Chapter 84: #dontlookdontdie

69 Days till Pits Open

James dismissed the count-down as the elevator doors opened on the Marriott’s Presidential Suite. Emerging into the entrance hall, the Anima hovering just behind his shoulder and Kimmie and Kerim in tow, James realized that the whole top floor of the Marriott was this suite, a gorgeous series of rooms with honey-red hardwood flooring, cream walls with accents, and fancy looking furniture.

The sound of a TV being played from the large room beyond was all he could hear. A news report.

“Hey everyone,” he called, leading the way into the living room. “What’s…?”

Crimson Hydra was seated on a massive L-shaped couch, everyone staring fixedly at the TV where a CNN reporter was standing outside a hospital. The crew’s faces registered different degrees of shock.

“The President’s dead,” said Serenity, tearing her eyes away from the screen.

“He’s what?” James drifted up behind the couch. On the screen the reporter was talking earnestly into his mike, but the anchor cut in with an apologetic smile.

“Apologies, but we’ve received word that President Cox has entered the press room in the White House. We’re going there now.”

The screen changed to a different camera, one of no doubt dozens trained on a lectern set before a blue wall on which the White House was displayed in the center of a sober oval, the whole of it flanked by American flags and white pillars.

“Holy shit,” said James as Vice President Cox emerged amidst much flash photography to stand behind the lectern.

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“My fellow Americans. All I have I would have given gladly to not be standing here today. A great man, a great leader, and a great friend has been struck down by the nefarious and demonic forces that assail our nation even as I speak. John Foster will live on forever in the words, deeds, and accomplishments that made him such a beloved figure in our nation, and he leaves behind in the minds and memories of mankind a single indomitable message that I will do my utmost to uphold: we shall not surrender, we shall not bend knee, we shall fight from shore to shore, from home to heartland, and cleanse our nation of these foul demonic beings.”

Serenity raised the remote and turned the TV off.

“How did they get to the President?” asked Jason, rubbing his hand over his buzzcut. “He should have been the most secure person in the world.”

“They got to him,” said Serenity, tone sober, cold.

Yadriel clucked his tongue. “Yo man, he should have gone down into that missile silo place, Conrad.”

“NORAD,” said Jason reflexively. “But demons must be appearing down there, too.”

“I just spoke to him,” said James, trying to wrap his mind around the death. “A few days ago. Hackworth and I.”

Denzel wrapped an arm around the back of the couch to turn and stare up at them. “Who’d you bring?”

James wrested his mind away from the death. “Yeah, sorry. Everyone, this is Kerim, our new Dark Vision, and this is Kimmie, our new Inspire.”

“Hi everyone,” said Kimmie with a little wave. “Talk about the worst time in the world to be introduced to y’all.”

Olaf rose to his prodigious height and forced a smile. “Welcome to Crimson Hydra! I will fetch drinks.”

“Smart man,” said Serenity, still looking a little dazed.

“A pleasure to meet you all,” said Kerim, bowing his head.

Everybody introduced themselves. Olaf returned with an open bottle of wine and a handful of glasses. “All I could find.”

Joanna went to fetch more glasses. Olaf poured a finger in each, and everybody took up a glass.

“Sorry, I’m still thrown by the news.” James rubbed the base of his palm into his eye. “This is a weird war we’re in. One moment we’re drinking wine in the Presidential Suite, the next we’re on the streets killing demons. If I stop and think about the sheer scale of the misery out there, it’s too much. It’s all too much. The only thing that makes it remotely doable is standing with good people. Knowing that good people depend on you and being able to depend on them in turn.”

Nods all around.

“We’ve been through hard times, all of us. As individuals and as a group. We’re figuring out how to be a team. How to work together. And I’m glad to say that with Kerim and Kimmie we’re one step closer to making that happen.” James turned to consider them. “They’re good people. I think they’re gonna make a huge impact on our crew. Welcome, both of you. Welcome to Crimson Hydra.”

“Welcome,” everyone chorused. They clinked glasses and drank.

