While Kelly is sleeping, Kade and I take the opportunity to go outside and check out the men and their mission to construct ‘The Love Rush.’
Kade insists we stop by the ambulance to arm ourselves with the coma inducing syringes. I’m not convinced I can use them as skillfully as he can, but I take three, anyway.
……
In my last post I said I was worried about the ‘Love Rush.’ My primary concern is Kade’s excitement about it. His enthusiasm means he seems to have lost all perspective, “My mom’s realizing her vision, she’s beginning to build the theme-park that was her life’s dream. The ‘Love Rush’ is gonna be so much fun…”
He seems to have forgotten that The Surgeon has commissioned this coaster and her idea of fun is not the same as ours. When I mention this he says I’m raining on his parade and gets all scratchy with me. I decide to mention nothing more negative about the ‘Love Rush’ – until I understand its true intention.
……
I can feel my heart pounding in my head as the elevator trundles upwards. I thought that over time, my body would become used to this thumping anxiety and my symptoms might lessen; but no, they’ve got worse. I’ve a nervous tic, which makes my right arm shake involuntary. Which means these syringes are pretty useless if I can’t keep my hand still to aim. Kade, is as always, calm and composed, or at least he appears to be.
……
The elevator shudders to a stop and a wall of panic hits me, “NO! Kade, this isn’t a good idea, there’s no telling what these men will do, come on lets go back,” I say.
“Let’s just test the waters first, we’ll keep a safe distance, we won't achieve anything by locking ourselves away,” he says.
I guess he’s right. I take a deep breath and walk alongside him into the vast open air.
……
The large banner obscures the men, so we walk hesitantly closer to observe what is happening behind it.
Wow, the men have achieved so much in such a short space of time. It’s obvious that the roller coaster parts have all been manufactured in advance and the men are piecing it together, like a giant 3D jigsaw.
Swathes of track are placed methodically on the ground and the men are working in unison, like a highly organized production line. From the huge metal supports that stretch skywards and the large amount of track I can tell that the ‘Love Rush’ isn’t gonna be no kiddy coaster, no, this will be a white-knuckle ride.
……
“Hi guys, can we come talk with you, please?” Shouts Kade. They ignore him and continue to work in their highly regimented manner.
Kade cups his hands around his mouth, takes a deep breath and uses all his lungpower to holler, “Guys, my name’s Kade, this is my property, please can I talk with you, do you have a spokesperson?”
Again, they ignore him. Kade looks at me, “Lets go a little closer, maybe their hearing's been tampered with, or something,” he says, moving cautiously forward.
……
We stop five or so meters away from the men. “Guys, can you tell us when the ‘Love Rush’ will be completed, please?” Asks Kade.
Again, they ignore him and just continue working, “They definitely can’t hear,” says Kade, walking with a fast pace to the guy nearest us. “Kade, slow down, don’t startle the guy, he might lash out!” I caution.
Kade slows his pace, I see him grip the syringe in his right hand – ready to defend us. I follow behind him; my eyes are alert and darting from every single man looking for potential signs of attack. I note they’re all young and incredibly strong looking.
……
Kade stands right next to one of the guys and taps him on the shoulder, “Excuse me, can I talk with you?”
SHOOT! The guy bolts upright. Kade jumps back and aims his syringe. But the guy simply stands straight with his arms by his side and his head tilted slightly upwards.
“Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” says kade. The guy remains still and silent.
I walk amidst the workingmen and when I make eye contact with one, I smile and say, “Hey, how are you?” Shoot! He does the same thing – bolts upright, hands rigid by his side, head tilted upwards.
Kade and I exchange glances; we’re both thinking the same, what’s the story with these guys?
I turn around and see a man close to me, fixing a piece of track into the concrete floor, I gently tap his shoulder – he repeats the same routine with an alarming speed. It’s almost like they’ve been caught doing something wrong and are acting like rabbits trapped in headlights.
I look closely at this guy; he’s about my age, maybe a little younger. I don’t feel threatened by him; he doesn’t have an aggressive vibe. I raise my hands toward his ear and clap hard – he flinches. Kade walks over to me, “So, it looks like he can hear,” he says.
Kade repeats the clapping experiment with the other two guys, who also flinch, “There’s nothing wrong with your hearing guys, I guess you’re all just shy,” he says, with a frustrated sarcasm.
I touch a fourth guy and as he bolts upright and tilts his head upwards, I notice something. I look closer at the centre of his throat and see the tiniest scratch near his clavicle bone.
Quickly, I check the other three guys; “Tan, what you looking at?” asks Kade, when he sees me examining their necks, “They have the same little scratch in the exact place I saw on Kelly. Kade comes over to me, “Somehow, they’ve had their voices removed, they’re all mute!” I observe.
