G Hopf - Driver 8 - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel

A man by the name of Cisco appeared on the loading dock. He was Barry’s new right hand person and would serve as his personal aide. He hollered, “Stop playing with him and get him inside, take him stage left. Hold him there until we call for him to be brought out.”

The guards all took one more swipe at Kyle before picking him up and dragging him inside.

The forum filled up fast with many sad faces. The news of Number One’s death was announced earlier via calls and loud speaker. However, how he died had not been released, Barry wanted to shock the residents of The Collective and when he brought out Drive Eight it would most certainly do that.

Barry stood on the side of the stage reading a prepared statement he’d drafted. Today would be his first time addressing The Collective. He was nervous but also very excited to showcase his style of leadership.

Cisco stepped up beside him. “Three minutes to go. You ready?”

“I am.”

“Then I’ll go on and introduce you,” Cisco said before stepping away.

“No, don’t. My father did that. It’s so corny, tired and well, stupid.”

“Then what, Cisco asked.

“I’ll just walk out, no music, no pomp.”

“If you say so,” Cisco said stepping back.

Barry read over his speech one more time, gave Cisco a wink and headed out. As he walked to the podium many in the audience could be heard talking while otehrs cried. He reached the podium and tapped on the microphone. “Good morning residents!” He laid his speech out before him and looked at it briefly.

The crowd drew still and silent.

Suddenly and rashly he decided to not use it, “I come before you as the new Number One. My father was a great man, a leader. He carved out this great society from the rubble of the past world. He gave us laws to live by and a renewed purpose that the needs of the many outweigh the news of the individual. This couldn’t be truer than now. Like me, many of you feel a deep sense of loss. We lost the father of our society. He was taken too early but as his successor, I will continue his great work.”

Many began to clap.

Barry looked out and what nervousness he had felt was now gone. “I pledge to you that what he and you created we will continue and make greater. While we will miss him, let us not forget the words he gave us,” Barry said just as the screen behind him began to project quotes from Xavier.

Sounds of people openly crying and whimpering came from the crowd.

“I promise, I pledge to you that our greatest days are ahead of us, not behind us. We shall go forward proud to have known him and do our best to make him proud of us.”

The crowd cheered the uplifting words.

Barry never imagined himself as a speaker but he now felt he had a knack for it.

When the crowd settled down, Barry continued, “Now we must turn to what happened. This will be hard for many of you to process but our great leader was murdered.”

Boos and jeers rang out in the great forum.

“Yes, murdered, and this horrendous act was committed by a son of The Collective, someone we trusted but more importantly, someone my father trusted, someone whose life he saved. This act wasn’t done by one of those deplorable types who resist the good work we do, no but by someone we all hold dear.”

“Name the traitor!” a man boomed from the crowd.

“Bring the murderer out!” another cried out.

“Yeah, bring them out!” voiced another.

Barry waited for the crowd to simmer down before proceeding. “The individual. Yes, I used that word because they are that and so much more, the individual is Driver Eight,” Barry said and looked in the direction of stage left.

The crowd went wild. Hissing and boos echoed across the great walls of the forum.

A light beamed down on Driver Eight being dragged out across the stage.

Upon seeing him, the crowd grew louder.

Kyle was dropped to the floor. He looked up and saw the angry masses. If Barry wanted to truly be cruel to him, he’d only need to throw him into the middle of the crowd and watch as they pulled his limbs from his torso.

“Let me share a story,” Barry said and repeated the tale of how he and his father had found Kyle on the road. When he finished he looked at Kyle and said, “And this is how he thanked us.” The screen turned on behind them showing footage from Number One’s office. Taken from a side angle, it showed, Xavier on the right and Barry on the opposite side of the desk. There was no sound to accompany the video but by the gestures of the two, it looked as if the two were discussing something. Without notice in comes Kyle from the left holding a pistol. Seeing this the crowd in the forum gasped and a few booed. All eyes watched as the pistol went off and Xavier’s head exploded.

“That’s enough, turn it off, turn it off!” Barry hollered.

The screen went dark.

A mix of emotions rang out from the crowd.

“This man, this individual decided to snuff out the life of our leader and for what? To save the life of his wife who had committed a crime. Yes, let it be known that the very next day after my father chooses Teacher Seven for recognition, she attempts to kidnap a contaminated child in processing. She put the entire Collective at risk. My father was about to impose sentence when this madman barges into the executive residence and murders him in cold blood.”

Hissing and jeers sound from the crowd.

“I have banished her, she will never be seen again and as for him. The punishment will be the Tree of Justice!”

The residents rose and cheered. “Kill him, kill him, kill him,” the crowd chanted.

Kyle leered at the residents he once calls friends and neighbors. How quickly they turned on him. They were nothing more than thoughtless and mindless walking bags of skin who would turn in their own mother if they felt it would benefit themselves and their beloved collective. He was disgusted.

“Guards take him away,” Barry ordered.

The guards surrounded Kyle. He thought about resisting but questioned the rationale as he wouldn’t escape. It appeared his destiny had been chosen. They picked him up and dragged him away.

Barry watched until Kyle disappeared behind the curtain then put his attention back on the crowd. “In two days’ time we shall hold a memorial service for our father then we will commence a procession to his burial spot. I have called for a day of rest across The Collective so that you all may come and pay your respects. With that said, thank you and as my father would say, THE ONE FOR THE MANY…!

The crowd shouted , “THE MANY FOR THE ONE!”

Barry waved and exited the stage.

Cisco greeted him on the side of the stage, “You were amazing and you didn’t use your prepared speech, you’re a natural at this.”

Full of pride, Barry said, “It was good, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go celebrate, I wish to go to the Lair. Have my father’s suite prepared.”

“Very well, but don’t you mean your suite?”

Barry winked at Cisco and said, “Yes, my suite.”

The two headed for the exit. An idea came to Barry, “Hold that thought, I want to see Driver Eight put on that tree, take me there,” Barry said.

Each time Kyle was loaded and unloaded, he received more beatings. By the time he was dragged from the van and placed in front of the tree of justice, he was bleeding from his mouth, nose and ears and he was so weak he could barely sit up.

Barry got out of his vehicle and walked over to the barely conscious Kyle. “You look like shit, not so tough now, huh?”

“Fuck you,” Kyle managed to mutter.

Barry shook his head while a guard punished Kyle with a kick to the head. “You don’t learn do you?” Barry asked walking past Kyle to the tree, one side of the large oak was void of bark and stained dark with the blood of the many residents who found their punishment there. Large chains hung down from two large branches above and a chain wrapped around the trunk near the base had two iron clamps that went around the victim’s ankles. Barry admired it, “This is truly barbaric but it represents the times we live in. I really have to thank my father’s ingenuity for this.”