Rainbow Wars Chapter 1
This is a military story. I got my large backpack. I got the planes flying overhead. I'm running. I'm a gay soldier.
We exist.
Unfortunately this one doesn't exist much longer. I'm bleeding out. My eyes fainting. This was my ife. Looking back now I know that I won't survive the gunshot. I look down. All I see is red. I look up and then I see Lisa Tran...my producer. She has this really twisted look on her face. She knows what's about to happen.
"I can call someone... I can try to get back to the camp... I can get a medic."
"The enemies are all around us. You'll die before you get two miles. You need to wait here for help."
We had cover for now. The fight was still going on but this was where I got off of this journey.
Her tears are gathering They shelf up and I point before she gets too deep. If this is the end then they would need to know the truth.
"Grab your camera."
"It's over," she states, "It's done. How sick were we. Drafting famous kids into a war and letting cameras follow them. You can't create fucking heros. You were kids. This wasn't your fight to fight. This wasn't your---"
"LISA!"
Me shouting at that moment startles her. It shakes her up. She grabs her camera. Tears are still in her eyes but she was still an Agenda Producer. That's who paid her. That's why she was out here. She was so roughed up. I had been so concerned about myself that I hadn't noticed until now how bad of a condition that Lisa Tran was in. She'd been scarred up. Her face shattered with cuts from barb wire. She had lost weight from when I first met her. She can barely open her eyes. Her lips are chapped and her fingers have skin peeling off. She tries to breathe slowly and calm down.
"What are we starting wtih?" she asks me.
"It all started 57 years ago with Faus Castle. He was a scientist who confused about his own sexuality was tested when his wife had an affair with her gay best friend. He forgave her but obsessed over sexuality. He began tesitng biological warfare with a way to turn an enemy army gay for the United States Government. When his discoveries were chastised due to illegal testing methods he went to Russia. And he created the biological weapon known as the Phase. His first subject was his son...Faison Castle..."
She stops me.
""No. We need something more personal. Everyone knows the story of Faus Castle. We need an untold story?"
"Should we start from when Faus used the biological weapon to negotiate his son Faus an entire country under the rous of gay retribution. Or should we start with Faus becoming president?"
She shakes her head.
"It has to start with you?"
"I'm no one."
"And that's why your story matters the most. Your story will be the truth. The whole ugly truth..."
"All of it?"
"All of it."
Shit.
I begin.
"This is a story of Fate and the people you will be tied to with fate. See I'm a firm believer that when someone makes a mark on your life and they die, you carry a part of them with you. And in the end you are carrying around all these fragments. All these different parts of your lives. And they are like egg shells. They are shattered everywhere. And in the end, when it is your time to die, you have to put all those egg shells together. And that's what the moment of death is. It's putting all those egg shells together. Some beautiful perfect design.
That's what fate is. That's what this story will be about.
~
GDAY
~
I'm sitting on Kaiser's dick. It was the moment that I had been waiting for this whole time. It was the moment that I thought was going to change my life. The man of my dreams. Little did I know then it was the first time I woudl really feel betrayed by someone I had feelings for. People say you don't get over the person you love.
Oh yeah you do. You get over the love.
"It hurts!"
His dick is bigger than it looked when it was softer. It seems to grow inside of me. Each inch measuring out my hole. He leans forward and his face is breathing all heavy.
He's balls deep in me. A slow calm stroke. I wrap my legs around him. Our bodies merge. You don't know where his body starts and my body ends. His breath, his muscles and yes, that dick, pounding me from the back side. His eyes looking deep in mine and that's when he does something I don't expect.
"Io..."
I swallow my spit. He's called me another's man's name. It's his cousin's name. It's also his lover's name. I'd find out later they were one in the same.
"Seriously?"
That isn't the worst part. The worst part is a push over his clothes panicking to get away from him and I see something that shocks me. A wire. Kaiser had been wearing a wire. This was a set up.
The door opens and I see a man. A man who I don't know. They wrestle me down and throw a bag over my head.
Kaiser was kidnapping me...
"What's going on Kaiser----"
He doesn't respond.
I look around. This looked like a place that Jacob Varney warned me about. The grey rooms. The legendary room that they'd take people to torture them, interrogate them and more times than not...kill them.
I swallow my spit.
