The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide to Disillusionment

The Stray

Human beings can adapt to almost anything. I find this equally hopeful and terrifying.

– The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide, Vol. 5, excerpt from line 28

The xombies gave Bethany Yoniver a new implant. She could feel it squirming its way up her nose, into her skull. Known in Reverside as Nora, a persona she created to infiltrate the Interconnected, Bethany was now a captured spy. Her dream of revenge had failed. Since the death of her brother two days ago, she had been held prisoner in her tiny home, her hands and feet bound to a chair. She had screamed and rocked back and forth to no effect. The operation was over in two minutes. She sensed the subtle handshake between her subconscious mind and the gooey slug on her brain, but had no idea how to fight it. Hours later, they untied her legs and hands. She lurched forward to attack her captors, and immediately doubled over, vomiting. Her captors stared down at her blankly. She pushed past them, onto the porch.

She ran through the streets, past the squat little white cube homes packed close together, desperate to exact revenge for her brother Daschel. Each time she tried to lash out against any of the members of the tribe, she would retch. They regarded her as one would a stray dog. She tried to thext them but found that implant blocked. She remembered that she had killed their precious Interconnection, and she grinned.

She yelled, "You monsters! You killed him! He was my brother! You are all going to pay for this!" The xombies turned away, continuing with their daily routine. In front of one of the square, printed homes was a pair of boots. She recognized them. They were previously worn by one of the Raiders. The body had been dissolved like the body of her brother. She could see a trail of dust leading to the shallow gutter on the side of the road. She let out a horrified wail. No one paid her any attention.

Desperate to escape, she made her way to the southern border of the town, not wanting to risk being seen on the bridge. If she could get outside the range of the implant, she might be able to walk most of the way home. It took her the better part of the day, meandering steadily to the south, but she finally made it to the edge of Reverside. An iron pole stood at the edge of the town, its old sign rusting at the top.

'Good riddance,' she thought, walking past it. Without warning, she fell to her knees and spat the remainder of her last meal on the road. She crawled as best she could, covering a few more feet. The contents of her stomach left her pants and shirt wet. When the vertigo and nausea reached its terminal pitch, she blacked out.

• • •

David is with her. His lovely hair hangs over her, brown and curly, his face is dark and smiling. The sun shines above and behind him. He holds her, shushing sweetly. She feels as if she is floating. The sweet smell of cut grain is in the air. Time stands still. She wants to stay with him forever. She closes her eyes and feels a sudden pressure on her shoulders, and the back of her head.

• • •

She woke again in her tiny home, the sound of the river in the distance. There was a platter of food and tea by the bed. She swept it to the floor, the brown ceramic cup shattering as it spilled its contents. She still stank of her own vomit. Rising, she walked out onto her porch, expecting to find her jailers there, seeing no one. It was dark. A cat wandered in the underbrush, nearby. She re-entered her home to pick up a shard of the broken cup and threw it at the fleeing cat.

"I am Bethany Yoniver!" she shouted into the darkness. "I am a noble-born human being! You fuckers will pay for what you've done!" Her words sank into the night like a stone dropped into the black currents of the Hudson River. She was about to weep. She straightened, inhaling deeply, engaging all of her will to gain control. "I am Bethany Yoniver," she spoke, quietly now. "You fuckers killed my brother. You will pay."