Chapter 105: I’ll be a Fool
Lily led Demarcus back to the helicopter.
‘I need a sample of your DNA,’ said Lily. ‘I need as much information as possible to determine what makes us different from other Sapiens.’
‘No problem,’ said Demarcus as he held his hand out.
Lily took a blood sample and swabbed the inside of Demarcus’ mouth. ‘Three samples should be more than enough,’ said Lily with a smile.
‘Now the difficult part,’ said Lily as she pulled out a gun.
Demarcus shook his head. ‘I can’t just shoot him.’
‘There is more than just our lives at stake,’ said Lily.
She took him to the back of the helicopter. ‘In here are vials of a drug that will save present generations as well as give us future generations.’
‘The answer to the contaminated water,’ said Demarcus.
Lily nodded. ‘It was developed by Pardi Carvaress to protect himself and his family. Orcille will make sure nobody will be able to access it.’
Demarcus began to breathe heavily.
‘I know it sounds like a terrible thing, but it has to be done,’ said Lily.
Tears began to roll down Demarcus’ face. Lily places the gun in Demarcus’ hands. ‘Be the hero you need to be. Be the hero for us,’ she said as she kissed him gently on the head.
Lily used the pull-down bed in the helicopter to sleep. Demarcus sat under a tree by himself. Demarcus was still grieving the loss of his family. The improvements he had seen in Darius had greatly lifted his spirits. This hope had been drained quickly after his conversation with Lily. He had grown to like Orcille, but the thought that Orcille was partly responsible for the loss of his family and was on the verge of harming his friends again was unbearable.
The next morning, he went to the part of the stream where Orcille collected the water. He hid behind some bushes and became invisible as he waited for Orcille.
Not long later, Orcille walked by. He was carrying two containers for collecting water. He kneeled down by the edge of the stream. Instead of filling up the containers, Orcille just stared at his own reflection in the water.
Demarcus crawled between the bushes to get a better view of Orcille. Demarcus slowly aimed the gun at Orcille’s head. His hands were trembling.
‘What is worse, to lose all those who love us or to realise we have never been loved at all?’ asked Orcille as he continued to gaze into the water.
Demarcus rose to his feet. He aimed the gun at Orcille’s head again as he became visible. ‘I can forgive betrayal, but I cannot let a traitor destroy everyone and everything I love,’ said Demarcus.
‘The truth is often in plain sight, but we fail to see it because we don’t want to see it,’ said Orcille.
‘I know why you are here,’ said Demarcus.
‘Why is that?’ asked Orcille.
‘You knew I escaped Adoy,’ said Demarcus. ‘You knew I could become invisible like you. You knew Lily would track me down. You wanted to make sure she couldn’t use your father’s drug to cure everyone from the poison that your father put in our water supply.’
Orcille clapped sarcastically. ‘I’m truly impressed by your powers of deduction. I’m also impressed by how much I know.’
‘Your father has surveillance everywhere,’ said Demarcus. ‘Of course you would know where everyone is. Finding us here was clearly not a coincidence.’
‘I’m here because I’m also on the run,’ said Orcille.
‘Lies, lies, and more lies,’ said Demarcus angrily. ‘Lily warned me of your deception.’
‘Well, the most successful politician in history would know a lot about deception,’ said Orcille.
‘Do not speak about her in that way,’ said Demarcus. ‘She’s trying to save us all.’
‘Sure, she will save those who she believes can help her take back control,’ said Orcille.
‘That’s rich coming from a Linap,’ said Demarcus.
Orcille frowned for a moment and then began to chuckle.
‘What’s so funny?’ said Demarcus starkly.
‘Lily has been hiding her Sapien identity her whole life, and you blurted out her secret in your first conversation,’ replied Orcille.
Demarcus pulled a confused face for a few seconds. Then he realised what Orcille meant.
Orcille walked over to Demarcus. He gently pulled the gun out of his hand.
‘I couldn’t do it,’ said Demarcus.
‘Of course not,’ said Orcille. ‘You’re good, you’re kind, and you’re not a killer.’
Denise ran towards them. ‘It’s Darius. He’s had a bad nightmare,’ she shouted.
‘He’s under a lot of stress,’ said Orcille. ‘I’m not surprised. Let him calm down on his own.’
‘Is that it?’ said Denise. ‘Are you sure?’
Orcille nodded. He then patted Demarcus on the back. ‘Accompany Denise and check on your brother. I’ll continue to collect the water.’ Orcille handed Denise the gun.
