Tap Sapiens, page 8
part #1 of Reign of Sapiens' Evil Series
“What about this one … tell me about selfless commitment.”
“Maybe another time.” Danny answered.
There was something unusual in his smile right then. Brandi usually found him mysterious, but what exactly were those blue eyes hiding?
Their days proceeded with a familiar training routine. Danny led Brandi through physical training that got more demanding every single day. Some days, she would wake up still being exhausted, debating in her mind if it was all worth it. Was she losing her way? Straying too far from her original plans? But perhaps it was a stroke of luck, having arrived at the military fort, lost and naive initially. Now, she was learning invaluable knowledge about herself as well as the world that she was so hell-bent on tearing down. It was of course, an advantage that she had handsome General O’Reilly guiding her all the way.
Her instructions were getting more extraordinary. Danny allowed her to practice with real weapons, comprehend more advanced communication systems and study different modes of military transportation. He was a patient mentor and she was a bright student. He was able to calm her down whenever she got frustrated while she was capable of igniting sparks in him that he had never experienced before. Danny didn’t exactly feel like a new person. But he was positive in discovering more dynamic parts of himself that he had previously brushed aside.
“Come on, say goodbye to the rubber ducks. These will make you a real soldier!” Danny exclaimed with a smile.
He was holding a menacing-looking rifle, a real one unlike the replicas and far more complex than the ones used in basic firearms training. The sight took Brandi’s breath away, not particularly due to the rifle because the implied violence was simply appalling and no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t find it appealing. But it was Danny’s face instead, with the confident vibe, something new. He was so certain in what he was doing, he had the experience on his shoulders and his smile was impossible to hide. Brandi found that his nearness was even more distracting as his fingers helped her correctly in handling numerous firearms until she could almost perfectly shoot at the target. It took them days but the results were productive.
One of Danny’s plans was to get Brandi familiarized with the most exciting parts of the army, to observe if she could pay heed to the subject of the pledge of allegiance to the Confederacy. On a couple of occasions, Danny left Brandi under the supervision of his best friend, Colonel Evans, who didn’t bother to tell Brandi that she could call him Louis.
“This button when being pressed once, does absolutely nothing. Keep it pressed and held for three seconds to send a code red emergency to our headquarters.” Louis was gesturing Brandi towards a long table, displaying all kinds of military gear including diverse radios, weapons and body armor.
“Now, these radios are different. You can configure each button to send distress signal to specifically designated channel.”
This part galvanized Brandi slightly more into action. She finally realized she was gaining crucial knowledge that would serve her well in the future. Unbeknownst to him, Louis had incidentally described all sorts of details regarding the aforesaid gear to an unruly woman.
“This last one is an exclusive radio, possessed only by the high-ranking officers or issued to military personnel involved in the most extreme missions. You can send messages, absolutely clandestine with a unique code for each individual. Daniel’s code is ‘son’.”
“Son?” Brandi asked but was ignored by the man in front of her.
“Here, try mine.”
Louis passed her the small radio with a code was already entered on its tiny screen. When she hit the button, a high-pitched sound was immediately heard coming from his belt. He smiled. The gesture was peculiar, but at least he didn’t render her momentarily insecure.
♠ ♥ ♣ ♦
On one of their final days together, it began pouring with rain while they were right in the middle of an obstacle course. Danny had to hold Brandi’s hand for the rest of the way. Technically he didn’t have to, but they were already finishing. It would have been a shame, had she fallen right then. Therefore, helping her would prevent such a mishap. Once they were done with the obstacles despite the torrential rain, neither made a move to unlink their hands. They started running towards Brandi’s solitary room but halfway there, the rain slowed down to a drizzle and they couldn’t be bothered to keep going like the wind. So, they continued to walk hand in hand beside the back of several buildings. Meanwhile, Brandi felt awkward with the weight of his hand on hers. She remembered several moments when she got to hold her friends’ hand during certain practices as their softness and warmth were simply inimitable. Abby’s tenderness, Mary’s secure grip and then Brandi imagined holding Cate’s hand with bruises and scratches all over her knuckles. Anyway, she allowed herself to be led by the strong hand of the General. Danny was being exceptionally gentle with her.
Passing by the mess hall of the officers, Brandi took notice of a small section of cultivated soil. She had a hunch that whatever crops harvested from there were exclusive for the officers. The fact that they were walking beside the soil while Danny avoided her eyes was strongly indicative of something odd pertaining to it. Once they came across a small patch of rose bushes, Brandi couldn’t suppress her laughter while recalling that the supposedly tough, invincible officers of the Confederacy were actually accustomed to dining with roses on their tables and they even grew their own behind the kitchen. The sound of her joy dissolved him into fits of laughter as well, but the action soon turned whimsical. For a split second, he wished to shower her with dozens if not all the roses in the world. But he knew that the flowers wouldn’t last as long as he would’ve wanted them to be.
“I have to leave, for a couple of days.” he abruptly blurted out.
“What? Why? When will you come back?” Brandi queried him, not really caring about sounding too desperate for his answers.