“Thanks,” said Kimmie. “Can I ask something? Of all of you? I’ve got this Benediction, Inspire, which allows me to influence emotions, feelings, even encourage people to do stuff.”

Expressions around the group darkened.

“And I like to use it to boost folks up, to make the mood better. But not without y’all giving me your permission first. So.” She smiled tentatively. “Can I try to help us out here a little bit?”

“Sure,” said James decisively.

Serenity raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, if James says so… sure. This time.”

Slowly everybody agreed, many of them glancing at James, but finally the agreement was total.

“Great. So.” Kimmie took a deep breath. “I used to close my yoga sessions with something like this, but I’ll adapt it a bit. The light inside me sees and recognizes the light inside you. May you be happy. May you be well. May you be safe. May you be at peace and at ease.”

Kimmie’s words rolled over them like a beach comber made of soft glowing golden warmth. Before its gentle power James felt his doubts and stress ease, his concern, his guilt, his fears melt away. They didn’t disappear, but rather became less pressing, loosened their grip on his mind. A sensation of wellbeing filled him, of being in the right place and doing the right thing.

“Wow,” said Denzel. “Bjørn was holding this out on us all this time?”

Olaf grinned. “Now that is what I call Inspiring!”

“Thank you,” said Joanna, moving forward to give Kimmie a light hug. “That was so needed.”

“Aww,” said Kimmie, hugging Joanna back and then beaming at everyone. “I’m glad that helped a little.”

“Shit, I ain’t felt this fucking cheerful in weeks,” groused Yadriel.

Kimmie frowned at him, confused, but then laughed when Yadriel proved unable to resist a crooked grin.

With the tension broken, everybody sat on the huge couch once more, Kimmie choosing to sit cross-legged on the floor while James claimed an armchair. For awhile they simply spoke about normal things: who they’d been before, what they’d done and why. Kerim proved to be an excellent listener; he gave whomever was talking his undivided attention, nodding and asking great questions that caused folks to open up more about themselves.

Serenity rustled up another bottle of wine, and the atmosphere had relaxed even more when James’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Star Boy here. We’ve got a problem?”

James sat forward. “What’s up?”

“Go on TikTok and search for #dontlookdontdie.”

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“Just tell me what that means.”

The rest of the conversation had stopped. Everybody was listening in.

“It’s a new movement. Started up this afternoon and it’s exploded in popularity. A bunch of videos were shared of folks going to the security intersections and dying. This guy spliced a quick cut of them all, then ended his video with his own account. He hid in his closet and the Nem3 ignored him and left. Now he’s saying that everyone’s best bet is to do the same, that if you don’t look at the demon it’ll leave you alone.”

“Fuck,” said James. “And people believe this?”

“It lines up with Nem2 behavior,” said Star Boy. “But yeah. A ton of people are posting anecdotal evidence about it working, and everyone who’s saying it doesn’t are being blasted.”

“What’s going on?” asked Serenity.

James lowered the phone momentarily. “Misinformation campaign. Some idiot is saying the Nem3’s can’t hurt you if you don’t look at them.”

“We need you to put out a video asap,” said Star Boy. “Can you come on down?”

“Sure, be right there.” He hung up and stood. “Excuse me. Gotta go put out a video.”

“Why would someone put out such a video?” asked Joanna.

“I don’t think it’s malicious,” said James. “Sounds like someone got lucky and is trying to help. But now it’s gone viral and everyone’s saying the best thing to do is stay home and not look at it.”

“That’s not good,” said Denzel.

“Yo, it’s like survival of the fittest.” Yadriel leaned back. “Idiots who believe that kind of shit will be removed from the gene pool, am I right?”

“No, Yadriel,” said Serenity coldly. “You’re not right.”

“Excuse me,” said James. He descended to the lobby and made his way through the crowd into the grand ballroom. Most of the soldiers were discussing the president’s death, Cox’s viability as a commander in chief, but Star Boy was laser focused on the TikTok issue.

