Omega (46) "I don't know. I don't know at all. They were distracted I suppose: the vandals. They found something else to do. Perhaps it was some other thing they wanted to destroy. I was just left. On the floor. By the foot of what was left of Pork's Monument to Eternity. I just lay there, with my tongue on what used to be a tooth." He opened his mouth to show a gap in the front of his mouth where an incisor should have been. "I was in such pain. There was blood in my mouth. And my eyes. Seeping through my hair. I don't know where my beret is. I just lay there. I could hear all the destruction. It was horrible! Humiliating! And then I smelt smoke. I didn't know what it was at first. My nose was so caked with blood I couldn't smell very well. Then I saw a cloud of smoke waft over the Art Gallery. Then I realised. They were burning down the Art Gallery. Not content with what they'd done to the contents, they were destroying the entire flipping edifice." "But you're alright," said Beta soothingly. "You're alive. They didn't kill you." "I wish they had. My life is nothing now. Much of my own work must have been destroyed in the fire. I got up. There was still globules of blood dripping on the floor in front of me. But I got up. Somehow. I couldn't stand very well. I had ... I have such a horrible headache. But I crawled through the gallery. I don't know how. Over all the ruins of great Art. The Culture. The essence of civilisation. And then out of the Art Gallery. I saw flames behind me. Yellow, red, black flames. And smoke. But I got out. And then I ran and ran." "Were many Illicit Party people there?" I asked. "I don't know. I didn't look. There might have been. If they were, they weren't interested in me any more. I just ran and ran. And then I just fell on the grass and lay there. I was sick. So sick. I just lay in blood and vomit, with the smell of smoke from the Art Gallery. It billowed out of the entrance. Consuming irreplaceable classics. My own Untitled No. 24. My own Esoterica Divined. Even my Omega Psi: Surrender. All destroyed! Consumed by fire, now only a memory and never to be seen again! "As I lay there consumed by misery and despair, I felt someone's hands on my back. I drew back, thinking it was more of the Illicit bastards. Or worse. But it was a centauress. She had come from the Country and had galloped to the Art Gallery for shelter. She was very concerned about me, and wiped off some of the blood from my face with a handkerchief. She knelt down beside me and told me why she'd been running away from the Country. There had been a fire in the forest where she'd lived, and she'd fled from it. She was very worried that her home might have been burnt down in the flames, but it was too perilous for her to return." "That must have been the fire we saw!" Beta exclaimed. "Did she know what had caused it?" "She didn't say. All she knew was that there had been a fire. But she said that she had seen many many of these people, Illicit Party, Black Party, and others who were not in any political grouping. There were dragons, wyverns, gargoyles, minotaurs, all sorts rampaging through the Country. People she had never seen before. She had no idea where they came from, but she told me that it was certain that they were en route to the Suburbs on this damnable quest for the Truth. She was terribly worried for the health of her foals who had been at school during the fire. She had no idea where she might find them, as the village where their school was is a long way from her home. Schools are scattered about thinly in the Country, and they travel there each day by bus. She said she had seen hundreds of these monsters and political activists descending on the Suburbs from all directions. They're all converging here and causing havoc wherever they go." "Did she actually see any evidence of this?" I wondered. "Oh yes! Yes, she had. Although she said that what they had done to the Art Gallery was the worst she'd seen. I looked back at the building where flames were bursting through the windows and yet there was no fire service to extinguish it. Where were they? What's happened? Has totally lawlessness, anarchy and chaos descended on this land?" I reflected on the destruction we had just seen and had to agree that that was exactly what had happened. "Even here? In the Suburbs? How can this be?" The Artist bewailed. "The centauress said she had seen houses ransacked, farms attacked by gangs of grotesque monsters who were devouring all the livestock. She saw a pack of manticores attack a herd of sheep and tear them apart limb from limb. A smilodon was tearing at the throat of a young mastodon. And she even saw a tyrannosaurus swallow a pig whole in a few short gulps. She was understandably worried about her family and, of course, herself. Normally centaurs have no natural enemies except alcohol and mange, but even they can't cope with carnosaurs or dragons." "Nor can anyone else!" Beta said, with a shiver. "The centauress had galloped a long way before she had come to the Art Gallery. She said she had no idea where she ought to go. Everywhere was full of gangs of these people. Not all of them were violent, she said. Some were like pilgrims looking for the Truth as if they were heading for Mecca. There were people of all sorts. Some from the City. Some from all over the Country. Many, of course, came by car or van, and there were dreadful traffic jams on the Country's roads which are really not designed for that kind of volume." The Artist paused, and wiped his nose where a fresh trickle of blood was emerging. He glanced quizzically at the red stain on the back of his hand. "The centauress was no doctor. She really couldn't