A Man of His Time

By NFalc


16
Calm Before The Storm


"You did it to save my life," Kyra says finally as we head towards the rendezvous point, passing the bodies of fallen Establishment guards as we walk.

"I thought she was going to kill you," I say again, willing it to be true. I can't even be sure of my own motives anymore. It seemed like she was going to...

"Let's just not talk about it," Kyra says, and I hate her icy tone. I can't blame her, though. When I think about what I've done, I can't believe she doesn't hate me.

There are Truthseekers milling around, exchanging high-fives and handshakes, winks and smiles. We did it. No one thought we could, but we did. From my perch on Kyra's neck, I can almost feel like one of them. Certainly, I can share in their joy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. At least I hope that's how it works.

Kyra picks her way around the rubble, until we come to the area where most of the Underground has set up. A few Truthseekers are discussing strategy with a group of guys, who seem quite interested - in the strategy or the girls, I can't tell. Overall the mood is still upbeat ("except you killed her sister!" a small voice shouts in the back of my head).

She puts me on the tabletop, and says, "I think I need a little time alone," and turns away. I cross my fingers and hope she comes back feeling a little more upbeat.

"Hey," I hear a voice behind me, and turn to see Jot Orem standing to his full imposing height. His grim expression breaks into a small smile. "I'm glad you're alive," he says. "We're meeting to discuss further plans. Follow me."

We move along to a more isolated desktop, where Ash is waiting. She smiles, showing off huge straight white teeth, upon seeing me. "Are we all here?" she asks.

"Those of us who need to be, are." Jot replies.

"What exactly are we meeting about?" I interrupt. "We defeated them. The people know, and we've killed off most of the Establishment's army. They're finished."

"Not quite," Ash says. "Make no mistake, this was a major blow to their power. However, with an organization like the Establishment, there's always a backup plan. We broke into a few of their data systems, and found out that all their crucial personnel have been moved to a hidden base not too far from here."

"The next question," Jot continues, "Is why we have to continue after them. The answer is that until we are sure they are gone, completely finished, we will not be able to create a new government without the threat of the Establishment returning."

"So you see," Ash says. "This can't be finished until every important member of the Establishment is either dead or under control. Only then can we plan the new society."

I take a moment and think about what they told me. She's going to die. There's no way we'd be able to control her. She has to be killed. And I have to be the one to do it. It fills me with a mix of anticipation and dread.

"When do we move out?"


I have six hours to kill before I can finally finish what I've started. I realize now that this is what I've been heading towards all along. Leaving the ruins, I'd been seeking the woman who destroyed my city, and even if I never thought of it, the only possible end to my quest would be to destroy her in turn.

I try to keep my mind off other things. The friends who have died. Those that I've killed. Wouldn't it have happened anyway, if I hadn't been there? Maybe, but definitely not as quickly. Murderer, the voice says, you're a murderer. Their blood is on your hands. Not just Sable and Judas, but Antoine and Raymond too... As long as I keep fighting, those I love will continue to die...

I dig my fingers into the sides of my head, dig in hard, and press down. It doesn't do anything but cause me pain. I need some distraction. I get up and walk.

My first thought is to go talk to Ash, review our battle plans, maybe chat. But when I find her, she's already engaged in whispered conversation with someone. I use my zipline to climb up to a countertop. There, on the couch next to her, is Dustin. He stares at her, completely absorbed in watching her talk.

Even after everything else I've been through, I can't help but smile.

Walking onwards, I find a TV set turned to the local news channel. On a screen bigger than any I've ever seen in my life, I watch women marching through the streets, leaving burning government buildings and overturned police cars behind them.

Jot sits on the couch in front of the TV, completely dwarfed by the sofa around him. It's almost ridiculous, it looks so different from the awe-inspiring image of him upon his throne. But he still has dignity, even among these immense objects - it's only the contrast that's funny.

"The riot's really kicking up now." I say. "Is it really us that caused this?"

"The photographs are what is fueling the fire," Jot says, nodding slowly. "Without them, these riots would end quickly. People would return to their homes quietly, but now that they know of us, they won't stop until there is change. But they are too unorganized to create that change. The Establishment is foolish: if we fail in our mission, they will still lose power, the only difference is that the city will tear itself apart."

"What do you think we'll happen when they're gone? To us, I mean."

He takes a long look at me. "They could make us equals, or they could treat us worse than the Establishment did. Only time will tell."

I leave him to his news reports, and continue on.

It's only after I've walked for fifteen minutes away from him that I remember Mary. Dustin had said something about her being put in chains... I run up to the nearest Truthseeker, a slender woman with skin the color of coffee dosed with large amounts of milk. She reminds me of storybooks I'd read as a kid, about a land that existed long ago, known as India.

Her smooth brown feet are bare, and I tap gently on the side of her arch. She starts at this, her feet springing upwards slightly, which startles me as well, but she quickly spins round, her dress whirling in the air above me. She crouches down, and seeing me, her big, exotic eyes light up.

"Do you know where they are holding the prisoners?"

"Sure," she says, smiling. She's really very pretty, but I'm already in love, with two different women no less. I quickly accept her offer to ride on her shoulder, and she gracefully carries me down to the makeshift prison.