Kade looks around at the men who remain working, “They’re all freaking robots,” he says, under his breath.
“No, they’re not,” I reply.
“How can you be so sure?”
I nod my head toward the young guy standing next to me, “Because robots don’t cry.”
We look at the other three men who are standing to rigid attention – they’re all sobbing silent tears.
Kade puts his arm around my shoulder, in an instinctive act of solidarity, “Hey guys, don’t cry, Tan and I will help you in any way we can...”
‘…WAA – WAA – WAA!’ A siren blasts from the large truck, silencing Kade and causing all the men to stand to attention in the same regimented formation.
Kade and I remove our hands from our ears when the siren cuts out – a female voice emanates from the large truck.
The voice is cold and hard with authority, It’s The Surgeon: “Do not disturb our workers. They are working toward a very strict deadline to complete the ‘Love Rush’ in time for The Wedding. Due to your interruption they are now eight minutes behind schedule. Because of your intrusion, they will be punished accordingly.”
As soon as The Surgeon's voice cuts off, the men resume working with extra speed.
Kade and I watch with sadness – every one of them is sobbing silent tears.
……
“I guess we should go home, we’re doing these guys no favors by being here,” Kade looks up at the sky and says in a quiet, brittle voice, “Jeez, mom, I wish you could find a way to help us some more.”
……
Back home I check on Kelly, she’s still sleeping soundly.
……
Whenever I’ve had any ‘Surgeon’ type dealings, with her, or her people, like I’ve just had, I get this chronic compulsion to take a shower – to kind of cleanse myself of her.
…..
Freshly showered, I wander toward the chill-out area. On my way I catch sight of Kade in a large mirror at the end of the hallway. He’s sitting on the couch; I stop and observe him for a few moments. He appears deep in thought; his mouth making small movements, like he’s having a quiet conversation with himself. There’s something missing from him – it’s his confidence.
I feel a bit weird spying on him like this, but I can’t seem to pull myself away. He looks frightened, or is it vulnerable? It’s a mixture of both, I decide.
I’m suddenly struck by how I feel, I want to hug him, reassure him that we’ll be OK – but I can’t – I won’t, that would be kind of wrong/weird. So instead, I cough to let him know I’m approaching.
“Hey, Tan, you want some coffee?” he asks, a big smile spreads across his face. He seems relieved now, like I’ve distracted him from his thoughts, from himself.
……
Thankfully, Kade has lost his enthusiasm for the ‘Love Rush,’ “You’re right, Tan, that rollercoaster has definitely got some cruel element to it. I feel sad that my mother has probably been forced to design it against her will,” he says, with a soft, sad tone. He slurps some coffee, then asks, “What do you think they’ve done to those guys, to make them so passive?”
“I think they’ve all been brainwashed, somehow,” I pause, think, then continue, “As for them being mute, I have a theory on what’s been done which I think is highly likely, especially when I saw Kelly’s symptoms.”
“What is it?”
“OK, before I escaped, The Surgeon was getting into microsurgery big style. They were going to fit me with a gastric band; a thread as thin as a hair, inserted into me via a tiny incision then guided around my stomach via computer. They could tighten or loosen it, with their remotes, whenever they wanted.”
Kade looks confused, “Why would they want to do that?”
“To keep my weight at a constant size zero, they’d tighten my stomach to restrict my food intake – they wanted to have digital control of every aspect of me,” I explain.
Kade shakes his head, “Madness – but it sure makes sense, those guys are being controlled – big time.”
“Yep, I escaped before they had chance to do it. But, I think they’ve inserted micro-bands around Kelly’s and the guy’s vocal chords, and have tightened them, removing their voices,” I say.
“But, theoretically, the band could be removed?” asks Kade.
“Yes, it could,” I say, with an optimistic lift in my voice.
Kade looks up, then lowers his head, like he’s trying to hide or fight something. I see his bottom lip begin to quiver, “Hey, you OK?” I ask.
He looks at me, his eyes are watery, “No…” He tries to continue talking, but his words are drowned by a sudden burst of torrential tears.”
I don’t like seeing Kade like this. He’s always so strong and in control.
I don’t know what to do.
I catch words and meaning in between his sobs, “I’m scared…losing control…we can’t beat them…let’s surrender…then they might fix Kelly…”
A weird mix of emotions surge through me: fear – affection – fight!
I hug him real tight, “We’re not going to surrender, Kade – we’re going to fight.”
……
A sudden noise hammers through Kade’s soft sobs; we both look to its source.
It’s Kelly, her face crumpled from sleep; she’s holding a piece of paper toward us. On it are words written in black: Tanya’s right, at The Wedding, we declare WAR!