Glyph. (Part 5)

Isaac swallowed the lump that was building in his throat. He was concerned that he was visibly shaking, although it was hard to tell as his heart was beating so violently that he could feel it in his head, and in his toes.

He was standing in the library where they had first met. The very same spot. Isaac felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead, but he didn’t want to move, any form of movement would only make his stomach churn more violently. The small droplet moved from his forehead and tickled down the side of nose and across his lips which were sealed tightly. It was 3:30… He should be here by now, why isn’t he here? What if he found out somehow? He could have done that, he could have found out, who knows what information he has access to?

He focused on his breathing, in, and out, in, and out. Why is it such a struggle, just to breathe? The ticking of the clock was louder than before, and the library was practically abandoned, it was silent, and desolate, and Isaac has never felt more vulnerable. Then he heard a door open.

Scorch stepped into view, smiling coldly, his eye patch strapped firmly across his good, unmarked eye.

“Isaac, how nice it was to hear from you, I’m so glad you changed your mind.”

Isaac breathed a sigh of relief, perhaps too obviously, but Scorch’s demeanour didn’t alter so Isaac felt reassured that, at least for the moment, he did not suspect anything.

“I knew hearing a few home truths would change your mind.” He smiled once more, almost viciously.

“It’s no surprise that the government is corrupt, I just never knew the extent of it, it’s not something I feel can be tolerated anymore.” Scorch sat down at a nearby table, and he motioned for Isaac to join him. He rested his elbows on the wood and clasped his hands tightly together.

“Isaac, there are lots of things that you don’t know, but I plan to bring you up to speed on all of them, then you will see the true nature of these disgusting liars that govern this country. Unfortunately that means you won’t be able to enjoy the regular announcements I’m giving, I’m not a fan of spoilers, but I feel I can make an exception in this case. Are you ready?”

Isaac glanced out of the window briefly, hoping he would see the soldiers closing in on the building, but he knew it was too soon, they wanted him to extract as much information as he could before they captured him.

 

“I am.”

“Good… where to begin? It may interest you to know that there are a great number of secret organisations that are hidden from the public eye, you will have heard of MI5, MI6 and so on yes? All of them are simply decoys, red herrings, to mask the true organisations running behind them. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of an organisation by the name of G.L.Y.P.H.?”

Isaac shook his head, although he suspected he had been in their headquarters, spoken to their members, and gone along with their plan.

“It’s an acronym of course, any idea what it might stand for?”

Again, Isaac shook his head.

“General Liquidation of Youth with Propensity to Harm, or in other words… people such as us. They don’t like the power we possess, Isaac, and they will do anything to rid us of it.”

Isaac was growing increasingly uncomfortable, he knew that G.L.Y.P.H. had wanted him dead, but to have it confirmed, and in such a cold, calculating way, it made things infinitely worse. How did I get myself into this mess?

“The women in charge… She goes by the letter ‘P’-“

Where is he getting all this from? If he knows all of this, does he know why I’m here? Is he just toying with me?

“-She is a terrible human being Isaac, she has committed mass murder in the name of her family, in the name of her organisation, and she must be stopped.”

“What exactly has this organisation done that is so bad?”

Scorched barely blinked before answering:

“I’ve seen all of their records, they’ve experimented on humans Isaac, many of these tests could easily be considered torture, and most of them resulted in death, those who survived have been imprisoned, treated like animals, after all… they are merely failed experiments. Aside from that? They’ve purged hundreds of people in this city alone, merely for owning one of these!”

He pointed towards his uncovered eye, the one marked with a prominent glyph.

“And that is only one organisation; there are dozens out there, taking citizen’s money and using it to commit atrocities, all in the name of advancement.”

“Advancement?”

“Of the human race, everyone out there is afraid Isaac, afraid of the unknown, and all of these people are looking for a way to get the upper hand, to be ready for whatever comes, whatever the cost.”

“And what would you differently?”

Scorch blinked. His marked eye studying Isaac closely- suspiciously.

“You are scared, aren’t you Isaac? What are you afraid of… is it me?”

“You’re still wearing your eye patch… you don’t trust me.” Isaac did his best to control his breathing as his mouth became void of saliva.

“I wouldn’t take that personally, I don’t trust anyone.”

“It’s hard for me to believe what you are saying when there is no trust between us.”

Isaac lied, in truth, everything he had told him he had swallowed, he couldn’t help it, there was something about the way he spoke- he was so blunt and utterly convincing- it was difficult not to process every word he was saying. He glanced once more at the clock, and then at the window. Scorch smiled once again.

“You’ve seen into my mind Isaac, why don’t you tell me what I would do differently?”

“I was only present for a few seconds, I did not see everything; I didn’t have time.”

Scorch’s smile only grew wider.

“You saw enough though, didn’t you? You saw enough that you felt the need to run and tell on me, to run to ‘P’?”

His heart stopped, his eyes glazed over. He knows! Of course he knows!

