The Annihilation of Foreverland (34 page)

The body continued to live, even though the person – the identity – was destroyed.

While some would view his research as a failure, as a crime against God, life and humanity, Harold saw it as
an
opportunity. The world was run by a small percentage of very wealthy people. The only thing these powerful men and women could not purchase was more life. Death was non-negotiable.

Not any more.

Harold found the island. He found the money.

And he continued destroying.

Eventually, he used his own technology to rewrite his life, erasing all his memories and the atrocities he’d committed. He came to know himself as a good-natured man that served the best interests of humanity. A man of God.

He even shed his name.

And became known as the Director.

The Director knocked the book from the pedestal.

His rage burst out like a telekinetic tidal wave, wrenching all the books from the walls and ripping out their pages and setting them on fire. The room shook and cracks opened on the ceiling, raining bits of concrete on the marble floor. He searched for an escape, a way to dissolve back into data and escape the library, to slip back into the network and find a way back into
the
world. He might even go back to his body and DESTROY THE BITCH THAT DID THIS TO HIM!

But then he found himself standing in the library, again, the shelves reassembled, the cracks repaired, the books back in order. And a pedestal in the center with Harold Ballard’s book opening to play out his history.

He experienced it again.

And again.

And again.

Lucinda laid the trap.

The Director was right, she was getting smarter. His only mistake, he had no clue just how much she knew. In the end, she knew everything.

When Danny was caught in the Looping Program, she knew he was not in the real world. But it gave her access to all of the Chimney’s data. Danny was only able to see a few of the records – his and Reed’s – before he returned to the Nowhere. But Lucinda absorbed it. She knew the real purpose of the island, she knew all the Investors, and she knew the Director’s true past.

She knew everything.

She also knew that the Director would eventually get Reed to go inside the needle. And when he did, she would cease to exist. She would return to being a memory. She was not sad about that. After all, it was her true identity. In fact, she yearned for it. Being away from Reed had been… difficult.

But what she couldn’t accept was the future of Foreverland and all the boys it would continue to destroy to
satisfy
the gluttony of men.

While the Director ruled Foreverland – he
was
Foreverland – Lucinda ruled the Nowhere. She knew all the random thoughts, all the lost boys. She knew, also, the Director’s thoughts and his desire to be free. She knew the Looping Program was a dead-end, a virtual cul-de-sac with only one way in, one way out.

She laid the trap.

He attempted to leave the island through the only data conduit to the outside world and, like Danny, mistook the path into the Looping Program as the way out. Before he recognized his mistake, the door closed behind him, trapping him inside. Lucinda had programmed the loop with the data of all the island’s records, most importantly that of Harold Ballard. He would see his true identity, his authentic past. He would exist in the loop until he knew what he had done. As long as there was power on the island, the Director would live in the hell he created.

Lucinda also knew that Reed’s body was beyond repair, that he would likely be physically dead. With the Director’s identity in the Looping Program, his body would be abandoned and vacant. When they embraced, he absorbed her. No longer conscious, she was part of him. Her thoughts and memories of her time in the Nowhere became part of Reed.

He knew everything, too.

Including her best laid plans.

When the Director exited Foreverland, Reed couldn’t go back to his dead body. But he made his exit, as well. And entered the Director’s body at the top of the Chimney.

My body, now.

Danny was on one end of the bag. Zin on the other.

They let it rest on the floor of the elevator until they reached ground level. Zin was blowing on his hands to warm them up. Ice crystals had formed on the bag.

They managed to get it outside without dropping it. They slid it onto the bed of a cart. They both began blowing on their hands. Zin took the wheel. They drove away from the Chimney.

The Yard was bustling.

It was another day in paradise and all the boys were outside, playing cards, throwing discs and everything else. Not an Investor in sight.

Danny checked the tablet. A few strokes of the finger told him the old men were all exactly where they were supposed to be. The Mansion.

About half of them survived the prolonged blackout. Mr. Jones was not one of them. Most of their bodies were sick with disease or just broken down with age. They didn’t tolerate the voltage. They relocated the survivors to the Mansion and left them a note that the island was under new management and they would be staying inside the Mansion until further notice. Then they locked the doors from the outside and had not heard from them since. Danny occasionally checked the location of their trackers, just to be sure.

The only indication of the old men that was outside the Mansion was concentrated inside the Chimney. The Investors that died were put inside the freezers, some stacked two high. They could have cremated the bodies but it made sense to preserve as much evidence as possible. Someone would have to sort through everything.

They drove the cart through the Yard. No one paid much attention to the body bag. The boys were told that the Haystack was closed until further notice. Until then, it was unlimited game room and no suffering.

No one argued.

They drove over the sand dune.

A man was in a hole about waist deep, shoveling a pile of sand next to him. He had a round belly and shoulders red from the sun. His face was clean shaven.

“Slow down there, old timer.” Zin pulled up behind the man. “You’re not a teenager anymore, you know that.”

