Love Bug (13 page)

-30-

Eldritch found himself oddly bored. His Em-Pak controlled and dissipated emotions and feelings and boredom was not one of them. In fact, Eldritch suspected that his Em-Pak and a lack of emotions made his boredom even worse, removing the very things that might offer some small distraction. Numerous administrative tasks always need to be accomplished and minute details needed his careful attention, but the excitement of overthrowing the ERC Council had waned and left him empty. The distractions of his position provided some degree of relief, but not much. He needed something new to turn his attention towards, and focus on, or otherwise he would become no better than the group of people he had just deposed.

For lack of a better
option, Eldritch punched a few keys on his computer and brought up the video feed from his family’s car crash. Maybe some small splinter of affection laid buried deep within, hidden from his Em-Pak or maybe he was just bored. Either way, Eldritch found himself staring at a topsy-turvy world through the dashboard camera of limo. There was really nothing new to see. The ERC officer covered in blood, crawling out and getting killed by Reds. That nasty little Emo boy showing up to do God knows what. If only there was something in the video that Eldritch could use, some small bit of information that would give him new direction. And perhaps even more importantly, give Captain Ortiz and his men direction.

Eldritch had trusted Ortiz, but now wond
ered about the man’s loyalties. Ortiz had already overthrown one set of rulers, so would it really be a stretch for him to do it again, especially now that he knew how? If Eldritch was in Ortiz’s position, he knew that the thought would be forming in his mind. It was the logical next step. Ortiz surely would desire the control and power that he had just helped Eldritch achieve.

Eldritch broke from his thoughts and cued a series of Em-Pak Identification numbers. Running a quick program put the numbers in a sort of electronic lockbox, one that was linked directly to Eldritch’s own Em-Pak. Should his
ever cease to function and sense his vital signals, the lockbox would open and deactivate the loaded identification numbers. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it would ensure that if Ortiz or his men ever got smart enough or brazen enough to kill him that Eldritch could at least take them with him.

The other small splinter of worry that festered and rotted within Eldritch’s mind was what to do with the Em-Paks. His father’s notes had clearly said that they would
eventually lose their effectiveness, but was that because of a body building resistance or because of the Em-Pak’s signal weakening? A physical resistance to the Em-Pak would be far more difficult to manage, but increasing the signal should be easy enough. All Eldritch needed was a guinea pig.

Pressing the intercom, Eldritch waited impatiently for the three or four seconds it took his aide to respond.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Eldritch?” the aide’s voice sounded robotic and tinny through the intercom speaker. “How can I help you, sir?”

“I need you in my office,” Eldritch barked. “Now.” He could hear his aide’s chair push back from the desk outside his office doors even before
the echo of his words dissipated.

“Yes, sir?” the aide asked as he stepped through the large oak double doors. “What can I do for you
, sir?”

“Just stand
there, please,” Eldritch said. His aide’s Em-Pak began beeping away, correcting his nerves, no doubt. Eldritch figured it probably was more his use of the word please than it was his odd request that caused his aide’s Em-Pak to work overtime.

“Okay,” his aide said slowly. “Yes, sir. I can do that.”

“Good,” Eldritch said without looking up. He began punching keys on his computer. “Do you feel anything? Anything different?”

“No sir,” his aide responded. “Should I?”

“We shall see,” Eldritch mumbled and hit more keys. “Maybe if I turn up the frequency on…” Eldritch muttered to himself and hit a sequence of buttons.

His aide suddenly released a scream and fell to the floor. Eldritch momentarily worried that he had allowed the man to become infected
and that he would have a Red to worry about soon. But as he stood up from his desk, gun in hand, Eldritch could see the man rolling back and forth on the polished stone floor. He was in pain, but not infected.

“Hmm,” Eldritch pondered. “Well that’s good, not helpful, but still worth knowing.” He punched a few more keys, dialing back the intensity of the signal to his aide’s Em-Pak. The man immediately stopped screaming and stood up from the floor. His eyes were wide, unblinking and glassy.

