18. Death by Fear

“Its been a month and no news about the revolution yet. Did we make tea the rightful heir to the dreaded capitalist coffee rather than creating that much needed tea revolution?” wondered Noah.

“Or may be it is because we are living in this secluded area which carves for that name ‘the vampire island’. There is no possible contact with the Imperial Firmament or any civilized or semi-civilized world. Thats what makes us safe her from both Acheron and Bella. As this is not the vampirism she wants, and this is not the revolution that he can afford, we are good. We don’t sparkle, and we don’t drink coffee, both are not acceptable things for them, or are rather quite loathed” replied Jack.

“I forgot that you are a vampire zombie. May be we should tell a few of them to get us some newspapers”.

“They are not my people, and most of them are beyond help. You can go to them if you don’t value your blood not your brains, for they might drink the tasty liquid and eat the awesome food. You don’t need a newspaper unless you wish to make contact with Acheron giving him your exact location, and one day he may nuke this place”.

They stopped suddenly. There were sounds of screeching and screaming around, and it was getting louder.

“And what would that be?” enquired Noah.

“It should be some prank. The people believe that this house was home to spirits, as the building rests over a graveyard which had quite a history. But that surely is the result of some anti-social elements trying to make sure that people don’t stay here. As long as I am concerned, I have lost the belief in anything beyond the material existence.

“So much for the rational man. You never really believe in most of the things, right? But you don’t see the space, but can believe that Earth revolves around the sun and moon is a satellite. You have no problems about scientists making you believe about the planets and the solar system. That is good hypocrisy. You didn’t follow that journal after that didn’t you”?

“What journal? That guy Christian’s journal? You found more from it? Did he even know what he was writing when he was writing them down?

“Yes, I was just left without reading the ending, and I would not mind that because there was nothing positive to come out of it. But now I know that we have a purpose, and the divine hand is always there to lead us towards the same – what we lose here, we shall gain in the other world”.

“So these spirits, you think that they are real? Do you believe in these stories more than these ignorant people manage? Do they inspire you”?

“No, they don’t inspire me yet. But I believe that they exist for a reason, just like the sun, moon, the tides and the woods. Their existence is as mandatory as the presence of any living creature which was created by God. If they are real, I believe they shall not bother us unless they are extremely evil, and even if they do, I have this crucifix to protect me”.

“So where does that keep me? I guess I am a vampire, a creature from the devil? Where in the food chain and where in the material existence does that fit me into”?

“No, absolutely not. You were created human, and the thing that you have is just a disease, and it is the result of venturing out of path and believing in science and technology beyond the limits. You would have been a perfect creation if you could have lived with nature, but what is left of mother nature now? The science has taken it all, and the destruction that it has brought on us is equalled only by the ignorance of God that it has rained upon us and hurt our chances of redemption deeply. The devil is different and he shall come in many forms, but a vampire is not one of them, and a zombie inherits none of his cunning and cruel nature. Your existing humanity which fights against the disease as well as the sin is a sound proof for it. The demons might cross over to this plane though, and about the material existence, I would guess that they are just the minions of the devil himself, coming down to Earth with lesser power as the sons of eternal damnation as they are expected to be, but still being extremely tormented in pseudo-happiness”.

“If there is hell, I should still be worthy of it, and it should be better if I don’t believe. There is no hope about me that I am aware of. There is only that descent into that darkness of a possible zombie vampirism which can create that eternal fog before my eyes which could make sure that I won’t even recognize you enough to keep me from making a brain fried rice or blood shake out of you”.

“No, nobody is worthy of hell. I would still wonder about Acheron and Bella though. There is rarely such pure evil in this world. There is evil in abundance, and the amount of it should be incredibly shocking to any angel who has come down to Earth, but none of them worhy of eternal hell unless God judges them. We cannot decide on the same, as there is lot of hope for us, and we have to believe until the end of the world, the finishing line for this old world which they have lied to us as being modern”.

“So, can you try and talk these spirits, demons or whatever creatures which you seem to believe in”?

