The Enemy Within

The alarm beeped at 6 AM exactly as it had for the last 17 years, an unrelenting cacophony filling the room until Jimmy finally reached over to silence it. He slowly got out of bed and rubbed his eyes as he made his way over to the washroom. He saw a stranger in the mirror looking back at him. Maybe it was just age, or the after effects of the war. But no, he knew it was far more than that, far worse than that. He threw on his gear and quietly made his way through the luxurious home, making sure to not wake his parents as he walked by their door and slipped outside heading down to the gymnasium in their complex. A strenuous workout may help, might be just the diversion he needs after the events of last week.

“There he is the man of the hour,” a voice called out from behind him as the other man exercising slowly made his way over. “No breaks for you huh, even on a big day like this still getting your usual exercise in.”

“It’s gotta be done Barry,” Jimmy replied calmly. ”Who knows when the next threat or issue may arise right?”

Barry chuckled, shaking his head before walking away. “I don’t know how you Enforcers do it.”

These days Barry I don’t know how I do it either.

As he finished up his routine, Jimmy felt his pager vibrate and pulled it out, opening it to the display of the front page news and a picture of him clad in his armor and holding his trusty Scythe. Hero Jimmy Briggs Saves Us All From Pariahs!! It was quite the headline, completely ignoring all the other people whose work had gone into making it happen. The fact that he took down the last one had launched him into some form of stardom that he still wasn’t used to and maybe never would be. As he made his way back up to their apartment he heard the sounds of his mother and father talking while the TV played in the background. For a moment he paused thinking back to the moment where it all ended, or perhaps where all his misery started.

His eyes began to well up as he stood outside the door unable to get the voice out of his head. Maybe there was another way, if he had just listened more, if he had just been more patien-

The doorknob clicked. His mother poked out looking at him with a smile. “I thought I heard your heavy steps outside, stop standing around and come in,” she said, opening the door and then walking back to the couch.

He gathered himself, cleaning his eyes and clearing his throat before walking back in reaching for the basket of fruits nearby to grab something while the TV kept on playing the same news it had for the past 3 years. “Dad must we watch this everyday?” he said with a sigh. “Especially considering the issue has been resolved.”

“Resolved by my son!” his dad said, turning to look at him with a proud grin as he lowered the volume. “Thank the Cryptics we are finally safe from those creatures, who knows what they might’ve done to us if they’d had their way.”

“Those Pariahs are sickening really, I heard they eat their own,” his mother muttered. “Those godless animals would’ve eaten all of us!”

Jimmy crossed his arms and sat down on the other couch, keeping his eyes on the TV.. “Mom, they don’t eat their own, you can’t believe everything these news channels make up.”

“Still sweetie you should know better than anyone how savage they are, I still remember the time the first one managed to sneak into our streets!”

His dad leaned back still engrossed with the TV. “It’s ok now we never have to worry about that again, the Enforcers have done their job and it’s confirmed none of the Pariahs are left anymore.”

Jimmy shook his head and stared off into space wondering how he could ever hope to explain, whether it would even help, whether they’d even believe. “The award ceremony is today and I made sure to get front row seats for both of you.”

The delight and pride in his parents eyes was almost too tough to bear, he just smiled back doing his best to maintain his composure. The TV broadcast began airing a special series detailing the start of the war against the Pariahs, an event known only as the Reckoning. Only 3 years ago and yet it felt like an eternity…

***

The gate between districts opened slowly as the large cargo truck waited to be permitted entry. Jimmy looked up at the driver who gave him a nod before rolling his truck through and around the corner.

“You know why doesn’t the computer just do this part for us too?” Orion, his fellow guard, complained before closing the folder after being satisfied that everything was in order. “What was even the point of all that training in combat and getting fit anyway?”

Jimmy smirked, he’d gotten used to Orion’s regular rants about being bored in this dull job. “How would we earn money then? You should be glad we get to do this simple stuff.”

Orion rolled his eyes. “Don’t act like you don’t want to be doing more, a fight once in a while would be nice and I know you loved those back in the academy.”

“Fights rarely happen anyway even in other parts of this massive country, everything is run so smoothly that the occasional crazy group is just too rare,” Jimmy replied, drinking on his soda and watching the street outside. “Would be nice though…”

“See that’s what I mean!” Orion clapped his shoulder. “I’m telling you man there’s gotta be more to it than this, we might as well walk past the Aegis to get some action at this point.”

“You’re out of your mind,” Jimmy muttered. “Be careful with that talk, you never know who might be listening.”

