บท 42: Chapter 42: Lord Apollo and Camp York
When the convoy came to a stop once again, Caity slowly got off her SUV. Her legs were sore as hell. She was about to stretch when she saw a figure right next to her, carefully scanning the surrounding.
"Oh god…" Caity growled in frustration. "Come on, Katherine! I'll be fine!"
When Katherine said she would be happy to die for Caity, Caity already knew something was off. Later, she heard a report from Cara that Katherine was spreading some sort of news among the local girls they rescued. In Katherine's words, Caity was the only one who could save this world from the Mutant abominations and craft a new civilization on the ashes of the old one. Only by following Caity could one find salvation.
In a sense, Katherine was making Caity a god.
Caity was a bit disturbed at first, but Cara explained to her she shouldn't worry about it.
"These women have gone through traumatizing experiences." The assistant explained. "In a world like this where everyone and everything they care about is gone, they need something to keep them going. Katherine is instilling hope in them."
"By making me a deity!" Caity remembered complaining. "What am I? The new Jesus Christ?"
"Well, maybe a religion is exactly what these locals need to keep going." Cara wasn't so opposed to the idea. "As long as it helps them to get back to Fortress Alpha, well, there can be no lasting damages. Plus, do you remember why we're here? The more secretive reason."
Caity didn't answer, but she knew what Cara was talking about.
The Phasewalkers have encountered quite a few locals, hostile or not. When they brought these locals back to Fortress Alpha, they inevitably tried an experiment: Sending these locals through the Portal.
The result was disturbing. The restrictions applied to the people of Earth didn't exist on the locals of World Alpha. Every local that tried to cross the Portal made it straight to Earth, safe and sound.
In other words, the only thing stopping an army of Mutants from pouring across the Portal was the covertness of the Portal and the Phasewalker Corps. If both of those measures failed, then the President and Section X would be wondering which nuclear warhead to drop on the Portal.
That discovery caused quite some fear, and it was quickly marked as a secret even from many Phasewalkers. If this news got out and the population on Earth knew they were just one step away from being slaughtered like sheep, Earth wouldn't even last until the Phasewalkers fell. Civil unrest would bring down the governments before the Mutants.
But at the same time, that opened up an opportunity. If Mutants and survivors could go to Earth through the Portal, then so could scientists and engineers from World Alpha. Having advanced weapons and machines to pull apart was good, but what was better? Having living, breathing human scientists to teach you how everything worked.
One of the reasons Caity was on this trip was to track down some valuable individuals from Camp York. Apollo and his Mutants didn't give a damn about former weapon researchers or physicists, but Earth needed those people.
"If Katherine's story gets some momentum, it will make it much easier to bring those people back to Fortress Alpha, willingly," Cara suggested.
Caity had to say yes. Still, she felt really uncomfortable around Katherine. She was born a human, and she had no intention of achieving godhood. Being treated as a diety only made her cringe.
Aryan walked up to Caity.
"We should be close to York. I'd say it's a few more kilometers until we find some York sentries." He grinned. "Let's hope they're in a better stance than the Marine back there."
Caity let out a small, polite smile.
---
Twenty minutes later. Camp York.
It has been obvious the Mutants that made up the ruling class of Camp York didn't give a damn about if the common people lived or died. Actually, a slight correction. They did care somewhat. That was the only reason why when they could, the Mutants lent a hand and saved the people against Mutant Animals. Without them, Camp York would've been a field of corpses a long time ago.
But just like a lot of other things in World Alpha, the Mutants under Apollo didn't do it because they were compassionate or selfless. They acted for one reason: human beings were social animals. What was the point in living if you were the only people alive in the region?
The Mutants, with all their power, wanted a lot of things. Glory. Gratitude. Sex. Respect. Some of them wanted to be seen as heroes while others just enjoyed the servitude of others.
Consequently, this resulted in a weird political situation in Camp York.
Lord Apollo, the only Tier 3 Mutant, was the undisputed leader of Camp York. A word from him could lead to the death of anyone he wished in the camp. Beneath him were four Tier 2 Mutants. Aryan was just one of them. Caity only knew the names of the other three Tier 2 Mutants through Liam.
Joker. Caleb. Victoria.
Caity didn't know exactly how powerful they were, but apparently, Joker was a well-known sadist with some sort of magical power. Caleb's power was something like telekinesis, and Victoria was a beautiful woman. That was it. Liam was just a low-level scout and the intel he possessed was limited.
There were a dozen more Tier 1 Mutants. They were like supermen to the common survivors, but they were nothing before the Tier 2s. Most of them pledged their allegiance to the Tier 2s for their protection. The ones that didn't, like Jacob, had a tendency of dying here and there.
Finally, among the 8,000 survivors in Camp York, 3,000 were considered troopers. These were ordinary survivors armed with all sorts of weapons they could find. Most of them had non-UEC standard weapons and only a few of them had Defender Rifles. Made up of both men and women, they were more of a militia than an army.
These 3,000 York Troopers were mostly commanded by General Johnson. Even so, the general wasn't nearly on the same level as the Mutants. In reality, he was no more than a puppet. When Apollo gave the order, he passed it down to his men. That was it. All Apollo needed to remove him was to say the words.
When the convoy made up of Phasewalkers and Aryan and his escort closed in toward Camp York, they were immediately noticed by squads of York Troopers at the gate. These sentries, with rag-tagged clothes and a variety of different weapons, looked more like bandits than soldiers.
"Halt! Identifications please!"
