The Perfect World (The Perfect World Series Book 1) (36 page)

“Raids were growing scarcer back then,” Ms. Linda explained, sounding angry, “but at least there were still a few being implemented. Unfortunately, the final raid that was done was a disaster and fear has outweighed common sense. One raid goes bad out of the hundreds of others that were done, and everyone panics. People clamored for the raids to stop and the politicians, ever interested in keeping their jobs, appeased them and did it.”

“Were a lot of people calling for the raids to end?” Cyrus asked, wanting to get the full picture.

“No, they were just the ones screaming at the top of their lungs, wanting attention,” Ms. Linda informed him. “The majority of people I talk to and work with in this dome supported the raids even after the event. I have no respect for those hysterical people or the politicians who gave into them. Their desire for their own safety could have cost you your life and it is going to cost the lives of thousands of young people. We couldn’t have saved them all, but we could have saved some of them. Now we will save no one.”

“You support the raids then?” Cyrus asked, feeling hopeful. “You support the people who want to save the victims of the perfect world?”

“Yes, I do,” Ms. Linda said firmly. “We need to do more to combat the perfect world, both physically and mentally. We have achieved temporary safety for decades but is not the same as true freedom. Until the perfect world is brought to an end, we will never live without fear and innocent people will be slaughtered simply because there is no place for them. Temporary relief is not a real solution. The people of this world, both in the perfect world and outside of it, deserve real solutions.”

Scott was staring at Ms. Linda as if he had never heard any of this before. Cyrus, for his part, was moved. The hope that had been building within him continued to grow until he could almost feel it burning within him. 

“I think so too,” was all he said as he went back to eating his dinner.

“Do you think John Eldrick can bring us real solutions?” Scott asked as Cyrus ate his spaghetti.

Ms. Linda sighed again. “I think Eldrick wants to, but he’s fighting an uphill battle. Most of the politicians, here and abroad, just want to maintain the status quo. Again, Eldrick is only one man and no matter how good his intentions are, he cannot do anything if other people repeatedly move to block his actions.”

“Is Huo Shen one of those people?” Scott asked, and there was something in his voice that told Cyrus that Scott really disliked the man in question and was hoping for a positive reply to his inquiry. Cyrus remembered the man from his brief visit at the hospital. He certainly had mixed feelings about him from that encounter.

“Actually, no, I think he’s one of the few like Eldrick who has any spine,” Ms. Linda smiled a little smile at Scott, “even if his personality leaves a lot to be desired.”

Scott snorted. “That’s putting it nicely.”

“I know you’re no fan of his,” Ms. Linda added with a shake of her head. “But, you should judge him on his actions, not on his personality. Tempting as it may be, attacking the person instead of looking at their accomplishments is one of the things that brought us here in the first place. You’re better than that.”

“Yes, Mother,” Scott replied, looking contrite.

“In truth, we need more people in our governments like Eldrick and Shen. We need to be doing much more, but as long as there are people who are more interested in their own ambitions than in the future of humanity, nothing will change.”

The words hung between the three of them. Cyrus felt his desire to act increase while Ms. Linda looked somber and Scott just looked uncomfortable.

“So … can we talk about something a bit happier now?” Scott asked as he looked around the table.

Ms. Linda laughed a little. “I guess this conversation has turned a bit morose. What would you like to talk about?”

Scott made a face. “Actually, I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet.”

“Typical,” Ms. Linda said as she helped herself to more spaghetti.

Cyrus listened to the two of them talk about mundane matters as he finished his food. The conversation had actually done a lot to ease his mind. Even if she didn’t know it, just hearing that his mother would support him was enough. He didn’t know what he would do yet or if he needed to do anything at all. Tomorrow would give him the answers he needed. If only he could last that long …

The rest of the evening was interminable as Cyrus tried to find things to keep him busy. Reading proved impossible, so he tried playing video games, which fared little better. Trying to sleep was a nightmare. He tossed and turned and rolled over, but sleep slipped away from him at every turn.