“I have an important meeting at the headquarters of the Confederacy. I’ll be discussing things with the Supremo alongside government officials … you know, my duties basically. I’ll be back on time for the real promotions, though.”
“What are you going to talk about?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Brandi had no idea if his answer was true or not. But she could feel him distancing from her emotionally already even when their hands were still so intimately intertwined.
“You know … you still haven’t explained to me what ‘selfless commitment’ means.” she shyly said.
It was a humble attempt at getting his attention back to the moment, their moment together. The rain stopped and everything around them was perfectly quiet. He responded with a laugh that was pure magic.
“I could tell you but you wouldn’t believe me.” he smiled at her and she looked away in bashfulness. “I’m sure I could show you with an example, though. Tell me about your family … your parents and that one point you had genuinely cherished.”
His question took her by surprise, but it also made her grin from ear to ear. It was easy to recall the delightful feeling in addition to so many sweet memories cropping up in her mind.
♠ ♥ ♣ ♦
Brandi was barely ten years old. She felt uncomfortable, like her limbs were getting longer while the rest of her refused to grow up. Her mom called her an angel, her dad called her a princess, little girls called her mean things and little boys ran away from her. But that was just how children were back then. Much to her surprise, the little boys seemed to gradually vanish into thin air. Later, Brandi just came to know that these boys had been searching for jobs here and there or scavenging for food in the garbage on the outskirts of real cities or in the ruins of abandoned towns, not in their poor neighborhoods.
“Daddy, can I find a job?” she asked her father at random while they were having one of their two meals of the day. Her mother was absent due to working throughout the entire day.
“No, sweetie. That’s not necessary.”
“I found a book, says something about protein. I don’t think there’s any more of that in here …” Brandi replied.
Her father loved that she read, even the torn books that reached their town in trash bags. Even so, the old man was mortified about the fact that his daughter was learning things that could make her upset. Nonetheless, Brandi didn’t look at her food in disgust, but she appreciated it instead.
“Maybe if we find something nice, like a decent job for my little princess. You’ll need more energy, though. Here, eat my half. End of discussion.”
“But …” of course, Brandi would attempt to begin a discussion.
“No buts. Just eat up, my baby.” her father’s voice faded away as he placed more than half of his food onto Brandi’s plate.
♠ ♥ ♣ ♦
Glacial glasses of water, incredibly icy stares and several men dressed in perfectly tailored black suits that barely hid their overgrown stomachs – sometimes Danny thought the meeting rooms at the Confederacy headquarters were replicas of Antarctic settings. He warmed himself with hilarious, internal monologues comparing those expressionless businessmen to real penguins and how unfair it was for the flightless birds. But right now, he was past his comfort zone, could no longer be distracted as he was being addressed by the man at one end of the long oval conference table, none other than the Supremo himself.
“The riot luckily, was dealt with before it could escalate further and lay waste to more infrastructures. Reported casualties so far, seven. Our problem is the subsequent offensive murals painted on the walls of several town entrances. ‘Suppress the Supremo.’, ‘Confederacy is a con.’, ‘SC is killing us. Kill Supremo kill Confederacy.’ and more spiteful phrases these kids came up with.” the Supremo was finishing a list of issues he needed Danny to handle.
“The town is almost entirely a dumpster but it has media coverage. We must prevent such news from reaching a wider audience at all costs. This town is the closest to your fort and it shall be placed under your sole responsibility, General. I trust you to … put out this inferno of violence, alright? For the Confederacy. Can I trust you, son?”
“Yes, father. I won’t disappoint you.” Danny answered with his head held high.
CHAPTER
7
“To that end, I will follow you … you can count on me, all that I am.”
T HE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS concerning Brandi’s solitary punishment were finally the kind of torture they were supposed to be. For two days, she was definitely aware that Danny wasn’t even at the fort or even close. Yet when he finally returned, he was far too wrapped up in his work to even drop in on her and let her know. Brandi only received a quick, impersonal visit from a Sergeant that carried a formal message from General O’Reilly, reminding her the terms of her punishment and briefly mentioning she should continue her training. She understood that he couldn’t exactly express anything heartfelt through somebody else and was thus, crushed somewhat by the harsh reality. Her loneliness found the opportunity to creep over her once more. The strangeness of the small room retired from the eventful life at the fort, only made matters worse. Apart from the memories of her family, of Danny and of her short-lived friendships, Brandi sometimes felt like she had lost her way or her grasp on reality.
However, not all was lost. If there was something that Brandi wasn’t going to allow herself to lose, it was unquestionably her determination – sometimes it wavered but it had always been there. It showed up in every substantial meal that couldn’t be compared to what she knew other poverty-stricken families out there would eat for months. She felt it in every hot shower and observed it in the round bellies or well-built muscles of the officers in contrast to the kids back home pretty much, all skin and bones. When she closed her eyes, all she could picture was the Supremo of the Confederacy, delivering yet another speech full of blatant lies.
