Chapter Thirty
“There’s gonna be a time where I won’t be able to protect you no more, Evelyn. Promise me that when that day comes, you’ll do whatever you can to protect yourself. You still deserve to live, my daughter.”
–Marquise Jones, “Unnamed”. 4 Months After.
* * *
All of this was for her!?
Evelyn gaped at the sheer size and scope of this place. Despite being underground, entire buildings had been propped up above the cave floor, held in place by springs. Some stretched as high as three stories tall before disappearing into the shadows that clung beyond the reach of their lanterns. The pathways between were wide enough to hold two lanes of traffic, and the air tasted fresh and clean, even though the space was so confined.
Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Mother called this behemoth. The place where humanity could be reborn, so long as Evelyn was willing to see it through.
“How are you feeling?” Mother asked.
Evelyn grimaced. “I know you told me it was large, but I guess I wasn’t expecting anywhere near as expansive as this.”
“It may feel daunting, but remember that this facility will functionally serve as your world for the rest of your naturally-born life. You will no doubt find it lonely with time.”
“You’ll still be able to visit, and I’ve got extra hands, so it can’t be all bad.”
She said nothing, her irises like two dull amethysts.
Her chest tightened. “Right, Mother? That’s what you said.”
“You are misrepresenting our conversations,” she emphasized. “I told you that we would have help building this place up again, but I never mentioned anything about these workers staying here once the project was complete. That was your own wishful thinking, not my explicit commands.”
“Well, it’d make sense to keep some of them around, right? Since you’re doing this to keep Hades from knowing I’m out here, and they already know about me, how else would you be able to keep those workers quiet once they get back home?”
Again, Mother did not speak, her dry, shriveled visage locked in a state of impassivity.
Gunshots echoed down the hallway before Evelyn could pry further. She stared down the empty, vacuous space where the sound originated. “You didn’t…”
Mother pulled up her radio. “What is your status, Mr Clean?”
His voice whirred onto the channel. “We’re finished down here. Shouldn’t be more than an hour before the bodies are disposed of, and the ground disinfected.”
“Good. Make sure that your team stays within the confines of your current location. It will be some time before I head back for extraction.”
Evelyn blinked through the tears. “How could you?”
“I did what was necessary, Evelyn. Just as you must from now on.”
“But those workers came all the way out here because they trusted you. I came out here because you said it would be different. That I would finally be free!”
“And you will,” Mother countered. “Unlike the hospital where many prying eyes have sought to do you harm over the years, you will find none here.”
“I won’t find anyone either, will I?” Evelyn asked. “You’re not planning on staying once I’m fully set up, are you?”
“It is as I’ve told you before. My job was to give you this home. Yours is to now lead it.”
“By myself!?”
She sighed. “I know this is difficult to understand, but you are no longer a child, Evelyn, but an eighteen-year-old woman. Everything that has happened over the past five years has built you up to this point, and there has never been anyone better prepared for this mission than you.”
Evelyn averted her gaze. She shouldn’t have been surprised. After first hearing the plan, she’d developed a utopian fantasy about how this bunker would shape up. An island in this post-apocalyptic wasteland, free from the Hollowing’s curse. Evelyn had struggled so hard and for so many years to get to this point. Why wouldn’t she finally be able to put down her head and close her eyes in peace? She deserved that much, didn’t she?
“I’m going to run diagnostics on the base-wide alert system,” Mother said. “When you are ready, please follow me.”
Evelyn closed her eyes. “Just tell me this, Mother. How often are you planning on visiting me out here?”
“As often as necessary.” She walked off.
So practically never. Evelyn had been living with this woman for over half a decade. There was only so much Mother-speak she could apply before Evelyn saw through it, especially now that she understood this place under a more accurate lens. Sure, Mother would never abandon her completely, but did that mean she’d swing by once a week, month, or year, for that matter? Only if it became necessary. Not an ounce sooner.
