“I have banished her, she will never be seen again and as for him. The punishment will be the Tree of Justice!”
The residents rose and cheered. “Kill him, kill him, kill him,” the crowd chanted.
Kyle leered at the residents he once calls friends and neighbors. How quickly they turned on him. They were nothing more than thoughtless and mindless walking bags of skin who would turn in their own mother if they felt it would benefit themselves and their beloved collective. He was disgusted.
“Guards take him away,” Barry ordered.
The guards surrounded Kyle. He thought about resisting but questioned the rationale as he wouldn’t escape. It appeared his destiny had been chosen. They picked him up and dragged him away.
Barry watched until Kyle disappeared behind the curtain then put his attention back on the crowd. “In two days’ time we shall hold a memorial service for our father then we will commence a procession to his burial spot. I have called for a day of rest across The Collective so that you all may come and pay your respects. With that said, thank you and as my father would say, THE ONE FOR THE MANY…!
The crowd shouted, “THE MANY FOR THE ONE!”
Barry waved and exited the stage.
Cisco greeted him on the side of the stage, “You were amazing and you didn’t use your prepared speech, you’re a natural at this.”
Full of pride, Barry said, “It was good, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go celebrate, I wish to go to the Lair. Have my father’s suite prepared.”
“Very well, but don’t you mean your suite?”
Barry winked at Cisco and said, “Yes, my suite.”
The two headed for the exit. An idea came to Barry, “Hold that thought, I want to see Driver Eight put on that tree, take me there,” Barry said.
Each time Kyle was loaded and unloaded, he received more beatings. By the time he was dragged from the van and placed in front of the tree of justice, he was bleeding from his mouth, nose and ears and he was so weak he could barely sit up.
Barry got out of his vehicle and walked over to the barely conscious Kyle. “You look like shit, not so tough now, huh?”
“Fuck you,” Kyle managed to mutter.
Barry shook his head while a guard punished Kyle with a kick to the head. “You don’t learn do you?” Barry asked walking past Kyle to the tree, one side of the large oak was void of bark and stained dark with the blood of the many residents who found their punishment there. Large chains hung down from two large branches above and a chain wrapped around the trunk near the base had two iron clamps that went around the victim’s ankles. Barry admired it, “This is truly barbaric but it represents the times we live in. I really have to thank my father’s ingenuity for this.”
The Tree of Justice stood just outside the main gates along the Eagle River. It served two purposes, one as an instrument to punish and two, as a warning to residents and any passersby, to obey the laws.
“I guess we should string him up, is that the correct term?” Barry laughed.
The guards dragged Kyle to the base, a guard each, held up his arms as another lowered the chains from above. When his wrists were secure in the clamps, they pulled him to his feet.
Kyle groaned with each pull.
The stopped when his feet were dangling five feet from the ground.
The guards put on the ankle clamps and just to add to his misery, they attached a thirty pound weight to each ankle chain to stretch Kyle’s body out further.
Barry walked up and nodded his approval. “Good job. Cisco, add an additional liquor ration for each one of these fine men.”
“Yes sir.”
“Driver Eight, I hope in these last days you’ll come to see that I was the better man. I had been the one who evolved, you didn’t. I told you numerous times and I’ll say it again, you’re a stupid man. Had you not treated me so poorly who knows, maybe we could have become allies.”
Kyle looked down and mustered two words, “Fuck you.”
“There’s nothing more to say. I beat you. You’ll die and your wife will become someone’s whore. Goodbye Driver Eight.” He signaled a guard. “Don’t remove his body. I want him to rot, make him food for the vultures and post a guard, I don’t want someone to take him down.”
Kyle didn’t have the strength to reply or look up to watch them leave. His thoughts raced to where Portia was and how, like Tiffany, he had let her down. Once more he had failed the woman he loved. No amount of bravado or positive talk was going to get him off this tree, he was a dead man, plain and simple.
CHAPTER 6
“Psst, psst!” a voice sounded from behind a grove of shrubs.
Kyle’s eyes openly slightly. It was nighttime and the only light around came from the gates of Prime several hundred yards away. For all intents and purposes, he was immersed in the black of night. He looked into the blackness that surrounded him and saw nothing. Am I hallucinating? He thought.
“Psst, Kyle!” the voice boomed.
Hearing his name, Kyle lifted his head and tried to widen his eyes to get a better look, still he saw no one. This is it? I’m hearing things. My time is almost up. He said to himself.
“Kyle, are you alive?” the voice said now coming from behind the tree.
Mustering the energy, Kyle replied, “Are you an angel or the devil?”
“Both,” the man replied.
Weakened but now hopeful that someone might free him, Kyle found the strength to again reply, “Who are you?”
“It’s Tommy.”
“No, there’s a guard.”
“I took care of him already. That was easy, lazy bastard was sleeping. Picking these locks, that’s the tough part.”
“Hurry, get me down.”
“I am,” Tommy said working on the locks.
An audible click sounded.
“Got them, now I’m going to lower you down slowly,” Tommy said.
Kyle didn’t reply.
Cautiously, Tommy brought Kyle down to the ground. All that needed to be done was remove the lower ankle clamps.
The hard ground felt good. Kyle let his body relax.
“All done,” Tommy said referring to the removal of the ankle clamps. He scooted to Kyle’s side, lifted his head and put a bottle of water to his cracked lips. “Drink slowly.”
The fresh cool water soothed his parched throat.
“Bro, I thought you were supposed to be king fish here, good thing I didn’t show up a few days before or I’d be on another tree with ya’.”
“Portia, they took Portia,” Kyle muttered.
“Who’s that? Is that your wife?”
Kyle nodded.
“Where did they take her?”
“Slave,” Kyle answered.
“Fuck me, that could be in any direction. If I knew who their main trading partner was, then we could have an idea exactly where she’s gone too,” Tommy said. He was familiar with the slave trade being a bounty hunter. “Do you know who they trade with?”
“Republic I think,” Kyle replied solely on the hunch based upon where he found Barry.
“Hmm, there’s several main players over there, but if you don’t know for sure it could be a wild goose chase. We need to find out exactly who they deal with in each area.”
“I know who knows,” Kyle grunted.
“If he’s inside those gates, we’ll need to get you healthy first. Can you stand?”
“I’ll try,” Kyle said.
Tommy threw Kyle’s arm over his shoulder and pressed him up.
On his feet, Kyle tried to stand but his legs were weak and wobbly. “I feel like shit.”
“Bro, you look like shit and your face is a fucking mess, almost as bad as mine,” Tommy joked and began to head towards his truck parked a mile away off the main highway.