The Next Day

June 25, 2075

0700 CDT

Central Olympia, Kansas

Inside Thunder Castle

Kiko Farrington's Point of View

“You ready for this, Kiko?” Harold Smith asks in worry.

Hell no I’m not ready.

“Life just got a bit more chaotic,” I say.

“You didn’t answer my question at all,” he notifies with a raised eyebrow.

Oh, my most trusted, and now only colleague is so smart, tall, and handsome. Mixed with Black and Caucasian ethnicity, dazzling brown hair, and one hell of a sexy beard! He’s a muscular young man who’s the same age as me. You’re most girls, but surely not my dream man. As if I could ever date a coworker because that is exceptionally unprofessional. You’re wearing the same, very itchy urban camouflage-colored uniform as me, except today, we woke up with some bondages.

“Harold, I have an itch!” I say.

“Seriously, Kiko?” He asks.

No! This is so embarrassing! Why there of all places?!

“Yes. Seriously,” I say.

“Where?” He innocently asks.

“Ummm”

Why’d you have to ask?

“Kiko, I told you to see if they had bigger sizes, but you insisted on wearing the tightest one you could find.

How rude. I’m going to kick him now.

“OW!” He shouts.

“Harold, that is not what you say to a lady! Hah. Men will never understand the fashion sense of a woman, and for future reference, if we survive this situation, never ever mention weight in front of a lady again, ok?”

“But I didn’t say anything about the heaviness of your body.”

“Ah, just stop talking. I will pretend that you did not just insult me.”

You’re such a… Ugh! But that’s not important right now. Sigh.

Never in my life did I think that I would end up being detained here. The interrogation room is the size of an average two-door car garage. This cold metal chair should be illegal, and this big-ass yellow table in front of us should be banned as well, the ominous-looking red metal door in the top right corner is clearly made of pure evil, and the sizeable one-way window to the left of it is smart. But the four concrete walls that surround us make me feel like I’m trapped in a box.

“I can’t take it anymore. Harold. Y-you have to take care of my itch.”

“What? I don’t know how much help you expect me to be. Have you forgotten about our little accessories?” He says as he eyeballs our handcuffed hands behind our backs.

“But we can still move our feet.”

“That sounds like a bad idea, Kiko.”

“Harold! Puh-lease! It itches so much!”

“Fine, but I don’t even know where your itch is. You didn’t tell me,” he points out.

“Because you didn’t give me a chance!”

“Fair enough. So, where is it?”

“Oh, ummm”

This is going to be so awkward and unprofessional.

“Kiko?” Harold says.

“Harold, what’s the seventh planet in our solar system?”

“Uranus. Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Why is this happening?

“Kiko, you’re kidding, right?” He asks shyly.

“I wish,” I say as I move the chair with my feet. “I-it’s the right one, Harold.”

“This means nothing!” We say in unison as he adjusts his seat until we’re back-to-back.

As embarrassing as this situation is, I’m glad that you’re someone who will and always have my back. Doctor Shinka informed us of the value of loyalty. Next to Teresa, I couldn’t ask for a better…

“EEEEK! HAROLD!”

“What?!”

“You know what! Stop being a pervert!”

“What???”

“I said right cheek, not left!”

“You gotta be kidding. I thought you meant your other right.”

“This is the most embarrassing day of my life.”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“You’re welcome,” he says after he finishes helping me out.

“Thank yo-Ahhh!”

No! He tripped! We’re gonna fall!

Ow. S-something broke my fall. Was it Harold? Oh my. You’re even more handsome than I realized this close. Your chest feels so comfortable. Yes! I just want to sleep in it. It’s so warm. I can’t help but imagine what your naked chest looks like. I just wanna rip your shirt off and find out. Your beard! Mmm. Sooo sexy. Your eyes are so mesmerizing. O-M-G! We’ve locked eyes! My heartbeat, it’s getting faster! I’ve been blessed! Oh, just being this close to you is so relaxing! Your lips, they look so luscious. So soft. I just want to… wait a second. We’re chest to chest and can’t get up! Oh, how embarrassingly unprofessional!

“My back!” Harold cries out in pain.

“What in the world?” Commander Scarlett Redheart asks as she busts through the door.

“It’s not what it looks like!” Harold and I say in unison.

*

Thank you, Scarlett, for putting us upright again, but this is so embarrassing. The formal way you’re wearing your uniform is more reserved, but you should have more confidence in yourself.

“Harold Smith, Kiko Farrington, the two of you chose a very odd time to fornicate,” Scarlett says with an eyebrow raised as she sits down.

“That’s not what happened!” Harold and I say in unison again.

“Oh, so you were trying to leave?” Scarlett inquires as she shakes her head. “You two are horrible escape artists!”

“We’re researchers, Scarlett! Not magicians!” I say.

“I noticed, but enough time-wasting,” she says. “You’ve been brought in because of what happened yesterday. The main suspect, Luke Miller, is being securely held in a classified location. This phenomenal incident has caused mass pandemonium among the founding members. It’s the biggest problem this kingdom has dealt with in years. I can only imagine how the other kingdoms and the Royals will react once the news reaches them if it hasn’t already. You two, along with Doctor Shinka, are Luke Miller’s main suspected accomplices, but now we have another incident on our hands that’s only adding to the panic,” she continues in a serious tone as she stands up. “The Police Force raided Doctor Shinka’s house, but she was nowhere to be found. The only thing they found in her room was a peculiar piece of paper origami in the shape of a goose. Nobody saw or reported her leaving the kingdom. It’s like she just vanished off the face of the Earth! You two are her most trusted subordinates, which makes you suspects in her disappearance, but you two are also the only people in the kingdom who can make sense of… Luke Miller and figure out what the hell he is. Basically, what you two say next will determine whether you are a friend or foe. Your lives, and potentially our entire kingdom are on the line, so choose your next words very wisely.”