I'll keep going back to this scene just for now. Because this moment my whole life is shaped. And so when Kaiser, one of my first crushes, looks over at me I can see in my eyes that I'm going to die. He's not my hero. Not by a longshot. He's basically WITH the guy threatening to kill me. Don't worry he's not my only crush. My love life is complicated. I'll get into that shortly.
My story begins in the middle. Don't worry, I'll back, but this moment matters. This moment that I'm being held hostage with one of my crushes helplessly looking on as my captor aI'm tied up. My wrists restrained. Sweat is rolling down my face.
What's even more weird is that I'm not alone. Right next to me is my neighbor. My best friend. The only real friend I'd made in this dystopian hell hole.
Brian McNamara looks over at Boone, "We have no idea what you're talking about..."
Boone gets in his face, "ONE OF YOU IS A TERRORIST!"
I almost fall out of my chair when I see the gun in his hand. The look of evil is present there too. An awful smell rises into the air. I turn to my right and notice something embarrassing. Brian has pissed himself. It's running down his leg. The big yellow stain is in his grey uniform pants. He's scared to death. Tears are running down his eyes.
The only other person around is him...Kaiser Castle. He's basically a prince here. Boone may be in charge. He may be some scary military man but Kaiser has power.
"We wouldn't do this," I state.
That's when it happens. Boone puts the gun to my head, "We might as well kill both of them before this gets out."
"Relax."
He gets Boone to take the gun at my head. I look over at Kaiser. He's beyond attractive. I'd thought that since the first moment I'd met him. And here he was now basically saving my life. But for how long. The look on Boone's face tells us he doesn't plan on releasing us. You don't put a gun to the head of two kids from two of the most prominent families in the country and don't expect to use it.
Boone had gone mad. It was now or nothing in his eyes. He kept whispering to Kaiser something like "he won't be embarrassed'. There are more whispers. More.
I look over at Brian. He's not doing well.
"What the fuck are they talking about?"
"They think one of us is a terrorist," I state,"
Boone and Kaiser are talking some more. I'm trying my best to look around. There has to be something. Something that I can use. Some way that I can get out of here. I look around. Boone has a knife that he had in his military jacket. He's left it there. I can't get to it though. I look over at Brian.
"Get the knife..."
"What?" Brian asks.
"Get the goddam knife," I state, "Get the goddam knife. You're close enough to grab it..."
He looks over at the other two men. They are having a intense discussion and honestly from the looks of things it seems Boone is winning the argument. I just keep looking over at Kaiser. This defeated look is on his face.
"Why don't just talk to Kaiser. He likes you..." Brian states.
"You don't fucking get it. They think one of us is a terrorist. They think one of us poisoned the Prime Minister," I state, "He can't let us go. They have to kill one of us...or both."
Brian's eyes get wide. Real wide.
"Cair...Cair I'm scared," he tells me, "Talk to Kaiser he knows us..."
I reach over for his hands. I give them a long hard squeeze, "He's one of them... don't trust him. Brian. No matter what...don't say anything. Don't say a fucking word. They are going to try to turn us against each other. They are framing us for this..."
"They'll kill both of us then," he states.
"They won't," I state, "I heard them talking. They know it's only 1 terrorist. They can't have two dead rich kids. Our families would raise hell."
Tears are piling up in his eyes. He's afraid. Boone looks like he means business.
"OK. OK we stick together. We don't say anything."
He reaches over. He grabs my hands. We hold each others hands for a moment. It feels great to have a friend. It feels good to know that there is someone who had my back. I'm not sure who gave told Boone it was us who assasinated the Prime Minister but I knew that we could get through this if we stuck together.
"STOP TOUCHING!"
"They were just comforting each other," Kaiser tries to stop Boone, who damn near charges at us, "Relax..."
"Relax? Don't you get it. One of them could have started World War 3!"
We're shaking at this point. Boone pushes past Kaiser. It's clear he's won the fight. Kaiser looks over at Boone.
He's almost begging at this point, "C`mon Boone. They are kids."
"One of them is an SA Spy."
Kaiser desperately looks over at us, "You have people going through the rooms right. Let's wait to see what they come up with."
"We don't have that time. They are going to find the body any moment now. We need a fall guy..."
I look over at Brian. Brian looks over at me. I think in that moment he wants me to give him some sort of level of comfort. Looking back I should have. It would have been so easy. How hard is a, "we'll be OK," or "Calm down". I don't do that. He's tearing up. He's shaking so bad.
