World!... Listen to my voice!
Chapter 35 World!... Listen to my voice!
POV Jadis
"Wake up~ wake up sleeping beauty." I hear a whisper in my ears, in that, the memories of what happened recently flood my mind placing me on high alert opening my eyes and trying to stand up quickly, however, my hands and feet are tied to a chair.
Analyzing my surroundings I find myself in a kind of completely empty elegant restaurant while in front of me is the kid who thinks he is king looking at me with a predatory smile on his face.
"Where I am? What's going on?" I ask pretending to be nervous. All my movements since I arrived were careful. What could have given me away? My little conversation with Henry? That doesn't make sense, the boy never said anything to me.
"There's no point in cheating a liar, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't lie to me." He says with a smile. "Now, many ideas are running through my little brain, most of those ideas are very bad for you." He says, then waves his hand and several waiters approach us bringing with them various plates which they place on the table.
"Thank you, you can leave us alone." He says. The waiters bow and quickly walk away.
"What is your true purpose here?" He asks me tilting his head innocently as he starts to eat. On the table, there are different foods, from lobster, meat, chicken, and a variety of desserts. He is just a child, if I use my cards well I can manipulate him so that I can get out of this situation.
"I... only cared about Henry, he was very sad and I was trying to cheer him up, forgive me Your Highness if my behavior was inappropriate." I respond with crocodile tears running down my face.
"I told you not to try to lie to me, Anne!" He responds by sticking a knife into his lobster looking at me intently.
My eyes widen in shock as my breath starts to quicken. Did he say, Anne? He said my real name, in that, my eyes do not depart from the child in front of me, no… my eyes do not depart from the predator in front of me.
"I think you underestimate me just because I'm a kid." He says as he brings a piece of lobster to his mouth and begins to chew. "However, everything you see around you, all these people, this whole city... they all belong to me." He says with his cheeks swollen talking as he eats. "And you know it's the best of everything? All the people who underestimated me ended up under my feet."
"Now I'll ask you one last time or my men will pay a nice visit to the Scavengers in their filthy dump. Why are you here?" He says with a look that promises pain and suffering.
So... I broke down.
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POV Justin
"As I supposed." I say humming a little. "CRM is pretty paranoid about the competition." I say while looking closely at Jadis who is completely pale in the face. It turns out that Jadis's weak point is his people, so threatening his people made things a lot easier for me.
I don't even know where the scavengers are hiding, according to the TV show they must be somewhere near Washington in some kind of a dump. I must thank my future knowledge.
"Please... don't do anything to my people, I already told you everything I knew." She responds weakly.
"Let me think about it for a second." I say with a fucking smile as I slowly start to drink a chocolate milkshake in front of her while I use a straw.
A couple of minutes later I finish my chocolate milkshake. "What benefit is there for me in letting you live?" I ask as I wipe my mouth with a napkin. "Convince me that you and your people are a good investment, after all, you tried to spy on the Empire." I say placing my hands behind my head as I watch the desperation on Jadis's face.
"And I have an excellent idea that could benefit both your people and the Empire." I say standing up and walking towards her with a knife in my hands. She flinches at my approach and at that moment I cut her bonds and move in the direction of her ear.
"Swim or drown." I whisper slowly into her ear with a shitty grin on my face. "Now you have a message to deliver to our friends in the CRM hehe." I said patting her on the back.
Minutes later.
"So you hid the radio on the outskirts of town, pretty smart of you." I say as I find myself on the outskirts of the city following Jadis along with a group of armed minions and by a group of minions, I mean around 100 heavily armed people and many armored vehicles.
My safety is the most important thing.
Jadis nods as she walks up to a tree with a strange symbol on it and begins digging with her hands into the ground, shortly after, she digs up a backpack and proceeds to pull out a radio from inside. Next, she presses the button to speak.
"This is Jadis outside of Washington." She talks rapidly into the radio as I walk over to her. "Is anyone copying me? I do not have enough time." At that moment the interference is heard and a female voice begins to transmit.
"Jadis, did you collect the information?" The female voice asks for the radio. At that, Jadis hands the radio to me.
"Looks like your little spy was captured~ too bad." I speak on the radio.
"Who speaks?" She answers seriously.
"My name is Justin and I am the leader of the Empire, I am the person who took over the Pentagon and shot down one of his helicopters in the process. Wow, did I get a lot of cool stuff from the Pentagon, the White House, and the rest of the city." I reply happily.
"What do you want?" She responds monotonously.
"Hey, come on… we don't have to be enemies, we're on the same side, right? The side of the living. We can exchange resources and knowledge among other things. Don't you think it's a bargain? I ask innocently.
"Is this some kind of bad joke, Jadis?" She answers again.
"I assure you this is not a joke, at the end of the week you will be calling me to sign a damn non-aggression agreement and a possible alliance." I answer annoyed by the radio.
At that, communication is cut off.
"Damn! They think they're great just because they have a larger community than ours, but you'll see... They'll kneel at my feet sooner or later!" I exclaimed clenching my fists.
"Okay, I'm calm now." I say sighing a little. "It's time to increase our numbers and stop hiding." I say as a smile spreads across my face.
The next day.
I am in a large underground communications room located in the Pentagon where many high-ranking people within my Empire are meeting.
"Are all the stalls ready?" I ask walking to the middle of the room.
