[Jacob]

*Setting: The evening sky was painted a faint orangey-pink, dusk was slowly making way for night and as Alexie stood outside, watching the countless number of Birds flock to their nests, he sighed. The clothes he wore were the same ones he had worn since escaping the explosion at the old missile bunker. The bunker that had marked the end of his murderous onslaught. But also to his happy life. He took another sip of Vodka from the large 2 litre bottle that he was holding in his right hand. With his left he rubbed his bare chest, feeling Mosquito's land on him and jab him with their pointed mouths, feeding on his sweet, black blood. Yawning he turned, wanting to sleep but also knowing that if he did eventually fall into slumber, then he would inevitably awake in a mass of cold sweat. That fateful and tragic day still lingered in his senses, for the past three months it had stuck in the center of his mind. Fighting the wave upon wave of alcohol that he drank to subdue it. It was as if it was a disease, slowly becoming immune to the medicine he took...forcing him to take more. He knew there was a danger of his Liver collapsing. He knew that if he kept on drinking the amounts he was, he would eventually die of Liver failure, or by choking on his own vomit, or some other alcohol related death. But he also knew that any kind of physical pain he would feel, would never filter out the pain he was feeling now. His true love was dead. And the best he could hope for was joining her. Dropping the bottle of Vodka to the ground, he weeped steadily. The bottle's bottom smashed, allowing the liquid to pour out and steadily get soaked into the ground. Glancing down at the shards of glass he wondered, wondered how long the pain of cutting his wrists would last before he blacked out. Crouching down he slowly sat himself on the soft green grass, he then reached out for a large piece of glass, picking it up with his right hand he grasped it firmly in the middle and winced gently as he felt the vicious bite of the sharp shard on his delicate, pale skin. His blood oozed between all the creases on his hand, more painful due to the trace of alcohol on the glass. He then brought the shard to his left wrist and tried to remember what the feeling felt like before. His mind jogging back to when he was 12 years old. Placing the edge of the glass on the middle vein of his wrist he slowly pushed down hard, his tears running down his face and dripping gently on his arm...*

Female voice: "Alexie!!"

He immediatly stopped placing pressure on his vein and attempted to wipe the tears away from his face.

Alexie: "Y-Yeh?"

He turned his head slightly to look behind him. Recognising the female was Amelia, a female Mudokon he had rescued when her violent boyfriend began beating her, it was when he did this that he realised he was somehow immune to magickal attacks. Well, the boyfriends atleast. It was this immunity which had impressed the owner of the bar, impressed him to the extent that he had offered Alexie one of the spare staff bedrooms at the back of the building and a full time placement working there as a barhand and bouncer. Alexie had taken this offer, knowing that he had nothing else to do and hoping that the job would have taken his mind of Midian. It hadn't. The job had, however, allowed him to sustain his alcohol addiction and also look after Amelia who was also staying with him, since she was afraid to leave incase her ex-boyfriend ever came looking for her.

Amelia: "What you doing out here all on your lonesome?"

She slowly jogged upto him, cocking her head to one side and smiling softly. Slowly Alexie stood, dropping the shard of glass and turning to face the female. Upon seeing the marks left by his tears she gasped and moved closer to him, brushing his left cheek with her right hand.

Amelia: "Oh, Alexie. You still thinking about her?"

By "her" Amelia referred to Midian. Only knowing about the Orkhids girlfriend when Alexie blurted it out whilst weeping drunkenly one night. Though she didn’t know the full details of their relationship and the short reign of terror they both inflicted upon the Orkhids, she did know that they were both deeply in love. And had been since they had met. In reply to her question, Alexie nodded. He then slowly rested his head on Amelia’s shoulder and sobbed, wrapping his arms around her and holding her closely for support.

Alexie: "I-I could have..."

Amelia: "No, Alexie. I don’t know the whole story, but I know that you would have done anything you could have done to help her. I’ve only known you a couple of weeks…a month at the most. But I’m a good judge of character, and I know that if you truly could've done, you would have saved her. No matter what."

She stroked his long hair which now grew just past his shoulders. It felt nice for her that somebody seemed to need her and it filled her with purpose, even though there still was an emptyness in her Heart.

Amelia: "Now come on, lets get you inside. I'll cover your shift for you, you just get some sleep."

***

*Setting: The Council members shifted awkwardly in their seats, glancing over at Gians empty seat and then at the door. News had travelled fast and Gians murder had been covered by all the major, and minor, news channels, it was big news. An Orkhid Council member, one of the Hierarchy of the Orkhid regime, killed in his own apartment. This was the least of the Councils problems however, Gians place had needed to be filled and, in normal circumstances, one of the other Council members would have been voted in. But these weren't normal circumstances. This murder was a vengence murder, commited by the disgraced Adele Morgan, who, according to Forensics, had left traces of herself at the scene of the crime. This was a grave worry for the Council members, for they knew that any one of them could be next and it would most likely be the one to take Gians place. And due to the fact that each of the, now 12, Council members were as selfish and as self-aborbed as anything could become, they would by no means place their lives on the line, and instead opted to vote in a General to take his place. Of course, this General would have no real power, infact, the General would have nothing at all. And instead of him making the final decision, the remaining Council members would decide behind his back, in hopes of making him believe he was in power until the looming threat was dealt with. Of course, such things hardly ever go smoothly, and they were worried that due to their choice of General, things could go awry. But if happenings progressed well, they would be killing two Birds with one stone. As the Councils nerves began to settle, the door opened. Turning, the members smiled fakely, standing to show their respect for their new, "puppet", leader. The being stepped into the room, he was large and well built. His chest broad and his arms muscular and threatening. He wore a tight, black t-shirt and his skin pigment was darker than the usual Orkhid tone. His white hair was styled in a crue-cut fashion. His jaw was box-like and his features defined. And his eyes were the coldest blue ever seen, with a faint tinge of green around the pupil. This General was the last of a bloodline that had caused much trouble for the Council, and although he was good at his job and had survived many a war, they believed that the only way to true supremacy was to destroy all potential falterers. And hopefully this would happen.*

General: "I-I must thankyou for this honour, good Sirs. Since my nephew joined the shaming of the family name, I expected to be executed for good measure. But I am glad to see you know true talent when you see it."

