Six o'clock in the morning, Clint woke up while Marie was still asleep. Zack didn't come out of his room last night. And no one touched the ice cream either. Clint wanted to stay. Be a father to his son. Be a husband to his wife. Be at home with his family and try to sort out last night's drama. But Eli Hodges was coming to their square in a few hours. So he only had the chance to be a doctor today.

He didn't disturb Marie in her slumber. He pulled the sheets higher on her shoulder and quietly climbed out of his bed. Brushed his teeth and stepped into the shower, dressed up in a crisp blue shirt and black trousers. Made himself some toast and eggs and the strongest black coffee he could make. He finally felt awake as he gazed down at the empty streets below. Banners and party flags were put up on each curve and corner of the road. There were a lot more steel heads patrolling the streets.

The caffeine didn't allow Clint to feel nervous. If anything, it just added to his excitement for the mission. He walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the pelican case from within.

He slipped the pelican case in his leather holdall, draped his apron over his arm and left a note on the dining table for his wife and son. It read: Marie, Zack, let's hope we get some time to actually talk about what happened. Maybe we can even go to a movie. I love you.

#

Half-past seven, Clint walked into a fairly empty hospital. There was hardly anyone except the receptionist lady, a few nurses, some physicians and the trauma surgeon in the emergency care.

"Not going for the rally, Dr. Chambers?" the receptionist asked.

Clint gave a curt smile. "Nope, not a big fan of politics." He shrugged.

The receptionist looked unamused. "Try not to say that in front of the steel heads. It's enough to make them arrest you."

Clint just nodded with the same curt smile. "Will remember that, thank you."

The woman was still unamused. Clint made his way to the doctor's common room, put his holdall in the locker with his name, and signed the muster. He was working regular hours today.

He put on his apron and went for his rounds, examining the recovering patients who had been admitted. He was done in about an hour and returned to the common room for a cup of coffee.

He grabbed the morning newspaper and it was exactly what he'd expected. The announcement of Eli Hodges' rally. The old man's proud eyes blazing in his wrinkled face, casting a piercing gaze at the readers, ready to change their opinions on everything they believed in. It was the face of a man who could sell a lie to an eternal truthseeker. The perfect man for the job he was given by the party. The face of the Seat of Authority. People may not trust the First Leader. But Eli Hodges was the man they could. A man of the people who said what they wanted to hear and said it real good.

And this man would be on an operating table in front of him today. Clint thought of the pelican case. He thought of the loaded syringe that lay snug in its styrofoam casing, thought of the blue liquid swirling in its well. He remembered his last meeting at Moon's Edge.

"What is this?" he'd asked the girl who was his bartender that day.

She'd grinned as she slid the pelican case towards him, letting him examine the syringe. "Watcher calls it the 'promise me' cocktail," she said, "It's a benzodiazepine mixed with another chemical that affects the nervous tissue."

"Is it the EpiFreeze?" he asked.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "So you know about the EpiFreeze?"

He nodded. He remembered that night when he first saw Erik, when they administered it on Cathy. "Why EpiFreeze though?"

"I'm no scientist." The girl shrugged. "So I'll just parrot back what Watcher told me." She looked down at the syringe. "The initial effect of EpiFreeze is a simulated numbness in the state of consciousness. The benzodiazepine is mixed in to ramp up the suggestiveness of the subject."

"That sounds like a state of hypnosis?" Clint said. "This is Watcher's plan? Hypnotizing Hodges?"

She nodded. "Precisely. After you'll be done operating on the man, hardly anyone will be allowed to go see him, except the doctor alone," she said. "Once you go for your second visit to Hodges' room, you are going to administer the 'promise me' cocktail to him and give him the initial command." She laid a cell phone on the bar next to the pelican case. "You are gonna tell him to wake up when the phone rings."

"When will the phone ring?" Clint asked.

"Exactly at seven in the evening," the woman said. "The nurses will alert you about Hodges getting out of bed. You'll attend to him and ask him if he wants to go to the bathroom."

"And since he is in an easily suggestive state, he'll agree?"

The girl nodded. "Then you'll guide him back to his room and into the attached bathroom inside. Right outside the bathroom window is a garbage dumpster."

"Is this really going where I think it's going?"

"One of Watcher's men will be waiting in the dumpster outside," she said. "He'll be disguised in hospital scrubs. You'll let him in through the bathroom window and switch places with Hodges."

"So Hodges will stay in the dumpster for how long?"

