Page 60 of The Godhead Complex
“Good afternoon, dear Pilgrims. We want to assure you that there is nothing more important to the Godhead than your safety and that is why we are moving quickly with our plans for the Culmination of the Evolution.” She paused, considering how delicately she must balance her motives with the fears, desires, and survival needs of her followers. She pushed the fire and buzzing out of her mind, into the embrace of the Flaring. “Not only is the serum for the Evolution a preventative to the Flare, but it will also unlock your highest potential in every way.”
“Serum? We have to drink it?” an older man griped, as if they didn’t drink every night at the pub, anyway. Alexandra hated getting hung up on semantics, but she wasn't exactly sure how the vials would be distributed.Serumsounded better thandispensing, the term the Villa had used.
“How do we know it’s safe?” another shouted.
“The details will be available soon enough, but we’ve begun with our first set of human trials.” Alexandra waved at Mannus to join her at the front of the stage, conveniently leaving out the fact that their Godhead had been therealcommencement of human trials. “Mannus, please step forward.”
Her eyes wandered the crowd before her, waiting for each unique reaction of those Pilgrims who knew Mannus as a lower-rung member of society. A rung just above the dead moss above the site of the Maze, trampled on daily. A horned being, more beast than man, barely more man than Crank.
Mannus pulled back his cloak to reveal his face, and more importantly, his hornless head. A gasp drifted over the gathered, from front to back. Alexandra smiled as the Pilgrims turned to each other, sharing their wonder. “You may know Mannus as one of you, but he is now raised to a God-like status through the help of the Evolution.”
A bit of a stretch, even she was ready to admit. But no matter. Means to an end, all that.
The heckling began soon after the initial shock.
“He’s no God. He just got rid of his horns!”
“We don’t care about this—we want justice for Nicholas. Justice!”
“Flaring justice!”
Flint attempted to silence the growing dissent, but his waving arms and shouts were little help, drowned out by the noise. The buzz in Alexandra’s ear started again, coupled with fierce head pain.
“Flaring justice, flaring justice, flaring justice . . . ,” they chanted and Alexandra pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth in anger. She simply would not be able to roll out anything to do with the Evolution today. Instead, she’d have to pacify their wants for justice. The Flare be damned, she’d give them justice. She stepped forward with her hands in front of her in prayer position. “Please, settle yourselves. We know who’s responsible for the murder of our dear Nicholas.” A hush fell over the audience just as she knew it would.
She turned to Mannus.
Name them, the four others who accompanied you,Alexandrathoughtat him.
He shook his head, stood firm. Challenging her.
It’s you or them,she thought, along with all thefeelof warning she could muster. Mannus stood there in his robe, unmoving and unspeaking. Fine. She’d show him that she wasn’t bluffing. “Dearest people of Alaska. Look to—”
“Pilgrim Gilbert!” Mannus shouted aloud in a deep, booming voice.
The crowd turned as one toward a round-headed man, no horns, but with the names of every single Glader of old tattooed on his face. Alexandra remembered him now.How could she ever have forgotten those fanatical tattoos?As soon as Mannus spoke the name, it was as if the robe of Nicholas’ transformed his word into law; the surrounding people mobbed the tattoo-faced man, throwing punches and kicking him to the ground. From beneath their grapples, the man tried to defend himself, tried to speak, but the violence only worsened. Alexandra didn’t like it, but she let the people have their moment, restraining the Evolutionary Guards with a glance, allowing the Pilgrims the reprieve of vigilante justice.
The tattoo-faced man suddenly broke free from the mob, every last inch of him bruised or bloodied. “It was the Godhead turning on their own! It was—” A man in the crowd slugged the tattooed Pilgrim so hard he collapsed to the ground, completely lifeless. The Evolutionary Guard dragged him away.
She kept her face still. Sometimes, violence was the only option. Sometimes, an example had to be made. For the greater good.
“Yes, the rumors are true.” She spoke loud and clear. “The Godhead has turned its back on its own kind, as well as the people of Alaska.” The crowd quieted. “Mikhail has murdered our dear Nicholas and used the weakest of the Pilgrims to do his bidding.” She barely got the words out before the people before her erupted in screams of disbelief. Horror. They clawed at their own skin and eyes.
Flint tried to calm them down by yelling one of the chants. “Flare above, Maze below! Flare above, Maze below!” But nothing of the sort would fix this. The people needed to heal, and in order to heal they first needed the wound ripped wide open.
Keep going.She sent her thoughts to Mannus, finding the task easier and easier.You wanted power, well this is how you take it.Her ears rang with the piercing buzz as she observed Mannus announce the names of another man and two women. The mob went after the Pilgrims before the Evolutionary Guard ever had a chance.
“Godkillers! Traitors!” The people shouted, their voices rising in waves of strength. They nearly murdered the four Pilgrims before the Guards could take them captive. The prisoners were lucky to be alive.
Meanwhile, Alexandra was trying to shake the madness from within. The buzzing, the visions of fire.It was over now, she told herself. There would be no more outbursts. No more demands from the crowd. Mannus looked particularly annoyed, probably realizing the price of betrayal. Alexandra could hardly feel sympathy. If he wanted to wear the cloak of a Godhead, then he had to carry the burdens that came with it.
She wasn’t done with the crowd. “The people of Alaska want justice and we must deliver that today!” She allowed a long, dramatic pause. “We will send them to the Maze—for Nicholas!”
The Pilgrims cheered.
Too easy.
La verdad siempre saldrá a la luz.
