Chapter 99: Returning to the Fleet
Physically, Demarcus had mostly recovered from his encounter with the enforcers. He approached Orcille, who was at the enforcers flying vehicle, preparing his plan.
‘Every time you show up, something bad happens to my family,’ said Demarcus angrily.
‘I’m sorry about that,’ replied Orcille as he continued to work.
‘Are you really going to kill all those enforcers?’ asked Demarcus.
Orcille nodded.
‘I want to help you,’ said Demarcus.
‘No,’ said Orcille firmly, ‘you need to mourn the loss of your family.’
‘I want them all dead,’ cried Demarcus. ‘I hate them.’
‘You’re in pain,’ said Orcille. ‘You’re not yourself. You need time.’
Demarcus gazed at the scars on Orcille’s forearm. They had become slightly revealed because of the work he was doing. ‘Time. That really helped, you didn’t it?’ said Demarcus. ‘You’re still full of hate.’
Orcille turned to face Demarcus. He grabbed his hands. ‘You can do this. You’re better than me.’
Demarcus pulled away and walked back towards Darius. Demarcus stared at his brother for a few seconds. He really needed him, but all he could see was a blankness on his face. Demarcus walked past him. A few minutes later, he threw himself down on the ground. He really wanted to scream as loud as he could, but instead he buried his face in the ground. He fought as hard as he could to contain his emotions.
It did not take Orcille long to set up the flying vehicle. He was familiar with the technology. The Carvaress Company had developed much of it. Orcille and Darius carried the enforcers and pilot and placed them towards the back of the flying vehicle.
‘I promise you, it will be quick and painless,’ said Orcille to the three of them.
‘Your plan will fail,’ said one of the enforcers. ‘When we come back, we will kill you slowly and painfully.’
Orcille jammed a sweaty sock in his mouth. ‘Consider this your inflight entertainment.’
‘This is still so wrong,’ said Denise as she watched on.
‘Think of it as the lesser of two evils,’ replied Orcille.
‘I think the better choice is no evil at all,’ said Denise, emphasising the word ‘no’.
Denise and Demarcus stood back as Orcille launched the flying vehicle. It sped off at top speed to catch up with the rest of the fleet.
Demarcus walked over to Orcille. ‘I want to be the one who does this. They killed my family. I need to be the one to kill them. I can do it. It will be just like playing a computer game,’ said Demarcus.
‘This is not a computer game,’ replied Orcille. ‘It is a sophisticated remote controller.’
‘Just don’t screw this up,’ sneered Demarcus.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll do what needs to be done,’ replied Orcille.
Demarcus angrily glared back at Orcille.
Orcille looked up at the sky. ‘I think we might get rain. I have a tarp we can pull over my vehicle.’
The three of them pulled the tarp over the orange vehicle. It soon began to rain. Hamlet and Darius took shelter under a tree. From the vehicle, Denise gazed at Darius. Orcille noticed her gaze.
‘You still love him,’ said Orcille.
‘You don’t stop loving someone just because they change species,’ said Denise.
‘I think he’s still Sapien but has become Sapiod-like,’ said Orcille.
‘Can he be returned to his normal self?’ asked Denise.
‘Sadly, no,’ said Orcille. ‘However, we can greatly improve his functionality and his intellect.’
‘How?’ asked Denise.
Orcille shook his bag of medication. ‘I have a few things in here that can awaken parts of his brain. Unfortunately, I can’t do anything about his appearance.’
‘That’s not so important,’ said Denise. ‘I want the “him” on the inside. The outside means far less.’
Demarcus shook his head disapprovingly as he looked out into the rain.
After just an hour, the rain had stopped. Orcille checked the progress of the enforcer’s flying vehicle. It had nearly caught up with the fleet.
Orcille looked through the medication in his bag. He pulled out two medications. He approached Denise, who had just finished folding the tarp.
‘If we give him these two medicines twice a day, it should stimulate his brain and bring back some functionality.’
‘Oh, thank you,’ said Denise. She hugged Orcille.
‘I must warn you,’ said Orcille. ‘The medication could cause him to become extra aggressive. If you notice that, stop giving him this medication for a few days.’ Orcille held up the brown medication.
‘Yes, yes, yes. Can we start now?’ asked Denise enthusiastically.
‘Sure,’ said Orcille. ‘Let me show you how to do it.’
Orcille approached Darius. He gently stroked Darius’ hair. Darius sat down calmly. ‘We need to do this orally, as he isn’t going to like injections,’ said Orcille. ‘Luckily, my pharmacist friend put in these droppers.’
