Chapter 108: More Questions than Answers
A week earlier. Lily was frantically trying to find a way to regain control of the helicopter. After failing to contact Jennifer, Lily tried to regain control manually. She knew little about the technology, but she knew she had to do something. She pressed every button, twisted every knob, and pulled every lever, but nothing she did made a difference.
Eventually, she realised she was not going to regain control. She expected the helicopter ride to end badly for her. It would either end up crashing when it ran out of fuel or it would take her somewhere hostile. She went to the back of the helicopter. She looked at the trolley with all the vials of serum. On the bottom shelf of the trolley was a small box containing a few syringes.
Lily picked up a syringe and a vial of 19CE. ‘This might save me if something bad happens,’ Lily said to herself. ‘I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. Do I just jab myself? Do I need a full vial?’
Lily shook her head. She placed the syringe back down again. She walked over to a window. They were flying high. It was too high for her to make out where she might be. There were parachutes at the back of the helicopter, but they were useless, as she could not open the doors.
Lily picked up the vial and the syringe again. She filled the syringe halfway with 19CE.
‘This is crazy. This is so crazy,’ said Lily. ‘It feels like my best chance, which is crazy.’
She jabbed herself in the arm and injected 19CE into herself. She soon experienced incredible pain. She fell down on the floor of the helicopter. She immediately regretted jabbing herself. Soon, she passed out.
A few hours later, Lily woke up. She was still in pain, but it had eased off significantly. The lights had gone off in the helicopter, but she could still hear the engine running. She slowly pulled herself to her feet. She looked out the window. The helicopter was still high in the sky. She did not know where she was or how long she had been unconscious.
The more she moved around, the better she felt. She was feeling relieved that the serum had not killed her, but she did not know if it would help her if the helicopter crashed or if whoever she met at the other end had bad intentions for her. She noticed a light on the control panel. It indicated that the helicopter had switched to a low-power mode. It seemed it was running low on fuel.
Meanwhile, in the Central Agriculture Zone, Denise and Demarcus had been talking most of the day about Orcille. Demarcus explained what Lily had told him, and Denise explained what she and Orcille had been through together. Demarcus felt bad. He could see that Lily had taken advantage of him.
‘You should go and talk to Orcille,’ said Denise. ‘Surprisingly, he can be sympathetic.’
Demarcus nodded.
Since dropping off the water, Orcille had kept away from the group. He wanted time alone. Demarcus knew Orcille would be under the tree overlooking the creek.
Orcille was leaning against the tree. He was gazing up at the sky as the day started to turn to night.
Demarcus sat next to Orcille. ‘Enjoying the sunset, I see,’ said Demarcus.
‘I guess, but I’m mostly with my own thoughts,’ said Orcille.
‘I was wrong,’ said Demarcus. ‘I acted impulsively.’
‘I don’t blame you,’ said Orcille. ‘She’s really good at manipulating others.’
‘I’m confused about what to think of her,’ said Demarcus.
‘The spell doesn’t wear off instantly,’ replied Orcille.
‘You were getting along fine with her yesterday,’ said Demarcus.
‘My opinion of her fell dramatically after I eavesdropped on your conversation with her,’ said Orcille.
‘Did you see and hear everything?’ asked Demarcus.
Orcille looked at Demarcus and nodded.
‘I must say, I’m disappointed in your lack of respect for privacy,’ said Demarcus.
‘At least I didn’t try to kill anyone,’ replied Orcille.
‘Let’s just say we’re even,’ said Demarcus as he held his hand out.
Orcille smiled. ‘Sure,’ he replied as he shook Demarcus’ hand.
The two sat in silence for a while as the sky turned completely dark.
‘She’s my aunt,’ said Orcille. ‘I hoped she might care, but I was clearly mistaken.’
‘Why does she hate you?’ asked Demarcus.
‘Hate is a strong word, but you might be right,’ said Orcille. ‘Could be linked to my father, could be linked to my contribution in bringing down her career, or it could be linked to my mother and her sister dying giving birth to me.’
‘I expected better from her,’ said Demarcus.
‘I was brought up being taught the importance of loyalty to family,’ said Orcille. ‘Turns out that it is only expected to work one way.’
‘We can change that,’ said Demarcus with some excitement in his voice. ‘We can form our own motley family.’
Orcille sighed as he looked down.
‘I’m serious,’ said Demarcus.
He grabbed Orcille’s hand. Orcille slowly got to his feet as the two of them headed back to their camp.
Denise was sitting with Hamlet and Darius. They were sharing a large basket of fruit. Demarcus and Orcille arrived back to join them.
‘Did you sort out all your problems?’ asked Denise.
‘Yes, and we are stronger than ever,’ said Demarcus.
‘Good to feel your positive energy again,’ said Denise.
‘I want the five of us to form a new family,’ said Demarcus.
‘We are already a family, you silly twat,’ said Denise with a slight smile on her face.
‘Well, I’m the first to say it,’ said Demarcus.
‘We are a family of the four species,’ said Denise. ‘Hamlet the Sape, Darius the Sapiod, Orcille the Linap, and Demarcus and Denise the Sapiens.’
Orcille still appeared sad.
‘We are family,’ shouted Darius.
Orcille looked at Darius and smiled. Denise clapped in excitement as Darius spoke more words. Every day, he was making more progress.
