straight through him, “we as in my company, GoD Laboratories.”

  A ringing silence ensued. Burns puffed up a little and stood straight up off the counter he had been leaning on. He walked slowly over to where Justice was sitting and towered menacingly over him. He placed his hands on the table and bent over to look Justice straight in the face. “Get out,” he said with a growl.

  “What, wait,” Justice pleaded.

  “Now,” Burns said, murderous distain in his voice.

  “Well that didn’t go so well,” Crist said when they were back in the truck.

  “We are lucky to be alive,” Fox said as he navigated the winding paths by the houses. “I was not aware he was so opposed to anyone affiliated with GoD. It does make sense in retrospect, however.”

  Justice peered out of the passenger window, contemplating. It was not the first time he had met with extreme aggression after announcing his connection to the company that started all this and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. GoD Laboratories was responsible for more deaths than it reversed, which was obviously not their goal. By now Justice was used to it but that didn’t help the sting that seared his insides at the thought that he was in part responsible for the carnage.

  “Daniel,” Crist said when she noticed him staring off into space, “you okay?”

  “Huh?” Justice said coming back to Earth. “Oh, yeah I’m fine. Let’s just do this and get it over with. These people are a lost cause.”

  There was a nice park not too far from the Congregate Hall that they found and decided to wait in. They figured they could remain there without being bothered as people were still reluctant to go outside that close to Abiyah in fear of succumbing to the Cloud. They donned their masks and stepped out of the truck to venture around the park. It was a relatively nice evening that day, the air was mild and the wind was virtually non-existent but that was to be expected with towering walls all around.

  “Maybe word has gotten out about us and people are just steering clear?” Crist suggested when an hour passed without seeing a single living organism.

  “Or maybe everyone dropped dead,” Justice suggested miserably.

  “That’s not funny,” Crist said.

  “Not trying to be funny,” Justice replied.

  “Hey guys,” Fox said slowly, “come look at this.”

  Crist and Justice had been facing the opposite way as Fox but when they turned around they immediately saw what he was talking about. A single person stood in the distance. “Are they looking at us?” Crist wondered aloud.

  “It would appear that way,” Fox said, the lenses of his visor rotating to get a closer look at the person. “He seems very interested in us.”

  “What the hell is he doing?” Justice said. The figure appeared to have begun to move closer to them.

  “He’s coming this way,” Fox said his hand loosely gripping the hilt of his katana. The three of them waited tensely as the man continued to move their way. Moments passed and soon he was close enough to talk to them very loudly.

  “You are not welcome here,” his deep, nervous voice boomed through the space between him and Fox.

  “We mean no harm,” Fox replied coolly. “We simply seek people who are willing to join our fight.”

  “You are not welcome here,” he repeated.

  “Look,” Crist said annoyed, “we just want to say our piece and then we’ll be out of here.”

  “Please leave now,” the man said stubbornly, obviously not listening to or caring about anything they were saying.

  “We shall leave as soon as we have had our say,” Fox said. For a moment nothing happened, the man had no retort. They stood there staring at each other until a couple more people came out of nowhere. Then more. Soon nearly a dozen people had gathered in the park. Fox, Justice, and Crist were surrounded by what seemed to be a fledgling mob. The strange thing about these people was that not all of them were wearing masks and what was stranger was that they didn’t seem to be affected at all by the contaminated air around them.

  The trio tensed up even more as the possibility of a confrontation taunted them like a raw steak dangled in front of a hungry lion. It had never been their intention nor their desire to have to fight their way through innocent people but they weren’t about to surrender their lives that easily. “If you wish us to go, then we will, we do not want any violence. That is not why we are here,” Fox explained as more people showed up.

  “We know why you’re here,” a disembodied voice rang out from the crowd. “We don’t want to die and you can’t make us!” A murmur of ascent rippled through the crowd.

  “We aren’t here to force anyone,” Crist yelled.

  The crowd began to close in around them. Fox gripped his katana tighter, Crist put a hand on the stock of her gun on her side, but Justice did nothing. “No,” he said to the other two, “don’t fight back.”

