Enjoy.  Vote please!  Will leave Chapter ?? before this one for now, it may break the pattern a little bit but the chapter doesn't have to be in any particular order.

***The Time that Follows***

He looked into the mirror, adjusting the gray tie on his neck again.  His short brown hair was brushed back as he glared into his own eyes.  The tie wouldn’t do, he ripped it off and looked down at the dresser which had half a dozen or so ties across it.  He judged each one mercilessly.  Which color, which style, which shape said ‘I’m sorry’ the most?  Which one was professional and honorable, but shows ‘I let you down for my own greed’.  His own greed... how could he let his country down for greed? 

No, he has to remember what he kept telling himself, this was not his country.  These were not his people.  He was pulled into this by means of survival of his own kind; there was nothing more to it.  His massive revolution built over the past dozen or so years would have never came to fruition if he didn’t get the full support of Redeme and the Director.  The director helped solidify his reign, the Director made him who he was.  But still the Director was a tool, a stepping stone to a higher place.  He’s served his purpose and now it’s time to move on, it’s time to take the next step.  An empire built on slaughter, lies, and fear was never going to work.  The same tools that built Redeme will tear it down.

He looked at the gray tie again; it felt right but wrong at the same time.  Red was out of the question, so was purple and blue.  But then there was green, it was the color of his country, the color of his revolution.  Should he go patriotic and say it was for his people?  But for some reason he kept looking at the gray one, he felt the boring dull color would muffle the blow when the truth came out. 

No, muffling the blow wouldn’t suffice.  He wanted to be strong and proud.  If he took control with a boring color it would give way for a boring revolution.  He annihilated the USA from the inside with public hangings, massive riots, fire and chaos.  He united the people in a rage that had built up for the past two decades, he used that rage to fuel his support and when they took over his ragging partners had no intention of ever letting up.

That anger and frustration could be the same thing to take down Redeme.  He should wear the green; it showed his true intentions and could unite the people against the villain.  Redeme used murder and deceit to build its walls, it’s using the fear of death to keep its people in check, and it’s slowly becoming more and more of the police state everyone has feared since the inception of George Orwell’s “1984”.

Redeme’s intentions were hidden, they were kept out of the public eye and no one wanted to see it.  But yesterday Thomas spoke; he spoke for the first time since the war ended eight months ago.  Thomas was the voice of the apocalypse.  He was the voice no one wanted to hear but everyone listened to.  People sucked up every word he said, but they never wanted to see a word written by him.  He was a contradiction, people hated him as much as they adored him, they worshipped him as much as they denounced him.  Nobody knows the man, but everyone knows the persona.  In the end it wasn’t the man everyone had their eyes on, but the monster he represented. 

If Thomas was back so was she, and if she was back the end could be much closer than everyone expected.  At least everyone thinks that, but he knew otherwise.  The Red Reaper no longer desired the end of humanity; instead she desired its upmost dedication.  She wanted the Earth to worship her as a God, she wanted humanity to love her, fear her, and follow her even if it’s to the gates of hell and back. 

The scary part was she had the power to do it, and without any organized resistance against her there was nothing left to stop her.  Yesterday after the announcement a few things happened.  First, several American cells in Falu were annihilated, everyone within them slaughtered. Second Miss Malaway went missing, she was under lockdown in a hospital in Hanes Dale, both the guards were killed by their own weapons and one had nasty bloody hole in his side—resemblance to the mark Malaway had on her face and an upcoming trademark of the Queen herself.

He grabbed the green tie and quickly tied it on, the dark green on his black suit felt good, it felt dangerous and hostile but that was what he wanted.  He turned on his heels taking one quick glance at his perfectly polished shoes and headed for the door of his dark room.  The suit felt stiff and awkward on his body.  He spent most of the revolution dressed just as American people turning against their own government did.  He threw flaming bottles of alcohol at the government buildings all the same and got dirt on his jeans and mud on his jacket.  It was only just recently he decided to wear the colors of the politician.  It was disgusting, but it was also the only way to have his voice even considered amongst all the bureaucrats.

When he’s in charge this style of government would be bound to change, it must advance faster and become more erratic.  He wanted real advancement, real gain, and real accomplishment from the people.  He wanted technology to advance at light speed.  He wanted a true revolution with the ways of thinking.  He wants a complete re-haul of humanity and a general advancement of human kind.  Right now Redeme has the world stuck in the same old same thing—fear has inhibited advancement and encouraged self-enslavement.  At its current path humanity would be nothing more than a mindless race allowing the few to excel and the vast majority to be stuck in an infinite loop of sustainability. 

