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Lifted Part Eight

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     Senator Slayter straightened his tie and cleared his throat before climbing the three steps onto the small raised platform in the largest open space in Central Park. It was late afternoon as the throngs of anxious people gathered to hear the Senator's speech addressing the environmental paranoia.
     Slayter exhaled sharply as he approached the podium. This carbon dioxide foolery was taking a lot out of him. Several TV and radio appearances, and an op-ed article in the New York Times, had failed to quell these mobs. Of course, his skill with the spoken word should put an end to the endless frustration he'd been having. He stepped up to the microphone, put on a wide smile, and mustered all his political “charm.” It was time to crush this.
***

     Jeff was standing on his boat looking out at the harbor. He decided to take his boat and go for a ride. He was just getting onto the bridge after untying his boat when an angry mob came rushing down towards him. He ran into the bridge and rang for "Full Speed Astern". The Titan backed out of the dock just as some of the mob tried to jump onto the ship. He managed to keep most of them off because he turned the helm and pointed the bow towards the mouth of the harbor. While that was going on, 2 of the mob people got onboard, but 1 of them fell overboard when he slipped in a puddle of water. Jeff took out his revolver and shot the other person 4 times before he fell into the water. Jeff then straightened the wheel and rang for "All Ahead Full" and the Titan left New York Harbor, leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke. Just before he left the harbor, he sounded his horn twice and the sound echoed throughout the entire city.
***

          "... and this great city should be proud of the good work your elected officials are doing to serve you all," Slayter said in a tone that would have been deemed 'sarcastic' in any other situation. The crowd applauded him as the noises of New York continued all around Central Park and a distant horn sounded from across the harbor waters.
     “But in spite of my tireless commitment to the people of New York, there are some who wish to cut that work short and undermine our progress with unsubstantiated alarmism.” Slayter looked about the crowd with a significant glance. “Yesterday it was global warming, now today we are supposed to believe we are all going to die from too much carbon dioxide?! What is it tomorrow, the oceans flowing backwards? Oh wait, they already mentioned that one!” Slayter laughed a disingenuous laugh as the crowd joined in, a few mocking jeers cutting through the afternoon.
     He had them where he needed them. “I show you facts and proof, they show you opinions and rumors! I give you jobs and wealth, they give you fear and insignificance! I give you life, they give you death! Who do you choose?!” Slayter cried out to the crowd, holding his hands out to them as the cheers of “Slayter! Slayter!” erupted, fists pounding the air.
***

     “Gretta. Is that all you wished for me to do? If so, I’ll be going… now…” Trailing off at the end of sentence as he heard insistent chanting and yelling coming from outside. Mocha toned, blood-covered guest walked over to floor to ceiling stained glass window that overlooked the town, bright eyes going to the overbearing building that was City Hall just a block over. Unbuttoning shirt and pulling it out from waist of pants, Cresig pulled shirt from person and dropped it to the ground, turning away from the window to instead go to the wardrobe and grab a new shirt. Picking a pinstripe black shirt and unbuttoning it, he pulled it onto his body and re-buttoned it, undoing cuffs and rolling sleeves up forearms. Instead of tucking his shirt into his pants, he undid his pants and let them slip from muscled, toned legs and waist to pool at feet. He then chose a pair of slacks from the wardrobe and stepped out of old ones, instead donning the new pair and then tucking shirt tail into waist, buttoning and zipping pants up leisurely.

     “Now, if only you would undress and stay that way long enough to give me multiple orgasms.” Red-haired vixen, Gretta, muttered from behind her desk, chin resting in palm of hand and manicured fingernail nibbled between pearly-whites, a wan smile on her painted red lips. Her green eyes were not on his face as she spoke, but his groin was their target.

     Chuckling softly, Cresig walked over to the oak wood desk and sat on the edge, lifting the woman’s gaze by turning her head up, pad of thumb gently rubbing at lower lip. “Maybe next time, my love. But not today.” Reaching past her, he grabbed his long coat and stood back up from the desk, pulling his last layer of clothing onto form. “You can dispose of the body, Gloria? I have somewhere I need to be.”

     “No worries. It shall be disposed of, sufficiently. I shall see you soon, Cresig.” Wiggling her fingers in a charming wave goodbye, she watched as her assassin left the room, smiling charmingly back at her before closing the door, separating them from each others’ gaze. “Much sooner than you think, my dear.” She straightened her posture and reached beneath desk, pressing a button that her personal security guards would respond to immediately. They were also her personal garbage men. But, eh, you know what they say.

****

       Jeff was steaming out to sea when he noticed his fuel was low. He went to his private fuel depot, an abandoned fuel depot that is stocked with diesel fuel. As he docked there and began refueling the Titan, he thought that he might want to get some more protection for himself and a new window for his cabin. So as the Titan was being refueled, he went off into the abandoned town the depot was located to find the abandoned ammunition store and the abandoned glass shop. Once he got his supplies, he went back to the Titan, finished refueling, fixed his window, and steamed back to New York Harbor.

****

     Darwin peered up from his camera screen. When he woke up that morning and opened the newspaper, he noticed an announcement on the front page; Senator Slayter was going to speak to the public that afternoon. He had rushed to Central Park, remembering the conversation with Cresig from a few weeks earlier. Darwin assumed the speech to be about the carbon dioxide, or at least that was his hope as he scanned the park and spotted a small flower bed beneath a tree where Cresig's brother lay.

****

     Jeff steamed back into New York Harbor and docked by a small ocean liner that was in great condition. He decided to board the vessel and found that he could tow this ship if he ever had to. He went back to the Titan and sat down on a folding chair and waited for whenever the angry mob decided to make another attempt at getting his ship.

