Remainers

To Those in the Future, Part 16

"Ludicrous! Outrageous! Unacceptable!" Paul Ackerton roared. His face was as red as a beet, and his fists were sore from being slammed onto his desk repeatedly. "To think that you would even ask me such a thing, especially after going to convene with the enemy behind my back!"

Derrick Ackerton stood unmoved, his face showing no sign of being intimidated by his father's show of rage. He had gathered all of the Ackerton family's highest members and explained everything about his meeting with the resistance members, as well as the deal that they had reached. His father had reacted in exactly the way that he had expected.

"They are not your enemies, father, but rather, fellow survivors who have grown dissatisfied with your work managing the shelter. Considering the relatively mild request they've made in exchange for peace, I would consider it a very simple ask."

Paul slammed his fists on the desk again. "Why should I have to offer anything in return, especially when I have nothing to apologize for? Instead of making worthless deals like this, you should have been capturing all of these foolish rebels and throwing them in the prison to make an example of them!"

"That would be a dangerous thing to do, father, especially with the virus running rampant."

"So what? Let them all die! It's the least they could do, considering what they've done to my precious shelter!"

Derrick narrowed his eyes. His father was acting much worse than he'd anticipated. He had always been aggressive, but this level of viciousness he was not prepared for. His fellow siblings and associates noted Paul's change in behavior as well, so it wasn't just his imagination. Casting a glance at his father's reddened face, he finally realized with horror what had happened.

Sparing no time, Derrick immediately pulled out a communicator and began pressing buttons. "Father, I think you need to be put into intensive care. It seems as if the virus in your brain has activated."

"What? Ridiculous! You just want to be rid of me, don't you?!"

Derrick turned to leave his father's office as two guards entered the room. "You can choose not to believe me if you like. It won't affect the outcome either way. However, you are no longer fit to be our head. You will have to step down."

"Step down? Ridiculous! Michael! Rosie! Tell these guards that they don't have to listen to Derrick's orders!"

"Sorry, father," Michael replied with a smug smirk on his face. "Unfortunately, I have to agree with Derrick. You're a lost cause, so to speak."

"That's right. It's time for an early retirement," taunted Rosie, who saw her chance to chime in.

"Damn you all! Don't think I'll forget this, because I definitely won't!"

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John whistled as he listened to the story as told by Marianne. "Sheesh. I never liked Paul Ackerton, but I can't help but feel bad for him after that."

Marianne smiled awkwardly. "I feel the same. My siblings, however, have been moving fast. I won't say things will be getting better anytime soon, but I've been a lot more hopeful recently."

"I'm the same. The more belligerent resistance members have been complaining, but it looks like Kath has been managing to keep them in line. So long as the Ackertons show sincerity in their actions, I think we'll be just fine."

"That's right. I heard the Ackertons are planning on having a proper peace meeting with the resistance members soon."

"Yes. They're likely going to hammer out some more details and try to have some more cooperation. If things go well, we might even find a cure to our virus problem."

"Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself when it comes to the future, but it's at least a possibility now. And so long as things stay peaceful, the virus won't have any chance of actually affecting us."

"That'd be great. I don't know that we'd be able to restart humanity like my father wanted, but at the very least, we should be able to live our lives without fear."

John chuckled. "It's such a small thing, yet I'm so grateful to just be alive. I think everyone feels that way at the very least. As long as we can communicate this desire, the two sides should be able to find common ground."

"I hope so," Marianne agreed with some worry. "I mean, it's not like my father was the only unscrupulous family member I have."

"Ah." John remarked with some apprehension. "That's right. I've heard stories about Michael Ackerton. He was an... enthusiastic fan of my singer friend."

"Oh, yeah. I did hear rumors about him from time to time."

"What about your other siblings? Do you know anything about them?"

"Well, there's Rosie, who's the eldest daughter of the family. She's the most money-minded of them all, but I don't think she's a bad person. And then Thomas is the one in charge of social relations, so he's a relatively friendly guy. He's sort of a spiteful guy, though."

"That doesn't necessarily give me the most confidence. Still, I'll just have to hope Derrick can rein them all in."

Marianne laughed. "Don't worry. I'm sure things will return to normal sooner or later."

And to John's surprise, she was right. Things did return to normal, at least for a time. News spread of the resistance agreeing to make peace with the Ackertons, tentative as it was, and the civilians scared of any possible chaos slowly began to emerge from their hiding places. After several days passed with no real incidents, people really started to believe that peace had returned and started to go about their usual days again.

For John, however, not much had changed. He still spent his days trying to keep the rowdier members of the resistance from acting out. He was still stressed every day over Martina's health, which seemed to only get worse and worse by the day. Things were getting better, and yet he still felt incredibly hopeless.

Yet he could do little but appreciate the little mercies that were given him. At least Martina was still alive, and at least the conflict between the resistance and the Ackertons was finally over. Maybe not everyone would survive this pandemic, but at least there was a chance that life in the shelter could return to normal.

As of now, his focus was on the next meeting that was going to happen between the rebels and the Ackertons. This time, everyone would be there, meaning there was that much more of a chance for something to go wrong. For John, that meeting was going to decide whether or not the shelter would survive, and the closer it got, the more anxious he was.

The thing with time, however, is that there's no way to stop it from pushing on, and so the day of the meeting eventually arrived. The Ackertons and the resistance agreed to an open town hall, where a large amount of people could assemble. They chose the town square as the location, as it was a place people commonly frequented in the first place.

John's nerves were plain on his face. He had no clue how this meeting was going to go down, and watching the two groups of people assemble on the stage made him sweat despite the square's air conditioning. Marianne, who was sitting next to him, smiled and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "No need to worry. Things will work out. Everyone standing on that stage knows what's at stake."

"I really hope that's the case," John responded. "Otherwise, it'll be over for all of us."

"Let's just watch the meeting unravel, okay?"

John nodded. But he never really got the chance to see what would happen between the two groups. Because before the meeting could convene, the incident happened.