Beast Machine (16 page)

Unlike Chairman Obelis’
other outposts and hideouts, the one specified for McCarthy was one
hiding in plain sight – in the sense that the house could easily be
reached. There were very minimal security measures from keeping out
journalists, cutthroats, and government agents.

The house McCarthy has been
stowed away in sat in a middle-class suburb in the Little Rock area
known as Pleasant Valley. The neighborhood was a
pleasant
mix of old and
new money families and was a neighborhood that rarely would expose
another resident as each mansion held filthy, family secrets or
immoral dealings that could ruin years of work and family history,
unless a neighbor with new money was trying to blackmail an old
money neighbor. Then it could get ugly in Pleasant Valley. But,
mostly, Pleasant Valley was almost safer than Chairman Obelis’
secluded tree-top manor in the forests of Northern California; the
only home of Chairman Obelis’ to not have any devices to keep out
unwanted guests. No one wanted to climb up a fifty-foot bamboo
ladder.

The guards that monitored
the house acted as the grandsons of McCarthy. They did not have to
worry much, as the residents in Pleasant Valley rarely interacted
with one another unless they were forced to interact. It was an
easy gig for the guards.

There hadn’t been a single
incident of McCarthy trying to escape in the months since he had
been revived from his slumber, so the guards often just relaxed on
the couch watching television with McCarthy – not saying a word.
This pleased Chairman Obelis, as he would have to dispose of
McCarthy for even a single incident that could garner any attention
from the public, mainly Pleasant Valley residents.

“
Why have you waited so
long to speak to him, boss?” Thane asked Chairman Obelis on the
drive over to Little Rock. Thane’s disturbingly white skin grew
bright in the SUV. The light from his bright skin did not penetrate
the tinted windows, however.

“
Good question, Thane,”
replied Chairman Obelis. “I am hopeful that McCarthy will acquiesce
to our time – our technology that we use by being exposed to it
slowly. It wouldn’t be wise to instantly throw the man into the
fire; he’d be useless to us, as he would likely suffer extreme
culture shock.” Chairman Obelis licked his lips and drank a brown
liquid out of a wooden cup. “I’ve also had a room fitted
specifically as a ‘safe haven’ for McCarthy to return to if the
modern times became too overwhelming for the old coot.”

“
Boss, you are so smart. I
could not even imagine coming up with a plan like that,” said Thane
with a great reverence for Chairman Obelis. His skin began to glow
as bright as a light bulb and the tinted windows could no longer
fully contain the light from his skin. Thane was undoubtedly
attracted to Chairman Obelis, yet it wasn’t a sexual attraction
that Thane had for his boss like Jeffrey certainly had. Thane saw
Chairman Obelis as the father he never had and never
knew.

Thane was often told during
his youth at an orphanage in Boca Raton that he had been abandoned
because he was a “gross white glowing freak that no person would
ever love.” The children of the orphanage used Thane as their
verbal punching bag. Hurling taunts and chides and swears at Thane
whenever they had the chance to do so.

Chairman Obelis and Thane
arrived at the cheery homestead well after the sun had set. Thane
contained his glowing before exiting the vehicle. He apparently had
harnessed the ability to stifle the glow. Did he think depressing
thoughts to quell the glow or could he control it when
necessary?

“
He’s in his room,” one of
the guards relayed to Chairman Obelis. “He slowly has been
acclimating to the modern times like you wanted. I taught him how
to use the Internet and did my best at directing him to the proper
resources to update him on important history he may have missed. He
is obsessed with communism and the Soviets.” The second guard poked
the speaking guard slightly and motioned for the speaking guard to
continue. “Ah, yes, he’s also obsessed with BDSM and brunettes. I
let him browse those sites because you never said to limit his
Internet usage…”

“
Wonderful, just
wonderful,” smiled Chairman Obelis at the guard. “Thane, stay here
with these loyal gentlemen as I meet with our good friend.” Thane
obeyed and assumed a guard position. Chairman Obelis walked through
the house to the basement door.