Orcille turned towards Darius. ‘Maaagh,’ said Orcille as he stuck his tongue out. Darius responded by sticking his tongue out. Orcille quickly squirted the two medications into Darius’ mouth. ‘That’s how it’s done,’ said Orcille with a grin.
Denise clapped with joy.
Orcille pulled out his remote controller. ‘They caught up just in time,’ said Orcille to both Denise and Demarcus. ‘The fleet has not attacked the Carrington Region yet.’
Meanwhile, in the flying vehicle, the pilot had managed to free himself. He untied the two other enforcers. He then rushed to the controls in an attempt to regain control of the vehicle. After a few minutes of tinkering with the on-board computer, the pilot regained control of the flying vehicle.
Orcille was unable to control the vehicle with the controller. ‘Looks like I lost control of their flying thing,’ he said.
‘You’re an idiot,’ said Demarcus angrily as he slammed the side of the orange vehicle with his hand.
‘Stay calm,’ said Denise. ‘Maybe this is for the better.’
The speaker on the remote controller was activated. It was one of the enforcers from the flying vehicle. ‘You failed, loser,’ shouted the enforcer. ‘Once we’ve wiped out the traitors here, we’re coming back for you.’
Orcille spoke into the microphone on the controller. ‘Since you just escaped death, I was hoping you would reconsider your attack on this or any region.’
The enforcer burst out laughing. Demarcus frowned at Orcille.
Now that the flying vehicle had returned to the fleet, the commander of the fleet wanted to make contact with the pilot.
‘Hey, you took your time catching up,’ said the commander to the pilot.
‘Sorry, sir. We encountered a few problems, but it’s all fine now,’ replied the pilot.
The fleet had now moved above the Carrington Region. Most of the violence had died down. Those supporting the House of Divine Knowledge had taken control of the region. This did not change the mission given to the enforcers.
‘Hey 12T, how would you like to do the honours of firing on the House of Divine Knowledge main building?’ said the commander.
‘I’d love to, sir,’ replied the pilot with glee. The pilot locked his weapon system onto the main building. He pressed the launch button.
Instead of firing, the weapons began to lock onto the other enforcers’ flying vehicles. The pilot began to panic. He could not figure out what was going wrong. Then all the rockets in the vehicle fired in very quick succession. Dozens of flying vehicles were blown out of the sky. One of them was the commander’s vehicle. The remaining flying vehicles opened fire on 12T, destroying it within seconds.
Orcille, Demarcus, and Denise watched the small screen on the controller. It showed a radar-like map of all the flying vehicles. When they were destroyed, they disappeared from the map. They were able to observe the destruction until 12T was destroyed.
‘Did you do this?’ asked Denise sternly.
‘No,’ said Orcille, ‘I lost control over their vehicle.’
‘This has something to do with you,’ said Denise.
‘I think out of guilt they decided to commit suicide,’ said Orcille.
‘They got what they deserved,’ said Demarcus.
Denise snatched the controller off Orcille and walked off with it.
Meanwhile, in the Carrington Region, on witnessing the commotion above them, the residents who supported the House of Divine Knowledge opened fire from the ground with the weapons they had seized from the local enforcers.
They were no match for the remaining flying vehicles. Within minutes, hundreds of them were killed. Two of the flying vehicles landed. The remaining rebellious residents surrendered.
One of the enforcers on the ground assumed leadership of the fleet. He called the Head Enforcer to inform him of their success and their heavy losses. The Head Enforcer was angry. He wanted that fleet to take control of several other regions, but because of the shortage in numbers, he told them to remain in place.
In many other regions, artificial intelligence took over enforcer air and land vehicles. This intervention was enough to swing street fights in favour of the residents who supported the enforcers.
Merida had been captured in West. The residents who supported the enforcers were trying to force her to publicly denounce the House of Divine Knowledge. She remained stubborn and refused to do so. This led to her being beaten and abused. It did not appear that she was going to change her mind.
Some regions still had access to the trains, but most others had become completely isolated. Therefore, trains that were running were forced to skip stations that were closed.
A family supportive of the Business Sector and the enforcers managed to get on a train bound for the Capital Region. The children of that family looked out the window of the train as it sped along. ‘Daddy, what are those things?’ asked the youngest child.
Her father peered out the window. He could see the Sentray running alongside the train tracks. He turned back to his family. ‘It is proof that conspiracy theories are incredibly dangerous. The contaminated water has not only made the Sapes vicious. It has now made them enormous. If it wasn’t for the Carvaress solution, we would all become like them.’
The child took several photographs with the camera on her mobile phone.
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