Omega Virus (Book 2): Revisited (3 page)

              “Well?” Penelope asks turning him back around.

              “She’s fine,” Damian says snapping back to reality.

              “Did you find out what was wrong?”

              “Yeah,” He sighs again, “she told me that I was too distant. That I shut out the world sometimes.”

              “I’m sorry.”

              “Don’t be. We both know she was right. I do have a tendency to ignore those around me. But I’m going to work on it. In fact I’ve already started. I helped her think of a job that she’d be good at,” He smiles.

              “Oh? And what would that be?” Penelope asks pulling him in closer.

              “A writer.”

              “Oh, just like her father I presume?”

              “Hopefully better,” He says leaning in for a kiss.

              “Gather everyone,” Joshua says climbing down from the tower, “they are to gather in the center in one hour. Leave four in post just in case, I’ll fill them in later.”

              “Sir?” Damian asks pulling away from Penelope, leaving her to sigh disappointedly.

              “Not now,” Joshua says waving him off, “you’ll find out with everyone else.”

              Damian glances back at Penelope, they both have a look of fear glossed inside their eyes. They both share a quick nod before Penelope takes off. Damian looks back over at Connor. Natalie is gone, leaving him alone in a fit of rage. Damian walks over to his fuming friend who is now cursing into the sky.

              “Hey, you all right?” Damian asks.

              “Of course I’m not,” Connor yells, “I can’t believe you’d even consider supporting Joshua’s crazy notions of sending anyone back to that hell infested land we fought so hard to escape. Or did you forget what we lost? What about Matthew, or Jeremy…or Kennedy?”

              Damian clenches his jaw shut tightly, his hands forming into tight fists, “Of course I didn’t forget. Actually I think about them often, maybe more then I should. But it’s also because of them that I believe we should at least try to help as many people as we can.”

              “And what happens if they die? Or our own people die? Is that a better option?” Connor asks still furious.

              “If we don’t try then they’re already dead,” Damian urges.

              Connor’s face drops slightly, the rage starting to retreat from his eyes, “well that might be, but you can be damn sure that I will not be a part of it.”

              “That’s fine,” Damian says, “but I want you to remember something. A little after we first met you told me to be a leader because the others trusted me. Now I didn’t believe it at first. I never thought that I could make those hard choices, because it hurts making choices that could get people I care about killed. But I sucked it up and did it, mostly because I knew you had my back. Now I’m asking you to have my back again, because you were a strength that helped lift me.”

              Connor turns his back on his emotional friend. “The difference now is you’re not the one in charge. You’re just taking orders, just like the rest of us.”

              “Meeting in an hour at the center,” he calls out as Connor walks away.

              Connor stops dead in his tracks and turns his head slightly, just getting Damian in his peripherals. “Yeah about that, you can tell Joshua I won’t be there.”

              Connor continues to leave as a soft wind blowing from behind ruffles Damian’s hair and he lets out a sigh of defeat. Damian walks solemnly around the island, informing the others in a monotone manner before making it back to his home. Hope is sitting downstairs, her legs folded up underneath her as she sips on an old, chipped mug. Fanny sits beside Hope. Both are smiling as Damian walks over to them. Fanny’s smile fades first when she notices his intense face.

              “What’s wrong?” Fanny asks sitting forward.

              “Nothing,” He says grimly.

              “You’re lying,” Fanny says softly; her words almost floating into his ears.

              “What happened with those people?” Hope asks unfolding her legs.

              “You’ll find out later,” Damian says sitting down beside her, “Joshua wants us all to gather in the center in fifteen.”

              “That can’t be good can it?” Hope asks.

              “I can’t even remember the last time everyone was summoned together,” Fanny says with a blank face.

              “I do,” Damian smiles, “it was sixteen years ago to the day. I can almost remember the exact speech he made too. Ironically it was about hope, and how the will of the human race will fight on.”

              “You know what,” Hope says, “Joshua sounds like a broken record. After all these years and he’s still going on about the will of the human race.”

              “Well my dear,” Joshua says walking up behind them. “Perhaps if you could have been in my shoes all these many years. If you could have seen what I’ve seen, been where I’ve been, fought like I fought, then maybe you’d understand why I’m so passionate about everything that’s happening.”

              “And maybe if you understood what it was like for me,” Hope says standing up, facing Joshua, “all my life I was told that I was something special, like a savior of the human race. Do you know what kind of pressure that is?”

              “I assure you, I meant nothing hurtful,” Joshua says backing down a bit, “but you did mean a lot to everyone, like a shining beacon that connected us all together.”

              “Stop that,” Hope says, her voice getting angrier.

              “I’m sorry but I can’t,” Joshua says with a grin.

              Damian gets up, standing between them trying to keep the peace. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your speech?”

              “I thought I’d get here and talk to Hope,” Joshua explains brushing the event away, “I felt bad that we cut her celebration short, so I thought I’d come apologize and talk about a career choice. So, what have you chosen?”

              Damian slides out of the way, giving the two a clear line of sight to each other.

              “I haven’t decided yet,” Hope says with a growl.

              “I see,” Joshua says with a semi-disappointed sigh, “well then, I guess we’ll have to discuss it later, won’t we?”

              “I guess so,” Hope says before she turns her back and walks toward the stairs to her bedroom.

              “I was so hoping for more from her,” Joshua says shaking his head.

              “Sir, with all due respect, she is still my daughter, and I would ask you not to talk like that about her,” Damian says defensively.

              “My apologies,” Joshua says throwing his hands up in submission, “I didn’t mean any disrespect. I just meant I was hopeful that she would follow the mold, like her father.”