The sounds had reached a level which made talking amost impossible, as they could hardly hear each other. A shadow moved past them, which they didn’t notice, but they could see that the lights of the hall were blinking eyes as if tired of being lighted all day in a land of darkness.

To be continued…

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8. Madness in Two

“Do these advertisements ever end? Do they serve as elements of eternal torture?” asked Jack.

“Acheron Industries serve your every need. We make sure that you exist in this small utopian world” said the robot in the advertisement which featured on the television every fourty five minutes or so.

“Existence. They have it. What do they know of our existence? How can they call this an existence compared to the Acheron family’s godly existence? These people are not even creative enough to make a real good advertisement. Tell me more about this Bella Edward Jacob Acheron or whatever name she has taken in the last few years” asked Noah.

“She is currently stuffing people on her walls. She chooses from the people imprisoned in her father’s private prison. She divides them into two groups, Edwardians and Jacobeans, and looks inside them for clues to being a vampire and werewolves, and finally hangs their corpses on her walls according to which creature they look closest to. No wonder the prison manages to perform more death sentences than any other prison in the city” said Jack.

“Can she make a Hannibal? Does she eat them too?”

“No, as she is too intellectually inferior to read The Silence of the Lambs, I think that should save most of the people from losing their body parts. But she still thinks that they are vampires or werewolves, and therefore is kept to that private prison where people of certain characteristics are bought from the state prison rather than taken directly there. She is their lovely waking horror”.

“Does she still read the book?”

“No, I think she is aware that there will be more of similar books, as even during this age, the people of her age wants books that makes no sense, but are still too easy to understand. They can’t trouble their intellect, and they want to be that hopeless teenager who wants to do nothing other than whining and crying over a love which doesn’t exist, but there are still two men of different species infatuated with her. I guess they believe that they can gift their babies to the guy who didn’t get the girl too.”

“What is with these bloody love stories which sell at a higher rate than every resource?”

“Well, they are the means for these people to keep something which doesn’t exist alive. In that case, when they banned religion, they should have banned this overrated piece of nonsense instead. Love which leads to carnal desires is that cancer which has killed the world and led to these. Don’t you know that these Antony-Cleopatra kind of relations which were boosted by these books lead to the final war which made all these dystopian thing happen in the mask of an utopia”?

“You mean they thought there was something like true love? Were they that stupid?”

“Yes, they were. They believed all those lies which were spread through the romantic nonsense which lead to the most evil period in the history of Earth. The carnage that followed had its root in these fake love stories which proclaimed that these people were anything less than sex maniacs. There was actually no point. Even they believed so, but still continued to pretend to believe in these lies. It should be an excuse for them to get immoral, as they don’t have religion to guide them now, and the only thing they can think is evil”.

“What does this girl thing about that side of Twilight?”

“She doesn’t seem to realize that side too, without the elements of blood and gore. She needs that half vampire, half werewolf hybrid though. She has asked many doctors if they could do a Frankenstein and create one lovely monster for her whom she can marry. The only requirement was that both of them should have some awesome teeth which could transform her into a vampire or a werewolf whenever she wanted. I believe that she could get something done sooner or later, as her father is starting a new research facility in an attempt to create immortal supermen and name them Achers”.

“So, is it like everyone will cease to die some day?”

“No, just the rich ones, at the cost of others. There are lots of people paying a good amount of money to live forever, but there is only about fourty five percent chance of success, and it is a big risk. From what we know about, there will be no refunds from Acheron and a failure will clear about twenty five square kilometres of area as a result of mass destruction. As he has denied the existence of God and declared himself the son of a monkey and an ape, and has started looking for the origins of life which he wishes to create out of nowhere, these twenty five square kilometres would be enough for him to create that facility, and thus there is the backup plan for that land which he took from the common man for such a low price”.

“So, he is that much of a mad genius as her daughter is a mad fool. They both have madness as their weapon, shield and weakness despite of the power they possess working better than their madness. Can we use that this state of madness to our advantage”?

“Yes, which is why I mentioned her earlier. This madness can be used. There can a superb plan associated with this one”.

“I think I already know what to do as long as a plan is concerned”.