Morning arrived and Cyrus was tired. It showed during physical training where he kept yawning during their morning run, and his mind keep wandering during their training exercises. During their water break, Cyrus put his head in his hands and tried to clear some of the worries from his brain.

“Well, somebody’s sure having an off day today.”

He looked up to see Priscilla standing next to him with her hands on her hips. She raised her eyebrow at him. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

“No, I couldn’t sleep yesterday. I might have gotten one or two hours.” Cyrus yawned again for emphasis and sat down on the grass.

“Got something on your mind?” she asked as she squatted down next to him.

Cyrus chuckled. “A lot of somethings, actually.”

“You want to talk about them?” Priscilla tilted her head, letting her braided hair fall over her shoulder.

“No, not right now,” he replied, hoping she wouldn’t be pushy about it.

She did look disappointed, but she merely said, “Well, if you change your mind, let me know. I’ll be willing to listen.”

“I appreciate that,” Cyrus replied genuinely.

The whistle blew at that moment, signaling a return to physical training, and both young adults sprang from the ground to get to their lines. The rest of the training passed without incident though Cyrus still bumbled a little bit.

For the first time ever, Cyrus found himself dreading his private lessons. As much as he enjoyed them, they were long, and today they were an obstacle to him getting to the event he really wanted. He endured them, telling himself that each lesson finished was one hour closer to getting the information he needed. When class was over, Cyrus waved at Mr. Schumacher and rushed out, barely saying goodbye to his teacher.

Cyrus went to his home, put away his school books and paced his room impatiently until it was close to the time. Finally, it was time for him to leave, and Cyrus wasted no time in rushing out the door. 

Cyrus walked as fast as he could to the pizza parlor without running. He reached the place in nearly half the time it normally took him to go there. The tall boy waited outside the pizza parlor for any sign of Julian. To his surprise, the husky boy showed up only a minute or two later, huffing and puffing as he went down the street.

“Hey,” Julian called out to him as he came to a stop. “You’re early.”

“So are you. I wasn’t expecting you for another ten minutes or so.”

“Well, I knew this was important to you, so I tried to hurry it up,” Julian explained as he caught his breath. He pointed towards the pizza place. “Shall we go inside?”

“Yes, lets,” Cyrus said as they walked through the door. Tony’s Pizzeria was buzzing with the sounds of laughter and conversation. It was packed inside as it normally was, and they could barely hear the waitress who showed them to their seats. They were taken to a booth in the far corner of the room, away from most of the crowds. This seemed to please Julian, who looked a bit relieved at their location. The pair ordered their food quickly and then Cyrus finally asked the question that had been on his mind since he had arrived there.

“So, do you have them?” Cyrus spoke quietly, in spite of the noise. “Do you have the files?”

Julian nodded. “I wouldn’t have made you come here if I didn’t.”

He turned to the watch on his left wrist and pulled out a very small, hidden computer chip. Pulling out his small electronic notebook, Julian made sure his internet connection was turned off before he placed the chip into the device. Julian tapped a minimized program on the bottom task bar and a black screen appeared with a list of names in white letters. Then, his brown eyes gazed at Cyrus as he said, “Who is it that you’re looking for?”

“Her name is Melody Hannah,” Cyrus told him as he clasped his hands nervously. “She was a friend of mine from the perfect world.”

“I see,” Julian said as he typed away at his keyboard. “So, she’s just your friend?”

Cyrus blushed. “Maybe a little more than that.”

Julian grinned at the admission. “I thought that might be the case from the way you were talking yesterday.”

Cyrus wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he said nothing. He hadn’t expected Julian to say anything either, but to his surprise the husky boy said, “My mother was born there, you know.”

Cyrus blinked at this revelation. He had learned from Julian that the polite, cheerful woman who helped him sign up for classes and find his way at school was, in fact, his mom. “She was?”