do more than talk to me. And then she galloped off. Probably back to the Country. I decided to come to the Suburbs. This seemed the safest possible place to come. But before she left, she told me more about the foul things she had seen." "What sort of things?" I wondered. "Like this car she saw being attacked in a village. It was an enormous car. Totally unsuited for Country roads. How it had ever got there, she couldn't ascertain. Perhaps with so much traffic on the roads and all the police diversions it had simply got lost. All these Black Party people... At least I think they were Black Party from how she described them. All dressed in black leather, she said. They were all piling on top of the car. They were shaking the vehicle from side to side. And then the people inside got out. There was a hippopotamus, a rhinoceros and some others she said..." "I think we know the car you mean!" Beta remarked. "Was there a dog as well and a fat man?" The Artist frowned. "I don't know. I wasn't there. I can't remember whether she mentioned any other people. But it's not often you see such large pachyderms driving around in the Country. Most cars aren't big enough! But I remember she said there was a hippopotamus and a rhinoceros. And they were probably foreigners too, she said. They didn't seem at all sure what to do. Anyway, she didn't say very much. She simply said she had seen them come out of the car and try to fight off the vicious leopards and coyotes who were besieging it. Of course, that wasn't too difficult for big animals like them. At least not individually. And then she saw two allosauruses appear and the fight was a lot less even. The car was totally destroyed. I think she said that the people attacking it just pulled it completely to pieces." "And what happened to Wilma and Wayne? The two people in the car?" Beta asked anxiously. "I don't know. The centauress didn't say. Perhaps she didn't know herself. They may have got away for all I know. But without their car: that's for certain!" We mused on the news for a few moments. Beta was clearly very upset by it, and squeezed my arm tightly to her side. "How can there be so many horrible things happening in one day? What's happening?" The Artist sat down by the side of a wall, behind which could be seen the twitching curtain of a nervous occupant, distressed either by the sight of the Artist's wounds or the fear that he might inconveniently demand assistance. "I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I've stood at a bus stop for ages waiting for a bus, but none arrived. I don't know how I can find my way home. And I am trepidatious regarding any encounter with these monsters that have been unleashed into our midst." We sat by the Artist who had become uncharacteristically silent, while nursing the unpleasant gash on his forehead. Beta squeezed my hand. "All these horrible horrible things!" While we sat there, we saw another familiar figure approach us, carrying a baby in a kind of pouch around her chest. It was Una walking along the street, looking nervously from side to side as if expecting to see some more horrors emerge. Beta stood up and walked into the middle of the empty road waving her arms from side to side. Una saw us, waved back and without increasing her stride headed towards us. "How are you? What are you doing here? Why aren't you still recuperating at the Embassy?" Una looked sadly into Binta's eyes, clutching her baby close to her breast. "I thought the Suburbs might be the place to come. Everyone else is coming here. They might be coming to find the Truth, but I thought I might come here, find a job, find somewhere to live, start a new life for me and my baby." She was wearing a long dress that was really a little large for her and came almost down to her ankles. "How did you get here?" I wondered. "Oh, I hitch-hiked. I went to this motorway junction carrying my baby and stuck my thumb out into the road. I didn't really care where anyone was going, but since most people were going to the Suburbs I thought it was the place to go. I didn't wait long. Less than half an hour, anyway. A van stopped. It was spray-painted all sorts of colours with lots of slogans on the outside, including 'THE TRUTH'. There were plenty of young people inside. They weren't from any particular political party or religious group, though they were mostly sympathetic to the Red Party. They were very glad anyway that they had won the Election. There was a girl with very long hair wearing a colourful thin cotton dress. Another girl with her head shaved wearing only a pair of black leather shorts. A man with short spiky hair, covered in earrings and studs who kept smoking all the time. There was a pig driving who also had ear-rings and a woolly hat over his head. They had heard about the search for the Truth, and decided to join the flow of people heading to the Suburbs." "Why were they doing that?" Beta asked. "I thought it was mostly just Illicit Party people coming here." "Oh, everyone's coming. Not just Illicit Party. I suppose it's something that appeals to a lot of different people: the Truth, that is. They said that in different ways they'd each been searching for the Truth already in the City commune they lived in. They'd sought for it through religion, mysticism and meditation with the assistance of gurus and paperbacks. It seemed right to them that they should be in the midst of all the excitement." "And where are they now?" I asked, looking down the empty street. "I don't know. I lost them. It took a long time to get to the Suburbs. There were a lot of cars on the road. It was a very slow long journey. A number of different vehicles are heading here: