CHAPTER 22

OCTOBER 22ND, 6:00 P.M.

--BOONE--

“Your mind is plagued by distractions.”

Boone jumped, startled by Frank’s deep voice from behind him, despite the fact that he knew Frank was there, and they had been walking together for the past half hour. Boone lost himself while they waited at a crosswalk, watching the holographic advertisements float across the sky above the roads.

“I previously stated that I would drop the topic for the time being, but I believe we are at a crossroads,” Frank said as cars rolled by. “Not literally.”

“I know Frank,” Boone sighed. “I’ll get through it,” he said as the crosswalk sign turned green.

“You still do not understand,” Frank said as they started across the street. “Your mental state is too far unstable for our current circumstances. You will be discussing it with me.”

“Discussing what?” Boone said, his irritation beginning to grow as they reached the sidewalk on the other side of the road, entering the shade cast from the trees planted down the strip.

“What ails you,” Frank clarified.

“I don’t want your therapy, Frank.”

“You need it, however,” he rebutted. They continued walking, only a few blocks away from their destination.

“Is it about Miriam?”

Boone gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to talk about it, but he knew Frank was right. He needed to.

“Yes…” he finally said.

“As I suspected,” Frank said solemnly. “Is she okay?”

“She’s as good as she can be in her situation,” Boone replied. “I went to see her yesterday and we got into an argument.”

“I see,” he said.

“She told me she supported Rayshe,” Boone added. “Started screaming at me when I told her we were trying to stop him.”

“This led to you saying things you regret?” Frank guessed.

“Bingo…” he answered.

“I understand your perspective,” Frank assured. “She is ill, and conflict has little room with such little time.”

“I was just so…” Boone trailed off as he searched for the right words. “I don’t know. I didn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe me, ‘couldn’t believe that I would do something like this’. Made it seem like I was a monster.”

“People can say irrational things when they are upset.”

“Was I wrong?” Boone suddenly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Frank stopped with him. “Are we? Wrong? Doing the wrong thing?”

“No,” Frank said firmly.

“I said she couldn’t understand because she was sick,” Boone started. “I said she was blinded by her desperation to live. Maybe I, we, don’t understand. We have powers. Our lives aren’t at risk like everyone else.”

“We have powers, which gives us the obligation to protect those who do not,” Frank countered.

“We’re protecting people we don’t know,” Boone said. “Shouldn’t Earth take priority?”

“Earth does take priority,” Frank said. “And just because we do not know Boreas does not mean their people are any less deserving of life.”

“I just can’t help but think that maybe she was right. Earth is crippled and we should be trying to save it,” Boone said.

“Do you think what Rayshe is doing is ‘saving’ Earth?” Frank asked. “Would you be happy with a life knowing that it was paved with the blood of billions of innocents?”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Boone paused as he processed Franks argument. “No,” he replied. “At the end of the day, I know we’re doing the right thing. I guess, hearing it from Miriams perspective made me see the other side.”

“A wolf caught in a trap will chew off its’ own leg to survive,” Frank said. “When faced down by the aura of death, the desperation for survival will become blinding. There is nothing innately wrong with that, but there comes a point where it goes too far.”

“So what should we be doing Frank?"

“Persevering, like we always do,” he answered. “We will find a way.”

Boone gritted his teeth as he stared at the ground. Frank resumed walking, beckoning for him to follow, which he did.

“I understand why you feel this way,” Frank continued. “Miriam is sick. This world cannot support her like it would have been able to before. You feel as though you haven’t done enough to change that. That perhaps if you had acted sooner, her fate might be different. And that if you act now, you can prevent this from happening again. But trust me when I say the ends do not always justify the means.”

They stopped as they reached their destination. A large building with an entirely glass entrance. The whole front of the building was curved inwards, with a curved metal trim on the roof that extended outwards into points on each end of the arc. Above the glass doors and carved into the window read: Museum of International Artifacts.