              Damian lowers his eyes, a sense of shame circulating inside him. “We can’t all be loyal followers.”

              “I guess not,” Joshua says looking down at his watch, “but my apologies, I must go. Almost time to address the public.”

              “Sir, one last thing,” Damian says stopping him in his tracks, “Connor won’t be at the assembly. He strongly opposes the trip back to the mainland.”

              “What a shame,” Joshua says shaking his head, “he used to be one of the good ones, like you.” He turns back around and places his hand on his shoulder, “that’s why I want you up there as I speak to everyone, you and your family showing support.”

              “Sir we’d be honored,” Damian says forcing a smile.

              “Good,” Joshua says turning back around, “then I’ll see the three of you soon.”

              “Four, sir,” Damian corrects, “Fanny may not be mine biologically, but in our eyes she’s as much my daughter as Hope.”

              “The four of you then,” Joshua replies.

              They watch him walk out of the house. Fanny gets to her feet and stands beside Damian.

              “He creeps me out some days,” She mutters.

              “Me too,” Damian agrees.

              “Then why put up with his bullshit?” Fanny asks.

              “Because he took us in, gave us a place to live,” He explains. “He gave us purpose.”

              Fanny shakes her head upset with his words. “Fear is not a way to inspire purpose. He’s just a bully acting out his aggression.”

              “Maybe so,” Damian laments, “but the deal is, this is still his island and his rules.”

              “Then maybe it’s time someone else makes the rules,” Fanny suggests, “either way, for what it’s worth, thank you.”

              “For what?”

              “For what you said about me being like a daughter to you,” She leans in and gives him a soft kiss on the cheek, “it meant the world to me.”

              “I meant every word,” He smiles as he pulls her in for a hug. “Now could you do your old man a favor? Could you go upstairs and convince Hope to join us at the assembly?”

              “I’ll try,” Fanny remarks, “but you know how stubborn she is.”

              “Oh I know. It runs in the family,” he laughs.

              Fanny heads off up the stairs and knocks on Hope’s door. Silence. She opens the door and finds Hope sprawled out on the floor, pen in hand, her face buried in her little pink book.

             
The choices, the decisions that they want me to make, it’s not something I can make lightly. The things I do today will affect my entire life. My father did give me good advice, the option to write, to entertain, and to tell the story that would amuse the masses. But what good is just the will to write if you don’t have a muse, the inspiration that drives the imagination. Imagination, it’s a funny thought, in and of its self. My whole life I was taught to suppress my imagination, that the real world was far too scary to ever let your guard down. It’s too hard to wrap my head around.

             
“Hey!” Fanny calls out, pulling her out of her own thoughts.

              “Oh, hey,” Hope says closing her book, “sorry I didn’t hear you come in.”

              “Yeah, you also didn’t hear me calling your name several times either,” Fanny says kneeling down beside her.

              Hope sits up and smiles at Fanny, “I’m sorry, I must have just gotten lost in my writing.”

              “You sure that’s it?” Fanny asks.

              “Yeah,” She lies.

              “Why didn’t you tell Joshua you wanted to write?”

              “I don’t know.”

              “Hope?”

              “I don’t know, OK!?” Hope screams jumping to her feet. “Maybe, maybe I just didn’t like his attitude. You ever think of that?”

              “Or maybe it’s because you were too scared to speak your mind.”

              “How dare you,” Hope says angrily.

              “How dare I what? Speak the truth? I know you, Hope, better then you’ll ever care to admit. I know your thoughts and actions before you do.”

              “Yeah, then what am I thinking now?”

              “You want me to shut up and leave,” Fanny says raising her eyebrows.

              Hope’s eyes scan Fanny up and down before she lets out a staggered breath, “alright, you got that one.”

              “And I know you know me well enough to know that I won’t do that,” Fanny nods, “besides we have to get ready for Joshua’s speech. He’s asked us to stand beside him while he addresses everyone.” Hope looks down at the ground before turning away from her friend, “I know it sounds like such an honor doesn’t it.”

              “I just don’t understand why my father keeps dealing with his shit,” Hope says before punching a hole into her bedroom wall.

              “He doesn’t feel like he has a choice,” Fanny says with a hollow voice, “he gives in because he thinks he’s protecting us.”

              “Did he tell you that?”

              “Yes.”

              “He’s sacrificed a lot for us hasn’t he?” Hope says looking at the hole she created and feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach.

              “For all of us,” Fanny agrees, “and he never asks for anything in return. That’s what a real leader does for people.”

              “Yeah I guess,” Hope says, “well he may not ask for anything but he deserves better.”

              “Perhaps, but for now all we can do is stand beside him and protect him the way that he protects us,” Fanny says with a twinkle in her eye. “So let’s get down there and stand beside him.”

              Hope nods hesitantly before following Fanny down the stairs. An old grandfather clock against the far sidewall chimes as the pair notices the silence coming from the rest of the house.

              “They must be at the assembly already,” Hope reasons.

              The pair exit outside and see the crowd forming around the center. Words buzzing about as the masses try to figure out why they’ve been summoned together. ‘Maybe there has been another birth,’ they over hear one woman say. “Can’t be, they haven’t given a damn about births since that Hope child was born.” Hope hears the reply and feels like she has just been sucker punched in the gut. They finally make their way to the front of the crowd. Joshua is standing in front of a small podium, Damian and Penelope are standing to his right side and Natalie is standing uncomfortably to his left. Fanny lets go of Hope’s hand and nods toward Natalie. Hope smiles, understanding her intention even though she is lacking in words. Fanny stands beside Natalie, nudging her softly, forcing her to smile. Hope stands between both of her parents and takes each of their hands in hers as they all await Joshua’s speech.