Chairman Obelis walked
slowly down the creaky basement steps. This may have been the first
time in decades where his nerves were getting the best of him. He
had worked out billion dollar mergers, had threats made to his life
by warlords and frequently made trips to crime-ridden areas, but
talking to an old man made him the most nervous he had been in
decades. His anxiety perplexed him. He approached the door to
McCarthy’s room slowly.

“
Knock, knock,” chimed
Chairman Obelis as he opened McCarthy’s door. Smells instantly hit
Chairman Obelis like a ton of bricks. The room smelled like a
mixture of a church pew, scotch and moldy casserole; a stench that
caused Chairman Obelis to feverishly wrinkle his nose.

McCarthy was hunched over a
tiny desk furiously scribbling on lined paper. He didn’t notice
Chairman Obelis enter the room.

“
Hello? Senator McCarthy?”
said Chairman Obelis.

“
What is it?” shouted
McCarthy as he kept scribbling on his lined paper. He seemed to
have been writing like mad for some time. His drab clothes were
drenched in sweat and his hair – what was left of it – was pointing
in all directions. “I already ate dinner, leave me
alone.”

“
Mr. McCarthy, I am
Chairman Obelis. The one that has…” paused Chairman Obelis as he
examined the 1950s pinup girl on McCarthy’s wall, “revived you for
your services. I need your ability to have the public – the
American public – eat right out of your hand. Well, my hand in this
case.” Chairman Obelis kept his eyes on the pinup girl.

She was a curvy brunette
with tight curls and ruby red lipstick. Her legs were crossed in a
position that left some imagination for her admirers. The woman was
the only colorful part of the poster as the rest of it had faded
into a lackluster brown.

“
Revive? You mean awaken!”
shouted McCarthy as he slapped his desk. “I wasn’t supposed to be
‘revived’ for another fifty god damn years – at minimum. That’s
what I was told!” McCarthy kept scribbling on his paper. His body
began to sweat more and the scribbling slowly gained in ferocity.
He stopped and turned his head slightly to yell, “Who the fuck even
are you? Some goose-necked faggot?” McCarthy laughed and slammed
his hand loudly on the desk.
THWACK.

Chairman Obelis didn’t
budge when McCarthy shouted or slapped the desk, nor did he budge
when McCarthy tossed a slur his way. His eyes were still swallowing
up the pinup girl.

“
Quite a beauty, this
brunette,” said Chairman Obelis with a smirk. “She hollows out my
hungry eyes in a way that no one has in a long time. I’ve never
seen someone quite like her. In person, at least.”

McCarthy looked up from his
desk and eyed the pinup girl. “She
was
quite a beauty,” thought McCarthy.
He coughed loudly at Chairman Obelis, “So, you aren’t some
faggot?”

“
I am not a faggot, no. But
I would like to kindly ask you to refrain from using such words,
Senator.”

McCarthy stood up from his
desk and measured up his guest. Chairman Obelis wasn’t muscular but
he wasn’t frail; thin but sturdy as he was often described. There
was something to Chairman Obelis’ behavior that made McCarthy
curious. “Why haven’t you tried to dispose of me?”

“
Because I need you,
Senator. I need you to help me become President of the United
States of America. I need you to help me understand how the
government truly works.”

McCarthy guffawed loudly
then slapped his knee. He slapped his desk loudly again.
THWACK
.

“
Why do you want to even
become President? You’ll have a giant target on your back. Besides,
when you become President you don’t even get to call the shots. All
these fucking bureaucrats wriggle their way into every meeting;
into every injunction; into every fucking ‘secret’ meeting.”
McCarthy had subconsciously balled both of his hands into
fists.

“
Believe me: when I become
President – with your help – I will be running the
show.”

McCarthy scoffed, “What
makes you think that you’ll be running the show?”

