The Prize of Dysprosium

Chapter XXIV: Change and Decay

Dr. Max gets out a car from the garage where he parked the three vehicles used to transport me, Anton and himself out from the Cave before the Washington bombing. The male guard, whose name turns out to be Craik, gets into the back furthest to the right and the female guard, who doesn't tell me her name when I ask, gets in the left side with Anton squished between them. Dr. Max takes the driver's seat and I shotgun. I'd much rather sit in the back with Anton, but the female guard sneers at me when I propose the idea, making it clear I'm not the one she's ordered to protect.

"It's fine, really," Anton says with a smile although he seems positively squished between padded shoulders. I reach back and take his hand, not caring about the guards' stares, and he squeezes it back. We drive for a while in silence back towards the city until I realize it's not the same city as I remember it.

"Do you know how it looks?" I ask Dr. Max. His gaze is fastened on the terrain ahead of us. "After the bombing? How much damage it caused?"

"I actually don't," Dr. Max says as if that fact surprises himself. "I haven't had time to check up on it. Should have." Then he sees my face and he tries for a grandfatherly smile. "It shouldn't be bad though. We used it to our advantage to save a lot of lives and the Government have no intention of burning themselves to the ground. As long as they're in the White House the city's safe enough, and here they at least have their army of Pacifiers which is much less massive anywhere else. I'd be more worried about the other cities. San Diego and Huston have had major demonstrations, and not the peaceful kind. Not to mention all the smaller towns which consists solely of the middle class with only a handful of law enforcement. They might all be made examples off."

"Do you think he'd do that?" Anton says. "Wipe entire cities from the map?" In the rearview mirror, Dr. Max's gaze meets his.

"I don't think there's much your father wouldn't do to stay in control," he says earnestly. Anton leans back in the seat and I can see the last hopes of peace in him vaporize before my eyes. And I have no words to comfort him. All I can do is hold his hand as he takes one shaky breath after the other.

When we arrive at the city, Dr. Max follows Craik's advice and drives in through one of the eastern roads. There has never been many Pacifiers in the lower class, especially not by the city limits, but we don't even meet one as we park the car in a dark alley where there are no less than three hooder carcasses piled up on top of each other. The sight makes Anton pale, but I take his hand and drag him away. Dr. Max makes him take off his glasses to be less recognizable, which in turn makes Anton blink as his eyes adjust to seeing everything in blurry.

We walk down the streets in a sort of elongated formation with enough space between us it hopefully doesn't look suspicious – Craik first, then Dr. Max, then Anton and me and finally the female guard.

Though not as bad as I'd feared, the lower part of the city has definitely been transformed. We walk past a few big craters where bombs have exploded, taking with it human lives and parts of abandoned houses. There is also a fair share of corpses now that there aren't enough Pacifiers to clean them away – some scorched, others littered with bullet holes and with dried blood all over their clothes. The sights, and the smells too, are horrible, but other than that, the city is actually alive. There are people dancing in the main street to giant speakers and fisting to the bass. Others are sharing fancy scotch they must have stolen somewhere in the middle part of town, telling dirty jokes and laughing so crazed I imagine their teeth falling out. There are others whooping, celebrating the victories they've had, the ground gained. They must be tasting the revolution now, getting ready to overtake the White House and begin decapitating all the politician. I don't even think the secrets I revealed have anything to do with the revolt on these parts. It has probably been an important factor in the middle part, but for these people here? The poor and hungry? They've wanted this for longer than they've known.