VI. With Power Anything is Possible
Waking up, Cornelia sees that she’s in an incredibly soft bed. Long, golden rimmed marble columns surround the room she’s in. Seeing the enormous amount of lavish decorations that were put in place, she rises to her feet in confusion, seeing that there were even all kinds of seemingly fresh fruit neatly placed on a nearby glass bowl.
As she walked the soft red carpet, she held her head which was still in pain on account of the blow she received earlier. She saw a huge classic mirror on the wall next to the door of that extravagant room, next to her was a nightstand with a glass of water next to a set off pills. A mysterious note placed between the medicine and water draws her attention as she reads it: “Take one as soon as you wake up, then come to the dining room.”
Confused about what was going on, Cornelia puts on her shoes and steps out of the bedroom, only to be received by an even more luxurious setting down the hallway and into the main area of that huge residence.
She felt as if she was being subjected to an experiment within that house, as she found all of the rooms and hallways to be identical, nearly getting lost in that labyrinth she stopped to peek outside one of the windows that overlooked an enormous yet empty garden area. Seeing a multitude of people sitting with depressed looks on their faces as they sat on the dried up grass. Their scrawny bodies are only comparable to the deplorable conditions in which they lived, heating themselves with fires in barrels, cooking watery empty bone soup, appearing to have serious illnesses and problems as they coughed or walked around, even getting to the point where they had to burn whatever they could find just to stay warm. Dirty and rusty shacks littered that precarious courtyard as far as the eye could see. Men and women alike fighting each other in a disorderly form of military training.
Thinking she couldn’t stick around watching anymore, Cornelia decides to press on until she finds a soldier patrolling around the house. Telling him to take her to his leader, he pointed out that his Comandante was in the dining room. Not understanding why he insisted on calling him “Comandante”, she followed him into the dining room farthest from the courtyard.
Passing through the door, Cornelia sees that the lavish dining room was filled to the brim with food covering the entire table: roasted chicken, fried fish with mashed potatoes, lemons and other fruits spread across the table, together with all sorts of breads, pasta, coffee, wine, beer and even a couple of well-preserved sodas. Everything looked perfect on the varnished mahogany table with exquisitely woven linen placed on top, silver chandeliers and frosted glass cups were neatly placed all around the table, each seat being already generously served with everything the mouth-watering banquet had to offer.
Taking a closer look at all the food that was served, Cornelia noticed almost immediately that it was all the food that they brought with them on their boat, along with everything Damián gave them on top of that.
In a furious rage, Cornelia looked toward a man standing by the window as she demanded to know what the hell was going on.
“Ah, I see you’re up and all fired up. I was starting to wander if you were gonna sleep all day.” said the man as he turned to face her. “Let me introduce myself. They call me Comandante, but Charles is just fine.”
Taking a closer look at the man, she could see his grizzled aged face with a sharp elongated profile, his eyes were calm but projected a stern sense of authority. His military fatigues were black, except for his dark green trench coat accompanied by his red beret that had a red star with golden corners etched onto it. Long sideburns and messy wavy hair made him resemble the famous communist leader Che Guevara, except for his bushy mustache that he had instead of an unkept beard.
Charles smiles as he sees two of his men dragging Adriana through the door, still unconscious with a blindfold on as they sat her on a chair nearby.
“Well everyone is finally here. As my guests of honor, I’ve made sure to prepare this feast in your honor so that we may celebrate. We don’t get too many visitors around here. It does seem like your friend is still a bit sleepy though, miss…?”
Seeing Adriana being dragged around the room and bluntly thrown onto the chair, made Cornelia yell out to her:
“Adri! Wake up! What did they do to you?! C’mon, wake up!”
“Easy there, your friend is just fine, both of you are safe here. Who knows what could’ve happened to you poor girls out there?”
Looking at the man with an angry expression on her face, Cornelia barks at him:
“How do you expect us to just relax when we don’t even know what we’re doing here? Honestly, just who do you think you are? On top of everything that has happened you even took all of the food that we had.”