“Yes, my mother lived in the perfect world for about twelve years. She looked like me, you know,” Julian gestured to his husky figure. “Even with the food portions controlled, my mother was still bigger than the other students. They never liked her for that. One day, they were going to take her and a bunch of other children to be killed, since they were considered too much trouble for the perfect world to handle. That was when the first raid was carried out.”

“The first raid?”

Julian nodded. “John Eldrick threw together a team years ago, the first official team of raiders. It was a dangerous mission, but they managed to save all those children, including my mother, and bring them back to the domes.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Cyrus was curious.

Julian shrugged. “I guess it’s kind of my way of saying, I understand wanting to help the people who are still trapped in the perfect world. That kind of thinking was what saved my mother after all. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for that.”

“I see. I’m glad you’re here.”

Julian laughed. “Trust me, I am too. Now, to find the one you’re looking for.”

He opened up a search function and typed in Melody’s name. The computer worked for a minute until finally the black file scrolled down and highlighted a name in yellow.

“This should be her,” Julian said without so much as glancing at the information

Hastily, Cyrus took the computer in his hands and stared at the yellow highlighted name. It was under a list titled “Students Names.” Beside it were two other columns, one labeled “Location” and the other labeled “Destiny.” Ignoring the middle column, Cyrus’s eyes went straight for the end column. And his heart stopped.

Underneath the column was one word typed in white bold letters:Death.

Cyrus sat in silence as he felt the whole world cave in around him. He couldn’t see anything, couldn’t hear anything. He could barely think. All he saw were images of Melody, her red hair shining brightly in the sun and her sweet voice calling for him. And every image was juxtaposed with the word death. His body was frozen as dread and despair filled it. He had feared that this would be true, but to see the real thing …

“Cyrus?” He felt a hand grip his shoulder and shake him. There was a snap in front of his face and finally Cyrus came back to himself. He was aware that Julian had his hand in front of his face and was staring at him in great concern.

“Are you still with me over there?” he asked slowly, clearly afraid that Cyrus was going to have a relapse.

Cyrus opened his mouth, but no words came out. His mouth was completely dry. Instead, he simply nodded and stared back at the screen. He didn’t want to believe it was real, but there it was.

“What does it say?” Julian asked him gently.

Cyrus paused a moment and tried to find his voice. Finally, he said, “They are going to kill her.”

Julian’s eyes focused on the table, and his face expressed his sympathy. “I’m sorry.”

Cyrus nodded at this but said nothing. His hands balled to fists in his lap, gripping his jeans in his fingers.

“What are you going to do now?”

Julian’s question struck a chord with him. What could he do? Could he do something?

I have to, Cyrus thought as determination suddenly filled him. It will only happen if I sit here and do nothing. We were separated because I played it safe and refused to act. If we had left for the Dome the next day like she had wanted, maybe we would still be together. If there’s something I can do now, anything I can do to save her, then that’s what I have to do now. It’s only over for her if I give up.

“I’m going to save her,” Cyrus said in a voice that was so resolute and commanding that he didn’t feel like it was his own.

Julian was studying him as if he also noticed some change come over him. “How are you going to do that?”

“By getting a raid put together.” It was the idea Cyrus had in the back of his mind since the discussions of destiny had begun. At first, he thought it was crazy, but just letting Melody die when he could try to save her seemed far, far worse.

Julian stared at him in confusion. “But, Cyrus, there are no raids anymore. They stopped doing them a couple years ago after the last raid ended in disaster.”

“Then, I’ll try to get them to start doing them again.”

“And if you fail? What then?”

“I’ll have to form my own raid team then and do it myself.”

Cyrus had never voiced this to anyone, and had even been surprised at himself at first for thinking it, but now it rang clear through him. It gave him a purpose, one he wouldn’t back down from. Julian, for his part, looked equal parts scared and concerned.

“That’s crazy,” he stated flatly.

“Crazier than just sitting here and letting innocent people die? Crazier than believing we’ll be safe in here as long as we don’t bother the perfect world?”