“What do you feel now?” Eldritch asked.

“Nothing
, sir,” the aide said flatly. “I feel nothing…what are your orders, sir?” The man had the effect of a robot, his breathing barely detectable and face completely blank.
“Excellent,” Eldritch nodded and began working on a large-scale version of his new Em-Pak program.

-31-

“We’re going to get him back,” Cora said firmly, the eyes of those gathered around her going wide with disbelief. “Remmy is alive.”

The other Emos murmured amongst themselves, but no voices spoke up in support or protest of Cora’s plan. Samuel stood beside her, his presence quiet and strong.
With Xander kept in his tent, it was safe for Samuel to be outside of the hospital tent.

“We need to move,” Samuel spoke up. “There is a large group of Reds heading this way. It’s not the group that has Remmy, but I think they may be moving to meet up with that group. If there’s any chance of saving Remmy, it’s before the two groups join up.”

“What do you mean
another
group of Reds?” someone in the crowd shouted.

Samuel examined the crowd, trying to determine how much to tell them. He had sworn Cora to secrecy regarding his access to the ERC satellite. It was not that Samuel distrusted anyone in the camp. They stood to gain nothing by altering the ERC to his recent activities. What worried Samuel
was how the others would react knowing that multiple groups of Reds were converging in one spot. Soon after he had accessed the satellite, Samuel noticed movement amongst the Reds. All seemed to be migrating towards the group that held Remmy. This information would surely cause panic, so Samuel lied. There were far more than two groups of Reds. From what he had seen, there were at least six more heading directly through the Emo camp on their way to converge with the other Reds. Samuel had to tell them just enough to get them to move, but not enough to cause wide spread panic.

“The rest of you need to pack up and move,” Samuel continued. “I have explained to Remmy’s father where the best place
is to move our camp.” Cora and Samuel had known that Remmy’s father would want to go, but they needed him to lead the others. He could be trusted to keep the others focused. His example was one they would follow. If too many central figures from the camp left to go after Remmy, Samuel worried that, the group would fall apart, making themselves easy targets for the large groups of Reds converging on the area.

Remmy’s father had taken a great deal of convincing to stay behind, but Cora and Samuel had persisted. What was the point of saving Remmy if there was nothing to bring him back to? It was equally important to ensure the survival of the group
, and once Samuel had relented and shown Remmy’s father the large numbers of Reds scattered across the computer screen, he reluctantly agreed to stay behind and lead the others.

“So who’s going? Who’s going to get Remmy?” a boy about his age demanded. Cora
couldn’t tell from the tone in his voice if he was angry or volunteering. Maybe it was both.

“I’m going,” Cora snapped, glaring at the boy. “So is
Samuel.”

“And what about your brother?” someone shouted. “We’re just supposed to take him along with us? He’s putting us all at risk.” Cora and Samuel had expected this, but hoped that no one would broach the question. They had no argument against this point. Xander was a risk and with Cora
gone, no one could be held responsible for him.

“I’ll watch him,” Remmy’s father growled. “The boy won’t be any trouble.”

“The boy is nothing but trouble!” someone else shouted. “I say we leave him here for the Reds. Otherwise, you take him with you.”

“Fine!” Cora screamed. “Just shut up! We were taking him anyway.” She knew that Xander couldn’t be trusted. She also knew that Remmy’s father would do his best to pr
otect her brother and limit the amount of trouble he caused, but Xander was devious. She needed to keep him where she could watch him, but this meant revealing Samuel to him.

Samuel had said that it was time. Time for Xander to know the truth, but Cora still worried. But honestly, there really wasn’t much Xander could do with the knowledge, other than get angry and even that his Em-Pak would handle
…probably.

“The three of you? An elderly doctor, a teenage girl
, and an emotionless city boy?” someone teased from the crowd. “That hardly seems like a rescue party.”