“Took? My dear girl, you make me sound as if we’re all thieves around here.” Charles chuckled. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to prepare a meal like this. These trying times force us to make sacrifices in the name of the greater good, we have to equally share everything we come across.” Charles affirmed. “You’re of course more than welcome to join us, having brought this great feast, you’ve more than earned your place in this house. In our great family.”
Taking a look around the large dining room, Cornelia notices a large assortment of weapons discreetly stockpiled in a corner of the room: assault rifles, pistols, grenade launchers, and other devices that she couldn’t make out.
Returning her gaze onto the eloquent man’s position, Cornelia asks:
“I still don’t understand who you are and what is this place? Why do you have so many weapons and soldiers walking around? Are you under expecting some sort of attack?”
“Oh you mean those things? It’s just a precaution, no one is after us, so don’t worry. We welcome people from all walks of life around here, we have to keep around some of these tools in order to ensure everyone’s safety here.” Charles explained. “We can’t just have some walk up to our perimeter and try to destroy what we’ve spent years trying to build and preserve.”
“Safety? You have weapons that are meant for a warzone! I can understand a couple of weapons for everyone here and there, but beyond having just that you’ve stockpiled all sorts of things here.” said Cornelia, being clearly worked up by the situation. “How do you even sustain yourselves? When I looked out the window there were no corrals, or farm animals around. Your people don’t seem too happy to be here, Charles.”
“They’re looking like that because yesterday we suffered an attack that took the lives of a couple of our comrades. You arrived in a moment of great mourning.”
Taken aback by his words, Cornelia tries to convey her condolences:
“I-I’m sorry, Charles. May I ask what exactly happened to your friends? We’ve been seeing all kinds of weird creatures lately… Huge dogs, deformed people that seemed to forget their humanity… Not much beyond that though.”
“These were Coguas and Mampus. Horrible beasts from hell brought to the world by the hand of those evil corporate slugs at OptoGenica. They’ve been responsible for more than you might think.”
“Coguas? Mampus? What are those?” Cornelia asked.
“They’re abominations from science. The result of OptoGenica trying to create a custom-tailored zoo for the rich and powerful. They didn’t count on the fact that they could break out during their opening exhibition. Crossing jaguars and pumas with all sorts of genetic enhancements. Making them smarter, able to understand and assess different types of situations. They were originally designed to serve the police and military on more extreme operations where stealth and discretion was vital. Having mixed results during their trial runs, they decided to exhibit them in local zoos like the one in Luján where the first breakout occurred. They tried weaponizing nature, but nature found a way to turn against them.”
“How did you find out about all of this? Were you working for them or something?”
“No! I would never stoop so low as to serve with them. We used to have means of gathering intelligence from our different sources. Since the war everything has become increasingly difficult.” Charles sighed heavily. “Providing food, safety and shelter to so many has proven to be quite the arduous task. Those corporations sunk millions into making us look as the villains when we actually helped those that were affected by their unforgivable mistakes.”
Meanwhile Cornelia tried processing all that she heard, Adriana’s muffled voice manages to escape her bindings:
“Gah! Where am I?! Is this hell?! Is my punishment to be left blind as I begin to go insane hearing voices in my head?”
“I beg your forgiveness, señorita. I was so caught up in conversation with your friend here that I forgot to remove the ties around you.”
“Cornie! Where are we? Who’s this?”
“His name’s Charles, so far he claims to have saved us from the horrors that are lurking all around this place.”
“So… You still don’t know where we are then?” Adriana exclaimed.
Charles interrupts their confused mumbling as he stepped forward:
“You didn’t see all the signs along the river? You’re in the C.L.A.N’s care now.”
“The C.L.A.N?! How do you expect us to think we’re safe when we’re surrounded by criminals that hit and kidnapped us?!” Adriana angrily complained.
“That’s true! Who in their right mind violently attacks a couple of defenseless girls?” Cornelia added in a frustrated tone.