The Aegis referred to the gargantuan wall that ran the entire perimeter of Fortuna as a means of protection, even though nothing had ever come in from the Beyond. The Administration prohibited exiting the Aegis. So far they’d had no reason to worry since everyone stayed within the massive country of Fortuna and there was never any actual reason to leave, the few rebellious types who did attempt to explore or spread propaganda were quelled swiftly. Never killed, that was too inhumane a treatment, they were sent to work for the Cryptics.

“We’re lucky there’s nothing out there,” Orion laughed as he got up to stretch and walk around.

The Grand Siren went off.

Never in the recorded history of Fortuna had the Grand Siren ever been rung even in the most violent of uprisings or rebellions. It was extremely unprecedented, both Enforcers just sat and listened in shock. Once it subsided their pagers went off announcing the news.

AEGIS BYPASSED, DANGEROUS THREAT FROM THE BEYOND BREACHED INTO INNER CITY AND WAS NEUTRALIZED SWIFTLY BY OUR BRAVE ENFORCERS

Threat? What kind of threat could’ve come from the Beyond? There wasn’t supposed to be anyone out there, it’s meant to be barren and inhospitable. Maybe some kind of beast had made its way inside by mistake. Images of the intruder were uploaded to the pagers.

“What the hell is that?” Orion whispered as he looked at the image. “Are you seeing this?”

Jimmy brought his pager up to take a close look and almost dropped it out of shock. The image showed a human but it was completely wrong. His body was covered in random dark scars and his eyes had an unnatural dullness to them. The man was emaciated and completely out of place in the busy town square. What could make someone like this? Were there more of them waiting to take over Fortuna? The same concerns gripped the 2 men as they sat waiting for any update to come from the Administration.

“Well I guess you might get your wish for combat after all,” Jimmy sighed before putting away his pager.

The update came a day later of these Pariahs from Beyond, classified as unstable and evil wretches who were amassing outside Fortuna and needed to be culled. Contact with them was strictly forbidden, their bodily condition it seemed was due to some highly contagious illness and as such the only way to deal with them was to neutralize them immediately. The Administration was firm on this, they believed the Pariahs to be a massive threat. There was no room for mercy with these terrible creatures.

In the months that followed, Enforcers were mobilized efficiently and sent out beyond the Aegis to deal with the enemy. At first there were issues, hardly any of them had experience on the outside and while the Pariahs were slow and dim they did have some advantages of knowing the land. Some were even capable of operating machinery, crude contraptions that they’d manage to rig to defend themselves and sustain their society. Wave after wave of Enforcers went and explored every corner of the planet thoroughly burning the cursed humans with their Scythes. The Scythes were a standard weapon for all Enforcers and had the capability to turn into a firearm despite the melee nature of the tool.

Jimmy relished the opportunity to prove himself and quickly climbed up the ranks as he expertly subdued more and more of the Pariahs. He thought he was doing the right thing to protect his people. And he couldn’t have been more wrong.

***

Vast buildings and structures flashed outside the car window as they flew through the city to reach the conference hall for the award ceremony. He eyed the Cryptic tower which rose taller than any of the others in the entire city, complete with elaborate designs and opulence.

“Bless them,” his mother said reverently, looking at the tower. “I’m glad Max didn’t have to see all this horror, I’m sure the Cryptics are keeping him nice and happy while he works to make Fortuna better.”

Jimmy clenched his fist at the mention of his younger brother. They’d been inseparable growing up but the Offering had chosen him. Every once in awhile a family needs to send one child to a special institute at age 10, this institute claims it needs workers to help maintain society and that all the kids will be treated well and taken great care of and raised to do very important work but they will never be seen again and when they die they’ll be cremated and the ashes will be sent to the family. The Offering is a very honorable responsibility and a mark of pride for most even if it came at such a heavy cost.

“Mom I don’t think-” he started but decided against it.

As he walked through the halls leading to the podium, his parents already went the separate way to where the guests were seated, the higher ups of the Administration all looked at him beaming and offered congratulations. He returned their smiles weakly continuing the walk through the hall of medals and saw his name on many of them. Achievements in the Pariah War, being hailed as a hero and yet he felt like a fraud. The curtain opened up and he walked to the podium clearing his throat, looking down at all the hopeful eyes looking up at him.

“So Mr. Briggs was the enemy as awful and vile as they say?” someone called out from the crowd and everyone started clamoring with their questions.