"Oh my god!" I shout.
No one is listening to me. They are arguing amongst themselves. I'd never seen him like this.
"He's having a seizure..." I state.
"Good," Boone states, "That makes this decision a lot easier."
Just at that moment I watch as my best friend starts foaming at the fucking mouth!
~
CURRENT DAY
You're probably confused on how this all starts. Well it starts only a short time before that. See we were a new Country. An experiment. And I had gotten the golden ticket. You couldn't tell me anything. I looked like a million bucks and I had just got invited to be at Charlie's Chocolate Factory.
"940?" a voice states.
I turn. Someone was calling out my number. The boy is a squared looked boy. Not relatively attractive but not ugly either. He was a pale white boy with freckled and red hair the color of tomato juice. He was kind of short as well.
"Cair Queeney?"
"That's me. Whose asking?"
"Brian McNamara..." he states, "I'm going to be your neighbor. We got profiles of friend suggestions. You were in there."
I remember the folder that was sent before the Invitations were sent out. This would be a new start for everyone. So why not friend suggestions. Of course that wasn't really my thing, but it definitely seemed useful for a guy like Brian. He clearly isn't the type to be among the cool kids but that was OK with me. I prefered weirdos.
"Nice to meet you," I let out a smile, "So the gay capital of the world right?"
"The first gay country."
I look around. The city was floating in the sky. Huge glowing signs illuminate and read: WELCOME TO NEW JERUSALEM. A HOPE FOR A GAY TOMORROW.
It may sound weird but this was our life. See due to an event that caused a gay-like holocaust, a new city was created. They called it New Jerusalem because it worked the same. The name was offensive to Jewish people but nowadays Israel is at peace with Palestine. Nowadays the world is concerned with this gay country. All eyes are on us. So many world powers were invested. This was the great world experiment.
A gay country floating right over what used to be DC.
Basically America gave up a part of it's land to gay people to attone for their crimes against gays. And lucky me---I got the golden ticket.
I step off the pedestal. My face is flushed red. I have to be perfect for my mother. If there is anything that I can remember about her was thad lit she needed you to be perfect. All the time. She was a surface sort of woman. All about superficial things like looks and presentation. "Trifling. You're so damn trifling...", she'd tell me.
That was the kind of mother she was.
And I was the kind of son who disappointed.
"Right this way!" the conductor states.
"I'm looking for---"
"RIGHT THAT WAY!" the conductor shuts me up.
We're ushered into another platform. I look to my left and right and notice all the excited faces. That's when I see her. My mother. She's standing there with a huge sign that said CAIR QUEENEY. She's not alone. There are a bunch of other people there as well. A bunch of other people that I don't realize.
It's been forever since I'd seen my mother. Since she started this new life as a gay woman. She'd been among the first to come here during the initial migration. I had lived with my father up until now in the straight world but it was just natural for me to move in with my mother.
"I'm so happy to see you," she states, leaning in to give me a hug before quickly whispering, "God look at this shirt. Couldn't you get a better shirt Cair?"
"I---"
I want to explain to her that I'd been traveling here for hours. Millions had come during the first migration and almost millions more came during the second migration. You would think moving millions of people out of their homes and moving in millions of others would be confusing but the goverment was surprisingly effecient. That's what you get when you put gay people in charge I guess.
"Anyways," she states, "This is my wife Commander Westinia Albright."
I had known my mother had gotten married. She'd sent pictures. What I hadn't imagined was that Westinia Albright was as dominating as I thought. Albright was a tall woman and seemingly not the most gregarious. She etches out the most forced smile I could imagine. She was trying hard. Looking at her what you see is what you get. A tall, stiff Amazon sun-kissed bronze woman in a military suit and a shaved head.
"Nice to meet you."
"So you're the good son," Albright teases.
I look over at my mother irritated that she was already telling our family business to her new wife. My mother doesn't care what I think though. See disappointment only worked one way with her.
"And these are the Varneys..." my mother states.
"Varney as in Jacob Varney?" I asks.