“My apologies, ladies, but you weren’t quite what we would call defenseless.” Charles declared as he showed them a table near the window that had all of their weapons neatly placed on it. “As much as we don’t enjoy violence, we did take necessary precautions. It was inevitable.”
“Inevitable? You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re just another one of those communist fanatics that only thinks about themselves, hiding behind those well-mannered words.” Adriana growled.
“Well your organization was held responsible for all of those terrorist attacks in one way or another. People even made memes of you guys when they wanted to blindly justify something!” said Cornelia in an annoyed voice.
“I suppose we’re all to blame for those misleading impressions. We have had some unsavory and unstable people among us. Our purpose has always been and always will be that of giving a place to people that are shunned everywhere else. We are trying to rebuild this New World to be better than ever before, providing food, shelter, safety, and even education for generations to come. Leaving that Old World pompous behaviors and excesses behind.”
“But..” Adriana mumbled. “You don’t believe in anything that doesn’t bring some sort of benefit to you. You don’t even have faith in something greater than yourselves… You’re only obsessed with destroying everything that came before you.”
“Please, señorita. Believe me when I say that our faith is in the people. Everyone is free to believe in what they will, as long as their religion doesn’t make life difficult for everyone else. We are focused on showing the world a better way to build a future, done with tangible evidence.”
“Pfft, please. That’s blasphemy, it’s one thing to not believe in anything, but it’s a completely different and unjustified thing to try and place yourselves and what you do above Him.” Adriana refuted.
“Why are you getting so worked up?” Charles asked. “We’ve been generous enough to invite you into our home, prepare this grand feast for you… Which reminds me… I have an announcement to make.” said Charles as he walked past the window onto a large balcony that overlooked another section of the courtyard.
“It’s still the food they stole from us…” Cornelia whispered to Adriana in frustration.
“Come girls, I’ll formally introduce you to the family.” Charles chuckled as he placed them on his side for the gathering crowd below to see.
“Aten-chun!” a man called out from below.
Charles nods at the head of the squad that neatly formed into equal columns of men and women waiting eagerly to hear his words.
“My brothers and sisters… Comrades… I present onto you our honored guests that we found today lost as they wandered along the riverbank. Now they won’t have to worry about getting lost anymore, because they’re in the care of the C.L.A.N, and we proudly look after our own!” Charles magnanimously announced. “We’ve been forced far from our homes, making countless sacrifices, facing the worst hardships that this world has to offer. But we’ve always been up for the challenge! Fighting for a new future isn’t going to be easy or fast but we must keep working hard so that we are never subject to the interests of fat pockets and greedy corporations that would rather see us on our knees than progress into a better tomorrow! So I ask today, my comrades, that we remain more united than ever! Cultivating the seed to spread this message across these lands, and eventually the world! Everyone must know that there’s still hope! There’s still something worth fighting for! La Revolución doesn’t stop!”
Immediately the crowd yells in unison:
“LA REVOLUCIÓN DOESN’T STOP!”
“Soldiers! Dismissed!” Charles yelled out. “Tonight we’ve prepared a feast in honor of our new sisters of the C.L.A.N!”
After his last announcement, people saluted Charles and resumed their regular duties. Cornelia and Adriana were once again ushered into the dining room as a few of Charles's men arrived and took their seats.
“Are the rest of them on their way?” Cornelia asked as she picked up her fork and knife.
“Oh, yes… They are sure to be here any moment now.” Charles hastily replied. “Most of them prefer to eat downstairs in the large dining room, because we wouldn’t all fit here.” he chuckled.
Doubting his words, the girls begin to serve themselves some of the food, being suddenly overwhelmed by the rest of the soldiers as they took huge portions of everything and started eating in a savage frenzy.
“Gentlemen!” Charles exclaimed as he hit his palm against the table. “There are ladies present… Let’s try to treat them properly in a civilized manner. Now go on, eat.” Charles commanded as they resumed taking a bit of everything in a more orderly fashion.