He originally agreed with this path because he was considered as the few to excel but deep down in his heart he spent decades fighting against this type of government, now he’s one of the select few keeping the peace.  That was unacceptable.  He adjusted the tie one more time and hit the door, knocking on it softly three times.  It opened and a pair of guards with their oversized guns and generic black suit black tie appearance greeted him.  “Mr. Brawl, are you ready Sir?”  The man on the left without hair asked.  Lucas looked at both men, the hairless one was Edward and the man who was most certainly younger than him was Demtras—a man who emigrated from The Frozen Desert after surviving the restless ghouls.

Lucas took a deep breath, “Yes I am.” 

“Right this way then,” Edward said as he led Lucas down the hall to a nearby elevator.  The elevator took the threesome down to the lobby of the hotel they were in and they swiftly moved through the large marble dome to the front door.  Lucas trotted over the red carpet at the front of the hotel and they made a b-line right for a black car in front of the entrance.  The warmed leather seats were a mere convenience of power and though Lucas will enjoy the quite ride to the capital building he knew it would quite possibly be his last. 

Inside that building will be the Director.  The Director will undoubtedly be having some secret talk with Hector and Sir Kelton, and Lucas planned to do the unspeakable by breaking into that meeting and stating his intentions before either killing the Director or bending him to his needs.  Either way his intentions were going to cause a ruckus and if everything goes according to plan the girl who calls herself Queen will show up and save him before the masses rile against him.  With all luck she will once again be his greatest weapon in the war against repression.

The drive to the capital building was short and sweet, no interruptions and next to no traffic, a smooth fifteen minutes of utter silence.  The silence helped build the moment; it got the adrenaline going for what he was going to do.  It frightened him a bit.  His entire plan relied on the fact that Lilly would see what he was doing and help him because it benefited what was claimed on the broadcast yesterday.  She’s been taking down Redeme enemies and taking control of those in charge of Redeme one by one, it seemed trying to become her ally in this hostile takeover was the most logical solution for his own gain in power. 

The vehicle stopped in the roundabout in front of the capital building.  His driver turned his head and nodded at him as Lucas took a deep breath and looked outside.  In front of him was a massive wall of steps with a courtyard in front of it.  The steps were long and slowly rose to several dozen hundred foot pillars that supported a pointed roof of white tile.  In the center of the courtyard was a small garden with a thirty foot statue directly in its middle.  The statue resembled a massive man with a harpoon resting on his back.  The stone had no shirt and short hair, his face was square and the eyes appeared sad. 

Everyone who was anyone knew who that was.  Vicktor Amsgetten, the one who killed the monster and stopped the apocalypse.  He was the man that saved humanity and its ultimate idol.  No one’s seen him in the past couple months.  After the statue was completed and the press wore out with his face on TV he went off the grid, supposedly he worked very high end security for the Director.  But there were also unwanted rumors that the remorse from his slaying of the girl the way he did actually drove him to either suicide or joining Thomas. 

Either way one thing was clear in the capital.  We idolize Vicktor for what he did, but we don’t talk about him.  He is our savior whether we like it or not. We should respect that.  Without him it was predicted humanity would have been instinct in another year.

Lucas got out of the car and after smoothing out his suit started his way up the stairs.  Vicktor’s memorial towered over him as he passed it.  Lucas could see it now, give it a dozen or so years and that man would become a God to some people, a saint exaggerated beyond human capacity for what he did, even if all he did was kill a heavily disabled girl who was forced into mass murder. 

He slowly worked his way up the steps and through the pillars to a huge engraved door the size fit for giants.  The door had the story of Vicktor engrained in its brass, a picture story of how he shot the cannon, created a steel web and eventually tagged Lilly in the chest before honorably shooting her in the head with her own gun.  It showed the story after that too; the story of how he used his brute force to knock down a wall in the door less building and carried Lilly’s bloodied body out of the tomb.  It showed how he wouldn’t let the crowd of troops touch the body as he carried it a ways and how he covered her head with a piece of cloth he tore off the shoulder of one of the guards he approached. 

It showed how he walked to the top of a hill covered in the dust of the ghouls and started silently digging with his hands before he had a hole large enough to lay Lilly’s body in it.  It showed how he then used his hands to bury her after the press got its pictures and how Redeme imported a headstone for her, and how he guarded her grave from looters and degenerates trying to deface it for weeks before a proper fence and tomb were built.  That tomb was still there to this day on top of that hill with fences causing a complete steel half-dome around it and a massive rock on top of the grave to honor her death.

The door opened on its own on its mechanical belt.  Inside was the long hall of the capital building with the empty throne at the far end and roman paintings along the walls.  He walked on the red carpet down the center and kept his grace as he approached the throne.  When he got right in front of it he slowly turned his head to look at the camera.  He knew at any given moment several million people were watching that live feed, waiting for something to happen.  He gave the audience a smile and turned for the corridor he knew the Director would be down.

