Chapter 61 Two cats on the windowsill

When there was another open round of questions. Saskia speaks up.

"Well, my aunt was also in Vienna and when she came back and saw that Bill was there too. She grabbed him and he gave in a bit."

"The question?"

"He said you were the guy who was in town and freed my brother as a sex toy."

" Yeah that's right. So what's your question?"

" Why my aunt so late?"

"I didn't know they were there, just like I didn't know your brother was there," he sighed. 

He pulled the remote control out of his pocket and activated the projector. The map of Vienna was displayed.

"To answer your question."

"Sarge, there's a cat perched on the windowsill," Lina said with a grin.

Sarge looked at the window where Liz was crouching and grinned. 

Saksia looked irritated, especially when he opened the window.

A student in front of Saksia turned to her. 

"That's the woman from Sarge."

Liz stared at him, then looked at Sarge.

"Well? Thought you were too busy."

" I wanted to show off my glasses. Sue helped me pick them out." 

She pointed to a pair of frameless glasses that 0 stood out.

"Fits."

She drew her eyebrows together.

" Liz! Can't you come through the door like a normal person. You said just briefly, I emphasize briefly! Your glasses."

 Luke groaned.

Saskia looked at him as she sat next to him at the next table.

"What?"

"My mother..."

"Come down, we wanted to buy a present for Mei and April."

Liz leaned forward. 

"Can't we do it later, he said something about Vienna," she grinned and looked at Luke.

"Woe!" he began, but too late. Sue crouched down next to Liz by the window. She was wearing a tracksuit, which in Luke's experience she always wore when she wasn't working or traveling. 

"Hi kids, don't mind us. We just want to hear your story."

Luke banged his head against his desk. 

Sarge cleared his throat.

" You want to say something Luke?" 

Luke looked up.

" Yeah. Mom...door? Like a normal person?"

"Honey, it was quicker that way. Otherwise I would have walked around the whole building and then up the stairs..."

She smiled innocently.

"And the building has so many landings to climb up."

"It's the principle, Mom, first you tell your sister something like that and then you copy her."

She looked at him, grinning.

"Oops, totally forgot. "

" You really can't make this stuff up ..." he grabbed his face.

" Uhh Sue look, like Dad. " She took a photo with her cell phone. 

Sue nodded. 

Sarge cleared his throat. 

They both fell silent.

"Even if it confuses you, he doesn't have privileges."

"Thank goodness. Can we get on with it before those two concoct something?" he commented. 

"Good idea. So before I was interrupted, the helicopter always came from this direction" A dot appeared. 

"Your brother Saskia was here." 

A dot appeared in the approach path.

"Your aunt, her husband and daughter were here."

A dot appeared on the other side of the map.

"I found your brother when I was securing the flight path for the helicopter."

He looked at her.

" Bill, can you stand pictures?"

" It's just sounds. I don't care about pictures..."

" Good." 

He clicked and a freeze frame of an approaching helicopter appeared.

" The helicopter came 34 times every 2 days. I had 1 day each time to locate survivors, take them to the reception center, bring them to safety, etc.

" Images of infected flooded streets appeared, then images of people with guns, civilians and security guards having their badges ripped off. Picture clicked on same place, infected people lying dead on the ground, a picture went on and you saw kneeling people. 

People with a shield in their hands, you could see coffins, boots, legs and a knife. 

"Ey, where's my knife anyway..." 

Sarge looked at her.

"You'll get it tonight, I said I had to have it sharpened."

"But it was already blunt when you took it ohh..." she looked at the picture. 

Saskia looked at Luke, who was only half looking ahead and drawing on the side instead.

"What does she mean by ohh?" she asked quietly.

"He decapitated her with a blunt blade," he replied quietly.

"And why decapitated her?" she asked further.

"Saskia, do you have a question?"

She looked forward.

" I just wanted to know why ohh and why decapitated."

" Well, since you got the first answer and yes it's true, I'll answer the second. It's an outdated method of execution that was used against bandits in the first wave of the plague."

"So it also has a symbolic meaning?" asked Saksia.

"Yes. And does anyone know what it is?"

Luke didn't see a hand go up, he had no idea either. He saw Liz raise her hand.

"Me me me," Sarge looked at her.

