What the Earth will Reclaim

Chapter 4

Maia was having another nightmare. She woke up with a start, heart racing and breath coming in bursts. She reached to turn on her bedside lamp, only to remember that there was no power.

She sighed and got out of bed, heading out onto her balcony. She sat with her back pressed against the wall and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

" It's going to be okay", she told herself.

"Everything happens for a reason". She gazed up at the moon, a constant throughout this nightmare she was living in.

Sleep wasn't coming anytime soon, so she stayed like that for hours, awaiting the rise of the sun and the start of a new day.

◈◈◈

"How is he".

" He's making remarkable progress, sir. The conditioning we induced is slightly diminished, but nothing a few more sessions can't fix".

" Excellent work as always, Chernov. Make sure I am the first to know when he is ready".

"Of course sir".

Evan was awakened by the slamming of the door, but he was so tired...

" Good morning, king. It's good to see you awake and raring to go, but I'm afraid I'm not quite done with you yet. Now, let's go back to sleep".

Evan was not quite sure why his body kept betraying him, but he felt himself fade away as he obediently slipped back into unconsciousness.

◈◈◈

It was getting bad.

Maia had hoped that the supposed "necessary cleansing of humanity" was just a political ploy, or at least only an extinction of world leaders, but it seems that her worst fear had been true; the "cleansing" was of all humans, no matter who.

It had started with gunshots far off in the distance, but gradually they grew closer and closer, until Maia was able to see the cause of the shots. Men in military suits were hunting down civilians, ordinary people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It looked like they were having fun, with disturbing grins on their faces and an inhuman light in their eyes. Maia ducked behind her window when a man with a shaved head glanced her way. She slid down the wall, trembling like a child separated from its mother.

Panic attacks were never easy on Maia, and all she could do was crumple into a ball and cover her mouth as she sobbed.

◈◈◈

She didn't know what to do anymore.

These murderers were getting closer by the day, and Maia didn't know how long it was going to be before they decided to start clearing buildings.

She wondered if they would just topple the buildings to make things easier for them, but that seemed to go against their leader's "promise" to "restore the earth to her former glory, before humans took over the planet, destroying everything they touched". Maia wondered how they could possibly accomplish that feat without anyone around to actually do it; surely there weren't enough people in this rebellion to terraform an entire planet.

But that brought a disconcerting thought to the forefront of Maia's mind; that this group had to have engineers and scientists in their ranks, some of the world's smartest. Maia had always pictured a huge army of low level grunts, but there must be a massive internal hierarchy keeping everything working. If only there was a way to destroy them from within, then humanity might stand a chance...

◈◈◈

"Update".

"We're nearly finished sir, all that's left is ..."

" And he'll ... completely?"

"Of course Sir, he's ..."

A gruff voice let out a sigh, clearly on edge.

"You're quite a bit of trouble king, you are fortunate that you ... his son. Preparations ... complete"

Evan tried to focus on the words being said to him, but his brain was so fuzzy, he wasn't able to hear the doctor's last words as he exited the unknown room.

" You are going to be our perfect puppet, my boy. Absolutely perfect".