Reed tossed a shovel full of wet sand off to the side and leaned on the handle. He was breathing hard. His cheeks red with exhaustion.

“Got to get this fat ass in shape,” he said.

“You can’t do it in one week, son.”

Reed rubbed his smooth chin. The beard was the first thing to go. I
t was smelly and itchy. How the
hell the Director walked around with those long, curly hairs around his mouth Reed couldn’t understand.

Danny and Zin pulled the body bag off the cart and dropped it next to the hole. Reed climbed out and pulled the zipper down. His former body was inside. Frost had accumulated on the eyelashes. The lips purple. He pulled the zipper to the bottom. The chest was bruised and bony.

“You sure you want to bury yourself on the island?” Danny asked. “Not a lot of good times here.”

“That’s not me,” Reed said.

It made sense to put it on the beach. That’s where he spent most of his time while he was on the island. The body should remain part of it.

They rolled the stiff body into the hole.

It was strange to throw sand on the face. It was hardly recognizable, but it was the only thing Reed had known until a week ago. He was breathing harder with each shovelful of sand. It wasn’t so much the exertion anymore.
That’s not me,
he kept telling himself.
That’s not me.

But he didn’t resist when Danny took the shovel from him. Reed went to the water while he and Zin finished the job. He listened to them pack the sand over the body’s final resting place.

Finally, it was at peace.

The sun dropped below the horizon. The sky was a myriad of purples and reds and oranges. They stood on the hardpacked sand, the water wrapping around their ankles. Home was out there. The outside world was within reach.

For the first time, Reed embraced hope.

Zin leaned on the shovel. “You know, they were right, the old men. There’s not much for us to go back to. I don’t know about you guys, but I got nothing out there. I’m not saying I want to stay here, but there’s nothing great waiting for me in the real world. My life sucked. I got no parent
s
, no home… I got nothing.”

“That’s why we’re not going back there, Zin.” Danny put his arm over his shoulder. “We’re starting a new life.”

Slowly, the sky went dark.

They left the golf cart on the beach and wal
ked back. They crossed the Yard and went around the dormitory. F
or the firs
t time ever, the Chimney was dark. They passed it o
n their way toward the Mansion.

Danny was on the back of a yacht.

The foamy water rippled in deep-cut waves as the ship’s motors churned the water. He held onto the railing and watched the island recede into the night. A few lights twinkled on the back of the Mansion. Danny informed the old men that he would be passing through and they needed to be in their rooms. He reminded them that he had control of their trackers and that he would put them to sleep on sight.

They were old and harmless. Still, the three of them walked cautiously through the building and across the back yard to the yacht. He saw them watching from their windows. They would see the Director with them (without the beard) and would want to talk to him, to find out why he was keeping them imprisoned after they paid a fortune. They would want to tell him that he would not get away with this. But they wouldn’t get the chance.

They would never have the chance.

The Director, as they knew him, was no more.

Reed had shut down the Looping Program, ending the identity known as the Director.

Even if the old men knew the Director had passed, there was nothing they could do. There was no communication with the outside world. That was the terms of their contract. They signed their life over to the Director. They had purchased a younger body when they acquired a young man, but had to sell their soul in order to do so.

Once they were on the yacht, Reed took the helm. Zin stayed up front to watch the way to the other island. The rest of the boys were
back
on the island and would never know they were gone. They would keep playing games, find food in the cafeteria and sleep in the dormitory. They probably wouldn’t even know something was wrong.

Until help arrived.

“There it is!” Zin called. “Straight ahead!”

Reed waved from the helm. Danny joined Zin at the bow. The water was black and the island invisible in the dark except for a single light at the end of the dock. There would be someone waiting to help them tie off the yacht. Reed had called ahead, telling them to prepare the plane. He would be bringing the boat over soon.

They sounded surprised. The Director, flying?

Of course,
he told him.
Vacation is long over due.

It took some research, but Danny discovered the Director was a billionaire many times over. He had so much money that if they split it three ways, they would all still be billionaires. For the time being, they were going to stay together. The Director had an estate in
Italy
.

That seemed like a good place to start a new life.

Missing Satellite Uncovers Human Trafficking Ring

ASSOCIATED PRESS. – The Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (MILSTAR) reported the sudden crash landing of one of their satellites in the
South Atlantic
when their network was infected with a malicious virus. The virus will likely cost the government millions of dollars to recover and reestablish communication.

However, the recovery of the downed satellite was near a remote island previously thought to be unoccupied. Authorities of the
United States
have reported a sophisticated human trafficking ring. Preliminary reports have identified wide-spread use of banned technology called Computer-Assisted Alternate Reality (CAAR), though it is unclear how the organization was using the technology.

In addition, dozens of previously reported dead or missing people were being held captive in a resort located on the island. All the people are male and worth billions of dollars. None have agreed to cooperate with the investigation until they have consulted their legal counsel.

However, many have admitted the leader and creator of the island’s society was missing. Currently, his name has not been discovered but he went by the nickname, The Director.

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Novels by Tony Bertauski

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