Chapter 69: Great First Day
Early the next day, Vulay arrived at the Enforcer Headquarters. She briefed the entire department about the standards she expected from them. She then approached Rednik and invited him for a private chat in her office. They entered the office together. Vulay locked the door behind her. She turned to Rednik. They gave each other a big hug.
‘I never thought I’d see you again,’ said Rednik.
‘It was a tough journey. The Cellrebrum staff do not go easy on anyone,’ replied Vulay.
‘Well, no one seems to come back,’ said Rednik.
‘They need to be sure the prisoner has been rehabilitated. After all, there are no third chances,’ replied Vulay.
Rednik sighed while shaking his head slightly.
‘What’s been happening here?’ asked Vulay.
‘The chaos continues,’ said Rednik. ‘We, apparently, have highly aggressive Water Sapes just off our coasts. We also had a terrible train crash. It, apparently, killed all on board.’
‘So what’s really happening?’ asked Vulay.
‘I don’t know much about the Water Sapes but the facts about the train crash don’t add up,’ said Rednik. ‘There were at least two survivors from the train crash. According to them, there were many others.’
‘How do you know about the survivors?’ asked Vulay.
‘I rescued them from the wastelands,’ replied Rednik.
‘They didn’t die of contamination in the wastelands?’ asked Vulay.
‘No, the wastelands are not as toxic as we have been led to believe,’ replied Rednik. ‘Hence, why I am even more sceptical of the Water Sape story.’
‘Where are these survivors?’ asked Vulay.
‘They are back in Adoy and with their families,’ said Rednik. ‘We need to officially bring them back to life and get them back in the system.’
Vulay leaned forward, placing her arms on Rednik’s shoulders.
‘These are dangerous times,’ said Vulay. ‘You need to be very careful with what you say and do.’
‘Can you help?’ asked Rednik firmly.
‘Of course I can, and of course I will,’ replied Vulay.
She flipped open her computer. She immediately accessed the passenger list for the train. ‘So, sixty passengers from Adoy were on that train,’ said Vulay.
‘It should be sixty-two,’ replied Rednik.
‘No, it’s sixty,’ she said while winking at Rednik.
Rednik smiled. ‘Is that it? All the databases are updated to just sixty dead,’ asked Rednik.
‘The power of being a Head Enforcer,’ replied Vulay.
Rednik looked at her in amazement. Vulay pulled an electronic document book from her draw.
‘I’m now going to visit Denise,’ said Vulay. ‘I have a release form for her to sign.’
‘Day one, and you are already working miracles,’ said Rednik. ‘I could kiss you.’
‘Maybe later,’ replied Vulay as she exited her office.
Denise was playing a sing-a-long game in her cell. She jumped on her sofa while pretending to play an imaginary guitar. Vulay walked up to her cell door. She watched for a moment. Then she joined in with the song.
On hearing Vulay’s voice, Denise stopped immediately. Vulay opened the cell and entered. Denise ran over to hug her.
‘Mind if I join in?’ asked Vulay.
They both began singing again. They danced around the cell for two more songs. An enforcer came in with two glasses of pineapple juice. He placed them on Denise’s table. Denise and Vulay sat down to enjoy the drinks.
‘How did you get back? How were you reinstated? How did you become Head Enforcer?’ rattled off Denise.
‘I have been rehabilitated,’ said Vulay.
‘You’re supposed to be boring, but you are Vulay dialled up to ten,’ said Denise.
‘I’m not the only one who has graduated from rehabilitation?’ said Vulay.
‘Dad! Is dad here?’ asked Denise as excitement increased in her voice.
‘Not quite yet,’ replied Vulay.
‘It’s good news, right,’ asked Denise. Vulay nodded.
‘I have even better news. You are about to graduate from rehabilitation, and you will soon be reunited with your dad,’ said Vulay as she tilted her head and smiled.
Vulay placed an electronic document on her table. ‘This is your release form from this rehabilitation centre,’ said Vulay.
Denise stared at it in amazement. ‘I’m leaving here?’ she gasped.
‘Yes, in a couple of days,’ replied Vulay. ‘I just need a few more signatures.’
‘Sure. Great,’ replied Denise.
‘It is quite a thick document,’ said Vulay. ‘I have flipped it to your signature page.’
Denise signed the electronic page with her finger. ‘Anything else?’ asked Denise.
‘Yes, one more very important thing,’ said Vulay. ‘Let’s belt out a few more tunes before I leave.’
Denise turned the game back on. They sang and danced for another hour.
Meanwhile, Rednik had gone to meet Polly. She was on the edge of the Agriculture Zone with David. They had both come back from visiting Hamlet and Darius. Rednik pulled up next to them in his enforcer vehicle.