"But in a way that she can understand."

She nodded eagerly.

"Then go ahead and shoot."

"It's about what the north block represents. No matter where in the world. The North Block watches over the people. " 

She paused for a moment, thinking. "Or as my mother used to say, your father did, that any bandit, anywhere. The army strikes."

Sue patted him on the head.

"You did good, that really sounded like your mama. Only she cursed more."

"That's right. Can I swear some more?"

Sarge looked at her.

" No." 

She stuck out her tongue.

"Good, did you understand what she was trying to say?"

Bill raised his hand hesitantly.

" Yes Bill?"

" Well... the first part was clean.... but the second part was right in Vienna. The guys I was with were scared. The boss of them was a security guy. He said the exact same thing before he killed himself and we were fucked."

" Very well said Bill, that's the will of the Northern Bloc, or stands for it. "

Luke raised his hand.

"What is Luke?"

" Well, the last program I watched showed the drone image of everyone who was executed. It discussed why the outdated and no longer used way happened and why these criminals weren't brought to justice when the shields went out to try them in front of the people."

Sarge looked at him.

"You're watching this?"

"The only thing that distracted me was that it was pretty loud at my house that night, my father was visiting."

" Loud?" Sue looked at him.

" Oh right, go on George."

He looked at the map and a dot appeared.

"This is the place where the executions took place, these are the movement routes of the survivors, including the bandits."

Lines appeared, all leading across the square.

"Everyone had to go through here because of the infected and because of the route I took. What they don't say on the show is the stress and horror that the people on the ground have. The security was only there sporadically, 1/4 of those who were still alive took care of the refugees. The rest blew the whistle and rose to power themselves. For the loyal ones it was a sign that they weren't alone, for the traitors it was a sign that it was their turn and that I had time. It worked."

The images changed, showing fear-distorted bandits and dead infected, then bandits carrying the bodies away.

"How did the helicopters know where the refugees were?" asked Lina.

"They didn't know. I installed a direction finder and had it land on a prepared area where the people could get in. It also took a while to fill the emergency bunker where the last refugees came in. I lured them there with information messages. After the last helicopter, I had four days until the protective shield went up."

"My aunt said she was inside for four days," comments Saskia. 

"Four days without civilians to watch out and prepare the city for the people."

"Can I ask you why you did that? I mean surely there were ways to get on a helicopter or just be inside when the floodgates closed instead of being in the city." Saskia continued to look at him. 

Sarge looked at her and smiled. 

"For two reasons, the first is that I'm sitting there on the windowsill. The other reason is I didn't want the assholes who did this to win, after Vienna would have come Rome, Prague, Seattle and so on. They would have gone on fire."

He clicked on the remote control, a movie started playing, you could hear bandits laughing maliciously and a woman pleading. There was an audible beep beep and the woman vomited mucus, her skin turned gray and blistered, bursting and oozing pus. She screamed and ran towards a bandit who shot her, laughing.

Everyone in Luke's class stared dumbfounded at the video.

"I set up cameras all over town and this happened when I was taking care of your Aunt Saskia and her group or one of the other groups. This," he points to the picture.

"Would be normal if they had won."

Bill stared at the picture. 

"I heard that sound before Sed became a freak. " 

"Bill, we always thought you weren't vaccinated."

Saskia laughed.

"He was vaccinated in kindergarten and cried. Mom had to take him in her arms."

"You cried too and crawled into Daddy's arms."

 She smiled. 

"He wanted to be cool in front of his friends."

"But back in the tunnel..." Lina began.

"I put the bracelet in my pocket when I came out of the exam."

"Five minute break, then it's on to math. "

Luke saw Liz pull a cigarette out of Sarge's pocket, plant a kiss on his mouth, and jump onto the windowsill.

"See you next class, kids," and she hopped out. Sue sighed.

"Luke, don't forget to be at your grandfather's at four today." She lifted Liz up.

Saskia looked out of the window at Luke, confused. He had put his head down on the table.

"What's at four o'clock?" 

"It's my mom's birthday, and because she forgot to go shopping, she's celebrating at his place." 

"Doesn't he mind?"