“We don’t know anything about Luke Miller’s transformation or Doctor Shinka’s disappearance,” Harold quickly notifies Scarlett.

“It’s the truth! We’re just as lost as you are! If anybody is a magician, it’s her!”

“Do you know why the eight kingdoms simply don’t kill each other for resources?” Scarlett calmly asks.

“Yes, because nobody wants to live in The New World,” I say. “Each kingdom is equipped not only with a form of defense against the zombie army but also superweapons equivalent to the nuclear weapons of The Old World. These superweapons act as a natural deterrent against humans and discourage kingdoms from attacking each other. If two kingdoms were to disregard these superweapons, it would lead to another kingdom taking advantage of this situation. While kingdoms A and B are fighting, kingdom C will simply lurk in the distance and wait to strike the winning side as they’re recovering from their victory. Like a dangerous lion stalking an unsuspecting antelope.”

Studying was so tedious, but worth it.

“Of course, this will lead to another kingdom attacking kingdom C, while they’re busy with their fight,” I say. “The cycle will repeat with all eight kingdoms, with the end result being Armageddon. A world full of life, devoid of intelligent beings. A sad form of irony, however, all of this is based on the assumption that the outside force, aka, the Royals, don’t intervene. This is also based on the assumption that each kingdom’s superweapons have been dealt with by their foes. Nobody truly knows exactly what each kingdom is capable of, which is probably for a good reason because knowledge is power. Permission to discuss Olympus’s superweapon, since it is only council members of Olympus here?”

“Permission granted,” Scarlett responds.

“Most Olympians believe that the large turrets atop Hades are our superweapons. These weapons are indeed capable of delivering mass destruction, but Doctor Veronica Shinka is Olympus’s true superweapon. In the Old World, she was a renowned scientist who earned a Ph.D. in biology by the age of twelve. In the New World, she helped build Olympia from the ground up with the other founding members’ help, before her mysterious exile, along with the former research division. (I still don’t know what she did or what happened to the others, and it frustrates me to no end!) She and the former research division are the reasons why we have so much knowledge about the undead and their mutated forms. These are a few reasons why I believe that Doctor Shinka is the only person on this planet capable of creating a cure!”

Gotta… catch my breath.

“Scoff, a cure?” Scarlett denies in disbelief. “Instead of working on a cure, I’m led to believe that you three have been hiding a never-before-seen mutated right here in the heart of Olympia! Luke Miller is practically a ticking time bomb for all we know, and trust me, I know all about bombs!”

Huh?

“Why did I say that? Forget that I said that! It’s a story that we don’t have time for!” She says in embarrassment. “Ahem, anyway, preventing Armageddon or disintegration by Azrael is our priority,” she says in a slightly nervous tone.

“What exactly do you want from us?” Harold asks.

“I want to know where Doctor Shinka is! You two are the obvious suspects, so just hurry up and tell me!” Scarlett demands with urgency.

“We don’t know!” Harold and I say in unison.

“Damn it!” Scarlett seethes.

“The last time we saw her was three days ago, inside this very building, in fact. She didn’t tell us anything! She just vanished!” Harold explains.

“Like a magician!”

“This is going nowhere. Look,” Scarlett says in frustration as she places a palm to her face. “If I simply tell the council that you two are enemies of Olympus, then you’ll be imprisoned or executed. A huge waste of talent and intelligence if I must say, but as dubious as you two are, you are also some of my only friends,” she says in sincerity. “Don’t test me by using this fact as a weakness. I am showing you my entire hand because I consider you friends, and I don’t want to see my friends die. I believe that we apprentices must stick together. I have many reasons not to believe you, and few reasons to believe you, but I will give you two the benefit of the doubt because well, as cold as this might sound, you’re more valuable alive than dead,” Scarlett explains as she unlocks our handcuffs.

“So we’re basically hostages,” Harold clarifies as he rubs his wrists.

“I’m sorry, and I hate doing this, but I don’t have many other options left,” Scarlett kindly confirms. “This is too much power for one person. I don’t even like guns or fighting. I only became an apprentice because I thought it was the right thing to do,” She sadly confesses.

“Scarlett, I believe that you’re doing the right thing. I would probably do the same thing in your shoes. Whether you believe us or not, I just want you to know that Harold and I are truly as clueless about this situation as everybody else.”

“I just hope that Ruby is alright,” Scarlett says softly. “She can be so stupid and always attracts trouble wherever she goes. Speaking of Squad Zeus, I’ll be interrogating them soon after the next step.”

“Wait, what’s the next step?” Harold asks.

“Oh come on. You two aren’t getting out of our annual meetings this easy,” Scarlett says with a smirk.

“Aw shit. I forgot,” Harold says with a facepalm.

“No! Meetings are so boring!”

“Yeah, well, this meeting might be our very last one ever, depending on what you two think about Luke Miller. Now that I’ve “proven” your innocence, the keys of fate are in your hands,” she says with a worried chuckle.

Our lives have been spared only for us to decide the fate of another…

“Commander Harold Smith and Commander Kiko Farrington, You two hold Olympus’s entire future in your hands!” She states loudly. “No, this is a decision that will affect the entire human race. In a minute, I will escort you two to the Room of Judgement, where our leaders will ask your opinion of Luke Miller! You two must decide whether Private Luke Miller is an ally of Olympus or a threat to the entire human race. Will he lead us to salvation or extinction?”