THE SLIDE
Chapter 27 | The Accused
Part 2: Mystery-Thriller, Fantasy, Trauma, Crime
Warning: this contains graphic depictions of violence, sexual assault, flashbacks and PTSD related incidents.
Recap
“What happened to your Uncle Tem? Why did he not return with you?” Zed’s force pushed her up against a metaphorical wall that felt real. Zed’s sinister nature bled through with sexual rapacious intent.
“I don’t remember returning,” Farha said empathically.
“What happened to Tem?”
“He was killed,” Farha blurted out.
“Did you kill him?”
Present Time: Testimony — Day 3
“Stop it!” Farha screamed at someone who was invisible to everyone else but her.
“Pardon? Who are you speaking to?”
“Your greasy rat SS agents.” She looked venomously at Zed.
“Stop with your memory implants,” she shouted at the invisible SS agents.
“Quiet down or you will be muzzled,” Zed said calmly.
“Your SS weasel agents with their chemicals and machines.” She paused. “No, I did NOT use my bow and arrows. I didn’t have them. It was stripped from me when we entered the Slide.”
“I tried to push him away. I tried to fight him. He told me, he told me.”
“Objection, badgering the witness,” the Defense council barked.
“Overruled,” the Judge was firm.
“Push who away?”
“Him, him,” Farha pointed at an invisible him directly in front of her as she brought her knees to her chest.
“Push Tem, away?”
“Of course, idiot!” She screamed in Zed’s face.
“What did he tell you?”
“That I needed to stop him.”
“How did you kill him?”
“With his gun, asshole! It was with his gun that wasn’t there.”
“What was he doing to you?”
“He was. He was trying to kill me, he was raping me. Killing me. Hands around my neck. He kept saying — ‘Take my hand gun. It’s in my holster — right side, ride side.’ But there was no holster, no gun.
“I, I was dead inside. I knew I was going to die. Something entered my body, but it wasn’t me. It wasn’t me. It took over my muscles, arms and legs as he was pounding into the body that used to be me with his cock. I pushed him back. His hands were around my neck squeezing and he was yelling at me to kill him. My left arm and right hand were projected forward, and I felt the gun.
“I got it. Forced it from the holster and it went off into the side of his head with three shots. His heavy body slumped onto mine. Then nothing.
“I felt relieved that he was dead. I killed him. But maybe it was not Tem. But it looked and sounded like Tem.” Farha was whimpering.
Lightning struck several times inside the tan chamber near to the witness stand. Farha slumped over. No one had been struck by the lightning. The medic team rushed in. Her vitals were within normal limits. But Farha’s spirit was no longer in her body. She was gone.
“I formally charge you murder in the second degree,” Zed stepped back.
The courtroom was in an uproar. Farha’s spirit returned to her body.
In the Desert
Multiple tornadoes touched down in lines extending out from the Slide at various points. Two days after swaths were cut by cyclones between the indigenous desert guerillas and the military, torrential rains fell. Rain fell heavily for 27 days. Hrez Azyuy, the Berber Shaman and the team of five, Ivanovich, Sofia and “the Protected One” slogged through a wet and slippery desert towards Fort Normandy. The Berber Shaman and the group came to be known as The Nine.
Sporadic skirmishes between military snipers, The Nine and other Berbers occurred on the way towards the fort.
Trial and Sentencing
The trial lasted five days. Arcane laws and technical points were used to manipulate past each objection. An in-depth psychological investigation was called for and denied. A Mind Expert arrived on the second day of the proceedings, met with Farha for one hour and declared her sane and fit to be tried without psychological impediments.
The Defense team met and instituted Omega Protocols. This included a review of all the evidence, even though they knew Ms. Izem’s confession trumped the evidence. The DNA mobile lab would be on site within 24 hours. The Judge General and the Judge Advocate General were called and were expected to arrive in 48 hours.
On the fifth day, Farha was pronounced: “Guilty on three counts of Subversion, Plots against The Confederacy and Second-Degree Murder.” On the sixth day Zed spoke the sentence:
“Death by firing squad tomorrow at six pm.”
“Objection, according to Law 6.3.9i of the Military Code of Justice, appeals, stays of execution may be pursued against any execution order by the state, military tribunal or through any agency connected to the Confederacy of the World Order up to seven days,” the Chief Defense Counsel stated.
There were arguments back and forth.
“In the interest of fairness and bending-over-backward to ensure fairness is carried out, I agree to Law 6.3.9i of the Military Code of Justice et al.,” Zed said.
Assault on Fort Normandy
Nearly two hundred fifty of the remaining three hundred Berber and Bedouin fighters were killed in the last assault. Three smaller teams breached the castle walls thanks to Sofia.
She flicked in and out of Dreamtime to the denser reality of the fort and transported four Berber guards, a decoy and herself, into the bowels of the castle using bi-location. Having learned to duplicate herself, she did this with two more teams. Only one had the mystery person — may be an immortal — but all three were shrouded in black hoods.
It was nearly 6 pm. Four shooters had gathered in the northwest courtyard. Farha was restrained by her wrist bound in the back of her. She was marched in and was given a choice of a hood. She declined.
“I want them to see my eyes as they shoot me dead,” she spat out the words.
X spoke to Zed mind to mind, Go to the southwest courtyard. I have something torturous in mind for this approaching team of interlopers.
Zed took them out, the four shooter-executioners, the Governor, the Judge General, and the Judge Advocate General. Farha was muzzled with a hand signal from Zed, and they marched out. Thirteen sharpshooters entered the northwest courtyard and set up with automatic weapons in a circle at the ready.
“It’s a trap,” Sofia shouted as they entered the courtyard — Sofia was flesh and blood. She saw what looked like a giant octopus at the center, surrounded by elite shooters. She spun upwards into the open-air sending shards of light and dust as the bullets flew.
“It’s a trap,” Zed shouted as Farha, the Governor, the Judge General and the Judge Advocate General marched into the southwest courtyard. “Shoot them now!”
The shooters dropped to one knee and began firing. Farha had dropped to the ground moments before the shooting. The Judge Advocate General, having blocked the line of sight between the shooters and Farha, was torn to shreds by the spray of bullets.
“STOP!” Sophia commanded. All the bullets hit an invisible screen and fell down to the ground. The muzzle and the restraints were loosened and fell off, freeing Farha.
The man pulled off his black hood.
It was Tem.
“Uncle Tem?” Farha was shocked. “How could you be alive? Don’t you remember me killing you?”
“No,” he said, “and it’s good to see you, too.”
She ran towards him and hugged him. He looked younger. He was twelve years younger, 40 instead of 52.
“His DNA needs testing,” Zed shouted, “Now.”
End of Part 2. Continued in Part 3:
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