Us and Them

Fame < Infamy

   Josh stared at the top of the metal stairs before him, the door propped open haphazardly with a piece of scrap metal. He heard laughter from inside the office and took a deep breath in before carefully climbing the stairs. He gripped the unlit torch in his hand and stepped into the office space. Courtney and her friend ceased talking and stared at him.

   "Ah, what a pleasant surprise!" She grinned, gesturing for him to step further in. The door bounced off the prop, Courtney's friend moving past him to kick it out from beside the doorframe.

   "Now, what brings the Torchbearer here? Is this a surrender?"

   Josh shook his head. "Hardly. I came to talk, person to person." He cleared his throat. "I was wondering if you had some answers for some questions. I know you aren't inherently evil because you were raised here on this side of the delta and you're just trying to survive."

   Courtney put a hand up to stop him. "You aren't going to be able to sweet talk me. You and your little gang planned an assassination." She pushed back in her chair to reveal a stump just below the knee on the leg Andy Hurley had managed to stab. "And caused this. So, I won't be telling you anything. But, since you've so generously turned yourself in, I leave the others alone...but just long enough for them to leave my reaches. You tell me where they are and I'll send someone to give them the message."

   Courtney's friend reached for his torch, Josh thrusting it backwards into their stomach calmly. They doubled over with a groan and backed up toward the door.

   "Okay, so I'm not asking anymore. I'm telling you that you're going to give me the information I need."

   "Or what? You'll kill me? You couldn't even kill my guard a week ago. Besides, if you think I'm afraid of dying, you're dead wrong."

   "Oh, I don't want to kill you. In fact, I won't give you the satisfaction of becoming a martyr." Josh approached the front of her desk. He laid a yellow flower down on its surface, the petals gleaming under the harsh fluorescent lighting. "Urie's downfall was his inability to show humanity. His greed for the lavish and material rotted his character to the point of leaving nothing but a tyrant. Your downfall will be your thirst for power, which is why you're fighting so hard to keep it. You started a revolution to bring forth a dictatorship. People followed because they saw you as strong and strong willed. But, you're just the same as them, scared of what the world had become when it collapsed as you knew it. Now, you can either continue to let fear rule you or you can step down and turn this thing around."

Courtney shifted in her seat uncomfortably, a bit of humanity showing as she looked at the flower he laid before her. But, that quickly passed and her demeanor stiffened before she looked Josh in the eyes with a blank stare. Then, her eyes turned a dark yellow and she pushed her chair back some to dig under her desk for something. In her hands when she righted herself was a shotgun. She laid it on the table by the flower.

"Efil si htaed." She mumbled, in the same warped voice that Dallon had spoken in days before. Her eyes weren't as bright of a yellow as Dallon's were, more like a dull mustard. Then, she looked to her friend and they walked over beside Josh. They took the shotgun in the hands and aimed it at Courtney, firing off the first round into her face. They then wandered mindlessly out of the office and around the corner of the building, where he heard the second shot. Josh then went behind the desk despite the body and opened a bottom left drawer to find a lightly packed manila folder at the bottom of it. He laid it out on the clean part of the desk and opened it. It was a letter that read:
     "You have failed to meet the standards set forth by the Sacred Municipality of DEMA. For this reason, We have determined your service is no longer necessary for the progression of the Expansion. This transition will be made swiftly and in accordance with our protocol."

   It seemed that the Bishops had seen that outsiders would be unable to adhere to their strict rules and implement the laws of DEMA. But what about the random possessions? Josh figured that regardless of the body being alive, dead souls were still fair game to their control. Dallon had seen some horrific things and lost the place he once called home. His spirit had been broken enough for the Bishops to use him for a short period until people of importance surrounded him. Courtney seemed to have some deep self loathing and fear of losing control, which to anyone who craved power and structure, DEMA would be most appealing. All you had to do was lose your soul and give them what they wanted.

   Josh closed the folder and tucked it under his arm. He took one last look at the headless Courtney and the brain spattered wall and moved to the door. When he opened it, a flock of vultures circled in the light of the full moon overhead. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and his yellow bandanna over his mouth and nose. He lit his torch and carried it all the way back to where his friends were waiting in anticipation. The Municipality's grip on the East had been loosened for now. All that remained was the vast wilderness of Trench and the cold, concrete walls that shielded DEMA from the rest of the world. He was going to finish what he had started years ago. The Banditos had gotten so close with Clancy, but that war didn't change anything. Josh was going to make sure this time that not a single wall of that place remained.