Evelyn studied her new home with fresh eyes. It was true that a living human like her could have no place closer to heaven than here. The atomic blast doors would keep all threats at bay, there were more resources and amenities than she’d need in a lifetime, and with the automated computer system that Mother had installed, enough contingencies were in place to flag all but the most extraordinary failures. With the pallets of dehydrated food and fresh water spring feeding it, survival became a foregone conclusion within these halls. The Hollowing would never be able to breach this bunker without a guiding hand.
And yet, as Evelyn looked over her new home and the expansive, secluded design, she could not help but wonder.
At what cost had she gained this peace?
* * *
“…And so we must never forget the purity of the Lord, Brothers and Sisters,” Brother Aaron continued, “along with the vessels he chooses. God bless this community, and God bless the miracle that He hath giveth us…” He turned to face around. “Mother Evelyn.”
The crowd cheered a resounding “Amen!” while Evelyn tried her best to smile back. A troop of Inquisitors kept a healthy buffer, with the first wave bearing cudgels, while the rear kept repeater crossbows trained on the crowd.
“Do you have any words for us today, Blessed Mother?” Aaron asked.
She chewed her lips.
“Very well then,” he pivoted, not missing a beat. “Let us return to our hymns…” He launched into another song framed on the immaculate conception and the power of eternal love, all while Evelyn sat and stared without words.
Dressed in the white cloak of a regular congregant and propped onto this stage was weird enough in itself, but having rezzers all cheering her name made these moments particularly unreal. After a decade and a half of treating their kind with the caution they deserved, having a mob of them not only acknowledging her existence but venerating the very ground she walked on proved an earth-shattering paradigm shift. Evelyn was never sure whether to laugh or cry. Both at once, maybe.
Over a week had come and gone since the Beholders made their move, invading Pandemonium and overthrowing the powers that be. With the news of Leah’s death, many of the bosses, Hunters, and members of the Municipality surrendered. Though plenty of bosses like Sinclair still operated without Beholder scrutiny, such was done tangentially to their goals and not opposed to them. So long as they kept their heads down, no violence would come their way,
But this was all part of Abraham’s plan. He didn’t need to conquer Pandemonium completely to turn it into his own. He only had to baptize its people, one by one, until there was no opposing thought left.
Except for Evelyn, of course. Yet again, divinity was on her side. Too valuable to let roam free, and too important for anyone to harm. While the rest of Pandemonium continued to burn under the Beholders’ fury, she could do nothing but sit around and watch.
And there was nothing she could do.
“Blessed Mother,” Aaron said when the sermon reached its end. “So many come out to see you, yet you continue to shun their love. They wish for nothing more than to hear you speak.”
Why do they have to call me Mother? She kept her head bowed. “You honor me with your kind words, but I haven’t been in the mood lately.”
“Shall I call a healer? Are you still feeling unwell?”
“No, thank you.”
In truth, Evelyn had become sick as a dog. That bout of nausea that started in their camp had since evolved into a more pronounced illness. Each morning left her vomiting before she got out of bed, and a heightened sense of smell left her queasy all day. It didn’t help being surrounded by walking corpses constantly, though it could have been worse. HBRS-15.21 reduced gaseous build-up inside undead internal organs, minimizing the putrid smell common for dead bodies. But with enough gathered together, she could still taste the bitter, underlying decomposition.
Her stomach churned at the thought.
Chantelle walked up, wearing the same white cloaks as every other Beholder worker. “Blessed Mother, perhaps I can bring you back to your chambers from here?”
“Sister Chantelle,” Aaron interrupted, “would you do the honor of collecting more herbs on the way there?”
Her eyes lit up in eccentric passion. “But of course, Brother Aaron. Praise be the Lord!”
Evelyn wanted to vomit, in more ways than one. “Thanks, Chantelle. I think I could use some rest, after all.”
The pair made their way back down the street, with Chantelle leading her by the hand, and a troop of Inquisitors holding the line.
