The Last Watcher

Beyond the garbage hugging the gutters and preventing water from entering the storm drains, and the telephone poles plastered with flyers in various states of disintegration, there stood an imposing concrete structure bridging the wide deserted city street. At the base of the cracked footing there was a small forgotten shrine where thin stubs of candles had long since burnt out and flower petals, once fresh with dew, had withered and blown away with the wind. One forlorn teddy bear with a stained and frayed bow guarded the once lovingly tended child's memorial. Signs from a world before the big bang.

Out of the tangled backdrop of graffiti deforming the cement, the word CELEBRATE! clearly stood out, an irreverent contradiction to the array of somber articles beneath it and to the solitary child barely visible, shivering in the dark doorway across the street. Ever vigilant, unceasingly watching, there was nothing to celebrate in the child’s eyes which were dull and downcast, her demeanor dejected. The protector was missing, presumed dead, and that meant there was no hope for any of them.

The last remaining locator was hidden among the makeshift altar items littering the sidewalk. The heart shaped locket, draped around the bears fuzzy neck and tucked under his plaid vest, held the key to saving all of humanity. The bear, with one eye missing and his head slumped over, looked as if he too, had already given up hope. If the protector was alive the locator was the only way for him to make his way back to the fold if he'd lost his beacon. The task of guarding this vital signal fell to this waif of a child, barely strong enough to stand, weak from days of watching, of no sleep and no food, unable to leave the site of the last known location of the protector for she was a watcher, not yet old enough to be a wanderer.

She pulled her fur wrap tighter, straightened her spine and refocused her gaze on the locator. There were others counting on her. The waiters were sleeping, trapped in the musty basement of an old church, powerless and on the brink of extinction. They would never awake to complete their crucial task if the protector did not return soon for only he held the power to bring them back from their state of dormancy, only he had the capacity to produce more beacons that would attract even more silent wanderers to their fledgling army.

Each member needed their own beacon, to be awake and to be seen by other warriors, to be able to wander, invisible to the enemy, invisible to all unless they too held a beacon. This growing army of children was the best, the only chance really, to save the world from the plot against them. It was imperative that the liberation movement continue and for that, the protector had to return.

A ratman pawed through the road garbage, skittered out from under the sewer grate and inspected a discarded fry box near the shrine scene. A slovenly man approached, kicked away the furry half man, half rodent and ate the last few fries, then tossed the box to the side. He made a move towards the bear and picked it up the with grimy hands. He turned it over and over, muttering to himself as if he could sense it had more importance that a shabby reminder of a child’s untimely death.

The watcher's eyes grew round, her shoulders tensed, ready to destroy the otherwise harmless man if necessary. Her pulse calmed as he leaned forward, pushed his unkempt hair out of his face and miraculously, propped the bear back up against the wall, leaving the locket hidden in place. Instead, he snatched a couple of the waxy candles, stuck them into a pocket that looked as if only a few threads held it on and went on his way. The watcher sighed with relief. No need to waste the atom lasers that would be needed for the army.

The organization was growing stronger every day. They were creating the enemy by installing implants into unsuspecting citizens at an alarming rate, tiny chips that would turn a housewife into a killing machine at the push of a button when the time came. The protector knew they were preparing for a global takeover and if they gained control, no one would be safe. They were a group of radical politicians who planned to enslave the choicest of the female population for their private enjoyment and advancement of their ideal race and to force the strongest males to build and guard their impenetrable wall, separating them into a privileged inner council in each capital city.

The goal of the protector had been to send the now sleeping wanderers to find the five mainframe computers sending the chip signals. It turned out to be a daunting task to even gain access to them, let alone determining how to disable them simultaneously to avoid accidental initiation of the plot. They'd had to come up with a better plan.

