Eve In Utopia

Epilogues Untitled Part 20

Epilogue One

Bryce Turner stood in the graveyard as the rain beat down on his umbrella from a leaden sky. He stared at the tombstone in front of him and told himself it was the rain and not his tears that blurred his vision. Secret Service agents didn't cry, so it couldn't be the tears. There were wet footsteps behind him, but Bryce didn't turn around or look until a hand reached out to touch his arm.

"How are you holding up?" asked Mimi softly.

Bryce looked at the actress with surprise. He hadn't told anyone he was coming here. He studied the actress for a few seconds. She looked a lot better than the last time he had saw her in the hospital after the massacre, which was what the press was calling the attack at the New Utopia now. A lot of the crucial details about the attack had been kept from the press though, such as the alien nature of some of the attackers, with only the human terrorists being acknowledged. Area 53 now had some more corpses to experiment with, he thought, funny how close the rumours had been. That wasn't his problem though as he recalled Mimi in the hospital with a fractured skull from trying to save the blonde woman Eve who had saved all those who could be saved.

"Being famous, even if an outcast still has some advantages," said Mimi in answer to his unvoiced question. "I gave a wink and a jiggle and someone coughed up the information about where I could find you."

"I hope that wasn't Angie you subverted," responded Bryce.

"We spent a lot of time in the hospital recuperating together," replied Mimi, "but she never gave up one single bit of classified information."

"I didn't think she was going to make it when I found her after everything was over," replied Bryce. "I even promised God that I would give up chocolate dip donuts if she made it."

They were both silent for a while and then they spoke at exactly the same time, "So, what are you going to do now?"

"You first," said Mimi with a smile.

Bryce shrugged, "The only thing I know how to do, which is my duty. Things are still a mess, but I swore an oath and I intend to keep it. I don't think President Chapman is any better than Lopez was, but I swore an oath to protect the President, no matter who he or she or they are."

Mimi nodded and they were both silent for a minute or two while they recalled the events that followed that horrible day. President Lopez had died from the second shot from the alien, though the knife thrown by the mysterious blonde had killed the alien a split second later. Vice President Percy Chapman had become the President in that instant and had since won the general election, running on an even more extreme platform than Lopez had been. The rights of people like Mimi were being stripped away from them in State after State and at the Federal level. That was why Mimi called herself an outcast as Hollywood had unofficially blacklisted her and hundreds or even thousands of others. It was the bad old days of the 1950s and the Communist scare all over again as so many people refused to learn from the past mistakes of history. People were looking for scapegoats and anyone who didn't look like them or behaved somehow differently than the ever elusive "normal" were the targets.

"You didn't say what your plans were," Bryce finally said to break the heavy silence that hung over them.

It was Mimi's turn to shrug, "I am just going to keep fighting the bastards one at a time. It worked, well sort of, for Martin Luther King, so maybe it will work for me."

"You never said anything to the press about you and Lopez," pointed out Bryce.

"I am not sure anyone would have believed me," replied Mimi. He was a hero, a martyr according to the press and the public. I would have been shouted down and cursed for daring to sully his name."