Julian was quiet as he listened. He didn’t argue with what Cyrus said, but he didn’t say anything in agreement either. However, he was staring at Cyrus like he’d never seen him before.

“Think about it,” Cyrus pressed, refusing to let it go. “Even if the children inside the Dead Zones of the perfect world do everything that is expected of them and follow every rule to the letter, there’s still a good chance that they’ll be executed anyway. It all depends on if the people running the perfect world think there is any place for them. Do you really think it’s going to matter to people like that whether or not we leave them alone?”

“I suppose not,” Julian replied with a shrug. Feeling the need to convince his friend, Cyrus tried another tactic.

“You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the raids. You said so yourself,” Cyrus pointed out in the continuing silence. “You supported the raids, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but—”

“No, buts. You either do or you don’t. Well, I think more people should be saved, just like your mother was. I also think that if our politicians and leaders aren’t willing to act, then we should. If people are willing to risk their lives of their own free will to save others, then it should be allowed. They shouldn’t hold us back.”

“No,” Julian responded quietly. Then, he looked up and said, “No, they shouldn’t.”

Cyrus’s face softened as he looked over at his friend. “Will you help me, Julian? I know I’m going to need your help if I’m going to do this.”

This time, something seemed to come alive in Julian. Some kind of resolution seemed to fill him, the same way it had filled Cyrus. “Of course, I will. You can count on me.”

Relief washed over Cyrus, ridding him of some of his despair. With a computer genius like Julian on his side, he might just be able to do it. Reaching over, he clapped Julian on the shoulder.

“Thank you.” His voice and eyes rang with sincerity. “I wish there were something more I could say to you, but for now, it will have to do.”

“If we get the raids started again and we save more people from the perfect world, then that will be thanks enough.”

Cyrus and Julian said nothing for a moment. Cyrus found himself particularly moved by the selfless action. He hadn’t expected such a gesture from the shy, quiet boy, but he was extremely grateful for it.

Their pizzas finally arrived, and the pair of boys ate heartily and talked strategy.

“So, how can I go about getting them to get the raids going again?”

“Well,” Julian spoke in between bites, “I don’t know that you can. The best place to start would be getting a petition going in this dome. You need a certain number of signatures to get the motion looked at by our local government.”

“How many?”

“Roughly, two-thirds of the people in this dome would have to sign it for it to be considered.”

Cyrus blanched. “That many?”

“It won’t be as bad as it seems. There aren’t that many people in this dome. It’s actually pretty easy to get the number of signatures required, especially for something like this.”

“You mean, a lot of people in this dome want the raids to return?” Cyrus took a guess.

“Precisely what I mean.” Julian nodded. “Whenever my mom has company over, politics will often come up. My mother usually has big house parties, and most of the people there are always in favor of the raids. Plus, all the people my age whom I talk to about it also favor the raids.”

“You mean like Priscilla?” Cyrus questioned.

“Yeah, her and Xavier, Sahane, Victor and many of the others in physical training with us, in fact. It’s important to a lot of people living under the domes.”

“Okay,” Cyrus said feeling a bit more hopeful. “So, if I get all the signatures, they’ll start the raids again, right?”

“Er, not exactly,” Julian hedged, and then continued when Cyrus looked confused. “If you get the signatures that’s enough for your petition to be considered by the politicians. That doesn’t mean they’ll actually go through with it though. They might not even discuss it, in fact.”

That put Cyrus off. “Then what’s the point of going through the process at all if they’re not going to listen to what the people want?”

“It’s worth it because it’ll raise awareness of our cause. I’m not saying it will work, but it might spark interest and get a discussion going. It might get more people involved and if more people get involved, then something will be done. At least, I hope so,” Julian ended, sounding a bit somber.

“Besides,” he continued, “if we just go and form a rogue raiding team and something goes wrong, it could hurt the potential for all raids in the future. The politicians could use it against all those who want to try to do something about the perfect world.”

“How can they do that?” Cyrus demanded, getting upset just thinking about it.