I quickly realize it to be an Establishment cell block - bare cement rooms with bars over the small windows. "I'm looking for a woman - she has brown hair about this long, and blue eyes..."

The Indian woman nods, causing me to grip her shoulder tightly to make sure I don't fall off. She points to a cell door, then calls over a nearby guard.

"The woman in that cell is innocent. She needs to be set free. If you need authorization, you can ask Ash, tell her that Adam said she was not guilty..."

The guard nods and opens up the cell. She leads Mary out, and undoes her handcuffs. Mary's beautiful brown hair is tousled, but she has somehow managed to remain beautiful despite her capture and the huge amounts of stress she must have been under. She looks at me lovingly as the guard undoes her handcuffs.

I whisper in my carrier's ear, and she sets me down on a small ledge near the bench where Mary's sitting. We can see almost eye-to-eye. I thank the woman and the guard, and they leave.

"I'm sorry for doubting you," I begin. "I almost thought that you led them to us on purpose."

"So did everyone else, apparently," she says with a roll of her eyes. "I suppose it's just another form of payback. Karma. I don't doubt that I deserve it."

I shake my head. "I don't want to hear about that. You don't need it, and neither do I. Let's not talk about the past."

"What's done is done," she agrees. "I'm so glad you're okay, I'd heard you were captured..."

"Yeah," I say. "Let's not talk about that either."

"Maybe we shouldn't talk at all," she says with a smile, and tilts towards me. Her lips find me, and I bury my head between them, her warm mouth dampening my hair. Let me dissolve.

I feel her hand come behind me, gently cradling me, as we continue to kiss. She lowers me gently, moving her head downwards to continue the kiss as I drop. Let me not think.

She holds me to her as she walks out of the cell block, towards a small lounge area down a corridor. She closes the door behind her, turns the latch, then slides onto the couch, keeping me close to her chest all the while. I can feel her racing heart through her soft breast. Let me forget.

She slides me over her, and I feel myself go hard. Her hand guides me over her stomach, down all the way to her crotch. With her other hand, she unzips, not speaking a word. She reveals herself to me. Then I leave her grasp, straining forward to enter her. Unity. Let me be lost.

We make love, desperately, each needing the other. I dive into her, deeper and deeper, as if I'm trying to reach her core. I hear her shout above me, and I feel like shouting too, losing myself in the physical, forgetting all my senses except the pure pleasure. Let me be erased.

The pleasure slowly fades, and I let her muscles push me gently outwards, back towards the surface. I'm fading away too, and I want so badly to stop thinking that for a moment I almost manage to. But as I go off to sleep, a single, terrible thought remains. I know why I went to Mary, why I wanted this. She and I are two wrongs trying to make something right. We're both murderers.


Murderer, murderer they call. Blood on my hands. The blood of everyone in my town. Murder, murder is a sin. The sins of the father. What sins?

The ground is blood too, hard, shiny and slick. Not blood, leather. Red leather of a shoe. I'm standing atop the shoe that destroyed my town. Killed everyone I knew except Raymond.

"Polish it," a voice from above booms, and I find a rag in my hand and I begin to polish, rubbing it until it shines. I'm so eager to please. Cheryl's looking down from above, full lips curled into a smile. "Did anyone ever tell you how cute you are?"

And just like that, I'm as guilty as she is. I murdered the town along with her - look who's polishing her shoes. Look who slept with her! Look who could've saved his father if he'd only spoken up. Look who could've saved his best friend if he'd only been more cautious. I was guilty even before I murdered Judas, even before I left the junkyard.

Then the shoe is lifted high in the air, and I see Kyra's face before me, tremendous, even larger than Cheryl's. "You killed my sister," she says. "I love you, but I have to kill you too." Then her hand shakes the shoe, and I tumble downwards, falling all the way down. But the blood has soaked into the ground, and it cushions my fall.

Her foot is raised high above me. I can see the sole of her foot, those cute toes, every little detail as it comes crashing down upon me.


I wake up. She carries me to the bathroom, and gently rinses me off in the sink, beaming at me all the while. "I love you so much," she says.

"I love you too," I tell her back, and I do mean it. I may have used her just now, but I do love her. But I love Kyra too, and I know that I can't have them both, I know that I will break at least one of their hearts.

It's Mary who takes me back to the makeshift headquarters. As soon as Jot, standing on the countertop, turns to see us, he cries out. "How the hell -" he begins to say.

"She didn't start the attack, Jot," I say. "She led them to us, but without knowing it. Cheryl used her, just like she used me. Cheryl told me herself."

"I wouldn't question your honesty, Adam," Ash says. "But are you absolutely sure about this?"

"Completely," I respond. "It's not like I'm making things up, this is what I was told, and she had no reason to lie."

"Very well then," Ash says. "Do you have the report I asked of you, Mary?"

Mary fishes a small, folded scrap of paper from her pocket. "As promised."

From my vantage point on Mary's shoulder, I can see Kyra. She looks suspicious. If she finds out I was with Mary... After killing her sister... I'm such an idiot! How could I have done this? I can never let her find out.

"Then you're officially on our side," Ash tells Mary. "I must say you have excellent timing. You see, tonight, one way or another, the Establishment will fall."