“All hail, the Confederacy! Our salvation from the past darkness and turbulent times! We have restored peace, stability, prosperity across the globe and thus, laying the foundations for such formidable government that I’m honored to be its leader. Here, there’s no famine, there’s no crime and there’s no problem that can’t be fixed. The numbers don’t lie! Literacy rate has increased by twenty eight percent. Poverty rate was reduced down to an all-time low, thirteen percent. Unemployment is nearly eradicated. All thanks to the Confederacy!”
She could've sworn she had heard that same speech a thousand times – that man was nothing short of being a dictatorial mastermind behind all these zillions of cock-and-bull stories. How could they even trust a politician that was able to shamelessly raise his voice so that his lies were heard over the clamor of protests and the cries of starving children? The education system was sickeningly rigged while poverty was reduced by letting the underprivileged die of hunger. There was almost no unemployment because even ten-year-olds were already out in the streets, breaking their backs for food and if there was no crime, it was certainly because they exterminated people before the poor souls could reach jail or a jury even. Brandi’s blood pressure rose just by thinking about it, just by counting off all those facts, just by imagining the awful face of the Supremo as he finished every speech of which it was intelligently charming yet falsely handsome and disgustingly familiar all the same. Obviously, he held most of the world’s population in the palm of his hand.
Against her will but for her own good, Brandi still remained in that room long enough for her thoughts to clear up. She could have just picked up a gun and stormed into the Confederacy’s headquarters, ready to put a bullet in the hollow skull of the Supremo. But after losing count of how many deep breaths she had been taking, she was dizzy all of a sudden and lay on her uncomfortable bed while staring at the ceiling, analyzing constantly her current situation, time and place, possible allies and real enemies. It was simply the perfect moment to start plotting the downfall of the Confederacy. She reviewed her experience in the military, chastised herself for being careless in the beginning and decided to make the most of her time there. The ideal enemy to a radical government is an educated individual with the qualities of an ideal soldier. She was determined to become the nightmare of the Confederacy, learn all its secrets and shatter it from within.
So far, she had seen things that could convince many people of something wrong in the world. But if that wasn’t already obvious, the mere knowledge wouldn’t really be enough to spur any changes. She needed so much more and she was surely going to need help. Unfortunately, the sour memory of Michael Johns still haunted Brandi on and off. How could she have ever considered him as a good ally if he only cared about himself so clearly? Her train of thought steered her in the right direction: three women who had been proving themselves, having a heart and a mind too big for their army uniforms. Cate was bolder than a lion and it would be ridiculous to think of her, cowering in terror due to the repressive regime. The evermore sweet and tender Abby, wanted nothing more than to prove herself and fight for respect despite needing proper motivation every now and then. Mary was smarter than anyone who could go along with the current lies of which the government was feeding humanity ceaselessly. Brandi certainly couldn’t afford to miss out on the opportunity of including those three marvelous women in her plans. Additionally, not only was she highly unlikely to set her plans in motion on her own, she would eagerly enjoy their company, too.
Brandi was seriously looking forward to going back to the common quarters; closing on fifteen weeks in the army had really made her grow accustomed to the noise and chaos of always having too many people surrounding her. When the day finally arrived to return there, Brandi was carrying her bag on one shoulder as she walked confidently into the dormitory. She wasn’t exactly expecting cheers and hugs but she was concerned about finding her three friends, huddling around her old bed.
“Excuse me?” was the only thing she could think of saying.
Immediately upon hearing a familiar voice from behind, the girls all at once stopped doing whatever they had been doing.
“I didn’t read it!” Abby exclaimed and quickly passed something into Mary’s unprepared hands.
“Me neither!” the Latina woman exclaimed and again, passed the mysterious object right away to Cate, who rolled her eyes in response.
“Well, I did it.” Cate said as she walked forward and pushed a piece of paper to Brandi’s chest.
“Congratulations, future Second Lieutenant.” she added.
Brandi couldn’t really make sense of those words. Cate’s hand left her chest too soon, so Brandi had to let her bag slip off her shoulder on purpose in order to use both hands to catch the paper before it could drop on the floor.
After lengthy, annoying greetings and formalities in the letter, it then went straight to the point: “Congratulations, Private Perry. You will be promoted to Second Lieutenant for your displays of bravery, commitment, resilience and exceptional performance during your training at Fort SC1902”. The letter included several signatures and among them were those of General O’Reilly and Colonel Evans. It was an understatement to say Brandi was just mildly speechless. Going straight to Second Lieutenant was unusual indeed, of that much she was sure. She looked up, stared into the clear blue eyes of the woman, who was determined to make her life a living hell not long ago, and soon prompted a predictable question.
“First Sergeant.” Cate answered the unspoken question in a flash.
“Those two are regular Sergeants.” she seemed unimpressed.
Brandi realized she was going to be Cate’s superior once the promotions were over. She worried for a second the blonde was going to tear her head off while she still could. But there was a smile on Cate’s face, clear as day. She gazed at Brandi as if sizing her up in one look, working out ways to take her down as usual – still, she was smiling.
“It’ll be nice not to have you as a roommate.” Cate remarked and stepped aside so that Abby could hug Brandi.