In spite of the pain, it wasn’t a far hike to Elysium… Or at least the place they used to call “Elysium,” now their new tabernacle. After the collapse of the Council, Abraham was quick to overhaul everything that Leah once represented. The Sins of Elysium were collected and destroyed in a bonfire, and the laboratories that made them were shattered into pieces. Those who refused to repent for its creation were strung up on crosses along its rim. If hollowing didn’t kill them after enough time there, they were simply beheaded in the square for all to see.
Evelyn watched Chantelle in front. Her smile was as calm and pleasant as always, and she moved at an even confident pace, but her eyes held a glaze they hadn’t before. Could she really have been lost for good?
“Remind me to tip you well when we’re done,” Evelyn said, breathing deep through the exertion. “You’ve earned it.”
She blinked in confusion. “What do you mean, Blessed Mother?”
“I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard for me to get some pics. You deserve to buy yourself something nice.”
She chuckled. “Surely, you jest. I have no use for anything other than that which the Lord has given me.”
Evelyn glanced to either side and leaned in. “Come on, Chantelle. It’s just the two of us right now. You don’t have to play this act.”
“What act?”
She grimaced. “You can’t be serious that all of this is okay for you, right? You were one of Leah’s best. Doesn’t it bother you what they’re doing to your city?”
Chantelle frowned. “It is difficult to explain… You are right that I still feel uneasy with how these lessons were brought to us, and sometimes I wish for my Lady’s return.” She blinked, and her lilac eyes suddenly went ablaze. “But that is only because I have so much more of the Lord’s love to learn! I’d spent years living under the thrall of Sin, and only through God’s light can I see how foolish and heretical I’d been. It truly has been a blessing though, and I’ve never been happier to be alive than now! Isn’t that a good thing, Blessed Mother?”
“If you insist.” Though she felt otherwise. Not after seeing a friend she’d taken for granted be twisted under this perverted light.
They reached Elysium, and Evelyn once again held her breath to keep from puking. The crucified defectors moaned on the sides, their ichor flowing free from the exposed wounds. A newly-installed M4 turret heralded their arrival from the second floor, with a pair of Inquisitors keeping watch. Another hypocrisy that Abraham allowed to slide. It was God’s will that this place be protected with unholy weapons, after all. Just as it was now God’s will that Inquisitors patrolled the streets of Pandemonium with Kalashnikovs and AR-15s.
Evelyn found her way to her new room. Unlike the Lodge, where only Chantelle had been allowed to enter for fear of HBRS exposure, the Beholders shared no such concerns. They changed the sheets, cleaned the floors, brought new candles, and prepared vegetables and fruit for her benefit. This last one had been the most difficult to fathom, but after mentioning her obvious concerns, Abraham ordered his people to cook them to perfection, which in their world meant giving the veggies a fresh layer of char for her to bite away. In the end, it served her benefit to eat shit so bland that it couldn’t trigger her hypersensitive taste buds, and the threat of hollowing became non-existent if she let the food sit a couple minutes extra.
She lay down and breathed deep. The smell of incense clung to the back of her throat, and she could not sleep. Hours passed as she tossed and turned, but even unconsciousness felt like too much effort.
If only I could meet up with Stein. Then Evelyn would be able to get a proper diagnosis. This still hadn’t approached anywhere near severe enough to warrant hospitalization, but it was certainly cause for concern.
Evelyn coughed again and groaned. Who was she kidding? Frankly, she couldn’t have given a shit about what happened to her right now. Her last significant memory with Liam was the two of them making love, followed by her daughter lying in a hospital bed as she’d struggled with her own life. What did she care about herself?
No one had seen them since. All Stein told her was that Hunters were sent to find them before the Beholders invaded, but that had happened ages ago now. Either they hadn’t found them yet, or worse, they had. No one could say for sure.
And here Evelyn lay, powerless yet again.
