Chapter 12: Mark of the Beast by Stephen Simpson

September 05, 2023

Chapter 12: Mark of the Beast by Stephen Simpson

As luck, or bad luck, would have it none of them had a lighter but Shaun, having lived off-grid his whole life, knew how to make a fire by collecting dry kindling and using a sharp knife which he scraped over a hard rock to make a spark fly into a hollow he made in the kindling. He gently blew on the small spark in small exhales of breath until it ignited, and the small bush of dry twigs was burning in bright orange flames right there in between his hands. Lydia though it strange that every single one of them rejoiced when they saw the flames. She wondered if this was from a memory so far away that nobody remembered.

While the chicken was roasting over the fire, Liam kept saying, “Keep the fire low.”

Giovanni kept rolling his eyes at Liam while keeping his eyes fixed on the spatchcock chicken on the grill they took from the oven in the cabin.

Mandy looked sad and kept mumbling things like, “That poor fella was just clucking away, minding his own business, about half an hour ago.”

Shaun tended to the fire and turned the flattened chicken every now and again.

Lydia stared at the flames, and it looked as if she was deep in thought but, in reality, her mind was blank. This was the first day in a long time, since Christmas morning, that her mind was not overrun by one thought after another. The fire had her mesmerized, and she could not remember when last she felt such a peaceful calm within.

When the chicken was cooked, Shaun carried it in a bowl they had found in the kitchen cupboard to the table in the cabin. He pulled three cans of Baked Beans from his backpack, as he said, “There’s a lot more cans in the main house. It looks as if it’s been stocked for the weekend so we should be gone from here by early morning.”

Liam insisted, “No. We’re leaving tonight just after sunset. It’s better to move about in the dark.”

Lydia set the table with plates and cutlery, and after they sat down at the table they ate in silence.

Giovanni suggested, “We should go back to get more cans for when we go. It’s a long way to walk if we’re going down south.”

Liam asked Shaun, “How do you know where this data centre is anyway?”

Mandy added, “Yeah. I’m sure it’s not going to be public knowledge.”

Lydia was licking her fingers, where the chicken fat glistened. “I know where it is.”

They looked at her. Shaun looked more surprised than the others.

Lydia stopped licking her fingers, feeling embarrassed. “I had a dream.”

Shaun asked, “When?”

“Last week sometime. I don’t remember the exact day, but I’ve been having weird dreams for a while now.”

“Me too,” Shaun said. He looked puzzled.

Giovanni pushed away from the table. “The wind is picking up out there and it’s started to snow.”

They all turned their heads to look out of the large sliding door to the side.

Liam and Mandy started gathering the dishes. He said, “Mandy. I’ll wash if you dry.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Mandy agreed.

Shaun suggested, “Lydia and I will go to the main house and get some more canned food for the trip down south.”

“Okay,” Lydia said. “We better go quickly before the storm gets worse.”

Giovanni started walking to the other side of the cabin. “I’m going to shower quickly and then I’m off to bed. We’ll sleep until it gets dark and then we’ll have to get going.”

Liam turned to look at him. “We don’t have a plan.”

Giovanni looked across his shoulder without slowing down. “We’ll plan as we walk. It’s a long way.”

Lydia followed Shaun out the door, and immediately pulled her jacket closer to her body. The wind was howling and made the tall trees around them sway wildly. “I should have grabbed my beanie,” she complained.

“We’ll walk fast and then you’ll warm up.”

“That won’t help with the wind in my ears. I feel like I’ve already got brain freeze.”

They walked side by side, and Shaun looked at her sideways before he asked, “Tell me about your dreams.”

Lydia took a deep breath, feeling the cold, frigid air at the back of her throat. “I had a dream about a bright, white light, and being chosen but when it was my turn to go to the left or to the right, I woke up. It’s going to sound weird, but I know where this data storage place is because I do. To be honest, it feels like I’ve dreamt it, but I haven’t slept for about fifteen hours, so it can also be one of the many things in my head like all the other things I seem to just know.”

“What are the things you just know?” he asked.

“Like this barcode was forced on all of us by the government. All people big and small, rich, and poor. Without the barcode we cannot buy anything, and I suppose people cannot sell anything either. I just know that this barcode is not about keeping us safe. It’s our connection to a digital currency, to information, to… everything. It makes me wonder what the government’s plan is. Why are they doing this to us?”

“They want all our data,” he said in an adamant, angry voice. “It will give the governments of Rheta ultimate control over each one of us. They will know everything there ever is to know about us, and this thing about people losing their personalities and not being who they were anymore after they’ve received the barcode, you have to wonder what they’re putting in the barcoding ink.”

