False Idols - Published Version

Chapter 17

                  

Nick tread softly on the dead leaves in his soft leather boots, not daring to make a sound. A hundred feet distant from him, through the trees, the deer looked around nervously between sips of water from the slowly flowing stream. He'd been tracking this buck for an hour, carefully staying downwind to avoid giving away his presence. Now he'd finally lined up a kill shot.

He held the curved yew bow horizontally in front of him with his left hand as he reached into his quiver and pulled out a long arrow with his right hand. Almost unconsciously, he checked the feathers to make sure they were even and the notch to make sure it was sound. Then he slid the arrow onto the string and raised the bow in front of him. It took all of his strength to pull the cord back to full draw.

He looked down the length of the shaft at the buck, which was silently drinking from the stream. He found his quarry's heart, and then corrected his aim upwards for the headwind and the distance.

The buck had first sensed Nick's threatening presence fifteen minutes ago. But for some reason it had been indecisive. Instead of fleeing immediately, it had looked around for a while and then continued its business. And so the buck would die and Nick would earn his dinner.

Now the buck's ears perked up and it raised its head to look right at Nick. It bunched the muscles of its body as if it were about to bound away.

Too late.

He loosed the arrow. It sailed straight and fast towards the deer.

Laura appeared in front of Nick, and the arrow vanished as it passed right between her eyes.

The forest was gone, as were the deer and the bow. Nick was floating in endless black nothingness; the default state of the ether.

He frowned in annoyance. "What the he-"

"Nick, haven't you seen the mob? Why are you still in Manhattan?"

Nick looked at her with incomprehension. "What are you talking about? I was hunting in the Argonne."

"No, I'm talking about your physical body! You need to get out of Manhattan!" She waved her hand and the world turned into fire and chaos. Nick realized he was seeing live holovision footage of a rioting crowd.

Along the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Just outside his home.

Laura continued, "Haven't you been keeping an eye on the news? This has been getting worse and worse all day!"

"I've been busy," said Nick weakly. He had been unnerved by his argument with Sarah. She was normally laid back, even a little detached. That was part of what he liked about her. But on the way to the park, she had seemed unusually volatile. She had gotten angry fast, and then suddenly shifted gears and appealed to let her help him. Now he had a bad feeling he'd trusted her too much.

After he had gone home, he had made a cursory appearance at Abril's Christmas orgy, just enough to show he was part of the Aeon team. Then he had cut himself off from everyone and spent the night immersed in solitary fantasy worlds he created with his MindWave. He'd received several messages from Laura and from his family, yet ignored them all.

Even as he spoke, his MindWave was summarizing the last twenty-four hours of riots by piecing together several news reports into a simple and coherent narrative in his brain.

The already tenuous situation had deteriorated substantially in the last fifteen minutes. Roads to the South, North, and West of his apartment were in flames. Rioters, angry at spiraling energy prices and inspired by the defiance a pastor in Texas had shown towards the Aeons, had given up their peaceful protest in Central Park and were now taking out their fury on the wealthiest neighborhoods in Manhattan. They were looting buildings and attacking residents.