  “What,” Crist protested, “I’m not just gonna stand here and take it.”

  “Yes you are,” Justice said, “we all are.” He looked at Fox. Fox nodded and took his hand off his weapon. The crowd closed in. They had nowhere to go as the crowd had swelled to over fifty people. “Crist,” Justice yelled when she still kept a hand on her gun. Reluctantly she let go. Hands closed on all of them, their weapons were confiscated and soon they were tied up and the mob dragged them away, out of the park.

  They were pulled through the streets of Jericho and after some time they arrived at the Congregate Hall where Mr. Halsted was standing in front draped in ceremonial robes, Crowder by his side. Halsted smiled as the mob approached, their captors at the forefront. “Unfortunately,” he started as Fox, Crist, and Justice were dumped in front of him, “my people have spoken and the outcome is not in your favor.”

  “You can’t do this to us,” Crist’s muffled yell came up from the ground as she had landed on her front. “Just let us go!”

  “You are within our jurisdiction now my dear, you have wandered in here willingly but you will not leave,” Halsted responded.

  “You plan to kill us?” Fox asked.

  “Yes,” Halsted said. “You are hereby sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence will be carried out tonight, when the darkness reaches its zenith.” The news was certainly a blow to hear. Not exactly a preferable outcome in any situation.

  “For what,” Crist blurted out, her anger rising. “For the murder of over one-thousand innocent people,” Halsted replied, disgust in his voice.

  “I didn’t kill anybody,” Crist shouted.

  “No, but you are in the company of pure evil. That tells us all we need to know about you,” he explained. Clearly they weren’t about to argue their way into a trial and even if they could it’s not like it would be a fair one. Hands came down upon Fox, Crist, and Justice again and hoisted them to their feet. They were ushered into the Hall and moved down a very familiar path, one they were welcomed through only a few hours ago. This time instead of turning away from the ornate double doors they were pushed straight towards them.

  A couple people jogged out in front of the mob and in tandem pushed the doors open. From the looks of the doors and the effort it took to open them, they seemed very heavy, as if made of solid gold. The fire light illuminating the halls glinted off the precious stones as the doors swung open revealing a massive chamber within. The chamber bore the appearance of a medieval dungeon or ritualistic chamber. In the center was a roughly dug pit and over the pit were steel gallows. The
entire chamber was an odd combination of ancient and modern influence.

  Theatre seating circled the pit and a podium stood on the gallows deck. It reminded Justice of an alternate version of the Roman Coliseum, a place where people came to revel in brutal displays of violence that more often than not resulted in death. There was no doubt about the outcome of this spectacle, however, as this chamber was built for the sole purpose of death.

  Stained glass windows lined the upper portion of the rock walls and a wooden rostrum was erected on the back wall of the chamber. On it were a few seats and a solitary microphone stand. Halsted took his place in the center of the rostrum, just behind the microphone, as Fox, Crist, and Justice were forced to stand on the gallows. Someone from the mob pushed a few buttons on the podium and three steel poles rose up from out of base of the gallows. Once fully risen, an arm unfolded from each pole creating a right angle at the top. Then from each arm fell a thick steel cable already tied up in a noose.

  The procedures proceeded without hesitation or the telltale signs of second guessing. We’re going to die, Justice thought as it became more and more evident that their fates were set in blood stained stone. No, we can’t die here.

  “Listen,” Justice said amid the roar of the crowd. “Listen! I can explain this!” But nobody was paying him any attention. A loud, shrill whistle blasted out from somewhere in the depths of the mob. Burns stood up on one of the benches surrounding the gallows and motioned for the people to quiet down, which they did almost immediately.

  “Let them speak,” Burns said after the last of the murmuring died out. “They have at least the right to tell us why they killed all those people.” Burns looked right at Justice whose mouth went dry.

  Justice stood between Crist and Fox looking around at the crowd that was now staring right at him waiting, probably expecting nothing more than lies. His mind went blank, he had wanted to do this but now that the time had come for him to try and talk his way out of Death’s clutches, he wasn’t sure he had it in him. The silence continued.