Isaac didn’t know what to say, what to do- what could he do? There was nothing, Scorch was immune to his power; he was infinitely more clever than him, and as bloodthirsty as it was humanly possible to be. He was outmatched in every way, there was nothing he could do but allow Scorch to unfold his plan. No! They’ll be here! They’ll take him into custody! They will have heard what he said, and they will be coming! They have to! Not that repeating the thought convinced him any differently.

“Just so you are aware, even if I didn’t know where your loyalties lay beforehand, I would have been able to tell within a few seconds of conversation with you, never try to deceive me Isaac, you will fail, you may be able to see into people’s minds, but I can deduce how someone is feeling, and what they are thinking, merely by observing the tiniest contours of their face.”

“Fine, so now you’ve found me out… tell me why.”

“Why? Why am I doing all this?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever looked back at the history of the world? Have you ever just taken a look at the state of the world? Throughout the entire history of the human race, there has been an endless amount of oppression, genocide, destruction of entire peoples and places… I aim to solve that. I will follow the guidelines set by previous dictators, only I won’t make their foolish mistakes. The most beneficial scenario for everyone is the destruction of the world as we know it, and a new one to rise, with me as the leader. I become the most powerful man on the planet, and we find peace in a reign of fear where everyone is so afraid, they dare not step a foot out of line. The world I will create will be one of perpetual peace, there will be no discrimination, no prejudice, no war, no hate crimes, why? Because everyone will be the same- they’ll be beneath me.”

“And you think people will stand for that?”

“It is human nature to seek out conflict, out there, they are already preparing themselves to rip each other to pieces, and all it took was a few words from me to provoke them, what does that say about society? What does that say about humanity? Subjugation is by far, the easiest option; I am doing you all a favour, and helping myself in the process.”

“You are wrong, you are basing your argument purely on figures, if you went out there and saw the world, saw the good that can be found in humanity you would not be so certain! You would build your throne on the corpses of the innocent; I can see you won’t change your mind… I can only promise to stop you.”

Scorch smiled, “I look forward to seeing you try.”

Isaac looked out the window for the final time.

“You won’t have to wait for very long.”

Scorch stood up and strolled carelessly to the window.

“Ah, Three squadrons, approaching from the east, west and south, one air team inbound, soon to land on the roof of the building, most carrying assault rifles, ACR, SCAR-H, typical AK47 with some modifications, also heavy weaponry, several grenade launchers, M32, seems a little excessive if I’m honest. Oh, and air team landing in 3, 2, 1…”

There was a loud crash on the roof, then silence.

“Hmmm… they may have had an accident with their parachutes,” he turned to Isaac, “they can be so careless when they pack those things.”

Almost simultaneously, there were several loud explosions outside, balls of fire erupted into the air, scorching the trees and surrounding buildings. Isaac could hear the sound of screaming, but he didn’t dare to look outside. Instead Isaac addressed Scorch; he was powerless to do anything else.

“I don’t understand… how?”

“Landmines, I prepare for any potential scenario,” he smiled malevolently, “and now, I believe, if I remember correctly, I warned you against trying to stop me. I don’t want to kill you Isaac, you are potentially a great asset, but if you choose to resist me I have no other choice.”

Before Isaac could register the threat, the sound of a gun clicking sounded at the back of Scorch’s head. A group of masked men with guns had formed behind him, led by P.

“Mr. Scorch, I believe?” Stated P as coolly as ever, “we’d like you to come with us.”

“Just Scorch is fine…”

“Very well,” she snapped the handcuffs onto his wrists, “Scorch.”

She turned to Isaac, and observed him with the same calculating, unfeeling stare she always wore.

“Good work, you did well under pressure.” Despite the praising comment, there was no tone of gratitude to be found anywhere in her voice.

“What about all those men out there? What about all the people he just killed?”

“They knew what they were signing up for- now- we need to get back; we have some questions for this one.”

“Aren’t you going to read me my rights, P?” Scorched asked, jokingly.

“You have no rights you son of a bitch.” With that they began to drag him away. Before they got to the door however, they ripped his eye patch away from his face, and Isaac couldn’t resist the temptation. He entered Scorch’s mind, with one question burning inside him, why didn’t you resist? To his surprise, Scorch answered:

“One thing you will learn, Isaac, is that everything that happens, even if it seems to be going against me in the worst possible way, will be exactly what I want to happen, there is nothing you can do, no trick, no deception, no angle you can take that I will not have considered a thousand times beforehand and planned ahead, I will always be ahead of you, every step of the way, if I want to be caught, I will be caught, if I want to go free, I will go free, and if I want to kill you, or anyone else, it will happen, it’s only a matter of time, and how I decide to approach it.”

Isaac could not bear being in his mind for one second longer, the anger, the fire, the hate… all of it, was too much. When he returned to his own mind Scorch was no longer in sight, but he shouted one last thing before they pulled him out of the building.

“Remember, Isaac, once they are done with me, you are next in the firing line!”

He knew that this was far from over, and he knew there would be blood before the end.