Chapter 193
- Evan -
Rain hammered down on all of us. Water rushed restlessly through the gutters. The black armored transport trucks blocked the roadway completely, their engines idling and emitting a low rumble. Rows of silent police stood shoulder to shoulder beneath towering floodlights, their dark armor and cloaks reflecting the rain like oil.
Weapons lowered but ready to fire at anyone opposing them.
The governor stood at the center beneath a steel overhang while several city officials and medical personnel remained beside him, holding tablets and scanners.
Behind them, the massive security doors leading into City 5 stayed partially open.
Only partially, just enough for a controlled entry.
My stomach twisted; this was not for the undertaking of protection. It was for selection.
Duke tightened next to Kaysi and me.
"You've got to be kidding me," Josh muttered far louder than he should have.
Kaysi stared upward toward the blockade, her expression unreadable.
Then the loudspeakers crackled to life overhead.
"Attention citizens of Bushel Shell City," the governor's voice echoed calmly through the rain. "Remain orderly and cooperative. City 5 is already nearing maximum emergency capacity."
Murmurs spread instantly through the crowd.
The governor continued as if he were reading a weather report.
"To preserve survival sustainability, all incoming civilians must undergo and pass medical and resource screening before entry."
The silence afterward felt wrong.
Like, people didn't fully process what he meant.
Then one woman near the front shouted first.
"What about my husband? He can't walk?"
Another yelled.
"I have family who are in the retirement homes; they gave their best lives to you and these people. What will become of them? They can't even come here for this screening."
The crowd started shifting harder, nervous, fearful.
The governor raised one hand.
"Rest assured," he continued smoothly, "we are doing everything possible to preserve humanity during this crisis."
I clenched my fist. I really couldn't stand any more of what he had to say next. Nothing good, that I am sure.
That tone, that fake calm tone, that made me want to punch him in the face even more.
Regardless, he kept talking.
"Many of the elderly have already transferred into protective care; they have been sedated for comfort during end-of-life care."
A horrified silence, with only some gasps from people in the crowd. He didn't stop there.
"And all non-essential animals meant for immediate survival have been euthanized for resource conservation and containment purposes."
Jakeh stiffened.
"...What?"
Mary immediately covered her toddler's ears.
"What about the people incarcerated?"
An officer stepped forward. "What about them? If they have been officially deemed to have committed a crime, they're silenced immediately after trial. You don't think life here has been so peaceful for nothing, right? Surely you have figured this out by now."
The governor continued.
"The city was never designed to sustain this population density under emergency flood conditions. If escape pod evacuation becomes necessary, projections estimate only two-thirds of current citizens can survive transport allocation."
The words hit the crowd like a gunshot.
People started yelling instantly.
Civilian 1. "NO—! You can't decide who lives like that!"
Civilian 2. "Those are people; we are people!"
Civilian 3. "They're just lying to us! This is population control."
People erupted into panic on the incline. The ones that had enough fight left in them, that is.
I looked at the silent police lining the streets, the armored trucks blocking the roads.
All the missing patrols from earlier in the disaster.
I gasped. "This is why," I muttered.
Kaysi turned to look at me.
"This is why we haven't seen much of the Silent Police."
Duke's expression darkened instantly.
I stepped forward slowly, staring directly at the governor.
"They weren't helping the city."
Rain rolled down my face.
"They were behind the scenes deciding the fate of many, whose lives and who dies."
The realization spread through the people around us as they listened.
The lower districts.
The abandoned sectors of the city were.
The delayed rescues.
The sealed zones.
None of it had been random.
Frank's face went pale beside us.
"...No..." His voice cracked.
The former chief looked toward the Silent Police. The officers he once stood by as comrades now stand about us.
Some wouldn't even meet his eyes.
I kept going.
"You took the lower levels first because they were easier to sacrifice."
The governor's expression didn't change.
Nothing. I wouldn't have already predicted his dirty bastard's blood on his calloused hands, and he didn't even flinch.
"And now the hospital flooded before you were ready to move people," I continued. "Now you're losing control."
The governor finally looked directly at me.
Cold.
Measured.
