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The Hecatomb, Chapter 2 |
| Written by Sean | |
| Friday, 20 June 2008 | |
He never had a chance of getting the job. Three signs, two customers, and the manager had made it very clear that he was not welcome there, lest he somehow order the animals to break free of their cages and kill them. When he sensed the hostility, David had ushered Evelyn away to the turtle tank while he and the manager spoke. In truth, it was more along the lines of David listening while being condemned. He would never admit, but as he and his daughter left the store, David had indulged in the guilty pleasure of ruining the manager's thick glasses. It felt good to have little victories, infinitesimal as they may be.
"Did you get the job?"
"Not this time, Evey."
"You'll get it next time."
"You sure?"
"Of course I am."
Fair enough. When Evelyn set her mind to something, there was little stopping her. Certainly, she thought that, as she had informed her father that he would get the job, the fates would align themselves accordingly. David took refuge in his daughter's boundless optimism and made a mental note to buy her a stuffed turtle the very next moment he could. She had forgotten about the turtle she wanted to buy, sparing him the task of having to come up with yet another reason why she could not have gotten it.
"So, Evey, what would you like to do today?"
"I dunno."
"Would you like to go to the movies?"
"I dunno."
"Library?"
Evey simply stared at him. She had inherited her father's love for poems, not prose. Libraries were much too quiet for her, a little girl who delighted in excitement, movement, and action.
"Zoo?"
Evelyn stopped skipping, and looked up at her father with those big blue eyes of hers. She took a deep breath, and rapidly rattled off such a long string of "please" that it could have driven even the most patient of nannies to the edge. David, however, had grown accustomed to such things. The girl had nearly talked her own head off the day David gave her a glass turtle of his own creation.
"Okay, okay. We'll go!"
His rewards were a smile and a hug around his waist. More than enough.
The two descended into the city's underground, pushing through milling crowds of people waiting for their subway trains to arrive. After ensuring that his daughter was at his side, David approached the ticket booth. A young man, apparently reeling from the effects of acne and clearly disinterested with anything going on around him, sat languidly on a stool, his eyes betraying the fact that he was alive. Aside from his own mind, what separated from the rest of the world was a plate of see-through material and a microphone, resulting in garbled speech that only a talented few could completely understand. When the young man so deigned to acknowledge David's existence, he sighed, lifted himself from his elbows, and spoke in a monotonous voice more akin to that of a bored machine than a human.
"Good morning. Where will you be going today?"
Evelyn happily informed him that they were off to see the turtles at the zoo, and as such, it was very important for them to get through as soon as they could, thank you very much. David just nodded and smiled. The clerk was less than amused.
"Name please."
"David Verre"
The clerk went to work typing in David's name. When he was finished, he pressed enter and the information traveled like lightning through the wires. Miles away, a server whirred to life in a building that was a beacon of hope to most, and a symbol of hatred to people like David: The Mutant Registry Building. Possessing data on every single registered mutant of the city, the Registry was open to every non-mutant citizen, so as to promote "security" and "well-being." It received the information and, in the manner of quiet obedience expected of machines, sent out the profile of the subject David Verre, #275A
Whatever false mask of amiability the clerk had worn vanished immediately. His acne-scarred face hardened, lips pursed.
"Curse?"
David grew cold. These things never ended well. He took a calming breath, prepared to recite what he had been told was his own personal curse, a permanent punishment for past sins.
"Manipulation of glass."
"Entrance barred."
"Why?"
"Safety of yourself and those around you."
"What are you talking about?"
"There are windows on trains, Mr. Verre."
"So I've been told. I don't see what that has to do with it."
"We cannot risk the possibility of you losing control over your curse."
"You act like I'm some child, as if I have no control over what I do!"
"Well this certainly isn't helping your case. You are educated enough to know how to act in public, right?"
"Educated enou- I have a Ph. D!"
"I'm sure. You need to go, sir."
"I have my daughter here! She wants to go to the zoo, and I'll not have someone like you stop me."
"Sir, you will be escorted outside if you-"
David stopped listening. Evelyn hot at his heels, he pushed himself further into the crowd, logic overridden by sheer anger. Evelyn had lost her usual smile, and felt legitimate fear. What was Daddy doing? Unfortunately, David himself wasn't entirely sure why he was committing such a foolish action. At the time, he didn't care. His daughter wanted to see the turtles and, with or without god, she would see the damned turtles.
His reward for valor was an excruciatingly painful shock to his side. Daddy fell to his knees. Evelyn screamed. He breathed heavily, clutching his side where two nodes had pierced his skin. To his left stood his assailant, a police officer quivering in fear at the sight of this fallen "demon", wielding a weak taser. David had seen such things in action before, meant to pacify rather than incapacitate a victim. Never, though, had he imagined it hurting as much as it did.
"Time for you to go, bane."
That is what David had become, some poison, some wretched plague that corrupted the holy human gene pool. A second officer, one who appeared to be able to rip small children in half with only his thumb and his pinky, forcibly lifted him from the ground. David saw Evelyn be gripped by the shoulders, her eyes locked on to Daddy, whose fingers still jerked slightly from the rush of electricity. Together, they were marched out of the subway station, though Evelyn was spared the shameful toss onto the street.
David lay there, staring up at the sky, just beginning to darken with the cottony clouds of rain. Evelyn sat beside him, staring up at the same sky and sneaking peeks at her father whenever she could. He thought of his own shame, of guilt, of Evelyn's undeniable embarrassment, her fear, and of her future. If they were to have any tomorrow, they would have to escape today. And as he laid there, rain beginning to fall on his face, David came to what he considered the single most cowardly conclusion of his life.
They would leave this city behind, all of the people, the hatred, and the black smog that so overtook the streets and the denizens.
They would run. Copyright 2008 Sean |
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