At the treatment centre, the technicians had emptied the giant water pool. They were replenishing it with treated water from the water source. Vulay and about a dozen enforcers surrounded them.
‘What are you doing now?’ asked the supervising technician angrily.
‘We are placing all of you under arrest for attempted mass murder,’ said Vulay.
‘This is insanity,’ shouted the supervising technician. ‘I have full authorisation. You’re breaking the law, not me.’
The enforcers were about to move in to arrest them when Wiggly came running over.
‘It’s all a lie,’ he shouted. ‘There are no grounds for arrest. There is no attempted murder.’
Wiggly pulled out his phone to play a recording from Dratsab. In the recording, Dratsab accused Vulay of falsifying evidence and attempting a coup against the Adoy leadership.
‘I’m your Head Enforcer. You will listen to me,’ Vulay demanded.
There was a mixed reaction from the enforcers. Many were loyal to her for the years she had been their commander. Many were also disapproving of her because of the events linked to the Inquisitives. Some enforcers took sides with Wiggly and Dratsab, and some took sides with Vulay.
Demarcus met Jacob and Janice outside the front of the Enforcer Headquarters. They were so happy to meet him.
‘How did you get us out?’ asked Jacob. ‘They were after you too.’
‘I made a deal with the Head Enforcer,’ said Demarcus.
‘What kind of deal?’ asked Jacob.
‘Attend the current House of Divine Knowledge session,’ said Demarcus. ‘Think of it as a mini-rehabilitation session.’
Jacob and Janice were extremely confused.
The House of Divine Knowledge was conducting a major session intended to explain the implications of changes in Government and Parliament to the residents of Adoy. The attendance was so large that the philosophers and theologists presented outside of the main building. Vulay had told Demarcus that Genève, the Deputy Head Theologist, was not in Adoy and would be the perfect one to impersonate.
When Demarcus, Jacob, and Janice arrived, the session had been going on for some time. All the seats were taken, and there was only standing room.
Demarcus snuck away from Jacob and Janice without them noticing. He made his way to the far side of the audience. This put him out of view of most in attendance. He then shapeshifted into Genève. He made his way around the outside of the crowd. He passed through the seating area to reach the stage.
At that time, one of the senior philosophers was speaking. Demarcus signalled to interrupt the speaker. A couple of other theologists approached Demarcus. They had a very brief chat. Demarcus got up on stage. The current speaker stepped back to let Demarcus talk. Demarcus stood behind the podium. He was quite nervous, as he had never addressed a crowd of this size or any crowd pretending to be someone else.
‘As you are all aware, the water supply to the mains has been turned off,’ said Demarcus. ‘Most of you would have lost access to water, and many of you are about to run out of water in the system in your neighbourhood.’
The crowd began to rumble with agitation.
‘The reason why the water supply has been turned off is because a solution is being added to it. We have been told this solution is to protect us from contamination from the wastelands that our normal filtration process cannot prevent.’ The crowd murmured a little.
‘I’m shocked to inform you that this is not the case,’ said Demarcus. ‘The solution contains several toxic chemicals. Drinking water treated with these chemicals will be fatal.’
Several in the crowd shouted angrily at Demarcus. One of them shouted, ‘Why would they want to kill us? They represent us?’
‘They do not represent us. They manipulated you to vote for representatives aligned with the Business Sector,’ said Demarcus. ‘The Business Sector considers Adoy, both politically and economically, a liability. They prefer we were wiped out.’
‘They would never get away with it,’ shouted someone else from the crowd.
‘They would get away with it because we are isolated,’ said Demarcus. ‘We could be wiped out, and the other regions would not even know about it.’
The other theologists and philosophers were in shock. They desperately wanted to intervene but felt they lacked the authority to do so. There were no enforcers present at the session to keep order or intervene.
Several in the crowd attempted to storm the stage. They were shouting angrily in opposition to what Demarcus had just said. However, many in the crowd supported what Demarcus had said. To them, these were the words of their trusted religious leader. She had preached to them for years. To the best of their knowledge, she had always been honest with them.
Fights began to break out between the opposing groups. Demarcus, the philosophers, and the theologists fled the stage in fear of being attacked.
Meanwhile, at the water treatment centre, it appeared the enforcers supporting Wiggly and Dratsab outnumbered the enforcers supporting Vulay. The enforcers supporting Vulay were about to give in. Suddenly, several enforcer vehicles entered the water treatment centre. They had no drivers.
‘Surrender or be run over,’ shouted Vulay.
Wiggly pulled out his gun to shoot at Vulay. One of the vehicles quickly accelerated towards him. This caused him to shoot in the air just before he was knocked to the ground. The enforcers supporting Wiggly did not surrender. Instead, they opened fire on the vehicles. The vehicles accelerated into them. Many of the enforcers were knocked down and killed. Some of them were able to take cover. The enforcers supporting Vulay were shocked as they watched their colleagues being killed by the vehicles.
