Laft Breed

• Caylee Tierney, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2010

The man trotted down the corridor, a bead of sweat sliding down his cheek. His boss was unhappy. Someone had somehow got a whiff of their plan and was taking action against it. They had thought it impossible, and now the whole complex was in an uproar, scrambling to fix the glitch.

The people were caning the left handers and it wasn’t a coincidence. He knew that he would do more than deploy a team to stop it when his boss ordered him to do so. To stamp this out completely, he would rely on his contact in politics. If he set it straight, maybe the boss would finally trust him. Of course, many said that the boss trusted no one.

He entered the spectacular office that belonged to his boss and not for the first time wondered who the man actually was. The Boss’s voice came from the chair that faced away from the man on the other side of the desk.
“Tario, have you figured out why this is happening?” the boss asked. He sounded patient, but Tario knew about his reputed outbursts. Tario cleared his throat.
“Yes sir, I believe that we have a leak. I think it was Sarsen, as you expected.”
“Very well, deploy a team to deal with the people.” Tario breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, and, I want you to deal with Sarsen yourself, just to be sure.”
“Sir,” Tario affirmed and hurried out of the room, all signs of relief gone. To be sure; his boss wanted to be sure alright - sure that he was loyal, completely loyal. Tario took a deep breath and composed himself, lying in wait. When Sarsen turned, Tario was looming over him, gun cocked and steady.

Tario tapped several buttons and the commands on the screen in front of him changed slightly. Now that the boss’s plans were becoming clearer, several people were beginning to disagree with his moral values. It wasn’t smart to disagree with the boss. No one left this job. Now the boss was understaffed and he was relying on Tario more and more.

Tario watched the screen with rising dread. The first test was a success. The army of left handed soldiers was getting closer and closer to completion. Tario tried not to think that maybe he was the only one close enough to the boss to stop him. Several men had informed him of this, begged him with mad eyes to stop it when they found out what was happening. These were the men’s last words as the boss got rid of them. Their last breaths used to plead to him.

Tario woke with a start. His memories faded to the background, where they had to be today. He needed all of his concentration focused on the mission. It was time for the Left handed soldiers to take the world by storm. A shudder ripped through him as he thought of this. The realisation came that without him, the boss couldn’t do it. He had placed enough trust in Tario to not bother himself in the actual science of it. Tario was in complete control, he finally had the trust he wanted. But what good did it do if he didn’t do anything with it? -Little did he know, he already had.- Therefore didn’t the blame fall on him? He thought with disgust at himself, before squashing out the unproductive thoughts and focusing on the task ahead. It was time for his soldiers to answer the call.

Looking down on the complex of labs, the group felt it begin. The signal echoed through their heads as if it were calling for them too. As the wind blew, forcing the signal further and their hair whipped their faces; their leader clenched his fists in rage, filled with disgust and the group shuffled restlessly, eager to begin their quest. His disgust mimicked his brothers exactly. For once they were on the same page, but they were fighting for the opposite result. The left breed would rise no further. It was time to prevent the soldiers from answering the call.