Story - Awaken Chapter: Awaken
Zach sat on his haunches and looked out at the water. The lake was completely still, reflecting the beautiful sky above. It was about as Carolina blue as could be and he hoped that the Big Man would smile kindly on this Tar Heel. He needed all the help he could get.
A twig cracked behind Zach, sounding less like a gunshot and more like the time he’d gotten his arm broken during his last game against Duke. His career as a quarterback was over after that, so he decided to go pre-law and oddly enough finished his degree as a Demon Deacon. That had earned him no small amount of ribbing from his fraternity brothers. A second noise, this one a bit closer, brought him out of his reverie. He stood, straightening his dark blue jeans and letting them settle in place brushing the tops of his brown leather work boots. A turn brought him to face the Secret Service agent who was the source of the disturbance.
“Can you keep it down son. I’m trying to concentrate.” Zach snapped.
“Yes Mister President. Sorry.” The too young redhead in his dark suit nodded.
All of these young men, willing to give their lives for mine. Zach thought to himself. Would it be worth it? Of course given what he knew, that death didn’t need to be permanent, but resurrecting the dead was no mean feat. One needed to choose the recipient carefully and the boon probably wouldn’t be “wasted” on an agent, a soldier, or Hell, even a surly old lawyer from Chapel Hill, President or no.
He turned back to the lake to think. The girl that had been chosen for this year’s gift had died early the year before. Sue Walton had been on one of those little Sunfish sailboats, barely big enough for two. She was by herself and a stiff breeze had blown out of the east, making the light boom swing unexpectedly, knocking her overboard. That was how the police felt it had gone down anyway.
Her parents, were big in real estate, tobacco, wine, you name it. They had hired a New York City lawyer to fill out the application. The White House received thousands of applications a year, more than that if you considered all the ones that didn’t follow the protocol. The lucky “winner” each year got to be brought back from the dead. There were all manner of conditions, naturally. The corpse had to be in good shape. They could not have a criminal record. The Book of Life as it had come to be called was a good six inches thick with rules and regs. Thankfully the choice was ultimately out of the President’s hands.
Zack didn’t know how anyone would be able to sleep at night if they had to make such a choice. Thankfully, it was left to popular vote. Starting January first, you could go online and vote for that year’s beneficiary. Votes closed November thirtieth and on December fifteenth it would be done. Though no one knew it for sure, there was a certain amount of corruption. The Net was full of speculation and in this particular case money had indeed changed hands and that was what would bring young Sue back.
He could barely sleep and hadn’t been able to eat well all month. It had been the same on the other two occasions. The thoughts of those thousands, Hell, tens of thousands of folks that qualified and them not being able to receive his touch nearly drove him out of his mind. Still, if it had to be anyone, little Sue was a good choice. He would have voted for her himself if he had been allowed to.
Resolve firm, he turned to look at the dais. There she lay, looking asleep rather than dead. He chuckled bitterly at the thought of Jesus having merely to say “Awaken.” If only it were that easy. The process itself almost was. There was no animal sacrifice or ancient incantations. It was quite scientific and incredibly expensive. That was the only barrier really. The cost was a cool trillion dollars, but it was well worth it PR-wise. Being the only country with the technology and using it to bring back regular citizens had gone a long way towards making the US look like the good guys again.
The men in white coats kept saying that they were so close to making it widely available. Given his position and knowledge, Zach knew that was so much BS. It would be decades if not another century before anyone but the richest could afford it and that was if the United States gave up the secrets. So far as he knew they had kept this secret much more effectively than they had the nuclear bomb. The irony of that wasn’t lost on him.
He climbed the stairs and waved his hand over the input panel. Cold wind whipped off the lake and tousled his thick white hair. It also served to dry his tears. He probably looked like an old fool. Oh there were plenty of cameras on him. Nothing that could pierce the veil of secrecy, but the American people demanded to be front and center. They had chosen her, so they thought, and they would see her take her first breath.
He said a brief prayer, more for his own benefit than for the ultra-sensitive mics that nevertheless picked up his words. “I pray the Lord my soul to keep” was the extent of what they got, thanks to lake wind. The sequence of numbers complete, he then placed his hand on the flat glass. A swift pain shot through his palm as his blood was sampled. Then a larger portion was taken. It was just enough so that Sue would get the nanomachines her body needed to reknit her flesh.
The process complete on his end he stood back and waited. It wouldn’t take long. That was the truly freakish thing about it. A few minutes and she would be up and among the living. His sadness would be abated once he saw that.
Sure her parents had bought this second chance with their money and power. Of course there were others perhaps more deserving. There was nothing fair about this, but then nothing in life was fair. Who you were born to was up to either Divine Providence or chance, depending on how you thought about such things. Why should this be any more or less fair?
The young lady sat up slowly. Her long dark braids framed a face full of young, pure beauty. She looked more than a little confused and somehow disappointed. That seemed to be the usual state and persisted until it was explained to them through the months of counseling that would follow exactly what happened.
Zach never heard the shot. He saw her jerk and then felt something slam into his chest. There hadn’t been an assassination attempt in three decades. Maybe everyone had gotten a bit lazy. He thought about that and about how he hoped they would have to let young Sue rest and about how he hoped they would just lower his old body into the welcoming Carolina clay. All of these thoughts filled his head in the time that it took his body to hit the ground.
“I pray the Lord my soul to keep, just let me sleep, just let me sl…” Were his last words, caught by those mics, as he closed his eyes.