“E-excuse us, Comandante. It’s just been so long since we last ate like this, and in such good company… Our fellow female comrades haven’t been as perky as they used to be.” said one of the soldiers as he couldn’t hide the fact that he was staring hungrily at Adriana’s generous chest.
“Hey! Watch your tongue, sergeant! Respect is of the utmost importance here, eyes on your plate.” Charles ordered.
Cornelia leaned in to ask Charles with a curious look:
“Hey… Why aren’t there any high ranking women here?”
Breaking out in a loud laughter, Charles explains:
“Oh my dear, it’s not like we’re a real army here or something. We just try to maintain some discipline around here. Not to worry though, you’re a clear exception to that with your proper manners. We all do have to contribute to the cause somehow.”
“So we can go downstairs to meet them properly after dinner?” Adriana asked as she tried averting the drooling soldiers gaze from her body.
“But of course! You’re free to roam as much as you want, just remember we will fetch you to show you to your rooms in a bit, since we do have a curfew going on due to the last attacks from the outside.”
“So, if we want to leave. We can?” asked Cornelia in disbelief.
“Be my guest, señorita. Though I wouldn’t be able to understand why. Before you gather your things, allow me to be your host for the night, show you our hospitality and care. If tomorrow you still wake up with an itch to hit the road, then you will be free to do so.”
“I guess that’s fine… It’s just one night, right? The sun’s about to set anyways.”
Wandering around the mansion they couldn’t find anyone to talk to, as they walked out into the polished stone courtyard they tried approaching the soldiers that seemed to be idly walking or hanging around their barrel fireplaces, all of their attempts were met with indifference as they soldiers walked away without uttering a word.
Exploring further into the massive place, they see how both men and women were coming and going from the same direction. As they approached what seemed to be a large bathhouse, they saw people getting naked right at the entrance before entering, without minding much about their exposed bodies.
Entering into the old brick public bath, as the steam dissipated they saw that people were doing anything but bathing. People frantically fornicating on the floor, others were just enjoying wild caresses against the bath’s walls without regard to being seen, everyone seemed game regardless of their orientations or desires. Baffled by this sexual free-for-all, they failed to see that a group of soldiers were calling out to both men and women, grabbing their bodies as they walked past their hot tub.
All of a sudden they heard a raspy voice calling out to them:
“You two! You shouldn’t be here! Go back in the house!”
“L-let’s go, Cornie… Let’s get outta here.” Adriana muttered.
“W--We--We didn’t see anything!” Cornelia yelped as they turned hastily toward the exit.
While trying to escape the degenerate bathhouse their path was completely blocked by a massive half-naked obese man, picking each of them up in both of his arms he grinned as he took them back in toward the excited officials:
“Since you’re already here, might as well have some fun, right?”
All of the soldiers stared at both girls with a hungry perverted gaze, their wet bodies expecting the unbelievable pleasure they were about to receive as they approached to help their fat comrade handle the girls.
Struggling against the large man’s grip, Cornelia managed to wriggle out one of her arms, hitting him in his nethers as he cried out in pain releasing them. Seizing the opportunity to escape, Cornelia and Adriana ran toward the exit only for it to be abruptly closed in their faces.
Desperately searching for an alternative means of escape as the multitude of sexually depraved men charged against them, a hand emerged from a shadowy gap between the bathrooms pulling them towards it.
“Shh, keep quiet or we’ll all be done for…” softly exclaimed a feminine voice.
Not being able to see anything, Cornelia asks in a lowered voice:
“Who’re you? Why’re you helping us?”
“Because I don’t want you to end up like us… I’m Azul by the way. Now let’s just sit here quietly until we can find an opening to slip out of here.”
When she peeked out her head to check around, they saw that she was a young chocolate skin, gorgeous girl with a dark knotted ponytail with the characteristic red beret on top.
“C’mon, thru here… Don’t be afraid, that’s it…”
They began to climb an old half-broken catwalk that led out an open window, falling into a large bush on the outer gardens, they scanned around to see if there were still any pursuers or potential investigators.