Meanwhile, in Jeed, enforcers had gone to the Ripe Laboratory to arrest Dr. Cortex. Dr. Cortex, through Jennifer, took control over the enforcer flying vehicles. He used them to attack the enforcers. The enforcers could not do much to fight back, as they had lost control over their technology. They could only fire their guns, but this had no impact on the armoured flying vehicles.
The remaining enforcers took cover in buildings, but they were not completely safe as the flying vehicles fired rockets at them. It was not long before the enforcers were forced to surrender. Dr. Cortex, with the help of the Ripe staff, forced them into prison cells. He decided that the remaining enforcers should be given some of the new compliance drug.
After the fall of the enforcers, the residents of Jeed broke out in a riot. They looted shops, vandalised property, knocked down the gates to the Southern Agriculture Zone, and held wild parties wherever they could.
Widespread fighting had broken out in Adoy. Demarcus had shapeshifted back to his regular form. He returned to the crowd to find his parents. It was hard to find them because it was so chaotic. Then he saw Jacob helping Janice up some steps at an apartment building.
Demarcus made his way towards them. He caught up with them on the second floor of that building.
‘Where did you go?’ asked Janice while still clutching Jacob's arm. ‘You were with us, then you were gone.’
‘I’m sorry, I got caught up with the crowds,’ replied Demarcus, sounding a little puffed.
‘Did you hear what Genève said?’ asked Jacob.
‘I know. It’s so crazy. Everything is so crazy,’ said Demarcus.
‘We need to get back to Darlene,’ said Janice.
Both Demarcus and Jacob agreed.
The three of them went back down to the ground floor. They held hands so as not to lose each other in the rapidly moving crowds. Before long, they were out of the main area. The three of them ran to the apartment building.
Darlene was waiting on the balcony. She was watching the fights break out in the streets. Demarcus, Jacob, and Janice joined her on the balcony. The fighting was becoming more intense. There was no sign of any enforcers.
The four of them went back inside the apartment.
‘I need to get Denise,’ said Demarcus. ‘She was supposed to be released today.’
‘How about we all go?’ suggested Darlene. ‘We are stronger as a team.’
Janice and Jacob reluctantly agreed. Darlene grabbed Darius’ box of firecrackers and curry bombs. ‘Let’s break her out if we need to,’ said Darlene in a slightly mischievous tone.
The route to the rehabilitation centre was quiet. Most of the fighting was occurring in the Industrial Zone. When they reached the rehabilitation centre, there was only one guard on duty.
‘We’ve come to take Denise home,’ said Demarcus to the guard.
‘Not today,’ said the guard.
‘Can we visit her?’ asked Darlene. ‘I miss her so much. The fighting is so scary.’ Darlene quivered in fear. Janice put her arm around her to demonstrate that she was trying to comfort her.
‘Fine,’ said the guard. ‘Just you, and only for a few minutes.’
The guard opened the cell. Denise rushed over to Darlene. ‘What’s going on out there?’ asked Denise.
‘The Government tried to poison us all, and now everyone is trying to kill each other.’
‘You have quite an imagination,’ replied Denise.
‘Grab your stuff. We’re leaving,’ said Darlene as she gestured for Denise to hurry.
‘Well, this was supposed to be my last day, but I didn’t expect this type of departure,’ said Denise.
‘Trust me,’ said Darlene.
Denise grabbed the few items she had. Darlene told Denise to stand on one side of the door while she stood on the other side.
A couple of minutes later, the guard opened the cell door and walked in. Demarcus, who was invisible, snuck up behind him and gave him a big shove. The guard fell forward onto his face. Denise and Darlene ran out of the open cell door.
Demarcus threw two curry bombs in the cell with the guard. He shut the cell door and pushed it closed as hard as he could while Darlene and Denise left the building to join Jacob and Janice.
The guard got to his feet. He went over to open the cell door. It would not budge. He kept pushing. Demarcus was pushing back as hard as he could. Then he heard the two curry bombs explode. Demarcus let go of the door and ran to join the others. The powerful blast of curry powder temporarily blinded the guard. He was unable to pursue them.
Demarcus soon caught up with them. ‘Where to next?’ asked Jacob.
‘The Agriculture Zone, we need to get to David and Darius,’ said Demarcus as he quickly caught his breath.
The five of them climbed the fence to enter the Agriculture Zone. David was hiding with Hamlet and Darius in their usual area. This was only the second time that Jacob and Janice had seen Darius since he had returned. They found it difficult to accept that Darius was no longer Sapien and were still in some denial. However, when they looked into his eyes, they knew it was him. Janice reached over to touch Darius’ face. Darius looked back at her vacantly. It didn’t seem like he knew her anymore. This was very difficult for her to accept. The only positive impression she had from spending time with Darius was that he was happy. For Denise, it was the first time she had seen Darius since he had returned. She was shocked by his appearance. She did not feel comfortable around him.
‘We need to leave Adoy,’ said Demarcus.
‘Impossible,’ replied Janice. ‘The passenger trains are cancelled.’