She didn’t know what to do. Father Abraham was too powerful, his every action somehow ordained by God. Not only did the rezzers bow down and succumb to his will, but every assassination attempt against him had thusfar failed. Even Leah and her kill team couldn’t oust him. The very earth beneath her feet had swallowed her whole, exactly as Abraham anticipated. How could the Lord pick someone like him as his prophet?
Evelyn sighed. When was the last time that she felt like this? So useless. So weak. So lost. Evelyn hadn’t been able to stop the Inquisitors from invading Cheyenne, she hadn’t stood up to Abraham when she had the chance, and she couldn’t even escape this prison now. The best she could do was lay and wait for something else to happen…
A distant explosion rocked the ground, jolting Evelyn to full alertness. She rubbed her scalp. It didn’t take a genius to recognize the source. The Central Bank had been holding the heaviest resistance, gunning down anyone who drew near. So many lives lost.
It is us who are undeserving of you, Mother had once said. You deserve more than I could ever give. Did she though? If Evelyn had gone through this whole crisis as no more than a bystander, then how could she claim to deserve any of this?
She stared out the window. Maybe there was a way to help fix things. Yeah, if this fate truly was God’s will, then she could still be useful. If not for her benefit, then for the people still suffering.
* * *
“Are you sure you wish to proceed, Blessed Mother?” Brother Jericho asked, with his squad of Inquisitors behind. “I do not trust the word of these heretics.”
“Relax,” Evelyn said. “This is one of the Councilors of Pandemonium we’re dealing with. She isn’t stupid enough to gun me down on sight. Not unless she plans on having Elysium’s missile batteries launched her way.”
“I am more concerned that you’d be taken hostage.” He grunted. “We should at least have contacted Father Abraham.”
“Didn’t he tell you to listen to my orders?”
“Yes, but–”
“But, nothing,” Evelyn countered. “What does God say about these affairs? ‘“Trust in the Lord and his shepherds with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.’”
He grit his teeth. “You are correct, Blessed Mother. I shall trust in your judgment.”
Evelyn allowed herself a smirk. That’s right, Abraham. Two can play this game now.
She marched forth, holding a piece of white cloth up high. Red beams tore through the smoke of the latest firefight, landing on her soft living face. Their owners hid behind telescopic scopes, the dots focused on her. But they did not shoot.
The smoke lessened. A whitestone ring rose in front, surrounding the roadway leading in, with the walls and windows reinforced by rebar beams. Debris and cover had been cleared at the start of the conflict, and a series of turrets were propped onto the roof. From a strictly strategic point of view, approaching this structure without a well-equipped army would be doomed to fail. Heavy caliber rifles, ballistic shielding for the defenders, mortars at the ready. All paths in left attackers vulnerable from multiple sides at once.
Such was to be expected from Pandemonium’s Central Bank.
It took a few minutes relaying back and forth before her message came through. A pair of soldiers with riot shields popped out first as a vanguard, SMGs in hand.
Then Evelyn watched the leader of this fortress approach. The wheels of her chair squeaked as Fran rolled into the open, her otherwise feeble body shrouded under bulletproof armor, made even smaller by the riot helmet strapped to her head. As if trying to win a contest in absurdity, a snubnosed revolver sat to one side of her wheelchair while a shotgun had been strapped to the back.
Fran blinked in confusion once close enough. “Aren’t you the human that Leah brought to this city?”
“I am,” Evelyn said.
“Quite the wardrobe change.”
“I could say the same for you.”
She chuckled. “Aren’t you a breath of fresh air?” She folded her arms across her legs. “Well, you’re the one who called me out here, so let’s get on with this. What do you want from me?”
“I need you to surrender, Fran.”
“Oh? Would you like me to perform cunnilingus on you while we’re at it? From what I understand, your sex organs are far more pronounced than mine.” She squinted. “Though you’re looking a little more haggard than last I saw you.”
Evelyn blushed, the blood rising to her cheeks. “I’m serious. This violence has gone on long enough.”