‘I’m a non-violent girl,’ said Denise firmly.
‘Exactly why you should have it,’ said Orcille.
Denise and Demarcus walked back towards their camping area. Orcille went back to the stream to collect water.
Lily had just woken up. She folded her bed back up. She applied some Cabas face cream to her cheeks. She helped herself to some fruit and a big glass of fruit juice for breakfast. After that, she climbed out of the helicopter to do some basic stretches and then climbed back in again.
She decided to contact Jennifer. ‘How did it all go with the enforcers?’ asked Lily.
‘We took all the vehicles without a problem,’ replied Jennifer.
‘That’s fantastic,’ said Lily as she checked the computer for the whereabouts of the vehicles.
Some of the flying vehicles had reached Cellrebrum, and several others were approaching.
‘We are currently checking in the enforcers for the necessary procedures,’ said Jennifer. ‘Some of them will be ready to serve our programme by the end of the week.’
‘Excellent,’ said Lily.
‘We have a slight problem,’ said Jennifer. ‘Large, threatening beasts are approaching several of our regions.’
‘Let the locals fend them off,’ said Lily.
‘I predict that they have less than a one percent chance of surviving,’ said Jennifer.
‘Fine, send back a handful of these vehicles to the following regions,’ said Lily as she typed in the names of a few regions that were currently in the path of the Sentray.
‘The vehicles are refuelling and will depart shortly,’ said Jennifer.
Lily sat back in the chair. She noticed a panel had come loose due to her hard landing. She pushed the panel in, but instead it fell off. ‘Low-quality Carvaress tech,’ she said to herself.
Then she heard a beeping sound coming from the control panel. She went over to try to stop the beeping, but she could not figure out what she needed to do.
Slightly earlier in the morning, back in the Capital Region. Pardi was feeling much better, but he was trapped in his mountain facility. The mother of the baby Sentray, whom he had killed, was outside the facility, trying to get in. She was unable to do so because of the rock structure. Pardi’s only way out would be by flying vehicle or helicopter. All the helicopters and flying vehicles in the Capital Region were destroyed or uncontactable.
Pardi tried to communicate with the regional branches that he believed had vehicles, but he had no success in reaching them. He tried to contact the enforcers, but to no avail. He asked Cella to perform a search of all his vehicles across the country.
He sat back in dismay as Cella remained silent. Pardi was about to get up to grab another can of beans when Cella responded with a message informing him of a damaged helicopter found at coordinates near Downs Region.
‘Cella, can we bring this helicopter in?’ asked Pardi.
‘Damage is minor and does not affect flight,’ replied Cella.
‘Can we use autopilot, or do we need to contact the pilot?’ asked Pardi.
‘Autopilot is available. The helicopter originated from here,’ replied Cella.
‘Damn,’ said Pardi to himself. ‘Lily must have stolen it, and then she damaged it.’
‘Fly it back here immediately,’ commanded Pardi. ‘I’ll leave her stranded in Downs Region. That has to be a fate worse than death,’ chuckled Pardi to himself.
Meanwhile, in the helicopter, Lily continued to try to figure out how to turn off the annoying beeping sound. Then the sound suddenly stopped.
‘Yes,’ said Lily as she did a small fist pump.
The doors on the helicopter suddenly closed. ‘Why did this happen?’ asked Lily angrily. ‘I need to get out of this thing.’ She pressed the ‘open door’ button, but nothing happened. Then the helicopter’s engine started.
Lily tried to contact Jennifer. ‘Jennifer, I need your help.’ There was no response.
The helicopter took off and ascended rapidly. Lily realised her control panel had been completely disabled. She did not know where she was going, but her best guess was the Capital Region.
Denise and Demarcus were back with Darius and Hamlet. Orcille was right. Darius had calmed down and was playing with Hamlet.
‘Fun, fun. I’m having fun,’ cried out Darius.
‘That was definitely a sentence,’ screamed out Denise.
‘No doubt,’ said Demarcus with a little hesitancy in his voice.
Denise jumped up and down. ‘He’s going to be Darius again soon.’
They both heard a noise. They looked up. It was Lily’s helicopter flying away.
‘No, no, she can’t be leaving now,’ said Demarcus in despair.
‘She’s off to save Sapey,’ said Denise. ‘She can’t stop and socialise with us forever.’
‘I’m such a fool,’ said Demarcus as he sighed and shook his head.
‘The penny had to drop at some point,’ said Denise. ‘I’ll help you through this.’
She put her arm around Demarcus.
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