“I’m a little more than just some elderly doctor,” Samuel smiled. “And Cora will do just fine.
A smaller group has a better chance of slipping in undetected. This is a rescue mission, not a war. We get Remmy and we get out. If we don’t come back, Remmy’s father will tell you what to do.”

Rumbles passed through the crowd. People were understandably worried, but the discussion was over. Cora and
the remains of her family were going to save Remmy.

-32-

The ground shook with the fevered stomps of countless Reds. Remmy tried to remain calm, but the promise of violence reverberated through the air, jangling his nerves with a strange energy. Jessica pushed him towards the arena.

The arena
was little more than a massive circle of old rusted school buses, placed end to end. Large patches of brown rust stretched down the sides of the buses like old wounds, the blood long since dried and turned brown. A slightly less rusted tow truck had been pushed to the side, creating a small opening that yawned like the hungry mouth of some terrible beast eagerly waiting to consume Remmy. Row upon row of Reds clung to the sides and roofs of the buses. Heads darted in and out of the broken windows, all trying to get a glimpse of the day’s entertainment or perhaps the evening’s meal. Wild faces, smeared with red paint glared at Remmy as he came closer, each wilder and more vicious looking than the next.

Remmy’s feet involuntarily stopped, his heels digging into the dirt
as if some invisible force was trying to prevent him from entering the circle of rusted buses, but Jessica shoved him forward. The Reds began howling with laughter. Jeers and insults were launched from the perimeter of the arena, calling Remmy scared, weak, or worst of all, dinner. Remmy tried to block out the noise, but it overwhelmed him, rattling his insides and shaking loose feelings of doubt and hopelessness.

“Fight or food, Remmy,” Jessica hissed in his ear. “Make the right choice.”

There was no way for Remmy to know what waited for him inside the arena, but one thing was clear – the next few minutes would determine whether he lived or died. Something ancient, some ingrained shred of evolution screamed in Remmy’s head, demanding that he prepare himself to fight, to kill. It demanded that he recognize the gravity of his current situation and do whatever was needed to survive.

Another piece of Remmy’s mind pleaded with him to hold on to who he was,
and remember what he had been taught. He found himself able to think of nothing other than Cora and that brief kiss they shared beside the waterfall. That moment sank into his soul, joining with his heart and defining who he was, or at least who he had hoped he could be. Cora was his hope, his sign that the world was still good and that there was still a reason to strive for a future greater than what he had been given. Bitter tears stung the corners of Remmy’s eyes as he felt his future, and Cora slipping through his fingers, a little more with each step closer to the arena.

“
Stop it! Get your head in it!” Jessica growled and slapped Remmy across the face. “There’s no time for daydreaming! Stop showing weakness. Get angry, get angry right now, Remmy! Whatever it is that you’re thinking about, forget it. Let it go right now! Anger is the only thing that’s going to save you in there.” She snapped her dagger-like teeth to drive her point home. A wicked smile spread across Jessica’s face. Remmy found it hard to guess Jessica’s intentions and even harder to pretend that he cared about them. She had been his friend once, but that person was gone, buried along with the Red that killed her family. Jessica was a Red, a monster, and currently walking him towards what would undoubtedly be the most excruciating experience of his short life.

Remmy nodded, but was unable to forget about Cora. If he had to fight to live, then so be it. Remmy was willing to do anything to se
e Cora again. The things that waited for Remmy inside the arena would undoubtedly change him, possibly twist him into someone that Cora wouldn’t recognize, but Remmy knew that no other choice remained. He only hoped that if he were lucky enough to see Cora again that she wouldn’t be repulsed by what she saw.

These thoughts and countless others were drown
ed out as Remmy was pushed into the arena. The tow truck was rolled back into place, closing off the only way in or out. An entire chorus of screams rose to a fevered crescendo, suddenly falling silent. Remmy’s eyes went wide as he finally saw what awaited him inside the arena.