The Deathless Trilogy

1.30. President McCleary

The room is dark. Nate throws me to the ground, and as I sit up, the lights flicker on. There is a leather armchair beside me, burgundy like the chairs in the Captain's dining room, and a red and blue oriental rug beneath me. A black desk and burgundy office chair wait for someone at the back of the room, and the brick walls are draped with blood red tapestries.

From the style of the room, I can guess where I am, but I want to be sure. I turn back toward the door, and see Nate standing over me. "Is this the President's quarters?" I ask, anger serving as the anchor that steadies my voice, and I rise to my feet.

"How very clever of you," a voice behind me replies.

I spin back around and find myself face to face with a stranger. Where did he come from? He moves like a ghost.

His eyes are black pits in a dusty white surface. They are the first things I see. The rest of his face is a dusty white surface, lined with deep wrinkles and spotted in gray stubble hairs. His thin mouth slashes through the arctic surface, like a streak of blood in the snow. The top of his head reflects the fluorescent lights of the room, but a thin strip of gray hair still stripes across the back of his head. His eyes... his eyes are empty of everything but ferocity, like a rabid animal.

"Who are you?" I ask, but as soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize how stupid my question is.

The man must realize this too, because he laughs at me. "My name is President John McCleary," he says, and my stomach drops. "It's so nice not to be recognized all the time, isn't it?" He looks straight through me to ask Nate.

Then one of the wall tapestries moves as someone emerges from behind it. Gabriela.

"Gabriela, run! Get help. Nate isn't who you think he is!" I yell.

"Oh, Isla," she says calmly. "I always knew you weren't as smart as you made yourself out to be."

"Gabriela?"

The stranger laughs. "She still doesn't get it, does she, my love?" he asks Gabriela, though his hollow eyes remain fixed on me.

I turn back to Nate, who immediately diverts his eyes. "What is this?" I ask.

The stranger laughs wildly. "This is the beginning. I am the destroyer of worlds, but I am also the creator. I am creating a new world here, and you and your silly scientist friends think that you can stop it; but what you don't know is that I've always been one step ahead of you."

"If you were one step ahead of us, why did you let us attack?" I ask.

"We already have more than enough armed forces safely hidden with George Cooper, don't you worry. The soldiers who remain here are the ones who were expendable," he says without emotion. "Gunther insisted we let you believe you had the upper hand. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been so easy to trap. There are some brilliant minds among you who we'd like to reclaim," he says, staring into my eyes. My heart pounds through my uniform. "Including one you may recognize. Bring out the boy, my love," he orders.

Gabriela pulls back another tapestry, and I see a boy wrapped in ropes and tape. His face is dirty and mostly concealed behind the tape, but I'd recognize those gold eyes anywhere. The boy is Daniel.

His eyes grow wild with recognition. There is a piece of tape over his lips, and his hands are strapped together behind his back; but he's shaking his head, and I can hear his muffled screams. It sounds like he's screaming my name.

I've waited so long for this moment, but in my fantasies, I always saved him. All I can do now is fall to the ground in tears. "Let him go. Please, he did nothing wrong. Let him go," I cry, but in my anxious fury, I find myself screaming the last words. I try to stand.