As he turned his eyes glanced down, he could still see the blood stains on the carpet from the massacre a few days ago.  It was a surprise the Director even dared to still use the building for his top secret meetings.  Lucas guessed the Director was a bit too confident with the security of his current office.  Did he not realize Lilly could just teleport through any walls?  That any type of security wasn’t going to stop her?

Lucas continued alone down the hall, right to its end.  The end was dark and there were no more doors, but Lucas knew the drill.  He got that information months ago when the place was being built.  Lucas went up to the window at the end of the hall and glanced through the bars to the park outside, there were kids playing out there and several parents watching.  It was a community park built after the building was finished, a nice piece of green which always seemed to be occupied with either children or unsettled citizens.  Today, luckily, it was children.  There haven’t been many problems as of late.

He turned and went to the corner, feeling it up before he found a small knot in the painted walls.  He pushed on the knot and turned to see no one was watching the hall.  The wall slid only a couple feet and Lucas was able to squeeze himself into the small opening.  Once he was through the wall slid closed again and everything went black.  He was in a very narrow hall that had a slight decline and lacked any sign of light.  He knew not to emit any light, there were defenses against intruders in this place, sensors designed to kill those who shine a light.

Lucas took a deep breath then took six steps before taking a large step as if stepping over something he couldn’t see.  He then went for several dozen more steps before ducking and crawling under something.  Once clear of those two obstacles he quickly walked down the decline and turned a corner before turning another and seeing a distant light.  When he got to the light he stepped on a red mat and the light turned off before a door next to him opened to a very bright room.

Inside the room were a counter, several sofas, a TV, and several dozen bottles of liquor lined up on shelves above the counter.   The room was empty as he walked in and saw a low-burning fire, but he could see a foggy glass door at the far end which led to the Directors meeting room.  That was where he was going to be, this first room was like a living room greeting room combo. 

He went right for that room, already seeing the long desk in the middle and several blurry bodies sitting around it.  Lucas took a deep breath, checked a gun he had under his suit, and put his hand on the door.  He counted five people in the room.  Lucas guessed the five were the Director, Hector, Sir Kelton, and the Director’s two personal guards.  Lucas pulled the door open.

He was right, he was too right.  Sitting to one side of the table was indeed Hector and Sir Kelton, they both sat looking across the table at the Director, but they weren’t moving or talking.  Across from them was indeed the Director, but his chair was facing the door and there was a neat red hole in the center of his forehead.  With how pale the body was he’s been dead for several days there.  On the wall was indeed two soldiers, but the pair were hung about a foot off the ground by several large spikes that appeared to be hammered into their bodies, also dead for several days with how dried the blood against the walls and the pool of it below their feet was.

Hector slowly turned his head towards the open door; there was a deathly look on his face like he’d just seen a ghost and his expression had no interest in changing.  Sir Kelton kept his eyes on the Director’s body, as Hector slowly spoke, “Why don’t you come in, we’ve been waiting.”  Against his will and against all sane motives telling him to get the hell out, Lucas stepped into the room.  When his body entered the meeting room he understood why it felt as if he entered against his will.  In the corner he couldn’t see was one more person, a small girl in a yellow dress. 

There was no hesitation in this one, the second he saw her he dropped to his knees and put his head on the ground facing the little girl, “Please, please, let us bring the world to its knees together.” An ironic statement he knew, as he was the one currently on his knees. 

“Why would I let you in Mr. Brawl.” The girl spoke; her small voice had force and control in it, the tone steady and threatening.

“I have left you alone, I let you thrive, I helped you!”

“You threatened my security, chased my friends around the globe, and set up an organized slaughter which very cleverly planned for me to get killed in the end, a plan which went off without a hitch.”  The girl walked slowly around Lucas’ knelt down body, “You are a bad man Mr. Brawl.  A bad man who uses little girls to get his way.  Once again, why should I spare you?”

“Because… Because… I’m, here.  Because I came here to overthrow the Director and join you in your crusade.  Because this world needs a recognizable face they can trust to tell them that everything will be okay. 

“Trust you?” the girl was right in front of him now with her hand hovering over his head.  She lightly played with his hair as Lucas prayed she didn’t feed on him.  He knew what happened to those she fed on.  Miss Malaway happened.  You become a mindless drone for her forever.  The girl let out a short scoff before she dug her hands deep into his hair.  “You’re lucky you’ve fallen right into my hands every time Lucas Brawl.  You’re very lucky you’ve came down here right when I was in desperate need of a pretty face after a hint of aggression one of my,” she looked right at Sir Kelton, “not-so-friendly employees.”  She pulled her hand out of his hair without actually feeding on him, “Guess you’ll have to be my Director.” 

Lucas’ heart sunk as she looked up at the bodies and the two people sitting at the table.  “Come on, let’s get rid of this mess and show the world who killed their King.”