"The Kingdom and Hilltop await your orders." Mike answers monotonously with a radio in his hands.
"The Sanctuary and the satellite station are also ready." Negan says with a smile on his face.
"Let all stations begin transmissions." I say walking towards a screen that is in the middle of the room while Mike and Negan give orders on the radios.
"Yes, Your Highness!" Many radio operators exclaim in unison as they begin to turn on their equipment.
"Let the world listen to us! Let the world know we are here!" I exclaim as I spread my hands theatrically towards the large screen in front of me showing an image of planet earth from space.
"World!... Listen to my voice!"
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POV Third Person
Ezekiel watches alongside Benjamin as the Empire's guards turn on a large satellite dish across the middle of the Kingdom. Shortly after, an old radio begins to transmit, drawing the attention of most of the residents who were watching.
"This is a transmission from the Empire operating on all frequencies..." A female voice is heard over the radio.
Ezekiel quickly goes back inside his residence and plugs an old radio into the outlet as his hands begin to shake a little.
"Ezekiel!" Jerry exclaims quickly barging into Ezekiel's residence. "The radios are transmitting." Jerry says quickly but is ignored by Ezekiel who finds himself changing stations.
"Electricity, food, schools…" A male voice says over the radio. Ezekiel quickly changes stations.
"The Empire is the solution..." Says a young voice over the radio. Ezekiel changes stations again.
"Equality for all, security for all, from the ashes we rise stronger than before..." Another voice is heard on the radio.
"They're getting ready, Jerry." Ezekiel says clenching his fists.
"Preparing for what?" Jerry asks uncertainly.
"A total war." Ezekiel says listening to the transmission while he holds his right hand tightly.
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The same situation was repeated on the Hilltop, in the Sanctuary, and in the satellite outpost of the Saviors.
Gregory is inside his study at his Hilltop residence listening to the radio broadcast as he holds a glass of liquor in his hands. "By the damned Empire." Gregory says as he makes a toast in Jesus direction.
"So this is the new world?" Jesus says crossing his arms as he listens to the Empire broadcast. "Our world is about to get bigger." Says Jesus looking out a window while his sight is focused on the horizon.
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Approaching Washington, Jadis is driving a mobile home listening to the radio broadcast while behind her vehicle several garbage trucks and many people on bicycles follow her.
"I hope this is the right choice, Jadis." Brion says.
"Swim or drown, there is no middle ground. In this case, we choose the winning side." Says Jadis as the Empire guards positioned on the road allow the caravan to pass into Empire territory.
"Home sweet home, huh?" Brion says with a smile on his old face.
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Near Galveston, Texas, a modified military vehicle is stopped near the shoreline when something in the distance caught the attention of the vehicle's crew. At that moment, the radio picked up an open signal coming from the Empire.
"Incoming signal." Says one of the members of the vehicle.
"We have weapons to face any external threat that threatens our people, ground power, air power, nuclear power..." Exclaims a male voice over the radio passionately.
Beta opens the top hatch and steps out of the vehicle, marveling at what he has in front of him. Then he extends his hands in the direction of a huge submarine that is on the coast. "We are the end of the world!" Beta exclaims starting to laugh out loud.
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In another location, at a baseball stadium, a group of people is gathered around a vehicle tuning the radio. "The transmission has hours, it is happening in most radio stations. What's going on in Washington, Mom?" Nick asks as he keeps changing the station, however, they hear the same transmission.
"Turn off the station, we are safe here... we don't need help from strangers." Madison says. "We have crops, we have water, we have security… that is all we need and it is here." Madison says, pointing with her hand to the surroundings.
"What if what they say on the radio is true? What if they really are rebuilding?" Alicia asks crossing her arms.
"Or maybe it's a trap, it seems too good to be true." Victor says making everyone present fall silent reflecting.
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Many miles away in a large walled community many high-ranking people gather inside an office.
"What does this mean for the security of the Commonwealth, Mercer?" Commonwealth Governor Pamela Milton asks as she listens to a radio broadcast.
"We have ordered to seize all the radios, however, people are asking questions… If what those Empire people are saying is true… then we might get a strong ally." Mercer says with his hands behind his back.
"Or a war against an enemy that claims to have nuclear weapons." Pamela says sighing.
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In a secret location inside a command room, many people are running from one place to another as alarms resound throughout the facility.
"The transmissions are coming from Washington and the surrounding area!" A radio operator yells. "They are transmitting on most radio frequencies." The operator stutters.
"That all forces are on high alert and ready to be deployed." Major General Beale says with his hands behind his back as he looks at a satellite image of Washington.
At that moment, a woman enters the control room with sweat all over her face. "I hope you're happy, Elizabeth. You just endangered over 150,000 people in the Civic Republic." Beale says drawing his gun and pointing it in Elizabeth's direction.
"I'll fix it! I can still fix this, the Civic Republic needs me." Elizabeth says quickly with her head held high.
"You will communicate with them and try to establish some kind of mutual protection agreement… otherwise we will wipe Washington off the map along with you." Says Beale putting his gun away.
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Numerous survivor communities around the United States also receive the broadcast. Some communities find hope in discovering that they are not alone, other communities stand by while other more ambitious communities begin to conspire.
At that moment, thousands of survivors embark on a long and dangerous journey to the promised land.
"Blessed be the Empire…a nation reborn." Many voices are heard at the same time… then the transmission begins again.