He saluted the Council, slamming his left, black booted foot, down on the ground as he did so. His tight black combats shifting around his groin. The Council nodded, knowing that his nephew had caused much uproar among the ranks, his nephew being the infamous Orkhid – Cyrus Conrad.

Member #9: “You’re one of the best Generals we have, Abe. We thought you would appreciate this chance more, what with your impressive array of battlefield knowledge.”

The Councillor smiled at him, slowly sitting down, followed by the rest of the Council. The General smiled humbly, making his way to Gians seat which he lowered himself down upon softly. Not wanting to break it.

General: "I don’t understand though, I don’t understand why you chose me, over voting one of your own in…"

Member #9: "Like I said, you’re one of the best Generals we have. We wanted some new blood, someone with fresh ideas. You seemed like the guy for the job. But enough talk, lets get down to busines, shall we?"

The General shifted awkwardly, not really comfortable with the answer the Council had given him, but he knew he had no other choice than to proceed, and so he brought up his first idea.

General: "Erm, okay. Sure. But could I make a small suggestion first? I’d like to know what your views are on making the number of Councillors, well, lower. Say, instead of 13…5 instead?"

Their eyes immediately began flicking to each other, looking at the expressions on each others faces before even coming up with an answer. They knew that this would be a hard idea to weasel out of, hence their stunned silence.

Member #4: "Err…Erm…Yes. That’s…That’s an interesting proposition. But the number of Councillors has always been 13, and always will be 13. I don’t think you can go against tradition and destroy that…do…do you? Would it really be wise?"

General: "Oh, I’m just making a suggestion. Of course, I’ll listen to each of your ideas, but I’d rather listen to them in small groups of 2. That way I can be sure to hear everybodies ideas fairly. If that’s okay with you?"

Once again nervous glances were exchanged between Councillors before one spoke up.

Member #2: "Yes, that’s fine, Abe. I must say, I am most pleased that you have such…refreshing ideas. Not many newly appointed Councillors would have suggested such an, interesting, concept. Now, who would you like to see first?"

The General looked around the table, looking at the cold, harsh faces of each Orkhid in the room before finally pointing at Councillor Wyles and Councillor Jaxxson. The other members smiled, relieved they didn’t have to stay behind and talk this pointless idea through. Quickly each of them stood, slowly heading towards the door talking to each other in hushed whispers as they made their way to the Lobby and to the lift. Once they had left and the door had been closed, the General sat back on his seat and sighed, smiling.

General: "You two are in the new Council."

Wyles and Jaxxson looked at each other in puzzlement.

Jaxxson: "Erm, what do you mean "new" Council? Shouldn’t we be discussing this…?"

Turning to the Councillor the Orkhid sneered, running his large, left hand through his stubbly hair.

General: "No, we shouldn’t. You appointed me as head of Council. I get to make the final decisions. This is my final decision. There WILL be a new Council. You two are the new members. I WILL be promoting two other Councillors, both female. And you WILL get along with them."

Wyles choked in horror, the Orkhid regime was far from sexist, but there was a tradition that the Council only consisted of male members, something that was going to go down the toilet if the General had his way.

Wyles: "What about discussing this with the other Councillors? Surely we should vo…"

General: "No vote. My word is final. Now…get out."

***

*Setting: The reinforced glass lift gently hummed as it went upwards towards the top floor. The 10 Councillors talked amongst themselves, laughing at the Generals suggestion of decreasing the number of Councillors. However, even though they mocked the idea, they knew that it would take a lot of work for them to get the idea out of his head, well, atleast until Adele made her move again. As the lift ‘binged’ to a stop at the top floor, the doors steadily opened and as the Councillors made a move to exit, they were stopped by the image of three Guards facing them…their guns pointed at them.*

Member #5: "What is this? What’s going on here?"

The middle Guard chuckled softly, lifting his visor up so that the Councillors could see his face.

Guard: "General Conrad gives his regards."

It was at this point the Councillors realised what was about to happen, and in shocked gasps and screams of protests they stepped forwards, only to be pushed back by a hail of bullets. The hot lead cut through their bodies like a hot knife through butter, painting the back of the lift in a thick black substance that slowly dripped down and coated the floor. The gunshots echoed throughout the building, letting everybody in the area know that things were going to change…

***

*Setting: Wyles and Jaxxson stopped mid-stride as they headed down the confined corridor that led from the Council quaters to the large lobbey. Their keen sense of hearing heard their collegues scream out as bullets ripped through their fragile bodies. And even though Wyles cherished his brave and prideful exterior, he was suddenly starting to show fear. True fear.*

General: "I'd suggest you two don't try anything stupid. I'll have my boys watching you...they're hand picked so don't even think about trying to bribe them."

Turning, Councillor Jaxxson looked at the large figure of the General and realised just how big a mistake they had all made...

~End~