"Well, he has one of those delivery systems that every house here on the island has. You type in what you want delivered on the tablet and it's delivered to the fridge. All you have to do is take it out of the fridge and put it away. But my mother forgets to order. "

"Can't you order?"

Luke turns his head and looks at her with a grin.

"ID protected, the landlord registers who can order and in my case my name hasn't been on the register since I was 5...thanks" He hugged her, jumped up and ran to the open window. 

He could still see his mother slowly walking away with Liz giggling, he put his foot on the window sill and jumped, it wasn't until he was flying down that he realized what he had done.

"Shit!" He landed hard, rolled across the floor and came to a stop, breathing heavily.

Liz's face slid into his field of vision.

 " I give you 1 out of 10."

Sue put her hand on his forehead. 

" You don't have a fever."

He sat up, still feeling dizzy.

" You didn't put me in the system for the fridge..." 

She looked at him.

" That's right, we did. " She pulled out her cell phone and clicked on it. Liz had her phone and smiled as she sent something. 

"Before aunt Liz... " what did you do? "

" You'll see when you look at your phone."

She hugged him. 

" Now go up to your class. Tell George to be there at four o'clock."

Luke nodded and stood up. Sue pocketed her cell phone and hugged him.

"Now that you're in, can you go shopping at the store today? The usual and pick up something for breakfast.

"Will do, Mom." Luke walked towards the wall and followed the tracks up the wall, just before the window he lost his footing and was grabbed by the collar by Sarge, pulled inside and set down.

"Were you thinking when you jumped out?" 

" Um... no... I just wanted to say something."

" Were you?"

" Yes. Liz told me that you should be there at 4pm."

" Good. What did you do with Saskia?"

He looked at him questioningly, looked at her, everyone giggled. Saskia sat frozen in her seat.

"She gave me an idea...I thanked her and hugged her...I mean...I did that to everyone.... Also to Eddi who does the German Suplex then. Leo too and Lina too, even Ted..." 

"That's right!" came from Eddi. Luke looked at Sarge.

"She's not used to hugs," came from Bill. Saskia turned cherry red. 

"Sorry Saskia, habit, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. " he began. She stood up and hurried out. Luke looked after her uncomprehendingly.

"She'll be back, she needs to come down first."

Luke, sit down, I'll check," Sarge said and walked out.

He sat down in his seat, took his cell phone out of his pocket, it flashed, he turned it on and saw the text messages. They congratulated him and gave him points. Sighing, he put the cell phone back in his pocket. 

Sarge came back with Saksia, she sat down again. 

"I cleared it with her, no more jerky hugs Luke, if you want to hug, hug normally." 

"Okay." He looked at Saksia. "Nothing jerky."

" Agreed, you get 2 out of 10 points for the jump." 

He banged his head on the table.

" Come on Luke, Saskia gave you the highest score."

" Thanks Saskia, that means for me next to my grandpa and my mom, who also gave me 2 points, the rest is 1."

" Congratulations, but we'll practise jumping with you."

" Then please without an audience outside."

" Why?" asked Saskia.

He tilted his head in her direction.

" Bill, how soon will your family find out if your sister films you doing it? "

"Ten minutes, then everyone will know."

" I still don't understand what he means ..."

" Don't worry about it. " Leonore giggled. " No matter where he goes, there's always someone from his family there. Hm?" Her cell phone buzzed and she looked at it, raising an eyebrow. 

"Luke, my dad gives you a point and a half, how the hell did he figure out ..."

 "Great, thanks Leo. "

Sarge cleared his throat.

"Break's over now. Luke scrape together what's left of your dignity for class. "

He sat up straight.

" Good. Don't worry about it for later."

" Good attitude about jumping off the roof later, you don't need to think about that."

He put his head back on the table.

"Great, I brought about a family event."

" Luke ready for math?" 

He raised his thumb and then his head. Saskia looked at him, still uncomprehending, and then turned to the class. 

Luke didn't think about later for the rest of the lesson. When the bell rang and everyone stood up, he looked at his watch. He still had 2 hours free and had to go shopping. So 1 hour and he still had to wrap the presents. They wished him good luck. Luke went outside to his scooter. Which he then rolled out into the street.

"I still don't get it Luke. Don't you like your family?"

" But I like my family, it's just the consequences of doing something wrong that bother me. "

She still looked at him questioningly.