"In the flesh---"
I didn't know him at the time. Only little things that I had heard once upon a time. Jacob Varney was tall about 6'1. He has himself buttoned up real tight in a suit but you can tell from his frame that there was a nice body underneath. His hair a beautiful wavy brown color. It's strange because his hair color is almost the same exact color as his skin. It's as though you're swimming in is caramel brown desert with no stop. The first thing I notice is wow, his skin tone is so even. Secondly, I notice the dimples.
I'm a sucker for a man with dimples.
"Weren't you like in the news for something a long time ago..." he asks, "Like some sort of child star?"
"Something like that," he states.
His family looks awkward at that moment.
"Let's not concern ourselves with the past. Jacob has been so eager to meet you..." his father states, "I'm Idris Varney."
Idris introduces his wife Lia. The two of them basically shove Jacob at me. They explain to me that they can't stay here. This is a gay country but due to Jacob's celebrity they were allowed to drop him off.
"We talked a couple of times throughout the summer," he states, "Text. You probably don't remember me..."
He looks kind of sad. So sad I just quickly utter, "I do?"
He raises an eyebrow surprised, "You do?"
"Yeah," I respond.
I don't.
"We were hoping with our relationship to your family," Idris Varney states, "That you would look after Jacob."
Physically Jacob looked like he should be looking after me. But he did have a shy tone to him. Jacob is one of those guys that isn't socially the best. He has this look to him. How did I know him? Was he a sport's star? Was he something else? How did I know him.
"Oh yeah," I state, "I'd love to take care of him..."
"I'm sure you'd need to due to our relationship," my mother laughs.
I have no idea what you're talking about, "Are you guys joining us before you leave out again?"
"Of course. We came to start planning the wedding. Why do you think we're here?" Idris states.
"Wedding? What weddding?"
The Varneys look at each other. They look at me. They all seem confused, even Jacob who is looking at me like I have several heads at this point. I'm so confused that I put on this stupid smile. Everyone knows the "stupid" smile. The smile where everyone knows something you don't and you realize you are out of the loop so you just smile hoping something will become very clear very soon.
"Can I talk to my son?" my mother asks.
She grabs me and pulls me away. She gets like this when I embarrass her.
"What's up with that trifling comment?" she asks.
"What are you talking about?"
"I sent letters. What do you have Amnesia?" she asks, "You're acting just like your brother. That makes sense. You're acting like Cicily."
Cicily. The blacksheep of my family. Even saying the name makes my mother roll her eyes deep. Sometimes I think there is hate there on her part. All the shit that Cicily has put her through must have all been coming back to her in this moment.
"What?"
"Did Cicily have access to your email? Your social media? Your mail?"
"Of course. I was so busy and---"
"Cair don't you get it. Your brother hid the arrangement with you. He is so spiteful. He was always jealous of you."
All of a sudden I'm nervous. Had I missed something? Had I missed the letters? Had my brother gotten them? Had he hid them from me.
"Mom, what are you talking about? What arrangement?"
"You're going to marry Jacob Varney."
~
G-DAY
Brian on the ground spazzing out. Kaiser is over us. I look at Boone. He sighs and tries to grab Brian. I think he means to calm him down. I'm not sure. What I notice is the knife sticking at of Brian's pocket. I could grab it. I could go for it. I could kill him right now. If I were fast enough maybe I could get to Boone before he gets to me.
I could save us.
I lean forward. I'm reaching for it. My heart is racing. Fear is almost suspending my body. Right when I touch the handle I feel an arm pull me back.
"You kill a Commander..." he whispers, "And you'll wish you were executed..."
I'm confused when I fall back and shake my head. I'm confused looking at Kaiser. Had he just saved Boone or had he just saved me. I'm more confused than ever but Boone turns around and I'm somewhat relieved I didn't take the risk due to viciousness in Boone's eyes.
"False alarm..." he said , "It was just a panic attack."
"Thank God."
"You might want to hold your thanks," he states, "One of you are going to tell me who killed the Prime Minister. Now!"
He hits Brian first. Square in the jaw. Brian is out of it and I think he's going to just die when he lets out this awful sound. It's the scariest sound I'd ever seen. He was not OK. Drool was coming out of his mouth. I wonder if Boone was lying. Had he just really had a panic attack or was something else wrong with Brian.
Then he does one to me. It's harder. It causes Kaiser to flinch and take a step forward but he stops short when Boone is flinging that gun of his around.
"You can't take this all day," Boone tells us.
"WE have nothing to say," Brian spits.
