The Remainders

Chapter 4

Emoji Word Chart
🐜= A  🐝=B 🐱=C 🐶=D 🦅=E 🦋=F 🦟=G
🦀=H 🌴=I 🥀=J🍃=K 🐞=L 🌾-M 🐉=N
🌑=O 🍑=P ✨=Q💐=R ❄️=S🌵=T🐽=U
🐬=V🐋=W 🦖=X 💦=Y🦎=Z
———————————————————————-
"So, how did your little chat with Luka go?" Even though Xander's voice was calm, and even, Liam knew that behind those tones, was a sinister mix of force, as well as expectancy.
Liam tried, unsuccessfully, to force the the fear out of his voice, "I... well... I mean... I feel that we made progress," he said.
   However, as soon as the sentence came out, he realized that he had just made the mistake of an amateur...
  "You hesitated," Xander said, confirming Liam's fear. "And," he continued, "I suppose that would mean, that you did not talk to your brother?"
  "You and I both know how stubborn Luka is," Liam tried to explain to Xander, as he fought to keep his feelings in check.
There was a deafening silence on Xander's side, before Liam heard a disappointed sigh, and then a rather disconcerting, friendly chuckle.
Liam knew, that despite the suddenly friendly chuckle, Xander meant business. "Mr. Westfield," Xander began, "You are my most loyal, aide. 🦀🦅🐞🐞, I even consider you, to be the brother I never had. And for that reason, I don't want anything bad to happen to our baby brother."
   Liam winced. That was one of Xander Helwind's many charismatic gifts... he would draw people in. He would treat them as his own family, building a 'relationship' with his many followers, just as his father had done in his four year-rein-of-terror.
   Anyone who knew the former President Don Helwind, and the current president, his son, Xander, knew that once you were a part of their 'family,' there was no escape.
  "I'm going to be meeting with him tomorrow!" The words shot out of Liam's mouth.
  "Really?" Xander's question, was dripping with skepticism, and Liam knew that that he would have to carry his statement out.
   "Yes, really. He and I are going to meet at noon, tomorrow. I promise." Liam held his breath, willing Xander to take the bait.
   "Well, why didn't you say so, in the first place!?" Xander's voice was back to its jovial tone.
    "So... are we good then?" Liam asked.
"Yes, of course. I trust that you and Luka will see eye to eye, sooner or later... hopefully sooner," Xander said, rather dismissively, "just please, be sure to update me, as soon as possible. Bye."
"Yeah. Bye," Liam sighed, and hung up his phone.
    "Luka, you son of a 🐝🌴🌵🐱🦀!" Liam shouted, as he slammed his hand down, on the steering wheel of his truck, and immediately regretted it— "OW!!"
As his hand throbbed, already turning a mottled mix of black and blue, Liam realized that he did not have time to take care of himself. No, Luka needed him more.
  "Okay, Luka Westfield. If you refuse to talk to me," Liam thought out loud, "Then maybe, you would talk with Nikala!"
   Liam smirked, as he dialed Nikala's number...
  "Hey, Lee! What can I do for you?
   Liam smiled. If Luka had ever listened to someone, Nikala was the one. "Hey, Nikala," Liam spoke into the phone, "I have a small favor to ask you..."
         #######################
"That's better," Alura sighed, as she pulled her long blonde hair, back into a ponytail.
     Alura was sick of sitting in her glass office. At first, when she had first started her job as Xander's secretary, she had found the see through office to be an intriguing piece of art.
     A few weeks into her job, she began to notice, that every man in the neighboring offices, would stare in at her. That was when she realized, that Xander was just showing her off.
Right now, all Alura wanted to do, was to go home. For her, the day had been a long, hot, and exhausting one, that had consisted of meetings after meetings.
  "Alura, my darling," Xander's voice said from behind Alura, causing her to jump.
  "Xander!" Alura exclaimed, as she scrambled to undo the her hair from the ponytail, "I-I-I was just..."
  "Alura, I thought we talked about this? You look better with your hair down, because you look like the perfect suburban housewife, when your hair is down."
   "Excuse me!?" Alura felt her blood boiling, as she started to swing her chair to face her boss. How dare Xander!?
Before Alura could turn to face him completely, Xander's fingers were suddenly combing a gentle path through her hair.
   As he undid her ponytail with one hand, the fingers of his other hand began to trail down to the collar of Alura's blouse. Alura did not like where this was heading.
  "But Xander, it's really hot in here," Alura began to explain, as she tried to edge away from Xander's seductive touch.
  "I know," Xander said, as he leaned in for a kiss, causing Alura to moan softly, "but just think about how nice it will be, once we get our clothes off?"