carriages, vans, cars, coaches, anything with wheels. I've never seen anything like it. When we got here, it was not at all obvious where to go. The pig drove us all around the place. The streets were very full, and almost all of them were full of cars parking in all the available spaces, blocking people's drives and on the pavement. There were all sorts of people wandering about. Some like the people in the van I was in. Some dressed in Rupert suits. Some in the sort of clothes that people in the Suburbs wear: I suppose they must have been ordinary Suburbanites. And then we saw these horrid monsters loom up in the street ahead of us!" "Monsters?" Asked Beta. "I don't know what else to call them. Dwarves with their faces on their chests. Things a bit like vultures and a bit like rats. Things with long cruel fangs and vicious claws. I've never seen things like that before in my life. And neither had the others in the van. These monsters chased after the van, and there really wasn't space to turn round. The driver reversed the van backwards, but there were cars behind us and we couldn't go back further. As the monsters approached, they were smashing other cars and really looked very dangerous. I don't know when the decision was made or whether it was wise, but the doors of the van were thrown open and we all ran out. The pig jumped out as well, but he was suddenly descended on by all these winged monkeys. I didn't want to look back. All I was interested in was my baby. I didn't want him to get hurt! I just run and run. Past all the damage that's been done in the Suburbs and the fires that have been started, and then I got here. It seemed nice and quiet. No cars. No chaos. And I've been wandering around here ever since." "But why are you here at all?" Beta asked. "Why aren't you still in the Embassy?" "The Cat Embassy? No. Haven't you heard the news?" "The News?" I asked. "No. Why? What's happened?" "The Cat Kingdom's being invaded. It started last night. There were rocket attacks on the capital city, Felis, which razed the Royal Palace to the ground and may well have killed the King. The Canine Republics with the assistance of the Illiberal Socialist Republics have declared war on the Cat Kingdom. There are Dogs and others overrunning the country. Mice and Dogs who live in the Kingdom are assisting the invaders. Cats are being slaughtered indiscriminately. It sounds really appalling! When the news broke at the Embassy there was total chaos. All the Embassy staff were running about. They didn't know what to do. No one really knows what's happening in the Cat Kingdom. It's all a horrid mess! There are radio broadcasts from Mice declaring their own republic. And there are uncorroborated reports that the Illiberal Socialist Republics are behind most of the worst violence." "So what did you do?" Beta wondered. "I didn't know what to do when I was first told the news. I hoped that maybe my plight would have made it easier for me. But a Cat came into my room and told me that they were abandoning the building. They'd heard that there was a likelihood that the Embassy might be attacked. In some of the other Cat embassies round the world, especially those in countries who are uncertain in their support for the Cat Kingdom, the embassies had been attacked and burnt to the ground by Dogs and Mice and others who have grudges against Cats. She warned me that it was probably safer for me to leave. The Ambassador had already left and has gone into hiding. She was very worried about her own safety. As she told me that, however imperfect the Cat Kingdom and its King might have been, it had at least represented an internationally recognised force sympathetic to the Feline cause. She was frightened that the Feline diaspora would begin again. She was at least grateful that she wasn't living in the Cat Kingdom. "That's why I left the Embassy, while all the Cats and the staff were shredding papers and erasing computer disks. There was an awful amount of panic amongst the staff, many of whom had already abandoned the building, and those left were worried about their jobs and probably their very lives. I was given this dress to wear - it was the best fit they could find - and this pouch for my baby, and then I had to go into the street again. It wasn't easy. I had to make my way through a crowd of desperate-looking Cats who were pressed against the gates and clamouring for information and advice, and some Mice and Dogs who were shouting abuse and throwing beer cans and stones at the Embassy and at the Cats. I was terribly frightened for my baby. I clutched him so close to my breast I thought he might suffocate." "And that's why you decided to come to the Suburbs?" Beta surmised. "Exactly. Where else could I go? The City's totally failed me. I can't return to Unity. I thought a borough famous for its peace, calm and stability was by far the best place to come. I'm not in the slightest bit interested in finding the Truth." The Artist coughed weakly. His hand was cupped over the wound on his cheek which had started to seep a small trickle of blood. "I ought to be taken to a hospital," he remarked softly. "I could get lockjaw or gangrene if I'm untreated." "Of course you should!" said Beta with alarm. "We should have thought." She glanced at me. "Where shall we go?" I shrugged a shoulder helplessly. "I don't know. This part of the Suburbs is as unknown to me as it is to you." "Well, we'll have to go somewhere," said Beta determinedly. Una pointed back in the direction she'd come: "There's some shops and a post office I passed on the way here. Perhaps there'll be a hospital or something near there."
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