Good Brian. Good.
"That's it...I guess I have to kill them both!"
"WAIT!" Kaiser spits out, "I know who did it. I know who fucking did it."
That's when the entire room turns to Kaiser. My heart stops racing knowing that Boone is going to kill whoever Kaiser even slightly accused.
~
CURRENT DAY
"Here's your lunch..."
Brian comes and sits with me. I'm trying to work the television. Jacob Varney was playing basketball. There were only two highschools in New Jerusalem in the beginning of the gay experiment. West Hills and East Lake. West Hills was the school that had most of the students in there. Thousands went to West Hills. I'm talking like their freshman class was a couple hundred thousand. Because of this they usually beat my school, East Lake. What East Lake lacked in sports, we made up for in pure, honest money.
East Lake was the richer of the schools. Because of that I can hardly figure out this talking wall that is in the lobby of the school.
"How do I work this thing?"
"You'll get to see your boyfriend later. Eat. We can watch the news," he states with a laugh, "All he's going to do is lose to sexy ass Salamander."
He had a point. Jacob was the captain of our school but he always lost to the captain of West HIlls, Salvatore Mander aka Salamander. Salamander would be the star of the night. He was going to be the first gay NBA superstar after this year. He was going places. Jacob kind of sucked at basketball, but at least he looked cuted when he sucked at it.
"I don't want to see Jacob..." I lie.
"A year ago you were freaking out about the we
I'm not even good at it. Two seconds into me screaming at the interactive TV wall, I just give up and we break out into a laugh. Brian knew everything there was to know about me. He was my best friend after all.
"Sure you don't..." he laughs, "A year ago you were freaking out and now you're obsessed with your husband."
"Tonight is the last night I get to see him before this weekend. Before we marry."
"You can't keep avoiding him."
He had a point. We went to the same school. It's been a year. My family had engaged us to get married because well the Varneys were a famous family. They weren't rich but they were famous. And so my mother's side of the family thought it best to get us engaged.
"He makes me so fucking nervous."
"You are the single most aggressive, tenaous, and driven individual I've ever met in my life," Brian explains to me, "I've seen you fight guys three times your size. You won't let a bad basketball player with a cute face and a seedy past get to you."
He was right. I'm struggling. My wedding was coming up and my mother had invited everyone. It was a big thing. We're in the lobby of our school but the school was also literally hosting my wedding. It was on the loud speaker. The building was fancy enough. That wasn't the problem. In New Jerusalem everything was nice. Even looking outside now I can see the skyscrapers over the city. The flying pedestals. The hologrammed advertisements.
New Jerusalem was a city of the future. And this wedding would solidify my place in that future. You see I had a famous family but that was on my mothers side. I had my father's name though.
Queeney.
"I'm still the son of a Colourless."
Colourless. Colourless was basically a curse worse used for RTL. RTLs were Refusal to Leaves. The group of people who refused to leave were becoming an issue. Colourless. That's what we called the group of terrorist traitors. They were always on the news, bombing parts of the city. Remember how I told you that New Jerusalem was like regular Jerusalem. Well the Colourless were the Palestinians in this case. This case was even more black and white than that.
The Colourless was bad.
"Great, the Castles are talking about the last Colourless attack."
Look, it's more news on the Castles meant no more than look the sky is blue. The Castle was our version of a first family only they were almost worse than the RTLs. President Faison Castle literally had a soap opera for a family. I roll my eyes immediately wanting to turn the channel as I sit down for the lunch that Brian brought. Brian liked this kind of stuff, but I hated it. I only took up with it because Brian was such a good friend I mean who brings their best friend lunch.
"This family is the devil," I sigh.
"I agree," a voice states, "That wedding last weekend was horrible. They killed Seneca Castle. One of their own."
"Did you call your father?" Brian asks.
"Seneca Castle was a terrorist. He was a traitor to our country.
"He was also your father's friend..." Brian explains, putting his arm on my shoulder, "You canj't let this country make you turn your back on him. He's probably grieving right now. He needs his son. All it takes is one call."
My father was involved with the RTLs. Like conservative people across America he had joined up to take up their plight of getting their lands back. It had caused civil unrest all over America. It was even worse that the leader of our country was a blood thirsty Tyrant who had his entire family bash his sympathizer brother Seneca Crane to death all over TV. Seneca sided with the RTLs over New Jerusalem. It was a mistake that cost him his life.