‘It wouldn’t hurt for you to walk once in a while,’ said Polly sarcastically.
‘I have great news. I needed to get here fast,’ said Rednik.
‘Oh, what’s the great news?’ asked Polly.
‘You’re alive again,’ said Rednik.
‘Seriously,’ said Polly.
‘Yeah, our new Head Enforcer deleted you from the train passenger list,’ said Rednik. ‘Your identification is currently being reinstated.’
‘That’s wrong,’ said Polly in frustration. ‘I was on that train. I survived, and so did many others. The truth needs to be revealed, not just my reinstatement like nothing happened.’
‘This is the best we can do for now. It is not that easy to flip an entire narrative,’ replied Rednik.
Polly sighed. ‘I guess you are right. We need to take the first step,’ said Polly. ‘I would like to meet our new Head Enforcer.’
‘I can arrange that, but we should inform Demarcus first,’ said Rednik.
‘Not quite possible,’ said Polly. ‘He is a little busy with something at the moment.’
‘Sure, later then,’ said Rednik.
Rednik pressed a button to open the door on the opposite side of the vehicle. ‘Hop in,’ he said.
Polly walked around the vehicle and got in. They headed back to the Enforcer Headquarters.
‘Take a look at this,’ said Rednik as he handed her an electronic tablet displaying the names of the 60 victims of the train crash.
Polly scrolled down the list of names. When she got about halfway down the page, it began to refresh. The refreshed list had 61 names on it. Polly quickly scrolled to the names beginning with ‘P’. Her name had been added back.
‘Your Head Enforcer is a liar,’ said Polly as she turned to face Rednik.
‘What!’ exclaimed Rednik.
‘She put my name back on the list. She had no intention of reinstating me,’ said Polly angrily.
Rednik took the tablet off her. He saw her name was back on the list.
‘I’m sure this is just a big mistake,’ said Rednik. ‘I’ll clear this up once we get to the office.’
The vehicle suddenly came to a stop. ‘Why did you stop?’ asked Polly.
‘I didn’t,’ said Rednik. ‘It stopped by itself.’
‘Great, your vehicle is broken. Shall we walk then?’ asked Polly.
Rednik pressed a button to open the doors, but nothing happened. He tried his radio, but that was deactivated.
‘Looks like everything just died,’ said Rednik.
The screen on the tablet began to flash. It briefly went blank. Then a message appeared on the screen. It read, ‘No, you just did.’
The vehicle abruptly started up again. It began to drive itself.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Polly in a scared voice.
‘I don’t know,’ said Rednik as he pressed down on the brakes as hard as he could.
The vehicle turned into the Industrial Zone. The vehicle began to accelerate rapidly. It was heading for the outer wall of the region. Both Rednik and Polly gazed through the windscreen window in terror as they rapidly approached the wall. The vehicle smashed into the wall at top speed, bringing it to an immediate halt. The vehicle was destroyed in a fiery explosion.
That evening, several enforcers gathered outside the Bramley apartment building. They went up to the Bramley apartment. They knocked on the door. Janice opened the door. The enforcers pushed straight past her into their apartment. Jacob and Darlene rose from the sofa. Two enforcers grabbed Jacob. They slammed him into the wall.
‘Where is your son, Demarcus?’ shouted one of the enforcers.
‘He’s dead,’ shouted Janice. ‘He died in the train crash.’
Two more enforcers grabbed Janice. ‘You lie. He is alive. He lives here,’ shouted the enforcer.
The enforcers dragged both Jacob and Janice from the apartment. Two more enforcers entered the apartment. They began to search the apartment. They could not find him. They quickly and violently searched the apartment for evidence of his presence. They could not find anything.
The enforcers dragged both Jacob and Janice down to the ground floor. They forced them into an enforcer vehicle and drove back to the headquarters.
Darlene was left alone in the ransacked apartment. She was filled with emotions. She went into Demarcus/Darius’ bedroom. She looked over at the open wardrobe. She felt the back of the wardrobe. A few of the panels were loose. She pulled them out. There was a box hidden in the space between the back of the wardrobe and the wall. She pulled this box out.
‘You may not be here, but your legacy lives on,’ she said to herself.
Vulay was back in her apartment. She was sitting on her sofa, holding the electronic document. She smiled as she looked at Denise’s signature. She pressed the back button to access the front page of the document. The title of the document read, ‘Rehabilitation Transfer Request. Transfer from Adoy to Cellrebrum.’
She pulled out her phone. She watched the video footage of the enforcer vehicle crashing into the wall. Then, she switched to the cameras showing Jacob and Janice being escorted into the holding cell at the Enforcer Headquarters.
She leaned her head back on the sofa. ‘Now, that is what I call a great first day at the office,’ she said to herself.
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