"Xander!" Alura exclaimed, as her body jumped, "Stop! We're at work!"
"Hmmm," Xander mumbled what Alura thought was an inaudible protest, as he began to place small kisses on Alura's neck.
Alura wanted Xander to stop. She knew that she would have to think fast. Suddenly she remembered something... "FABIAN!"
Xander stopped, just as he was undoing the second button on Alura's blouse, and looked at her with a confused expression. "What about Fabian?" He asked.
Alura sighed, internally, with relief. "He called earlier, while you were on the phone with Liam," she said.
"And?" Xander's undivided attention, was now focused on what Alura was telling him, "well, spit it out! What did he say?"
If only Xander could have seen Alura's glare, then he might have begun to question his assigned partner's loyalty. However, Alura knew that Xander's ego was so big, that it covered his eyes, and clouded his judgement. 
"He said that he found someone that you might be interested in," Alura said, as she began to dial a number into her phone.
  "Oh! Fabian must have found us an 'inside' man," Xander's voice was once again, jovial.
   Alura looked at Xander, questioningly, "an inside man?" She asked.
   "Well of course, my darling! You don't actually believe that Liam Westfield will be able to protect Luka, all by himself, do you?"
    "B-but... Liam... I thought he was your 'most loyal aide'! And now you're going behind his back!? Xander..." need less to say, Alura was growing more and more impatient, as well as disgusted, by Xander's actions.
     The wounded expression on Xander's face, confirmed, once again, that Xander's ego was too big for him.
    "I'm doing this to help Luka, Alura," Xander began to explain his way around the obvious, "Not to harm him, nor Liam. You know those boys are like my brothers, Alura. They are my family."
    Alura sighed. That, was exactly why she was worried. Being a part of Xander's 'family,' came with a dangerous price...
   "This is for the best, Alura. I will promise you that," Xander's voice brought Alura back to the present.
  "Well, I think we should meet with Fabian, then," Alura said, as she forced a small smile onto her lips, and began to exit her office.
   "Whoa, whoa," Xander gently placed a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from exiting the room, "where were we?"
   Alura's heart sank. She knew exactly where they had been.
   "I think Fabian can wait for... let's just say, five minutes?" Xander told Alura, as he began to guide her into his office.
   Alura did not answer. She turned off her mind, staring blankly ahead, mentally preparing herself for the inevitable.
   As soon as they were both in the office, Xander closed the door behind them, and began to undress.
            ###################
    Fabian unzipped his leather jacket, and threw it onto the rolling chair, located behind his desk, and then sat.
He sighed in frustration, and fondled the lock on a briefcase, that he was carrying with him, as he looked impatiently at the clock on the wall. "Where are you, Xander?" Fabian wondered out loud.
    As his patience wore out, he began to blame Xander's secretary. "🦋🐽🐱🍃 you, Alura!" He exclaimed.
   "Don't even think about it, Fabian," Xander said darkly, as he entered Fabian's office.
Fabian stiffened. If there was one thing that Xander did not tolerate, it was other guys talking about Alura. They could look, just not touch.
Suddenly, Xander chuckled, "only I can do that with Alura," he said with a wink.
Although Xander had meant for his statement to be one of humor, Fabian was not a fan of the blanket of immaturity, that Xander always flaunted, and carried around with him.
"You think this is funny!?" Fabian demanded, his voice seeping with a venomous tone, "the people that voted for you, expect more from their leader. Yet, here you are, joking about ten minutes worth of sex!"
Xander looked at Fabian, with shock and hurt, "ouch, Fabian," he said. "Also... how did you know?"
"Call it a hunch," Fabian mumbled under his breath, "but that does not matter, at the moment," he continued, as he pulled a stack of papers out of his briefcase.
   "What matters," Fabian continued, dropping the papers on the desk in front of Xander, "are these Usefulness Levels."
    Xander peered at the papers, and shrugged. "What about them?" He asked.
"The citizens are becoming too relaxed, Xander," Fabian explained, "they are becoming way too comfortable with how things have been, and they are oblivious to the severity of our situation."
Xander's expression darkened, "and what might that situation be, Vice President Fabian?" He demanded.
"Well, for starters, the Centers of Disease Control, are running behind schedule on the approved vaccines," Fabian began, "and then, there are the growing numbers of Useless citizens."
   "Well, what do you suggest, Fabian?" Xander sighed, as he leaned back into his seat.
There was a moment of silence, and then Fabian sighed, "We have to bring it back."
Those six words almost caused Xander to fall out of his chair. "WHAT!!?" Xander exploded.
"I'm afraid it would be the only way to bring them back under control, Xander," was Fabian's answer.
   Xander seemed to process Fabian's concern, for only a brief moment, before— "Perhaps you're right," he said, "but... what do you, as my Vice President, propose we do? Surely, there must be another option?"
