Chapter 6

Read from the start here: Chapter One


The rest of the meeting breezed past in a dizzying combination of words, graphs and statistics. All the while, Susan and most of the people present had tried their best to concentrate, but it was a futile exercise considering the severity of the news. The world’s biggest killer was apparently alive and that was the only thing people seemed to take on board as the meeting wrapped up.


Crutch and Smith had tried to present the situation as a slow burner. They surmised that despite his return from the grave, he would be in no position to start attacking the populations of Natalos for a few days, if indeed that was his plan at all, which gave them plenty of opportunity to strategise how to take him down. This wasn’t to be the primary objective for everybody in this meeting though. They explained that with so much beaurocracy to progress through to officially deal with Rogan, the leak would definitely reach the public and their aim from now on was to work together in order to minimise the panic and riots that would follow. Essentially, they had already conceded this lunatics power to destroy the nation and instead of fighting it, they simply wanted to limit the damage.


The grumpy scowl on Crutch’s face as he ordered everyone to return to their departments summed it up perfectly. The crowd had begun to sift out through the single exit and Susan eventually gathered the mental prowess to join them, despite seething inside. Crutch was stood near the doorway, casting an eye over the exiting crowd, and Susan wondered if he knew how passive he was being with his whole plan. If he did, she couldn’t possibly understand why. Doesn’t the man who was responsible for murdering thousands and thousands of innocent people need to be obliterated from this planet? Maybe if he had experienced personal loss like she had, maybe he might understand, or maybe he would always choose the path of least offense. She played with the idea of running over to him and trying to convince him this wasn’t the way to go, except this would be an incredibly unprofessional move so she discarded it. Right now, whatever was going on, she was in an incredibly safe position to deal with it and losing that at such a crucial time would be suicide. As she neared the entrance back into reception, she was surprised by someone calling out to her.


“Susan” Uttered the croaky voice next to the doorway. For a second she kept on walking, unaware of any scenario in which she was needed now, but she hadn’t imagined it, so she stopped and turned to face them.


“Yes... sir?” She replied, staring at Crutch.


“Could you meet me in my office in ten minutes?” He asked, with a hint of sincerity there.


“Yes, sir.”


Leaving the boardroom behind with a silent nod, she waited quietly with the remaining throng of people for the elevator, which had to transport nearly a hundred people back to their offices. Meanwhile, all she could think about was what had caused the Director to ask for a private chat with her during a national crisis. If seconds were precious, this would certainly be an expensive time for a performance review. Could that casual glance before the meeting have had a meaningful purpose?


Before she knew it, she was walking out of the elevator and into the oblivious midst of her fellow employees, her home away from home. Something had dramatically changed since she left less than half an hour ago but these people were clueless and she had been the one authorised to tell them. In her head, she imagined how blissful it would feel being kept unaware, having no fears or worries that anything would happen, when the reality was that Rogan could be planning to strike again at any moment. Once again, she began to let her mind run wild with theories of how he could possibly have escaped the inescapable clutches of death. It made no sense.


Before revealing the truth, Susan decided to take a moment of her own.


“Fredo, I need to speak with you for a couple of minutes.”


“Sure.” With a rather energetic leap up from his seat, he strode towards the glass door of her office which Susan had kindly held open for him. “What was that meeting all about?”


Her eyes said much more than her lips did. A saddened, surprised and fearful mix of emotions lingered inside her, and she just didn’t know how to let them out without panicking.


“To put it simply,” Susan hesitated. “Rogan is alive.”


The reaction she got from Fredo was exactly the one she expected. His eyes widened, he stopped breathing for a moment and stood absolutely frozen for a few seconds.


“W-what did you say?”


“I know, but it’s true.” She gestured into the main part of the room. “Please come in.”


“This... this can’t be true. He was dead right? What happened to that?” Fredo’s voice shook ever so slightly, while his legs took him from one side of the room to the other. “Are you allowed to give details? Is he planning something? He is, isn’t he?”


“Look at me for a second.” She put her hand on his shoulder and swivelled his whole body around so she could see his face. Fredo stopped talking. “I know that this is a completely disarming bit of news but you’re freaking out, a bit like I did about twenty minutes ago. But you need to be yourself right now, all right?”


Fredo nodded, and then exhaled a big lungful of air. In an instant, he had transformed back into his original self again.


“I’m sorry, I lost my mind, but I mean this is huge news. What the hell happened?”


“Long story short, we managed to get a tracker on Rogan back in his heyday and it went dead eight years ago when he died. The signal returned this morning and they did some tests on it, authenticated it and it’s definitely not an error. He’s back.”


“This is awful.”


Fredo and Susan both let the words hang in the air. She hadn’t really known what she was going to say to him after revealing the news, so she remained quiet, hoping somehow he would be able to ask the right questions.


“So how are they going to kill him?”


“They’re... not going to.”


“What?!” Fredo exclaimed. “That man is pure evil responsible for massacring tens of thousands of people, what are they going to do instead, put him in jail?”


“I’m with you, I’d much rather see him fry but they’re not going to do that. At least not right now.”


“So what’s going to happen instead?”


“Our job is to prevent any large scale rioting once the news eventually gets out.”


Fredo threw his hands behind his head and clasped his fingers. He was frustrated at this, just as Susan had been, but somehow, despite her personal loss by the hands of Rogan, she hadn’t reacted as strongly to the news.