In the early hours of the morning, Darius woke up screaming. He shuffled backwards along the ground as he whimpered. Denise rushed over to him. Darius waved his hands frantically, almost hitting Denise.
‘Let him calm down,’ said Orcille as he held Denise back.
A few minutes later, Darius had calmed down. He crawled over to Hamlet, who was still asleep. He propped himself up against her.
‘What’s wrong with him?’ asked Denise.
‘Let’s talk about it in the morning,’ replied Orcille as he climbed back into the back of the vehicle. Demarcus rubbed Denise on the shoulder as he lay down to sleep. Denise chose not to sleep. She sat up, watching Darius as he fell asleep again.
The next morning, Orcille approached Denise. ‘Maybe we should consider taking him off the brown medication,’ said Orcille.
‘He had a bad dream. He has not become violent,’ replied Denise. ‘I don’t want to hinder his progress.’
Orcille had a concerned look on his face. Denise walked over to Darius, who was sitting with Hamlet. She put her arms around his shoulders and neck and kissed the top of his forehead. Darius put his arms around Denise and gave her a gentle hug.
‘No aggression whatsoever,’ said Denise to Orcille.
‘Okay,’ replied Orcille. He grabbed the containers and headed off to get the water for the day.
Demarcus began packing up the camp. They were going to search for Morgan, as he had not returned as they had hoped.
Denise took the medication out of her bag. ‘You are doing so well,’ said Denise to Darius. ‘I think we can start giving you a little more.’
Denise gave Darius two drops of each medication instead of one. She gently rubbed his bald head.
‘I love you,’ she whispered to him.
‘Love you,’ replied Darius.
‘Soon, we will have each other again,’ she said as she kissed his forehead.
About an hour later, they set off to locate Morgan. Hamlet, Darius, Denise, and Orcille went on foot to follow the tracks left behind by the Sapiods. Demarcus drove the vehicle with their belongings in it.
After many hours of walking, they finally encountered a group of Sapiods. They were loading up a vehicle with fruit. They were far less hostile than Morgan’s group. Denise looked carefully at the Sapiods in the group. None of them looked like Morgan.
Orcille approached the Sapien in the vehicle. ‘Excuse me, could you tell me about the groups of Sapiods in this area?’ asked Orcille.
‘Get lost. It’s none of your business,’ said the Sapien in a slightly panicked tone.
‘I don’t care that you’re stealing fruit,’ said Orcille. ‘We are just looking for a group of Sapiods.’
‘How dare you accuse me of stealing?’ said the Sapien angrily.
Orcille walked back over to Denise. ‘I’m glad you’re making friends,’ said Denise with a smirk.
They heard a rumbling sound in the distance. Denise and Orcille walked to a space where they could get a clear look at the sky; Darius and Hamlet followed behind them. It was several dozen enforcers flying vehicles from the Capital Region.
The Sapien climbed into his vehicle and quickly drove off. As the noise became louder, the Sapiods became afraid and ran off in the opposite direction. Darius grabbed Denise’s hand and Hamlet’s ear.
Denise turned to Darius. ‘It’s okay. They’ll be gone soon,’ she told him.
The flying vehicles flew over them quickly and soon disappeared.
Meanwhile, the helicopter with Lily in it was arriving back in the Capital Region. The Capital Region appeared even more wrecked than when she left it. The sky was filled with thick smoke as fires continued to burn. The helicopter flew over the region and headed towards the mountains just outside the region.
The twins were sitting in a destroyed ice cream shop. They had helped themselves to ice cream and waffles. They looked up at the helicopter flying over the region.
‘Do you think we might finally have a customer?’ said Yassme to Yassmay.
‘I doubt it,’ said Yassmay. ‘They all seem preoccupied with other things.’
‘Maybe we’re not cut out for business,’ said Yassme.
‘We’re doing better than the previous owner,’ said Yassmay as she glanced over at a severed arm.
A Sentray walked past them.
‘Hey, would you like to buy our ice cream?’ shouted Yassmay.
The Sentray loudly grunted and continued walking.
‘These carnivores are lacking a sweet tooth,’ said Yassme.
‘I suppose we could sell pizza,’ said Yassmay. ‘The previous owner of the pizzeria is just over there.’
‘The bigger piece of him is over there,’ said Yassme, pointing in the opposite direction.
The top of the mountain opened up, enabling the helicopter to enter and land on an internal helicopter pad. Once the helicopter had entered, the opening closed again. Lily was squatting at the back of the helicopter, holding a gun she had found. She had become invisible. She waited to see who had brought her here.
The helicopter door opened. Pardi climbed in. Lily was surprised to see him alive. She did not expect him to experiment on himself. Pardi walked over to the control panel. Lily slowly got to her feet. She aimed the gun at the back of Pardi’s head.
‘No amount of 19CE could save him now,’ she thought. She squeezed the trigger. A small flag shot out of the barrel of the gun with the word ‘bang’ on it.
Pardi turned around. ‘I see you found the toy guns I put in here for the twins,’ he said with a smile on his face.
‘You mean all the weapons in here are toys,’ said Lily in astonishment.
‘It’s called responsible parenting,’ said Pardi as he bashed Lily on the head with the can of baked beans he was holding. Lily was knocked unconscious.
Pardi picked her up. He carried her out of the helicopter. He took her into another room.
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