August 12
At the bottom of the stairs, we spilled out into a large room. There was about fifty people already there, and they crowded around the edges of the room. The centre was vacant.
"What do we do now?" Jarod said.
The way he said it made it sound rhetorical, but I replied anyway. "Wait."
He said, "It's 8. They're late."
"And you're impatient."
Before Jarod could reply, a man walked into the centre of the room. I recognised him from last time. Dark, casual clothing. Neat, slicked back hair. Firm gaze. His presence demanded respect.
"Since last we met, our numbers have halved," he began, voice bounding around the room. Everyone fell silent. "Out of the 126 that attended, only 61 signed up. I want to thank those that are still here for their commitment. We may have drastically less assistance, but I can assure you, we will still be able to do this.
"Which brings me to my next point - the reason for this gathering. Before we get into it, I just want to say that what I'm about to tell you is not general knowledge, nor is it freely available to the public. It is a well-guarded, government secret. All I ask is that you do not tell anyone outside of this room what you have heard here tonight. If you do not think you can manage that, please leave now."
He waited a minute, during which no one moved. The silence was oppressive. My heart pounded.
"My name is Danvil Edguard," he continued, "and I am here to speak to you about the Black Wave. The Black Wave - a steady loss of all light, an oppressive shadow cast over our city, a manufactured extinction event."
And suddenly: sound. There was a collective gasp. Even my own breath got lodged in my throat. I thought, Manufactured?
"This is the secret the governments of the world will fight to keep from you: that in order to address our rapidly growing population, they created a darkness to wipe out ninety percent of humanity. That's just over twenty billion lives."
He paused, allowed it to sink in. I felt ready to collapse.
"It's not a wave," he told us at last. "It's a poison."
YOU ARE READING
Light the Way
Science FictionThere's something wrong with Kiran's city. First it was Lower Sector - flickering street lights, the lighted windows going out one by one, like candles blown out by a slow, invisible breeze - and now Middle Society is starting to feel the effects of...
