To Be A Leader

Chapter 15: King Of Dreams

"Oh, man... oh, man! What did they do to us, Five?" Moonchild grimaces. "It keeps repeating on me like bad vegetable korma. Karma. My vegetable karma..."

She laughs. I do my best to ignore her.

"That thing in the news reader's transmission hurt, and not in like, a cleansing way. I didn't think anything could hurt me anymore. When you feel pain, I don't have to feel it. I can just disconnect. There's no point in both of us suffering."

I give her an annoyed side eye, but she doesn't notice, or maybe she doesn't care. She does  know my feelings, since emotions have some connection to the brain. I think they do at least. But it doesn't surpise me that she doesn't care.

"There's enough of that in this world," She continues. "Enough pain, and enough suffering, and enough children dying, and enough people..."

Her voice slowly starts to fade away as I try to put my focus back on Jaime, and slowly his voice starts to fade back in, the sound echoing through the speakers, across the many people listening to him as he stands on stage.

"-Enough people trying to divide us," Jaime says. "I'm not the king of London, or the king of Wothington-On-Sea. I'm the king of the whole United Kingdom!"

The crowd cheers for him.

"He's good at this, isn't he?" Zoey asks, a small smile on her lips.

Phil nods. "Yeah. You okay, though, Five? Looked like you zoned out for a minute."

"I-I'm fine," I stammer, which causes Nicole to frown, her eyebrows drawing together.

"It's Moonchild, isn't it? She's been coming back and forth these last few days since that broadcast, fading in and out."

I sigh, not meeting her eyes. "Yes."

"It's okay, Five," Zoey says, placing her hand on my shoulder. "You're back in the room. You remember?"

I nod. "Yeah, I know where I am."

With what happened on the train, and with Moonchild fading in and out, we (and by that I mean Sam, Maxine and Jody) decided it would be a good idea for me to take a small break from the... major missions involving Sigrid. That's why I'm here with Jaime, Phil and Zoey on His Majesty's Hearts and Minds tour.

Nicole came because she's actually strong enough to drag me back if I pass out again. I know this because she tested it, and even with her crippled hand she was able to drag me across Able Township and back. We're still on neutral territory relationship-wise, but I trust her to keep me safe when it comes to this, especially since we haven't received any word from Rux, or any other higher-up from the AMTB.

"When is this speech going to be over?" Nicole asks, looking bored.

"Soon. This is probably a walk in the park for you two," Zoey says, and Phil laughs as he nods.

"It's so easy, they sent us to do it, and we're rubbish at running. I had a panic attack the last time we saw a zombie."

Zoey snorts. "Jaime had to shoot the zom, then get Phil to breathe into a paper bag."

Nicole looks at Phil then back to me. "How did people ever believe you were engaged to this man?"

"I think there are a few people who still believe it," I say with a shrug. "I still don't actually think we've broken it off officially... have we?"

Phil shrugs, giving me the 'I don't know' look. "Suppose we should, since you're engaged and all."

"And that's why I'm standin' here today," Jaime continues, and we look back to him. "I've come here to tell you... your wiring neds a bit of work. That's a proper fire hazard."