The Cure, стр. 45
The General was in cuffs and would be sentenced along with his men for the part he had played in the potential genocidal catastrophe.
Running down the base corridors Wanikiy was searching for something, anything, to help Tallulah. He turned a corner and came face to face with the Commander General and his escort.
‘The hypocrite himself,’ said the General stopping suddenly, and bringing the soldiers to a halt.
Wanikiy tried to compose himself ‘How so General?’
‘Look around you, you fool. This. All this was down to you? You single-handedly brought the world to its knees. What does it feel like to be the man who destroyed the planet?’
‘Destroyed it? I tried to save it, but men like you, all you see is greed and how you can exploit people. I may have created the trigger, but you and your government pulled it,’ said Wanikiy.
‘Come on now Wanikiy. Like there wasn’t a small part of you that knew what you were doing was wrong. Disease is part of our makeup. It’s the fail-safe to ensure the planet keeps on turning. You just had to interfere and now look at us.’
‘A fail safe?’ he shook his head ‘You have obviously never seen a child diagnosed with Cancer. Their body ravaged not only by the disease but by the poisons we inject to kill that disease. It not only affects them, but it affects their whole family, their friends. You have obviously never watched a loved one wither away in front of you, not knowing who you are and suffering in unimaginable pain. We needed cures, we needed to stand up to these horrible diseases that don’t discriminate against anyone, good or bad, young or old. Every single person that ever worked to help get rid of these diseases is a hero. This was never God’s plan. Disease is the work of the Devil and you took something that was good and turned it into evil.’
The General stood back shocked out the outburst ‘HaHaHa, he laughed hysterically. Very good. Very passionate. But here we are, and if indeed I am evil then surely, I have won. The world is in turmoil and what is left of its inhabitants will likely be dead within months.’
‘Maybe you have General, but as long as there is life in me then I won’t give up on these people and those people out there.’
The General sneered at Wanikiy and nodded to the soldiers. It was time to move on.
Chapter Eighteen
‘We can’t just wait here and hope everything is alright,’ said Chuck to the others.
‘We’ve come this far, right?’ said Scott
‘Oscar,’ said Chuck, ‘you got anything other than planes to get us back in one piece?’
‘I’ve got just the thing in the prison garage,’ said Mendez.
As Mendez opened the door to the garage he grinned ‘If you thought the planes were good.’ As the door swung open so did the boy’s jaws. The garage contained cars that they had never seen before other than in books. ‘You’re loving me now, right?’ laughed Mendez.
Chuck had his hand on his head.
‘Baggsy the Ferrari,’ said Seth, who had never driven anything other than a tractor before.
Meanwhile the others were all climbing into various sports cars.
‘Whatever you want, it’s yours,’ said Mendez.
Chuck shook Mendez’ hand and then embraced him, tears in his eyes. ‘We will be back,’ he said.
‘I should hope so,’ said Mendez ‘We’ve got a world to fix.’
Seth looked up from the Lamborghini he was sat in, donning sunglasses he’d found on the dash ‘Let’s do this.’ He revved the engine. Then stalled.
Mendez lifted the shutters to the garage workshop and the sun shone onto the silver rims of the cars blinding him. ‘Good Luck,’ he whispered to himself and watched them drive away back to their home.
***************
Back at the base, the President hadn’t finished with the General Commander and he caught up to him with the military police hauling him towards the base lockups. He was unrepentant and sneered when the President caught his eye.
‘You’re weak Nathanial. I thought you were better than this,’ he said.
‘Weak? I called you out though didn’t I? What were you thinking?’
‘I was thinking about the country I love. It’s called Patriotism,’ he replied.
‘That country no longer exists. We aren’t at war with the people above ground. We’re in this with those people. We should have integrated a long time ago. All you have achieved in doing is making me open my eyes to what we should be doing. Sharing the knowledge we already have with the people outside of this base,’ said the President.
‘You’re a fool Nathanial. So, the data was inconclusive. It doesn’t mean what we did was wrong.’
‘What you did was wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to start. You talk about patriotism and then try to kill half of the population. You’re no better than a terrorist,’ he said.
‘You’ve sentenced the people on this base to death. How long before our secret base isn’t so secret when you start spreading your word to the outside world. You and I both know what is out there lurking. We’ve seen it. Murder, cannibalism, death is waiting for you to come knocking on the front door,’ said the General.
‘You sound like you’re scared General.’
‘You’re damn right I’m scared. It’s the end of the world. But I don’t think you’ve noticed. Now, if you don’t mind Nathanial, I have places I need to be,’ he smiled.
The guards around the General turned and pointed their guns at the President.
‘You may have underestimated my reach Mr. President. It seems like these patriots also want to live,’ said the General. ‘Now if you wouldn’t mind stepping into that cell.’ He pushed the President backwards and slammed the door shut.