Ensuring the coast was clear, Azul guided them around the outer wall of the mansion, leading them into a small decrepit storage shed made from corrugated metal. Revealing a small improvised sitting area with old chairs and tables placed together only visible by the small pale red light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the center of the place.
As they walked in they felt observed from the shadows, a small group of people were all staring intently at the door, evaluating whether or not to kick Cornelia and Adriana out or not.
“Azul! Did you really just kidnap Charles’s guests?!” exclaimed a deep intimidating voice from within the darkness.
“N-no… Long story short, we have to find a way to sneak them back into the house.”
“Wait a minute… Why are all of you hiding out here as if you were some sort of underground gambling den?” Cornelia curiously asked.
“Oh! Right! This is our meeting place to discuss important things… Nevermind that though, I just couldn’t ignore your cries for help.” Azul explained.
“Well we appreciate it, you really saved us back there. Pretty name by the way.”
“Aww thanks!” Azul replied slightly blushed. “No one deserves to be left at the mercy of those pigs. They think that just because they have a high-rank for kissing that jerk’s ass they have the right to take anything they want from anyone they feel like it.”
“Well I hope Dios blesses and watches over you always. Just out of curiosity though, who are you guys exactly? You don’t look like the rest of Charles’s goons.”
“That’s right, I didn’t see you at Charles’s speech.” Cornelia affirmed.
“That’s because we just don’t believe--”
“Azul!” exclaimed the deep voice at the back of the room. “Until we can be completely sure that they won’t go saying anything behind our backs, it’s best to keep them out of this.”
“M-maybe you’re right… But they also have the right to know, Leandro!”
With a heavy sigh, the man stands up walking out of the shadows, revealing himself to everyone, his stern expression coupled with a large scar that almost seemed to cross his entire face diagonally intimidated the girls. Sporting all black military fatigues as the rest of the soldiers around him, wearing a black beret with a shield of the Federation instead of the communist red star.
“All right, I’ll fill them in, but if they rat us out it’s on your head…”
“S-so you’re L-Leandro, right?” Cornelia nervously asked.
“Yes, I’m the captain and man responsible for this operation, and as long as I’m not entirely sure I can trust you two not to betray us, I can’t let you out of here alive.”
“E-easy there… We’re not looking to get involved in this or in selling you out.”
“Can’t you try to convince him we’re not a threat, Azul?” Adriana asked. “We’re not interested in living here or believing in Charles’s delirious fantasies. Frankly, the entire premise of the C.L.A.N seems hypocritical to me.”
“She’s right. Charles seems to be hiding something from everybody. On top of that, he stole our food claiming it was for everyone around here… So I hope you enjoyed your dinner tonight.” Cornelia grunted.
Surprised by their spontaneous declarations, Leandro approaches them.
“Hmm, yeah… You don’t seem like another couple of fanatics buying into his crap. I still have to ask you a few questions though, just to be sure… How did you get here?” Leandro asked. “Who told you about the C.L.A.N before Charles?”
“Well firstly, we got here on Adri’s boat… We aren’t really sure who we wound up here since we were aiming to get to Uruguay, we stopped here thinking we arrived, next thing we know we were getting dragged off to this insane place.” Cornelia explained showing Leandro her still fresh wound.
“I didn’t even get to see who attacked us, I was unloading supplies from our boat when all of a sudden we were brought here. The last thing I remember was seeing a shiny gilded tower in the distance.” added Adriana.
“Okay… But did you arrive alone? Who told you about the C.L.A.N before Charles?” Leandro pressed on.
“We were in a derelict boat upriver, a huge man took us in, calling the ship the kingdom of Mar-To, he warned us that they’ve had a lot of conflict with the communists down here.” Cornelia nervously replied.
“Do you remember that man’s name by any chance?” Leandro asked expectantly.
“Damián…”
“Goddamn it! He made it! That sumbitch is still alive! That means the plan is still on! You girls have given me the best news in a good long time!” Leandro celebrated. “Just so you know, no one here got even a glimpse of the food you brought. Everything that they found on you, they kept locked up inside the mansion. The walking dead out here don’t even know what time of day it is, much less care about what’s for dinner.”