“Look here,” he said as James walked up. “See the trend lines? This shit’s getting picked up everywhere. It’s even been cross posted onto Instagram and Twitter.”

James leaned down to watch as Star Boy clicked through a series of posts. One showed a girl demonstrating how to step into a closet, close the door, crouch and cover your head. #dontlookdontdie. Another was a guy packing his suitcase, faux-cheerful, holding a map of his designated intersection, only to have his roommate show up dressed as an angel and point him toward the closet. #dontlookdontdie. A third was a guy ranting as he strode around what looked like Boston, pointing out a slaughter in one cross-street and calling out the government and Blue Light for being murderous idiots.

“Jesus,” said James.

“It gets worse. There’s a sub-conspiracy popping up now called The Culling which posits that the Illuminati or whomever is doing this to kill the last good and independent minded people. You want to really blow your brains out, search for #CullingTruth on any platform. It’s getting wild out there.”

James rubbed at this beard. “You think they’ll listen to me?”

Star Boy sat back with a sigh. “Maybe? I don’t know. Blue Light’s gone institutional, so we’ve lost that rogue element trust we had before. But it’s worth a shot.”

“Fuck me.” James sighed. “Sure. But what am I going to say?”

“Dude, far be it from me to tell you. Just go with what feels right, you know? Give ‘em that honest straight talk.”

“Fine. Let’s find a quiet corner.”

Five minutes later it was done. James called out the conspiracies, explained how Nem3’s were just as likely to kill you as not, and how they were different from Nem2’s that had just wanted to get to the hives.

Star Boy uploaded it, and then the hate started rolling in.

“Whoa,” said Star Boy, watching the comment thread on Instagram explode.

“OK, OK, emojis, some positive comments, now, whoops, someone telling you to fuck off, here’s some thumbs up emojis, someone asking for you to put on a fur coat, OK, this guy’s calling you a government stooge, another guy…”

“What?”

“OK, not nice, saying you’ve got the blood of millions on your hands due to your lies. And… sell out, liar, that you’re responsible for… genocide? OK, hold up.” Star Boy clicked around, checked different accounts. “Looks like somebody had bots ready for your next post which triggered a bunch of influential attacks. Uh… why?”

“Great.” James felt a sinking sensation in his gut. “So that didn’t work out.”

“Not as planned, no.” Star Boy tapped his fingers on table. “Well, shit.”

“I thought you were a gamer,” said James. “How do you handle something like this?”

“Normally? Either you don’t feed the trolls, or you try to out-troll them. None of which would work in our position.”

The Anima, which had been watching all this silently, floated forward. “Don’t despair. Come tomorrow, the Third Wave will prove conclusively that you were right!”

“So cool,” said Star Boy, admiring the Anima. “But a little morbid. What’s your name?”

“People call me Kames Jelly.”

“They don’t fucking call you Kames Jelly,” said James. “And if these people hide in their damn closets they won’t be able to get together in groups of one hundred in time.” James felt a mounting fury in his chest. “Don’t they remember what happened in the Nem1 Second Wave?”

Star Boy sat back, looking non-plussed.

“How big is the Third Wave?” asked James.

“We don’t have an exact number.” Star Boy’s voice had grown quiet. “But it’s in the low millions in NYC alone.”

“Fuck,” whispered James. “Fuck. Time for a second video.”

“I wouldn’t advise it.”

“Better it not work than not try.” James raised his phone. “Listen up, I don’t care what you believe or don’t believe. I’m still the same guy who got this all started way back when, and I’m telling you straight, you need to get with a hundred other people when your time comes or you will die. Remember the Nem1 Second wave, people. If you insist on hiding in a fucking closet then find a huge closet a hundred people can hide in. But if you’re smart? Get to an intersection, and Blue Light will blow the Nem3’s to kingdom come the second they show up. It’s your life, but don’t be a dumb ass.”

“A liked it,” said the Anima. “Emotional. Sincere. Forthright.”

“It was something,” said Star Boy. “But what the hell, worth a shot.”

James set the video to upload. “There. Did my best. Now the cards fall where they may.”

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