Fran yawned. “You can tell Father Abraham that if he wishes to negotiate with me, he can do so directly. Sending his new pet won’t change the dynamic that he and I have established.”
“I’m not here for him,” she said. “This is about everyone else.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“What you’re doing here isn’t helping, Fran. It’s only getting more people purged.”
“If anyone is not helping in this crisis, it is your acquiescence to them. You’re an outsider, human, and you should learn to not meddle in the affairs of your hosts.”
Evelyn smirked. “Am I an outsider? Because that snubnosed revolver you have is a gift from Hades. He knew that no one else would be better prepared to defend this library, especially because you’re one of the only rezzers in existence who started building their Rez off of reading books alone. That chair you’re sitting in was also rebuilt by Tesla before Hades put him down. And those glasses you’re wearing are unnecessary now that your retinas have been fixed, courtesy of Mother.”
The reddish liquid formed at the edge of her eyes as Fran grit her teeth.
“You’re asking yourself how I know all this, right?” Evelyn continued. “Because I was here, Fran. Back when Pandemonium was first founded, when you rezzers came together with an idea of building a community for your race, I was that forgettable child wearing a gas mask at Mother’s side. I watched this city explode from the ruins left behind to become the thriving metropolis it is today.” She stared deep. “Do you still think I don’t have a dog in this fight?”
Fran said nothing for a moment as she contemplated everything Evelyn said.
It had been more than that. Mother rescued Evelyn from the monsters who’d killed her father, but it wasn’t until Mother’s Grace became secure that she tasted rest again. Rezzers were incapable of sleep, and their war party moved constantly in search of new victims, so trying to keep up with their nightmarish pace was nigh impossible for a girl her age. She’d lost count of all the times when she almost got outed and killed by one of Leah’s Hunters.
But then the Styx was erected, and Pandemonium was finished. The city. The sanctuary. A place to slow down. Not just for them, but for Evelyn too. Finally, she could close her eyes again and know that ephemeral peace.
“If what you say is true,” Fran said, “then how in the hell could you be willing to surrender to these invading barbarians?”
“Look around you. Elysium has fallen and the rest of the Council has surrendered. Charon returned to his normal duties, Sinclair is helping to coordinate a rebuild in infrastructure, and Stein still treats anyone who comes through his door, Beholder or not. You’re the only hold-out left.”
“Spineless curs, the lot of you!” she barked. “You might enjoy bowing down to them, but I’m perfectly content holding the line until everyone gets over this ‘the Lord’ fad.”
“The Lord killed Leah,” Evelyn pointed out. “We all witnessed His power!”
Fran hmph’d. “We might have watched the same phenomenon unfold, but where you ascribe this event to divinity, I see no more than rocks falling down a hill.”
“How can you say that? That cliff gave out the moment Leah went in to assassinate Father Abraham. You heard her. It happened exactly as he said it would!”
“The Greeks would often sacrifice a goat to appease their goddess of fertility. The Hindi thought the sun was carried on the back of Surya’s chariot, and he would only continue doing so if they believed in this power. What makes your theory more compelling than theirs?”
She grunted. “For starters, they didn’t have an entire ridge fall on them for disobeying.”
But she merely looked down her nose. “For all the insight that your healthy mind has given you, human, you’ve wasted quite a lot of your reservoir on this nonsense. The sun will rise tomorrow, a rain will come, and sometimes, landslides occur of their own accord. Surely, you don’t think yourself bold enough to claim knowledge of the full picture when you’ve only been presented a fraction of it?”
“I’m not claiming to have all the answers, Fran. Not about the power of the Lord, who He supports, or why He does it.” She didn’t even know where she fit into all this. Not anymore. “But I do know one thing for certain: the longer you drag this fight out, the more people will die.”
“Father Abraham would see this library burned down, along with everything inside. Death is a necessary cost to keep that from happening.”
“To what end? So you can keep a couple books around? The Beholders don’t care about your wealth. They don’t care about your concept of wealth. All they want is the violence to stop so we can come back together, as one united front.”