“No one out here seems to have spotted you either, since there are no search parties. Charles’s commandos appear to have given up on the search for you as well.”
“How come no one out here ate?” Cornelia asked. “Charles told us that we brought so much food that you guys had to use the large dining room downstairs just to be able to sit everyone.”
“Nobody here got a bite to eat. Whenever Charles declares that everyone will eat, they actually believe they’ve already eaten. They eat only what the higher ups have leftover or what they just don’t want.” Azul explained with a saddened expression.
“Then why do you follow such a horrible man?” Cornelia asked.
“Because since we survived the first wave of attacks of Guardianes and Nuevo Futuro’s fanatics, we collectively agreed the need to keep a sort of standing army in case of any further attacks… The problem was that Charles noticed that people began getting depressed, so he started making his uplifting speeches rallying everyone around him, and then he slowly started showing his true colors as an old C.L.A.N member. Stating that communism was the path to a brighter future, openly incentivizing fanaticism and shunning those who didn’t agree with them. We were left marginalized as outcasts, so we began planning our comeback and his removal from power.” Leandro confessed with a nostalgic tone.
“That must’ve been unbearable! Though I’m still wondering what Guardianes are.” Adriana stated with a curious look.
“They’re military dogs, genetically engineered to be huge, muscular living weapons to aid the police and the army. Their original purpose was border patrol and guarding the perimeter in major cities, but after the bombs everything went from bad to worse incredibly fast.”
“We found one of those things… It had eaten a man, though I wouldn’t know if that happened before or after he killed himself.”
“Well, Charles used Coguas and Mampus to ambush Mar-To, after the massacre a lot of people disagreed with his decision, we never knew if he kept his word to get rid of them or not.”
“It’s incredible what some people will do to keep their power.” Cornelia said as she looked to Leandro. “Excuse me asking, but what’s the plan? We wanna help you out.”
Adriana nodded in agreement, as Leandro let out a loud sigh:
“Well there’s not much you can do now, everything’s been set in place… A piece of advice though: leave everything packed and ready to go early in the morning, because it’s gonna be quite the show.”
“Got it, anything else?” Cornelia asked.
“Not really, I can’t wait to see that bastard’s face tomorrow. If I’m going to hell I’m taking him with me as well. That’s a promise.”
After a bit of idle chatter, Azul looks through one of the cracks in the shed, confirming that there were no patrols around. She signals the girls to follow her back into the mansion. Going up the steps of the upper floors a powerful voice calls out to Azul:
“Sergeant! What are you doing with the Comandante’s guests?”
Caught off guard by the sudden questioning Azul manages to get herself together by replying:
“Nothing, sir! I just found them wandering outside! I was escorting them back to their rooms!”
The man grinned as he saw the girl’s sweaty bodies.
“Hmph! Well, I’ll take it from here, sergeant. Dismissed!”
Turning her back to them, Azul sneaks a glance just to see their worried expressions as the drooling man walks them down the hall.
Standing at the door of their room, the man leans into their faces as he said in a sleazy tone:
“Well, here we are, señoritas. We prepared this room just for a couple of gorgeous queens like you! If you need anything during the night, and I do mean anything, don’t hesitate to call out to me. You ladies have a goodnight.”
Once they passed through the door they locked it as they scoured the entire room trying to find hidden cameras or microphones. Everything appeared to be in order, the plush room also had a huge bathroom completely covered in white marble tiles, golden etched columns, and even a small Jacuzzi completely with jet-powered massage streams. The girls were excited to try out the facilities since they even left them shampoo and soap as complimentary gifts.
“Well if they ever fail as communists, they clearly have a talent for the hotel business.”
“Yeah… I still wouldn’t stay in a place where its owners live off what they steal from others. Not even Dios would forgive this.”
“Hah! True dat! Well, you go on ahead an