****

     Lora sat in a tree at the edge of the park with three large branches that came together in a droop that made for a perfectly comfortable chair. She watched and listened to the appaling display while breathing in shallow breaths. Lora could feel the thick air choking her like a twisted shadowy hand wraping its self around her throat. Never had she been away from the green house so long with so many people around, but... she just had o see this, to hear what this tub of lard had to say. Feeling a bit safer from the world in this kind tree Lora thought to her self. He actually believes that shit he's spuing out dosen't he? Then she sat there daydreaming about seeing Slayter in her home town on the res frying like a slab of pork. Most of her family had died from what this epidemic had done to the west and this pompous ass was going to stand there and tell her that this is not real! How can he even breathe without knowing that something is terribly wrong here? 

     Darwin set his camera down. As much as he wanted to believe the senator, something felt strange; the whole scenario felt like a cover-up, denying an entire epidemic. He noticed the expressions on the crowds faces and a sinking feeling crashed in his stomach; the look was one of comfort, as if they were believing every word. Darwin shot one final segment of the crowd before backing out to collapse under a tree near the edge of the park.

     "Hey, man." Ian said, sinking smoothly down to a sitting position next to Darwin. He leaned against the tree, arms resting on his crossed legs. "Some speech, huh? Doesn't it just make you want to hug the guy?"

     Darwin laughed. "Oh hey, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." He held out his camera. "I have to give the man credit, he sure knows how to get a crowd's attention." As he leaned back against the tree, he noticed a girl sitting in the branches. "Is it a better view from up there?"

     Lora smiled down at the man "Hey Darwin!" Then the smile fled. "Only if you consider vomit falling from a height more entertaining then it being down there."

     "I'm assuming you don't quite agree with that crowd up there?" Darwin grinned as he once again pointed his lens toward Slayter's podium. "Do you really think he means any of it?" Darwin became serious as he looked at the mass, their posters and signs waving in the air above them. Darwin had always tried to stay out of politics, and he couldn't understand how so many people could follow one man so avidly.

     "Maybe he at least wants to believe it, on some level." Ian said, glancing over to the podium. "It'd be kind of hard to see all you've worked for go up in smoke over some natural disaster. Harder still if your life work is the disaster. Then again, he's a politician. Who am I to be delving into his mind?"

     "A normal person, that's who." Darwin grumbled in response. "I'm so sick of all these politicians publicly addressing any little thing that comes across the news. Look, I'm sorry, and I may be wrong and this whole thing is true, but it's too soon to tell. I mean, look at this guy! We elected him, haven't heard one damn thing out of him since inauguration and now the second this comes up, bam! He's all over the place." Darwin clapped his hands along to make a sound effect. "It's too soon, all he's doing is scaring this whole community into believing anything spewing out of his mouth and now watch, this entire pathetic little story is going to be all over the place even more in the next few days, I guarantee it." 

     "Not like there's much else to talk about these days. This whole thing gives people a crisis to worry about. Doesn't matter if it's true or not." Ian said, adding a halfhearted shrug."People want to be reassured. This guy gives it to them, and at the easiest price. That's all that happens these days. It's like that all over."

      Lora looked down at them with a weird blank gaze and in a low spooky voice she leaned down and said, "Yes, but like a drug the worst affects don't happen till you come down."

      "College boy Darwin." After having left last employer's home and making way to the Town square to listen more closely to the lies and filth that the Senator let spew from his mouth like Diarrhea, Cresig had spotted the man he had been speaking with not too long ago. Although, he had been with three females at the time. Now, there were only two. He was just glad they weren't standing directly on his brother's makeshift grave this time round. Wiping a bit of lint from long coat as he closed in on the younger lad, leather black glove running smoothly across fabric, his light eyes went from him to the Square, and back. "I did not know you were a fan." He said, gesturing with a finger to the video camera. It was obviously a jest, but he did not care if it were taking as such, or not.

     "Long time, no see." Darwin nodded as Cresig approached the group. "Say something, go ahead!" He continued, jokingly shoving the camera in Cresig's face. "You know, I was wondering if you would show up today."

      "Of course I would show up to this... Public announcement. He does have a way with words, does he not? Makes everything seem so right." Smirking, two-toned male tucked tips of fingers beneath lens of video camera, angling it up much as he would a pretty woman's head so that he may kiss her rosy lips. Leaning forward, he turned the camera only slightly, sure that the senator was in the perimeter of the lens, then tuned it back so he was in the lens. "Everything he says will cause us distress in the near future. Despite anything you may think, he is the cause of everything that has gone wrong in this fine state. Maybe the country. He has deep ties, like every politician, every Senator. What else would you expect from somebody in a position of power? He's just worse than most, I'm afraid." Giving a soft smile, then removing his fingers from the bottom of the lens, Cresig completely forgot about the camera, turning his side to it so he could get a better look at the royal ass at his podium. "So, do you think he will ever stop, Darwin?"

     "Slayter?" Darwin turned to him after shutting his camera off for the moment. "I doubt it. He'll milk this situation for all it's got; and we'll listen, I think he knows that." He stared up at the surrounding trees, seemingly peaceful today without a trace of breeze, as if they too were listening in on the senator. He looked to his side, where Lora and Ian stood; whether they were believing Slayter, Darwin wasn't sure. He turned back to Cresig. "We need to talk."

      With an incline of the head, Cresig tucked gloved hands into pockets and started off away from the two women, the tail of trench coat swirling around feet. "I suppose we do. Come with me."

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