“They can do it because they want to stay in power, and there are a lot of people in the domes who play right into their hands. They let them do so because they care more about their own personal gains than about the long-term consequences. I don’t like playing their games either, but sometimes we have no choice. If we do the petition and get the signatures, then we’ll lay it at their doorstep. If they refuse to look it over or even consider it after the effort we made, then it’s understandable that we would form our own raiding team. That way, if something goes wrong, they won’t be able to pin the entire blame on us. They’ll be responsible too, for ignoring the will of the people.”

“So if the petition turns out to be meaningless …?” Cyrus trailed off purposefully.

“Then, that’s when we take action.”

“And form our own raiding team,” Cyrus finished. There was no doubt in his voice. “All right. Looks like we have a plan.”

“Or at least the start of one,” Julian said as he took a big bite of cheese pizza.

“How do I start the petition, by the way?” he asked as he picked up another piece of pizza.

Julian held up a finger to tell him to wait a moment for him to swallow, then said, “You just have to pick up a form of petition from the government office or you can just sign up for one online and do it digitally.”

“Which one is easier?”

“Definitely the online version. You can just print it out once it is finished,” Julian slid his electronic notebook back over to him and said, “I can show it to you now.”

The heavy boy finished his slice of pizza, wiped his hands on his napkin and then typed away on the dark screen. After a moment, he flipped the device back around and said, “Here it is. Take a look.”

Cyrus peered at the screen and saw a simple form asking for the name of the petitioner and a statement of their cause. Underneath it was a place for people to sign, with instructions that stated they needed two-thirds of the population to sign for it to be considered.

“This seems easy enough,” Cyrus said as his eyes left the screen. “Is there a catch?”

“No, it really is this simple. As I said, getting the signatures shouldn’t be too difficult either, especially if we recruit people like Xavier and my mother to help sign the form. The catch, if there is one, is getting the politicians to actually look at it.”

“I see.” Cyrus wiped his hands off and placed his fingers on the keyboard. “Can I start it now?”

Julian gestured for him to go ahead and Cyrus did so. The application didn’t take long to fill out and in no time it was ready. Cyrus signed his name and Julian signed his, becoming the first two of what they hoped would be many signatures.

“I’ll start by giving this to Scott. Then, I’ll talk to Xavier and the others about it tomorrow.”

“Good plan.” Julian nodded. “I’ll talk to my mom about it tonight. She can get all her friends at work to sign it and pass it along to their friends. We should make good headway within the week.”

“You sure it won’t be trouble for your mother?”

“No, not at all.” Julian grinned. “It’ll just give her a chance to socialize and throw another party. Either way, she’ll be happy.”

“Good.” Cyrus pushed his plate away. “Well, I should be heading back to my house. We both have to be up tomorrow anyway for physical training.”

Julian groaned. “Don’t remind me. Although it will be a good way to get rid of some of the calories we just ate.” He patted his stomach for emphasis.

“Hopefully, I get this all digested before tomorrow,” Cyrus said, holding his own stomach. “Oh, before I forget, can you text me the petition so that I have a copy?”

“Yep, shouldn’t be a problem.” Julian got up and stretched. “Shall we head out?”

“Sure.” Cyrus pulled out his wallet. “It’s on me, of course.”

Cyrus paid for their dinner with the money his mother gave him for helping her fix a hole in the wall (that he and Scott may or may not have caused). They stepped outside the noisy restaurant and Julian turned to walk towards his house. He stopped before he got far, turned back to Cyrus and said, “Listen, I know it must be hard for you to find out that someone you care about so much is on their death list. If you need to talk about it, don’t hesitate to call me.”

“If I need to, then I’ll definitely let you know. Although, I feel like I’ve bugged you enough for one day.”

Julian shook his head. “It was no trouble. Trust me, I’m happy to help. Especially for a good cause like this one.”

Cyrus waved goodbye to his friend and headed back to his home. He was still worried, but he felt empowered at the same time. He was going to do something about it. He was going to save Melody.