1.04 Welcome to the Show

Chapter 4

I’ll tell you basically what I told Lucilla.

I mean, I told her less personal details, mostly just the facts. The facts I wanted the government to know anyway. Alright, maybe I fudged some of the details.

Okay yes, I lied to them, I’ll admit. I can’t say I killed Mathews, Reitlin and the others, of course, so I lied.

But as I promised, I won’t lie to you. So here’s what went down.

April 12th 2088, 1 Hour before the Apocalypse Notification.

It was that particular godforsaken, buttfucked, goat-lover of a day that things started popping off. And where it started—for me at the very least—is when I was at work in the Veltech lab, and I got the phone call letting me know my brother had died.

I was working on Dr. Branderton’s neutrino detector tanks. I had just about finished, actually. Handling the grunt work in the lab really wasn’t that hard, and it didn’t exactly take a lot of thinking. I wanted to get it done fast and then make it into the breakroom to get a head start on my classwork for the week.

I had a lot to do to maintain my classes and have a job there at the same time.

Working at Veltech as an undergrad was more or less just my day job. At nineteen I was only 3 years away from receiving my degree. But, I realize this makes me sound like I’m bragging, and I know you really don’t give a shit about how great my life seemingly was before this all started.

You want to hear about the incident, I get it.

So, I was in the lab checking the tanks when Michael interrupted me.

“Hey, there’s a call for you at the front, something about the military?” His tone was uncertain, confused. When I turned to look at him, I saw his face was scrunched up in a way that told me he had no idea what was going on.

I checked my watch, seeing the time was a little too early for my brother to be calling. In those days, we tried contacting each other every other day or so, and he would ring my work number once he was off the clock in the military service.

“Huh, okay thanks,” I hung the clipboard I was holding on the hook in front of the tank station and walked toward the exit. “Cover me here will ya?”

I was gone before Michael could give me an answer. I left him in the lab looking like a gaping goldfish that had been dropped outside his water bowl.

The security guard was behind the desk when I walked into the lobby. I gave him a nod when he gestured to the phone sitting off to the side. I scooped it up to my ear with an easy smile. “Hey bro, you’re calling early today, you guys get the day off?”

“Hello, is this Mr. Pierce?” The voice on the other end was not my brother.

“Uh, yes that’s me. How can I help you?”

“Hello, I am Captain Garner with the New States Armed Forces, I am calling because I have some news for you.”

Now, in holomovies and stories it’s said that when these phone calls happen, the person receiving them always somehow knows the truth before they actually say it. There’s just some sick process in our brains that puts everything together. A pattern recognition system that doesn’t give a damn about the actual impact of the information it’s about to tell your brain. It just tells you and leaves you to handle the crushing reality that follows.

With that said, I can tell you that this common story telling trope is real. Even before the Captain on the end of the line began talking again, I knew what he was about to say. The words reached my ears but my brain had already entered a daze.

“I’m so sorry Mr. Pierce. I understand you must be shocked by—”

“How did it happen?”

I cut him off before he could start giving me condolences and platitudes. Those fake ass phrases of “I’m sorry for your loss”, “If there’s anything you need”, blah blah. That’s all just bullshit really, and I didn’t want to hear it.

“I’m sorry Mr. Pierce, I can’t divulge—”

“Tell me what happened,” I left no room for argument in my tone, and there was no way that he would deny me.

I had learned by the time I had reached adulthood, that I was rather different than most people.

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Now, I get that at this point you’ve already made some assumptions about myself, given all that you’ve been told. Such as that I’m a sociopath, that I’m an evil man with no emotional attachments and no morals. I can tell you, that is not true.

I have morals, I have emotions, loved ones, and feelings. I sympathize and empathize with the people around me. But, I also have a very unique problem in my brain…

I can choose not to give a single dust covered fuck about any of that.