Fran scrunched her face in disgust. “Is that all you view this building as? No more than my personal piggy bank?”
She crossed her arms. “Like I said, this isn’t my first ride in this town. Whether you’ll admit it or not, you’re terrified that if you cede authority to someone else, they will use it against you, and then you’ll be as vulnerable as any other worker.
“And you know what? You’re right, but not in the way you think. I’ve been to their camp, and I’ve seen just how much can get done if you put aside your differences and work together. You may not like what the Beholders promote or how they do it, but there is no denying that it works. Is that such a bad thing?”
“You pitiful, ignorant simpleton. Such is to be expected from Mother’s daughter, I suppose.” Fran closed her eyes and breathed deep. “Oh sure, you must think that the future of this world can only be found between your legs, but that misses the point entirely. True immortality would never be gained through mindless procreation alone.
“Do you know why books were made as the base of our currency? Because they contain the most powerful resource that humanity has ever produced. Knowledge. That is what separates you from apes, and what gives the two of us commonality, despite our incompatible physiology.” She scoffed. “Consider this conversation for the luxury it is. The English language isn’t some blessing from the heavens. We earned it through the evolution of countless generations.”
Fran pointed behind. “And this complex contains more books than anywhere else. Not even the Library of Congress or all its international derivations could hold a candle to what I’ve put together. It has been cultivated into a post-apocalyptic Babylon, dedicated to ensuring the continuity of the human race and everything it created. Not just through cold technological progress, but through culture. Through art!
“The Beholders want to get rid of that. They want to burn every article in this building which does not support their Holy Word. Delusional barbarians, just like their bigoted ancestors. From the Qin Dynasty to the Third Reich, there have always been those amongst us who view knowledge with disdain and ignorance as power.”
She clenched a fist. “Twain, Dickinson, Verne, Kafka, Faulkner, Joyce… All legendary reservoirs whose owners have long since expired. Whose voices would see destruction were we to not stay the course. No, I won’t go willing into the night, human. They deserve to be protected. They have earned their immortality more than I or anyone else!”
Evelyn blinked back some tears, seeing the futility of this conversation. “But you’ll die…”
To that, she cackled. “Oh, sweetie. I have been the administrator of this Bank since the damned thing was built. I’ve lived through a dozen coup attempts and more riots than I can remember. You should worry about your own future and that of your children, if that is your real concern.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Fran beamed. “Ask yourself why you came down here today. It wasn’t to lecture me on the value of life. Not when you have several of your own to consider. Isn’t that right?” She narrowed her gaze. Her nostrils flared. “I can smell it on you.”
Evelyn clutched her stomach and gaped. Could that be true?
But before she could finish the thought, Fran’s radio went off.
“Boss,” one of her henchmen said, “we’ve got movement on the East side.”
Fran pulled the radio close. “Beholders?”
“No. Looks like that gang is back. Think they’re planning another raid.”
“So it goes then.” She turned to Evelyn. “Well, looks like that is enough conversation for today. Do come back if you ever get your head screwed on correctly, human. This was an interesting change of pace.” She pressed the radio close. “You know what to do up there. Light ‘em up!”
Gunshots and explosions echoed out. Fran’s guards rushed in front, holding their riot shields up high. The Inquisitors closed the gap soon after, dragging Evelyn away from the firefight. She could still hear the sound of Fran laughing like a maniac as they turned the corner.
“Are you alright, Blessed Mother?” Jericho asked once clear.
She wasn’t. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“Have those heretics seen reason?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“It is okay. You did the Lord’s work today. When the seven bowls of judgment are poured, it is them who will be filled with regret.”
She said nothing, only stroked her abdomen instead. Fran’s final words echoed in her mind, and she could not shy away from this truth. The recurring morning sickness… The cramps… Her sensitivity to light and sound. Yes, the timing matched that night when her and Liam were last intimate together. Evelyn knew these sensations all too well.
She’d experienced them with her first child.