And due to the marriage of his nephews Io and Kaiser, Faison Castle made sure the whole world knew how much of a monster he was.
"I'm going to tweet," I state.
"Be careful," the man at the table states, "They are watching."
He was right. Not too far down the hallway there were a group of people looking over at us. They were watching us. Nowadays you can't be too careful. Speaking out against the ruling family was like nailng together your own coffin. More rumors you spread the more nails.
He lowers his computer and reveals his face. He has a very familiar face. That was the first impression I have of the stranger. He was another one. Another person who would weave their fates into mine. At that moment he was just a handsome man in sheek clothing with a handsome face.
And that's when Brian reacts and I know this man is so much more...
"Wait I know you---" Brian jumps up, "You're..."
My heart stops.
I recognized him too.
I finish where Brian left off, "Kaiser Castle!"
He steps forward. He has such a coy swag to him. I also notice his ring. He was married to Io Castle, who was his own fucking cousin. It was sick but this was New Jerusalem and with everyone being gay and sex being very liberal, the kissing cousin scandal didn't last that long. Especially not with all the other scandals the Castles were cooking up for us. It was one after another. They couldn't stay away from scandals to save their lives. Literally.
Supposedly Kaiser Castle was the blacksheep of the family. WIth a wild family like the Castles, that meant really Kaiser was a bit of a normal guy. The devilish handsome grin, freakishly smooth skin and ridiculously toned body was everything but normal though.
"You boys ought to be careful. See that guy over there---"
"The Important looking one?" I ask.
Near the elevators there are some guys that look like the Japenese triad. A cute little guy was with them and next to him was someone who must have been his grandfather.
He nods, "Yeah. The important looking one, cutie. That Tanaka Haruto and his grandson Riku."
"What is he like the President?"
"Boss Tanaka," Brian interrupts, "No. He's not the president. He's a criminal. Overseer and Head boss of the Japenese Triad."
"He's been counterfeiting money for my uncle for years. All of it paid for my wedding."
"The wedding where you killed your father?" I ask.
I don't know why I ask it. It was all over the news. Hed killed his father Seneca Crane. He was beaten to death. To be fair it wasn't just Kaiser. Everyone had seen what he had done and it was fucking scary
"That's none of your business," he states.
"Neither is Boss Tanaka and his illegal activity with your uncle but here we are talking," I state.
Kaiser Castle clearly didn't care for the president. That was seen on television for the most part. Maybe I should have stopped talking to Kaiser Castle then. If I was smart I would. He had trouble in his eyes. The look of a guy who had been scorned. A ferocious caged beast waiting for the moment when it's tamer because it's victim. And Kaiser had his eyes on the President...Faison Castle. Then again who didn't hate Faison Castle?
He shrugs, "I had to do it. If you need to know. I had to---"
The way he talks seems heavy like there is more to the story. Was he so frightened of the other Castles that he was driven to kill his only father because he was an RTL sympathizer?
"No let's talk about Tanaka instead."
He nods, "I was just going to tell you guys to stop throwing out certain names. Tanaka and his men are everywhere. His gay grandson was sent here to join the country as one of our prized citizens?"
I look at the Asian boy who gets on the elevator with Boss Tanaka. The grandson is clearly uncomfortable if anything. It kind of makes me feel bad how stiff he looks. Something has him real shooken up.
"Prized Citizens?" Brian asks, "You make it sound like it's some exclusive club."
"It is..."
"So why does he look like he's being sent off to die..."
"Wouldn't you be if you were picked for a draft?"
"The draft?" I ask.
I look over at Brian wondering if it's something that I missed but he shrugs as well. I hadn't heard anything about a draft. The way that Kaiser looks down makes my stomach drop a little bit. Let's just say when your President and his family go completely crazy on live television and kill someone it's time to start thinking about moving. My mother was already trying to look for places outside of New Jersualem but her wife was on a no-fly list due to some thing about all government workers being forced to stay in New Jerusalem during what the President referred to as "Trying Times."
We both hold up our hands.
"What is happening?"
"A draft," Kaiser states, "The Triad is here to stop my Uncle from doing an act that my cause World War III. If he doesn't succeed war is coming. That means a draft..."
Fuck.
I shuffle over.