“This can just add to it, and this one can even stand alone if needed. Just wait till I finish the thing and make it a working plan”.

“The plans are many, but success gets further unreal”.

“So says my favourite cynic, the gamer of tactical warfare”.

To be continued…

5. The Pathfinder

“22 February. Left the camp at 3:30 Lunar Time. Not because I am from one of the colonies on the Moon, but because that is the only wrist watch I have with me. The time is 12:45 and currently in a cave. Seems to be a good resting place. Glad nobody came looking for me. There is no point anyway. Was asked to travel South, but I know no directions. I just believe this is the right path. Should have informed Zachary somehow, but there was nothing positive to come out of such a thing.

23 February. Now at the side of what seems to be a frozen river, but not of water. Not to explore what lies beneath on a terrain which is stranger than the strangest corner of the Moon. No contact with any life form yet, which might be a good thing. The sun is high over the horizon, or whatever it is which looks like the sun. I think it is time to stop the journey for today. Nothing was found and nothing really gained except for the distance travelled on foot. Nothing to be done for now, other than to rust. This tree-like structure seems to be a good temporary place to stay.

24 February. There is a lot of dust flying around for reasons unknown. I wish I was a moondust collector, but sadly I don’t believe in running a business. Saturn is indeed beautiful from here, if that thing I have been seeing for a long time is indeed Saturn. May be the prediction is slowly coming true. May be Jupiter’s moon, Callisto was the better choice, and the Imperial Bloc should have never had a settlement here. There shall be no answers today either. There was no expectation of a quick answer, but some sign should have been here by now. I guess I would rest under this rock for now, for there is always another day. Tomorrow always comes, again and again”.

“This is as far as you could decrypt from the papers? There hasn’t been even one useful word in it, forget the information. Its like saying that he was born, he walked and then he died” said Jack in a disappointed tone. “I always thought that Physics and Mathematics were the worst. Now we are having metaphysical problems just because of a wandering man being unable to find anything useful”.

“The level of encryption just gets higher with every sentence. At least we know that there was a prediction; may be scientific or supernatural; we also know that the Imperial Bloc’s colonization of the Titan was a bad idea. Now the question is whether it was due to their own incapability, problems of the moon, or trouble from other life forms or the other blocs. I wonder how much of a secret might be waiting for us once we get through this. May be this was never supposed to be read and he was just trying to satisfy his urge to write down whatever truth he might have found”.

“He could have stuck to the points instead of writing like that. It would have bored the man himself”.

“He had nothing else to do there. The whole purpose of this journal might be to pass time and also to keep him in memories in case he died early. But these shall provide us with we need”.

“Well, he himself said that there shall be no answers”.

“That is for the day, there is always another day ready to be explored and decrypted by me in the most efficient manner. Meanwhile, he is also waiting for the sign about which he is quite sure”.

“I know what you need right now. You need tea. I shall call for an expert on this”.

“And who would that be? Acheron’s personal advisor and genius who could order my execution with Soren?”

“I would guess it may be you after having tea and resting for a while. You look so much deprived of life right now, and sooner or later, they will classify you as a zombie or a vampire and shoor you down. Even those Twilight fans might not be able to save you, including that daughter of Acheron who wishes to be married to a hybrid – half wolf and half vampire. It is better not to be found pale by her either, as she might decide to stuff you and keep you hanging from her wall as a sample vampire”.

“I have heard about her. Did she even have a name or is she officially the daughter of the city-state?”

“Yes, she did. It was a long name, but she has now renamed herself Bella. She is officially Bella Edward Jacob Acheron now. It is still long enough in total”.

“I would rather have my tea now. Suicide is not something I admire enough to give an embrace”.

Noah takes two cups of tea from the microwave oven, which he had kept ready to be drunk. As they were having tea, the usual call for coffee arrived, and the valve was kept open for the required five minutes after which it automatically closed, and a payment of five hundred coins was reduced from the account of Noah.

“Such pathetic nonsense” exclaimed Noah.