"For another hour. Then another of Watcher's men will arrive as the garbage collector and load the dumpster into their truck and drive away."

"Wait." Clint raised a hand. "What about the security? The security would be tight. When would the man in disguise even come and sit in the dumpster, waiting?"

"An hour before the rally even begins. Which means even before Hodges arrives at the hospital," the girl said. "Don't worry the dumpster is gonna be clean since the hospital clears it daily."

Clint nodded, impressed. "Sounds very...plausible in execution."

"Don't worry, doc. You've got it. Just be the good doctor that you are and it'll all go smoothly." The girl smiled at him.

Clint went over the plan once again as he stared at Eli Hodges' face on the newspaper. The rally would begin in another hour. That means the doppelganger had already taken his position in the dumpster outside the V.I.P room.

He put the newspaper aside and gazed at the clock. Now we wait...

#

Marie read the note Clint had left on the dining table and then burned it in the sink the same way she had burned their conversation the other day. Today was the day. Clint would be facing Hodges today. 'Facing' sounded like such a strong word. It wasn't as if her husband was going to duel with the old man barehanded.

But Clint had explained the plan to her. It still sounded dangerous. The steel heads would be everywhere in the hospital. If Clint made one slightly wrong move, their cover would be blown. And he'd given instructions to her for what needed to be done in that scenario too. She hated to think that he'd considered a situation where he'd be separated from her and Zack. And she didn't blame him for putting the two of them first. That's what he'd always done. That's what Marie would've done if they switched places.

But she couldn't help feeling guilty about the number of times he'd put himself in situations like these. She couldn't help feeling like she hadn't been doing enough for either her husband or her son. She remembered her conversation from the convenience store last night. That reminded her of the ice cream that still sat untouched in the deep freezer. And Zack still hadn't shown them his face.

Throughout their time in the sectors, the three of them had always slept in the same room, in the same bed. Always with one eye open, always ready to run off if an infected in the hunt stage was to break in or in case of storm. Now that they were awarded the luxury of owning separate rooms, she realized just how big was the distance between the three of them.

She walked up to Zack's room and gently rapped at the door. "Teddy?"

No answer.

She felt a tightness in her throat. She really wanted to call him by his real name. "Honey, aren't you hungry?"

Still no answer.

"You didn't even have dinner last night," she said. "And there's still ice cream in the fridge. I won't tell you to have only two scoops?"

Silence. She held back a groan of frustration. This wasn't going to work.

Be honest to him and he'll be honest to you.

She frowned. She knew, she had to do it. Even if it was a risk. This isn't what a normal life should be like. So she cleared her throat, as if preparing to sing. "Za–"

"DEAR CITIZENS OF KINGSVILLE!" a voice boomed out on a bullhorn. "THE MAN OF THE PEOPLE HAS ARRIVED!!"

#

About fifty armed steel heads stood sentry on each block as the garnet black convertible rolled down the asphalt followed by six other, equally black SUVs. People cheered and cried out in joy as the line of black cars passed them by. Bouquets of flowers rained down on the asphalt.

The cars came to a halt at the Victory square. The heart of Kingsville city. The biggest urban crossroads surrounded by commerce on each side, otherwise pulsating with the daily rush of working class civilians. This same crossroads was choked with the same working class as they all waited patiently for the guest of honor. Like an ocean catching its breath after a storm.

The man of the people stepped out of the garnet black car and ascended the steps of the grand oaken stage that blocked the entire opening of a road on its own, guarded by a pair of steel heads on each corner, their gloved hands holding their SMGs at ready.

Applause rolled across the sea of people as Hodges took his place at the podium. His old wrinkled face contemplated the uproar of cheers and claps. He wore a three piece suit, white as the first dusting snow, a white tie and a golden display handkerchief. His cufflinks glinted like diamonds as he raised a hand to wave at the crowd.

The people went quiet after five straight minutes of grand welcome. Hodges leaned into the microphone and uttered his first words. "This is the Ardvenia that the First Leader dreams of. A nation full of people united by their trust in the government. Another dream that he has for this nation is that of peace. And it would be criminal to say that the former didn't influence the latter at all." Eli paused, gazed at the crowd. "Ardvenia's victory isn't just possible because of our brave military. But because of YOU! The very people who show faith in the government. Who show their love for its law and uphold it in such troubled times."

#

"It's our victory too," one of the nurses said. Almost the entire staff had gathered into the main lobby of the hospital, gazing up at the wall mounted television like one does to an idol in a shrine.