‘We can leave by ground vehicle,’ said Demarcus. ‘Rednik showed us a secret exit from the enforcers’ carpark.’
‘Where are we going to go?’ asked Jacob. ‘We will encounter problems in any of the other regions.’
‘Maybe we shouldn’t go to a region yet,’ replied Demarcus. ‘The Central Agriculture Zone could become our temporary home.’
‘We can’t just leave,’ said Janice. ‘This chaos will end soon. I know it will.’
‘It might,’ said Jacob. ‘If it does, I suspect we will all be heading to a rehabilitation centre like Cellrebrum. Then, we can all be like Darius or worse.’
Janice frowned. She could not imagine herself crossing the wastelands or ever making the Central Agriculture Zone her home. She also knew that Jacob was most likely correct with his assessment of their future in Adoy. She turned and looked at Demarcus. Demarcus gently rubbed her arm.
‘Okay, let’s get out of here,’ said David. ‘We can use my fruit-picking cart to get our supplies to the vehicles. They quickly stocked the cart with a wide variety of fruits and a few dozen bottles of water. David attached the cart to Hamlet. Then they made their way to the enforcers’ carpark.
‘We need to go and get my mother,’ said Denise.
‘Sorry, but we don’t have time,’ said Demarcus. ‘She isn’t wanted for any crimes. If she just stays put, she should be fine once all of this has died down.’
Denise did not want to leave her mother behind, but she understood Demarcus’ point.
‘I still need to call her,’ said Denise. Demarcus agreed.
‘Mum, it’s me, Denise,’ said Denise to her mother over the phone.
‘Did you get out of prison?’ asked Latma.
‘Yeah, I did, but I can’t stay. They will come after me,’ said Denise.
‘I can see from the window. It is terrible out there,’ said Latma. ‘You need to get somewhere safe as soon as possible.’
‘I want you to come with me,’ said Denise.
‘There’s no time,’ said Latma with sadness in her voice. ‘I will be safe here. I won’t leave the home until everything has settled down.’
There was a short pause in the conversation. ‘Okay, Mum,’ said Denise. ‘Just stay safe and don’t drink any water from the tap until it is safe to do so.’
‘I won’t, baby,’ replied Latma. ‘You must go now. I will see you again soon. Love you.’
‘Love you, Mum,’ said Denise as she hung up.
The riot in town was still out of control. The enforcers were completely outnumbered. The angry crowd had taken the technicians. They believed they were trying to kill them. They force-fed them the solution. Before long, the technicians were vomiting uncontrollably. Minutes later, they were dead. The angry crowd hoisted the technicians’ bodies up on lampposts.
Vulay was on top of the Enforcer Headquarters. She attempted to send a message to neighbouring regions for reinforcements, but all communication out of Adoy had been cut off. The Jennifer program enabled her to communicate from both Jeed and Cellrebrum. Communication from Jeed was also cut off, but she was still able to communicate from Cellrebrum. She chose not to do so at this time. Jennifer wanted to infiltrate other regions secretly. She did not want Cellrebrum to be cut off before she could do so.
Vulay climbed into the only remaining flying vehicle left in Adoy. She needed to get to Jeed to help Dr. Cortex implant chips in the enforcers’ he had captured.
Demarcus, his family, and friends were at the enforcers’ carpark. There was only one vehicle left. It was a large old prisoner transporter. It was different from the other vehicles, as it did not have a sophisticated computer. It did not link to the web, nor was it integrated into the enforcer computer system.
‘Will this do?’ asked David.
‘Perfect,’ said Demarcus.
‘Hold on,’ said Janice as she started to ramble. ‘Does anyone know how to drive it? Do we know if it has enough fuel to get us anywhere? Do we know if it actually works at all?’
‘I can drive,’ said Denise, peering out the front window of the vehicle. ‘It runs on gas, solar, and scalar. The only way we will know if it works is to try it.’
‘Great job picking the locks,’ said Demarcus. ‘You are truly a hardened criminal.’
‘The backdoor was unlocked,’ replied Denise, shaking her head.
They transferred their supplies to the back of the vehicle. David got in the front with Denise, and everyone else climbed in the back. It was big enough to fit everyone, even Hamlet.
‘Moment of truth,’ said Denise. She pressed the red button with the word start on it. The engine started.
‘Yay, here we go,’ said Denise, sounding a little triumphant.
Demarcus directed her towards the secret exit. They pulled up in front of it. It opened. The opening operated based on weight detection. They drove through the opening in the wall. They headed north towards the Central Agriculture Zone. The opening closed behind them.
‘Is there a reason why we are bringing this large Sape with us?’ asked Jacob. Hamlet grunted angrily.
Darlene slapped her dad on the leg. ‘Hamlet is Darius’ new best friend.’
‘Hamlet is my best friend too,’ said David.
‘Hamlet brought all this stuff here,’ said Demarcus.
‘Hamlet made me who I am today,’ said Denise.
‘Okay, I get it,’ said Jacob.