The protector had recklessly taken a huge chance for the liberation movement, he’d turned off his beacon so he could be seen by the good people of Serenity, so he could broadcast a message to them, but which also allowed him to be visible to the organization. Within moments, before he even had a chance to let the truth be known, he was located and pursued with deadly intent. There was no way of knowing if he was able to turn his beacon back on and evade capture or if he was killed. If he’d lost his beacon he would be vulnerable, exposed, lost.

As a watcher she was not permitted to go looking for him. The best she could do was turn her beacon on, remain hidden from view and hope he would find her. Her eyes laid heavily on the sodden bear that contained the only hope for mankind. She prayed that the protector could see the energy beam and was making his way back to them and not lying dead somewhere, or worse having his body violated for research by the organization.

Daylight waned, and the watcher was left in the dark with the drug dealers and other miscreants. She did not fear any of them. Even if she was visible to them, she could easily protect herself. A small figure came her way, her senses heightened. She didn’t recognize the cocky swagger. It certainly wasn’t the protector, he had a much humbler way about him. A strange sound permeated the night as the cocky stranger passed right by her, never sensing her presence. He definitely wasn't one of them, he was a wailer.

As the dystopian sun rose, filling the sky with its purplish tint, a crowd gathered a couple of blocks away and started to move her way, growing exponentially as it approached. The mass seemed magnetically attracted to a pied piper in their midst. The watcher couldn’t see much from the doorway but hope began to rise in her chest. She fought the urge to abandon her post and run closer to see what the commotion was about. She gathered her thoughts and realized she couldn’t chance going out of range or she would fall into the deep sleep of the waiters and all would be lost.

She could barely see the small child in the center of the throng, but the aura surrounding him was spectacular. She didn’t recognize him and her curiosity was as piqued as everyone else. This pale, odd looking child who somehow commanded a mob's attention was being jostled as he struggled to climb up onto a passenger train charging station. Even before he could ask for help, the milling crowd lifted him up and circled around, staring intently as if they already knew their lives depended on the vital information that was about to be imparted.

A siren could be heard, maybe five or ten blocks away. The waif produced a weathered sound projector, pressed the button, and began to speak with urgency. The moment his voice was heard the crowd fell completely silent and suddenly she knew, in the full light of day, he looked less odd and more beautiful. She didn't recognize his form but his voice filled her with the knowledge that somehow, someway the protector had shape shifted and that she had accomplished her task and led him home. She was free to go. She ran and scooped the mangy bear under her arm and then blended with the crowd to get closer to him.

He told the people of Serenity what the organization had planned for the world. He told the people they must not accept the organizations free flu shots. The sirens were getting closer and the tempo of his voice increased with the moving alarms. He told them to use alloy detectors to find their chips and to cut them out of their bodies. He told them they were building an army and their sole job was to spread the word. The alarms were almost upon them when he promised the citizens that a revolt was underway and their families would be protected. She swung the lovely carved locket toward their savior, he grasped it with his tiny fist, turned his beacon on and together they escaped into the late morning sun to put their plan into effect.

The protector was greeted with jubilation once the waiters were wakened. They all had important jobs to do and time was running out. Thousands of beacons needed to be produced and given to child warriors worldwide, the flu vaccine warehouses needed to be concurrently breached and a multitude of needles loaded with the vile potion containing the chips. The most important aspect of the plan had already begun and a computer programmer was hard at work to overwrite the organizations code. Everyone needed to be in place when the code was ready to be uploaded.

The plan was to arm the invisible children with needles of the vaccine and inject all of the organization members worldwide, simultaneously. Once the mainframes instructed to chips to initiate, Instead of becoming killing machines, anyone carrying the chip would be paralyzed until the organization members could be imprisoned and the mainframes destroyed releasing any innocents from the code's effects.

Everything went according to plan except the president of the organization escaped before he could be injected. The fold's hope was that without followers to carry out his dirty work he wouldn't prove to be a threat. The protector knew they couldn't take any chances and sent all the waiters traveling at warp speed to find which time pocket the president had slipped through before it was too late and time for them to sleep again. On Jan.34th the president was located and imprisoned and the people of the planet earth were safe once again.