Caity watched as the convoy stopped briefly, and a York Trooper on the trip jumped off and talked to the sentries. Aryan himself didn't move. A few sentries weren't worth his time.
Just because he was nice and patient toward Caity didn't mean that was how he was to everyone. Caity had value. She deserved his time and respect. A few ordinary sentries? Hell no.
Caity sat back in her seat. As she waited, her eyes lingered on the outer defenses of Camp York. There was a circle of elevated ground across the premises of the camp. On top of the elevated floor were wooden spikes that were sharpened on both ends so they could be stuck into the ground and stay up.
Having seen what Mutated Animals could do in the field, Caity suspected this makeshift wall was more to keep the survivors in than to keep the Mutants out.
The gate was just an opening at the wall. Apparently, the York Troopers pulled over a few roadblocks and called it a gate. Once again, it was more of an appearance than a real barrier. Compared to the Phasewalker entrenchment at Fortress Alpha, the defenses at Camp York were pathetic.
Consequences of having a settlement led by people who could easily protect themselves and didn't give a damn about everyone else.
It didn't take long before the York sentries pulled the roadblocks to the side and let the convoy in.
When the cars moved into Camp York, Caity had to admit she was a bit curious. She has seen a few human settlements, but one with 8,000 people? She has never seen anything like this before. But her curiosities were immediately terminated when the first thing that reached her was the foul smell.
It was a mixture of bodies, human excrements, rotten food, and a million other foul breaths.
"Oh...god!" Caity couldn't help but cover her mouth. A wave of disgust mobilized in her stomach and threatened to move up. A few other Phasewalker personnel had a similar reaction, but the York personnel looked like they were more than used to all this.
"The smell here is actually better," Aryan said quietly. "The path from the gate to the Sun Throne is actually regularly cleaned. It's a hundred times better than the rest of the camp."
Regularly cleaned and it still smelled like this? How regularly?
Also, Sun Throne?
"It's where our lord of the sun resides." Aryan saw Caity's confusion and quickly explained.
Already, Caity felt herself growing more and more disgusted at this Apollo guy. He had his powers and he used it to make himself the god of the sun. He had everyone call him Lord Apollo and named his palace the Sun Throne. Fine. But if you want to be treated as a god, then at least do something for your people!
Across the road, Caity has already seen three bodies lying on the ground. Were they alive? No one knew, but chances were even if they were now, they wouldn't be for too long.
Dozens of people were strolling along the roads. Their eyes stared lifelessly at the convoy. They looked like they had lost all hope in the world. They were doomed. Chances were, sooner or later, they would collapse due to hunger, disease, or some other foul cause, never to get back up again.
Their fate was sealed.
Suddenly, a figure called out from the side. It was a woman. She was wearing a T-shirt, but the shirt's collar was pulled down on purpose to reveal more of her chest.
"One can of food and I'm yours for the night! No? Half a can!"
Caity snapped to Aryan in disbelief, who simply shrugged.
"Food has been running low in the camp for a long time. The men with guns can go out on scavenging trips to look for food, but the women...some of them can only sell the only thing they have. Their body."
"That problem doesn't seem to be bothering any of you." Cara suddenly spoke up in annoyance. She came from a relatively wealthy family, and what she was seeing here was shocking. The Phasewalker assistant couldn't even imagine what desperation the women must be going through to sell their bodies just to feed themselves.
"Lieutenant!" Caity warned.
"No, it's fine." Aryan waved his hand as if nothing happened. "And what do you think we should do here, Lieutenant?"
Cara opened her mouth, but nothing came out. It would be so easy to just say "hand out food" or "build some agriculture", but she knew none of that was possible. Camp York didn't have the food to hand out for free, and the Mutants felt like they had no responsibility of stepping in and helping. With Earth backing them, the Phasewalkers could easily stand around with full stomachs and make remarks that made themselves feel so much superior. Yet that was all they could do.
As the car kept on going, the woman's invitation died down. As she realized she wouldn't be getting paid today, her look turned to desperation. Instead of cursing or complaining, she just turned around and sat back down.
Her eyes, lifeless. Her future, hopeless.
Caity held her fist tight. What was happening to the survivors in Camp York was tragic, and if she could help them, she would. Not because she was a saint or a hero, but just because it was a decent thing to do for her fellow human beings.
At the same time, what she saw here only made her more determined in her cause. It was too late to save this world, but the least she could do was make sure her world, her Earth, wouldn't suffer the same fate.
And if that meant making a deal with the devil, and in this case Apollo, then so be it.
Earth must stand. Humanity must stand.
The convoy finally stopped in front of another wall. This time, the defenses were manned by Troopers with somewhat consistent uniforms and weapons. These were the York Troopers acting as the bodyguard to Apollo. Mutants had powers, but even they would die if someone shot them in the head in their sleep.
These Troopers were the benefited group under the current political situation of the camp, and they would fight to the end to protect Apollo and thus their privileges.
Behind their sandbags and Gauss machine guns was a building more luxurious than anything Caity has seen in World Alpha. The gates were painted completely gold. Tall columns surrounded the house, along with multiple fully armed sentries. Maids in clean clothes walked across the house, tending to its appearances and serving the people inside. They didn't look ideal, but at least they looked fed.
One of them was even watering the flowers.
Outside the walls, people were selling their dignity for half a meal.
Inside the walls, people were worried about keeping the house clean and the flowers alive.
So ironic. Yet, so painfully realistic.
This was the Sun Throne, the house of the most powerful man in Camp York, the man arrogant enough to name himself after the god of the Sun.
The man Caity was here to meet.
Tier 3 Mutant Apollo.
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