The Jungle

Chapter 27: Exodus

“Caesar!” Hamlet shouted from his office as he clicked off his TV. He had granted the man’s request to leave the island yesterday evening, but now he was having second thoughts. Legally, the council couldn’t vote on anything unless the chairman was there, and so Hamlet was glad he had decided to keep Caesar until the next day. After the broadcast, he had spent hours scouring the internet and all of its various social medias and forums for news on how the broadcast was being taken, and so far the news was not good.

The entire globe, from Africa to Greenland, was in outrage at the broadcast. It was only supposed to broadcast locally to the province of America, but the entire thing had gone viral, and people all over the world were starting to cry out against their government and crying for reform. This boded very poorly for Hamlet, as he could not kill Bahati and Caroline and the others now that they were famous. On top of that, he still had no evidence they were staying at Lex’s house. He had no choice but to change his plan of attack, hence why he called Caesar, the angel who had fallen from his high place.

Up until the broadcast, Caesar had been the most popular politician in Metropola. In spite of what he claimed was his love for Caroline, Hamlet genuinely liked the man. He did exactly as Hamlet said whenever Hamlet asked him to, and he easily fell prey to fear, and was terrified of blackmail. He had been all too easy for Hamlet to manipulate the councilman into his grasp. Caesar claimed he was fearless, but one threat of violence and he hid under a rock. He was very easy to control.

“Yes, Hamlet?” Caesar asked fearfully as he entered the room. He trembled in terror at the look on his superior’s face, and shrank into a corner with his hands crossed in front of him in a defensive position. The TV was replaying a news broadcast from the province of China, which happened to be a story on the historic broadcast.

“Remember our discussion about the beautiful and exotic piranha?” Hamlet asked, a mad gleam in his eye. He swept toward the tank and tapped the lid cryptically. Then, he gestured to the TV and sighed. “It appears we really do have a piranha in our school of pacu.”

Caesar gulped. “I assure you I had nothing to do-.”

“Silence,” said Hamlet, holding up his head. His voice was soft, but he may as well have been shouting for all the gravity it carried. “I know you had nothing to do with this. I’ve been monitoring your every move. No, you did not facilitate this. But now you see that the threat is real, and it’s about time you took it seriously.”

“I always did,” Caesar vowed. “But I never dreamed they’d make this public. It’s not something one does in this day and age. Caroline was always wary of the public spotlight, and I definitely couldn’t see her putting herself on global TV for anything, much less a cause like this.”

“Nor could I,” Hamlet admitted, flexing his huge biceps in anger. “She is the chink in their armor. Having spent a fair amount of time with her, I know what she’s like. She is rash and impulsive and doesn’t think things through well enough to be able to spot traps. It makes her weak. And this weakness will be exploited to our advantage. You see, Caroline cannot bear to see people suffer, no matter how despicable they are. For example, her brother. He is a living time bomb of rage, anger, selfishness, and impulse. He does not put others above himself, including her. Yet, she loves him anyway. I’m willing to bet money if you were on your deathbed and only she could save you, she would come running to your side and make it all better.”