"Who is going to be drafted?" I ask.
"We have a small population," Kaiser explains, "So every eligible man will be drafted. We can only hope Boss Tanaka succeeds. If he doesn't war will come. And I don't blame Tanaka for making sure his son is doing the RIGHT sort of work in the army."
Shit.
I'm having trouble breathing. Brian is pacing back and forth.
"We need to leave the country," Brian states.
"There is no leaving," he states, "Everyone who tries to buy a ticket is being screened by the government and added to a list. Do NOT buy atickets."
"So that's it?" I ask, "How long?"
Kaiser shrugs, "A few months...I'm sorry...I can get you u in a privileged unit, but every man is serving. Every last one."
Imagine one day realizing your government was about to throw you into a war. You don't know anything about fighting. You don't know anything about the war. But Kaiser Castle had no reason to lie to us.
At that moment Brian doubles over. That is the first time I'd ever seen him have one of his spells. I'd later find out that he had really bad panic attacks.
A draft was coming.
We were going to war.
~
"Someone is going to tell me who killed the Prime Minister..."
"He wasn't a prime minister," I respond, "He was a Triad leader."
"Oh yeah, yeah, boss Tanaka,"
Brian is sweating. Really bad. He was having another panic attack but the way that the others were looking at him made me think they thought he had something to hide. He was bad at keeping things in. He'd been bad at a lot of things.
"You got something to say," Boone tells him, "Spit it out."
I'm nervous. Brian is sweating. He's sweating real back. He looks over at me. He's breaking. I can see that.
"No..."
"Bullshit. You know something. You saw something," he states, "Maybe with this guy. Is that it. Did you see your friend here do something suspicious."
"No..."
"You will die in two seconds if you don't tell me something."
I look over at Brian and I see tears swelling up in his eyes. I don't know what he's going to say but I know it's going to be emotional especially when I whisper the words "Brian, don't." I'm begging him not to do anything. I'm begging him to keep his word.
"His father is Colourless!" Brian spits out, "His father is a RTL sympathizer!"
My heart stops. Boone looks at me. All of a sudden I know I'm dead. I have to be dead. Brian just literally let them know my father was a sympathizer. He let them know who I was.
How could he?
"Bullshit," Kaiser states, "That can't be true..."
Kaiser was coming to my defense. He was breaking his OWN code...for me. I have to say it's kind of romantic.
Boone isn't having it though. A gun is to my head. This was it. THIS WAS IT!
"It's true..." I state, "I didn't want to say but we were onto Brian for a while...
It was a shame. A shame it had to end here----
Brian looks over. His eyes wide and shocked, "What?"
I look over at him, "The McNamara family has invested guns for Faison Castle. Here are all the transactions. They WANT war."
Brian looks at me shocked, "You stole those! I trusted you and you stole those.
The morning earlier he'd slipped up and given me them. I look over at him. I really didn't want to go this route. I had to prepare myself though. Just in case.
What I don't expect is Kaiser to state, "I saw RTL propoganda hidden in a locker. Come to think of it's on the same hallway assigned to Brian's locker."
I'd forgotten about the propoganda. It wasn't Brian's but we'd found it in a hallway. Kaiser had come over and we had offered to give it to him to report it but he thought it'd be better if we reported it ourselves.
"Impossible...Impossible," Brian states.
He looks so scared.
"Be careful," I point, "There is a knife in his pocket----"
BANG!
That's when it happens. That's when Brian is killed. And the moment he goes down is the moment that Boone puts his gun down.
I think about reaching for it. For Brian. For me. I reach for it. I grab for it and someone gets to it first!
It's Kaiser.
Another shot rings off!
This time I'm shocked when Boone hits the ground and Kaiser is standing over his body! He's lying inches away from where Brian was. I'm shocked. This isn't happening. This isn't happening.
"Get out of here," he states, "I'll clean this up."
"Two people are DEAD."
"You hear that?" he asks, "That's an alarm. People are getting the fuck out of the city. You stay and you will be drafted into the you WILL DIE in war.
I look over at Brian, "But Brian..."
"He's dead. And any moment they are going to discover that that there the terrorist equipment you have under your bed. They will call Boone and find out he was killed to cover that up. You will be wanted. Get out of here."
"You know."
Brian was dead because of me. He wasn't the terrorist. I was.
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