Lydia nodded. “It’s all about the chip they’re shooting into people’s brains, I think. Everyone we’ve ever known who has been barcoded is now basically just a computer code in a server.”

He mumbled, “Just a number.”

“Yeah,” she said. “The barcode is your number, and the number is your mark.”

Deep in their own thoughts, they walked in silence for the rest of the way, and then climbed through the window Shaun had broken earlier when he came to look for food.

In the kitchen, they filled both of their backpacks with canned food.

“Only get the ones with the pull tab,” Shaun whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” she whispered back.

“Just nervous, I guess. I’m not used to being in other people’s houses when they’re not at home.”

“I know what you mean,” Lydia told him.

The bags were very heavy, and they had to first lower the bags out of the window before they climbed out.

Lydia laughed softly. “We could’ve walked out the backdoor, you know?”

He laughed with her. “I didn’t even realise what I was doing. I even climbed out the window last time too.”

She wondered, “Do you think they’ll dust the place for fingerprints when they discover the broken window and the missing food?”

He shrugged. “They won’t find us, and if they do, we’ll be in far worse trouble than breaking and entering.”

“True,” she said.

They helped each other lift the bags onto their backs. Lydia could feel the straps pull into both her shoulders and she moved the straps over a bit so that they were pulling against her shoulder bones instead of the soft, fleshy parts close to her neck. They started walking back, following the same trail they made coming here.

“So how do you know where the data centre is?”

She felt embarrassed saying it. “I was wondering where Liam’s brother, Jodie, was, and I saw the place. He’s there, guarding it.”

“So, it was like a vision?”

She gave him an amused look. “Nope, and if it was a vision then that’s the first time it’s ever happened to me. I know I said earlier that I had dreamt where the data storage facility is, but I didn’t want to say anything about Jodie in front of Liam.”

He raised his eyebrows and smiled. “I see how it is.”

“No, actually, you don’t. We have all lost so much, and I did not want to remind him of his loss.”

He nodded. “I get it.”

Lydia’s shoulders were starting to burn, and she focussed on her feet, putting them one in front of the other. She seemed to be doing that a lot these days.

Shaun said, “I have had weird dreams since Christmas morning too, and I also had that dream about the white light.”

She looked at him. “Really?”

“It’s still so vivid. I don’t even have to close my eyes to remember it. I also dreamt of meeting Mandy in Brigdehun. The poor girl was scared out of her wits when I found her hiding in an alley, but I had dreamt that that was where I would find her, and that it was important that I bring her with me.” He stayed quiet for a few steps before he continued, “I also dreamt we’d meet you and Liam and Giovanni.”

“What?” Lydia exclaimed. “By name?”

“Yeah. By name.”

“So, you’re dreaming about your future?”

“I don’t know. It’s like someone is showing me the way.”

“And… Do you dream about how it ends?”

He shook his head. “No. They’re only showing me bits at a time.”

“But you’ve dreamt about the data storage facility and where it is?”

“No. I've only dreamt about it. I don't know where it is or what it looks like, but it seems after your vision you have some idea of what we can expect when we get there.”

She sighed. “I told you it wasn’t a vision.”

He tried to shrug but the heavy backpack was keeping his shoulders down. “Vision, dream, or just knowing is almost the same thing.”

They had reached the cabin and once they were inside, they packed the cans onto the table where not so long ago they feasted on barbequed chicken and baked beans.

Mandy came to help, and they divided the cans into five backpacks to make the load lighter for each of them. “How long will it take us to get to Colony Dinta?” she asked.

Giovanni stepped closer. “About six days if we don’t stop to sleep. If we stop, then about twelve days.”

Liam added from where he was lying on the bed he had chosen earlier, “And sleeping rough in the middle of this storm.”

Mandy looked miserable. “But we could find places like this to sleep, right?”

“Maybe,” Giovanni replied. “Best to expect the worst, though.”

Lydia said, “I was wondering, if we’re planning on blowing up this data centre what are we going to do it with?”

Giovanni said, “I know some people in Colony Dinta. We’ll stop there before we carry on.”

In a sarcastic tone, Liam called from the other side of the cabin, “Of course you know people.”

Giovanni walked to the double bunk and laid down on the bottom bed before he said, “You’re working on my last nerve.”

Liam sat up on the bed and his mouth opened to say something, but Shaun walked to the middle of the room and interrupted him, “Maybe we should all stay together from here on out. Mandy and I will sleep here if that’s okay with you. Mandy can sleep on the top bunk, and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Lydia agreed, as she climbed into the bed-in-a-cupboard, “I think that’s an excellent idea. There’s always safety in numbers.”

Continue reading Chapter 13/17