Feared

Thirty-Two: Interviews

Darkness crept over the house and silence with it. The storm that had battered the house the night previous, was a distant highlight in their monotonous time at the campsite. The students had drifted off to bed one by one. Only Ethan, Ian and Charlotte remained up, bent low over plans in the dining room. What the plans were, Matt had no idea. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know. And if they ever did tell him it would be out of courtesy alone. They all knew there was little he could do to help them.

The only thing he could manage was to watch the news reports to see if they betrayed the movements of any of the outside world. Matt wondered if Freddie and Rhian were watching the same news reports, half-expecting his name to be slandered with the others. Maybe they watched it hoping nothing worse would be shown. Or maybe they were still too angry with him for running away that they didn't even mention him. He had betrayed their trust and didn't deserve their worry.

He shrugged, standing in the doorway with his bowl of soup, watching the now familiar face of Alastair Ramsey flash across the screen. If they were angry with him, he deserved it, but they would forgive him in the long-run. He was sure of that.

Matt lifted a spoon of hot soup to his lips, watching Ramsey standing in front of the White House seal, the American flag behind him. Was he even American? Matt wondered. His accent was more generalised than that. He shrugged, eating his soup as Ramsey carefully constructed his sentence to seem calm and measured, but to generate fear and hatred with every utterance. He was good at that. He had also taken the opportunity to ensure he had gained as much power as possible. He was the people's hero now, the one to save them from this new and growing evil.

It was a rerun of a speech he had given two days previous. Matt had watched it numerous times. They replayed it every thirty minutes. He knew it by rote.

"We must ask ourselves: what must we do to secure our freedom?" he mouthed along with Ramsey, waving his spoon backwards and forwards.

"These beings are living, breathing weapons that are here to destroy everything we hold dear. They are here to upset the balance of peace and prosperity in our great nation. They do not care for democracy. They do not care for the hard-earned dollar. They are against us, against our constitution, against the American ideal".

Matt clenched his fist around his spoon, pointing it towards the television as he imitated Ramsey.

"We must be prepared to defend our great country, our freedoms, in face of this most poisonous aggressor. We must be prepared to fight and to die to protect this world for our future generations".

Matt lifted his bowl to his lips and drained it. "Waaaaayyy," he cheered in a whispered voice. "Down with all genetically altered children! – Pathetic old man, desperate for any way to reach the top". Matt stepped back into kitchen dropping his bowl into the sink and stretching.

"That was Alastair Ramsey speaking to the press earlier this week in regards to The Lost Children of Kingston, the terrorists behind the attack at Capitol Hill," the female news-anchor's voice declared from the other room. "He is reaffirming the state of emergency issued by the president following the attack on the nation's capital and the breakout of those considered responsible for the attack".

"We are now going live to Mary Goldstein who is with Oliver Fiennes and Maxwell Smith, two of the agents involved in the initial rescue and attempted social rehabilitation of the terrorists".

Matt move into the living room and sat on the sofa, resting his elbows on his knees. Attempted social rehabilitation was a new cutting term he hadn't heard yet. He snorted, turning up the volume on the TV so he didn't miss anything they said.