"You can come over, you can get something from the grill and you can make up your own mind. Dress casually."

" I can't!" 

"She can, but our aunt would have to come with us."

Luke looked at Bill, who smiled at his sister.

He typed something into his cell phone.

"I don't have the access authorization number from either of you."

Bill pulled out his and held it out to Luke, it beeped on both. Bill took Saksia's cell phone and held it up to Luke's. She looked at him in horror.

"Bill, what are you doing?" 

Luke sent over the access authorization. He had permission to invite someone from the class. Saskia looked at her cell phone.

"Access authorization for the military area? " She looked at him.

"I live there, the system knows who lives and or works there, the class often goes to the grounds to get to the sports equipment, the school here doesn't share it with us. We are in the final year building. The last years are in there. At the moment, we're the only year group in there."

"And how do you know that?"

On the street, a jeep pulled up in the tahara with two younger teenage girls, about 15 years old. 

"Look, he's still there," one of them said."

Luke looked. 

" Yo Aunt Tahara!" he thought and walked to the jeep.

" Jas, Jay!" said the two girls. 

Luke looked at them.

"Two points," they yelped.

Tahara patted Luke's head.

"Kids, at least you started."

Both girls stuck their tongues out at her. 

"Auntie, I just want to make sure, the access authorization, does it apply to chaperones?"

She looked at Luke. 

A large limousine parked behind Tahara and honked its horn. Saskia hurried to her.

"She's coming. Dreescode?" came from Bill, who had to recover briefly from the honking. 

Tahara looked at Luke. 

"He's scared, he was in Vienna."

"I see, and the other one?"

"His sister invited her, so she understands why I moan every time I get caught."

Tahara grinned and patted Luke's head.

"That's just the Luke family. "

She looked at Bill. "Tell whoever brings her. That the authorization is for the road up to the settlement. Should be on the authorization," she looked at Luke, who dodged the two girls who wanted to hug him. 

"Dress code. Casual clothes, preferably swim trunks and something over it. "

"So like a pool party?"

" More like beach and ocean and there's Luke" She tapped him on the head and dodged." " Ahh, my dad and his brother are just setting up the diving platform before he lands in the water.

"Ahh and I had to do some shopping," he squatted down.

"Then hurry up, rush hour is about to start. So curly clothes and swimwear are best, it doesn't have to be anything fancy. "

Bill nodded and headed for the limo, which sped off once he was inside.

"I'll see you later, Luke," she sped off. Leo came running up, panting. 

"What should we wear? My dad wants to know, he said Alex invited him because we live nearby and it gets loud."

"Swimming trunks and something loose over them, tell Eddi to put on loose pants."

"Loose pants? " She thought about it. 

" Leo, the other day at the swimming pool he was wearing ass-eating swimming trunks, remember?"

She grinned. 

"Because my mom drew one at our last birthday for whose ass could get the reddest handprint, and she won. Shorts Leo, but if you want a laugh maybe. Tell Eddi to come in swimming trunks."

She grinned, hugged him, and ran back to the main parking lot. Luke hopped on his scooter and did the shopping. He just managed to get home, put things in the fridge, change his clothes. 

Put presents in a box and then out. He struggled to his grandfather's house.

"What heavy things do I have to get..." he muttered. He barely made it to the front door and his mother opened the door for him.

"Wuhhh, done, here are my presents for you," he handed her the box. She took it with difficulty.

"What have you got in there?" 

Luke leaned forward and gasped for breath.

"Grandpa said they should be junk presents or something funny and you said you wanted something from the heart. Each one says who it's for." Sue looked at the box. Then she looked at Luke. 

"They all look the same."

Luke grinned. "I've been doing some painting, using the time."

"Then I'm curious." Sue put the box with the presents in the living room. 

"They're all in the back garden. Didn't you tell Leo about the swimsuits? "

" Yes, she asked about them too. "

" And why is her boyfriend there in swimming trunks?"

Luke grinned.

" Leo is just a devil, mom. "

Sue just shook her head and went into the garden. Luke looked at his cell phone, yes, he had made it just in time. 

The doorbell rang.

"Luke answer it," it came from one of his aunts. He sighed and shuffled barefoot to the door.