“And, if I may,” Frank spoke up again. “It may not seem apparent now, but there is a plan for all of us ordained by the Lord. Death comes for us all, but sometimes our fate ordains it to be early. Sometimes, there is just simply nothing you can do. And that is okay.”

Boone looked over at Frank with seething anger that he struggled to repress. His words cut deep, whether they were meant with good intentions or not. For Frank to tell him that her untimely death was apart of some plan, and that there was nothing he could do about it sowed rage inside him. Miriam was everything to him. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.

“You are angry at me, but it is unwarranted,” Frank said. “You will understand in time.”

Boone started towards the door of the museum, wanting to be done with their objective and away from Frank as soon as possible. As he approached, the doors opened inwards, followed by a quiet chime and an automated voice.

Welcome to the Museum of International Artifacts. Please see the front desk for tours.

He stomped through the museum, looking for a good place to hide Tommy’s jammer.

“I will excuse your behavior for now,” Frank commented, following closely behind. “But know that the others will not be so patient.”

“Where the hell am I supposed to put this,” Boone whispered to himself, ignoring Frank.

“Would you rather face the scrutiny of the robot?”

“He said just anywhere in the building…” he muttered to himself, still ignoring his partner.

“You feel as though I have insulted you,” Frank stepped in front of Boone.

“You didn’t insult me, Frank,” he said, stepping around him to continue his search.

“Yet you seethe…”

“I’m pissed off.”

“At whom?”

“At the world, Frank. At life. Can you just leave me alone?”

-and you can see from here from the skycam footage, Washington D.C. is burning.

Boone stopped suddenly. The voice of a news reporter was just barely audible, coming from outside the museum. He turned, looking outside the windows of the front entrance. The holographic screens that floated above the streets now played a news broadcast; pedestrians stopped and stared, stunned from the footage.

“Here,” Boone said, handing the jammer over to Frank. Once the device was taken from his hand, he sped to the door, walking out to the sidewalk again for an unobstructed view of the hologram.

For those of you just joining us, we are coming to you live from the air over Washington D.C. Following the controversial speech from President Hall, a riot has broken out in the streets.

The broadcast showed the streets of the capital from up above, obscured by a dark haze of smoke as cars burned and fires raged in the streets.

Early reports indicate no deaths, but over sixty injured, as a squadron of Hall supporters, who have begun to call themselves ‘The Survivors’, battle against objectors, who have been labeled themselves ‘Homesteaders’. Police are on the scene but have yet to make any substantial efforts to dispel the violence. The reason for that is, at this moment, unclear.

“Shits crazy, huh?” a stranger standing next to Boone commented. “Which side you on?”

Boone gave the man a sharp glare out of the corner of his eye before returning his attention to the hologram.

“I’m with Hall, personally,” the stranger added. “What does that make me? A ‘Survivor’?” he chuckled before continuing on his way down the sidewalk.

And, is that him?

The camera footage turned blurry as it zoomed in on a man in the crowd. After a few seconds, it refocused.

We now have confirmation that President Hall is in the riot. President Hall is participating in the riot, and it seems he is leading it.

Rayshe slowly walked through the streets; the crowd parting as he approached. They revered him like a god.

This may answer why authorities have let this violence rage. The President of the United States Supreme is razing the streets of his own capital. The Survivors surround him, following his path, attacking any who don’t comply. We urge any who are watching this to remain in your homes, no matter where you are. Experts predict copycat riots will ensue all around the country. Lock your doors, board your windows, a second American civil war has begun.

Boone felt his heart rate escalate as he witnessed the chaos. His head whipped around searching for Frank, who was just now walking out of the museum.

“Frank!” he called to him as he approached. “Is the jammer set?”

“Yes,” he replied. “It should be disguised and operable.”

“Good, we gotta get moving,” Boone said. Frank looked up at the hologram, quickly assessing the situation.

“Rayshe is forming an army,” Frank said.

“We need to get with the others.”

“Agreed, my friend. Leo and Laurel should have completed their objective by now. We must regroup.”