     A smirk made its way onto Fabian's lips. "I'm glad you asked that, Mr. President," Fabian said, as he gestured at a locked door behind him, stood up, and walked towards the door, "if you will just follow me, I believe that I have the solution to our problem." Xander stood, and followed Fabian.
   Right before Fabian opened the door, he turned to Xander, a look of warning crossed his face. "I must warn you, Xander, what you are about to see, may be... disturbing."
    Xander swallowed nervously, as a knot of fear, formed in his throat. "I-I-I trust you know what you are doing, so... lead the way."
     Fabian gave a stiff nod, and opened the door. President Xander Helwind, was met with a tortured scream.
    "What the!?" Xander cried, as he covered his ears in a desperate attempt to block the agonized screams.
     "Meet our tester, Mr. President!" Fabian yelled above the noise.
      Xander warily glanced around, and took in his surroundings— he and Fabian, were in a cold room, lined with white padded cells.
     "So... in a secret room, you have a prison for the mentally impaired, or something? Fabian... WHAT IS THIS!!?" Xander yelled, so that Fabian could hear him over the screams.
    "I call it the 'Testing Room," Fabian said, a hint of pride in his voice, "Where the Useless become Useful."
    Xander was suddenly interested in what his Vice President was saying, "I'm listening..." he encouraged Fabian to continue his, albeit horrifying, visual presentation.
    "Since we can't afford to keep the useless citizens around," Fabian continued enthusiastically, "why not just put them to good use?"
    Fabian pointed over to an examination table, that was in the center of the room, "bring out Tester three!" He yelled.
    Xander watched stunned, as two figures dressed in white hazmat suits, surgical gloves, and N-95 masks, dragged a struggling young man out of one of the cells, lifted him onto the table, and pinned him down.
   "Fabian..." Xander mumbled, as Fabian started to cautiously guide him closer towards the table.
Fabian, however, had no intention on letting Xander back out of this, so he just kept talking—"As you know, Mr. President, we've been having some trouble finding new and willing test recruitments. Well, now, my colleagues and I, have come up with a brilliant idea! We'll 'recruit' the Uselesses!"
    As Xander stopped at the edge of the table, he gave the young man a quick once over. The skin on his arms and neck, were pockmarked with what seemed to be needle pricks.
   Though the man had been struggling previously, He ceased his struggles, as soon as he was immobilized. A quick glance at the man's blank, glazed over eyes, told Xander that this guy did not have much fight left.
    The way the man stared blankly. The way his body had just given up. It almost reminded Xander of the pandemic. He could not let his people suffer, as his father had let his...
   "So far, Tester Three has been immune to almost every trial vaccine," Fabian's soft voice brought Xander back to the present.
   "Oh?" Xander cocked his brow.
   "But this vaccine is slightly more potent than the others that we have administered," Fabian nodded in the direction of the two suited figures. One held a vial of clear liquid, while the other held a vial of blue liquid. Both of the vials had a sharp needle attached to them.
"First," Fabian began to narrate step by step, what the figures were doing, "we inject Tester Three with a hyper version of the original virus."
Xander winced, but stood his ground, as he watched the clear liquid being pushed into the man's body. He immediately began showing symptoms, such as a cough, that wracked his whole body.
"Second," Fabian continued, "we administer the trial vaccine..."
A piercing cry escaped the man's lips, as every last bit of the blue liquid was forced into him. Suddenly, the room erupted into chaos!
The man leaped off of the table, and lunged at the two figures that had been restraining him.
Xander backed away, as Fabian left his side, and quickly approached the crazed man.
Suddenly, Fabian wrestled the man to the ground, and was now sitting on top of him. As Fabian whipped out a vial with a needle, that he had apparently been carrying in his pocket, Xander could see the man's eyes widen in what seemed to be fear.
Fabian glared at the man, and in one swift movement, jammed the needle into the man's neck. There was a strangled gasp, and then the man's body fell limp, and that's when Xander knew that Fabian had just killed Tester Three.
"❄️🦀🌴🌵!" Fabian exclaimed, as he stood up from the body, "there goes Tester Three..."
"Find them..." Xander said quietly, his gaze still on the body and Fabian.
"I'm sorry?" Fabian said, confused.
" Find all of the Uselesses!" Shouted Xander, "we're going to find and approve a vaccine, before the CDC, no matter how many Useless recruits we have to go through!"
Fabian smirked. "That's what we needed to hear, boss," he said, as he snapped his finger.
Xander watched, somberly, as more and more suited up figures marched into the room. He had been too lenient on the Useless citizens. It was time to Make America Useful Again... no matter the cost.