He looked down to his parents in the front row who nodded at him and he sighed trying to gather the words. Rain pattered against the windows of the centre as a bleak gray covered the landscape. Exactly how it had been on that day…

***

“Jimmy we’ve found the last one it seems, he’s holed up in that run down building over there,” Orion called out as he listened in on his comms headset for instructions. “They’ve double checked and this really is the last one.”

He lifted up his Scythe and swung it, getting ready to charge. “You guys ready?” he asked his squad.

“Actually chief with how good you’ve been to us and all your success we’re going to let you handle this one,” Enforcer Billy called out. “Think of the headline it’ll make!”

Jimmy chuckled to himself shaking his head before walking through the heavy rain over to the building and stepping inside. His Scythe held tightly as the dilapidated building welcomed him, the smell of decay covering the area along with dust and rot. A scuffling sound came from upstairs, he walked up the weak stairs carefully before coming to the door. Steeling himself he gave the door a shove and quickly raised his weapon expecting the Pariah to jump on him, as some had in the past, but the attack never came.

The last one sat in the middle of the room with his head down eating away at some old fruits slowly. No weapons nearby, no quick movements or anything to hint a will to resist. At this point they usually aimed the Scythe flamethrower at them and torched the devils but there was something curious about the way this one behaved. Jimmy walked closer slowly, ever ready to swing if needed.

“So you’re here to finish the job,” the Pariah said calmly. “I suppose there’s no talking you out of it.”

Jimmy froze, he knew they were able to talk but very rarely was any of them recorded as being so coherent. Although maybe that’s due to them being killed before having a chance to do so.

“Yeah, you wretches don’t belong near us,” Jimmy said standing with his weapon aimed at the man covered in black scars.

The Pariah groaned and finished his fruit before finally deciding to look up at him right in the eyes. There was something familiar about this cursed man’s eyes. Where had he seen them before?

“Come a long way from playing tictac in the playground haven’t you?” The Pariah crossed his arms and never broke eye contact with Jimmy.

Jimmy stiffened. He hadn’t played tictac in years, the memories associated with the game alone sent him into a spiral of thinking about his younger brother and what could’ve been. How could this man know about that? Why were his eyes so familiar?

And then it all clicked into place. He felt his weapon grow heavy and his heart beating faster than ever as his mind struggled to accept reality. How could he have been so blind? All the signs were there all along about the Pariahs. They were never outsiders.

“Max?” He collapsed onto the floor in front of his brother, letting his weapon fall. “How? When? What about the Offering?”

Tears began to stream down from his eyes as his little brother walked up to him. Jimmy finally relented and embraced his brother for the first time in 25 years. It really was him, even if he was in this sorry state.

“But how could this have happened? We sent you to the Cryptics,” Jimmy said as he let go and sat down on the floor.

“Jimmy the Offering is the way by which they keep Fortuna operating and powered,” Max explained. “When I was taken, after a year of normalcy they put me in a machine to extract my spark of life.”

“What does that mean? Why would they extract that, is that even something to just be extracted?” Jimmy kept shaking his head in shock.

“A country like Fortuna needs a fuel beyond traditional means, they figured out a way to get a very potent energy from people and framed it as something else,” Max sighed. “The Spark keeps their systems running and the people never find out what they’re sending their loved ones to, sometimes criminals or patients that go missing are also used but apparently getting it when they’re younger is better.”

He stood up and walked towards the window staring outside at the squad waiting for Jimmy. “Brother after it’s done they drop us in some random pocket of the planet expecting us to stay dumb and any that get close gets eviscerated, the day of the Reckoning was an exception I don’t know how he even got inside.”

“Max they’ll understand, I can explain and mom and dad will-” Jimmy started but was cut off by Max holding his hand up.

“I don’t care anymore, you can’t help me and I’m the last left,” he walked over to sit down beside Jimmy. “We thought we could get by with whatever little community we had but even that’s gone now, you came here to do a job and people expect that of you.”

Max reached for the Scythe struggling to lift it before positioning the muzzle under his chin and trying to find the trigger button.

“It was nice to see you again brother, take care of mom and dad.”

***

The flashing of cameras and people asking questions pulled him out of his reverie and he looked down at the crowd as they waited for his answer. Was the enemy as awful and vile as they say? These people needed to know that there never was an enemy, it was their own family being killed out there. They had a right to the truth.

But what difference would it make if he said it, would they even believe him? What if he was ostracized and cast out as a madman? He could already picture them calling it PTSD from all the combat and playing it off. No, the status quo must be maintained. And so he stared at the crowd and got ready to tell them the biggest lie of his life.