Anthony DeCosmo - Parallels

Crawford left the bedroom for the front door.

Nina, unfazed by his grumpy manner, asked, "You might want to hit the shower first, the hot water runs out pretty fast around here."

He replied with a wave of his hand that sent her heading for the shower while he stood at the end of the bed and slipped on a pair of slacks. His mind buzzed in circles trying to remember what he had been dreaming about. It felt important.

Trevor took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. It surprised him to realize that despite the long night only his mind seemed groggy. His body felt strong and tense, as if looking for a reason to expend energy. Perhaps he would go to the training facility to work out. Or maybe join Nina in the shower.

"Holy shit!"

The voice came from the main room, accompanied by a series of gasps trying to form a scream.

Trevor scrambled along the short hall and into the living room. Jolene Crawford stood at the open front door staring at something in the hallway. Nina, struggling back into her robe, hurried behind.

He pushed Jolene aside and saw Reverend Johnny's body outside the door slumped against the hallway wall, his gut and upper legs soaked in blood, eyes frozen open.

It took his mind a long second to digest the sight as if the idea of 'dead' and 'Reverend Johnny' were diametrical opposed concepts. When reality finally hit, he turned to Jolene and shouted, "Did you see anyone? Was there anyone here? ANSWER ME!"

She stumbled for words longer than he liked so he shook her shoulders.

"No! No! I just opened the door and he was there! I didn’t see anything!"

Trevor pushed her away and then knelt at Johnny’s corpse, running a hand over his eyes to force the stiff lids shut. Then he squeezed his own eyes tight as a wave of emotions poured in. First came guilt over his series of reckless decisions that eventually led them here. But that guilt drown in a sea of red anger, a much more satisfying emotion because he could focus it outward instead of in.

Nina's voice-a thousand miles away-asked, "What's that?"

Trevor opened his eyes and noticed a blood-stained note on Johnny's lap. He leaned close and read: REMEMBER WHO IS IN CHARGE.

"Trevor…The Committee…oh shit…did they do this?"

Nina’s first guess was also his guess.

"The…the Committee..?" Jolene mumbled.

Trevor stood straight but he did not take his eyes off his friend. His fists clenched.

Remember who is in charge.

Yes. It is time to show them. Time to show them who is in charge.

– A few snowflakes drifted among the buildings of Thebes on a cold but windless morning. The clouds that brought the flurries looked as if they carried a heavy payload of snow to deliver but were not quite ready to give up their cargo. Maybe later. Maybe somewhere farther east.

Despite the flurries and despite temperatures in the teens, the sentries outside of the Operations Center felt fairly comfortable. With little wind, their heavy parka jackets and balaclavas kept them relatively warm.

Whatever calm the improvement in weather bestowed to those guards ran away as two armored attack vehicles bearing Third Legion insignia screeched to a halt opposite their post.

"What is this?" The Captain of the Guard went from annoyed to concerned when he noticed that the rocket launchers were fully armed and pointed at him.

An assault buggy joined the armored trucks and two people jumped out. The Captain of the Guard recognized them. The first, Major Forest of the Third Legion. The second was, well, still somewhat of a mystery. He resembled his old Emperor and rumor had it he had been riding the asses of every soldier over at the Third L. Other rumors — newer rumors- said he had personally overseen the slaughter of yesterday’s Chaktaw invading force.

The two of them-the Major and the man-walked to the Captain of the Guard.

"Major Forest..?"

She did not speak. The man did.

"Captain. I’m going to give you a choice. I’m going to give you a choice and you need to give me an answer right now."

Suddenly that bearable cold became an arctic blast careening along his spine. Partly from those missiles, and partly from the blood rage glowing in the man's eyes.

The Captain made his choice…

…Scuffling and shouts from outside the sealed chamber doors interrupted the conversation between the three Committeemen. Two of them sat at their elevated desk reviewing papers and photographs. The third occupied a chair at the oval conference table working on a small computer.

A heavy thud caused the doors to shake, drawing the attention of Thebes' three leaders.

"Guard," the one at the table ordered. "Find out what’s going on out there and silence them. We have important work to do."

One of the two sentries in the room nodded and walked toward the doors. As he reached for the knob, both doors exploded inward. Wood and metal and the sentry’s body parts blew across the chamber in a gale of shrapnel, punctuated by the crack of an explosion. The wave of concussion and debris engulfed the committeeman at the table, tossing him from his chair.

An angry swarm poured in to the room directly behind the blast, led by Trevor Stone.

The second sentry raised his rifle. Major Forest fired from her silver pistols blam-blam…blam-blam.

Two horrified Committeemen remained and attempted to speak from atop their shattered pedestal. Trevor did not afford them the chance. He tossed a grenade between their chairs. Their bodies flew in the air as if their asses had been spring-loaded, and then fell to the floor in two deadened thumps.

The air inside the chamber grew to a surreal quiet broken only by the rain-like pitter-patter of debris caught in gravity’s grasp. A cloud of dust hovered over the scene.

Trevor, his invading force, and the stunned spectators in the Operations Center stood and waited to see if a few seconds of violence had truly erased years of The Committee’s rule.

A groan broke that silence, followed by a sliding sound, then the sound of debris being pushed aside. Trevor searched the piles of scraps, the overturned chairs, and the bloody remains until he found the source.

The Committeeman seated at the table when the door blasted open lived, his body covered in ceiling tiles and wood chips and he was missing half of his face, but he still drew breath.

Trevor saw the face of Reverend Johnny on the floor outside his penthouse. Reverend Johnny-his friend-was not drawing breath anymore.

Every one in the room watched. They watched as Trevor walked in big hard steps over to the crawling man covered in dust and debris. They watched as Trevor raised his assault rifle, aimed the bayonet, and drove the blade home.

– Eventually the dust settled and the silence broke. Workers carted off the bodies of the three deposed rulers.

Director Snowe and General Gronard stood in what had, a half hour before, served as The Committee’s chambers. Major Forest hovered near the door looking out at the Ops Center where Trevor moved among the technicians and support personnel, providing more chances to choose.

So far, Snowe heard no gunshots, suggesting people made the right choice.

In addition to offering choices, Trevor also shut down communications. The man who would be Emperor again wanted to control every snippet of information in Thebes while he moved to consolidate his newly-won position.

Gronard asked again, "What caused him to do this?"

From the doorway, Major Forest said, "After his counter attack yesterday, they killed his friend. I mean, I guess they wanted to send a message."

"Really?" Based on his expression, that piece of information stunned Gronard even more than the coup. "That doesn’t seem like something they would do."

"No," Snowe agreed. "But you heard them yesterday. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them that annoyed."