“
Because I know you didn’t
jail communists because they were communists; you jailed, and
killed some, because you were paid and told to do so by these
‘bureaucrats’ you, oh, so dearly despise,” stated Chairman Obelis,
his voice becoming louder. He finally turned towards McCarthy. “I
know that you falsely accused hundreds of people in an attempt to
fight communism and socialism and foreigners and atheism, so the
U.S. government would look like they gave a damn about the Soviet
Union and the nuclear war on the horizon. I am not scared of the
people that paid you off and told you to do that, but I need your
help to find exactly who they are – what they are. That’s mostly
why I need you.”

McCarthy sat down in his
desk. He ripped up the sheets he had been scribbling on and took a
few deep breaths. He rubbed the top of his head and said, “Finally,
I can stop acting like a fucking idiot.”

Taken aback, Chairman
Obelis asked, “What? What do you mean?”

“
Ever since I was revived –
awakened – whatever – I’ve been acting like I still wanted, still
needed to find communists. I figured that whatever person or
organization revived me would want me to oust more communists –
it’s why I faked my heart attack in the first place.”

McCarthy began to slowly
pace around the room whilst talking with his hands. He became much
calmer the longer he spoke about his past.

“
I was told I could either
be used
later
in
human history to help the cause against communism, or the next
great threat, or I could be disposed of right
then and there
. I chose the former
because I wanted to live. I wanted to live and maybe have a chance
to get away from the horrible acts I committed against good people.
The idea of forgiveness was what made me want to still
live.”

“
This is not the McCarthy I
expected… This is,” said Chairman Obelis softly, “this is too easy.
Do you really want forgiveness? You never seemed like the type to
want that sort of luxury; you seemed like the type that opted for
cheap liquor and petty revenge.”

“
Yes, of course I want
forgiveness,” said McCarthy. He began to rub his scraggly hair
nervously and placed his left hand in his back pocket.

“
Stop lying to me, Joe,”
commanded Chairman Obelis as he stood face-to-face with the
Senator.

“
Fuck off, you frail
sack-of-shit!” screamed McCarthy as he turned his back on Chairman
Obelis. “I’m no cotton-pickin’ liar!” He spat on the ground and
rubbed his foot on the brown saliva. McCarthy grimaced fiercely at
his guest over his shoulder.

“
Refrain from such words,
please,” Chairman Obelis kindly stated. “Tell me the truth and you
won’t have to be tortured.”

“
Ha! Torture me with what?
Your ball sack of a personality?” McCarthy walked over and took a
violently swig out of his scotch bottle. “I’m not a liar,
Obelis.”

“
I’m not going to be the
one torturing you, Senator,” smiled Chairman Obelis.

“
Some body guard or your
faggot lover?” quipped McCarthy. He took another violent swig out
of his scotch bottle.

“
No. I’ll release you to
the bureaucrats that you so greatly despised,” said Chairman
Obelis.

McCarthy’s breathing went
slow. His eyes crossed and then he began to blink fast. “You… You
would what? You would be killing yourself!” stammered
McCarthy.

“
I don’t care, as long as I
know you would be suffering.”

“
How would you even do it?
How would you even be able to get their attention?”

“
I’m a billionaire. I’d
just set up a press conference and grab the world’s attention. One
of them is bound to see it and realize you’re back in this reality,
out of your coma. They’d find you so quickly that your head would
spin… Spin off.”

McCarthy took two more
violent swigs of his scotch bottle. “You have no idea what they
would do to you – do to me! They… They can make you feel the pain
of all those that have died before…” McCarthy sat down in his desk
and rubbed his temples.

“
They could slice up your
limbs like it was nothing… then the limbs come right back… the
growing hurts more… and cut them off again. It’s a living hell.
There’s so, so much more horrific…disgusting acts that they
committed against humanity,” McCarthy coughed loudly into his
hands. “All because they think they’re helping
humanity.”

Chairman Obelis walked over
to McCarthy and bent down to his eye level. “So we’re in agreement
then? You help me become President and control America, then we
find these inhumane cultists?”