Children of the Gamma

chapter one || iv

[ word count : 3,261 ]

The video's taken from the security camera, so the first thing I see is the meeting table my father and his governors sit at. There's ten of them, five on each side, with my father at the furthest end from the camera. I can just barely make out his expression as he stands up, clears his throat, smiles.

"Gentlemen," he begins, his gestures lined with power and charisma. "I think I've done it."

A rustle of movement. One of the governors intones, "Sir?"

Something like a self-deprecating smile flickers across my father's face. "Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. I see you all staring at me, no doubt wondering, 'What could he possibly mean? What bold new amend is he going to make to our country?' Well, let me ask you this: What is the problem that I face today?"

The fact that you're a sack of shit, maybe?

Grayson spreads his hands like it's obvious. "Essentially, an insurgence of the Azurdins. Now, I know what you're thinking—Sir, you've quelled any hopes of a revolution. Funded Azurdin slave traders, banished or imprisoned their criminals, enforced a curfew for them and the close monitor of their lives. What more can you possibly do? Well, Maroe remains a persistent bastard, and his followers grow in number every day. The crime rates rise dramatically in whatever region he's stationed in at the time. But I can't kill or banish him—I should've done that years ago, but his death will result in a ripple effect. Once they make him their martyr, and I'll be back to square one.

"So, gentlemen, I have two words for you." He spreads his hands over the table, smile vicious.

And I know what it is. I'm begging him not to say it, pleading on my knees, hands shaking, ribs constricting. A knot hardens in my gut.

"The Outermost."

The knot sharpens, claws its way up my throat. Heat and ice wash over me, my legs threatening to give out.

no no no no what is he thinking

Vaguely I register the governors clapping. Clapping for this monster. But why else would he have appointed them?

The video ends, because Angela understands that I don't need to hear the obstacles the governors will bring to his attention. I know how this will play out. He won't let anything stand in his way.

I stand there until the initial shock wears off, releasing a barrage of thoughts in. I finally understand what this means. My blood boils which each new disaster.

They won't survive in the Outermost. The beasts will slaughter them all. He will rip the Azurdins from their homes and he will have them killed if they stand their ground. They will leave with nothing. Solada will never be the same. He will take—

oh god oh god oh god

Spider and April.

He's taking Spider and April from me.

I promised I'd never let my friends come before Solada but this is what breaks me. And I have never felt more like a kid.

Fury shreds my veins, seeping toward the skin. And it hurts, but I can do nothing about it, just like I can't do anything about my father banishing the Azurdins.