THE LAST MAN: Part Thirty-eight

"Spared the furnaces,” sneers the Man from Police, one of the judges of my so-called trial. Gone are the robes he wore for the trial. He is dressed in the dark Section Twenty-one uniform, with helmet and goggles around his neck. He is weighted heavily by body armor, to the extent that his smaller frame (much smaller and weaker then the troops bred for his command) frame. A pistol sits in the holster across his body.

“You will not escape a bullet,” he says.

“What have I done?” I say, drawing Desiree behind me. “Nothing!”

“Call it maintaining the public order,” he replies. The Man from Police unsnaps the pistol and draws it from the holster. He holds it against his thigh.

“On whose authority?”

“I am the Minister of Police. I don’t need anyone’s authority.” He motions to the Reclamation Center, or what remains. “Especially after what your friends in the Low City have perpetrated.”

“I have not taken any sides in this conflict.”

He scoffs. “No one holds that luxury any longer, even if I could believe you weren’t somehow complicit.”

His finger slips over the trigger guard. There is nowhere for Desiree and I to go. We stand at the edge of the crater. Death is certain, no matter how good the Minister’s aim is. He raises the gun, aiming it at us from the hip. Slowly he pulls the slide back to chamber a round.

“But you have not heard?” I say. He pauses, lowering the weapon a little.

“Heard what?”

“The exile order.”

“Exile order?”

“From the Corporation. They have ordered that I be exiled from the city.”

“You must think me a fool,” he says. “I have never heard of such a thing.”

“Fair enough,” I reply, “but what sort of example will the Corporation make of a Minister who takes it upon himself to countermand a decree?”

He thinks for a moment. I know he believes it is a ruse, but it creates enough doubt that he relents.

“I will make the call. For now you enjoy a temporary stay of execution, but when I confirm what I already know I will shoot her first so that you may see her die.”