"Evan Hoshi," he said calmly. "The waymakers continue to interfere emotionally instead of logically."
Josh stepped forward instantly.
"Oh, I know this old man isn't talking to us right now—"
Becky grabbed his jacket before he launched himself uphill.
The governor folded his hands behind his back.
"We are preserving the future of humanity with the resources we have available."
Kaysi's voice cut through the chaos sharply.
"You're preserving your pockets by abandoning people."
The governor dismissed her completely.
"The weak cannot always be saved in situations like this."
That sentence hit something inside me wrong.
Deep wrong.
I stepped forward again before Duke could stop me.
"This isn't survival."
Rainwater splashed around my boots.
"It is mass murder!"
The silent police immediately raised their weapons.
The sound alone made the crowd recoil.
The governor finally lost some of his polished expression.
Just a little.
"You speak emotionally because you're still young," he replied. "But leadership requires sacrifice sometimes. Who do you choose to save, and who is worth saving?"
Duke laughed once. A dangerous cold laugh,
"You don't know the first thing about sacrifice. Your days are accounted for, every action and choice noted, and it all will come into light soon enough."
Every silent police officer stiffened.
Even the governor hesitated slightly at the Duke's authority; they knew who he stood for.
Because, unlike politicians—
Real soldiers knew what another killer sounds like.
And Duke sounded terrifying.
The governor recovered quickly.
"Your group has already caused enough instability; I am having to correct the order for."
My eyes narrowed.
"...Excuse me?"
"The bank incident. The flooding complications. The system failures."
Micah promptly stepped forward.
"You're seriously trying to shift blame to us. Kaysi and Evan went to you before to warn you of your fate, yet you, ironically, tried to silence them by what, of course??? Drowning them!" She fake-chuckles. "Seems oddly suspicious as to everything occurring now. Almost as if you don't want us to talk."
"I think," the governor replied carefully. "Your presence continues to attract catastrophic outcomes."
Josh actually looked impressed.
"Oh, wow. That's the dumbest comeback I have heard all week."
Becky nodded.
"And we've met demons."
The crowd behind us started getting louder now.
Angrier, not at all used to him. People were finally seeing that this wasn't a rescue checkpoint. This was a filter, a sorting line to weed out the weak.
"A nurse near the front clutched one of the incubators tighter.
"These babies need treatment now."
The governor looked toward the medical scanners.
"They will be evaluated as I said before; if they meet life substantially, then they may pass."
Kaysi stepped forward beside me. Her wet hair clung to her face, but her eyes stayed locked on the governor.
"If city 5 has room for armored trucks and soldiers and large, wealthy homes," She said quietly, "Then it has room for civilians."
Voices from being people getting braver, rising. Because someone finally said it out loud.
The governor's jaw tightened.
For the first time, he looked nervous.
Then one of the silent police officers moved beside him quickly, whispering something into his ear.
The governor's expression changed instantly. Alarmed, he looked below the city before him.
Frank's face dropped as he turned, looking to the same point as the governor.
The water is rising another level a bit faster now. Emergency lockdown sirens began howling.
"If any of you want to survive, we must start evacuation processing immediately and fast. Red bands must hold back for a second screening; green bands have immediate access to the next city."
The governor looked beyond us.
"It is now or die where you stand in the waters, either way."
Jakeh came around the corners of the crowd. Breathless, almost in tears.
Rainwater rolled down his face as he grabbed Duke's arm tightly enough to wrinkle the coat beneath his fingers.
"Duke..." His voice cracked hard.
"Calm down, Jakeh. Where are Mary and the kids?"
"They're separating families, mainly the women. We went ahead with the screening." I got a red band, but Mary and the kids got a green."
He swallowed hard.
"She was going to stay back with me, but then they shoved her. Telling her she qualified for future placement housing."
Becky snapped. "What!?"
He looked sick as he spoke.
"And then..." He clenched his jaw. "One of them started talking about compatibility programs and genetic reconstruction pairings. They tried convincing her to leave me behind." His voice cracked again. "They said the children deserved a stronger survival outcome. They shoved her and the kids to the next city."