“Well, there is no limit to the millions, billions and zillions. The common man, also known as the donkey can give them all their hard earned money for something they don’t even need a little. There is nothing to be done if they are brainwashed in such a way that their free-will works worse than their pathetic brains. The minions of Acheron may be rich enough with properties to last many centuries, but money is never enough until you die” murmured Jack.

“Thank you dear government for whatever was not needed, and thank you for stealing our money without even accepting that you are the worst of the robbers” yelled Noah.

To be continued…

3. Back to Future

Noah stopped in front of one of those huge televisions which were placed at every junction which had good traffic during the day time. There was some discussion going on in it, and as it is the only television channel which is available for free and regularly uses most of the frequencies, the people will have no option, but to stare at it quite often, even if they are not interested in watching them.

“He should be annihilated with his ideas. I would suggest a slow and painful procedure which can be telecasted in all television channels, thus making the people know that they should stick to the right way of thinking. But any means that will make sure that he stays dead, will have my support”.

That was the opinion of one of the celebrities who was asked to comment about the death sentence of Soren. He sat on that sofa as if he knew everything, and pronounced another judgement, something which will murder the same man and his ideas once again on the minds of his fans. Such an opinion was clearly expected, and the media has done very well in asking the right person whoc could give them the answer they wanted.

“The perfect dystopian environment. Is it what we wished for?” Noah asked himself. “The only visible success of our new perfect world seems to be related to maintaining a constant state of fear. A world which always expects war, the absence of free will supported by government surveillance and filling each brain with what they want us to think. The world doesn’t get any better”.

“Talking to yourself as usual?” Jack entered the walking area with in his usual style. He was a common person in the streets during that time. He had that infatuation towards darkness which none of the others shared. Some of the kids even interpreted it as a sign of vampirism, and he belonged to the vampire hive on the abandoned island outside the Imperial Firmament, but there was no proof of it. He was checked multiple times for an infection, but had come out clear on each occasion.

“Acheron and his government. I wonder how the people could elect such a living sample of selfishness and then suffer his dictatorship with unbelievable happiness even when they know that he has re-written every possible law, and has also made himself the emperor of emperors in a city-state which is limited to one small island”.

“You think so loud. Do you know what happens to the people who make words out of their thoughts? They are tortured and killed so slowly that there will be so much time to know the pain of thinking. Leave it, for you have hidden your thoughts well enough to survive this long. There is no need to go for something you can’t achieve, considering the heavy risks. The world has changed for the worse, and we know that. But there is nothing we can do about it. If you still think and talk about it, and you get in trouble”.

“You shall dare not to dare and continue to keep quiet till the end of your life?” asked a disheartened Noah.

“I have dared so far. I have hidden my vampiric qualities from them so far. It has never been easy, and some of them have known the difference and reported it. But I have kept my instincts under check. Actually vampire is not the correct word for it. I am just infected by a disease which makes me more zombie than a vampire. They call that place a vampire hive as they want to keep the people away from there. A group of dying people on a deserted island with not much food – that calls for media attention and a lot of change in ideology, something which is not recommended”.

“Who are they?” asked a surprised Noah.

“They are the people from the mainland who tried to cross over right after the war. But the policies of the Imperial Firmament resist immigration, and their ship was destroyed, causing them to live in that island which is a dumping yard of nuclear waste underneath. The infection is just an indirect result of the radiation. A few of us have caught the infection while going there on an unsanctioned humanitarian mission, but have successfully kept it a secret so far. We shall join them in a few months, when the symptoms get much worse, and die there unnoticed”.

“It is the information that might change the world, right?”

“It is that information which will never come out, and even if it does, shall never be believed by the common man whose beliefs are no more decided by himself”.

“You have chosen to give up?”

“I have choosen to accept the truth”.

“And what is is this truth?”

“Don’t you see it already?”

“You have chosen your own truth then, but is that the actual truth as true as the real meaning of the word itself? Just come with me then. Take a walk with me on my way home. Lets have some tea and talk. There is more to what you have said than it meets my ears”.

They walked through the shadows. Jack was not comfortable with walking under the lights. The Phainomenon had ended and it was difficult to find the darker areas. But they continued walking.

To be continued…