Clint frowned at the crowd. He was still stumped to see that these people really looked up to the Seat of Authority. He wondered how much did anyone even know what was going on in the sectors?

"Ten long years," said Dr. Raymond–the trauma surgeon. "We all endured this war for ten years. And it's finally bringing some peace. Of course it's our victory too."

Clint was trying not to frown too much. But he was really curious to know what this guy had actually endured of the war? In what little he'd socialized with the young surgeon, he knew one thing that this man had never been on a battlefield. Neither was he related to any operatives or steel heads. Nor had he ever lived in a sector. So what the hell is he even talking about?

"Would you guys shut up and focus on the speech?" the receptionist said.

"Right."

"...this beautiful country of ours, had been in a decade-long peril–"

#

"A never ending war that began ten years ago when the enemy in the north–the country of Moudrin, decided to drop the bio-bombs that spread terrible diseases across several states. When they took the help of their friend in the east--the Republic of Vardin who helped them unleash that terrible rain that burned entire cities in a night!"

"Bastards!" old lady Ruben spat in her apartment as she listened to the speech on her husband's old radio. "Monsters! They all deserve to die!" She waved her frail fists in her empty house, all on her own.

"They started this war! This war–"

#

"This war that forced us to sectorize entire states! This war that made us divide our own people! These monsters in the north and the animals in the east who keep their friendship to destroy this humble home of ours!"

The crowd in front of the stage went ballistic with anger. Curses were hurled, death was wished upon the enemy. Eli raised his white sleeved hands and waved them quiet.

"But we need not worry anymore–"

#

"--we have finally managed to hit them where it hurt–"

"People actually believe in this bullshit?" Cathy asked.

They were in the living room of the manor. Eli Hodges' words kept issuing out of the radio on the coffee table. Little Oriana was on the floor, waving a wooden airplane that Erik had carved for her.

"You wouldn't believe how many must be going crazy with genuine rage at our so-called enemies right now," Erik said, shaking his head.

"Gotta hand it to them." Lisa scoffed. "They are spinning quite the yarn if they've captivated such a big audience at once. Better than most soap-operas I used to watch before the war."

"...those animals call it the Deux Fragment."

Erik froze in his seat. "Why the hell is he bringing that up?" he said.

"What do you mean?" Cathy frowned.

"Until now the Fragment was just a weird rumor. I had a theory that the truck was made from it but, I never expected them to disclose information about it in public like this." Erik leaned forward towards the radio.

Cathy frowned. "Wait, but if the Fragment belongs to the enemy nation then how is our military's truck made from it?"

"Cathy, shh!" Erik waved her quiet and turned up the volume of the radio.

"...the tribals of Vardin gave it that name. It's meant to be the flesh of their god. Their very scripture states that it holds the capacity to burn a city. And that is what they rained down on our country!"

"Um, Erik?" Lisa said. "Wasn't Watcher planning to have this guy shot today?"

"Would you two let me listen for once?" Erik clicked his tongue.

"She is right, Erik. In the first fifteen minutes of the rally, Hodges gets shot. Wasn't that the memo?"

"Girls, I said shut–"

"BANG!"

If Erik had been frozen at the mention of the Fragment, he had now completely turned to stone. He couldn't tear his gaze away from the radio that had gone completely silent for a moment before static took over. They'd halted the show. Erik's heart stopped beating in that instance.

For once Erik Koehlwin hated the fact that everything was going according to the plan.

#

The people would later inform of a steel head or at least someone in a steel head uniform who'd shufflef through the crowd in front of the stage. People stepped aside making way for the man in black uniform. People hardly ever mess with the steel heads. But this man was polite. He even ruffled a little boy's hair and smiled graciously at an elderly lady as he kept making his way towards the front.

Once he arrived at the head of the crowd, he took off his top hat, pressed it reverently to his chest and whipped out his .44 revolver.

BANG!

The gunshot was loud as a thunderclap. For the crowd had gone silent the moment they heard it. Red roses bloomed on Eli's snow white coat as his shoulder seemed to explode on impact. The X-rays would later show the a clean socket punched through the old man's scapula. Eli went down. His personal guards rushed to cover him from further attacks.

The steel heads guarding the stage were already sprinting at the head of the crowd where the shot had been fired from. But they were too late. The man had already bit into the cyanide pill he'd pressed under his lip. He was dead by the time they got to him. 

(to be continued...)