“This is ridiculous! People hate him, nobody would object if we just wiped him out before he had a chance to do anything!” He shouted. “Listen, I’m sorry Susan, it’s obviously not you I’m shouting at, I just...”


“I understand, I would personally just wipe him out for good and be done with it but I can sort of understand why they’d be careful.”


“Why?”


“This guy was dead once, and he came back to life. We don’t know how this happened, but if we just wiped him out now what’s the assurance that he’d stay dead for certain this time? And what if next time we don’t have this warning? He could wipe out the whole of Natalos before we even realise it.”


Fredo relaxed, letting his arms drop to his side and looking up to the ceiling.


“You’re right. You’re exactly right. That’s why I love you.” Fredo approached Susan and wrapped his arms around her, gently kissing her on the lips. “You’re not just a good looker are you?”


“Careful Fredo, somebody could easily walk by and see us.” She smiled, pushing him backwards.


“You worry too much.” Fredo let her go, while Susan walked around to her desk and put some papers she was holding into a draw.


“I’ve got to go to a meeting now, so can you do me a huge favour?”


“Wait a minute, a meeting? With who?”


“Crutch.”


“You just had a meeting with him.” Fredo said inquisitively.


“I know, but he wanted to speak to me in his office.”


“Did he say what it was about?”


“No, he just asked me to meet him. I’m sure it’s some red tape issue he’s determined for me to take on, you know how it is.” Susan rolled her eyes.


“Hmm.” Fredo mumbled questionably. “So what about this favour?”


Susan felt a huge wave of guilt rising in her stomach.


“I know it’s a lot to ask of you, but I can’t handle doing it myself right now.”


“Say no more.” His voice was calm and there was a definite confidence in his eyes. “I’ll tell them about what happened.”


“You’re too good to me Fredo. I just don’t think I could do it without...”


“I know. Just forget about it.”


For a brief moment, the two of them shared a peaceful harmony. Even if the worst happened today, at least she could be sure that she had been able to share the last few months of her life with somebody who she felt utterly love-struck by.


Their relationship started blooming after they first met a few months ago. He had been promoted into the Trust through his job in a public branch of the government, and had ended up in her department. She felt that it was a decision made above the directorate, rather a choice determined by destiny. It was a fickle idea, and she always hated herself for believing in such phoney ideals, but nothing else seemed to fit. He was just too perfect for her.


Keeping it between them had been the difficult part, and even now when it would be suitable to reveal they had long term plans together, they still felt uneasy at telling others. So they kept it secret, and while they were both fine about it, Fredo took every opportunity to convince Susan to make it public.


“I have to leave, I don’t want to be late for this meeting. Are you sure you’re ok with telling them?”


“Absolutely. You go and meet to your heart’s content!”


As she headed out of her office, she was overcome with an incredible thirst. Having been rushed out of the door this morning, only now realising why she had been called in so early, she remembered that she hadn’t had her routine cup of coffee. A quick detour over to the coffee maker meant she would pick one up and try and finish it before the meeting.


She took one of the paper cups from the top of the low grumbling machine and popped it into the beverage slot. She quickly pushed one of the button selections and waited. After about ten seconds, she began to wonder if the coffee maker had actually broken, as nothing was coming out of the nozzle despite it making a louder noise than usual…


Suddenly the whole metal casing started to shake. Cups began to topple as the movement became more violent, and Susan stepped back. The nearby employees had started to turn, wondering where the commotion was coming from, and were now looking at a rather convulsive machine that seemed like it was trying to tear itself away from the wall. Steam now began to billow out of the gaps in the covering, and without any warning hot, scalding liquid began to leak out.


Now the whole office had noticed it and everybody’s attention was focused on this renegade beverage dispenser. It had now started to emit a high whining sound and soon it was all that could be heard above people chattering and moving about the place. Susan hadn’t realised but she hadn’t moved for a while and was still closer to the machine that she felt comfortable with. As she stepped back, she tripped over a lump in the carpet and crashed down to the floor on her behind, just as the machine began to increase the pressure on the leaking causing it to squirt out very close to her with it getting closer every second. She tried to back away but was surrounded on two sides by some desks, and she quickly realised she had cornered herself. A panic set over her and she couldn’t do anything but to cover her face.


Susan felt the heat getting worse and her legs had now been lightly sprayed by the splashing coffee, and her mind froze up. Just as she felt she was about to be covered in boiling liquid, somebody leapt over to the machine with a refuse bag and covered it before yanking it off its place on the worktop and onto the floor, where it let out one final whine, a loud crack and subsequently died.


The whole office sighed with relief and Susan suddenly came over very weak. Adrenaline had been coursing through her up until now and she felt drained. It wasn’t until she saw an arm reach out to pick her up that she realised who her hero had been; none other than Fredo.


“Are you feeling all right?” He asked sincerely.


“Yes, I feel a bit shaken but I’m absolutely fine.” As she was helped up, she reached over for a napkin and wiped the warm coffee off her legs. “I don’t know what happened, the thing just went a bit wild and started jumping around.”
“It’s weird, but it doesn’t seem too far off what we’ve been getting reports of for the last few days. I think it’s all linked.”


Now that he’d brought it up, it seemed to fit exactly with all those strange reports they’d been getting. What in Natalos could possibly be happening? She felt relieved not to be injured but it was close. Whatever it was, she had a feeling Crutch would know something about it, which was extremely lucky because that’s just where she was heading. Hopefully he’d have some answers.


Next Chapter: CHAPTER SEVEN